EskWeston

Etihad is already a sponsor.... Is the Samsung deal already comming to an end? Wasn't very long was it?

Well if thats the rule then it should be enforced, but it is a bit silly, arms go all over the pace, but and elbow swing should be a straight red.I have lost count of the ammount of times now we have been done for something when the same or similar happens in other games without punishment.

I would love to stuff the cockney f**kers and i hope we do, they are pretty vulnerable and we need to keep the pressure on them to stop them breaking on us. The games against them are usually either excellant value (i.e we stuff them) or they are cagey affairs...

There has been a lot of talk about our defense being shakey all season, i agree it doesn't exactly look rock solid but the clean sheets speak for themselves and we wasn't REALLY troubled that much......It is going to take time to get the football more slick, but we have had some cracking games now and it can only get better.

I dunno about a red, there is a huge difference between swinging an elbow and a hand in the face. They are clamping down to heavily on the silly things and letting things like kung fu kicks go.

He was fantastic last night, but it was one of those night for him right from the start, he should have just given up shooting

Absolutely, and as far as we are concerned it is pointless. But from there perspective it is a big deal, not bothered by it, and if through this we manage to snap up a star out of nowhere then it will be good too.

Yup, bit of a shame as he is the only decent English candidate. But the FA won't touch him with a barge pole now....

Now that was a quality performance, good to see us again taking it to a team. Pisses me off though the way that everyone says that Rosenborg were poor, yes they were but by the very definition of a 4 - 0 loss they were bound to be poor, when Arsenal, Man you or Liverpoo thump teams there is no talk about the opposition being poor. We played excellant.Lamps, Drogba and Joe Cole ran the show last night, all 3 of them were right on top of their game and it's a shame Frank didn't get a goal he deserved. It was great to see us keeping the pressure on from minute 1 to minute 90 and it could have EASILY been a hell of a lot more, and should have been with the chances we created.Now we have qualification secured and we can breathe a bit easier.

And also shooting them everywhere, his shooting boots were definately left at Cobham for this game

The papers this morning reporting it that there is a view to a move for him. Which is rubbish unless he seriously impresses, which i doubt he would impress enough for our squad.

It certainly was fantastic, Robben and Duff were electric. Hopefully we can back to near that, but we need to change some of our playing staff first

But you compare Jose's first season to last season and the beginning of this season. We had players like Robben, Duff, Gudjohnsen, Tiago... who were not only skillful but creative and imaginative which alongside the grafters like Lampard, Maka, Terry, Gallas ect.. created the perfect blend.Fast forward a couple of years and all that creativity has gone for various reasons and replaced by great players but more grafters and we left unbalanced, our football the first 2 seasons and the first particulary under Jose was fantastic.....And with Joe, yes Jose took the selfish show pony streak out of him but he was still dazzling us with his skill, Jose didn't take it aways from him. He has lost an edge since his serious injury but he is getting it back slowly...

Lol It could be possible, although i am sure we are looking at Alves again too..

Always good to hear of commitment from the players, especially ones as important to us as Essien is. Lets hope we do keep him here for a very long time as he is still fairly young..

Chelsea outcast Paulo Ferreira is at the centre of a £10million swap deal with Valencia defender Miguel.Portuguese international Ferreira, 27, who joined Chelsea for £13.2m, lost his place last season and is still a bit-part player under Avram Grant.Grant is considering a swap deal to boost his central defence by offering right-back Ferreira in a straight swap for Valencia's £10m-rated Port uguese centre-half Miguel.Agent Paulo Barbosa has flown to Valencia to negotiate with the club's sporting director Miguel Angel Ruiz.Source: The Mirror

MICHAEL ESSIEN wants to end his career at Chelsea. The Ghana international recently signed a new four-year contract but is ready to pledge his future to the Blues way beyond that. He revealed: “With football being what it is, you can never be certain what will happen in the years ahead. “But I’d be very happy if I could play for Chelsea until I stop. It is a great club and I’ve really settled here. “It was always a dream of mine since I was a young boy to play in England. “Chelsea have helped me with that dream and I am glad that I can give something back to the club. It would be good to stay a long time.” Essien, 24, has stayed in close contact with former boss Jose Mourinho but is adamant everyone is pulling in the same direction under Avram Grant. He said: “At Chelsea, we’re all professional and want to do our best for the club and of course the fans. “There is a job for us all to do at Chelsea, we are going well in the league and there is a big game in the Champions League against Rosenborg.” The Blues top Group B despite only drawing 1-1 at Stamford Bridge with the Norwegians back in September. But a win at the Lerkendal Stadium tonight guarantees their passage into to the next stage and Essien reckons it is unthinkable to even contemplate going out. He said: “It would be strange for Chelsea to go out at this group stage.” Essien was revealing his thoughts when he pitched up at NikeTown in London to look at the boot colours designed for him by school children. Just moments before he walked in, actor Dustin Hoffman was walking out after he too put finishing touches to his own signature trainers. Essien said: “It’s fantastic for the kids because I will actually be wearing the boots they have designed in some upcoming games.” Arsenal are top of the Premier League but Essien reckons Chelsea are capable of reeling them in. The midfielder, who yesterday lost his appeal against a red card at Derby, said: “It was a slow start to the season but now we’re in the title race it is so far so good. “I think it will be among the usual four for the title, Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool. “But Manchester City could make a breakthrough as they are going well now under Sven Goran Eriksson.”Source: The Sun

Would only be good news if he was to take the England managers job, there is no-one better and the fact that he is available makes it that little bit more likely. After his comments though i am still not convinced he would take the job..

Well that certainly is the impression you get of him, lets hope he can get himself sorted and start producing for us..

Other than a few games here and there the football so far hasn't been all that different. The same problem is there that was there under Jose and that is we are lacking creative players.As far as discipline goes, basically there is no problem there other than the fact that we are being targeted. Far worse goes on in every other game but we are the ones who get punished for it.We should be able to sweep Rosenborg aside tonight even with our missing players and even though they are playing very well at the moment. It should be an interesting game though...

Really?? Thats excellant...

First 2 seasons under Roman were fine, it wasn't until we won the league that we started getting f**ked over...I am sure someone at the club has some sort of stats about it, but it won't make any difference. The press don't help either - vermin...

There has always been problems with French players or French based players gobbing off, there have been several comments from Malouda already on various things where he probably shouldn't be discussing it. I hope this isn't true because it is incredibly petty if it is. He is paid enough to organise his own travel arrangements from international duty.

The worst thing is that there is nothing we can do to stop it, even if we had people recording every game and putting together evidence of similar things by other teams that go unpunished it wouldn't make a blind bit of difference, simply because they just don't like us....