The Chels

Even if they went undefeated Arsenal wouldn't necessarily win the league. We can still win both The difference is that Cech was clearly desperate to move there (and there only) while I doubt Chamberlain seriously pushed for any move.

Wouldn't be surprised: "The day Mr Abramovich thinks I am not good enough for Chelsea I want to work, and if possible in England too."

Were they to beat us in the Community Shield thanks to heroics from Cech, that would give them incredible confidence going into the season and their mental barrier would be hugely diminished. We cannot afford to lose that game.

At the moment it seems like we're going to make no top signings and on top of that lose some of the best (if not the best) back-ups in the world for their position in Cech, Remy and Luis. Imagine actually thinking we were that good last season that we can plateau or regress and still genuinely compete for the major titles (PL/CL) whilst all our rivals strengthen. It's still early days though and I have faith that the club doesn't really believe that.

From that article: 'the third-choice striker'. Sigh.

http://as.com/diarioas/2015/06/10/english/1433929623_180842.html Also sounds like they're going to sign Vietto and Tevez. Interesting.

It's true that Real had plenty of chances at the Nou Camp and Barca didn't create much till the second half. Valencia had their fair share as well. Barca seem very happy to play that way though, where they just go toe-to-toe with anyone knowing they have the better, more clinical front line. It is perhaps a dangerous game to play against Real who are the only team comparable to them in terms of counter attacking ability and that would have been some final, but the genius of Barca's front 3 would have come through in the end anyway IMO. I imagine that's what Barca would have expected to happen. They seem willing to concede good chances because they know the odds are massively in their favour if a team wants to take them on like Juve tried to after their equaliser.

It could just as easily have gone the other way though. If Juventus immediately retreated after they equalised and then ended up conceding, people would moan about how they should have gone for the second goal while the momentum was with them. It's extremely difficult to get the balance right against this Barca side. We've seen so many different approaches from good teams playing against them these past few months alone, from those going completely gung-ho (Bayern, Valencia) to those pressing more sanely (Bilbao, Sevilla) to those sitting deeper and playing on the counter (Atleti, Real) but Barcelona have too many solutions. In truth they were always going to win that final, regardless of opposition tactics.

Yep. http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/jun/05/jose-mourinho-cesc-fabregas-chelsea-barcelona

There's no way we'd destroy Real Madrid. They can pen teams in very well and given how we often struggle with our transitions from defence to attack against such teams then we'd have big problems creating anything meaningful.

Would fancy Valencia to win that. The meltdown from United fans would be hilarious.

I'm sorry for your loss mate.

I would agree if it was 'seriously though' or words to that effect but just saying 'seriously' doesn't really make the sarcasm obvious (especially in this context), not that any of this actually matters

Class from Pulis in his post-match interviews.

Real's flat track bullying is basically Arsenal on drugs. They've lost only 3 points against teams outside the top 7 this season.

Congrats to Barca on a well-deserved league victory. It's interesting how Real Madrid will likely end up on 92 points even though they took only 4/18 points against Barca, Atleti and Valencia (compared to Barca's 15/18 for the equivalent fixtures). Some unbelievable flat track bullying that in any other league would probably be enough to compensate for such a poor big-game record.

Didn't that happen on the first day of the World Cup? I remember the picture being leaked on twitter and within hours the official announcement was made (before Brazil took on Croatia). Good times.

Very happy about this.

Vietto, apparently.

That quote is from @UberChelseaFC? Sounds fake.

Part II of 'Academy Day'?

While defending it's an obvious tactic of ours for the RW (Willian/Cuadrado) to go up against the opposition full back or winger 1v1 while the RB (Ivanovic) drops into the box. It iis probably one of the big reasons for which Cuadrado was bought but he does not inspire confidence in doing that role at all and was twice very easily muscled off the ball in dangerous positions.

Yeah it's a shame but 90 points is still a good achievement in itself. Cahill backing off for that Sterling run in the second half was almost déjà vu.

In the first game Can's goal and the chance they had just before (Coutinho?) came as they simply ran through the midfield. We can't match their mobility in that area.

That's 4 matches we've played against Liverpool this season and they've consistently cut through our midfield so easily in every single one. Oh well, still only 2 defeats in the PL and 90 points is still achievable.