Newspaper reports
The Observer, Stuart James: “A day that started with Ray Wilkins questioning his dismissal as assistant manager set the tone for another miserable afternoon for Chelsea, as Carlo Ancelotti’s side slipped to a third league defeat in four matches. “Keep calm” has been the mantra at Chelsea in recent weeks but preaching that message is becoming more and more difficult amid a dreadful run of form that is threatening seriously to undermine their hopes of holding on to the title.”
Sunday Telegraph, Jonathan Liew: “At times Michael Emanalo, Chelsea’s new assistant manager, scarcely looked like he belonged in the dugout, such was the look of bewilderment on his face. He had better get used to it. He has a lot of work to do. If Chelsea’s surrender against Sunderland last weekend was a seismic event, this fraught, maddening defeat at St Andrew’s was the aftershock.”
Independent on Sunday, Phil Shaw: “Chelsea’s blip is in danger of becoming a full-blown slump. The champions’ standard still flutters on the Premier League summit, but it is looking increasingly ragged after Birmingham, third from bottom at kick-off, emulated Sunderland’s win over them. Lee Bowyer converted their only scoring chance early on before they mounted a rearguard action in which Ben Foster answered critics of his performance forEngland in midweek.”
Official Chelsea FC Website: “Chelsea have suffered successive league defeats for the first time since 2006, despite dominating for all but a few minutes of Saturday’s game at St. Andrew’s.”
The goal
The preamble
It’s not easy being a member of the Royal family. Sure you’ve got loads of money, plenty of glamour and flunkies taking care of your every need but you’ve got to live your life in a straight-jacket, observe protocol and have your partners chosen by the head of the family. When Charles was asked if he was in love with Diana he answered “yes, whatever love means”.
It’s not easy being manager of the Chelsea family. Sure you’ve got loads of money, plenty of glamour and flunkies taking care of your every need but you’ve got to live your life in a straight-jacket, observe protocol and have your partners chosen by the head of the family. When Carlo was asked if he thought Michael was a good coach he answered “yes, whatever coaching means”.
Positive spin
- You’ve never had it so good. Ok so we’re going through a minor recession but we’re winning trophies, are top of the league, regular Champions League contenders and already qualified for this year’s knock-out phase.
- We’re top of the league. Unbelievable but true. We won the league in 1955 with a record low number of points. With everyone else around us losing we might well set a new record.
- We’ve had our sticky patch and we’re still top.
- All our injured players will be fit for the knock-out phase of the Champions League.
The match
Last week against Sunderland we deserved to lose, probably by more than 3-0 if Cech hadn’t made several top saves.
This week against Birmingham we didn’t deserve to lose. The following stats have been copied verbatim from a post by GrocerJack.
Possession
Birmingham 39%
Chelsea 61%
Attempts on target
Birmingham 1
Chelsea 10
Attempts off target
Birmingham 0
Chelsea 15
Corners
Birmingham 4
Chelsea 16
Fouls
Birmingham 9
Chelsea 2
Drogba had three good chances, one shot, a header that brought a great save and another header against the bar. In the second half Cech was doing a Peta Borota, camped on the half way line ready to pass the ball forward to the final third where the game was played.
However despite the stats and second half domination I never felt convinced we’d equalise and we never recovered from a piece of sloppy defending that allowed Bowyer to score from a one on one against Cech in the 17th minute.
The players
Collectively they just weren’t good enough. It’s not acceptable to flounder against Birmingham, from the bottom three, following two defeats in the last three games.
The only player I’d like to highlight is Kalou, who looks as close to being a top striker as Ann Widdecombe does a ballroom dancer.
Reasons for our current demise
- John Terry injured.
- Ivanovic forced away from right-back to cover other positions.
- Drogba’s malaria.
- Drogba’s infected the rest of the squad.
- Wilkinsgate.
- Loss of Lampard / Essien in the engine room.
Please send your selection on a postcard to Carlo and complete the sentence “I would make an excellent first team assistant because…”
Related links
Good report Mark, made me chuckle, and I think all of us need that at the moment.
I think the defeat might have been a bit easier to take, had we won last Sunday.
