The Chels

Anyone who thinks Lampard isn't motivated to deny us the league is deluded. It's much more than just playing well for his team.

Without Fabregas nobody will find his runs.

That's a very misleading headline by the Daily Mail. How surprising. The actual quote was: 'I think everyone at Arsenal knows he’s done a magnificent job. For me, he’s the second best manager in Premier League history (behind Sir Alex Ferguson). Jose (Mourinho) hasn’t done enough yet.’ And it's hard to disagree with that.

Anyway reckon we may end up playing City in the quarter finals? They'd be one of the teams I'd want to avoid most tbh.

Drogba 2 and Remy 1.

Nothing panics him more than the opposition running at him though. I remember in the first half when we'd lost possession and Sporting had begun a counter attack heading straight towards Cahill. Luis gesticulated at Cahill telling him to go towards the loose ball because he was close enough to win it but instead he just backed off and off. Sigh.

Excellent going forwards but I do agree that he was a little shaky defensively. One of the reasons he was so good at Atletico was that he would attack as he did today but he'd rarely have to defend 1v1 which is perhaps one of his weaknesses. Instead they'd defend in groups of 2-3 which enabled him to press and tackle (which he is very good at) knowing that he could risk lunging in because there'd be cover. He doesn't look so assured in our less defensively stable setup, but as already mentioned his attacking strengths surely outweigh any defensive issues in games where the opposition will just defend.

We've scored more goals than any other team in the CL so far (17) even though Costa's got none!

Jose barely gives any chances to Luis and Schurrle, never mind the academy players.

I agree that they were 2 completely different games from Atletico's point of view. They played for a 1-0 at home and 0-0 away and got both. Yesterday they limited Juve's chances massively and that was a much bigger issue for Juve than finishing. I don't think Atletico would have lost even if some of the opposition players had better games. They are exceptionally good in the big games beating Real Madrid twice this season already and if they'd have conceded they would probably have equalised soon enough. I'm surprised you'd have to give second thoughts about Simeone though. If he goes to another PL team I'll personally be massively disappointed. I don't think what he did in the CL final was that outrageous. Jose's done far worse.

I wouldn't say they had 10 men around their box all game. Their play was a mixture of pressing high and sitting deep and they never once looked like conceding in 180 minutes, which is why I suggested you might feel annoyed lol. That Atletico are even considered well capable of beating the Italian champions away in spite of having the heart of their squad ripped out says it all. In fact I'd expect them to beat the English and French champions too. For me it's hard not to admire them even if they do play cynically. I take it you'd never want to see Simeone here then?

It definitely is part of the game. The morality of it is a different matter but I don't think Chelsea fans can be too critical given that Jose has used cynical tactics many times in his career, including with us. I think I remember reading that you support Juventus also? That's probably why you sound so aggrieved

My fear for Zouma being the future of our defence is that when we play out from the back, teams will just press him knowing he's very uncomfortable with the ball and thus an easy target for turnovers.

They don't have the money or quality of their CL and La Liga competitors, but what they do have is an unparallelled spirit and yes they've mastered the dark arts. It's part of the game though, something which our manager knows very well.

Well I hope not. I quite enjoy us being the only English side who's decent in the CL

Godin is definitely very important for them but the only person who is irreplaceable is Simeone. They lost 3 of their best players to us but are still an excellent side. Liverpool lose 1 player and become completely tosh. The difference between Simeone and Rodgers is staggering.

Atletico are IMO the best defensive team in the world, unbelievably good at home and Simeone is tactically perfect in nearly every big game, outdoing even Mourinho. How are they only 6th favourite for the CL?

Don't mind them mate. It's much easier for the fans and Jose to use the excuse of 'Sunderland and Newcastle are game-raising tw*ts' or whatever than it is to accept that we still have the same issue as last year (breaking teams down away from home).

Their wins against Everton (who should have scored right at the end) and West Ham (who had a goal disallowed right at the death) were also very fortunate. How they hell have been THAT lucky?

To watch this or Roma v City? Hmm.

He's actually become more important for them this year, starting most games even at the age of 33. Atletico fans widely consider him one of their best players (but a lot are still bitter towards him for wanting to come here) and they've won 10 out of their last 11 games. Would've been our signing of the summer IMO given it was a free. Shame but oh well!

Tiago is still a lot better than Mikel. He is defensively excellent, covers a lot of ground very quickly, is a leader and he is much better on the ball than either Matic or Mikel. Atletico play him against both the small and big teams and he's always so important (he dominated us at Stamford Bridge). I know I've already said this a few times but I still can't believe we didn't re-sign him on a free. A Matic-Tiago pivot would have been unreal in the big games.

Probably more in preparation for the bigger CL games where Jose's system requires wingers to track their men all the way. But a system in which one defensive lapse in concentration by your most attacking player costs you (Atletico twice last year) is not a very good system in the first place IMO as it relies too much on perfection (and a lot of luck).

Plus the ex-player curse. Was bound to score against his old club.

The thing with Costa is that his goals perhaps paper over the cracks, and rightfully so due to how important goals are. When he doesn't score though and the result is a bad one, then his all-round performance is scrutinised more. This means it's only natural that his limitations/flaws (clumsy, overly aggressive, poor dribbiling and decision making, surprisingly bad aerial ability, etc.) come to light more and fans complain. He is a great finisher in the box but he's not a great all-round striker and maybe some people expected more and they feel disappointed? I don't know. Personally I wasn't overly excited when we signed him because I recognised his limitations but I'm happy we have him as unlike our previous strikers, he does score goals! All players get criticism when they perform badly and I don't think Costa should be immune.