BlueLion.

Due to being busy I'm not doing a match report for any of the games until Arsenal away, so you'll have to make do with the shit from the official site. Plus my blood is boiling so I'm not in any fit state to write.

Yeah, thanks for rescuing us a point. Behave.

That feels worse than losing.

Kalou's had a good game if you ask me, his work rate is excellent. Anelka is driving me mad, he's supposed to be playing as a central forward ffs. Not happy with Cech's positioning for the goal, but that should have been inconsequential. When you're down on your luck, you get shit decisions like that. It was offside by at least half a yard, it was clearer than I first thought.

I was taking the piss mate... although I do genuinely think there's no point rushing him into a high-intensity London derby straight away! I hope you're right. There's still a lot of faith left in me, I'm just more worried about playing Spurs than any other team tbh.

Yup, absolutely spot on. Its not the fact we're not buying anyone that annoys me the most - its the problems caused by selling players BEFORE having a replacement in place.

How to fix the situation? Win one game, and the results will follow. We saw this last season. In November/December we won one game in seven matches - but then we beat Fulham 2-1 and subsequently went unbeaten for 11 matches.

A draw would be a point better than last season too. In all fairness, if we can get five points from these next three games - 1 win, 2 draws - would you take it, considering recent form? I'd bite your fucking arm off...

We'll lose at Spurs with or without him, so there's no point potentially making it worse for Lampard.

One win will give us the confidence to go on and get three or four in a row. Believe me, we've seen this before.

I'm willing to put a fiver on the Toon going down (and good riddance to their arrogant fans, they'd think they were Manchester United, not Newcastle United).

Kalou did nothing wrong for me, easily our best player after McEachran and Ivanovic. Kept trying throughout, you simply cannot fault the man's effort and commitment (take note, Didier). Okay he missed a couple of chances but he should have won us a penalty and at least he resembled something close to a player with attacking intent!

It isn't a case of Ancelotti's fans, or Lampard's fans, or Kalou's fans. It is a case of Chelsea fans, and we should be standing behind our manager, our manager who led us to the fucking DOUBLE (and the Community Shield, I might add) last season, scoring 142 goals in the process. A manager who, until this time last month, was sitting pretty at the top of the league by five points. We can regain those point as quickly as we lost them due to the competitive nature of this season's Premier League, and I firmly believe that once we have one win under our belt, God help the next dozen teams we play because we will be back to our best, and then the doubters will be quiet again. I absolutely agree. Drogba may have the ability to do something with an instant burst of quality, but that is no excuse for the shite he is displaying on the pitch. If he is struggling with the effects of malaria still, why the fuck play him?!

No-one said Liverpool would win the European Cup at 3-0 down at half-time. Anything is possible.

I'm getting fed up of the Ramires slagging. Furthermore, it annoys me that the people who haven't learned from Drogba and Malouda's mediocre-at-best first seasons continue to slag off players from other leagues. Patience is a virtue.

Thanks for reading guys.

Agreed LDN, that's the thing I like about Kalou - he never gives up and puts in a bigger shift than any one else out there.

As shit as we are, we'll still dick Arsenal. :cfc:

Dear Roman, Please can we have Ray back? Kind regards, Alex Hinsley. PS. stop fucking around with our club.

Brano did nothing wrong, neither did Cech or McEachran. Went for Ivan based solely on that excellent block he made...

