OhForAGreavsie

Those guys failed to make it because they are not good enough. That is the long and the short of it. What's more that was clear from the off. Gael, for example, has wonderful touch and dribbling skills but that, in itself, is not enough. I wrote him off as a Chelsea player less than twenty minutes after kick-off of the first under 18s game I ever saw him play. (Vs Cardiff at Stamford bridge.) When Jose made his ill-advised attempt to bolster Nate's confidence by pretty much promising the lad a place in the squad after one more spell on loan, I predicted that TSO would never be able to make good on that promise. That was because Nate simply is not good enough to earn that place and I knew it because I had seen him play for the 18s & 21s then watched him play for Watford. It's easy for people to get carried away by young players but just hoping they are better than they are is not going to help. Unless the help being sought is a made up excuse to bash Chelsea and Chelsea people. Edit: Correction, it was Scott Sinclair I wrote off after 20 minutes of that Cardiff game. The first game I saw Kakuta in was vs Man City u18s. Same 20 minutes though.

Charlay has been subbed in two of the last three matches. I didn't watch last night's game so I don't know the circumstances but there was no injury involved on the previous occasion.

Now that would be funny.

If the title is on the line I'd like Guss to field the U16s vs Leicester, but he won't. If Guus picks his strongest side, I'd like them to tip toe around and chip in the odd own goal if required, but they won't I tell you something that will happen however. I'll be supporting Leicester, and that's a guarantee.

I see a lot of people saying they are desperate that we should beat Spurs. How is that the same as saying that they think we will beat them?

So they should be. They love beating us and we love beating them. All is right with the world. None of us who are old enough will ever forget how, after their League Cup simi-final win over us in 2002, they made a DVD of the game. The DVD became their best selling product of the year. They were in heaven with that win and they sipped every dreg of pleasure out of it. Good for them, they were entitled to the victor's spoils. The fact that they love it so much when they beat us is one of the reasons we love it so much when we beat them. (And vice versa of course.) That's how a rivalry is, that's how a rivalry should be. So, bring it on, it's Tottenham week.

Because they are Tottenham Hotspur. What other reason do you need? What better reason can there be?

No it couldn't. Eden breaks no rules by saying he does not want Spurs to win the league. If he turns up vs Leicester wearing flip flops and sipping a pina colada that would be a different story but expressing a simple preference is not something the FA can, or even should, do anything about.

This must be news to Roman. If Roman wanted to make money he'd have been better off bunging his dosh into an interest bearing account. Heck, even an account that didn't pay interest would have worked out better, financially speaking. If I were to take a turn at putting an alternative motive into Roman's mind, I'd say he isn't interested in profit for its own sake but rather he just wants the club to pay its way while the team plays well and wins things. That's to say, successful team - break even club, is much more attractive to our owner than unsuccessful team - profitable club. Now, even an idiot like me would obviously choose successful team - profitable club if possible, but my guess is that making money is not Roman's principal goal. All the evidence of his history at Stamford Bridge suggests he'd rather see his football budget on the pitch than in his bank account. Premier League prize money is made up of three separate payments, two of which will be unaffected by our final league position. Those two, the equal share component and the facility fee are now fixed and would not change whether we finished first or last. The only part which varies with our place in the table is the merit based payment and that changes by £1.2m per place, not £13m. I know one table which appears to show a difference of about £13.45m between the team finishing 9th and the one finishing 10th. The team it lists in 9th place Liverpool with a total of £89.9m from TV money. If they were to drop to 10th their TV payout would change to £88.7m. That said, I would prefer to stay ahead of Stoke and catch Southampton if we can. That would give us an outside shot at the Europa League and playing in that competition would be good for our youngsters. Good in that there would then be more games and more games gives Antonio more opportunities to use kids if he wants to. If I were Conte I would have asked the club to try to qualify for the Europa League. None of us can say that we know that he has not done this.

OK, too excited to be bothered with all this now. We won. Very nice. Pat on the head. Where's the Tottenham thread? Time to get down to business!

Or perhaps he knows that the set up is that he should take the free kick in that position?

Very pleased about this.

