Phillip

You mean I also cannot support Lazio and Schalke04? That would make me very sad (don't worry, Chelsea is Numero Uno for me).

Sorry, but the posts are too long for my attention deficit disorder, so I cannot assist on this one.

A draw at Old Trafford will do it, since ManU is bound to drop points against Citeh? No, that won't do it, since I cannot imagine us winning at both Anfield and at White Hart Lane. Thus, I think we need to win at Old Trafford to have a chance at the title.

I like that article by McLeod. The only thing that I can see faulty with it is the point about getting rid of Robben, since my understanding was that we wanted to keep him, but that he wanted to go somewhere else (Real Madrid).

I do agree about the width of the post comment regarding Avram Grant, since why was he fired when we were that close to winning the Champions League? I still cannot figure that one out.

No, No, No, No, No, No, No. He just cannot score goals, and that is how a striker is rated.

I would drop them both, and go with one of our young midfielders who never get a chance to play. This season is over, at least with respect to winning the league.

After reading that article, it makes me think how little that I know about this game.

Alrighty then.

I love Drogba as much as other Chelsea fans, but you must admit that Torres is a clinical finisher, and has much better ball handling skills that Drogba.

God dammit, the NHL instituted a two referee system a few years ago to deal with missing many infractions -- why doesn't the Stone Age football association known as UEFA do something like that? Andy Gray was spot on when he said that they should call about 5 penalties a game to cut down on the shenanigans in the box by defenders, until defenders learn that they cannot do those things. We have our own guilty party, Ricardo Carvalho, who is horrible when it comes to grabbing players in the box, probably worse than Motta and Samuel combined.

I guess I am thinking about the Bundesliga in the 80s, with Rumminigge and Augenthaler and Abramcyk and the Foerster brothers and the like -- it was a pretty rough and tumble league back then.

Just our luck, we get a Rugby League/Bundesliga official who refs in a league that allows just about anything with regards to defending, or we get some crazy Scandanavian referee (Frisk, Ovrebo) who cannot keep up with the pace of a CL match since he is normally referreeing in the super-inferior Norwegian or Swedish premier league. I still remember the Barca match with Collina as the referee -- ah, if only all referrees were like him.

Don't know, but come to think about it some more, it might have been Thiago Motta who tackled Ivanovic in the box.

I would admit that Lucio was brilliant, but Samuel's rugby tackles on Ivanovic and Drogba, at the opponent's stadium to boot, were reckless to say the least, and should have cost Inter dearly. So, Samuel was a very lucky boy, and was not brilliant.

Well said, Dorset. I feel much better now after reading your throughtful analysis of the pitiful Champions League.

Yes, you are correct, a young, fast team like Barca will carve them up, just like ManU did to them last season, and just like they would do again if they draw Inter. We had the ideal team for Inter to play against, slow and methodical, and they just killed us. I don't want to hear about the refereeing, since Milito was through on goal at least three times, which were all called back for an incorrect offsides. I am not nearly as upset as last year's Barca match, but it is depressing to see our deficiencies bared for all to see. God, I would love to see someone like Ji-Sun Park on our team, or anyone who has good skills and is an Energizer Bunny out there. We have no one like that (well, perhaps Essien, but he is one of our walking wounded).

I agree with you, Mod. It's like the team has taken on the personality of the coach, Carlo, who is very stoic out there. We needed passion, like you-know-who, and we certainly did not have any of that. I guess it is better to have gotten knocked out now, rather than later on, so that now we can concentrate on trying to win the league, which will be hard to do, but not out of our grasp. I think Lamps and Ballack should never play together again. God bless, with a slow, methodical team such as Inter, we looked like we were playing in quicksand. Just imagine how we will look against ManU, with their quick midfielders and frontmen. And remember that clearance header that JT totally missed -- Eto'o should have put the tie away right there and then, but thankfully he heads the ball like Thierry Henry. We were so piss-poor today, it was embarassing.

Agreed. I thought most of the calls went our way. A few close off-sides, especially the one called on Milito in the 21st minute, were incorrect. Yes, Samuel rugby-tackled Drogba on a corner, but those never get called, at least never for us. Westway Wonder is right in that we have no flair, no Robben, and we become totally pedestrian. I felt we would never score if we had 1000 minutes to play. Ballack and Lamps are just two slow lumps, and with a slow Mikel as well, our midfield becomes like four glaciers staying in place. We created nothing, which is inexcusable at home. Icecoolguy is also correct in that we should just put this game out of our minds, and move on to the Premier League and the FA Cup. Being beaten so comprehensively is sad to behold, but it is what it is!

Dumb me. I thought the game was starting right now, but it seems that it won't start for another hour. I hate the Daylight Savings time switch in the U.S. -- it always messes me up with European matches.

Sorry, Bluenut. I did not know that you were such a good poet.

I understand your point, Loz, but it is why someone like Peter Crouch must be on the team. And, if there was an 8 foot tall person who had a modicum of football skills (i.e., can head the ball passably), I would jump at putting him on the team (any team) as well. Having someone with an unusual skill, such as a throw-in specialist or a super-tall player who can score when you absolutely need a goal and nothing else has worked (Dick Nanninga, anyone?), is a good thing to have on a World Cup squad, if you can spare a place or two for such players.

Then we probably should have let JT go to Citeh, I suppose.

Something inside me wonders that if we win the Champions League this year, or if we had won it two seasons ago, that would have given RA his Holy Grail, so-to-speak, and he would have jettisoned the club soon thereafter. So, perhaps not winning the CL each year is a good thing for us, in a strange way.

I feel bad for him too, and with his awesome crossing skills, he deserved a place on the England squad, since no one can cross better than him. On those same lines, why not include Rory Delap in the England squad (he is English, right?). With his great throw-ins in the attacking end of the pitch, he would wreck havoc with most squads that England faces.