DYC.

Nahh Torres was worse, the same goes for Drogba. Zhirkov is having a bad game though and he keeps drifting inside :unsure:.

Drogba and Torres have been so poor.. painful to see. They don't click at all. Poor first half overall. Luckily we scored but we'll have to score again quick.

He (Ivan) could've been dropped because of the lack of a attacking threat from the right with the combination Ramires-Ivanovic there. And you're right about Drogba. I wouldn't go as far as saying Drogba deserves a start cause it's more down to Anelka's inconcistency. Ivanovic was probably dropped because he's got too many yellos cards and we don't want to risk him getting one against Blackpool.

Great line-up by CA . Now just hope it works out .

I was hoping for a win with a good/great performance tomorrow but I'll take any kind of win now. :cfc:

I agree with the idea of resting Cole although Zhirkov has to start in midfield if you ask me. Both Ramires and Kalou aren't wingers, drift inside and dont stretch play. We need at least one winger who doesn't that. People shouldn't forget our first half performance against Man Utd in which created practically nothing and Man Utd had no problem defending against us since everything went through the middle (in a slow tempo to make it worse). And Torres can't be dropped. This is a game where if we play well, we can create a lot of chances since Blackpool aren't the type of team to park a bus in front of goal. He needs to get that 'first goal for new club', mixed with a 50 mil and playing at the hated Chelsea, pressure off him. I would go for something like this: Cech Bosingwa - Ivanovic - Terry - Luiz Ramires - Essien/Mikel - Lampard - Zhirkov Drogba - Torres or Cech Ivan - Terry - Luiz Bosingwa - Ess/Mikel - Zhirkov Ramires - Lampard Drogba - Torres

Exactly. The combination Ramires and Ivanovic provides us too little offensively. It's either Bos and Rami on the right or Ivan and Kalou/Benayoun on the right.

Great game Couldn't shoot Cheryl though .

Thanks for the vid MM. Great piece of skill there, confidence is a beautiful thing. DS .

http://www.zonalmarking.net/2011/03/01/chelsea-2-1-man-utd-tactics/

We ended up winning the game because we purely wanted it a lot more than Man Utd (in the second half). So after (heavily) criticizing the players, not all of them of course, for months I have to compliment them for showing great passion and heart in the second half that led us to victory . But, yeah there's a but, they need to show it a lot more because we're a much lesser side without it.

A winger with pace, very good ball control and technique, good crosser and very direct, he should definitely be playing. Malouda is seriously aggrevating me .

Cech - 6 Ivanovic - 6 Luiz - 8 Terry - 7 Cole - 6.5 Ramires - 7 Essien - 7 Lampard - 6 Malouda - 2 Anelka - 4.5 Torres - 6 Drogba - 6 Zhirkov - 7 Bosingwa - N/A

No he's not. Not at all.

PLEASE take Malouda off for Zhirkov. No pace, no threat, no nothing. He's been horrible for months. It's still possible but we're, like we always do in these matches, lacking that final ball. Serious lack of creativity and their defence isn't even that closed. And why do we always have to be behind before we up the tempo .

Ivanovic and Ramires on the right? Doesn't look good at all, who is gonna provide us width from the right? And Malouda doesn't deserve to start but he's one of CA's untouchables when playing with wingers. Great to see David Luiz back though. Can only hope for the best . Expecting a boring match though..

A fit Man Utd defence is probably the best around together with ours so definitely don't agree with you on that. Ferdinand - Vidic is a great CB duo, Evra one of the best left-backs around and Rafael is really developing into a good RB. Ferdinand and Rafael have been out for a while so they haven't been great defensively lately but they still hardly concede any goals. And that's me talking about their defenders individually, the way they defend as a team is a lot more impressive (just like us). The reason they're up top is mostly because they're so hard to beat (but that also has to do with their way of playing sometimes). Di Maria is a huge threat when he's having his day but he's inconsistent and Ozil is a great player but not able to carry the team (yet) when Cristiano isn't playing well. Real can beat Man Utd sure, they're about on the level if you ask me but thrashing them.. don't see that happening at all. Sides like Man Utd, Chelsea (well, the way we used to be) and Inter are almost impossible to trash. But let's focus on Chelsea :cfc:.

Nahh, don't agree. Don't get why they get hyped up so much, they've done nothing to say 'wow, they're a fantastic team'. If Cristiano isn't having his day, they really struggle and their defence is vulnerable with two fullbacks who are weak defensively and the injury-prone and somewhat inconsistent Pepe. They're good but not great and not better than Man Utd. They'll probably become a very good team with time but right now.. nahh.

Cruyff at the Bridge? Wow, never knew that. Was he ever linked with us back then ? And trained under Bill Shankly.. must've been great.

Exactly. I can't imagine what the likes of Wilshere, Balotelli or Fabregas and Messi when they were younger would have to go through if they were at Chelsea. And no I'm not saying they are the next Messi or Fabregas, but it's definitely not impossible, but we'll never know if the club/coach don't change the way they manage youth/young players.

Got it.

If you've been around that long, you must have seen true greats like Pelé, Eusebio, Moore, Cruyff, Beckenbauer, Baresi, Maradona (drooling just thinking about it) etc. You're a lucky man zolayes.

Never saw him play but how can you not love a former Chelsea player with the nickname 'The King of Stamford Bridge'. Rest in perfect peace, Peter Osgood. Have to get my hands on a match of him..

What did Javier do?

Add two or three more 'very's' to that because it is. There's only one side out there who you can say are truly better than them and that team is Barcelona.