33 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

Funny I see Spurs have the "easiest group", sure Bayern are a hard opponent but the other two are cakewalks.

Liverpools draw is easier than City for me as well, Napoli or Atalanta, pretty balanced there imo, Shaktar better than RBS or Genk imo. Not much in it but Liverpools a little easier. They are all easy for those 3 English teams to qualify.

Ours is the group of death, do not let the Barca group fool you. Prague will be the whipping boys there, they have no hope. Any of the teams in our group can come top or bottom.

Spurs have Bayern that also wants the first place in the group but Man City is by default 1st and the rest will be trying to outplay one another.

Liverpool as the current Champions League winner does look to have an easy group so yea you've nailed it pretty much. I also think that our group is really tough, I used the word balanced for the same reason like you say, anyone can come on top it's not a given since Valencia is tricky and so is Ajax, Lille might look worse on paper but it's not an easy away game thats for sure.

1 hour ago, Munkworth said:

You got room for a few thousand Chelsea fans to stop over?

It might get too cozy 

People will think this is an easy draw. Valencia and Lille in the third and fourth pots were a bit tough for us. There are easier clubs in the third and fourth pots than Valencia and lille. Ajax in the second pot is tough, they reached the semi final in last year's competition. They beat Christiano Ronaldo's juventus, they beat almighty Real Madrid, although we didn't get Real Madrid, Borussia Dortmund or athletico Madrid, we still got a tough team in pot 2. if we had gotten benfica or sharktar Donetsk in pot 2,  maybe that could have been an easy draw. We didn't get the easiest draw. Man city had the easiest draw. They had sharktar Donetsk, dynamo Zagreb and Atalanta. Who knows all those names? That was an easy draw for them.

2 hours ago, CFCholland said:

Ajax haven't looked good at all this season. Hopefully they don't improve too much and we spank them.

Don't know about you, but I'm already determined we must win both Ajax matches at all costs. I want to be the only one with bragging rights in my office. Lose everything else, I don't care, but we must win!

OK I don't mean the "lose everything else" bit, but this is the must win fixture of the season, Leeds, Spurs, Liverpool, and ManU rolled into one opponent.

https://www.chelseafc.com/en/news/2019/08/29/champions-league-group-stage-draw

Includes dates for games. First game is home to Valencia on Tuesday 17 September. Away to Ajax on 23 October @Valerie

2 hours ago, Valerie said:

It might get too cozy 

Well Ajax away is during half term for me so can I book the top of the cats litter box for my bed?

Group of death undoubtedly Barcelona/Bayern/ inter. Inter will be a force this season. 

I watched Ajax v apoel yesterday. Van der bleek not playing for Ajax their midfield a bit lacking. Huntelaar still playing for them. We will be competitive with them although they have some great wingers. 

It's absolutely incredible that we have never played real Madrid in the CL.

1 hour ago, Munkworth said:

Well Ajax away is during half term for me so can I book the top of the cats litter box for my bed?

It's open for discussion 

1 hour ago, Boyne said:

https://www.chelseafc.com/en/news/2019/08/29/champions-league-group-stage-draw

Includes dates for games. First game is home to Valencia on Tuesday 17 September. Away to Ajax on 23 October @Valerie

I've just put them in my calendar. If I can't get a ticket for the Amsterdam match - which is all too likely I fear  - I wiil have to go to the match at the Bridge. First thing to do tomorrow: claim a few days off in November 

I'm embarrassingly excited about our draw 

Edited August 29, 20196 yr by Valerie

Not a terrible draw, but it's still a difficult one. 

It's hard to know what to make of Ajax this season now that they have lost two of their best players. You never know what you are going to get with Valencia, but we should be beating Lille.

 

Most of the groups are balanced apart from Group C and Group F. One is really easy and one is really hard. City's only trouble will be travelling. Playing a Premier League games after a game in Ukraine and Croatia won't be easy, but they have a big enough squad so they can't really use that excuse.

Edited August 29, 20196 yr by Scott Harris

Chelsea have the toughest group overall as all four teams are strong sides, not the strongest, but all are dangerous.

The other obvious ones are Barcelona, Dortmund, Inter which has has two very strong sides and one strong. 

Juventus, Atletico, Leverkusen, Lokomotiv Moscow also similar.

Don't know about you, but I'm already determined we must win both Ajax matches at all costs. I want to be the only one with bragging rights in my office. Lose everything else, I don't care, but we must win!
OK I don't mean the "lose everything else" bit, but this is the must win fixture of the season, Leeds, Spurs, Liverpool, and ManU rolled into one opponent.

I couldn't agree more. The arrogance of Ajax supporters is unbearable. The two games against Ajax are absolute must win games.

We should take this group very seriously, we can't rotate too much. We are going to need RLC and CHO for the second part of the season because I don't believe Mount, Pulisic and Tammy can continue with this type of performances for an entire year at their age. And I don't want to see Willian and Pedro taking over in the middle of the season.

I see we've got a couple of early kick offs ... away at Ajax and Valencia both at 17:55 UK time ... probably wrong but I don't remember kick offs being that early before in the CL ...

12 minutes ago, Sexyfootball said:

I see we've got a couple of early kick offs ... away at Ajax and Valencia both at 17:55 UK time ... probably wrong but I don't remember kick offs being that early before in the CL ...

It started last year but it’s not happening in the UK. Bit of a piss take if you ask me. 

To be on the safe side, I booked a short trip for the Ajax  match at the Bridge

I wonder how long a wait to expect at customs, 5 days after Brexit....

If we Can win all Our Home Matches,,We will Survive

I think we'll qualify from our group. 

Ajax aren't going to reach the heights they did last season, not without de Ligt and de Jong. They'll give us a good game but I feel confident we can take 4 points off of them. 

Lille have sold a few players during the summer too, Pepe to Arsenal being the obvious one. Again we should be able to take 4 points off of them. 

Assuming we can get 4 points off of Ajax and Lille we'd need a win in one of our games against Valencia and we'd be all but guaranteed qualification. 

2 hours ago, ForeverCarefree said:

I think we'll qualify from our group. 

Ajax aren't going to reach the heights they did last season, not without de Ligt and de Jong. They'll give us a good game but I feel confident we can take 4 points off of them. 

Lille have sold a few players during the summer too, Pepe to Arsenal being the obvious one. Again we should be able to take 4 points off of them. 

Assuming we can get 4 points off of Ajax and Lille we'd need a win in one of our games against Valencia and we'd be all but guaranteed qualification. 

I'm not so sure, its a tough group in a normal season, in a transitional season it could be really hard for us. All three of those clubs will be saying similar things about us, new manager, best players sold, transfer ban,... Lets hope we can click in Europe, you never know.

Ajax have lost two of their best players, Lille have lost Pepe and we have no long journeys midweek to cock up our PL campaign.

The big priority for us this season is rebuilding the team ready for an injection of cash next season and trying to get top 6. Obviously all us fans would be delighted with a higher position but at this point I don't see the CL as being a high priority. It would be a bonus if we got out of the group.

2 hours ago, ForeverCarefree said:

I think we'll qualify from our group. 

Ajax aren't going to reach the heights they did last season, not without de Ligt and de Jong. They'll give us a good game but I feel confident we can take 4 points off of them. 

Lille have sold a few players during the summer too, Pepe to Arsenal being the obvious one. Again we should be able to take 4 points off of them. 

Assuming we can get 4 points off of Ajax and Lille we'd need a win in one of our games against Valencia and we'd be all but guaranteed qualification. 

Valencia are a mess too apparently, their owner refused to buy the players the manager wanted and theres a stand off between them. Hopefully that kicks off just as we play them.