ScandiBlue

Dickinson and Fullbrook are two of the more likeable journo's from my experience(I never read the papers but watch paperview and sunday supplement every week) I have to agree with the part about Patrick Barclay,he is the most detestable little man I have ever come across. I think Dickinson is pretty straight-forward and Fullbrook is a cheeky-chappy type who sometimes gets carried away with himself but does so in good humor(he is a Fulham fan afterall) Sadly,I have to say,as a weekly viewer of Paperview(it is one of the best shows on the channel),it is great to have the journo's in studio and to get their thoughts and reasonings on their writings as well that of others.One thing that would greatly improve the show would be to replace Gigi as presenter.I realise the majority of Chelsea fans seem to adore her(judging by matchday phone-ins) but I personally find her cringeworthy and cannot stand the factthat she refuses to hear anything remotely negative about the club from anybody. Replacing Gigi with somebody like Jason Cundy or Scott Minto would greatly improve the show.They understand how the journalist-football relationship works as they have worked on both sides of the fence now and so would be in a much greater position to take the journalists to task when needs be,instead of the Gigi method of being totally naive(I've lost count of the amount of times she asked in disbelief why the press wouldn't let JT or Ashley get on with their lives in private and focus solely on the football,my god really Gigi????) and just making annoying facial expressions when someone dares take anything to do with the club to task.

I think Alex is slowly but surely nudging himself ahead of Riccy as #1 partner for JT. As far as Bruma goes,I believe he is streets and miles ahead of Mancienne despite being a couple of years younger.Hutchinson will ease into the squad as a full-back imo,whether he later moves into the middle i'm not sure. Both will be involved in the first team squad a lot next year imo,I don't ever see Mancienne doing that to be honest.

He hasn't really been first choice this season,he's been in and out with injuries. 18 months ago i'd say 99% of fans wiuld have had JT and Riccy as their starting defenders,now i'd guess it is close to 50/50 between Riccy and Alex. JT has also been very public in his praise for Alex in recent weeks,maybe he too is noticing the decline in Riccy. With injuries taking their toll,and the likelihood that one senior DC will need to make way for the emergence of Bruma,it will more than likely be Riccy in the summer,and fr him personally I think he will gain more longevity from his career by making a move to Italy/Spain this summer. He has been an incredible player for the club but it may suit all parties to go their seperate ways at the end of the season.

Did Milan build a new lab where they used to have their trophy room?

We were very impressive tonight,very high hopes for a lot of these boys.

People forget Anelka is doing a job for the side playing out of position every week,so he needs to be cut some slack.He's one of the best centre-forwards in the game(certainly top 10 imo) but he never moans about not playing there,he just gets on with it and for the most part does well. I thought we started fantastic today and kept it up for the whole first half,we looked a lot more dangerous and active with Malouda in the midfield three and the pace of Drogba,Anelka and Kalou up front.But they just came out cold for the second half and never got going until it was too late(a bad habit we've gotten into this season)

Well if we had won today we could have afforded a draw at Old Trafford and possibly another at either WHL or Anfield. Now we probably have to win at Old Trafford to ensure United drop some points(can't see many others troubling them) and also get at least 4 points from the other two,and win the rest of course. We had just about enough room for one slip-up and we used it against Blackburn. And I think you're being harsh on Ferreira,Turnbull and Anelka.

I don't think he's good enough. I think he'd turn out to be another Scott Parker,Steve Sidwell,SWP type signing,looks great in a decent team but never good enough to hold down a regular spot in a top top team.

He has at least added some tempo to his game this season which has improved him a bit but he still isn't naturall enough at closing down quickly and biting at the opposition for me. A few suggestions to come and play the role more effectively in the summer would be... Lass Diarra (Mourinho's biggest mistake ever imo) Mohamed Sissoko (ex Liverpool I know but a great athlete and a bit of a nasty streak which is needed imo) Yaya Toure (might be available if Barcelona get Mascherano) Daniele De Rossi (not sure if he would leave Roma though) Fernando Gago (can't believe he's being frozen out at Madrid,should get him cheaply as a result) We need one of the above as i'd always play the 4-3-3 and I think Essien is too valauble a driving force to restrict him to holding.

