AswinR

we are no longer underdogs in any game....not this season.... i wouldnt have been worried if we got any team other than real and bayern....not that others are bad but bcz we are good.... psg is a good team ....imo the right team at the right time... not too much to travel...so less tym on flight during feb/march..... we will get a lesser opponent in the next draw... seriously believe we are gonna be in the finals this season... psg will be tough but this tym around we are more than up for the fight...with a full squad...they got no chance

its really disappointing to see a young player getting stuck with injuries like this... if he had only played last 2 years at a decent club in and out...he might have been a really good player next season for us....

time to seal our spot in knockouts!! maybe i am being naive or something but would like to see zouma, ake and solanke play ... big opposition and not that daunting and could be a gr8 experience for them... ---------------cech------------ -azpi---zouma---terry--luis- -------ramires---ake--------- -salah---solanke----schurrle ------------costa/drogs------ costa should start and drogs towards last 20-25 mins this team line up could really give costa a chance to shine and schurrle and salah to prove they are better than bench warmers...!!

football has been really big...it had a brazilian ligue model in the 60's and 70's(especially in kerala, bengal, goa) but again due to improper infrastructure it was only seen as a means to get a job in the railway or services after college.... then the age of cricket came in india.... everybody jumped on the cash rich bandwagon and soon forgot hockey and football which were actually coming up during those times...... the saddest part is I have seen players while playing at university level that are actually very talented.....with proper coaching and tactical guidance they could have reached a english professional player standards....but most of them if not all chose to become engineers or doctors .... they get paid around 3000$ monthly in those jobs while as a footballer they would have got paid at the top level as a star player about 10000$ annually(baichung bhutia's income ).. so why india doesnt have a football team of atleast average standards are obvious!! btw a cricketer gets paid around 8000$ per series even if he doesnt get to play...!!! it was a complete sell out..... apparently not one seat was empty and ppl had a bought a lot on black about thrice the orginal cost to just see the match .... and kolkata really turned up some style....the foreign players was a treat....but again it brought out how behind the indian contingent is to catching up

the player who is you fav and who influenced u the most(could be diff sometimes) and why? your fav international team fav WAG fav music band fav hangout spot with other chelsea fans(in india)

Your Total: 15 man...i am such a gr8 guy !!

before i say anything i dont agree to the fact that a PL match should be played somewhere in asia or america..... thats just stupid!(do they even know of the effect of humidity and heat on players?!!).... that said i wont mind a friendly btw PL teams or some new cup tournament for this purpose...an idea already being tried !! "tool to gain money"!!.... really?! football is the biggest sport oriented buisness in the world.....and at what point do you think they stopped thinking about increasing their profits?! we are all in their net!!

i have been saving money for the last four years in hope one day i can afford to come to bridge and watch chelsea play... but its easier said than done my friend... i understand your fustration but dont you think you have been extremely lucky .........imo if they are gonna do this then they should only shift an away match.. everything in this world is about milking money out of it.... but the soul isnt dead imo... look at ppl like us at both ends of the world sitting n discussing about 'our' club.... the soul may be exploited but u cant kill the spirit football infuses in ppl... can bet most of us @ the stadium or at their homes in their armchairs had shaired both the pains and gains of this club together at the same time.... and just for information, most chelsea games come in HD channels if there are more than 2 big teams playing and most of us had to subscribe seperately for it and its almost the double then....its a lot of money for a lot of ppl..... i know this cant be compared with ppl buying tickets and going to the stadiums to support their teams but we are trying to do our bit however small it might be....

