Gee Bee

Manure has again had the jump on us and set to be pacemakers should we slip up early in the season. They identify their players and secure signatures very early. This helps their new players to have more time than ours to gel. We are fumbling to make deals happen. We have really missed the decisiveness of our former CEO Mr. Hutchinson. Were he still with us many of our deals for this season would have been sown up. We are caught in the same sick situation as we were last season. Many of our key players are moving on in age and I fear we will be caught in another situation where we release another four players without suitable replacements and find ourselves short on squad members. We are not learning from previous years. Roman seems ready to spend but the manager is still feeling his way around. Last year we dipsy dudled and shadow boxed on buying Neymar when we only needed to add a further two million to seal the deal at that time. Now, this year, we have to pay an additional fifteen million if we are going to have him before he is sold elsewhere. I don't know since when twenty five million turns out to be more than forty million. I am not usually uneasy but I am beginning to feel that way this time. AVB is entering the middle phase of preseason games and yet nothing tangible has happened. I hope a plan B is solidly in place and he is not putting all his eggs in the proverbial single basket. I hope he turns out to be more substance than talk. Our performances so far have been far from solid for a start. Our strikers still look like they need lots more time to sharpen up. We have no real inventive midfielders to unlock defences. Last season opposing defences found we were on nearly all occasions trying to force the final ball through the middle and they cut off that pass time and time again. Our players continued to make the same decisions each time even though they were not working. The players appeared to have no other choices even though those tactics did not work. It is my wish that some inventive players are integrated into the mix very soon and we keep Sturridge and provide him with starts early in the season alongside of Torres. This would be our main hope in the Premiership. We seem not to be keen on players like Neymar or Sanchez any longer. I think they are players who would bring some variety and inventiveness to the table for us. It is now left to be seen if we will be outfoxed by he people at manure again this season.

If AVB has the person to person skills which I hear he has he can surely work with David Luiz to improve his overall play.

Modric's main error so far is to have a "foolish" verbal agreement with his chairman. This shows that he may be talented but yet naive. Had he a written agreement he would have solid legal legs to stand on and his agent should have known this all along. One on one and Levy can deny or stick out that the guy stays since there is absolutely no proof that there was ever such an agreement. Modric should now learn from such an error. There is no such gentlemen's agreement when a contract is signed. Again, his agent should have seen to it that any such clause was inserted in the first place. In this case ignorance is no excuse if he is still stuck at Tottenham.

Falcao has been made transfer listed mainly by speculative journalists. What have they really based their assessments on? There are much better South American forwards out there if AVB wanted. If he wanted to bring any Porto players from that club the hacks would not have shared secrets with AVB overnight.

I have watched most of these matches and also the Under 17's in South America. One good pass a game won't make a great player. I also saw that Falcao was limited to long range shots. So far, Ramos has been the really good centre forward for Columbia. Ramos is supposed to be playing for a second tier team in Germany. Falcao looks quite lightweight at that level, in my opinion.

Really don't need him for sure. One overhyped duck. He was crap in the game last night against Argentina even though they outplayed the Argies.

Still early days yet but Falcao looked quite pedestrian in the game vs Costa Rica during the weekend.

His price tag is no less than Neymar. In some cases the quote is even higher than Neymar. Difference between the two is Sanchez is playing in Europe whereas Neymar is an unknown quantity on the continent. Gee Bee

. . . And Kaka said he was going to stay with AC Milan (forever). Each player has his price/conditions which will sway him.

The brilliant manager of the day was not concerned in getting the best out of the player at the time. He did what he wanted to do. Flog Flo off to Rangers. End of story.

Blame MUST be accorded on two fronts. Firstly, the owner for replacing Mourinho with Grant. Secondly Grant for not producing the goods. Imagination has been in short supply in crucial matches. We have been unsettled by Grant not keeping faith with a steady team. Why must he change players for so many games? Why does Grant also not put Anelka and Drogba in tandem for most of the matches? He has shown he CANNOT play the 4-3-3 as Mourinho could. It is sad that we are slowly creeping back into the pre Mourinho days. We now have a reincarnation of Claudio Ranieri. How could Roman Abramovich reverse the gains of three years in the space of half a season? Grant has been given a fair number of matches to prove his winning potential and he has FAILED. There is no success in not achieving trophies no matter who else we would have beaten before these crucial matches. I now fear for our Champions League status. Grant has been reported as indirectly stating that he is more interested in delivering the Champions League trophy. Mourinho ALWAYS stated he was interested in ALL trophies. There lies the difference in the two personalities. Today, Mourinho (according to Mourinho's style) he would have strangled the life out of little Barnsley. The one - nil would have been ion the other direction instead. Finally, hardly anyone can say now that Grant has the big game temperament. He has cracked under pressure at KEY TIMES. He did not stand up vs Manutd, Arse, CARLING CUP FINAL, FA Cup Quarters. Does this not act as a pointer for the next round of the Champions League. He has been seen to drop inform players at crucial times, changed players enmasse, sometimes from game to game. Does this not remind you of any of our managers of the past? Surely the owner has to bite the bullet for his grave error and rescue the club. We now have "Dead Man Walking" number Two.

This argument like most things have an up and down side. The prospect of including more English players is good but does it improve the national game if many of those included are not world class? It would, maybe, improve the English game but then England still won't qualify for the "big" tournaments or championships. I think to try to improve the structure of training for the English youths may be more productive than these quotos. When England qualified for the World Cup and European Championships in the recent past did they have quotos instituted? Another sticking point would be that many of those top players of other nations who now come to play in the Premiership would goo elsewhere which would improve the quality of competition in those other countries. Would England still be able to boast having the top competition in Europe/the world? While it is good to safeguard the future of the English lads who are coming up it does not guarantee success to the national team/squad. It was said that when Eriksson was sacked that an English coach would have done better. I rest my case.

