Montana Fan

If Mr. Pellegrino can't get a result against "small clubs" like Stoke and Chelsea, and he can't get a result against a big club like Bayern Munich, who is he going to beat? He might as well give up. Maybe the Championship would be a better level for him. Stupid comment. Sour grapes. I'm pleased that Jose seems to be avoiding the mind games so far this season. He's taken a more strict "no comment" policy when it comes to other teams, referees, managers and players. Maybe that's because we've been getting good results, but I like to see him keep his mouth shut and not give the journo's anything to criticize him over. Let's all just keep our heads and go about the business of winning the league. Let the results do the talking.

Cech Azpi Zouma Christensen Luis Mikel Ake Salah Oscar Schurrle Remy

Courtois should be in the discussion. He was good today. No one really stood out.

I'm happy with the draw. City were the better side and controlled the game even when down to ten men. Bottom line, taking a point was a good result. The story of the game isn't Lampard's goal or Drogba coming on. It's how poor we were at maintaining possession. We were terrible with the ball. Much credit is due to City as they were excellent. They pressed us all over the pitch and we struggled to cope. I think our tactics played a part as well. We set up to defend and counter and when we got the ball, we weren't looking to keep it. We were looking to get it forward immediately, but too often our forwards were isolated and they'd lose out, or the pass just wasn't on. How many through balls were just easily intercepted? But there's no excuse for being unable to control the game with a man advantage. We've had a roaring start to the season no doubt, but there's some worrying signs. Our defense is prone to lapses, we've struggled against teams that press our midfield, and we struggle to finish teams off and close out games. We've had a couple wake-up calls this week and should be glad that neither have done us any damage. On the other points, we let Lampard go and got what we deserved for it. It was sickening to see him come on for the sky blues, but fair play to him. Somehow it seems almost fitting that he scored against us. It's quite a story for the journo's, and it was a classy move from the away support to sing for him. I'm not bothered. The Drogba substitution was decided when we were leading and needed him to defend against set pieces. I think Diego was looking pretty tired at that point and needed to come off to protect his hamstring. We need Remy to start against Bolton so I can understand not wanting to risk him today. In hindsight, a better move might have been Oscar or Luis for Costa, but I find it hard to question the decision. Criticizing Mourinho or Drogba is out of line and frankly I'm disappointed in all the stick Drogba has been getting from some of the knee-jerkers here. That said, I agree Remy should be ahead of him and will be disappointed if he gets the start against Bolton. Finally, Schurrle is getting a lot of criticism for his defense against Milner, some of it deserved. But why was he one on one with him in so much space? Where was the right back? On the goal, everyone went to sleep. No one pressured Aguero and he put a perfect ball over the top to Milner. Cahill played Milner on-side and Ivan just stood and watched Lampard run right by him. There's plenty of fault to go around, but Ivan just stood there while Lampard went by him and rescued a point. Ivan being out of position is becoming a theme this season. I'm hoping he sits against Bolton and Luis and Azpi get a chance to claim the full back positions. I don't think we'll miss much in attack or defense with Azpi on the right over Ivan.

I would add just about all of ManU's recent signings. Some of them are good players but they're massively overpaying for them. Fellaini 27.5m, Mata 37.1m, Herrera 29m, Blind 14m, Shaw 30m, Di Maria 60m, and Falcao on loan for 16m. Only Blind has a chance of being a good value for them. I don't think Cavani is worth his 50m price tag either.

I think you're safe to call Costa world-class at this point.

This post is right on. Hazard showed great leadership to get us back into it in the first half. I hope he keeps up that level of aggression. There may be less pressure on him this season but he's still crucial to our success. I think Schurrle may have lost his place in the starting 11 today. It was strange how he kept carelessly turning over the ball with lazy, poor passes. Ramires has looked sharp and I expect we'll see him get some starts in place of Schurrle. His work rate and pressing were needed in the side today. Let's not get ahead of ourselves, but the side looks class. We've got quality and depth in every position and are much improved from last season with the addition of Fabregas and overhaul of the strikers. At the same time, I haven't been impressed with any of our rivals. I don't think Man City have improved from last season. United are a shambles. Arsenal are weak defensively and at striker. Liverpool without Saurez doesn't worry me at all. And we have a better manager than all of them. The sky's the limit, knock on wood.

Liverpool are struggling to cope with European football and they haven't played a game of it yet.

What happened to the Swans? They pressed us so well early on. They've let us walk the ball into the box all of the 2nd half. On the 4th goal, they stood off and were afraid to challenge Hazard and Oscar. They've sat back and let us pick them apart.

Fantastic goal! So simple.

Ivan keeps causing us trouble by getting caught too centrally. He was more at fault for their goal than Terry. He left his flank undefended and the goal wasn't the only time. Matic and Schurrle have been pretty poor. Hazard showed some real fire and stepped up when needed. It's amazing how willing opposition are to foul him and take their cards. He scares the crap out of defenders.

It's another stroke of genius from Mourinho. He wants to test the young keeper's mettle and what better way to do it than to play him in front of Cech. Courtois knows if he slips up or looks shaky, he'll be dropped in a heartbeat. All the pressure is on Thibaut. Cech is a loyal club servant and a professional. He'll be content on the bench for a time knowing he'll get the nod if Courtois can't handle the pressure. Mourinho gets to see how Courtois handles immense pressure without risking the league or a cup. If Courtois looks the part, Cech will leave in January or next summer. If he can't, Cech comes back in and we reevaluate our options. Everyone wins. Up the Chels.

