heckel

Over the last twelve years (since I started supporting the side) there are, for me, only three possibilities, and only one is a dead cert. 1. Zola - the word alone has mystical properties. He does not satisfy Mike O's criteria so much as set their terms. 2. JT - youth product, inspiration for our first league win in fifty years. Won't be 'eligible' until a bit later in his career. 3. Lampard, though to be honest I'm not convinced he satisfies either (2) or (5), convince me... For me Wise is a Chelsea hero, but where Zola would stroll into our current 11, I'm not sure Wise could usurp Essien, Ballack, Lamps or Makalele in his prime (even if he had our current training facilities and squad management). For me Drogba is no where near. Fantastic striker, perhaps one of our best ever, but his heart has never fully been here - definately a journeyman. EDIT: Actually there is another possibility, though on the condition his role as player and manager are considered together: Vialli. He's the one who truly turned Chelsea's fortune decisivley to our current success. My nominations are therefore: Zola, Vialli and JT. Possible future contenders: Cech (if he stays), Essien, Cole (if he can continue his rise and rise)

Ronnie's career has not been one of rise and fall, but always uneven. Apparently he used to party in Paris when he first moved to Europe. I think it would be a major risk but if it worked it could be the move that sets us up for the next three years. Ironically, I think Mourinho would be the right manager for him, discipline/self-belief - I reckon Rijkaard's laissez faire attitude is precisely the wrong one to take. I'm sure he'd be very happy to move to London, but then that's problem isn't it?

3-1 - couldn't help myself

Sure things have mellowed, but for me Jack's posts were and are still quality. If we win the CL I will be over the moon but that doesn't mean I will be blind to a lot the cynicism that has informed the running of the club the last few years. We've exceeded all expectations under Grant, but even if we take the CL would anyone want Grant to stay for the foreseeable future (i.e. more than three seasons)?

At least we know we have a consistent team-building policy in place with this signing as we've managed to do the same thing every season. It can only go something like this: 1) Look at weak spots in the side and write them down on a piece of paper, note particularly the lack of flair players/attacking midfielders. 2) Throw that piece of paper away. 3) Sign a right-back. 4) Encourage manager to bench said right-back and play a non right-back (Essien, Huth, Gallas etc) in their position. 5) Drink a club soda.

Mwahahahaha, soon we will own all the right backs in the WORLD!! Take that Fergie, Neville will be at right back until you DIE!!

Wait a minute! Who was in the crowd that day watching Huth slug his way up and down that right wing? viewtopic.php?f=6&t=7635&p=117885#p117885 Lordy lord!

Ranieri is not the only one who used Huth as right back. Remember this game against Bayern? The one in which we conceded late goals to take us to the brink of CL elimination? http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2005 ... atch.sport He used the same trick in the first leg: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2005 ... nute.sport "66 min: Chelsea sub: Johnson off, Huth on" And who was an unused sub that day? "Subs: Cudicini, Smertin, Geremi, Forssell, Huth, Tiago, Nuno Morais." Uh oh... Also, to add to my last post: why was Mourinho's third season relatively unsuccessful? Might it have been that he had two players in Ballack and Shevchenko, at least one of whom it is unlikely he signed, that he had trouble integrating into a fairly tightly knit squad? That he had an administration that was interfering with team affairs over his head, and that this frustrated him and made him lash out, and sometimes make rash decisions to 'prove' them wrong?

All you've done is confirm my point just! It took a new man coming in to be able to make a clean break with the past, as he had no link to the pre-Roman squad and therefore, unlike Ranieri, did not have to deal with two separate bodies of players. Anyway, I only posted this because we might have the chance to assess objectively the difference btwn our last two managers and I'm looking forward to seeing the outcome.

I thought this post might smoke you out. But I ain't gonna bite. Even if we had won the CL (and we were not far off the final in that second leg) Ranieri's position would have been untenable - the Man wanted 'his own' manager on board, and because he wanted WORLD domination in THREE WEEKS he was singularly unable to see Ranieri's strength as a cultivator of talent and excellent squad manager. I entirely accept that we needed Mourinho to come in to properly start the new regime off with a clean break from the old (as much as I supported Ranieri at the time). Unfortunately karma dictated Roman replaced one of the world's most selfless, adaptable managers with the world's most egotistical, stubborn one. Hence we now have the world's most thorough-going apparatchick manager. And he's in the final neither Mourinho nor Ranieri could reach!! Roman wins! Either way, this chapter in our history might yet have an interesting epilogue in the Serie A. Forza Juventus!

If he comes our way, we'll have the world record holder for most bicycle kick goals: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezuPi2bn ... re=related

