Nibs

Hmmm - okay I should have phrased that differently!!! I just want honesty. When people f**k up - have the decency to come out and admit it. Don't give us a load of old spin that no-one want's to hear - we get enough of that from politicians. Anyway, what's wrong with a guy who likes a bit of a gamble and is a complete and utter piss-head

Comes up short - and some!!! Unbelievable. And another gripe from me. The complete waste of time in interviewing players after a result like that. I only heard interviews with Beckham & Gerrard and both came out with a load of old bollocks - complete waste of time. Instead of the old crap they both came out with - unlucky, conditions, we're really disappointed (and Beckham saying it wasn't fair that we're not going to 2008 - not fair???), you want to hear them say, "yeah I was sh*t, keeper made unforgiveable mistake, McClaren was rubbish and was more worried about getting his hair wet than the result, Bridgey might just as well have not turned up tonight and quite frankly I'm not too arsed about missing out on the Euros 2008 because the Mrs says the Maldives are pretty nice that time of year". Why can't more of them be like Paul Merson. He cocked up at Walsall and came out and admitted it.

I guess the only two Brits in with a shout are O'Neil & Rednapp. I'm a big admirer of Coppell but don't think he has what it takes for this job. Allardyce or Curbishley? No thanks. Stuart Pearce? Lots of passion but still unproven. Let him continue with the u 21's and review him again a few years down the line. Love Harry but think he's getting on a bit now. He's a wheeler & dealer - not sure the international job would suit him. O'Neil is probably the pick. But rather than have O'Neil I'd rather go for Jose. After Wenger (who would never take the job), Jose has to be the pick. I know I've moaned about the style of football we played under Jose, but right now we just nedd someone installed who is a f**king good coach and will command all the players respect. The time is right with him kicking his heels at the mo and that would also stop him taking a job with any of our big European rivals. So give it to Jose.

Get rid of all those old spineless tossers at the FA. Sack the f**king lot of them. Get rid of all the over paid superstars who would probably prefer a good long holiday next year rather than have the hassle of playing some two bob tournament. Give them all a chance to spend their millions. Build a young team for the future and let someone like Wenger or Jose have total control.

Gutted. McClaren should never have got the job in the first place - we all know that - he's f**king clueless. Thought Crouch was our best player. Don't think Lamps and Joe were that bad (not great but not terrible). Gerrard was sh*te as were most of the rest. Disagree about SWP Loz. Thought he did very little and totally let the guy go for the second goal. And Bridgey had his worst ever game. EVER Bollocks. It's gonna be a long summer. I can get the old garden in shape.

Kings of Leon

I am no real supporter of Grant and was far from happy with his appointment. Even now, I have my serios doubts. But he should be given a fair crack of the whip and it's a bit much when so many are so critical after a 1-1 draw with Everton.

She sure could Bruv. Unfortunately the same could not be said for you

Been some really good posts on this thread. Some I agree with. some I don't but I respect them all. From my own point of view, in a way I am still gutted that Jose left. Of course I would still like him to be in charge. During his reign, there were times where we seemed almost invincible. There were very few games we went into where you thought we might lose and Stamford Bridge became (excuse the old cliche) a fortress. I loved the fact that we won trophies and played with so much confidence with a never say die attitude. But as much as some can only recall the good times, there is no escaping that the cracks were beginning to show and perhaps things were on the slide and he got out at the right time? Let's not gloss over just how bad the football was at times. Not at the start but for some time. For some winning is all even if that means 1-0 at home to Wigan or Derby, but for many of us we want more than that. Trophies are great but what is the point of trophies if the way they are being won is so painfully dull you cannot recall any of the games come the end of the season? Football should be about and as far as I am concerned is about ups and downs and looking back at highlights. Classic matches where you are up out of your seat time & time again. Not about grinding out 1-0's after 1-0's. So now under Grant it seems expectations are low but for me they are no lower than when Jose was in charge after the Villa game. Even then that "invincibility" seemed to have gone and we weren't looking half the side we were a season or two ago. The squad is weaker, whilst other squads have without doubt got a lot stronger. And here is where I am still puzzled. I am not totally sure that Jose was a very good judge when it came to signings. Some have done well but many haven't. And we still get the call that the Sheva and Ballack signings were not Jose signings. How can that be so? Mourinho just wasn't the sort of manager who would be told who he had to sign. They may not have been his first choices but I don't expect he kicked up too much of a fuss when it was mentioned we had the chance of signing two of Europe's biggest names. If Mourinho really didn't want a player he would have made it clear and walked if necessary - just like Ferguson or Wenger would. There will still be many opinions on our style of football under Jose and now Grant or whoever takes over in the future. I just hope we can find some kind of balance. I appreciate good defending but not at all costs, week after week. There will always be those that come up with the argument of "look where playing good football got Barcelona and Arsenal last season - what do want trophies or entertaining football?" They seem to have gone a bit quiet of late and lets see come the end of the season as it could well be that both these teams end up with trophies and will have entertained along the way. It can be done..................

