toddandrewblue

WELL SAID!

Okay, no more back passes to the keeper - at least until Cech is back, and we probably shouldn't even do it then. Not that it's Turnbull's fault, just no communication back there so far. What's that, a goal a game due to a crap backpass?

Nico - should have been goal. Ivanovic off for Riccy.

The competition certainly shouldn't hurt!

Don't get me wrong - I'd prefer Bosingwa there, but in response to all the Ferreira bashing (some justified), I think he's given a pretty good accounting of himself thus far

Handling a slick-footed Petroipa pretty well so far...

@Slamdunk - I think Ferreira looks pretty strong, and his pressure upfield led to the Hamburg mistake that gave Essien the ball and Lampard the goal...

Only a joke because you scramble an MLS team together and give them little to no time to practice together. I am no fan of MLS, but it's not really a contest when the game is set up like that. Read an article about it on Fox Soccer today and it said these games are good and bad: good because MLS players get to see tough competition from Prem teams and it sparks more interest in the game here; bad because it makes the MLS All-Stars seem utterly inept at the game due to their lack of practice time together.

Will miss you Juliano. Best of luck, and thanks for all you gave us!

YESSSSS!!!!!!!!!!! Chelsea!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Makes the work week a whole lot more bearable going into Monday as PREMIERE LEAGUE CHAMPS! And a chance for the Double next weekend! UP THE BLUES!! Congrats and THANK YOU BOYS!!! BLUE IS THE COLOR!!!!!

Drogba's attitude is really putting a damper on this for me. Don't get me wrong - I'm still happy with the scoreboard so far, but that kind of shit is uncalled for, especially in light of his remarks about team first. I could see the boys trying to key on him too, to placate him like a fussy baby. Ashley had loads of space to work with down the left right after Frank's PK and what's he do? Early pass to a marked Drogba and we lose possession. Carlo needs to lay it down for DD and tell him to grow up and enjoy the day. C'MON CHELSEAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The anticipation is brutal! It's like Christmas morning - hope we all get a nice shiny trophy rather than a lump of coal! On top of it being Mother's Day here, my son has a U-8 club team match at 1pm, so I have to leave for his game at Chelsea's halftime. Thank god for the DVR. I'll be celebrating with everyone (fingers crossed), albeit a few hours late! Fox Soccer showed the highights from the 4/29/06 game v ManUtd last night - made me feel good about today seeing them lift the trophy back then. But the nerves were back when I woke up. Bring it home, boys! Blue is the Color!

We're sweating out this week across the pond, too. The wait is killing me! And as we're 5 hours behind, we've got even longer to wait! (j/k) I agree with Shane, Kalou deserves a spot. We've got a strong side ready for this with Ashley and Zhirkov back. Hope Drogs can be a beast, even if he doesn't score. His performance against Stoke was superb. Will be at the pub catching this one with Blues fans and Scousers alike. Nothing like a good hearty Irish Breakfast, Guinness, and Chelsea at 7:30am. Hopefully it'll be the Chelsea flag flying highest at 10:30am here. Blue is the color!!!!

Have to trust Carlo knows what he's doing with that lineup. Not the best looking team we could field - glaring issues with Nico and Drogs paired together and with Malouda not starting. At least we have a strong bench come the second half... Come on Chels! Salt this thing away!!!

Well done, boys! A shame the holders don't get tv time anywhere. Here in the US today I could watch Tranmere v Wolves (!), Arsenal v West Ham (3 times today) and ManUtd v Leeds (airs 4 times today, one of which I will watch to see those bastards lose!), but not Chelsea. Yesterday I could watch 'Boro v City and Villa v B'Burn. This has happened before with Carling Cup matches as well. Why do we get less airtime (respect?) than the rest of the Prem teams? Maybe ChelseaTV has something to do with it? I've seen that Setanta USA is supposed to be playing this game tonight at 10pm (Eastern Time US), but the program guide shows MUTV replaying their Leeds defeat! Either way, glad we had a good day, (great for Sturridge!) and maybe Malouda will stop crying a litle now, eh? Blue is the colour!

Thanks BluesChick!

