The Big Drog

Carvalho is haing a poor game , luckily Terry isnt. Mikel is offering nothing in either an attacking of defending sense in the holding role , he is too slow to get about the pitch and thus Wigan are finding the time and space to play in front of our defence. Bosingwa seems to be suffering with the physical presence of Rodallega. A big problem is that with Lampard on the left and Essien on the right , we dont have anyone who can go past players at will. Either Malouda should go to the left or get Zhirkov on and hope he offers something different. Dam Joe Cole's cold.

Difficult game especially without Drogba , hopefully Ivanovic has recovered from his poor performance against Stoke. Would rather see Sturridge up front but Im sure Kalou will get the nod. Joe Cole is nearing fitness but wont be ready for this game , same with Deco and that is a shame. Still though I think we will have too much for them. Chelsea 3 - 1 Porto

he is like a giant , German dementor.

Delighted with the result and that Drogba is back on the score sheet. Streams were pretty poor but I found a decent one that the full final 20 minutes.

Guys if possible can you post some working links here so that if one breaks down we are able to flick on another one ?

If you read between the lines , what Fifa and Ueafa are basically saying is " F*ck you Chelsea , we will do everything we possibly can to stop you from winning anything this season , even not letting you recall players to your club who are under contract to you ! " God I hate them so much.

If you read between the lines , what Fifa and Ueafa are basically saying is " F*ck you Chelsea , we will do everything we possibly can to stop you from winning anything this season , even not letting you recall players to your club who are under contract to you ! " God I hate them so much.

Just want to know , does anybody know if Yuri Zhirkov played for Russia last night in their 3-0 win ? Does anybody know if Zhirkov will play for Russia in their next game ( if they have one this week that is ) ?

Has Tom Henning Overbo become the president of Fifa ? This is an absolutely insane decision the likes of which we have never seen before. Real Madrid publically tap up players all year yet nothing happens to them , Ferguson literally kidnapps Berbatov against Spurs wishes ye nothing happens to Man Utd. Anyone else see a pattern building here ?

Really good game. Thanks to who ever sent the link to the Spanish U stream , it worked the whole second half. The football we are playing is excellent , midfield worked really well today , in particular Lampard who was probably our best player. The Drogba and Anelka partnership is starting to click too , Cole and Bosingwa were tremendous running up and down the line.

Madrid , Inter and Juventus are the clubs to avoid as they have improved their sides dramatically this Summer. I think we could beat all 3 of those but without Drogba or Bosingwa it would be a pretty tough task. CSKA or Porto would do nicely.

We have a good enough squad to rotate with. Also you have to remember that except for a few key members of the side , Mourinho rotated his starting eleven quite a bit and he won back to back league titles.

Agree 100% Shane , ironically in all of those games you just mentioned we didnt lose any of them and came back from behind , the last 3 we have ended up winning. Im delighted with the way we are playing under Ancelotti , its a really nice pass and move type game and we are controlling each game we play.

Im not really a great fan of Deco or Ballack but full credit to both of them , they both put in a good shift and were both excellent on the ball , some really beautiful play from both of them to the point where Deco would get the nod for my man of the match just ahead of Bosingwa. Im not sure whats up with the haters. We were superb , the passing , the movement , everything that RA has wanted at Chelsea and everything that Ancelotti gave at AC Milan were present tonight. Went down to a rather flukey goal after a deflection off Terry but we were superb. Against a side with 10 men behind the ball , not easy to break them down we really gave a top drawer performance , some of the one touch football was ajoy to watch , the move which was finished off by Deco was a goal that any side in world football would have been proud of. Congratulations to Carlo Ancelotti for really putting his stamp on the side and getting them to play in a way he wants them to play , well done to the players for performing so well. The best thing is the diamond will just get better when Cole and Zhirkov slot in there on either flank. Fantastic results , fantastic performance.

This will come off sounding like an over excited fan but I think that if we get the diamond of Essien , Zhirkov , Cole and Lampard and we stay relatively injury free for large parts of the season , I honestly think itsa side that can win the premier league and champions league.

I thought Andy did a wonderful job of explaining the diamond to those who dont understand it. As he rightly said we do lack width but Joe Cole is the perfect man to play out of the right , he is almost tailor made to play on the right hand side of a diamond. As Gray rightly pointed out , Essien is far better in that holding role. However I would rather Zhirkov on the left than Malouda once he is fit.

Fit , no injury concerns , playing under a manager he respects with a new contract in hand , Drogba looks absolutely on fire. After having an excellent pre season he has brought that form to the season. Granted his finishing and some of his passing yesterday could have been better. However his link up play and some of his killer passes were gems , he was a constant threat , was always involved in the game , used all of his big physical presence and scored 2 vital goals. All in all a good day for Drogba and I think there is better yet to come.

Well Malouda to the bench , sounds harsh cos he finished last season so well but I think Zhirkov will offer us far more in an attacking sense. Also Malouda can always fill in when Zhirkov is out. Essien should start in the holding role.

To be honest I think that once they are fit having Cole and Zhirkov in the side will be our plan A. They are two players naturally suited to the diamond , offer creativety and pace and a natural width and I think would work perfectly in the diamond with Essien in the holding role.

Its a pity we wont see Zhirkov but Ancelotti says he and Alex should be back next week. Im really looking forward to the game with it being the start of the season , it should be a tough test as Hull will no doubt look to get off to a good start. I expect to see us line up like this. Cech Bosingwa , Carvalho , Terry , Cole Mikel Essien , Malouda Lampard Drogba , Anelka However with Hull likely to stick 10 men behind the ball I wouldnt mind if Essien played the holding role with Lmapard on the right and Deco at the top of the diamond to try and offer a killer pass or two.

The Sun ( not a great source I know ) are reporting that Chelsea look set to bid 42 million pound for Sergio " Kun " Aguero and hope to wrap up a deal before Wednesday so that Aguero wont be cup tied for the champions league if he joins Chelsea. RA seems determined to give Ancelotti a star signing and this one seems the most likely. I really hope this happens , it wont be a fantastic signing. A forward partnership between Drogba and Aguero would absolutely tear defences apart , Aguero has creativety , his link up play is superb , he is extremely fast and a lethal finisher. Aguero to Chelsea this Summer has always been the big deal Ive hoped for and I honestly think it could well happen.

1. Chelsea 2. Liverpool 3, Man Utd 4. Man City 5. Arsenal

I like Ivanovic but a starting right back at Chelsea he certainly shoud not be , the difference in performance between him and Bosingwa was eye opening. Once the team is fully fit Id like it to look like this. Cech Bosingwa , Carvalho , Terry , Cole Essien Cole , Zhirkov Lampard Drogba , Anelka I dont think having Essien out on the right really works , also in the second half I thought Lampards role at the top of the diamond looked much better as he was allowed to drop a little deeper when we were in possession and thus he was able to playmaker a bit more and make some late runs in.

How do you check your reputation thingy ?

I dont think its a matter of the diamond not working I think its simple that we need to put the right players in the right positions for the diamond to work. Once Bosingwa entered at half time and Mikel went off and Essien moved into the holding role , the diamond went like clockwork and we dominated the game from that point out. I think once we get Zhirkov on the elft and Joe Cole on the right or at the top of the diamond with Frank Lampard being at the top or the right of the diamond ( depending on where Joe goes ) and with Essien in the holding role then I think it may well be the system that wins us the league.