Phil Driver

1st name on the teamsheet for Fulham . The beautiful game is not all about being beautiful .

When the sh1t is hitting the fan and you need players who will perform under that pressure and who have big character the first seven in that team all have that and the front 4 needs freshening up.

.........Cech........ .Ivan..Cahill..JT ..Cole.. ....Rammy...Lamps... Schurrle...Mata...De Bruyne. .............Ba...............

This was a Champions League match,not the League Cup.

What was it for then letting Osman waltz past him unchalleneged for the goal or the hat trick?

If Mikel had those stats everybody would have said Man of Match . 96% just shows how easy it is to have a high % pass rate when you keep it simple.

Lampard was often behind him in the first half ,they rotated especially early on . But then of course we needed somebody who could produce a pass that could make a goal and we went in 1-0 up. He did not sit as in virtually stand still as Mikel does. And I do not think Jose wants that as even Mikel was higher up the pitch v Everton. I think the days of this sitter have gone.

And dont say on the touchline.

where does he stand if he is not in the team v Fulham?

He may well be finished and over the top ,but far too early to write him off after 2 games .

Thought he was our best player last night ,but agree about his limitations when in a forward position, In an ideal world Branna would be the best defensive cover in world football and would play most games at C/B or R/B . When you need to break teams down at home though he lacks the technique to make us tick. Dave is not the answer either though ,from what I have seen.

Was he dropped or rested last night and where does he stand if he is not in the team v Fulham? If it is a rotation policy it will be Ramires/Mikel .

Rubbish he was the only one who looked like creating a goal and he did create the one we scored . The midfield fell apart in the last 15 mins and who usually covers our near post at corners?

You cant judge him on that ,he looked raw ,not surprising though but it was clearly too much for him last night . Massive statement though to be picked in front of Mikel for such a big game ,but Rammy must come back in that role and let Lampard score the goals and make those key passes like for the goal last night.

The team fell apart in the last 15 mins it was rubbish when Lampard went off and Mikel came on and we lost 1_0.

Ballack agreeing with me on sky news, no leaders out there especially when Lampard went off ,we surrendered and were gutless.

Yes I am when Lampard went off we had no leaders on the pitch and we gave up ,a gutless performance especially after Lampard went off,Terry has never had pace ,but he has a football brain that makes up for that , a brain that tells him when to push up and when to drop ,othrwise known as good defending and hi sleadership was missed ,not enough leaders out there ,that was obvious,especially last 20 mins when we were feeling sorry for ourselves .

If any proof were needed that he is vital to us ,last night was it ,no energy and no bite in that team ,one too many tippy tappers a bit like Arsenal for me .

Not enough leadership out there , Terry was sorely missed especially when Basle equalised, in the last 20 mins it was awful ,the whole team threw the towel in ,who was talking and driving us? Our heads dropped and the Chelsea will to win was gone ,we surrendered.

100million + of midfield attacking talent out there and it is still down to Lampard to produce the passes that penetrate and create our goal and the chance for Eto'o where he was slow to react ,Rammy's running power was sorely missed as well. It has to be Rammy and Lampard as the two genuine midfielders now after that weak performance.

The glue guy hey. Great term . How does the glue guy glue us together so that we stick and win matches? It means nothing ,it relates to 85% safe,negative passing,that slows us down in glue,perhaps? Teams all over Europe are searching for that glue guy to turn them into winners ,nobody ever called Makelele the glue guy . Makelele sat and did protect our defence you could not score against us at times. Mikel is not able to produce what Maka did and one other thing, Makelele was as good a passer as Mikel ,he was quicker and he saw the short first touch forward pass quicker than Mikel . This glue guy tag for Obi is starting to grow on me .

You can do better than that ,put up that picture of your mother again,

Makelele was useless going forward ,his shooting was almost as bad as Mikel's ,what a DM though . Anyone who suggests we should compare Messi's/Drogba's win/play stats with Mikel's is clearly not of sane mind. Lets have a look at Mikel's stats even further great pass/completion figure high 80's % . Very good . If that is so brilliant why does that not translate into Chelsea winning more games when he plays ,bearing in mind he is excellent? This very valuable contribution must feed through to the aim ,Chelsea winning matches ,it does not and that is because slow,negative passing and not being a good defensive midfielder aka Maka does not help Chelsea win more matches than they win/draw despite us being a very succesful club ,his stats are more in line with a relegation team.

None of those stats relate to Drogba's ,Messi's,Rooney's contribution when they were in the team ,they will be very positive .When these players play you win more than you lose,another red herring like the "Action areas" I am afraid . To suggest that when these players play they could end up with play/win stats like Mikel or Dave is obscene.

No injuries ,Jose said . Great news and great team selection if true after the Everton defeat. Rammy suspended and hopefully the rumours are true and Lampard and MVG are in midfield ,Jose's reading of a game is superb and he will have seen what was wrong at Everton if this is true .