Eggy McMuffin

With Malouda though, it may make up for it somewhat. Ivan on the other side because he's responsible enough defensively to add some extra cover when Malouda gets lost. Hopefully Zhirkov could be back soon and solve that, though and then we'll be... not quite laughing, but at least not in as desperate a situation.

It wasn't a good result, it was an okay result. It was acceptable. The performance wasn't though, and that's what they players should be more focused on. Winning when you're not playing well is all well and good, but how long can you continue to play badly for? There needs to be a point when you get back to good form and if you don't you simply can't win the title. I'm very angry at the whole team, except for Malouda who thought did admirably in a position he can't really play, and Ivan who did okay, I guess... but even they need to improve. If the players (who are available) don't step up against Stoke, I think bring in the youngsters. I think Stoke might be the wrong game for them, and I'm trying my hardest to be pragmatic and not let the emotions influence what I write, but yeah. I'm not happy.

I disagree, there was massive contact with the kalou one, and here, there was no tangling of legs, I think there was a bit of contact with his arse, but unless he's gay, he shouldn't go down after that. Also, I was expecting a bit of a fight back, a reaction or something from the piss poor performance against Inter... if we don't react in our next game, against Stoke, we might as well give up for the season and wait for the summer. If we've lost our fight, we'll have lost our biggest asset.

You don't think Carvalho's disappearing act had anything to do with it? I know you don't like Mikel, but really, he shouldn't have been put in that position.

How about the goal?

I managed to knock off work early, and I'm back just in time for this game. Go me.

Hey at least you're not working during the game... I suppose I might get some more socks out of it! Also, if I go down to the shop floor, Gillette Soccer Saturday will be on, so it's not too bad. I'm hoping for a bit of a reaction from the Inter game. A fair few of our big match players didn't really play well, and I think it's important that Carlo makes sure they realise this and gets them to react to it and put in a big performance. If Lampard is having another bad game, I think we should get him to man mark De Jong, he was brilliant against us last time, but I think Lampard could match him yard for yard. It isn't his usual game, but he is very much capable of doing it. A big game today, and hopefully we can get the players to ignore all the media bullsh*t and get on with the task at hands.

This sounds like a program called FMSpeeder, I dunno if you've used it or not? What it does is delete certain parts of your save games like player history to make the game run a little quicker. If you've used it, that could be why... if not, it could be that your save game is corrupt. have you got a rolling autosave going? Is it on any of the other autosaves?

It's nothing compared to unbeatable banzuke... mainly because it's hosted by Brian Blessed. ;)

