RDCW

Yes. Gallagher is being industrious but inaccurate. I think he's knackered, which is as much mental as physical.

That VAR haven't intervened and advised a red is utterly scandalous.

What a goal!

That decision is straight up bent! That can't be a mistake; it is direct evidence of bias, or worse, corruption.

Well done girls ! A fantastic outcome to a turbulent season. This is the one which really matters. There have been times this season where the performances and victories of the Chelsea Women were the only refuge for the Chelsea fans, so thank you to them!

Stop it! I'm on to you, you little tinker!

The anxiety just never ends with this club, does it? Why can't things ever be simple?!

All goals are important, ask Man U and Forest and ask the boys who let a 2 goal lead slip against Arsenal. Whatever, you are so consistently on the wrong side of every argument that I now realise that it's deliberate on your part. I could kick myself for not having recognised it before 🤭

No, you're not the only one, Chara! I am happy with Petrovic at Number 1. I think he is a good, uncomplicated keeper who generally makes the saves he should and is capable of real quality. His distribution is fine and he has plenty of scope, at his age, to keep improving. He has made mistakes, but all keepers do and there are many areas to be strengthened before looking at the keeper.

I don't really rate any of the other teams in the Premier League at the moment, apart from City. Arsenal are better than us, but don't have better players, just a better coach in my view. Liverpool are not as good as they were, Villa are OK but not brilliant and won't have the element of surprise next year. Spurs are Spurs and they have a pretty facile coach. United are years away from competence and probably need a rebuild. We may even get top 3 next season despite Pochettino, but I don't think we can win it with him. As I said elsewhere we either need to extend Pochettino by that optional year, or sack him at the end of the season, because we can't go into next season with a "dead man walking". I have a feeling we will use the Broja, Ziyech and (with luck) Lukaku funds to buy a centre half and a new number 9, sadly will sell Chalobah and Gallagher (the latter over wage negotiations) to have enough funds and that will be that. We will struggle without Conor; he offers so much to the team psychologically as well as physically, but I'm not sure he is sufficiently valued by the selectors, although he clearly is by Pochettino.

This is so self-evidently true that I am astonished that Pochettino is being talked up. This is a very good group of players, albeit with far too many of them introduced in one go, and they have found a way to overcome (on an inconsistent basis) the inadequacies of the coaching regime. What Pochettino can be considered to have done effectively is to have provided a "safe" space for the squad members; what he has not done is to coach any kind of rational series of tactical systems and that is still evidenced in the performances against Man U, Sheff U and Forest. That we found a way to win two of those games was entirely down to individual brilliance by excellent players like Palmer, James and Caicido, flashes of brilliance from the much maligned Jackson and Sterling and a couple of excellent contributions from the otherwise awful Mudryk. None of those goals scored were conceived from a tactical rationale and the goals conceded were crass in some cases. It looks like Pochettino will be here next season, so we will have the opportunity to see how it all develops, but I anticipate further improvement, continued inconsistency and more exasperation that the group will underachieve on its potential. A better coach would be capable of top 3, but hey ho.

Well whatever your view of Pochettino is it would be madness to go into next season with him on an unextended contract. Either he needs to be sacked or have a year's extension, because we all know what happens when the manager is a dead man walking.

I'm pretty relaxed about Jackson. I think he offers a lot to the squad and his inconsistency in front of goal is eminently fixable: it's largely confidence based. Given too much time to think mental clarity and technique abandon him; when he has to react in the moment he is a lot better. The important thing is that he is quick, works hard, keeps going and despite some bad misses has scored a good few. He is an athlete with a good work ethic and no little skill, so once he works on remaining calm in the moment (taking a leaf out of Palmer's book) and gains a bit more experience, we'll have a very tidy forward.

Watched it on Sky. Amazing performance from Charles, Reiten, Aggie and Cuthbert in particular, but also Sophie Ingle and the rest! Guro Reiten has such fire. It's been a brilliant day all round - take a bow Blackstenius! It's back in our hands I'd say, but Man U away is tricky!

Add to that the fact that we didn't pick up many points we didn't deserve (iirc).

Of course! I think we could though easily have won them all except the Sheff Utd one (in which our performance did not warrant the win). We were the better side in all the others and were robbed against Villa, so although I am fantasising somewhat, it does illustrate that our squad is better than the league position has shown. I am a lot more optimistic about next season now, even with the prospect of Poch's inadequacy as a coach : if his man management skills and the intrinsic quality of the squad can overcome his lack of detailed preparation then we will have a pretty good season next year.

Yes I did 😆. 12 points gone begging puts us within sniffing distance (1 point) of the Champions League places !

An excellent performance today, admittedly against a poor opposition. What strikes me is that those 10 dropped points in drawing with Liverpool, Arsenal, Man City, Sheffield Utd and Aston Villa, all of which games were winnable and in which, with the exception of Sheff Utd were deserving of the win , made the season much more disappointing than it should have been and put us firmly in Europa League territory. It's nice finally to be getting some pleasure out of watching the Blues !

I was thinking that! All back at once!

Also Reece is on a long, new contract and would, I am guessing, be fairly resistant to leaving the club.

Well, what a joyous evening's football! We were well up for it, competed solidly and could have had a couple more first half goals. The boys looked and played like they cared and the skill level was high. The defence looked like a unit and, Mudryk aside (a bit of a-curate's egg, but mostly bad), the whole side played well. Without wishing to rain on the parade, though, we did have a bit of luck. Earlier in the season midfield turnovers like those given up by Cucurella, Gallagher and Caicedo were punished with opposition goals. They also missed at least 2 absolute sitters. I don't think we were bad in the 1st quarter of this season and our luck seems to have turned. Having said all that, we deserved to win and we saw some real talent. Buzzing !

It may not be significant for them, but it is for me. It also begs the question, if it doesn't make much difference to them, why put the prices up at all? It seems to me that, regardless of the low marginal utility of the increased revenue levied from me (and the increases are justified as a necessary measure to run the club) it is indeed my money they are playing with. Not just my money, not just gate receipts, of course, but nevertheless my money. To that extent wilful wastage is of concern to me, even before we start talking about the real costs of such profligacy.

It is my money if they increase season ticket prices to make up for their profligacy.

Huskies and GSDs ARE small dogs 😉

Looks like it.