axman2526

Would be harsh if we won those cups indeed, but what I mean is whether a negative result in this match will lead us down a path where we fail in the finals because our confidence will have been hit too badly.

We will not be, calling it now that anything less than a win here will kil our chances for saturdays cup final.

Minus 15 left, trying to jinx it the other way now but is this going to be the match that ends up leading to Robbie not getting the job full time I wonder...

Mikel off, if he did Tiote on purpose then shame on him, if not his head will be gone now anyways.

Saw a yes and thought we had levelled it up. What happens with Spurs does not matter if we cannot win our game.

Now Lamps for Mikel or Meireles please Robbie...

Come on Robbie get the Drog and Lamps on now!

2 up top sounds good to me, 4-2-2-2, Lamps and Mikel deep, Mata and Ramires behind, Torres and Drogba up top.

Guess out of the 4 we take off Flo Mo, Meireles and Ramires (rest) and bring on Lamps, Mata and Kalou.

Hmm shame we are not allowed 4 subs, having Lamps, Drogba, Mata and Kalou come on would sure be handy.

Just speculating on what might happen, not saying it will or will not. Think the general reaction on here is one that is not happy with the lineup tonight against, what has turned out to be, a quality side this season.

Poor lineup imo. Done what Liverpool have done, rested the big names for the cup final. Them losing changed nothing as they have been poor many times this season only to turn up against us, or United or City etc and look class. On the other hand us losing will hit our momentum and will go so far to say if we do not beat the Toon we will not win the FA cup on Saturday. Not that a win means we will win the cup of course.

Just give the cups to Liverpool and Bayern if we go to pens. Seriously you guys must know how god awful we are in shoot outs, even when we look good lady luck pisses on the pen spot making JT slip over... United are terrible at pens too but still did us, whereas Liverpool are the germany of club sides, they never lose on a shoot out, heck they have won a lot of their recent trophies on pens. And Bayern, well Bayern have many Germans in their side (obviously) and Germans only miss pens when...well when they play for Chelsea! lol

We have not seen any evidence that Torres and Drogba can work together, which is unfortunate for Nando as he will be the one to miss out. Has to be the Drog against Liverpool as they know how to play against him, and with no JT and Brana we need the Drogs height against Bayern.

Now it would be nice if some of the other english fans thought that way, given stick in the domestic scene but in europe we represent our leagues and countries. Most of the rival fans will just insist our style against Barca was not football at all and for that we deserve to get beat.

Every game is a cup final from now on, or so Torres and Di Matteo have told us today basically. Although it has been that way for a while right, at least since the Spurs semi. Win all the remaining games and we have a haul of two trophies, and not just any two trophies, a likely top 4 finish and Robbie becomes the greatest manager in Chelsea history, funny given a few months ago we were approaching the worst season under the Roman reign. We could end up back there should things swing back on this seasons every moving pendulum, but for the first of our three goals to have a chance of being pulled off we need to beat the Toon on Wednesday, hopefully in the same style that the very in-form Wigan did at the weekend (our fluky, hard fought win against them looks far more respectable of late now right?!) So how best to set up for this game and for the game to follow, the FA cup final over a Liverpool side that have done us in the 4 previous occasions? If Luiz cannot make this one (also assuming Cahill cannot) then Bosingwa seems to be better in the middle than at RB, and Brana is often better at RB than CB so may be worth a shot trying that backline. Few question marks left in the lineup but would certainly start Torres here and Drog in the final. Liverpool will not leave any space behind for Torres to use however Newcastle have to beat us as a draw and Spurs winning would leave a gap of two points on Spurs with the Toons next game being Man City so we should be able to get behind them. Thoughts fellow Blues?

I'm curious Zippy, almost all the other fans from the 19 premier league sides will want Bayern to beat us no doubt, as will a lot of the football league side fans. Will the other fans from the German leagues want Bayern to win it for Germany or want to see you fall at the last hurdle, like the other English fans want to see from us?

True the "sun girl" is most likely responsable for the majority of the "papers" sales lol

Makes beating Bayern in the final all the more important then dont it :P

Great to see Torres get his first Hattrick however after all he has been through voted for Sam for making an amazing comeback after his career looked to be over. Chelsea through and through :)

Seems all of Europe want Bayern to beat us: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/4285430/Bayern-Munich-chairman-Europe-wants-us-to-win.html

Damn Spurs already 1 up, useless Blackburn...

hmm.... ---Mikel/Romeu----Lampard/DeByurne --Ramires-----Mata-------Marin ---------------Torres------------- Lot of potential speed and creativety in that side. Have to agree on Bos the CB. If Luiz is not fit for wednesday might want to keep Bos there and put Brana at RB.

Start the Drog in the finals most likely, have him work the backline then send on Torres when they are tired, for or with Didi depending on the situation. Great result today, hopefully Blackburn can at least hold Spurs then is up to us to do the job against the Toon on Wednesday. Still a tough ask to finish in the top 4, with a bit of luck Spurs and Arsenal drop some more points. I expect the lads to carry on showing their best, their are places for two cups finals up for grabs.

Bayern having the extra rest will go one of two ways, either allowing their players to run rings around our tired legs or leaving them a little rusty. Either way though our attack minus Ramires vs their attack does not make for good reading. If Cahill misses out both sides will have less than optimum defences out and we are more likely to be punished than they are. Also have to wonder how many in the stadium will be supporting the blues and how many Bayern? Will more likely be a home crowd for them with a few more away fans than the norm.