Phillip

Too high a score for Deco (too many poor passes and give-aways) and Essien (his poor shooting drops his score down to a 7, in my view) and Lamps (horrid first half, which has to be factored in even though he had an excellent second half).

Hello, from the other side of the World.

Just remember that ManU is playing with several of their regulars still injured, and they will get better when Van de Saar and Ferdinand come back. Valencia is getting better game by game, and so now is the time to get them, and unfortunately Arsenal did not help us in that regard.

Maybe you are right, Mod, but they seem way too young to handle the long season. Also, Song and Denilson and Diaby are big holes in their team, which even mediocre teams can exploit.

That is idiotic thinking. What, last year, did you want Arsenal to beat Hull City, because Hull City was closer to us after playing 3 games into the season? Think, man, about which team is our true rival for the Premier League Trophy. That team is ManU, and not Arsenal.

Great save by Jensen to deny Essien a goal. Another great save by Jensen to deny Ballack a goal off a flick header from a corner. I guess my statement about Jensen not really looking great due to us shooting right at him in the first half was changed by Jensen's diving stops in the second half. Still, 3-0 is a very good result.

Ballack for me. Though the entire back line was immense, and Drogs is back to his old self.

They come too seldom to suit my fancy, Coco, but I do see your point (Where is "Essien's Strike"?). How come you still have that fake "banned" avatar? Also, did anyone else notice that one time when Cech got a little frisky with the ball? It could have cost us dearly, and I am not sure why he does that from time to time (he is not Rene Higuita, I know).

I saw nothing too wrong with his decisions, except for the non-foul call against Drogba. What is your evidence to support your statement, Moosey? Also disagree about the keeper, unless you give him credit for being lucky enough to be standing exactly where we are shooting the ball.

Lamps is having a horrible game. Sweet Waffle, you are right in that Essien is playing well, but he must have taken some shooting lessens from Mikel (which is not a good thing).

Quick thoughts. 1) How many times did we shoot exactly where the keeper was standing? Too many times to suit me. 2) Lamps clearly left his shooting boots at home. 3) Deco was making me scream at his laziness and sloppy passing. 4) Ballack looked great, by far our best midfielder. 5) Nice goal, but the giveaway at our end should have resulted in a Burnley goal. Who was the defender caught in possession? 6) Ashley Cole and Jose Bosingwa looked very lively moving forward on the wings.

Hello aRii. I have a thing for the Bundesliga, and I just love Schalke04. They have such passionate fans (but so does Borussia Dortmond). I am a bit surprised that you don't support Bayer Leverkusen, but so be it. Happy to have you on board.

Geez, I wonder if the other Premier league fans thought the same thing when Jose was at Chelsea? Yes, they certainly did. :)

To all the forum members in the U.S., the Burnley match will be shown live on ESPN2, Saturday, 7:45 Eastern Time.

I voted for Mikel, who looked great going forward.. Close call between him and Bopara, though.

I'm with Sindre -- Mikel was stupendous.

Good analysis, Lofty. Chelsea was in control from the start, and was a very clinical victory. Reminds of those games in our first and second seaons with Jose in charge.

My streaming video was good for the first 25 minutes, then I lost it. For those first 25 minutes, we looked good. After that, I have no idea.

All of the various MediaPlayer streams that I have tried are hit and miss -- mostly miss.

Ha Ha, Pauly. I am just pulling your tail, no offense.

Just means that we are thinking the same thoughts concerning Pauly (two computers operating lock-step run the same instruction sequence to perform the same task, one being the primary computer and the other being a backup computer, for example).

I cannot remember many games last season when we scored to win it in the last 10 minutes or in injury time. I recall a few games when the other team did that to us, though. Thus, I come out of this game with a good feeling about this team. And kudos to Alan Wiley for having 6 minutes of injury time, even though we only needed 2 of those minutes.

DKW, you and I are in lock-step.

Good points, DKW. Have you seen Pauly's post on Player Ratings? He must be blind.

Hey, Pauly, please don't call him Cashley. What, are you a Gooner? And damn, your rating of Deco is inane, he was bad, bad, bad.