The Chels

That we are still playing with a back four of Ivanovic, Terry, Cahill and Azpi sums this manager up. Can we get rid already?

Brutal. I can't say I'll be sad to see the back of him either, to be honest.

It does sound like a PR stunt. Mourinho's getting desperate.

An interesting piece of tactical analysis on the game against City: http://spielverlagerung.com/2016/04/17/chelsea-manchester-city-03/ My favourite part is this bit: It highlights a problem we've had for a long time, a problem that Mourinho wouldn't or couldn't fix. It's particularly applicable to our defending of wide areas (explaining why someone like Filipe Luis couldn't succeed here). And that's only the defensive side of things... Conte certainly has his work cut out, and has not been helped by Hiddink making few to no tactical improvements whatsoever. These past few months have been a bit of a waste to be honest. We could have done with a lot more experimenting.

Which option does sending a player out on loan fall under?

#MakeChelseaGreatAgain

If the Spanish teams avoid each other in the semi-finals of the CL/EL, I predict an all Spanish final in both.

It's hard not to think of the 4-1 in the Super Cup when comparing the 2012 side with Atletico. Anyway I agree that in that in terms of individual ability, Chelsea sides of the past have been much better than this Atletico. In fact I think purely in terms of the players they have, Atletico are completely achieving. They have some good players for sure, but their greatest strength IMO is their tactical flexibility and aptitude. Perhaps what is most striking is their ability to consistently alternate, even against the best in the world, from an incredibly high line to an incredibly deep line with relative easy, yet incredible competence. Whilst we were also a good defensive and counter-attacking side, I don't think there was anything particularly fascinating about it. It was just a team with a lot of good players forged to play in a traditionally conservative style and the collective was good but not much more than the sum of the individual parts. This is the difference and maybe why Atletico receive a lot more praise (less criticism) than we did even though they appear to play in a similarly 'negative' way, albeit in a system that is less reliant on individualism from my perspective at least. A duel between them and a peak Chelsea side would be very interesting but a lot less skewed in our favour than you might think.

I know we're all Chelsea fans on here but the overrating of past Chelsea sides and downplaying of other current top teams is a bit much. The 2012 Chelsea side better than current Atletico? Come on...

I really thought Barcelona were going to be the first team to retain the CL. They have looked incredibly jaded recently, though, and if they're not careful they could end the season with nothing. Crazy how fast things change in football. Who do you guys reckon will win it now? I'm going for Atleti but the only surprise winner would be City.

Simeone's defensive system makes Mourinho's look amateurish. Unreal stuff from Atleti, can't believe I doubted them.

Nice thinking. It's true, according to the DM at least. Antonio Conte springs surprise visit on Chelsea and will hold crunch talks with John Terry, Eden Hazard, Diego Costa and Nemanja Matic

Jorge Sampaoli reveals he was ‘about to become’ new Chelsea manager

"We are underdogs, but let’s be very tough underdogs.” Well said, Guus. Chances are that we will be knocked out but let's not go down without a fight. High-intensity pressing right from the off rather than the regrettable passiveness of last year's tie, please.

That's certainly very high praise. They looked defensively susceptible against us and I predict they'd be beaten by Bayern, Atleti, Barca and maybe Real too depending on which side turns up. Anyway I think it's difficult to look past Barca for a back-to-back treble, mostly due to their front trio that nobody seems capable of stopping (not even a defensive machine in Atleti). A high-flying Real side would arguably be in with the best chance in a one-off game (final) but PSG? I just can't see it.

Huh?

I wonder if the 'to sign within 10 days' stuff is supposed to serve as an ultimatum to Simeone. According to Corriere dello Sport, at least, Abramovich will only sign off on the deal if/when Simeone turns the position down. Watch us miss out on both http://www.football-italia.net/80455/chelsea-prefer-simeone-conte

What's Conte like with rotation?

Recently I've been having a problem where even though the url will have the 'comment' bit in it, e.g. 'http://forum.talkchelsea.net/topic/13633-10-eden-hazard/?page=934#comment-1207504', it still only redirects me to the top of the page (in the link I gave it would be page 934) rather than the actual (first unread) comment. It's not a major issue but it is a little annoying having to re-read what can sometimes be quite a lot of comments in searching for the latest ones. I think it's only been happening in the player thread section, for whatever reason. Anyone else have/had a similar problem?

The Telegraph rehashing the Di Marzio line that we have a shortlist of four managers, and also making sure Sampaoli doesn't feel left out given that we've recently been more strongly linked to the other three

The full interview for anyone interested: http://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/jose-mourinho-jaguar-f-pace-interview His selective memory is pretty funny. Somehow his Real side managed to drop points in 12 games in his last season there, despite playing only four matches.

Of course, the players' complacency was all the board's fault and had absolutely nothing to do with Mourinho's lack of rotation or meritocracy that gave rise to his 'untouchables'. Speaking in May last year: http://www.london24.com/sport/football/clubs/chelsea/jose_mourinho_reveals_chelsea_transfer_plans_with_two_or_three_surprise_signings_possible_1_4090328

According to Di Marzio, our four-man shortlist comprises Simeone, Conte, Allegri and Sampaoli. It definitely sounds like a much better list than some of the ones we've recently been hearing about, although the validity of it remains to be seen.