The Big Drog

The Mikel criticism is harsh. Man Utd are our main rivals for the league and their counter part to Mikel is Carrick and personally Id take Mikel any day of the week. I understand whats being said though about Kalou , Deco and Malouda. Too inconsistent , you cant rely as much as we do on hit or miss players , its that simple.

What is Florent Malouda doing playing out of position ? Not only that but you could ask what is he doing playing at all ? Yuri Zhirkov cost 18 fucking million pound , he is a genuinely talented winger with pace who can get past people..... play him ! Carlo , despite what he says , clearly needs to spend and spend big in January cos there is no chance in hell that , that squad can consistently win games in January , heck they are struggling now to win even with Drogba and Mikel intact. Flip side is that Chelsea created enough chances today to win the game. Lampard , Kalou , Sturridge and Malouda all should have scored , shitty December never fucking ends .... roll on Fulham.

Frustrating. Playing well up to the edge of their box then we lack a finish. Lampard should have scored when he got in one on one , incredibly unlucky that Alex's wonder shot didnt fly in , Sturridge perhaps could have done better with his chance at the end. Id really like to seeZ Zhirkov brought on , we need someone who can run at their 2 banks of 4 and take their lads out of position. All of that being said Birmingham look like they were denied a perfectly good goal.

I think its rather pivotal that we get him or a young player close to his level ( and there are very few of those around Europe ) , as stated above , this would be a star signing akin to Liverpool signing Torres or Man Utd signing Rooney , this guy would slot instantly into the side , a partnership with him and Drogba would be simply lethal and eventually in a few years he is the sort of player you can build your entire team around. The reason why its important is that he is young , he is an absolutely clinical goalscorer and he is one of those rare players in the Torres , Drogba or Ronaldo mould that can single handedly change a game , as good as Nicolas Anelka is ( and he is damn good ) he just doesnt have that single moment impact of a player like Aguero. Chances are we will not get a better chance to sign him because you canb bet if we dont then Real Madrid , Man City and Man Utd will all be sniffing around and if he goes to one of them clubs thats our chances of signing him down the drain.

Kalou every day of the week for me. Im not sure what exactly he is supposed to add tyo the team. He runs with his head down into a bunch of opposition players and loses the ball , he misses sitters and his positioning at times is mind boggling. Sturridge put him to shame in the 45 minutes he played yesterday. Bit surprised so many say Mikel , I quite like him , granted he doesnt haver the pace of Essien to cover as much ground at the base of the diamond but he is a big , strong player who is quite good on the ball , I think there are worse than Mikel.

Sunday 4 o clock kickoff , live on Sky Sports , with that away kit on , with our luck the way it is , all we need now is for a black cat to walk across the pitch before kick off and we are rightly done for.

Not exactly the convincing performance everyone was looking for with our recent poor form , however it is a vital 3 points that at the end of the day title winning sides occasionaly have to pull out of the bag. Positives : Alex being back , created the opening goal really well and looked solid at the back. Ancelotti showing that he has a plan B when he went 4-3-3 Borini doing well when he came on and unlucky not to grab a goal , he genuinely looks like the real deal. That we were able to grind out the result. The Negatives : Our luck , on another day Kalou would have had a tap in had the deflection gone his way ( then again he did miss a sitter earlier in the game ) , Pompy wouldnt have scored such a flukey goal. Kalou , how is this man the third choice striker ? We can thank our lucky stars that he will be gone in January , if we had to rely on him to replace Drogba in January then we might as well forfeit top spot right now. This one sort of links in with the one above but I think that despite what Ancelotti says , we need to buy in January. Tonight the proof was in the big green pudding , without Drogba it was all very one dimensional sort of stuff going forward , there was very little variation at all.

The defence was the shits today , you cant concede like that from 3 set plays. Somebody needs to do something about Cech , time to face facts , since the head collision he seems to have lost his nerve. Really poor perfomance again from him today. What I wouldnt give to see Alex back in the heart of the defence. Mikel also was simply too slow around the pitch , too plodding and too predictable. When we dont have Essien in the team our midfield doesnt work because neither Ballack or Mikel are very mobile. Also Joe Cole is bang out of form , he doesnt look sharp at all. However credit to Drogba , at times we look like a one man team and we can thank our lucky stars that , that one man is the best striker in world football , say what you like but there aint anybody better than Didier Drogba. Also Anelka continues his superb season and I thought Ivanovic did well today. However not all bad news as we are now 3 points clear. If you offered me the chance to go 3 points clear at the top at the start of the day I would have taken it. Improvements need to be made in January.

At the moment Id rather Kakuta over Deco or Joe Cole neither of whom has really impressed me lately , Cole clearly needs a few more matches until he is as sharp as we know he can be and Deco is a bit hit or miss. Anything but a win today must be considered a disappointment.

