OhForAGreavsie

My only disagreement with Wednesday's line up was the selection of Mikel over Tomori who I felt could have been given a start. One potential explanation I came up with is that Antonio Conte has an idea that MJO can be useful at CB and has asked for it to be tried out. That guess fits in with the point your are making.

With current levels of TV revenues there is no such thing as a small Premier League club, and there is certainly no such thing as a small Champion's League one. Not financially speaking anyway. Even if Leicester are relegated next season their revenues will still dwarf those of all but a tiny handful of the mega clubs in the rest of Europe. Throw in the fact that they have wealthy backers and there are only two ways money will cause them to part with a player; if if they don't think he's an important member of their side or if he has a buyout clause. Clearly the first won't apply to Kante and even though it is rumoured that there is a clause in his contract, Leicester will be able to compete hard with any offers he receives from elsewhere. If Kante chooses to move it will probably have more to do with the attraction of the club he joins, than with the money involved. I think we all have our doubts that any highly sought after player would choose Chelsea this summer. Hopefully that doubt is just the natural pessimism of the football fan.

I have been a fan of Washington's NFL team for many years. I used to use the team name but I don't any longer. It's not a matter of being pc, or of pandering to certain strands of opinion. It's simply that I learned the name is offensive to many people and so I don't want to use it. In a similar way, what you are, and what you do, is for you to think about, not me.

Note I did not describe the term as referring to a race. In fact the whole use of the word race in this context is incorrect since there is only one human race. Humans can be split into different ethnicities and this is what I talked about. Note again however that I did not specify any particular origin since travellers can trace their routes back to a number of different ethnic groups. There is not doubt that the term in the song refers to travellers just as there is no doubt that those families recognise that word as both insulting and referring to their ethnicity. http://www.srtrc.org/faqs#faq4466 In any case, people have been found guilty of racially aggravated offences for using the term in the song so, legally, as well as culturally, it is racist.

Thanks RS. It is used as a derogatory way to refer to people of a certain ethnicity. Of course it's racist.

Love the respect but not the song. Can't love a song which includes a racist term I'm afraid. Where was the respect for Studge last night? What did he do wrong?

I don't agree with you about Kennedy's touch but I do agree that he should play more. I see no reason for persisting with Baba. These minutes should have gone to Kennedy.

So undeserved.

Jimmy Greaves, the greatest of them all, scored on his Chelsea debut. Come on Tammy.

Almost all of his touches have been poor since you said this.

What do people see in Baba? He clearly has not reached the right level yet but I see nothing to suggest that he ever will.

It was really enjoyable on Sunday afternoon. I got there a couple of minutes after kick off so was a bit shocked when the people I was chatting with told me the score was 4-1. I missed their first goal and had thought we were 4-0 up. Among the four was an effort by Fran Kirby that would have been a contender for goal of the season if she had scored it in time to be nominated. She latched on the a great ball from Eni, jinked one way then the other to beat a couple of 'men' before finishing with a curling left foot shot. The ground erupted, it was a special goal. Emma Hayes has put together a terrific squad. She rotates every game but the team never seems to miss a beat. On Sunday she was able to withdraw Eni Aluko and replace her with an even better player in Gemma Davidson. Gemma was brilliant as usual, setting up a couple of sitters which should have been converted as well as two more presentable chances. Granted squad building is way easier at the top of the women's game than it is in men's football but it's nice to see such a powerful group in blue. Getting over to Staines for a game is well worth it in my opinion. If you can get there sometime, I think you'll enjoy it. I'm also taking my niece and a friend to Wembley. Be great if there's a good crowd for the final.

On the other hand the view at the Emirates is fantastic even from seats in the corners near pitch level. I don't know if the rake of the seats affects the atmosphere but you could be on to something when you say that it might.

Charly's Spanish is at least as good as his English. Assuming Charly is still there, they'll communicate in Gus's native tongue.

Would absolutely love to have either of those players. We have been linked with Bonucci several times. Although the possibility that he'd Join Chelsea seemed to have been reliably quashed, it resurfaced again this weekend. Like everyone else, I doubt that our stock is high enough to attract class A players. It is high enough however for agents to use our supposed interest for their own reasons.

You have to respect a man who understands what's important to his club's fans. They want this match, he's going to try to give it to them. That's all good.

With what effect using our players? You are making the same mistake the criminals in the squad made when the betrayed Jose. You think they are better than they are too. Stupid is a good word but Guus should not be its object.

Let me rephrase it for you then; the best that could be done with what he had.

Those two at Chelsea, with this squad, would be picking the same players and you'd be calling them a waste. It is a truism that if you are good enough then you're old enough. The concept is not commutative however. Just because you are young enough does not make you good enough. Had the players not given up on Jose we'd have done better under him than we have under Guus. The players did give up however so Guus had to do a rescue mission. He has accomplished his task as well as anyone could have done.

Get padded up everyone, E19's gonna be coming in off his long run if we don't perform today!

I agree. I'd have broken up the Mikel/Matic pairing but Guss sees it differently. I can live with what the boss has done and with why he's done it. By the way, I'm not a fan of Baba's so I'm pleased he's out of the side. Kennedy I'd have been happy see get another run at LB.

No, he's picking the best side he can from the players available and deploying them in a way he thinks best. Our problem of course is that our best available team ain't all that great but what on Earth could Guus do about that today?

Like Jose he is a brilliant coach who finds the best solutions possible. Given that the squad is the same it's hardly surprising if those solutions are pretty much the same. P.S. I'm not a fan of Matic or Mikel so I'd probably not have picked that pairing. As confident as I am about my footballing opinions however, there are still moments when I remember that most of the world happens outside, not inside, my head. Just because I think something does not make it so. In the end someone has to choose the team, and Guss is that someone.

Says you.

He's picked what he considers to be his strongest line up for this game. No one can ask any more of him than that. If you or I would have picked a different side then so be it but Guss is the boss so he gets the call.