Anyway I’ll leave you all with this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQoGSlrkgkI
Have to disagree about Kalou … sure not at his best the last few games but he has pace, control and is strong on the ball. Sure his composure and decision making need to improve but he is a valuable member of our squad.
Ramires again had a poor game.
Strange one this, we didn’t play badly but we didn’t win against a team we should be beating. Again the bench was light and Sturidge also disappointed again. Carlo said he has never seen such speed in a striker but all he does is cut in and then put in a poor pass/cross.
Can we buy in Jan? I think only if they are HomeGrown players so that will limit our options. Isn’t this why we only registered 19 players over 21?
Looking at it again, I’m still shocked that a man of Didier’s quality hasn’t learnt how to convert a one-on-one. I still haven’t forgiven him for his two dismal misses against Barca, both home and away, under Guus and watching it again tonight on MOTD, it was clear that he was never going to score. He doesn’t have the technique of an Henry to pass the ball into the back of the net (just look at how his foot was wrongly planted so that he scuffed the shot) and regularly decides to keep his head down and blast the ball towards goal, more in hope than expectation that he’ll score. Put it this way, if Anelka had been running onto Kalou’s through ball, we would have been 1-0 up.
But there’s still nothing to panic about (although I am pissed off at how Chelsea always do this to us. I mean, since Jose left, we just seem unable to do things simply. Why can’t we sprint away at the top with a 10 point lead so we can concentrate on the CL?). We’re still top (unlike last season when we were chasing Utd for long periods) and we just need a bit of luck to get things going. In terms of performance, tempo and football, we were very good today. And if Carlo can get Lamps back, we’ll be fine, although if you ask me, Carlo looks to be pushing harder for the CL instead of retaining our title against the worst Utd side in years, Arsenal’s kids and City’s gang of money grabbers.
The same problems of the old legs, inability to perform after a short rest period, a lack of creativity, Ramires’ shitness and Emenalo’s clueless face (I watched the game today, and the number of times they cut to the bench to see Paul and Carlo talking about how to turn the game around whilst Emenalo was sat there, looking like a fan who was surprised to be given such a good seat, was hilarious), still remain but we’re Chelsea, the fucking Champions and if we can’t beat Newcastle, a promoted team who shipped 5 to Bolton, then we really are fucked. So, there’s 7 days left before we hit the panic button. Plenty of time to sort things out.
How true it is. When Drog has missed this opportunity it somehow became clear to me that we are going to lose this game. I haven’t got anything to add to the review and to the Habs post….
“although I am pissed off at how Chelsea always do this to us”
Even last season. Yes, it was fantastic that they won every “must-win” game, but did there have to be so damn many of them?
This is starting to feel just like the good old days.
And to make matters worse ,Cunningplan’s cunning plan didn’t work for me.
Remember that Ivanovich IS in fact a centre-back who captained the Serbian U21 side in Euro U21 Champs to the final and was selected at CB in the team o t tournament. The reason why he plays right, and occasionally, left back for the National team is due to the riches Serbia have at CB – Vidic and Subotic( press reports say Wenger looking at 18 mill quid Subotic). Branners was very good yesterday – he is perfect to guide Bruma at CB. Therefore can’t agree that one of the major prob’s we have is Branners missing at RB – we have a defensive and offensive RB, both fit. Thought Mikel was very good, don’t underestimate the effects of malaria, Kalou continually flatters to deceive, Nic above ave. but midfield below par. That’s the prob – bite in midfield. But don’t ignore the stuttering starts made by the Drog and the Bison when they joined us – Ram needs time.
Whatever he does for Serbia, when he’s at RB for Chelsea he’s a shut-down performer.
Malouda created 11 chances yesterday, the highest by any Premier League player this season in a game
@ Habs – “we’re Chelsea, the fucking Champions and if we can’t beat Newcastle, a promoted team who shipped 5 to Bolton, then we really are fucked”.
Errrr… couldn’t you go back a week and replace teams you mentioned with Sunderland [minus the promoted bit] and Newcastle respectively?
Perhaps BB can update us on the Karmic inevitability of those 6 and 7 goal extravaganzas at the start of the season requiring this goalless run to restore cosmic order?
