jpc

Certainly worth some thought - both are very decent players. But I'd rather start with Ribery.

Great, great news. Hoped he'd stay and he did- couldn't be happier. Bet you the media pundits will be disappointed. Jose would'nt be too chuffed either. Anyway, I'm now not too sure whether we should pursue Kaka and Robinhio - at least not until next year perhaps.

I haven't been able to watch the game so I'm following the thread here. From all accounts it's going to be hardly worth watching the replay. Please, please , score an away goal for goodness sake.

Can I just say in Drogba's defence that whatever he has said (and I don't doubt that he wishes to leave at some stage, as is his right), he has always put in where it counts - on the field.

Passing the ball backwards rather than forward is not neceesarily bad as long as the pass is constructive. I voted for Mikel as he looked to be one of the few who had tactical sense on the day - and he did have a good game. I was most annoyed when SWP (or Joey ??) had a pop at goal when he could have played in Sheva who had made a perfect run to the right and would have been in for a clear shot at goal if he had been played in.

Callista, I think that your judgement is a bit harsh. Whilst the opposition might have been weakened we were hardly full team in most matches. I'm quite pleased with th progress over the last few weeks though I agree with all that we are far from our best. One thing is worrying me. I've staunchly supported Jose and I am eternally grateful for the success of the past three years which were to a sigificant degree down to him. However, I don't think that the team is playing any worse than it was in the last weeks of his reign - in fact, I believe we're playing better. There, I've said it - I desreve a thousand curses from the special one.

If you are to believe the papers Lampard may be leaving (sorry day that would be). In that case, Ballack would be a very valuable asset and I for one would welcome his stated intention to stay and hope he is truthful.

Just to keep it simple - LAMPARD IS A LEGEND. No doubt about it in my mind. I have nothing against Joe Cole but for me he's not in the same laegue as Frank. People keep saying he's not had the opportunity but I beg to differ. He's had opportunities and he's been good too but on the whole I don't feel that he's been treated badly by Jose.

What a difference (relief) extra cover at centre back makes !!!

1st half had me really despondent - really bad start to a day down under. That's history now and the second half was brilliant. What a great start if we get a win on the weekend against Liverpool !!! The defence is a bit of a worry but at least we seem to find scoring a bit easier. Worst thing is that Cech seems to be a bit out of sorts - I hope I'm wrong and it's just early season rustiness.

I'm with you Brit. I don't think we needed much luck in the Premiership in the past two years but we certainly needed a bit this year. To be honest, every great club has ALWAYS needed a bit of luck to be succesful. With a bit of luck we might even have had a Champions League title already. So, for the rest of the season I will be praying for a slice of luck that will deliver us in order of importance a) the Champions League, and /or B) the Premiership. Hard call but the CL just edges it for me. The FA cup would be a good consolation prize - not much more I'm afraid. PS With United's gloating I'm reallt unsure about my priorities. Go the Blues.

I reckon we're still in with a good chance. Ten games is a lot of games and assuming that we will win at the Bridge then United need to drop 4 points in nine games - not impossible. The hardest part is for us to keep winning and I suppose it may be a bit far fetched to think that we will win all of our games. But there's no harm in keeping the dream alive. I'm pretty confident that were it not for the injuries and the unsettled period of 2 months back we'd be ahead of United. As for winning the three other Cups !!!! That would be unbelievable. Champions League alone would be more than enough for me!!! I would say that that would give me greater pleasure today than the EPL (whereas 2 years ago my priority was for the EPL title). In a nutshell, we're still in with a decent chance in all comps and we should really be proud of our team.

I got Chelsea 89 Manu 88 Liverpool 78 Arsenal 77 I wish, I wish, I wish..........I'm right.

I'm not sure about RB. I prefer Paulo to Geremi but it's much of a muchness.

Although it was the best team available (???), it was still a second tier team IMO. Cech, Ricky, Terry, Lamps, Drogba, Sheva, Robben & Bhoula would presumably start ahead of Hilario,SWP,Mikel,Geremi,Kalou,etc. Cheers.

It was a bad performance no doubt but as Abramovich says it was Wycombes 'Match of the Season'. And they played accordingly. On the other hand Chelsea played a second string team, with the knowledge of a second leg at the Bridge. I guess that is why they played so poorly. No excuse and I'm bitterly disappointed but just offering a possible reason for the performance and for not going for the rope as a few have suggested. I really don't think that our heart was in it today and most played as though they were disinterested. Even allowing for this it seems patently obvious that Lampard is vital to our midfield, Terry to our defence, and Drogba to our attack. I can't believe we can be so ineffective all over the field. My God, this is so depressing. :cry: :cry:

Yeah. Tempting fate.

I'm sure they'll be much better than today. They couldn't be any worse.

To be fair, betting on Chelsea to lose against Macclesfield should not be a hanging offence. Just don't do it again.

Carvalho has been good, is good. Sometimes I think we treat our players too harshly. At the moment the back four is a bit of a shambles and the mainstay is Ricky. He did slip yesterday and it cost us a goal but I don't think he makes that many mistakes. Gallas was great too but IMO he was the near perfect player that he's being made out to be. His greatest asset was his versatility and now he's gone because HE wanted out. By the way what has happened to his promise to "tell all", and if I'm not mistaken "to take legal action" over claims that he threatened to purposely score an own goal?

MUFC supporters all try to embellish this myth that their team is full of young starlets coming through from their youth team. The truth is that they bought players when they needed them. In fact they bought the best palayers around, not just bit players. Why? Because they had the money. And this went on for decades. The trouble is that now that we can do the same as they have done for ages they are getting very jealous.

Very interesting post Bluenut. I agree with most of what you say but I also realise that hindsight is a very precious commodity. Who would have thought (honestly) that Sheva would fail to fire? On a positive note, dare I say that at least Drogba seems to have benefitted from Sheva's presence. What I'm sure of is that there are many less than obvious matters which come into decisions to sell/buy player. And in my opinion the departure of Gallas, Guddy, Duff, and Huth had a certain sense of inevitability.

I'll wait for the fat lady to sing first. ManU have had the run of the ball of late. A slight change of luck and we'll be in with a chance. If JT and Cech are in soon, we'll be in with a better chance.

Touchy G4. Wicksey is right though. Read your posts. Still, we all make mistakes so you shouldn't feel bad about it.

I voted yes too for the simple reasons that he's good, Gallas is probably leaving, Cole wants to come, we need cover for Bridge, and I can't bear watching Paulo at left back one more time.