Newcastle vs Chelsea

[LDN Blue 7,903]

Tiote who ran the show for Newcaslte cost £3m. He is about 10x the player Ramires is.

Whoever scouts for Chelsea is stealing a living.

Definitely. Ironically, it was Drogba who convinced him to come to England. Where were Chelsea when this happened? Chasing an £18million rip off, that what.

[Milan 17,957]

The most frustrating thing is being aware of our next fixtures. Bloody hell if Carlo and especially players don't change anything, we are going to be smashed and out of the race. To December we should have been coming as the top team with some gap and what happened - United are ahead of us although they have been fucking weak. December - now or never.

[The Big Drog 1,110]

Obviously not a great result but being honest Im not that annoyed about it. After a horrific mistake of Ferdinand and Van Der Sar proportions, we got back into it, dominated the game and were probably unlucky not to get the win in the end. Yes 3 points and top spot would have been nice but that didn't materialise, the reason for my mild feelings is that Im safe in the knowledge that the bison, Essien, is back enxt week along with captain bloody wonderful John Terry and boy how much do we need them, all that is needed after that is for super Frank to make his return and I'll be positively upbeat.

The negatives, obviously poor defending, that we didn't get 3 points and that Kalou finds a way to both delight and infuriate in equal measure, Mikel looking unlikely to make a tackle in 90 minutes of play and Nicolas Anelka's frustrating one paced play from deep, when it works its great, but like today when his touch is off it just breaks down everything attack he becomes involved in.

The positives were Branislav Ivanovic who appeared to be defending on his own at times, in particular in the second half I thought he was excellent, Florent Malouda who even playing from his less favoured central midfield role looked good and was influential and the biggest positive of all today was Ramires who in the second half stood up to the challenge, gave it 100% and was excellent, very much looked the part today and came out of the match with more credibility than he had before the game began.

Things to think about for the future would be signing another centre back, Alex clearly should not have been on the pitch today. Starting Daniel Sturridge, he is lively, he looks more mature than he did last season, he looks like he is ready to start for Chelsea, he was fantastic mid week against Zilina and I think he would be well worth a starting role against Everton next weekend.

2 points dropped but given the form we are in at least thats not 3 points dropped, there were a few positives to take from the game, the performance was pretty good and next week Michael Essien and John Terry return and thats the biggest positive there is for this side at the moment.

[DYC. 7,542]

Ramires should change his shirt number.

Personally i always give a player a full season to get used to things etc. and will start 'judging' him in his 2nd season. But considering his 18 million pounds price tag, the comments on him are understandable.

[Aesthetic Relic 301]

Another of those games. Absolutely deserved to win. Can't really fault the performance but the commitment of the players certainly needs addressing.

That could be the difference come May. We're not winning game when we're in control and also dropping points when we're not playing well.

Last season we were picking up 3 points when we were shite and scoring goals out of nothing. I dont really think you can put the sudden change in form down to not having Essien and Lampard as we were rolling teams over without them earlier in the season.

Something is going on behind the scenes and it has to be sorted out asap. We need a serious kick up the arse as in several weeks we have Manu, Arsenal and Spurs in quick succession. If we dont pick up at least 7 points from those 3 games we may as well give up.

[laka 0]

this is not a winning squad,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,to much quality disappered with ............carvalho,ballack,deco and injuries on key players,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,to thin squad. december will be a nightmare,,,tottenham, arsenal, man u and bolton,,,this will maybee be remebered as black december

cheers frpm sweden

[LDN Blue 7,903]

Last season we were picking up 3 points when we were shite and scoring goals out of nothing. I dont really think you can put the sudden change in form down to not having Essien and Lampard as we were rolling teams over without them earlier in the season.

Exactly. This is much more than that, I believe it's psychological. There's just no heart in this team. If the heart & soul is defined by Lampard & Essien only, then something is seriously wrong here. Drogba, Ash & Mikel are all losing their way now.

[neel 257]

1 out of 10 performance from anelka.

[LDN Blue 7,903]

1 out of 10 performance from anelka.

