bhundley

How many weeks have we all been calling to see Marin in the lineup or even used as a sub...? I know he has been hurt but is the kid still not match-fit or what?

Won't happen. No way in hell Liverpool sell him.

Cech Azpi - Ivanovic - Luiz - Cole Mike - Ramires Oscar - Mata - Moses Torres I see him potentially giving Hazard a rest. He took the league by storm early on but is suffering his first big dip in form as of late...perhaps a little rest might help the kid out. Expect to see Romeu again as a sub at some point.

Yes, bottom of this article about how he "doesn't listen to the crowd." http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story/_/id/1240404/rafael-benitez:-i-don't-listen-to-the-crowd?cc=5901

And for any of you who are still calling for Studge to start...it won't happen. Not with Benitez at the reigns now. Torres is his man and will be throughout his entire tenure at the club. I don't care what the media tells me, Rafa was brought in as a last ditch effort to get Torres firing again. The only way that is going to happen is if Benitez plays him in a majority of the matches. Recalling Lukaka would be a nice but I feel he wouldn't get quality minutes so we might as well leave him out on first team duty at West Brom so he cantry and continue his form through the season end.

This is entirely wrong. He tried harder yesterday then I'd seen him try in weeks... Although, leave it to Benitez to claim Torres' problem is his "supporting cast" and not Torres himself: Benitez said after the game: "You could see he was trying very hard. The team has to help Fernando and create more chances, and he will score goals. You cannot expect a striker scoring just on his own, so we have to create more and better chances for him with the players we have.''

Sure we are disappointed that RA has sacked RDM, we may be upset about getting a new manager we don't want, we may be close to elimination from the Champions league...but at the end of the day we are still Chelsea FC. We are still in contention for two cups(FA & Capital One) AND more importantly we are still very capable of winning the league this year! No matter the manager appointment, I will keep the blue flag flying high because I know this season is not yet lost.

Roman's stat line: Eight(soon nine) managers, ten trophies, one billion pounds...

RA would never allow a player-manager unfortunately, but I will say that later on down the road I can only hope JT goes on to coach and maybe just maybe he will lead us to glory someday as our manager. My ultimate dream.

JT FOR PLAYER-MANAGER!!

8/13 Rafa Benitez 6/4 Pep Guardiola 8/1 Harry Redknapp 8/1 Steve Clarke 10/1 Larent Blanc 14/1 Jose Mourinho 16/1 Guus Hiddink 16/1 Fabio Capello 20/1 Gianfranco Zola 20/1 John Terry 20/1 Avram Grant

This article sums up the surprise of the entire footballing world at this sacking...Including Pardew who blatantly questions RA's tactics. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2236217/Alan-Pardew-hits-Roberto-Di-Matteo-sacking.html At the end of the day though, I went to bed after the match and it actually crossed my mind a few times right before bed that I wouldn't be THAT surprised if I woke up and poor Robbie was gone...wish it wasn't true but the RA reign has made me rather "emotionless" when it comes to seeing managers come and go. Wish I wouldn't have been right..

Easy, Hazard. He is the best on the ball. If he doesn't score he will at least win a penalty. And I would put my cash on that time and time again.

IF, and I say IF the report is true... (although Ramires isn't verified, Moses could potentially be playing out wide...wasn't mentioned in report) Cech Ivanovic - Luiz - Cahill - Cole Azpi - Mikel Oscar - Mata - Ramires Hazard

As much as I respect this question, I feel the real question is what in the hell has danny done to give RDM so much doubt over playing him. Even when our "star" striker is misfiring and out of form, RDM is potentially choosing a false 9 over starting the only other viable option at ST?? Interesting stuff...really wish I knew what was happening in that locker room/during training sessions.

Cech Azpi - Ivanovic - Cahill - Cole Ramires - Mikel Oscar - Mata - Hazard Sturridge I love Luiz but not sure if I see him in this squad against Juve after his abysmal performance against West Brom...but I wouldn't put it past RDM to change nothing and leave Luiz & Torres in the starting XI like he normally does.

Thought it'd be fun on my Ultimate Team to make a "potential" chelsea team...Not realistic per say in terms of formation and starters but fun to play with! *Work in progress* http://www.ea.com/uk/football/fifa-ultimate-team/show-off#iJK9SW5av6D:360

Highly confident that Marin won't get the start this match, if anything he might pick up a few minutes as a sub for Oscar or Mata. But even that is doubtful...

Cech Iva - Cahill - Luiz - Cole Ramires - Mikel Oscar - Mata - Hazard Torres Is this what I want to see? no. Is this what RDM will play because he knows the risk of rotating and how badly we need these 3 points? yes. I'd say the only "potential" alternatives is that if Luiz is unfit then Iva would shift in with Azpi at RB and if Cole is unfit then Ryan at LB. I'd love to see him rest Oscar and play Moses however. Oscar is one of our better players in European cup matches this season so I'd love to see him fresh against Juve.

We can outbid any of those 3. We are higher in the table than any of those 3. We are the reigning Champions of Europe. Those 3 teams don't scare me as competition should Roman decide to pursue him.

From article: "A report in The Sun newspaper claims Schalke will accept a £7 million bid, and his representative Arnold Oosterveer suggested the Netherlands international is looking for a new challenge." This is the kind of price tag I can feel safe getting behind. "He wants his future planned by the winter. In the next 45 days he wants to know his next project and it will be decided by his football ambitions and not by money. His dream is to fight to win titles in Europe and to have chances to be successful, because today he is one of the best strikers in Europe."

For the sake of public opinion, if we sign Falcao or Huntelaar would you be opposed to us playing with two up top? Would it be possible for Torres/Falcao to both play up top together? My personal opinion is that if we sign Falcao we will offload Torres in the summer so it would be in the best interest of Chelsea to give Torres chances still, need him to maintain atleast a little bit of form to increase his value.

I want to try something new but fear rotating to many players and risking a bad result. We need these 3 points right now.

Moses...I lost it and in a spur of excitement felt a power knee slide was necessary across my wood floor. Worth it.

Good read, and valid statistics so I will take all of that into consideration here forward...there are a few factors to bring into consideration with those statistics though, including Moses' prominant role at Wigan. None the less thank you for that article.