Celery1989

He's awesome, probably the best talent in Europe right now that isn't at one of the European giants. With that in mind, naturally I'd love him at Chelsea, but I can't see where he'd play. He likes to play from the left and cut in, just like Hazard. Oscar is Jose's no.10, I don't think there's a single player he'd rather have in that role. I suppose Reus would have to play on the right but I don't think he'd be anywhere near as effective there. Can you imagine though if Jose had Hazard, Oscar, Willian, Reus and Schurrle to choose from!

True. I live in Raynes Park just next to Wimbledon, not that many Chelsea knocking around any more. When we're on tv though there's usually a decent turnout in the pub though.

Apparently there were some scuffles amongst the Arsenal support today. From what I've heard there's a pretty sharp divide these days between those who still believe in Wenger and those who've justifiably given up on him.

Chelsea Brendan Rogers chant - YouTube Awfully filmed and equally badly sung version of it at AFC Wimbledon in Pre-Season.

Didn't in the end mate. Just went to the Crown Hotel and the Spoons near there. Jumped in a cab up to the ground, was easy enough. Couldn't believe how cheap the fare was! Got home fine, the train only takes 2 hours to London which is pretty rapid really. Gotta say, as a stadium Anfield is pretty decent. Shame about my severely restricted view but managed to get by just about. I think you might well have been! I was with my one mate and there was a group right next to us, pretty much everyone was singing it to some extent having left the ground.

I don't think Wenger will ever step down, he's too proud to do so. And so long as he gets Arsenal into the top 4, the board don't have a problem. He'll be given until the end of the season to prove whether he can still deliver CL football, anything else is a bonus. What I find staggering is that Arsenal have actually regressed from last season. Having won the FA Cup, and with the proverbial monkey off their backs, most expected them to kick on and properly challenge us and City for the league. Quite frankly, it doesn't look as though Arsenal will even mount a title challenge this season, and its due to the exact same set of issues that have plagued them season after season since they moved to the Emirates: mental fragility, inadequate defensive cover, the lack of a true defensive midfielder, the manager's tactical incompetence and general stubborness. How the fans put up with this sh*t year after year, paying more money than any other fans in the country, I really don't know. Got some mates who are Arsenal fans and at times I have to say I do feel for them.

Funny thing is we did yesterday but Ramires was almost so focussed on the threat of Sterling from the left that there was a big gap between him and the other CM's for Liverpool to exploit. There was a warning from Can very early on and from an almost identical position he then scored the opener. Nevertheless, it was a great result overall on what was a very positive weekend indeed for our title chances. Bossed the game, would agree that Liverpool should have had a penalty at the end but they deserved nothing from that game. Poor performance by several of their players and also their fans were pitiful. Thought Matic was our best player once again, the defence as a whole were terrific. Costa was his usual animalistic self . Some really neat touches from Oscar and Hazard, the latter gave Glen Johnson a torrid time! I was there yesterday too, first time I'd been to Anfield and it was an experience I will cherish for a long time. Great suppport in general as usual, really cool moment at the end when we were all bellowing out the Zola chant and Franco was apparently moved by it. Quite enjoyed walking out onto the Anfield Road singing 'We're top of the league' too. Best chant of the day: To Balotelli, when subbed off after another poor performance - 'Fernando Torres, he's better than you!'

He's certainly part of it. Spurs' troubles started with the Bale money; Levy, Baldini and AVB all had their own transfer targets in mind to replace Bale, and ultimately Tottenham bought a mish-mash of them to appease everyone which led to a squad bloated in numbers but devoid of real quality. I look at Spurs' squad and it isn't good enough to challenge for the top 4. There are so many mediocre players there.

I think the manager's tactical inflexibility is part of it. I still don't understand why he persists with 4-4-2, there isn't a single top team in Europe that plays such an antiquated formation these days. CL football is all about possession and/or keeping a solid defensive structure, the old mantra of 'two banks of four' doesn't really wash any more I'm afraid. It's easy for teams playing 4-3-3/4-2-3-1, with players 'between the lines' of the 4-4-2, to exploit it just by the tactical structure alone. But I think there's more to it with City. I get the sense that it's a fractured and dressing room at the moment. This may just be my own conjecture but I get the sense that the big ego's, like Yaya Toure, are starting to cause friction amongst the other players. You only have to look at the way the City players reacted after CSKA's first goal by giving Toure accusatory looks to see what I mean. Seems like there's no real team spirit at the moment, which is a surprise given how well you guys came back to win the league last year. Nevertheless, that stat about how City haven't won any of their last 36 (?) having gone behind says a lot for me. It goes without saying that lots of players are underperforming. There are several we could name here, and you really have to wonder where City would currently be with Aguero's goals. There's clearly a mental block that they need to overcome in Europe too, similar to Arsenal who for years have been close to the top in league but come January/February just crash and burn. Finally, Kinkladze will have a better perspective of this, but I also sense that the City fans themselves are somewhat apathetic towards the Champions League. Perhaps this is due to the long list of underwhelming performances you've had to witness since you've reached that level, but to be honest I can't really figure out why this attitude exists. Maybe you could shed some light on it?