I have no problem with teams being defensive rather than inviting us to rip them apart, but a home team with 1 attempt at goal in 90 minutes is truly miserable and something Birmingham seem to do regularly no matter who the opposition is.
And do they have the worst floodlights in the EPL , providing a feeble, yellowy light to an increasingly dismal afternoon?
Ticket sales for Zilina on Tuesday must be going really well, as I hear relentlessly upbeat adverts on LBC this morning urging us to buy for what admittedly may be the only win we’ll manage this side of Xmas 😉
Totally agree with regard Birminghams approach to the game, I don’t think I’ve ever seen, or recall a game like it, where the home side had just one attempt at goal during the 90 mins. As good as we might be, you would expect most teams regardless of calibre, to carve out a few chances and attempts over the course.
And why is it the Birminghams keepers seem to play blinders against us? it was Hart last year, and now Foster
Only saw the last 30mins so missed the goal, didn’t see MOTD and just watched the clip for the first time. Have to say that it was a splendidly taken, unfussy goal, the sort that we should be scoring for fun week in and week out.
When DD popped a cross from Flo down for Nic to finish against Blackburn, big Sam raved about our finishing and here we are, a few weeks later, letting Brum do it to us.
The last half hour was something of a siege, and I didn’t see anyone worthy of criticism, yet there seems to be plenty of lessons still to be learned.
We let their blatant time-wasting annoy and frustrate us.
Instead of using the break in play to breath deeply and concentrate on putting them straight back under the cosh, we became impatient and excitable, hurrying and scurrying without belief or purpose.
We lost our shape and composure.
Commendable as Alex’s determination was to score, another team (one that at least had another attempt) might’ve got a second and done us good and proper. When we need goals we need Nic in the middle, not out wide.
We don’t have a plan on how to push for that last 15/20 minutes when necessary.
Manu’s main tactic this term is doing mainly that – it was so obvious against Manshit that it was embarrassing to wonder what they had been doing for the other 75 minutes – no goal then but it does work and there will be games when we will need to do the same.
We did look unlucky not to score, but I felt that we were increasingly playing for one point, rather than all three, and an equaliser late on would’ve been just that.
It’s a long season etc
http://www.goal.com/en/news/1717/editorial/2010/11/21/2224224/comment-three-defeats-in-four-games-but-chelsea-are-still
Good article here, puts things into perspective a bit.
Didn’t see any of the game, but I’m tempted to say that a good performance was probably more necessary than anything else at this stage, just to remind ourselves that we’re not the dross that jogged around last weekend.
And even if I’m the only fan in the ground on Tuesday night I’ll enjoy myself. Nothing like a dead rubber to relax the nerves before the torments of December.
Oh dear, Roman’s really fucked up now:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/chelsea/8150102/Chelsea-changes-have-left-Carlo-Ancelotti-brooding-over-future-as-tensions-mount-at-Stamford-Bridge.html
Is Carlo about to resign in the next few hours? Unlikely but if Roman has pushed out one of the 5 best managers in the world because he thought Emenalo being on the bench instead of Ray was a good idea, then he should just fuck off.
I’m still amazed that for a guy with £10Bn in the bank, he can be so bloody stupid. This is like the Avram nightmare all over again.
Seems to me Jason Burt is the typical no nothing / thinks he knows it all “insider” that every paper has to have lately.
If he fucks off, does he fuck off with the players whose wages he is subsidising? Does he fuck off with the state of the art training facility at Cobham?
The MLS cup is being played right now ,Colorado v Dallas ,but I can’t be arsed.
Listening to some Floyd (Tony The Grocer – The Division Bell : underrated ,or just not very good?) instead.
Dallas are my ‘local” team now ,but as a former resident of Houston I have no time for anything to do with the big D.
Did quite fancy the young Pamela Ewing though.
Division Bell grossly underrated in my book!
Underrated, although weak in comparison to The Wall for example, but as with any band it’s the ‘melange’ of characters that define it and without the ‘soul’ of Roger Waters and his angst and flirtations with despair it did lose a little. A valiant effort none the less with some true classics in there. Lost for Words, High Hopes and the inspirational Great Day for Freedom (listen to the live Gdansk version – Gilmour says its the only time he nailed it live).Seems Carlo is getting a bit uppety, and good for him. He says he isn’t like Ferguson, but for me that’s exactly what he should be. Fair play to him for saying as such, but there’s usually only one winner when you play Roman.
