BlueChampions - The Blog of the Champions of England!

Southend REMATCH!! Shit this isn’t even a Championship League Team (We are talking 3rd Tier here). And talk about a game where we needed a 5-0 stomping to our opponets. Now we get to go to Old Trafford. I’m betting the bookies are not favouring us this time.

Draws and defeats at places that a side built to win things shouldn’t happening. One or two results throughout a season like this are fine – but this has been going on since the start of November (October if you include Roma).

Big Phil to be sacked!

I am calling for Scolari to resign the manager of Chelsea FC. Am I the only one who thinks we should get rid of Scolari?

I was really excited about the fact that Scolari to manage Chelsea. Because I thought he could get the best out of the team. We were flying sky high in first few months and the performances were terrific. Beginning with the United game, I started realizing that he can’t beat top teams. The Liverpool game and the horrible November proved his inability to deal with top flight. I can’t understand why he is trying to do same things over and over again while the other teams certainly have an idea to stop his ridiculously unsuccessful game plan. Enough. Time for change. Scolari had an enough time to change things around, unfortunately he didn’t because he is not brave enough or is afraid to the death to take a risk. He thinks what he is trying to do is right or suitable to the club. The truth is it is not. He thinks his world cup winning method is the best or the only one he could use while there could’ve been alternatives. I don’t think he is a man for this job. He may have pretty impressive records on his CV that other managers don’t. He may be a nice man who tries to seem nice to everyone. He tries to become a friend with his all players to be respected by them. He always says good things about the referees or the players to avoid the criticisms. These are not the kind of behavior that the manager of Chelsea FC should have. We need an aggressive manager who knows what he is doing at the same time brave enough to change his plan if it’s not working. We need a manager who is honest and big enough to tell the players if they’re underperforming or praise them if they’re playing well. We need a manager who knows/understands his job. Basically, we need the Mourinho kind of manager.

Now we could not beat a second division club at Stamford Bridge. I had a faith on Scolari. I have lost all my confidence in him. I really think we need a different manager if we are not to experience another a hearth-breaking trophyless season. Scolari can’t deliver a success. We’ve seen enough of him now.

I want the Chelsea spirit back. I want Chelsea to play their aggressive and ruthless game again. I want Chelsea to start winning games no matter it is played by beautifully or ugly, using long balls or Scolari’s sweet little passing play. I and we need a win, result and three points. At the end of the season, we need trophies. I am not convinced Scolari can do that. I can’t see Chelsea missing out an another opportunity to become the Champions of Europe after that night in Moscow.

I’ve defended Scolari long enough. Get your head out of your f***king ass Phil! It’s pretty difficult to stay positive when Chelsea produce results like this… I don’t know what to say anymore, but the Chelsea-Man U scoreline is beginning to look predictable also, and it doesn’t look good.

Surely this cannot be Scolari’s fault when everyone in here has been begging for him to play with two forwards! You got what you wished for as we played a very strong team considering the opposition. This was not a tactical error but of the players faults for not taking their chances as we literally walked all over this team today! Drogba should have done a lot better with numerous chances as half of you are all about singing Drogs name for praise yet when he does absolutely nothing in front of net the crickets can be heard well throughout this site!

Now I have become particularly fed up with people on this site blaming Scolari for every single thing that goes wrong and would at some point like to see someone expect the players to take responsibility for the opportunities they waste! If you are seriously blaming Scolari for this blip then you are in need of mental rehabilitation as we had God knows how many chances and DROGBA.. the man that most of you are singing and chirping about DID NOT use his chances the way a top forward should be doing!

Enough is enough with the Scolari bashing! The man has not made the last two months easy to praise him but there comes a time when he must take responsibility and there is also a time when the players should take responsibility! How many of you were begging for a 4-4-2… well, YOU GOT IT! How many of you were calling for Deco to be dropped (including myself)? Well, we got it! It is up to the bloody players in order to do the job on the field as Scolari cannot do it for them! Maybe our forwards need to get their act together… NAMELY DROGBA FOR THE AMOUNT OF CHANCES HE MISSED TODAY AND FOR NOT GETTING HIS NAME ON THE SCORE SHEET!

Oh and shouts out to Kalou haha… BC… I guess he just added to those stats you were mentioning lol

@ Vinton Lindo – If Drogba was so bad, why wasn’t he subbed? Whose job is it to make subs?

Vinton – We blame scolari because he is the manager. I’ll tell you, he is a tactical disaster. Tell me, when you’re 1-0 up at 85 mins what’s the point in making two attacking subs? And what’s the point in wasting one sub (by not making one more sub)?

Quoting bookcengham

Big Phil to be sacked!

I am calling for Scolari to resign the manager of Chelsea FC. Am I the only one who thinks we should get rid of Scolari?

I was really excited about the fact that Scolari to manage Chelsea. Because I thought he could get the best out of the team. We were flying sky high in first few months and the performances were terrific. Beginning with the United game, I started realizing that he can’t beat top teams. The Liverpool game and the horrible November proved his inability to deal with top flight. I can’t understand why he is trying to do same things over and over again while the other teams certainly have an idea to stop his ridiculously unsuccessful game plan. Enough. Time for change. Scolari had an enough time to change things around, unfortunately he didn’t because he is not brave enough or is afraid to the death to take a risk. He thinks what he is trying to do is right or suitable to the club. The truth is it is not. He thinks his world cup winning method is the best or the only one he could use while there could’ve been alternatives. I don’t think he is a man for this job. He may have pretty impressive records on his CV that other managers don’t. He may be a nice man who tries to seem nice to everyone. He tries to become a friend with his all players to be respected by them. He always says good things about the referees or the players to avoid the criticisms. These are not the kind of behavior that the manager of Chelsea FC should have. We need an aggressive manager who knows what he is doing at the same time brave enough to change his plan if it’s not working. We need a manager who is honest and big enough to tell the players if they’re underperforming or praise them if they’re playing well. We need a manager who knows/understands his job. Basically, we need the Mourinho kind of manager.

