http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/footbal ... 340105.stm

so basically, we are in the strange situation of being second in the league within touching distance of the leaders, who i might add have been playing the very epitome of "exciting football" more or less all season. and into the semi finals of the CL alongside said team. all the while playing unstylish, hard to swallow boring football... as fans, we are getting all the results we could cheer for barring two embarrassing cup exits. But doing it without the panache..

so i wonder, are we too demanding and fickle? do we insist on instant gratification? if we cant win with style, shouldnt we be happy we are, in fact, winning at all?

my answer, is . YES.

when man u played a very average season when we won, their fans demanded more. and they got it. now why shouldnt we ask to be on a level with man u? when arsenal were boring boring arsenal their fans demanded more. and they got it. so asking to have what those teams have isnt that selfish an ask when you compare.

secondly, we pay through the nose to see our team - so much so that the actual fan make up at the bridge has completely changed as a whole category of buyer got priced out and a new one was phased in. only moneybags north londoners pay more than us to see their team. "freezing ticket prices" in my opinion is a bit of a backhanded compliment as well really.. its like ripping someone off and then promising not rip them off even harder for a while.

so im saying we should demand wins AND style, because until we get it we wont be satisfied and we wont be respected by neutrals either...

its not too much to achieve either - we did try for it with Duff, Robben and Joe.. Kalou is not bad on the deck either, and when Drogba turns it on, its awesome. so if we could get behind avram at the bridge with support rather than distaste and veiled hatred, maybe the players would feel more confident to turn on the style rather than be afraid to move out of the athletic, efficient steamroller style we fall back on when we stretch ourselves a bit and get stung on the pitch once or twice..

what do you think?

its about results at the end of the day

and i think if we wanted to turn it on we could

olympiakos and man city spring to mind

w just need to lose the scared of losing mentality, which we seem to be playing with

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/t...sea/7340105.stm

so basically, we are in the strange situation of being second in the league within touching distance of the leaders, who i might add have been playing the very epitome of "exciting football" more or less all season. and into the semi finals of the CL alongside said team. all the while playing unstylish, hard to swallow boring football... as fans, we are getting all the results we could cheer for barring two embarrassing cup exits. But doing it without the panache..

so i wonder, are we too demanding and fickle? do we insist on instant gratification? if we cant win with style, shouldnt we be happy we are, in fact, winning at all?

my answer, is . YES.

Agreed,

A new manager taking over from Jose was always going to be in a tough situation, Grant has done all that could be expected and some barring the CC defeat which was due to a mixture of his mistakes late subs and the players not being up for the fight I feel he's done better than most could have predicted.

when man u played a very average season when we won, their fans demanded more. and they got it. now why shouldnt we ask to be on a level with man u? when arsenal were boring boring arsenal their fans demanded more. and they got it. so asking to have what those teams have isnt that selfish an ask when you compare.

The thing is these teams both have had the managers in place for a long time and the players basically know the style they are trying to play and all the players at the clubs slot in when they are called upon,

Here Grant is trying to change the style but I think fear of losing is making him try to emulate the Mourinho way and that is why we are not playing much different and struggling as Mourinho's way is best employed by Mourinho.

secondly, we pay through the nose to see our team - so much so that the actual fan make up at the bridge has completely changed as a whole category of buyer got priced out and a new one was phased in. only moneybags north londoners pay more than us to see their team. "freezing ticket prices" in my opinion is a bit of a backhanded compliment as well really.. its like ripping someone off and then promising not rip them off even harder for a while.

so im saying we should demand wins AND style, because until we get it we wont be satisfied and we wont be respected by neutrals either...

its not too much to achieve either - we did try for it with Duff, Robben and Joe.. Kalou is not bad on the deck either, and when Drogba turns it on, its awesome. so if we could get behind avram at the bridge with support rather than distaste and veiled hatred, maybe the players would feel more confident to turn on the style rather than be afraid to move out of the athletic, efficient steamroller style we fall back on when we stretch ourselves a bit and get stung on the pitch once or twice..

what do you think?

I think we can't demand Wins and style but we can hope that the idea is for us to play with style and win, Football is not that simple and the opposition will always have a big say in how stylish a team can be...look at the Man city home game we looked fairly stylish as we did at Rosenbourg away and a couple of other games but against Boro we as did Man UTD and Arsenal certainly never looked ten places above them on ability.

I think to play with more style we do need a few changes and a playmaker in midfield would help as would an out and out winger but these things are best thought about by the man who is putting the team together and knows the way he wants them to play, If he is given time I still see no reason why Grant can't be that man.

Perhaps Mr (that's entertainment) Kenyon could get the players to start start wearing clown/jester costumes both home and away...in a range of different colours...available at your local Chels franchise shop right now...buy them all....