Rubber bullets

But what he did well was he constantly marked Arteta and made it difficult for him to influence the game (it has pointed out that the link up play between Arteta and Santi was a big reason for Arsenal's good form) so even though he was making spectacular tackles and constantly making brilliant sliding tackles thought defensively he gave a workman like performance, shame offensively he had an off day.

Lost the ball quite a few times, but you could not fault his work rate and defensive duties. Not brilliant performance but certainly not poor.

Well he certainly has made me put a lot more faith in him. He is making bold moves and is trying to integrate the attacking talent we bought to the team, kudos to him.

Brilliant, sloppy in some parts but we were solid and played them at their own game.

Back two should have done much better, left him completely unmarked. Now they will have the momentum second half.

Banned for four games.

So what about all the slide comments to media, especially the one where he out right says there was tension between him and AVB (http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/26022012/58/premier-league-lampard-admits-avb-problems.html), unlike you I don't take this stupid motion held by some that there is some great world Conspiracy that is out to get the club. Lampard said this at the height of speculation, meaning he was doing it to score points or is a complete idiot. Also, have you actually watched the matches. The likes of Hazard, Moses and Mata constantly go back to help the fullbacks when we are on the back foot. Not to mention that Oscar goes deep in the midfield to get the ball and help relieve pressure. In fact a few times I have seen the likes of Hazard and Mata having to drop back in order to accommodate Lampard because he keeps going far in the opposition n half. So this idea that the 3 attacking players don't do any defensive work is complete crap. Its not their prioritized job, Lampard is suppose to help with defensive duties first, he can't do this, therefor he is not suited t this double pivot, he ignores those duties and is too slow to be a deep lying play maker. I'm done with this stupid conversation, nothing will change it will be the same posts over and over again with you bringing up the arguments.

1. But that does not mean you have to act like a massive twat, keep making slide comments in the media and using your influences in the dressing room to get what you want. Its like the last 10 years of unconditional support has got to his head and now thinks he should be treated like royalty. 2. How many times does this have to be drilled into your skull, both players in the double pivot have to be completely disciplined other wise the whole thing falls apart. They are the link between defense and attack and they are the ones that have to keep the ship steady. By all means you need creativity (but Lampard is not even that, yes he can give a good pass once in a while, but he is slow on his first and second touch, has very little place and can't take a lot of pressure in the midfield, someone like Romeu does these attributes better) but that does not mean you can make headless runs into the box every time the ball is in the opposition half (and not even go back when it looks like you won't be part of a potential attack) and completely ignore you defensive duties making us incredibly vulnerable to counter attacks. Watch the Athletico game, nearly every time we manage to get the ball upfront he was up there in the box demanding the ball in a vain attempt to score, warping the midfield and contributed to us being ripped apart. Not to mention it gets in the away of the three attacking midfielders (its their job to do it, let them get on with it). These issues have been mentioned time and time again and you just brush them off like they are some sort of small tiny inconvenience. Christ on a fucking bike.

Yes I'm pretty sure every time he got dropped by AVB he accepted without fuss and just waited when he got another chance (you probably did not realize this was sarcasm) And by the way, he is probably the least ideal because when we play it properly (not back to walls defending like matches against Barca and Bayern) because he lacks the most important function, discipline and balancing attacking and defensive duties

Mancini: Has he never heard of the term "If it ain't broke don't fix it"? Had a formation that won them a PL and FA Cup and has changed it to a stupid 3-5-2 formation where they leak goals.

People wanting us to play with a false 9 must be jizzing their pants now, Hazard for Torres.

LOL ROMEU!

Chelsea TV commentators, stop babbling and actually tell us what is happening in the game.

Any BBC radio commentaries? The Chelsea TV one is utter crap, they acting like we are watching it on TV.

Any BBC radio commentaries? The Chelsea TV one is utter crap, they acting like we are watching it on TV.

How do we know that stream will only show Chelsea TV?

I've just realized, the last time Chelsea had a league cup game they played in that was broadcast on British television (Sky, BBC) was way back in February 2008, over four years ago!

I bloody hope this is not true, Bertrand on the wing and Ash at LB (no rest for the Arsenal game) Torres on and not Piazon.

The double pivot is not a bad thing if it is utilized properly. In my books we have few players who can slot in the double pivot quite nicely in Mikel, Ramires and Romeu (put David Luiz if you feel if he is someone who can play there as well, I have doubts). The problem is that RDM obviously prefers the 4-2-3-1 as his formation of choice but is desperatly trying to shoehorn in Lampard to keep him in his good books. Its either one or thee other but we should not change formations solely to accommodate and tend to the needs of Lampard for reasons already stated/

So we should go back to centering our tactics and game to a declining 34 year old who very well may be buggering off next year, which means that the likes of Oscar, Hazard and Mata have to make way (and play out of position) so we don't upset Lampard's feelings. Bollocks to that. He has to either adapt (and give the so called experience that some people bang on about like its a necessity that stops the end of the world) so others can flourish or he can fuck off.

Well his contract runs out next year, and should the club (hopefully) stick to their rule of 1 year extensions only to people over 30, I don't think Lampard will agree to that and will probably leave.

Not necessarily. It hash happened before that foreign broadcast stations pick it up for streaming.

Hopefully this convinces that Ramires should stay in the middle and is capable of playing in the pivot. Was man of the match for me.

1st half we suffered from being too narrow. But we improved much more in the 2nd half by stretching their defense. Moses was excellent when he came on and gave their fullbacks lots of problems which they never had in the first half. The only thing that stopped it making look like an incompetent performance by many neutral and opposition fans was that we lacked that final killer instinct. The front four look good but I would like them to make more runs into the box once they pass it and Torres needs to stop being to static and stay in the box, again h kept going too deep or too wide. The partnership of Mikel and Ramires was very solid. Unlike QPR or Juventus Stoke never had any good periods where they completely dominated us. We had much more possesion and if we can create more chances and have a bigger killer instinct, then I see good things for us.

Its too narrow, we need to stretch their defense more. I would not mind seeing Moses come on the 60 minute mark, someone who can go on the flanks and stretch them.