Now we could not beat a second division club at Stamford Bridge. I had a faith on Scolari. I have lost all my confidence in him. I really think we need a different manager if we are not to experience another a hearth-breaking trophyless season. Scolari can’t deliver a success. We’ve seen enough of him now.

I want the Chelsea spirit back. I want Chelsea to play their aggressive and ruthless game again. I want Chelsea to start winning games no matter it is played by beautifully or ugly, using long balls or Scolari’s sweet little passing play. I and we need a win, result and three points. At the end of the season, we need trophies. I am not convinced Scolari can do that. I can’t see Chelsea missing out an another opportunity to become the Champions of Europe after that night in Moscow.

no your not i have been calling for his head for about a month now, the guy is not a tactician… he is just over rated

I take your point Vinton. If the players don’t play, whose responsibility is it to whip their ass and make them earn their money? Tell me whose responsibility is it?

If what you claim is right, that players let us down, why did Scolari not use the third sub?

Why didn’t the players go out and perform the way they should have? I get your point as well, but do you honestly expect Scoalri to do everything for the players or do you really think the players should have to have Scolari get them up to beat a team like Southend by more than the odd goal? If you are not going to hold Drogba responsible for the way he plays then why is he even here? Do you not think that Drogba should have scored in this game? Please if it really is Scolari’s fault for the result of this game and not the players faults… then what would you have done? What substitutions would you have made huh?

Because as I see it, the players, namely Drogba, need to get their act together as there is only so much a manager can do aside from provide tactics. Those of you are claiming that Scolari’s tactics for this game were off when half of you were praying for a 4-4-2!! And now that you got it you want to blame Big Phil? Another portion of you were thinking that because Drogba “our savior” was back that everything would be just dandy, but the man played the whole game today and was he on the score sheet?

Answer those questions for me because as I stated before, there is a lot a manager can do once the game is in motion and after that point a majority of the way the game is dictated is on the players performance to execute the plan! Our players did a wonderful job literally bossing this non-league team around so do you expect Scolari to finish for Drogba or any other forward as well? We played fine… it is our strikers that need a kick in the ass and looking at Drogba squander chances today just made me pity the lot of you who hold him in such high regards when clearly, by the looks of the way he plays half the time, HE DOESN’T WANT TO BE HERE! One of you even said that he looks like he’s dreaming of Inter, then for me, if he is not Chelsea through and through, you get performances like we saw today out of him and knowing his charecter, HE DEFINITELY LOOKS TO BE THE CAUSE OF THE LOCKER ROOM DRAMA! The players at some point need to take responsibility for the way they defend and the way they finish as that is why they get paid so many millions of pounds every year!

There was nothing wrong with Scolari tactics today and for me, we just saw a prime example of poor finishing which has plagued us for the last couple of months as the opportunities to score have been there all year. So it is this point that I think I see why Scolari may want another classy forward to enter the fray.

Quoting BlueChampion

Yes I can answer that. These two different scenarios. In a premier league match, we were 1-1. At the 85th min, if a sub happens that should have been an attacking one. In a FA Cup match, if you’re 1-0 up at 85th min, you should try to get the result because you don’t a replay and further congestion to your playing calendar. Two different situations: 1-1 in the premier league and 1-0 in the FA Cup. Entirely two different situations. You get it?

So I ask you this… why would you mke an attacking substitution when there is five minutes left and you are a man down? At that point in a game… would you look at the scenario that you are in and realize that by taking 1 point from a tie you are still only 1 point off of the league leaders or would you risk gaining no points and going 3 points behind the league leaders? And answer that without the obvious hinsight that we have being that we are now three points adrift.

And please tell me that you don’t agree with me on at least the point that the players at some point need to take responsibility for their finishing as Scolari is not playing the game for them and they are supposed to be world class football players!

these players are really hurting scolari!!
we need to take our chances. 55 fucking shots on target and we score 1 these players are joking!!

But BC…

The reason why Drogba was started today was because the man has not played for nearly the whole season and he needs as many games as he can get to get back into the flow and be 100% fit. So that is why he was not taken off. And the problem for us even in the Mou era has always been the odd set piece goal we give up. Just look at the goal Rosenberg scored in Mou’s last game! The biggest problem for us is that our attacks are not potent enough to the point that we are wasting the opportunities given. For those of you who have watched Chelsea games this year, from what I see, we have so many chances in a majority of games, including against top sides and we waste them! At this level and for a club like ours, I expect my forwards to score at a ratio of a goal every 3 or 4 shots on target! That is what a top forward does! Look at Villa or Torres and Eto’o for Christ sake! You give those players one sniff at goal and the opposing team is punished! That is why Barcelona get so many goals per game. It isn’t that they make more chances than we do on the average, it is that they finish more of those chances on the average! And that is our problem is the strikers (Drogba as Kalou and Anelka are finsihing well) need to be more careful with the chances they take!

And as far as Sir Alex is concerned… he is a whinny little bitch! Sorry for the language but after reading his statements about how the league is trying to cheat ManScum I pay no attention to him because I now see where Ronaldo has learned to bitch and moan from! But aside from that, United are not doing any better than we are as they have the bit of luck we do not have recently. Look at the game against Middlesbrough… a lucky goal they scored because of the odd bounce! And that is the difference between ourselves and them because their strikers find a way to score even if it is shabby (especially that goal Tevez scored were it literally dropped to his foot after a defection against Stoke!). And our strikers are not doing that as I see we waste scoring chances game in and game out. If we scored on more than 15% of the chances we generate in the games that I watch, a blunder here or there at the back becomes irrelevant.

At first I was against a striker being purchased, but I think this game just woke me up a little bit as to what our real problems may be

I see what your saying BC, but for me there is only so much a manger can do and being a man down, I too would have considered the fact that there is one point difference with a draw and that with our luck recently we could leak a late goal and go down 3 points. Because I know that the season is long and that at later points we can take risks when we are NOT a man down. That is how I see it. I still believe that our prime problem, after watching today’s game is that we squander way to many opportunities for my liking and that is why we are seemingly so average. If our strikers wake the hell up and start finishing on a regular basis with a goal every 3 or 4 tries on target, we are safe. But as it looks, we need at elast 15 chances to score one goal and that isn’t right nor is it Scolari’s fault tactically because if you are able to generate those type of opportunities and with that much regularity, it is up to the players to take responsibility and finish those chances being provided by the managers tactics and the teammates hard work!

