Chelsea vs Fulham (PL) 10/11/2010 KO 19:45 GMT

[Andreas]

After a frustrating defeat over at Anfield its time to get our heads back up and focus on the Fulham game to grab 3 more points and with the Manchester Derby coming up we could see Utd loose out on points and hopefully we can get back to a comfy 5 points lead again.

I really hope we can address the first half performances as they are not really acceptable, you don't win certain games by showing up in the 2nd half.

Im hoping that Lampard will be back for this one with Essien as well.

Cech

Bosingwa

Alex/Ivan

JT

Cole

Mikel

Essien

Lampard

Anelka

Drogba

Malouda

[Bobbywoodhogan]

Right instead of going on about the awful incident that happened today (yes thats what I am referring to it as) I'm gonna look forward to the Fulham game

I think we should go with this as our starting line-up

Cech

Terry

Ivanovic

Bosingwa

A Cole

Mikel

Ramires

Essien (if fit - if not Zhirkov)

Malouda

Drogba

Sturridge

[loz]

I wouldn't be inclined to pick Ramires against Fulham, although based on today's performance the same argument could be made for Zhirkov however Zhirkov has generally looked better in recent games.

[Bobbywoodhogan]

We don't really have a choice I thought Zhirkov was awful today and Ramires improved in the 2nd half.

[bluerealist]

I thought ramires was awful today, might as well give josh a shot instead of him. Carlo made a bid mistake picking him for a tricky away trip to a place like anfield. He needs time to adjust and we cant afford him to cost us games like the ones against city and liverpool.

[Bobbywoodhogan]

Maybe he should have put Malouda in the middle (pretty much played there anyway today) and put Studge in a 3 with Anelka and Kalou (seen as though Drogba wasn't 100%)

[clubhappy]

This game cant come quick enough and im worried because they are a better side than Liverpool . Carlo has a lot of work to do in 3 days to get it right and lift the players & to be honest , after our last 4 premiership games im starting to question if were really good enough this season . Essien was a massive blow today as was Lamps & our first half was appauling , no chances created worries me and we must really go at Fulham .

[The Moos]

I thought ramires was awful today, might as well give josh a shot instead of him. Carlo made a bid mistake picking him for a tricky away trip to a place like anfield. He needs time to adjust and we cant afford him to cost us games like the ones against city and liverpool.

True, Ramires was awful, but so were many others. And I really doubt any manager would throw in a young inexperienced lad like McEachran in a game against Liverpool at Anfield.

The fact yesterday was that we had many players missing, so Ramires was the best option.

[ethicalstrategy]

Whilst our away form has been sketchy, we have still been pretty good at home. I expect Fulham to set up deep and look to harry us and try and hit us on the break.

We will need width to break them down and so I would want Bosingwa to start at right back so that we carry a threat from both sides of the pitch.

In midfield we will hopefully have Essien back and if so I would stick with Zhirkov on the left. If not then I might be tempted to give McEachrean a go and push Mikel a bit further forward.

Up front I think Malouda, Anelka and Drogba should be fine. If Drogba isn't fit then I'd give Sturridge a start.

A good win and a draw for City and Utd would suit nicely.

[Tea Bar Boy]

I thought ramires was awful today, might as well give josh a shot instead of him. Carlo made a bid mistake picking him for a tricky away trip to a place like anfield. He needs time to adjust and we cant afford him to cost us games like the ones against city and liverpool.

Why ? We paid £17million for a footballer to play as many games as possible . He got the best education on English football 1st half yesterday where he was singled out as the weak link by Woy and got battered . To his credit he stuck with it and was much better in the 2nd half.

[Guest Sindre]

Must win game this one now. United are going to COMS, and i guess we can hope for at least a draw over there.

As for the team i would put Bosingwa on right-back, while Ivanovic pairs up with Terry in central defence. Cole takes the left-back as always. Is Essien back? If he is he starts together with Zhirkov and Mikel in midfield, but if he`s still uavailable Josh should get the nod ahead of Ramires. Ramires has shown plenty of times that he ain`t good enough at the moment, and i don`t think we have anything to loose with putting McEachran in there. Without Lampard we are in desperate need of creativity in there, and neither Mikel, Zhirkov or Ramires will bring us that.

Up front i would start Sturridge ahead of Anelka who was horrendous against Liverpool. Drogba in the middle and Malouda on the left.

Edited November 8, 2010 by Sindre

[54veteran]

This game cant come quick enough and im worried because they are a better side than Liverpool .

Let's not get things out of perspective. Liverpool were all over us like a rash in midfield, and would probably have beaten anyone on that form. For them it was a cup final, for us just another away fixture.They won't be able to play like that every week though

[Andreas]

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11661_6495511,00.html

Lampard will not be playing this game apparently.

[bluerealist]

Why ? We paid £17million for a footballer to play as many games as possible . He got the best education on English football 1st half yesterday where he was singled out as the weak link by Woy and got battered . To his credit he stuck with it and was much better in the 2nd half.

