Davey Baby

The context of that tackle was what made it particularly stupid. I just can't imagine Terry doing the same thing in the same context.

Reckless, stupid, irresponsible. Not words you associate with Terry on the pitch. If you can imagine him flying in two-footed, near the halfway line, no sign of danger, 1-0 down, going for the title, down to 10 men, you have a pretty vivid imagination. Edit: Most of the game remaining I should add. It was mindless. Double Edit: Drogba has been great for us, but this isn't about his career, this is about QPR, and he was a liability.

I said both decisions were justified. I never justified the rest of his performance, in fact I criticised it.

Exactly what I said.

The ref was justified giving them a pen and sending off Boswinga. I'm not excusing his overall performance, which was shocking, but the key moment in the game was Drogba's sending off, and it was totally inexcusable. It gave us no chance, whereas we were in with a decent shout otherwise.

??? What are you talking about. This isn't the point in question, the point is, Terry would never have done what Drogba did today, in the context of today's match. The fact that you are arguing he would proves you don't know him very well. But hey ho, he's been playing a good few years now, give us one example. What's that? You can't? No I didn't think so. By all means excuse Drogba if you must but please don't compare his actions today to those of Terry. That's just ridiculous.

You do JT a massive disservice I'm afraid, in your attempt to excuse Drogba. There is no excuse for what he did. It was needless and moronic. We are going for the title, and he put a massive dent in those hopes today.

Today we can question his attitude on the pitch. 3 points were there for the taking, even with 10 men. What he did was unforgiveable, and completely needless. You would not see Terry or Lampard do that. You can bet this defeat hurts them far more than it does him. You can bet their legs ache a bit more too.

Lampard for me, Terry a close second. Love them both.

Cech 8/10 Played very well. Boswinga 7/10 Was having a good game. Sending-off was harsh but justified. Cole 8/10 Excellent. Luiz 5/10 Had a good second-half. I won't comment on the first. Terry 8/10 Captain Fantastic. Beautiful to watch. Mikel 7/10 Sloppy in his passing occasionally but didn't have many teammates to aim at. I refuse to give anyone who played the duration less than 7. It was a superhuman effort. We showed what we were about, and it was good to see. Okay I gave Luiz a 5 but my hands were tied. Mereiles 8/10 Played very well. Lampard 9/10 Incredible second-half. Showed his class throughout. A true Chelsea legend. Drogba 1/10 Pathetic. We were down to 10 men, we were 1-0 down, we had loads of time. You look to your experienced players. Maybe not. Truth is, Drogba stopped playing a long time ago. A long long long long time ago. Mata 6/10 Let's just hope he isn't out for too long. Sturridge 6/10 Hard to play when your opponent is kicking ten lumps out of you. Subs .. Ivanovic 8/10 The perfect antidote to Luiz. His cross for Anelka was class. Anelka 5/10 It was a simple chance. Get your nut on it, head it home. Unfortunately he let the ball bounce off him rather than force the issue. I've said it before and I'll say it again, Anelka is profligate. He needs chance after chance after chance. Having said that, he gave a good centre-forward display in the circumstances. He stretched their defence and held up the ball. He'll never be my cup of tea, but today would be the wrong day to dig him out. Malouda 5/10 I can't really comment. My emotions were all over the shop by this stage. Which brings me nicely to .. The referee 0/10 He gave them two very soft decisions in the first-half, which turned the game. Both of them were understandable, but to give them the benefit of the doubt on both, particularly when SWP jumped straight back up and chased the ball, was very harsh. Add to that the fact we weren't given a sniff on similar calls, they were allowed to manhandle us at will at set-pieces, we were booked for every slight misdemeanour, and they were allowed to kick Sturridge at will, and it all boils down to nil points. Sorry Chris. You were indeed their best player. Go to a QPR forum. I'm sure they've got you man of the match.

What is beyond dispute is that Wilkins didn't see his contract out to the end, hence the compensation he was given. Edit: The fact that he received compensation suggests that he didn't walk out on that contract.

