LDN Blue

To be fair, it's not like they've ever been together playing consistently. They're only together when one is subbed on late in the second half and a start is rare. Watching Drogba & Torres play together, there's no suggestions Drogba doesn't want to play with him on the field..

"Glory Hunter" A term used when fans can not construct a proper argument or rebuttal against someone with opposing views

With these group of players I can only think of one system we can try.. Cech Ivanovic - Luiz - Terry - Cole Mikel Benayoun - Ramires - Essien - Lampard Drogba A good ol' 4-5-1 with a lone striker in the form of Drogba, Torres, Anelka or even Kalou. Since we're weak on the left, playing Lampard there temporarily is the only suitable short term solution. Even playing Kalou on the left and replacing Essien with Lampard could work. Of course this all look good on paper. But in practice our squad shows they are unable to handle changes in the formation. p.s. Mikel is vital.

LeBron now apparently owns a stake in Liverpool

Where the hell is Tommy?! Only he can bring joy to TC now!

Who even knows if Benayoun will the be same player he was! Lord knows injuries have done their work on Essien & Bosingwa..

The big problem is, therefore. What does Carlo does with Torres?

The way you've over simplified this is staggering. There are so many threads on here about why our season has gone wrong with some ludicrous reasons but this takes the cake. I'm just going to give 1 sensible point.. Our problem isn't defence, it's in attack.

You've been proved right in a very big way. Drogba proved he can create as well as score. Today he created much more, Torres was dormant.

There was no supply once again though! Only Zhirkov & Ramires gave him something to run onto to try and get in a shot. Lampard always went out wide, Drogba couldn't find a link up with him & Essien was being.. His natural self. We lack a clean-cut passer, something Lampard used to be.

Worst thread I've ever seen on TalkChelsea. How on earth can someone blame Bosingwa on our sh*t is beyond me.. This is a knee-jerk reaction, which you will probably regret tomorrow morning..

Well they certainly had the better chances of the game, in the first half. Our chances, the very few, were actually very well done. Credit to Van Der Sar for keeping our Torres I guess. But you're right! We run around like headless chickens with even a ball from the keeper to the target man! That's unacceptable! It's why Mikel as a holding is crucial to our team, it maintains the line of balance between defence-midfield-attack. Cech Ivanovic - Alex - Terry - Cole Mikel This is what should be tried! Last season it was great at stopping the counter attack, so why change the winning formula? This all depends if Alex is even fit.

It's the only time supporting Barcelona will be acceptable.

They dominated the first half totally, could have easily had 2 by then. In the second half, they did park the bus though, however, we should've expected that, and unfortunately we did not have the power to break through that than we used to. That is evident to see..

Doesn't matter. Days are gone of blaming the penalty. We did it vs Inter, Barca & now United? Fair enough 1 of those was horribly wrong (you know which) but we're in denial if we're saying that penalty decision is the sole reason of why we will not go through

Yeah, agreed. Lampard will always be a legend, but no time to be sentimental now. He can be the Scholes of Chelsea, the occasional sub appearance & maybe a few starts. I have a lot of respect for Lampard, 500 appearances coming from the pre-Abramovich days is an achievement within itself! But we need a new creative spark now. And definitely agreed about Mikel > Essien!

We're kidding ourselves if we blame that could-have-been penalty decision as the reason for our loss. We were boring, shit & lacked any creativity. First time United have deserved to win to be honest..

gottta love how ITV have turned Rooney into the nation's sweetheart again

The big day's tomorrow Reaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaally hoping Chelsea give me a gift of a clean sheet-win tonight!

you make it sound like their careers are over already! Be patient , they're still young & their time hasn't come yet. Van Aanholt/Bertrand will get their push soon with Cole's age not getting any less. Bruma will have a bit of a longer wait with the signing of Luiz. Kakuta is having a bad time because of a dodgy loan spell but to suggest he's gone wrong is a bit short sighted. Yes we've over hyped a bit, but like I said, be patient

Hmm.. In London there's not so much, my background is Indian so I'm obviously brown. I can count the number on 1 hand in 17 (nearly 18) years of living hear that I've had a racist remark said against me. I don't know about everywhere else, but London is quite diverse so the chances of you being treated in a different way is quite slim. That being said, wherever you go, you always find that bunch of ignorant twats, the key is to be the bigger man

Indeed. Though I don't think anyone's actually forgotten since most line him up as 1st choice right-back. It really is more a case of, Luiz is a better option to have. Ivanovic will fulfil that centre back role exceptionally though.

Ah David Luiz. He must hate watching from the Stands as much as we do!

This whole "next game he will score" is getting a bit repetitive now