Chelsea Fc Thread

[Seapok]

Chelsea 0 - 0 Fulham (Chelsea win 4-3 on pens)

Bryan Ruiz missed the crucial spot-kick as ten-man Chelsea moved into the fourth round of the Carling Cup with a penalty shootout win over Fulham.

The 120 minutes that preceded were not without incident as both sides spurned clear chances.

Fulham came closest when Pajtim Kasami hit the crossbar with his 49th-minute penalty after Kerim Frei was hauled down by Alex, who was dismissed.

But Chelsea's win was tainted by an injury to Daniel Sturridge.

The striker pulled up sharply in the first half with what appeared to be a hamstring injury which, if confirmed, could sideline him for several weeks. Petr Cech was also hurt when he collided with Orlando Sa, failing to emerge for the second half.

Villas-Boas fielded a young line-up, handing starts to Romelu Lukaku and Josh McEachran - with the later creating the best chance of the first half.

McEachran brilliantly burst into the box and beat Fulham goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer, but with Daniel Sturridge making sure by tapping the ball over the line he was flagged offside.

No sooner had the second half got underway, Fulham won a penalty.

Ruiz's clever back-heel freed debutant Kerim Frei, who was brought down by Alex. The Brazilian protested his innocent but was dismissed by Chris Foy before Swiss teenager Kasami hit the bar with his penalty.

A frantic second half saw good chances missed at both ends, with Frei and Kasami clearing off the line from a corner before the former's finish sailed wide at the other end under pressure from Ross Turnbull.

The game drifted into a penalty shootout, which saw Frank Lampard miss for Chelsea and Dembele for Fulham.

New Fulham striker Ruiz missed the crucial kick in controversial circumstances, with the ball bouncing on the line after it had struck the underside of the bar.

Chelsea's win improved their miserable record of seven penalty shoot-out defeats from their previous eight.

[smokie36]

Another fine performance Seapok....what a championship challenging performance eh?

[smokie36]

"brilliantly burst into the box...."

That's no cut and paste...you added that yourself didn't ya?

[Seapok]

"brilliantly burst into the box...."

That's no cut and paste...you added that yourself didn't ya?

No C&P....I was at the game and saw it with my own eyes! championship challenging performance? you looking forward to the 4th round draw at the weekend? ooooh no your lot are not in it! haha

[smokie36]

"brilliantly burst into the box...."

That's no cut and paste...you added that yourself didn't ya?

No C&P....I was at the game and saw it with my own eyes! championship challenging performance? you looking forward to the 4th round draw at the weekend? ooooh no your lot are not in it! haha

Hope ya made last orders at the Chelsea Ram...

[carmine]

"brilliantly burst into the box...."

That's no cut and paste...you added that yourself didn't ya?

No C&P....I was at the game and saw it with my own eyes! championship challenging performance? you looking forward to the 4th round draw at the weekend? ooooh no your lot are not in it! haha

No were are not thank God. Waste of time competition baring in mind we are blooding our youngsters in the europa.

Ofcourse a win at Wigan would be even more of a justification of the carling team selected.

[eddieblue]

dont the spuds have a forum ,maybe not coz there chelsea supporters really ,are they still in the carling cup lmao ,bring on 3 point lane .U.T.C

[carmine]

dont the spuds have a forum ,maybe not coz there chelsea supporters really ,are they still in the carling cup lmao ,bring on 3 point lane .U.T.C

Funny but i have dificulty even remembering the last time your little club won at White Hart Lane.

A horrid little club trying to buy success with dirty Russian money. You'll never be a big club no matter how much money you spend. Your ground which is too big for you anyway and is situated in the Borough of Hammersmith and FULHAM so you don't belong there either.

Edited September 24, 2011 by carmine

[smokie36]

Enjoyed your faces at the end....pint a bit sour on the way home was it?

[rixalex]

Enjoyed your faces at the end....pint a bit sour on the way home was it?