Nothing to panic? Wow, I’m really suprised at how calm some of you are. We’ve got Carlo coming out saying he doesn’t have control of the team. Ballack’s saying that Ancelotti opposed his release, Wilkins telling the press he doesn’t know why he was sacked and reports everywhere that Carlo is becoming disillusioned at the Bridge. It’s a as close to a crisis as we can get. I mean, we’ve got to thank the board for fucking us up when things we just beginning to look stable for a long time. Sigh…
There is an awful lot of media stabbing in the dark going on at the moment, best take most stuff in the press as guesswork.
Don’t see the Carlo quotes as a big deal – I thought it was common knowledge that Chelsea operate on different lines to United and Arsenal, with transfers and staffing being handled by committee, with RA having the final say. If Carlo sticks around for five years, maybe that’ll change but given our managerial turnover, we cannot possibly function any other way. I’d like it to be different, but not sure it’s realistic to take that risk.
It’s been a funny sequence of game, a couple of deserved defeats but not on Saturday. Birmingham didn’t defend stoutly or any of that crap, they got pumelled and got lucky. The team was certainly back in a better groove than it has been for weeks. Now the issue is whether to field the big guns and go for morale-boosting goals against Zlina, or throw the kids in and treat it as a rest week.
As fine an opening to a report as I’ve seen Mark. When will the memorial mug be available?
I was reading the children a bed-time story on Saturday “Max and Lara’s Amazing Travelling Space Circus”. The Space Circus is run by two characters call “The Guv” and “Mrs Spectacles”. Then you look at the bench in that Telegraph article that Habs gave us the link to. Truly one finds the truth in children’s fiction.
Speaking of the truth, I am a subscriber to the cock-up theory of history. I’ve been more perplexed by the Wilkins business than by the bad run of form. Injuries and form, bad luck, what goes around comes around, there’s still time to put things right and we have to put some faith in the Guv and the players, (with or without the help of Mrs Spectacles).
No, the whole Wilkins thing doesn’t add up whatever way you look at it from a football perspective. There’s the unexplained suddenness; the dissembling; the very apparent discomfiture of Ancelotti. The timing particularly, just when the team is going through a bad patch and everyone needs to stay focused. What could possibly explain all this?
Have a look at the completely untrue rumour on cfc.net. It’s just the sort of sad tale of duplicity, pride and human weakness that because of its context has ramifications way beyond the individuals concerned. Personal feuding carried on irrespective of its effect on a whole organisation. It explains so neatly the nonsensical events of the last few weeks behind the scenes. But we know that in reality Wilkin’s removal was all part of Chelsea’s carefully thought out footballing strategy.
I think the article you’re referring to has been removed, which is odd, as it specifically stated the rumour was a lie, but left us to make up our mind. If it is the one you’re referring to (about a certain CEO’s alleged penchant to enjoy the odd away game) and someone’s honest resolve to make sure all stakeholders were aware of this, then as ridiculous as it sounds, it does sound just as feasible as everything else.
What”s clear is that it wasn’t just a non-renewal of contract but was a dismissal, for which there usually has to be a very solid reason behind it such as gross misconduct or insubordination.
Blimey, that one didn’t stay up for long. Interesting how stories of Ray’s supposed drinking or speaking out of turn do the rounds without molestation from the legal eagles.
That story may have been as big a pile of cack as a lot of the other nonsense but it did point to the sort of grubby non football related issues that have the ring of truth in this sort of sorry affair.
It’s not an unhealthy interest in gossip (oh dear me no) that keeps me coming back to this. It’s the fact that we as a club seem to be unable to achieve a stable situation around our footballing affairs. If this is a transition year or we bomb out because of too many injuries then fine. But we seemed to have found a winning formula, CA and Arnesen were supposed to be on good terms, then this.
There is no logical footballing reason for it and the longer it bleeds on the worse it will get.
Not trying to sort the truth from the lies here, but what really winds me up is that it’s so difficult to get an overseas manager or player to hit the ground sprinting, and then settle, into the EPL.
