The Chels

Sounds like everyone's going to watch the Arsenal match? That tie is virtually over. Atleti v Leverkusen will be very intriguing.

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/mar/16/gary-cahill-chelsea-southampton-premier-league-title-race Ah ok, that makes it alright then

Koke is more important to Atleti's system than any big-money transfer they might make (e.g. Cavani). The idea is surely to keep the best players and supplement them with further top class players. It doesn't make sense for Simeone's ultimatum to be that he gets to bring in new players at the expense of his most important.

Found a journalist's (unsurprising) answer. They just say that he doesn't give serious answers and only talks about what he wants. https://soundcloud.com/the-game-podcast/manchester-city-and-chelsea-suffer-from-bad-planning(13 mins in talking about lack of rotation) As a few posters have mentioned recently we do have too many players having to cover for others' deficiencies.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/chelsea/11475606/Chelsea-transfer-news-Atletico-Madrid-hope-to-take-Filipe-Luis-back-if-Jose-Mourinho-decides-to-offload-defender.html I did think Simeone would want him back. Mourinho doesn't care for Luis and Atleti are missing him so it'd probably be for the best.

I wonder what the two would be like if they had developed in opposite sides under opposite managers: Koke at Chelsea, Oscar at Atleti. Would the difference between the two be as big as it is now? It's all hypothetical of course but I somehow doubt it.

Pretty clever marketing. That image was no doubt plastered across all football websites and sections of newspapers across the globe, essentially re-writing history and making people subconsciously (and incorrectly) assume he wasn't a complete and utter passenger in that game.

Barca and Real have plenty of tourists but their big-game atmospheres still exist. SB was surprisingly very flat against PSG and City. The lack of intensity from the players no doubt affects the noise levels (and vice versa).

He obviously found it difficult turning down Barca in the summer. I think he will end up going there when Simeone leaves (or he might follow him to wherever he goes).

Zouma-Terry is the most realistic option but I just wanted to fantasise about an all-round mobile and athletic team (with the exception of Cesc) whose pressing no longer causes me so much frustration A more productive RW than Willian would also be nice but I don't think we will spend even more on that position and I'd be surprised if Cuadrado managed to usurp him. The side would depend on Hazard and Costa's productivity (set pieces and the back-up striker (Icardi?) can also help) but would be defensively solid enough to cope with not having so many goalscorers. That's the vision anyway!

It'd be great to have Schneiderlin here in a midfield 3 with Cesc and Matic. Jose would obviously never select this (especially the back 4!) but I'd love to see: Courtois Azpi Zouma Varane Luis Schneiderlin Cesc Matic Willian Costa Hazard Equipazo.

I'd agree with most of this except for a couple. I think Willian was a Mourinho signing because even if we had shown interest in him previously, when he did sign we were already saturated with AMs (De Bruyne, Mata, Oscar) so there was no need for him unless Jose specifically asked. Also Luis knew he was coming here before the CL final even took place. If he was just one of the options and not one of the players Jose definitely wanted then I doubt the deal would have been closed so early. I think he was a Jose signing but given how little he plays you wouldn't have guessed it.

Hmm I reckon Willian is almost certainly a Jose player - we had so many AMs before he signed so I don't think the board would have bought him without Jose specifically asking for the transfer. I also think the early signings from last summer were all ones that Jose wanted and had listed in the dossier he gave to the board. That was Courtois, Cesc, Costa, Tiago (apparently), and Luis but he has completely mis/under-used the latter. It might be true about Remy and Cuadrado though, that they're not really players he wanted but he sanctioned the deals given that we had to replace an outgoing player (Torres and Schurrle). Either way I believe that Jose has mismanaged the squad. Overusing certain players has almost certainly been one of the reasons for our recent poor form. Today's match was a perfect example. There was no reason for there to be so little rotation - Zouma and Luis (and arguably Cuadrado/Remy) deserved to start but Jose is fixated with this particular starting 11.

Well whose fault is that? The bench players were pretty much all bought by Jose (and with a lot of money). Zouma, Luis, Remy and Cuadrado all deserve chances to start.

Didn't Jose say he regularly spoke about tactics at press-conferences in Italy? Now if he's even asked about anything on the agenda (e.g. Mata/Oscar) he gets incredibly angry. His time at Real definitely changed him.

What if it happens in February? Those players would be very expensive in the Jan market and would no doubt eventually be left to rot on the bench once Azpi/Iva were to return.

#FreeFilipe What I predict will happen: Luis leaves in the summer, we replace him with a much less talented LB, one of Ivanovic/Azpi gets a long-term injury and we are forced to play the new (average) LB for much of the season. Inevitable.

Ah, the old excuse of taking our foot off the gas in the second-half of matches if we had the lead as it would 'prevent burnout' later in this season. Doesn't look like that worked out very well!

I think we've only played well for 90 minutes once this calendar year: Swansea away but they were without key players and repeatedly shot themselves in the foot. Before that it was probably West Ham on Boxing Day.

yes yes but looked like a dive in real time nope

You'd be lost for words by Jose refusing to drop his favourites and refusing to acknowledge that rotation is important? You must be left speechless every match

We give our defenders more protection than those teams do (case in point: our RW does our RB's defensive duties for him). People on here moan about Willian, Oscar and other attacking players but personally I think the biggest problem is the defence since it limits us so much.

Can any defence be worse than the one whose right side is Ivanovic-Cahill? I prefer the PSG one even for the sole reason that all 4 defenders are very mobile and allow the team to push up high/play a pressing game.

Plenty of us have been calling for it all season: a back four of Azpi-Zouma-Terry-Luis. I wish Jose would stop being so stubborn and just give it a try because it will likely improve things both ways. We'll have the opposition penned into their half so much more through playing a higher line and having 3 mobile defenders (with 2 FBs both excellent at pressing), we will have natural width (and the subsequent overlaps and intricate play) as opposed to that from a centre back and a right-footed LB, and we will be able to deal with opposition counter attacks much more effectively without any walking liabilities in defence.

That is true but doesn't tell the whole story.