Celery1989

I don't think you can really single out one factor as to why the England setup has been so abject for so many years. There are so many detrimental factors at play in my opinion: the respective attitudes of the media and the fans which merely exacerbates the fear that the players feel, the behaviour of the manager, the relatlively simplistic nature of English football and finally the lack of top quality coaching on the right aspects of the game at the "grassroots level". I actually think that last point is perhaps the most crucial. English players (generally) just can't seem to think the game anywhere near as efficiently as the Spanish for example. What I mean by this is, look at Xavi/Iniesta/Alonso/Fabregas, they're always thinking two or 3 passes ahead and its no wonder that they can always play incisive through balls and carve teams apart. Whereas someone like Lampard or Gareth Barry gets the ball, takes an hour to turn, and then has nowhere to play it. Add to that that English players are so static and that their technique just isn't good enough and its no surprise that they find it hard to break down a team like Wales. A lot of this could be fixed if we had better and more coaching at youth level, focussing more on technique, possession etc. Might be an idea to scrap the 442 from English football completely because the overly rigid and basic ethos of English football becomes ingrained by young players through this formation. Notice how not a single team in world football (club or international) that enjoys any success ever uses a 442. Barca are even employing a 343 without a true centre-forward right now!!

Born and raised in South West London my whole life, first house I lived in was about 300 yards from the Bridge. Granted didn't realise that proximity until I was older but still. First game was QPR at home in 1995 and I think I Chelsea was the first team I saw on tv too. Lived then in Latvia til 1995 and when we came back we lived in the more suburban areas (Kingston, Putney etc). My best mate from the age of 7 until about 11 had season tickets in the MHL and I think him taking me to a few games (3-1 v Barca 2000 oooo yeah!) was a huge factor in me becoming as ardent a fan as I am today. I'll be forever thankful to his family for that. Been going about 3/4 times a year since then, and have started to go to a few away games in the last year too. I'm sure many others would say this but I just can't see that I would ever have supported any other team. Granted, as a kid in the 1990s it would have been really easy to become a United fan but with the way my life has unfolded thus far Chelsea has always been the natural choice.

I really do hope AVB is here for the long term, we need a younger manager like him with fresh ideas and a sense of vibrancy to re-load the squad and to implement the transition to a younger, hungrier team/squad. I think what he's done this summer in the transfer window has been really good in the most part, Modric would have made it almost perfect but you can't get everything. Nevertheless, I think we'll still sign him either a year from now or in January. I'd say AVB needs another summer such as this to put his stamp on the team: bear in mind that Anelka's and Kalou's contracts run out next summer which should facilitate the transition. Also, Malouda will only have 1 more year left on his, and so surely we'll look to sell him then to get something for him rather than lose him for nothing a year on. One other thing to consider is the fact that we paid 15 Million Euros for AVB! Surely It would have to take a seriously poor season this year (5th in the league or soemthing) for the management to consider sacking him?

Good. I sincerely hope he's ready for the weekend.

Once a pr*ck always a pr*ck

It's incredible. Apparently Eto'o and co live in Moscow and then they get a private jet to Makhachkala for the home games.

Robben was the most exciting player we've had since Zola and we've had no-one since that has come close. Mata may be that guy though and given that he has more overall game could be even better. I'd have Robben the footballer again without a doubt but, I'm not sure I could take the injuries/general cowardliness again.

Wouldn't be at all surprised to see Lukaku get picked for the Knockout stage squad. I seem to remember a similar thing happening with another of our players a few years ago, Deco/Ballack or someone? Because they were injured? Wonder if anyone can jog my memory...

Back to the original subject of this topic, it would be great for us Chelsea fans to see Lampard retire from the International Set-up. I don't foresee happening though.

These rankings are such a joke they really are. How England are 4th is ridiculous, England (honestly) are not a top 10 team any more in World football.

All in all, better squad with some more options. The club needs another transfer window or 2 to slowly shift out some and to continue adding top quality 22/23 year olds.

So what do you call "*** the Pope and the IRA" then? Or what about "We'll be running round Tottenham..."?

I agree with you mostly mate just not with your view on Clichy. Take it from someone who's looked at his game very closely in the last 2 years, and I can tell you he is a poor left-back. A complete liability defensively, he cost Arsenal x number of goals over the last couple of years, particularly in the big games. He's not even that great at the top end any more.

U still want to give Drogba and co. 3 seasons? LOL we won't be in the CL any more if that's the case. I'm pretty sure we'll be 3rd this year, had we signed Modric/Pastore/Sneijder, ie a creative mid then I would have said we'd have an outside shot at the title. I just don't see that as possible right now. We have far too many uncertainties in the team, which run right across the board: Defence has looked iffy, Midfield is generally still too slow and predictable in every sense, whilst our Forwards don't seem to have much chemistry yet. Whilst you look at the 2 Manchester clubs who both look as unstoppable as we did this time last season. Maybe as the season develops we may see the likes of Mata and Torres gel together which may provide the spark to challenge for the title. But as it stands now, IMO, we look primed for 3rd. Worst case scenario is 4th but the only team that can displace us is Liverpool, and I just don't rate them as much as many in the media seem to. They look as predictable going forward as we did last year.

This was one of the best pieces of news to come out yesterday for us. I'm glad we saved the 20 million and are now going to be forced to give Bertrand a chance. From the little I've seen he looks very promising.

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I'm pretty happy so far with what's happened, but Modric/creative mid would be the cherry! Then we need to sort our defence - doesn't need any new players, they've just looked a little ragged so far.

Pete can s*ck my c*ck

Tiago was quite a good player though in that season. Only had 1 season too, then we got essien and that was the end of him.

It's because of those morons that he's in this position. To be honest it seems improbable to me that Essien will ever get back to his best. Even after the first bad knee injury he looked very, very ordinary last year. Tearing your Anterior Cruciate Ligament twice is generally something which takes out all the power from your knees which, in physical terms, is key to Essien's game. I know this because I follow American Football where similar injuries happen more regularly and two of them regularly end up ruining people's careers.

Van Der Wiel was also at Stamford Bridge on Saturday but NOT because of any purported transfer - he was merely here on holiday watching a few games. I heard this all on TalkSport on Monday night by some Dutch football expert, didn't catch the name but there we are.

I'd be tempted to sell you know.

Hilario 5 Bosingwa 7 Ivanovic 6 Terry 6 Cole 6 Mikel 5 Lampard 5 Ramires 8 Malouda 4 Drogba 6 Torres 5 Lukaku 6 Anelka 7 Mata 8 Subs may seem a little inflated but for the short time they were all on the pitch they were all pretty effective in my opinion.

Arsenal are on the verge of signing Per Mertesacker according to BBC and Sky so I think that should kill all this speculative garbage.

Our squad is not as good. In fact I'd say its inferior in every single department.