Following John Terry's stripping of the England captaincy for the second and probably final time the man who briefly stepped into Terry's shoe's following his affair with Wayne Bridge's girl-friend has also ruled himself out of the running to replace the serial cheat.

Rio tweeted: "I don't want to be England captain after the last episode.

I said before the Valencia game that we needed our big players to put in big performances and to stand up and be counted and lead the rest of the team to victory. They did exactly what we asked for and we got a fantastic result.
I said the same again for yesterday against City and although understated, they still all played a part in getting the right result.

Headline featured in todays SUN
If the report is to believed in The Sun today, AVB apparently criticised all of the players at the training ground after the defeats to Bayer Leverkusen and Liverpool in the Carling Cup a week ago. The report in the article quotes "A Chelsea insider" as saying:

"It was unbelievable.

At 3pm this afternoon all the talking stops and it's down to those players entrusted wearing our shirt by AVB this afternoon to get out on that pitch and to give everything to get three points.
We are taking a battering from all quarters right now and rightly so. The only thing that can start to turn things round now is a win.

In a time of so much negativity surrounding our club and it's current fortunes at the moment, there is alot of doom and gloom around the place. Questions are being asked of the players and our manager and people are talking of a complete revamp at the club. It's easy to jump on the defeatest band wagon at the moment and suffocate ourselves.

Let's be honest when it comes to David Luiz everyone has their own opinion (including Gary Neville!). Some people say he should be playing week in, week out. Some people say he shouldn't. Some people think he should be playing at right back and some others believe he should be playing as a holding midfielder.

Liverpool's style of play has changed under Kenny Dalglish, and the emphasis these days is on quick, free-flowing pass and move football, which is exactly what fans want to see. According to former Liverpool defender Gary Gillespie, Andy Carroll hasn't adapted to this style of play yet, which is why he's spending lots of time on the bench.

I have to say there has been one summer signing that is quietly going about his business and not getting alot of attention at the moment and that is Raul Meireles. Is it me, or has he just slotted straight into our side and gives the impression that he has been playing here for years?
Meireles has been different class and has really added another dimension to our midfield.

OK, we crack on this week with our trip to Goodison Park to take on Everton barely 10 days after beating them at Stamford Bridge in the Premier League. We know that Didier Drogba, Jose Bosingwa and Ashley Cole are all suspended for this one, Essien and Hilario are out injured but we have Fernando Torres back available if need be.

OK apologies for the late blog post on the game the other night but due to PC problems I am doing it now. Alot has been said yesterday about the game so I won't bore you all with the same reports. I just want to give my opinion on the game.
First of all I thought it was a game that had everything but goals.

Alot of headlines this morning are not about the performance of our side yesterday but once again Fernando Torres and that miss. For me, he will feel gutted about the miss but like people say it could happen to anyone. The most important thing is his goal yesterday.
Only yesterday morning I read a report in a newspaper stating that Chelsea were looking to offload Fernando Torres on loan in January if he doesn't start scoring which is total rubbish in my view.

On Saturday NB52 made his debut Vs Chelsea, he had a decent game and came deep at times to link up play with old team-mate Seb Larsson, at times maybe he was a bit rusty, which you can understand, but he is a top player with alot of all round talent... Anyway heres his debut and thanks to MilanKakaBaros, A.

Ray Wilkins, now a Skysports Pundit, has spoken of his old club and the fact that all the attention at the moment seems to be on Manchester.
Both sides up there have started the season well and have been impressive with their signings and their form.
However, Wilkins believes that Chelsea's players will be more than happy to not be the focus of attention and the underdogs this term.

Alot of headlines are going across England+ Denmark today with Nicklas Bendtner on the verge of an exit from his somewhat second home Emirates Stadium, London. Alot of parties have been interested all summer, but it could be Stoke City who are on the verge of winning the race for the multi-talented Danish attacker.

Liverpool are still likely to allow at least five players to leave before transfer deadline tomorrow as they are all surplus to requirements.

The new owners are keen to clear alot of the "Deadwood" which is still in the Liverpool squad to free up space for more new players and allow the club to run more efficiently.

I know most of the Chelsea fans that come onto my blog everyday and take the time to post their comments have said all summer that we need a creative midfielder this season. It's becoming apparent now more than ever that Roman Abramovich and AVB have to get a deal done for someone to come into our side to unlock the door asap or we will be left behind.

On Monday, July 25th I went to Downtown Manhattan in New York City to check out "The Hub" on 82 Mercer Street. There were alot of cool things going on like an 18FT Foosball Table, All-Star Game Merchandize and many other promotional things. But of course the main reason was to attend the press conference as Hans Backe, David Beckham, Thierry Henry & Brad Davis represented the MLS All-Star squad.

