stroey

Willian had a very strange game. He was such a workhorse with immense stamina and improved defensively (like last season in big games). I don't think he was as strong defensively in other games this season. At the same time in attack he wasn't as good as in the last 2 games, which was frustrating to watch. If he can combine these two plays, he will be a super player.

Mikel can handle the coming game, he is not good going forward but can provide the same stability as Matic. Cesc on the other hand has been our playmaker, dictates our whole game. He doesn't have a direct replacement, he will be missed very badly.

No Soldado, they will probably play counter attacking style

Bench: cech, zouma, luis, mikel, salah, remy, schurrle No Ramires

Depends on many factors: - will he extend his contract till the end of the season? -if yes, will he play against us in january? -will he score again or make a good impact? -will he continue to score and be important for them in other matches? -will city play against us in facup or cl? -Will he make an impact in those games? Most important: -Are we going to win the title in the end? If yes, it won't hurt that much. -If not and we lost it by 1-2 points, I think I won't be able to help myself to think about that equalizer at Etihad or even more impact if he extended. -same goes for other trophies. if City knocks us out of the CL/facup, where Frank plays and makes an impact, it will hurt even more.

Hope to see Ramires and Matic in the pivot for this game.

Ballon d'or finalists: Messi, Ronaldo, Neuer

At least one week of rest between those games for them, we play Southampton and Spurs away in 4 days.

Coming EPL games Chelsea versus City: CHELSEA: Dec 3: Tottenham (H) Dec 6: Newcastle (A) Dec 13: Hull (H) Dec 22: Stoke (A) Dec 26: West Ham (H) Dec 28: Southampton (A) Jan 1: Tottenham (A) MANCITY: Dec 3: Sunderland (A) Dec 6: Everton (H) Dec 13: Leicester (A) Dec 20: Crystal Palace (H) Dec 26: West Brom (A) Dec 28: Burnley (H) Jan 1: Sunderland (H) Draw your own conclusions, but I've always find the schedule suspicious. Our first 11 games included Everton, Liverpool, Manunited, Mancity away and Arsenal at home. 4 matches after a midweek CL game. Now this period we have so many difficult away games in this busy short period while City have more homes games and more easy away games. Their difficult games are spread over the whole year, while we always have a bunch of difficult games in a row. Nevertheless we must grind out results here, I'm sure Jose can handle this. Start with a victory against Spurs please!

http://www1.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/football/teams/manchester-city/9587293/lampard-hails-team-spiritHere he said it. Jamie Redknapp also said it: Redknapp said: “No doubt he’s looking forward to his American adventure but right now he will be focused on one thing: hunting down Chelsea. “He’ll say all the right things in public but make no mistake, Frank is a winner. He’d love nothing more than to help City beat Chelsea to the title.” Read more at http://www.squawka.com/news/jamie-redknapp-frank-lampard-would-love-man-city-to-beat-chelsea-to-the-title/234477#MtdLvQJk71VV76gz.99

What do you think of Ramires?

Jose signed him because we needed a 5th top class senior defender. 4 seniors for 1 full season is not enough. We would get into trouble if one of them gets injured/suspended/a bad run of games. Last year we were very shaky when JT was injured. ( Luiz in CB ) We have a great balance now, 5 seniors who represent 2RB's, 2LB's, 3 CB's and 2 juniors in Zouma and Ake to learn from them and get some minutes here and there.

Spurs, United, Arsenal, City, Liverpool all won. We should let the Sunderland game be a wake-up call that we aren't there yet and should keep working hard.

Courtois Iva Gary JT Azpi Rambo Matic Willian Cesc Eden Remy Bench: Cech, Zouma, Luis, Mikel, Oscar, Schurrle, Drogba

post match Sunderland (0-0) http://www1.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/football/teams/chelsea/9586339/mourinho:-we-tried-everything

Not unhappy with 1 point, we were lucky not to lose. (ball on the bar, Altidore clumsy goal, 2 shots from Johnson) Costa, Hazard, Oscar were all bad, Hazard didn't even try to dribble into the box, really weird. Diego needs to calm down, one day he will cost us a match if he doesn't work on his temper. Oscar didn't press as much as usual. Willian was the only good one in the first half, great shot on the post and created a clear chance for Ivanovic, a lesser second half. I We needed Ramires badly in the midfield, his energy, aggressivity and legs were missed. MOTM: Courtois or Matic.

