Rors21

The whole thing kind of reminds me of LeBron James's televised "decision" a few years back in the NBA.

I thought Mata is actually on 50k/week. Obviously that's going to go up when his contract is renegotiated, but talk about value for money!

I'm not sure why Hodgson didn't name a preliminary squad involving 30 players, had a look at each and every one of them, and then whittled things down to 23 after a week. That way he could weed out the charlatans like Downing and Carroll and give better players like Adam Johnson and Graham Holt a look. A very mediocre squad. The only upside is that this tempers expectations. The hype train is usually roaring by now. Maybe the fact that it's only whimpering along will actually help out the team during the tournament.

I like the family-atmosphere that RDM has installed within the club. Capello would probably end that. He's a disciplinarian and known to nit-pick bizzare minutia in his players' routines. That can be a good thing in some situations but could easily backfire in others. I'm not sure if that kind of style would help or hinder Chelsea next year.

He's far from his peak. He was bamboozled too many times this year: the 6-1 loss vs. Man City, 3-0 loss at Newcastle, the 4-4 draw to Everton. That wouldn't have happened back in '05-'08 but time has taken its toll and while still good, he's no longer great. Terry's just a much better defender at the moment.

Congrats to City, well done to them. Absolutely unbelievable day.

WOW

Share the disappointment that Piazon didn't get an appearance. Over at the Etihad, Man City have 31 shots on goal against QPR's 3. Incredible.

Zippy: what do you make of Diego Contento and Rafinha? I imagine one of them will be starting in place of Alaba next week. Do you rate either one of them highly?

That Dortmund team looked phenomenal. And Goetze wasn't even involved. When Reus is added in next year they could do some real damage in the Champions League. Sheesh.

How's Bertrand been playing so far?

Torres is going to have to be a strong man tonight. The abuse that will be thrown his way will be nasty, brutish and long.

Once Arse line up with a fully-fit team including Van Persie, Podolski, Wilshire, Arteta and a fast improving Oxlade-Chamberlain and they'll be pretty damn good. Add in M'Villa, who they're after, and they should be several notches above where they are now. Of course, they always seem to choke, perhaps because it's been so long since they won anything.

VICTORY!!

As other people mentioned I expect Liverpool to get bodies behind the ball and try to clog up play through the middle. We're going to have to break fast to hit them before their defense gets set. I bet we'll deliver some punts up the field to Drogba (worked well in the Semi vs. Spurs) as well as raking cross field passes to Ramires. Would help to get the first goal to get them out of their defensive shell.

Apparently we're considering a bid for Andre Schurrle from Bayern Leverkusen. Don't know much about him. He has broken into the Germany squad though, which is impressive. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/chelsea/9244686/Chelsea-chairman-Roman-Abramovich-weighs-up-15.5million-offer-for-Germany-forward-Andre-Schurrle.html

Can't do too much about either goal. Cracking strikes.

I watched the highlights of the Newcastle-Wigan match from the weekend. The Geordie defense was terrible and utterly ripped to shreds. But goodness me, they really look the real deal when they attack. They didn't find the net against Wigan but Cisse hit the post twice and Ben Arfa made an outrageous turn in the box that confused the cameraman let alone the Wigan defenders. Hope the lads are up for this one because Newcastle have goals in them.

You're the one spending your Sunday posting on a Chelsea forum. Hey Pot, the Kettle's Black.

Really worried about corners and set pieces in this game. We all know Bossy struggles in the air, and if QPR have a strength, it's big, physical players who can get on the end of a ball whipped in. Zamora is a good example of one. Last week we struggled with set-piece defending at the Emirates, and that was with Cahill involved, who is usually so assured in the air. Hope we're better prepared this time around. We can't afford to give away silly fouls on the edge of the box.

So have you set a date yet?

Classic let-down game. After the emotions and the exertions of mid-week coupled with upcoming fixtures versus Newcastle and Pool, our focus might be off.

Don't worry everyone. We'll get through this tie.

A bit off topic but has anyone seen how Napoli's season has come undone recently? After they lost to us the wheels came off.

Got to give some credit to Meireles. He busted his gut tracking back, shadowing Messi and getting a lot of the dirty work done. He gets lambasted on this site nearly every day but he put in a great shift vs. Barcelona. Hats off to him.