heckel

You've read my mind just.

Manchester United v Liverpool 14/03/2009 12:45 GMT Arsenal v Blackburn 14/03/2009 15:00 GMT Bolton v Fulham 14/03/2009 15:00 GMT Everton v Stoke 14/03/2009 15:00 GMT Hull v Newcastle 14/03/2009 15:00 GMT Middlesbrough v Portsmouth 14/03/2009 15:00 GMT Sunderland v Wigan 14/03/2009 15:00 GMT Chelsea v Manchester City 15/03/2009 13:30 GMT Aston Villa v Tottenham 15/03/2009 16:00 GMT West Ham v West Bromwich 16/03/2009 20:00 GMT Thankyou Chippy, your a legend.

Thankyou very much Butch. Team name: Essien's Revenge 03/03/09 Portsmouth (a) Chelsea win 2-1 15/03/09 Man City (h) Chelsea win 2-0 21/03/09 Tottenham (a) Draw 2-2 04/04/09 Newcastle (a) Chelsea win 1-0 11/04/09 Bolton (h) Chelsea win 1-0 18/04/09 Everton (h) Chelsea win 1-0 25/04/09 West Ham (a) Chelsea win 3-1 02/05/09 Fulham (h) Chelsea win 1-0 09/05/09 Arsenal (a) Draw 1-1 16/05/09 Blackburn (h) Chelsea win 2-0 24/05/09 Sunderland (a) Chelsea win 4-1 Chelsea to take 29 points from a possible 33, falling *one* point short of United

there you go, jose holds strong - no suprises.

let's wait and see, Jose not going to let his unbeaten home record go down easily.

Everton v West Bromwich 28/02/2009 12:45 GMT Arsenal v Fulham 28/02/2009 15:00 GMT Chelsea v Wigan 28/02/2009 15:00 GMT Middlesbrough v Liverpool 28/02/2009 15:00 GMT Hull v Blackburn 01/03/2009 12:30 GMT West Ham v Manchester City 01/03/2009 12:30 GMT Bolton v Newcastle 01/03/2009 13:00 GMT Aston Villa v Stoke 01/03/2009 15:00 GMT Thanks chippy

you're f**king not wrong mate - feeling like vomiting on my keyboard

sorry loz, don't know what came over me. Look, I've done it again!

I clicked on this thread, and it was slightly more boring that I'd anticipated. Now I am writing in it. Explain that...?

0-0, two sides to cancel each other out. Sorry for the pessimism

Hey Chippy - thanks for putting my tips in. 4 from 9 a pretty poor return - PL is getting more and more unpredictable (other than ManU winning)

Aston Villa v Chelsea 21/02/2009 12:45 GMT Arsenal v Sunderland 21/02/2009 15:00 GMT Bolton v West Ham 21/02/2009 15:00 GMT Middlesbrough v Wigan 21/02/2009 15:00 GMT Stoke v Portsmouth 21/02/2009 15:00 GMT Manchester United v Blackburn 21/02/2009 17:30 GMT Fulham v West Bromwich 22/02/2009 13:30 GMT Liverpool v Manchester City 22/02/2009 15:00 GMT Newcastle v Everton 22/02/2009 16:00 GMT Hull v Tottenham 23/02/2009 20:00 GMT

f**k, bad news, let's hope a year out will give him mental strength and he'll come back raring to go, with maturity as well. Good luck Gael

yep - I would say so. Hard to hold your head high with how things have gone the last couple of years.

Sorry big Phil - you were hired to create a new style of football at Chelsea and then were given no resources to do it. Enjoy your ££ payout and best luck returning to South America.

I'm with you bjd

This is the same Mourinho who sold Robben for Malouda, so not necessarily the best man when it comes to trading wingers. I would love for Scolari to get the best out of Queresma and stick to Jose to tell you the truth.

I pick us to bounce back and come out firing. 3-0

All this clip did was make me miss Makalele. God that little guy could shut down the play! Also see Essien's tackle? Tell you what, I'm more excited about his return now. POsitives for this signing: Not Malouda Not Malouda Not Malouda Not Malouda Not Malouda Not MaloudaNot Malouda Not Malouda Not Malouda Not Malouda Not Malouda Not Malouda Not MaloudavNot MaloudaNot MaloudaNot MaloudaNot MaloudaNot MaloudaNot MaloudaNot MaloudaNot MaloudaNot Malouda Not Malouda Not Malouda Not Malouda Not Malouda Scolari and he have worked together before Not Malouda Not Malouda Not MaloudaNot MaloudaNot MaloudaNot MaloudaNot Malouda Not MaloudaNot Malouda negatives: I don't really rate him. But then: who the f**k am I?

Thankyou Chippy, this guy also sees things as I do: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/fe...-league-anfield and makes the all important point that it is Mourinho's bad buys two years ago that are hampering our attack now. And as you say, we can't buy our way out this time. A-tish-Kalou A-tish-Kalou we all fall down!

I meant to say 'results only' that was a typo. I think that quote you got from the matchday chat is perfect and what I would have said if I said what I said better than I said it. "The problem is anyone who watched Chelsea over the last few years knew what this team was about. Everyone but Scolari, apparently." This is why I said Roman/club management is at fault because THEY wanted a flair side, but then baulked at stumping up the cash for Robino (shades of Ronaldinho with ManU, sense the presence of The Evil One?) and now the financial crisis has taken the funds away so Scolari is left looking like a chump. All I can say is I have faith in the man to come good. There's something irrational there, but I have a good feeling about him despite the last two months of indifferent football.

