The Official Thread of Chelsea FC

[new devil]

    Yea had some laugh when heard that

[Minder]

  Yea had some laugh when heard that

Ah well at least your happy Devil......

[ExiledGael]

  Yea had some laugh when heard that

Ah well at least your happy Devil......

Cheryl?

[new devil]

  Yea had some laugh when heard that

Ah well at least your happy Devil......

No just laughed

[Norf Tyrone]

On a day which was a bad one for the team with the 'isteree', Chelsea created a wee bit more equaling the longest unbeaten run in domestic cup competitions (20 I think). Win the Cup on Sunday, and take the record outright.

Also delighted to see Super Frank cement his place in the Chelsea hall of fame with goal number 100 on Saturday. I know a lot of non-Chelsea fans don't rate Frank, but watching him week in, week out he's a super footballer, and a very committed pro.

And as a last thing....looks like snow on the pitch in Athens for Tuesday night!!

[Norf Tyrone]

Geez that was boring. Chelsea had most of the ball, but lack invention that a Ronaldo might provide. Joe Cole and Malouda out wide are soooo pedestrian, especially with Ashley Cole playing. Bridgey, and Belletti every time, with SWP and maybe Kalou please.

Olympiakos looked very limited for the home side.

Alex, and Carvalho majestic again.

[Minder]

Geez that was boring. Chelsea had most of the ball, but lack invention that a Ronaldo might provide. Joe Cole and Malouda out wide are soooo pedestrian, especially with Ashley Cole playing. Bridgey, and Belletti every time, with SWP and maybe Kalou please.

Olympiakos looked very limited for the home side.

Alex, and Carvalho majestic again.

Would you have "JT" back in there in the centre of defence, if i was a Chelsea fan i wouldnt.

[Norf Tyrone]

Geez that was boring. Chelsea had most of the ball, but lack invention that a Ronaldo might provide. Joe Cole and Malouda out wide are soooo pedestrian, especially with Ashley Cole playing. Bridgey, and Belletti every time, with SWP and maybe Kalou please.

Olympiakos looked very limited for the home side.

Alex, and Carvalho majestic again.

Would you have "JT" back in there in the centre of defence, if i was a Chelsea fan i wouldnt.

It's a toughie, and this is where Avram has to earn his crust. It's going to be difficult now to manage now that we have a full squad to pick from. Personally I'd keep Alex and Carvalho, but JT's leadership cannot be underestimated. It's important that if he's sub that he still inspires when and where he can.

For me:
Cech
Bridge
Percy
Alex
Belletti

A midfield diamond of;

Mikel
Lampard
Essien
SWP

Anelka
Drogba

[Norf Tyrone]

DEATH THREATS AND MYSTERY POWDER SENT TO CHELSEA BOSS

By Simon Evans, PA

Anti-Semitic death threats have been sent to Chelsea boss Avram Grant in a package containing a mysterious powder, police said today.

The club's training ground at Cobham, Surrey, was sealed off after a member of staff opened the package yesterday. A note addressed to Grant claimed the powder was lethal.

A police source confirmed that the note to Grant, 52, included the words: "You are a back-stabbing Jewish b******. When you open this letter you will die a very slow and painful death."

Death threats of a sexual nature were also made to Grant's wife, Tzofit, a well-known television personality in the couple's native Israel.

A spokesman for Surrey Police said: "We were called to Chelsea's training ground at Cobham at 12.15pm yesterday after they received a suspicious package.

"A white powder contained within the package was analysed by specialists from Surrey Fire Service and was determined to be a harmless substance.

"Detectives are continuing investigations to identify the source of the package."

At the time Grant and Chelsea were in Athens ahead of last night's Champions League 0-0 draw with Olympiacos.

Chelsea said in a statement: "A suspect package was sent to Chelsea's training ground yesterday. The required procedure for dealing with such matters was immediately activated and the police and other services were called to handle the situation.

"A harmless substance was discovered. The matter is still being investigated."

[ONeill]

Grant's wife - what a lady!

The Chelsea girl ready for a spanking

Move over, Nancy, English football has a new leading lady. The replacement for Jose Mourinho as coach of Chelsea comes complete with a wife who is a television star in their native Israel.

Tzofit Grant, 42, has at different times bathed in liquid chocolate and spaghetti, received a spanking from a sadomasochist and drunk her own urine, all while on air hosting a chat show.

