carefreeluke

Agreed, Ballack was one of are best players last year and i remember a stat saying without Ballacks goals we would have finished 13 points behind Man United or something like that.... And on John Terry's red card in todays game it was a certain red card i don't think we can argue unfortunately... My personal best starting 11 would be..... Cech Bosingwa Riccy Terry A.Cole Mikel J.Cole Lampard Essien Ballack Drogba Anelka has to be dropped despite recent form...and this is if everyone is fit, and that Scolari likes to have the 5 in midfield.

Theres only one man that can save us now.....DIDIER DROGBA....

Testimonial as well in a few years....didn't know about that.....

So glad to see Inter Milan get Man United! Real Madrid will be a tough draw for Liverpool too. Real Madrid have time to improve and Ramos is good in cup competitions as shown at Sevilla and Tottenham. As for Chelsea this could also be a tough tie. Hopefully we will sort out our home form and find a plan B before this game. If not we might struggle Ranieri will want to prove a point, and Juve will be set out right tactically to stop us playing. Del Piero is the only real threat and JT and hopefully Carvallho will be back for that game so we should be alrite. Juve have a experienced squad but definitely there is more strength and quality in at least 8 other teams in the champions league. So im predicting we will see off Juventus. Anyways it will be good to see Ranieri back at the Bridge.

All laughable? :thumbsdown: With the money we have this January any of these will be good buys. We do not need a striker thats going to get 20 goals a season at the moment. Anelka is the league's top scorer...and Drogba is just coming back. For me these 3 strikers are 3 of the most underated players in the Premier league. A strikers job is not only to score goals. All 3 of these strikers have great physical presence and are very difficult for defenders to handle. And they would be great as back up for Drogba. With the amount of injuries Drogba has picked up in recent seasons isn't that what we need? Personally for me Scolari should partner both Anelka and Drogba at front. Heskey is now an England regular who forms great partnerships with other strikers. Just look at Tony Cotees and Owens goal scoring records when they played with Heskey. John Terry said Heskey is the hardest striker hes came up agaisnt. All of three of these strikers could offer us something different. Which we have been crying out for and they would give us back up for Drogba until the summer. With the money Scolari has to spend any three of these would be a good buy i can't beleive no one else can see that.

We might as well play away every week. West Ham played well didn't really expect it from them. Anelka up front on his own is not working its fine away when we get more space and can hit teams on the break. Drogba and Anelka needed to start up front together Lucas Neil and Upson had it too easy first half. Until Scolari works out that formation of 4-5-1 at home is not working we are going to come nowhere near winning the title this year. I hope he realises the something else Drogba gives us. Its good to have Drogba back and i think we need a back up for Drogba. Zaki and Heskey have been linked and one of them will be a good buy as they are very similar players to Drogba. Looking at the positives Mikel was quality today i thought, as he is every week. Definetely up for Chelsea player of the year at the moment.

Alex could probaly walk into most teams, would be a good buy for Arsenal if Wenger wanted to pay for him. He's a beast of a defender and i really like him it would be sad for him to go. Id rather sell Ivanovic to be honest.

Next Sunday the legendary and probably Chelsea’s best player of all time will return to the Bridge. As well as welcoming Zola back to Stamford Bridge I will also welcome the return of Didier Drogba back from his three match ban. Anelka is in the form of his life and is very much top of the race for the golden boot with 13 goals, with second place being Robinho 5 goals behind. However you could argue the majority of Anelka’s goals seem to come away from home where we get more space and can hit teams on the break. While at home and in the big games Anelka goes missing for me especially when teams come to defend or get their tactics spot on. We often run out of ideas and end up kicking the ball long. Now with Anelka at front this is not going to work. Anelka’s best attribute is not his physical presence it’s staying on the last man using his pace to get in behind. As many of you would probably agree we need a plan B. Drogba over the years has probably won the game single handily more than any over player. In 2005 the community shield against Arsenal Drogba was too much for the Arsenal defence especially Senderos scoring 2 goals, we went on to win 2-1. In the 2005-06 season who could ever forget the 4-1 win at Anfield? Drogba played a part in every goal and was man of the match that game. Also another game against Liverpool this time a 1-0 win at Stamford Bridge where Drogba scored a 25 yarder taking it on his chest then turning and hitting it with his left foot. 33 goals in the 2006-07 season making him the top scorer in the Premier League the first player since Kerry Dixon to score 30 goals in a season for Chelsea. Another 2 goals against Arsenal in the league cup final and don’t tell me you have forgotten his winning goal against Man United in the FA Cup. Didier defiantly performed for us in the big games and I could still go on about how many times he saved us in recent seasons. This season he has yet to be fully fit and is just coming back from a three match ban. We do not need a new striker…. if Didier can keep fit he can give us that plan B we so desperately need. Chelsea needs to hold onto Didier if we don’t… we will be losing a very special player.

