The Nicolas Anelka show is what we were waiting for and that’s exactly what we got today! I’m extremely happy about the result. It’s not everytime you win despite being second best! Yes, for great periods of time, Wigan were the better team. Another goal from a lobbed pass (or whatever you want to call it!) and a counterattack goal killed the chances of superb Wigan who can hold their heads high!
The first half was one of the most boring football I’d seen all season. There were attacking moves by either sides but were intercepted or aborted much before it can bring you to the edge of the seat. There were no decent chances in the whole half except a very few half-chances and ‘quarter-chances’. At least the second half was more exciting, thanks to Wigan as Steve Bruce ordered for some bold and enterprising football to get a result. Wigan would feel hard done by, but when it came to crucial moments, Chelsea had that extra bit of quality to romp home.

We have progressed to the fifth round. It’s good to avoid replays and stuff. We need FA Cup and League Cup to play the young and new crop. I hope we draw a lower league team at home so that we can play as many reserve players as possible.
Anelka’s contribution is the biggest plus of the day. He must have been feeling restless that he has shown his magic yet in Chelsea. He had to be quiet for most of the time as there was no service at all from the midfield. But this goal/assist was always coming as Wigan were pressing us and pushing up. Sometimes when new players start performing from match day one, they put themselves under some kind of pressure by creating expectations. That way, it might even help Anelka that he has taken time to score and assist. Who wants a debut goal?
If Frank Rijkaard watches English football, he must be repenting his release of Belletti. I’ve been watching Oleguer/Zambrotta every week. I should say Belletti’s has been far more impressive than them. He should be in the running for the Chelsea player of the year award already. Best signing of the season unless Anelka weaves his magic in the second half of the season to overshadow Belletti.
Was this Sidwell’s best game for Chelsea so far? I think so. He looked comfortable on the ball, made some interesting passes and chips. More than anything, he seemed to have understood and realised where his colleagues would be. After about half a season, he makes me say ‘okay, let’s start with sidwell, let’s see how it goes’.
Couple of quality goals really lit up the second half. First one from Anelka. His nonchalant finish of the precise high ball from Belletti was Drogba-Colesque. Heskey or Bent could not have done the same in a similar situation. That’s what was crucial today. And that goal from Sibierski! That would qualify for the goal of the month. Anelka’s pass to SWP for the second goal was pure class, the timing and the weight. He looked to have pushed Kilbane before his square pass, but I’d take that anyway.
I don’t know if it’s a curse. The day since Grant said we don’t play longballs anymore, we have been scoring in lobs, chips, high throughballs, highballs etc. As such, aerial attacks as opposed to passing it along the ground from defence to midfield to attack, as he put it. I’m very happy that we still play in the air. It will be foolish not to realise the productivity of aerial attacks and not to capitalise on them.

In 45 minutes of play, Wigan had only two shots on target, that’s ok, they’re Wigan. But wait a minute, how many shots did Chelsea have on target? None. Yes, that’s a shocking zero. When you have a top class striker like Anelka and return after 45 minutes with no shots on goal, that says a lot about the quality and construction of the attacks. Of course the pitch was bad, but these are circumstances that professional footballers should be able to handle. That’s what we said when Barca complained about the Stamford Bridge pitch.
When we go ahead in the second half, we shut shop. That continues in every match even now which is fine. Shutting shop should not mean we put everyone in our half leaving only Anelka up front. The idea of deep defending in numbers and scurrying through when there is a sniff of a counterattack, is very bottom-halfish. We can control the tempo of the game and dictate the terms of the match without really parking the bus and looking for the lone targetman in the counter.
Once again, we don’t seem to be very convncing on the pitch. We have our first choice goalkeeper, our first choice defence, near first choice midfield, Joe Cole, SWP and Anelka. With these players we still seem to struggle to play convincingly. I don’t even mind a 0-0 draw if we were the better team and had played them off the park. We had the team to do it and Wigan are going down. Good part of the second half, you’d have the thought that the team wearing blue was Chelsea.

Steve Bruce says that they had a chance to get a result against Chelsea:
I thought we had a real good chance but the one thing you cannot do is make individual errors. We made a couple that have cost us the game. We looked as though we were trying to play offside but that is a big risk against someone like Nicolas Anelka. It is a real shame because we had a chance to nick this one.