I'm still with Chippy on this one. Look at some of the performances under Mourinho last season when JT & Cech were missing. Draws with Fulham and Reading at home are the two that stick out. How is the Everton result any worse than those? On Saturday we outplayed Everton for long periods. All in all were were pretty unlucky - missed chances, good saves by their keeper and fate too. Cahill so nearly put one in his own net and we'd have been 2-0 up game over. Instead it goes just passed the post and moments later he's scored the equaliser. Still too many people on here waiting for any little blip or a result where we don't win to then jump straight on the "wouldn't have happened under Jose" bandwagon. Short memories guys - it did happen under Jose too.

You really do have to hand it to Wenger (he says through very gritted teeth). It was not so long ago we were all laughing at them on this forum as with the loss of some big name players, they looked like they were slipping out of the "Big Four" and were going to go down hill from there. What an about tun we've had in such a short space of time as now it's us who could possibly slip down a few places whilst their football appears to get better and better. What really strikes me is how just about every one of their current team are so comfortable on the ball. Even some of our better players at times do not look comfortable with the ball at their feet and often look hurried. They knock the ball about to each other as if it is second nature to them and at the moment them and Utd look a class apart. For Wenger to achieve that with no real "stars" in the team - you have to take your hat off to him. Not confident we will get a result against them this season - even with everyone available

Lets bloody hope so with no repeat of the horror show when Yakubu completely murdered Riccy at the Riverside a couple of seasons ago. Maybe his worst ever game for us?

Is that a serious statement or a massive wind up??? If serious, you must have missed him single handedly keep the Spammers up last season (okay with Robert Green's help) and missed his recent link up play with Rooney developing far too well for my liking.

Possibly the greatest way to end any post BJD. Me too. Hate them but can't help admiring their football at times. I was at that game when West scored in the 1-0 win. Sat in the West Stand Benches that day and a load of Gooners tried to start something in the West Stand if I recall. They got dealt with "appropriately" Was also at the game when we beat them 2-1 with wee Pat scoring and a penalty (Spackman?). Happy Days.........

Aaaah, Jose would drag you off if you were not one of the "untouchables" but that was half the problem. If an untouchable was having a stinker, they would still stay on and it was always the same scape goats. And Joe went missing for large parts of the first half (as did many others) but still created our best two openings and made some pretty decent tackles - the sort of tackles you would never see a Malouda or Robben make, so for me, Joe at least comes out with some credit (no surprise there ) Oh and TOP TOP posts by Glory.

