Naked Mole Rat

Now reveal the *. I'm guessing it would be U.

I appreciate his commitment to the team and sincerely hope that his dad is safe.

Torres was outstanding today. Too bad he didn't get a goal, but looks like he's back to his old self. Bosingwa was very impressive as well driving up forward and being solid at the back, but he really needs to work on his crossing. Despite the positives, it was quite frustrating overall. It was nice everyone was up for this one, but they need to improve their passing and need some ideas. We really need to find someone to replace Lampard as his passing is not as sharp and penetrating as it used to be. I think we'd be better off now if Lampard assumed a defensive role. All of our 'wingers' were absolute shit as usual, though. Kalou looked hopeless. I know he has the skills, but he lacks ideas. If he wants to get past a defender, he needs to stop, think and either lose the ball or luckily put the ball through his legs. I guess Andre can help him improve, but I told myself that when Scolari and Ancelotti first came. Malouda on the other hand doesn't look like a starter anymore. As was the case last season, he disappeared after the first half only to reappear when he blasted one at Begovic and when he was substituted. Anelka was, as usual, frustratingly undetermined and slow tempoed. I don't know what the hell he was thinking when he decided to pass it short to Kalou inside our own box when he should've cleared, or when he was just strolling around with the ball near the penalty area with only 3 minutes to go. I don' I hope things will change when Sturridge returns, but even then we'll only have one good wing forward and have to fill up the other side with a shitty one. So hopefully, today's result would force the board to get a new winger.

Cech didn't have to make any dramatic saves but that was largely because he cut out everything with really high concentration. 6.5 is a bit too low, imo. And Bosingwa also made really good runs and was solid defensively although his crossing was disappointing. I think 5.5 is a bit harsh.

1. The Champions : United 2. Top 4 : United, Chelsea, City, Liverpool 3. Relegated : Wigan, Swansea, Wolves 4. Signing of the season : Ashley Young 5. Surprise Manager sacking of the season : Pardew 6. Over-achieving team of the season : Sunderland 7. Flop of the season (Team) : Arsenal 8. Flop of the season (Player) : Downing

As for the title: Yes, it is a horrible thing. First off, we wasted a crapload of money just switching managers. One goodbye and one hello cost approximately £15m - £20m. I don't know exactly how much money we spent just doing that, but it was absolutely unnecessary and probably affected our spending on new players as well, which in turn had to do with disappointing performances under some managers. As for the second to last line: It's a good thing that you back Roman, but he was largely responsible for the departure of Mourinho, which was a big one, and he did so by signing Sheva. Everyone makes mistakes, and if you make a mistake you should learn from it. Roman didn't do that. He would every now and then interfere with the manager's decisions and throw the team off. Most of the criticisms he receive are fair, imo. Also, I don't see what was wrong with the appointment of Ancelotti or Scolari. Ancelotti had won the CL twice with Milan and he was undoubtedly one of the most respected manager in the world. Same went for Scolari: he was a World Cup winner. These two unfortunately didn't live up to their expectations but they were pretty unlucky, too, in that they didn't really get the support Mourinho had had. I agree that Scolari had a pretty bad spell at Chelsea but things could've been different had he got Robinho, and, in his two summers, Ancelotti got Sturridge, Zhirkov (Roman's signing), Turnbull (Turns out horrible), Benayoun (injured) and Ramires. That is an awful lot of support isn't it? And one more thing, seriously what difference does it make if we win the league by a point or if we win it with 38 wins other than maybe it feels better to win all 38? Does it make us less qualified?

He's Mr. Championship. I seriously doubt that he'll do well this season, although I hope he does.

Maybe what you want to say is that in terms of our management, (by the board of course) we've been very inefficient and thus have underachieved because: 1. Avram didn't underachieve. He was fired due to the assumptions that he was not the right person, but given that the whole club was really down with Mourinho's departure when he took over, Grant did pretty well. In fact, he could've clinched a legendary treble for us. 2. It's not really fair to say Carlo underachieved either. He achieved a historic double in his first season, and Chelsea played some magnificent football under him. His second season was very disappointing, but if you consider how he started the season with three senior centre backs (one of which was injured), how he lost Wilkins, and how Essien, Malouda and Anelka just gave up on him, it really wasn't entirely his fault. Besides, second place doesn't mean the world is going to collapse. I bet Arsenal will be overjoyed if they ever end a season as runners-up. And let's not belittle our OWN achievements by saying things like "it was easier back then," or "we won only by one point." You really sound like you want our 'undeserved' trophies to be taken away.

I'll finish it off for you: ...Sturridge, and Terry.

I'm glad for him. He never really got going with the injuries and didn't seem to get along well with his teammates. Hopefully he'll be happy back in Russia.

Gunners handed tough test Arsenal face Udinese in play-offs, while Bayern tackle FC Zurich http://www.skysports.com/story/0,,11670_7082505,00.html

I agree with you that he's not a finished product. But I think he's got most of the things he needs for success. He's clever, physically gifted, determined and confident. His development has been very consistent, and everything about him seems better than it was two years ago. I think if he keeps this up, he can become a top PL striker.

According to the Chelsea medical staff?? Then 2 weeks can mean anything from 2 weeks to 2 years.

Really? I always thought Sturridge had a lot to offer. For one thing, he's one of the quickest, and definitely the most agile in the club. He makes better turns than anybody else in the club and makes life so difficult for defenders. I think he can play a vital part in the team in the near future.

R.I.P

2nd in PL, FA winners, CL semifinalists Star - Sturridge, Top scorer - Luiz

Shevchenko, Alves, Robinho, Kakuta, and Romeu. We should really stop fucking things up.

Who's to blame.. I was a total idiot for expecting a surprise.

LOL The funniest article I've ever seen.

Although I'm not a big fan of careless spending, I think we need to move really quickly now. We've had some problems in our squad for three years, we haven't corrected them yet, and they've grown HUGE. Players like Malouda and Anelka are playing like shit and even Lampard doesn't look anything like what he used to be, and of course, we don't have enough players. So, I don't really see how taking more time would help and was really hoping Andre would act swiftly in the transfer window, but so far all we've got are Courtois and Romeu, but they're not gonna solve our problems. We need some immidiate first team reinforcements, and we don't have that much time. We're not like Man City; it takes us forever to sign a player. Also ideally, new players should join before the season starts so they won't struggle the way Ramires did. Also I don't know what Andre's philosophy's like, but Carlo certainly tended to stick to experience when the team wasn't doing well. Result has always been the most important thing for this club, Andre knows that, and he will try to win all the time. If we do badly, and he gets frustrated, he may stop playing McEachran, Sturridge and Betrand. So we need some balance. Whiile our squad should be formidable enough, we should also make sure that young players will not get pushed aside.

Certainly. It kept Liverpool delusional for 21 years.

He's the former Chile coach, right?

Our website just sucks. Atletico Madrid confirmed Courtois loan deal on the 22nd and Gourlay's interview was done (or posted) on the 23rd. If Courtois was one of the imminent signings, he would be lying, or the website people are being lazy once again.

Mancini did the right thing. Pre-season friendlies are not super important but players shouldn't take them as a joke either, and that was really disrespectful of him to the fans and the other team.

I chose #3 but I like #6 as well.