Chelsea....oh, Chelsea!

[Neil Young]

To be fair, having acted the cunts, the only good thing they could do was apologise and they've done that. If they hadnt, we'd all be slating them. Now they have, we're still slating them

In an ideal world, they wouldnt have done it, but it's not an ideal world.

I totally agree.

[Kenneth]

The absolute slating of the ref from all quarters is getting way over the top. He got one penalty call wrong imo, 2 at worst. This is nothing exceptional, i'm sure most teams in the league could make a case for a couple of pens in a PL game this season. The red card was bollocks but the assistant was closest to that one. This respect campaign for refs, it's just gone completely out of the window now has it? Nobody in the media will be banging on in a self-richeous fashion about players and managers abusing refs in the future I assume. The gloves are off. A nasty and OTT response all round.

[Ben_Itez]

In a statement issued by the club, the Ivory Coast international, 31, admitted he had overreacted.

"In the heat of the moment I let out my huge frustration and disappointment. For that, I apologise," he said.

"I also fully accept that the language I used did not set a good example for those watching at home, especially children."

Chelsea were unhappy that a number of penalty appeals were turned down by Ovrebo, who also controversially sent off Barcelona's Eric Abidal.

"Chelsea welcomes Didier's statement which was made honestly and after reflection," said Chelsea in a statement.

"We are all acutely aware of the responsibilities that lie with both the club and its players towards setting a good example as role models.

"While it is clear that some of the events were regrettable, they occurred only because of the high emotions and frustrations which arose from the disappointment of a controversial defeat in such an important game.

"We made representations to Uefa immediately after the game and we await their comments following a review of the match officials' report."

Does anyone believe Drogba actually said any of these words? I certainly dont. You can imagine his response the day after when the PR people are saying ' Come on Didier i think you should apologise, we're gonna be in trouble'. Something along the lines of just say whatever you want but i'm not apologising for nothing'

The PR dept at Chelsea have obviously gone into overdrive realising that they're in the ****. Even now though they cant help but try and justify their actions. UEFA should throw the book at them as it'll just carry on year after year if this type of behaviour is allowed to stand.

[Neil Young]

Other than how they react next time they lose a big game by a small margin thanks in part at least to very controversial refereeing decisions, I can't think of any way for us to know how genuine their regrets are and I don't think it really matters anyway.

[FatTony]

Henry had a stonewall turned down in the first leg. The only stonewall penalty in the second was the handball. Thats 1-1 in the penalty stakes, the others would've been very soft.

I now take you back to Drogba's antics against us, in particular, rolling back on, but he pretended to be injured throughout the game.

Now, theres the Garcia goal which they still claim wasn't, even though if it wasn't it would've been a penalty and Cech would've been sent off, which they always fail to add. Following that, their prior game to that against Barca, the goal which took them through saw Carvalho rugby tackle the keeper, preventing him from going for the ball which the ref missed completely.

Screw them, its karma man.

[Aza]

There wouldn't have been so much injury time played if Drogba hadn't spend to much time rolling around on the floor feigning injury.

Less injury time means that Barca wouldn't have scored.

Thank you for knocking out your own team you cheating diving prick

[dww]

Chelsea will go nowhere without fresh faces and continuity
Posted by Kevin McCarra Friday 8 May 2009 00.05 BST The Guardian

Chelsea need a new coach, three gifted newcomers and no more of Didier Drogba if they are to move on from near missing

The bookies' favourite to become Chelsea's next manager was in town on Tuesday night. Carlo Ancelotti watched Ars*enal's Champions League semi-final defeat by Manchester United at the Emirates, with a private jet waiting to get him, David Beckham and other Milan players back in time for training the following morning. Someone asked how his language lessons were coming along. "For the moment I still talk Italian," he said in English.

Ancelotti's fellow countrymen joke that it will be a treat for him to be in charge of all the vibrant young talent at Stamford Bridge. After all, his current centre-back partnership at Milan comprises Giuseppe Favalli, 37, and the 40-year-old Paolo Maldini. In practice Ancelotti or whoever else is appointed at Chelsea will have to refresh the squad. It is indeed the torpor at Milan that had the club, Champions League winners in 2007, knocked out in the last 32 of the Uefa Cup this season by the German club Werder Bremen.

Chelsea demand more than that. Elimination by Barcelona came as the side completed its fifth Champions League semi-final in six seasons. While Chelsea would do well to remember that the Spanish club ought to have had a penalty in the first leg, when Michael Ballack should also have been dismissed for the foul on Thierry Henry, they were still let down this week by the Norwegian Tom Henning Ovrebo, a referee whose powers of judgment failed him entirely.

The rage may have burned even more fiercely among players who fear it will get harder for them to win the Champions League. Guus Hiddink, the interim manager, had tried to motivate his men with a warning that this could be a precious opportunity for some. "These players don't have five, six or seven years more to have the same chances," he said on Tuesday. "This is one of the last occasions to get where they all want to be."

