LDN Blue

Time for Turnbull to prove he's not what we think he is (..shite). He won't have many saves to make though, we should be able to defend Zilina well.

Wondering how the club will handle Terry's situation. Will they give a late fitness test prior to kick off or what?

Also this statement I don't believe is frustration from Carlo, but perhaps an acceptance of the hierarchy. If he wasn't happy with this setup he would've stepped down long before, because this certainly would not be a new system within the club.

I think it's hard for us to comment on what's really going on behind closed doors. If what the papers are saying are true, which given their reputation it's probably not, then Roman is really getting close to the line where the owner starts becoming a problem. Fair enough he'd like to maintain some control over the club, after all he has invested a hell of a lot into this club, but he must realise that once you start messing with the actual team, problems will arise. I think Carlo could save the likes of Wilkins and Ballack if he wanted, but he probably saw Roman's point of view or something. If Roman over steps this proverbial line, then perhaps Carlo will start to say "No" to Abramovich. For all we know, Carlo could've saved many more jobs that would've gone otherwise. Maybe the contract discussions with Kakuta now are a result of Carlo pressuring the board into doing so. All we can go on right now, is media speculation, hardly a reliable source I think.

That's how you know he believes in the cause. He's not just putting on a show for the cameras.

It's saying "don't take the piss out of me". He felt that the armband being passed around so easily like that was an insult and a mockery towards him.

You know, it's not all about having big strong powerful players. While they do have their attributes, having a whole team of giants would be pretty slow. If we take Ashley Cole for example, he's not the tallest or biggest of the lot but he's super quick and that's what the smaller guys have. Ramires looks small and skinny but he knows how to put in a crunch tackle, and his stamina to last 90minutes is next to none.

Also, read this..

Don't forget, Ben Foster was on form. Also, I made the point before, it makes sense now why Drogba used to take corners and free kicks. He actually puts a lot of pace on the ball, so any little touch would send the ball in the back of the net.

- Carlo

Me too LOL But you never know. Carlo may give us a nice surprise!

No-one said starting (except for Josh). He said they'd be involved. Whether that's from the 0minute or 45th or even 80th is anyone's guess xD

Oops. LOL

I don't think he'll be given the holding role. Carlo said he'll include Bruma, Van Aanholt & Kakuta too, so I can see.. Cech Bosingwa - Ivanovic - Bruma - Van Aanholt Mikel McEachran - Essien Kakuta - Drogba - Kalou

FINALLY!

There a SkySports feature on Roman's "interference" in the club. It's a bit of an interesting article, written by Paul Smith I think. You can find it here.

Definitely. Glad to see him living up to his potential, he can be world class when he really performs. Rumours are Balotelli will join him in the summer. Could be interesting.. Ronaldinho - Balotelli - Ibrahimovic - Pato

Daily Mail says this is the end of Carlo's reign. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1331639/Is-end-Carlo-Ancelotti.html

A stupid Sky News article (yes Sky News, not even SkySPORTS News) making a comparison between Rafa Benitez & Carlo Ancelotti. I'm sorry, but when's the last time Rafa won the double? http://blogs.news.sky.com/sportslines/Post:e229803b-c859-43bd-8330-606d2d53b407

Nice goal from Ibra today. Shame it was against Fiorentina though. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hLEwAKszdo

So was £20million for Yuri Zhirkov. Quality as he is, £20million was ridiculous for a player, we didn't really need. I think he was dubbed Hiddink's departing gift, not really a gift if you have to pay £20million is it? But the point is, I'm sure Abramovich will not fork out €30million for Schweinsteiger.

What do you mean?

In a weird sense. That would be the perfect time to play ManUtd. Hopefully by 12th December (Tottenham at home), we'll have Lampard, Essien, Terry (who may turn into a bit of a Ledley King with his injury) & Alex. Then we should see the kind of football we've seen at the "honeymoon stage" of winning the Premier League.

You're probably right you know. Especially about the Champions League. Looking at the Manchester United squad, since the days of Best, they've always had someone to take over the "superstar" role once the other left. You had Best > Cantona > Beckham > Ronaldo > Owen. Okay I know Owen's not their superstar but the point is they've failed to replace him and as a result they're just not that good. Even if Roo's on form. In regards to Arsenal. Ever since Henry left they've struggled. They have no big forward like they used to have.. Wright > Henry > Van Persie. But Van Persie (who imo is truely world class) in injury prone. Their squad is quite weak, even if Fabregas is on form. Since the days of the invincibles of Viera, Henry, Campbell, Ljunberg & Pires. They've had the odd few starring talents; Hleb, Flamini ect, but they were all sold. Then we come to Liverpool. I used to actually like them as a club (prior to '05 I think). They had a nice team, Hyypia, Owen, Heskey, Baros, Alonso ect. But looking at them today, they're not THAT good. A common trend here is failing to replace the stars these teams once had. Chelsea is now following suit. We've always had a great midfield, to name a few players: Duff, Makelele, Robben, Joe Cole, Thiago, Ballack, Belletti. Looking at today's midfield though: Lampard, Benayoun, Essien, Mikel, Ramires. (Zhirkov is a winger, uncounted.). A failure to replace he likes of Ballack for example. The root of this problem lies in the developmental stage, the academy. Only a few examples of academy produced talent exist today: Bale, Milner, Barry, A. Johnson. I know I'm using English examples here but we used to have: Owen, Beckham, Gerrard, Lampard, Scholes, Giggs. World class players in their time. But can we say contemporary talent (bar Bale) is world class? No.