The Chels

The guy who wrote the article, Sam Wallace, is very reliable.

The last person you want in midfield when defending a lead with 10 men.

Everton defender John Stones will NOT hand in a transfer request at Goodison Park

DM article on why City can spend £150m and apparently still comply with FFP: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3204630/Man-City-fined-42m-UEFA-year-ago-splashing-likes-Raheem-Sterling-Nicolas-Otamendi-happened-FFP.html

Have you got Sky Sports? You can get the Sun Goals app for free if you do and I think that includes the football news articles.

Starting against Valencia tonight in the away leg of the CL qualifier.

What are you using to access the site? I have the same problem when using my tablet but the quoting feature works fine on my laptop. @Special Juan

I really wouldn't be surprised if he ended up signing a 2-year contract.

Athletic wouldn't agree to a deal. They'd force us to pay the buyout clause meaning potentially heavy taxes.

He annoys me before the game's even started with his position (halfway line) at kick-off.

They're buying for the now. Probably desperate to do something in the CL for a change.

He also said this in Friday's press conference: “When you have a left back like Filipe Luis last year, you can play Filipe Luis and rest Azpilicueta, you can play Filipe Luis and play Azpilicueta at right back and Ivanovic is not playing." http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/managers/jose-mourinho/11805154/Jose-Mourinho-wants-more-instability-at-Chelsea-as-he-turns-up-heat-on-key-players.html

It's true that they suffered against the smaller sides and they went backwards last year. I think it is understandable though given that they lost some of the 13-14 side's key components and were stuck with players like Mandzukic and Siqueira, who clearly didn't fit Simeone's ideology. I have high expectations for them this season though.

I love watching the intensity, work-rate and organisation of Simeone's Atleti. Even with all the constant incomings and outgoings they remain extremely well disciplined. Doing simple things like creating an overload on the wing or getting a cross into the box against them is very difficult, let alone creating clear cut chances. As someone who really enjoys watching a team fight for every single ball and truly stifle the opposition (as opposed to passive defending, allowing overloads, relying on wastefulness from the opposition and GK MOTM performances like we do now) Simeone would be my choice if/when Mourinho leaves. That said, I think it would be fair to say many people would be against his appointment because of his defensive style and similarities to Mourinho, even though they are tactically very different (as has been noted by the likes of Tiago, Luis, Costa, Courtois).

Because as he himself admitted he doesn't blame defenders for defensive mistakes. How dare Hazard or Schurrle make one though?

'Kompany's marker', 'one player'... Why can't Jose just name him?

Are we finally going to replace David Luiz (midfield role) now?

Wonderful performance by Athletic.

Hard to disagree. It's easier to say 'Oh I got it wrong against plucky, little Basel' than it is to say 'I was tactically outdone by Guardiola/Simeone/Benitez in a huge match.'

United: Pedro City: De Bruyne Arsenal: Krychowiak http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/arsenal/11797617/Arsenal-transfer-news-Arsene-Wenger-weighing-up-22million-bid-for-Sevilla-midfielder-Grzegorz-Krychowiak.html Chelsea: no starting 11 signings, just a back up LB Great.

City game looks even more important now. A win there would alleivate a lot of the current media pressure and scrutiny on Mourinho and the club.

Sevilla would be a really interesting CL opponent.

at the defending in this game

From the matchday... Michael Cox ‏@Zonal_Marking Aug 8 Mourinho going mental at Chelsea physio for going on to give Hazard treatment (meaning Chelsea had to go down to nine) Michael Cox ‏@Zonal_Marking Aug 8 FWIW the physio I was referring to was the other one (although he did have words with EC)

£34m is apparently the magic number.