If we were to play like we did last night over a run of games, then there certainly would be cause to worry. More or less the whole side last night were shocking and I think just about every player made at least one error of some sort. It just seemed to go wrong in every area, from bad passing / giving the ball away, to bad defending, not picking players up, giving away needless free kicks in dangerous areas to just not looking up for it full stop. Perhaps it was just one of those nights. Any of us that have played know how sometimes these things just happen. How one week you think you're possibly the new Pele only for next week to decide maybe it's time to hang up the boots after having a complete mare. Okay, at the highest level perhaps these extremes shouldn't happen, but all players are gonna have a stinker from time to time and it just so happens that our whole team (Carvo & Cech excluded) duly obliged in one go. Little blame can be put with the manager / coaches as long as that was a one off. As I say my worry would be that this turned out not to be a one off. Players can be as bad as ours were last night and put it right next game but not if their attitude is not right. The two that stick out here for me are Drogba and Malouda. The whole team need a kick up the arse (and maybe this is where we will miss Jose?). And the sooner JT is back so we once again have a leader on the pitch, the better, as Lamps is no skipper IMO.

Each to their own - I think the ref hardly put a foot wrong, and if you think Riccy played 'bad' maybe you weren't watching the same game as me. Well I did sleep through some parts of the game. Perhaps he shone during those times And as for the ref, I'd like to meet him in a dark alley and whipe that smile off his face. Moos you must have slept for about 89 minutes if you thought the ref was a c*** and and Carvalho was bad??? Both had great games. Are you the Drogba voter as anyone who gave Drogba MOTM for that performance must be completely of their rocker.

Bet ITV are happy they chose the scousers for the main game Other than Carvalho it was pretty bloody dire tonight. It was as though they were having a competition of who could be the worst out there. The list is endless. In one game I haven't seen Lamps, Maka and Essien give the ball away as much. Malouda was just as bad perhaps worse? Belletti?? He had a 15 minute spell that was as bad maybe worse than anything Boula ever did Alex? Free kicks put on a plate followed by more far from convincing defending. And Drogba? Poorest game I've seen from him in ages. Looked uninterested for large parts and lost nearly every 50/50 ball. Even joe didn't have a great game (But made up for it a bit with the through ball on a plate to DD and that tackle on about 80 minutes that saved the day). We were f**king lucky tonight and really didn't deserve a draw.

Can only be Carvalho. Could be the first 100%. If anybody else feels one of the other players deserves MOTM after that they really have some explaining to do!!

For me it's: ---------------------Cech Richards-------JT--------Gallas---------Bridge Ronaldo-----Fabregas----Lamps--------Joey -------------Drogba------Rooney

Here here. Someone will have to start a thread on the most over rated bands of all time. For me it would be between said Nirvana and U2.

Great prediction Gem

I'm suprised he got asked back after his last appearance when we lost to Man Utd. He takes a little bit of getting used to as a pundit but is preferable to Alan bloody Shearer!! Best thing about last nights MOTD was they didn't make us suffer that God awful woman commentator. Hopefully they've learnt their lesson after that little experiment as I just can't listen to her.

I'm with you on this one Chippy. Of course I was sorry to see the end of the Jose era. It's all been said before time and time again but he brought us unprecedented success and was loved by all of us and we'll be for ever thankful. But things had started to turn sour and the football was getting pretty bloody dreadful. Look back on the posts on this forum about "like watching paint dry" etc etc and this was not just now and again but pretty much the norm. It's okay to grind out results but we were often grinding out results at home against teams we should have been taking to the cleaners. And what about the hoof it to Drogba tactic or put JT up front when all else failed? I personally never want to see us play like that again, even if it means a 1-0 win instead of a 3-3 draw. Of course there are times when you do have to play ugly and I'm not referring to either Dowie or Keown. But I would agrue that wigan is the sort of game where you need to grind out a 1-0. The only teams Wigan have beaten at home this season so far are Middlesborough & Sunderland. Yes you get the same points for a 1-0 as you do for a 6-0, but I know what we'd all prefer and there is such a thing as goal difference and look how far we were behind Man Utd on that count last season - it's worth an extra point come May.

Hope you're wrong big time Jack. I used to think I was the typical pessimistic Chelsea fan but you've taken things to a new level. You are clearly still pining for the special one - why not meet up with Bluenut?