Blue Armour

Its so odd (or maybe not) how similar AVB's first season is similar to Scolari's: 1. Starting the season by playing good, attacking football. 2. Beaten by liverpool and arsenal at home during the start of the season. 3. Barely crawled out of the group stage of the CL 4. Danger of going out to an Italian side (last time Juventus) in the champions league at the first knockout stage. 5. Drogba losing his regular starting spot, with Torres having joined in winter transfer window, just like Anelka did in 2008. 6.Talks of player unrest. 7. Manager sacked around the halfway point in the season.

Considering everyone, including his own team-mates, are constantly eying him through a magnifying glass, its no surprise.

Irrespective of what he may or may not have said, I sure hope he can up his game. He's starting to become a passenger in midfield with the sole purpose of scoring goals.What happened to his range of passing? As Giggs and Scholes got older, they turned into providers. Even Essien has started changing his game. Its definitely not beyond him to do the same.

Good choice of formation.

I don't know if your post was indirectly referring to mine.Although, I do agree he's been improving over the past few months I still stick with what I said regarding yesterdays game. Not every post is an attack on AVB's methods.

Yesterday he changed his game a bit. He took less risks and actually took the ball out of play, rather than hold onto it when under pressure.

Its unlikely that RDM is going to be in charge next season, and that's definitely not going to happen unless he achieves something really significant this season. His priority is damage limitation, and its crucial he has support from everyone at this stage. For this reason, I'm glad to see some good vibes from the bench. It might seem unethical and unfair considering the acrimonious circumstances under which AVB left, but we need to look forwards, and not at what could have been.

I can understand what you're trying to point out, but I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing

Nice to see the votes distributed amongst all the players...haven't seen that for a while....

Kalou has a better chance of scoring or grabbing an assist...but his passing was awful, and kept giving the ball away. Might be due to the lack of match practice, but I've seen this before. One word I've used to describe him for the past 3 seasons: inconsistent. My opinion remains the same.

This, I would definitely like to see.

Can you imagine what would happen to his already tattered confidence if Torres had missed?

Nice to see RDM having a lot of support. Hope it lasts till the end of the season. Interesting points: Meireles in an advanced role, playing more forward passes. Luiz taking the ball out of play instead of holding onto it under pressure. MOTM Ramires..did very well, and was involved in breaking the deadlock.

Even the penalties won by Torres can't be scored..he really is cursed.

Also saw Lamps and JT joining RDM in the celebrations? Good vibes...

Also saw Lamps and JT joining RDM in the celebrations? Good vibes...

See!!!!

Anyone notice how Meireles is NOT so useless today? Glad he doesn't have the holding role...

Anyway this looks to be a second-string line-up....assessments can wait.

Substitute Kalou (and maybe Torres) before there's more disappointment.

Mata should have passed..

The media will never give it a rest...

All-time: Zidane Now: Drogba, Henry, Iniesta Chelsea: Terry, Sturridge

Avram Grant: Chelsea job is the easiest in the world http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/4174560/Avram-Grant-Chelsea-job-is-easiest-in-world.html

What if he actually manages to do well like Hiddink (largely because there isn't much expectation)? Could be a dilemma during the summer...