What now for Chelsea?

[Guest TK-421]

Where's the harm discussing other teams? There are tonnes of threads here dedicated to the Reds.

[Monster Masch]

Chelsea aren't that far away.

 

Cech. A back four of Ivanovic, Alex/Terry, Luiz, Cole is very strong. Ramires, Essien and Lampard is a good trio. Two new exciting wingers playing off an in-form Drogba or Torres.

 

Only need a few players whereas we need quite a few players.

[Eljeficito]

Lets not forget this writing off of Chelsea happened the season we finished 2nd. Aging squad etc. They went on to win the league the following season only buying Zhirkov, who hardly played and when he did was hardly spectacular anyway. I fully expect them to be challenging on all fronts come next season

[Guest The Big Green Bastard]

CA: Didi goa tella Nando he'sa shit!

 

 

DD: Youwr'e shwit and my moxie is mwuch bwigger!

 

[WaltonRed]

Roman will continue to throw money at it.

 

He's that rich what he's spent and what he will doesnt touch the sides.

 

He will also interfere, change manager and buy them players they dont want.

[Hermes]

can you imagine if Bentiez went there - lol

 

that would be fucking gold

 

Rafa would have to find more excuses, the "lack of cash" certainly wouldn't wash at Chelsea.

 

"Too much interference from the owner" - you can bet that would fill a few Balague interviews.

[Heinze]

Essien has been poor since coming back from his injury.

[silverlining]

Essien has been poor since coming back from his injury.

 

He has indeed. He was a real force of nature for a while.

 

I wonder if his more restrained defensive role has made him look even worse, though. While he was never exactly a goals-scorer or goal-maker before his injury, he's certainly been told to hold position more lately, with Makelele long-gone and Mikel not getting anything like as many games as he did when they won the Double.

 

But he doesn't look entirely comfortable doing it.

[Ted]

This is ever so slightly fucking hilarious:

 

GILES SMITH: NOT FELT RIGHT

It without doubt hurt (again), but columnist and life-long Chelsea fan Giles Smith is certainly not betting against there being another chance, and another chance soon…

 

 

Who wants to win the Champions League at Wembley, anyway?

 

Of all the dreams one has had, down the years, of seeing the team lift the big European trophy, many will have featured a hot night in Madrid, say, or the background of a long, nostalgic trip to sultry Athens - even, yes, a rainy evening in Moscow. Absolutely none of them, surely, has involved sitting in a rammed train on the Jubilee Line.

 

Wembley is where you go to win the FA Cup and, if you're lucky, the Carling. But it's not where you go to win the Champions League - not if you're an English club. It wouldn't have felt right.

 

And then, assuming you had won it, everyone would have been able to say, in a detracting tone of voice, 'Well, you were kind of at home, weren't you?'

 

Amsterdam? Now, Amsterdam looks nice. Milan, too. Barcelona, obviously. Dancing on the streets of Neasden, though? Hmmm. The more you think about it, the more you realise that we were wise to make our excuses and duck out early. Let's step up to the plate again when something more exotic comes around.

 

For Manchester United, of course, it's entirely different. A trip to London for Mancunians, whether for a footballing occasion or at any other time, is hugely exciting - all those grand buildings and bright lights and shops with their own electricity. They love all that.

 

And whisper it, but, in this week's encounter, it would stand to reason if their fans, accordingly, wanted it just that little bit more than ours did.

 

Indeed, I'm no psychologist, but I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't a factor, somewhere deep in the team's sub-conscious. 'Wembley? It's fine - you get this one. We'll wait for the next one to come along.'

 

I mean, obviously, if there were never going to be another chance to win the Champions League, you'd take Wembley. You'd take the Walkers Stadium at Leicester, for that matter, and get there by bike if you had to.

 

But I suspect most of us believe there will be another chance, don't we? This is the privilege of our current position (and we would do well never to lose sight of what a colossal privilege it is). In fact, if our players hold their nerve in the remaining league games of this season (and there are very positive signs that they will, especially now that they don't have anything else very much to distract them, the way that last night's tie clearly distracted them at home to Wigan last Saturday), there'll be another chance as early as next year - and with a comprehensively rebuilt and widely refreshed team, most likely. And who would bet against there being a few more chances in seasons beyond that one, as well?

 

So, yes, it hurts to go out - and, again, in such bizarre and unlikely circumstances. (Mind you, this competition has hurt us all much harder than this before now. These days, if you want to upset Chelsea fans with a Champions League-related disappointment, you have to get to the back of a pretty long queue. Why, a fussy sending-off and an ungiven first-leg penalty barely have the power to scratch the surface these days.)

 

But think of it this way: the Champions League dream is still powerfully alive - and even more so, for not having Wembley in it.

 

Of course, it's traditional, at the point of exit from a cup competition, to wish your vanquishers well and to express the hope that they go on to win the trophy. And there's clearly an awful lot to be said for that attitude, with its mix of gracious magnanimity in defeat and, at the same time, fierce pride in the worth of your own team.

 

But could I just say at this point that, in this specific instance, I don't hope that? Come on, absolutely anybody else, in fact.

 

 

 

GILES SMITH: NOT FELT RIGHT | Columnists | Official Site | Chelsea FC | Chelsea

 

From their official site, no less. Bellends.

[RedinSweden]

I agree with him. It would have been awful winning the first title at Wembley. I'm so glad it was our second.

[silverlining]

That has to be a joke

[redsoxs]

Smith = PRICK

[RedinSweden]

Chelsea raise Stamford Bridge ticket price to £87 - Premier League, Football - The Independent

 

£87

 

Unbelievable.

[18-5]

For Manchester United, of course, it's entirely different. A trip to London for Mancunians, whether for a footballing occasion or at any other time, is hugely exciting - all those grand buildings and bright lights and shops with their own electricity. They love all that.

 

:lol: :lol:

[The Woolster]

That has to be a joke

 

 

Hard to say. Whenever I have tried to read his stuff (Not sure if I have ever actually finished), he has tried painfully hard to be ironic and funny, whilst being painfully unfunny at the same time. But this is one the club site, so I'm not sure

[WaltonRed]

amsterdam looks nice? has even been the arena, its shite.

 

Mong

[Anubis]

It must be a joke. He can't possibly believe Chelsea were unlucky against United.

[dennis tooth]

Lampard and Terry are more or less finished and they are left with a bunch of mercenaries, Drogba appeared to want out at the end of last season and either him or Torres or both will be on the way out in the summer I'm sure. Anelka could go either way but he has been there for a bit now, get's little credit and pushed aside for Nando without doing much wrong. He doesn't tend to stay at one club long so could also go. The manager could go and I have no idea who they could pick next but (s)he's going to have to pick up the peices and put something to together to challenge with and wondering what kind of mad house he/she has gotten themself into. Failing that they will appoint some other future wonderer of what the fuck have I gotten myself infor.

Other than that they have some really good disinterested players in their squad, a few overhyped youngsters and a chairman who's porn collection is less impressive than Alan Sex's.

 

Yeah, that'd be about where they are right now.

[Scousa Tomo]

[ChicagoRed]

Sorry, but I couldn't give a flying fuck about Chelsea. Let them use their own forum!