coolhead23

Now i can have a good night sleep. For once i wouldnt be criticizing us, it is really good to see that we are taking games one by one. We won and moved into the semis thats what i m proud of at this point of time, Next game agaisnt Barca is way too far off, it is going to be Wigan next and that all i know. Felt good that we won and that All what matters, only English pride fighting it out for the ultimate honor. Come on, Chelsea!

What is the point in having promising youth who are not going to get a shot to prove themselves. Thats where we stand right now. It is high time Chelsea starts looking into their reserves pool and start promoting youth players rather than sending them out to shitty leagues to fade away. With United, Arsenal and even Liverpool this season the youth are given a adequate chances to prove themselves which is just not the case at the Bridge. We are hell bent on buying rather than trying.

I believe the thing with Torres is in his mind. He is an instinctive player who would score at will when his confidence is high and would faulter when it is down. A good people manager is something which can do load of good to a player like Torres. After AVB I believe that is what is happening, RDM looks like a people manager and he is punching in that motivation which is so much needed at the Bridge right now. The difference I believe is so promient in the Villa game where Torres was actually trying to hit the ball in the back of the net which he has not been doing quite often in the past. The last goal was Vintage Torres for me. I hope he now cashes on this momentum because it would not only take him a long way but would also help Chelsea in all the future matches.

Forget what happened in the first leg as Bluemaster pointed out, play as if this is the final (which we need to do with every game) and more importantly keep the tempo up. The moment we go on the defense we tend to make lot of mistakes. So we should just keep the way we have being playing (baring the City game) and i m sure the result could be in our favor. As RDM has already pointed out, we shouldnt get complacent and that for me is the key.

Seems like complacency has already started creeping in .... Let's hold on to our horses and not think beyond the Benfica game, Important half of the battle is still left. Hope that we can carry the good form into the second leg as well.

Missed the match ... any downloads? MOTD, highlights?

Well they have already done so to quiet an extend so far ... As far as RA making money, lets not go there we all know he is a screwd bussinessman.I m sure he has his Men in Black to take care of the Frenchman and their flunkies in regard with the FFP (which again everyone are looking for loophopes) . However that doesnt mean that we would go ahead start breaking rules and policies, we surely cant forget the one season ban in the transfer market imposed on us by the same stupid frenchman and his flunkies.

I love the optimisim here and i hope it cascade over as well ... But mate right now, there is no project and last 2 years we arent playing good football as well (baring a few games). If we show them these things i m sure they are going to run off from this Project.

Excellent point. I completely agree and would want us to look inside our youth and reserves rather than spending unusually high amount of money to get talent from outside. Yes looks like that is the only incentive left to give now. Are we forgetting City who have bulks & bulks of money as well, they are the ones buying many talents unlike us and now with Champions league spot confirmed they stand a better chance. Also dont forget FFP coming in to the picture u wouldnt be able to spend in the same time like we did in the past. So going forward we would have to be really smart with our revenues.

Stop playing Football manager, folks and get real. If we dont make it to the Champions league (which is almost certain) why would the players come over to us, what is the incentive for them? Plus with the FPP coming in effect from next season, u cant just spend money like we used to else we lose out the Champions league spot the next season.

I would completely agree with all the points u mentioned. I m not in favor of us spending us loads and loads of money on new signing, rather give our lads a try out as we are set to lose out on revenue next season and with the FPP coming in we would need to tighten our spending.

Firstly let’s face it; we really don’t have the quality to get into the top 4 (though I would always that we would but my mind just doesn’t agree) especially with the kind games coming up for us. We still have to face Arsenal, Newcastle and Liverpool. Even the manager has now mentioned that it is very difficult to get fourth place. So what is that we can salvage from what is remaining in the season. Firstly, I would really want that we concentrate on the FA cup and Champions League all out. We do stand a chance to win one of the 2 which is achievable. Secondly, For the next 8 premier league games, I would really want the management to give the experienced players a rest so that can focus on the FA and the Champions. At the same time, they should try and give as much as game time possible to our youth. I know this does sound crazy and lot of you would say that they aren’t ready but honestly what do we have to lose out of it. We have already lost out on places in the league, our experienced players are out of gas and out of passion, and we have already sacked the manager, what else is there to lose. The few players who would be picked from the youth team to play in the senior team would have no pressure whatsoever plus giving them more game time at this stage might send out the right message to our youth. I would go to the length of calling back Josh (he isn’t getting starts out there) and letting him play in the eleven along with Lukaku, Bertrand, Hutchinson, Lucas, Romeu, Billy Clifford to name a few. And who knows we might end up winning a few more games at the end of the day. This would keep our experienced players fresh for the important FA and Champions game as well. All I’m trying to do here is to see if got have anything positive happening for us in the next 8 premier league games. Thoughts/Comments/Suggestion.

