Rubber bullets

Yes, in my opinion Lampard should leave the club. And the problem is what you say is his big influence at the club which is the problem. Past experiences hae shown that if Lampard is not in a managers long term plans he kicks ups a fuss and creates a toxic atmosphere in the dressing room, meaning that managers effectively have to try and get them on his side in order to get some working relationship with the drssing room. For someone who should only be used vin a very limited way, that kind of influence is simply toxic for the club. We won't progressive until he leaves and wqhoever comes in as the next manager can shape the team in their own way and not worry about having to accomodate him to make him happy - since he has said in recent interviews (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/chelsea/9862831/Chelseas-Frank-Lampard-has-put-his-recent-form-down-to-playing-regular-football.html and contrary to what he says, he scores goals when playing regularly, useless at actually being a midfielder) that he does not see himself as a squad player - I'm sorry he has got to go.

But the problem is that this is the first time (if he is appointed) he would have gone back to an old club, and going back to an old club who still have a good few number of players whose increadibly big egos (that many argue make it near impossible for other managers to have control in the dressing room unless they take a very lax approach) which were made by him still their. This seems to be a recipe for the direction of the club being nothing more then a lovefest between Mourinho and these players, with this desire to re live the old days being used, which will just a failure.

Yeah just like in against Man City, where we were toothless and he was completly non existant, the Club World Cup final where again he contributed to our toothless perfromance. Or just a few weeks ago against Man United, again another toothless performance with Lampard non-existant again, until after half time when he is subbed off and we give one of the best comebacks in recent memory and get a replay. Remember, this is a guy who braoght Carvalho to Real Madrid, mayed him a major vocal part of the team - despite being increasinly injury and mistake prone, and it took next season for Jose to demote him and usddenly they were secure defensivly. Even though Carvalho was one of the best defenders in Europe does not mean you should keep them and use them in a large capacity becuase they were once great players.

You just basically proven my point, injuries will take much long to heal and years of using painkillers to play through injuries that should be rested have doomed him to early football retirement - taking away any pace he had in his prime - which in this day and age is becoming a more vital part of defending, meaning that we (like with Lampard) would have to do major accomodating tweaking to ouur play to get them in a comfortable position just to play decently.

Yeah, that had major contributions by the likes of Mata, Ramires, Luiz - even the likes of bloody Kalou and Bosingwa. But also a huge amount of luck and everyman get bihind the ball type of football. Whether you agree with that or not, the simple fact is that our team has to be based on the likes of Mata and Hazard - yet I do fear that if Jose comes he will try and re live the glory days by putting the focus on Lampard and Terry - with people like Essien being used in a large capacity, even though they are all clearly past their prime

But whats the point of making him a major part of the team, if he can hardly play? Squad player yes, but the highlight of the defence? Then we are clearly screwing ourselves, if he is our best defender at the moment, then we will have to do major spedning in the summer for defenders who are in their prime and can actually play most of the season..

If Terry is our best defender, a man who is pretty much buggered phyisically the nits a sad situation for us. And Lampard may have been one of the best midfielders in the world in his prime, but now it will just be a case of the team being based around him (Jose and Lampard seem to have an everlasting hard on for each other) even though as soon as we come across teams with a decent midfield (City and even bloody Newcastle) he goes missing. It won't be a case of them being just minor squad players, it will be basically them and Jose trying to re create what happneded in a pass, something that can only fail misrably.

Oh and your not the one who who goes against the grain and tries to be controversial for the sake of it Yeah, at a time when they were all in their prime and could play 50 games a season. But you watch, it will be another season where we have to try and accomodate Lampard in to the team at the expense of the others - even though apart from goals, he hardly contributes anything in the midfield and can only seem comfortable when the oppositions midfield is non-existant (Wigan and West Ham) all the while trying to make the likes of Terry and Essien even though they are either; unable to play more then once a week or have lost so much pace and staina due to knee injuries they offer hardly anything to the team other as an extra number on the team squad.

Another reason why appointing Jose would be a bad idea. It will simply make Chelsea some sort of Old boys gentlemen club with both gushing over each other in an enviroment of nepotism and sentimentality , not to mention with players passing their peak (Ashley Cole) and those who are one small injury from being put in a wheelchair and have no kneecaps (Terry, Cech and Essien) being included aswell. Please, the old order is dead, lets create a new one with the likes of Mata, Hazard, Cesar, Courtois etc.

Mind boggling that some people think that Ivanovic (when he is on form) is still a better right back then Cesar.

You know what I mean, the constant gushing that Chelsea and Jose are only meant for each other all the while expressing it like a five year old who's been told he will have McDonalds for tea, chucking out all sense of rationality and falling to Jose's ability to manipulate the media hook, line and sinker.

Hmm...people seem to want to ignore that part to think that Jose is in no way a master of media manipulation and want to keep on dreaming an image that Chelsea is his one and only true love he will ever have. Just shows what a pathetic and gullible bunch of twats people here seem to be.

What I mean he is not the person to take our forwards because he is not someone you use ot create a sustainable long term future. I laid it out before, Jose's style is hedonism personified. Yes he will give you trophies if you have a good team ready (the likes of Lampard, Terry, Gallas,, Makelele etc. all were brought under and made a cog in the machine by Raneiri, who also oversaw the transfers of Cech, Robben etc.) and give him funs to by readymade stars, he will give you for 3 seasons trophies (although tats not guaranteed, at Real Madrid if he does not win the Champions league his rein at Madrid will be seen as a massive disappointment). But like I said with Inter and us to an extent, once he leaves, then you have problems with a big powerful dressing room that is difficult to control (often impossible) and o long term plan. I honestly don't want that again, if it means another 5 years of unpredictability that could lead to a few of complete mediocrity (look at Inter for Christ sakes).

