bjd

I guess I applaud the initiative - Dave is a great player and a great guy but surely he is anything but an unsung hero , he gets rave reviews after every game! My vote goes to JT and then Hazard. Those two for me have been the cornerstones of our season, can't imagine where we would be without them. 3rd pace I'd put Dave. JT has been immense , not that you'd know if you didn't watch every Chelsea game. More chance of the Lost Prophets singer picking up any footballing awards or plaudits at the end of the campaign.

Agree that the best idea would be for the OP to try and get hold of a membership. Do that and if it's jjust one ticket I think he would have no problems getting a ticket, at least for a match that didn't involve loyalty points. Not sure about the suggestion that Viagogo is on for ST holders only. I'm no expert and would certainly never use that site but I don't think that's accurate at all.

A fantastic if slightly surreal day. I had my first experience of the West Upper and it was just bizarre. What i will say is that its a staggering view, perfect even and you can tell why it costs so much to sit up there. Its like watching a lifesize game of FIFA. Its just really strange, 40% tourists too id say. Its just so detached up there, a different word away from what i expect it was like in the Shed or the MHL yesterday. Not for me and ill only choose to sit there again as last resort. No pre match or half time beer queue, which i guess tell its own story! The game was hilarious. I said to my wife at HT to make the most of it till the end. It was one of those matches that comes around every 5 years or so, one where you can put yore feet up in the 2nd half and just relax. You just know you are going to win without an worry. I wanted to drink it all in and savor it, but i guess you dont really, you still kick every ball and still treat it like another match. It was over before i knew it and just seemed like a dream. Another thing sitting up there is you get to view the game and the formations so much better and the gaps in the Arsenal midfield were amazing.We were just devastating in that first 10 mins but the way he set up up was absurd. Also it was clear to see that in his 10 mins just how different Eto'o is to Torres in terms of movement and how he drags defenders into space. Thats not a diss on Torres incidentally who i thought led the line well when he came on. Shame he didn't score. Whatever happens between now and May no one can take yesterday away from us, it was perfect. Such an enjoyable day and one that i still cant really take in that such a potential tough and very crucial game panned out like it did. At one point i wondered if i should start to feel sorry for the Gooners (those that were left anyway), but then i just thought would they feel sorry for us ? Of course not. A 7th goal and their all time biggest defeat would've been the cherry but beggars cant be choosers! Final word, Luiz and Matic has to be the first choice midfield from here on in. Never really voted for Luiz in midfield but yesterday (like at City) they were magnificent, and if fit they have to play every game. Ramires may well end up ruing his moment of madness last week, he simply wasnt missed. You could argue the same for Willian too - Schürrle was my MOM and its great to see him now become an important player and a worthy option, bodes well for the run in.

Its not just Lewandoski. Schmelzer now also out for 4 weeks - this means those 2 and Gündogan, Blaszczykowski, Subotic and Bender are out, Reus ive just read is a doubt as well. Safe to say, we want Dortmund.

The way i see it there are 2 sets of 3 teams here - a set we really want to avoid (Bayern ,Real, Barca) and a set id fancy us against (Utd, Dortmond and PSG) To be honest whoever we get it will be tough, even Utd! I think it whatever happens and whoever we get it will be a cracking, incident filled tie and that's where Mourinho really comes into his own. It was 'written in the stars' in 2012, I just dont see it this time. Normally im always up for a big tie but not this year, i want the weakest team out there. I dont fancy our chances this year and haven't from the very start, i think getting to the semis will be a good run. Its all about the League for me, i dont want our domestic campaign compromised one bit (but naturally wont complain if we do win it!)

I wish Fernando Torres a happy birthday and hope he has a fun day, with his team mates and with his family (i understand he is a massive family man ) Coincidentally, 30 is important number for me regarding Torres. Its the average number of times I sigh and look to the floor shaking my head after each time he gets the ball in every game he plays for Chelsea. Sorry, i couldnt help myself.

Yes. Yes you do. Speak to Loz, he will sort you out.

I think the team will benefit for a few weeks without Ramires and quite possibly the player will benefit too. His boundless energy often made us forget his general passing and tackling which ranges from average to poor, but recently it has become consistently terrible which has made him a liability. Hopefully a good rest and some good coaching will put him on the right track again, if it doesn't id say his place as a regular starter will be in serious jeopardy.

Yes its very possible. The further away the tie the better the chance you will have, though in reality we often dont sell our full allocation, certainly not for the early rounds of CL games anyway. Id recommend Germany as the best away trips. Best food, best beer, best stadiums and you are left to your own devices and not treated as trouble by the local authorities. They certainly know how to do it over there thats for sure.

