22 minutes ago, DonAntonio said:

Wish I saw that sooner I was just counting them came back to correct myself, seems like a lot, he is 30 mind you, we drawed them 4 times since he was in the first team playing CL since 2005/2006 so 8 games, believe he missed one by injury, so yea, it is a good record considering his scoring abilities and the team he plays in. 

He was in his prime when we met and was also surrounded by players like Iniesta and Ronaldinho, who were also in there prime and the worlds best in there roles.  It just goes to show what a force we were at the time.

2 hours ago, Fendieta said:

I completely agree with your point. But, it is what it is.  Playing Atleti and Roma could help us tactically later on as we would be ready for a tough challenge.  Walking out of a group isn't necessarily a good thing in my opinion, especially having a season out of the competition.

How much longer you gonna have the Costa avatar.

1 minute ago, Kev56 said:

How much longer you gonna have the Costa avatar.

Until he bangs 3 past us in a group game....

3 minutes ago, Blue Exile said:

Until he bangs 3 past us in a group game....

He can't play in the group games.

Time to get some reinforcements please.

I would like Atletico (want to kick their ass badly), Basel (great atmosphere at their small stadium and Celtic (also for the atmosphere, not for the hate).

41 minutes ago, dkw said:

He can't play in the group games.

Good!! 

The draw is sh*t the second you have the likes of Shaktar,  Benfica, Spartak Moscow and even Monaco as top seeds.

Pot 2 is stronger than Pot 1.

Edited August 24, 20178 yr by Ernie_blue

Love this draw format. Some great games in the group stages. Cant wait for Roma away, going to be spectacular

1 hour ago, Kev56 said:

How much longer you gonna have the Costa avatar.

 

1 hour ago, Blue Exile said:

Until he bangs 3 past us in a group game....

This   I'll get round to changing it.

1 hour ago, Ernie_blue said:

The draw is sh*t the second you have the likes of Shaktar,  Benfica, Spartak Moscow and even Monaco as top seeds.

Pot 2 is stronger than Pot 1.

But if it was done the other way i doubt we would have made pot1, so we will have a tough team in our group either way. Main thing i was hoping for was us to draw someone rubbish from pot 3, as it is we have roma, so our group is thrown wide open, only 2 of us, atleti and roma can make it through, should be interesting. 

Hope no one has booked flights and accomodation on earlier info on media sites. Dates changed on official site.

 

Tuesday 12 September
Qarabag
Stamford Bridge
 

Wednesday 27 September
Atletico Madrid
Away
 

Wednesday 18 October
Roma
Stamford Bridge
 

Tuesday 31 October
Roma
Away

 

Wednesday 22 November
Qarabag
Away

 

Tuesday 5 December
Atletico Madrid
Stamford Bridge

 

http://www.chelseafc.com/news/latest-news/2017/08/champions-league-draw.html

Good test to see where we are at. If we can beat Roma at home we should qualify. 

Does provide a nice incentive to actually sign some players too.

45 minutes ago, Spiller86 said:

Good test to see where we are at. If we can beat Roma at home we should qualify. 

Does provide a nice incentive to actually sign some players too.

yes beating roma is the key...

pools are the luckiest english team in the draw..

I'm staying away from general football news apart from here once the group stages start. It's going to be a w**kfest over the Manc clubs and Pool. Jesus they've got it easy. United especially have dodged bullets and will have no trouble seeing out the last 2 matches with a B team. 

Reckon we can sneak 2nd behind qarabag

8 hours ago, carrickblue said:

for those who like absorbing this stuff here's my earlier post with the CL fixtures added so you can see all the home and away games

Manageable. 

4 hours ago, charierre said:

Hope no one has booked flights and accomodation on earlier info on media sites. Dates changed on official site.

