Nibs

I've kinda stuck up for Grant up to now as I think he has done okay in the situation. But losing to Spurs in that manner with a full squad to pick from is nowhere near good enough and I definitely don't want Grant in charge come the start of next season. That said, on yesterday's performance, a fair number of the players are clearly not good enough either. Too predictable and no hunger, not to mention not enough skill. Changes are needed.

It's never gonna be how it was back in the 70's and 80's etc because of all the women and young kids. All clubs have that problem but I think we do have a lot of "new fans" who don't have the same passion. But also It's a bit of a catch 22 though. I know everyone should back the team and sing regardless. But sometimes you do need the team to show passion first and give the crowd something to sing about. Yesterday, the players were passionless and gave us little to sing about, even though plenty of us still tried.

Can't quite undertstand how Joe has picked up a vote? Too many to pick form really. I've gone for Grant for picking the wrong starting 11 and then getting the subs wrong. He was out coached completely by Ramos and the style of football was complete sh*te. Thought he was meant to be changing all that? Then SWP. Complete waste of space. How he remained on the pitch for as long as he did is beyong me. Clueless. And Lamps. As others have already said, he should be bossing games like these. Instead he nearly handed Spurs two goals on a plate. And he went missing for large parts. As did Essien. Thought Kalou was poor when he came on. We were right behind the goal and the times he had the ball one on one with a defender and then went know-where and lost it. Him and SWP are both headless chickens. At least Joe can get passed a defender even without their pace. Drogba and Anelka both poor. I knew it was gonna be a bad day within the first minute when Belletti completely f**ked up and they nearly scored. And he didn't look over bothered. Rubbish the lot of them.

That says it all. I was really disappointed with our fans yesterday. We were in a good position behind the goal and kept trying to keep the singing going yesterday but it just wasn't really happening. Complacence? - too many finals in recent years? Too many JCL's? A few of the people sitting along from me were all foreign Chelsea supporters who clearly were not interested in singing at all. We looked up at the club wembley seats when Spurs scored and it was full of Spurs. Spurs played us off the park and outsung us. It just couldn't have been any worse.

It's not as if I needed telling, but this is the big one. I can tell because I'm already feeling nervous and this doesn't normally happen until at least the night before a game. Me and Coombsie will be there. Do what we did for the FA cup final (lucky omen / ritual). Make our way to the Wembley but stop off for a big breakfast somewhere before finding a place to have a drink and settle the nerves. I see that w**ker Lawro has predicted a Spurs 1-0 win on the BBC. To be fair to him he's probably going by our recent very poor and dull 0-0's and the fact Spurs have been playing fairly well. But let's hope he is wrong on this one - just like he was last week when he predicted: Liverpool 3 Barnsley 0.

All three are great and are probably the best three in the world at present. I go for Messi. Just think he's the dogs.

Last year was pretty much ruined by the train journey. We took to our seats just as the ref blew for kick off. Total f**king nightmare of a journey but at least we were lucky not to miss any of the game - loads did. Can you imagine if we had to travel up to Cardiff this year - with Spurs???!!! Can't remember a lot about last years game other than the Gooners kids giving us the complete runaround for the first 25 minutes or so and then us muscling our way back in to win. My ideal result this year would be a 4-2. Okay, it would be nice to beat them really comfortably and I'd accept a 1-0, but a really memorable game with Spurs playing their part would be all the better. COME ON YOU MIGHTY BLUES!!!

Gutted I din't know about that - I'm at work Used to love The Big Match when I was a kid. All the various commentators that covered the different regions - Gerald Sinstadt up North - Hugh Johns the Midlands. And of course we had good old Brian More for the London games. And how he used to shout!!! OSGOOD!!

If anyone is gonna have a pop at Joe, we can always rely on ES. I wouldn't have expected any other view from you. Joe hasn't been great in a couple of matches recently. But the other night, Olypiakos clearly knew who the danger man was, as Joe had markers on him all the time. He was literall;y marked out the game. But I know he'll come good as he has done for us countless times before. And I know who I would rather see lining up at Wembley against Spurs in a crunch game and it certainly 'aint Malouda.

This is where I think you'll see a split between the log suffering Chelsea fans and the JCL's. For the JCL's it will be the Champions League - just as it will be for the likes of Kenyon and Abramovich. But for anyone who really knows what being a Chelsea supporter is all about it has to be the Spurs game. We have to win that one. History will later tell us it was just another league cup but it will mean much more than that on Sunday. I would like us to win the CL one day, but the way the competition is producing such boring, dull matches, I am really not too arsed about it right now. Would look good on the cv though!!

