EskWeston

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.

I don't think many people would be too sad to see him go. For me he should stick to what he is good at. Building the business links ect.. and stay away from the transfers, we have seen him screw up too many now with the Robinho one the lates balls up! I would just like to see us get someone decent in to do signings and contract negotiations and leave Kenyon to do what he is actually good at.

For me if Drogba doesn't want to stay then he should go NOW because a disintersted Drogba is a waste of time for Chelsea football club. Everybody would like to see more from Drogba. A lot of people get frustrated with him because he had that one season where he was unplayable and we have not seen him get even close to that form since, and all we have heard since is that he wants to go ect.... His body language and attitude on Sunday has certainly not helped matters.

Bit of confusion over what he is changing to. We clearly over the period of conceeding silly goals have been using the Zonal marking system, and it has failed big time. Now i hope we will be going back to what the players are used to and has worked so well over the years and that is Man Marking. We have seen other teams suffer from the Zonal marking system and personally i just don't see any advantage in using it.

Sacking Scolari would be the wrong option. Howerver what we need as fans is to know what direction the club is going in. Will be sorting our squad out soon, which is clearly including a lot of older players who are not hitting the right level anymore? Will we be buying or using our youngsters? Us fans are just guessing. Scolari has said today that he changed the set up for set pieces, that much we knew. The question is why has it taken him so long to see that, the old saying of "if it ain't broke don't fix it" springs to mind.

I agree with that, it was stupid to lose Jose. But he has gone. And Jose isn't the only person who can win trophys with Chelsea! The only question we should be asking is "Is Scolari the man who can win things for us?" I would give him till the end of the season as a minimum. It would also be good to - as fans - have a clear understanding of the direction the club is going in! Scolari has said that if the players are not up to the fight, then he will try new players. Lets see if he is true to his word, because we have players who would fight for a place in the team who are not getting a look in. This game against United brought to a head everything that has happend over the last dozen or so games. We are slipping big time, and we need to turn it around. Considering the goals we have conceeded step 1 would be men on the posts, it is so obvious it isn't funny. The ammount of clearances off the line Ash has done over the seasons just highlights the point.

Phew, all our problems are over!!!

Thats why is said "and bring in some new fresh faces" Well if i had to choose between belletti or a young player 19 - 21 wo is hungry and willing to wait for his chance then i would rather have the younger player! Belletti is too "safe" to have much of an impact, we need players who can come on and "do something".

LOL, so we go from not spending a penny to spending £45m on one player! Wingers are a bigger priority as far as first team starters go. Because even if we let Ballack and Deco go we have a starting midfield of Mikel, Essien and Lampard. Any CM's brought in should be younger, around Mikel's age.

Scolari should be using this game to try something new, new players or formation or whatever. If he is going to play Drogba or Anelka then play both of them. Di Santo should be are cert to start to see what he can do in 90 mins, but it won't happen. The players need to get some fire up their bums and start playing with determination and a bit of fight.

Lol, completely agree. Although i find it very difficult to side with the fat spanish waiter!!!!

Yeah fergie does like to have a nibble at the refs for sure. But the bloody Scousers get plenty of preferential treatment from the refs as well.

Looking forward to this game, shame i couldn't go as it is only up the road from me! Once again there is no chance of him giving chances to someone else to show what they can do. Will probably be the same line up as yesterday and we will probably again struggle to create any good chances. We need to really thump Southend to bring any sort of confidence back into the team.

Lol, Rafa has lost the plot. It is so bloody cringeworthy hearing him rant on, he doesn't do it too well. Couldn't believe what Rooney got away with, but it happens all of the time with him.

Absolutely,Sinclair or Stoch. But Scolari hasn't given them more than 10 minutes. How can he know they won't do better than what we have without even trying? But i think we also have too many players on cruise control. We should never have dropped the leagues top scorer to accomodate Drogba. By the summer i would clear out a lot of players, Ballack, Deco, Malouda, Drogba, Belletti, Ferreira..... include Mancienne, Bertrand, Sinclair and Stoch and bring in a few new fresh faces.

Without a doubt that Robinho deal has cost us bigtime, not only did we miss out on a BIG player who could have made a difference, after missing out we had no backup target so we have been left very light.

The cut backs started a long time ago for it to be the credit crunch! I think to a certain extent the club at the higher levels want the club to start using the Academy that they have spent a fortune on rather than dipping into the transfer market! The problem being that our squad is in quite a state, BUT Scolari should be using our youngsters more especially as so many players are underperforming. The club from top to bottom really needs to have a good hard look at itself and have a good sort out!