No plan B is exactly why we perform better away from home. Teams in the Premiership have to have a go when their at home which is better for us leaving more space for us to exploit. However when we are at home teams play the pressing game putting us under pressure giving us no time on the ball. This is especially true when our full backs come under great pressure. I fear for what will happen agaisnt Arsenal at the weekend. Liverpool and Man United both came and were good tactically putting us under pressure from the start. I remember Fergie going for two wingers with high fitness levels just so Bosingwa and A.cole were put under a lot of pressure and so it was kept going throughout the match.

Man City will be linked with about every player. This is rubbish in my opinion, it reminds me of when Roman Abramovich came to Chelsea we were linked with about every player on the planet.

Not really gaven much of a chance for me. Deserved another season..... He been loaned out to Werder Bremen he might as well stay there now though. He's getting on a bit and id rather see someone like Di Santo given a chance....

We lost to Liverpool and came back to win 3-0 at Hull. Lost 3-1 to Roma and came back to win 2-0 at Blackburn. Hopefully we can "bounce back" and get the 3 points at West Brom which we should do. West Brom will probaly come out and go for it which will be good for us and it should leave gaps at the back...im confident we will get the 3 points. Carefreeeeeeeee

Liverpool have Bolton away...

You only sing when you drawing, sing when your drawing.....

The likes of Mancienne , Sinclair, Di Santo etc its about time they got more of a chance in the first team. A good start would be tomorrow in the Carling Cup. Otherwise they just seem to kept being loaned out all the time. Everytime ive seen Sinclair play for Chelsea he has done well....For the last couple of years none of the managers have really gave the reserve team players a chance it will be nice to see that change.

Bosingwa has to be one of the best signings of the summer so far. We all know how Scolari uses the fullbacks in an attacking sense. Both Bosingwa and A.Cole love to go forward. Anyways well done Bosingwa definitely deserved.

Another great performance. Shocking defending by Boro though. Belletti is very versatile and it looks like we could put him anywhere maybe we can put him up front agaisnt Liverpool? Looks like big Phil is bringing the best out of Kalou and Malouda as well.

And Man United think they have it bad with injuries. Always a tough game at the Riverside but we can still put out a side capable of beating Boro. There are times last season where we had them tough away trips and we all thought we might slip up but time and time again we have came away with 3 points.

Same, as much as i love Cudicini we don't look as solid as when Cech is there.

The abuse Avram Grant got last year was embarassing really and the booing when we went 1-0 down agaisnt Arsenal last season was terrible. Although it happens with a lot of fans and its not just Chelsea's. Wembley will never be a fortress with fans like that and its funny how when Chelsea start winning things its the Chelsea players getting the abuse. Similar thing happened to the Man United players a few years back with Beckham, Nicky Butt etc.

Looking at the highlights of the game, Pompey's defending was shocking. Distin and James especially...Lol

About 4 yellow cards were deserved. And the £25000 fine is loose change to Man United....so i don't think their too bothered anyways....

Riccy wins it for me as i think he is the better defender. But looking both at there strong points it makes them a quality partnership. Riccy is a lot quicker than JT, and is such a clever defender. JT is good in the air and wins most of the headers and he also organises the defence as well. :thumbsup: As JT goes up to win the headers Riccy just sits behind him a bit and covers so there strong points can easily be used to the best of there abilities. For best defender i would say Riccy, id say he is overall the better defender but with JT you get his leadership and his physical presence which Carvallho doesn't have.

Anelka! He just had to get anything on it and it would have been a goal. Im pleased the unbeaten record is still there and we played well and maybe deserved the win. Im not worried about Riccy being out when we have Alex to come in. Another player that stood out for me was Mikel he is benefiting from a good run in the team and its paying off. Malouda might as well not be on the pitch, at least Kalou actually tries hard but Kalou can sometimes be better coming off the bench to be honest. A.Cole gets overlooked everytime we play for me. He never has a bad game, and looked quality today too. I know many people dislike him and theres things off the pitch many people hate him for but he is easily the best left back in the world at the moment. He's work rate is quality too he works so hard for the team. I know many people see him as one of the best left backs in the world but i never think he gets the credit he deserves at times and he is defintely benefiting under Scolari too... :thumbsup:

On the other side we have Bosingwa who's Portugese and knows Ronaldo and how he plays. So im not too worried.