francozola

CL - Leverkusen and Genk home games since CL games are at 4am here and I can't afford to stay up sometimes if I have work the next day League Cup - Missed all except the Liverpool one. They only show 1 League Cup game every matchday here FA Cup - Portsmouth Premiership - I think I only missed the Spurs home game

Where did you go?

The effort he showed in the Barca games was just brilliant. Never stopped running and harassing their players every time they got the ball. And this played a huge part as well, we always talk about heroes like Cole, Ramires, Cech, Cahill, Frank etc for what they did in those 2 games but Raul was right up there with them. Had a job to do and did it excellently. They got more and more frustrated when they couldn't break us down.

Thank God. I was so worried that RDM staying = Kalou given a new contract.

Lol 2 goals against Ireland doesn't mean he's proven critics wrong. Still a long way to go. He needs to show he can do it against the bigger teams. He hasn't 'changed' a big game by a goal. I guess technically there was the barca one but that doesn't really count as he was put through on goal with only the goalkeeper to beat. Anyway if he scores against a better team then I'll certainly give him the credit he deserves. He did what he was supposed to do yesterday against an awful Ireland side. He definitely needs to have a good tournament

I can't judge him at all based on last season's form. After the Napoli game we basically gave up on the league. Our performances in the Prem were hardly much better than under AVB. Take the Spurs home game for example. If we had won that, at that point in time we would have been favourites for 4th. But we didn't turn up that day despite a totally full-strength side playing. After that result it was clear what the priorities were. I'm glad he's been given a new contract and am looking forward to seeing how he handles his "own" team. Last season had too many external factors so can't really say how much was actually down to him and him completely. His man-management is good though, and he's pragmatic, not naive like AVB was. EDIT: Also, even though we did indeed have weaker players playing against Arsenal & Liverpool in the league, it's not as if we played the reserves as Spike pointed out. Those players should have been good enough to perform better. I'm not blaming this on RDM but basically it kinda shows what a weak squad we had last season and that many of those fringe players simply did not have the mentality to fight

I can't stand watching matches on Chelsea TV due to the commentary. It is really dreadful. Especially hated Tommy Langley, I'm glad he's gone tbh. Jason Cundy is annoying too though.

Not a very hefty price to pay

Well, maybe. But I really don't think Gourlay, Emenalo and co. should be focusing on how much Salomon Kalou would improve an already dreadful side. And he's on a free... so to restrict him from signing for Liverpool.... we'd have to offer him a new contract and there is no way in hell that we should even consider that (unless it's a 1 year deal which I wouldn't completely oppose as long as Malouda leaves instead but Kalou wouldn't accept a 1 year deal anyway)

Henderson isn't as bad as people say. We all like to make fun but he's is an alright player. Granted, he will never be anything better than... average but he's much better than shit like Downing and Spearing. And it doesn't take much to be better than the lot you've listed.

Honestly Cap. He's better than Downing yes, but so's my nan. The way you describe him makes him sound like Robben or Ronaldo!

Yep! And they have to chase people like Diame (not saying he's that bad but like you said, reflective of their standard now) while we go after Hulk & Hazard. So grateful to RDM, Drogba and co. Dropping out of the CL could have brought a similar fate to us 3-4 years down the road

I agree I would love to see him go there. Sorry Cap!

Happened to me a few times last year. Are you able to go back to sleep? Nice What are you studying btw?

Yeah I couldn't exactly remember when his injury occurred but I remember it was somewhere near the Spurs game. For some reason his confidence was shot after that even though it was only a small injury. I didn't really see any difference in his play if I compared the last couple of months under AVB to RDM's reign tbh Mata - you've already said it, it was to do with the tactics and it was the only way to progress in the CL. With much better players around next season we won't be playing that way so I don't see it affecting him that much.

We need more quality there imo. Lampard though great under RDM last season, as ElNinoProdz pointed out the entire squad stepped it up quite a few notches. There aren't any guarantees he (and Mikel) can continue the same form for an entire season now. And he is getting older, so whether it be this season, or next season we'll have to bring someone of real quality in. Essien is utterly past it and Meireles is an average player who will do an okay-ish job when called upon from the bench/against lesser teams. Sturridge had been poor since December. He got an injury around the Tottenham (A) game and was never the same since then even though he got a couple of goals (Spurs, Birmingham). AVB kept playing him, while RDM dropped him and used Kalou

You referring to selling him off? Well imo it's better than the laughing stock we always become when the topic of Torres comes up.

What the fuck?! :o

Like KOF said, obviously in terms of what we achieved, this season is the 'best', but the majority of football we played was utter wank. We had 7 wonderful (in terms of emotional impact/result not quality of football) games -- Valencia, Napoli, Barca X2, Bayern in the CL, Spurs & Liverpool in the FA Cup -- and maybe one or two decent Prem games (City at home) but as a whole the Premier League season was a disaster. Our journey in the CL was just magnificent though

Definitely agree with the price-tag thing, Modric is worth 25m as you said, maybe 30 since he has a long-term contract there. I'm glad the 40m deal we tried to push through on deadline day last season didn't work out. Anyway we as a club should just move on and never deal with those twats ever again.

Harsh on Sutton

We did not "manage well". We were atrocious for most of the season. Don't let 10 or so excellent games in the Champions League and FA Cup fool you. Our squad needed/needs massive rebuilding which thankfully it looks like we're finally doing. If it were up to some people (I'm not directing this at you, but generally) they'd just think "oh since Bosingwa, Kalou and co. were good enough to win the CL we should give them 5 year contracts"

Yeah. I defended him after the game too but that was kind of a reflex reaction against any criticism towards Chelsea I definitely don't agree with the way he was lambasted after the game, Spain were awful before he came on and they should look much further than Torres if they want to find someone/something to blame. But as I said I just want him to leave the club so we don't have to deal with him anymore. It's much easier that way. And lets face it. He is NEVER going to get back to his best, he might become a 15-20 goals-a-season striker but he will not reach his 08/09 season heights.

Great news if true. Where did you hear this?

The support he has received is really UNBELIEVABLE. It's good to support your own players, but like Cap said, what about the abuse Malouda, Kalou, Drogba and co. get everytime they do something wrong?!?!?! Forgot about Sturridge too. I'm really on the fence about him, but the frustration/abuse he gets is baffling if you think about the Torres love I'm not saying those players mentioned have never done anything wrong, they have. But the double standards are ridiculous.