Given Carlo’s obvious comfort with his own culture this should’ve been our biggest concern. But he’s learnt the language and made this his home, yet instead of us reaping the long term mutual benefits, we’ve apparently managed to thoroughly alienate and disillusion him (and quite a few supporters).
This may have been par for our troubled past, but surely not now in this brave new future?
WTF am I talking about, this is CFC; if it ain’t broke, just whack it a few times.
Josh and Bruma starting tomorrow.
Essien injured.
No Kakuta or Borini starting, have heard a rumour both will leave at the end of the season. I love rumours. It’s likely we’d go through all that trouble signing Kakuta and let him leave isn’t it? Actually, we’re Chelsea. Nothing would be a surprise.
According to the official website, Essien’s toe means he wont play. Mikel has a niggle and Alex’s knee while OK will be rested. Chech also rests.
So the 12 foot 3, 19 stone Mikel is to be replaced as holding midfielder by the diminutive McEachran who once weighed in at 10 stone when his bathrobe was wet. It will be interesting to see him in there where he can drive the game. Don’t know who the rest of the midfield is really. Who’s left? Ramires and Malouda. But wouldn’t they want to give Malouda a break?
Brouma starts as well.
Can’t believe we let Matic bugger off to Vitesse for a year as a favour for one of Roman’s mates. Now that really was a stupid bit of work.
Surprised how much angst this latest bit of proprietal interference is causing among fans. It’s nothing on the scale of the Grant-Mourinho stuff, which was clearly designed to deliberately unsettle a sitting manager due to a personal grudge and had repercussions that took us out the running for three seasons. This is just playground stuff in comparison.
As someone who has displayed a bit of angst, I feel I ought to offer some sort of reasoning.
The Grant/Mourhino business while vaguely insane was believable in the context of the prevailing politics and the turf wars behind the scenes. It added up by its own curious logic.
I think the Wilkins business, because we have yet to see a credible explanation that smacks of the truth is an ongoing irritation.
Grant coming in as Director of Football was a straw in the wind that Mourinho’s position was at the least being circumscribed. In the end it was more than that.
Because the official information relating to Wilkin’s departure is so patently not true it has left Ancelotti exposed. If he was happy with it then it changes perceptions of him and leads to pressure at a time when his energies were best used on team issues. If he wanted to get rid of Wilkins so desperately why be so patently unhappy with his replacement. If he wasn’t and had no control then it looks similar to the manoeuvrings we saw when Grant first came in to the club.
It sets too many hares running. There had been nothing to suggest the sort of stormy personal relationships that characterized JM’s time at the club. Therefore this comes as a shock.
If it was really just all about Wilkins why is CA so obviously not in control of appointing his own team? Yes we understand that player contracts and youth development are not under his control. Most people understood that and believed he came in understanding that. But this is something else.
It has echoes of the “they’re not that mad are they?” that greeted the first intimations that Grant would take over from Mourinho on a permanent basis.
It’s because it appears to centre more on CA than Wilkins that gets people worried. And if it was Wilkins, what could it be that meant it had to be done then? And if it was Wilkins then surely CA would have been given time to get someone he was happy with?
From now until CA signs an extension to his contract we will all be nervously sniffing the wind. It doesn’t have to be that way.
Very much in favour of your voice-of-reason schtick, Pete, but I think you’re slightly too sanguine in this case. Granted (no pun intended etc.), the Uncle Avram fiasco was a massive power battle between owner and manager, and we’re nowhere near that situation here; but bear in mind that that occasion had been brewing for a while and was a perhaps inevitable result of incompatible attitudes within the club, whereas this time there was absolutely no need at all to upset the applecart. Everything was going perfectly well — indeed, as quite a few of us remarked in the autumn, almost eerily well. In 2007 a fraying structure fell very messily to bits; this time someone’s punched a hole in a perfectly sound fabric.
The hole may be small one as you suggest, but three defeats in four makes it gape alarmingly. Optical illusion, we must hope.
Entirely agreed about Matic.
Yes, the difference now is that Carlo was Roman’s personal choice and has done all that was expected and demanded of him with a good shot at the CL for this term too.
