The Big Drog

Statistically Mikel is one of the most accurate passers in the Premier League, that must mean Mikel is one of the finest midfielders in the Premier League. Stats don't tell the whole story.

Spot on, even amongst our own fans he must be one of the most underrated players I can remember. He has been the focal point at Chelsea for the best part of 8 years, the main man through whom all things flow and he deserves a lot more credit and respect than he is getting.

I've had Drogba goggles from the day he arrived at Stamford Bridge, he is my all time favourite footballer and one of my heroes. He didn't have a shot but he led the line of a team that won 3-0 and he was quite important in getting that result, read the paragraph about his performance on the blue chronicle blog and it explains just why his performance was so excellent from a team based point of view. AVB isn't a fool, and even though its Torres who Roman (and AVB) would rather see starting because he is the younger player, because his style of centre forward is supposed to suit AVB's system more than the target man Drogba and because he cost 50 million pound, its a true reflection of Fernando's lack of form aswell as Drogba's recent good performances that Didier is the one getting the nod to start. Come the crucial Champions League game against Valencia, I know which one Id rather have leading the line.

I'm not saying its the team I want to see us start with, Im saying its the kind of team I expect us to startr with, wouldn't be surprised if Nic Anelka gets the nod over Kalou though.

Terrific young player. Clearly well educated in the way Barcelona play, wonderful on the ball, moves it quickly, can play the sweeping forward pass when it is required but keeps possession very well and is a very calming presence on the ball. Off the ball he is equally as good, wins the ball well, very aggressive in his approach, gets some good interceptions and quite mobile too. The obvious long term holding midfield option, hopefully he nails down a starting place this season.

It's the strangest thing and I wont have a go at anyone for having it because up until recently I suffered from exactly the same thing. Since Torres joined I've desperately wanted to see him succeed, I've wanted him to play every minute possible in the hope that he might spark into life and I'll even admit that when Drogba or Anelka were on the teamsheet ahead of him I was actually disappointed and it did take some of the wind out of my sails, infact it was at the point where I didn;t appreciate Drogba or Anelka's contributions half as much as I usually would because I wanted to see Torres play, not Drogba or Anelka. But I've gotten over that now. My Torres goggles are gone but clearly some people still have them firmly on. How anyone could claim that Torres was more threatening in 10 minutes than Drogba was is perplexing to say the least, even with the previously mentioned Torres goggles on. I would go as far as to say Drogba's performance against Leverkusen (which wouldn't even rank in his top 10 Chelsea performances) was better than any game that Torres has played in a Chelsea jersey. Should Drogba be the main striker? No. Should Drogba be the first choice striker of the ones currently available to us? Absolutely he should, his form has justified AVB's decision and he remains one of the finest all round centre forwards you will find. I would say rather than wishing to sell him in January, you be grateful that Didier has remained loyal to our club and that even when our 50 million pound striker continuously fails to reach the required standard, that Drogba is still able to step up to the plate and deliver. Honestly with some people on here it's either the Torres goggles or some people just don't appreciate the unique big man centre forward work (combined with incredible technical ability) that Drogba offers.

I like Torres, I really do. He was always one of my absolute favourite non Chelsea players, when we signed him I was ecstatic and I still think its pretty cool that Fernando Torres plays for our club. But my love of Torres doesn't cloud my judgement, he isn't doing it for us, he hasn't really done it for us yet, yes there is still time but what we have seen on the whole hasn't been very encouraging. No we can't rely on Didier Drogba forever, realistically last season should have been Didier's last as the main striker at Chelsea but Fernando's awful form has meant that we have had to look to Drogba again to produce and luckily in the last few games he has. I really do hope that Torres does become the main man at Chelsea, we really could do with a younger lead striker but right now the man in form is Drogba and right now, for the sake of results and performance, the first choice striker is rightly Didier Drogba.

Didier has found his form lately and should now be rightly recognised as the first choice striker at the moment, considering his age there is no need for him to play a Carling Cup game, give the great man a well deserved rest, let Torres or Lukaku start in this and return Didier to the starting 11 for our next Premier League game. With Terry suspended I expect a line up like this. Cech Bosingwa, Alex, Luiz, Cole Meireles, Mikel, Lampard Kalou, Torres, Malouda Or something along those lines.

Didn't catch the Barca game but did see the Madrid derby. From a Chelsea point of view its a shame that Courtois was sent off with basically his first involvement in the match, a shame for Athletico too because at that point they were 1-0 up and on the front foot. After that Real swarmed on them and their class and quality shone through, Ronaldo being the pick of the attackers but Benzema, Alonso, Di Maria and Ramos (continuing at centre back) all putting in very good displays. This is the team to beat right now, Real Madrid look like the best team in the world and after the Barcelona loss, their lead at the top of La Liga stretches to 6 points, they are a joy to watch when they are flowing.

Im not saying Cleverly is, I think McEachran is a more naturally gifted footballer, the difference is that Cleverly is being given the chance and has shone, I think if we gave Josh the same chance he would shine too.

Anyway onto the game. Ashley Cole was bloody terrific at left back, Luiz and Terry looked quite solid throughout, Romeu showed exactly why he is the solution to the holding midfield problem, technically he is excellent, his positional sense is quite incredible considering his age and relative lack of experience at the top level and he is actually mobile and goes and intercepts things and presses, he is everything Mikel isn't. Ramires did brilliantly in midfield alongside him, his running power is really something to behold and the front three were wonderful, Sturridge and Drogba both played very well but the standout was Mata, such a classy player. Yes it's only Wolves and there are still issues that need to be addressed in the Summer but this 11 struck a nice balance and is hopefully one we will see more of.

