JDY

Too early to call at the moment. I suspect a lot of German teams will lose some of their key players, and there is a big fight for 4th position. If I had a choice he would come back to us, he's better than Hazard at the moment for me. If not then maybe a team like Everton?

His decision making is quite poor. Peterson is also really wasteful in the build up to. I like the look of Hunt though.

This is what I mean. He's the best player on the pitch every time, but his teammates are so average.

So I went for dinner at 0-0, come back and it's 1-1. Sighhhhh

Fair play to the ref. Gladbach goal disallowed.

^ Agreed. The atmosphere even at the bottom clubs is always good. Don't forget Leverkusen to, they are trying to be Dortmund v2 with a lot of good youngsters. Gladbach v Bremen in a few minutes, can only see it going one way.

Good performance. Gave away the penalty at the end, luckily Holt missed. But if we sign anyone from Southampton it should be Schneiderlin first.

Feel sorry for Kevin playing in a team with such a bad defence. And to make things worse their best defender Sokratis is suspended against Gladbach later (who are just hitting form).

Some of the football from us is really neat. Why isn't Feruz playing by the way? Sub on Sunday perhaps..

In terms of ability I think Gerrard is better than Frank, but Lampard has definitely been the more effective player throughout his career, for club and country. Scholes was miles ahead of both, not even up for debate. Edit: Soz, off topic

Dat dive

Couldn't handle basic communication, really? This is a man who was highly praised at Porto for his attention to detail, micro management, and ability to build a tightly knit squad who worked together towards the same objective. Again, maybe you should point the finger at some of the senior players before questioning his communication. I heard no such problems with the new and younger member's of the squad, the ones who were willing to learn and adapt to a new way of playing (Luiz, Ramires, Mata, Sturridge, Romeu etc). I would rather have these players than ones who throw a strop when change is occurring. Look at Spurs now, you can tell they are fully behind the manager and they are reaping the rewards. Lampard described his relationship with AVB as 'not ideal'. He is a professional footballer, who is paid to play, and funnily enough, carry out the managers instructions. If a player is not willing to commit himself to a new regime then why should you waste time on him? No player is bigger than the club, and no player has the right to dictate what happens, especially such important decisions. When there is divide or unrest in the dressing room. One of two things can happen. Either the players responsible get removed, or the manager gets sacked. The latter occurs every time, you wouldn't see a club remove 4 or 5 players. And on the subject of ridiculous, it's also silly to compare the football played then and at the start of this season. We were brilliant for a few months until teams figured us out, who is responsible for that? Are failings in the summer transfer window have attributed to this. Overbuying in positions, and having below par players in positions we need investment. Rafa has inherited all of RDMs problems, so its no surprise he's failing. But that's a whole different argument.

You mean like last season when we had a manager in place who had a clear vision for the club, only for the likes of Lampard and Cole to be so disrespectful to the point where the club had no choice but to sack him? You never hear of owners sacking players midseason but if he could've Lampard and Cole would've been out last season, not AVB. I agree that having experience is good, but what good is this experience if they are only disrupting the club and preventing them from moving forward? Please do not point to Manchester United as the example for giving older players new contracts. There is only one man in charge at United, and that's Fergie. No one dares challenge him, and if they do, they are out. What happened when Beckham got too big for his boots? Sold. What happened to Roy Keane when he started to question Fergie? Out. Keeping the players that will benefit the club going forward is one thing, keeping players that think they can manipulate situations because they have influence at a club is another. The difference with us is that through the flurry of manager changes, only the old guard have remained, thus giving them a sense of power at the club. This is the main problem with Chelsea at the moment. Last season we brought in a manager who would've been good for us long term, only for that to be ruined by a few senior players who showed a complete lack of respect and thought they could call the shots. Some of you may not like AVB, but at the end of the day he was only here to deliver what you are all after in our next manager.

Mourinho: "Barcelona are an incredible side, Paris [saint-Germain] are a great team, Bayern too, nobody mentions Dortmund, Celtic are Celtic. Arsenal? I'm sorry but they can't do it" Lol

Yep. I use a different forum and at the time they were all saying Torres should've been sent off, and now tonight the same people are in the United thread saying Nani's red was harsh. Can't have it both ways.

If that's what it takes then yes. Why not give Lampard even more power and ask for his approval before appointing managers? That way you know from the start if he will get the hump and contribute to more manager sackings. In all seriousness, I'm fully behind the boards decision on this matter. Legend or not, no player is bigger than the club.

Media Douche 1: Slow news day, Chelsea pick up a win, no mention of Lampard's contract in a while Media Douche 2: Let's make up a story to get people's attention back on the matter *Chelsea fans get happy* CFC: No talks with Lampard despite speculation *Continued cycle of hate* Desired effect.

Would love to see Hiddink as director of football with someone like Moyes as manager. He's done exceptionally well with limited funds, commands respect from his players, has proven he can build a team over numerous years, and isn't afraid to give chances to youth. Some of the old guard have been pulling their weight for too long regarding managers, and it's a shame that the majority can't see that they are the ones holding the club back.

His fall reminds me of myself when I was playing Sunday League footy. I wasn't the best but there was a point where I realised I had the pace to destroy defenders, not only did I score a lot of goals but I felt like the main man in the team. When it got to u16-17, physically other players started catching up and I wasn't as good. There were points where I went a while without scoring or helping in any significant way, resulting in a lack of confidence and self belief. You don't get into the positions to score because you've convinced yourself you will fail. It's a bad mentality to have but I'd imagine a lot of players are like this. I don't think you can fix Torres at Chelsea. The pressure is too much for him and I doubt scoring a few goals helps either, he just needs to be somewhere else.

Interesting point about us and Arsenal playing United. Should United make it to the UCL Semi Final, Arsenal's game at home to them would be in-between the two legs, and we go to Old Trafford just after the 2nd leg.

That was hilarious. Even the announcer (Neil?) was laughing. Took the lad 3 or 4 punts to get it in.

Anyone know how he played today?

Just got back from the game. First things first, I was surprised and pleased that the reaction to Rafa wasn't THAT bad. The atmosphere was much better than previous weeks, and it looked like it helped. Thought we played very well the entire first half and first 20 of the 2nd. Some very neat interchange between the front 4, it just shows having a forward who can link the play well helps enormously. A bit nervous towards the end, and Cech made some great saves. Would be harsh of me to pick one player out in particular, thought they all did well.

He's not an attacking midfielder or winger. He's a centre forward who is very quick, direct and versatile with his finishing.

That's not what I was getting at. The question was if Ba fails would it change my opinion on Torres. By fails I'm assuming that means he hasn't scored enough. Even when Ba or the strikers before Torres haven't scored, they have still brought something to the team through their link up play. Torres hasn't, so it wouldn't change my opinion.