I'd have Willian over Oscar. I thought he looked sharper in pre-season. And I'd rather Luis was on the left. We may need his crosses if Burnley are defending deep. Still, that side should be more than enough to thrash Burnley. Like last season, Jose is starting with a real attacking intent. I hope it works this year, but I'm afraid that midfield could be suspect defensively. We'll all find out soon enough. COYB!

I think this thread deserves to be higher up the board. Our problem with one too many foreign players still lingers. It's our biggest issue at the moment. Which foreign player gets the axe? I don't like it, but we could use Jamal Blackman as the back-up keeper. That solves the problem without sacrificing an outfield player. Or am I way off, and we're already counting Blackman? I'm still confused with the home-grown rule. What other options do we have? Loan out Salah and keep Moses? Sell Schurrle or Oscar? We're between a rock and a hard place with this damned homegrown rule. I hate to bring it up, but I think it has to be said that this problem really highlights the trouble we've had managing the striker position. We let 2 of the best, young, homegrown strikers in Sturridge and Lukaku go in the last couple years and replaced them with foreign and past their best Drogba and Eto'o. Sturridge to Liverpool for 12m was a terrible piece of business.

I think Atsu is comparable to Salah. He's quick, strong and a good dribbler, but he's a bit short. I think it's a good loan for him and Chelsea. We'll get to see how he does in a good side in a top league. If he does well, we can bring him in or sell him at a tidy profit. If he's not up to it, we'll know and can cut our losses. It's better than him treading water at Vitesse or Middlseborough or somewhere. It's 50/50 for me, he could be as good as Raheem Sterling or as poor as Marko Marin. I just hope he gets a chance to prove himself at Everton.

Cech Ivan Cahill JT Luis Matic VanGinkel Schurrle Fabregas Hazard Costa

I don't know what I did, but the CTV stream is working for me now.

I have Chelsea TV because I like to listen to the game commentaries when I'm at work for midweek games and can't stream video. Their streams have been really good throughout this pre-season. I think that, because they've offered this match free, they've been overwhelmed with traffic. I can't get it to work at all. It came on for a minute, then crashed, and now it won't load at all. I'm annoyed as it sounds like we've played really well and I'm missing it. C'mon Chelsea. If you're going to offer a free live stream, get the damn servers to cover it.

Does anyone else want to comment on Diego's little incident yesterday? It looked like he backed into the defender and swung an intentional elbow at him for no reason. The replays didn't show it very well, but it looked like a cheap shot to me, completely unnecessary. He had a couple incidents in the Turkish matches too. It looked like he slapped one of the defenders intentionally, and when falling over a defender, he left a foot in and nutted the guy. The latter didn't look intentional but with Diego's reputation, I'm suspicious. He looks like a nasty player to me. I'm glad he's in our side, but he won't get away with these elbows and slaps when the real matches start. The TV cameras don't miss a thing. It seems like we're all trying to ignore his questionable behavior or hoping these incidents were unintentional. But there's some worrying signs for me. Hopefully he'll clean up his act once the league starts.

Another anonymous performance from Nando today. One play stood out for me. He received a great long ball on the wing and with only minimal pressure, promptly miscontrolled it out of play. It used to be you could argue that his hold-up and link-up play were decent, but lately it seems he's lost even those skills. It's simply incredible how far he's fallen. He's won just about every trophy and was once considered one of the best strikers in the world. It's just inexplicable how poor he's become. His touch is gone. Has he had his eyes checked lately? How many of you would rather have Patrick Bamford or Dom Solanke in your side than FT? I've defended him in the past based on his work rate, experience and link up play, but I've given up. I wish we'd kept Bamford or Demba. Let's play Schurrle or Ivan up front. Torres is not good enough for us.

I'm happy with that performance. Both goals were great. I thought we started well, but faded toward the end of the 1st half. We started with about our least fit 11 so that fade wasn't surprising. The 2nd half was better but we're still looking rusty, cautious and slow. It's going to take a few more games before we find our form. For Man of the match, I'd pick Fabregas for his sparkling goal and some good passing. It has to be said though, he misplaced a few passes too. Honorable mentions from me for Schurrle, Hazard, Salah and Ake. Schurrle's vision and eye for goal are excellent and his free kicks are looking great. Hazard hasn't been back with the squad long but he's looking sharp and a menace for defenses. Salah looks fit and I like his runs in behind the defense. He gives us a different style from Hazard, Oscar and Willian. I think Schurrle, Hazard and Salah could be a devastating trio. Ake didn't do much tonight beside his diving header on goal. I just like the look of him. He doesn't seem out of his depth at all. If Luis or Azpi get injured I think he can slot in do the job. I've no doubt we'll be ready for Burnley.

Classic Torres, bungles it out of play. Poor touch. Some good play from Schurrle and Willian so far.

Interesting starting line up tonight, sort of a B squad in many positions. There'll be a lot of pressure on Zouma and Christensen to perform and show that they can start if needed. Luis and Azpi on together are another pair to watch.

I believe Fenerbahce and Besiktas play 45 minutes against each other before they play us. That will be odd for Besiktas having to play 45, sit out for a half and then play us for 45.

Agreed, Boga and Brown were the weak links that half. They've showed their inexperience. I thought Salah had some good moments playing on the right. He's looking sharper.