EskWeston

The press seem to think the job is Zola's, that would make things very tough for us Chelsea fans thats for sure......

That would be a massive blow to us thats for sure, to lose Essien for that length of time would no doubt cause us serious problems. Lets just hope it isn't that long...

I would love to see us start using ex-players in our academy set-up, like a lot of other clubs do. I would have been great to have Franco guiding our youth to becomming the next stars. I wouldn't like to see him go there at all, he is far too good for them. But it will be good to see him get a bigger job on his way to being Chelsea boss one day.

The difference is with us it was the media saying we would buy this player or that. But with City, this guy is openly stating in interviews that he wants to sign these players. The Ronaldo one being the most obvious. I don't complain that they have the money at all, i think the competition at the top needs new blood. But i still want to see us stuff them, they will want to beat us a statement of intent.

Lol.. The thing i am going to find interesting is how long it will take until the press jump on City and start claiming they are bad for football. At the moment they are loving it, by saying that someone has come in who has a bigger bank balance than us. We went on a major spree to start with thats for sure, and we have slowed down the last couple of season. But these new City owners are really shooting their mouths off. They are playing their own version of fantasy football, and are going to make a bid for every top players their is and see what happens: Ronaldo Messi Van Nistelrooy Gerrard Torres Essien Will they get any of them? Who knows, Robinho went (which was different circumstances) Man you already saying they would have to consider £130m for Ronaldo, would Ronaldo go for the massive wages? he might just do you know..... As far as this game is concerned, they didn't improve drastically this summer, SWP and Robinho will feel they have points to prove.

It would be nice to put one over them and stick a few past them, bring them right back down to earth where they belong. Such big talking from them at the moment and the only improvement they have made is Robinho, which for them is amazing but one man can't have THAT much impact on a team, they are still the same side that struggled to get through their UEFA cup match....

Our lack of numbers in the squad may prove difficult for us this season. We are going to need some younger players to step up this season, and we need Scolari to put some faith into them. We can't be playing people out of position all the time. Hopefully Mikel will be back for City otherwise we only have Lampard and Deco for midfield, Joe could drop in there but i think it would mean either Belletti taking up the holding role again or playing 4-4-2

For me Mikel is an outstanding player. For his age he is at an incredible level. And considering how his career has been extremely stop-start for one reason or another it even more of an achievment. Mikel was class against Portsmouth and we have missed him for the last 2 games. Scolari seemingly doesn't want to play Essien in the holding role, which is good because it is not his main ability. When Mikle is fit, he will play if you ask me which will be great for him. I think we will see him come on even more this season and become an integral part of our team. The holding role isn't Mikel's natural game, not at all, but he seems to have embraced it and will now take it on as his persoanl role.

Joe had a good season last year. A bit up and down with the consistancy but overall i think he had a pretty good season. Faded a bit towards the end though, which may be understandable considering he played more games than anyone else. He has had a poor start to this season though (other than in an England shirt) but this could be because he is the sort of player who builds gradually into a season. He is still a fantastic player but i think he needs to pick it up a little this season. Saying all that he is still the best winger we have!

Not to mention Barton getting 6 games for kicking the s**t out of someone....

It is 12 games ban with 6 of those game suspended, which means that if he commits another offence he does the other 6 games too, if he is a good boy he will only miss 6 games.

6 game ban. Considering one of young players on loan got 12 months ban for spitting at a ref that is ridiculously lenient

Blimey, expensive watches, Money, phones and Cars!! Not the sort of thing i remember getting on my 18th!! - actually couldn't even tell you what i did get other than pissed!!!

Hardly terrible, we had more than enough chances to win that game confortably, just one of those games. Was frustrating but we played good enough to win that game. Spurs defended well to fair to them but we still could have burried them had we taken the excellant chances we had. When you look at our squad at the moment we have some excellant players in all positions, who will come in when called upon and do a great job. Injuries may be a concern for us this season should we suffer from many of them again. Di Santo and Kalou can play excellantly as centre forward should Scolari continue to want to play the 4 central midfielders.

Anelka can play effectively on his own, but with him it is all about the service, he likes to be running onto balls. Would be very interesting to see Didier and Anelka together. But i agree we are light upfront.

Would just be typical for one of SWP or Robinho to put one past us! I am sure Ashley Cole will be able to cope with SWP, just give him a bit of space and wait for him to run into him City's team isn't that strong still, and with Robinho in the team are not that much of a different prospect. We will have a MUCH stronger midfield than them and we should be able to keep their defence nice and busy to make sure Robinho doesn't see much of the ball.