Many years ago now i watched an interview on Chelsea TV with Kalou and that bald no-it-all presenter, and came away with the impression of Kalou being a complete idiot. Last night confirmed it.

[Seapok]

Enjoyed your faces at the end....pint a bit sour on the way home was it?

Many years ago now i watched an interview on Chelsea TV with Kalou and that bald no-it-all presenter, and came away with the impression of Kalou being a complete idiot. Last night confirmed it.

I concur, I hate Kalou, he is an absolute waste of space and I have no idea what he is still doing at the club......Smokie: beer was flowing last night and to be honest I don't remember much about the game at all haha

[Seapok]

Not bad for a fat over-rated player eh boys.....SUPER LAMPS!

Bolton 1 - 5 Chelsea

Frank Lampard scored a hat-trick as Chelsea thrashed bottom side Bolton on an afternoon to forget for Wanderers goalkeeper Adam Bogdan.

Former Bolton loanee Daniel Sturridge headed home after just 90 seconds before Lampard swept home the second.

Two errors from Bolton keeper Bogdan allowed the pair to make it 4-0 by half time before Dedryck Boyata headed a second-half consolation.

But Lampard restored the four-goal advantage with a close-range finish.

The emphatic win moved Andre Villas-Boas' men back into third place above surprise package Newcastle and three points behind Manchester United and Manchester City.

And it was Lampard who stole the show with a vintage performance to silence some of his recent critics.

The 33-year-old, who was dropped from the England team last month and also found himself struggling to break into the Chelsea starting XI, caused problems for the home side throughout with his trademark lung-bursting forward runs.

The visitors arrived at the Reebok boasting an impressive record of winning their last eight Premier League games there without conceding a goal.

And with Bolton suffering a wretched run of five straight home defeats - their worst run in 109 years - Chelsea fans would have been forgiven for expecting a comfortable win.

But surely they did not anticipate the ease with which their team raced into an almost impregnable half-time lead.

Without the suspended Fernando Torres, Andre Villas-Boas brought in Didier Drogba and Sturridge and his players responded with a majestic attacking display.

Bolton's motionless defenders left Sturridge, who scored eight goals in 12 games in a blistering loan spell at the Reebok last season, unmarked to powerfully head home Juan Mata's corner after just 90 seconds.

Chelsea dominated the opening 20 minutes as they tore Bolton apart with their quick movement and incisive passing.

Then Sturridge turned provider when his square pass was confidently drilled home by Lampard on his 350th Chelsea appearance.

The home fans, not to mention Owen Coyle, looked shell-shocked as the visitors raced into their two goal advantage.

But much worse was to follow in a madcap three minutes just before the half hour mark.

First Bogdan, making his first Premier League start of the season in place of the injured Jussi Jaaskelainen, weakly palmed Sturridge's fierce shot into the net.

And moments later he could only parry a strike from David Luiz, who Bolton allowed to saunter towards their goal from his own half, into the path of Lampard to slam home from close range.

Coyle was left with the momentous task of lifting his players during the half time break - but whatever he said clearly worked with Dedryck Boyata heading home Martin Petrov's free kick within 60 seconds of the restart.

However, any glimmer of hope was quickly extinguished when Lampard bagged Chelsea's fifth - for the six hat-trick of his career.

[smokie36]

Decent performance that was I grant you....enjoy it while it lasts.

[Abrak]

Interesting to see Bolton rock bottom of the PL with easily the worst goal difference.

Also quite amusing considering it is managed by young, up and coming, English, super manager - Owen Coyle. Incidentally he is only one year younger than David Moyes but there you go. To be fair to Bolton they have had a gruesome set of fixtures playing against 4 of the top 6 as well as Arsenal. I guess they will turn it around but swapping Sturridge for Ngog and the likelihood that Cahill is off in January wont help.

[carmine]

Interesting to see Bolton rock bottom of the PL with easily the worst goal difference.