Finished 1-1. We must be a good side because City certainly are and we held our own against them. Indeed on balance of play, and balance of chances, we probably deserved to win. Tomori MoTM. He was brilliant defensively and a threat breaking out from the back. 2nd leg, Stamford Bridge next Wednesday.

1-1

Kyle Scott has been introduced for Ali. Kyle's illness has really slowed him up in recent weeks and, judged in finite terms, his displays have been mainly poor. Let's see how he goes for the half an hour he's got tonight.

Agreed but it's not just the technique. It's how he sees things around him his in stride deliveries and the little scooped passes and so on. Arsene Wenger says football speaks to Jack Witshire, well she sings songs and takes her clothes off for this kid.

Butch Wilkins has been bemoaning what he sees as a lack of intensity but I'm really enjoying the game. These are two high quality U18 sides who have produced some excellent, and really interesting, football. We were utterly dominant for the opening 10-15 minutes and we finished the half more strongly but in between City had their moments. For us Jake & Fikayo have been outstanding defensively as well as stepping out with the ball. Fikayo in particular has carried a threat right into City's box from open play. He's been great, as has Trevor Chalobah playing at right back. He's been solid and has made two or three really threatening runs with good deliveries on the end of them. As I type, he has just done it again only this time, Mason Mount has converted to put us one up early in the second half. For City there is no question about who has been their star. Based on what I saw during the EUFA Youth League campaign, the young Spaniard Brahim Diaz is the best development level player in Europe. By a mile. He is an outstanding player who is a cast iron, 100% certainty to make it at the highest level. The kid is truly an exceptional footballer. Well played City for winning his signature.

Do you know when the new La Liga distribution policy comes into effect? That's going to reduce their income somewhat. No matter how big their debts however, their income is simply incredible so I'm guessing that no lender will feel the need to call in their loans. That said, I do not know the first thing about Barca's financial situation so that guess might be complete nonsense.

A motive to agitate for a new contract maybe, a motive even for using the threat of moving on as part of the negotiations, but for actually wanting to move? Players love playing for Barca. They love the adulation, they love the Catalan's passion for their team, they revel in the team's dominance, and they enjoy the style of football. If, like Cesc, a player knows that he isn't good enough to hold a place in the side then maybe, but I'd say that a nailed on starter is highly unlikely to want to leave. Now, Barcelona finding themselves needing to sell is another thing but I don't actually believe that either. There are plenty of other wage bill reductions they'd take before they part with any of their front three.

It may be so and I certainly can't claim to know that it is not, but this sounds pretty far fetched to me. Of course, under the guidance of his agent, Neymar might be quite happy to keep Barca's contract negotiators on their toes with allusions to dissatisfaction, but actually wanting to leave for such a reason? I can't see it. At all.

Game finished 2-0. We were a bit better in the second half but not that much. We did produce moments of quality to carve out some good chances but their keeper pulled off 2 or 3 really good stops. The second goal was also grabbed by Fran Kirby amid claims of handball as a goal line clearance struck her arm and dropped for her to fire into the roof of the net. As the laws stand allowing the goal was the correct decision, there was no intention, but it's a bad law in my opinion and I'm glad The International Board are changing it. Fran may not have been able to get out of the way but the ball did strike her hand. If it hadn't done, the clearance would have sailed out of the box so, intent or no intent, Fran gained a big advantage by unfair means. It should have been a free kick. When a player handles the ball deliberately then, whether she/he gains an advantage or not, a free kick/penalty should always be awarded. Where the contact is unintentional however, then, for me, the decision must come down to whether or not an unfair advantage is gained. An example of what I mean: - Defender near the goal line. The ball smacks him on the arm. He couldn't get out of the way. The decision depends on what would have happened if the ball had not struck his arm. If the ball would have sailed harmlessly out of play, no penalty, play on. If it would have hit his body instead, no penalty, play on. If it would have gone into the net then, albeit that he didn't mean to, the defender has gained a significant advantage by unfair means, penalty but no card. Meanwhile back to Chelsea Ladies; Emma Hayes's post game comments are always honest and accurate and were again tonight. She's a very impressive person. Her players must love her. Emma being our manager is a big advantage for us I think.