Id say Sofia is further ....though im no georgraphical expect. Recall it only took a few hours to fly to Tromso but it was ages ago so i cant really recall. It certainly felt more remote thats for sure. Without doubt the coldest and (most expensive) place i have been to.

Yeah i know what you mean. We stayed in an area that was fantastic but really geared up for tourists (though it was still beautiful) we had to drive to the east side of the island to find anything which i guess was a bit more authentic. There i found the most beautiful place ive ever been to - Nahiku. This is now my 'lottery' place! Anyway, sorry ive hijacked the thread a bit here

Top man! What part of Hawaii you from? Got married in Maui 18 months ago. Stayed there and Oahu, a wonderful trip . As for the question, it's a tough one. Sofia perhaps?

Frank for me, one of his best games of the season. Hard to judge though really as the opposition were pitiful, which was fantastic.

Yeah i know what you mean. But its safe to say we are going to drop points again this season, most likely when we least expect to. I think some of the draws have been killer, matches that we really shouldve won - West Brom (twice), West Ham are the most obvious. It'll be the lack of a finisher that does for us, not that we created very much on Saturday to be fair.

Is Kompany injured ? I know he is banned for one match but if he is injured thats cracking news for us. Big blow for them if so, he is their best defender by a mile. Think they have enough firepower not to miss Aguero. Like i said before the worst of their strikers would easily be our number 1!

Saturday was awful and very damaging but it wont be the defining game if we dont win it. You can look back at about 6 games this season that we should've won but didnt, all these matches combined and the fact we dont have a top class striker will be the reasons if we fall short, which, unfortunately, I expect us to.

Thanks for digging that out, its certainly interesting. I think the 5 year gap doesnt help any conspriacy theory. It would be handy to see how many games of ours he reffed in that time. The Robben sending off was a letter of the law thing. Can we blame him for that ? I dont think we can sadly. Maniche i cant really recall, i think it may have been a 2 footer and so we cant really argue there either if that was the case. Alex was a last man job and so again we cant complain. Im not sticking up for for the useless cretin, im just trying to see it objectivley. In Saturdays game and in particualar the QPR game of 2011, there were so many bad calls it beggars belief. I seem to recall the QPR players getting away with all sorts in that game and we were penalised for everything. I maintain he should not be allowed to ref any of our games in the future. Im actually surprised the club havent come out with a statement or complaint so far, normally they are not shy! Perhaps some lessons have been learned there, i dont know. Im pretty sure Jose is seething though, as we all are. However id like Jose and the players to focus the energy on fixing the playing issues on the pitch from Saturday rather than stewing over this situation which has now passed and is something they cant control.

Of the six sendings off its Hazard, Boswinga, Drogba, Willian, Ramiries and who else ? I cant recall. The Drogba and Ramires challenges we cannot argue about. All of the others were dubious. In particular the Hazard one riled me as he clearly was influenced by the Swansea crowd and players, just he was on Saturday night on a few occasions. I never buy into conspiracy or bias theories. But to use a word Dorset has used above - its just total incompentance. There were 5 or 6 bad calls on Saturday that went against us but one for me really stood out and i think someone here earlier touched upon it - Villa won a corner in the first half, and i think the ball rebounded off the hoardings towards Agbonlahor who subsquently booted high up into the crowd. It was the clearest letter of the law booking you will ever see. I was at the match and it was right in front of me and looked straight at Foy and he saw it too but did nothing. Incompentance. I doubt he's biased against Chelsea Football Club. I think its just us who have unfortunatley who felt the majority brunt of his crapness over the past few seasons which has resulted in some fishy stats. As Dorset said, it will be for the best if the FA agree he shouldnt ref any more of our games. Any more crap displays against will just lead to a sh*t storm that benefits nobody.

