haha super-sub indeed! i think sooner or later kalou has to accept that this is his best role. judging by the lack of a transfer request, i'd like to think he has. salomon made quite an impact with a neat defence splitting pass and a goal. studge must've been a little miffed as he tried to break krul down with countless shots, and kalou nonchalantly puts one in with his first on target. priceless.

MOTM was a close fight between mata and the crossbar. i'm leaning slightly towards the crossbar on this one.

thank you for pointing that out! he was offside, and any linesman with a good eye would have put up his flag and luiz shouldn't even be booked. how convenient for alan pardew to leave that part out i think after that luiz had another bad mistake where demba ba barged him off the ball, but from then on he was very good. not as good JT on the night, but still very good.

Studge got the goal he richly deserved, and AVB's plan to turn him into the hulk seems to be working. He was thorn in newcastle's side for 90 mins and if not for krul, could've bagged a hattrick. Such a tantalising performance by the lads vs newcastle, and i was most impressed by their confidence in attack and in possession. Yes the defence looked a bit shaky at times, but a cleansheet at st.james is by no means easy. Remember this is the team which snatched a point from old trafford.

If we took all our chances it could so easily have been five or six and anybody who watched the game would know it wasn't a scoreline that flattered us. Although we're out of the carling cup which is such a shame for our youngsters (haih kesian josh), for me this result makes up for it and will have a huge impact on where we finish this season. Meanwhile, all the best to nico and alex at their future clubs. They've contributed a lot and their time at chelsea will be remembered fondly.

p. s: to a certain extent i agree with jovi, it would be good if AVB settles on a starting line-up, particularly upfront. but u can see he's managing torres carefully now, and the way our spaniard celebrated his assist for kalou fills me with optimism, because it shows deep down he knows its about the TEAM performance. when u have that mentality, half the battle is already won. apart from that i didn't like how lampsy reacted after being subbed.

top of the group and carefree!

so finally the high line is converted to a more conservative back four, and valencia as well as newcastle couldn't break through. what an efficient and controlled performance, with some frighteningly quick counter-attacking football! i'm telling u, the speed at which ramires, studge and mata cover the pitch would be enough to make any team think twice of going gung-ho against us. i feel this is the strategy we need to adopt vs city as well, and its good to see a manager who isn't too 'stubborn' in sticking to a formula which evidently lacks some key ingredients for it to work.

drogba was a beast, i'll give him that. he did the business when it mattered most, and don't forget the supporting cast was crucial in helping him dispatch those two goals. studge had less space to run into, but was still involved in most of our attacks and he supplied that pinpoint cross-field pass for mata that lead to our opener. oreo is another monster who has literally kicked mikel to the bench, and our young nigerian will need to show a different side to his game to usurp our new DM master. the key to oreo's brilliance lies in the speed and accuracy of his challenges imo, and who knew they taught u the art of tackling at La Masia! juan gave the assists when it mata'd (sorry couldn't resist ) and the rate of which he's adapted to our football is astounding. even city's silva wasn't this good as i recall in his first season, so if mata continues in the same vein, in theory he'll evolve into an even better player in the future!

our defensive line held it together even better than when we faced newcastle, and i do believe valencia are the better team. there were some nervy moments but overall AVB has shown he knows how to organise a solid defensive wall which suit the characteristics of our players. bring on the city slickers!

p. s: special thanks to genk for getting a draw vs leverkusen which enabled us to emerge group winners. who would've thought it eh?

the gaffer is spot on about the media singling us out for special treatment, and as both manchester giants crash out in the group stages of the CL its really satisfying to deliver a double, extra hard slap to all those chelsea-hating rags. as madfag pointed out they were so damn sure the ONLY club in trouble was us, and all utd and city needed to do was turn up. i for one am going to enjoy all those extra small headlines about the red devils dumped out of the easiest champions league group, and the extra large ones about how AVB will be sacked and chelsea thrown back into the dark ages if they fail to secure all 3 points vs city

didier still gets derided for a tendency to 'overreact' in his first couple of years with us although he's cleaned up his act. unfortunately once players are labelled as such, there's no turning back really. usually the tag lasts for the rest of their careers. trust me, didier got just as much, if not more stick than the others.

