sLOVEnian Blue

I would not blame Conte if he took Matić off in the 1st half (before it finishes).

We're having problems with crosses on the back post again ... clearly an issue Conte needs to fix. P.S. Mariner really doesn't like us, does he.

Ricardo Rodriguez maybe, I would rather have him than Alonso. But I think Alonso is a very solid option for LB position.

The story of last season really, giving up leads left and right

Oscar has been really shit today ... again

1. Hazard 2. Terry 3. A toss-up between Fabregas and Matić Costa was fucked by injuries and some other players weren't consistent enough IMO (Azpi, Bane, Thibaut, Willian).

The game is going exactly the way I thought it would go ... Maribor are sitting back, because they know if they open up the floodgates will open. I watched most of their games this year and today is one of the better performances for sure (especially in defense). I also expected us to be a little slow and underestimate them a little, so for me it is no surprise that we have a draw at the half. Now that Costa and Oscar are on I expect a much better performance, but I would have change Drogba for Costa.

Expect Maribor to play very defensive, they have parked the bus in the last 2 game (Sporting and Schalke) and I don't expect anything different tonight. It's normal to see teams playing defensive at SB, but we might have some problems breaking them down since they play quite good in defense. They also have a few dangerous players like Tavares and Ibraimi who is very technical and quick, which could pose some problems for us. On the other side their CBs are very unreliabe and slow, so we must take advantage of that ... goalkeeper Handanovic (the cousin of Samir from Inter) is also prone to mistakes, he is like slovenian Heurelho Gomes, but he has been playing very good in the first 2 games in UCL. C'mon you BLUES !!!

This game is the biggest club game in slovenian football history, so our media is reporting everything there is to know about it. I guess if you don't like football it could be quite annoying but I don't mind it because at least today the whole country are talking about Chelsea, instead of Real, Barca or Bayern. Chelsea already played against another slovenian team this year - Olimpija Ljubljana (which was a dream come true for me) and I think it was just meant to be that we drew NK Maribor. Since Olimpija (my local team) and Maribor are bitter rivals (like United and Liverpool in England) I don't really like them, but I always wish them well in European competitions ... just not the next 2 matches when they play against my Chelsea . But there are a lot of people who like Olimpija, but will also support Maribor tonight because they support slovenian teams. Altough true Olimpija fans will never cheer for Maribor, one pub in Ljubljana are even offering a free beer if you come in with a Chelsea shirt . Even though I will support Chelsea tonight (as always of course) and hope they beat Maribor convincingly, I still don't wish an embarrassment for them cause they will represent slovenian football for the whole world. I would take a nice 3-1 win with Hazard scoring 2 and Remy with another. :blue scalf:

First Chelsea played against my local team Olimpija in preseason and now they will square up against their arch rivals NK Maribor. Even though they are our rivals I'm still happy that they qualified for Champions League, because it's a huge achievement for the whole slovenian football. I always support all slovenian teams in Europe, but this will be different because Maribor will play against a team that I've supported since a child. I just hope we don't trash them badly, so i would take a nice 3-1 win at the Bridge and a high-scoring draw like 3-3 in Maribor, so it can be an exciting match for the whole country of Slovenia.

Can I change my name to sLOVEnian Blue ??

I haven't been able to post anything here, because it was just a crazy 2 days for me My first Chelsea match ever and the fact that they were playing my local club was like a dream come true, I still can't believe Mourinho, Terry, Cech, Fabregas, Costa, Torres and others were playing in the same stadium that usually entertains around 500 people (yeah it's that bad). I was located in the Chelsea's fans sector but I cheered for both teams in a true friendly match fashion. 2 groups of fans (Slovenian CFC fans and Croatian CFC fans) were chanting the whole game and I was ofcourse chanting with them ... we also sang to Jose Mourinho (multiple times) but unfortunatenly he didn't respond. It really was a huge game for the whole country of Slovenia (even the prime minister was there) and you could feel the buzz for a whole week on social media, in newspapers and in day-to-day talks with friends and locals. Olimpija is going through a really tough time and if the president (who is loaning money to Olimpija but not writing off the debt like Abramovich) stops funding the club with his money, the club will again dissolve like it did in 2005. But before that Olimpija had a great history and were the 2nd best club in Slovenia and were very good in Yugoslavia, so it is very important to keep this club healthy and running. This match was a true testament that the people in Ljubljana still like football and can pack a full house if the opponent is of great quality and if the match produces good football. A fellow Slovenian Igi26 said that he knows the 2nd goalkeeper for Olimpija and I can proudly say I also know someone and he is no other that the goalscorer himself - Nik Kapun He is my neighbours cousin and we used to play some games together when we were around 12-13 years old, so I was really happy for him that the scored that great goal vs the mighty Chelsea. I also noticed the talkchelsea instagram "stole" the vid from my sister This is the full video after the Zouma goal, with my little celebration in the end The picture for proof ... I'm the one with the yellow jersey on the right :blue scalf:

Thats the worst spelling of Ljubljana I have ever seen in my life hahahha

I will miss him, he is a great character to have in a dressing room and all the fans liked him (at least off the pitch). He is also very versatile which always comes in handy, but 50€ million is a crazy amount for him and we would be stupid not to sell him at that price. Zouma can take his spot as a back up CB, but we must use this money to buy a WC central midfielder to partner Matić.

Lampard shooting has been awful lately ... The old Lamps would have scored 2 goals already.