Tomo

Very true although i still refuse to believe that Wilkins departure alone caused the slump (dunno if im alone here) but in all honesty that Sunderland thrashing had been coming for weeks and on another day Wolves could have given us it aswell at our ground and if it werent for Cech most probably would have.I think we just hit a extremely freak run of form and if we had luck on our side in that winless run we could have got a fair few points. Sunderland (H) no complaints, out played out classed. Birmingham (A) We were good, the Foster show kept us out, on another day we would have out 5 past them, 3 points lost. Newcastle (A) Kalou scores open goal, 3 points thanks very much, 2 points lost. Everton (H) we stopped either Baines running at our side or Beckford getting a free header we would have won, 2 points lost by criminally bad defending. Tottenham (A) Drogba scores the penalty 3 points, 2 points dropped. Arsenal (A) Dont get me wrong Arsenal deserved the win (kills me to say that) but you have to wonder if they would have had so much space for the goals had Mikel not got crippled and forced off. Easy to say now but with more luck/better defending/ better finishing another time we could have got 9 extra points in that run. IMO it was just a freak set of results no more no less.

Could'nt see the full match so cant make judgement, for those who did how do you rate the players. Good win neverless and now we can look to Birmingham (which ill be going to) KTBFFH

Take it with a pinch of salt, apparently he preffered Liverpool to us and will be back at Chelsea one day, we will see.

Nor can we guarentee we will do as bad or worse or rule the world if Jose or Guus return.

If i could i would have given this article unlimited rep. What id find interesting is if the unthinkable happens and Carlo is sacked/leaves and one of Jose or Guus comes back and it doesn't have the desired effect, what then?

Sometimes brave decisions come off sometimes they dont, IE Carlo leaving Drogba out in the title deciding game last season at OT, it payed off but no doubt if we lost he would have got pages and pages of abuse. Our away record in the CL under Jose left a lot to be desired (P16 W5 D4 L7) yet any bad record Carlo seems to have gets highlighted in big fluffy lights.

A lad i know and have played against a few times (Jed Harper Penman) has just broke into the Plymouth side at the age of 17. I could never get near him he constantly tore me to pieces when i faced him, it kind off feels weird that a lad i use to play wembley with at a park little less than 2/3 years ago is now playing professionally in the football league, we weren't really best mates but he worked hard and does deserve it (although if he ever plays Chelsea and scores the winner i think ill kill myself lol). He must have met Clifford at some point aswell Do you know any pros playing in the football league or prem personally?

Great man, great player, inspiration for any-one.

This is just starting to get on my tits. We are having a bad season big poo, its annoys me even more when people act like we would be invincible if Jose or Hiddink came back. Yes the Hiddink months were successful but remember it was only 4 months, its the equivalent of a rich vein of form and even under Hiddink we still had flaws, if it weren't for a Deco goal-line clearance we would have blown a 4 GOAL LEAD AT HOME TO BOLTON, we also came frighteningly close to blowing one of the healthiest 1st leg's lead in champions league history, why we went gunhoe during the 2nd leg is anyone's guess we should have just sat back defended the 3-1 instead we went gun hoe to extend it and put the tie to bed and we end up 2-0 down at half time and only leading on away goals, if we blew that game Guus would have had a lot to answer for. His spell was mighty good but we werent invincible and he is hardly cutting up treas for Turkey is he? any-one who thinks Hiddink would have made that big a difference this season needs their head testing. Could you imagine if Roman sacked Jose's assistant behind his back? Jose would have walked out instantly and left us lumbered with Emanalo. Ill always love Jose for his work at the club and the back to back title winnings were fantastic but he made a few tactical errors aswell, both Liverpool games in the CL and in 06/07 Man U were crumbling in April we could have pounced and took the lead but end up lamely drawing to Newcastle and Bolton. I think the problem is that Jose's back to back titles have highered expectations to the max, he comes in wins back to back titles with ease and people expect every manager to come in and do the same and sorry but it aint going to happen, if Jose comes back and dont do it what then? Guus and Jose back? no thank you, ive got fond memories of the both and i dont want a potential failed return to tarnish that im more than happy with Carlo thanks.

Mancini has spent LOTS more at City than Carlo at Chelsea but still finds himself below. They were 5th when he took over and they finished 5th that season.

