Ruh Buh Juh

I'd almost forgotten what winning felt like. Glowing report from the bbc summary a few minutes ago, saying we looked like the Chelsea of old again! Not to say that's it, we're over the bump, we need to stick to our guns and string at least 4 results together before we can even consider that! Seems McEachran was fantastic AGAIN.

This must send a huge message to Ancelotti about Sturridge. It must.

Maybe the goals we haven't scored in recent weeks will all come at once!

Is the Reyman story floating around again?

The official site is saying that Drogba, Essien and Ash all face a fitness test to see whether they're fit. All of which open up a good spot for Sturridge, McEachran and PVA respectively.

I'm with the majority, CL qualification is definitely going to be top priority where the league is concerned. At the moment, we don't look like a side capable of winning the CL or FA Cup, I hope they can turn it around, so we can effectively start again for next season.

PVA, Bruma, McEachran, Sturridge, Kakuta should be the first names on the team sheet for this one. None of this "we need confidence" bollocks like back when we played Marseille, throw them on and see what they can do, they can't be much worse than recent weeks. --------------------------Turnbull ---Ferreira----Bruma-------------JT----PVA -----------------------McEachran -----------Ramires-----------------Lampard ---Sturridge---------------------------Kakuta -------------------------Anelka I think that's what it'll be. Anelka looks fed up to be playing on the right wing, let's see if he does any better, if not, bring on Drogba, and let Anelka warm the bench for the rest of the season.

127 Hours, the new Danny Boyle film about the climber Aron Ralston who fell when climbing and got his arm trapped under a rock. It's an absolutely fascinating film about what a man would do to survive, and his struggle with keeping his sanity. Definite must-see, though not for the faint hearted, the arm cutting scene is pretty gruesome. Rumours of people fainting during it in America (they faint when some one dies in a cartoon though, ffs) but numerous people had their heads in their hands, refusing to watch it and others simply walked out! Incredible film, has to get some Oscar nominations for best film and best actor.

Sturridge should SURELY get a start in the coming weeks, SURELY. Anelka and Kalou do nothing, Sturridge can clearly do something, as proved by this result, and the 60 minute match in training a few weeks back, when he hit a hat-trick (including a 50 yard chip of Cech!). Come on Carlo, we need change.

My top 5: 1. The '59 Sound - The Gaslight Anthem 2. Love, Ire & Song - Frank Turner 3. American Idiot - Green Day 4. Puzzle - Biffy Clyro 5. American Slang - The Gaslight Anthem Really hard to choose the next 5 mind. So many good albums over the past 10 years, though I only started fully appreciating albums around 2005, when I turned 13/14.

I really wanted Adam Johnson when it was announced we were interested, and furious when he signed for City. Based on your theory of him leaving in the next two years, we should be keeping track. In two years time, Malouda will be 32, Drogbs will probably have retired, Anelka will probably have moved on, we'll be needing a whole new front three, and Adam Johnson would fit down the left/right PERFECTLY. He's an immensley talented player who I'd love to see wearing a Chelsea shirt. Plus, he's only 23, he'll surely be an absolute must in the England first team, he nearly is now.

My head agrees with dkw, my heart agrees with Nibs. In games like at Spurs and Aston Villa, shaking up the midfield with Josh for Ramires, for example, could have been excellent. It was pretty obvious that as soon as we went 2-1 down, it would be all us until we scored. Lamps was playing really well, he was making things happen, making runs, like he always does, sadly however, 9/10 he almost has to start opportunities himself and spread the ball to the wing, and run to get into a good position, that's what he's good at. But surely, wouldn't it be even better had he had some sort of distribution from behind him, i.e. from a player like Josh? Someone who can spot his runs into space quicker, or even making runs that take defenders out of the game, leaving Josh to play a ball to a Malouda or Ashley, while Lamps arrives on cue, or something like that. It could be exactly what we're missing - someone to free Lampard up a bit, because as good players as they are, Essien/Mikel/Ramires are not particularly creative. However, we shouldn't rush Josh too much, at all. We should use him more often, yes, but as dkw said, this is a really rough patch for Chelsea. What if Carlo throws caution to the wind and throws him on when we're 1-0 down against Wolves, but he makes absolutely no impact whatsoever? It would horribly dent his confidence, plus you know what people are like on here, if Josh does nothing they'll exclaim in anger "Carlo! Why bring Josh on when we're chasing a game?!" when only weeks before they'll be screaming for him to come on against Arsenal, for example, contradictory as it may seem.

Close this thread now. I really don't understand why everyone's blaming Carlo, when clearly something's going wrong with our front 3. Drogba's scored TWO GOALS from open play since August, Malouda was on fire at the start of the season, he scored one on Wednesday, but he's not firing at all, and was poor today, Anelka hasn't scored at all in TWO MONTHS. Why sack Carlo when we have a transfer window? Striker/Winger would be much appreciated, plus we could get some old fashioned support from the fans on a free.

Lamps was immense, the only thing he did wrong was send that shot straight at Friedel when it was 1-2. Very, very proud words for Bruma too, thought he was excellent today, blip for the Heskey goal, but he'll get bigger and stronger, he'll get there, I thought he was brilliant.

