I've just got back from your place (can you not make it a bit closer and relocate... it's a farking effort!) and we come away with 0 points but that's all down to you. You played very well today. For you, it was the perfect time to play us. New signings. Just got your first away win of the season. Us... with this joker in charge getting draws at Brentford and Reading.... This was my first time to St James' as an away fan (got taken by some mates to Toon v Middlesboro in the championship) and it's an impressive ground. The hike all the way to the top where the away fans are is ridiculous though and I think you should move away fans to the opposite stand in the lower tier ;-) We sold out 3000 but didn't make much noise tbh and I'm not sure why. Our away support has been class this season but this was the worst by a long way and we had 3000 fans there! You lot were alright until you scored to go 3-2 up when you all went mental. Was quite cool to see tbh. Whilst I'm going on about support... I thought it was wrong of you to firstly boo Demba Ba and then mock him etc. when he's down with a broken nose and clearly in some pain! This is the only criticism I have of your fans. He did well for your club and tbh I thought most would welcome him back but that didn't seem the case. Oh and your fans were mouthing off at us consistently as we were leaving the ground and if it wasn't for the police presence, I'm sure our fans would have retaliated! On the game... You were brilliant. Your new signings are class. Gouffran looks great. Sissoko for only £1.8mil!!?!?! Fecking hell! He's a beast and destroyed us today. Like Yaya Toure but a lot cheaper. Your scouts are class! Don't know whether we should have had a penalty for the Ba broken nose part.. will watch again on MOTD. We only really threatened after half time for 20 mins when we dominated. Had we got a third then game over but you stuck at it and credit where credit is due. You'll be fine this season... About 9th I reckon. Stick behind the team and you'll go far. Newcastle away is always a good day out and a top weekend. Well done on your 3 points, all the best for the rest of the season and see you in the Europa League Final in Amsterdam Cheers fellas
Thanks for the kind words. You should count yourself lucky on the journey to Newcastle as you only have to do it once in a season. Our boys have to travel to London on at least 6 occasions per year ( and get charged a fecking fortune to watch ). As for Demba, it was a shame he got booed, however, mostly his fault over the way his transfer took place. The fans were always getting mixed messages about him wanting to stay but in the end he jumped ship for what appears to be 30 pieces of silver. Benitez's love of Torres means he'll warm the bench as much as he plays, whereas he'd play every week for us. I think you'll struggle for a quality manager because of how the club is run and no decent manager wants it in case he's sacked on a whim. Best of luck with it though. Thoroughly enjoyed the game so best of luck for remainder of season.
I cheered Demba on his return, probably alone in this. However, it was slightly funny when they had to tape his nose to his face and left goalless on 30 minutes Quite frankly it was disgusting of Chelsea to not play stinky Torres from the start to give us a chance, but obviously Rafa was under strict instructions not to throw anymore matches! Now floppy nose can get back to scoring week in week out for my fantasy football team!
I think a fair bit of the Ba boo'ing was pantomime stuff...People had been umming and aahing over it a lot on twitter, but in the end he is an opposition player now. Had he stayed with us for seasons on end it would've been different, he was great whilst he was here, but he's not anymore and I think a lot of people on twitter thought if they could do anything to throw his concentration (and give us an advantage) they would. I personally thought it was a penalty today, it could be argued that no action would've been taken had the ball gone in, but if the shoe was on the other foot I'd have felt massively aggrieved! Cisse was a bit silly, as was Ramires, but aside from that the game was brilliant. 2 bits of absolute class from Chelsea, and a return on our dogged hard work and willingness to run. If I wasn't at work tomorrow morning I'd have been out celebrating, but watching the goals back for the 20th time today on MOTD will have to do. Hope you had a good regardless of the result
To be fair, with such a big stadium and huge home attendance it's inevitable you'll get a partisan reaction to returning players! Most gave him a great reception when he trudged off and none would genuinely wish that injury on him. Plus, let's be honest and say that its no coincidence that the best ex-players often get the worst reaction. But as Demba said about moving on, it's "all part of the business of football" and you take the rough with the smooth. In NUFC's defense also, its a distant memory for Chelsea fans to experience the hurt of a favourite player walking on them for more money and a better chance of success. They tend to have the luxury of letting them go when they choose, whether the fans agree with Roman's decisions or not. Lampard likely to be a case in point. On the penalty I'm torn about a definitive yes or no. I'd call for one if it was JT on Papiss instead but that doesn't make it the right call. As for a possible red card then Luiz should have had one at SJP last term so it evens out. Plus, if Chelsea hold on for a 1-2 win it becomes an irrelevance... But a great post and take some heart from being at a classic PL game, with Chelsea showing the quality you lot are fortunate to take for granted most of the time!
Thanks for the kind words also. I'll second the thing about booing demba, it's mostly pantomime. If anything, for me, we got to skate when Papiss gave Cole a little choke. That's okay though as far as I am concerned. (And maybe he was just sticking up for Cheryl).
Getting beat isn't so bad if you see a good game of football. It takes two teams to make it a good game and your guys made it one.
I am yet to find out what the situation is regarding this. The pundits are absolute morons and have no clue what the rules are, so I don't care what they say. This situation happens time and time again, a player being tackled strongly in the box after he's taken a shot. IT IS NEVER GIVEN AS A PENALTY. What's more, the attackers never ever complain about it. Keepers kicking strikers, defenders clattering into attackers (Perch on Weimann last game), it happens all the time. So consistency wise, it's not a penalty. However, I thoroughly believe application of the law in these instances are woeful, and it should be a penalty. If you trip or catch someone off the ball, regardless of the fact the ball has gone dead, it's a foul. This desperately needs to be looked at in my opinion. It shouldn't be a red card, but why Colo went with his foot and not his head is beyond belief. Woeful decision by him. Ramires' tackle I want to see again, though.
Didn't even show that Ramires tackle on MOTD did they? As for Colo, good decision to take out Demba I thought.
The ball is off the pitch then it's not a pen. It wasn't this time mind. I'm on about when a ball is gone and a player is clattered and the ball is over the line at the time of the clattering. This post is very clattered now. (cockney speak)
There was some bother. Always is, though. Mainly we got on fine together after the match. The Demba incident wasn't much talked of after game. The media built it up while ignoring the Ramirez thing (surprise surprise)
Not a pen, not a red for me. Ramires challenge a yellow for me. I'm just old school though and believe the game is now played by a bunch of fecking fairies!
And reffed by a lot of incompetent idiots. Seems to be a thing with refs, always has been and probably always will be. I remember when I was 13 I turned out for my brothers works team in the afternoon after playing for the school team in the morning. I was told to stay forward but chased back after a big fat guy down the left wing, I nudged him with my shoulder and he went down and the ref gave a free kick. I protested my innocence but the ref would have none of it. A law unto themselves.