We know that Jose could be belligerent, but as has been said in the past, Carlo is well experienced dealing with an autocratic owner, so if Roman can’t work with this man, he may find there aren’t any sensible replacements out there.
Of course, Eminemo’s coaching certs should be in the post by then…
Hmmm, two points.
1 I don’t think the Wilkins sacking has anything to do with the results as I don’t think players care too much about this sort of thing (although if the row is over the strength of the squad, it shows Wilkins was right, but that’s a slightly different issue). The results are entirely down to the lack of goalscoring/flexible players in midfield thanks to the injuries to Lampard, Essien and Benayoun. Such players are integral to the success or failure of our formation and style of play.
2 We still don’t know exactly why Wilkins left or what he was doing or who made the call to get rid of him or how Carlo and players feel about it.
I’m not saying it’s anything like an ideal situation and I’d have preferred it if Ray had been moved upstairs (the Bates classic!) and Carlo had brought in his own number 2, but equally I don’t think it’s a matter of great concern. Carlo is a natural conciliator (is that a word?), while JM thrived on chaos (ironically given his footballing style) and I’m pretty comfortable that it’s all going to blow over.
I honestly cannot believe this has anything to do with Roman having an underlying problem with CA given that CA has hardly put a foot wrong since he got here. The same cannot be said about JM, Scolari or Grant – in fact, you can make the case quite easily that Roman was right in getting rid of them in each instance, although with massive caveats in the case of JM. It’s also worth noting that CA is Roman’s personal pick as manager.
I’d love to see Carlo have the power of a Ferguson but this is not how most clubs are run these days and – importantly – Ferguson is not like most managers. If CA is still here in three or four seasons he will have earned the right to have more power and influence having demonstrated his loyalty and perserverence and, hopefully, continued ability: at the moment, we cannot afford to invest too much power in one individual. Personally, I think Arsenal would be a hell of a lot better off if they DIDN’T give so much control to Wenger. Ferguson is the exception not the rule, always remember that.
Agree that Birmingham had little to do with Ray’s going, but Sunderland looked exactly like a team whose mind’s were elsewhere, wondering what’s going on and who’s next?
I agree that his sacking is unlikely to be about results. I also agree that we don’t really know the feelings in the players camp about this. And yes CA is Roman’s appointment and it is hard to see that he would lose it with his Coach over minor disagreements given that Ancelotti does seem a conciliator.As I said, I’m sure Ancelotti was well aware of his remit and would not expect to run a club in the Wenger mould.What irks me is that whatever triggered this, and it is hard to see football matters as the reason, it was either done with a total disregard for a double winning coach and his day to day requirements for team management or it was done knowing that it would impact on his ability to run the team in the short term. In either case it has meant added pressure when it was not needed.My concern is that the club did not think this through. It was a knee jerk reaction to something. Yes I think Carlo will manage his way through and hopefully the waters will be smoothed over. But reading what are obviously bits of news management designed to cast doubts on Wilkins. who to that point appeared to be doing a reasonable job and appeared to have the trust of the Coach says a lot about certain people at Chelsea and does the club no favours. Yes it was always thus you might say. But certain people have managed to turn this team into a winning force and Roman is part of that change. Yet this politicking behind the scenes continues.I don’t expect them to tell us the truth I’m not that naive. What disappoints is a patent inability to manage their media affairs so as to minimize pressure on the sharp end, the team.Whatever caused the rift will continue to be speculated on. And the more convinced the tabloids become that there may be some lurid backstory, the worse it will get.In the end I’m more interested in getting things sorted on the pitch. And to that end I’m a long way from panic mode.I’m just irritated.
Hear hear. The Sunderland result was, in my view, directly related to the Wilkins departure, specifically the nature and timing of it. The disruption in any organization when someone is effectively walked off the premises reaches further into the subconscious of the people left behind that is often visible on the surface, And as you say, this is made worse by the disingenuous ‘leaks’ coming from the club pointing to alleged refuelling problems for RW (why didn’t that do for Steve Clarke in the end?) – it just doesn’t add up to the facts that everyone, even in the press know about Wilkins.
Then the other disrespectful disinformation about the players didn’t see eye to eye with him, again flowing in the exact opposite direction from what the players have said and we’ve all seen, pre-match, post match and during the celebrations …..if there was a problem then surely it was known about in the summer, and that would have been the time to get rid of him.
