Naked Mole Rat

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.

My friend's math test. The part that's been cut off says "this should look like this".

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.

What the fuck? I resented Roman for sacking Mourinho and Ancelotti, but if this is true, he couldn't have chosen a worse time to support the manager. If we don't want to pull a Liverpool, AVB must go NOW. We have to somehow salvage something this season or it will be even more difficult to clear the dead wood in summer than it is now.

Away goal, hopefully no more Bosingwa for like ever. Can't complain.

Everything about AVB is hopeless. He hasn't got a plan B, his man management skills are woeful and his media handling skills are even worse. But he hasn't done any sin; he just made a whole lot of rookie mistakes. At least some of them are. Other mistakes are what even experienced managers (e.g. Carlo) can make. The biggest sin anyone's committed regarding our current crisis was to sack one of the greatest managers in the world and bring in a newbie to replace him, thinking he'd do any better.

That's a cliche but very true. If you play football, you know that you don't have to necessarily know your teammates very well on a personal level to work well with them. You don't have to Ramires' best friend to know that he's a hardworking and fast player. You see things like that and everything else that matters in football on the training ground.

Congrats to Zambia but holy shit. Who would have thought?

I don't think he's done a good job, but I feel sorry for him. He was never going to live up to the hypes and work a miracle, which was something even a talented and experienced manager Carlo couldn't do. After all, he's just a newbie, barely old enough to exert any influence on our high and mighty players. At this stage of his career, Chelsea is too big of a challenge, and he really should have stayed with Porto. Anyway, I don't really know what we should do with him now. He's certainly not good enough yet and it's probably best for him if he left, but that obviously means we're going to be fucked.

First clean sheet for Norwich this season and first two-goal game since November for Everton. We're the best combo breaker in England. Do we get a medal for that?

Precisely. He's getting picked on rather harshly. There were many other players who played significantly worse than he did and didn't give nearly as much (Bosingwa, Cech, Meireles, Torres)

You made a list of reasons (all of which were external factors that led me to believe you thought Torres wasn't at fault) why Torres is in a slump, and I had a problem with one of them. So I challenged it and said lack of confidence is not an excuse as professionals are supposed to fight off pressure and not let it affect them so much on the pitch (= his fault for letting it affect him). That's why we are having this nice little intercourse

He's a professional athlete. He's expected to cope with pressure, and it's not an excuse for him to go 20 games without a goal because of 'lack of confidence'. And frankly, I don't see how pressure alone can do that. It's probably part of it, but it's probably also because he's not a good player anymore.

That's not an excuse.

I have an irrationally good feeling about this one. Maybe it's not irrational at all. We often do surprisingly well against big teams when we're struggling.

We don't back him for his misconduct nor do we think it's all a lie. Seems like you're implying that we're being absurd here by supporting him for his misbehaving, but if you read that other thread carefully, you'd know most of the criticism toward the FA and the media is for the premature and over-the-board reactions. His cheating on his wife and alleged racial insult toward Anton Ferdinand are NOT condoned by most of us here, although to be honest, neither was as serious as people like to make it out to be. (And of course, the media and fans were not nearly as hard on Ryan Giggs, Rio Ferdinand and Wayne Rooney who did equally despicable things.) Like I said, many people here are just really offended by the FA's premature, unnecessary (the trial doesn't even take place until after Euro) and biased (clearly, they did this just to please people) reaction to this matter that was no different from what those QPR cunts did.

Patrick Bad Ass Mother Ford Hope he does well.

They're gonna miss him so bad when he retires.