England face Russia tonight without some of their key players. This time, truly a decider for England in terms of qualification. Some news on that. Also some news on how the ‘BlueChampions Chatroom - The Chelsea Forum‘ has been doing.

The big debate this week has been about Frank Lampard’s place in the starting eleven in England’s Euro 2008 qualifier match against Russia in Moscow. When Frank is fully fit to play, this is very strange discussion to have. One of the best midfielders in Europe, one is being chased by clubs like Barcelona, one who was a favourite talisman of a tough coach like Jose, Lampard is a match winner any day. Already that stupid booing after the Estonia match must have been a downer for Frank and now this discussion and possible benching too. Frank started was in the bench even in the training match and is expected to be there even in the match tonight.

May be it’s a case of McClaren not knowing or not having the time to find a formation that can fit both Lampard and Gerrard in. Last season, when Lampard and Gerrard started playing together, it was not the best of combinations in the midfield but over a period of time, I thought their understanding improved and they played rather well together in the midfield. With Lampard and Gerrard in the midfield, you gotta play 4-4-2 with wide players in Joe Cole and SWP. Also, this attack-minded midfield would require a strong defence. If McClaren thinks that Rio, Sol, Lescott and Micah cannot do the job against Russia, he has to drop one of Lampard or Gerrard. And I think, in such situations, he would prefer to have his vice-captain on the pitch.

After the game the players were speaking about it. There’s been a section of the fans that have been singling Frank out for a year. We don’t like it. It left a bad taste in the dressing room after a very good win. We don’t wish it to continue in the future and I’d urge all those fans to stop it and those fans around them not to jump in. Frank’s been an awesome player for England over the years. He’s not only played well, he’s scored some great and very important goals. That’s the message I’d like to get out.

Lampard is one of the symbols of this Chelsea team. He has this jinx around him. Especially, the rival fans take so much pleasure in taunting this man, but give them Lampard, they would take him. When I talk about his jinx, what I mean is, his mistakes are zoomed in and his brilliance is zoomed out. There are always such players in all sports. They do something brilliant but people pass it on but the same stuff by someone else would be hailed forever. I remember there was this goal by Messi which was hailed as one of the best goals ever and all. Believe me, it was good goal and may a very good goal and there are dozens such goals being scored every season in each league. Because it is Messi, it gets zoomed in. That’s the way things are with him. I agree that Messi is a very good player, in the form of his life and he is just 20 or so.

The latest news is, after Ashley Cole, John Terry had his knees locked up in the training session and is rule of this match. Terry would surely miss this match but no one’s sure how serious the injury is. So that is now three Chelsea players sitting out - Cole, Terry and Lampard. Tonight’s match is very crucila for England’s qualification (well, that’s what we’ve been saying for all their matches!). England needs three points for safe qualification and if they fail to beat Russia tonight, they would face table leaders and in-form team Croatia at Wembley.

BBC makes it very clear about the current situation:

If England beat Russia then both the English and group leaders Croatia will be through to the finals. An England draw in Moscow will put Croatia through and leave England needing a point against the Croatians at Wembley to secure second place. If Russia win their remaining three games then they will qualify, and Croatia will only need a point in Macedonia to prevent England from qualifying.

Winning at Moscow is no mean feat. The much talked about sub-zero temparatures, a sold out 80,000 crowd, absence of Ashley Cole and Terry in defence and forced absence of Lampard, would make England’s task even more difficult. And there is always this excuse of the strangeness of the artificial pitch!

Finally, a fantastic start to the ‘BlueChampions Chatroom - The Chelsea Forum‘. Let me take your vote on this Chelsea forum. If you’re voting for ‘okay’ or ‘bad’, please let me know why, through your comments. That way, improvements can be made.

You can register for the chatroom here. There are some interesting topics like “Suggestions in case Lampard and Drogba leave” by Jimroot where he talks about Huntelaar and van der vaart, “Where do you think Jose Mourinho will end up?” and “FIFA - Quota system in Football” by GunTheBlues, “Who will top the league by end of 2007?” by myself and many more. You can read this post for some help on the BlueChampions chatroom. 116 posts in 26 topics by 27 members so far. Get in!