I hate it when opposition managers say that they had a chance to nick it against Chelsea. I hope we get back to our formidable best when the teams would face us with a defeatist mentality.
Avram Grant concedes that we tried to play good football:
We did a very good job. It was not easy to play on that pitch but we did try to play good football. We scored two nice goals, we controlled the game and the defenders did a really good job. When were 2-0 we almost let it slip when they scored but I think we deserved the win.

We survive in all competitions. That’s good news. The next few matches would be very interesting as we play Reading, Portsmouth, Liverpool, Tottenham, Olympiakos, West Ham etc. As such there are no easy matches even on paper from now until mid-March. Our players from African Cup players would have returned for some of these matches but still these are crucial fixture anyway but if Anelka continues his form, there is very little to worry!



46 Responses - Add your comment!
The “Battle of the Potato Field” has been won by Chelsea. Anelka does not defend like Drogba. But who cares? He used the goalkeeper like a dish rag for a score and assist. Hurrah for SWP for not screwing the goal up. Belletti, gee he could have waited ’til the 90th minute to show he’s human. Like everyone else, I’d love to see Chelsea open a can of “whip@$$” on an opponent like they did Man City. But, any and every victory without Ballack, Drogba, Essien, Lampard, Kalou, Mikel, and Terry ought to be savored. Maybe next year they will play the pub team that lost at Anfield.
I am happy with Anelka’s Goal and his assist in the second, A Didier Drogba typical goal. They are both alike. I like him. Wigan fought very well and deserve to score.
Calvaho will miss next match against Reading prior to 5 yellow cards. Thats a chance for Ivanovic to step in either on the bench or start along side Alex.
A good first 20 minuets where not used to an early lead
We let Wigan look or feel they are in the game but i sow a total control by Chelsea.
The same as last game when our midfield is little bit out of control you let the other team attack you and then with nice fast breaks you kill them
Another great game for out defensive line
JC looked great at start then he got weak, Malouda didn’t show up all game.
Anelka –for some reason I’m still not happy with his energy’s, but time will tell.
So what’s next? EPL next game must be our 3 points, but crossing fingers that both Arsenal and Man U will lose points so when we go to Portsmouth the players will see some reward for winning so many games but still behind, as I see it our away Portsmouth game is one hard game so if we have a motivated team from arsenal and man U losing points then we will get our extremely needed 3 points, if so the sky is the limit.
@Mister
I agree with your comment
JM would not accept to be a Roman’s puppet unlike Avram Grant , that is quite happy at being one.
Roman kew and knows that AG is not up to the job, hence the reason he gave a better contract to Steve Clark ( so he could countinue the JM’s method and motivation, brought in ten Cate as a tactician, and left AG as the face man.
Roman knows he is just the front man, for the other 2.
I wouldnt be surprised if in the summer Roman would employ Ryskijard and make him join ten Cate , as they were in Barcelona before.
If you read FL interview it is clear that AG did nothing to change the style and methods of the system, enough proof that all that talking of sexy, attacking, short passes football was another atempt to discredit JM.
AG knows as the players do as well he is infinetely inferior to JM, so tries to start a propaganda of discrediting JM, btw I think he must have been told by the RA or someone at the board to stop it, and as a good yes man, he did, I havent heard any indirect jibes at JM anymore.
BTW anyone heard the comments between John Motson and Lawrenson today in the BBC during the match V Wigan?? even the press are aware of AG position.
Wigan v Chelsea another good example of relentless attacking football from Chelsea, since Chelsea plays the same at home as away I fear when they start meeting better opposition, lets see, quoting AG comments .
Wigan is a really really poor outfit, good Lord Bruce has a lot to do for them to stay in EPL.
The goal by subiersky was a very good goal, but happened because carvalho was upfront, but I have a feeling that Wigan will not survive relegation unless they play better, even Melchiot is a shadow of the player he was when in Chelsea.
Chelsea never dominated the game but there was no need for that against such opposition good opportunistic goal from Anelka, typical of Anelka using his pace against a very slow g/keeper coming out of the net.
