EskWeston

Indeed it would, and i think the chances of everyone agreeing are very very unlikely!!! I though SWP had a great game overall, MOTM behind Ballack for me. But until the goal i though he was very poor and frustrating, lost the ball in good areas too much.

Yup something with the ear, he had to have an opperation. SWP was cack until he scored the goal i though, i have never seen a player who needs confidence more than him. We are desperately short of cover in the midfield and Sidwell really needs to pick his game up sharpish.

I don't know, maybe. Before when we have had our key players missing we tend to underperform and struggle....maybe it was because we have had to do it for a long while now and the players are used to each other but it was the best performance i have seen us play without our best players.

It was certianly a performance to be proud of, even before the sending off. Had we had Drogba, Lamps, JT and Cech in the starting line up we would have demolished that Everton team last night. With all the injuries and the ACN it may JUST stop us from being able to win the league, but when we get our players back we will be a force thats for sure.

He was immense, controlled the game for both sides, stopped them playing and got us going. The boy is special and will be World Class in a year or 2.

The money was there, i think it was a case of not wanting to be mugged on prices which is fair, but the money spent on Malouda and Belletti was money well spent, surely we could have spent a bit of money and got better players for the squad than those 3 though.

Absolutely spot on, on all points. The character of the team to come back with 10 men after dealing with the inevitable Everton pressure to press the game in the last 10 minutes and win the game is fantastic. With a full squad we would have been looking at a massive win last night.

Mikels was never a red! He went in 1 footed, not high. I think it would be physically impossible to go into a tackle like that with your studs down, you just can't do it. 2 Footed challenges i can understand the red card, but we are pushing towards a no slide tackles rule if we are punishing that with a red..... Sidwell was awful when he came on, it is so very clear that Sidwell, Pizarro and Ben Haim were just very poor signings and will never stay beyond the summer.

There are some games when you just sit there and think "Is ANYTHING goin to go right for us tonight?". Last night was one of those games without doubt. We absolutely dominated everton, completely steamrolled rolled them and playing some very good football and with a half decent striker playing last night we would have been out of sight by half time, to say Pizarro was poor would be a serious understatement, he couldn't pull off anything last night and the ball seemed to bounce off him everytime. The ref was an absolute joke, Mikels was one of the tamest all night yet he gets a straight red, absolutely shocking to say the least considering the way that the Everton players were charging around the pitch and flying into tackles, one of the worst refs i have seen in ages. Still there were plenty of positives, firstly we won, there were some cracking performances out there as well, Malouda was fantastic, SWP had a great game, Ballack was top class again and Mikel when he was on completely controlled the game. It's a shame because had we had a proper striker out or we were allowed to play with 11 men still this tie in all probability would have been done and dusted last night.....

Why wouldn't publicly showing now faith inspire him to play better? Happens all the time, sometimes a kick up the backside works a treat. Jose did it with Joe Cole plenty of times and worked. I am sure there is some sort of ranking as far as captains go, for me it would be JT, Ballack, Didier, Lamps and so on, so i see no reason to not give the armband to Drogba. Let me make myself clear, because this is turning into a "for and against Grant" debate again. I am in no way declaring my admiration for Avram Grant, nor am i trying to stick up for him - the point i am making is that this is a wanky story based on little fact or knowledge that is printed in dodgy papers to help them sell said dodgy papers and to try to destabalise Chelsea.... :thumbsup:

Cole had a pretty poor game by all accounts. Would there have been a story had it been JT comming on? Can't see what the difference is to be honest and what there is to get all hot and bothered about..... How quickly the tabloid garbage suddenly becomes fact when it suits your opinion/agenda, no wonder the press keep writing the Chelsea hatred stories.

And we know Cole is pissed off how???? THE SUN..... Those bastions of truth and honesty. Seriously this isn't worth even discussing.

Well we will soon know if this story is true, because there is no way the club will turn down that money for him especially if as we are led to believe there is a defender on his way in now too.

Am i the only one who doesn't see giving Drogba the armband a problem? Drogba IS more of a leader that A.Cole, and it would also have been a significant boost to Didier's ego as well which as we all know too well is very fragile....

I agree, overall he has had a poor season and in general has looked lazy and rubbish. But then again, Anelka is our other main target so standards are not that high.

Don't push it, just take the £8m and run bloody sharpish....

I guess it all depends if you feel the player is worth the money you are going to spend in the long run! Still not convinced Berbatov is the answer but the roumers are hotting up and it could still be a possibility.

Spuds want him for £8m apparently, i say we bite their f**king hand off before they take it back!!!!!!!!!

Papers still reporting this as a done deal last week yet still no sign of the player!!!!

This is a seriously tough game for us, we are lucky at the moment just to be able to put a team out. Hopefully we can get a few players back for this game but so far no news other than Carvalho back from suspension, but into the injury pile we can now add Drogba, Essien and Kalou who all have sodded off to the ACN for a month!! We could definately struggle in this game and our main saving grace is that we will be able to put out a very strong defence with Riccy and Alex in the centre. We need to win this home game though as it will be very tough to go there and get a good win.

I agree Franks set pieces and mainly his corners have not been to the greatest standards. Ballack has shown from a free kick out side the box that he is very leathal, and so has Sheva, Alex and Drogba so we have plenty of options in that department. Corners are the main area of concern for better delivery.

Hooray, Welcome back Drogba....... See you in a months time

Bertrand was very impressive on his previous loan and the club wanted him to make the step up and this is a good step up for him. Now he has to get himself a regular spot in their team. Bertrand is an excellant prospect thats for sure.

Blimey, i didn't know Clarke was decended from Nazi's!!!! And no, you are right, you don't mess with them.

Norwich have signed Newcastle midfielder Matthew Pattison permanently for an undisclosed fee and brought in Chelsea defender Ryan Bertrand on loan. Pattison, 21, has signed for three and a half years after a successful loan. Bertrand, 18, was recently on loan at League One Oldham and will stay with Norwich until the end of the season. Boss Glenn Roeder told his club's website: "We have been following Ryan and been very impressed. We believe he can step up to the Championship." Source: BBC