The decrepitude can be exaggerated. Of the 11 who started against Barcelona, only Frank Lampard, Michael Ballack, Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka were 30 or older. It is a certain staleness in the ranks that really makes people doubt whether Chelsea are equipped to maintain a challenge for the League title soon. Bringing the 25-year-old Portuguese winger Ricardo Quaresma on loan from Inter in January has the air of a token gesture now that he has been confined to one start and four outings from the bench.

Cogent squad development has been beyond Chelsea. Frank Arnesen, who arrived from Tottenham Hotspur in 2005, is famed for not yet identifying a youngster who has become a first-team regular. The majority of the scouts were purged at the end of last year. Recently Arnesen was given a seat on the football club board that deals with the sporting aspects of the business. That may have come as a little surprise but much is opaque about Chelsea.

There were years of speculation about who had the ear of the owner Roman Abramovich when transfer decisions were being taken. The gossip declined in tandem with the Russian's understandable efforts to reduce his subsidy of the club. A lack of continuity has also impaired efforts to structure the squad coherently. Since the summer of 2007 Jose Mourinho, Avram Grant, Luiz Felipe Scolari and Hiddink have held the post of manager.

That stacatto effect has been disruptive. The absence of an overarching plan is unmistakable when comparisons are made with Manchester United, who fought back after Chelsea's period of ascendancy under Mourinho. Sir Alex Ferguson's line-up was not coltish in the 3-1 harrowing of Arsenal but, broadly speaking, the emphasis on youth became more apparent as your eye ran from defence to attack. So, a 38-year-old Edwin van der Sar was between the posts and the centre-back Rio Ferdinand was the single outfield player to have hit 30. Michael Carrick, at 27, was the oldest of the deep-lying midfielders. Park Ji-Sung, on the flank, is all of 28, but Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo are a mere 23 and 24 respectively. Energy as much as skill was hurled at the Arsenal defence.

Chelsea, on the other hand, had an extraordinary but cantankerous 31-year-old at centre-forward in the shape of Drogba. The Ivorian limped heavily but then seemed irate that Hiddink took this seriously enough to substitute him against Barcelona. Considering his prowess, it was dispiriting that finishing skills should desert him in both legs of the Barcelona tie. He is a devastating presence who also does a fair bit of harm to his own club. Bearing in mind the red card in the 2008 Champions League final, it might be better for Chelsea to live without him.

The club needs perhaps three gifted newcomers with their best days ahead of them to bring renewal. They would be costly. Then again, it will also be expensive for Abramovich if Ancelotti or someone else merely presides over decay.

[Craig_H]

I didnt read that article, but if it says Chelsea need to freshen up, it's spot on.

Drogba, Lampard, Ballack, Deco, Anelka etc are all the wrong side of 29.

Terry turns 29 in about 7 months too.

[wiw]

Good article that

5 semi finals in 6 years is an incredible stat really, and I'd forgotten they'd even signed Quaresma

[zimbo]

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f311/6629/gifs/football%20gifs/1.gif

[Shaggy]

and I'd forgotten they'd even signed Quaresma

Hahaha so had I! Is he still there?

[dww]

I'm tempted to look up the endless Quaresma threads for some naming and shaming.

[Shaggy]

A quick search....

Quaresma would make us a better side. Pure and simple

If we sign Quaresma then the league will definetly be ours this year!!

He tormented us so much that not even all of our wingers together (Pennant, Benayoun, and the injury hitKewell) can do half the same effect. Ok I know that Babel will be a special player.

Sorry but i think that 5 million for Benayoun are too much! It's Liverpool we are talking about!

Add 10/11 million and we could have signed him.

if we will try to sign him next year he will be more than 20 million!

Quaresma is a FAR better option then either pennant or benny yoon.
In our set up he would quickly learn whats expected of him. I dont like pennant and whilst im sure he wont lose any sleep over this nugget of info it means im never going to be convinced about him.

I hope we sign this guy he is a player that we need badly,Babel is too raw.

Players like him that can hog the touchline get past players, full of tricks that actually make a difference during a match and CREATES chances for other players, we dont have enough players like that in the team

He's full of imagination and real quality that spark in the team that’s needed that Luis used to give us now and then and what Yossi does currently all be it not on the level that Quaresma does or Luis did in the big games when we needed something special.

Quaresma I’m sure is been tracked by many teams around Europe and its only a matter of time before he leave Porto I’m sure the summer will be the time.

I would love a player of the talent and skill of him he's a proper winger of which we haven’t had since Macca and before that Johnny Ba.

Well worth the 20 odd million he would cost.

[wiw]

Anymore?

and he's still there as far as I know yeah

[PTP]

haha class -