But another victory thats all that matters.
used2gonwatchcfc
Didn’t AG shot John F Kennedy?
i think we were very lucky today. We were lucky to avoid a replay because i think Wigan played better than us. Kudos to Anelka for an outstanding performance and his first chelsea goal. I think Nigeria is almost out of the Nations cup; after losing one and drawing one. They’ll have to win Benin by 4-0 and hope Mali does not score against Ivory coast before they will qualify. If they get knocked out, we’ll have Mikel back. Also, Ghana should be playing Ivory Coast in the second round so will have either Essien or both Kalou and Drogba back with us as one of both teams must lose.
Who agrees with me that Avram Grant is trash? The substitution of Malouda for Ferreira was so stupid. I’m tired of seeing unreasonable subbings every match. Perhaps one day, he will sub Drogba or terry.
israeli
I dont know, maybe.
He sure looks a bit mafioso.
@moyo
“Who agrees with me that Avram Grant is trash? The substitution of Malouda for Ferreira was so stupid. I’m tired of seeing unreasonable subbings every match. Perhaps one day, he will sub Drogba or terry.”
LOL LOL LOL
TRASH????
moyo I think 95% of the Chelsea fans agree with you.
even israeli deep inside agrees.
used2gonwatchcfc
“BTW anyone heard the comments between John Motson and Lawrenson today in the BBC during the match V Wigan?? even the press are aware of AG position.”
What did they say?
Grant does seem to have stopped his indirect jibes about Mourinho I notice of late lets hope it stays that way. He has also stopped referring to our attacking positive football that we play whether there or not which is also a relief.
Israeli
Didn’t AG shot John F Kennedy?
No but he got a shot off and missed and Lee Harvey Oswald stepped in to finish off the job!
Poor game, Wigan were lacking in quality as you would expect given their position in the league table but tried hard at the end but we deserved the win. Anelka scored one goal and provided the assist for the second.
Chelsea grind out yet another result thanks to a yet another longish ball/pass whatever (don’t have a go at me Israeli please with my definition!).
Grant may not be the right man for the job. True, he is running Mourinho’s team. Yes, luck is involved. On the other hand, Chelsea has not fallen apart. Four points behind Arsenal and Man U in the Prem, 1st knock out stage of the CL, Carling Cup finalist, and now to the next round of the FA. Can we at least give Grant credit as a stand in manager? A lot of us (including myself) were predicting doom under this man. There are plenty of teams that would love to have this version of doom.
as from now by popular request I am changing my nick to AGfriend
take not BC.
bella
When the match was being televised on BBC1, chelsea was attacking and suddenly the cameras focused on AG, so JM chatting (kinda off the record) said that SC and TC were next to him, and Lawrenson just said the lots of the credit should go to them lol.
Johnarejr
Yeah I agree with you , at least we should give him credit on the LUCK that he brought to Chelsea.
I also agree with you he (AG) is not the manager for chelsea, but he is the man of RA and he will make sure he succeeds.
The spanish press says that Frank Ryskaard is leaving Barca, just wonder if he comes and joins ten Cate, as they were in Barca before, and AG goes back to Director of Football since he is a genius in substitutions, tactics and PR.
israeli
do me a favour ring your friend (AG) and thank him for the substitution of Malouda by Ferreira, following his philosophy of sexy, attacking football, I also agreed with that replacement, take off an attacking midfielder and replace him with a right back, when the score was 1-0, maybe he wanted to “CLOSE SHOP”.
typical chelsea win. grant put the blame on the pitch saying it was not suitable for passing and one touch football.
hello all
what i noticed from the match is that it might take anelka another month to understand the frequency of wright phillips and JC. i was surprised when malouda and he could not show the same level of understanding they did at france. we had 3 french players today and i thought we can get some kind of telepathy going. but sadly it didnt happen.
hey all mark my words here ” Anelka can only get better from here.not that he is bad today. he is damn good. but if we play him regularly i think he will push sheva down the pecking order. last season it was Larsson that breathed life into Manu’s push to the title. this year we did the same with anelka. will this be the secret of succes for us to win the league?????”
hey friends….start rewarding good posts. we are all at 0 or 1 or -1. thats it. atleast lets make this feature a big hit…breathe life into this…..
