bjd

But by the same token Chelsea have never lost when i have been captain, they have conceded no goals and are 100% undefeated. Captain will be Ashely Cole, surely ? Do hope the lack of experienced leaders doesnt cost us. Atletico have their captain missing too i think ?

I agree. Still im just not sure where this tie stands now or if last night was actually a good result or not - basically we are not going to know until around 10pm a week today.

Very possible that last night was the last time we will see Cech in a Chelsea shirt

Guess the easiest place to start here is with who we know for sure will start - and there is 4 of them, Matic, Salah, Mikel and Frank. For all the talk of the weakened team i dont think Jose has too many options. He isnt going to throw Kalas in for his debut at Anfield and i doubt he will start MVG after so long out. I guess it will be something like Schwazer Ivanovic Luiz Cahill Azpi Lampard Mikel Matic Salah Schurrie Ba Ive assumed there that Ramires will be suspended. Well, im going to say possibly the most negative thing ive ever posted on this forum - but hand on heart i think we will lose. Mourinho has clearly prioritised the Champions League and this will transcend onto the players. We are facing the ultimate in form team, full of belief, form and most of all momentum. I think it could be uncomfortable viewing on Sunday. Thank heavens the City game is after ours because at least we could be spared the possible scene of Liverpool beating us and winning the title. Key thing for us will be not to pick up any injuries ahead of Wednesday.

Sorry fellas, id take him in a heartbeat. Wasnt anything special last night but he showed great movement (certainly compared to FT anyway!). He looks a right tosser, but he'd be our tosser. Just the type of player you want when you are losing to Sunderland or Palace. A fighter, ill have bit of that - we've lacked some of it this campaign.

That to me looks a very strong line up. Obviously the key here is the fitness of Eto'o and Hazard so we will have to wait and see but if that team lines up next week then we have no excuses. I guess id be a little concerned about the CB pairing of Ivanovic and Cahill, we saw it a lot under Benitez last year and it struggled at times, but luckily the Atletico attack last night didnt seem particularly fast so hopefully they will cope. Cahill needs to step and take the JT role which i think we all agree he can certainly do. He was awesome last night. Bench will be thin, and we certainly have to bloody pray nobody picks up a knock on Sunday but i will be pleased if that team plays next week. But, its all about Hazard and Eto'o.

Id say Ashley Cole, who incidentally waltzed his way back into the first XI last night for a Champions League Semi Final as if it was the most natural thing in the world to him.

Word for word, spot on Butch

Well I don't agree with you at all, but I can only respect you for sticking to your guns I guess!

No - because he didnt say 'the FA wont let us and win it' and he didnt say they should all 'be up on max fixing charges'. He isnt stupid. He words were (as always) very calculated, he was clearly unhappy with Dean. But deep down he knows the score, he is protecting the players, and he knows their flaws and he knows why we arent going to be champions this season, and it wont be because of officials. Incidentally, Rui Faras performance did make me cringe. Im all for showing passion but there is a line and his actions helped nobody and boy, is he going to suffer for it.

I mean, its stuff like that that makes me cringe - I am sorry mate, but that is just such a ludicrous and over the top thing to say. First thing i red on here this morning is that 'the FA wont let us win it' - i almost shut the pc down and went back to bed. Its the type of stuff that gets posted on here from other rivals forums and then is instantly lapped up and mocked. If its tongue in cheek then fine, but suggesting max fixing ? Really ? it just makes us look silly and bitter, things people often mock Arsenal and Liverpool fans for. And we are certainly better than that and better than them too. Sure, weve certainly had our fair share of bad decisions, but had we also had some fortune too. We are where we are in the league table because we have lost to Sunderland, Palace Stoke, Newcastle and not won other games like West Ham and WBA x 2, and missing hundreds of chances. Blaming the officials is convenient and in my opinion pointless - we are where we absolutely deserve to be. The level of seethe coming out of the Bridge yesterday was very high, it was a shocking result but lets at least try to keep some dignity!

Fair enough but the point i guess others are trying to make is that basically, was it actually that bad a performance from Dean ? It was certainly not Ovrebo, not that youd know it from the outrage seeping out of here. Lets not forget perhaps his biggest error was not reducing us to 10 men in the first half. Im not sticking up for him i just think yesterday it was a culmination of a few things, Dean didnt help but we were playing the bottom team at home, their penalty shouldve been no more than an irrelevant consolation.

And so he should be. His conduct was embarrassing and just added more stress and pressure onto the players and crowd.

I understand that and agree to a certain extent. But I think it's worth pointing out that some of the ludicrous stuff you see on here just makes us look silly when there are endless mocking quotes from RAWK and Bluemoon or whatever. We all hate to lose but it's important not to be too precious and try and uphold at least a shred of dignity! Coming out and saying 'the FA clearly won't let us win the league' when we have just lost a match where we had 31 attempts is plain daft.

So spot on Carlo. So spot on. One of my biggest gripes here is the fascination with RAWK (or similar) and the amount of quotes or links that we see from it. It's an obsession for some. I assure you somewhere on the web this morning there is a rivals forum that is quoting a post made on here in the last 16 hours and those fans are having a right old laugh about it and at us in general.

Agreed. Some of the posts I've read here this morning are shockers. Normal talk of bias and agendas. Was the same at the game yesterday, it really was very spiteful around where I was sitting. For me Rui Faras behaviour was unacceptable and didn't help either, it's great to show passion but only if you keep your dignity. Wasn't a good day for the club yesterday on quite a few levels.

Very good post, and a rare sensible one amid a sea of nonsense that ive flicked through in the last 20 pages.We shouldn't need to be looking for excuses against Sunderland at home. We were sh*te and that result has been coming at SB since August when Villa outplayed us. it should've happened against WBA only for us to be rescued by our very dodgy penalty. We are not going to win the league and we don't deserve to, the opportunity was there but we haven't been good enough. We have slipped back into the race these past few weeks by default but it won't happen again now, it's over. It was utterly sh*t yesterday, some of the fans behaviour around me (MHL gate 16) was utterly embarrassing I thought, spoilt children all round. Yes Dean was sh*te but c'mon let's try and have a bit of f**king dignity and I point that at our wonderful coaching team too. 31 attempts and we we score one goal against the worst team in the league, their penalty should've been an irrelevant footnote. It's all about Europe now and judging by what I saw yesterday from 4 or 5 of our players that's just how they want it to be too.

I agree , it's just deflection. Ref had a mare yesterday but we were sh*te. Should be out of sight against the bottom team at home and shouldn't need to hunt for excuses, this 'they won't let us win it' stuff is boring nonsense. We haven't been good enough in the league and that's why we won't win it.

Willian, as normal great energy. Again not much to show for it but he was the pick of a bad bunch,

He's become a liability and he's also starting to bear the brunt of the crowds frustration now, noticed that yesterday for the first time. Be surprised if he plays as much next season, Jose must be tearing his hair out at how much he losses possession. I know I am.

Yeah you know the more I think about it, I underestimated. Think it may well sell out this afternoon actually.

This thread makes me so uncomfortable!

I suspect you may be ok. Think the points will hit the early 20s, west upper only though maybe

Adrian Durham is pad to be a wind up merchant. Even he knows what he says is nonsense. Honestly, life is far too short to get wound up by this type of thing. Turn it down, close it down or dont read it. Then it wont bother you. Go for a walk instead.

yeah maybe your right, like i said i m no expert.