Must admit, when my mate at work told me earlier that Avram has had a death threat, my first thought was.................Moos??? Joking aside, as Glory says, this seems pretty much like a non-story

Thing is Bluebeard, we all know what Joe can do. When he has a bad game (and I agree he's had a fair number) we really notice it. Joe has won us many games over the seasons. It's really disappointing when he has a poor game like last night but you know he will bounce back and win a game for you. With Malouda it's just one abject performance after another - he's never any good. For me, up to now he is a flop and needs a huge improvement to be anywhere near good enough.

The difference is mate we all know what Joe is capable of and he often comes up with the goods. Malouda has yet to show us anything. At the moment he is a complete waste of space. Our defence and Maka aside (and then Anelka when he came on) we were collectively poor last night. For the return home leg, there will be no need for Maka, we need goals, not defensive midfielders. I would go for Cech Belletti Alex Carvalho Cole/Bridge SWP Essien Lampard Joe Cole Drogba Anelka Subs: Carlo, JT, Mikel, Kalou, Ballack, Paulo,Pizarro Lets attack, attack, attack................

I would rather have seen SWP get a game tonight than Malouda. Malouda better not get anywhere near a place in the CC final. I know SWP can be very hit and miss but maybe tonight the game called for his unpredictability. The trouble is, he is so unpredictable, even he doesn't know what he's gonna do!!

Maka for me. I voted quickly and nearly voted for malouda in error. I would never have been able to forgive myself for that.

I went for a slash during the seond hald and thought I must have missed Essien being subbed. I can't remember a game wher he did so little. Defence all played well, but to be honest were not put under any real pressure.

Maka MOTM for me. Anelka also did very well when he came on. Shame the same cannot be said for Kalou. What a miss My son made the right decision to go to bed at half time. If this is Champions League football, is it really worth winning? So, so dull............................

Pretty uneventful first 45. Maybe the cold is effecting them? We could really do with an away goal. Not really much else to say as not really much has happened!! But what has happened to Drogba? People have a go at joe for over-doing things? Every time Drogba has got the ball tonight he's tried a flick or a clever drag back instead of just being a centre forward. Pull your finger out Didier.

Question? Would you rather lose to Barnsley or Liverpool? Okay, not great options I'll grant you - bit like saying what would you rather die of, aids or cancer. But I know a couple of Liverpool fans who I obviously gave plenty of stick since Saturday and yet now, since the draw has been made, they are kinda relieved that they don't have to play us again and are of the opinion they were better off losing to Barnsley than suffer the indignation of losing to us lot. And I must admit, there is now no team that I hate losing to more than Liverpool so in their position I'd probably feel the same. Just glad Barnsley did beat them so we don't have to play them again to be honest.

Our poor old physio must be kicking his heels. I bet he longs for the good old days when he always had Arjen to keep him company

Just shows how far we have come. He might have been a fans favourite and he always gave 100%, but could you imagine a Fraank Sinclair type player making the side now? At times he was "frankly" hopeless!!!

Funny Would be even funnier if it wasn't so true!!

Robben was always sh*te against Liverpool so he's hardly a big miss!!! Duffer had one decent season for us under Jose and Joe was hardly a Mourinho favourite - often not selected even when we had injuries. Not quite the same as no Drogba, no Essien, No JT and Lamps's first game back in ages.

bwhahahahahahahahahahahahahah! *breathes* BWBWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Selective memory beggars belief sometimes, this is firmly one of those cases. You've lost me there. You'll have to elaborate.

It is not about finding it easier to score or playing better or blowing them away. It's about needing to win and not really going for it. Most matches we have played against Liverpool in the league under Mourinho we wanted to win and mostly we did but I can't remember any must win matches against them. Yesterday was a must win. It wasn't working so what did we do to try and change things? Nothing. Tactics remained the same and what changes in personnel were made were far to late. Poor, very poor. I would disagree that this game against Liverpool was any more of a "must win" game than any other in recent seasons. Liverpool have little chance of catching us in the league and we still have both Man Utd & Arsenal to come to The Bridge. And the performance was no poorer than any of the three cup exits we suffered against Liverpool under Mourinho - with the Champions League matches definitely being "must win" games. And in those matches, Mourinho had pretty much a full squad to select from.