@BC
I just don’t know what to make of your post……………..chelseafcbblog has a completely different review………..i know everyone has different opinions………..but this is just ridiculuos…………….
have u ever heard that there is a marked difference between lobbed/aeriel through pass and long ball…………………….long ball is hoofin the ball without any idea of what you are doing………..the only instance in avram’s era of a long ball is joe’s goal against west ham……the ball was hoofed with no intention whatsoever…………though drogba,kalou and a huge slice of luck we ended up creatin somethin…………..last year it was 1st goal of lamp against rovers in fa cup………this year lamps goal against pompey……………….that is what is called long ball…………….both passes which you are tryin to term as long balls is aeriel through pass which requires flair to put it at the back of net and no physical exertion……………………..and as for carlin is small…………..avram said it’s not his first priority………….you have levels of priority……………not 10 things as no.1 priority……….for ex………if i m goin to prepare for engineerin then 1st priority is iit,second is aieee,third is vit………………that has nothin to do with how i m goin to prepare for exam….
Hey BC,
I think you got it all wrong by saying Wigan was the better team, at no instance in the game did Wigan look “under control’ of the game, we were just not well organized and we lacked the killer instinct, somehow the players were jaded, they seemd to be running alright, the match was fast paced, mind you, but just didnt have any direction.
It was a good game for Anelka and JC, of couse Belletti too.
Whats up with Ballack???
PS:I hate Michael Brown, he definitely should have been red-carded! and to think that SB was moaning about Maka making too much out of nothing is really wrong, Essien or Mikel would have got the marching orders for that.
Thanks for the response AGfriend about Lawrenson etc on the BBC, that figures.
Wigan were not the better team in my view all game, they huffed, they puffed, they got more pressing towards the end, the did score a great goal but way too late.
They lacked the quality needed outright to make a real game of it.
It was a typical Chelsea win in the cup against lower table opposition on a crap pitch and the sub of Ferreira for Malouda – well who knows. I would suggest without wanting to get into a fight with anyone that this was hardly an expression of attack minded football.
Seems we talk about it a lot but carry on doing what we did before and win.
Not saying that’s a good or bad thing, since I didn’t mind the way we played before but since Grant been hired for bring a new style to the team in terms of attack play you would think that in his subs during a game you would see that more attacking minded philosophy coming out albeit gradually as games go by – I don’t see it really but that could just be me.
I still think Malouda is a good player by the way despite his performance today.
I wish people would keep their names and not change them, I’m used to seeing the same people on this blog and then they go and pick a new name!
Israeli where are you! I dare you to change your name to “Bring back Jose”.
Just kidding, please stay as Israeli.
Here it is,
You can participate in the voting for the best football blog and best editor
On this link.
http://www.footballfanscensus.com/surveys/questions.html?page=1&survey_id=332
Thanks
This chelsea side is exactly the same as before.What grant says means absolutely nothing.He seems to be trying to put chelseas football on the same level as arsenals and manutds.He tries to do this by every week saying how good the football of chelsea is,how the team play along the floor but we the fans and roman im sure all see aswell the truth.The football we play is still play high balls and it is nowhere near as entertainment as arsenal or real madrid.Against wigan we should play the entertainment football.Wigan is like the dropping team in the english league.
You very welcome bella.
Regarding Wigan team, it is painful to watch it at least against chelsea, they are really poop to say the least.
Bruce, their manager was right they should have taken something out of the game, as chelsea also played pretty bad, but as the experts say, in football if you squander your opportunities, in another words if you don kill you are killed, and that what happenned.
About malouda dont write him out he is a good player, french players have the habit of taking sometime to get used to the EPL.
Although chelsea will always survive, I am a bit concerned if Carvalho, Maloud and DD leave in the summer together with Ferreira, and maybe Essein.
I read in the Spanish and Italian press some funny rumours, of Milan, Inter, Juve trying to price them away.
Also i can see when one of those player leave chelsea, and strting giving interviews what they will say about our Messiah (AG).
Anyway on Monday, with the Luck that AG brought to chelsea we may draw another top flight team, like we did in the CL.
Have you guys noticed that this year EPL is only 3 teams in the chase, and there is a huge gulf between the between 3rd and 4th?, Liverlosers with that system of rotation have put them in real shit street.
Rotation is ok whit a team like chelsea that they all internationals, and very good players with the killing instinct instelled by our departed manager JM.
