The Big Drog

With the way we play it has to be a target man that is leading the line. Id love to see a Laukaku, Carrol or better yet a Llorente at the club.

We can beat them, they are no great shakes, wasn't impressed by them at all tonight. With Lampard back in our side and Drogba finding form we have all the ammunition we need to cause them damage.

Nic is a very good player, technically proficient and versatile and a valuable member of the squad and while he offers something playing on the right wing, I just think we need something different. Too many times he comes inside, too many times he drops deep, too many times he walks around with the ball at his feet as if he were taking a stroll through a public park in Paris. I'd love to se us sign a dynamic, fast right winger who can take on a man and whip in a cross, I really think thats the sort of player we should be looking for in January.

I thought we played well, we didn't create too many clear cut scoring opportunities but then we rarely do, rather we are a clinical side than one who will create 15 chances a game. Absolutely digusted by the criticism Drogba is getting on here, did the people writing those messages miss the first half? Did they notice the lack of a focal point in our attack? Drogba was immense second half, his quality can't be denied, the equaliser comes from a simple long ball down the pitch but its Drogba's brute strenght that turns it into a goal, no other striker on the planet does that aswell as Drogba, we looked a vastly superior side with him in it than him out of it. Also Ramires seems to be notching up the criticism too(as he always is it seems) but I thought he was very good today, definitely one of our best players on the day(along with Terry and Drogba) did an excellent job double teaming Bale with Ferreira, got about the pitch well, made some big tackles and interceptions and won the penalty. Good also to see Essien back to the sort of form he was in pre red card against Fulham. Yes there was negatives, even the biggest Nic Anelka fan would find it difficult to defend that performance today, mind boggling stuff from the Frenchman. Kalou remains the most frustrating figure I can remember seeing play in a Chelsea jersey. Mikel also did not cover himself in flory in the first half, especially for the first goal, there is no way Claude Makelele would have been caught flat footed or in that position as Mikel was. Anyway with Lampard back, with Essien and Drogba finding form and John Terry playing out of his skin, I feel confident going into the game against Man Utd.

Playing quite well, Essien and Ramires in midfield in particular look very much the part, unfortunately Kalouremains infuriating and Mikel and Anelka have assisted Kalou in that department so far, I mean where is Nic Anelka going, so often when we get the ball into a crossing position, why is Nic Anelka(our centre forward remember) not in the box? Where is he? What is he doing? Very unlucky to be a goal down as Defoe was offside in the build up to the Spurs goal but when it rains it pours at Chelsea. Wouldn't be surprised if Drogba or Lampard, or both were to come on, what I would like to see is Ramires play or Essien move into the holding role with Lampard replacing Mikel simply for the reason that Essien and Ramires add more energy to the midfield than Mikel.

Where is Didier? Why is Didier on the bench? Surely if we are going out to win and get ourselves going on this tough 3 game run then surely our main man should be leading the line? Perhaps Carlo still thinks he is not over his bout of malaria but all the same I'd still rather our malaria battling Drogba than Kalou. Great that Super Frank is on the bench.

If we fail to pick up the points needed in the next 3 games then it is very much a crisis.

I cant remember ever feeling less confident about a one on one contest going in our favour than I do about Ferreira vs Bale, I felt more confident about Malouda marking Messi than Ferreira marking Bale.

Im not saying it doesn't but from a purely defensive standpoint I think Ramires is the better player.

Thats not his fault though and personally I think he is better defensively than our defensive midfielder Mikel.

Im as disappointed as any with our recent form but I think the reaction to what was essential a nothing game on here is way over the top. Ok it was hardly a vintage performance but I thought we played well in parts of it, while there was negatives (Drogba's continued slump in form, Bosingwa's injury and Kalou in general) I thought there was also positives and none more so than Josh McEachran who was our best player by a long distance, his passing, his willingness to get on the ball and his determination to win back the ball were all on show last night, rather than soley concentrating on the negatives, why not look at the positives because right now at the club there is nothing more positive than Josh McEachran because you are looking at the future of Chelsea FC right there and England's next great midfielder, a wonderful talent. Speaking of midfielders, the criticism of Ramires is not warranted at all. McEachran aside I thought he was our best player last night, he played a few absolute gems of passes, which had Ozil or Iniesta played them, the fans of their respective clubs would be raving about them, I thuoght he tackled and got about the pitch quite well last night too, infact aside from his performance against Arsenal, I thought that was his best game for the club so far. Unfortunately he has been typecast in the fall guy role so no matter how well he plays everyone will get on to him anyway but at the end of the day what we are missing is Frank Lampard in our midfield and its not our fault that he is not, nor did we sign him with the intention of him being, Frank Lampard.

2 things to say about that John Terry is bloody wonderful. Kalou gives me a headache.