 

Tuesday 12 September
Qarabag
Stamford Bridge
 

Wednesday 27 September
Atletico Madrid
Away
 

Wednesday 18 October
Roma
Stamford Bridge
 

Tuesday 31 October
Roma
Away

 

Wednesday 22 November
Qarabag
Away

 

Tuesday 5 December
Atletico Madrid
Stamford Bridge

 

http://www.chelseafc.com/news/latest-news/2017/08/champions-league-draw.html

Liked the other matchups better. Preferred to get the trip to Qarabag out of the way earlier. Baku, which I am pretty sure where Rey was from in Star Wars VIII, is only about 200 miles from the Iranian border and about 300 from Mosul, Iraq. I am sure the city is fine, but that is a long way to go and way to close to some tough parts of the world.

Can we send the 23U squad to this game and keep the A team in London. Why send them on some 2,500 mile flight with a road trip to Liverpool just 72 hours later?

Let's take a look at where our opponent is the CL match before the Chelsea match:

Sept. 17th (SUN.) HOME vs Arsenal - Chelsea home vs Qarabag TUE; Arsenal H/A vs Europa Opp THU

Sept. 30th (SAT.) HOME vs Man. City - Chelsea away vs Atletico WED; Man. City home vs Shakhtar Donetsk TUE

Oct. 23rd (MON.) HOME vs Watford - Chelsea home vs Roma WED; Watford no match

Nov. 5th (SUN.) HOME vs Man. United - Chelsea away vs Roma TUE; Man. United home vs Benfica TUE

Nov. 25th (SAT.) AWAY vs Liverpool - Chelsea away vs Qarabag WED; Liverpool away vs Sevilla TUE

Dec. 9th (SAT.) AWAY vs West Ham - Chelsea home vs Atletico TUE; West Ham no match

Ok, the only screw job is the Liverpool match Nov. 25th. 5:30 PM Saturday match in Liverpool following a 8:45 PM Wednesday night match in Baku, all the while Liverpool is at Sevilla on Tuesday night. Our guys will get back to London about 5 AM on Thursday so they can leave Friday for Liverpool. Need to pick a group of second teamers for the Qarabag match in my opinion and keep the key players in London.

The second toughest seems to be the Wednesday night match in Madrid with City home on Saturday after City played Tuesday at home. Fortunately, the City game is at home for us. 

The rest seem fine, even the United match since there are five days between games. 

11 hours ago, DonAntonio said:

f**k that it's the distance 

True but there were some decent teams in Pot 4. I'd take a long distance against a small team over a shorter distance against another one of the good sides.

1 hour ago, EdinburghBlue said:

True but there were some decent teams in Pot 4. I'd take a long distance against a small team over a shorter distance against another one of the good sides.

Honestly I wouldn't you're going to beat anyone in pot 4 the distance is worse than a harder game especially when we play top 6 teams after most games 

Tough draw but we should be able to get out of it.

Interesting....

 

Edited August 25, 20178 yr by DonAntonio

4 hours ago, Chelsea Buzz said:

Let's take a look at where our opponent is the CL match before the Chelsea match:

Sept. 17th (SUN.) HOME vs Arsenal - Chelsea home vs Qarabag TUE; Arsenal H/A vs Europa Opp THU

Sept. 30th (SAT.) HOME vs Man. City - Chelsea away vs Atletico WED; Man. City home vs Shakhtar Donetsk TUE

Oct. 23rd (MON.) HOME vs Watford - Chelsea home vs Roma WED; Watford no match

Nov. 5th (SUN.) HOME vs Man. United - Chelsea away vs Roma TUE; Man. United home vs Benfica TUE

Nov. 25th (SAT.) AWAY vs Liverpool - Chelsea away vs Qarabag WED; Liverpool away vs Sevilla TUE

Dec. 9th (SAT.) AWAY vs West Ham - Chelsea home vs Atletico TUE; West Ham no match

Thanks for sharing. Very useful. My takeaway looking at those matches is that it will be very difficult for us to compete on both fronts with our current depth. 4 of last years top 6 after a CL match. 

Short times between games, long distances to travel, would be handy to have a bigger squad so we don't have to use all the same players every game, when they are exhausted from playing and travelling....................