Only three

of last weekends matches went ahead. The rest were cancelled because of widespread snow. Similar havoc to fixtures caused by snow happened last year too. See earlier blog. And at the end of this piece in The Independent ...what the Everton and Man City players wore on Monday evening. Did the less encumbered team win?


The delay could be in Chelsea's favour. They were due to play Man U after a string of 6 games without a win. A delay in fulfilling this fixture could work out better for the Pensioners. Who knows? Rooney may well be recovering from his post-World cup malaise revived by the thoughts of the extra millions from his new contract and run into form. Lampard was due to return to the starting line-up for Chelsea but may need more time to get up to speed.


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• Chelsea hope Lampard can revive season (guardian.co.uk)

Dennis Wise on BBC Football Focus was going to answer questions about his spell at Newcastle as Director of Football.

Have a listen and see if you can understand what the job was supposed to be: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/football_focus/9301935.stm

Will Chelsea recover their good form in a moment?

"We are not in a good moment," says Ancelotti. There he goes again! Chelsea's Italian manager has used this word 'moment' several times in interviews on television when asked about Chelsea's performance - which has not been good, I know. Of the last 4 matches Chelsea have lost 2 and drawn 2. We know what he means but it is hardly a moment.

An English manager would use 'time' or 'spell', but never 'moment'. Mark Hughes would say "We are going through a bad spell" or "We are having a rough time".

However, 'spell' and 'time' are more difficult to use because the English learner Ancelotti has to know the phrases to go with them. You can see why 'in a good moment' seems to offer a solution in the rush of an interview just after a match.

But wouldn't you think that one of the manager's English aides would have mentioned that the phrase 'at the moment' is what his boss needs to learn?  Preceded by "We are not playing well ....."

Mind you, I wouldn't mind hearing that Chelsea are going to get better 'in a moment'.

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• Ancelotti losing sleep (skysports.com)