that one incident that's been forever etched in football blooper history, is the exchange with jens lehmann. as far as i remember, didier doesn't go down looking for penalties. he only tends to 'milk' things a little too much whenever there's a foul on him, in the past. don't tell that to rival fans though..they won't believe u

hmmm it looks like luiz has five then. the next best thing is terry and ivanovic? alex has been reaaaallyy error prone lately. hope city are tired from their champions league exertions. one thing's for sure, without the high line we look much, much more composed at the back. i wonder how long AVB is willing to drop this philosophy of his.

i do believe that's what we're doing now. under carlo was their last hurrah, although the cracks were beginning to show. our evolution was always put on hold as the seniors continued to show flashes of brilliance that won us many points. thankfully, AVB has decided to stamp his identity on the team without being too drastic. maintaining the trust and respect of several senior figures such as terry and drogba has been key to this.

u mean there's NO solid proof rite.

anelka has come out and publicly commented that he's accepted the manager's decision, so the journos are doing their normal make a mountain out of a molehill routine. it was all probably a mutual agreement, or else i'm sure nico would have some much harsher words for the boss.

haha yep that's right. nico usually voices out when he's deeply upset with something. i think if him and alex were poorly treated, we would definitely know about it.

interesting list! i'd say the sensible ones would be de bruyne, ilicic and sergi roberto. one of them you missed is parma's giovinco. of course we're not going to get all of them at once this january, but one or two would be possible. my guess is de bruyne and maybe vargas to replace nico. my heart wants kakuta to come back and be the one to fill in for our departing frenchman, but considering AVB has spent little time with the youngster i'd say its unlikely.

u do have a point. the epl is not the time for experiments, but hopefully the fa cup tie vs portsmouth will at least provide bertrand or josh with some playing time. a bit difficult to shelve all the talk, considering its already december

AVB has launched a staunch defence of luiz and chelsea fc as whole. i'm picking up hints of a siege mentality being built, with an 'us against the rest' principle being formed around the group. there will be some serious backlash from the media after his comments, but i say SCREW THEM because we've never been favourites of all those biased journos so there's no reason to start now. it will serve to unite the team, and that's the most important thing.

i would like to see the team celebrate with AVB by squatting together with him on the sidelines for a moment. let's put some humour into it boys.all that shouting and fist pumping is all good, but we need to have a laugh once in awhile!

i'd like to see the expression on AVB's face if one of the lad's score and start the routine..without the boss knowing what its all about. we'll see the extent of his sense of humour then

great news on oreo and i'm sure he's a smart kid. he knows he won't just magically usurp busquets and mascherano, and we can assure him he'll be a big part of the future of CFC. by the time he's firmly locked down a first team position, the clause would have expired and we can put a 40 million price tag on him to ward off barca.

i really like the way AVB is handling the rumours. if its true none of them are chelsea targets, then its really going to be tough figuring out his plans. he might unearth (with the help of our scouts) another young gem like oreo with little competition from other clubs. the pato and robinho rumours are still interesting though. too bad the duck has glass legs and robinho has gone backwards since moving to milan imo.

anybody watched kakuta's cameo for bolton? i woke up in the middle of the night with the tv still on, and caught a glimpse of a fantastic dribble down the right which he made. missed the other minutes though

This post has been edited by Kerplunk: Dec 11 2011, 10:52 PM

Galvanising! That’s all I can say about our performance vs man city. Its one of those games where its tough to choose a man of the match because everyone was up for it. But if I’m forced to do so, my pick would be either oreo for another performance straight out of the makelele handbook or studge for having a hand (pun intended) in both goals! Didier deserves a special mention too for some eye-catching hold up and link up play. He was selfless and it was easily his best showing this season. That magnificent backheel and dribble at the end was really something else!

Ramires has convincingly buried the ghost of giving away possession in that fateful match vs city sometime ago, which lead to a swift counter and goal by tevez. His direct running was causing them all sorts of problems and toure just couldn’t keep up with him. That ‘HUH WHAZZAT??’ look he had on his face when he realized he wasn’t being subbed was priceless, and I like his attitude of acknowledging the crowd and accepting he was being taken off, even though it turned out be just a faulty light board. Make no mistake, essien will be on the bench once he’s fit because of our Brazilian jetfighter. Clichy’s sending off was down to him, and I just can’t see the bison being able to do the same in that position.

Anyone else felt nervous when lampsy promptly picked up the ball and planted it down on the penalty spot? I know I was, especially since mata was initially staking a claim himself. It still ended in unbridled joy as hart was beaten with a firm strike down the middle. Technically lampsy ‘assisted’ himself with that lovely pass to studge which lead to a shot, and lescott unnecessarily raised his hands, resulting in the pen. I was happy for lamps, but we seriously need to groom another young penalty taker to take over his duties. Mata has shown he’s willing, but I wouldn’t mind studge or meireles stepping up in the future.