That is the way I see it, but I do understand your point as well.

@ Sangol_me

and define sometimes because if you have 15 shots on goal and one goal against a team you are about 50 places above league wise… I don’t call that being unlucky! I call that being careless in taking your opportunities and I would appreciate it if we stop making excuses for our players. How is it that excuses can be made for poor finishing on the forwards part yet Scolari cannot catch a break?

To me it is getting beyond ridiculous.

Surely it does not take the best to score against a club that it Tier 3. Let’s be serious here.

And we played the starting eleven basically because this is our only game until United I believe, so why would we give our players an extended break that we already have had. The players have had four or five days off I believe and this game was good for them to play in terms of keeping game ready for United.

I didn’t say a thing about Scolari’s tactical issues, I’m blaming him because he cannot bring the best of this team. You know why Drogba didn’t score? Because his head is not in the game. Is it not Scolari’s job to motivate him and make him hungry for goals? Yes you can blame Drogba for that as well, of course. But when Scolari goes to the media and complains about not having a good enough team, not having a playmaker, not having this or that… it takes the confidence away from the players. That is what I’m trying to get at. Aside from his substituting decisions or formations he puts out on the field it doesn’t matter, he needs to make these players believe they should win every game. I have absolutely no problem if we lose or draw, but the Chelsea players played their hearts out in the game. I have NO PROBLEM with that at all. All I want is Scolari to motivate these guys. I could go after Scolari as a tactician and point to where he would bring on a late defensive sub, by doing that he is saying let’s just take our point and go home. Scolari needs to view draws as 2 points lost rather than 1 point gained. But I’m not trying to go too much into that, the real problem is with the players confidence and self-belief. That is where Scolari has not been doing his job.

Quoting True Blue in L.A.

I didn’t say a thing about Scolari’s tactical issues, I’m blaming him because he cannot bring the best of this team. You know why Drogba didn’t score? Because his head is not in the game. Is it not Scolari’s job to motivate him and make him hungry for goals? Yes you can blame Drogba for that as well, of course. But when Scolari goes to the media and complains about not having a good enough team, not having a playmaker, not having this or that… it takes the confidence away from the players. That is what I’m trying to get at. Aside from his substituting decisions or formations he puts out on the field it doesn’t matter, he needs to make these players believe they should win every game. I have absolutely no problem if we lose or draw, but the Chelsea players played their hearts out in the game. I have NO PROBLEM with that at all. All I want is Scolari to motivate these guys. I could go after Scolari as a tactician and point to where he would bring on a late defensive sub, by doing that he is saying let’s just take our point and go home. Scolari needs to view draws as 2 points lost rather than 1 point gained. But I’m not trying to go too much into that, the real problem is with the players confidence and self-belief. That is where Scolari has not been doing his job.

BANG ON! That’s a SUPER post! You just said what I was struggling to say! Well done mate! Absolutely brilliant! You nailed it!

I cannot believe I am witnessing fans who are not willing to hold their players responsible for the performances they put in! That is just beyond me. Drogba isn’t scoring because his head isn’t in the game is spot on as it seems to me. But maybe Drogba, if he was Chelsea and loved Chelsea wouldn’t need all that much motivation to go out there and play good football. That is a bullshit excuse that you are throwing around and you know it. If the man is going to play, do it for the love of football, do it for the love of glory, do it for the love of CHELSEA for fucks sake! But don’t tell me in all seriousness that a manager should have to motivate you to do your very best because that is a load of crap if I ever heard one!

I have stated my point and the players need to take responsibility for their actions and the way they perform. Obviously, there is nothing wrong with the tactics that were deployed today and it all fell on the finishing abilities of our strikers. Scolari is NOT A NANNIE, NOT A PYSCHIC AND SHOULD NOT HAVE TO USE PSYCHOLOGICAL EVALUATIONS WEEK IN AND WEEK OUT TO GET PLAYERS LIKE DROGBA TO PERFORM! It is time that the players start doing what it is they need to be doing. We are generating all the chances in the world and there is nothing wrong with the management at this point nor the team play. WE NEED TO SCORE and I’m not buying your excuse making for any forward we have on our team when we have 15 bloody chances and score 1 bloody goal! Enough is enough for one day on this board as clearly some of you are will not use common sense and are dillusional. And next, Scoalri NEVER said he didn’t have a good team! So stop promoting falsities as he said the team was lacking two things that will put them over the hump and he was absolutely right. We lack a player that can break down two or three players on his own that all other teams in contention for CL glory have (United have Cristiano, Inter have Zlatan, Liverpool have Torres, Barcelona have Messi and Eto’o and Henry)! Who is ours then if Scolari is not right in his assessment? Joe Cole is a marvelous player and I love him to death, but he is not the type of player that we can have sit behind the strikers due to his inconsistency and lack of speed in thought as well as pace!

And I do have a problem with when we lose and draw useless games as I see that it is not our defensive woes that are killing us as much as it is our recent offensive ones. How in the hell are any of you justifying finishing one chance out of 15 by blaming it on Scolari?! To me it is absurd as it is the strikers job to finish off the chances given! Enough of the bullshit about Scolari taking blame for not motivating these guys because I’m positive he does, but with a player who has a serious attitude problem like Drogba (who is the cause of the locker room drama!) maybe it comes a time for a player to take responsibility! And it is a whole bunch of baloney in saying it is Scolari’s fault for our lack of confidence as I am more than sure that if we had a better finsihing rate of one goal in 15 chances, we would win more games and gain more confidence!

STOP LOOKING FOR THE MOST RIDICULOUS WAYS TO HOLD SCOLARI RESPONSIBLE WHEN THE FORWARDS AND OTHER PLAYERS ARE NOT TAKING THE CHANCES THEY ARE BEING GIVEN!
Question for all… how is it Scolari’s fault managerial wise if we are generating at least on average 8-10 good chances a game to score and we are not putting them in the back of the net? These players are not children, but GROWN MEN who are paid millions of pounds to finish two or three chances out of the 15 available at least!

