heckel

gomez has bossed the penalty area today - fair play spurs, they blocked us out. Sure we need a striker but with deco, lampard, malouda, kalou, essien, cole all on the pitch at some point today we should have had a lot more penetration. We defended well, and were unlucky to concede the goal.

kalou's finishing is still f**ked

here comes kalou, good - expect us to get things moving around their box.

I'm baffled that Kalou hasn't come on - we will get at most 2 more chances this game, we need to really take them.

Does that mean you're currently your wife's bitch? :P

The reverse side of this is that JT has the chance to invigorate the side, and reap the rewards of any return to form. He'll be up for it this time.

I'm not posting to justify Jack's two posts - I'm only saying I think that the tone of the responses to his posts showed a lot of bad faith to a good poster. I think he thought he was putting the cat amongst the pigeons, which often leads to interesting things on this forum. To meet this, as a couple did, with false high-mindedness is disappointing. I hope that once he's chilled out, Jack will return and continue posting.

I think people's responses might have reflected the fact that Jack has been around a long time, and made a lot of great contributions to the forum. To just come out and start calling him an idiot and a w**ker because he happens to have extremely strong feelings where Deco and the praise for him is concerned is escalating things in a personal way. He was clearly fed up with the forum, and I think it was silly to react so badly in that second post, but I think that he had earned a lot more respect on here than people were giving him credit for. A lot of people have spat the dummy on here before and started castigating other posters en masse, but still come back for more - notably G4 and Liam - and I hope Jack does too.

As I said he went overboard, and clearly Jack has done his dash on the Shed End. Having read his posts for five years, I've always had a lot of respect for his opinion, and I just think that could have been reflected in the replies. I personally think getting Deco was a smart piece of business (I suggested right away that he could a zolaesque late flourishing career with us) - but considering our previous run-ins with the guy I can see why Jack is suspicious of the all-too-sudden adulation given to him, particularly from a couple of our more frivolous posters (and I'm not talking about dkw or coco)

I don't see why people are so against Jack's initial post. Sure he went overboard, but that kind of extreme position-taking has long been the staple of this forum - it gives everyone a milestone to return to. So he doesn't like Deco, what's the big deal. I didn't like Ballack when he joined, he proved me wrong. I lived. If the forum was made up of fence-sitters who soberly assessed each player and game on its merits without prejudice or emotional bias this place would be sh*t. Sure he got a bit personal, but what he said about the greediness and emptiness of THE PREMIERE LEAGUE EXPERIENCE is pretty much on the money for me. I know personal attacks are uncalled for, but Jack was responding to attacks himself (and his retorts didn't all miss their marks).

:D

Agree with you here Gullit. I am certainly not going to turn on Lamps. I feel however that the decision is his to make, and feel that the dragging on of this scenario is probably the result of his indecision. Either the contract on the table isn't enough to keep him at Chelsea because he wants the new challenge, or he wants to see out his career with us under the conditions that are on offer. I don't see why there would be any need for further speculation. Butch, I agree there has been some childishness in some posts (generally not from regulars). However, I'm sure Lampard feels appreciated - he's amongst football's top earners, the fans love him; I can't see that a 5-10% change in salary and 4 or 5 year contrract is going to make or break his feeling of being appreciated. One thing I can guarantee, if he moves to Inter, flops and sits on the bench on 150,000 Euros a week, there will be the same kind of resentment from the Inter faithful that Chelsea fans have directed towards Sheva. If he stays he'll be earning bucket loads, will have fans that love him and will know what each week has in store for him. If he moves, he'll be living in a country where he doesn't speak the language, be at a club that exerts more pressure than any other in the world on its players and staff (with the exception of Madrid), and his salary will lead to massive expectations. However if he adapts and is a star in a Scudetto and perhaps CL winning side he'll boost his legacy and have a rewarding new experience. That's not our call to make, and after all these months, it's starting to wear down our patience that we still don't know what he wants to do.

Another thing I like about Kalou is that he works extremely well in tight spaces. A pity Gudjohnson isn't around to give a few tips, but I think he could be very effective at holding up the ball, attracting challenges and distributing it at the edge of the box. At the moment he'll pass two, three players and then fudge a shot from an unlikely position because he doesn't know where his team mates are. Maybe Deco will be a good mentor in this regard.

I think Frank should move on. His penalty in the CL semi-final will be remembered for a long time, he can go out on a high. If he wanted to stay then he would take the contract being offered, I think it is that simple. I'd like to see whether he can be a success at Milan. Ballack-Essien-Deco is an awesome midfield, with Mikel hopefully coming into his stride. We are ready for a post-Lampard Chelsea.

Me too. I have faith in Kalou. I just don't think what will happen with his form this year can be accurately predicted from his previous contributions. I think that he's quick and quick-witted and that those aspects of his game that need work are primarily related to experience. I expect to see him come on well if Scolari gives him a run. Unlike other recent youngsters in the squad (carlton cole, Glen J had attitude problems, Robben had injury ones) Kalou is consistently fit and has his head on straight. He could be a real find I think.

Dare I say it. I know it's blasphemy. It's wrong and against divinity. But... Deco the new Zola? No, no, no, no, not *the* new zola (in terms of character, application etc) BUT Same age, 'playmaker' (though not a goal scoring one as with Zola), doesn't rely on pace, short stature, coming from big past playing for Chelsea under a manager with the same language cultural milieu. ok ok, not the new zola, but he certainly has the potential to play something akin to the zola role, a massive hole since Zola left which Joe Cole just hasn't filled. I definitely see possibilities with this signing, and I'm not worried about his age as it is his creativity, maturity and intelligence not his pace which is important.

I'll be going for the Germans tonight and again in the final if they win. The worst call i ever made on the CSR/Shed End was that Ballack would never be a success at Chelsea. At the moment he looks the best bit of business we've done since Cech.

I don't like Italy, but I respect them. Their players are all immensely proud to play for the national side, and they really care about their performances. I just don't think England players have as much passion as a group (though they are much better than, say, the Spanish). This makes the difference when you have situations like the Mutu penalty, Lucas Neill's tackle, or the shoot-out at the last world cup. In other words I think they make their good fortune, whereas England have an ingrained pessimism.

Even when he's on fire he looks like a shifty character - arrogant, self-centred, precious. Glad he's gone.

There goes my afternoon at work - will be pressing replay for the next hour.

To be honest I've almost forgotten that ten Cate was ever at the club. One for future Chelsea trivia nights.

I'm with you, though even the possibility makes me shudder. If Fergie has any say in his successor I'm sure Keane will not be top of the list. Hope Hughes doesn't go there, though if he can get Citeh into the top five I'm sure his name will be called for by ManU supporters.

chillax hombre! I'm sure every fart Drogba makes on his holiday is bugged and relayed back to New of the World for decoding for information on his new club.

I hate the term 'big' to describe a club. It's meaningless. Just thought I'd put that in there.

High turn over of managers in Italy, particularly at Inter + Fergie to retire in three years =