capriccioso

Squad players don't deserve 80 grand a week, which is reportedly what he wants. I love Kalou and all, but he's got to step up if he wants that kind of money.

If we had a better right back I'd have chosen him ahead of Ivanovic, he was way too easily beaten for pace by Lavezzi/Cavani.

New contract for Kalou? http://www.weaintgotnohistory.com/2012/2/23/2820150/salomon-kalou-contract-extension-chelsea-fc?

I can see us not winning. Then again I can also see us running out 4-0 winners.

Agree with nearly all of that, but the English faction of the dressing room has been on the wane for several years now. It's Drogba's mixed foreign mob that hold the real power. I guess thats why Lampard was agitating for a move away in January. Previously, it was the English politicians, spearheaded by Terry and Lampard that were more powerful. But that was only due to them being the best players at the club, and because they had a glut of allies and were also virtually unopposed. After José left, the foreigners allied themselves with Roman, and ever since then have been favoured by him more so than the Englishmen. Also, Terry and Lampard have declined not only in playing standards, but also influence over the squad, which was exacerbated by the Wayne Bridge thing. AVB has to turn to the history books and pull a Stalin to dig himself out of this hole. Side with Drogba on every single issue- let him manage the team if need be, give him the armband on a permanent basis- whatever it takes to keep the foreign faction onside. Then let him go in the summer, sell Lampard and demote the other politicians to the reserves or transfer list them as well. While he's at it, he should ensure the loyalty of the younger players by building a cult of personality around himself. With the challengers to the power vacuum gone, Villas-Boas will stand as the undoubted leader of Chelsea Football Club.

We've always said the same thing about Manchester United, the referee's always give them 5-6 minutes added time if they're losing

Bit unfair to consider him a good decision maker. Eto'o for Ibra must rival Torres as one of the worst transfers of all time. And he's been found out by Mourinho as well, 13 points is an unacceptable gap for the so-called greatest team of all time.

Pep will be humiliated anywhere he goes except in Spain.

As a foreign fan, I want to go to an away match just as much as I want to see Stamford Bridge. The notion of being surrounded by fanatical Mancs/Scousers etc. while wearing a Chelsea shirt defiantly appeals to me. Having said that, should I ever move to England (unlikely as the weather is shocking and I'll never be able to leave Australia without getting homesick in a few weeks), I'll make it a point to try and attend as many away games as possible.

Capello is excellent at managing clubs. Even at England he was not bad, he won 2 out of every 3 games.

Yeah but England are rubbish. Even if somehow, scientists combined all the greatest managers that history has produced into 1 person, and got him to manage England, they'd still never win a thing. Given the individual talent that England has produced over the decades, they have to go down as one of the great underachievers of football, along with the Netherlands and Spain.

Capello is a good manager, but I think he will be too much like Ancelotti, he won't try to change anything and will keep letting the old players play every game. We don't want that, our old players are legends and we all love them but they are not good enough to play every week any more.

I'm from Australia so I don't know many good young coaches in England, but Brendan Rogers at Swansea is doing really well, Swansea are playing in the Premier League for the first time and they're 11th at the moment. He also used to work at Chelsea, but I think like Villas-Boas, if we make him our new manager, the players will give him bad attitudes, because he is young and has never managed a big team.

I forgot about Capello. But I'm not convinced he's the type to bring about a revolution or even an evolution at Chelsea.

I don't know if I should speak English, it's an Italian forum and I find it strange to post in English. How bad is google translate? Do my posts make sense in Italian? Edit: After seeing what Rospo said, I will post in English That's a very good question. Some of the media think it will be Benítez, I hope not he is awful. I don't think we can bring anyone in that will do much better than him. Mourinho won't come back, Hiddink just joined Anzhi, we don't want van Gaal or Lippi. I guess the best we could probably get if we sacked Villas-Boas would be Hitzfeld.

Hello DJ, I've joined your forum Please excuse my Italian, I am using google translate and the only Italian I know is Ezio Auditore da Firenze

Hazard, a couple of decent centre midfielders that can offer something other than being able to run around all day and/or take long shots, 2 full backs who are capable of attacking and defending and someone who can be a creative force to take some of the pressure away from Mata. Another striker, to phase Torres out, would also be in order but I suppose we can get by with Sturridge and Lukaku for a few months. That looks around 100 million pounds, if we are able to sell a few players, such as Lampard, Ferreira, Meirieles and Malouda, we could get around 40 million for those, and I'd imagine getting them, as well as Drogba, Kalou and the other soon-to-be free agents would save around 40 million in wages. We hopefully won't actually be spending a fortune.

Why not Lukaku? We've hardly given him a chance this season to prove that he's more than just raw power. Of those 4 I'd like Falcao the most, Cavani is certainly one of the best going around but for some reason I feel he won't be a success at Chelsea.

Hello

Not as such, I'm sure he went shot less. That's not entirely his fault though, many of the others were too happy to take potshots from distance.

Give him some credit mate, at least he was trying. More than I can say for the likes of Meireiles.

He is still strong physically, but I don't think he has the motivation to play well regularly. When he plays for Côte d'Ivoire, he plays much better because he still wants to win something with his country.

I think the time has come for Villas-Boas to be a bit pragmatic. Suck up to the legends, ally yourself with them at every possible opportunity, then get rid of them as soon as they expire their political usefulness, all whilst building a cult of personality akin to Mourinho's, a la Stalin with the similarly vicious left and right wings of the old Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

We had those 2, plus a couple from corners, and one late on that Drogba fluffed. We also had a half chance, where Ivanovic dribbled some 50 metres with the ball but couldn't quite get enough space to shoot, although I think if that was a striker who'd gotten in that position, he would have had a go.

He was awful this morning, and from what I've heard, has been so for some time now. Cut our losses and get rid of him, I'd accept even 3 or 4 million for this clown.