EskWeston

It was a shame, but the fact he made the room to shoot shows enough of his ability to know he will be a threat in any game he plays in. He will score goals if given the oppertunity, and set up plenty for others too.

Never understood people leaving early. It's not as if it takes forever to get on the train anyway!

Both Alex and Ivanovic being talked about moves away from Chelsea. It is possible one of them could leave considering the cover that we have in the Centre Back position.

To be honest i wouldn't be bothered at all if Malouda left. But considering we have lost Joe to injury, Kalou our only other winger then there is no way that Malouda will leave this January.

Absolutely, nothing wrong with having a young player as your 3rd choice keeper. I believe Nic Heimann has been training with the first team as well recently.

Not that suprising to see him move on, it is now or never for him. But why Spurs??? So Hilario will be number 2 and Rhys Taylor will get bumped up to the first team squad.

Thats one of Stoch's great strengths is that he can put an excellant ball into the box. It will be good to see him given more chances now, but at the same time it would be silly to build expectations of him up too high because people will be too quick to knock him down if he has an off game.

I would take him! Would be a good addition to the squad as we build for the future.

£15m for Alex with Mancienne right there to come in and take his place? I would be extremely tempted to take it! The money would be very useful and go towards a new forward which we need, and considering we have his replacement right in our squad then it could well be worth taking it.

very unlucky to not be winning. We need to keep the preesure up and the goal will come. Maybe try something a bit new player wise second half

'I have Malouda for tomorrow and I don't know how long he will play, 45, 60, because he starts again. I have Kalou and young players, and this is the time I put young players in the squad, Miroslav Stoch and [Gael] Kakuta. 'If I have the opportunity to put them on the pitch I will. This is one thing the people don't see until now, I put many Academy players in the group - it is a time for the young players to show me they need more opportunities.' Good to see Kakuta brought into the squad. And hopefully Scolari will come good on this promise, because Di Santo for one has shown that he needs more oppertunities.

Luiz Felipe Scolari has Florent Malouda available to face Stoke on Saturday, with Didier Drogba and Ricardo Carvalho available for selection. Deco misses out. The Portuguese playmaker has a problem in his calf which forced him to sit out the midweek win at Southend, but Carvalho, who was suffering a similar problem, should be fit to play. Despite Joe Cole's knee injury, Scolari can welcome back French winger Malouda into the setup. He could be joined by some youthful faces. 'Carvalho is in good condition today, and Didier is an option for me and trained today. Deco is out for tomorrow for fitness. My choice is this or that tomorrow but only Deco misses the game. The other two are ready, Carvalho and Didier,' he began. 'I have Malouda for tomorrow and I don't know how long he will play, 45, 60, because he starts again. I have Kalou and young players, and this is the time I put young players in the squad, Miroslav Stoch and [Gael] Kakuta. 'If I have the opportunity to put them on the pitch I will. This is one thing the people don't see until now, I put many Academy players in the group - it is a time for the young players to show me they need more opportunities.' The injury to Cole is yet to receive a final diagnosis, and Scolari hopes to have more information tomorrow. 'It's impossible for me to explain what has happened. The doctors after five o'clock today have something more to say to me about his injury. Maybe tomorrow we have some more things about his situation,' he said. The Brazilian has overseen a happier training ground in the past couple of days since visiting Roots Hall, and insists there is no problem with his Ivorian striker, who was left out in favour of Nicolas Anelka on Wednesday. 'It is difficult for me because they are both very good players but one player is better than the other in circumstances and I put in the player I think is better for Chelsea,' he reasoned. '[Didier is] training very well. I am happy with my players, all of my players, not only one or two. The reason is options. I pick this or that player. His reaction was normal as a player. My job is to choose 11 players. 'It is better because we won and it's easier to work but sometimes when you win one game we need to look at the game, what happened, what we did well and after this maybe the work is more hard. 'I like the spirit for our team, when we conceded one goal we tried to win all the time and didn't give permission for Southend to think they are better than us, and this is what we want in our team.' The next challenge is Tony Pulis's battling side, renowned for their potency at set pieces, an area where we have hit the headlines for our recent vulnerability. The manager is intending to utilise a combination of zonal and man to man marking against the Potters. Considering Stoke's threat, Scolari said: 'This team is more dangerous than all the teams in England, I think the world. If you look at the statistics until December, they scored 17 goals, and 11 by corners, free-kicks or throw-ins. 'Tomorrow is a very good test for us, change or still mistakes. We trained yesterday and today, thinking about our problems. We have some solutions we tried and are training better than the game against Southend, sure, but we need to look tomorrow.' Away from Cobham and Stamford Bridge, Manchester City's pursuit of AC Milan's Kaka continues to dominate the sports news. Scolari is more familiar than most with his countryman, and believes any possible move would not be borne out of money on the player's part. 'Kaka is one of the best in the world, inside and outside the pitch. He is a very good man and a fantastic player. If they have money to spend okay, I like because I am a professional in football. 'I only say that if they have money to spend he is a very good player. How much is normal to pay? I don't know.' Source: Chelsea FC There will be a minute's silence before Saturday's game as a mark of respect for former Chelsea goalkeeper Chic Thomson, who passed away earlier this month.