Also quite amusing considering it is managed by young, up and coming, English, super manager - Owen Coyle. Incidentally he is only one year younger than David Moyes but there you go. To be fair to Bolton they have had a gruesome set of fixtures playing against 4 of the top 6 as well as Arsenal. I guess they will turn it around but swapping Sturridge for Ngog and the likelihood that Cahill is off in January wont help.

Interesting comparison of ages. I watched a bit of the game and i reckon Bolton are relegation fodder, despite the difficult games they have had. They look like boys playing men.

Isn't John Terry a dispicable creature. i thank the Lord he never stained my club i do.

[smokie36]

How did Meireles escape at least a booking in the first half? The Bolton lad was through and about to pull the trigger....instead they get a shot with six in the wall from 5 yards further back.

Criminal that was.....oh yeah and Terry...we hate him we do....even as a Scot I can't stand the geezer.

[Seapok]

Owen Coyle is neither young or English Abrak, JT is one of those players that if he was captain for club and country for your club you would love him, similar to me hating Roy Keane back in the day!

[carmine]

Owen Coyle is neither young or English Abrak, JT is one of those players that if he was captain for club and country for your club you would love him, similar to me hating Roy Keane back in the day!

You're having a laugh arn't you. I shudder of the thought of that gobshite every wearing the colours of Tottenham.

Mindyou, only a Chelsea fan would come out with that sort of observation. If Ledley had'nt the cronic knee injury and Woodgate had'nt spent half his career crocked i doubt terry would have gotten a look in a international level. Thats what i think of that do average player with 100% but dog average ability, and no i'd never want him in my team

[Abrak]

Owen Coyle is neither young or English Abrak, JT is one of those players that if he was captain for club and country for your club you would love him, similar to me hating Roy Keane back in the day!

I stand corrected on the nationality. As far as being young though, he is. He was in fact the fourth youngest serving manager out of 20 last year (this year he is 6th with Norwich, Chelsea and Swansea added). He is also thought to be young because he is relatively the new to the job. If you recall a year ago he was very 'up and coming' based on a relatively short career. He was talked of as a candidate for the likes of Liverpool, Spurs and England.

I just think it is interesting that poor Moyes, in contrast, is considered rather 'old'. He was the 6th youngest manager last year (now 8th) and is the 4th most experienced manager in the league after two of the greatest managers in Premiership history (Wenger and Ferguson) and, of course, Harry. He is well over 10 years younger than all three. So, in fact, I like David Moyes who everyone knows is a good manager but generally supporters of clubs like Utd or Spurs dont want to manage them probably because they think he has shown loyalty to the same club for far too long or because he doesnt have much silverware to show for his efforts (and they find him a bit boring).

Managers like Owen Coyle (last year's fad), Paul Lambert (get Norwich in the top half and you will be this year's fad) or even AVB (everybody's fad) really still have a lot to prove. Maybe its because I was a fan of Blue Peter but I have always been impressed by someone who can consistently year after year make something out of the center of a bog roll and an empty packet of crisps.

[oldgit]

Interesting to see Bolton rock bottom of the PL with easily the worst goal difference.

Also quite amusing considering it is managed by young, up and coming, English, super manager - Owen Coyle. Incidentally he is only one year younger than David Moyes but there you go. To be fair to Bolton they have had a gruesome set of fixtures playing against 4 of the top 6 as well as Arsenal. I guess they will turn it around but swapping Sturridge for Ngog and the likelihood that Cahill is off in January wont help.

Most of the 'English young things',be they players and managers,are vastly overrated in the Premier League.And for this,we have the English printed media,the English managerial failures that find their niche as 'judges'in the comfy,matey surroundings of the Sky Sports,BBC and ESPN studios and,ofcourse,the players agents (almost invariably overrated English whizzkids in their day) to thank.