I'm both angry and gutted, and I have an element of pride after today's match. I'm furious at how we conceded the last goal, the irony of it all is that before the free kick JT was screaming at everyone "STAY UP STAY UP!" to try and get the offside, and who's the man that plays Clark onside? Sod's law. Gutted and proud come in the same bundle, the way we fought back to get to 3-2 was exceptional, to lose it is unbelievably gutting. I think the way we came back should be some sort of consolation, but the loss of two points will be the most gutting part. Wolves away on Wednesday, we need a hammering.

Definite nomination for post title of the millenium. Great stuff Gem, he needs to be put in his place.

I am a huge huge huge fan of Aguero, but I voted Neymar, he's definitely a player that would run at players, he has incredible speed and skill. Midfielder, I couldn't decide between Schweinsteiger, Dzagoev or Diego, all fabulous talents. I voted for Dzageov, because he's younger and can easily double up as a striker. Defender I went for Phil Jones, but with the majority, Cahill would definitely be a good acquisition.

The Chelsea 4-4 Liverpool is my favourite game of all time. Our come back in the second half was sensational, even if we almost lost it, the tension created was second to none, blinding game.

Agree with most that has been said. The time for sticking with the big guns passed us a few games ago. We kept saying that Lampard would be the spark to re-ignite our season, clearly that didn't happen. Drogba played okay yesterday, but we can't rely on him for much longer. I don't like slating players terribly on this forum, but Kalou simply can't continue to start. He should be a regular bench warmer. That really is all he's good for I'm afraid. Anelka needs to wise up when he comes back from injury, he's playing very slowly and lazily, quite ironically considering he's the fastest player in the squad. While Sturridge is injured, Kakuta should be starting in a Malouda/Drogba/Kakuta front 3, when Sturridge comes back, he'll replace Kakuta, with Kakuta coming off the bench regularly, and starting a few games along the way. Like pretty much everyone has said, Josh needs to get regular playing time. Starting games here and there, another regular coming off the bench. If we continue with 3 in midfield, Essien/Ramires/Josh could well be our starting midfield come next August, I don't see Lamps staying a starter next season if I'm honest. Mikel needs a reality check as well, he's started every game this season and though he played well to start off with, he's been getting worse and worse. Time out of the team could do him good. If we're going to truly continue this youth policy, with our centre backs, we really do need to trust in Bruma, and possibly recall Rajkovic. He seems to be playing excellently for Vitesse. That gives us JT/Alex/Bruma/Rajkovic as out and out centre backs, with Ivan doubling up as a centre and right back. Bosingwa should be our regular right back, he may not be as good as we'd like defensively , but he definitely provides us balance on the wings with Ash on the left and Boss on the right. Van Aanholt provides excellent cover for Ash, and Ancelotti seems to like him too. Our defence would be covered, if that is what we do. I truly believe, however, that a change in formation is needed. Not to the diamond, but we should definitely have 2 up front. An idea I had in mind was a 4-3-1-2, like so: ----------------------------Cech ---Bosngwa----Alex------------JT----Ashley ----------Ramires------Essien-------Josh --------------------------Kakuta ----------------Sturridge------Drogba That is a plan for next season however, and whether Kakuta can play in the hole remains to be seen, so it may be an idea to look at a player who can, someone like Sneijder immediately springs to mind. Also, an adequate replacement for Drogba (i.e. a big, strong player who can win headers like he does, win high balls from Cech etc), Lukaku seems to be a good idea, but I've never seen him play so I have no idea what he's like. This season, everyone needs a proper kick up the arse from Carlo. Carlo's too nice after matched we've lost, he needs to get genuinely angry with the players and rejig everything, a no player is safe mantra. After yesterday, Cech, Ivan, JT and Ash are the only players who should keep their position, especially Ivan as you could really tell that after his goal he looked incredibly up for it, we need that from 0:00 not in the 60th minute when we're 3-1 down!

Joe, I am disappoint. I watched Memento in the car up to my grandparents last night, it's superb. Absolutely brilliant film, I loved it. Why aren't more films told with a time line like that?!

Not a chance, two massive games can't be cancelled in a row, especially after the rags' reaction to the cancellation of the Manure match!

Given we'll have a whole two weeks off before this one, Lamps should be fully fit by then, which is a sign that we may well get an almost (without Alex) preferred 11. -----------------------------Cech ---Bosingwa-------Ivan--------Terry------Ashley -----------------------------Mikel ------------Essien---------------------Lampard ---Anelka-------------------------------------Malouda ---------------------------Drogba I hope!

http://www.chelseafc.com/page/LatestNews/0,,10268~2248991,00.html That's Kakuta committing his future officially, now sign Ivan up!

Fantastic player, one of my favourites in the league outside of Chelsea, even though he is a Spud. I don't think it would be a huge blow for McEachran. He still needs to grow as a player, and though he has impressed heavily in recent weeks, he still won't start. Plus it's clear Carlo likes him, he's been on the bench nearly every game for a long while now. He'll remain a fixture on the bench I think. Mikel would miss out, Essien drops to his position and Modric/Lamps the other two in the midfield. People wouldn't like Essien in that position, but that midfield would be unbelievable. Whether we can get him however remains to be seen, and unlikely considering he's cup-tied for the Champions League, but he would be an excellent aquisition.