[web]http://home.skysports.com/list.aspx?hlid=472590&CPID=8&clid=8&lid=&title=Pressure+off+prudent+Blues+-+Jose&channel=&[/web]

Not those kind of Melons!

Anyways, i'm pretty sure that if Liverpool go out and spend a whole load of cash, they wont be buying the league, just like Man U spending ?50 million so far this summer isn't buying the league.

Of course when we spent around the same amount last summer we weren't buying the league

Well said JM, i could'nt agree more. Don't forget Man U and Liverpool are allowed to buy whoever they like, It does'nt matter that they have been breaking the British transfer record consistantly between them for well, my life time anyway. Except that is for the last couple of years and god did'nt they hate us for it, and when i say they i mean the media as well as their jealous fans.

Anytime either of them have won it they have bought it, it just was'nt a term used until we came along.

At any vegetable market from Borneo to Nome

You mustn't squeeze a melon till you get the melon home.

You've simply got to gamble

You get no guarantee

Now doesn't that kind of apply to you and I

You and me.

--- Guys & Dolls

Reading between the melons, it seems you've had your new winger, Brian. If ever there was an endorsement of a 1st team squad player this was it for Sinclair. Maybe it's Sahar for Plymouth on loan?

Reading between the melons, it seems you've had your new winger, Brian. If ever there was an endorsement of a 1st team squad player this was it for Sinclair. Maybe it's Sahar for Plymouth on loan?

That's how I see it Dorset. Ben Sahar not as good a melon as they first thought.

Comparing youths with melons. I hope Mourinho never leaves us

There's another new interview where Jose for the first time mentions Alex. I have a feeling that's the end of Boulahrouz career at Chelsea.

"Also maybe we have a couple of new South American players and because the South American Cup is played in June and we have a Brazilian like probably we will have in Alex, he cannot start this pre-season.

"He would have been playing for the national team, but at least we have a proper pre-season, one month, six matches to play, almost everybody at the start training properly, more or less in the same way as all the other contenders for trophies."

[web]http://www.sportinglife.com/football/news/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=soccer/07/06/19/SOCCER_Chelsea_Nightlead.html&TEAMHD=soccer[/web]

saw that too abramovich. looks like alex is on his way then.

"But not many journalists ask Rafael Benitez and Arsene Wenger, 'Why zero?'"

classic jose.

"But not many journalists ask Rafael Benitez and Arsene Wenger, 'Why zero?'"

classic jose.

And that is why we love him so

Love Jose to bits the man is an answer to a bored press man's prayers, it's like a crack addict and his dealer sort of relationship.

Alan:

Anyways, i'm pretty sure that if Liverpool go out and spend a whole load of cash, they wont be buying the league, just like Man U spending ?50 million so far this summer isn't buying the league.

I've now come to realise certain views from opposition fans that if repeated ad nauseum become in their eyes at least GOSPEL and a known truth.

1. Money spent by Man U and Liverpool is not dirty money like Chelsea's which is disgustingly generated by one man's considerable personal wealth and business savvy. So when these teams splash their cash it is not buying the league or anything that tawdry oh no! their money is good clean hard earned money and therefore it doesn't matter how much they spend.

2. Man U and Liverpool have a great history and Chelsea don't and because of this it means we are simply not allowed to compete with clubs who do. By competing and often beating these teams it just shows a disgusting immoral , upstart kind of behaviour that should not be allowed. And what's more every time the great history of our rivals is mentioned we should immediatley drop down on one knee to worship before them. Remember they have history we have no history. Chelsea - wealthy club/little history = inferior beings. MU and Liverpool - wealthy club/HISTORY = worthy.

As long as these views are acknowledged by one and all then everything should be fine, trouble is Chelsea broke the rules when Roman came along and hired Jose and started splashing his cash - nothing like the combination of obscene wealth and a cool, brilliant, know it all manager to make the opposition seethe with hapless fury at our sheer audacity in upsetting the dreadfully dull status quo.

What Jose said in that article about all the clubs varying histories and who had won what was spot on and to the point as usual, the mellons spiel was an added touch of genius.

Pity the opposition can't take it on board and accept they are just as willing to get their hands dirty with spending big to aid success on the field as we are - or were.

And glad to see Jose has finally confirmed Alex is on his way.

That's nice of him and Jose, please, take some time off and enjoy your hols! The press can do without you for a few months - then again may be not.

Does noone see the bad news in this interview? We are not buying any substantial new players. So unless some one plays better this season and no one plays worse we will struggle to improve on last season.