I think it just goes to show how good Barca are that Jose is struggling to top them. Barca has 1 misrable year IMO they did well in 06/07 and would have won the league again if it was english rules but Guardiola still did well, although it will be intresting to see how he will do when that team starts ageing and he has to create his own team, thats where Wenger started to fail. Could not disagree more about Jose yes he had money to spend but he still had to topple a Arsenal side that have just gone unbeaten, full of confidence and at the peak of their powers. If you ever want proof Jose aint over-rated take a quick look at Inters games against Chelsea and Barcelona last season then have a quick look at the same team a year on against Schalke.

this one's on gigi

Cant knock Ferreira's cameo but when your 2-1 down with 10 minutes left why the fuck did we bring him on? fair play Alex maybe not have lasted 90 but the solution is simple, Alex off Benayoun on, Ivan CB Essien RB Benayoun CM, sorted then we could have a real go. We need Carlo to start taking proper risk's in matches.

Greatest player to never play in the Champions League/European Cup? Osgood

Alessandro Nesta is apparently wanted by Arsenal and Spurs in the summer, but could it be worth a punt for us on a short term deal? It is clear Bruma is no-where near ready yet and with his likely departure or loan out (hopefully the later) with Ivanovic's likely and hopeful move to RB permantely there will be room for another centre half we can do a lot worse. With experience shafted for youth last summer and more of the same likely this time round he will offer us valuable experience for the young guys and with 3 other CB's there wont be a need to play him every game and if he does struggle we wont really lose out much because he was free. He still has a good couple of years left, 1 year deal with option of a further year, why not?

You only have to look on my profile to see what i think of this. He delivered the double in his 1st season, i think the easier to beat myth is more to do with Makelele not being around any more more than it is to do with Carlo, we lost a fair few games in 08/09 aswell. The general rule with managers is you need your 1st season to access the situation (which he did winning a double in the process) a 2nd to make changes and a 3rd to stamp your authority. Why does this seem to come up on its head when we lose games? i didn't see this article pop up much on the index page when we were winning games in March Whatever way you put it he delivered the DOUBLE during his 1st season, breaking scoring records in the process aswell as winning 6/6 against the big four without conceding a legitimate goal. Yes he got outfought by Jose but be realistic he aint the 1st top manager to fall short in that regard and he weren't the last either. Instead of looking at the manager, maybe you should look at the well fed international superstars.

As i said earlier i aint really supporting any-one but it would be nice if Raul can inspire a victory for football in this semi final.

for £5m? yes please

none of them have no intrest in the Champions League now.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/13043195.stm not ashamed to say i was on the brink of tears watching that.

Cant directly replace expierence with youngsters mate, look at how well that expierement went this time round.

Think your being well to harsh on Hilario, there has been a lot of bandwagon jumping since the City game last year. Yes he had a poor game then but has came in big games before for us and done remarkable well (Barca and Liverpool main examples). I agree that he should be sold in the summer, but not for the reason you put.

He wont start until we can mathematically only finish in 1 position i think sadly.

Im very disappointed that we lost tonight but as madmax said to me on facebook one day WE WILL get revenge for all this and we will be looking back at these heartbreak's laughing, infact i think its easier to stomach just getting beat by a team that was better than you over the 2 legs. But at the end of the day we baring a disaster will have another crack next time which looked like it would not have be the case this time 2 months ago, we have had a bad season big shit all the great teams have one. Bayern 06/07, Arsenal 05/06, Man.Utd 01/02, Barca 07/08, Madrid 05/06 and we can add Chelsea 10/11 to that list. Next time we will come back much stronger, Torres will be much better i dont care what any one says, Ramires and Luiz will be more settled, Danny and Kakuta will come back to us a year more experienced and all this without mentioning a single possible signing. This season has been tough in every way possible and we are still standing this will only make us stronger, despite all the difficulties we still look comfortably in the CL places (something i would have bite your arm off for 2 months ago) with the 4th and 5th team placed teams to play each other and we still have a shot at 2nd. We have a owner that cares deeply about the club, we have a fantastic youth system that is getting better and more consistent every season, weve still got fantastic players they dont just go bad overnight, a manager that i am STILL fully behind and best of all we have fantastic fans. KTBFFH

Sorry to upset Bosingwa lovers but thank fuck Alex is in.