Captain Haribo

I've tried, but you refuse to see any differently. Deco was very poor against Villa; I'm actually shocked somebody could argue against that. He countlessly gave the ball away, even when under little pressure, by trying to be too clever or trying to do too much by himself. For Anelka last night, since that seems to be another contentious point for you, he was excellent off the ball but as soon as he had it at his feet he did the same as Deco at the weekend. Examples include his attempted chip to Ashley Cole where a simple pass would have done, and the number of times he tried to take on two men in the corner by himself. I like to see players taking the opposition on, and yes it's nice to be entertained by skillful flicks and so on, but sometimes they just have to accept that they're going nowhere and look for an easy pass.

Gone 2-0. Had it been at Ewood I might have been worried about letting a goal or two in but we've been solid at home and long may it continue.

He's done well when he's come in but watching him play is always edge of the seat stuff for me. Tends to wander about when we have the ball and always looks like he'll be caught out of position. There was one point in the Liverpool game where Johnson had the ball about 40 yards out on the right wing, and Hilario had drifted out to the left side of his box. Had Johnson been paying attention he had a clean open goal to scoop it into. EDIT: Left side being Liverpool's left wing - Hilario's right.

I could easily deride your opinion in the same way, but I prefer to actually add some weight to my claims rather than acting high and mighty with nothing to back it up.

He took it very well but there didn't seem to much opposition from the defender. He was allowed to jump far too easily. Still a very good header - picked his spot and put it there with power - but I'll not get too excited until he does it against a better defence.

It was more clumsy than malicious, anyway. It's not like he broke stride to intentionally stamp on the guy, Assuncao slides in under his foot and from what I can make out Essien does his best to soften to blow. If he'd managed to hurdle the tackle it would probably have been a Chelsea freekick.

He did have a very good game, but there wasn't anything you'd expect him to struggle with (and that's him specifically, not to say all keepers would have been so comfortable). It's set pieces and high balls where he's looked a bit uneasy, and Blackburn could be a real test of that at the weekend.

Totally agree. Until Maxi Rodriguez came on Aguero looked like the only player who would genuinely threaten us. Forlan forced a couple saves from Cech, and had one very good run (wrongly?) called back for offside, but I thought the saves were reasonably comfortable for Petr. Aguero's pace would have caused us problems if he was getting better passes.

When I say casual I'm referring to the number of times he got it in the corner and slowed down, tried to do a trick and generally embarass the defender, rather than just beating him and setting something up as he easily could have. Obviously can't blame him against their shambolic defence, and it's not a problem when we're a few goals up, but he shouldn't be wasting good posession at 0-0.

Well, defensively speaking he is. I just recognised you weren't going to back down and thought I might as well drop it. In any case, a player who is wasteful in posession is being carried by the defensive members of the team, whichever way you look at it. Somebody has to win the ball back after he gives it away.

Christ, I'd totally forgotten Andy Townsend until seeing this page. Definitely should have been on the list.

Panucci - nothing really to do with his time at the club, though with that said I don't have many particular fond memories of him, more because of things he's gone on to do since returning to Italy. That and his smug face. Scott Minto - again, nothing to do with playing days, I justget fed up of him being dragged out as the supposed Chelsea expert on SSN.

At times he looks a bit of a liability from crosses and high balls into the box, but he's still the best shot stopper in the league and in the grand scheme of things keeps us in more games than he loses us. Hilario played well against Liverpool, and probably dealt with some of their crossing more comfortably than Cech might have, but having him in goals for an entire season would surely end with us all having heart attacks. I've never been so on edge as watching a Chelsea game with him in goals.

Shamelessly aftereventing, but I had money on us scoring 4+. :)

Easily Essien for me. Seemed to break up all their attacking play and set the foundation for our own. Intercepted so many passes tonight. Surprised to see so much praise for Anelka, who I thought looked very casual tonight. Kalou deserves special mention for the way he kept trying despite his poor start.

Performance wasn't brilliant tonight but it really doesn't matter against that shambles. Was painfully obvious that Kalou is a player who hasn't played much recently. Was offside in the first half more times than I care to count and missed that glorious chance. Even did his best to miss his goal. I'm still a fan of the lad - at least more so than most - and was happy to see him score, should do wonders for his confidence which is a boost given how little he's played this season. The second was a top notch header, too. Essien was far and away the best player on the pitch. Such a joy to get to watch a player like him week in week out, even if he is out of position at the moment. Their keeper was a total calamity and we really could have scored more with a better performance. I'm not surprised that players like Anelka looked so casual on the ball as Atletico just put up no resistance whatsoever. I'd expected them to at least offer something in attack, but other than Aguero wasting a few good chances they really didn't. Maxi Rodriguez had that beautiful run in the second half where he poked it wide of the post; he was probably their best player when he came on and maybe they'll be better now with him coming back from injury. Anyway, we won and I had money on us scoring 4+ so I'm happy.

