DYC.

Sigh, I stopped reading here. I'm not anti-anybody. Like I said before and will say for the last time, not trying to take any credit away from Mourinho but you can also exaggerate someone's achievements. I have nothing but love and respect for Mourinho, just don't agree with his 'all about the results' mentality. I'm a lover of the beautiful game.

It will be so easy to lay the blame on CA (if we don't win to be clear) if he changes the formation after a good run with the 4-3-3.

But that was what Henrique meant, at least that's what I think he meant. Exactly. And the fact that the players got used to Chelsea and/or England before he came only made it easier for him.

I'm sorry but that's a horrible way of looking at things. You're saying that if you spend a lot of money and you don't win a title, you've failed. That's unrealistic. Mourinho spent 70-80 mil at Madrid and (it looks like) he's not going to win the title or the CL and he even benefited from the 250 mil spent in the summer before he came. Has he failed? Of course not, Barcelona are better than them. No shame in that, just like there's no shame in finishing behind The Invincibles. There's so much more to winning the league title or the CL than having a good team (and a good manager), you also need luck. And you're turning this into a 'Mourinho did better than Ranieri' discussion (of course he did better than him). That's not what this is about. I said Mourinho isn't the only manager who could've managed to lead Chelsea to two titles (especially with the resources he had).

You sure about Rainieri spending more than Mourinho did in his three years (and a few months) at Chelsea? And I wouldn't call finishing 2nd in the league behind the Invincibles and reaching the semi-finals of the CL failing. I was wrong about Arsenal in the 2004/2005 season but they did start to decline, especially from 2005/2006 going, and that's when the new project started. And I didn't say everybody could've led us to succes but Mourinho not being the only one (ignoring records and such because nobody would mind a championship without breaking a single record). And I'll say it again, not trying to take anything away from Mourinho's achievements.

Mourinho's tactical mastery would mean nothing without Roman's millions. And not trying to take any credit away from Mourinho but let us please not act as if Mourinho was the only one who could lead us to succes, especially since the only serious challengers for the title were a average Man Utd side and Arsene's new project.

Oh dear.. Why change a good thing, 4-4-2 sucks.

That would be the best way to nullify Tottenham's centre midfield duo.

Great great player (come to think of it, add another great to that) on his day and a real joy to watch. He even got better and better as he aged. Lack of consistency stops him from being a football legend/one of the best strikers in the history of the game sadly. But a Chelsea legend indeed. A (huge) side of me wants him to stay but Drogba is not a player you put on the bench, the same goes for Torres. And I don't see Torres performing with Drogba walking around. So maybe it's for the best for him to move on, go to Marseille (where he is adored) and try and win the title with them. He can probably still be a huge player for Marseille for two years.

Nah those aren't the reasons. It's simple really, Chelsea - defensive football (at times super defensive) = bye bye hardest team to beat. Just look at Madrid right now vs Barca, it seems almost impossible to score against them.

Love how those fantasy teams are always so unbalanced . But Cannavaro in the Real side though? His period at Madrid was decent but he was past his prime and Spanish football didn't suit him.

That's not true. VDV was great at Real Madrid. Pretty much every time he got the opportunity to play he did well or great and he was effective too. But he's not a 'Galactico' and '€65 Mil Kaka' is and always got picked when fit even though he was average in his first season. Spurs play to his strengths? No they don't. VDV is a technician, ground football is his game, possession football is his game. A huge part of Tottenham's game is aerial, and quick counter-attacking, so it's quite the opposite. And he has been playing as a second striker for most of the season, even played on the wings a few times, as well while he's a classic number 10. But since he's very multi-functional, he does a good/great job in multiple roles. The VDV you see at Tottenham is not the true VDV. Best Summer (Loan) Signings: Peter Odemwingie (WBA) Javier Hernandez (Man Utd) Chris Smalling (Man Utd) Raul Mereiles (Liverpool) Yaya Touré (Man City) David Silva (Man City) Rafael Van der Vaart (Spurs) William Gallas (Spurs) Cheik Tioté (NUFC) Asamoah Gyan (Sunderland) D.J. Campbell (Blackpool) Danny Welbeck (Loan - Sunderland) Nedum Onouha (Loan - Sunderland) Worst Summer Signings: Christian Poulsen (Liverpool) Milan Jovanovic (Liverpool) Joe Cole (Liverpool) Paul Konchesky (Liverpool) Bebe (Man Utd) Sebastien Squilacci (Arsenal) James Milner (Man City) Best Winter (Loan) Signings: Luis Suarez (Liverpool) David Luiz (Chelsea) Darren Bent (Aston Villa) DanieL Sturridge (Loan - Bolton) Worst Winter (Loan) Signings: Fernando Torres (Chelsea) Edin Dzeko (Man City) Stephen Ireland (Loan - NUFC) *2010/2011 Most Improved Players: Lucas Leiva (Liverpool) John Obi Mikel (Chelsea) Stewart Downing (Aston Villa) Samir Nasri (Arsenal) Rafael (Man Utd)

Exactly. Benayoun offers something different to us, something every side needs. But he's not Chelsea starting material so yeah. When Chelsea finally sign a true playmaker, coming summer hopefully, we have a good back-up in Yossi. His age seems to just be an number for now since he's still got pace and looks (very) fit and that's something for a 30-year old coming back from a long-term injury. I wish he would play more but maybe he's not fully fit yet.

I'm sorry but I had to comment on this alone. Briliant Technique? Not even in his best days did he possess great technique. Drogba beats him in terms of technique, easily. Anelka's technique is better than Torres' too.

Agree. Both players are at their best in the lone/main striker role up front. No reason to force players in unfamiliar roles in the starting line-up.

Was surprised by how happy I was for Fernando when he scored . And to see The Bridge explode like that was great to see, hope it helped boost his confidence even more. But this is only step 1 for Torres. If he goes on another goalles run, he'll get slated again. So he has to add a goal or two to his tally in the remaining games. That first goal was absolute class well, great build-up.

That's exactly why he's more useful coming on later in the game (forgot to add that in my post). But I guess we disagree with each other, no Anelka in the starting line-up for me. I prefer the directness, the willingness to make a run behind the opposition defence, width and pace on the ball Kalou offers, though he was average today. If it wasn't for the slowing down and drifting away from his position so much (and in this case, Anelka's disappearance act in big matches), I would agree with you that Anelka's the better option for the right-attacker role.

Drogba, Torres and Anelka all in one side? I'm against Anelka in the starting line-up to be honest. We've been a lot more direct and quicker in building up attacks without him and that's no coincidence. He just keeps slowing down our attacks and I can't take it anymore. Not to mention the fact that he never performs in big matches.

. Unless we've completely given up on the title or finishing second, I don't see why changes need to be made when things are working so well.

No more .

Petr Cech 7.5 Branislav Ivanovic 6 David Luiz 6 John Terry 6 Ashley Cole 7.5 John Obi Mikel 7.5 Micheal Essien 6.5 Frank Lampard 7 Salomon Kalou 5.5 Didier Drogba 7 Florent Malouda 6.5 SUBS Fernando Torres 8 Nicolas Anelka 6 Yossi Benayoun 6.5

And we can all say in harmony: Finally.

Nahh don't just look at the score. According to people watching the match, Valencia are playing terrible and Real's very effective today.

Thank you MM.

Yeah i'm still confused about the whole slagging off Bridge thing and the reaction of some fans when he came to The Bridge disappointed me. I mean, show some respect .