Chippy

nicely put and couldn' agree more, Postmen

I expect everyone will be talking about the lack of communication between the coaches as we had such a bad game but in the games we have won it really hasn't looked like they have a lot to say to each other, maybe its their way? the players went out and played poorly tonight and I think Grant got the substitutions spot on with Essien going to RB and Belletti off and Mickel on. Sweepy for Malouda could have happened earlier for me but he did get it right, I cant see much further than the players when I look at tonights bad show, Drogba was as bad as he has been for quite a while, Belletti was as bad as a defender has ever been period, Maka Malouda Lampard even Bridge was having trouble and he is usually at the worst steady its easy to go back to the manager/coach team but at the end of the day Shalke played better than expected and no one looked up for it tonight. I doubt we will play that bad against Rosenbourg and Grant has been shown by this game that we need to shore up defensively as well as trying to be more attractive or better teams will make us pay. It could be a lesson learned that has not cost us too much. I'll get over you.. I know I will I'll pretend my ship's not sinking And I'll tell myself I'm over you come on everybody

Riccy by about a mile, has he been out of our top 3 in the last 30 games he's been involved in? Malouda Makelele and Belletti had bad games, Cech, Essien,Carlo, done ok, Joey ok second half, Mickel I thought came on and steadied things quite well under the circumstances. looked really disjointed tonight,glad to come away with a point. have to give credit to Shalke, they were right up for it. lets hope we learned something from this apart from we miss JT more than we thought. big thanks to Besiktas for adding to tonights misery, no credit to the scousers obviously

--------------Cech----------- --Richards-Riccy-Terry-Clichy- Ronaldo-Lampard-Fabregas-Joey -------Drogba-----Torres---

A bit more than a slight success mate, I dont know why he never subbed Drogba but to question his choices so far in substitutions is a bit much, I have seen a few good ones to be honest even bringing off Drogs and Cole towards the end of games they have played well in so they can feel the crowds response, Malouda for Paulo at left back, Essien and Kalou against Liecester...all good decisions.

sweepy had a very good game and I like the way he gets on with the job after eternal speculation regarding him leaving us. Belletti is getting better and better, Alex looked steadier, Lamps is back to his best. Surprised we appeared to take the foot of the pedal 2nd half and surprised Sheva never got half an hour. another decent result though.

spot on with the prediction, well done mate. sounded on the Radio like we were pretty decent first half and then saw out the second half.mat letiss said if they had scored we would have scored again. The points in the bag are great and third place looks more like it

Paulo will be missed as he was coming into some good form, hopefully Bridge will be in as his replacement although Malouda is decent at LB. be good to keep the run going and hope we can get in front early so Drogba can have a rest and Sheva can get some more game time.

Keep the Blue Flag Flying Moos, your up too late mate

Nice to see Nibs and Abromovich views nearer my own on this, I dont want to prove right or wrong with anyone else who's opinions differ..I.E Bluenut, Ethical, Jack etc as we are all on the same side and have taken the seasons events in different ways and deal with them differently, I couldn't count the number of posts by these fella's that I have agreed with in the past and dont doubt that will happen in the future, It just seems time to forget the past, the good and bad of Jose's reign, forget our views on why he went and get behind the new regime with a bit of optimism, we should all be praising things that go right instead of finding excuses for why they did. comparisons will always be made but we have to welcome the change and not use Jose's results as a yardstick to beat Grant with if he mucks up here and there. lets KTBFF and stick together behind the team. Cheers

Some also forget that we demolished sides 4-0 (Wigan at home) West Ham away 4-1 put 6 against lowly Macclesfield. We also beat Man City 3-0 at home last season. We know Jose could thrash sides if he wanted or needed to. If you also look at the scoring totals while he was manager you'll find we scored the most goals over his 3 years! I just don't buy the entertainment arguement. Can Avram win ugly, and will he get slated for doing so, the same way Jose did? An ugly win is whats needed at Wigan, I'd go for 1-0, but can totally understand where Jack is coming from. But IF Avi can deliver another 6-0 I'd gladly take it Bluenut I remember those games with pride but do you also remember the Champions league games with Liverpool when we had the far better team but went out home and away as if we were defending a lead? we could argue this till the end of the season as we seem to view the game and what we get out of it in different ways, I would take entertaing footballl and a good chance of winning things all day over a slightly better chance and strangling the life out of games, especially games we could and should have gone out and played in i.e turned it on a bit. also I would love to see Grant do well and although Mourinho is a legend in my house as well as yours, I could see wrong in him and wont just talk about his good points. Cheers

Entertaining football is what Grant has said he is trying to bring and that wont happen overnight, we have all seen a change and although the football going forward has improved with speed of passing, more crossing, better movement, more use of width even, some either dont want to see it or just call it Jose's style. ok it has not always worked and defensively it is riskier(I dont even take the Liecester game into account with this) but it is going to take a bit longer than this to get the players to know their roles and whats expected of them. Grant will learn how to grind out a result against tough opposition (like Jose did) but I hope leaves that tactic at home when we are easily winning and go's for the jugular (like Jose didn't) people forget the times we sat on 1 or 2 goal advantages and played out a game so boringly that the most exciting thing that happened was when a full back strayed to near the half way line. we might go at Wigan gung ho and lose the game, we might draw or we might win with a gound out result but one thing that looks likely is if we are playing good enough and get a lead the excitement wont go out of the game until the last 6 minutes when the team who is still only 1-0 down realises they may as well sling everyone forward because somehow they are still in with a shout. only my opinion but although I rated Jose highly I really dont feel he got everything right and dont expect the next man to.