This is a very good article and details a very important aspect of the league.... its a very long race and loads can happen in that time . But have you seen the confidence in the eyes of a gold medalist olympian for example bolt! Their eyes, body language, comments are overflowing with confidence and stiking fear in the hearts of their opponents.... Chelsea players are all top professionals and they have always showed confidence before most matches... But chelsea fans are different this season...they have seen their team play...they have seen their manager's tactical improvements in the team.... they have seen the plight of other teams in the league.....and NOW we are CONFIDENT.... isnt that a good thing? it doesnt necessarily mean we will win everything... but unlike last couple of years, everytime our team is on the pitch you know we are going to win and not just epected to win... no more the underdogs of big matches...if not superior then at par with all great clubs in the world...... we have seen similar chelsea teams earlier...under the same manager We have a World class team with the potential to win it all...... all we need to hope for is luck and gods blessing To all Blues...lets make history again this season

SERIOUSLY THINKING WHO COULD REPLACE TERRY IN A YEAR OR 2.... GUESS IVA CAN MOVE IN CENTER AND AZPI CAN GO BACK TO RB BUT AGAIN LB IS UP FOR GRABS THEN(DONT THINK FILIPE WILL BE PLAYING HERE AFTER 2 YEARS!)....ZOUMA SEEMS VERY PROMISING BUT NEED SOMEONE LIKE TERRY TO GUIDE HIM IN BIG MATCHES..... FRANKLY CANT THINK OF ANYBODY OF THAT CALIBRE!!! BEST BET IS ON VARANE AND GARAY...... OR MAYBE ONE OF THE YOUTH PLAYERS....

imo we could buy cavani(heard hes not too happy there) this jan or end of season.... drogs can get into coaching for us that would be so awesome... its so much fun sitiing in a pub with arsenal fans and watching their reaction when our main keeper is injured and in walks big pete !! :blue scalf:

cant believe we are talking about shelvey..again if u want anybody get pogba!! but frankly we got an awesome team and cant see anybody pushing matic or fab out of the line up... but as for young star english players, Robguima has a point...its really sad there aint any gerrard or lamps coming up... still cant believe that generation of english players ended empty handed!!! we are know talking about homegrown talents and most are not english(atleast not the very exciting ones) but you never know.... suddenly a player from lower leagues might burst into the scene.... infact if i remember right lamps didnt get a call to national team for world cup before the age 24 and after joining chelsea! i think we have a young striker, bamford i think, who seems like a gr8 prospect ......

good luck RDM... hope he has a long and successful spell there... :tophat: :blue scalf: btw bayern must be scared!!

we are so well organised...it was a joy watching them play... :blue scalf: :blue scalf: just to be fair...felt arsenal were better tactically today than their last visit here....poor wenger must be banging his head on the wall with fustration.... !! we are just better than them..be it defending..attacking ...or in just pissing them off

Eid Mubarak to all... a very interesting fixture... for the first time after 4 seasons we have a confidence infusing team.... a fearsome juggernaut !!! lot of ppl are afraid we are jinxing etc... but to be true champions u need to go into a game as favourites and win ...week in and week out..no matter who your opponent is.... and its not like we havent been here....there was a time all we have to do was wait for a goal and know the jobs done!! i read in above posts our defense is not gr8... its awesome...for the style we are playing these days it is very good and terry is doing a gr8 job organising our back ... i personally think playing everton at their home is far more difficult than playing arsenal at our home !! we can and should dominate midfield and then the story is same.... but if this turns out to be a hard match then we have an opportunity to test the character of this new team and that could prove to be a very valuable experience in latter stages of the season....especially in champions league..

last chelsea match of the season for me will be boarding a vessel on sat for 6 months.... KTBFFH all of you....it is always fun to share the joys, sorrows and fustrations with fellow blues... All the best to all....take care of yourselves Was a great time for me ...reading all those posts before and after matches...thanks a lot for this JIM..you are the man...you made all these fellow blues from all over the world come together.. :tophat: And watching mourinho back in the dugout ...seems like the final pieces of the puzzle is falling in place .. gr8 times ahead :blue scalf:

we missed mata's ingenious creativity yesterday...but whatever .... lets move on to the next step and I think against AM we have the right kind of back three and who knows we might knick it!!! we have always done bad in matches before CL apparently!!(wierd stat!) more importantly we have taken a positive step this season unlike the previous 2 despite not a trophy laden season.....and then again we are not done with CL!!

enough!!.... thanks to a gr8 deal of 'brilliant' refrees and characterless average individual performance we have lost the title... but its time to move on...we need a more dominant striker and a better midfielder than ramires....time to move on and start building plans for next season.. btw i curse the guy who had brought the stat on how chelsea does bad before every CL game!!!

