The Chels

Terry thought Cahill was Silva. A calamity that summed up our night.

Does it matter? We would have ended up conceding anyway.

From being one minute away from winning the CL to being knocked out at home in the round of 16 against 10 men... Just a bit of a drop then. It will be a real kick in the teeth for them (and very embarassing for us) if Atletico go on to win the CL, especially Luis as the other two are still young enough to win it. Seeing 'partidazo de PSG' and 'PSG con 10' trending on twitter tonight it's clear the Atleti (and Real/Barca) fans are especially basking in our misery. Bloody annoying!

Before the game: I wonder what he thinks of our big game approach and (in)ability to protect his goal compared to the team he was in last year. I honestly think that if the (intelligent) players were allowed to devise the setup for this game themselves then we would have done a better job.

I've begrudgingly come to accept that Jose will never consider him a starter but I can't accept the reluctance to bring him on when we're clearly losing control of the game. I really like Azpi but if he's doing poorly defensively then he becomes almost useless on that flank whereas Luis can offer so many more possibilities to the team tactically. He always presses with great intensity and that may have encouraged the other players to up their tempo too which was so desperately needed.

To spend upwards of £20m on a 29-year-old LB and to get Azpi to man mark him in the CL SF (2nd leg) suggests Jose did rate Luis very highly. I'm not sure what changed but he's clearly not been impressed by him. He doesn't even consider him as an attacking substitution (let alone a starter) which is very harsh and unjustifiable IMO. Remember how Jose said that he started Cech over Courtois in the COC final because it was 'his competition' and that he'd been involved throughout? Well Luis was the only player to take part in all of our COC games before that match but I don't doubt that Jose had no qualms in dropping him for the Tottenham game. I've been wanting to see him and Hazard as regulars on the left flank since we were rumoured to be interested in him but it doesn't look like it's ever going to happen now, sadly.

They obviously weren't just ignoring the manager's instructions. Did you ever see Costa ignore Simeone's instructions to press? No it would never happen to him and it wouldn't happen with Jose either. If he wanted Costa and the midfield to press and play with more intensity then they would have but he clearly didn't. Even the pressing we used right at the start of the game seemed pretty half-arsed to me. PSG played around it so easily and still got into dangerous positions but that happens very often so it's not just the players at fault. Whose decision was it not to double up on the widemen when they were in dangerous positions? The vast majority of their goalscoring opportunities (including resulting corners) over the two legs came came as a result of our FBs being far too narrow and our apparent willingness to defend 1v1 and allow crosses in even though we could not cope with them. This was also an issue in the West Ham game (and plenty others this season). It is a tactical fault so yes Jose is to blame.

I think people underestimate how good Luis is at helping dictate the tempo of a game. I feel really sorry for him because in Atleti's system he was IMO the best LB in the world but he is clearly not rated here. Atleti apparently made big financial strides in an attempt to keep him at the club because Simeone recognised his importance to the team (they're having difficulties in that position this season) but he joined us anyway only to find out that Mourinho doesn't seem to appreciate his qualities. Against PSG we clearly needed more intensity, more control, more attacking impetus, more width and he could potentially have been the perfect substitute but he probably wasn't even told to warm up. For his sake I hope he goes back next season to play at the top level while he's still in his peak.

I still remember some of Jose's performances with Real in 11/12. It was notable how they would start games with great intensity and their pressing was wonderful to watch. They did it in a lot of games too and especially against Barcelona. We never ever play with that kind of intensity which is very disappointing. It did require a high line and very mobile, individually strong defenders. Perhaps if we had that then he wouldn't be so passive in his approach against the big sides and we wouldn't be so lacklustre. It's hard to tell though because I think Jose was probably forced to play that way at Real and in reality he does prefer this dull, tactically basic and excessively cautious approach.

What cost us the goal against PSG in the away leg? Failing to properly defend crosses into the box and not doubling up. The lack of off-the-ball intensity was frustrating but we saw the same thing against West Ham and unsurprisingly tonight again (failing to prevent crosses led to the fatal corners). We had absolutely no ideas going forward but our performance from a defensive point of view against 10 men at home was so disappointing.

In the big games we've taken a huge step backwards since last year.

Luis was the perfect substitution for the second half and would have brought some intensity and control. Jose didn't change anything so we can only assume he was happy with the way the game was going. Really, really disappointing.

pundits will cry themselves to sleep over the players' reaction to the Oscar/Ibra incident but you don't get anywhere by being a nice, friendly team.

I retract my earlier comments! I didn't expect Real to be so poor defensively (again). The Kroos effect.

So the two least interesting CL ties of the round both happen to be on the same day. Sigh!

Valencia, Atletico, Sevilla (and arguably Villareal) all play with intensity, pressing and tactical discipline. I don't think Mata would fit any of those teams.

I do find Real's excuses funny. Last season when they bottled the league they said they purposely threw it it so as to win the CL. It (just) worked out thanks to a 93rd minute goal. This season they 'threw the cup' (i.e. couldn't beat Atleti) to concentrate on the league and CL. The most expensive football squad in the world can't compete on multiple fronts?

To be fair the vast majority probably would. I can only think of us who categorically wouldn't.

Don't think their away record will look much better come the end of the season either. They've still got to face Atleti, Bilbao, Real and Barca all away from home.

Didn't Spurs reject a £40m bid from us for Modric? Shame as that would have been one hell of a signing. Daniel Levy will never sell Kane to us.

I like how you're using any excuse to discount the importance of those goals.

I think the bit in bold is delusional. Real and Barca struggle against them so why wouldn't we? We have already spent signficantly more than them but an extra £200m would fix everything and make us unbeatable? Your entire argument is essentially that it is unacceptable for a team who has spent more money to not beat the team who has spent less. That's not how football works, especially given that money doesn't necessarily define quality. Real have an £85m player in their team in Bale but is he better than Hazard who cost significantly less? Nope. Anyway Real haven't lost the league yet you know. Think it's almost impossible for them to win tomorrow given that they are away to Atletico in what for them will be a 'must not lose' game. It would be incredibly surprising if Valencia were to win. I think they will end up 4th in the league and that will be about right in terms of their quality.

But do you trust us to keep a clean sheet? It would be very risky to play for a 0-0.

They do look like a really good side, especially at home where they beat Real and Atleti and were very unlucky to lose against Barca. It could happen but it would be incredibly difficult. To finish ahead of Real, Barca and Simeone's Atleti would take some doing.