I don't want to sound cliche but Id say there is a strong possibility that I've forgotten more about football than you can ever hope to know, not to toot my own horn or anything but.......toot toot.

It was a far better performance than any that Torres has entered in a Chelsea jersey. btw I haven't turned against Torres, I hope he comes good but right now the correct choice is the man in form and that is Drogba. Without him as the focal point, I can only imagine how much worse our recent performances would have been.

Neither. Bosingwa isn't great but he is better than those 2.

I admit it, Im the insider, I have complete access and am a regular visitor to the Chelsea dressing room, despite living in Ireland.

It's nice and we can admire his morales and all of that but at the end of the day they are a selling club, when a big did from a top side comes in they will sell. As bad as our current situation is, at least we can all agree that we are not a selling club.

To be fair though, when a big club comes calling with buckets full of cash for Cavani, Hamsik or Lavezzi, then we will see just how much money talks.

lol every team so far has Torres in it despite his soul sapping form. Drogba was superb against Leverkusen and played well against Liverpool, even though he can't be the man we pin our long-term hopes on (because of his age) we need to secure wins to get a Champions League spot, that is crucial, and our best chance of doing that is with Drogba. Cech Bosingwa, Luiz, Terry, Cole Ramires, Meireles, Lampard Sturridge, Drogba, Mata

Even so, a year ago there was even some talk that Josh would be a surprise inclusion in the Euro 2012 squad, some people really thought he had that much talent to break into the Chelsea first team and cause enough stir to get into the England set up. This season he has played 7 minutes of Premier League football, while Cleverly is now pushing for the England place and establishing himself in the Man Utd side.

To be fair though, when he took over Barca the team was in disarray. The squad was split into two camps between Ronaldinho and Eto'o, Ronaldinho (the star man) was going downhill fast as were other key players such as Deco. Guardiola got rid of the bad eggs, put his faith in young players and worked on mastering the pressing game which they use so effectively now and also helped to develop Barca's passing game, from which Spain also reaped the rewards. Maybe Guardiola will find it more difficult outside of Barcelona but don't undersell just what a difficult job Pep walked into.

Maybe AVB will prove to be just as good, getting Chelsea out of this rot and creating a beautiful football team that actually wins trophies would be an incredible achievement to add to his CV but right now there is no comparison, Guardiola has been the integral figure of Barcelona's recent success and he deserves all of the respect in the world.

Drogba by a country mile. As good as we have seen him in bloody ages. His hold up play was excellent, his headed flick ons should have being capitalised on by his teammates to greater effect, his link up was good, he led the line as only he can and scored a cracking goal. Easily still our best all round striker and should retain the central striking position until we bring in a new player in January or the Summer. btw Im not sure how Cech warrants a mention. He was slow off his line for the first and definitely should have done better with the second.

Tbf though it must be frustrating seeing Wilshere playing a big role in Arsenal's side or someone like a Rodwell or Barkley playing a big role at Everton or Cleverly at Man Utd.

I really think this might be the worst Chelsea team in the Abramovich era. On paper its great, in reality it isn't. Terry isn't what he was, Luiz is still trying to forge a partnership with him, Ivanovic isn;t a top class right back, Cole is showing worrying signs of deterioration, Cech has also looked less than convincing lately, Mikel is is a depressing sight to see in a Chelsea jersey, Lampard isn't as good as he was, Sturridge is good but still needs a bit of work, Mata must be wondering how he has gone from playing in a side with a developed passing game to this and on paper we have the best damn strikeforce in the world, honestly a couple of years ago how many Premier League dream teams had the Drogba/Torres pairing up front, we actually have that in real life except Torres appears to be a less pacey shadow of himself and age is catching up on Didier, meanwhile Nic Anelka (another highly rated striker) continues to pursue his dream of developing a cross between a winger and holding midfield position whenever he is chosen to play. All of that and Florent Malouda still gets game time. It's a sad state of affairs. I outright refuse to blame the manager, he has been charged with a task and I have sympathy with him because the team he is working with isn't up to scratch. Neither was it up to scratch in Ancelotti's second season. On the game itself. Ramires, Luiz and Sturridge played fairly well and the standout was Drogba. After a slow start, he grew more and more into the game until finally he became our only source of danger, there were stages in that game where it looked like Drogba doing it alone against Leverkusen. Scored a cracking goal, made some tremendous flick ons, held the ball up very well and should have had a penalty too, it was pretty much vintage Drogba and even at 34 (?) years of age, he remains our only true great attacking player and hopefully will be the focal point of the team, at least until January because had one of our other strikers been leading the line tonight, we would have been lost. He might not cost 50 million pound but he is undoubtedly our finest all round striker. If we don;t qualify we only have ourselves to blame, threw it away tonight, threw it away against Genk, threw it away against Valencia and even if we do qualify it will probably be as the second place team which is just what we need, a potential tie against Real Madrid and Barcelona.

What I've learned this morning is that pastes from The Daily Mail don't turn out well. If any of the Admins have the power to edit the article so that it is readable that would be much appreciated because I haven't a clue how to.