The Official Thread of Chelsea FC

[magpie seanie]

Good game. Draw would have been fair result. Cech looks like he is fooked and will be a masive loss in the premiership run in.

I think they're better off without him, afraid of his own shadow these days.

[A Quinn Martin Production]

Not a bad game to watch.  I thought Chelsea didn't play brilliantly and gave the ball away a lot, Anelka was too deep and Ballack was back to his "I couldn't give a fiddlers" best.  A draw was probably a fair result as Inter seemd to "declare" at 2-1 up.  Unlike other posters here I didn't think the Kalou incident was a penalty.  I think Samuel?? made a geniuine attempt to play the ball, contact was fairly minimal and there was no need for Kalou to perform a double toe-loop somersault.  Also I thought Malouda did alright for a makeshift full back though he did struggle against Balotelli.  I agree with the ITV commentators (don't hear that much!!) in that Lampard looked a bit off the pace.  Lucio had a monster of a game for Inter and it was obvious he had studied tapes of Drogba as he played him very well and he (Lucio) doesn't half go down easily for a big man!!  Also good was Zanetti...what the hell age is he, he seems to have been around for ages.

The Cech injury is a bit of a blow but it seems it's his calf not his knee so it mightn't be as bad as first thought.  Although Cech has never been the same since the head injury, this season has been his best spell of form since then.  That leaves Chelsea with Hilario or Ross Turnbull

All in all both teams will think they can go through though Chelsea will need to play a hell of a lot better the next day.  I make Inter slight favourites.

PS...does anyone believe the Inter keeper's car crash story??  It's obvious the wife caught him doing a Tiger, JT, Cashley and gave him two shiners!!

[EC Unique]

Cech out for at least a month with torn calf muscle.

[Lady GAA GAA]

[Minder]

Chelsea are so unreliable, for a team favourite to win the league. It seems that if they have a tough task at all they get beaten.

[Lady GAA GAA]

Complete abortion of a club. Main stand empty after about 80mins.

[Schkite]

Does nobody want to win this league? Every time one of the title contenders fcuks up the others follow suit. Only a couple of weeks ago Arsenal were dead and buried. Win their game in hand now and they're only 3 pts off the top with by far the easiest run in.

[GalwayBayBoy]

Chelsea are so unreliable, for a team favourite to win the league. It seems that if they have a tough task at all they get beaten.

With Cech and Cole injured and Terry playing like Paul McShane they look very poor at the back all of a sudden.

[Schkite]

Some nice words about Terry from Bellamy there! 

[ross4life]

Chelsea are so unreliable, for a team favourite to win the league. It seems that if they have a tough task at all they get beaten.

Could say the same about United & arsenal nobody wants to win it this year

too be fair, Chelsea were 1-0 up in total control city didn't even have a shot on target then two shots that cech would have saved cost them the game

[Norf Tyrone]

A couple of bits and pieces first. I haven't really posted much on this thread over the last few weeks, as I have been busy, and the enthusiasm for doing so just wasn't there. I agree with a lot of people on here, when they say board standards have dropped.
I would also say that- and I know we are all tinted glass wearers- the hypocrisy of posters on here as well would sicken me.

Terry alledgedly sleeps around on his wife, and we get 13+ pages. UEFA screw Chelsea (again) and no-one bothers to mention it. Only one of the boards better posters passes comment. It was the same previously.
Terry is meant to (Found innocent btw) have spat on Tevez, another 12 pages of character assasination. Rooney found guilty of spitting, and it didn't even merit a mention by the rose tinted Mancs!

Anyhow...Wednesday first. The San Siro is a stunning stadium. I haven't been in too many of the 'great' stadiums, but so far this is easilly number one. The noise, and colour was incredible.
As for the game, dominated, but I just hope that a poor ref's decision doesn't cost us again!

Yesterday. The hand-shake. I thought Bridge was silly. He is obviously enjoying reading about his EX missus and his ex mate. If he had've shook hands, story over. Nothing to see here. That would've left the headline writters scrambling for a headline, and the story off the back page. However it suits Bridge to be painted as the good boy in all this. He too has plenty to hide.

The game itself was a bit topsy turvey. City were shit until Mikel, Carvalho, Hilario and Terry- in order of culpability- fucked up. With Chelsea chasing three points, it exposed the back five to City's formation based almost entirely on pace. So to that extent City got lucky. However to be fair City defended fairly well with the exception of Richards. I don't have the stats but I think he committed 6 or 7 fouls in the first half without sanction. Terry's first foul received yellow.

The one thing I would be proud of is Chelsea 'going' for the win. I'd rather lose 4-2 at home, than have to endure the tediousness of the recent City/ Lpool game where both sides essentially were shit scared to come and play football.

However Chelsea's problems stem from injuries to Ashley Cole, Jose Bosingwa and to a lesser degree Zhirkov. The formation relies on these guys to get wide from deep, opening the game and allowing Drogba, Anelka and Lampard more space. Note that for the second game in a row Chelsea had umpteen efforts, but few really good ones. The reason being that teams can pack the middle and deny the Chelsea hit men room. With these guys out, you need pace on the flanks, something that Chelsea aren't blessed with.

Malouda's redeployment at LB takes him out of the game, and Joe Cole- having his best game of the year- as usual got hooked. With no natural full backs, Ancellotti needs to take Anelka out of the action, and give the wide roles to Malouda and possibly Kalou (!!). However personally- and I realise he is protecting the kid- Kakuta would give us something here.

If Chelsea are forced to go central, you need power and pace, and Essien's absence is a handicap here.

The bright spot, is that the treble is still on  and with no league games for a fortnight, there is the possability of Bosingwa and Essien being ready for then. All we need to do then is get our back five organised.....

[Hedley Lamarr]

" Essien's absence is a handicap here."

Agree, totally different team with him at the helm.
Still expect Chelsea to win league.

[nrico2006]

United are far from the force of recent years, but I don't understand the view that Chelsea are favourites for the league. Big dip in standards over past year or two, and very ordinary especially of late. United look the better all round side, especially if they can get vidic and rio back. I don't understand how rio was classed as finished when he made a few errors that were due to injury affecting his performance, whereas terry cocks up in every game of late and it's just a bad run of form. Terry looks to have lost a bit of speed and sharpness, which was really evident when milito turned him during the week.

[ross4life]

The San Siro is a stunning stadium. I haven't been in too many of the 'great' stadiums, but so far this is easilly number one. The noise, and colour was incredible.
As for the game, dominated, but I just hope that a poor ref's decision doesn't cost us again!

Good to hear to came home in one piece 

Great footballing city Milan with a Great Stadium one of my Favourite grounds too, camp nou is the best i've been to & to think there gonna improve it even more, in the Terms of noise i don't think anyone could beat besiktas in istanbul

did you avail of the great tram service to & from the San Siro Norf?

[GalwayBayBoy]

United are far from the force of recent years, but I don't understand the view that Chelsea are favourites for the league. Big dip in standards over past year or two, and very ordinary especially of late. United look the better all round side

I actually think Chelsea are the better all round side as they have more options than United who let's be honest are enormously reliant on Rooney who in fairness is having an incredible season and is avoiding injury. Chelsea seem to be struggling a bit though with Cech and Cole out injured and John Terry playing like a muppet at the back ever since he ended up on the front pages of the tabloids.