I can't see Drogba scoring 30 goals again. Its possible but statistically unlikely. So where are the goals going to come from?

Does noone see the bad news in this interview? We are not buying any substantial new players. So unless some one plays better this season and no one plays worse we will struggle to improve on last season.

I can't see Drogba scoring 30 goals again. Its possible but statistically unlikely. So where are the goals going to come from?

It's not about improving (though that would help us), it's about having replacements.

Last season we lost Cech, JT, Cole and even Carvalho and Robben for some games. Even Cudicini got injured which meant that Hilario had to play.

Instead of JT and Carvalho we had...Essien - a midfielder.

Instead of Cole and Robben we had...Kalou and SWP - one new young guy and someone who hadn't shown much skill since we bought him.

We struggled because we got injuries on very important players and didn't have good enough replacements.

If we are so unlucky that we face the same injuries this season (I pray we don't) then we will atleast have some replacements. If both Carvalho and JT gets injured then we will probably have Ben Haim and Alex with Essien as backup. That sounds alot better than to face Liverfool with Essien and Ferreira in the centre

If Cole and Robben miss alot of games then we might manage anyway but play more boring. Or else we might have Malouda (if we sign him) who can replace one of them and that wouldn't be too bad.

So we're not buying any big names because we don't really have to. We are a great team but last season we were missing some backups and now we've signed some.

If Mourinho had felt that we really needed some better players I'm quite sure he would have made sure we got some.

I think we're a bit spoiled by the last few seasons big names.

Crespo, Veron, Ballack, Mutu, Shevchenko etc.

Now we don't need them so we'll have to agree on players like Sidwell and Pizarro.

But if we want to spend as little money as possible I wouldn't mind getting Saviola. He's free and a quite good player too. But do we really need another striker?

Does noone see the bad news in this interview? We are not buying any substantial new players. So unless some one plays better this season and no one plays worse we will struggle to improve on last season.

I can't see Drogba scoring 30 goals again. Its possible but statistically unlikely. So where are the goals going to come from?

O ye of little faith, Ozboy! Don?t ignore the ?maybe? and ?probably? in that quote, both words included deliberately, yet, in the case of both Pizarro and Alex, have doubts ever existed over their pre-season build-ups or the fact that they are Chelsea players? No, so why these tentative additions to such a positive piece? Ever thought that Jose might be referring to two South American players PLUS Alex, treating him (the Brazilian) as a separate entity?

Probably wishful thinking, but at least it would put the word ?maybe? into its correct context and, let?s face it, the Media never pick up on Jose?s subtler points unless he mentions a melon or two, so he?s not risking much in terms of giving them genuine information. Then again, I could be way off track, just as they are virtually all of the time.

I tend to agree. I see no reason to be worried about our lack of spending so far. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I believe our major signings this close season are yet to come. Ok, maybe it looks bad because the Mancs went out and spent ?40million or whatever it was in such a short space of time, and we've spent sweet f.a. But so what? Have a little faith, and a little more patience. Sit back (or chew the wallpaper, whatever gets you by) and await further developments. For I firmly believe that further developments there will be. Or I'll eat my hat. Well I would if I owned one, but I don't so I'll er ... dear God it's not even July yet.

Does noone see the bad news in this interview? We are not buying any substantial new players. So unless some one plays better this season and no one plays worse we will struggle to improve on last season.

I can't see Drogba scoring 30 goals again. Its possible but statistically unlikely. So where are the goals going to come from?

How many signings did Manchester United make last year?

I'm with The Moos on this one. Last season was a busted flush due mainly to injuries to KEY players at KEY moments with no KEY backups.

The general quality of the first team is excellent and being in a few more superstars in the Sheva mould would probably not help matters, they can't all fit in and if they don't fit they will moan like mad about lack of playing time and disrupt the team. What is required are good quality back ups in case the same situation happens again.

Jose got his arse burned last season with having no quality replacements in defence (and in one case a replacement he didn't trust - Bhoula), so this time he is learning from those mistakes and buying back ups.

I'm not sure if we will get any big names at all this year, I'm not sure if we need to and by the looks of it Jose agrees with me. Yes, it's all very exciting and all that drooling over your latest big name acquisition but I'd rather the team bought sensible low key back up players than a few big star names that don't actually correct our weaknesses.

If we splash out on some huge name I'd be surprised. If Jose wanted someone he surely would have reacted by now, although the Spanish league has just finished do may be he was waiting until then who knows?

