evissy

I agree, but I also see the dilemma that Avram & co are trying to work with: There is no chance in h*ll that Sheva or Pizza will start over Drogs. We could change the formation, but: it is working okay and there is always that element of risk in changing it. This is the moment that Avram should use Sheva and Pizza; we got Derby and Rosenborg as our next opponents. Derby is a championship side(should be anyway) and Rosenborg is someone we are able to beat 8-0 in good day. I'm not underestimating them as opponents, but it could be Arse and Lpool, which will be later.

I'm quoting myself: Possible choices: 1. Benni McCarthy - best choice IMO 2. Benjani from Portsmouth - I hope he is not the one. His pace is not enough for Chelsea. 3. Nicholas Anelka - good choice IMO 4. Obafemi Martins - not sure. has lot of pace. 5. someone from outside EPL I didn't think much, did I. Benni from south africa, Benjani from Zimbabwe, Martins from Nigeria all great choices to cover us during the, what was it again... oh, I remember: African Nations Cup...goddamn I'm an idiot, and I wasn't even drunk writing that... I got Anelka right . I still think Huntelaar isn't ready to cover us in such short notice. It is possible he adjusts to the english game immediately, but it's a gamble more or less. I think we need an experienced player...

huntelaar is interesting player, but I think he is more of a summer signing since the player(s) we are going for should be experienced Premier League player(s). Also VanDerVaart is very interesting. He is not a pure striker but plays just behind strikers as shadow striker. That would make us change our formation and I'm not sure it would be a huge catasrophe. But seriously thinking I think Anelka or Benni would be right choices. Not sure Benni is in our reach, but..

I agree. But I think it is too easy to lean on luck factor. Luck with injuries is one thing. If you get injured when someone just crashes your legs from behind it is clear case, but if you get injured in training before a big game that could be because; player is under lot of pressure and the body reacts on that a.k.a. stress. My point is that you have to be physically ready and most of all mentally ready to play those games. Another thing is with cards. There is lot to do with luck in there as well, but if you are under heavy pressure in the game you get cards more easy. If you are a cool headed professional and can use the pressure for your benefit you are more likely to continue with no suspensions. But in Chelsea's case I think our players are ready to win CL. We just need the luck!

I think(and wish) we are going to buy a good/great striker that is not CL cup tied. There has been no signs from Grant that Sheva or Pizza are going to get time on the pitch. There are players that are not cup tied and who play regularly at the moment that are possible to lure to Chelsea. Sheva and Pizza just are not ready to carry the team with this system. Possible choices: 1. Benni McCarthy - best choice IMO 2. Benjani from Portsmouth - I hope he is not the one. His pace is not enough for Chelsea. 3. Nicholas Anelka - good choice IMO 4. Obafemi Martins - not sure. has lot of pace. 5. someone from outside EPL

I think we are good to answer your question. Not good enough, but in time that will happen.

In some extent I agree with you and think you have a point there. There is unprofessionalism there. If you look at Barcelona and how they play when they are leading the game with only one goal, they still attack in the end and try to make it two, but there is a difference in knowing what to do and thinking of knowing what to do. It is always sort of risky to play either way; pulling back with 5mins to go or not changing the style of play too much. OK, players do it in unconcious level towards the end of the game no matter what the coach says, but there is a choice to make no matter what. Barcelona have played similarly every year with Rijkaard and they know how to do it and they have the quality. We on the other hand are in a changing phase, where we are seeking the more attacking style of play. We are not quite sure how it is going to look or work, but we are changing it all the same. We have lot of players who have bloomed into their best play under Mourinho and it is wont change in one night. I think we need these tougher games with Avram to show him that we are not changing as fast as it looks. We need to step a little bit back before we can go forward(did I just write that. sh*t I sound like an ass*ole). I think Avrams start has been little bit too easy to show him what our real level is. This Everton game showed it. We are not ready to be aggressively attacking team right to the end. A player like Essien is used to stay back and protect our goal for many years now and now he suddenly tries to kill the game 89 mins played going forward like a crazy person. Having said that, I think we are going the right way still. This was a minor setback we are only 5 points behind ManU and they are playing their best game at the moment. I guess I'm trying to say that you can look this draw from many angles and all the answers are right. I prefer to look it from positive angle.

who predicts nil nil?...60mins played. come on Chelsea!

This is a great game for Avram to prove he is quality coach. I'm pretty sure this is his toughest match since Valencia, it should be anyway. Everton have won all their last 5 games and they have quality as well. .............carlo.............. belletti...alex...riccy...ash ...............mikel............. ....essien..........franky.... ....SWP............salomon.. ....didier...........drogba....

..keeps him sidelined from sunday's Everton game and he will be probably out of two of his countrys matches. He has a small tear in his calf muscle. Hope those are all the games he misses.

Some points of mine 1. We were outplayed tactically 2. They had a huge backing from their crowd 3. They are one of the biggest teams in germany 4. We didn't need to win 5. Some of their players had the best night of their careers: Rakitic, Ozil 6. Belletti was beaten every time the came from left. Every time. 7. I think we were not prepared well enough for the game 8. There was something missing between our defence and attack..hmm, what could it be. 9. Essien in the LB and Mikel in the middle made a great impact. Good change from Avram though it was made too late.