Also noted that everytime the cameras show AG and then ten Cate and |steve Clarck , those 2 guys SC and TC they never smile, do they know something I dont?
Have a question for israeli but will do in the next writting.
@israeli
since you are from Israeli and speak hebrew what does this hevrew prase means israeli
‘Hatachat shel Avram’.
Be so kind to tell me in this blog, in Israel they label AG with this phrase, what does that mean?
‘Hatachat shel Avram’.
AGfriend
It means Avram’s ASS
This frame was first used by yoissi Ben haun (Liverpool and Israel national) after yet another game our national team came from behind and tied a game, this was said with a big smile on Yossis face and he meant good, like saying 2 things, one is that again our team came from behind not giving up and the 2ed is that somehow like all along Avram’s carrier every thing went his way with some luck when needed.
but let me tell you about another frase
“With this kind of friends who needs an enemy ”
That’s referring your new nickname
Bella
I promise and I keep my word not to have a go at you about long balls
And not to change my nick
As I see it the 1th goal was a great pass but the 2ed was clearly a long ball made by Ferreira if I’m right, that Anelka made it much more then it was meant to be.
Subbing Malouda with Ferreira was a good sub then, we all sow Malouda was no impact on the game, he looked tired and nothing was going for him yesterday.
About JFK shot I was expecting used2gonwatchcfc to ask who JFK is but surprises he knows.
I was reading online lots of articles of the English press and I can say that they all give lots of credit to AG, much more then you sow before
Bella I think you would agree with me that 2 and 3 years ago with the same kind of winning percentage the team was leading the table , but last year and this year our opponents have a much better percentage them self’s then they used to have .
We talk a lot about luck here in this blog but except one or 2 games that we where lucky we where dominating all the other games by far
Few games we where better and missing the win a bit of luck
At the Everton home game, and at the Villa home game we would have wan!!!
That’s 4 more points
The Arsenal away game we should have drown and that’s 2 more for us 2 less for Arsenal
So with a bit more luck we could have been on top with 2 points clear of Man U
Bella
my bad
if we drown the Arsenal game it was one more point for us 2 les for them.
and i totaly forgat all our missing players
tell me if thats not bad luck?
AG is trash?
I don’t know. There are definitely some negatives (such as an inability to sub tired players earlier and more effectively). However, if you listened to the game they did point out that Grants record right now is fantastic. How can you be a rubbish manager and win 25, tie 5 and lose 2 with 20 clean sheets (i think those are the numbers) I know that the players deserve most of the credit but AG has managed a team that rarely includes all of our first choice players and has lost only to ManU and Arsenal. There is a lot of crticism that can be leveled at JM as well. Including some poor signings that haven’t panned out and a whiny and obnoxious attitude in the press. I mean really, it was getting embarrassing. I just wanted him to shut up and coach the team. Not to say that AG is the best man for the job but this constant bashing by fans of the team is, in my opinion, a bit off the mark. A few questions however…
1. When will we ever get to play our best 11 and why are we so injury and discipline prone?
2. What the @#*% is it with the refs. I f Essien can get red carded for an errant elbow then Brown should have got one for deliberately taking a shot at Makelele. It happens constantly. At first I thougt I was biased but now? I’m thinking conspiracy.. Fabregas at the end of the Arsenal game (and who is sick of that whiny prat fighting with us in EVERY game) The foul on Terry during the same game. The attack on Ashley Cole’s knee (in the same damn game) and the unjust red and yellows that are never paid back in turn. Why don’t we just pay off whoever the other top 3 do to get the refs that they get. If they can make Stevie G look like he’s doing anything this year they should do wonders for us.
Cheers and Go Blue!
@israeli
“Hatachat shel Avram”. I knew the translation, it was invented by an israeli manager, the reason being that AG has a big butt and with it the same amount of luck, when israel was playing to quyalify against malta, france and switzerland, I noticed that AG brought that luck to chelsea.
@combatrock79
I teel you how can a manager play 27 games and lose only 2.
It is usually with good players that know what to do without the “expertise” of AG
Regarding the signings of JM tell me which ones were bad? Would love to know.
