MrExcalibur100

Schurrle not as quick as Ramires?

Lampard out is loss because we wouldn't have any creativity from our pivot. And we will miss his set-piece delivery.

Willian has been shocking in the 2nd half. Time for Schurrle or Oscar.

Arda Turan is dangerous. We need to keep an eye on him

No one is 50 yards near him so it's incredibly difficult to do anything. Even Drogba struggled when we played this way. He's held up the ball well and has been strong. He's also won a lot of fouls. I'm sure he will be better in those things you mentioned when we bring on Schurrle and Oscar. Game plan is working to perfection so far.

Atletico are not that dangerous when they have possession are they? That's why our approach makes perfect sense. And injuries, ineligibility and suspensions should be taken into considerations. Torres has been surprisingly brilliant so far.

Something gives me a feeling it's not meant to be. We don't have enough quality out there right now to hurt them.

Good point actually.

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.