Loz and BJD - I hear what you are saying. The major point I was making is that people seem to talk about the side as though we were still flush with cash and that at the blink of eye we could easily replace all these players as well as Scolari. My attitude is that we have returned to the world of sanity and we need to think about our squad as comprising some good buys and some dodgy, all which we are now fated to use. The tone of a lot of posts reminds me of the sort of attitude that bloomed in the early Roman years - and that irritates me. As to the attitude of the players and staff: 1) Passion/commitmen. I was in Australia and missed two or three of the Christmas games, but in the games that I have seen I don't believe that our spirit has been that bad. I would say that Ballack, Deco, Malouda are all in indifferent form, and that no matter how 'hard' it looked like they were playing, they would still be fairly sh*t - we know that whether or not he's playing well Ballack always looked fairly relaxed on the pitch. Appearance isn't everything. I have no problem with the energy/passion of Cech, Terry, Bosingwa, Alex, Belletti, Mikel Lampard, Joe Cole (before his injury), Anelka, or Kalou. In other words, the majority of our starting line-up; Ashley Cole, I'm not so sure. Drogba is clearly not interested and should be condemned, but Scolari is not to blame for that, he's always been a self-interested tosser. So Scolari finds himself with a weakened attack, and a front man who is a w**ker - two years ago we would have bought three players and we'd all be anticipating a return to form. At the moment, we need to face the fact that the players we have are the ones we're going to have to get behind. 2) Using youth players. I like it that so many say 'chuck on the youth, the season's a write-off so we might as well blood them'. We're still competitive in THREE fecking competitions. No manager in the world who is charged with being competitive at the very top would look our position in the three competitions we're in and say 'f*ck it! This is over, I'll bring in untested, inexperienced players and tell them to shoulder the burden'. ACtually there is a manager who does that, his name is Arsene Wenger. Maybe we should try pry him away from the Emirates? 3) Scolari's decision making and man-management. Firstly, he has made mistakes, and I expect that he would do given this is all very new for him; but he's the man we've targeted and who has been given our squad and I faith that he'll improve and come good. Secondly, I think he is a talented man and handles players and press well (unlike Grant). He doesn't have Mourinho's cold-blooded ambition, but as his charge was to improve the quality of our football as well as deliver results I don't think he should be judged on results. In the early stages of the season, we were playing some very attactive football, and the feel of our game has definitely changed (to mind, mostly for the better). However, Scolari anticipated (and I'm sure was told as much) that he would be able to bring players in to 'complete' his system. As it is he has players designed for Mourinho's 4-3-3, lock-down, winning-machine and he's trying to get them to play open flowing passing football. There's a contradiction there and it's not Scolari's fault - he was brought in to create a certain kind of football, then he found he didn't have the resources to make that a reality, so now he has to improvise a method in a situation in which he has no previous experience. The blame should therefore be given over to Roman and the management, as well as the global financial crisis. 4) I'm sick to death of the 'we lost, fire him!! get rid of him!! We're doomed !! We must always win, win, win WIN WIIIIN!! *said poster, clicks over from CSR forums to handjob clip, does his business, and then returns to CSR* "Scolari must die! Malouda isn't as good as my nan! Why haven't we bought Messi and Ronaldo yet! Get your cash out Roman' etc etc

I would like to say that I find all the negative comments directed at Scolari completely disheartening and a real sign of the decline of spirit amongst Chelsea supporters on this board. Did anyone else notice that the world went into recession in the last six months, and that, since the ludicrous signing of Shevchenko, investment in our squad has been reduced virtually to nil? Did it occur to anyone that our success between between 04 and 06 didn't only coincide with the stewardship of Mourinho, but also with an unprecedented continual investment in the squad? The reason our squad is aging, the reason Robinho is not in our team, the reason we are not stocking up on new players is not because Scolari is our manager, it's because our erstwhile sugar daddy is for all intents and purposes 'KIN SKINT!!! The reason Malouda plays in the side is because a guy called Jose Mourinho bought him at a premium, and WE CAN'T AFFORD TO REPLACE HIM WITH SOMEONE BETTER. We can't do what we were doing two years ago, and play the 6 year old playing with a toy till it breaks, chucking it aside and picking up a new one. So now that our team has rejoined the real world and its fortunes are determined by the actual revenues of the club and not by some freakish, depressed-looking Russian businessman with bum-fluff for a beard. What is the response of 99% of Shed End posters?? Is it: ok, you blues, we are up against it, let's do this against the odd, C'MON CHELSEA, Ten men went to mow... etc? Is it f**k. It's all 'fire that bloke' 'that blokes sh*t' 'bring in Messi' etc etc I'm not convinced that Scolari is the best man for the job, but he does not have the backing to do what he feels is necessary, and is having to juggle a fairly imbalanced and aging squad that he inherited. I think we've played some excellent football this season. And perhaps if us supporters actually encouraged and supported the side we might succeed against the odds, rather than, as before, succeed with the odds stacked heavily with us.