axman2526

It is that usual time of year, almost everyone on here and most pundits expect us to win; so I join the minority on here and expect defeat. Hopefully most of you are proved right. We will find out in roughly 3 hours.

We are not really suggesting that Robbie is even considering throwing Danny in to this one ahead of Torres are we? Being benched for the Drog in a big game is one thing, for Danny is completely another. Would blow Torres's already wafer thin confidence.

Have to agree even though I am expecting defeat I would not take a draw now. We are at home and, if we are serious title contenders, should be looking to win this one. Mind you come Sunday evening we may end up wishing we had settled for a point lol.

Fairly certain JT is not out of contract in the summer.

There will be goals in this one, both sides defenses are not in top form at the mo. But what I see being the difference, or rather who, is the man that was the difference for the Arsenal last year at our place, RVP. Maybe not 3-5 as that game, but 2-3 or something around that.

I am disappointed but not surprised. A fair few on here thought we would just turn up and roll them over, but Shakhtar are a good side and showed it. Big game at the Bridge on Sunday now. We are at the time of year where the wheels always seem to come off for us, big test against United to see if we can avoid that happening again. Shakhtar at home is now a must win game if we are to qualify from the group.

We are taking them rather lightly here eh? The draw against Juve did us no favours, so we need to get a good result here. I know beating United would offer more satisfaction, but whatever the result there we have already put ourselves in a strong position in the league. A bad result just makes it a little bit weaker having cleared 4 tough fixtures. A bad result tonight and our continued participation in this years CL is very much under threat. On top of that Moos needs us to win both games so both Juve and Chelsea can go through lol.

Yeah but our fans did the same to Mikel right so...yeah...we all have our Muppet followers.

Great result, seems lady luck did smile on us when, arguably, Spurs best two players missed the game for different reasons. Mata and Hazard are on fire, long may that continue. Really chuffed with this result. Anyone else notice on our forth goal Danny shows more hunger to get in and finish than Nando? Maybe he has lost the appetite for goals that drove him on at Liverpool and is now more happy to be a link up striker?

By the time I get up to get ready for the work the game will be all bar over. No confidence for it, mainly because, after what has gone down with the JT stuff of late, am expecting a red card, a pen, both or multiples of against us and lady luck to be against us this time around. Hopefully am proven wrong but not expecting to be. Still with that said, good luck lads come on Chelsea!

Though I'll add the point about Mutu is rather damning. We have zero tolerance policies on racism and drug abuse. Mutu got sacked whereas JT we do not know what will come his way. Can see how we make it rather easy for ourselves to be targeted with more bile when we use the former as a reason to sack a troubled misfiring superstar and on the other hand deal with our long serving captain privately.

Maybe Robbie is sick of deal with the press vendetta against JT so wanted to offer them no sound bite. What happens to JT will be decided by Roman, imo; and how he views it all. Will not alter the clubs standing. Aside from the Kopities and City fans, the rest seem to hate us more than even United; so this will not alter much.

Well it is clear they have not gotten their full pound of flesh and will continue to beat this drum till they feel they have done so. But given the matter with the FA is now dealt with and we have released our statements they can just go whistle. They have no influence over how Chelsea FC is run.

He played for the national side yesterday but think I read he was subbed, maybe got a knock?

One year deal with an option to extend for a year maybe?

Neymar would be a very good signing most likely, but when we are up against Real and Barca seems he would be more likely to head to Spain. Though maybe Oscar, David Luiz and Ramires could turn his attention towards us lol.

Guess you know the forum is doing good when it is linked on a rival forum.

I believe their loans are doing them some good getting a decent amount of game time away from our bench and Anderlecht respectively. We could see the benefit of that, like with Courtious, in the next couple of seasons.

Yeah that is what I heard as well. Not seen that much of him but not sure how he would be an improvement on Sturridge anyways. As far as Falcao goes with the system we are using it is better for us, (so long as Nando stays fit), to have one main striker and one or two others than can play other roles in the side and cover for Nando if he needs a break or gets injured...which we sort of have in Moses and Sturridge. Cannot see either Nando or Falcao happy on our bench. Mind you neither is Sturridge from what we hear so...

We tried late on but he failed our medical checks I believe?

Given all the bad press we have gotten recently can see nothing less than a complete homer of a ref for this one, Bale the most likely to draw pens and red cards against us...

Has been a good start but like evissy I would not go so far, a few bad results against Spurs and United and there will be calls for Robbie's head and for us to shore up the defensive work.

Might also be that Ash is banned for this one too after being charged by the FA. If he and JT are out of this one, and maybe United at home as well, we could be in trouble. Has been late October to beginning of November in recent seasons when our bad run started, will see if we can push through it this season.

Looks really great Gem, hopefully Didier or the club tell you where it can be sent too :)