Butch

People are going on and on about Chelsea having a bad start and not going to be able to emulate the previous two championship-winning seasons. Well, I have something to say about that - on current results, we're going to beat last season's record haul of points! 2005/6 February 11, 2006: Middlesbrough 3 - 0 Chelsea March 25, 2006: Chelsea 2 - 0 Man City May 2, 2006: Blackburn 1 - 0 Chelsea PLAYED 3, WON 1, DRAWN 0, LOST 2, SCORED 2, and CONCEDED 4 for 3 POINTS. 2006/7 August 13, 2006: Chelsea 3 - 0 Man City August 20, 2006: Middlesbrough 2 - 1 Chelsea August 27, 2006: Blackburn 0 - 2 Chelsea PLAYED 3, WON 2, DRAWN 0, LOST 1, SCORED 6, and CONCEDED 2 for 6 POINTS. That means we've scored 4 more goals, conceded 2 less, for 3 more points than from the corresponding fixtures last season. Reason for other clubs to rejoice? I think not. Misguided "celebrations" if you ask me ;) . Now, I wonder if any of the so-called pundits would take the time or effort to dig up these statistics. Of course not. What fun would it be for anyone else? Cheers, Butch

Exactly; it is not as simple as a Bridge-Del Horno swap, which I would have been happy with as Wayne is clearly the better player for me. The MAIN problem is that we've lost our "first choice" left back in Bill and until we replace him in the left back position, it is significantly weakened. Again, I'd be really surprised if we go into the season with Bridge as our only recognized left back...unless of course Jose and Co are confident they will have Gallas back playing for us. Cheers, Butch

Who'll blink first? If you had asked me anytime before now, I would have said "yes". Now? It is unlikely, but stranger things have happened. Huth has agreed a move to Boro, so he'll be going. I believe that Boulharouz was brought in to provide back up for the two CB positions (i.e. a replacement for Huth). I would be surprised (and a little disappointed) if we started the season with 1 left back, and back-ups that are not really up-to-scratch because they aren't left backs, i.e. Ferreira and Boulharouz. Cole has travelled to link up with the England squad now, but if Chelsea blink first, or Arsenal for that matter, he will be whisked back to sign on the dotted line - something we've seen before at Chelsea in recent times. Even if we may not all like him, I think we'd agree that at least he'd make our left side of defense a well-covered position, unlike it is now. I don't feel entirely comfortable going into the season like this. Cheers, Butch

Personally, I'm gutted we didn't sign Zambrotta. He was the one I always wanted - to provide competition to Bridgey - but I always thought he would be unavailable. When he became available, I thought, this is it, we're going to finally land him. But no. I think everything considered, he was/is the best option, except he isn't an option anymore is he. We've dilley-dallied so long that I am of the opinion we should just give Arsenal what they want and sign Cole. I don't want to start the season with our defense a shambles as it currently is. If Mourinho wants Cole that much we should just get him in quickly. The player can start to settle in and our defense can regain some composure from a settled look. And I'm also of the opinion that if Gallas wants to go, we should let him go and get in a quality replacement quickly. We shouldn't be entering the season so "unsettled" like this, particularly in defense. Cheers, Butch

Nibs, You arn't implying that Gerrard is "slightly better" than Lampard, are ya? :( Cheers, Butch

Loz, PK said that he would be "surprised" if Tevez was signed this summer. Not sure how that would work out since he'd be the one signing him! But that does leave the door slightly ajar in case we find we need to. But my personal feeling is that Jose Mourinho has said time and again that we will be working with a much trimmer squad this season, and thus I would also be personally surprised if we signed another striker. JM has ranted and raved about Kalou, and though I have never seen anything special in the kid in the handful of games I have watched Fejenoord play last season, I am hoping to see what the fuss is all about when he plays for us. If we play the 4-3-3, I think Sheva, Didier and Kalou should be enough. And yes, Kalou can play the center role, maybe not as a Didier would, but then Sheva wouldn't play the same way Didier did anyway. So I doubt JM would have any hesitation to play Kalou as the ST in a 4-3-3 if need be. Cheers, Butch

When can we ever believe what we read in the papers? If I had to guess, I'd say the figure we have discussed with Arsenal so far is way below the 16 million being argued in the tabloids. I think that if we had really offered 16 million (the first time), we'd have offered too much, and Arsenal would likely have taken it. Eventually, I believe it would be in the 16-18 million quid region, or not at all. 20 million? Arsenal are having a laugh, and even if we really wanted him, I somehow doubt even Roman would fork out that amount for a left back. I don't think Arsenal are going to be able to keep him - bridges burnt and all that. Chelsea know this. Real Madrid? Hah - right! They are going to buy a 16 million quid left back! No, from my experience, the numbers quoted in the tabloids are almost always higher than the numbers agreed behind closed doors. Cheers, Butch

It is indeed Mr. Njitap - Boro right midfielder versus Chelsea left back. Cheers, Butch