Gr8 article...really nice look into their tactics.... love to see this sudden pressing style against players like willian and oscar and hazard.... imo willian would do gr8 and oscar good....need to wait and see how hazard does.... but again we do deal with this kind of playing...remember they will also try to go on the offensive....and we dont play like barca!! i really feel we are their tactical nemesis than the other way round we will do just fine..... this is our first significant rebuilding season....this is their best season in a long while...and we are still better on our day cech vs courtois Both are good with courtois having an edge in reflexes.....but cech is very experienced with this kind of pressure Remember CL final..cech vs neur... who became a european night legend?!! iva-cahill-terry-azpi vs AM defense I really dont believe their defense is better than ours and diego simeone is going to face the hardest team he had to try break down by physical play.... I am really worried about villa skills and his simple but killer finishing and not costa's physical attributes but his presence in the box is really good though but on our night we can easily tame them both... Not going to speak too much on our attacking skills.....but we have the most unpredictable strikers in that level!! midfield we are evened out but if anybody things they can out run ramires and luiz.....then thay are in for a big shock so loads of pressing from both sides and could be a big tactical area wish matic was there ...lampard would not be too bad an option either.. Attacking midfield they have a real collection of good attacking midfield players but this is where we have an edge... our players maybe young but on their day ....on any one of the three's day we will create deadly chances in their defense... Strikers This where they hold an edge...could cancel out villa and eto saying both are slower than before but still are one of the deadliest stikers but we donot have a deadly threat in the box like that of costa and this is their advantage.... reason for optimism...this team is quite used to it.. i know this is a tad onesided view but still .... my greatest worries are iva suspension....luiz one yellow away from suspension....and hazards injury....

who all are injured/suspended from both side for this match?

is it only me whoes positive of the draw?!! ... i think this was the best of the 3... whateve RM and Bayern weakness are they have a very positive advantages in attack.... watch the match against milan and AM ... we have a pretty good chance.... they do good pressing i agree.... but we havent seen them play against teams like bayern and chelsea or mancity.... players like oscar and hazard and willian do pretty good in beating markers.....that means they will have double overlapping style marking....then midfield gets thrown open... remember our pressing against liverpool at home... they are more used to physically pressing players from spanish league!! we are used to physical pressing!! not that we have come on top everytime but we are used to it! ppl talk AM is our nemises in tactics.... i think its the other way .... diego simeone has over the years created a team based on his philosphy of strong pressing and yes we got owned at supercup but the team then was a few days old!! hazard had just come in so had oscar.....no drogs no terry...luiz was in defence AND now we have mourinho.....hiw many times have you seen him get outplayed in tactics?!!..... real madrid are an out and out attacking team ....lot of you saying we will have lots of pockets to attack but have you seen their attack!!! bayern not that attacking and vulnerable at the back but again really good players with good momentum.... these are the kind of teams you should meet only once and with an effective gameplan overcamed.... never give them to analize and come back at us... perfect for finals atletico are the best option.....we can really do this...just worried about luiz and willian yellow cards and just read above AM are cup team..... what the hell are we?!! we are the best cup team in europe!! this is our speciality...some play tika taka...some score for fun...some walk together...some keep passing the ball infront of goal....we...we win trophies

heard atletico has debt of about 400 mils...dont know if this is true...but in that case reachin semis wont help them much... and as for costa, koke and courtois..... if they win the league it could swing both ways ...out for a new challenge or why leave an already big club!! btw the next biggest thing would be torres returning to where it all began for him .... hes really a big deal over there... hope he can score there atleast :|

guys relax.... why dont we just start a new poll and voting goes on till end of season.... say MOST INFLUENTIAL PLAYER OF THE SEASON.. admins...what say you?!

exactly and we seem to be pretty good at high pressure games!!!