If,for instance,Jordan Henderson and Jack Rodwell were Serbian,would they have been given the same adulation?If Tom Cleverley and Andy Carroll were Bosnian,would they have been given the air time their limited ability deserved?You only have to look how good they were in the European Under 21's where only the defence showed up.As far as Adie Bothroyd,Peter Reid,Tony Pullis,Paul Ince and Ian Dowie are concerned,they should be deported.

[Abrak]

You should get an interesting insight into the wonderful world of Abromavich's business dealings over the next couple of months as the legal case between Berezosky and Abromavich goes to court in London starting today.

Berezosky is one of the original oligarchs (known as the 'Godfather of the Kremlin') who acquired a large portion of Russian oil assets by bribing Yeltsin and acquiring them for US$100m (from money borrowed from state banks) via a 'fake auction' in 1996. The company he and his mates acquired was called Sibneft (set up by Presidential decree in 1995). In 2006 he fled to London fearing a crackdown by Putin against Yeltsin oligarch's. At the time, Berezosky and Abromavich were very close (hence the Joorabchian connection for Man City supporters) (essentially Abromavich was Berezosky's right hand man). However Abromavich is also very close to Putin - well close enough that Abromavich gave (not lent) Putin his US$60m yacht called Olympia while Berezosky lost favor.

Then Berezosky's claim is that Abromavich forced him to sell his stake in Sibneft 'cheap' or Abromavich was going to get Putin to 'expropriate' both Berevosky's shares in Sibneft and he and his family. Abromavich subsequently sold Sibneft for US$18bn. Abromavich admits to giving Berevosky US$1.6bn but says this was for 'political influence and protection' and to see that a friend settled well in London. He also says that Berevosky never owned the shares.

Unfortunately there will be a desperate shortage of witnesses. The key witness Badri Patarkatsishvili who was the front man died of a (genuine) heart attack at his home in 2008 aged 52. Berezosky is suing Abromavich for GBP2bn.

[MrRed]

Cor blimey the Chelski thread is seeing some action.....must be because they beat the foot soldiers.

Oldgit i noticed you did not mention Jones Smalling and Welbeck ?? overrated or not,then again it must be refreshing that with Sturridge you can now feel a little English again eh?

No class losers.

[oldgit]

Cor blimey the Chelski thread is seeing some action.....must be because they beat the foot soldiers.

Oldgit i noticed you did not mention Jones Smalling and Welbeck ?? overrated or not,then again it must be refreshing that with Sturridge you can now feel a little English again eh?

No class losers.

I haven't got too many problems with Jones,Smalling and Welbeck as they performed well in the U-21's,Red.I would be concerned about Jones's lack of pace, though, considering he's still young.Sturridge is starting to show some potential although he's very predictable as he's desperate to get on to his left foot.His saving grace is that he's quick of the mark.Another overrated young English footballer you can add to the list is Gary Cahill.What a log of wood that is!Devoid of pace.

[Gers1873]

Interesting to see Bolton rock bottom of the PL with easily the worst goal difference.

Also quite amusing considering it is managed by young, up and coming, English, super manager - Owen Coyle. Incidentally he is only one year younger than David Moyes but there you go. To be fair to Bolton they have had a gruesome set of fixtures playing against 4 of the top 6 as well as Arsenal. I guess they will turn it around but swapping Sturridge for Ngog and the likelihood that Cahill is off in January wont help.

You may find with a bit of research that Owen Coyle is not English. He was born in Scotland and played for the republic of ireland. Eligible cause his grandfather once drank Guinness.

Still a good result for the Blues.

[carmine]

Cor blimey the Chelski thread is seeing some action.....must be because they beat the foot soldiers.

Oldgit i noticed you did not mention Jones Smalling and Welbeck ?? overrated or not,then again it must be refreshing that with Sturridge you can now feel a little English again eh?

No class losers.

I haven't got too many problems with Jones,Smalling and Welbeck as they performed well in the U-21's,Red.I would be concerned about Jones's lack of pace, though, considering he's still young.Sturridge is starting to show some potential although he's very predictable as he's desperate to get on to his left foot.His saving grace is that he's quick of the mark.Another overrated young English footballer you can add to the list is Gary Cahill.What a log of wood that is!Devoid of pace.