Vinton – All that these guys are saying is Scolari had his options. WHY DID HE NOT SUB DROGBA IF HE WAS POOR? He has a better option too. If Drogba’s head is not here, Scolari can SELL him. If Scolari does not sell Drogba this month, he can’t cry over him. He has to get the best out of him. As simple as that. If on a regular basis, the players don’t perform, Scolari should show them who the BOSS is! Very simple. You can’t go around pointing fingers!

No one’s saying players should not take responsbility. Of course they should. But if they don’t who should enforce their authority? If these players do not perform up to the required level, what happens then? What is Scolari’s role then? It’s not just this match. We have not been doing well for the past few months and that’s why everyone is jumping on Scolari. There are some fantastic posts you have not read yet. See here.

Quoting True Blue in L.A.

I didn’t say a thing about Scolari’s tactical issues, I’m blaming him because he cannot bring the best of this team. You know why Drogba didn’t score? Because his head is not in the game. Is it not Scolari’s job to motivate him and make him hungry for goals? Yes you can blame Drogba for that as well, of course. But when Scolari goes to the media and complains about not having a good enough team, not having a playmaker, not having this or that… it takes the confidence away from the players. That is what I’m trying to get at. Aside from his substituting decisions or formations he puts out on the field it doesn’t matter, he needs to make these players believe they should win every game. I have absolutely no problem if we lose or draw, but the Chelsea players played their hearts out in the game. I have NO PROBLEM with that at all. All I want is Scolari to motivate these guys. I could go after Scolari as a tactician and point to where he would bring on a late defensive sub, by doing that he is saying let’s just take our point and go home. Scolari needs to view draws as 2 points lost rather than 1 point gained. But I’m not trying to go too much into that, the real problem is with the players confidence and self-belief. That is where Scolari has not been doing his job.

Quoting Sagnol_me

I will not blame Drogba because he has this off game once in a while. He has always scored for us in most of the big games – against Barca, Arsenal, Man Utd, Liverpool, Valencia etc. SCOLARI ALWAYS HAD A CHANCE TO SUBSTITUTE DROGBA IF HE WANTED TO. Why did Scolari not sub Drogba if he wasn’t playing well? You can’t have the cake and eat it too. There is only a small minute difference when it comes to scoring against top teams and tier 3 teams. The difference will always be only in the chances created. You sound as if every premier league team is beating the lower league teams with a 8 goals or 10 goals. Any other day we would have won by 4-0 margin. It’s common that you beat your premier league rival 3-0 and then beat a lower league opponent 1-0. That’s ok as long as you get the result.

Scolari should have subbed Drogba. Why did he not do that? What about Joe Cole? Why is no one talking about Joe ‘useless’ Cole? Why didn’t you pick him up when he wasted one on one opportunities against Man Utd at SB (where finally Kalou scored) and against Fulham when he missed two easy chances and today too (again Kalou scored)? Why only Drogba? Like BC says Drogba has given us a lot of good days for us to be bitching about his odd bad days.

Who had a one-off day today? Drogba or Scolari. Hand on your heart, tell me. If you say Drogba, then you say he’s normally good but had a bad day today. If you say Scolari, he’s been generally doing good but had a bad day today. Your turn.

And look out for Scolari’s reasons. He always has a reason for every bad result. He is consistent with both his excuses and his bad results.

Quoting Trevor

This way Scolari will not be blamed for anything at all. Saving is goalie’s job. Defending is defenders’ job. Creating chances in midfielders’ job. Scoring is strikers’ job. Motivating and organising is captain’s job. Training is assistant’s job. Signing new players and selling players is Board’s job. THEN WHAT EXACTLY IS SCOLARI’S JOB?

Quoting BlueChampion

I agree with you in saying that players will have to take some responsibility but a bulk of the total responsibility should go to the manager. That’s my point. When Spurs were struggling at the bottom, who blamed the players? The manager was out. When Real Madrid was struggling who blamed the players or the injuries? The manager was out. The buck always stops with the manager, no matter what happens. Things could have happened because of something completely out of his control but he is the person ultimately responsible.

This is not a knee-jerk reaction. If we have been having a lot of injury problems like Newcastle or if we have been playing generally very well, this result would have been shrugged off. None of us would have taken this result seriously. The fact is, the result is perfectly in order with our other string of results.

@44

I have been saying we should sell this brat since he started having problems with being loyal to us since Mou left! But some people in this chat refuse to see him as a pest in the locker room even when the Chelsea players are saying he is and refuse to see how disruptive he is to the team moral with his ridiculous comments! There is no excuse for not scoring, that is bullshit!

Quoting Vinton Lindo

@44 I have been saying we should sell this brat since he started having problems with being loyal to us since Mou left! But some people in this chat refuse to see him as a pest in the locker room even when the Chelsea players are saying he is and refuse to see how disruptive he is to the team moral with his ridiculous comments! There is no excuse for not scoring, that is bullshit!

But then why is Scolari not selling him?! He could have sold him in the summer. He can still sell him this month. By not selling him, Scolari has fully accepted him as his player. No one can cry about Drogba. If not for Drogba, Chelsea would have failed to beat or might even have lost to Cluj ont the last day thereby fail to reach the champions league for the first time under Roman. Scolari is just grateful to Drogba.

To claim that it is not the fault of the striker to score more goals out of the 15 generated and find excuses as to state the manager is the reason for this because he does not give them confidence is amateurish statement!

For the last time I will say this… Drogba was not taken out due to his situation this season! He needs as many games as he can get in order to be 100% fit for a team like United. A lot of our starters were also played today so that they are not heavy legged for the game against United! And for a coach to sub Drogba at half time is yet another ridiculous statement from you! If we are generating chances all game long, would you take out a man that is supposed to be world class? And if you are generating chances all game long, clearly nothing is wrong with the strategy nor the game so you don’t tamper with what is not broken! First of all, you are making yet another excuse for Drogba performing and finding some way to link it to Scolari and credit to yo, it is amazing how you do it, really!

