Nibs

That was nice and graphic. Thanks Moos.

It is times like this that I regret having no volume on my PC - what are they singing? Couldn't make it out. All I know is that whatever they were singing, it was to the tune of a Boney m song!!! (Can't remember which one as they all sounded similar but it wasn't Brown Girl in the ring!!). Fair play to their supporters - they did make plenty of noise. But full credit to our boys for a good all round display. Just want to avoid the 3 English teams and Barca now if possible. Man Utd v Liverpool & Barca v Arsenal will suit me just fine.

Sounds like the Greek fans are tring to start a Boney M revival

He's clearly a much better pundit than he is a manager. Actually, I've always liked Souness as a pundit - he does normally talk a lot of sense. Especially when you compare him to the Shearer's and Lawrenson's. Lets hope his spot on with that prediction.

Believe me Gem, I am almost as pessimistic and superstitous as you, but we are so on top and Olympiakos are so ordinairy, even I have the champers and cigars out. So relaxxxxxxxxxxxxx!!!

Shame on you Lauren. It was never in question

Big no to Ancellotti. Milan were pants in both legs against Arsenal. They made the Gooners look better than they are and have the media creaming about them again. If Chelsea put in a performance like Milan did last night we'd have the usual culprits screeming for Gran't head today.

They could have Sidwell for half of that.

I'm not a huge Grant fan but this "lose tonight and Grant must go" is pretty laughable. IF we did lose tonight and it was down to a Ranieri type nighmare against Monaco with bad decision followed by bad decision then yeah - fair enough. But if we just go out because the players perform badly then we should look at one or two of the players rather than Grant. Yes I would like to see a new coach come the summer, but lets try and back this guy for the remainder of the season

Never in a million years. Not even if he was fit 100% of the time which ain't ever gonna be the case. To be a great footballer, you have to have a lot more about you than just pace and a bit of ability. Two feet would be a good start. The ability to head a ball. Plenty of Bottle & an appetite for big matches where there is loads of pressure to perform. Robben has none of the above.

......and that concerns you?

Might have been. There again he could equally have been hit by a feather and suffered the same consequences.

It's the old cliche of "horses for courses" and all that. The team that played on Saturday all did well and perhaps deserve to keep their places for the CL match. But West Ham in a league match and Olymiakos in a CL match are totally different propositions. I would personally still keep the same starting line up but have the likes of Drogba and Essien to bring on if need be.

I saw the back page of one of the Sunday's yesterday referring to JC being unhappy and maybe wanting a move Could have believed that when he was getting little playing time under Mourinho but since Grant took over he has been almost ever present (which made the CC final decision all the more puzzling ). But Joe clearly loves the club and things are going well so he's never gonna leave all the time the situation remains the same and that great news for all.

Well Done the Forss!!! What was that about the start of something big for Spuds? No Woodgate & no King - totally different team

We watched the whole game in a pub trying to drown our sorrows following the cup final defeat. Quite cheered me up to see how poor Robben was. He was rubbish and Madrid lost!! That against the same team that Messi scored a wonder goal where he beat half the oppostion on his own.

There were times when I hated the way Mourinho acted. Loved the fact he was a winner and installed that winning mentality throughout the squad but hated his attitude and behaviour at times and his complete lack of dignity. But even then, his complete lack of dignity, still does not compare to gobbing in an oppenents face. It might be a few years ago now but that makes him the lowest of the low IMO.

It's a very valid point and one I've made before but one many Mourinho fans are quite happy to overlook. I know Arsenal have lost Henry, but I think they definitely have a much better all round team now - one that has grown as a team over the last couple of seasons and a better keeper (although thankfully it looks like they still lose the plot a fair bit!!). As for Man Utd, there is no question they are a lot better than they were in Jose's first couple of seasons. They no longer have to rely on the squad players of O'shea, Fletcher, Silvestre and Brown like they once did and are stronger in all departments.

It's a very good point dkw. Grant has done okay, but has lost the "big games" and now when it really mattered - a final against the hated Spurs, he fell well short (as did the players but where was the coaches inspiration?). For me, all things considered, Grant isn't good enough and never will be. But Jose made a very poor start to the season and the chances are he would not have stayed too much longer anyway. Perhaps the powers that be, knew that he'd go of his own making - possibly by the end of this season? So they feel they've saved faced by getting rid of him before he left us?

The incident with Frisk was bad enough, but if you've got copies of Chelsea/Barca games on video or DVD, try watching Rijkaard's behaviour after the games. And you might be able to forget him spitting in the face of a fellow professional player (not once, but twice) but I won't - the man's a f*ckin' disgrace, and isn't fit to manage Chelsea. Spot on. Exactly how I feel. I could never welcome Rijkaard. Never. That said, if he came and brought Messi with him, I might just go with it

Jane I wondered what you were going on about there and it was a case of . Then I realised on another thread I posted about lots of women and kids forming a big part of our support nowadays and the affect that has on the atmosphere. Sorry. Probably sounded a tad sexist. I'm not saying "bloody women, should know their place - shouldn't be allowed to attend football matches etc etc". I know football is pretty much a family thing these days and it's good in a way to see. It's just a real shame that the atmosphere has been hit so badly and Chelsea seem to have been affected more than many. Brings us back to that old arguement of bringing back safe terraced areas - which I'm all for.....................

Moos, comments like that are pretty pointless. Believe me, I feel down at the moment. Very Down. The recent football has been shocking and I really want to forget the whole episode of Sunday's final. But I still wouldn't post anything quite as negative as that - not when we're playing a team like Barnsley.

Totally agree Barn. I'm in a right old state too From my own point of view, I really wouldn't mind us not winning trophies if you could see we were trying to play good football. But we're not. Of course we put up with Jose's (at times) very dull, grind out 1-0's, all the time we were competing for the big prizes. But I was one who sort of welcomed a change if it meant getting in a coach who was going to give us something really good to watch. But Grant is not that man. Not after witnessing the 0-0's against Liverpool and Olympiakos and then that abject display against Spurs. It was frankly embarrassingly bad. Perhaps we do need need wholesale changes within the playing staff? Good squad on paper, but actually how many of them are capable of playing differently and playing the kind of exciting football we see Barca and Man Utd play? We do need a clear out, both on the playing side and the coaching side. I guess it would be too much to ask to also get rid of those who are only interested in the "Global Brand" thing as opposed to getting back the fans that want to actually make a noise and really get behind their team?

Good line to highlight as that is exactly how I feel at the moment. I would argue the point about us having "the best squad of players in the world bar none". It's a good squad but we have too many okay players as opposed to exceptional players of the calibre of a Messi, Kaka or Ronaldo. For Me both Barca and Man Utd, have better squads because they have plenty of match winners. At the moment, we clearly don't. But back to that highlighted line. Ever since the defeat on Sunday I have had a numb feeling - not just from losing to Spurs in a final but the whole manner in which we lost and just the whole bloody experience. I never thought I would see the day when not only did the team lack so much passion but the fans were so flat. What is happening to our club?

It's kinda ironic that we played our best football in recent times when all the African players were away at the ACN and Lamps & JT were injured. I know we only narrowly beat Everton in the semi final, but that was some of the best football I've seen us play in ages. SWP and Joe both taking turns to run at defenders centrally with no Essien and lamps to just knock the ball about in the manner they do without us really getting anywhere. And no Drogba to rely on - hoofing long balls up. I want to see us playing football how it should be played. No long ball from the keeper (lost count of them yesterday ) and cut out the 101 sideways & backwards passes.