Are some of you seriously assuming that every prospect we have in our youth system and reserves will make it at the top level? We have some great prospects, and some of them do indeed look top notch, but surely we can't assume they'll make it? Arsenal have a ridiculous record of developing youth players, but not every prospect they have makes it. We don't have that record of developing youngsters, and you're expecting them all to make it? We have to be realistic and realise that some players simply won't improve the way they're expected to. We have to make signings, in the short term to help with the transition between the old guard and the new guard, and we'll have to make them in the future when players fail to make the grade... which will happen. Can you replace an experienced 33 year old with an inexperienced 18 year old and expect them to achieve the same results? I think it's far more likely that if we did that, we'd do an Arsenal and not win anything for a while, which I don't think many of us would be happy with. If we replace 33 year olds with 21/22 year olds who've already shown how good they are, and use the youngsters to fill in, use them more as back ups, it'll give them a better chance to learn and make their mistakes without it having too large a negative effect on us. Obviously we don't need to sign for every position, but key positions, especially ones where our current players are lacking, or retiring soon, what is the problem with signing players there? Kalou needs replacing, Ballack needs replacing, Deco needs replacing, Carvalho needs replacing, Ferreira needs replacing, Belletti needs replacing. We could do with thinking about longer term replacements in other areas too, but they can be dealt with closer to the time. Obviously signing 6 players is over the top, but 3/4 would set us up perfectly. One defender, and have Bruma cover the others, one centre mid, a player for the tip of the diamond and a striker. That will leave us with great strength and cover, think of it like this. Defenders: Bosingwa, Alex, Terry, A. Cole, Ivanovich, Zhirkov (assuming we stick to the diamond) and Bruma. Doesn't that seem a little weak? Two injuries and we'd have to put in Bruma, no matter how good, he doesn't have the experience for the big Champions League games. We'd only need one, maybe a left footed version of Ivan. Midfielders: Essien, Mikel, Lampard, J. Cole, Malouda, Kakuta, Matic, Stoch. Again, that to me seems a little weak. Especially defensively. I'm not sure if Stoch would be capable of playing at the tip of the diamond, but if so, we could well be OK there. Actually looking at it, we could be OK, with just one signing in midfield, however we would need something. Essien and Lampard alongside each other is great, Mikel or Matic behind them not so much, and would Cole/Stoch/Kakuta be good enough at the tip of the diamond. Cole isn't even certain to remain at the club, which simply wouldn't leave us with a strong enough midfield. Mikel and Matic at the base is acceptable, I guess, but I wouldn't be overly confident, for example playing Barcelona, would you be confident that they'd be good enough? Remember we need to be looking at our players being world class. Forwards: Drogba, Anelka, Sturridge, Borini. Di Santo simply won't make it, so I've ruled him out. He just doesn't seem good enough at Blackburn, he'll probably get another chance on loan somewhere, but at this stage he doesn't seem like he'll make it. Again though, if Drogs or Anelka get injured, would Sturridge be good enough to play against Barcelona/Real Madrid (OK probably, they can't defend)/Man Utd/Liverpool or whoever. Drogba and Anelka won't even be around that much longer, so a big signing here, surely won't go amiss. We can't just assume players will be good enough in the long run, if we do, we'll end up like Arsenal, winning f**k all.

You've accused us of short memories, but somehow I think yours is by far the shortest. We love the guy, but if he's playing like sh*t, of course he'll be used as an excuse. You need to look beyond this season, and trust me, he's been sh*t all season, except for one game. We probably would wish him the best if he moved, but that isn't the point. If he isn't good enough though, I'll have no qualms in letting him go. Also, he isn't the reason we've won trophies, he's good, but f**k me, he's not that good.

I'll throw my two penneth worth in here, as this is still going. Fighting is a very good way to let go of aggression, and I don't have a problem with it... what I do have a problem with, is that with a large number of people fighting, there will always be innocents caught up in it. I also hate the fact that it's done in the names of various clubs. In some ways it gives people a reason to fight, but that isn't really an excuse, it shouldn't be done that way. It gives the clubs a bad name, and through no fault of their own at that. People will always fight, especially men. It's natural, in fact, I've been a fight or two... usually protecting my stuff when getting mugged, but that's not the point. I can see where the enjoyment comes from, and it is adrenaline, but the way that it's done I don't agree with, that's all. It would be nice if there was more of an opportunity to people let off steam... and having martial arts, I do know it's there, it's often not considered as a good option for some reason, Bluebeard, you know why? Anyway, that's my opinion on the matter.

I am allowed to leave as long as someone states that it's to take out, not eat in.

I've just put it on my to do list.

