It’s Thursday, and that means it’s time for Football Weekly Extra. James Richardson is joined by Sean Ingle, Paolo Bandini and Rob Smyth to chew over the week’s events, including moves at Manchester City, Spurs’s whipping at the hands of Young Boys and that plastic pitch.

From Spain, Sid Lowe tells us about the presentation of Mesut Ozil – and, following details of new women’s toilets being installed at Camp Nou, the pod discus about whether men should be allowed to use them.

Elswhere Amy Lawrence looks into recent goings-on in French football, including Nicolas Anelka’s 18 match ban, and ponders why the top clubs are struggling at the start of the season. And there’s also more on the worst-ever debuts, your posts, a look ahead to some of the weekend’s fixtures – and AC Jimbo’s damning verdict on Sky’s Monday Night Football.

Have a listen and post your feedback below. We’re also on iTunes, Facebook and Twitter, and if you enjoy this type of thing, get your daily dose of football with our tea-time email, the Fiver.

James RichardsonPaolo BandiniRob SmythSean IngleAndy DuckworthSid LoweAmy Lawrence

Adrift on a raft of tabloid allegations regarding his players’ private lives, before this match Carlo Ancelotti declared he wished to “judge my players on their professional behaviour”. Little wonder he lost his rag at half-time. The intention of the noon kick-off was to quell any potential crowd trouble and it appeared to have the knock-on effect of troubling Ancelotti’s side on the pitch.

“When we went back into the dressing [room] today the manager was crazy,” Mikel John Obi said. “He went mad at us. We knew we could do better. But we came out in the second half and that’s what we gave him. He shouted at us in English and ­Italian – everything. When he’s mad he mixes everything up. He was not happy.”

It was not surprising the normally sanguine Italian gave his charges the bilingual what for. Didier Drogba aside they were awful in the opening 45 minutes. Joe Cole was hauled off at half-time – no broken ankle or marital trouble to excuse this England international’s absence from the pitch after the interval. Ancelotti’s assistant, Ray Wilkins, confirming it was a tactical decision to replace the attacker with Salomon Kalou.

It was Mikel’s lofted pass that sprung the Cardiff defence for Drogba’s second-minute goal, but the Nigeria international admitted that things were not right at half-time. Had he been unaware of this fact it seems his manager would have made things crystal clear.

“Normally he’s pretty laid-back. But when things are not going right, that’s when he goes a bit mad. But apart from that he’s very laid-back, a very cool person,” the midfielder said. “We don’t like seeing him like that. So we like to do things right.”

In his programme notes the Chelsea pitch’s absentee captain, John Terry, managed to thank the fans for their support and apologise in the opening two paragraphs. Thanks for the unwavering support and sorry for personally shipping those two goals at Everton in midweek. Sorry he may have been, but not sorry enough to line up in the fifth round of the FA Cup.

It was almost written in the stars that the captain’s replacement, Alex, would be at fault for Michael Chopra’s equaliser. The Brazil international inexplicably stopped running as Chris Burke’s in-swinging cross winged its way into the box. It was hard not to take note that the winger’s cross preceded the skinning of Yuri Zhirkov – Ashley Cole’s £16m understudy. To lose one world-class defender may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose two looks like ­carelessness.

England hope Cole will be picture perfect come South Africa and his club team-mates are just as keen to get him back – Mikel’s endorsement of Zhirkov was hardly resounding: “Ashley is a very ­important player for this team,” he said. “He is ­going to be a big loss for us. We have Yuri who can play there, but Ashley is a very ­important player. We feel really bad that this has happened to him at this stage of the season. It’s not good at any stage but now there are some big games coming up. But Yuri can do the job.”

Chelsea’s defence did look more solid in the second half, mainly because the attack located their claws and pinned their Championship opponents back. The imperious Drogba laid on goals for Michael Ballack and Daniel Sturridge (who has scored in every round of the FA Cup for Chelsea this season) before Kalou rounded off what morphed into a resounding victory with a neat finish under David Marshall.

J Cole’s replacement deserved a goal for a performance that added vibrancy to what had been a flaccid attack. Once more England fans will wait anxiously on the rehabilitation of a Chelsea player named Cole – this, however, is not as straightforward as ankle surgery. This, as Wilkins acknowledged, is a confidence issue.

“He is an entertainer and the supporters love to see him do his stuff,” Ancelotti’s ­assistant added. “For ­individualists like Joe in possession of the ball, it is a ­confidence thing. If certain things don’t go right then it is just one of those things. But we have no problems with Joe ­whatsoever.

“It is only a touch of confidence because he is trying to get back to feeling great. That is the first thing, feeling great, because when you are coming back from these injuries you end up with little niggles on the other side because you are overcompensating. Once Joe is up and playing he will be fine.”

Confidence deficiencies, ankle breaks and tabloid scrutiny … the lot of ­Chelsea’s England internationals is a rough one. ­Perhaps Frank Lampard should be ­bubble‑wrapped until June.

FA CupChelseaCardiff CityMikey Staffordguardian.co.uk

• Manager announces side to play Cardiff City in FA Cup
• Terry on compassionate leave, Anelka and Cech rested

Carlo Ancelotti has insisted Chelsea are taking their FA Cup fifth-round tie with Cardiff seriously, though he was confident enough to reveal his starting XI a day ahead of time.

The Blues will be without John Terry, given compassionate leave, and the injured Ashley Cole, while goalkeeper Petr Cech and striker Nicolas Anelka were also absent from the team named by the Italian.

He said: “Tomorrow we’ll play Hilario in goal, Paulo Ferreira, Alex, Ricardo Carvalho and Yury Zhirkov; Frank Lampard, John Obi Mikel, Michael Ballack; Daniel Sturridge, Joe Cole and Didier Drogba up front.

“The bench will be Ross Turnbull, Jeffrey Bruma, Branislav Ivanovic, Florent Malouda, Nemanja Matic, Fabio Borini and Salomon Kalou.

“It’s a very important competition. We won it last year – I was not here – and we have a great opportunity to go forward in this competition.

“We know Cardiff will come to do their best. They have a good team and a lot of passion around them. We have to pay attention. We want to come back to win after the defeat against Everton.

“I said that the FA Cup is a fantastic opportunity for all the teams to play their best. They are followed with a lot of passion around them, and they have good quality. They have two fantastic strikers and score a lot of goals in the Championship. We have to pay attention.”

ChelseaCarlo AncelottiFA CupCardiff Cityguardian.co.uk