Gosh! the only player in Chelsea at this moment who really wants to do something has to be Torres. Rest of them looks so so disinterested ...

Go live your dream, Neymar. And be one among the crowd .... I m glad he is not coming here to be honest.

I dont think we would end up in the top 4 because we dont have the quality. And somewhere inside me doesnt want us to finish in the top 4 because that would serve a big reality check to everyone at the club right from the top to the bottom. And maybe the old guard would be disposed to be replace by the young guns. It is like we are trying to do a United!

The disappointment with this result was just not the loss but the way we lost. I wasnt expecting us to win in the first place because there is a huge difference in terms of the quality between the 2 teams, however what pissed me was that despite everything we went up in the front which gave every other Blues fan the hope that Maybe just maybe ..... And then we went into berserk mode and gave it too easily ... something which we have been doing all season.

Gosh! Why blame Essien, it happens. It is the team collectively which didnt perform, probably we ran out of gas!

And the honeymoon ends! Collectively we were poor except for some flashes, maybe it was fatigue but we should have killed this because City were worse than us in the first 60 mins. They only woke up when they went down.

Since when has it been about Sturridge only, this is Chelsea and this is football and more importantly it is a team game. Yes he is good at scoring goals, yes he has to be playing up front and not in the wings but the coaches/managers think he can do a better role in the wings right now. I m sure he would get this chance up front but right now he is playing and that is so very important for him to keep up the momentum which he generated at Bolton last season. But that doesnt mean that u dont play as a team, his goals are an advantage but if he unselfishly crosses the ball Chelsea would get more goals which could win us more matches. Other thing, the reason everyone is critizing him more than one else is because he is still 22 and can learn. I m sure everyone wants him to learn so that when he takes over mantle of the striker, he is not only scoring goals but also assisting and tracking back basically an all round player which is needed in modern day football. I hope he learns so that he can be among the best because he does have that potential.

I hope it is either a win or a loss, just hope it is not a draw. We already have too much on our plates right now to add one more on it.

Good overall draw. UEFA have got their wishes, they wanted the best 2 teams to meet in the final and it sure is a possibility. Now it is up to the others to ruin the party for UEFA

Exactly my point. I m sure today even the Gods would have no answer as to when Torres would score however he puts in the effort for the team. He looked sharp when he came on, yes another miss but he didnt sulk under it, still kept running trying to take on defenders. This is something what Danny boy has to understand and learn, he is young and has the potential to be a real good one. I m sure he would be scoring more and more goals but the journey from "good potential player" to be "among the best" to the "elite one" is very long and team play is one of the most important attributes which the best needs to have in its arsenal.

Winger or striker, wide player or clinical finisher, football is played with 11 men on the field, for a player to be good/best he needs to play like a team player and adapt into positions which he has been given. Danny boy tends to get selfish lot of times (which has got him the goals) which kills off the attacking momentum which was created. Simple example, first goal that we hit yest against Napoli: look where Raimers releases the ball, perfect. Now put Danny boy in that situation and he would dribble it all the way to the box, then pass or try cutting inside, shoot. In both cases we lose out the attacking momentum which was built. He really has to first think about the team and i m sure that would really make him a better player.

Amazing performance! We really pulled of a miracle looking at the way we were playing. Well done, Chels! Now just want to play the devil's advocate here and ruin the mood: Where did we find this f****** intensity? Locked in the closet! Same set of players, most of the coaching staff is the same, same ground, same club: completely different attitude. If we had shown even half of what we did yesterday, we would have been in hunt for the title. And Terry says there is no player power! Back to my good side! Kick ass performance. A message specially to those Arsenal fans who were just being proud with the achievement against Milan despite losing, this should be a lesson on how it is done and that is what makes us proud.

If we were in a proper transition phase and would have not qualified, i m sure most of us would have lived with it and the consequences would had been money. Now we are not even in transition phase and also mite lose out on the champions league spot means the consequences are not just money but possibly no champions league action for the next 2-3 years or more depending on Roman's mood swing.