Is anybody warming up on the bench???? We need to make a change....peter or Emmo...push MGP up front and take Bentley off.

er, all of us please!!!!!!!

Giggs has picked up a hamstring injury

Stuck watching live commentary at work, but sounds like sticking Rooney out on the right (against Gray) might have been designed to take MGP out of the game by making him track back. I'm sure Ferguson is determined not to let him beat them again.

Finally, someone with some business sense. C'mon people, these are simple business principles.

Great result...is there anyway Sparky is our manager in 2007/08? Too bad Boro couldn't have nicked a draw after being 2-0 down. Bit worried about the striker situation now given that Bellamy is so injury prone. We have to bring someone in, at least on loan, don't we?

i can't take this....

#.....hmmm, I guess that'll work (although I meant the other).

Well, I'm typing on an American keyboard and have no clue about which function key to use to get the pound sign, but the dollar figure is a relief. Seemed a bit excessive. Thanks.

Also, I heard from one of the commentators in the Fulham match that our disciplinary record last season cost us a $100,000 fine, and we are on a suspended sentance this year, which means if our record doesn't improve this year would cost us an additional $500,000. Certainly, 2 reds and handful of yellows in the first 3 games isn't going to help us in that regard. That's $500,000 that could go to buying a player. That being said, I don't know when that fine would be handed down, I hope at the end of the season. Anyone else hear about this?

Feeling disappointed from a draw is a step in the right direction as far as I'm concerned. It'll be interesting to hear if Hughes feels the same way.

there you are

he must have two right feet

Where are the doom and gloomers? Are we still going down?

You could put Shevchenko and Adriano up front in this team, and they wouldn't get a sniff of the ball. No service = no goals.

I'm reserving judgement, but it's extremely frustrating to get off to such a poor start. But, in general, I find it odd that most of the supporters were completey despondent about our lack of transfer activity and saying how many holes we had in the team, then once we signed Bellamy, people were predicting a top 7 finish. Er, what?

But look at the team/players you're talking about...just a tad more talented than the lot we've got, eh? And if those moves didn't work out, how long do you think it would've taken him to go out and buy someone to fill those rolls? You can gamble a bit when you have limitless resources to play with, don't you think?

Really?

Perhaps with the pre-season going the way it had, Hughes wanted to get Bellamy a full 90 under his belt to build his fitness as quick as possible.

I have to agree with Philly here...I've said in previous posts that a lot of our "rock solid" defensive performances last year had much to do with the 4-5-1, and not as much as the individual players. Good managers don't make the players adapt to their system, they build they system out of the players they've got, and that's what Hughes did last season. So the options are simple...go back to 4-5-1 or get some better players in. Can't be dropping maximum points to promoted clubs...those are the points that come back to bite you in the ass.

Finally, some sanity...we've signed ONE player of significance? Remember that other teams are allowed to sign players too, folks. It's not like other teams are static. We still need a few more signings. But I think somewhere between 9 and 12th, with the squad as is. If we get a midfielder and a LB, then I think we can start thinking about a UEFA cup place.

Oh come now...that's one example. Who else can you name? That's not my opinion, they themselves have stated they don't have a lot to spend until they move. Wenger has built that team on shrewd buys and his great ability to spot talent. Sure, Duff and Terry could hold down a place at Arsenal, but my original point was simply one of supply and demand economics. There simply aren't many teams around in the current climate that could afford any of those transfer fees or wages, and thus the market it squeezed. That's why I suspect, that those teams knowing that, wouldn't be in a hurry to do Chelsea any favors if it ever came to selling them.

Randomly.... Solid point...I agree about Gudjonson and maybe Drogba. But those other players would have to want to go, and presumably the only way most of them would leave is if they were frozen out of the first team. I guess we'll have to wait until Adriano, Gerrard and Ashley Cole arrive in the summer. Terry doesn't strike me as one who would ever go abroad. Duff had his chance at Liverpool. Arsenal have shown they are not 'big' spenders in the transfer market, and won't be until they move to Ashburton Grove. What clubs would Lampard and/or Robben agree a move to? Chelsea, whether by media frenzy or reality are becoming the most biggest and most fashionable club in Europe. Now this may be a short term phenomenon and it could all change very uickly if something were to happen with Roman, but surely if he pulled his investment, those players because of the debt they have accrued (amd having aged by then) wouldn't be sold at those prices.

Those might be proper "valuations" for those layers, but who, theoretically, would or could pay those fees? 2, maybe 3 clubs, tops? (Real Madrid, Man U, Barca)??? Plus everyone of those players would probably have to take a pay cut to go elsewhere. Chelsea have inflated the transfer market, for THEMSELVES, because every club knows they can jack up the price on Abramovich, because he doesn't care what he has to pay. Look at what they paid for Wayne Bridge. You're telling me he's value for that money? They're only assests if you can actually cash in on them.

I think the most interesting bit about that story, is that of the 5 CL teams who would not have qualified under the proposed new rule, AJAX was one of them!!! Surely the apocalypse is upon us. What's next, one of our strikers scoring on Saturday?