Styles

I really doubt this is true. I hope it's not anyway. I'd be suprised if Ivanovic and his agent agree to that offer. There are many clubs in Europe that would be willing to pay Ivanovic a lot more than that. All it takes is for his agent to state Chelsea offer to various clubs and there would be numerous offers. The Kakuta offer is simply insane. That is too much for a young player that isn't useful now and probably won't be for a long, long time.

From all accounts Borini is a good little player and goalpoacher with killer instincts. These are qualities that are very interesting because you don't usually find those traits in young players. Admittedly I don't watch much of the reserves but I read reports every now and again and his name is almost always on the score-sheet. I'm aware he scored five goals in a single game (!) against an experienced reserve team before his injury. I hope we can keep him but the reports don't look good. Apparently they weren't letting him train with the first team because of his refusal to sign a new deal.

If the story is true then hopefully the club have given him a wage he deserves and not a wonderkid package. Will be interesting to see if he gets more games as a reuslt of this.

http://www.talksport...gn-new-contract

I was optimistic about our chances of a win tomorrow and was looking forward to the game but this isn't such a bad thing. Some of our players were running on empty and desperately needed a rest.

Not at all. We played at about 50% capacity and Utd had decided to take that game extremely serious and were fired up. Our midfield didn't even bother to close him down which is why he had a good game. In a serious match his old age and lack of running ability would have been great for us. He would have been reduced to making nasty tackles out of frustration like he has been so many times against us. He should have been sent off at Old Trafford last season after committing plenty of fouls but somehow he only escaped with a yellow.

Fantastic draw. We are the better team and should win this. And we get to see Gronks again! The longer we avoid the top teams the better. With injuries, form etc everything changes around March/April so once we're in the last 8 we will have just as good a chance as anyone. If we win the Champions League at Wembley that would be the best thing ever. :cfc:

Agree! As long as we avoid the two Milan teams then I would be pretty pelased. And who knows we might spend a little in January which could change things.

http://www.chelseafc.com/page/LatestNews/0,,10268~2245985,00.html So Daniel does pretty well in training. Great to see Lampard back in action.

Neither do I unfortunately. But maybe we don't need to go for our summer targets in January? Our problem right now is more about numbers and not so much quality. We need more options so just adding 2-3 players decent players and not World beaters is a better bet for January. Pienaar for example would cost next to nothing in January and is a proven Premier League quality player that can play in midfield and attack. He is ideal for us; proven, good age, last few months of contract and probably wouldn't demand a huge wage. The club needs to do some serious planning in the next few weeks and try to take advantage of the January transfer window.

Man Utd in the big games are extremely negative. They pack the midfield and rely solely on counter-attacks with 2-3 players (Rooney, Nani and Park). Valencia was effectively man-marking Ashley Cole at Stamford Bridge last year. Fletcher is allowed to commit millions of fouls before he is booked. Their tactics for these games are to frustrate and counter. It would be great if we can score an early goal and force them to come out. We have to be extremely cautious and not allow them any opportunities to break. We need big games from our attackers to contrbute at both ends of the pitch. This is not a game where they can just walk around when we don't have the ball. They need to press and force Utd to concede possession.

He is right. The club basically committed suicide by going into the new season with the smallest squad in the league. Fine cost-cutting is admirable and I look forward to the club becoming self-sufficient. But we could have been smart and picked up decent players (not World beaters) at a low cost in the summer to add to the squad. Utd don't have the best players in the World but they have enough to allow for rotation in case injuries or loss of form happen to their better players.

Good thread! I'm not sure shackling Essien to just a purely defensive role is good for him or the team. He is a box to box midfielder of the highest calibre and should be free to go forward if there is the opportunity. I don't think he is as good as Mikel in playing the DM role mainly because Mikel is a better distributor of the ball. Our best midfield is Mikel, Essien and Lampard. That midfield has everything you want. It is the best midfield in the league by some distance but sadly we haven't seen a lot of it this season. Ramires is beginning to come good. He had a very positive performance against Tottenham but he really needs to sharpen up his control and passing. He has incredible speed that perhaps isn't being utilized properly in the defensive role that he plays. He is one of the few players in our team that can run with the ball taking out opponents and he hasn't done enough of it.

Agreed. We need a striker but we also desperately need an attacking right sided winger/forward. We play a 4-3-3 with Anelka and Kalou who aren't doing anything positive on the right hand side. We basically have no threat from an entire part of the field unless Bosingwa is playing. We rely too much on Ashley, Lampard and Malouda to produce the goods from the left hand side.

Tevez is a scumbag. He is one of the very few players I actually dislike a great deal. A vile c*nt who is showing his true colours.

True. I really do like Carroll though. He is a real talent and will only get better. I was aware we inquired about him in the summer so at least he is on our radar.

Why not both? Carroll and Aguero would be a big man-small man partnership of epic proportions!

Pretty confident about this game. No midweek game so we have time to prepare. Lampard can get some fitness training during the week. We're at home and Utd shouldn't scare us because they aren't in any great form themselves.

What was the original title? Yeah he's really out of form and needs dropping.

You should agree with me more often. I'm always right.

Behave. He didn't do anything like that. Beat him once or twice but was very well marshalled by Ferreira and whoever was helping cover for most of the game.

My problem with Kalou is every move breaks down with him. Due to him being either too slow, too weak or just having a very bad first touch. Early in the first half Anelka slid him into the box but he completely missed the ball. That is criminal at this level and he should have controlled it and got a shot off. Ekotto probably had the easiest game of his season. Just like Baines did the previous weekend. Kalou is a non-entity in open play, it's almost as if we're playing with 10 men. Anelka's form has been very worrying for a while now. I also thought Ramires looked threatening when he was in the right wing area. A few good crosses.

And for those blaming Drogba you should be ashamed of yourselves. He has spoiled you with his ability for the last few years, cut the man some slack ffs.

I think we dominated for much of the game and should have won all three points. Of the three players I was worried about Ramires and Ferreria played well however Kalou was, as always, shocking. Anelka probably had the worst game of his career. We need a right winger desperately. Even a player as limited as Lennon would improve our team a great deal just with his speed and directness.