At £18 mil, you would usually expect much better from a player but hey whats done is done, no point thinking we could've got van der waart etc so dont start flaming me for stating the obvious truth :) All i want to say is we should give our youngsters a try and by that I dont mean 10 mins here and there. No wonder players like borini and kakuta are looking for other pastures...

[Nibs]

Assuming Lamps and Essien are still both out I would go for:

................................Cech

..Bosingwa...............Ivan..........JT..................Cole

............................Mikel.....................

Malouda.................Josh..............................Zhirkov..............

...........Sturridge......................Drogba...................

Subs:

Turnball, Alex, Paulo, Ramires, Anelka, Kalou

[Andreas]

Kakuta looking for a new club? have not read anything about that.

[Andreas]

Assuming Lamps and Essien are still both out I would go for:

................................Cech

..Bosingwa...............Ivan..........JT..................Cole

............................Mikel.....................

Malouda.................Josh..............................Zhirkov..............

...........Sturridge......................Drogba...................

Subs:

Turnball, Alex, Paulo, Ramires, Anelka, Kalou

I wish something like that would happen but knowing Carlo its 4-3-3 that he will stick to.

Cech

Bosingwa

Ivan

JT

Cole

Mikel

Ramires

Malouda

Sturridge

Drogba

Zhirkov

That would be interesting.

[bluerealist]

Kakuta looking for a new club? have not read anything about that.

He hasnt signed a new deal and can apparently sign a sort of preagreement in jan and then leave for free for any european club next summer

Speaking about the contract situation Carlo Aneclotti appeared a little miffed about the situation in his pre-match press conference, remarking,

"I think that he has to stay here and sign a new contract."

"But I`m not involved in this, and I`m not interested. He`s an important player for us, but nobody is indispensable."

[Hutch]

He hasnt signed a new deal and can apparently sign a sort of preagreement in jan and then leave for free for any european club next summer

Speaking about the contract situation Carlo Aneclotti appeared a little miffed about the situation in his pre-match press conference, remarking,

"I think that he has to stay here and sign a new contract."

"But I`m not involved in this, and I`m not interested. He`s an important player for us, but nobody is indispensable."

Other clubs, notably Bayern, have expressed interest. There is as yet no reason to believe that Kakuta wil not sign a new contract.

This is another quote from Carlo, taken from the Bayern after Kakuta rumour thread:

'I don't discuss the salary of players,' said Ancelotti. 'Technically, it's best for Kakuta - he's young, he's trying to improve and we're the best team for him to stay with.

'He has to take a decision to sign or not. We're sure he'll sign because he's an intelligent player and an intelligent man.'

[bluerealist]

Other clubs, notably Bayern, have expressed interest. There is as yet no reason to believe that Kakuta wil not sign a new contract.

This is another quote from Carlo, taken from the Bayern after Kakuta rumour thread:

Lets hope he makes the right decision then! Wont be surprised if its yet another agent who is behind this holding the club to ransom saga -_-

[ABDERRAHMANE]

Right instead of going on about the awful incident that happened today (yes thats what I am referring to it as) I'm gonna look forward to the Fulham game

I think we should go with this as our starting line-up

Cech

Terry

Ivanovic

Bosingwa

A Cole

Mikel

Ramires

Essien (if fit - if not Zhirkov)

Malouda

Drogba

Sturridge

No more ramires .

[bluerealist]

No more ramires .

yeah plz no ramires! Its painful to watch him try and then get easily brushed aside! Dont mind him or kalou coming on later in the game to stretch the opposition. I'd have mikel, essien and zhirkov (maybe josh) and then malouda, drogba, anelka (maybe kakuta)

[dkw]

yeah plz no ramires! Its painful to watch him try and then get easily brushed aside! Dont mind him or kalou coming on later in the game to stretch the opposition. I'd have mikel, essien and zhirkov (maybe josh) and then malouda, drogba, anelka (maybe kakuta)

So what, we just dump Ramires then because he hasnt came into a new team, in a new league, in a new country and been amazing? He`s had a couple of bad games and a couple of good games, I actually thought he was one of our better players in the 2nd half against Spartak. Malouda was poor for a year, as was the likes of Drogba. How about a bit of patience once in a while

[ABDERRAHMANE]

So what, we just dump Ramires then because he hasnt came into a new team, in a new league, in a new country and been amazing? He`s had a couple of bad games and a couple of good games, I actually thought he was one of our better players in the 2nd half against Spartak. Malouda was poor for a year, as was the likes of Drogba. How about a bit of patience once in a while

you know that we need every player's effort and chelsea is not ready to patient from him because we have not strong bench all pressure is under him and if we rely on him for alot of games would be disaster and we are not ready for that .

[Hutch]

For anyone who's been jumping to write off Ramires... Frank Lampard didn't exactly set the world alight in his first couple of seasons with us.

And then there was Drogba: "What a waste of money"