waldron

Balance may be restored by selling Malouda, Kalou, Deco, Ballack, Anelka and other bit part players like Ivanovic. Keep hold of Mancienne and have him as first reserve to JT and Ric (on previous evidence he'll get plenty of games). Buy a decent No 2 keeper. Get some width in the team so that Drogba can have one last good season, with a spine of Cech, JT, Essien, Lampard & Drogba things are not that bad. No point in speculating who to buy until we know who the new boss is.

Totally agree, unfortunately I fear that patience is not one of Roman's great qualities.

Grant had better results than JM ? Am I watching the same game or is Ian Porterfield still manager ?

In 46 years you don't remember when the club was at such a low ebb ? How about 1983 when we were one game away from relegation to Division 3 ? Or the riot at the Bridge after losing to a Clive Walker-inspired Sunderland ? Let's not shed tears for a very well-paid manager with a supposed World-class reputation. He turned out to be a one-trick pony.

No wonder he's dismayed, there goes his meal ticket.

What does this bloke do ? Does he have serious dirt on Roman ? Is he Kenyon's "friend" ? I know, why not make him manager until the end of the season and see how he likes the pressure ?

Totally agree with Dustbin - Chelsea have been called a lot of things in the media recently, but I think basket-case is the closest to the truth. Let's take a deep breath, bring in Bobby Campbell to the end of the season and then hire Glenn and his psychic to lead us into the Promised Land. Hallelujah!

What is this ? Avram Grant being mentioned ? No, anything but that. What the demise of Gene shows is that: 1. Roman has not lost interest in the club 2. Because of 1. it is going to be difficult to attract a top-notch, experienced manager 3. Forget this season, appoint a stopgap who can keep us in 4th - Curbishley ? 4. Have a good long think about things and then try and get Zola/Clarke in the summer 5. If not Zola or even Robbie, what about Roy Keane ? He wouldn't tolerate Drogba's antics and would probably threaten to resign as often as him. 6. Don't want Hiddink, Mancini, Schuster

Ok so England wanted him at one time, that's hardly an endorsement. Remember all the superb players Portugal have had, but when it comes to the crunch - bottlers. He was unlucky to lose Essien, but when he didn't get Robinho his plan collapsed and has never recovered. What serious team has a second-choice goalkeeper like Hilarious. His techique is to wish the ball wide rather than dive to stop it. Bosingwa, yes he can attack, but defend ? Alex - now you know why every Brazilian wants to be a forward. Mikel - can someone teach him to tackle ? Ballack and Deco - only here for the cash. At last a winger, some width, but no let's take him off and confuse Hull by playing three strikers in the same square yard of pitch. Please don't talk about the League title, let's make a concerted effort to avoid fifth or sixth place. Play Quaresma or Stoch or both, Play Mancienne, leave out Deco, Drogba and Alex. If Hilarious, Alex and Ivanovic start on Saturday v Watford, get down the bookies and put your beer money on the Hornets. Let's hope Zola and Clarkey can be persuaded to leave the Hammers in the summer.

If there are any Malouda apologists still left out there, have a look at Goal.Com's ratings for the game - "Malouda epitomises everything that is wrong with Chelsea at the moment". Now of course there is more to it than that, but really as long as the Not-so big Phil insists on playing him what hope is there ?

I have no axe to grind with Malouda. He was excellent when at Lyon, but he just doesn't cut it at Chelsea. Has anyone seen Robben playing for Real recently ? Now there is a winger. Even while injured he was more effective than Malouda. If we had any wide players other than Malouda, he wouldn't get a look-in. Incidentally, why does he never stay out wide ? He wanders inside far too often. Kalou reminds me of Kezman, a luxury you can afford in a winning team, but not when struggling. Barcelona are not stupid, look at their form this season, they knew Deco had seen his best days. Scolari has actually come out and said we need a playmaker - what the hell is Deco if not that ? At the start of the season old Red Nose said Chelsea were ageing and then said he'd been misquoted. That was tongue-in-cheek. The Essien injury robbed us of the drive in our midfield and you need someone with his workrate to compensate for the stroll in the park style of Ballack and Deco. Facts are facts, once you have more than two players over 30 you are in trouble.

