LDN Blue

Benayoun is out till AprilCarlo does not trust our youthTurnbull & Hilario are not good goal keepersFerriera is not a good right back cover, for 90minutesKalou is not goodAnelka is on the decline

Quite a bargin there LOL

They love anyone linked with us don't they?

I don't think we were ever not going to dip in to the market. The real question is, will we buy wisely? (both in terms of price & player)

Of course we need new players.

..for Kalou Ramires made some good runs today, there was one he played with Lampard (I think) which should've ended in a goal for him in the first half, he was very unlucky. He's improving at a rate which is impressive, he's showing good attacking awareness (which I didn't think he would have). If he carries on like this Mikel/Essien will have some real competition when Mikel comes back

I should hardly think so. The way they're playing at the moment, Copenhagen could beat us. Some of us said, after the Arsenal game, that securing 4th should be Ancelotti's priority now. We must qualify for next season's Champions League and forsake our Premier League title hopes. We can still go for the FA Cup, to try and end the season without silver but I'll be happy to secure that final Champions League position. Because then in the summer, If Carlo's still here, he'll be able to build a squad he wants with the funds from Mr Abramovich. All Carlo needs to say is "If you want the European Cup, buy these players". It is something he failed to do coming into this season, but it's something that can be fixed in time for next. This season was always going to be hard because of lack of cover, mixed with an ageing squad. It wasn't a problem last season, we had adequate cover for missing players, now we only have the youth graduates, which Carlo seems fragile in using. We have many players on the decline, Anelka, Ferreira & Cole to name some. While it's not a sharp decline, it's still evident to see. By the way, it should be noted, we did go for some players last season. Most notably, Neymar & Lukaku, and if you believe it, Luiz last week. These are encouraging signs but also bad ones, since we've failed to land them. The person who is in charge of handling transfers (Arnesen, I think) will need to be replaced by someone who has an art in negotiations, someone who will land the players we bid for, perhaps that Tixi guy at Barcelona would be idea for this..

Today, the players let us down. Not Carlo.

Be fair, 31 at least

Home form: W L D D W D Could be worse.

Never mind.

Very stable. Didn't look shaky, was confident with the ball, and distributed it out wisely. He was unfortunate, Heskey got on top of him for his goal, I really don't think there was anything he could do about it. Certainly if he continues to be stable at the back he'll get more opportunities. Thank god Carlo didn't use him as a right back.

I hope people don't label this an Anelka thrashing session.. This is a valid point, he started the season positively scoring regularly.. Perhaps August was his final month as a Chelsea-standard performer. Since then, his pace has slowed down, his ability to take on defenders is lacking. Perhaps the biggest flaw in his game though, which was highlighted today, was his first touch. Examples include when Bruma played that brilliant long-range pass forward and Anelka touch gave it straight to Dunne. He's still a very intelligent footballer, he's aware of who's around him and he's able to find players to pass to. But he's losing his flare and quality.. He should be relegated to the bench, coming on for the sake of experience and just a holding substitute. I'd be scared though, Kalou would be the main starter instead, even though Sturridge demonstrates more quality.

From what I've seen, when he plays at Real, he plays like Kalou. Gives away possession, fails to beat defenders, and his shooting isn't that great. On top of that he's got an ego problem (which Jose has probably calmed temporarily). Even Mourinho's not impressed with him, which is why is looking for another striker in this transfer window.

He's the last person we need.

I also feel sorry for Ancelotti. He thought he'd finally got it right, finally orchestrated a win from being on the precipice. Yet one lapse in defence tore down that dream, I guess his targets will need to be re-evaluated now. Realistic goal has to be 4th place.

But that's because of our system, 2 wide, 1 in the box. Problem is, the one in the box got nothing so he decided to get out the box and get the ball himself. The problem was, he didn't find it & eventually gave up. Kalou for Ramires was an awful substitution. Ramires was very lively and was probably unlucky not to grab himself a goal. Kalou didn't know how to find a pass or shoot, but I'll give him credit, he did actually try to break into the box, with the ball, and tried to shoot. It's not his fault, he's not technically gifted I guess. We saw 10minutes of passion from Drogba, will we see it carry on to Wednesday?

I think you guys are wrong. The problem is, we keep trying to go wide for some reason.. Whenever we've got the ball we're looking to give it to Anelka/Malouda who go out wide and try to cross it in. Problem is, Anelka can't play wide & Malouda can find anyone to cross into. We got it right after the 80th minute. Play it to Drogba, and let him go through their defence, which worked! I don't understand why they didn't do it before. Kalou demonstrated, once again, why he's not suited to play for us. Doing those cheap step overs and just getting tackled, wasting possession and everything.

Dear Carlo, Please drop Anelka & Ferriera. Yours truly, TalkChelsea.

Agreed. You're very right, when it was 2-1 to them. But the way we went up and came back down, was heart breaking.

And that ladies and gentleman, really is the difference between the Title & 5th place. The fight back was tremendous from us, John Terry really showed why he's our Captain, Leader & Legend. While celebrating the premature victory we stopped playing, stopped defending, the difference between 1st and 5th. That fight back spirit is what we've lacked all season long, where was it? Where was that commitment from Drogba vs Arsenal, Sunderland, Everton & Newcastle? The most important question though, will it be there next week?

I was going to criticise Drogba but I've just realised.. He's had no actual service, we've played most the game in our own half and in the middle. The referee's been a bit inconsistent. Essien should have a booking by now personally, I think Essien needs to cool off a bit, he keeps going into some challenges and miss timing them, Like Ashley Young right before half time. Anelka's first touches are poor, if he's staying on, he really needs to fix up. I would say the usual "Sturridge for Anelka" but let's be honest.. It's not happening. Bruma's having a good one, played a delicious pass which Anelka fucked up. Ferreira looked sharp vs Abonglahor at the start but soon started wearing off a bit, he will come off soon I think, he can't last 90minutes like that. Lampard's returning to his old form.. He played that great ball, which Malouda should've really left to Ramires. But I can see why he wanted it, and though he could handle it. I really want us to play through the middle now and get Drogba involved. The wide areas are just being closed down, Ashely Cole can't go forward because of the risk of Young and Downing, it's too risky, and he's doing good defensively. Anelka's not keeping the pace, but he did deliver a good ball into the box, it still doesn't excuse his poor touches of late. Let's go through the middle, get Lampard delivering for Drogba and see the Drog do what he does..

Ever since Ashley Cole scored that goal, I've always wanted to see him do more to get goals. It was just so beautiful and classy, the lob from Terry, the touch from Cole, the Didier Drogba like side-of-the-foot finish.. The whole thing was beautiful.

I agree and don't agree to an extent. Remember, Chamberlain is a winger, we don't have any of those in our academy that look to be coming up (as far as I know). Yes, it is a gamble (if it's true), but this is the time of gambles that could be worth it. There's certainly no reason to think that this kind of signing means people like Josh and Conor miss out, because the positions don't clash. But at the same time I do understand your point, of what's the point of splashing out cash for this kind of player when our academy should produce exactly these players. The Southampton academy has produced great talent over the years, which have been poached by clubs, e.g. Bale & Walcott. So I feel sorry for them, but there's no reason why our academy can't be like that.

I've seen various media spin this in different ways.. Some say he wants a loan deal and some say he wants a £5million transfer. Hopefully it's just a rumour though..