MANoWAR

Essien has been great this game.

Damn, should've scored!

Even if we win, I hope we don't concede

Luiz in midfield then?

Bertrand > Cole ;)

Yeah really nice from Torres. Hope he gains in confidence.

Schwarzer lol.

This team is probably just as good as our regular team :p

We were incredibly lucky to win the Champions League and possibly should've won it earlier when we had a prime Terry, Lampard, Ballack and Drogba. Around then, we were one of the top 4 in Europe and there wasn't as much between us and the Barca's as there is now. Unlucky in a few semi's plus JT a few inches away from leading us to glory We should not even have been in the Europa league in the first place, so us winning it, while a difficult achievement, is probably not too far off winning the FA Cup (I'd argue FA Cup is more prestigous since teams as good as City, Arsenal and United won't be playing Europa League). I also said that the pivot is Europa league quality and for a team as ambitious as Chelsea, it's not enough. Like I said, he is useful to have at times -- as mentioned his his workrate, energy and pace are all good, but to add to what was said earlier, his first touch is poor and his passing is unspectacular to say the least, he's quite often responsible for giving the ball away via a wayward pass or losing out because of a **** first touch. We do need him in our squad, but I don't think he should be in our first XI.

Running, energy and pace is all good against Barcelona but it's no good when you're trying to keep the ball against teams that you should beat like Basel or teams you are on par with more or less (like Juventus, Arsenal). He isn't good enough to play regularly for City, Barcelona, Bayern Munich or even going down a little quality wise Dortmund, Juventus or PSG. For a club as ambitious as Chelsea , he shouldn't be playing as regularly as he does and especially nowhere near the right wing like he did over a year ago. He lacks the playmaking ability and composure (which is fundamental for a top midfielder) to be a huge asset for a top team. I'm not saying he's useless but playing him with Mikel who both lack the urgency or accuracy for making forward passes is a bit redundant and that type of pivot is good enough for a Europa League team at best. Oh and, your last sentence was stupid. Yes, I know nothing about football because I disagree with you on one player; never mind all the other points I wrote. How childish.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1785242-juan-mata-reportedly-admits-jose-mourinho-is-right-about-chelsea-axe

Van Ginkel did so well alongside Essien in pre-season -- and he even did very well against Real Madrid! Let's wait and see how well he does for us before writing him off!

Well tbh, even on his off day, his passing and ball control was better than what Ramires has to offer

I'm going to have to disagree with some people. I don't think we did a good job at all of replacing Deco and Ballack. Ramires is not fit to clean the boots of Ballack, Makelele or Deco at their prime and getting rid of them and not getting a proper central midfielder who has got good ball control as well as accurate and quick ball distribution is causing us huge problems when trying to defend leads by keeping possession. If we don't sort it out, then not only will we struggle to beat City (they looked absolutely incredible yesterday -- and United could do little about it), but we'll also have many problems in Europe against the good teams and have to rely on counter-attacking football where we'd have to rely on wasteful finishing misplaced passing. People talk about a striker being the main problem, but I'd say our midfield is just as important. If we had a balance there, our attacking midfielders won't have to track back as much because our defensive midfielders can distribute the ball rather than trying to find their first touch. Bit more lenient with Mikel as I think with the right partner he'd do better, but it's still very possible to improve that area. Also, ever since Ballack and Deco left, we've been behind United for 15 points on average. There are also other issues related to that but I'd think the midfield is a big one.

I would love to see KDB start and prove his worth (whatever game it is). I don't think people realise how good he actually he is.

Do you know if he was playing as a striker?

I would hate it if we ended up playing for just a point. We better win this one.

Poor Rooney -- he'd enjoy more success if he came here ;). And wait, we were in for Kompany at one point?

Luiz.

Ramsey doing so well for Arsenal lately.

haha, I love this forum.

no worries -- the others provided some quotes and I found the interview on youtube.

What did Mourinho say? Got a link or anything? :)

Wow, that's worrying. And I agree with what big blue said.

^Wanted Moutinho and De Rossi as the main signings tbh. Moutinho as the support DLP who we needed, and De Rossi, while he isn't a DLP, is able to control a game very well from deep. A striker too obviously. Surprised we didn't go for Ibra. He's been praising Mourinho loads lately as well.