And finally the mealy mouthed snake oil salesman guff surrounding the appointment of a man barely more qualified than me to coach a senior professional team. I think the obnoxious Simon Greenberg has left his PR position now, but if that is the case then they’ve left the lunatics to run the asylum judging by the PR debacle of the past week.
Don’t you think Carlo is used to this sort of nonsense, he survived a long time under Berlusconi’s interfering, I don’t think RA is in the same league as that buffoon.
Yeah, let’s sort this thing out on the pitch, that’s where the real talking’s done.
I wasn’t aware of a disinformation campaign, that is certainly vile behaviour and very much in keeping with how things are done. I hate the way they’ve done this after every managerial decision and the club’s PR/crisis-management strategy is terrible.
And, yes, agreed that this clearly isn’t thought through – and I reckon it’s more that, than outright malicious.
But can’t see the Sunderland result as anything other than a shit performance from a team that had a makeshift defence, a powder puff midfield and a captain and chief striker struggling with malaria. If Wilkins had an effect, it was nothing compared to the other far more obvious reasons for the defeat – include Carlo’s own poor decision making. After all, in spirit and temperement it wasn’t all that far removed from the defeat at Liverpool, which happened before Ray’s departure changed everything.
Difficult to comprehend how Essien’s toe can become inflamed when he’s not playing.
What amazes me is that despite all this disruption going on at the club we are a) still top of the League b) we have scored the most goals c) we have let the least in and d) compared to the same games played from last season we are 1 pt ahead. ie last season we lost at Wigan, this year we won.
Lets not worry too much, we’re still top, we’re still the best team in the country by quite a way, if we must have a crisis better to have it now than just before we have to face Mourinho or Barca in the CL and I,m still pretty sure that we,ll win the prem with points in hand. Chin up mes amis
What intrigues me is that we have not heard from any of the players this time around.
When JM was replaced we had opinions from just about all players….This time around, the silence is deafening. I wonder if Ray was as liked by the players as everyone assumed, or if the players are under strict instructions to keep their thoughts to themselves.
Either way, I thought the Brum performance was actually quite good other than the obvious lack of goals….On another day, we could have won by five.
Thanks to Nick for the link on the Home page to the latest effort from Dan Levene on the part Twitter plays these days in the dissemination of Entirely Made-up Bollocks in the media.
Though I can’t help noticing he seems to have re-written history as his article last week setting out 3 possible “explanations” for Ray’s departure, none of which actually explained why it happened so abruptly and none of which he said was the truth at the time has now become – “I had earlier been the first to reveal Michael Emenalo as the most likely successor to Wilkins”.
Journalists, eh!
Errrr…..so the kids are getting a shot tonight, well Mceachran and Bruma….no mention from what I can see of Kakuta starting, but more worryingly will Borini see the light of day, even from the bench. If not then he’ll be off like Stoch in January or next summer and the rumours on twitter are rife that he’ll be going (@chelseayouth) . I know he’s not the biggest for a striker, but blimey does that mean strikers can only be 6′ 4″……no room for any Maradona’s, Mullers (as in Gerd) , Zola’s…Messi’s…..etc
From what I’ve seen of the lad he just needs that little break to get on the scoresheet and he’ll be away. By the way, the rumours are that him and Kakuta will be off in the summer at the least due to out new ‘hardline’ approach to contract negotations………..doesn’t sound much like future planning to me if you’re letting talent go elsewhere and settling for mediocrity on the basis of cost alone. Or maybe that’s our future, which seems a bit catch 22………no new talent to replace senior squad, therefore no top 4 finishes (can hardly believe I said that), so no CL income etc etc …….
Maybe I’m being a bit overly doomladen, but I did think we were trying to nurrture own talent to replace the senior bought in players…..so how does the potential departure of 2 young talents equate with that? And please, don’t try and tell me Kalou is the future because as Ok as he is of the bench he is not the man ….
If you believe the Independent, James Lawton aside, is more well disposed towards us than some others then here’s an article from Sam Wallace who I always see as more pro Chelsea than anti. Its about Emenalo. On the other hand you could see it as a bit of positive placement by Chelsea via a sympathetic journo. I leave you to judge.
