OhForAGreavsie

To be fair to the club, every former manager, bar one, has said he suffered no interference with team selection. The sole exception was Bobby Di Matteo who accidently let slip at a presser that he was not able to select Daniel Sturridge in the weeks leading up to his move to Liverpool. I put that exception down to special circumstances and reckon that the club has often sacked managers but has never picked their teams.

I was up until 3:45am this morning so watched the game. Interesting comments relating to Christian. The commentary team mentioned his lack of game time but excused it by reminding us all that he's only twenty. Then, in the studio, Glen Hoddle was bemoaning the fact that, at eighteen, Callum should be getting more minutes, particularly at times when the result is still on the line. Seems consistency is something we only talk about in relation to pasta sauce these days. Also, Hargreaves was on pundit duty. Among a lot else, he said there is not a chance that Christian is as good as Callum.

Incidentally, Hargreaves doesn't rate Christian much.

Missed, or passed?

Never one to pass up the chance to see something bad happen to Tottenham, I'm watching their game in Germany. I confess I tuned in mainly hoping to watch Christian but the game is going well so far. By that I mean of course that Dortmund are doing well. If Spurs concede sometime soon at the Westfalenstadion they'll be in big trouble.

I don't have any respect for fifa, although I disrespect them just a little less since the crook was booted out. I don't believe however that fifa are stupid enough, or brave enough if you prefer, to impose a ban before the appeal has been heard. Given the multiple millions involved, how are fifa going to compensate Chelsea if they have already suffered a banning period, despite the punishment eventually being overturned? Granted, fifa is loaded but the people in charge are also greedy freeloading types who would hate to have to cutback and use mere 5 Star hotels because their organisation had to pay out a shed load of cash to The Blues. Even if the executives are 100% certain that the judgement will stand, I just don't think their lawyers would allow them to take that risk.

Can't blame you. That's a logical outlook, but I bought a ticket a long time ago and the T's & C's make it clear that there are no refunds.

The club coach for the quarter-final trip to Durham, on Sunday 17th March, leaves Stanford Bridge at 4:30am! Guess I'm the only one here who'll be on it. Still room for more the last time I checked.

Still, and always, standing for the special one.

Don't ask me for evidence, I don't have any, but my reading of the runes is that Roma were used by Barca and Malcolm's representatives as a stalking horse for their move.

Is this bloke that good? Maybe I need to watch him more seriously than I have done so far because I haven't seen it yet. Don't know what Palace would want for him but, if we're bidding I doubt they quote anything less than £40m. It'll take one hell of a salesman to persuade me that he's worth forty million quid more than Reece James.

When they were both in France, he and Fekir were often linked to us. My view was that I'd much prefer Malcolm of the two. I also believe that he, not Willian, was Barca's principle target for that position in summer 2018. People have pointed out that they're loaded with talent but, even so, I'd be surprised if they were prepared to give up on Malcolm so quickly.

To be fair, the lot around me were a bit less negative than usual.

I don't really approve of that type of song. Except when it's about Tottenham Hotspur. Isn't the world a lovely place the morning after a victory over Spurs the night before?

How do you know who their stadium is going to be full of? You speak as if it's already been in use. As for the stadium itself, looks pretty decent to me. Certainly better than Stamford Bridge.

Well that's blown the writer's credibility then.

It's a fair point. In fact the first time I offered this opinion a few years ago, I thought that was the best argument given against it. It came from a poster, on another Chelsea forum, with the screen name Droy Was My Hero. Not you is it?

I hope not. I like Steve a lot and can see why he'd be regarded as a safe pair of hands even though he has said previously that he thinks assistant manager is the role for him. So it's nothing against Steve when I say that I don't want to see him appointed. I'm not ready to give up on Maurizio. I want the club to try to ride out the rough patch with him remaining in charge. Let's break the short termism cycle.

The fiasco assessment is possibly premature. It may turn out that the fiasco is at fifa's end. The FA have said that they will appeal, and that they believe there is something wrong with fifa's process. That's a statement of the obvious. No. Either club and governing body are both in breach of regulations, or both are not. My money is on not.

There is a fundamental problem with the system. Major employers recruit graduates, they don't necessarily train them. I've written previously that I don't believe the current academy system will survive beyond the next twenty years, if it lasts that long.

I don't believe for one moment that this will stick. Remember, that fifa are both judge and jury in these cases. As I said in a post a month or so ago, we can't judge this until the process comes to an end and that the end would not be when fifa issued its initial verdict. Chances are that we have two more stages to go before this is settled.

I didn't take to Jonna when she first arrived. She replaced a popular player who is more technically gifted. On top of that, Jonna is very one footed. Once I began to recognise what she is, rather than worry about what she isn't, Jonna quickly became one of my favourite members of the squad. She's a tremendous fullback. Jonna gets up and down the line all game and her partnership with Kaz Carney down the left is a key part of our attacking play. She netted five times last season, playing wingback, but Sunday's strike was her first of the season after Emma Hayes switched to a 4-4-2.

You'd never get that sort of thing into a managerial contract. Indeed they always explicitly say the exact opposite. Sole control over team selection and tactics, etc, etc. Of course clubs can make plain to managers that they are expected to buy into the organisation's culture but who knows how those conversations went.

I was shocked when I read the headline. Reece is so level headed, he more or less never puts a foot wrong. Having read the tweet itself however, it's pretty clear that he was liking the idea that he and Ola should be fullback options at Chelsea. I don't think he meant it too seriously either; just sort of saying thank you to the person who posted something nice about him. Hope that, from now on, Reece accepts that it's best only to 'like' a comment if you mean to show support for everything it says. For all any of us know Reece agrees with every word of that tweet, but I would almost guarantee that he knows better than to make such opinions public. Lesson learned hopefully. P.S. I'm grateful to Vesper for making me aware that Torino have a solid option to buy Ola at the end of the season, and that they've said they mean to exercise it. That said, while Chelsea's hands may be tied on this, the player will always have an option as to whether or not he wants to make the move permanent. That being so, we at least have the chance to try to persuade him to choose London blue, over Turin red. I'm sure the consensus opinion here will be that there's no chance of the club pulling that off but at least it allows a glimmer of hope. Assuming the decision makers want him of course.

Keppa is a long way from losing my confidence but I have not altered my point of view from the one I expressed in the summer. There is absolutely no way Keppa is £71m better than Marcin in my opinion. Italian managers love experience so it was never anything more than fantasy talk, but I'd have used the money on an outfield player and gone with the kid.