Speaking of raul, his late run and neat finish was crucial to us getting a grip in the game, plus his tireless running (second only to milner at half-time) is testimony to his admirable work rate. However, I want to see more from the portugese because sometimes he has a tendency to attempt passes which are too difficult, and those late runs should be made more often. Our back four stood firm after iva failed to track balotelli and I don’t think it was a high line we were going for, but more of an attacking attitude which was adopted since it was still early in the game. Ashley still needs to improve his crossing, but bossy had some very good balls whipped in.

Last but not least AVB got it right again, and the desire we showed after going a goal down was intense. In the first 20-30 minutes we were giving the ball away cheaply and city could have punished us further. Vastly improved in the second half, and demonstrated great patience in searching for that winning goal. Lamps came in at the right time and whatever was said by the boss at the break worked.

p. s: The penalty incident was tough to call but I don’t think silva dived. Bosingwa did stick out that skinny leg and pulled it back as fast as he could, which may have convinced the ref there wasn’t much contact. However if he did give it, I’d accept the decision. Unlike the delayed swan dive by one of QPR’s players after being touched by luiz, this was possibly a foul.

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm let me think. oh wait it just hit me..BIG TIME! maybe.....JUST MAYBE (and i'm trying hard not to jump to conclusions here) its because he's a chelsea player?

branding him a flop even while he still wears the shirt. tsk tsk. as far as i know that's what rival fans would do. so mr. finance, say we sell torres at a HUGE loss, then we replace him with? wait let me guess..cavani? falcao? pato? hulk? and we'll pay with what exactly? gummy bears? and what guarantee do u have that the player will get a double hattrick in his first game and continue in the same vein? and how many games should we give him before u brand him a flop as well? five?

the guardian. oh yes...they're all big chelsea fans aren't they? try and look through the sensationlist and rubbish writing once in awhile. even if we won by FIFTEEN goals, they'd concoct some story about terry hanging kittens with his extra boot laces in his free time. our positive results are always secondary to these people. u should know that by know. so who cares if he celebrates with the team or not? if he's pissed at not starting, he should be and it will serve as motivation to work even harder to win back that striker's position.

i just think that's a poor attitude to have. imagine if over 40 thousand chelsea supporters at the bridge shared your sentiment. we'd be hearing OUR OWN fans booing every touch torres receives, from the first minute he's on the pitch. so yes it WILL make him better hearing large sections of the crowd cheer him on, encourage him and chant his name so the manager would bring him off the bench. it keeps him going and it does wonders for confidence. again, that's the idea of supporting the team in the first place. don't let the price tag dictate your judgement, because its not like fernando himself demanded a 50 million fee for liverpool.

well it depends on the worker. if he's honest and shows improvement coupled with a good level of commitment then why not? above all, he doesn't cause trouble and has a determination to succeed.
come on now..madrid aren't that gullible
torres loan to barca? ugghh..and put lukaku in the CF position? not gonna happen. and studge has proven to be best utilised as a right sided forward. i highly doubt any high profile strikers will move in january to the bridge.

so its napoli!hmm...it was the team after milan which i wished we could avoid to be honest.not that i'm not confident of the lads,just think an easier run would give a variety of players a chance to prove themselves.

kakuta in the CL please!huhu

yep at least it isn't milan. still going to be a great match! they're a different beast in the champions league it seems

i think it also has to do with didier's ability to hold up the ball and link-up play as well. unfortunately torres is not that type of player (especially the first bit), so one area where he can get the upper hand on the drog is mobility and movement. make those runs, stay on the shoulder of the last defender, make sure he follows up any shots spilt by the keeper, etc. to be fair he was doing most of those pretty well vs genk at home. then came the malouda + torres combo upfront and the rest is history. drogs took his chance and benefited from being paired with our most creative player mata. if AVB chooses to save ramires and raul for the wigan game AND give malouda that leftwing spot, i predict a tough game for nando. especially if flomo is in one of his 'moods' of shooting from every angle.

i must emphasise however, torres must do his best and make the most of his chances by working hard on the pitch. chase down the defenders like a madman, and if he can't get the service the next best thing he can do is provide an assist. by some miracle if flowmo attempts a wayward shot and it drops straight at his feet for a tap in, then all the better. studge can try and help out but he'd much rather attempt a shot first, considering he's on a hot streak of form. can't really blame him for that but if it gets to a point where he keeps getting shots blocked instead of trying to look for a teammate, i'm sure AVB will have a word with him.