Olympique de Marseille 1-0 Chelsea Wednesday 8 December 2010, the UEFA Champions League, Stade Velodrome Didier Drogba's return to Marseille will leave bittersweet memories in the Ivorian's mind Chelsea's recent struggles took another turn for the worse after Brandão's late winner condemned them to another defeat as Marseille triumphed at the Stade Velodrome. With European progress already secured thanks to a run of five straight victories in the Champions League, Carlo Ancelotti's side were looking to become the first British team to achieve a perfect group stage record, but any minuscule hopes of such an accomplishment were snuffed out with the Brazilian's 80th-minute winner as the Blues' recent woes continue. Chelsea are now without a win in three matches in all competitions, whilst a solitary win in six has seen them surrender a four point-lead in the Premier League - whilst the defeat in southern France has condemned the Blues to their first defeat in European competition since March, despite Ancelotti fielding a near-full-strength starting eleven. A further blow came with the loss of José Bosingwa to an apparent hamstring injury midway through the second half, and to add insult to injury, the Blues were also turned down two stonewall penalties as Didier Drogba endured a disappointing return to his old stomping ground after his magnificent twelve-month spell with the reigning French champions during the 2003-04 campaign. Whilst the result is not a direct blow to Chelsea's European hopes this campaign thanks to previously-imperious form in this competition, it will be a major concern to Ancelotti that his stand-out player was 17 year-old Josh McEachran on a night where, once again, the Blues were let down by their star players. Drogba may have been in the mood to reminisce about his love affair with the French club, but the Ivorian talisman should be quick to remember who pays his wages following another below-par showing. It was not just Chelsea's number 11 who will be disappointed with another lackadaisical performance - even the usually faultless John Terry was below his usual standards with only Petr Cech, McEachran and Branislav Ivanovic who can be anything close to pleased with their individual displays. And with the Premier League's four in-form outfits next on the agenda for the Blues - including a weekend trip to White Hart Lane to face Tottenham, followed by games with Manchester United, Arsenal and Bolton - it looks as if Chelsea's woes are set to continue with a lack of confidence betraying their current predicament. A massive concern to Chelsea supporters will come from their problems defensively - seen as the Premier League's best backline and typically dealing in a currency of shut-outs, the Blues have kept a single clean sheet in their last ten matches, whilst up front a meagre five goals have been scored in the last seven outings to boot. It seems there is no end of problems for Ancelotti, who now must navigate a tricky Christmas period without his first-choice right-back in Bosingwa, as well as defensive stalwart Alex who will not return until February at the earliest. The problem for Chelsea in Marseille stemmed largely from a poor performance from Russian referee Vladislav Bezborodov, who was clearly still feeling the side-effects of celebrating his nation's World Cup bid success. Bezborodov, who incidentally was making his debut as a Champions League official, set the tone early on when he awarded a Chelsea penalty for a blatant hack on Malouda inside the box by Souleymane Diawara, only to instead award a corner after a conversation with the linesman. Such a decision would not have been so controversial had the Russian official not been certain about awarding the spot kick in the first place, having instantly blown his whistle. Feeling hard done by, Kalou was next to feel the extent of the referee's obvious inability to officiate as another penalty decision went against the Blues, much to Ancelotti's bemusement. In all fairness, Marseille can feel themselves a touch unfortunate to have seen a narrow offside decision go against them after Benoit Cheyrou's freekick was glanced home by the marginally-offside Gabriel Heinze, but that offered Chelsea only a mild reprieve considering Lady Luck seemingly deserting them. A more-positive result would have been a welcome boost to Ancelotti's struggling side, but with a squad bereft of twenty-goal Frank Lampard, the injured Ashley Cole, Nicolas Anelka and Alex, a lack of invention and defensive solidarity was to be expected against a side who maintain a formidable home record. However, for all the inadequacies of the referee who certainly endured a torrid evening, Chelsea's 90 minutes was hardly anything better, and Ancelotti will be disappointed after Monday's crisis meeting to address the various problems with his injury-hit squad. The match was thoroughly entertaining and at times end-to-end with Chelsea looking to hit the hosts on the counter-attack. After Mathieu Valbuena and Cheyrou had seen early effort fly just wide of Petr Cech's goal, the former left the orange-clad goalkeeper grasping at thin air as his raking effort left the crossbar trembling as the hosts pushed for an early goal. In return, Drogba and Kalou had a couple of half-chances, but a lack of clear-cut opportunities was leaving most Chelsea forays forward fruitless and lacking invention. The monotonous play in midfield - that seemingly involved playing your team-mates into trouble before lashing long-balls forward for the effervescent duo of Malouda and Drogba to chase - was clearly angering the Blues' Italian coach as hopes of a sixth straight European success seemed suddenly muted. The fact two decent penalty claims either side of half time did little to sate Ancelotti's desire for an improvement going forward, and after Kalou had wasted two decent shooting opportunities after brilliant build-up play, the Chelsea coached deemed enough to be enough and hauled off Drogba who predictably received a standing ovation from all four sides of the ground. The arrival of Daniel Sturridge threatened to spark some sort of a Chelsea revival but after seeing an attempted chip held easily by the imperious Mandanda and a tame shot blocked by Diawara, the injection of excitement seemed only momentary. That was all Chelsea had to show for a shocking second half bar a under-hit Malouda effort that was straight at the goalkeeper. It would seem shooting practice is on the training ground to-do list. After earlier seeing Branislav Ivanovic bravely block Valbuena's close-range effort with a stunning piece of defending, John Terry then managed to inadvertently get the ball away from the danger zone when the inside of his thigh stopped another effort from range from troubling Cech, and the Chelsea goalkeeper had to be on his toes to stop Marseille form fashioning a lead when he saved with his feet moments later. But with Bosingwa limping off and Terry soon leaving the pitch early as Jeffrey Bruma and Patrick van Aanholt entered the fray, Chelsea's makeshift defence soon gave in to sustained Marseille pressure - but it was through sheer bad luck that they conceded. Taye Taiwo's deflected shot fell to the path of Brandão who could not miss from six yards, and duly tucked the ball into the corner to leave Chelsea demoralised. A confidence-inducing clean sheet might have offered some sort of platform for morale following a flurry of goals conceded in recent weeks, but instead a night that was supposed to offer some answers will only pose more questions for Ancelotti and his staff as Chelsea's wobble continues. ___________________________________________________________________ Marseille (4-1-4-1): Mandanda; Kabore, Diawara, Heinze, Taiwo; N'Diaye (J. Ayew 85); Remy, Cheyrou, Abriel (A. Ayew 62), Valbuena (Gonzalez 62); Brandão Chelsea (4-3-3): Cech; Bosingwa (Van Aanholt 78), Ivanovic, Terry © (Bruma 71), Cole; Essien, McEachran, Ramires; Kalou, Drogba (Sturridge 61), Malouda The TalkChelsea.net Man of the Match was Marseille's number 3, Taye Taiwo

