The Big Drog

We scored 3 goals and for the rest of the match we walked around the pitch, which is all thatw as required really. Playing away in Slovakia in a small stadium like that was always going to make it a tougher task than it should have been because realistically that Zilina side was not very good. Still Ancelotti approached the game in the right way, said all of the right things in the press confrence and put out a strong team. Just a few points from the game. - Anelka is a wonderful lone striker, that observation does not just come from tonight but from every time he has led the Chelsea line. This man would get into 90-95% of teams around Europe as the main striker, his movement is that good, his finishing that clinical. As luck would have it he is at the same club with the best lone striker in the world so he has to play out wide but he does a splendid job out there too. Man of the match tonight. - Michael Essien and John Obi Mikel continue their good form, Essien adds to his goal tally this season and Mikel puts in another good display. - Yossi looks so comfortable as part of the Chelsea midfield three, very good dribbler with the ball and has the ability to pick out a killer pass, his pass through for Sturridge's goal was sublime. - Young lads getting a chance, Kakuta getting half an hour, McEachran getting game time, Van Aanholt coming on late and Sturridge starting and scoring, always great to see. - 3 points, 4 goals in an away game in Slovakia, good result and puts us in pole position in the ground. A good nights work.

I agree with TX, I dont think Mourinho will win it in his first season at Madrid, remember his first season at Inter? His Inter side were easily beaten by Man Utd, I've seen both Madrid games so far this season, Mourinho has a job on his hands to stamp his look on that team. I think we can do it this season. Our group is not a difficult one, given a bit of luck in the draw and some decent officiating and we have every chance of doing it this year. If we can get to the final at Wembley then Id fancy us against anybody.

I think your spot on there, its great that Ancelotti is rotating the squad around a bit but is still fielding a strong side unlike Man Utd last night who made 10 changes to their team, Ancelotti has got the balance absolutely right.

All the same, a manager of his stature and popularity could have kicked up an O Neil level tantrum, thrown him dummy out and demanded that both Cole and Ballack be resigned to contracts. Clearly he didnt feel strongly enough to demand it, sure he might have asked for it but I doubt he ever went to the extremes he could have gone to and other managers have gone to, to get what they want.

I think Carlo deserves all the respect in the world. After last seasons success he had enough power to have a word with the powers that be at Chelsea and ask for some big money signings, he could have put his faith in the likes of Joe Cole and Michael Ballack for another season and ask that they get their contracts renegotiated and give them the terms they wanted but Carlo has instead put his faith in the young players at Chelsea, giving the lad Sturridge a start tomorrow night and having a bench full of youngsters, Ancelotti isnt Arsene Wenger, Ancelotti is actually expected to win things this season, but at the same time he is a man determined to progress our youth and for that he deserves a lot of respect.

Absolutely spot on. I think it helps that he is part of a midfield that includes Essien or Ramires (or both) because Mikel has so many attributes, he is a strong, physical lad with a wonderful range of passing and a good reading of the game, unfortunately speed is not something he has been blessed with but with either of those two in the midfield, Mikel's lack of speed becomes less of an issue. I thought he suffered last season when playing as part of the Lampard, Ballack and Mikel trio because none of the three of them had the ability to chase around the middle of the pitch. Im glad you refrenced his pass to Ferriera, it was inch perfect, very clever and went almost entirely unnoticed, had Scholes played the same pass we would never have heard the end of it from commentators looking to talk Scholes up at every opportunity. Mikel has developed so much as a player and its showing this season, in a midfield where Ancelotti is accentuatuing his positives (and there are many of them) and hiding his negatives (speed), along with Malouda he has been our best player and while he will never get the plaudits he deserves, well at least some of us can see just how valuable he is.

Like BlueLion said, Nic was tremendous leading the line when he was needed last season. Never more so than in the 7-0 demolition of Villa and the win at OT against Man Utd, his movement and understanding with Malouda is incredibly sharp and intelligent. That being said I wouldnt mind seeing Sturridge get some game time.

Zhirkov is more than an able replacement for Cole, I wonder if Ramires will get the nod to start in midfield again or if that will go to Yossi, I dont mind which starts, both very good options.

Most of what he was hated on for was the Kakuta stuff, to be fair I didnt se anything hateful or insulting about those, a bit obsessive maybe but hateful and insulting?

All the same when he expressed his opinion it was routinely questioned by a group of people over and over again, your always going to feel somewhat paranoid if your every post if being disected word for word.

I dont think there is anything wrong with an argument once its in reason. If the argument is based on something football related then there is no problem. Granted he probably does have to cut back on the name calling but other than that I dont think there was a problem with him.

Personally I think people should be allowed to express an opinion on a forum, even if that opinion is not accepted by the majority, it is still afterall your opinion and your entitled to it. I can understand why TX was so desperate to see Kakuta play, Id love for him to get more game time too, granted he probably did go a bit OTT in his arguments of why he should start but at the end of the day he was expressing a football opinion on a football forum. Also to be fair he did get people talking and you need that on a forum.

