OhForAGreavsie

Are we calling Bowles a nine? More like a ten wasn't he? Around then I'm thinking it may have been Paul Marriner or Bob Latchford although perhaps they may have been a bit later. Kegan and Brooking would have been in the team in 1980 because they were still in it two years later in Spain. That means it would usually have been Keegan plus one up top I think. What about Tony Woodcock maybe or was Joe Royle still around then? And what was the name of the Villa centre-forward at that time,? (The lad with the beard.)

I honestly don't even remember Tommy ever playing for England.

Tommy scored some of my favourite CFC goals. There were the couple he scored in the 4-0 Stamford Bridge promotion celebrating win over Hull the week after he had scored the goal in a 1-1 promotion securing draw at Wolves. Some things I remember clearly about Tommy but I don't remember him ever being regarded as first choice for England. P.S. Hands up anyone who ended up on the pitch after that Hull game all those years ago. 🙋‍♂️

Well, before the game I thought we'd loose tonight, and that was before I saw the team. Three points is a nice surprise. I didn't expect it.

The commentary team confirm it appears someone had a heart attack. Of course it's still the case that we don't know anything about the person's health history.

Looks like it will be a long night. Surprised but glad there seem to be empty seats. A full stadium would make this even harder than we've made it look so far.

Yep, #West stand, west stand, give us a song#, is already the most pointless chant in all of football. 😒 That said good, helpful, support isn't always about chanting. It's often about excitement, energy, involvement, noise. The situation with 'Westview' definitely isn't going to help. P.S. I should point out that the West Stand is where I've been for years though I'll be in The Shed in future. Back to where it all started so many years ago. Sort of.

I will never understand why a self reporting Chelsea fan wants to talk about a Chelsea player in this way. Whenever I feel a Chelsea player isn't good enough that's a cause for disappointment, not anger. If there is any anger it is only ever towards the person who made the recruitment decision, not the player.

As you imply the lino should still flag for offside at the end of that passage of play.

Earlier this season I posted to say that Ruben seemed to have run out of managers willing to back his potential. Whether by luck or judgement he seems to have found the only one who is.

That's FOUR YEARS younger than Spurs' last trophy. I love Tottenham Hotspurs. An entire football club dedicated to our amusement. 🙂

I think he's a part of the problem.

This is why I was hoping that PSG would beat City and go on to top the group. A forlorn hope because they were a long way short of beating City yesterday.

The modern day Torres in that his good spell was the blip. I firmly believed, and said, that Torres was a very ordinary footballer while he was scoring goals at Liverpool and I've always believed, and said, that Alli is equally ordinary.

I was worried about the signing because the LCFC fans did not believe in him and were delighted at the fee they received. I have been worried about Ben's output in a Chelsea shirt because I've seen the same unproductive displays that we all have. Just a matter of weeks ago there was discontent here, and among Chelsea's coaches, about how Chilly was contributing. For a while he was our backup so querying Ben's output has not been a fringe opinion. For you, having always had a positive take on Ben, it is completely logical to see the current positive impression he is making as nothing more than what you expected all along. Fair enough. For more sceptical people like me however it will take sustained contributions to move us from where we have been to where you are. Personally, I need more evidence before I can conclude that it is Ben's basic quality which is making the system work and not the system which is making the most of Ben's recent, and therefore temporary, form.

I've always rejected Rom's cover story for changing his tune and deciding to re-join Chelsea. The claim that he "Had unfinished business at Chelsea", just doesn't fly. Instead, as I said at the time, I believe that he was motivated by the jingle of Chelsea's wallet and by the realisation that Inter preferred the money over him.

That's the right question but I'm afraid that I don't have a good answer to it. I've read on Sky Blue News that Cov fans like Maatsen but I haven't watched him there so I have no valid opinion beyond one based on his development squad outings and his cameo against Grimsby.

Definitely.

If the solution is to be a recall then I see no sense in Emerson being the choice.

Yes, until and unless someone designs an effective counter to it the tweak is working well. It's not specific to Reece mind. Dave was deployed in that way first.

People are getting carried away. It's only a few weeks since I was posting that despite being European Champions and Premier League leaders there wasn't a lot of optimism around Chelsea. More than a few agreed with me. Based on what he was saying last night I can extrapolate that Jason Cundy was among them .Now, two good wins later, he's declaring that we're the best team in the world. It doesn't work like that.

For completeness the full list of tie-breakers is: - Article 17 Equality of points – group stage 17.01 If two or more teams are equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following criteria are applied in the order given to determine their rankings: higher number of points obtained in the group matches played among the teams in question; superior goal difference from the group matches played among the teams in question; higher number of goals scored in the group matches played among the teams in question; if, after having applied criteria a) to c), teams still have an equal ranking, criteria a) to c) are reapplied exclusively to the matches between the remaining teams to determine their final rankings. If this procedure does not lead to a decision, criteria e) to k) apply in the order given to the two or more teams still equal; superior goal difference in all group matches; higher number of goals scored in all group matches; higher number of away goals scored in all group matches; higher number of wins in all group matches; higher number of away wins in all group matches; lower disciplinary points total based only on yellow and red cards received by players and team officials in all group matches (red card = 3 points, yellow card = 1 point, expulsion for two yellow cards in one match = 3 points); higher club coefficient (see Annex D).

Remember that the away goals rule has been scrapped. Away goals between two sides who finish level no longer makes a difference. Away goals in all group matches is on the tiebreak list but its down at number six behind, for example, overall goal difference in the group.

And you can't even explain it to non-football people. They just think you're a nut job.