Taipan

Has to be Cucurella for me. Pocketing the (nearly) ballon d'or winner.

Nkunku not in the squad. I think he's played his last game for us.

To pick the team for every conference league game this season the first step should be to pick the starting 11 for the following weekend premier league game first. Then none of those players should be in the midweek conference league game preceding it. Then pick the team from the remaining available squad, with debate around how involved the bench players from the weekend game can be in the conference league game.

That is worthy of a thread of its own. Starting with the injuries to Chilwell and James. Surely those were mismanaged. Then you've got the injuries to Lavia, Nkunku and Chukwuemeka. Seemingly minor injuries at the time, but they've been out for 5-6 months. WTF. Give them another month and they could have about recovered from a full knee reconstruction in that time. Questions need to be asked!

I came across this YouTube video: "What the hell is happening to Saul Niguez?" It is four months old, so posted before the current speculation, and discusses his rise and fall. Losing possession 26 times and conceding a penalty in one game last season doesn't sound good.

I liked Moses in his season with us. He was behind Mata, Oscar and Hazard for a starting place in the attacking three. Those three are considerably better footballers than he is, but I also though Moses brought a lot to the team in his own way. He was more athletic – bigger, stronger and faster – certainly than Mata and Oscar, and that gave us more threat on the break. I also recall him being decent at winning headers and getting a few headed goals for us, which is quite a different threat to our starting front three – then and now. But I think we have more athleticism in our team now than we did last time he played with us. Willian is probably a better athlete than Moses and is a much better footballer. With Willian and Hazard in the team now I don’t feel that we’re lacking pace in the attacking three the way we did three years ago. If we were to bring Moses on for the last half hour in a game now I don’t think he would be bringing a much needed injection of pace the way he did last time. We’d likely be replacing pace with pace now. Maybe we’d get a fresh pair of legs and an improved ability at contesting headers, but he’d be less capable with the ball at his feet than whoever he replaced. I’m open to a return for him, especially as a home grown player. I just think as a squad we’re much better covered for the things that Moses brings than we were last time.

Crespo was class for us. In his first season when Henry was at his peak and playing up front for a top Arsenal team, Crespo scored at a significantly better goals per minute played rate than Henry (not counting Henry's penalties). In his second stint with us his contribution as a support striker to Drogba, usually from the bench, was everything you could hope for from someone in his position. The only issue with Crespo at Chelsea was that he didn't play enough. In his first stint that was down to injury (or a rumoured falling out with Ranieri). In his second stint that was down to Didier Drogba tearing apart premiership defences week after week. But anytime he set food on a pitch for us he was absolute class.

I'll be there. I'm travelling interstate to get there. :-)

If he didn't qualify as a home grown player I'd probably say he is a good player but we should be able to do better. But he does qualify as home grown and that is a big deal. He might not be Pogba or Fabregas, but those who are quick to dismiss him could stick their necks out and offer their alternatives for a home grown place in our squad. He is miles ahead of Chalobah or Loftus-Cheek and maybe winding down to 12 months remaining on his contract might not be too expensive. Definite maybe for me. :-)

Dave for me. Won every challenge. Nullified their main attacking player and had a big part in the stopping the service to Carroll. Matic close second.

Marin? Moses? Romeu? Kakuta? Torres?

Star has got a consistent and proven record of insider knowledge. I first saw it first when he posted "Expect big things from Moscow" and a few days later we signed the 6'5" Jarosik from CSKA - something that nobody saw coming. When was that - 2005? At that time his track record was already well proven by what other posters were saying, and I've seen him deliver many times since then. He's the one poster on this forum who I pay closest attention to when he posts. Star has his proven sources, and he has his own footballing opinions. If there is a fair criticism of his posts it is that it isn't always obvious which one he is posting. Read the OP in the thread you linked to: He is obviously giving his opinion on who we should sign - something we all do here. He is saying 'I believe...' and 'I continue to believe...' and 'I cannot believe...' when talking about the merits of the players he is talking about. He doesn't say anywhere that Chelsea are going to sign any of them. His one claim of inside knowledge is that post was that Zouma will become a really good player. Sadly, he hardly ever posts anymore and the forum is worse off because of it. He started getting a lot of abuse when he posted from a bunch of Johnny-come-latelys who hadn't seen his 10+ year track record of results.

Given the lack of match fitness for Schurrle, Oscar, Ramires and Hazard I wonder if Fabregas might be pushed forward and play as one of the front 3 behind Costa, and MVG might get a start next to Matic. Costa Salah Fabregas Torres Matic MVG Luis Cahill Terry Dave Cech Schurrle, Oscar and Hazard to come on for the last 30 for Salah, Torres and MVG.

I think bjd is very close with his team. The only selection I question is Luiz. If he were injured there is nobody to play in midfield alongside Ramires against Athletico. Chance of injury aside - there is still a strong case to keep him fresh for Athletico. I suspect that Jose may keep him in reserve. Perhaps Ivanovic to play in the centre, cole at LB and Dave at RB. Outside chance for Kalas to start. Having all of our starting midfielders and attackers for Athletico rested against Liverpool should be a fair advantage for us. We can still have a competitive team against Liverpool if just the defenders backup for both games.

I think one area where we have a significant advantage is in how fresh our squad will be compared to theirs. It has been shown that having only two days recovery between games significantly affects performance. Okay, both teams will have the same recovery time between games leading up to this one. But they'll probably be playing the same 11. We'll probably be bringing in five fresh players, possibly six: We'll see Dave in for Cole, Cahill for Luiz, Lampard for Ramirez, Willian for Mata and Torres for Eto and an outside chance for Schurrle to start as well. That will be a significant advantage going into the last half hour. Add to that the extra options we have from the bench I will be quietly optimistic if we get to 60 minutes with the game still in the balance.