Keegan would be a hero up there even if he got them relegated! He hasn't done anything great with them, lost more games than won! Can't help but keep laughing at the fan on SSN having a pop at Mike Ashley because he drinks non alcoholic lagar at the Emirates!!!

Really? I am glad to get SWP out of our squad. The time was right, he has had long enough and enough chances to prove he an cut it as the top level. It would have been perfect to get Robinho but now we havn't i am glad it will give hopefully Sinclair a chance to get more games.

I do like how Scolari deals with the media and how he comments on the sticky stories: 'I have a press office at Chelsea and I hold a press conference every week. I do interviews for Chelsea TV and say things for the Chelsea website and my own website. If it does not come from one of these places, it will not be true, and will not be what I think.' Can't make it much clearer than that. I am sure he is happy with is squad, it is an incredible squad. I just hope he can use the smaller squad to give particulary Sinclair and Di Santo chances to play first team football. But i feel come January he may want to add a player or 2 still.

Felipe Scolari has spoken publicly for the first time since the closing of the transfer window at midnight on Monday. The Chelsea manager is spending part of the international break at Uefa headquarters in Switzerland, attending the annual Elite Club Coaches Forum, and it was from there he reacted to the absence of new signings during the past week and media stories that followed. 'This is not a problem for me,' Scolari said on the subject of continuing forward with the squad that began the domestic season. 'I have many great players and I am very happy with my team. I am receiving new players from injuries as Drogba will be back soon. Mikel recovers well. Ballack and Essien played with injuries but both are getting better. 'They are an example of the fantastic characters I have in my squad.' Concentrating his thoughts on one-time transfer target Robinho, Scolari said: 'I don't think the people around Robinho were serious about him coming to Chelsea. 'They were more interested in the best business deal. But what I've said before about Robinho I say again now. He's a very good player. I only wish him the best. 'I have seen the newspapers and that they say I am unhappy or angry with the club. These statements are not true at all,' he declared. 'I have not said this and I do not think this. I am very happy with this situation. 'I talk to only a few people about my team, all inside the club. Other people have been quoted in newspapers saying they know what I think or feel, but they do not know. Only my close team knows. Scolari dismissed the idea of 'sources' able to reveal his thoughts. 'I have a press office at Chelsea and I hold a press conference every week. I do interviews for Chelsea TV and say things for the Chelsea website and my own website. If it does not come from one of these places, it will not be true, and will not be what I think.' The Elite Club Coaches Forum is in its 10th year and has a history of Chelsea attendance. Chaired by Uefa technical director Andy Roxburgh, the coaches are given the opportunity to air views on current trends and issues affecting the highest echelons of European club football. The aim is to stimulate thought on the development of the game, away from the pressure of competition. In past years the meetings have produced various recommendations which Uefa has taken on board. Joining Scolari in Nyon this year are two former Chelsea managers, José Mourinho and Claudio Ranieri, plus further Barclays Premier League representation in Alex Ferguson and Arsène Wenger. Laurent Blanc of Bordeaux and Luciano Spalletti from Roma, soon to pit their wits against Scolari in the Champions League, are also on the guest list, as are Mirko Slomka and Thomas Schaaf, the managers of Schalke and Werder Bremen respectively when we played the German clubs recently. Gérard Houllier, Gordan Strachan, Dick Advocaat (Zenit St. Petersburg), Manuel Pelligrini (Villarreal), Jesualdo Ferreira (Porto), Manolo Jiménez (Sevilla) and Eric Gerets (Marseille) are also in a 23-man party. The summit ends tomorrow (Friday). Source: Chelsea FC

Well Man City thought he was worth the Extra €3m. We was willing to pay £30m but not £32.5..... if that is honestly the case then we have been a bit silly if you ask me. But is it true? Would we have got him if we had only increased our bid by €3m - i doubt we will know for sure. No-one from the club is going to talk about this in the press

Thats a good point actually. Do FIFA have any say on Olympics teams? Are they not getting involved with the whole Great Britain team thing? They must have some input.... If this ban is upheld then it will seriously halt the lads development, which will be a big shame for him and for us.

Blimey! Is it a complete ban from football or just from International football? That is quite a severe punishment....

So this report is saying that we offered €37m, which was turned down. Madrid would let him go for €40m, but we wouldn't pay that because we didn't feel he is worth that! Now i find that very hard to believe. Whilst i can understand if there was a huge different in valuation between us and Madrid - say €10m. But to not add €3m euros to the price and miss out on the player semms a bit silly.

This game has taken a whole new dimention on board now, not just because of City's money but because of the Robinho deal. City will want to prove how big they are now and beat us and we will want to show Robinho what he is missing. A good thumping would be absolutely marvelous.