Naked Mole Rat

LOL This is like walking up to someone you've never met before and asking, "Do you think I'm a good person?" Anyway, welcome to the forum.

Pretty drab match, but I'm satisfied with our win and the clean sheet and how organized we were. Anyway, what happened to Jeff?

He's been really poor recently, and I think it's because Di Matteo has been switching his role way too frequently.

Lampard wasn't bad at all. He seemed like the only player in attack and midfield who seemed to be doing anything useful. Anyway, MOTM: Cahill for me. An incredible player.

Wishful thinking...

Ok, I see. Thanks for clearing it up.

Why would you do that? I don't think the thread's gone out of control yet.

I think he really didn't want to play for AVB, and now that he's gone, he's decided to try. Can't blame, him though.

If we are going to go with a 4-2-3-1, I don't think we'll need to spend so much money on getting a highly creative midfielder to play behind Mata. I think Ramires can somewhat close that gap with his high work rate and Mikel can probably take on an anchor/playmaker role and provide the creativity we need in that area.

Take off Meireles. I don't understand why Essien didn't start.

I loved that one as well and have one my own. It looks great, but it's also really smooth.

Couple points: 1. I prefer selfish Sturridge to selfless Torres. I think it's important for attackers to have desire and confidence to have a go himself. 2. He's improving. This has been brought up again because he was being especially selfish against Leicester, but I think he's a little less selfish than he used to be and he'll continue to improve.

LOL silly Kalou

FINE. A RELATIVELY easy draw.

Great. An easy draw. We needed one.

Does anyone know if he's injured & how long he'll stay out?

Frustrating match, but considering that we started without Sturridge and Mata and that we hit the woodwork about 3-4 times, I guess that wasn't too bad. Anyway, great performance from Lampard and Drogba, and it's good to see Mikel is getting back on form.

http://www.givemefootball.com/premier-league/premier-league-ready-for-spalletti-arrival If I remember correctly, Spalletti left Roma without any compensation, if that's any good reason to hire him.

I voted for Meireles for that inspirational strike (+ he was in a slump), but pretty much everyone played well. I'm especially happy with what I saw from Mikel, Bertrand and Kalou, though. Mikel was pretty composed and looked like his old self instead of that lazy, unmotivated and depressing player he was for AVB (it was understandable, though, give how harshly AVB treated him). Kalou was another player I thought AVB treated quite unfairly, and he wasn't great today, but he was decent, and his linkup with Mata gave me hope that perhaps Mata could finally play in the middle without leaving the left flank pretty much empty. It's surprising how AVB never bothered giving Kalou a chance when the only other option he had was Malouda. Bertrand wasn't that great either, but he already seems like a better player than Bosingwa, and apparently Bosingwa is a first team material at Chelsea, so... Nonetheless, Di Matteo deserves some credit for today's victory as well. I never rated him too highly as a manager, but he managed to lift up the squad a little bit, although it may be a temporary thing with the manager gone and all that. Anyway, his team selection and tactic were effective and really different from AVB's lineup if he was still our manager. It surprised me a little that AVB's assistant should have such a radically different plan from his, but anyway it worked and I hope Cole and Lampard will quit whining about the manager's decision.

Good decision.

Get the fuck out AVB.

No, media don't hate us. They're just doing their job and AVB's unnecessarily made it easier for them to pick on us. Rumours around Carlo weren't nothing special, and I don't see why we should see that and what's happening to AVB as media hatred and furthermore, consider changing the way we are because we aren't 'likeable'. And I feel Terry's losing his England armband did more harm to rest of England than to Chelsea, so the joke's on them.

AVB is the one to blame. His media handling is woeful, and he hasn't really established himself at all, so it's not surprising that the media would want to mess with him. It's not a big deal, though. The media are as annoying and as harmless as a tiny little pimple.

I like how some people think they're qualified to question the spirit and motive of other fans.

I didn't say we should keep them for another season. I said we get rid of AVB now and try get that 4th CL spot with the players we have now because that's the best we can do. Then, in summer when the window opens, we can clear the dead wood, bring in new faces (and not some Blackpool star), etc. Not that any of that will happen. It really won't. I can't see why people are getting excited over this.