Apart from Pizzaro that has not yet shown the type of football that he was in Bayern, I dont see any other bad ones? enlighten me please.
yes he (JM) sometimes went over the board with the press but that was to distract the press away from the players.
yes “combatrock79″ AG is trash, and we should start giving more credit to Steve Clarck and Ten Cate, AG is just there because he is partt of the management team, and has he once mentioned “he talks everyday with the owner” as to tell us that he is in good harmony with RA, of course he is, we all know that.
I watched MU v Spuds and I was a bit impressed with Spuds they played well and if they had just 10% of the LUCK that that clown has, we could see a replay in spuds ground.
BC
if you want this blog to be tresh ppl like AGfriend
will make sure its going that way
there is a bit defreance between saying what ever you want but with some limits of rudness,and what we see here from Mr AGfriend
i dont really mind him ,but your blog should mind ppl like him
after all i read this texet befor any post i make
Your comments here, not insults or abuses! Read the comments policy!
Anelka looked like he had a swollen eye. Who noticed it? I hope he didn’t fight with someone.
Nice finish from Anelka, and a great assist by him to SWP making up the 2nd goal. He looked unselfish, working as a team player. Looks comfortable, at least not running all over doing nothing of constructive, ie. Mr. Pizza. Seems to me he worth the 15M pound and its not all about the goal, he has been doing a lot of shots for four games already. Hope he bags in more goals for us along with the finale show of Drogba this season.
Sidwell best performance of his many as substitution. With Ballack joining the injury list as well, he is to step up and put on some contribution to us. Haven’t really see how great he was at Reading, as far he played in a Chelsea shirt as concerned, he wasn’t really taking up the real pace of our team playing each match. YET, today he did pretty well and I’m glad to see he gain his confidence back. No Essien nor Lamps/Ballack/even Mikel, maybe give him some more time (loan him out) to prove his value.
Great effort from Joey and SWP. Of cuz definitely not exciting like Duff+Robben as wingers, they still did pretty decent jobs lately, managed to bang in goals and provide assists for the final touch. I think SWP has gain much confidence as Grant’s trust was put on him lately, given the narrow choice of squad. He has improved a lot, so as Joey. Very glad this is how we perform with our team spirit, everybody seem to be fighting hard to pressurize the top opponents pretty well. I’m lovin’ this attitude.
We must not neglect the solid performance by Belletti, Alex, Carvalho and Bridge/Ash, together with Cech. Belletti was more than a better choice of Ferreira, he has an attacking style, scoring mentality, and great defense skill. He is top notch, what will we do without him?! How come Carvalho will have to miss the next match against Reading? I thought it would be Portsmouth instead? Anyways, show time for Ivanovic. Hope he can adapt English football asap.
One more thing, how about new boy Franco?! Is he gonna be step up as first team squad or play for reserve team?! Want to see how good he can go.
KTBFFH!
Anelka. >’|'<
Jose Morhino –TSO – aka THE SPECIAL ONE
Avram Grant — TSO – aka THE SCARY ONE
TSO is the sexy one
i still rember the fulham game where kalou scored and it was jodged to be offside, coulkd be costly come end of the season
FA cup 5th round draw we have been drawn against HUDDERSFIELD TOWN at home
and it will be a cracker at old trafford MAN UTD vs ARSENAL
moyo @ 26 i thought he had too much alcohol before the match …..or maybe it was a swollen eye
Den it should be a three way tie at the top kalou scored in both fulham and blackburn games
yea Den i like this formation!! especially for cup matches!! to give the younger players some experience, but in diffence i would prefer to see Ivanovic alongside Ricky, Ballack is better when he does not play so deep. ofcourse on the bench we would have our big guns as a back up plan! Sahar should be given A LOT MORE chances!!!!!
—————Cudicini—————-
–ferriera–Ben-Haim–Carvalho–Bridge
————–Sidwell—Ballack———–
—-Cole————————-Sinclair
————-Di Santo–Sahar———
Belletti is suspended
Yea!it happens again!the long ball ‘ beautiful football ‘ team get another easy tie!whereas we (arsenal)get united!now why does this happened.I swear chelsea are the luckiest team ever.If its not deflections, its easy ties and fluke goals,Wrong referee decisions!eg liverpool.beautiful football my derrier!