Probably, I gave him a 3, just to make it look like it wasn't that bad. I just don't understand why Carlo left him on for the full 90. Taking off Mikel and leaving on Anelka was perhaps the worst move of the game.

[bloody 209]

Ramires should change his shirt number.

Personally i always give a player a full season to get used too things etc. and will start 'judging' him in his 2nd season. But considering his 18 million pounds price tag, the comments on him are understandable.

nah

we spent 24 million pounds for didier n he became a great player for us after 2 seasons

our squad was also stronger back then compared to the current one

[LDN Blue 7,903]

nah

we spent 24 million pounds for didier n he became a great player for us after 2 seasons

our squad was also stronger back then compared to the current one

Remember, he's only being played because there's no alternative left. I definitely see him being dropped once Lampard is back.

[carefreeluke 27]

Once again we didn't take our chances. Kalou couldn't finish his dinner. The only goals he will score our either tap ins or goals like he scored today which is a shame because he could be a great player, if only he could improve on his finishing. Mikel was poor by his usual standards especially first half he struggled with the pressure Newcastle put him under. Crying out for more width, we kept trying to go through the middle and at times it looked as we were unorganized up front. Needed more in the wide areas, I think that's one of the main reasons we dropped points today. Don't think we get the best out of Malouda playing him in the middle but we don't have many other options to be fair, Sturridge should of come on much earlier, would of definitely given us more width. Didn't see much from Bos today either but in saying that we were going against a brick wall down the right at times, Enrique and Gutierrez defended really well. Look back to Essien's sending off against Fulham and it looks to be really costly now, we've desperately needed him in the last few games. We should of won today but if you don't take your chances, you don't deserve to.

[Styles 9,790]

If Ramires couldn't run fast he wouldn't have a single redeeming quality.

[carefreeluke 27]

Give the lad a chance.......

[LDN Blue 7,903]

You know what.. Not being on top might be a good thing in this situation. I mean it's not like we deserve to be there. But the players will now see this, it'll sink in harder than ever the fact Manchester United are 2pts clear at the top. The last few losses, well, the players knew whatever happened we'd be top of the player because we always had a points buffer, now that's gone the players have no choice but to reclaim the top.

[Rubber bullets 1,183]

You know what.. Not being on top might be a good thing in this situation. I mean it's not like we deserve to be there. But the players will now see this, it'll sink in harder than ever the fact Manchester United are 2pts clear at the top. The last few losses, well, the players knew whatever happened we'd be top of the player because we always had a points buffer, now that's gone the players have no choice but to reclaim the top.

Or it could make some of these players play even more shit and give less of a damn.

[LDN Blue 7,903]

Or it could make some of these players play even more shit and give less of a damn.

..yeah there's that too I guess

[Cosmin 2,484]

Last summer, Carvalho, Ballack, Deco, Joe Cole and Belletti left the team. Carlo decided (or not, who knows?!) to buy only Ramires. I know, we have a lot of very good young players, but how many of them have we seen playing constantly for the first team?!

We have a big problem, and i don't know how it could be solved. I'm so frustrated right now.

Fuckin' bring Aguero or someone...Dammit!

[Rubber bullets 1,183]

The main problem is confidence, you can dominate the game like today and againts Birmingham, but you need that confidence to get the finishing touch.

[LDN Blue 7,903]

"It is not a good moment, obviously we have lost the top of the table and we have to improve and do better, it is not enough what we are doing now," he said.

"But we had a good performance, we started bad and it was difficult from the beginning because we conceded a goal and did a mistake but after that we had a good reaction, we took our time but the performance was good."

He insisted, however, that the off-field situations at the club - namely the sacking of Ray Wilkins and impending departure of Frank Arnesen - have not influenced his team.

"I don't think so, the performance was good, just I think we have to convert the shots we have, just that," he continued.

"I think there was a penalty in the first half but he did not give it, but I don't want to judge the referee on television. I don't like to do this.

"I think at the moment it is not so easy. We have to stay focused, we can work this week and prepare well for Everton."