Drogba was not sold in the summer because no one would expect him to be acting the way he does! No one expected him to be injured for nearly the whole season! Did you? And if you couldn’t how could Scolari? The man was a big piece to Chelsea in 2007 and part of 2008, but his attitude is horrendous yet most of you baby him as if he is a child. Maybe that is why he sulks so much in the media and blames Chelsea for his poor finishing as of late! And it is much more than just adding and selling players as if we let Drogba go now, chances are we will let him go for less money than we are looking for! Football is a business as well just in case you have forgotten! Drogba is cup tied Champions League wise so it would drastically drop his going rate which is why I feel we will off him this summer for sure! So Scolari may not want Drogba at this point but it surely will not be entirely up to Big Phil that he is not sold this summer unless (unlikey) we get big money for this brat. And Chelsea would not have tied or lost to Cluj because of Drogba so just stop the fanboy jargin my man. Drogba is not our knight in shining armour as in reality, HE HAS ONLY HAD ONE GREAT SEASON FOR US! Tell me any other season where he performed to the heights he did in 2007 in his stay here? THERE IS NONE!

Drogba was a terrible finisher today and there is no excuse you can make for it. He should have scored today and taken his chances as other world class strikers would have. Now I can see why Luis wants a new striker who can bury the 8-10 chances we are providing our strikers! Because if Eto’o or Messi or Torres or Villa were on the receiving end of those chances we provide per game for our strikers, they would be loving life at Chelsea!

Drogba was poor today but then if he was so poor he must have been subbed by Scolari! I know I’m playing the broken record, so are you! You can cry as much as you want, but the final result is always down to the manager, be it win or lose or draw. When chelsea were winning big in the initial months, scolari got a lot of praise for what chelsea was able to do. Now, when we can’t put two successive wins, he will have face the music. Drogba didn’t not score, Cech did not save, Mikel did not mark etc are not valid excuses. You’re given the powers to play them, not to play them, discipline them, train them, do whatever you want to with them. It’s his baby, his job. Scolari should know what to do.

I agree for this argument that today’s result is all down to Drogba.

Who was responsible for these results?

Cluj Away
Liverpool Home
Roma Away
Burnley Home
Newcastle Home
Bordeaux Away
Arsenal Home
West Ham Home
Everton Away
Fulham Home

10 bad results in 3 months. Was it Drogba who was responsible for all this? You know, we are not at all talking about this particular match. We are talking about the overall situation. The gradual decline of Chelsea. You are talking only about this match, these 90 minutes. We are talking about the recent past. That’s why we are holding Scolari responsible. Got it?

Some food for thought from Haberdashers from Chelseablog:

Cudicini
Ferreira; Carvalho; Ivanovic; Ashley Cole
Belletti; Lampard; Mikel;
Joe Cole, Kalou, Drogba.

With a team like this we really should be beating crap like Southend. But letting in another last minute goal is really pathetic after what happened at Fulham. I’m starting to wonder what Phil does all week in training. And we must remember it’s Southend! The 13th best side in League 1 against officailly the no.1 ranked side in Europe. The fact we can only score once against them and come away with a replay says it all about where Phil is taking us at present.

However despite it being pathetic i wasn’t really that shocked as we are pretty shit at the moment. Our next game at Old Trafford is a must win in my eyes as a draw would leave us 5 points behind Liverpool and just ahead of Utd who would have 2 games in hand. But at present i’m just hoping we don’t get murdered.

I agree that we won’t win anything this season but i’ve thought that for a while ever since it became obvious that Phil isn’t a very good manager. I’ve written it off as another transitional one as last year and i’ve now stopped expecting us to win games, as i did under Jose and now just started to hope that we remember how to.

In the past i’ve asked myself if we look like Champions and the answer was a definite NO. Then i asked myself if Phil is good enough to manage Chelsea and the answer was again NO. Now i’m asking myself who we should look for in the summer as it’s becoming obvious Phil will only last 1 season at most. He even admitted that no trophies = the sack and our best chance of a trophy is now the FA Cup. That’s how low we have to set our sights now.

Anyway we won’t be short of options in the summer. Bilic has said he can now quit Croatia for the right job in the Premiership. There’s Rijkaard, Hiddink, Van Basten should be available and one of my favourites would be Martin O’Neill. So over to Roman who must be loving the change from Jose’s boring Chelsea!

Scolari isn’t a bad manager, but he doesn’t fit in with us. This is Chelsea FC, a team that pretty much everyone outside of Manchester knows in their hearts were the best team last year. A team of world-class players, and to fill the shoes Mourinho left is not easy at all. It’s nothing personal against him as a person, but he fully deserves all criticism he is receiving. I haven’t totally given up on him though, I’m waiting to see what kind of result we will get at Old Trafford. I’m upset with our performances and Scolari will receive a lot of the blame being the manager of an underacheiving club, one of the biggest clubs in the world.

There are a few possibilities that could happen a week from Sunday following the result of the match:
- We continue our typical predictable style of play, same old Bosingwa and Cole running up the flanks and crossing, same old one-two ground passing, and we get throttled by Man U. Maybe not by a heavy scoreline, but thoroughly outplayed by them. Roman and the majority of the fans become fed up with Scolari, the players frustrations become made public, a series of feuds will happen, which will lead to some key players leaving and some firings. Basically it can turn into bedlum. Drogba will throw a tantrum, Scolari will put the blame somewhere else, Roman can get upset and do something unpredictable… pretty much we should try to avoid this outcome at all costs.
- We play somewhat hard, miss some big chances, as do Man United. Close game all around, Ferguson tactically outplays Scolari. Plenty of chances for both teams yet it finished at like a 1-1 draw. The fans are split as to whether Scolari should stay or go, players become unhappy, Man U possibly moves into 2nd place and lots of pessimitism on our side going into our Champions League clash. Probably not a good result either, but there may still be some kind of hope if this does happen. Or maybe not.
- The real Chelsea show up. Drogba and Lampard are brilliant, Scolari overshadows Ferguson, precise passing and pin point crossing, defense is on top of things, Cech earns clean sheet, and Chelsea score more than once. We win the possession battle, we outshoot and outplay them, and we send a loud message to the rest of the world. Players confidence raises, team morale becomes high, Roman is happy, fans are happy, and the sun will come out and shine on my beloved blues.