Football experts predicted yesterday that she would bring new glamour to the Premier League and outshine Nancy Dell'Olio, 48, the long-suffering girlfriend of Sven-Goran Eriksson, the Manchester City manager and former England coach.

But the wife of Avram Grant, 52, who has switched from director of football to manage the first team at Chelsea, also has a serious side.


She has spoken emotionally of how she was sexually harassed by a neighbour at the age of nine and how her brother suffers from schizophrenia.

Websites in Israel were yesterday describing her as everything from "an obnoxious talk-show host" to a "sex icon".

On the eve of today's Premier League clash between Manchester United and Chelsea, British soccer writers were warming to the idea of a colourful new character on the sidelines.

When her husband was coach of the Israeli national team, she veered from being his loudest supporter in the stadium to screaming abuse when his team played badly.

One Israeli soccer writer said yesterday: "The tabloids will love her. She will be bigger than Nancy because she wants the limelight. But there will be no sex scandals. They are a very happy couple."

An Israeli journalist in Tel Aviv said: "She should be the partner of Jose Mourinho rather than Avram Grant because she is much more exciting."

But there was a word of warning. One senior sports commentator said: "She could be Chelsea's Achilles heel. The terraces will have great fun with her."

Grant, who learnt to strip down a rifle when she did military service in Israel, feels no need to conform in public. She drank her own urine from a glass on Milkshake, the magazine programme she hosted, while exploring whether it had any health benefits. The audience gasped, but she giggled and said: "Mmm, it tastes like water from the Dead Sea."

In an interview last week with an Israeli military TV station, she said: "I hope some of Avram's critics will think again about what they were doing to him.

"Avram is a person who is used to thinking positively. He does not deal with negative energies . . . He just moves forward."

Uri Geller, the Israeli-born spoon-bender who was once co-chairman of Exeter City football club, said: "She is a big star in Israel. She has a large personality and had a terrific talk show."

The couple met when he was 37 and she was 28 and married three months later.

She was an actress but got her big break when she became a co-host of Milkshake, originally a daytime show. She made it more feisty and it moved to a late-night slot.

As well as drinking urine, she has sat drinking red wine in a bath of spaghetti and tomato sauce wearing a bathing suit.

She once hosted a "miracle" on the show when a healer was supposed to use his "electrified hands" to make a disabled man walk. It turned out to be a hoax.

When she appeared with the sadomasochist, she allowed him to spank her and then accepted his invitation to punch him hard in the face.

She said she needed something to make her angry. "Think of Avram," said her guest.

Her husband came to British football last year as technical director at Portsmouth.

She initially stayed in Israel, where last year she appeared at a mental health charity event with her brother Amiram, to discuss how he had fallen ill with schizophrenia and announced that he was the Messiah.

When Roman Abramovich, the Russian billionaire owner of Chelsea, appointed her husband to the post of director of football last July, she moved to London with their son, Daniel, 13, and daughter, Rommi, 10.

Yesterday Chelsea seemed oblivious to the impending Tzofit effect. A source close to Abramovich said he had never met her and a team official said what the wife of a manager did was irrelevant to the club.

But Shaul Adar, an Israeli soccer writer, said: "She is very loud and attractive. She was the Ruby Wax of Israeli television.

"I was at one Israel game and she was the loudest person in the stadium.

"There were times when she couldn't go to matches because the fans vented their anger towards her.

"But when Avram got it wrong she sometimes joined the fans, cursed him and shouted: 'Make some substitutions now, you bastard'."


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article2512393.ece

[Norf Tyrone]

Geez O'Neill! I know news is slow getting to the Hill, but that story is 6 months old!

Smoke smell in pudding lane!

[Norf Tyrone]

Apologies for the tardiness of my thoughts on Sunday past, but I was hungover for 2 days, and then busy at work!

Are you ready Dinny...I think you're my only reader!  


Spurs were good. Chelsea were s***e.

Firstly the team that was picked in my opinion was good enough. It is more or less what I would've started with although I'd have Joe Cole over Anelka to balance things although I'm not Cole's biggest fan. Not one player, bar maybe Percy and Cech turned up, and it' wasn't until the 105 minute mark that Chelsea put Robinson under a bit of pressure.