The ladies are playing what is a Women's FA Cup Final rehearsal, but also a very significant WSL game in its own right, away at Arsenal. We lead 1-0 at the break, deservedly, but boy has it been a poor game. Both sides are playing badly, loads of mistakes and misplaced passes. It's got to be better in the second half; as Dr. Winston himself might say, "Can't get no worse." Fran Kirby got the goal when she chased a ball over the top and was able to charge down the keeper's attempted clearance. As the ball ricocheted towards goal the Arsenal defender was easily favourite to get there first and I do mean easily. She just couldn't get her stride pattern organised however so the timing was never quite right for her to stretch out her leg and knock the ball away. Meanwhile Fran gained on her and as both players made a desperate, last ditch lunge at the ball, neither of them was able to get a touch and the ball bobbled its merry way into the net. A goal befitting the game I think. Such quality as we have seen has come from Gemma Davidson, especially after she switched wings with Karen Carney and moved to the left. Love this player; one of the best in the woman's game I feel sure.

I fear that you and they are correct. Neither Tammy nor Dom seem potential Chelsea players to me. I have to say however that Tammy is currently showing a great deal more in his hold up play than I have noticed prior to this season. Maybe his level is a bit higher than I once thought it might be but I'd say still below Chelsea's nevertheless.

I agree wholeheartedly with your two main points: - If Thibaut does not want to stay then we should give his agent permission to find a club willing to meet our valuation. After the trauma of the current season the last thing we need is to drag player disaffection into the new season too. We need to root it out, not replant it. There are very many highly competent keepers who can contribute fully to a successful team. Let's face it, at one point last season we had three of them and even now we still have two. Having said that however: - I have never heard the expression that a good goalkeeper is half a team but, in any case, it is absolutely 100 percent not true. As is well argued in the remainder of your post. Shot stopping and commanding the area are at least two goalkeeping attributes not one. I say at least because commanding the area probably needs to be broken down into more than one category. Even if we say that shot stopping and commanding the area are only two attributes, they are far from the only ones required to be a sound goalkeeper. Kicking with both feet, distribution from hand, speed off the line to sweep up, to name just three.

Last May, 9 million people watched on TV as Arsenal beat Aston Villa at Wembley to retain the FA Cup. In April* 1970, exactly nine months and nine days after the Apollo 11 moon landing, Chelsea beat Leeds United in the first FA Cup final replay since the year The Titanic hit that iceberg. That game attracted 28.5 million viewers. The huge difference in audience figures is partly explained by the fact that The Cup Final was a national event back then but also by the fact that there were only three TV channels, two of which were broadcasting the match! Pretty much everyone in the country who watched telly that night, watched the football. That's how it was too for the climax of the space race in the late sixties. It was a race, it was exciting and it received saturation coverage in all forms of media. Indeed, at a time when UK TV broadcasts didn't start until gone midday and were off air again by midnight, there were often special Apollo programmes outside of those hours. At school we did lessons about it and were marched into the hall to watch the TV coverage every time a major event was being broadcast during school hours. That didn't only apply to Apollo 11 either. I remember for example sitting cross legged on the floor of the hall watching Apollo 8 blast off. Apollo 8 was important because it featured the first flight to the moon. They didn't land of course but its crew were the first humans to leave Earth orbit and to see the 'dark' side of the moon. It was also important in the sense that the Soviets gave up after that mission and conceded that they would not be ready to put a man on the moon before the Americans. After that the dates and mission objectives of all the flights were mapped out and everybody knew what would be happening and when. The landing, when it came, was not something people heard about after the event. It was something people expected and planned for weeks in advance. It's not a question of remembering where you were when it happened, it was a question of knowing where you going to be even before it happened. Personally, I was at home and was allowed to stay up very late that night. As I remember it however nothing much happened. They landed and then nothing, for hours and hours it seemed. *April, not May as is traditional, because the FA scheduled that season to finish early so the England squad would have more time to prepare for their defence of The World Cup in Mexico that summer.