Kostas

STUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU 2-0!!! Backheel?!

Kalou scored!!!

Are we getting grumpy or is this as retarded as it looks? I mean the only kid that hasn't been played out of position this year is PvA (!)

Confirmation from the official site Sturridge on the wing and McEachran defensive mid :rant:

I'll have to see which who leads the line before passing judgment. Kalou will probably play on the wing so it's between Anelka and Sturridge. Kalou - Sturridge - Anelka still looks pretty toothless to me

Cole, Essien, Malouda and Drogba rested. Sturridge, PvA and McEachran start. Kakuta & Bruma on the bench The rest as expected

No TV coverage?! Ancelotti might start Sturridge during our bad moment and I won't be able to witness it?!

Great analysis Some of those points are well known while a few haven't been mentioned much on this board. I'd like to quote #5 and #6 Number 8 and 9 pretty much sums up our on-field problems but it got me thinking. While I believe we should have at least tried a version of 4-4-2 during our "bad moment" I don't know if Ancelotti can adopt it for the long term, our team has been playing variations of the 4-4-3 for years and the last two times we tried something different (Scolari, Ancelotti in 09) the results weren't good. Besides as far as I know all our academy teams are built around 4-3-3 sometimes at the expense of playing players out of position (Kakuta).

<insert random dig about England never winning the Euro> My deep hate for the Greek Football Federation has kept me from getting too attached to Greece's national football team.

Tbh I don't see how 36 year-old Beckham will sell shirts in 2011. Sure he's still famous, rich and recognizable but who the hell would want to buy his football shirt when he's been semi-retired for the last few years?

Maybe it's postcount related

I doubt Arnesen's removal will grant Ancelotti (or any Chelsea manager) more power over our planing and our transfers. I expect another 'Football Director' to replace him in the next 12 months, someone like Txiki Begiristain probably fits our plans.Moreover if the Wilkins fiasco was indeed a Gourlay gaff I won't be surprised to see him removed in the future, afterall since we could afford to sack Kenyon then Gourlay can be removed much easier.

^ He has got himself in such a position that he can't afford taking such risks in the league anymore. Shaking things up would be far easier in November and December but now we'll be practically fighting "relegation" to the Europa league spots. If dropping Drogba for 45 minutes was the best he could do in December then I can't expect anything more than Kalou>Anelka or Ferreira>Bosingwa from now on.

Confirmed?

I'd say the fans never recovered from those moments. Doubt it affects the players during non-CL games.

Afaik he has mononucleosis.

Well that goes both ways really.As a matter of fact, some regulars of this forum insist that Carlo won us the double and the players are at fault for the current situation.

25 minutes. Get in!

Overpayed.

Sounds a but oversimplifying to me. But if that was the case surely we should have never gone for an Italian manager especially with our core players aging and RA's investment in the academy.

Is the situation really different than the Marseille game? Don't remember any reacting back then, except Ferreira at LB there wasn't much criticism. Sure Marseille are much stronger than Ipswich but that game had no importance AT ALL while this one is IMO our only chance of finishing the season with silverware.

From the injury talk it sounded like Ancelotti considered starting Essien, A. Cole and Drogba. A final decision will be taken when they train on Saturday. Here we go again..

Exactly. Moreover it's not like we're trying to nurture players during this "transition"..

We were retarded enough to start the season with 3 senior CBs + a kid who our coach doesn't like. With Bruma on loan, Alex possibly out for longer and a new signing coming in we'll be left with 3 again. Sounds like us.

Idiots. They are everywhere.