LDN Blue

Probably why the rumours of him wanting a Liverpool move are true..

Agreed about the atmosphere. I just hate how highly priced the Premier League games are.. £50 per ticket. It's awful, if I was there today I would've sang all 90minutes.. I've done it before and I'd do it again. I'm never quiet when I go, I'm always coming home out of breath. You just don't hear that lately :\ Yeah I know what you mean. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying Carlo's off the hook, my reservations still remain. However the reason for us conceding so late was the players switching off. There was no reason why they could not see it out at 3-2, all they had to do was watch the Villa players and keep possession in their half. You're completely right about your points though, especially the 4th one, which really annoyed me. I just did not understand why Ferreira was on the team sheet today. Bosingwa is our best right back at the club, so against a dangerous team like Aston Villa why on earth did he select Ferreira?!

For once, I'm glad

Exactly, that's why it's so embarrassing of them.. Would've been a huge day for the fans and the club if we'd seen it out..

Well at least with the FA Cup we're guaranteed a Europa League place, which in turn would lead to a Champions League place if won LOL

Surely we can't put the finger at Wilkin's departure as the sole reason for this pathetic form still can we? It's been 10 games since he was sacked, since then our form has been... P10 W2 D4 L3. Wilkins was not the manager, his effect in the squad was not so huge that the players have stopped giving it their all and become almost tactically inept. You could say maybe the immediate effect was down to it (the 3-0 loss to Sunderland).. But from then on it's just the players not producing.

I noticed it too. Carlo doesn't even talk to him, Paul Celement is more used. Carlo will use the excuse that Elemano hasn't got his coaching badges yet, and that's why.. But it's rubbish, you can just tell Carlo has no interest in talking to him. Let him try and bring in Maldini as an assistant if he wants, at least he'll contribute something bloody useful

Oh I see. Well in that respect, I still believe you are wrong. We don't have a strong squad, our bench is weak, and our players need competition. Successful teams, have big numbers, full of players who are brilliant and young but also have experience. There is no doubt we need a central defender and a right back. Ivanovic doesn't like playing right-back so we should listen to that view. We've been linked with Srna at right-back, if he's good and cheap, let's invest. At centre back we've been linked with Gary Cahill & David Luiz, both young and great, let's get one of them.. Alex could be out longer than January and Bruma is only used when absolutely necessary, if John Terry is not playing the partnership of Bruma-Ivanovic would not work (see Sunderland defeat). Kalou is a hopeless case. He's been here 6-seasons and has hardly improved. His time in a Chelsea shirt should've been over this summer, but I'm not going to go on about this because I'm tired of trying to explain this point. A goal keeper must be found to be a 2nd choice keeper. Cech has a potential 12 more years left in him, but we still need a Cudicini-type keeper to occupy the bench if Cech gets injured (which he's likely to in the next 12 years). Hopefully not sooner rather than later.

He is, but he's not finished imo. He's still a goal threat for the opposition, he just needs to free himself from some psychological shackles he's placed on himself.

You're contradicting yourself now. You're saying that Drobga, Anelka, Lampard and Ferriera will be finished by summer but you still say we don't need players? Kalou will make no difference being pushed up next to Drogba, because Kalou is not a good footballer, he's got some pace but defenders find him easy to play because one-on-one he's rubbish, he's a bit like Joe Cole was, a few neat tricks but no end product. The main point is. We have no players to cover when the likes of Lampard, Terry, Drogba and Malouda get injured. This old fable about using the likes of Josh McEachran, Daniel Sturridge and even Patrick Van Aanholt was a nice fantasy when we believed, but we see now they're only really brought in, in dead-rubber games or when players get injured. The confidence in these players are next-to-none. I actually feel sorry for them.. Sturridge is now 21, we're turning him into a Carlton Cole, a player who's 28 and only just managed to score more than 1 goal in a game last week. The Chelsea way, in the early Abramovich years was simple. If players aren't good enough, we'll buy some more, and when those guys aren't good, we'll buy more again. This policy was good for the short term and now we realise it's rubbish in the long term. For us pure fans, we long to see academy talent come through and our views were recognised this season, or so we thought. You can't just throw a 17 year old on the pitch and expect he'll save the match, it's simply too much to ask from a boy. The transition should come from guidance through the elder players. For me, Benayoun was a good signing. If he was fit he'd be a stepping stone for players like Kakuta to come on. As his appearances would go down, Kakuta's (or someone like his) would go up. That should be how youth is integrated in the squad, not all at once, like we have this season.

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.