So now we have

JT - Carvalho

Alex - Haim

either Terry and Carvalho are going to get enough rest during the fa and Carling cup runs .. or Alex and Haim are going to get very few games!

Or I'll eat my hat. Well I would if I owned one, but I don't so I'll er ... dear God it's not even July yet.

Just a bit of useless information... the expression is actually "eat my hatte". Hatte was actually a dish that included eggs, veal, dates, saffron, tongue, kidney, fat, honey rosemary, cinnamon and salt. It was generally thought an unappetising dish , and so the promise by someone that they'd eat hatte if they were wrong showed how sure they were that they'd be proven right.

Odd post for a football forum but -- hey -- why can't it be educational?!!

Or I'll eat my hat. Well I would if I owned one, but I don't so I'll er ... dear God it's not even July yet.

Just a bit of useless information... the expression is actually "eat my hatte". Hatte was actually a dish that included eggs, veal, dates, saffron, tongue, kidney, fat, honey rosemary, cinnamon and salt. It was generally thought an unappetising dish , and so the promise by someone that they'd eat hatte if they were wrong showed how sure they were that they'd be proven right.

Odd post for a football forum but -- hey -- why can't it be educational?!!

Well a hat can be quite unappetising too

But nice to get some education.

We, unlike Scousers, can atleast spell "education"

Or I'll eat my hat. Well I would if I owned one, but I don't so I'll er ... dear God it's not even July yet.

Just a bit of useless information... the expression is actually "eat my hatte". Hatte was actually a dish that included eggs, veal, dates, saffron, tongue, kidney, fat, honey rosemary, cinnamon and salt. It was generally thought an unappetising dish , and so the promise by someone that they'd eat hatte if they were wrong showed how sure they were that they'd be proven right.

Odd post for a football forum but -- hey -- why can't it be educational?!!

What is the source for this profunDT? Surely its not April yet.

And back on topic. The backup players we've signed will be useful, and Sidwell may play quite often. However I don't think it was injuries that cost us any titles last season it was a lack of goals. And I fail to see how we will be better off this season. I've got plenty of faith but man does not live by faith alone and despite what fantatical supporters think faith alone doesn't win too many premier league titles.

I take it therefore I'm in a minority in saying that we don't have enough quality strikers? Drogs Sheva Kalou will do it for us. Sheva, Kalou, SWP, JC and Robben scored less than 10 goals between them last season. How many this season I wonder? Having said that I do expect Kalou to be steadier and Sheva to have adjusted better. At his age next season is Sheva's last big chance I'd suggest. JC may well get a few.

Ballack too may be good for a couple more goals this season, but on the other hand Lampard can't be expected to get 15 every season from mid field.

Or I'll eat my hat. Well I would if I owned one, but I don't so I'll er ... dear God it's not even July yet.

Just a bit of useless information... the expression is actually "eat my hatte". Hatte was actually a dish that included eggs, veal, dates, saffron, tongue, kidney, fat, honey rosemary, cinnamon and salt. It was generally thought an unappetising dish , and so the promise by someone that they'd eat hatte if they were wrong showed how sure they were that they'd be proven right.

Odd post for a football forum but -- hey -- why can't it be educational?!!

What is the source for this profunDT? Surely its not April yet.

And back on topic. The backup players we've signed will be useful, and Sidwell may play quite often. However I don't think it was injuries that cost us any titles last season it was a lack of goals. And I fail to see how we will be better off this season. I've got plenty of faith but man does not live by faith alone and despite what fantatical supporters think faith alone doesn't win too many premier league titles.

I take it therefore I'm in a minority in saying that we don't have enough quality strikers? Drogs Sheva Kalou will do it for us. Sheva, Kalou, SWP, JC and Robben scored less than 10 goals between them last season. How many this season I wonder? Having said that I do expect Kalou to be steadier and Sheva to have adjusted better. At his age next season is Sheva's last big chance I'd suggest. JC may well get a few.

Ballack too may be good for a couple more goals this season, but on the other hand Lampard can't be expected to get 15 every season from mid field.

Well if a lack of goals is where you our pinpointing things than it has every thing to do with the injurys, robben and cole two of our most creative players injured for most of the season, having our center backs injured forced us to shuffle the midfield and loose essien who was a powerfull driving force... did you actually not notcice that robben and cole missed most of the season, hardly fair to include them in accumaltive goals to back up an argument where lack of goals is your focal point

Comparing youths with melons.

Like to see the coach of a woman's footie team use that metaphor!