Hadn't Arnesen already come out and said he was leaving in the summer by the time Wilkins was sacked? Could be wrong though. I have heard there were two things which left Roman underwhelmed .. 1. He got a little bit tiddly on the way back from Spartak. 2. After our exit to Inter, he told Roman to hold back on the inquest. Could be rubbish though. It seems certain however that he was sacked during half-time of a reserve game at Cobham, against Carlo's wishes. Considering he was a club legend, with blue blood running through his veins, it was crass in the extreme. I also think it undermined Carlo in the eyes of the players, as he came across as weak, or passive. Edit: Judging by our performances afterwards, something was seriously amiss backstage.

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/sport/article-1062869-ridsdale-slams-11m-lampard.do

http://www.chelseafc...2490074,00.html

RIP Matthew.

Welcome. Been brilliant this season by and large. Old habits die hard though and he still has lapses. Cole was given the runaround by Nani, and also Bale at Wembley, but he seems to be over his sticky patch, and has played very well of late. So long as Bos keeps performing, AVB will play him, and that's how it should be.

Today's (Saturday's) Guardian has him out for 4 weeks. I hope they're wrong.

Ramires out according to Sky Sports News.

Sol Campbell ?

Defensively he was at sixes and sevens all first half. Not only did he lose his runner loads of times, letting him run in behind him, but he made a series of rash challenges, totally unnecessarily. Against better opposition, we may have been punished. His quality as a footballer is beyond question. His defending can be dodgy.

I just pointed out that the presence of Lampard and Malouda didn't hinder him last night, nor did the absence of Mata and Sturridge, as someone else had pointed out. My opinion was (and remains) that service had nothing to do with his poor form. That he had to look at himself, and nobody else. Only then would things improve. He had to look at what he was giving the team, not the other way around. Has Lampard changed his game, as you assert? No, he's just playing better. I've seen Lampard have plenty poor runs of form over the years, yet I never saw that given as an excuse that his teammates were failing. Right from the off yesterday Torres looked sharp, as he has done recently. He oozed belief. He crossed for Lampard with the outside of his boot. He played a lovely square pass to Lampard, again, with the outside of his boot. These were things you wouldn't have seen before. That was not the Torres that turned up at Chelsea on day one. Back then Torres looked a shell of a man, and that was not his teammates' fault, far from it. Doubt had crept into his mind. I always believed the problem was mental as well as physical, and I credit the manager for helping him get in the right state of mind. Regardless of the reasons of his better form, and despite the fact we may disagree, I'm just glad we're seeing the Torres of old, or something approaching it. I admit that I never held out much hope for him, and while we have to keep things in perspective, there is more reason to hope than ever. Well done Nando.

I never said he said it. I just disagreed with your view that if he said it, it was defensible, as for me such comments would have been indefensible.

He gets no hate from me, I just don't rate him out wide. I agree with you regarding his position. He is a central striker who likes to play off the shoulder, and he would command a regular spot in that position for most teams, and score goals. However I have always regarded him as weak mentally. He is desperately short of confidence but you wouldn't know it by his demeanour, because his demeanour's always the same, and therein lies a problem for me. I think he could have been a much better player. He needed to put himself on the line far more. There doesn't seem to be that much at stake for him whether he misses or scores. For me it's a form of hiding. If you let it be known you're disappointed, you let it be known you wanted to score, hence you let it be known you failed. If you keep that part of you wrapped up, you keep another part of you wrapped up, and I am always left with the lingering feeling he has more to give, if only he could break through psychologically. He almost seems scared of showing you that he's trying, his penalties being a perfect example. Not many people mention his lack of confidence, whereas with other players it would appear obvious. It's too bottled up for my liking, and it's to his detriment as a player. Some players keep their emotions in check and it suits them, although I'm struggling to think of examples, examples of players who've really flourished, particularly strikers. In Anelka's case I think it holds him back. I don't think there's any doubting his talent, although he hasn't converted a chance in a long time, and they do come his way, despite the fact he plays out wide. Also, interestingly, he has never* performed in big games, throughout his career. Edit: When I say never, I mean hardly ever. I'm sure he has, I just can't think of examples. Big games against big teams. He's not a player you can rely on.

Are you sure Ramires is injured? I thought he was 50/50. Big loss but obviously Mereiles can come in. The other decision facing the manager is Luiz or Ivan.