Poor mistake but I wouldnt base my entire judgement oof him on that. He is clearly a very good player with potential to become even better. Excellent on the ball , he is a big physical presence , he does however give away too many freekicks and he has struggled at the base of the dimond because he lacks pace.

Positives : -Kakuta was excellent , looks like a genuine top prospect. - We finished the group top and undefeated - Drogba scored again The Negatives : - Complacent. You got to see out games like that , confidence looks a little fragile at the moment. - Defensively frail , we have looked welland truly weak at the back in the last 3 games , not good enough. - Under performing by certain players ( Malouda , Belletti , Mikel , Turnbull ) - The tip of the diamond. I know Joe Cole is working his way back to fitness still but seriously from a creative stand point it wasnt good enough again tonight , too many missed passes , too many mis-controled touches , too many flicks that didnt work. Its a clear problem area in the side. - I miss Alex

Really hopeful that Kakuta gets a start tonight , its the perfect chance to introduce him to Champions League football , also Im optimistic about Zhirkov getting more starts under his belt. I wouldnt mind seeing Drogba start tonight and knocking in a few goals to cheer us all up a bit.

Beating Man City on the Xbox isnt enough for me , I wont be content until Tuesday night when we destroy Apoel , that might make me a little bit more cheerful again , then beat Everton at home and I will have my happy face on again.

I know quite a few Man Utd fans who were cheering for City today , clearly Howard Webb was amongst them , absolutely fucking disgraceful , a shameful display from supposedly one of the top officials in the English game , once again officiating in football leaves us all down. I wonder , if we had of been Man Utd would Howard Webb have given the handball by Richards ? Of course. Would he have given the Man City freekick for their second goal ? Of couerse not. How did so many of our players get so many yellow cards ? Ask Mr.Webb ,welcome to a footballing country which i governed by the Fixed Association. Its an absolute joke. The only reason Drogba has gotten a penalty is because his legs have nearly been hacked off in the fucking box. Well done Mr.Webb , you have served your purpose today. All of that being said , Cech didnt look very clever at all for either goals and for the love of God can we please buy an attacking midfielder in January , Deco and Joe Cole simply havent been consistent enough this season. Fuck Webb , Fuck the FA , Fuck it we will still win the league cos we are Chelsea.

Hopefully it might help him with his finishing.

To be fair I would say that Essien , Lampard . Ballack , Joe Cole , John Obi Mikel or Florent Malouda would walk into the modern day Man Utd midfield. It genuinely is the worst midfield that Man Utd have had in like 20 years. However no doubting the quality of Essien. I think at the start of the season Ancelotti's plan was to play Essien in the more attacking right hand side of the diamond ( the Ballack role now ) but Mikel failed so spectacularly in the holding role that Ancelotti had to shift the ever reliable Essien into that role. That being said Ballack has been excellent this season , if Mikel keeps playing like he did against Wolves then we have a top class holding midfielder and it will allow Essien to play in the role originally designed for him.

I heard he is pretty much fit , though he wasnt on the bench against Man Utd , Im guessing due to a lack of match sharpness. However he is in Russia's squad for their world cup qualifier games.

Yuri Zhirkov this is your time to shine.

Tense and nervous match , played with a lot of intensity but perhaps lacking quality. It was a defenders game anyway. Great win , 5 points clear , delighted John Terry got the goal ( dammit Im gonna say it was his ) , I thought it was exactly the sort of victory we would never see under Scolari , we held out , we were rock solid at the back and other than two long range efforts , Man Utd never really tested Cech , they never carved Chelsea open even when searching for an equalliser. A title winning side style performance from Chelsea. My man of the match goes to Carvalho , stunning today. John Terry and Ivanovic are close seconds.

Id rather see Joe Cole play in there too , I think Deco may be too static which will give Fletcher an easier job of marking him. I expect Deco to start though

Hey guys , Im far from a computer whizz so Im not even sure if this is possible but Im going to throw it out there. If possible , I think maybe a better homepage might help , the layout of the current one is a bit messy and maybe a revamped one would really spruce ( weird word to use ) up the forum. Other than that though , top class forum.

