TJB

All good goals and well taken. Even the pen was well struck. Job done and nice confidence boost ahead of the weekend.

I don't recall having those issues against Newcastle, and Mikel played the full 90. So it's not the first time. And on the occasions we did have lapses in concentration, Mikel wasn't the sole cause of the entire team messing up. And the opposition of course has to be taken into consideration, tonight and every other night or day. Losing the 2 goal lead against Juventus wasn't as big a disaster as it would have been had it been against Stoke or Wigan.

Let's not get too carried away with this performance against an understrength Wolves team, who are in the Championship btw. I'm not Mikel's biggest fan, but I'm gonna need to see something from someone else in a game against better opposition before I call for him to be dropped.

My bad. Ash is @TheRealAC3.

Seems an appropriate place as any to leave this https://twitter.com/RealAC3/status/249804528466149378/photo/1 It may not be the most mature thing to chuckle at but I did.

On the one hand I'm delighted that he's done this. The England "fans" don't deserve him. There isn't another player who's been more committed to their cause in JT's time. Even when he was stripped of the captaincy twice, he still showed up and still gave 100% and nothing less, even when injured late on in a game just so they wouldn't go down to 10 men. But on the other hand it's clear to everyone how much it means to him to play for his country. Hence the commitment. And it's gonna hurt him on a personal level to have to watch them from now on. I suspect like many here that he knows tomorrow won't go well for him. Most logical people (or at least those I know and not just Chelsea fans) can't see the sense in a man being found not guilty in court but still being punished for what he allegedly did, even with the FA's balance of probability.

Not enough proper beards in the game these days. I'm all for Mata's beard.

Ooohhh thank you very much. An evening on Google awaits!! Is that you Mr Abramovich? Or are you just in charge of the accounts or something? Because the tone of your posts suggest you've a lot riding on the success/failure of the summer's investments. It's been pointed out already in this thread but I feel it needs to be done again. We weren't playing some bunch of nobodies. We played Juventus. Champions of Italy who were undefeated in Serie A last year. They are a very very good team. Now, I've already stated that we should have won given the position we were in. But hey, sh*t happens. We talk a lot about transition but don't seem to have the patience for it. There's gonna be some bumps on the road ahead and poor performances, and poor results. We won't always agree with the team selection or tactics, but hopefully long term things are gonna work out. Have faith and patience.

As if anyone was looking at that!

To be fair, in my experience here, you get a lot of people who sign up just to moan in the match threads when we don't win and then disappear again till the next poor game. The majority of regulars seem fine and talk sense. Btw, who's the booby blonde in the red dress on Sky Sports?

We got a point, which beforehand would be seen as a decent result. But being 2 up we should have won. No excuses.

What annoys me most watching the replay is not so much that he gave it away, it's how he reacted to it, or didn't more to the point. Juventus deserve to be back in it, but they don't need us making it so easy for them. Just hit the bar too. Bloody hell.

Well bollox. Give it away so stupidly against good players and that's what happens.

Good sub, especially if he's carrying an injury. Very good CL debut for the young man.

Don't think it was a penalty myself. I'd be annoyed if we had one like that given against us. But that was not a free and crazy that Ramires was booked.

Good half. Plenty to be happy about but a few concerns too. Ivanovic is worrying me defensively. He needs to up his game, especially with the arrival of a new rb at the club. The Mikel-Lampard problem is blatantly obvious again. And Ramires is having a poor night. I know he's not a wide player but there's no excuse for some of the poor passes tonight. But enough negatives. Oscar is something special. Lucky with the 1st goal but that second goal is unbelievable. But as well as that his confidence on the ball is impressive. He gives the ball and then moves to get it again and use it effectively. Precisely what Lampard and Mikel should be doing. Hazard too has looked good again. looking forward to the second half of this.

Just a quick thing on the handshake bs. Did Luiz refuse to shake Ferdinand's hand? It looks like he keeps his hand down and shakes his head but it's not really clear on the video. Did anyone who was there see it? If he did do that then fair play to him I say. I didn't see the game so I'll wait till I see the highlights before commenting on the performance. But the result wasn't the best, but not the worst either, obviously. I think QPR will cause plenty of the big teams problems this season. The way I look at it, we got a point and got the handshake and first encounter crap out of the way and can now move on to Juve in the Champions League.

sh*t I forgot about this. Just turned over now and they're talking about the Barca game. I still got that shiver down my spine watching Ashley clear it and then the commentators realise Torres is through. Then of course the lines I've heard time and time again since that night. "This could be the most dramatic moment of the season....It's TORRES!!!" Dunno how to write Neville's orgasm so insert here. Munich next.

The whole idea of making players shake hands before games has always been stupid I think. Why can't we just have the players come out on the pitch and get on with the game without this pointless bs? As for the game of football that's supposed to be happening after the main event tomorrow, the sooner we get the first goal the better. If we start like we did at the Bridge last season we could get a similar result. The lads just need to keep their heads because the QPR players, and fans, will be fired up early on for this like last season's game. My prediction, 4-0 us.

It's not just Cameron's statement. The report yesterday and the Taylor report both said Liverpool fans were in no way to blame for what happened that day. The very first line of yesterday's report says it. loz's post is as perfect a way to sum things up as you'll find. I hope now the families get the justice they've been waiting 23 years for.

Good to see Frank scoring 2, even if it was only Moldova. Not so good to see was Terry going off injured. Hope it's not serious.

Financial fair play is something that looks good in theory, but how it would actually work out isn't so clear. In theory it would encourage clubs to develop their own players in their academies. And again in theory wages and transfer budgets would be lower and the smaller clubs should be able to hang on to their decent young players and build good teams and be able to compete. But we all know it won't work out like that. A salary cap like comtrend suggested would do much more to level things out.

Rough on Southampton.

I want to batter them. That is all.

I wouldn't take a pay cut now in my current job, simply because I can't afford to. If I was a professional footballer coming to the end of my career and hadn't much chance of playing but had a chance to go to another club at a reasonably high level, then I would take a pay cut. I'd rather play regularly (while still earning good money btw, even if it less) than amass a fortune sitting on the bench every week. But, I don't know the particular details of Malouda's situation. For all I know RDM has told him he'll get game time and will play a part this season. I don't know. My posts are based on the hypothetical situation of him not taking a pay cut to leave.