Hope it isn't too bad,Brana's been immense this season,I hope nothing comes of the Madrid rumours in the summer. If he is going to be out for any length of time,i'd love to see Hutchy get a few games before the end of the season if he can get fit enough,hope he comes through the reserves ok this week.

Hi guys,first post,sadly a (largely) negative one. First of all I have to begin by saying I was not pleased with the appointment of Carlo in the summer.The past 9 months have done little to change my mind,the opposite in fact. Carlo is a nice guy,too nice.He doesn't inspire me,not with his body language,not with his words and certainly not with his substitutions. I will take his Chelsea reign to begin with.At the moment,albeit with a game in hand we are in 3rd place in the weakest Premiership race ever.I know some will say we are still in with a shout and I guess technically we are,but that isn't really good enough,this squad whether people want to admit it to themselves or not should be 7-10 points clear at this stage with a nice cushion to compensate for the tough run-in. The omens were not good from the beginning when we beat Hull City at home on the opening day of the season by virtue of a late and fortunate Didi goal.Carlo began the season playing the diamond formation that he has adopted for the vast majority of his managerial career.Now he obviously believed this to be the best formation having looked at the squad,something I disagree with but was willing to be proven wrong.He soon showed that he lacked conviction in his own beliefs by switching formations. His substitutions are terrible.Today being a prime example,why wait until the 90th minute to bring Sturridge on,and why for Anelka? Not only are his substitutions poor for having an impact and changing games,they are also poor in that when things are going well,they lack foresight.I have lost count of the amount of times we have been a couple of goals up and found myself thinking "perfect,let's get some of the kids 10/15 minutes" only to see him make either no changes or just bring on the experienced frings players. I am not saying it would have mde any difference but with Ferreira not being registered for Europe why did he start ahead of Yuri against West Ham? Yuri has not played much and I would have thought a full 90(or at least and hour) with the defence that would be playing together 3 days later against Inter would have been invaluable.Just some very strange decisions. Of course,the players also need to shoulder some of the blame.Perhaps some of them have hit a comfort zone over the last 2/3 years,seeing that when things go wrong it is the manager that gets the boot,while they are left sitting on the same contracts irrespective.But if this is the case,it is the job of the manager to stamp it out.There is never any danger of a player getting comfortable at Old Trafford under Ferguson,if they do he either gets rid of them the first chance he gets or else they spend a few weeks on the bench or totally out in the cold.How many players have Chelsea gotten rid of that were not clearly past their best? It seems that players are allowed to drift along at our club and perhaps this is the problem.I hate to keep comparing it to United and Ferguson but we have never gotten rid of anyone in the style of Stam,Beckham or Van Nistelrooy,apart from Mutu but that was of course in exceptional circumstances.Maybe this is coming in the summer with a clearout but it's maybe a year or two too late. I am all for getting a manager and giving him time to mould the squad and club the way he wants it over time,I am even willing to sacrifice success in the immediate term to aid the long term.But to do this you must first fully believe you have got the right man in charge to do this,and I firmly believe we have not got that man. Carlo's record is good,but certainly not spectacular.Yes he has won more things than most but has he won as much as he should have given the opportunities he has had? He went two years at Juventus without success.He followed that with 8 years at Milan winning one title and two champions league titles.Is that successful? I guess it is moderately but one league title in 8 years is poor and one could argue he would not have remained in charge of Milan for so long with that record were it not for his playing career with them. The most startling and worrying thing for me was when I looked at the squad he left behind at Milan,it is poor.Look at what United did to them and I believe United had gears in reserve across both legs.That squad is the culmination of 8 years of Ancelotti,worrying indeed. I firmly believe Carlo must go in the summer,though I am not sure if he will. As to his successor,well my list would simply be those that were ahead of him in my preferences last summer with 1 big addition.... Pep Guardiola -out of contract(verbally agreed for 1 more year),seems the type to seek new challenges,not afraid of huge decisions Roberto Mancini -young,great tactician,passionate and also a charming guy but capable of getting and showing anger) Mark Hughes -again young,British,history with the club,done a good job everywhere,and harshly treated at City,a point to prove and hungry) Obviously if Jose returning was a possibility then he would jump to that top of that list,but it seems he will be managing at the Bernabeau next season to complete his own personal treble of league titles before returning to England. I have a host of thoughts on what needs to be done with the squad in the summer as well but that's for another thread I guess.