Viper22

Now THAT would work. So 3 at the back, those two wing backs, Luiz holding, Oscar just in front, then Hazard and Willian off Eto'o. I like it. But I do think that some people were suggesting playing Dave in the midfield duo/trio, which just confuses me.

Why do people attack Mourinho all the time has the same answer to why everyone jumps on everything our club does wrong: Jealousy. They're jealous of the fans (for supporting an amazing club), they're jealous of the club (because the ones they support are shit) and most of all they're jealous of Mourinho, they wish they were even 1/100th of the man he was, but they're not. If they were, they wouldn't be the crawling, snivelling, conniving little journalists/critics that they are.

As a side note, why have I seen so many people proposing Azpi playing DM/CM? Has he ever played there before? I don't think he has. Is it because of Lahm? Lahm was a 1 off, and that's only because he's a top top quality player, he's nowehere near as good at DM as he is at RB.

I'm glad someone else has mentioned this. Thought it was just me... A Luiz-Ramires pivot is going to be a car crash waiting to happen. Luiz-Oscar pivot for me.

http://www.espn.co.uk/football/sport/story/303589.html?CMP=OTC-RSS ^Read that if you all want a bit of a cheer up. Schurrle and Schwarzer hitting the nail on the head, they're both so right. It's all jealousy - lap it up, Jose loves it! Schurrle - "If people look at us and say 'Chelsea can't play' even when we win, it's just because they're jealous.". Schwarzer- "It's quite amusing to hear the criticism because the bottom line is there was a tactic we employed and it worked down to a tee. We played within the rules and we played the best way we thought we could get a result, tried to frustrate Liverpool and it worked."

The man is a beast in Europe. Has scored so many important goals for us and I can see him coming off the bench to do it again. Just wish his finishing in the PL was better.

If we can get through the first 20mins without conceding then I think we'll be fine and we'll win it. There will be a bit of a problem if they score first as we will then need 2 goals and if Simeone has any brain at all he'll just instruct his players to sit deep, absorb pressure and frustrate us. I do think we'll win though, Chelsea produce at the big games, especially with Mourinho at the helm. Chelsea 2-1 Atletico Eto'o (34), Diego (47), Torres (86).

It's the calm between the 2 storms people. First we dispatched Liverpool, next on our radar is Atletico. On paper, we should take them apart, but we have to remember that they are top of Liga BBVA and have beaten Barca recently so they're hardly pushovers. Having said that, I have every confidence in the boys taking us to Lisbon. We can beat ANYONE at the Bridge. Be afraid Atletico, this is the Bridge, the fan's Bridge, Mourinho's Bridge, Chelsea's Bridge.

If any of this is true, ESPECIALLY if it means Ramires going the other way (I know it's almost definitely not true, unfortunately, but can a man hope?) Then....

Whoops. That wasn't in the script was it?

Surely there's some way of finding out and keeping a note of the numbers ringing the hotel. Just write them down and then get every receptionist doing the late shift to ring each of the numbers every hour from 2am-5am for the next 6 weeks. That'd learn 'em.

Thank christ someone verbalised this. I agree with it all but haven't been able to vocalise it in such a way before. Thankyou.

Fuck it all. Just play a back 7 and show those wankers all over the world what it is to truly park the bus. Schwarzer Cole, Ivan, Christensen, Ake, Cahill, Kalas, Azpi MVG, Matic Salah - Would be hilarious to see the butthurt fans crying their eyes out.

Man Utd are up there too but that's mainly due to success. But I would say yes we are. And I love it. Success breeds jealousy. Jealousy breeds a dislike. Dislike breeds irrational hate. I find it hilarious and pathetic that people hate us so much.

Wish I could hit that like button more than once. It goes without saying I take it that Mikel, Torres, Ba, Eto'o & Marin are gone?

Currently actively shitting myself. Honestly never been this nervous over such a long period in my life. This is crazy... Can't imagine how sick i'm going to feel watching the boys come out at Anfield... I hope my heart isn't feeling weak that day. Honestly reckon this would top the CL win. I really do. It's personal this time, with it being Liverpool and all that. Will also make it so much better that we cost them 'their' title too. Jose lives off making the media and other club's fans cry. He feeds off their tears. And Mourinho is hungry.

I'm just hoping Mou doesn't do another press conference until the day before the Liverpool game, then he can come out quietly raging and mentally break Liverpool as he is so good at doing. He needs to put that doubt in Rodgers' head. If we go a goal ahead I reckon the scousers will start to get nervous; they know this is their best chance at a league title in the past 20 years and probably for the next 10. We will win another league sometime soon, and no-one expects us to win the league from this position. The pressure is ALL on Liverpool. And personally, I think they'll crack, then break.

Mirror reporting that he only cost £1.6M, not £3M. http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/chelsea-transfer-news-mario-pasalic-3419444 Whichever is true, that's a good price for an up and coming youngster. We can always hope he'll become a good player for us in the future but if he doesn't quite make it then at least he'll almost definitely make us some cash. Good deal all round methinks.

I'm going to have to disagree with the statement of Mourinho refusing to integrate youth. At Madrid he brought in Varane at 18 years old which was a massively bold move at probably the biggest club in Europe especially at the expense of Carvalho. At Chelsea in his first spell I seem to remember him playing a lot of young englishmen too, most of which were already at the club when he arrived (Parker, Joe Cole, Johnson, Bridge off hand). I must admit I didn't follow much of his time at Inter so I have no idea what he did there but I just think it's a tad unfair for people to accuse Mourinho for not bringing through youth when he's never been at a club for more than 3 years. We all know that owners demand success immeadiately and if you try to integrate youth and you get a few bad results the axe will come down so it's almost pointless to try sometimes. I am sad about the situation with Kalas this season but lets be honest who would've thought that JT and Cahill would be pretty much fit all year round? I would've bet on at least one of them being out for a while which would've meant that Kalas would have got a lot more game time. Not attacking you here, or overly defending Mourinho, we'll both have to wait and see, but I just have high hopes for some of our players to be integrate in when some of our older, current players retire/leave the club.

Lots of what ifs but I truly believe that with a bit of managerial stability we'd have a lot more youth integration. Think Kalas has a good chance of being played a fair few times next season as JT is getting on a bit and Jose finally seems to agree with most CFC fans that Luiz isn't to be trusted at CB. Hopefully he's the 3rd choice CB for next season with Zouma/Christensen/Ake the 4th choice. I remain hopeful if Mou is commited to the club for the long term (which I really do think he is).

Oh... So what I feared is right then. It's all bullshit... Great.

Heard that Man City & PSG are most likely to be hit with a transfer embargo if they've been found to flout the FFP regulations. Anyone know if this is true? I doubted they'd ban them from any European competitions, I just didn't think UEFA had the balls to do that. I thought they'd just give them a pathetic fine though, at least a transfer embargo would make them think. Also, what are the chances of Man City and PSG getting away with it entirely? They must have good lawyers after all.

I like your optimism... Wish I could share it. But we've been burned too many times when it comes to strikers... Torres, Shevchenko, Crespo, Mutu are just some that immediately spring to mind.

If he is £50M then that changes everything in my mind. I'd much rather us pay the extra £5M-£10M and get Cavani... I was hoping we wouldn't have to spend this much on 1 player to be honest...