youlots

Moi, the word f**k and all its derivatives is not an obscene word either legally or otherwise and used either in the adverbial or adjectival sense (ala Drogs) is possibly one of the most common/preferred modifiers today or in any other era. My only criticism of Drogs is very minor and only stylistic in that he said "It's a f**kin' disgrace" instead of "It's f**king disgraceful" which imo has more impact. By the way, my grandmother (a highly educated and libertaed woman) used f**k all the time & had no qualms with anyone else using it at all, God love her.

Yes please.

The Day the Earth Stood Still - just saw the remake on dvd: Club Keno is probably about the best thing going for it - I kid you not! Jennifer Connolly just comes across as pissed off all film (probably realized too late what a woeful script/direction/other casting etc). Kathy Bates is hilarious without meaning to be. Whole film had us in stitches. Original, of course, a classic.

F8

I've had a look at most of Inter's games this year (the ones shown on Setanta down here & the CL fixtures obviously). Concernng ZI I wholeheartedly agree that he should stay where he is and not even think about EPL. He does have great feet but in the games I've seen, defenders for the most part seem to give him too much space and time. He has scored some worthy goals this year but when he's shooting you mostly expect the result to be pants and aren't the least surprised when it is pants. The more I see of him the more puzzled I get by him and by those who worship him lock, stock and barrel. Perhaps I'm not seeing and rating other qualities he may possess. If so, I'm all ears.

Ashavin apparently out. Important that we make a point (and take all three) and show our resolve after all of the calumny shown to us in recent days & a chance for 2nd and all that. Never thought I'd see a time when I'd be caught barracking for the hammers - but I will be today in the early game.

All great goals with Essien's the pick for me. After the last few days however, our winning goal (by whomever & however) at Wembley will be my choice.

"Both parties have agreed to trigger an extension clause.." As always, shame we can't see the terms & conditions - options clauses are usually only exercisable by one party - and to see whether there was any side/collateral/triparatite agreement as between Ballack, Chels & Adidas exercised when the contract was first signed. I've always assumed there was in order to justify the wage bill and, if so, with only a year to go till South Africa, the marketing aspect in the lead up which will no doubt involve the usual promotional guff from Adidas and the other frocksters and would involve Ballack et al. He hasn't had the best of seasons. It'd be great if he really gave us his all week in week out next year for the title race and could knock in say 10 goals. IMO he probably takes more stick than he really deserves: probably because there's a tendency at times to just compare him with Frank and the latter's workrate - and that's a tall order for anyone to measure up against. I've always thought Ballack's had great positional sense and that alone can sometimes be, by itself, of immense value & easily missed by some when rating midfielders. He has slowed down a bit obviously but I think he's still got something to offer us.

Doing two gigs at the Enmore in Sydney in late July - going to the 2nd - can't wait.

Has to be.

The thing about Malouda is that his confidence & state of mind are paramount in respect to his form & workrate. He's clearly begun to shine under Hiddink and his body language and facial expressions during games has subtly altered over the last 3 months - he even has begun to use the ce la vie grin again on occasions and I feel that he has begun to enjoy his football again; I also think that after a long gestation he seems to have finally bonded with most of the core chels players. Remember that revealing photo taken of Malouda & Hiddink (with De Santo & Mikel looking on) inside the Cobham sheds on Hiddink's meet & greet? That photo said a lot about Malouda at that time. IMO Hiddink has clearly spent valuable time with him and instilled in him a resolve previously lacking (both in attack & defence) and a more defined role & Malouda has clearly responded. Given the dearth of quality wingers (that Ribery is probably going to Barca/Manure etc) and albeit that Malouda is, as quite rightly said here, not a true winger at all, then I think that at this stage, we'd be foolish to sell him. My only concern is that if Chels do keep him notwithstanding the departure of Hiddink, is he going to bond/work for the new manager? I also agree with some on here about wanting Tevez for numerous reasons and that, at present, the right should be a higher priority for us (and despite Cole back next year etc). But I guess that Tevez has firmly got his mind on Spain & I think it unlikely we could snare him unless over the top money changes hands.

Why would he need to admit it when the ref was 5 metres away with a perfect view of it?!? If we had a system where everyone admitted everything on the park we presumably wouldn't need a ref. You'd have to give everyone a whistle though so that they could penalise themselves where necessary.

Gee thanks for your slash in the pan, flasher, it's cheered us up no end. For you football/sport/life is seemingly all about deportment and mutely accepting injustice. Matter for you. However, for some one with a self styled and rather anarchistic credo "that the only good system is a soundsystem" your totally ill considered (and by itself, rather hysterical) diatribe against Drogs & Ballack for having the gall to express themselves or show any sort of high emotion in the face of such injustice is not only a tad disingenuous and hypocritical measured against your adopted philosophy don't you think? Alternative version: your a complete and utter wanniassa

yogic - discretion & valour & all that .... it ain't really the time atm for some of your missives. The lads played their collective hearts out tonight and we were quite simply robbed. Most are furious and for good reason. There's a time to be preachy and this ain't one of them.