Whilst watching the game against Maribor last night I spotted Hickey stood near someone I sit next to regularly at the Bridge!

Great pic^. The amount of bend on that shot is unreal!

I've always wondered what would have happened had Gerrard joined. I guess Ballack would never have come here, but I don't think a 3 man midfield with Lamps and Gerrard would have worked. At the time, both just wanted to bomb forwards, whereas our system needed another to sit in front of Makelele whilst Lampard wreaked havoc in the opposition box.

Heard that too. Pathetic really if true.

Tricky draw, but still should prevail. Really want us to win this and to do so beating either Tottenham or Liverpool would be sweet!

Juan Mata was clearly our best player for the 2 seasons he was with us. And he was a really good ambassador for the club as well; I really enjoyed reading his intelligently crafted weekly blog. However it was clear that he would never fit Jose's system for the issues that have already been raised above. £37m was far too much money to turn down for someone who had become at best an impact sub. Whilst I do think that he would have won us a few more points last season with some goals and assists, I think it's clear to see that we have improved significantly as a team with Fabregas as our main creator. Not gonna lie though, part of me still misses Mata. I feel like his career is stagnating at Man U where he's clearly the back up to Wayne Rooney. Sure he's scored some nice goals but I just don't see how he fits into their setup. It's almost as though Mata is 'lost in the wilderness' a little bit. If Juve's interest is serious then I think he needs to strongly consider joining them. The pace of the Italian league would suit him and in the Juventus system he wouldn't have to worry about defensive duties given that they have Pogba, Vidal and Marchisio for that in midfield.

Yes Real. Have that Uefalona.

Makes the punctured tyre we suffered up to Villa last season seem like nothing at all! We'd set off pretty early so thankfully only missed 25 minutes of the first half. As you all know we lost the game 1-0 thus ending our already rapidly fading title hopes. Got home at about 2am feeling pretty dejected. At least I was able to get a beer on the train back from Reading!

Is that you JoeTweeds? In our system Oscar is a perfect fit. Silva et al wouldn't do anywhere near as much defensive work.

This^. I think Oscar's biggest problem last year was that we didn't have a CM who was on the same wavelength as him. Fabregas seems to already have a good understanding with Oscar and it's no surprise that Oscar's form is on the up again. Fabregas' presence as well allows Oscar to interchange between the no.10 and deep-lying role, and for Fabregas to do the same vice versa, something which should help to shift the ball quicker when in possession.

The important of that cannot be overstated enough IMO. The Chelsea team of 2004/5 set records for most points, wins, clean sheets and most consecutive away wins (9!). All of that en route to finishing 12 points ahead of the 'Invincibles' from the season before. We're all obviously biased to some degree but the statistically reasoned argument would state that the Chelsea team was better.

Someone made this point on Twitter: 'United spent 7 minutes singing about how Chelsea's success is "hollow" whilst they spend £150m scrapping for 4th place".

In light of injuries and with the United game in mind: ----------Courtois----------- Azpi---Ivan---Cahill---Luis -----Matic---Fabregas----- Salah---Oscar---Willian--- -----------Remy--------------

Awesome article, absolute pleasure to read. I loved when Jose was talking about footballing 'fundamentalism' and how he has no time for it. His pragmatism is something that really resonates with me as a person and is essential to how we operate as a team not just on the pitch but also as a club off it. Also the bit about us being the clowns in the Anfield circus was pure gold. That summed up exactly how we, the fans, felt going into that game. I simply love how Jose just seems to 'get' the Chelsea mentality.

Really? I hope Real crush them. If it was us against Real the scousers would want the same for us. Sadly it looks like Real'll have to play without Bale.

Great player for us but I never really warmed to him at all. Always though he was a ****, even when he was our player. Apparently he threatened to start scoring own goals for fun if the club didn't let him leave? I remember when the Cole-Gallas deal happened I was well annoyed and thought Arsenal had got the better end of the deal. Evidently not! Gallas' petulant meltdown at St. Andrews in 2008 was absolutely hilarious.