There are plenty of players out there who have been stars at more than one Club and I dont doubt if Lamps decides to leave us he will be a star somewhere else, Hope he stays here but if he does go I hope he stars wherever that is. Ronnie will always be a star attraction and if he were to come here he would take some outshining, I'd like to see him shine in a Blue shirt. our players that have been mentioned have become stars at Chelsea but that doesn't mean players who have had good careers elswhere cant have a good one with us aswell.

If we had been sitting in the top two we would be getting those headlines, I dont doubt they have some headlines already waiting for when we meet LeArse and Manure under Avram. Couldn't give a toss about Headlines or anything elsea the scummy media print, I dont even buy papers anymore and that in itself is another testament to the Jose period.

If I wanted to hear people making comments I think I would be watching the WWF, Give me football that brings a tear to my eye like Zola's goal against Norwich or Ossies diving header in the 70 final against leeds and I will never need to read the back page hoping our manager outsmarted Fergie with a wisecrack what else can we miss him for? I miss his flash Coat, Avram will never look that Hot We've got the same Eggs in the Basket unyet the Omelette is tasting better and better, thats enough for mr

strange one this, I dont want to Swap Lamps for Ronnie and hope Frankie finishes his career with us...but If he has still not signed a new contract (now would be a good time) and decides to buy himself out and we can have a player like goofy to soften the blow I for one will be extatic. Ronaldinio is one of the best players in the world and maybe could do with a new challenge, Yes it's possible he will get his legs snapped but he knows that this league is a lot tougher physically than Spain and if he thinks he can cut it here I would welcome him with high expectations. with the style of football we are trying to adopt he would fit in here better than ever and Ten Cate has probobly got an opinion on this worth taking notice of. to be honest if I watched Zola at his best and he was playing in spain I would have the same fears, he had very quick feet, great awareness but was pretty diminutive and he handled it very well. Ronnie is very muscular and looks like he might be tougher than we give him credit for, ok thats meaning I dont think he will get knocked off the ball too easily and means nothing if someone wants to take his legs away.

I cant even think about it, I truely couldn't imagine supporting another team. I can watch and comment on good moves and goals by other teams but just cant imagine ever caring if they won or lost ,

Exactly, It's hard enough being rusty but then playing in front of a keeper who hardly gets a game as well and speaking different languages playing different systems has got to be difficult, add to that maybe not giving the opposition enough credit as they watch them carved open again and again and it all adds to the defenders getting caught napping, I doubt they will play that badly again and hopefully it will stick in their minds and keep them alert. Malouda looks a handy makeshift left back as he sometimes did at Lyon, I hope Paulo's injury is not serious.

Sheva's goal came at a crucial time and I'm happy for him, Sinclair sounded superb first half. wont vote a mom as I only heard it on the radio, if anyones got DAB radio a new station Real I think is broadcasting all Chelseas games like smooth FM used to.

sounded like Leicester scored early while we napped then Frank scored and we took control, Frank again and it looked like it would be a rout... Paulo injured and Malouda comes on at RB (he's done that before quite well at lyon) then some dodgy defending and 5 foot 6 Campbell heads an equaliser, then cort gets one with more bad defending. Then Sheva scores a blinder and we are all over them again, Kalou should have scored Pizzaro hits the bar, frank heads it in and it comes back out to Sheva, exciting stuff but the bad defending cost us a big win and Ben Haim sounded like he had a stinker. Their Goalie had a great game. still we are through and that will do me

Seems to be working well I know, Still like to see how it would work maybe with Anelka--Sheva--Cole.. Anelkas still pretty quick, could work.

Spot on Man City are a good side and would probobly put a few past Arsenals CL opponents themselves, thing is they came to attack us and set there stall to win the game, we pummeled them and they had no way to stop us, credit to them for trying to come at us and score but on that day Chelsea played for fun and that is good to see. The six of the best was just ridiculas, Gerrards Goal was well hit but if the wall done any kind of job might have rebounded and smacked him in the face then perhaps it would of been worthy of a few replays. seems the media never liked us with an outspoken Jose at the helm unyet a quiet Avram seems to have not changed their ways.

I would say he would be a good aquisition, when he was at Arsenal I thought he was gonna be one of the best strikers in the world. ok he has changed Clubs a few times but he seems to have buckled down and I have not heard much about all the hangers on and advisors he used to have, was it Brothers or something? I still harbour expectations for Sheva but could see anelka and Sheva being a fair partnership while Drogba is away. I would probobly let Pizzaro go if it was up to me as he just hasn't shown anything in the little(admittedly) time he has been given.

Nice Post Evissy, I like to be entertained and have found myself actually watching a couple of the other top sides and wishing we could be a bit more like them, this even when we were sitting above them in the table with the mr sheen out waiting for the trophys to roll in. dont get me wrong I have given the (what did you win then) reply to gooners who say our football is boring and I have made out winning was the important thing, and to a point it is but there is a happy medium and if we dont find it immiediatly but play good football while looking for it, I am ready toi enjoy the ride. I hear Ethical "trophies at the end of the season will tell" kind of thing but I doubted we would win any this season anyway the way we started and feel actually more confident now than then. I feel a new excitement as if the expectation of winning is not so high now and more of a bonus, its a bit like the old days not being favourites for everything although I doubt if that will last. I feel things can get better and I wont complain if it takes a season or two to get it right.

Frank has been brilliant for us and the only reason people have ever complained about him is because his standards are so high, he can play at 70% and is still as good as most midfielders in the Prem. I dont think he has made up his mind what he wants to do yet and I really dont think Mourinho going is anything to do with it, Spanish football has been something he has toyed with for a while now and his wife probobly still thinks of spain as home and that must be a big draw to him, that said I still think it would take a good offer from one of the big clubs in Spain coupled with a dissapointing season for us to prize him away. I would put my money on him signing a new contract here if we really start to progress but thats only my opinion. I would hate for him to go.