The Chels

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/apr/23/manchester-united-edinson-cavani-cesc-fabregas So United want Cavani, Fabregas, Shaw AND 2 of Reus, Gundogan, Kroos and William Carvalho. Damn it's like something from football manager; so much for their moaning about us and City buying the league . I hope we don't take FFP too seriously to the extent that we miss out on all major targets while other clubs spend freely, since FFP will probably turn out to be a massive fail.

Isn't it a bit harsh on those players to suddenly throw them into the deep end, in what is probably our most difficult PL fixture? I mean it won't be good for their confidence at all if we get thrashed; and even though it is likely Jose will just set them up to park the bus to prevent this happening, it's not too improbable that they're on the end of a good beating. Ends justify the means though, I hope.

Well there we have it guys... According to Michael Owen and the many retweeters, our strikers aren't bad at all. Indeed 3 years' worth of assessing Torres' performances is completely void because we never attack; we set up the way we did against Atletico every game and Torres never has any service or chances to score.

The second leg will probably have to be though, and in that case he's screwed.

Cole is the master of goal-line clearances — the one away to Napoli in the 3-1 defeat, and the one at home to Barcelona in the 1-0 victory both in the 2012 CL campaign spring to mind; and yesterday when Schwarzer's punch went straight to Diego, he and Terry were waiting on the line. Legends.

But don't you think his comments - "I'm not the most important person at the club. I do what the club decides" - particularly in the angry mood he's been in has a lot more to it than what you're saying?

Seems to be venting about everything that pisses him off recently. In this interview he appeared angry at the FA's reluctance to move fixtures to support teams in the CL, and also at Chelsea's hierarchy, which might suggest things are already going awry between him and the board? Interesting quotes but difficult to infer from them.

Read that it sounds like he's flirting with the United job with those quotes, ("I'm not the most important person at the club. I do what the club decides.") hmm...

Mourinho wanted the 0-0 and we got it. Decent result, but an away goal would've been worth a 2-1 defeat. This stat doesn't transpire much confidence should Atletico score: @RichJolly 1h Chelsea's CL semi-final scores under Mourinho: 0-0, 0-1, 1-0, 0-1, 0-0. 1 goal scored in 480 minutes (inc extra time).

Seems like tactics are very hard to keep secret nowadays: Dermot Corrigan ‏@dermotmcorrigan Simeone: "We knew how they would play, we have good spies. We wanted to break their defensive play, but we couldnt."

David Luiz, Frank Lampard, John Mikel Obi and Willian are all one yellow card away from a suspension. I fear that 2-3 of them will get it next week and be out of the final — UEFA's ruling on this is so stupid!

Or Mourinho could have changed the line-up after the leaks to make them doubt their sources. Very possible.

Erm I think it's much fairer to just say that Mourinho is a very conservative manager.

Ramires was by far and away the worst player in our team that game, as usual. If Ivanovic hadn't scored, Ramires would've been completely and rightly slated for taking the extra touch and the tame shot. Summed up his game.

Manchester City away. Plus if he's been absolute crap in his normal position, what makes Mourinho think he'll be better out wide where he is normally disastrous anyway?!

Yes Ramires deserves to play because of his performances in 2012 — who cares how he's played in 2014, right?!

Mr Undroppable (Ramires) is apparently playing again... What does Jose see in him FFS!

Seems like the whole Shaw family are Chelsea fans! His dad tweeted: Paul shaw @paul_shaw3 Follow Should b a top game tonight #comeonyoublues

I think that's because Klopp and Simeone's teams have cost so very little, so having one very successful and major style of play, a counter-attacking one, is understandable. But when you've got an expensive team like Real Madrid and to a lesser extent Chelsea you're expected to do much more than just defend and counter; and although they haven't really been expected to in their current roles, that's not to say that Klopp and Simeone can't implement a more attacking approach, one that Manchester United are famous for. In contrast, for Mourinho this does appear to be one of his weaknesses.

I guess if Mata was going to be in Jose's plans then he perhaps would have been told to do more physical training like Schurrle was. Instead I remember Mata saying that Mourinho hadn't spoken to him personally telling him what/where he needs to improve so Juan would probably not have specifically improved his body strength. Having said that, I don't remember him being muscled off the ball that easily when he was here.

Yes Mata is better than Willian when it comes to the final third, but did you see how many times he got muscled off the ball against Everton on Sunday when they pressed him?! I reckon he'd be pretty screwed against Atletico tomorrow — Willian is much better adapted to the physical side of the game.

That left wing of Shaw and Hazard ...Make it happen Mourinho!

A very fair analysis of the refereeing decisions by former PL referee Dermot Gallagher: http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11668/9276384 Most interestingly we've finally heard someone admit the push on Ramires was a foul! What I don't get is why the players didn't even complain about any of the major decisions - the push on Ramires, penalty, Terry goal, etc. I mean how many times have we seen referees influenced by players' reactions, most notably the Newcastle goal disallowed against City because of the players' complaints even though the ref couldn't actually see it; and also Liverpool's penalty against West Ham that the referee wasn't going to give until he saw Suarez's reaction. Obviously I don't want our players to be moaning cunts but they could at least appeal and put doubt in the referee's mind FFS! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOvZLg1QkUo

LOLwut?!