It is unclear which of these results could happen, maybe Chelsea play their hearts out and lose, or play not so well and earn a draw. My point is that this game will determine which way our season will go. Are we going to show up and show everyone that we are going to be champions? That we are threat to the other powerhouses? Will our performance strike fear into future opponents? Is Scolari going to win his first big game as manager of Chelsea FC? Maybe Scolari will show that he does belong with us, or he will show us that he is best suited to manage in his homeland. We will see, this is make or break for Scolari.

Scolari acts like someone on Prozac. He doesn’t seem to be any different if we lose, draw or win. I honestly think he may have a short-term memory problem. If we are going to keep him, and I don’t think CFC can afford to sack him, then he needs an excellent assistant which he does not have at the moment. This season is dead in the water. It hurts to watch sometimes.

why are u guyyz so optimistic???????????
do you honestly believe we will win the match or come out with a draw?????????
i say man u 3-0 chelsea

Lets face it,the owner (the guy who sign the checks) didn’t fancy the “win above all” method.We wants to win and at the same time do it in style.
So both Avram and Scolari were urged to change the Chelsea game philosofy.It turns out the results werent the expected as its now increasingly difficult to surprise other teams with that packed midfield that paid off in the beginning og this season.
Cant really see a way out of this because if Scolari play for result there will be critics for that tangential 1-0 wins and boring style of play on the other hand its this uncertainty of win-loses-draws results.

Scolari needs to select players, who have a desire to win.. Starting team with players, who have nothing to prove against a league 1 team itself shows the fault in his thought.

He should have started with Sinclair, Mancienne ,Mineiro and Di Santo instead of Didier, Joe, Mikel and Ashley Cole ( play Ivanovic in left back). These are people who have to prove something and want to prove something.

I would have even assumed he played Stoch instead of Belleti .

Let me tell you all, even Avram grant played Scott Sinclair and Ben Sahar, this guy is ruining our talent.. After today match , two things are confirmed, if we come from Old Trafford, with a draw, it will be equal to a win .
Lower your expectation . Semi finals for FA cup is good result, if draws are favorable. If we win against Juventus, it is great result ( we make good money).. EPL, we have to finish 3rd and qualify for automatic CL or else, we will play the likes of Real Madrid or Milan in the third qualifying round ( with the new CL rules )…

lets face it …..with the way we are playin now we are not gonna beat anyone let alone man utd….not only do we dont win matches these days but we also dont keep a clean sheets……so its gonna surely be a utd victory and then we are gonna be 5points behind them and 6 points behind pool…….for me that would be the end of the season for chelsea fc as far as the BPL title is concerned……then as usual we will be chasing the two clubs till the end of the season and will eventually fall short at the end….so predictable isint it…….just a f***in waste of time watching these guys play……me not interested in watching these regular pathetic performaces……just dunt give a damn anymore……man i am outta here….

Buying New Players is not the solution, we have a very composed and strong squad already, its not that over the past few months our world class defense became weak, our goal scoring ratio went down by 70% and our midfeild became slow all of a sudden. These are the same players that have been there for the past 3/4 seasons or longer and have been knocking teams down week in and week out. But now just look at our playing mentality, I say put an expereinced manager there and even a third devision club can walk out with a result against us. Beleive it or not it really isn’t that hard to beat chelsea anymore. Scolari in his defense says teams are coming to the bridge are parking the bus, well tems have been doing that even before RA took over. It’s nothing new so how come we were still grinding out the results back then and then all of a sudden since scolari takes over, we can’t beat those teams anymore. I’ll tell you why, it’s a thing known as mentality of the players and the coach’s ability to get the best out of his team. Our players are the same but their mentality has completely changed, and Scolari admits that players are facing a lack of confidense, it’s about bout you realised that Mr. Scolari, because most of us figured that out good 3 months ago.

Im not putting any hopes up on us beatin Utd next week, as far as I think they will beat us something like 2-0 or even worse and I bet we wont even trouble them at all because if we are struggling against 3rd devision clubs then Utd is simply going to eat us. I think Scolari has been given enough chances to prove critics wrong but so far nothing convincing has been displayed. He is a great coach, im not taking anything away from him but I dont think he can handle the EPL. How I miss those days under JM when chelsea was the worst nightmare for europe’s elite clubs and now we dont even scare Southend FC lol, funny but pathetic at the same time. I don’t think the return of Bison (Essien) or the signing of 2/3 players will make a difference at this rate because we can have the best players in the world playing at chelsea but until they dont a guiding hand behind them from a strong and intellegent coach capable of dealing with the harsh and unforgiving nature of EPL then I dont think we will be seeing any silverware at the bridge anytime soon. Spare urself the torture chelsea heads and just hope for the best or worst depending on the scenario we will be in the coming months!!

And @ 66, Shady:

Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.

Poor finishing,lack of confidence=this is our problem.I never seen this poor finishings before.If we miss our chances at old trafford(like joe cole/anelka at the bridge) we will lose,but by using the chances 3:0 victory is possible.
In jose days our finishing was good and players used their only chances.

Quoting Mike Ayad

team agianst man utd:

—————————————–cech————————————–
bosingwa——————-carvalho——–ivanovic————————-cole
—————————————-mikel——————————————
—————————ballack——————lampard—————————–
———cole—————————————————-kalou——————–
—————————————drogba———————————————–

Cole can trouble evra with his tricks, but he better out in good crosses!
Kalou can run at rafael who will probably under pressure lol
i want ballack to play because he is gd in the air and he is strong and can defend unlike deco.
Mikel can sweep as he usually does.
Bosingwa and cole can attack but they have to be more unpredictable (i hope cole can out gd crosses in)
carvalho should be playing well i hope.
GD luck chelsea, do us proud. If we win, our whole season will turn around.
UP BLUES!