I think what you have to remember is that he wasn't always a bit part player for us, he's been a first team player, when fit at least... However, we've shown the faith to keep him through his injury problems, and given him lots of opportunities so far. He's shown next to nothing in them, he's shown what looked like a return to old form in one game (as far as I remember, I could be wrong there) so far. Which really isn't good enough. If he doesn't look like he's going to get back to his old form or ability at any point this season, why should we keep him? Why should we continue to pay him his wages -- the increase he's supposedly asking for would take that up to over 100k a week -- if he can't show us any decent form? You accuse us of forgetting the quality he's shown in the past? Why should that affect the deals we give him in the future? Sentiment counts for nothing in the world of business and at the end of the day, football these days is just that, a business. It doesn't really matter what someone who doesn't support the club -- and for that matter doesn't watch the quantity of games we do -- thinks about a player. We as a club should act in our best interests, any other side would do exactly the same. As I said in my post, if he shows form at some point before the season, or an improvement this season, then we should reward him with a new contract and keep him here, but if he doesn't look like he'll ever improve why should we keep him? I love the guy, I love that he's a life long Chelsea fan and some of the comments he comes out with are brilliant, but at the end of the day, the management has to make decisions in the interest of the club, not the players. We could well find that moving away from us, he improves his form, which would be great for him and England, and probably wouldn't be so great for us, but we'll have made the best decision we could at the time. Also lol at your dig at us by saying he would have been better if he went to another club (nice choice of rivals too). I think you need to look at your reasons for joining this forum, though, as you only really post about Joe Cole and generally it's something negative about our views on Cole... and usually it seems like you haven't seen the games, which makes it harder to comprehend your stance... I do want to see what you think of my views and this post, but it just seems to me that you're just posting here because you don't like us and like Joe...

I don't think we deserved that on the strength of our performance so far, but a goal, is a goal. We just need to keep the lead, and possibly push on if we get the chance to.

I reckon he'd be worth £20m... maybe £25m at a push. I think he's actually that good. Although that might just be me... Signing him, Aguero, and Dzagoev I reckon would set us up for a great future.

I think we need to push for signing Rodwell. He looks utterly ridiculous. He's supposed to be a centre back first and foremost, but is great in the holding midfield and centre mid positions too. I actually think he could be good enough to replace Essien one day (in the distant future).

He got offered massive money. They have a rich oil baron owner who wants success for the small Russian side. So he has loads to spend and he gets a good wage too. I don't think there's much more to it than that, really.

Yeah, he can leave, but he doesn't want to. Remember though, that the Bosman rule only works for international transfers. I think it's only 6 weeks before the end of the contract if he wants to stay in England.

He's available on a free at the end of the season, so bids are irrelevant. I do think it's right that we're not giving him a new contract until he shows some form. Hopefully he'll show some before the end of the season, but if he doesn't, letting him go won't be too bad a decision... especially with the amount of money he's rumoured to be after. If he can't show any form by the end of the season, it's reasonable to assume that he's not likely to get it back under Ancelotti. It would be heartbreaking for him to go somewhere like Man Utd, or god forbid Spurs, but if he's not going to be good enough again, he's just a burden on the wage budget. Lets just hope he can show us that he's worth a new contract and we give him one before it's too late.

Would Fleetwood Mac count? They're not entirely English, or British even, but Mick Fleetwood is, which could get them to count? If they count, Tango In The Night... if they don't. Massive Attack - Mezzanine.

Yeah, that's pretty much what I do. The problem I usually have though, is the stuff I like enough to pay for is very hard to get hold of on CD. I had to buy Girl Talk's album straight from the record label, from America and it never even arrived. :D I finally managed to get hold of a copy of Example's 'We Didn't Invent the Remix' and I have to hope that it actually arrives. Anyway, I generally use µTorrent and isohunt or sometimes I manage to get hold of it on a private tracker. I also quite often use blogs to get my music, generally through Hype Machine or something... and if I can't find it on there, I'll be on shareminer, or maybe even a direct search through google. I pay for the stuff I really like, but more importantly I go to the gigs of artists I like (when I can afford to), that way the record label doesn't take a massive cut of my money. My first single I bought was Bas Luhrman's (Everybody's free) to Wear Sunscreen, the first album was The Simpson's album (I was young ) and I haven't bought any vinyl as I don't have a player.... I wouldn't mind some decks, but then I'd have to start paying for all my music... which would be a pain. :P

They'll f**king nick anything!

OG has been rested for Fluke tonight it seems.