That's all very well, but even blue-tinted spectacles fail to filter out the shit performances we're seeing right now.

I can see this game either being a crushing defeat or the most scruffy and ball-aching but vital win of 2010 for this club. To me, it looks as if there are two likely outcomes to the match (I appreciate there are many possible scenarios). It is the game we need, and is a game we will win. It won't be pretty, but it will be three points and the biggest possible confidence boost you could achieve. Form goes out of the window in derby matches and regardless of Spurs' recent form, there will be something close to a level playing field. Spurs generally do poorly after a midweek Champions League match, so some solace can be found there. Or, in more likely fashion, we take a pounding and risk falling out of the top four. Fuck. I'd be very happy with a draw to be honest.

Nothing to play for but pride, but in the end we ended up with a dose of further embarrassment. Not at the result - OM are a brilliant team and will win Ligue Un again this season. However, seeing another under-performing starting eleven is again a major disappointment. I'd have rather we'd have lost 3-0 playing eleven kids, at least they would be able to use it as an 'experience' of sorts. There's nothing but disappointment and another blow to the collective pride of the football club that we can take from this. Oh, and another injury. Happy days!

I'd just someone who actually tries on the pitch. The amount of half-hearted performances - actually, scratch that - pathetic performances frankly makes me embarrassed to call myself a Chelsea fan. I have and will always support this team through the thick and thin, but it is very hard to have even a semblance of confidence or belief when I am repeatedly seeing at least half a dozen under-performing, over-paid arseholes on the pitch who, to a man, are letting the supporters down.