This post has been edited by Kerplunk: Dec 17 2011, 07:08 PM

for all the furore after failing to secure three points against bottom dwellers wigan, let's just take a look at the goal we conceded again. for the umpteenth time, another individual mistake has cost us points. come on, that poke from rodallega was so soft, a stray beach ball would've probably stopped it dead in its tracks. but...cech fumbles it for some reason and nicely sets up gomez for a tap-in. so what can AVB do about that? nothing.

having said that,i still have to question our negative play as well as we seemed to be desperately going on the defensive once we got the opener. the minute studge and mata were out, wigan didn't have anyone else to worry about as we came increasingly under pressure. they pushed hard and probably deserved that equaliser, and we didn't look like we really wanted the points. its one thing to hold out for the win with 5-10 minutes remaining, but with 70 left against wigan?? that's just plain embarrassing. these were some seriously questionable tactics by AVB and guess what guys? it probably won't be the last mistake he makes at CFC so brace yourselves. he's still learning and we musn't lose sight of the bigger picture i.e, rebuilding the squad and the playing philosophy.


kudos for your positivity sir!

based on didier's age and the looming ACON, i really thought this would be the perfect game to give him a rest and remind torres that he's still an important chelsea player. unfortunately didier didn't do much all game,and that one chance which kalou brilliantly set him up for was scuffed wide. i just wonder if there's something going on between torres and AVB, but if this goes on it won't be long until he complains in public imo. besides, lampard 'technically' did it (i don't know why i'm not starting said lampsy right after the city game) and got to start in the next match didn't he? maybe the boss is waiting for him to voice his dissatisfaction? i certainly hope not..because its a mighty odd way to motivate your players i'd say.

you're spot on about fans who can't seem to make up their mind between preferring us being defensive or attacking. u know its just a few dropped points away until the usual mob start calling for ol' jose to come back. i got news for the JM lovers though: in case they haven't noticed, he lost yet another el-clasico recently and i've honestly lost count of how many times pep has gotten the better of him, with basically the same tactics every single time. so in conclusion , it won't be long before these people start calling for pep to come over here instead!

p. s: at least the reserves know how its done, by walloping arsenal 4-0 away from home. hope eskweston uploads the highlights soon!

If I’m not mistaken he can have a go at the turn of the year, in January. Closest thing to a young kaka it seems. If it doesn’t work out..well at least he has the famous Brazilian’s looks. Haha

Not sure how much the girly hair affects him. Those trademark blonde locks were definitely there when he terrorized utd and us with some amazing goals. Maybe he should try growing a mullet next..could be more aerodynamic. But on a more serious note, there could be something going on between him and AVB though. Not sure what that is.

The hazard idea is good, and probably well worth the splurge. Rodwell I’m not so sure about...he has the physique and stamina, but is he good enough?

Scary thought. But I think the evidence against him was much more damning, with evra himself lodging a complaint. The facts of JT’s case was a bit ridiculous considering it all stemmed from an anonymous informant. After what happened to suarez though, it would be entirely possible for our captain to be made an example as well. Wonder how a luiz + ivanovic pairing would do..

well it looks like JT will have to defend himself in court, on february 2012. not entirely unexpected i suppose. huge loss if he gets a suspension, but somehow i think pool will miss suarez even more. all of a sudden bolton now have extra leverage for negotiations involving cahill. not looking like such a bad target now is he? i admit i'm not too big a fan myself, but he's slightly above average me thinks. might even improve once he starts training with us. the biggest question though, is he the better option rather than giving alex an extension?

the brazillian looks on his way out, but with the level of performances he's given you'd think he isn't too keen on staying anyway. so one way or another we will have to look for another CB.

i still think its ridiculous to have some self-proclaimed lip reader make a police report over something that he/she saw on youtube

above all, they settled whatever argument they had in the dressing room right after the game. something which ferdinand doesn't dispute. oh well. if he did say what he's being accused of, then he deserves to be reprimanded i guess. but it will be purely because he lost his temper and said some awful stuff, not because he's racist.

thanks for the vid. piazon for the wiiiiinnnnnnnnnn!lovely dribble there

the first match will be our second do or die game this season (after city, where we spectacularly undid all the work against wigan the other day).
perfect time to use up your annual leave guys!