BlueAardvarkrule

Going for Christiansen, played for the full 90 and did ok. After todays experience he will probably slap in a transfer request on Monday morning!!

Needed stitches I think

Just back from the match and must congratulate Bradford on their performance and the result, their players were a credit to their club and fans, good luck to them. As for us it is a struggle to take any real positives, Zouma and Christiansan can be exempted from criticism unlike a few of our senior players. What concerns me most is the absence of a leader when JT is not playing. When we were struggling we had no one geeing us up, no one to step up to the plate. I was particularly disappointed by Cahill who in JT's absence should have been that man to galvanise the team, he had a particularly poor match IMO and any repeat of that in the next two matches will cost us dear. The starting combination of Remy, Sahla and Drog was a disaster, they were well off what little pace we injected into the game and our tempo was poor save for the first half spell which brought our second goal. The introduction of Cesc, Willian and Hazard was to little to late as Bradford were well set in their shape and defended their 18 yard box very well. Analytically one could go on for ever about what was not right, Jose is paid to sort this sort of crap out and hopefully they will all be in at the training ground tomorrow to do just that. Some of today's players will have the chance to redeem themselves over the next two vital matches and others will be lucky to get a kick unless really needed. Still loads to play for and the season can be a great one but there is no room for a repetition of this shambolic performance.

or they can re employ me, I'll do it for a decent wage and a few shares.

I hope Bradford put up a plucky display for their travelling support and expect us to comfortably progress into the next round.

Tibo

Good post Scott, don't know how many listened to Jason Cundy on Talksh*te last night but he really wound the Bitterpool fans up a treat and they bit hard. He got a tough time from some lady scouser who was so bitter and twisted it was laughable, she called us all plastics and was blaming us for Liverpool having played so well and not winning, they invited her to phone back in after the 2nd leg as she is coming down for it. Chelsea fans phoning in were cracking up.............. nice to know they hate us as much as we hate them and that their defeat at our hands which cost them the title last season is still really hurting them..........!

Frankly I think if we were to lose this by a goal or two we would still go through. Bitterpool would not know how to defend a lead at the Bridge, Brenda would not know whether to stick or twist, am quietly confident that we will prevail over two legs. KTBFFH onto Wembley

Costa

It's Romans club, his money, if he wants someone that bad then he will do what it takes to make it happen. That's what big boys with toy's do. Chances are he is sitting and reading this thread and having a good old chuckle to himself - in which case Roman do the decent thing and put us out of our collective misery/excitement over this and we can move on.

Sat next to a far eastern visitor in the East Upper v Watford and he had one, he even dropped it! Ban them

Prince of Wales

I'm there, Prince of Wales pub by West Brompton station.

Ok, we got beat, no one died, our pride is hurt, made worse because it was against them. I've had emails, been butt f*cked on FB by armchair sp*ds fans and have endured. I suggest deep breathes all round, wish each other a HNY again and move on. Not one of our players (possible with the exception of Eden and Dave) will be telling themselves that they were anywhere near good enough today. They will dust themselves down and come out firing on all cylinders on Sunday - we go again, still ALL to play for this season KEEP THE FAITH.

Leeds, Bitterpool and Sp*ds - I wish them collective footballling misery in 2015 and beyond.

May I draw to the attention of our most learned Shedenders the following words as uttered by the BBC's John Motson's in his commentary of West Ham v Arsenal: "As they say, 'If there's contact you're entitled to go down' ". The BBC chose to ignore the diving and instead reinforce the widespread belief that contact is a foul, and diving is fine as long as there has been contact.

The message for this fixture is simple - Destroy.

This was a sound performance against a progressive West Ham team. Our football in the first half was a joy to watch. Carroll was well managed my Cahill and JT which no doubt prompted his early withdrawal. Individually we were better than them in the areas where it mattered, Matic was very good and Hazard excites almost every time he gets on the ball. The movement interchanges between Hazard, Willian and Oscar are brilliant to see and as for Costa his development continues, he is being asked to play in a different kind of way this season to last, it requires him to play a bit more on the ball and not just be the big target man. His goal was a sublime finish, that of a quality striker. Overall we need to improve our finishing as a team, when we do we will blow teams away. Great 3 points, next up the Saints who are getting their sh*t together again so will require a top team performance once again. Happy Christmas fellow Shedenders and here's to a happy and trophy laden New Year.

bet Souness and Redknapp are real popular with the dippers fans, see the look on their faces when they draw us out. It bought the mid evening SK(ouse)Y dipper w**kfest to an abrupt end. Lets 'ave 'em.

Newcastle just can't cope with those cold blustery midweek night matches in North London!

1) Bridge v Arsenal, Highbury, ECL, never missed an EPL match home or away that season. Even at two nil down on agg you could sense we were going to do something special, second half we murdered them and when Bridgey scored it went totally mental, at 2-2 on agg our support willed us to victory. we were never going to lose after that goal, massive high as we were destined to meet Real Madrid and then Monaco mugged them at the death, massive disappointment. Great night and feel privileged to have been there. 2) Any Drogba goal in Munich 3) Crespo v Wigan, 94th minute. Absolute screamer to mug them on their top flight debut, great day out, should have lost but pulled it round, on our way to another title. 4) Any goal v Spuds Interesting that non of my top three were at the Bridge!

Standard of refereeing across all levels of football is, IMO, declining rapidly. If anyone from the powers that be reads this maybe they can explain why it is so difficult to implement a set of standard rules on a consistent basis. If I repeatedly made the sort of mistakes that ref's make I would expect to lose my job, shame the same cannot be said of referee's - Mr Mariner as a point in case, one ridiculous penalty and one non red card for an assault that, if perpetrated in the street would find the assailant charged with GBH with intent.

Mr Mariner was all at sea

Pretty much a repeat of last Saturday's performance but against an opponent who was geared up to hit us on the counter and took their chances. We huffed and puffed again and were not decisive in front of the sticks. Fair go to the Toon who played a canny game and got the reward. We played like a team focused on maintaining an unbeaten run rather than one trying to win it's next match. Thank god that monkey is off our backs and maybe we can get back to doing the business on a match by match basis. What happened to the team that spanked Spudz last Wednesday?

great result, Spudz reduced to chasing shadows and the realisation that they have slipped even further behind. Frankly I thought this one of the worst Spud performances I have seen at the Bridge. Chiriches, the right back was toasted, roasted, grilled, kebabed, flambéed, curried and KFC'd by Hazard, he should be looking as employment as a traffic bollard. Mason a spectator, may as well have been stood with the other delisionals who turned up in the vain hope that we might roll over and die, as if! Kane was the only Spudz player who surfaced with any credit IMO, I noticed JT had a few words with him after the final whistle, probably told him to jack asap for a brighter future. Martin Samuel (Daily Fail) has written what I think is as good a match report as I have read in a very long time. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2859615/Chelsea-3-0-Tottenham-Eden-Hazard-Didier-Drogba-Loic-Remy-lead-Blues-cruise.html Happy Days.........................