Not liking the hate Ramires is getting on here at all. I thought he was easily one of our best 3 players today, in particular in the second half he made tackles, he won the ball and he did his best to support the attack, its a bit of a joke that he is our fall guy, when we signed him we knew we weren't signing Frank Lampard, thats not the kind of player he is and now that we desperately need Lampard its Ramires who is getting the blame simply because he doesn't play like Frank. Alex, Bosingwa, Mikel and Nic Anelka all had comfortably poorer games than Ramires today.

Obviously not a great result but being honest Im not that annoyed about it. After a horrific mistake of Ferdinand and Van Der Sar proportions, we got back into it, dominated the game and were probably unlucky not to get the win in the end. Yes 3 points and top spot would have been nice but that didn't materialise, the reason for my mild feelings is that Im safe in the knowledge that the bison, Essien, is back enxt week along with captain bloody wonderful John Terry and boy how much do we need them, all that is needed after that is for super Frank to make his return and I'll be positively upbeat. The negatives, obviously poor defending, that we didn't get 3 points and that Kalou finds a way to both delight and infuriate in equal measure, Mikel looking unlikely to make a tackle in 90 minutes of play and Nicolas Anelka's frustrating one paced play from deep, when it works its great, but like today when his touch is off it just breaks down everything attack he becomes involved in. The positives were Branislav Ivanovic who appeared to be defending on his own at times, in particular in the second half I thought he was excellent, Florent Malouda who even playing from his less favoured central midfield role looked good and was influential and the biggest positive of all today was Ramires who in the second half stood up to the challenge, gave it 100% and was excellent, very much looked the part today and came out of the match with more credibility than he had before the game began. Things to think about for the future would be signing another centre back, Alex clearly should not have been on the pitch today. Starting Daniel Sturridge, he is lively, he looks more mature than he did last season, he looks like he is ready to start for Chelsea, he was fantastic mid week against Zilina and I think he would be well worth a starting role against Everton next weekend. 2 points dropped but given the form we are in at least thats not 3 points dropped, there were a few positives to take from the game, the performance was pretty good and next week Michael Essien and John Terry return and thats the biggest positive there is for this side at the moment.

I bloody hate the criticism Ramires is getting from our own fans. Seriously what the fuck? He's only 23, he is new to the English game, he was in Portugal last year and Brazil the year before that, he needs time to settle down, to get used to the English game. I think he has all the toolss to thrive at Chelsea. I think one of the reasons he is getting the criticism he gets is because his name is not Frank Lampard, a mikdfield trio of Essien, Ramires and Mikel will never be that naturally attack minded, thats not Ramires' fault, he didn't injure Lampard, its not his natural game to arrive late in the box to get on the end of things. You dont become Brazil's main midfielder by some accident, ok granted his performances so far this season have hardly been vintage or anything but neither were Essien's or Drogba's when they first arrived in England, give him time, time is on his side afterall he is only 23 and he will come good. Kalou appears to lack a brain and that seems to annoy people, I will admit to being one of the people who regularly rip shreds of my hair out when he runs with his head down into a gang of players and loses the ball. That being said Nani is equally as clueless and he does add something to Man Utd, their fans aren't all over him half as much as we are over Kalou, at the end of the day he is an unpredictable player and that can and has unsettled defences and he can pop up with a game changing moment at any time, all great sides need a player like that.

Im gonna try to be as logical as possible but Im well and truly depressed. Our defending is shocking, I mean really shocking. Had we kept it at 0-0 I would have bet one of my eyeballs that we would have gone on to win that game, you saw how Kalou and Drogba exploited the space in behind early on, but a stupid error cost us a goal and that let Birmingham do what they do best, sit back and soak up pressure, meaning that the success we had early on with playing balls in behind their defenders wasn't possible anymore because of how deep they were playing. That being said we should still have scored, Fsoter, crossbars, hands, luck and Kalou all seemed to come together to keep us from scoring. We need a few things, above all esle a fit Essien, Lampard and Terry because our team is looking like a shell of itself at the moment. We need investment in Januey, be it a centre back, a creative midfielder, a fast winger or another striker, I dont know which but it has to be one of those. Being the positive guy I am, I will look on the bright side, we are still top on goal difference, Drogba looked as good today as he has in months and Lampard has to return eventually.....right?

Im fucking miserable but that comment there made me laugh out loud, well done sir.

Best Drogba's played in ages, should have a goal. Attacking wise its been good except for the lack of a goal but defensively its not, yes Alex was out of position for Bowyers goal but take a look at the replay again, you will see Mikel marking him at the start of the move but he just lets him run free completely unmarked in the box, not good at all.