Well the Serie A is drawing to a close and we find that Claudio the Great has done similar things to Juve as he did with Chelsea in the years before Roman: steered them into CL contention from a weak position (promotion from Serie B) and created a positive atmosphere in the dressing room. In doing this he has had easily the most successful post-Chelsea career out of our recent former managers: it is popular to state that Hoddle, Gullit and Vialli were all better managers for Chelsea and that Ranieri was never going to be a 'winner'. This might be true but the former three are either unemployed or in low-key positions while Ranieri is at the head of one of Europe's top sides, and with the CL £s coming in next season expect Juve to build their squad and be challenging at the summit of the league (maybe he'll be hoping to bring in his best and bravest signing, one Frank Lampard?). I suggest that those who think Ranieri is a loser closely follow Juve next season, as he is now in charge of a team that he has cultivated, which has the resources to challenge at the top (unlike Chelsea from '01-'03, or Valencia in '04-'05).* If he cannot deliver for Juve and gets the sack next season I'm sure there will smiles all round from the 'Clownio' contingent on the CSR/Shed End. I am a big fan of Claudio: a fine man, refreshingly humble without being righteous (a la Wenger), and a great cultivator of talent. I wish he'd toned down his eccentric team selection process while he was with us, but it is Ranieri's signings and his treatment of the team that gave Mourinho's PL side its formidable backbone (Drogba excepted) so I'll be watching, hoping he conclusively proves his detractors wrong and shows that his way can win big things. Most enticing is that we might be able to make a comparison between Mourinho and Ranieri IF Mourinho does indeed take over at AC Milan. The teams are in near identical situations. Aging squads, and club hierarchies that are only now emerging from the scandals of '05/'06. Assuming Milan get fourth spot, they'll both be in the CL next season and both will have to go through qualifying. Ranieri vs Mourinho: Bring it on!! *I still regard the '03/'04 season as a complete anomaly and one which is impossible to judge Ranieri on. He was under ridiculous pressure from administration that quite literally parachuted into power just as he had established his modus operandi, it was unlikely that he had full control over signings and therefore had the impossible task of juggling an established and steady squad with a weird assortment of new players with a whole plethora of different demands (who the f*ck could cope with JFH, Veron, Crespo and Makalele in the same squad!!), including loyalty to those players who had served him so well in the previous years and the prima donna attitude of some of the incomers.

brilliant

4-1, gut feeling.

"Who leaves the captain of Deutsche Fußballnationalmannschaft alone in the penalty zone?"

And I see a Russian man in a suit and dark glasses delivering player 'bonuses' to each and every member of Wigan's squad during the week. One thing's for sure, noone out-conspires Roman Abramovich!

Fantastic day - with this form and confidence I'm feeling really good about the CL final. The whole team has lifted since that win against Arsenal, and I reckon Fergie is absolutely sh*tting himself. I think next weekend just might be our greatest ever - they'll be nervous the mancs. I want Grant to put on a very attacking line-up, because if we score early and they don't then I see red cards, I see defensive mistakes, I see Rio losing it, I see Ronaldo bottling it like he so often does in important matches. CMON YOU BLUES

Well observed G4. I reckon that Cole would have benefitted a lot from the influence of Zola, and reckon that we should bring God back for a spell of intensive work with Cole (and perhaps Malouda and Kalou) to work on short passing and overall game awareness. I don't think we are going to see Cole getting any quicker so he needs to be a more patient, wise distributor of the ball in the last 1/3rd of the pitch. For a couple of years his 'look down, pass two players, look up, pass/shoot' worked really well. He now needs a new dimension to his game.

A difference between Drogba and Torres is that Drogba gives the team a lot more than just goals (see his performances in our first PL winning season). When he's had dry runs he's always worth having on the field because he wins 90% of balls in the air, and usually frees up space for other players because he's such a handful. If I was a 'pool supporter I would be very happy with Torres -it remains to be seen how he cope with any loss of form. Loz: thank the Lord you're right! Torres was overwhelmed a bit by the occasion (he'd been at atletico ffs! hardly European elite). However if you watch his goals one after another http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aodfpOvyuxw it's hard not to be impressed by his economy and the cleanness of his finishing.

I've always opposed the big-signing mentality, but I'm not sure I've been right. I now see that we've bought far too many players for btwn 15 and 25 million quid that have either flopped or not been given a proper chance. Slate me for this, but I actually think that some aspects of the galactico policy work well (that is paying big money for the absolute best and then playing them alongside homegrown talent) and that over the next three to four seasons we will move into a position where our academy will be producing quality players for the first team and so we can afford to make very selective elite buys to build the squad. Surely we would rather have Messi in the squad than Malouda/SWP/Shevchenko (combined cost approx. £70 million) I would be in favour of signing Messi for a big fee (let's say between 40 and 55 million) but NOONE else in the off-season and persisting with the likes of Mikel, Belletti, SWP, Pizarro and other fringe players, rather than offload a bunch of players (who have never really been given a shot) and spending 80 million on 4-5 replacements who, like Malouda and co, may or may not be useful for the side. What this season has proved beyond doubt is that our squad is fantastic, there is no need for major surgery over the summer. Let's splash out for a major young talent like Messi or Kaka, get a real dynamo coach in and we'll be sweet next season, especially with all our England boys getting a good rest.

You ain't half right. Torres's finishing has been phenomenal this season - it's always so simple, always the right number of touches and always placed with such precision that he doesn't need to bang it in. Will this form last?

Must say I'm pretty happy to see Leicester go down, still bitter about that 2-2 draw in '99 and that they incubated Robbie Savage for FIVE years.

We've got a big break before the final so no need to rest anyone. All it takes is for an early mistake from ManU next week and it could all be on - much stranger things have happened in football. Also even if we are focussed on the final, we need every ounce of self-belief and losing/drawing to Kegan's mob is not what our lot need. I really think that this game should be used to trial an attacking 4-4-2 formation FROM THE START. Belletti...Carv...Terry...Cole .............Essien ....Cole...Ballack...Lampard ......Anelka.......Drogba I'm happy for Ballack and Lampard to play a little shallower to hold the midfield if it means getting Anelka supporting Drogba up front and making some link-up play with Cole down that right hand side. On the left we know that A. Cole can get forward effectively (in which case, Essien can drop back. His pace makes him a very useful midfield 'sweeper', more so than an aging Makalele). The only alternative is to have the in-form Kalou on for Cole, move Lampard out right with Kalou on the left. Given A. Cole's good form, however, I would prefer to have the midfield creativity out right and I don't really know if Kalou can be effective out there.

1-0. Late goal to keep the final weekend interesting.

I didn't realize truth serums could be dispensed over FTTP, Loz and Mod are all powerful!