MrBump

And yes, Mikel still not good enough. DM looks like a major weakness going into the new season despite all the money spent.

Not that bad all things considered, red card changed the game and city's movement in second half was very good, hence the three goals shipped. Thought we could have done better on the third goal if we'd sacrificed a MF to replace Brana. Main concern was lack of discipline. We were really fortunate not to finish with nine men or worse. Thought Luiz was good first half but he became progressively more unstable as the game went on. Congrats to Bertrand on his first goal and well done to Torres for a decent performance.

That really was worth staying up until 6am for. Herculean performance by the team, it's great that everyone who loves the club got to enjoy a night like this after the travails of this season. Actually felt like a cup final. Also funny that this performance can be used by both the anti-AVB and anti-players camps to support their arguments... i.e. "Robbie showed what this team can do with proper instruction and good substitutions" vs. "the old guard clearly still cut the mustard, where were these performances when AvB was in charge?" But anyway, such debates should take a back seat for the moment. Better to just enjoy the performance.

He's walking a tightrope no doubt, but sooner or later someone has to stand up to this core group of players who have been complicit in the sacking of so many managers. Whether we can cling on to fourth place with such a fractured dressing room is another question.

Lot's of posters suggesting that we should take the "dressing room revolt" story with a pinch of salt, which I definitely think we should, but given how frequently our club has been associated with these kind of insurrection stories over the past few years, I'd be inclined to say there's no smoke without fire. If something did happen and it acts as something of a catalyst, then great. At least we might see a bit more life from certain players who've been in third gear for the last few months. This does seem unlikely though, and while I'm just speculating here, I would imagine that AVB's relationship with some players is now at a point where something has to give. If so, we're faced with a situation of dumping another manager or dumping some of the team. Not a nice place to be. I for one believe we should keep faith with AVB until next season. He still has a lot to learn (bizarre/ineffectual subs, persistence with rubbish players, playing guys like Mata out of position), but he did come here having shown a lot of promise, and we shouldn't forget the scale of the challenge he's facing with a hopelessly unblanced and in some cases unmotivated squad. We need a couple of performance to arrest this decline, and quick. If not for the manager, for the club and most importantly for the fans.

I'd definitely take 1-0. More worried about stopping the crosses coming into Holt/Morison, so if Ivanovic is available would be dead keen to see him in the side. I was initially surprised by most of the people on here calling for Cahill's immediate introduction after Luiz's improvement in recent weeks, but I guess there's no denying we're still shaky. Maybe bringing Cahill in will steady the ship, but I still think that Luiz has a fantastic future ahead of him (as a CB, not a DM), and I really hope it's in blue.

Didn't see the Pompey cup game, but Meireles has been infuriating to watch with his lax passing and horrendous long range efforts, so wouldn't mind having Lamps in the centre for this one alongside Ramires. If Sturridge is fit then that's a huge bonus, still our best change of getting a goal despite not quite maintaining his earlier standards. Would love to see Mata moved centrally somehow, but as has been pointed out a million times, we have no natural wingers so for the time-being it's not going to happen. And yeah, despite their recent form, I'm sure O'Neill's savvy enough to see that putting 10 men behind the ball and trying to hit us on the break is their best option. Expecting a tough game. Let's just hope Bendtner provides some comedy.

Only just signed up so thought this thread would be a good place to start. My first Chelsea game was at Sheffield Wednesday in 2000, sat with the home fans. My mate's family were Wednesday season ticket holders and it was the only chance I had to see the blues in action. They'd briefed me to be quiet in the event of us scoring (naturally), but turns out they didn't have much to worry about. We went down 1-0 to a Wim Jonk penalty and De Goey should have been sent off. My abiding memory of the game is all the Wednesday fans around me having no idea who Sam Dalla Bonna was when when we subbed him on. Then again, am sure plenty of blues would struggle to remember these days :)

I agree that the result is of paramount importance. I think we can afford to rest certain players (e.g. Mata, Ash) while still sending out a strong team that should be capable of dismantling Portsmouth. With the inconsistency we've been showing this season it's still about steadying the ship. The most important thing I think AvB has to do is play Torres. His performance against Wolves was encouraging, he's making intelligent runs and passes, all he needs now is to grab a couple of goals and (fingers crossed) his Chelsea career can really get underway.