I run the risk of sounding utterly biased but Im saying it anyway cos its my honest opinion, Ramires to Chelsea. Kaka says this guy is the best young midfielder in the world, Kaka says he will be the best midfielder on the planet in 2 seasons, Ancelotti called him the signing of the Summer, Ancelotti called him the future of Brazil and the future of Chelsea. I dont think either of them are wrong, over the course of the season I think he will prove himself to be as good a piece of transfer business as any club has done this Summer. Worthy mentiond to Ricardo Carvalho to Madrid, with the less physical nature of the game in Spain, Carvalho will surely hold up longer over there than over here, one of the truly great defenders of his generation, a wonderful bit of business by Madrid. Ozil is another quality signing. Balotelli could prove himself as one of the best strikers around at Man City, very good signing.

Quite good, in particular in the first 20 minutes he and Essien rampaged through the West Ham midfield which gave us the platform to get the 2 goal lead. Also lets not forget he played a big role in winning the corner from which we scored the opener. Yes it probably isnt fully up to speed yet but that will come, in terms of debuts I dont think its wrong to say that he looked more impressive yesterday than either Essien or Mikel did in their very early Chelsea careers. This lad is pure quality and quality always rises to the top.

Won the Euro under 19 player of the tournament, proven himself to be one of the very best young prospects in all of Europe and looks like the best young talent we have had at the club in years.

I dont want to turn into TX but after his encouraging 15 minutes today, would starting Kakuta in this one be a posibility?

Tough game but stood up well to the physical challenges. Delighted Terry played a blinder, vindicating his decision to rest up during the international games. Ramires didnt look out of place at all in his first full Premier League game. Delighted Kakuta got some game time, even happier that he provided quite a threat, should definitely get more first team action this season. I thought Drogba, Cech, Ivanovic and in particular Mikel all did very well. That was our toughest test so far and we passed it in a big way. 4 points clear already of Man Utd

Its a shame TX isnt around because he may have imploded with excitement at the news that Kakuta will feature as part of the first team. Would love for Yossi or Ramires to start because Malouda is at his best coming in from a wide position and to be blunt I dont want to see Kalou starting.

Good Summer. The rebuilding process has finally begun now under Ancelotti, out went Ballack, Deco, Carvalho, Beletti and Joe Cole. Taking their place in the squad is young, hungry and talented players. Yossi is a good signing, has done well so far in the amount of time he has gotten, slots very comfortably into midfield. Kalas is a highly rated defender, out on loan but we should see him next season. Ramires will prove to be the signing of the Summer, the problems we had last season was mainly a lack of pace and energy in midfield when Lampard, Mikel and Ballack had to play in there for a good portion of the season, Ramires certainly solves that problem. Should prove to be a vital addition.

Go on then Chelsea sign up Kakuta.

If the great Kalou war keeps going we could incorporate it into the site that when people want to register they must choose to be part of either the "Kalou camp" or "Anti-Kalou camp"

To be honest I think its a dark day in this forums history when we have split into different camps, one of which being called "The Kalou fans"

Its really pretty simple, if you like Kalou then fair enough, go ahead and give your opinions on him and the reasoning behind your opinions. If you dont like Kalou then thats fair enough too, you can go ahead and give your opinions on him and the reasoning behind those opinions. What is not right is blind hate. Hating on somebody without reason. Perfect exmaple was when we signed Yossi Benayoun and he was getting heavily trashed because some thought his signing would mean less first team opportunities for Kakuta. There is no need to turn a Benayoun thread into a Kakuta thread. There is no need to go around hating on Benayoun when at that stage he hadn't even kicked a ball for us yet. Personally Im not Kalou's biggest fan, he runs down too many cul de sacs and loses the ball too much for my liking, on top of that the man makes one on ones look like a particularly difficult brain surgery procedure, like others Id rather Kakuta was given the amount of time on the pitch that Kalou is. That being said it doesnt mean that Im blind to Kalou's improvement, he was excellent in the last few weeks on last season for us, he did well yesterday against Stoke when he came on, he is a useful player to have in the squad, he is unpredictable and he has got pace about him. Its dumb hating just for the sake of hating.

Like Shane said I expect him to drop Malouda into midfield like he did in the second half yesterday and Kalou to start out wide. Personally Id rather Ramires or Benayoun get a starting place in midfield and leave Maloud aon the wing because thats where I think he is most effective, cutting inside from the wing and linking up with Ashley.

Well played, always going to be a tougher test than Wigan and West Brom, stood up well to the Stoke attack today, particularly under the high balls Alex and Terry were rock solid. Essien and Malouda did well in midfield, quiet enough game for Drogba but still his beautiful pass to Anelka for the second penalty and his scoring of said penalty meant he had a big impact on the result. Good to see Ramires make his debut, imo he will prove to be a big addition to the side. Terry's injury is a bit of a downer but we dont know the full extent of it yet and look at the bright side he has the entire international week to recover