I just think he's far too wasteful in possession. As I alluded to in my original post, he can be brilliant at times. His chip against Villa was genius and had it gone in would have been one of the goals of the season. In similar fashion, is a stand up comedian who tells one brilliant joke per show a good comedian? Not for me.

He was carried, defensively, by the rest of the midfield and whilst his attacking play was a lot better that day he was still too wasteful on the ball. It costs us against clinical teams and Aston Villa, from setplays at least, are very much a clinical team. At what he does, he's the best we've got. Can't think of many better in the Premiership. Perhaps Wilson Palacios, but he plays for Spurs and doesn't count.

He was carried, defensively, by the rest of the midfield and whilst his attacking play was a lot better that day he was still too wasteful on the ball. It costs us against clinical teams and Aston Villa, from setplays at least, are very much a clinical team. At what he does, he's the best we've got. Can't think of many better in the Premiership. Perhaps Wilson Palacios, but he plays for Spurs and doesn't count.

Just given the thread a proper read, and there are some strange comments. A lot of people saying we were outplayed and, even more bizarrely, overrun in midfield. Villa's central midfield was almost non-existent and really their only point of attack was against an out of sorts Bosingwa. They created very little outside of setplays and if we'd defended those properly we would have won with ease. Mention of requiring a return to a three-man midfield, which I do agree with and did even pre-season. Oddly, I think some of those suggesting it were among those who argued so vehemently against me after the US tour. I think part of the reason for Lampard's apparant ill-form - at least his lack of goals - is that he's not got the same players around him. We need a proper holding player, which Mikel is perfectly capabale of providing, as Essien just isn't suited. Obviously he's an incredibly talented player and even without playing to his full potential he's yet to have a really bad game, but we need him bombing forward especially in games like yesterday where we're chasing a lead late on. I know the stats show we've come from behind a lot this season but that was mostly after trailing at half time and having lots of time to turn it around. A lot of criticism of Carvalho, and I'm tempted to agree that Alex should be given a run, but he has been injured so it's a moot point. Drogba was at fault for the second goal, anyway, and Cech's failed charge certainly didn't help. Yesterday was a good performance, but we failed to win because of poor finishing and a lack of organisation from set pieces.

What? We're a point behind and still most people's favourites to win the damned thing.

Well, that was a bit of a bummer. We played some excellent football and, to use an overused cliche, would have destroyed them "on another day". Two very soft goals from corners, the ghost of Scolari haunting us again. I still think Essien is wasted in that holding role and would prefer to see Mikel brought in to allow him to push further up. That would surely shore up the defence a bit, too. Deco's performance was truly awful. It's hard to comprehend just how much he gave the ball away. I've not seen MOTD but I'm going to guess they showed nothing but his chipped shot and there are therefore people hailing him as great again? A walking disaster, so he is, and if he plays against any competent team I'd bet my entire bank against us winning. Well, not really, I never bet against Chelsea; I'll just cry in the corner at the thought of having to watch him waste all of our possession by being a complete and utter sh*tstain. Lampard was a little off the pace, too, but it's probably down to internationals more than anything else. His goal threat seems to have been diluted this year but he's been chipping in with plenty of assists. I think the goals will come soon, too, as he hasn't had a shortage of chances. As has been mentioned, we had chances to win it. Anelka should have done better with what was surely the pass of the season from Drogba, and my friend Art squandered a similar chance. Carlo might want to work on set piece marking on Monday; elementary stuff letting us down. Thumping Atletico midweek should cheer us all up; they're awful at the moment [/pleasedon'tjinxitplease]. :)

The early signs from Carlo are very encouraging. The second half display at Sunderland was superb, and the same goes for Burnley. Howeverm it all seems a little reminiscent of Scolari's early days so I'm trying not to get to far ahead of myself (It's bloody hard when we're winning!). Porto last night was our biggest test so far and in some ways it was good that we struggled a little, as it should keep feet and the ground and heads out the clouds. As mentioned, the upcoming fixtures will be more of a challenge. As long as we knock a few past Spuds I'll be chuffed.

I'd freely admit we probably deserved it - we'd had our warnings and kept doing things like this, or should I say, kept getting caught doing things like this. Of course, for a Manchester United fan to try and laud it over Chelsea fans is quite hilarious. You've been at it for years, hiring young players parents as groundsmen and whatnot (and I'm not just talking about Pogba).