Featured player Nicklas Bendtner has stayed in London to decide on which club to join and there has been many interested parties. I'm hearing alot of stuff coming from Germany with BVB also known as Borussia Dortmund being interested in NB. Director of Hamburg SV, Frank Arnesen has declared his interest in Bendtner, but has said it will be a tough challenge to get him to the impressive Imtech Arena.

I think it's safe to say the whole situation with Kaka ever since we have been interested in him from a couple of summers ago has been just pure speculation with nothing concrete at all if we are honest. Of course like alot of other people, I fell for the story of his mother "tweeting" that they are coming to London this August and believed it could happen!

Just in case you had wondered, I never missed the news of Patrick Van Aanholt signing a new four year contract at the club. For me it's great news and a great sign to the other promising youngsters at the club.
Alot is made of Chelsea's spending and the fact that it prevents our youngsters from progressing into the first team and there are many examples of players in recent seasons who have had to leave the club in order to find first team football on a regular basis.

I made a video compilation of NB52′s best moment for The Arsenal Reserves, Birmingham City ( Loan period ) and The Arsenal first team. It's not the greatest quality but its my first time making a video. There's alot of unseen footage here check it out ! . . .

I need to re-iterate for the most part, alot of what we are reading at the moment is pure speculation but it seems that if one report is to be believed that Chelsea have made their first transfer move of the summer by making a move for 19-year old Genk keeper Thibault Courtois. The 6ft 4in player has been in great form this season as Genk won their League title.

Carlo Ancelotti has spoken again in the build up to the United game this weekend and believes that our momentum could be the only difference between the two sides. He said:

"You need to use character and personality to play this match. Both teams have that, but it is the momentum, The moment.

Liverpool earned another valuable three points at Anfield this afternoon where they overcame a determined Newcastle United side by three goals to nil.
An early deflected goal by Maxi on ten minutes got the Reds off to a dream start against a team that had beaten us 3-1 before Christmas.
Newcastle are no mugs and they went at Liverpool, winning alot of corners and free kicks, however Joey Barton's deliveries were easily dealt with time and again by a resolute Liverpool defence.

Ive been watching alot of the local Valencia CF debates on TV lately.

Thats the nice part of living here is you get to watch people argue about your team 24 / 7 instead of just watching Barca and Madrid players stretching on the sports networks.

There seems to be an ongoing theme lately.

Sir Alex Ferguson, speaking ahead of tonight's game has been quick to question the coverage in the press of Carlo Ancelotti's position at the club. Ferguson, only had kind words to say about Ancelotti. He said:

"It's incredible for Carlo, he won the Double last season. How can Chelsea think of changing such a coach?

Make no mistake this game today is as big as United at home. Chelsea were up against it against United at half time and pulled together to get the right result. Chelsea are up against a side that has proved to be a pain in the arse for one reason or another and will come to Chelsea with a totally different attitude to the one that battered us at the Bridge last season.

Fernando Torres spoke to Chelsea TV yesterday after the defeat to Liverpool and said:

"It was very difficult, Liverpool played a good game, with three at the back. We were not expecting that and maybe they took advantage.
I think the fair result was the draw, it was unfair to lose that game, but now we are looking forwards to the next game and will keep fighting until the end.

The David Luiz transfer to Chelsea has gained momentum in recent times and more or less came to a head over the weekend. Speaking after we beat Bolton 4-0 last night, Carlo Ancelotti was asked about the imminent signing of the player and for the first time admitted that we are trying to sign him and that he would be the only player we are looking to bring into the club in this January transfer window.

So, I'm sure alot of you - "you" being a small pack of friends, family, and random instigators - were, at one point, wondering what the heck happened to this blog. And then, like so many other things that fall into your world of wonderment, you probably quickly forgot about it, and moved on with your lives.

In the Mirror this morning, rumours are also rife that Chelsea are looking to bolster their defensive and attacking options by looking at Diego Godin and Diego Forlan at Athletico Madrid.
Godin is valued at £15m and would provide cover for Alex who remains out for another month. For me I haven't really seen alot of this bloke so would need your opinions for those who have seen him.

Nicklas Bendtner has said that it is important Arsenal to go on and win some silverware this season in the Carling Cup, which could give the players the winning mentality to go for the Barclays Premier League. Bendtner talked about Arsenal's next game which is Ipswich away, In the first leg of the Semi-Final.

Frank Klopas and the Fire technical staff are currently in Florida for the MLS Combine ahead of the draft on January 13 but Klopas feels the Fire have a pretty good handle on which players they're interested in right now. "These players have been off for a few months so it's tough to judge guys on these games, we've seen most of them before now so we're looking for the best fit based on who's available when we pick" said Klopas.

After tonight I have to be honest and say that I really don't know what to think or how to feel about Carlo and the boys at the minute I really don't. On paper right now if anyone had said to us fans back at the end of October,

Oh by the way, you are going to have your worst run of form for years, lose away at Birmingham, get thumped at home by Sunderland and lose at Wolves!