Sorry, I posted a few times elsewhere but figured I'd come in here and do my thing. Played a bit of soccer as a kid, followed indoor soccer here in Baltimore for a while. Began watching seriously during the 2006 World Cup (although I usually watched WC and Olympic soccer as well), and followed England closely that tournament. Later that summer I watched Chelsea play the MLS All-Stars on their U.S. tour, and I recognized many of the players from the WC. I began thinking about following international (to me) soccer, and in particular an English team, and knew the most about Chelsea's squad, so that's the way I went. I knew from the start that I absolutely couldn't hop on ManUtd's bandwagon, because they're pretty much the only team Americans know if you ask about international football. Little did I know I would appear to be a bandwagon jumper myself anyway, as I found out during the course of my first season watching the Blues (2006-2007) that we had won back-to-back Prem titles. My love for this team grew quickly and I do not miss a match on TV, in any competition. Between Setanta, Fox and ESPN, pretty much all of our games are broadcast here. We even visited Stamford Bridge in August 2007 during a brief stay in London on our way home from Greece (my wife's homeland). The boys were playing Liverpool the weekend we were in London, but just seeing The Bridge (and the Carling and FA Cups) was a thrill enough for me. My now-7 1/2 year old son has really come along for the ride with me and watches as fervently as I do. He plays in (and I help coach) a U-8 team and he absolutely loves it. Unbelievably, although I did not see them in England, Chelsea came right here to my hometown this past summer and beat AC Milan - and I was there to see it. (A game we actually won [albeit meaningless] in the away kit!) If I wasn't already sucked into the Chelsea experience before that game, I truly felt it afterwards. I have revelled in the silverware we've won since 2006 and have despaired in the excruciating CL and League losses. I live and die with these guys now, more so than my hometown teams of any sport. I'm hooked, and for better or worse, 'til death do us part, I'm a Blue! I fly my Chelsea flag on the front of my house every day there's a game. Thanks for sharing your team with a Yank like me! I love this forum and hope to participate as often as I can. Todd

They've all got consequences, though. This team is broken right now. It is not working properly, and that is a cumulative result of the past 3 games. Everton is on a high and we are as low as we've bneen all season. A home loss this weekend would not surprise me, although it would anger and sadden me greatly.

Looks like the Blackburn CC loss has had its effect, as I predicted. The psyche of the team is damaged. There is no way in hell we should draw against APOEL at home with the squad we put out today. No way. And people have to stop saying, "Well at least..." after these losses. After Blackburn it was "At least it was only the CC, who cares." After City it was "At least we're still 2 points up on United." And today its "At least we finsihed top of the group". If we're not careful these same people will be saying "At least we're within 1 point of United" after Everton this weekend, and "At least we finished second in the league" at the end of the season, or "At least we got to see some of the young guys this season". "At least" is not good enough for a team of this caliber. They need to play better to achieve "the most". It really is starting to feel like deja vu, with Carlo playing the role of Scolari. How long til they call Guus back? Good thing Russia missed out on the WC - he might actually come back... COME ON YOU BLUES! GET BACK ON TRACK!

Dead on misschief. We looked terrible today and deserved nothing better than a draw, if that. I felt like that CC loss might be a bad sign, but hoped to chalk it up to use of the "B" squad, and that we'd get back on track today. Looks like it was a bad sign afterall, and I feel like its time for the "Christmas Crisis" to strike again. We've lost our cushion at the top. The next mistake will probably take us out of the lead, and I'm afraid once we're out of it, we're out of it for good. A shame the team hasn't been able to keep up their form. You know, everyone shrugs off the Carling Cup, and yeah, if we're going to lose in any one competition in a season better it be that, but losing that game to Blackburn allows the seeds of doubt in, whether we're playing our "A" squad or not. You lose a little of your edge almost anytime you lose - no matter the circumstances or the competition. You start second guessing. As soon as that CC game ended, you could almost hear the air start to come out of the Blue baloon. Let's hope a win (a convincing win, although we'll probably see the "B" team again) against APOEL and our fairly easy upcoming schedule allows us to patch that hole. I don't want Ancellotti to become another Scolari, another coaching casualty to lend yet more instability to this squad. My final statement will probably piss some people off, but it is my opinion so here goes: Lampard needs to sit 1 or 2 games. Not CC games and APOEL. He needs time to address whatever his problem is of late. He's a shell of himself of late, and he needs time off. Perhaps he's still injured, I don't know. But he's timid, he's got no ofense in him whatsoever, and that penalty today was mediocre at best. Before he shot I told my son, "He's going to miss. He's been off his game and he's going to miss." Needless to say, I hated being right. Get your act together boys, and win this league! It's been too long! Win the CL!