But if we get Robinho, Scolari will finally be able to implement Plan A, whatever that is.

Yes, Yes, Yes. Kalou to Stenhousemuir and Deco to Hartlepool as well. Oh joy !

Did anyone notice in those last desperate minutes on Saturday a young sub cut inside and fire in a shot that Sorensen did well to save ? Now I don't know how good this kid is but he did more in those few seconds than Skip to Malouda has done all season. Scolari has actually acknowledged he is giving the youngsters a go - who won the only header against the Stoke giants ? Di Santo. What happened ? The equaliser. Let's find a desperate club before Jan. 31st to take Deco, Malouda and Haven't got a Kalou off our hands, on loan or by easy instalments.

Ray Wilkins to blame ? Are you serious ? The bottom line is Mourinho was cleared out despite being our greatest manager ever, Grant took over his team and despite trying to balls it up at every opportunity managed a second place in EPL and CL (what would we give for that this season ? ) Scolari had set his reputation on getting Robinho and has no other plan to cope with the loss of that player. He has an ageing team and seems to think Kalou, Malouda and Deco are worth their place in the team or on the bench. He sold the only decent left-sided player at the club and has no width to accommodate Drog/Anelka up front. Expect a 4th/5th place finish, an FA Cup exit by Round 5 at best and a defeat v Juve. Not so big Phil will resign by Easter and we will appoint Di Matteo as the new manager. He will play the likes of Mancienne regularly and blood some youth. In the summer Deco, Ballack, Malouda and Drogba will depart. Now my crystal ball has clouded over.

I did back Manure at 5/4, but unfortunately didn't go for the correct score. When betting, the head should always rule the heart. I'm afraid to say there could be further profits to be made in backing us to lose at Anfield and Villa Park.

23rd October 1965 - Chelsea v Leicester - lost 0-2 - big gangly looking kid at no. 9, playing his first home league game. The current England no. 9 on the bench. Any guesses ? Yes it was the King and Barry Bridges. The crowd were chanting Bridges' name for the last fifteen minutes, wanting him to come on. That was a season where we couldn't win at home and had the division's best away record, winning about 11. Nothing changes, eh ?

Why has this guy never been mentioned ? Doesn't his loan period end on 31 Dec.? If he comes back and is as good as Capello seems to think, then we can offload the two carthorses - Alex and Ivanovic.

Just what we need, another front man who can't play with anyone else. Arshavin ? In exchange for Malouda, Kalou & Deco, yeah why not ?

Let's not beat about the bush - Kalou and Malouda must be offloaded - I'll drive them to the airport if necessary. We are missing Carvalho and Essien, we have no Plan B, particularly at home and Deco is going off faster than a chicken carcass left out in the sun, but how much longer have we to put up with the sight of Kal and Mal lining up alongside Anelka (or Drogba) ? They might scare WBA and Sunderland, but Roma, Bordeaux, Liverpool and Arsenal ? I don't think so.

LAMPARD.

Cech - 4 because he had nothing to do Bosingwa - 8 Is there a better attacking full back ? A Cole - 6 OK Terry - 7 Super Carvalho - 8 Class in spades Mikel - 9 Maka is back, but bigger Lampard - 9 the man for CL Deco - 5 Not great Malouda - 6 Good goal, but not convinced J Cole -7 great header Anelka - 6 He does not carry the threat of the Drog Belletti - 7 what a shot Ballack - 6 he will replace Deco as season wears on Kalou - 4 At least the dodgy haircut has gone

I saw this on another site, a combination of Kalou and Malouda - wasn't there anyone out there to take these two off our hands by Sept. 1st ? Is Scolari taken in by these two as Grant and Jose were ?

Kaka in 2009, Robinho for now.