Could see it happening if we are willing to stump up the cash. He certainly doesn't look like he will stay at Man you anymore... but there will be a lot of the big clubs looking at him, Madrid, Barcelona, probably the Milan clubs, not to mention City more than likely. Wanted him here before he went to the Spammers and Manure, would still be happy to see him here.

No-one in their right mind is going to turn down £500,000 per week! A football player can only play for so many years, and if you are offered that much money you are going to take it, no doubt about it.

We have seen to a lesser extent that this policy will not work for them. £30m+ for Robinho, £100m for Kaka!! Plus the wages will end up screwing Man City because even with the ammount of money their owners have it just isn't sustainable! If Man City DO sign Kaka they will still have a shocking defence which sees them it the bottom half of the table. I can see this actually happening, Kaka says he will go if Milan decide to sell him! Well AC Milan would have to be mental to not SERIOUSLY consider £100m for one of their players! that would rebuild they ageing squad and then some!!!!!

I agree they were better. But we have got to start putting men on the posts when defending corners, it is beyond a joke! A defender on the line clears that goal easily. Zonal marking is not the way to go, and i find it hard to believe that we was man-marking against Man you.

This game by no means in the bag. Attitude is much better though in this game. We need to get Kalou on the ball who looks a threat when able to run at the defenders. Still no men on the bloody posts though, can't believe it is still going on, a man on the backpost easily clears their goal off the line!!!! If Southend are going to still sit so deep and make it hard for us we need Di Santo on the pitch to win some knockdowns because Anelka is not the man for that, play them both up top and give southend something to worry about.

What we really need is some width. Would be good to see Drogba and Anelka play together from the start but again we are missing the width. ITV commentary is truly awful! But needs must when you want to watch CFC...

Part of the problem is that Scolari dropped the premier leagues top scorer who was in form to accomodate Drogba. Yes Drogba got shit service on Sunday but everyone could see that his attitude was not right on the day either. He isn't the only one either. Ballack, Deco, Malouda to name a few more.

Lol Depends what you mean by strong though. What on paper looks like a strong team has been as weak as wet bog roll of late!! We know Scolari isn't going to take any chances, what we need to hope for is that between him and the players they can get themselves motivated enough to put in some decent performances and get some confidence back into the team. IF we do somehow lose tonight, the pressure on Scolari is going to be massive.... and he might not survive it.

Well if it did happen i think i would pass out with shock and miss the whole game!!! Team will be: Cech Bosingwa-Terry-Carvalho-A.Cole Mikel-Lampard-Ballack/Deco J.Cole-Anelka-Kalou Can't see it being too different from that to be honest.

For me i don't see the risk. Southend are league 1. Mancienne has excelled at Championship level, Saywer was a star player at Southend himself, Di Santo can mix it with the best and Stoch is full of speed and skill. Our first team players need to know that they can't just walk into the starting 11 because of who they are, they need to understand that unless they are giving 100% their positions are under threat.

A weak side in the original tie? Cudicini Ferreira-Ivanovic-Carvalho-A.Cole Mikel-Lampard-Belletti J.Cole-Drogba-Kalou That side is bucketloads more than capable of blowing Southend away. For me there is zero risk in playing at least Mancienne and Di Santo from the start, both have played plenty against opposition much better than Southend. And could Miroslav Stoch do any worse on the wings that Malouda or Kalou at the moment? Would for example Lee Sawyer who has been a start at Southend recently be out of his depth? Rather than continuity we need passion and a real will to win and prove something. If it was me i would take a leaf out of Wenger's book and give some young players a run out from the start: Cech Ivanovic-Mancienne-Terry-A.Cole Mikel-Lampard-Sawyer J.Cole-Di Santo-Stoch Enough of a mix of experienced players to make this tie perfectly winnable and enough hunger in there to make sure the effort goes in.

I think you could be right, but something will need to spark that. And for me that has to be dropping under performing players.

Well it does seem like we have hit a wall. I think things will start to turn around. First thing we need to see is scolari being strong enough to drop the players who are not performing and give other players a chance to impress. For me as a starting point i would not play Ballack, Deco or Drogba in the southend game.