Arq

That he does... Wow was he about f**king annoying. I'd like to see the whole thing as well.

That's a good point too, something I didn't think of... It could turn out to be a disaster. It could turn out to be great. Would the club want to take that chance?

I would not if this works out the way I think it would. Seeing Guus come in as a "sporting director" would be fantastic especially if he were going to be in that role a good while. I think he could/would work with Carlo, Jose, or whoever the manager is. I'm just not sure how long he would be in that role before he retired. Maybe he needs only long enough to groom another successor, while working on whatever it is he's tasked to work on, who knows. And as I said earlier, Jose was great. However, I think if Jose is brought in that he's only a short-term solution with us looking to hire another manager in 1-3 years. And I base that assumption based upon what I've seen from him during his time here and his time at other clubs after he left here. However... If there were some way to confirm (or as close as that term gets for football managers) that the Jose hire would be more of a long-term hire, I would definitely be more open for it. Of course at the end of the day, I cheer for this club regardless. My simple point being, I strongly believe the next manager needs to be a long-term solution, not another short fix no matter how many trophies we get in that short-term period.

I want to buy in on that bet Hutch. Not sure if it's a long shot or not, but I'm willing to take a gamble on it. ;)

That's a good article to read.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you! Since I have a 45 minute commute, I thought about the match yesterday on my way in to work. I also thought about the squad the way it is and Carlo running the show. There is no doubt in my mind that Carlo needs to be given more time and be given full support by Roman. Do you realize we were two matches from winning nothing last year? Lose one more Premiership match and somewhere along the line in the FA and what do we have? Nothing. It didn't happen, and we got our first double. That's the way football is. And I ask, how many of you would have accepted the outcome of these two years at the beginning of last season? Win a double the first year of a new manager yet win nothing but finish 3rd (assuming we stay at third, I know things can change) the next. I, like all Chelsea fans, like to see trophies year after year. The man already got us two in his first year. I don't care if it was because the squad was good enough to get more. I don't care if the tactics were used before and Carlo went the same route. I don't care. He still had to manage the team to get to that point. Here we are. Year two of his managerial reign and lots of fans are calling for him to be sacked. Ok, I'll bite. Who would you like to replace Carlo since he's not good enough for the standard of winning trophies, with no flexibility, year after year? Jose? Sure. Great. That's an awesome two year fix where after he's done, we'll be looking for a manager again. So instead of getting any long term consistency at the club, we can just do the same old thing and really cement our status as the laughing stock of Europe. Jose was great for what he did. He is not the answer to the problem and there is no guarantee that he could win anything with the squad currently as it is. Guus? Ok. I thought Guus' in his limited time was great. The man is 64 years old. How long do you think he would want to be a manager for? Two years? Three years? Hello again to the exact... same... situation. Pep? Sure, there are plenty of arguments that he's currently better than Carlo. Ok. Besides splashing ridiculous amounts of cash for his contract, how exactly would you entice him to come to the club if we just sacked our double-winning manager for finishing 3rd (again, assuming we stay in third which I know very well could change) the year after? We got rid of a lot of players over the summer. Our squad is another year older and everyone knows that we need to get younger. Maybe our expectations were just a bit too high this year. Whoever our manager is, he needs to be given a long term contract with the ability to shape the team in his liking. Carlo, in all fairness, has not been given that. And the possibility does exist that it will not work out. Ok, then so be it, but a little more time needs to pass or the manager position at this club will just be viewed as volatile. Arsenal finished 3rd last year and won no trophies. They haven't won a trophy since 2005. Wenger is still there. While he may not have the purchasing budget that we have he still has the support of his ownership. If Carlo goes, the next manager needs that support to be successful. Otherwise, the manager merry-go-round will just continue. A lot of us have played "arm chair manager" and questioned Carlo's formations and substitutions. That's fair, especially after a loss where we're upset because we think the outcome could have been more in our favour. We have every right to express our opinions and discuss them. That's what this forum is for and I'm happy it's here. However, I think we, as a collective, are taking things too far. We've been spoiled and we need to remember that there are no guarantees in winning a championship. I'm a Boston Red Sox fan for baseball. We went 86 years without a trophy. I'm an Atlanta Falcons NFL fan. We went 40 years without back-to-back winning seasons and only got the chance to play in the Super Bowl once, and have never won. I'm a Chelsea FC fan. We've gone one year without a trophy. I'm ready to give our manager more time to get the ship straight especially if he's given the ability to mold the team to his liking. Not winning a trophy this year, believe it or not, is not the end of the World. Sorry for the small novel. KTBFFH. Arq

Sadly, I'll miss the first half due to me having to drive home. I hope to catch the entire second half. Come on boys! This is the game of our season to date!

I'm surprised I didn't toss the remote into the TV that day...

I really like it. I'll be one of the folks getting one the day they release.

Agree or not, this was an interesting read on what this writer thinks we need to do to win tonight... Blueprint for the Blues

Makes perfect sense. People's opinions might, and probably will, change with the outcome of tonight's match. Today/Tonight we should all just rally behind the team and root for our beloved Blues to move onward!

Man Utd 1 - 2 Chelsea The lads will do enough to get it done tonight. I see Manu scoring first, with an equaliser late in the first half and the winner in the second half. 2-2 on aggregate, we go through on away goals.

Good post. +1 KTBFFH!

Just watched Tron Legacy. It wasn't too bad. I don't have a lot else to say about it. I would check it out as a rental at the very least especially if you've ever watched, and enjoyed, the original.

That it is, and it makes me smile.

YES! Wow... I screamed so loud I startled the baby.

Just started to watch the second half (was out running errands all morning and could only follow on the phone). It doesn't look so good from what I've seen so far.

Went for Ramires, he was working really hard out there. JT and Ivan get honourable mentions for me.

Good post RBJ. I don't think anyone can say that we weren't poor. We created a few chances, not many, and we DEFINITELY need to play much better than tonight. However, not giving that penalty was inexcusable no matter how poor we were playing. The only thing I don't agree with you on RBJ is that going up to OT at 1-1 versus 0-1 is big. Manu would still have the advantage, and we would still have to score to win, but now instead of being able to win 1-0 (assuming we would have made the penalty and drawn 1-1 tonight) we have to score 2 to win and hold them to 1 or 0. Unfortunately, that is what we will have to do. We need to win 2-0 or 2-1 (or by more) to avoid extra time and/or penalties.

WTF?!?!?!?! I'm tired of getting screwed by penalty decisions! Can someone explain to me how that wasn't a penalty??

I hope I'm wrong, but I don't see us getting anything tonight. It's almost as if the lads look uninterested... Please let me be wrong and get 2 strikes in the back of the net in the last 25 minutes. Please.

I'm nervous also, and I agree... Win or lose, up the blues! I wore one of my scarves to work today. I hope it brings good luck.

Hey Peter. From the states here also, Pennsylvania. Welcome to The Shed End! Always good to see another fan join up.

Germany did the same thing with some of their CL players (I think all of them, but I cannot be 100% sure). Definitely sucks for those that bought tickets to the next friendly expecting to see certain players and now they won't be there.

It's all about the clothes, employment, and charming good looks.