With all the yes and no to our participation in the InterToto, I'm thinking it did get us the point yesterday due to our players being more match fit and sharper in passing and defending compare to Chelsea who can't even pass the ball out of their half at one stage.

Playing competitive games certainly helped as the teamwork and sharpness of the whole team plus Robert who played for PSG made us look much better than the star team of Chelsea. I might be wrong but that's just my opinion.

Another thing with the two derbies and Manure and Arse to follow, I would like to suggest the rightbacks of those teams start putting in extra work cos that guy with the No. 32 shirt on will probably eat them for lunch! What's his name again? Oh yeah!

RO-BEAR!!!!!!!!!

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2001

Answers

My hope is that the Intertoto fitness advantage last suntil we get injured players back and then we get a boost from them as the tiredness sets in with the others. I'd guess we may have to look to invest again after the new year to ensure a place in CL, and keep winning games 15-0

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2001

I thought they did well to keep the pace up, Petit admits Chewlsea were exhausted 2nd half so it probably made the difference.

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2001

Well most of them spent the Summer moving house which is a bit tiring.

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2001

I think the two main contributors to the point were Given and De Goey

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2001

Did the InterToTo contribute yesterday's point?

Yes

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2001

All together now: "Lauren, Lauren Robert, everyone knows his name"...blah, blah, blah.

;-)

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2001

While I was against our participation in the TwoBob, I believe it did - Chelsea visibly ran out of steam in the 2nd half, while we kept going to the end.

However, I'm still concerned we may see the full effects later in the season, so would prefer to make my overall assessment after Xmas when we just might witness the reverse effect.

I actually believe now that this could be an interesting experiment. Chelsea had actually played more games than we did in pre- season, but were clearly nowhere near as well conditioned. If we don't prematurely run out of steam later in the season there could some interesting lessons to be learned regarding pre-season preparation and conditioning of the players.

-- Anonymous, August 21, 2001

The way things are going Clarky, I think we're more likely to run out of players rather than run out of steam. Still, let's hope enough are still standing to put these theories to the test in the second half of the season.

-- Anonymous, August 21, 2001

sharpness, confidence, belief...

fitness??? If the Chelsea players weren't match-fit for the first game of the season - ie could keep going for 90 minutes - then what the hell is pre-seaon for? If that was the case then they deserved to be beaten, never mind having two points taken off them at home!

-- Anonymous, August 21, 2001

According to an article in The Journal this morning, Marcel Desailly told Craig Bellamy during the 2nd half on Sunday "go easy will you, I'm absolutely knackered".

Why do people always believe that footballers are 'automatons' who should always be totally match fit - even at the beginning of pre-season - and capable of playing any number of games without fatigue, or a drop in performance?

The reasons usually cited is that they are paid £xx,ooo per week, "so they bloody well should be fit", or "they bloody well should be capable of playing x games per week".

"Oh, I see. Now it all becomes clear. Why didn't I think of that?"

Try watching a PL at pitch level and see the physical effort and committment that goes into every game, then you might understand.

-- Anonymous, August 21, 2001