Petr Cech is wonderful. Anyway that asicde, I said it after the Liverpool game and this game confirmed it, never again under any circumstances, no matter what the time, no matter what the state of affairs, no matter what is going at, never...ever should Mikel, Ramires and Zhirkov play in the same midfield, ever. How was it possibly to get caught the same way over and over again in such a short space of time? So many times we were robbed in midfield, Sunderland got the ball and all of a sudden it was their 2 attackers against our 2 dfenders, how is it possible for that to happen over and over again? If my Sunday league side played like that Id be screaming like a mad man, let alone the champions of bloody England. I like Jose Bosingwa as much as the next guy but when he plays, with Ashley on the other side, we have 2 wing backs in the opposition half so if we do get robbed, as we did a lot today, then the opposition are in with a 2 on 2 situation, rather when Ivanovic plays right back he is not as forward thinking as Cole and he gives us the 3 at the back. McEachran needs to play the next game. Mikel is like Pirlo, he needs a Gattuso beside him, unfortunately our Gattuso, Essien, is suspended. How easy did they walk through the heart of our defence? For the first goal Onuoha stumbled through the very heart of our back four, the second goal they played through us with ease. We are still top but clearly the squad needs more quality in depth, we need another centre back, we need Lampard, Essien and Tery as soon as possible, we need never to see a certain midfield trio play together ever again and we need never see Paulo play centre back ever again.

Red card at the end was the only real disappointment of the night. Anyway with Lampard back at the weekend (fingers crossed) and Ramires available its not that much of a blow. Personally I thought that was our best performance in the last few weeks, I thought we deserved more than the 1-0 scoreline suggests. Ivanovic, Cole, Essien and Zhirkov all put in good performances but motm for me has to be Kalou who was full of running, always looked dangerous and put in a perfect cross for Essien's headed goal. Vital result tonight, especially considering the draw in the Manchester derby as we now move 4 points clear of Man Utd.

Looking for a strong performance tonight, especially after the Liverpool disappointment, need a good win tonight and who knows, by the end of the night we could have our 5 point lead at the top of the table restored. With Ancelotti saying that both Anelka and Alex are doubtful I think we may line up like this. Cech Bosingwa, Ivanovic, Terry, Cole Essien, Mikel, Ramires Kalou, Drogba, Malouda I think that would be a good, strong starting line up.

Personally I dont think its disinterest, I think he has played a bit of a different role, he seems to be drifted out wide a bit more allowing Nic, Malouda or Kalou(depending on who is playing on the day) to move into the centre more often, he seems to be creating more than he is scoring. Though I thought against Spartak Moscow midweek, in the second half we saw the old, centre forward version of Drogba, he was absolutely dominating, I thought second half when he came on, despite not being 100% he was excellent, a constant target for our players to hit and pretty much the launch pad from which most of our attacks were built.

If ever there was a game to illustrate exactly how important Didier Drogba is to Chelsea this was it. I don't think Im exaggerating when I say that was the worst half of football I can remember Chelsea under Ancelotti playing, it was defensively frail, our attacking threat simply did not exist but above all else we had a midfield 3 that could best be described as dysfunctional. Mikel lacking options to pass the ball to, Ramires not involved and worst of all Zhirkov whose passing, positioning, on the ball and off the ball work were baffling at the best of times. Individual errors cost us dearly today, neither Alex or Ivanovic closing down Kuyt for the first goal, Ashley losing the ball for the second goal. The key problem in the first half for Chelsea was pretty simple, Liverpool's strikers and midfield pressed the ball, Chelsea's midfield lacked somebody who could get between the lines and offer a creative release and as a result the ball continously went sidewards or backwards meaning we had very few attacks and none of them telling. Therein lies the beauty of Drogba because you see teams do this to us time and time again and Drogba is the outball to it, a simple long ball down the pitch and you know Drogba will compete for it which may lead to a throw in or a free kick or he may win the ball and from there we can set up an attack with our front three or any of our other players breaking forward. Today, with our midfield out of sorts, with Liverpool pressing the ball very well, we went long and we didn't find Drogba, we found Nic Anelka, who as good a player as he is, is not the physically dominating Ivorian. In the second half it was no coincidence that we were significantly better than in the first, even a Drogba with fever was much more of a handful than any of our attackers had been in the first half, providing a target, competing, running and providing a bit of quality, he was the reason for our good play in the second half, hopefully he will be fit for the game against Fulham on Wednesday night. Anyway we were a bit unlucky second half, Malouda's shot from a Drogba cross which Reina did well to keep out, Nic Anelka hitting the bar, Ramires heading over ect. Could be worse anyway, Arsenal lost and Man Utd have to travel to The City Of Manchester Stadium Wednesday night and we are still top of the table.

I think it will look like this. Cech Ivanovic, Alex, Terry, Cole Essien, Mikel, Ramires Anelka, Drogba, Malouda Of course Ancelotti could start Zhirkov in place of Ramires or he could start with Malouda in central midfield with Kalou on the wing.

After his impressive showing in Europe and knowing that Ancelotti rarely uses Zhirkov as part of the front three Id be fairly confident that Kalou will get the nod to start wide right with Nic playing from the left like he did last night.