Kostas

So will I get my option back?

8 minutes in and Barcelona already scored. Courtois couldn't do much as Villa humiliated Atletico's RB.

2 seasons at a top Spanish club and then a loan like the one Joe Hart had and he could be worth double what we paid for him. The game against Barcelona kicks off in a few minutes, I'll be watching him.

Easy. Luiz was the best performer by some distance. Turnbull deserves a mention too.

..not a defender.

Get some full match links rolling in

4-1 Love you Didier

Just tuned in. Why the hell did Torres get a red card IN A GAME THAT HE SCORED? This has to be some kind of a joke!

Common sense? I really can't give a better answer.

Give an infraction to the fuckers who cheated.

Where did that come from?

I don't

I agree although not so much with the Torres comparison. I'd never shy away from critiquing Kalou but this was one of his good games by his standards as a starter and both he and Malouda were more or less decent. I guess people got annoyed after having to watch players that bring more frustration than excitement for well over 90 minutes. Apparently some even didn't enjoy the fact that they got closer to finally realizing Kalou will never reaching he so-called potential, go figure.

Did the edit bar return?

A lot of prayers will be answered in this one, Lampard will not start and may not even be on the bench.

From my point of view all youngsters bar Josh put in a 6/10 performance. Solid and probably reliable but not exciting or outstanding.

He'll need to grow some facial hair if he has any ambitions of becoming their poster-boy..

The service he got in the first half would make Torres feel sorry for him, Sturridge and Kalou were too greedy to work with him so he had to drop deeper to get involved with our play. After Alex's red card the game was crazy and it's impossible to draw too many conclusions out of it but he showed good fighting spirit, endurance and speed.

Aside from being technically sound, a basic requirement at Barcelona, and somewhat mobile (which is a given due to his age) I didn't notice anything exceptional about his play. I'd normally say the love he gets here is the usual case of the new boy in town being more popular than the regulars but some of the best posters apparently see something that I don't.

Not as impressed as AVB but he surely resembles Mikel in his ability to keep the ball under pressure.

Just finished watching the re-run on ChelseaTV. Fuck me. Did we actually win a penalty shot-out with that pen never crossing the line ?

McEachran taking corners.. that's new.

Will be intersting to observe how our midfield will operate. McEachran is more of a creator than a destoyer and Malouda is too much of a forward player to do the defensive work needed, is the Barca fan going to be supported by our CBs?

Squad depth exists because all the players are meant to be used. What's the harm in starting him in a meaningless game when we need to rest Mata?