LDN Blue

Cech Ferriera - Ivanovic - Alex - Cole Ramires - Mikel - Zhirkov Kalou - Drogba - Anelka

NO!! Fiorentina's keeper Frey is out for 5months with a cruciate ligament injury. Now he joins Jovetic who's out for 6 months. Damnit!

Good to see you back Aesthetic

Free kick specialist? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-cspV7ywAs&hd=1 Say no more.

Something in the Daily Mail about us leading the chase for Kaká. Just sayin'

Something from SkySports column today..

I understand this, but I know speaking to some of my friends, who are actually quite smart that this is discouraging them. This is because they come from families with a low household income, how on earth are they supposed to cope with £9,000 university fees?

what ignorance.

:goodpost: Scolari was one of those who had the mindset "It's my way, or no way." Ancelotti & Mourinho both adapted their tactics to bring the best out of Chelsea. We all remember how Carlo tried the diamond formation & once he realised we play better in the 4-3-3 formation he was more than happy to change. He put his ego aside. Something I think Scolari couldn't and that's why those "top players" he mentioned weren't with him.

I'm in the same boat here BlueLion, I was considering History but now I'm going to have to seriously reconsider my options. This is ridiculous, a government in power that no-one voted for, is now screwing the future generation. Spending on university should be one of the main priorities. If more people are educated there'll be less crime, fact. This £9,000 fee will discourage more and more students not to go to uni. And economists wonder why the UK has one of the lowest "output per worker" ratio.. I'm fuming at the Lib Dems. This is why I knew they wouldn't make it with their promises, they're simply too weak to stand up for themselves. Nick Clegg already sold out when he sold his soul to Cameron & now he's just a puppet boy.

I sympathise with him hear. If what he's saying is true, then all credit to him because we might not have Anelka & Ashley Cole in the form they're in now.

Ah okay, because I was going to refer to the Mikel Arteta for England senario but having re-read into that.. So I guess as long as Noble has an Irish passport, he'll be alright?

Is that why things didn’t work out at Chelsea, because you weren’t given enough time? The board were worried because we hadn’t beaten any of the big teams. I can understand that but we were only two or three points off the lead. And there were all these questions about the atmosphere, because there were one or two issues with some of the top players. That’s because I took a stance that other coaches wouldn’t have taken. I didn’t have total control. There was this resistance to me, mainly because there were two or three players who tried to impose their authority in a way that wasn’t right. The only thing is that I made them an important part of my plans, and that hadn’t been the case before. I wanted them to get back to their best, not just for Chelsea but for the rest of their careers, and they couldn’t see that. They wanted to play every game and that was one of the problems I had. Whenever European clubs appoint South American coaches they always have doubts about how they work. My working methods were not the kind you’d usually associate with English football. In South America we do a lot of work on the basics. When we have a whole week of training sessions, for example, we get the first-team players and the reserves together, and that doesn’t really happen over there. That was another of the reasons why I didn’t stay. I just carried on with my job though, and I know that some of the players improved as a result. Look at [Nicolas] Anelka. He wasn’t getting a game and then all of a sudden he was Chelsea’s top scorer. Ashley Cole couldn’t use his right foot and later he even scored with it, and all [salomon] Kalou could do was run fast. He couldn’t dribble very well, so we taught him to dribble round poles. Ok, I know they were only poles in the ground but it helped him to start dribbling round opponents, which is something he does now without any problem. And then there’s [Didier] Drogba, who had a serious knee injury but is fine now thanks to the work I did, not just the club’s doctors. I refused to let him play with an injury and I had problems with him because of that. But in 20 or 30 years' time, there’ll be two or three of them who’ll still be walking absolutely fine. They’ll remember me then, for sure. I’ve never spoken about this before and I’m not bringing it up now to justify myself. I understood the reasons and I accepted them. I was sad because I was enjoying the job and I wanted to stay on. I think English football’s great, but I had to go and I did. Do you think things would have been different had it not been for the language barrier? It would have been much easier for me, because I would have used normal words as well as the others you often hear on a football pitch. They’re a bit stronger and sometimes players understand that kind of language better than if you talk to them like a friend. Yes, it would have been different. You have to think hard about which words to use and that stops your thought processes. And even then it often comes out wrong. If I’m talking in Portuguese though, I’ll say what I want to say and add a bit more if I feel like it. Then I’m done. FIFA

Really? Thierry Henry for me personally.

I really think we need an experienced midfielder.

Why is Bosingwa out again?!

I don't think that's allowed? He's represented England at u21 level so I don't think he'd qualify for Ireland?

LOL as much as we love Carlo, we know he tends to tell the media one thing & do another. I think we'll bring in 1 or 2 midfielders at least

SkySports

BlueLion said it all with his first post! Nice work Max! I'm expecting one every month now yeah?

Taking Esk's job there are you?

How odd it is that he played a whole season last year with a hernia injury and had one of the best seasons in his career. Upon fixing that he's been struggling.. Just some food for thought there

I rate Harry Redknapp highly for what he's said today..

Stupid prat.

Agreed Max, but I'm sure once the lead is established we'll see Kakuta, McEachran, PvA or Sturridge get a run out.. Giving our stars a rest for Sunday