The time of Ryan Bertrand

[blueblood22 50]

I Think who saw all the game against man utd saw of my opinion the worst game ever for ashly cole the second and third goal that we suffered is 65% his blame came from his side, he did'nt came back to defense yes i know he stopped in the end barbatov to score another one but stiil he was very very bad game didn't tackle well not fast enough

and what i'm trying to say we have a great defander on the team the captain of the U21 england national team and he is allready 22 years old, have to play and he is good enough as we saw whan he did got the chance to show it and now is the time definitely whan ashly getting older and slower i'm not say to kill him because one match but still Bertrand need to start more and more in the 11

what do you think?

[lentherussian 86]

Cant really say hes better than ashley cole as man utds main threat was always gonna come from wide areas and in fairness, your right he did have a bad game. I think most chels fans would agree that our game time to young players in the last 5/6 years has been awful and something wed all like to see change.

[Kieran. 6,317]

Besides the challenge, I thought Cole had a decent game.

[ZanSnake 1,211]

Cole had his best game at Man Ure, and believe or not, he hasn't been as good this season for me as he has done for the last few seasons. I think he needs a couple of matches of rest - has he even been rested at all in the last two seasons in the PL?

Bertrand is probably the best LB we have in both attack and defense, and i see him as Cole's replacement - and so does AVB as he rejected numerous loan bids for him, to become our LB back-up. Hopefully he can do us a good showing against Fulham, earning a chance at Swansea and then we have to go on from there. Maybe we can also Josh for the first time, despite that AVB promised him chances for first team football

[Guest justin_3d]

Nothing new that has been discussed before.

We will see how well Ryan does against Fulham.

[Liquidator 5,176]

Cole was up against Nani who is in the form of his life. It has always been clear that Cole and Bosingwa are not great defenders but offer a lot going forward. We have not really seen much of Bertrand in a Chelsea shirt so it is difficult to judge him much (particularly against Birmingham in April who lets be honest are hardly a threat down the wings) I rate Bertrand a lot higher than Van Aanholt though who cannot defend to save his life. We should give him a full 90 against Fulham midweek and maybe the last 10 or so against Swansea depending on the score

[blueblood22 50]

Nothing new that has been discussed before.

We will see how well Ryan does against Fulham.

why are you sure he will play? ashly cannot play next match? or AVB says something about it?

[Guest justin_3d]

why are you sure he will play? ashly cannot play next match? or AVB says something about it?

Talking about the Carling Cup match against Fulham.

Ryan will play.

[Bosnian Blue 2,471]

If he doesn't start against Fulham then it means there is no future for Ryan at the Bridge.

[LDN Blue 7,903]

Cole had a good game..

Maybe my football knowledge is going bad, but I think his decline is being exaggerated. He's still making sharp runs forward and coming back to do an adequate defensive job. Yeah he's lost some pace now, and perhaps fatigue will become an issue but I think we're overstating this.

Still got 2 good season left in him, imo.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

No doubt about it that Cole is past his best - I think he's been poor for the last 12 months, in all honesty. Poor by his standards, at least. Still a very good player though.

[Blue Armour 4,287]

Cole had his best game at Man Ure, and believe or not, he hasn't been as good this season for me as he has done for the last few seasons. I think he needs a couple of matches of rest - has he even been rested at all in the last two seasons in the PL?

Bertrand is probably the best LB we have in both attack and defense, and i see him as Cole's replacement - and so does AVB as he rejected numerous loan bids for him, to become our LB back-up. Hopefully he can do us a good showing against Fulham, earning a chance at Swansea and then we have to go on from there. Maybe we can also Josh for the first time, despite that AVB promised him chances for first team football

Very much agree on Cole getting rest...The amount of games he played last season was unbelievable...

I've always felt that with his ankle problems, there should be a little bit of rotation at LB, with PVA or Bertrand coming on for the last few minutes, or maybe even starting the less important ones.

[zolayes 14,489]

ash does need to be rested more ... ryan should start this week

[Tomo 21,733]

The Cole decline has been over-exaggerared. I think we are all comparing him to 09/10 where he was unreal. Hoving said that we have to look at phasing him out sooner rather than later.

[Bosnian Blue 2,471]

Nani made Cole look like an amateur. Same thing happened last time with Valencia. All he had to do is defend properly, nobody wants him to attack the way he usually does when we play ManU away. Clearly he's not a rock solid defender anymore. Still he is very good and at times even excellent.

[DYC. 7,542]

Cole had a good game.

Really? Nani destroyed him yesterday.

Not saying he's finished but he couldn't handle him.

[warnie_666 1,081]

While Bosingwa did well to keep Young quiet, Nani the MOTM dominated Cole.

Cole was poor and could have been sent off on another day. But on another day the goal could have been called an offside the the pin ball would have landed in Cechs safe hands and Torres and Ramirez would have scored

[LDN Blue 7,903]

Really? Nani destroyed him yesterday.

Not saying he's finished but he couldn't handle him.

Well I'm going to be bias here and say, Nani would've demolished anyone back there. Be it Cole or Bertrand.

Still got 2 really strong season left in him, I've seen him be on better form this season than last..