Blue Armour

Listen I'm also a Didier fan, but you have to ask yourself how much more would you expect from a striker whose team was falling apart from him. He hardly put a foot wrong and the only mistakes he made were from a couple of opportunities he made himself. Besides, who else do you want as CF? Sturridge? Not ready..Anelka? Not for a full match anyway.. The only other candidate is Drogba, but its still yet to be seen if he can get to top goalscoring form rather than just sit inside our team formation.

Bottom line: He said the game scoreline could have gone either way, but it would've better if we had more luck. Happy with perfomance..Didn't talk much about Torres (or any other player in particular as usual), also preferred not to talk about the offside goals... From what I saw, it was clear he didn't enjoy this result at all.

Yeah, I was thinking the same as well. The kid has still a lot to learn, if he wants to become anything like Drogba. Anyways looking forward to a REACTION in the Carling cup. Hopefully it will be an opportunity for AVB to try out Bertrand and McEachran. Plus Fernando's found his feet at last, even Graeme Souness and Gary Neville admitted to that. Also Didier's coming back to fitness so its far from doom and gloom!

Precisely. There still a home leg that awaits. Anyways, AVB has given a good account of himself with that brand of attacking football. BUT, like some of the pundits said, he should approach a slightly more cautious approach when visiting stadiums like Eastland, Trafford, Anfield etc.., if he wants to leave with a result. Otherwise we'll transform merely into another Arsene Wenger side. And considering what happened to Big Phil, I think AVB should be a little careful as well.

That was definitely one of the most painful games (along with Ray Wilkins commentary) to watch. When you look at the amount of chances created both sides could have taken the league, although perhaps the balance was upset with their 1st and 2nd goals. Martin Tyler may well be right. We are a side in transition and their might be some pain before success is achieved. But on the bright side: We still fought back We are still third, and only 3 away from second This was their home ground, and we could have left with far worse results at this stage of the season. It has certainly been an eye-opener but I don't think it has dismantled our campaign entirely

Yes, but I think anyone can realise we deserve at least one goal. I don't take care if this game is lost. Put up a fight, remove some gloss from their scoreline and fight another day.

Key would also be getting in Rooney's face, which makes the holding role important. Do you think Meireles will be able to cope better than Mikel?

Ah, but what about few of our players ON the pitch? They know one or two things as well...

That's just silly...thinking Malouda can control the club and AVB through the club's media outlet... I think they always use Malouda and Drogba as they're few of the well known foreign players that can actually speak in English. Also, Chelsea TV probably think they're good entertainment value as they can be like jokers in front the camera...

Its what I was also thinking. Coupled with a 4-5-1 formation it might be our best chance of getting a result ...but I don't think too fans would like it, and I doubt AVB would go for that kind of tactic.

Well let's look on the bright side...the probability that he will score in his next game is going up day by day

Yeah...you would think the Chelsea boss was managing a bunch of dinosaurs....

I liked Dimond's articles as well. After the loss to Inter two years ago, he was one of the few people in the media who believed that the Chelsea team wasn't as old and washed up like everyone else claimed, and that it could still challenge for the domestic honors, which it did eventually

Like I said, if the coach gives him specific instructions he should do it. He did fine against Messi (with help from the CB's of course) at the Nuo camp. I'll say it again, if one of their wingers is in a good nick, they could skin Bane with their pace. Yes Bosingwa, suffered from lapses of concentration last season, but he seems to have improved again this season. And I honestly feel he's better at dealing with fast players than Brana. His only problem is that he bombs forward whenever possible. He will definitely have to restrict himself more for this match

But who would we play instead Alex, Luiz? The fitness and sharpness of the former is in doubt(he would have been a sure starter otherwise), and well Luiz...I dunno..it might irritate the Mancs,.However his enthusiasm to step in and make a tackle could result in a foul...The thing is, its that kind of enthusiasm which also makes him drive forward to become a goal threat... In Luiz's case a lot depends on Mikel as well. If Mikel can cover for him to the best of his abilities, it should be fine to deploy Luiz as CB.

A lot of people want Bane as RB. While he's solid he doesn't really have it all his way against fast pacy wingers and of course Rooney who moves from side to side. Remember the Community Shield clash two years ago, when Nani cut in and scored the opening goal? Plus Bane has been in CB this whole time. Now's not a good time to change I think if Bosingwa can keep up this good form, he should be the one there. As long as he keeps his concentration and doesn't bomb forward too much he should do a decent job

Shame...after the last league match against Wigan, I thought he might just be getting back to his best. And then a few weeks later...gone. To be fair, he did mention Chelsea in that interview, when he was talking about initiation songs... Maybe he didn't ask about the club because of his tiff with the administration. I have no sympathy because he left on his own terms, but didn't he claim that he left because of the politics or something? He said he would reveal more info later. It may have been just for getting more wages on his contract but was that all? Anyways, Joe Cole's in the past...hopefully he can secure a regular starting role without breaking down any time soon.

Story of their 09-10 season really, but I'm afraid that's all in the past....right now it must be an all out orgy...

Let's not fly off the handle here. Is it ok to have faith in him, especially after his latest performance. But it's unfair to shower excess praise just because he's Fernando Torres, No.9 for Chelsea/Spain etc...He's trying, just as others (Lampard, Malouda, Anelka, etc) to get back into his groove, but don't point the spotlight on him yet. Right now, the only the signings who deserve such adulation are Mata and Meireles who have actually reinvigorated the team,

Its nothing new...scoring from all over the pitch and all that? What's worrying is that our forwards don't have the majority of those goals...but then again there's been a lot of rotation up front so...

Good to see there's a nice distribution among the votes for the players for the past 2 matches...definitely a good indication... Players who stood out for me: Mata, Torres, Sturridge, Luiz and Cech(solid, but made some important saves to prevent them from taking the lead while it was 0-0) Also special mention to Cech's opposite number; thwarted us on a number of occasions

Either you haven't understood what I meant, or you just don't know what you're talking about

Guys, guys don't worry about the media and their cynicism... You know what match is coming up this weekend...., they don't want to dampen the mood right?

Yep along with Lukaku

I thought he already was, and his crosses are actually decent although he should refrain from crossing at every opportunity Agree on the mistakes, but Raul and Mata were obviously a bit tired coming in... Favourites from this match: Petr Cech saving from Michael Ballack (at least his return to the bridge has something for everyone to talk about) Luiz back in business Two-assist Torres, who I'm sure has two words to give to the haters in the media.