Disgraceful refereeing. But we should have put them away before the handballs. Never been more gutted and that includes Moscow. Well UEFA got what they wanted. There'll be a lot more to come about this in the coming days.

Iniesta - all cultural motifs/pontifications aside the point is that even Aragon ships were off the french coast as part of the reconaissance and therefore part of the armada/engagement. Anyway, come sail your ships & best of luck.

You would say that wouldn't you. Had Isabella not married Ferdinand you mayhave a point but she did didn't she (generally recognised as the start of spain)! And its well documented that catalonians shipped out with Phillip & some spent the rest of their days in Eire and never returned.

Well said IrishBlue - some rather fey accommodation of the heralds of the armadarista gracing these shores. Perceptions of invincibility prior to engagement don't seem to have changed much over some 400 years either.

From memory I don't think they've ever beaten us with 11. I'd forgotten about the Lyon match - a bit ominous isn't it!! Now if you were a conspiracist.....

Tom Henning Ovrebo will take charge at the Bridge on Wednesday. Apparently he's a psychologist away from the park (and, no doubt, at times on it). As long as he's fair & firm when needed and doesn't fall for the Barca theatrics (which you just know are going to eventuate at some stage) like Frisk did then he might not be a bad choice. Italians may not have fond memories of him.

You don't rate him? On the basis that he's not Maka? Well....when you find the next Maka let us all know will you?! Look, Mikel is still very young & has developed well since he's been with us. Don't forget he's had what, four different managers since he's been at Chels and has to compete with some of the best midfielders in the world for a position on the park. Whether he develops, or will be given the chance to develop a more fluid style with an attacking element to his game in the future remains to be seen but as others have rightly pointed out his short passing game, defensive abilities (and especially the timing of his tackling) and general reading of the play have all improved for the better. And he's got a great attitude and seems content to do a lot of the mop up/linkage stuff w/o complaint & w/o any theatrics about where he's been positioned. Contract extension is good news: Chels shouldn't even think of selling him.

Thanks Dorset. The reserves games rarely get shown by Setanta down here and all and any accounts/readings/reviews are gobbled up gratefully. The boys certainly look promising for next year.

Alves is a goblin isn't he. Had a chuckle during the game when Ya Ya Binks tried to roger Mikel in the middle of the park.

Job done - executed Hiddink's game plan superbly. We had some good chances, they had a few more (albeit that two thirds of their "shots on goal" were easily dealt with by Cech). What I don't understand is that some on here can claim that we played "anti-football". It's a game of both attack and defence in equal measure for christ's sake. I can't think of a team on the planet that would have played this Barca team on their turf in any different way than we did last night. Their game is built on constant possession, attack and playing high up the park & they have some of the best footballers on the planet that allows them to play that way week in week out - look at the record amount of goals they've scored against allcomers this year. Certainly Manure didn't adopt a different style than we did when they played them last year and Barca are a much better and more developed team this year than they were last year. Professional football, like any other professional sport is ultimately about winning or drawing and not losing - any which way you can and against the particular team and at a particular location on the day and with the players that you have at your disposal. Sometimes it's not pretty, sometimes it's about containment and countering where possible. But let's not kid ourselves - this is a great Barca team (and save for their defenders) probably equal to if not better than any other Barca team that's ever played. In sheer terms of attack it's one of the greatest attacking club teams ever. Ironically, however, and as surely recognized by Hiddink, their style & manner of attack is also their weakness: having so many attackers crowding the box and only very occasionally using the byline for crossing with speed means they can be quite predictable in their build-up, short passing and constant triangles and hence, sometimes if not always, ponderous and slow. What it means for defenders though is that you have to press constantly and constantly try to break up the triangles & movement. For the most part we did that admirably and showed them, if anything, that they have no Plan B. They have to be worried about next week now because of that and because they know that we are very dangerous on the counter. They must also be worried about their CD spots next week and in respect to Real at the weekend. The Perm is out and the other bloke got injured and they know that we've got the better keeper. Towards the end of the game, all the above had sunk in in their supporters' minds & the stadium grew very quiet. Can't wait for next week & then down the Appian way!

Frank the difference - tireless as ever & owned the midfield with Mikel who had a good game. Great game from Cech and he saved our bacon again on a few occasions when Spam really should've scored; definite penalty - Cech saves - unbelievable!!; Mancienne had some lovely touches - a natural footballer and really promising; Malouda another good game; JT & Ivanovic pretty solid but they obviously don't have the understanding with one another as a CB pairing yet which is not surprising; Bosingwa as capable as ever but always very predictable on the ball; Anelka the enigma as ever (agree that at times he does have a tendency to slow things down when in possession albeit that he was very tightly marked all game); Kalou as frustrating as ever - he hasn't developed at all and is the same player he was three years ago; Belleti looked pretty indifferent - probably knows he's on the way out; Cole did some good things when he came on; Essien nothing notable today.