Glad Costa didn't receive a card for that moment. 1st half was bad and we were lucky not to concede a goal. We need Hazard's dribbles/Cesc passds to penetrate their defence. Costa, Eden and Oscar need to improve in the 2nd half.

Really don't like the prematch talks of Poyet, last year he said "we can make history by ending mourinho's home run bla bla". Now he says "we want to be the first team to beat them bla bla bla". Little bit annoyed that he motivates his team extra to beat us like it is a trophy (wenger style), maybe because he's an ex blue.

Messi will never play on the wing and track back. He will play as #10 or striker. 4-4-2: Costa Messi Eden Willian/Os Matic Cesc 4-2-3-1: Costa Eden Messi Wil/Os Matic Cesc Not sure about this, currently we don't have one absolute star in the team which is good. Cesc, Costa and Hazard are equal. When Messi comes it will disturb this hierarchy, he will be the absolute number one star. Not sure what effect it will have on the team.

Hmmm don't think it's jealousy. In his first interview back at Chelsea he praised Robbie and said he did a fantasic job by winning the CL. But recently before the match he sound a little bit annoyed, maybe because of the amount of questions and comparisons between the two. He said "don't ask me to speak about him, he made history here and is a part of the history of the club, I also made my history and want to make more." He said the same about LVG when asked about Louis, "don't ask me to speak about him cause I can speak for hours about him, everyone knows what I feel for him."

“I’ve played in World Cup finals, European Championship finals, Champions League finals with great teams,” he said. “I feel right now I am playing some of the best football of my career. If I chose this challenge (to join Chelsea) it’s because I felt it could be this way. I didn’t come here to just play well and that’s it. “I came here to win trophies and if I could play well and enjoy myself, all the better. There will be games I cannot enjoy myself the way I am today because other teams will approach games differently. “But the most important thing for me is we know what we are doing, we know when we defend, when we have to attack, when we slower the pace, go quicker. I think right now, we are doing that very, very well.” “There is no secret,” he said. “I am playing next to great players and they are playing very well and helping me. We have a very young, talented team. “The mood is great and, hopefully, it will grow up as the season goes on because you know that for the next two months it’s going to be really, really tough - a lot of games.” When asked if playing in a deep role alongside Nemanja Matic was his preferred role, Fabregas was emphatic: “Yes, 100 per cent. 100 per cent,” he replied. “I feel more in control of the game, I touch the ball all the time, I feel happy, I go and get the ball from here, from there, I can go forward, Oscar drops deep. I feel free, I feel confident, I feel in control and that’s what I like the most in football. “Sometimes in the last three, four years in the national team and Barcelona, I was playing like a number nine. I mean I have to do it for the team and I enjoy, and it’s all good. But, here, where I am playing today, it’s where my football I enjoy the most.” “Potentially, this team can be very, very good but we have to win trophies,” he added. “I always said it, no-one remembers if there was a great, great team and you don’t. We have to win and that will say a lot from us and people will judge it how they want to judge it. The most important thing is to keep it going and at the end of the season we can talk. “We know people say how great Chelsea is, how good they are playing, how we have won the title, but it is just not happening this way in the dressing room. It’s a long way to go.” http://www.london24.com/sport/football/clubs/chelsea/cesc_fabregas_reveals_his_favourite_position_and_credits_talented_chelsea_team_mates_for_his_superb_form_1_3864448

Everyone was fit, Mou just decided to put Mikel on the bench instead of him.

post match Schalke 0-5 http://www1.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/football/teams/chelsea/9579686/terry-we're-getting-stronger

post match Schalke 0-5 http://www1.skysports.com/watch/video/9579671/mourinho-hails-fantastic-result

Fabrepass, FaBraingas, Fabregassist