But if you decide the Independent is reliable on matters Chelsea, they have Kakuta starting in a front three with Drogba and Kalou. Where’s Sturridge you may ask?
McEachran anchors Ramires and Malouda, though I see this as a Pirlo / Gattuso arrangement with Malouda roaming free.
The Bosman, Ivan, Brouma and Van the Man are the back four with “talk to the hands ’cause I can’t control them” Turnbull as the Custodian.
It will be interesting to see if this is the line up. As I say I would have thought Sturridge would be in there but who knows?
here here
Looks like Borini’s days are numbered. Not even on the bench tonight.
I really ought to have attached the article:
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/michael-emenalo-an-exceptional-player-and-great-person-he-is-the-full-package-2141171.html
The team was assembled under a byline from Mark Fleming if that means anything to you all, as part of an article on how we miss Lampard.
I know you could all have read this already but I have such a low opinion of you all that I assume you haven’t got past looking at naked women in the Daily Sport
And did anyone else see this? Perhaps we valued Emenalo sooooo much we thought we’d better promote him before Avram came in for him.
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard-sport/football/article-23899788-avram-grants-assistant-axed-by-hammers.do
Good to know that we still set the trends.
A complaint. A moan. A grumble. Ok, for 20 minutes we were pretty average there tonight and yes, they got a goal, but I thought that last 20 minutes was ALL us!!!!!! But not according to the utter fucking cunt commentating on Sky who’s so very obviously looking to be the harbinger of doom on a big surprise result in order to push himself up Rupert Murdochs inner thigh of promotion.
I doubt I’ve ever heard such bilge, even from ShiteTV and Tyldesley and he has barely given us a nod of any credit.
Rant (almost) over.
See…. things could be worse, we could be supporting Arsenal.
Very interesting to watch. It really makes me hope that carlo will play similar teams in the FA Cup.
Basically what you saw was the difference between a training exercise/reserve game and a proper match.
When the whistle blew you could see the kids carefully passing it around. Pass pass pass pass pass pass pass. Run into a bit of space, get the ball, pass. Lose possession, get it back, pass a bit more, inch forward, face a packed defence, pass around sideways and backwards, pass pass pass pass pass oh crap we lost the ball, start again.
And when the whistle blew for the start of the second half you saw them trying actually to win a game.
In retrospect that will have done them a world of good. Learning the difference between playing “good football” like you’re taught and playing with competitive intensity and a dominating tempo has got to be one of those things you can’t really “get” until it’s happening around you.
Josh, for example, was totally transformed, from the nervous self-conscious player of the first half who was so tight he kept underhitting passes, to the instinctive playmaking no. 10 we all hope he’ll be. He was superb for the second 45.
But for me the real winner of the night was Van Aanholt. Like everyone else he was tentative and timid in the first half, but once the team started going for it he was Cashley Mark II. And he nearly scored the best debut goal since … oh, I don’t know. Mutu?
It’s going to take time. We all know Kalou couldn’t have had anything like that effect on a game two years ago.
Well I thought the last 20 minutes of the first half were superb, as we really ramped up the pressure and second half was excellent. Every one of those kids did good tonight despite a nervy 20 or so opening minutes, but Van Aanholt was marvellous, as was Dan Sturridge…………JFH pointed this stuff out afterwards but he’s skilful and powerful and wants to attack, so very promising. Bruma was a little flat footed for the goal but other than that was superb, Turnbull looked super assured, Kakuta was good tonight as well, and yes Josh went from nervy to assured and calm in the second half. Ramires was good as well, and had that shot gone in we’d have been raving for months…as we would over Pats effort that hit the post. In essence the longer the game went on the more they grew in confidence and at times it was glorious to watch. Very encouraging from all the players tonight, including Ivan and Paolo (looking every bit the Mourinho Paolo tonight) – in fcat most of any sloppiness came from Drogba and Malouda, but both were unlucky not to score/score more. And LTB, yes, Kalou could never have made that impact 2 years ago, but he did well as well tonight.
Just passed through Dingly Dell, the pixies were washing their socks.
Does this mean that all is now well?