Kudos to Ramos whose Spanish knowledge told him that Belletti is a very weak right back defensively. Going forward he's bombing but ask him to defend and you're in bother. The first 15 minutes Spurs went at Beletti time after time, and their confidence grew in spades.

The other strange thing was our midfield on Sunday. Neither Lampard, Essien nor Obi Mikel functioned at all. Lampard was probably not 100% fit, but I thought he tried at least. The other 2 looked totally lost. Essien I am worried about. In his first year he was iffy, but got good praise last year. However on reflection he filled in for Terry last year at centre back and at right back, so he didn't play midfield all that often. This year he appears to have reverted to his first season form.

Where to know for Avram? A lot of the fans have stood back and give him time while he has bedded in, but have become very anti-Grant these last few weeks. it wasn't just the Spurs performance (One shot on goal in 90 minutes), it was the Olympiakos game, and Liverpool game to boot. Both games barely had a creative moment.
There in lies our problem.

With 4 defenders, Essien and Mikel on the pitch you have 7 defensive minded players (Inc Cech), and 4 offensive (Some find Drogba very offensive). Of the four Wright Philips, and Joe Cole have their days, but are not in the same league as Ronaldo, Messi, etc. We badly lack a creative spark. Lampard will occasionally give it, but his fitness has been a concern.

Me thinks it's time for 4-4-2 either with a diamond to suit our current playing resources, or a conventional system that will result in a midfielder being axed, and new/fast wide men coming in.

The one bright spot though is the performance of the Chelsea youth team on Wednesday as they beat Port Vale 5-2 to reach the FA Youth semi final for the first time since 1973. The performance was fast, exciting, indeed everything Roman graves. Arnesan appears to be brining in some really promising kids that are 2 to 3 years from the first time Kakuta, Stoch etc. Blooding a few of these is a must to reach the 'break even' target!

KTBFFH

[Norf Tyrone]

Cech

Ashley Cole
Terry
Carvalho
Ferreria

Maka
Lampard
Ballack

Joe Cole
Anelka
Kalou

[new devil]

See Cole's still good at scoring away from home

[Norf Tyrone]

A ref with common sense. Well done Peter Walton! About fecking time a red card decision went in our favour. Over to you FA....

Referee says he was wrong to send off Frank Lampard

Matt Hughes

Frank Lampard is likely to escape suspension for his sending-off against West Ham United after Peter Walton, the referee, said yesterday that he was wrong to show the Chelsea midfield player a red card in the 4-0 win at Upton Park on Saturday.

It is understood that Walton wrote to the FA yesterday saying that he had looked at the incident again and had made an error of judgment. Lampard was sent off because, in the view of one of the assistant referees, he struck Luis Boa Morte in the face, although replays showed that he pushed the Portugal winger in the chest.

Lampard's appeal will be heard by a four-man judicial commission this morning, with Walton's testimony likely to carry significant weight. Chelsea must prove that there was a "serious and obvious error" to have the card rescinded and have submitted a DVD to support their case, as well as written submissions from several players.

Chelsea have become used to being frustrated by the FA's streamlined disciplinary process this season, with appeals against the red cards shown to John Obi Mikel, Michael Essien and Ashley Cole rejected, but they are confident of being satisfied on this occasion. Although Jérémie Aliadière, the Middlesbrough striker, suffered the double blow of being given a four-match ban as punishment for a "frivolous" appeal against his sending-off against Liverpool the weekend before last, there is one precedent in Chelsea's favour this season, with Lee Bowyer having a red card rescinded after West Ham United's league match against Birmingham City.

If Lampard achieves a similar result, he will be available for the FA Cup sixth-round tie against Barnsley on Saturday. Lampard's potential availability will give Avram Grant, the Chelsea first-team coach, another selection headache.

The England midfield player showed signs at Upton Park of developing a promising partnership with Michael Ballack, with the pair embracing after the Germany player had scored Chelsea's third with a stunning half-volley from a pass by Lampard. "It was important for us to win," Ballack said. "We had a bad performance last Sunday \ and got criticised, but we showed we are a good team. We lost one game, so everybody spoke about a big crisis at Chelsea, but that was not the reality."

Ballack credited John Terry with maintaining squad morale, through team-building exercises such as last week's paint-balling trip. "It comes from JT, the captain," Ballack said. "Sometimes during the season you have difficult moments, then you have to do something a little bit different."