I noticed that this formation does not include Terry?? do you know he will be avaliable?

Hey blue-ppl
I didn’t se the game yesterday and am glad cause I know how pissed off I get when we lose or draw like that and especially against the likes of Southend (no offense southend fans).
From what I read from the game report I got to agree with “Vinton Lindo”. If drogs and Joe had scored a pair we would have had a diff debate now. Sh*t we were even winning without a manager for most of last year (sorry AG u aren’t a manager) so what the heck is wrong with our players. The fact is we should beat this team without LFS on the sideline.
I hate this me-myself-and I attitude Drogs having! I hate the fact that we don’t hustle hard enough! YOU can have all the talent in the world but that won’t mean jack shi*t if you don’t have the will.
It’s an obvious outcome to bash the manager when things get ugly, especially with our history with JM. Personally I don’t think we are too old or too weak to compete with the best in the business. But so far we haven’t even been close on top of our game at all. We take one step forward and two steps backwards. At least it feels like it. I know some if not most players did give 150 % extra for TSO when they were on the pitch. I can’t really say that’s the situation right now. The big question is; is it cause they don’t feel/like/believe in the coach or cause the coach don’t pushes/encourage them hard enough?
In the end of the day, LFS the one that have to answers all the questions!
But we have to question the players as well. Only a few have done what I expect of them. This is my own rating of our team so far this season:
*Mikel (8.5/10) been a surprise and been really good for us. CFC future!
*Cech (7/10) been cech. We need him to be ridicules good in order to go all the way!
*Nic (7/10)have done good job, even though he haven’t played great, what counts is goals for a goal scorer and he have scored goals. He needs to understand though the better team football he plays the easier it will be for him to score even more goals because his teammates will give him even more assist.
*Jose B (7/10) been ok. But he overestimates his dribbling skills and shooting.
*Joe Cole (6/10) needs to hit the gym; lil man needs to strengthen his body because he gets injured all the time. If he does that only good thing will come out of him. We need more consistent play from him for us to do well.
*Drog (5/10)need to get his ass kicked, maybe then he will understand what he have to do, pull on his blue-jersey and work hard. Then he can be the monster we all have seen and miss so much. He’s a winner but only when things go his way. He needs to go to work on a daily basis. Hope he makes Man u pay!
*Malouda (6/10), I actually think he got talent but he needs to work on his football comprehension. I get really frustrated when he plays but I miss him when he isn’t on the pitch. I guess he been ok but we I expect more from him.
*Lampsy (8/10), been decent and he try to lead us by example. I want him to be an even bigger leader on the pitch, especially when the like of deco is playing alongside him, because that will only make ballack and deco work harder. I hope.
*Ballack (5.5/10), ever since the Euro2008 final he hasn’t done a thing right. He supposes to be a big-time player but he hasn’t done anything yet. And what kind of injury did he have that had him sidelined for so long?? I expect him to be back to his form he had end of last season. Or he can kiss contract extension goodbye!!!
*Deco (6/10), the most arrogant player of the CFC squad. Enough said.
*Ashley (7/10) been decent but from an international star, u expect more. I wish he could have done something about his finish touches because he could have had half dozen goals by know if he only could have finished off most of the chances he got in front of the goal. Even though it’s not his job to score, you got to take care of what the defense gives you.
*JT (7/10), He been slipping a bit in form this far, much can be due to the fact that his tag teammate RC been out. He got big job ahead of him in making his teammates work hard for the same goal. When the team isn’t playing well, that’s when all our small weaknesses get exposed. And we have been getting punished for it. It used to be rare to see mistakes we are doing today but now its reality=(
*Ricky (8/10), the games he played he been OK. He is our best defender.
*Kalou (6/10), got to agree some of you, he can’t play in the wing. The striker position suits him better because he doesn’t have to create much other then space for him to score or get to the open area to get himself free to get a pass. I still think he isn’t good enough to play in the starting 11. I am not disappointed with him because I don’t expect much of kalou.
*Alex (7/10), been ok. Hope he stays with us because he is good. But he is not better then the third choice for us.
*Iva (6/10), I actually thought he was better then he has proven himself to be. First of all, even thought he works hard and defend well, when he get the ball he doesn’t do much more then kicks it away as far as possible wit out any purpose. He is not good with the long passes. And for a young player he is not fast or smooth. But he got time to improve because he young and he is surrounded by good players and that will do him well.
*LFS (?/10), you don’t have to kiss ass to be likable. It’s all about the “W”. He has to make the players believe in this system, or we can kiss the championship goodbye. I got trite football knowledge so I can’t really speak of what he should do tactically but everything always start and end with LFS.
*Wayne B, he gone so I won’t comment on him. I hope he does well, but Man C is doing down!
The rest of the squad didn’t get enough time on the pitch to get kuhulai-rates lol
I was just about to comment on the FA-game from yesterday and ended up with all this nonsense=)
Am out, go chelsea

http://www.goal.com/en-india/news/105/main/2009/01/04/1040147/carlos-tevez-may-leave-manchester-united-admits-ferguson
is there any chance we can get him?????????

ok BC thats KOOL !! Im popular!! love the job your doing!!!! your the BEST !! I bet those other fans out there dont have a great blog like this!! thats why they are always straying over here lol

your autorefresh sucksssssssssssssssss. i just had a fvckin page deleted that i was writing.

team against united

————cech———–
bos-terry-carv-a.cole
———-mikel———-
deco—-balack—lamps
—–anelka–drog—–

its a 4-4-2 with mikel playing a defensive role and maybe anelka little bit behind drogba

Every day from today, show the champions league slapping incident to the team.. Remind Drogba of what Rooney’s diving comments before the Champions league final ..

Motivate drogba – I am not saying we will win. If we come with a draw , it is a positive result..

Folks – the ban on Patrice Evra, will that include carling cup or will he be out of the old trafford encounter. If Evra or Rio is not there, then I would say, the match is even ..

cri?sis? ?/?kra?s?s/ noun, plural -ses ?
–noun. a stage in a sequence of events at which the trend of all future events, esp. for better or for worse, is determined; turning point.

