bjd

If someone has got a vid of Essiens goal just look out to the chelsea fan on the front row to the right of the goal. The bloke is a legend. Along with the 13 players that represented our club tonight.

Players that dont have a future at Chelsea 1: Boularouhz!

Its bizarre. I though Maka would definitley play tonight. No slight on JOM of course its just im sure his experience wouldve been invaluable. Still its been a long time since Cech, JT and Essien have been in the same XI together. You do get the feeling a lack of creativity might cost us. Do we have a subs line up ? Mustve missed the headlines when we signed Carragher though!

Yeah, i know what you mean. Always seemed a decent bloke did Gronks. His crosses nearly drove me to act like Michael Douglas in 'Falling Down' though.

I reckon Super Dan couldve done a decent job at left back. Im sure he'd be better than Cashley anyway!

ALthough in all seriousness if anyone ever disputes Gullit's ability to spot a player's potential and make them better then point them toward what he did for Newton. Spot on. Newton was a really important player for us. Before Gullit, Hoddle used to admit the team was built around him and you susepct at the time was the only player Glenn had in his squad who had a technical type of mind Glenda was looking for, and before he broke his leg Venables has admitted he was looking at him for a defensive midfielder role for England. What happened to him after leaving was really sad actually - i thought he would do a really good job for someone but it seems he just lost the plot completely. Never had the best idea when it came to haircuts though.

good thread. favorite chelsea players as opposed to 'best' chelsea players, like it. GK - Steady Eddie DF - Super Dan DF - JT DF - Big Joe DF - Chapi MF - Wisey MF - 43 Seconds MF - Wee Pat MF - Mickey Hazard ST - King Kerry ST - Franco Subs Carlo Paulo Luca Lamps Joey Cole

Football itself has nothing to do with it. English fans have a bad reputation abroad. Therefore leading to these 'zero tollerance policies' you speak of. It only takes a, tiny, nothing , minor incident and bang it goes off big time and out come the batons etc. Trust me , ive seen it. Anyone who has followed their team in Italy or Spain will tell you what has happened recently with Rangers, Man Utd and Spurs is nothing new. Perhaps not on the same scale as Rome last week, but not new. The fact that English are currently performing well in Europe is irrelevant.

I thought this was going to be about Essien....! There is no way Morientes can be fully 100 percent fit 13 days after dislocating his shoulder is there ? Despite his history against us I dont think it makes too much difference if he plays or not - from what ive seen all of Valenicas players are top notch (bar Del Baba!) so it doesnt matter who plays, we will still have our work cut out.

Ok fellas, lets not go overboard here. Some of the stick Ballack has taken is a little unfair. Particulary when there have been plenty of other players not at their best either. But i emphasise, its onlya little unfair... If you can provide me of one example of when he has had 'command of the midfield' i will pipe down. Considering his reputation Chelsea fans certainly have every right to expect a lot more from him this season. However we are not stupid and of course its his first season in a new league so it will be next year when we should clearly judge him. But, the fact that you highlight that gives away fouls to stop our opponents playing as one of his plus points says it all. So far my abiding memory of Ballack this season was at the Arsenal home game where i was in the MHL and just after we equalised and were pumping forward looking for the winner i noticed Ballack standing in the centre circle. With his hands on his hips.

Man Utd will win their next 2 games (both home against Sheff Utd and Boro) whilst we have two tough away fixtures, at the Jimmy Nails and at West Ham who are starting to find some form. If we can get through these matches and still be 3 behind its game on, big time. Big time. Utd then have 2 toughies at the Manc derby and at Goodison. Both games where they could drop points. For me picking up 3 points at Upton park 3 days after the semi is our first hurdle, and yes i know it sounds dead cheesy but we simply have so many massive games at the moment we can only take them a game at a time.

Aprils Fools Day was last week Butch!

I will never forgot how perfectly the Spurs fans respected the silence at SB in the first game after Matty Harding died. My hatred for them has never been as intense since. Most of the time anyway.

Bridge News was the Official paper you got sent as part of your membership. I think ive got some of them somewhere too. It turned into 'Onside' later on.

yeah sorry loz, like ive said ive had a fair few and the missus is watching celebrity wifeswap so im on here we all agree that chelsea & rangers are magic

BB, i went to my first Chelsea match in 84 so i cannot have your knowledge of the first 4 on your list. The final 3 however i think are spot on. Can i also add Roberto DiMatteo ? lets face it any man who scores 3 goals in 3 different cup finals for any team anywhere deserves legend status. Of our recent and current bunch i think you have to include JT and perhaps Lamps (Bolton away in Apr 05 is enough for me) Early days yet but players who could earn that status in years to come include Cech, Essien, Carvalho* and maybe Drogs. But like you say its all about opinion and thats what makes footy so f**king ace. f**k me im hammered, and ive got to be up at 7am yeah, why not ? *just joking Just

looks like we are going to have to agree to disagree on this one then

actually i think some of his coasting performances were in his early chelsea days, i really do think he took the piss in a few games. not quite at ballacks level granted. however towards the end and in particular when he was made captain, yes he was immense. a great player ? yes, undoubtedly. but a chelsea legend ? not for me just mate, im sorry (i know loads of others will disagree too) for a proper chelsea legend please see my picture post in your hail drogba thread!

Desailly was a brilliant defender but i cant help thinking he coasted through some games, which annoyed me. However, his performance at Old Trafford in the FA Cup game in 1999 remains the greatest ever defensive performance by a player i have ever seen.

yeah i remember red card, im sure ive got a few of them still somewhere. early 90s era. i used to be a subscriber to the chelsea independant as well, i always remember their stand just on the left after you came out of fulham broadway. i might be wrong but i think some of those guys who were involved have something to do with cfc.net, though im not sure how is works.

[align=center]It was three years ago today...[/align] [web]http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/champions_league/3593083.stm[/web] [align=center] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENRwrWEtpqc the footage of Claudio at the end there is magic[/align]

We love DD, but hes got a long way to go before he has KD status.

funny because its spuds but if it had been us... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTiGc4X49iI

moving from off field events to those on the field - did anyone see that penalty last night ?

What memories Lauren! Bruges was my first trip overseas following Chelsea and the first time in my life i had ever seen treatment of football fans like that, luckily ive never seen it that bad since. I was aged 20 then and it did put me off for a while though i have to say. We got off the plane and were escorted to a empty aircraft hanger for an hour until the next plane from london arrived and then the chelsea fans were put (and i mean put) into coaches and taken to a warehouse a mile from the ground where we had to wait for nearly 4 hours with no bogs, drinks, food etc until an hour before the game started where we were escorted to the stadium. Since then ive been to Stockholm, Milan, Barcelona and Prague and whilst ive never been a victim of needless brutality ive seen it and its f**king awful. Its not often my heart goes out to a Man Utd fan but it sure as hell does to that bloke in the footage - its a f**king joke.