Liam

My team too with Malouda instead of Kalou on the bench. Love that midfield Ethical

I always wondered why you had Carragher as your avatar Alan.

How much more credit could Mourinho, Ferguson and Wenger actually get? These guys are feted beyond all that is reasonable. Since SKY realised that there is drama to be had from the personalities of the coaches the big games are almost invariable billed as Ferguson v Wenger rather than the two sets of players. I am not saying that money buys success. I am saying that money buys the players (and pays their wages) which leads to success. The right players still have to be bought and it is identifying them that the great coaches do so well (like Ranieri ). Mourinho at Porto is the exception that proves the rule. The vast majority of trophies in the modern era have been won by the teams with the most money.

I think too much credit is given to coaches - it's always about players for me. Money buys the best players and the best teams always belong to the clubs with the most money. Grant has done well so far, Mourinho did brilliantly, but the common denominator is the players, and the money we have available to buy them.

Perhaps they speak y*ddish.

JT back in but for Carvalho. What do you think Just? I'd leave Ballack there and let Lamps consider his future from the bench for a while.

There's no need to wait Scott. Take my word for it that had any other player made that tackle it would have been a yellow card. As it was Neville's second yellow the ref bottled it and only gave the free kick. You could see it even in his body language that he didn't fancy the decision.

Fantastic game of football which I really enjoyed. Great credit is due to our players as ever. It has just been brilliant being a Chelsea fan since Hoddle first arrived. Ratings: Hilario - 4 - Had nothing to do until he had something to do and then he couldn't do it. Bridge - 7 - Best left back in the country. Alex - 6 - Growing on me I must say. Very positive today and much more physical than I thought he was. Carvalho - 6 - Solid in general and got forward a few times. Belletti - 7 - Very involved in the game and always an option going forward. I like him. Cole - 7 - Good skills as usual, positive, looking to make things happen. If only he kept it more simple and tracked back more he could be Steve Sidwell. Mikel - 7 - The best I've seen him in a Chelsea shirt. Kept it simple on the ball and didn't take too much out of it. Hardly took more than 3 touches all night which is the idea in that position. Defensively looked sharp and dominant. Likes to nick the ball in front of the opponent which he did brilliantly tonight, except once, although it is a high risk form of defending. It was a ridiculous sending off. Ballack - 7 - Looks like a decent player. Malouda - 6 - Went missing for about 40 minutes but to be fair to him actually finished the game quite well. Pizarro - 4 - Did his best and worked hard for his 4. Has the cutting edge of a pound of butter sitting on the sideboard all night. SWP - 10 - Yes 10. Never put a foot wrong. Brilliant skill, huge work rate, and quality all night long. Plays with a smile on his face. Sidwell - 3 - Doesn't even look Sunderland quality. Ref - Up to Mikel sending off 7 - After - 2. Did well up to the Mikel incident. It was a poxbottle of a decision to send the Nigerian off. After that got everything wrong. Bottled the decision on the belletti elbow and totally bottled Neville's second yellow. Grant - 7 - When are we going to fall apart under this clown? I'm getting fed up waiting.

We've certainly killed the old "you can't buy success" cliche stone dead.

Paul McGrath is a Chelsea fan and always sticks up for us on Irish radio. If only he could have played for us. I guarantee he would have become one of your favourite players of all time.

Fair play to you Butch for saying that as the accepted SHEF line on it would appear to be that we may well win it but that it's a crappy competition which anyone could win given a bit of luck (just in case we do manage to pull it off).

come into chat you bitter little men

Another game gone by and another less than impressive performance from the SHEFF. This time though it really was worrying as he looked to have no idea how to handle Bentley who played a classic "in the hole" role. He's clearly no Makalele and it remains to be seen exactly what role he might play for us in the future.

Before you all go rushing to read the report I feel it is only fair to warn you.... [spoiler:2la1r7la]There's a bit about G4 touching himself, which image has ruined my f ucking day

I voted for Carvalho in the SHEF Mikel of the Match competition.

U make me sotens(e)I'l(l) scream one of these days.

Are you on pot?

He's the Shed End Forum Favourite (SHEFF). He can do what he wants! He's also got very wavy arms for such a young man.

Their pub team was marginally better than our pub team today. The fact we managed to "create" four clear chances against them today with our prosaic midfield suggests to me that this is Manure's title to lose. Ratings: Cech - 5 - Some good saves towards the end but poor distribution and THAT mistake C Cole - 7 - Showed a lot of bollocks out there and no little skill. MOM for us Alex - 6 - Looks like Paul McGrath and plays a bit like him too (when Paul was 38) Ferreira - 6 - Didn't notice anything good bad or indifferent he did today Terry - 6 - Calm down John, you're a f ucking marvellous player Makalele - 6 - Shielded the centre halves effectively as ever Wright Philips - 4 - Not good enough unfortunately J Cole - 5 - In and out, but mostly out, still looked our only slim chance of actually creating something as opposed to feeding off second balls all day Lampard - 3 - What does the poor guy have to do to be substituted. Clearly didn't want to play today so passed it to them all day in a vain attempt to get off the pitch Mikel - 5 - Another game goes by, another opportunity for me to get the point goes by too. Will probably be The Shed End man of the match Shevchenko - 7 - What little of the ball he got he did quite well with. Thought he looked likely to score, until, that is, he actually got a chance

Nice post Just.

They're going to make us play 2 teams. That will be a real test of Grant's abilities.

And a bloody good response it was too - probably why I completely ignored it at the time. Anyway I reserve the right to bring this up again in the future, hopefully when you're not looking. (I just prefer the flicky, wasteful, non-productive, joyful Joe much more than the Sidwell version)

You heard it here first. He can compare pube consistency and hue with McShane.

I agree he ticks every box but I disagree that Sunderland would sell him, and certainly not cheaply. He has been their only positive this season. Keane will get the money he needs in January regardless.

You're just wrong there. It was always an inconvenient fact for fans of both Mourinho and Cole (that's nearly everyone on the board) that Mourinho didn't really fancy Cole and didn't play him anything like as often as he could have. Each week when teams were named on here, all of them contained Cole every week, and the actual team didn't. Each time when Cole was injured posters would look forward to his return disregarding the fact that when he was fit he wasn't being picked. I realise it was too painful for some people but that doesn't mean the facts should be ignored. Mourinho attempting to turn Cole into Steve Sidwell may be seen by some as a good thing. I hated it myself but that's just a matter of opinion. The facts on appearances were posted before (and ignored): *repost These are the premier league appearances for some players under Mourinho. Number of games started/Number of substitute appearances Lampard 111/1 Terry 101/1 Makelele 91/6 Carvalho 75/5 Drogba 73/21 Ferreira 65/9 Even...Robben 51/16 Cole 48/30 Shevchenko by the way 21/9 *repost Disregard the number of appearances if you like but please look at the ratio of starts to substitute appearances. It is also true as you know that he was almost always substituted when he did start. This season, under Grant, he has made 15 starts (4th highest in the squad) with 5 substitute appearances. Cole is happier under Grant because he is playing for a coach who trusts him, lets him do what he is good at, and gives him playing time in which to do it.