MrExcalibur100

Remember what we did Arsenal and Man United away (especially). We are here to get a result. And we will bring in Oscar and Schurrle in the 2nd half. With this line-up, its impossible to play/

Brilliant performance so far!

Torres is having a good game so far considering the circumstances.

We are not playing our usual pressing game instead we are dropping deep. Mourinho doesn't think that tactic will work away to Atletico because of their style of play. I think we will see it in our next two games against Liverpool and Atletico.

I trust Schwarzer.

Dude, really? It's an European tie against the strongest team in the best league in the world. We are missing Hazard, Eto'o, Matic, Salah and Ivanovic, Atleti are missing no one. Add that to our recent inconsistencies and lack of experience in our creative players. I hope we are extremely negative and get a result.

Costa showing his first signs of cuntishness

I hope we don't fall into the temptation of dropping too deep. I will like to see Lampard and Ramires push up a bit.

What are the chances of hearing the away fans today?

Wow that's crazy. Luiz will obviously be the biggest loss. Let's hope it doesn't affect the way they play. Knowing the UEFA fucking refs, they wouldn't hesitate to brandish a yellow card to them.

The Spanish are fully aware he's shit now. Just google tran If it were at The Bridge then it's a no brainer really. Schurrle over Ramires any day. But considering the circumstances, I think it's a good decision. Schurrle could be deadly off the bench in this one

Don't forget we are missing the likes of Hazard, Eto'o, Matic, Ivanovic and Salah and without these players we are easily the worst side left in the competition. Easily. The likes of Oscar, Schurrle and Willian are ridiculously inconsistent players and it won't be clever to play our normal system in this game. We will get trounced if we did

Oscar, Schurrle and Ba are the only ones likely to come on anyway, so don't sweat it. Remember we are missing players like Eto'o, Hazard, Matic and Salah, so the bench could have easily been stronger.

Schurrle won't play well if he starts from the beginning. He rarely does in games against aggressive teams away from home. Ramires might be poor offensively but at least he offers much more than Schurrle defensively.

So Koke has switched to the right wing to face Cole and Diego Ribas is on the left wing. Pretty clever from Simeone. And also pretty clever from Jose too because he knows Diego and Koke are not real wingers and they are going to try and over-stock the central areas by tucking in so he plays Mikel, Luiz and Lamps in there. Villa also drops to the bench to be replaced by Garcia. This game has the potential to be a borefest, but if we get a positive result, then I'm happy.

It's a bit of a disaster for the guy and us really. Has been brilliant all season and is now missing the business end. Even if he's fit for Liverpool, he won't be fully match-fit and might not even start that game. Something similar happened last season as well with him missing the Europa league final. I just hope we are more sensible next season as too how many games he plays. He's played far too many games this season and injuries creep in especially as we rely on him for basically all our meaningful attacking plays.

He does what is best for the team and he only cares about results. I doubt if we are going to see this line-up against Liverpool and in the 2nd leg. He sets up his team to the demands of the game. I think sometimes he is a little bit guilty of over-thinking line-ups though.

Of course this line-up has the potential to backfire spectacurlarly if Atletico get an early goal. But Mourinho is playing for the result again and not the "evolution" of the team.

Atletico notoriously tire in the last 15-20 mins of games because of their high pressing style. We need to at least try and retain possession. I don't want to see what I saw in the second half of 1st leg vs Galatasaray.

And Ramires on the right to stop Koke. I trust in Jose anyway. I'm sure he's done an incredible amount of homework and has decided to be pragmatic knowing fully well we are not yet ready or good enough to go to the Calderon and play for a win. To do that this line-up needs a Matic, Kroos, Hazard and Diego Costa. Schurrle, Oscar, Willian don't just cut it now for various reasons.

The line-up makes sense because Jose realizes that without Hazard and a "real" striker, we neither have the quality or experience to beat this rugged battle-hardened teams. If the likes of Schurrle, Oscar, Willian struggle away from home against the Palace's, Sunderland's and Aston Villia's of this world then we might as well play very defensively and go all out in the return leg. We just lack the quality right now, tbh.

Chelsea starting line up: Čech; Azpilicueta, Terry, Cahill, Cole ; Luiz, Mikel; Willian, Lampard, Ramires; Torres. #CFC So Mourinho is going for the plan I thought he would, defend deep and instead of long balls like I suggested, counter attack. It looks like a 4-3-3 to me.

Really, really pumped for this one. The atmosphere is going to be insane, maybe even more so than against Galatasaray. I was watching the Madrid derby a couple of weeks ago and I was amazed by just how vocal their fans are. In that game, they managed to stifle the likes of Benzema, Ronaldo, Bale, Di Maria and Modric for 75 mins till Atleti players began to tire out. It's just a shame we wouldn't be at our full potential for this game with Hazard doubtful and both Matic and Salah ineligible. Now to the game. This would be my line-up: Cech Azpilicueta, Cahill, Terry, Cole Luiz, Lampard Ramires, Willian, Schurrle Ba That's pretty straightforward, but I want Ramires to play on the right wing as a "defensive winger" to deal with the threat of Koke. The kid is one of best young players in Europe and combines physicality with Iniesta-esque playmaking skills. Everyone is talking about Costa and Courtois, but Koke is a seriously talented player. He likes to cut inside a lot to "overload" the midfield area when Tiago and Gabi sit deep. Ramires could play a similar role to what he did at City. If Ramires and Luiz can combine together and cut off Koke's supply lines, then we've successfully nullified half of their attacking power. (Of course they also have the deadly Diego Ribas who they can call from the bench to perform a similar function to Koke) Willian instead of Oscar as the 10 because of his superior strength. Oscar has been woeful in almost every physical game we've played this season, especially the ones away from home. Willian's pace on the break is vital and his passes are almost as good (if not on par) as Oscar's. I will start Oscar in the 2nd leg though, but let me not get too far ahead of myself. Ba ahead of Torres because assuming Hazard won't start, I don't have the confidence in Willian, Oscar, Schurrle, Ramires to deal with Atletico's pressing game. Those players have shown many times in the past that they are not comfortable under pressure and as a result, lose possession easily. Hazard is brilliant at holding on to the ball and drawing defenders out of position but with him doubtful, we have no other player that can do those two things well. We need Ba, because I'm certain we are going to play more direct, route one football. With Hazard out, we don't have enough quality in attack to hurt them a lot, so we might as well bypass their midfield by lumping it to Ba and hoping he can be a good target man, a'la Drogba. I think we can get a draw if we stick to the game plan of defending deep and playing direct football as Atletico don't really have a lot of pace in their side to trouble our back-line.

Yes, yes they can and will. If we are to let go of Mikel and Ramires then we must buy someone like Kroos. We need more quality not less.

Chalobah is nowhere near ready or good enough to be a Chelsea player.