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Why does it matter that Chelsea's the team that's complaining? If it's wrong, it's wrong; it shouldn't matter which team is on the wrong end of the stick.

Can we start a new thread for this weekend? This mega-thread thing is quite hard to follow.

Duff was spent, Reyes is still fairly young. No one said that when he signed though, which was kind of my point when I said that the way Reyes is being talked about is quite akin to the way Duff was talked about when he was signed ('bargain at £5m!' etc.). I still think that he has some quality left in him but the fact that he hasn't produced anything remotely close to a full season of quality football in about 5 years should be a warning sign to KK. He was good, and did have a lot of potential but he never excelled in his two or so seasons at Arsenal, did not reach his potential with Real and is now struggling to get into Atletico Madrid's first team. The signs point to him becoming another run of the mill inconsistent player and we have enough of those players here. Even at £5m, I'd hesitate. I'd rather overpay for an actual quality player rather than pay small money for different players and merely hope that they improve and turn out to be 'bargains'. It's always worth overpaying for quality because you know exactly what you're getting.

A lot of what's been said here was said when Duff was signed btw, and coincidentally his price was also £5m. After thinking it through, I'd rather we sign players who are hungry and on the way up, not someone who's so obviously stagnated and maybe even on the way down like Reyes. Of course there's the possibility that he'll turn out to be a bargain but given his track record in England (poor) and the cause of his initial departure (dislikes weather), I think £5m can be spent better elsewhere.

Would be a difference-maker although last I saw (last year with Real), he was still as inconsistent as ever.

I've always thought he was quality Allardyce deserves credit for having the balls to spend that much money on an unproven young foreigner who doesn't play in a glamour position. He'll be our longterm leftback if he's given time to grow into the role - he's certainly got all the attributes anyhow; can pass, can defend, good positional sense, doesn't hide and he's deceptively pacey as well.

I might have missed something here, when did we win that League Cup? Bah, my eyes are playing tricks on me.

4-5-1 would be a beter way to to nick a resuly. Depends upon whether gaining a point would be viewed as a 'good' result. Did you see their game at the weekend? Portsmouth parked the bus and played for a point and got beat. We don't have good enough players to play 4-5-1 and park the bus and get something out of the game. they put 4 past chelsea, we haven't got a hope in hell of shutting up shop yes they put 4 past Chelsea, well done to them. But they also let 4 in. Just cause they scored 4 against Chelsea doesn't mean they are going to put 4 past everyone. Even Birmingham put 4 past them recently. Exactly. We have to go there aiming to score goals or else we're fucked.

Fucking hell, I'm watching the highlights program and in the one out of two fan interviews that they showed, the 30 something fan said [before the game] 'it's either Keegan's first win or his last game'. How long must have the producers been standing around searching for that kind of idiot to show up?

Same formation. We'll lose a couple of goals because Spurs are very good offensively so obviously we'll need to create chances. And with the formation we've been playing, we've been creating a ton of chances. Reverting back to 4-4-2 will be us betting on keeping a clean sheet and/or our ability to nick a goal, and that'll be way tougher than just trying to outscore them.

Third. Playing in a rubbish team but still a spark, the sort of player that would have helped us much this season Exactly. We've signed far too many "good" players that have turned out not to have any drive apart from their obsession with buying more and more bling. And I'm not just talking about those that spring to mind in that - Dyer, Jenas and Bellamy Jenas showed enough hunger in his first couple of seasons, but people seem to be forgetting that. There's a reason why he stagnated but now that he's doing it for Spurs, I find it harder to place the blame wholly at his feet for the shitty last season and a half. Bellamy not having any drive or passion? I want some of what you're smoking, mate. With Dyer, I don't think drive was the problem - injuries were. The frustrating thing with him was that it was always niggling injuries, but anyway, whenever he played, I always came away remembering a few of his lung-bursting lungs so it's not like he was a lazy git who never ran for the team, was it? There seems to the idea that the 'gangsta bling bling' lifestyle is associated with a lack of drive - I have no idea whether this is true, but with Dyer at least, I don't think that is/was true.

I can't believe this thread got past the first page

Blackburn Rovers Titles won: 3 FA Cups: 6 League Cup: 1 Newcastle United Titles won: 4 FA Cups: 6 League Cup: 1 In the past 15 years, Blackburn's got a title and a league cup to show for. We, on the other hand, obviously don't. The reference to Jack Walker's money is irrelevant - they won it, who gives a shit how? History won't put an asterisk next to their title, and history won't be putting asterisks next to the numerous trophies that Chelsea have won in the past few years as well.

Keeping possession is a concept that our players don't seem too familiar with, and I agree with Keegan when he says that Owen rarely gives the ball away, so I'm really liking this new formation. You can't lose a goal if you have the ball

What makes a club big? Previous success? Fanbase? Current success? I'd be interested in anyone's definition of 'big' because when considering recent history and things like titles/cups won, Blackburn > Newcastle. I'm not saying I believe that to be true, but obviously belief in this case depends on a definition of what 'big' is and the comparative weighting that must be given to factors such as fanbase, titles, revenue, brand loyalty etc.

It's very refreshing to see a manager changing the team when needed and not sticking to the same formations which have resulted in losses. With Allardyce we were all subjected to the same old useless shit (Smith in midfield, Martins wide right, Milner on the left etc.), and with Roeder, he wouldn't (couldn't?) change the team unless it was forced upon him by injuries.

Arsenal have dropped 11 points in their last 5 games. Shame, I really would have preferred them to win it.

Title race over?

It's been a pretty good grand super duper bowl world series tastic slam sunday

Drogba nearly had his hat-trick there - good save from Almunia.

Drogba again. Fuck!

Chelsea fans chanting 'Jose Mourinho' tits Fuck off! Drogba, 1-1.

Why is it always the refs fault and not the players fault for ruining games? The ref cant treat the game differently just because its part of Grand Sunday or whatever Sky are calling it. Notice Alonso didnt make much effort to stop him reaching the ref. Chelsea would never have conceded that goal under Jose. Basics... put a man on each post... how many times do we see this happen Every player mouthes off though. Maybe I should have made that point explicit. In any game, I'd just like to see referees have a little bit of caution and not for them to be dishing out cards willy-nilly in general. Notice the way Clattenberg handled Eboue mouthing off, and he was also on a yellow card as well. The ref just gave him a talking and a warning and Eboue hasn't opened his gob since. That, I thought, was very good and calm refereeing, as opposed to Bennett just wanting to give out yellows (like the ridiculous one to Torres).

Sounds good. All the soundbites coming from KK and Ashley/Mort have been good. If we survive I'll be really hopeful of us having a good next season. Hopefully we'll have the kind of season most of us thought we'd enjoy under Allardyce.

I thought the red card was bs. Sure he was stupid to be mouthing off but Kaka has a point about big games = temperatures raised, and there's no doubt the ref overreacted as well. I wanted to watch a nice competitive football game but the red card ruined it imo. And just as I speak, the title race may still be alive Come on Arsenal!