From two in a row to three in a row , the two teams that have dominated English football in recent times lock horns on Sunday. Chelsea have been the undisputed best side in the league so far. With key players firing and playing with a champion’s swagger , they have brushed aside almost every team that has stood in their way , the exceptions being Wigan and Villa. Man Utd on the other hand have thus far been under par and at times look rather lacklustre , however they have managed to pick up points and are only two points off Chelsea at the top of the table. In these type of games , the way these teams line up on Sunday should be quite interesting and will likely give an indication of each managers beliefs in what they can get out of the game. I expect Chelsea to line up like this Cech Ivanovic , Carvalho , Terry , A. Cole Essien Ballack , Lampard Deco Drogba , Anelka 　 Perhaps Joe Cole and Belletti are in with a shout of starting but with both playing the champions league mid week tie against Athletico , it would seem Ancelotti will favour Deco and Ivanovic respectively. The Man Utd line up is far tougher to predict. Playing at home , nobody expects Ancelotti to change his system or his personnel. Ferguson on the other hand has been known to tweak his side. Considering the magnitude of the game , taking into account that Man Utd are playing away from home and with the strenght of the Chelsea midfield in mind , I expect Man Utd to start like this. Van Der Sar O Shea , Brown , Evans , Evra Anderson , Fletcher , Carrick Valencia , Giggs Rooney 　 Of course that could change. Vidic could be fit , Scholes could start , Giggs might play in the centre , Rooney may play out left with Berbatov starting up front however that is unlikely. So if those are the teams , where are the weaknesses ? With Chelsea there is still some concern about defending set plays. Ivanovic at right back may be a weakness , as we have seen him exposed by speedy wingers before , Nani in the Community Shield being an example of that. Deco must get into the game , he simply cannot allow himself to be marked out of the it. Then there is the Achilles heel of the diamond formation. Man Utd will know they if they can keep the width on either wing then they will create chances , its absolutely pivotal that Lampard and Ballack chase O Shea and Evra up and down the line. Where do the fundamental flaws in the Man Utd side lay ? Their midfield has long been a problem , exposed by Barcelona and Liverpool in recent times. If Chelsea move the ball about quickly quickly and push high up on the Man Utd midfield when they’re in possession ( ala Lucas and Mastering ) that is a platform that Chelsea can build upon to win the game. A key weakness for Man Utd this season has been their central defence. With the out of sorts Rio Ferdinand likely to miss the game and the out of form Nemanja Vidic a doubt for the game , it could well be left up to Johnny Evans and Wes Brown to deal with the most dangerous strike force in the league , these are the same centre backs that conceded three at home against CSKA Moscow. A remarkable change has occurred this season , it is as if the universe has swallowed itself into a vortex and spat itself back out on the other side. The clouds of change have descended upon English football. For so long now the build up to these games centred around one man. Gone are the days of the pre match hype revolving around Cristiano Ronaldo , away with the days of arrogant Man Utd fans saying if Ronaldo starts to fire , Chelsea are done for. Welcome to a new era in the Premier League , greet the new best attacking force in the English game , long live the days where the hype around the game all falls on the shoulders of Didier Drogba. Whether Man Utd fans admit it or not , they know that if Drogba fires , Chelsea may well open up a 5 point lead at the top of the table. It’s a huge game , it’s the two sides that are likely to contest the Premier League this season , its two sides that have gone through substantial changes during the Summer. Its two sides who have something to prove on Sunday. Man Utd look to prove that they can win against the big boys sans Ronaldo and Chelsea look to prove their title credentials and there is no better way to do that than beating the champions. From a two point lead to a five point lead , victory over the champions may well put Chelsea in champions elect position.

That was Chelsea playing at like 60% of their powers. Even at that they have still done enough to qualify for the next stage of the champions league. Call me a bit biased , but there is no striker in the world better than Didier Drogba , the man is on fire , so far this season he has been thee outstanding player in the premier league. Was very impressed by Aguero also , Id love it if the rumours are true , though some people dont seem to be that impressed by him , he is a potentially world class striker and someone who can change a game in a second , him up top with Drogba would be simply lethal. Now onto Man Utd , with Drogba firing lets kick some ass !

Thanks Sam and Milan Cech for the call on Veetle , I downloaded the software and cant remember ever seeing a better stream. Great result , very good performance , 13 goals in 3 games with 0 conceded ? Not bad at all Id say. Loved the third goal , Id love to know just how fast it took for the ball to go from Ivanovic getting the ball away in our box to Deco putting it in at the other end , Id guess it couldnt be more than 13 seconds , stunning counter attacking football. Great cross from Cole for the 4th goal , Drogba just keeps on scoring !

Thanks Sam and Milan Cech for the call on Veetle , I downloaded the software and cant remember ever seeing a better stream. Great result , very good performance , 13 goals in 3 games with 0 conceded ? Not bad at all Id say. Loved the third goal , Id love to know just how fast it took for the ball to go from Ivanovic getting the ball away in our box to Deco putting it in at the other end , Id guess it couldnt be more than 13 seconds , stunning counter attacking football. Great cross from Cole for the 4th goal , Drogba just keeps on scoring !