Ok by the literal definition of the word I guess we are at a “crisis” – a turning point where we can build on what we have and give a very solid run at the remaining 3 pieces of silverware or we can go on as we have for the last 2 months and watch our place in the table drop to a dangerous 4th slot.

I firmly believe that the worse that can happen this year is 4th place with no silverware (I’d bet my house on that – and with the economy in the state that it is in that is a safe bet). The sad part is the entire player pieces are there. We have potentially one of the best defense and midfield’s in the world with one striker that became and instant legend and another that leads the league in goals.

So yeah we are at a turning point – I will admit that. but this is not doom and gloom – this is not a DISASTER. A disaster is what Man City are going through or the 03-04 Leeds United team.

And people like Shady (post 66) I will just laugh at you. You are what we call in the states a “fair-weather fan”. Football (for the most part) is all about the ups and downs, It is about the emotion we get every week and sticking it out with the emotions that your team gives you. The glory of the 04-05 season is just a predominate in my mind as the agony of last 21st of May.

We all want the ups but they are not quite as sweet without having the rough patches. If you want to be a fair-weather fan then may I suggest supporting a Red team from Manchester – they have won (I believe) 10 of the last 16 EPL trophies and half of their “fanbase” most likely has your patience (or lack thereof) and mindset.

COME ON BLUES LET’S TURN THIS SEASON AROUND

Oh I agree – It is a “Step Backwards” and I’m not happy about it. But I might be the last hold out in thinking that the sky is truly falling. We are at a turning point. Things are gonna get better or things are gonna stay the same (ie get worse).

I’m just saying we aren’t freefalling in the table and a “rough patch” is not the vibe I’m getting here. Hopefully the Blues can prove you all wrong and win our next 4 matches. Then we all will be dancing in the streets Singing the praises of our Brazilian mastermind coach.

heh.. but realistically I’m just hoping for a ManU tie on the 11th – anything more will be sweet cream.

I read it was for a minimum of 10 million euros, and they are hoping to close a deal by the end of this month.

Kenyon, get on that!

Quoting True Blue in L.A.

Bayern are keen to offload Podolski by the end of the month, any chance Chelsea could pursue him? His price tag ranges from 10-15 million, which I think is definitely worth it. We’d be getting a young and very talented player, if we don’t pursue him then we should try and pursue Zaki. All other players Chelsea have been linked with don’t really excite me or interest me at all. I’ll take Podolski or Zaki, I would take Zhirkov also. Podolski would be the best buy when you consider who is available and the price tags of everyone available.

I agree with you on some points…. and I’m with you in regards that we must win at all cost!!!
but are you telling me you dont want to see Ben Arfa run around a few defenders?!! thats what malouda cant doo

Quoting GamingTheSystem

Oh I think a Win against ManU is the turning point we need – but I’m just looking at our form atm and saying I would be happy with a higher scoring draw (not a 0-0 snooze fest).

And as far as Podolski – In may FIFA09 manager mode in the January window – I offloaded Drogba and Terry (there is really no “captain boost” in the AI) and bought Podolski and actually made the club turn a profit (a small one mind you).

I’m all for Lucas!! but I have not even heard one rumor.

come on man … you had to sell Terry! so who are your center backs??
Ricky—– Ivanovic or Ricky——- Alex

We got 12 MM pounds already . I hope we finalize a deal early enough and not wait till the last day.
also let them keep this in the background as I don’t want our bid rejected because Man city came in ..

Our big players are doing this big mistakes,what do you expect from young lads.We can not play like this against Man UT. Drogba must see his missed chances on TV and shame.

Hey guys.
About podolski. No way. If he’s so good, why is he being off loaded. Chelsea, rt now is supposed to be a better team than Bayern, we can’t buy a reject from a team that’s not better than us. See Deco. Also, see Silvestre in Arsenal. No way. Now Tevez, that’ll be something. We all know he’s a better all round player than the great distraction that is Berbatov.
I’m sad about the southend game but I was not really surprised. Time was when I never missed a Chelsea game so long as it’s on tv. Nit anymore, now my weekends are just miserable, thanks to Scolari. I do not agree that our players are not good enuff, no way. Right now confidence is really low and 2 players- Drogba and Deco- and the coach are wrecking the teams morale, that is why we can’t pull off a win these days, if it would reverse global warming or automatically cure the World’s HIV patients. MOTIVATION is the word guys the key word, that is what we lack. SELF BELIEF is what Big phil has taken away.
VINTON LINDON, I agree that the players have to take some of the flack, bt something you need to consider is the trend, not the instance. For me the trend started with the Man City game, I noticed how the players always started thew game in a relaxed manner, it happened with manu and we chased the game from their. Now, it’s ur job as a manager to notice a trend, b4 the rest of the less learned fans.The problem is LFS has not noticed, this- he keeps talking about coming up with another tactic, plan B, which is all well and good except that we are still waitng for him to come good. However, it may be that the reason he has not noticed the trend is that that is what he planned to entrench- take it easy fellows, football is not a hard game- if this is the game plan then too bad.
I mentioned a long time ago that when Essien comes back there will not be much difference, because the problem with the players is Mentality, we are no longer Machines, we are now whimps like arsenal, even terry, even lampard, even Mikel. Does it not surprise you that the latter has not gotten a red all season. Get the point, all of his bad tackles in previous seasons have not been malicious, he was always just too eager. Do you seriously think this team can get into a brawl anymore? Nah I dont thik so, in the present dispensation, football is a beautiful thing, it is high art, not a thing to die or live for.
Like I said against everton, I dont see us winning against ManU barring a miracle, there will be no change in gameplan and the mentality need even more time. Against everton, I advised prayers, I wnt bother this time. Let the better team win.

at this rate..i dont even see us drawing against Utd. But i guess, the team owes its fans a result..come on chelsea..

Quoting denver

come on man … you had to sell Terry! so who are your center backs??
Ricky—– Ivanovic or Ricky——- Alex

Ricky——- Alex
(with Franky as my Cpt.)
sad but it works – JT’s weekly rate was stooopid high for his stats.