Cahill overrated? Thats as might be pending on what you are rating him on. World class no, ofcourse not. Very decent solid premier league center back that would grow to hold his own at CL level in a better team? I think the general opinion is yes. Last season he was a standout in a fairly average team.

[MrRed]

Cor blimey the Chelski thread is seeing some action.....must be because they beat the foot soldiers.

Oldgit i noticed you did not mention Jones Smalling and Welbeck ?? overrated or not,then again it must be refreshing that with Sturridge you can now feel a little English again eh?

No class losers.

I haven't got too many problems with Jones,Smalling and Welbeck as they performed well in the U-21's,Red.I would be concerned about Jones's lack of pace, though, considering he's still young.Sturridge is starting to show some potential although he's very predictable as he's desperate to get on to his left foot.His saving grace is that he's quick of the mark.Another overrated young English footballer you can add to the list is Gary Cahill.What a log of wood that is!Devoid of pace.

Yes agreed about Cahill,did you hear that Barcelona where interested in him? as regards to the youngsters for England we have a lot of talent at the moment,good or not they need time to come through and perform at the various clubs then gel in the national team,i just hope whoever takes over from Capello will give them a chance before the World Cup.

[carmine]

Cor blimey the Chelski thread is seeing some action.....must be because they beat the foot soldiers.

Oldgit i noticed you did not mention Jones Smalling and Welbeck ?? overrated or not,then again it must be refreshing that with Sturridge you can now feel a little English again eh?

No class losers.

I haven't got too many problems with Jones,Smalling and Welbeck as they performed well in the U-21's,Red.I would be concerned about Jones's lack of pace, though, considering he's still young.Sturridge is starting to show some potential although he's very predictable as he's desperate to get on to his left foot.His saving grace is that he's quick of the mark.Another overrated young English footballer you can add to the list is Gary Cahill.What a log of wood that is!Devoid of pace.

Yes agreed about Cahill,did you hear that Barcelona where interested in him? as regards to the youngsters for England we have a lot of talent at the moment,good or not they need time to come through and perform at the various clubs then gel in the national team,i just hope whoever takes over from Capello will give them a chance before the World Cup.

Why would Barca be interested in Cahill? Do you actually believe paper talk? He's an above average premier league center back and better the Captain Fantastic for starters.

[MrRed]

Fark me Carmine did you not see the taking the piss emoticon!

[carmine]

Fark me Carmine did you not see the taking the piss emoticon!

No

[Seapok]

Chelsea main rivals - Giggs

Ryan Giggs believes Chelsea pose the biggest title threat to Manchester United, not Manchester City.

The huge spending by billionaire owner Sheikh Mansour has propelled City into the title race, after years in the shadow of their near neighbours.

The Red Devils are only above their city rivals at the summit of the Premier League on goal difference after a flying start to the season by both teams.

However, while Giggs acknowledges City have some world-class stars, he feels Chelsea represent the biggest challenge as a team.

"It is strange to see Manchester City, especially if you think about the last 20 years where Manchester United have won numerous trophies," said the 37-year-old.

"But the situation has changed. They have plenty of money so they have some outstanding players. But I think Chelsea are more dangerous as a team."

Welshman Giggs also stated his belief that the club are capable of beating their Champions League tormentors Barcelona, while admitting he would like to stay in the game when he does eventually retire.

"I don't think Barcelona are unbeatable," added Giggs.

"They have a really strong team but it's not impossible to beat them. But I don't argue that Barcelona are the best team in the world at the moment. It is a challenge for us to reach their level.

"My next aim? To win the next game and then the following one. That's all. I don't like too far targets.

"I'm sure I'll stay in football [after retiring] because this has been my world since I was 15 years old. I enjoy football as much as I enjoyed it 15 or 20 years ago."