Great to see Belletti and Alex get on the scoresheet so far. More starts should see more goals for these players. Belletti still the more outstanding right back so far for the season and not a bad performer for someone rated as "too old" for the Premiership. Has gotten forward and delivered more telling crosses than any of our other right backs in the past two seasons. Class is always class whichever way you look at it.

The ideal man for Chelsea Football Club now in its current situation would be Marcello Lippi. Lippi has had the most successful coaching record at club and country level in the last ten to fifteen years. Then again, he would be a strong character and whether or not Roman would want such a person would be debatable. Lippi has been at the forefront of Italian football for sometime now and has an unquestionable record. We won't want a team builder now as much as we would want a restorer and institutor of solid, unquestionable character. Who would be willing to follow Avram Grant who has a questionable record at top level? The Chelsea players may only be tolerating Grant for awhile to help to save face for the club and gloss over the problems at all levels now. It may be a matter of time (maybe end of season) until Grant, the stop gap throws in the towel and buckle to pressure. What outstanding record does Van Basten have at management level? The question answers itself. It would be great if measures can be put in place to solve most of the problems. The season is still not even midway and we may not be able to immediately able to correct the damage done but could, at least salvage a little pride. In order for anything meaningful to take place Roman would have to swallow a bit of his ego and do the right thing. He should choose a man of character, a known winner and without doubt one who will MANAGE free of any interference but with a precedent now set will this really happen in haste?

When he joined he was roundly criticised but if yesterday's game against Blackburn is any indication he should not prove a bad buy. It is early days yet and I won't want to judge this player but he showed more imagination and skill yesterday than many of the favourite names. It only goes to show that we should not be too quick to judge players before they settle in. We tend to depend too much on one or two individual players and when they don't sparkle the others look flat. I hope we are not becoming like the club which depended too heavily on Henry. Maybe the coach needs let the boys try to go out for the win rather than depend on the narrow victories that we have gotten used to. We really need to win.

You sound very much like one of those buyers/bidders on EBay.

Very likely Sheva will be in when Drogba and Kalou are away. There are also Carling Cup and Fa matches to be played. If he scores and confidence returns we will see him more often. Pizarro and Kalou are not performing badly right now so who will he push?

It is interesting that Jose has decided to exercise more South American players than previous managers. He has brought in more "non traditional" players than previously. There are those from the African continent and think how many Portuguese players have plied their trade at the Bridge previously. He has proved more adventurous than those who went before him. It goes to show how much the game has spread and now there is a potpourri of players. Chelsea has really improved to the level that it has since there is a wide variety of players. Jose Mourinho has also made purchases which have not come off too but are they in the majority? I am not saying that he was the first manager to give these opportunities but certainly he is the first at Stamford Bridge.

Isn't it a bit early to judge Henry?

Kalou worked better off the bench today than he did starting, IMHO. Pizarro looked to keep things simpler and got more shots in than Kalou when he starts. What shots Kalou got in were feeble. Maybe he needs to work on his shooting from outside the box to add a dimension to his play.

Management should know by now how to neutralise him. He may also star against the weaker sides like C. Ronaldo does and be a spectator in bigger games. Not withstanding Robben is an extremely good player he tends like most of that kind of player to become frustrated when things don't work out for him. He's not an Essien or Makalele or Terry who is resolute and determined to fight setbacks.

Rotation is what the manager indicated earlier on (a few weeks ago) when he said there won't be untouchables like last season. He can see what we don't see during training sessions. He knows when a player is ready to start a game. We speculate and discuss/debate. We should more often than not trust his judgement (even though I sometimes question it especially playing 'Pool during the past two seasons) and think that he is closer to the players and know their current form and physical condition.

We can't play all our players at once as manu, spurs or pool would want to. We have not stockpiled players as they have done this season. I am confident Joe Cole will perform when his opportunity comes. That is the meaning of competition for places. Under previous management it might have been expected that Joe might have played more often but who will Joe displace from the starting lineup at present? Let's be realistic and remember that Joe came back from a long term injury and is not yet back to his "old" form. With his chance coming and he can get there there will be no problem since there is no Robben to compete for that position.

Why do you read THE SUN !!!??? Good luck to Robben! I hope Real`s physio`s and doctor`s should bring him more confidence and physiorooms are larger and more comfortable than Chelsea`s one. I read almost all sources for info (look above). A friend of mine had whispered before the deal was sealed to look out for criticisms about the manager and/or club. Robben has made rumblings before now that he was not the happiest person at the club.

24 August 2007 07:48 Chelsea failed to show confidence in me, says Robben By Jack Rashleigh in Madrid Published: 24 August 2007 After being unveiled as a Real Madrid player yesterday, Arjen Robben claimed that Chelsea could have done more to keep him from leaving Stamford Bridge. The Dutchman said: "For me it was a big relief when the final word came that I could join Real Madrid. After a while I felt I wasn't getting the confidence I needed from them [Chelsea]. That is when I started to change my mind about staying at Chelsea. If a club like Real show an interest, that makes things easy. You compare the feeling of confidence coming from Chelsea and from Real, and you go where you think you will be most happy" Asked whether he felt Chelsea could have done more to keep him, he said: " In the early stages, yes." [/b][/i]Those are NOT the kindest words one can speak of one's last club.