Madmax

4-3-3 isn't or shouldn't be set in stone. Our best performance this season came in the second half at OT when we shifted to 4-2-3-1.

Agree with this. JT has never been one who you'd call adept at 'reading the game', he's had the likes of Carvalho do that for him while he covers.

This is how the dictionary defines transition : So what you're seeing now at Chelsea is not transition. Merely putting Mata in a team of 7 30+ year olds doesn't constitute a shift of any relevance. 7! No top team in Europe does that, yet we continue to stick with the old and hope for the best.

He isn't even getting minutes in the reserves fixtures.

Not disputing that ... The commentators kept going on about how they could 'hear a pin drop' etc, had to watch on mute once their anti-Chelsea rhetoric reached nauseous proportions.

On the telly the ground seemed pretty quiet.

I'd rather stick with this lot till the end of the season, play to our strengths in the meantime. The thought of another couple of panic buys in Jan frightens me. Papering over cracks and all that shit.

Did you expect him to cry? Maybe AVB thought Drogba would be better in a tactical sense of occupying their centre halves, hence the inclusion of Malouda, who works well with him? Nah, Torres is just a Liverpool lover who had nothing else on his mind. Loony world.

To put it bluntly : is JT past it? I think so. His play is becoming increasingly sloppy these days and while he's never been pacy, it's being exposed more and more often now. He's constantly getting skinned by mediocre players, lured into going to ground because he hasn't got the pace to cover. All those days of playing through pain for the love of the club have taken their toll. If he wasn't the captain, it'd be difficult to justify a place on the team sheet. Luiz is a better defender, but a different kind of defender and evidently the future. Ivanovic (as a CB) is in a similar mould to JT but arguably better. Even Alex, putting aside a few recent mistakes, would get into the team ahead of him. He does remain the ever-inspirational leader of the pack, but the question is, how long will that continue to compensate for an obviously apparent decline in footballing ability?

Not a fan of the shoutbox, slowed down navigation for me.

We'll never be in transition until we transit from deadweight like Terry, Drogba, Anelka and the principles that era represented to fresh ideas and personnel. We just seem to be stuck in this humongous time warp.

I kept banging on about this during the last days of Carlo's time. If a squad that retains an overwhelming percentage of Mourinho's signings wins the title only once in the next 5 years, who are the real underachievers? Those players or the multiple managers employed in the meantime? But again, this sentiment will be ignored and more and more people will question AvB, the manager is always the scapegoat.

Terry and Cole are a big problem in defence for me. Cole can be excused a little because he's hardly had a minute off all season.

So your patience for the manager is running out because the players can't be arsed to play well? Haha.

Disagree on both instances. Cech was as much at fault for the first goal as Mikel. What was he hoping to accomplish by passing to Mikel? It was totally needless and invited pressure on the man in possession. Then there's the lack of communication - Ashley Cole (nearest to Mikel at that moment) should be immediately making Mikel aware of the oncoming Adam, but does no such thing. Mikel on his part makes it amply clear he wasn't expecting the ball to arrive to him, hence the laboured fumbles on it. Just poor unorganised, non communicative defensive play. The second was even more astonishing. How can a top European side not defend a simple cross filed ball? Ashley Cole's casualness is highly alarming. Malouda can't make a challenge because the moment he does, it's a penalty. And Terry chooses to go to ground for the umpteenth time instead of standing his position and putting pressure on Johnson.

No reason to be positive after that performance. Cute little "KTF" messages can only go so far.

Exactly. The team selection is incredibly foolish. How do you expect to win a big game with Malouda, Mikel and Drogba in the side.

This a disgraceful performance. Those players out there don't deserve to wear the royal blue shirt. What a let down.

Kalou starts.

The thought of stuffing the bin dippers.

I only wish I'd joined earlier.

:goodpost:

Gotze!

No Subotic for BVB. Come on Dortmund!

Don't underestimate BVB. On their day they can hurt any team in Europe.