Another Chelsea blog had a good and balanced article regarding AG’s progress as CFC’s manager. I think it is worth reading, especially for those who either expected an immediate revolution, or feel good degrading AG just for fun.
http://www.chelsea.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=503771
Wow what a tie that will be : Manchester United v Arsenal
This is full fixtures
FA Cup fifth round draw
Bristol Rovers v Southampton
Cardiff v Wolves
Sheffield United v Middlesbrough
Liverpool v Barnsley
Manchester United v Arsenal
Preston v Portsmouth
Coventry v West Brom
Chelsea v Huddersfield
What a nice tie for Chelsea and we are already in Last 8 . I can wait to see ManUtd and Arsenal
Hai friend
When i am reading our blog i think chelsea is at mid table in EPL and out of CUP Competition’s,U guy’s are not seeing the strength and depth of our chlesea player’s.
Chelsea team is doing too good in all Competition,again u people are Criticizing our team.Can u imagine a MANU team without Ronaldo,Tevez,Vidic(Remember Bolton game,Ronaldo played but had a bad game),also liverpool without Steven Gerrard ,torres . Our Chelsea is wining all game even without our backbone player’s like”Drogba,Terry,Lampard” .We are not playing attractive football,but playing Wining football.
Hi Friend’s please give credit to ALL Chelsea player’s also to Advram grant,steve clark, ten cate.
Bye…..
i want us to meet a small team in the final as Ronaldo has been all over the news talking about winning a treble this season. i’m just hoping that Manutd gets knocked out by arsenal and i hope liverpool wins so that Arsenal will draw Liverpool.Then i hope Liverpool will beat Arsenal only to be knocked out by a small team just like they are known.
I really hope all these can happen…lol
Israeli:
“Bella
I promise and I keep my word not to have a go at you about long balls
And not to change my nick”
Great stuff!
That phrase about Avram’s big? lucky? big and lucky? arse is so funny and I have heard it before because he always gets lucky breaks when he needs them – didn’t know Yossi had said it though!
I agree with you Israeli that 2 or 3 years ago with the percentage of wins we had we would be leading the table I think so yes. But it’s improving all the time, although there is a gap now – no top 4 only a top THREE.
And then a gap to Liverpool and the rest.
Yes a lot of papers just this week have been giving more credit to Avram – much more than before. I don’t say that he does not deserve praise such as this to have the papers admitting “mea culpa” for some of the things they said when he was first appointed which were really quite personal and uncalled for. I know I joke about him and how he looks and behaves at times but some of what they said had a nasty edge to it.
That said “the undertaker” is quite appropriate with his hangdog features and black clothing and he is the spitting image of Baron Greenback out of Dangermouse – that was a kids cartoon show over here years ago!
That said I am still not going to jump on the I love Avram bandwagon quite yes Israeli – you know me!
Lets see him beat Arsenal and Man Utd, win the Carling Cup and see how things go in the CL and at the end of the season depending upon what’s happened then may be I will be admitted “mea culpa” too.
@israeli
“Hatachat shel Avram”.
geeeeeee first Olympiakos, forget QPR et al, history now
but now huddersfield,
BIG BIG ARSE FULL OF LUCK , I think he deserves this nickname, israeli.
Bella
Believe me reading your honest answers and post are like a water spring in this desert of well known going on and on same and same and same posts
the team will look something like this in the future.
4-4-2
——————Cech——————–
–Belletti–Terry–Carvalho–Bridge/Cole
————-Lampard–Essien————
–Cole/SWP———————–kalou/Malouda–
————–Anelka—Drogba————
We also could play a 4-3-3- like this.
——————-Cech——————–
–Belletti–Terry–Carvalho–Bridge/Cole
—————–Mikel——————–
———Essien———–Lampard—–
—Cole/SWP——————-Malouda/Kalou
—————–Drogba——————–
i dunno what it is but i jus find kalou to be a winger, he is not a striker and should use his pace and dribbling abiliy as a winger, also that CM department is shocking to pick between, when you have Ballack, Lampard, Essien, SWP and with Mikel and Maka As the Holding mids if we play a 4-3-3 is tough to pick from, it hink Maka should retire afta this season, he has bin great for us but he is aging and Mikel is one of the best DM in the world and is still getting better and better, if we want to p;lay sexy football we have to play with a 4–4-2 its a simple as that, Although i do not believe Anelka and Drogba can play together we should still try it, i just believe they are to similar.
Den
i miss the game