Little quiet at work this moring so ive done some points predictions and for me, the maths dont add up. I think we will fall short. Obviously i hope im wrong and of course, predicting any Premier League matches is a mugs game but i think City will win it (yes, im a riot at parties). Everyone is right to highlight Citys tough away fixtures, and im sure they are going to drop some points in those matches. The thing is, we have very little margin for error, and i can see us dropping points too in our away games, not just at Anfield. And i think City will win all their home matches. We've been playing very averagely for a month or so now, and whilst we have been getting the results its never been convincing, a bit like the first couple of months of the season. You cant keep doing that, as we found out on Saturday (with some help from the men in black) I actually think weve done well to get into this position ahead of City, especially when you look at the situation with the strikers. They should be out of sight. They have 4 top class strikers and we dont have one, as unfair as that may sound on Samuel Eto'o who i think has done a great job this season, but he just isnt the complete player he was. The worst of Citys 4 strikers (Dzeko?) would comforatbly be first choice at Chelsea. Im still confused how we managed to get ourselves into that position, but i think its something thats happened over a few seasons and the club only have themselves to blame. As i said in the match thread Jose has been spot on in playing the title down saying our position is fake. Im sure there will be plenty of twists and turns yet, possbily some in our favor but i cant help but feel there are a few more Villa type performences to come. We'll see. No pointing in picking out certain games as costly (Villa, West Ham West Brom, Stoke) its just the continual manner in which we havent put games to bed and not taken our chances that will be our undoing and thats been happening since August, Anyway, hopefully im suffering from Monday morning negativity and will be proved way wrong. I still notice the bookies make us favorites, which is nice but i think a little misguided. Long way to go yet.

Can't say I like the sound of it either.But then if the alternative is another few seasons of Fernando Torres leading our line then I think we should offer Diego Costa the world.

It was indeed a poor team performance. But there were some individuals whose efforts contributed to this far more than others and I don't think anyone should be wary of highlighting them incase they are labeled as 'scapegoating'. The same players are often picked on because strangely enough, they keep putting in substandard performances. The two players in question here were pitiful yesterday, that's not scapegoating, it's just the truth!

That's fine and you're right I guess, absolutley no offense taken! I guess writing that I was ultimately just taking aim at Fernando Torres who I am just utterley sick to the bone of watching play for us and ignored the bigger picture.

Here is a comment for you Just. Fernando Torres should never start another game for Chelsea again. At least not if the club want to compete with 11x11 players anyway. It was a pitiful effort yesterday, perhaps even his lowest yet. Certainly the worst ive seen him when actually at the game where you tend to notice his 'runs' and effort just that little bit more. Every aspect of his game was utterly sub-standard, that is of course when he actually got involved. You cant win football matches when you have no centre forward, let alone League titles. It needs to be put to bed at the end of the season. The club needs to accept the disaster once and for all and take the hit and swallow the losses. He needs to be removed from the playing staff and if that means he is sent on loan to Spain until the end of his contract with Chelsea paying 90% of his wages then so be it. It would still be far less damaging than having him at the club as an active squad member. Just overwhelmingly sick and tired of it now,and utterly sick and tired of seeing Chelsea attempt to compete in football matches with a man down - its like a bad joke that has long since outlived its punchline and it cant be allowed to continue any longer.

Matic for me. Half a dozen game in and he looks irreplaceable. Our best midfielder by a trillion miles.

I think that result had been coming. We are justified in complaining about the display from the officials yesterday but the truth is we lacked spark and in general were not very good. In fact id say its been the same since the Newcastle game. Spurs last week was a great result but it flattered us and the scoreline was due to the failings of the opposition rather than our quality. You cant keep playing matches in this manner and expect to get results - it had been coming. How many decent chances did we actually create yesterday ? Also what you cant keep doing is paying matches matches without a centre forward. Not going to go on a rage about Torres, its all been said before, but now, surely enough is enough. It really is like starting a match a man down. He offers zero and its gone beyond parody now. A team cannot win a title playing a player like that, and i fear the situation with our forwards is what will cost us. Awful from Ramires and not just the 'tackle' - he was shocking throughout and he wont be missed for the next 3 League matches. No good having a 'good engine' if you cant pass the football 10 yards. Im sick of all the cards (red and yellow) and im sick of the diving too. He has become a bit of a liability in my book. Like others, im hoping Luiz gets fit for Arsenal on Saturday which has now become a huge game that we simply cant drop any points in, as City have a home banker. It was a damaging day but its just one game and there is a lot of football to be played. The fixture list favors us and Citys away games are very tough indeed,and they will drop points for sure but i think its safe to say we will too. As ive hinted the Arsenal game is huge, and hand on heart i dont like the look of the Palace and Swansea games. Certainly if we keep playing as we are we can expect more results like last night. I think Jose has been spot on in playing down the title, our position has been 'fake' and whilst its nice to have gone clear i always felt deep down we were going to get dragged back. My gut feeling is we may fall short, but lets see. Always a fun trip to Villa Park, the away support was a fantastic, again. Its like following a different club than going to Stamford Bridge, but its been that ways for years now. The mood in the away end at the final whistle couldn't have been more different than the mood after the game last year which for many, including me was the highlight of the season. Oh and Villa fans are odius. Always.