Was it the Wigan game or some other game just recently where Ten Cate was sort of laughing and he talked passionately to Grant and Clarke. Neither of them reacted though he was 30cm form Avrams face. Someone else noticed? Especially Clarke was like a statue there and he had a really angry looking face just looking to the pitch. OK, probably Ten Cate just had something stupid or uninteresting to say, but it woke up a small 'the sun' reporter in me. . It looked like neither Grant or Clarke wanted to hear what Henk had to say.

feel for you mate. Here in Finland a miracle did happen. I paid, for the first time in my life, an obligatory TV 'licence'. It is for financing our national television channels 1 and 2 and they SHOW Chelsea game live!! And what makes it even more spectacular is that Liverscum has a game as well. They always show Liverscum games because a finnish player plays there.

He has made Paulo better as well. Good, healthy competition is good. They even speak the same language, or am I right..? Paulo has been at his best this season. Has created two goals for us as I can remember. Belletti looks to be really good. His goal celebration was great too. Icy cool...you liked it too IcyCoolGuy22 or what was it.

Sheva and Pizza might play. Pizza knows the opponent best and can serve Schalke some of his world known 'quattro stagione' while their defence is big and slow Sheva's newly trained legs will carry him past the defenders with ease. My updated prediction is 0-6 to us, goals shared between Pizza and Sheva.

I think it will be a tough contest. I hope so anyway. Schalke is good/better playing home so we are not just cruising to victory. Kuranyi's injury sure is big blow to them since there were really no threat on our defence at Bridge earlier. Someone hit the post if I can remember... I predict 1-2 or 2-3 to us. ------------Cech Belletti-Riccy-Alex-Bridge ------------Maka ----Essien---------Lamps --------Joey -----Drogba-----Malouda I think Avram will rotate and play Joey and Malouda instead of SWP and Kalou..

Our defence was consistent. Consistently poor(well, didn't even watch the game. just needed to get the last word). Hope we hammer Wigan in the first 15mins so we can substitute Drogs or Kalou to Sheva and let him play against better opponents. OK, Wigan isn't the best test, but good for Sheva.

wow. Never heard of him, signed in 2005. He's only 22 and a defender. How did he convince the kidnappers? They gave him a ball and said "show us some tricks". He tried but failed after numerous tries. He said "I am a footballer, really". Kidnappers didn't believe him and released him. I feel sorry for the lad.

Arsenal plays 0-0 against ManU and we beat Wigan. With those results we are trailing ManU with only 3 points. I don't think Arsenal will collapse during the season. It is tough to win EPL with such unexperienced side, but they've got quality in those young players. Liverpool can also lose points as they visit high flying Blackburn. Pool is missing lot of players and I'm sure Benny will put one or two behind them I really can't see us losing a point visiting Wigan. We got Drogs and Lamps.

Yes we are! Drogba can handle the long balls, but he can bloody well handle short passes to his feet as well. It is nice to see Drogs gets support in the attack. He can do it alone, but there are 5 other guys who can help him.

When I was younger Patrick Kluivert played for Ajax. I was a big fan of Ajax those days since Jari Litmanen played there and so on. I was big fan of Kluivert as well. Then he crashed his car driving really fast and killed someone in the other car. He was senteced to 1000 hours of community work, so he practically teached kids to play football. That is when I stopped idolising him. Wasn't really his fault that he got such a joke of a sentence, but still he lost something in my eyes. He got away from certain jailtime since he was Patrick Kluivert a football star.

you took my words mate . we are heading to "lots of new topics in the rumour section" january, as usual. btw did someone watch the whole game? how did Pizarro play? was he useless?

...relies on Drogba and Lamps. BTW who posted somewhere in this forum that Essien doesn't fit in our midfield. 1goal and 2assists in ManCity game. He is just one of the best, lets say, two way players in the world. Sometimes clumsy, but has lot more finesse than in his first year with Chelsea. Key player in our midfield. Who would you replace him with? When he plays right side of the midfield and has an attacking role he is just great. Back to the original topic: Sidwell needs to play more before we can judge him, lets hope he plays tonight in CC-game. Kalou has scored 4 times this season so he is doing okay, but his decisions inside the box are just wrong 9 out of 10 times. Malouda is good IMO, he should shoot more. He is really good at defending as well. SWP is too one dimensional, but has been in best form with us this season. In good form against right kind of opponent and he will do damage. Paolo has been good in going forward, hope to see more of that. Sheva, Pizarro: score goals!

Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester, Chelsea? I can easily see this deal go through. He is in one of the worst teams of EPL right now and has experience of scoring in EPL, not that young but experience is what makes him good choice for DD's backup. The backup needs to be in good form right away. Has a history of being selfish and if I remember correctly he was thinking of retiring few years ago. Was he going to do art or something like that? But hey he's french, stereotypically thinking he fits in the mould . I think he is similar player to Pizarro, maybe Anelka has more speed, but otherwise. I really hope Pizza and Sheva start performing so we wouldn't need to buy Anelka or anyone else for that matter.