I'm not denying those two points, but I think the term don't turn back comes to mind, especialy with such a short term manager who is no garuantee to have the same success as he did last time. And from what I have seen in peples overly dramatic posts, it does seem they put him bigger then the club.

We didn't actually sack him though, he left on "mutual agreement" terms, I know people will claim that was basically a sacking, yet people don't seem to remember what the atmosphere was like. Not only did we start the season with some poor results and some dire results, there was constant news reports of infighting between the board, Jose and the players (if you believe Makalele's autobiography Terry was directly involved with the toxic atmosphere that was developing with Jose), so it was not exactly like everything was rosy then the 'evil' members of the board conspired against him because they did not like him and wanted him to go. And here's the thing, Jose is all about Jose, he is a cult of personality that does it for his personal glory. O.K that’s fine if you want to have instant success but unless he is given full control which is becoming rarer in football and clubs that have boards that play a more active role in the footballing affairs is a fact of life) he will eventually get into conflict with someone and create a toxic atmosphere. Here it was with the board, and with Madrid its with both the board and the players. What I'm trying to say is that he is not the guy that takes clubs forward in the sense that he will put in the foundations to make the club both in terms how we use players in terms of acquiring them and replacing them and the general atmosphere in a state where it can be sustainable. Like I said previously here is hedonism personified, the kick feels great and it seems to be unstoppable, but once you run out the withdrawal can be a nightmare. For example after he left, our fortunes we went in almost complete free fall. four years after he left we went two seasons without a trophy, one more premier league title where we could only win by one point and a dressing room that was too powerful, had too many big egos in it and was a nightmare for managers to get a grip on it, either being forced out or having to take such a lax approach that players could almost get away with murder and not be punished (Ashley Cole shooting someone with an air rifle springs to mind). Yes, we won a couple of trophies, and you may well say that it was Jose's influence that won them. But that may very well not happen next time. Hell, look at Inter Milan, after he left he created an almost unmanagble dressing room with big egos, but they went the complete opposite way. Choulo said it best: This is why I find some of the fan mentality absolutely cringe worthy - when I read posts like "OMG JOSE'S COMMING HOME!!!" and "We really need Jose, his going to save us!", its making Jose bigger than the club, in the sense that they are falling or his cult of personality and trying to make it that he is Chelsea. You could say that if he was here like Alex at Man Utd, but he can’t stay at a club for more than 3 years, gets into conflict with someone in the club and his whole career is going from club to club trying to give them instant success before bugging off and leaving the club he left to do the hard work of rebuilding. Is he a great manager, no doubt about it, bout trying to make it as though Jose and Chelsea are somehow spiritually one, I find nauseating and insulting to the club. Sure if you want him so it may give us a few trophies in his short time before moving on then fine. But don't pander that he is the long term saviour of Chelsea and the club personified, its bollocks.

What for 3 years before he fucks off again, all the while leaving a dressing room that is almost impossible to manage and another 5-6 years of complete unpredictability, all the while people like you constantly cry demanding that he is brought back? Yeah it might be like last time when we still won a premier league or FA cup every once in a while. But it could be like Inter where they go through years of mediocrity before they finally start get back to shape. Your mentality is what I absolutely cringe about some fans here, basically making Mourinho bigger than the club. Mourinho is hedonism personified, fine if you want instant success (not guaranteed it will be like last time) for a few years, but this idea that he will bring the club into infinite prosperity that will never end for a quiet period is absolutely laughable. How can you call yourself a Chelsea fan when you basically have just put it down as Jose's play thing?

I'm gong to be very honest, I'm not exactly going to welcome this with open arms. I'm very crap at getting my thoughts out on a keyboard to a forum, I'll just say that some of the posts here are franky embarrasing and to me as I interpretate it as basically bellitling the club, all of its 107 years of exhistance, its highs and lows, as nothing more then Jose's plaything. Wish I could express it in more detail but like I'm said I can't do it very good by keyboard.

I honestly feel a bit sorry for Torres, everyone on this forum will mock him and get on his back for the penalty miss despite scoring the winner and having a very good game today, a rarity.

But that still does not deter the fact that once again Lampard was complete passenger in the game with no attempt of trying to press any of the Steaua players or instruct any of his team mates to get closer together, pass more efficently and not to lump it upwards to the goalkeeper, which he was one of the worst cases. How is this the showing of exprience and leadership? You contantly bring it up and glorify and yet so many games he is just a passenger and seems to do nothing (and don't say trying to score, I mean trying to help the midflied function instead of making constant runs forward that most of the time lead to nothing). Sorry if I'm holding him to a higher standerd,but when I constantly here how vital he is to the team becuase of leadership and experience then he should be acting like a leader on the pitch, not standing like a lemon.

Its taken a right wing extremist looney to state the obvious to the English press. http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/4828595/Steaua-Bucharest-owner-Gigi-Becali-says-Chelsea-are-too-slow-to-win.html

That does not excuse him from any blame. For someone who appearently has so much "experience" and "leadership" he should be setting a better example

How can they do anything when Lampard constantly lumps the ball to the goalkeeper? Its like he keeps thinking Drogba is in the team.

Its being reported on Sky Sports now http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11668/8541920/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

To be honest, Spurs were weakened with the sale of Modric and Van Der Vaart with not the greatest of replacements. So I give him a lot of credit. To be honest he would have been perfect for us next season if Frank and John leave the club and he is allowed to get players in the vain of Moutinho in. A case of the right manager at the wrong time.

Why the Ramires/Lampard pivot? Why is Ivanovic never dropped? God's sake.