SinineUltra

Massive 3 points, we deserved this. Though we were so wasteful - Oscar alone had 3-4 golden chances, something that made his overall brilliant performance look average. Loved how Azpilicueta held Ridgewell and Dorrans in his back pocket , what a player! Agree with @Rmpr - hard to pick a MOTM, but I'd say taking off Hazard was wrong, because he was a nuisance for the defenders all evening long. We might have won but can argue we should have won with a bigger margin so my MOTM goes to Cech for not letting Cesar score his first (own)goal of Chelsea's career and for being there when we needed.

I really hope Shane Long doesn't have his scoring boots on, he is always so quick to exploit a mistake - kind of like Steven Fletcher. A good line up, but why isn't Marin even on the bench? We really need a win here, fingers crossed.

The only place to be

See a bigger picture here - by booing Rafa you're not doing a favor to the players. Though, nothing beats the excitement of playing infront of hostile home supports. Best feeling in the world, right? Makes you want to give your all, because all the divine fans are doing is slating the manager for bad results of which also the players play a major role.

Not sure if you're being serious but if you are, it's ignorant.

Choose any you like http://www.wiziwig.tv/broadcast.php?matchid=192628∂=sports

It isn't over till it's over - we need to win this (or lose), because a replay can't be an option for us. Ake seems a bit shy and holds himself back but covered the ball nicely and wasn't lazy.

Agree. Former President of Estonia, Lennart Meri had a famous quote: "Situation is shit, but that's the fertilizer for our future."

Happy for Real Madrid and Mourinho, well played. Barcelona have been fading away for some time now, not as dominant and joyful to watch as before. Might even reconsider Guardiola's role in their success looking at current display. Unstoppable header from Varane, defensive prodigy. Talking about prodigies, Messi has been quiet all night.

Sorry if I'm mistaking but isn't there a contract that if Roman leaves he must depart so there was no debt for the club? Or is that an urban myth.

To all fairness, I'm sure some -if not majority- of them have forgotten about this poll or just think that it doesn't really matter if they change their vote.

Regarding youth - Roman took over June 2003 and has been trying to make our academy bring through players. Till now most of the players that have been sent away have been the product of PRE Roman time, they might have trained in better facilities since he took over but the bulk of their footballing knowledge has came before the Russian. I think the real testimony for the work and effort put into youth academy comes in a year or two when boys -who have been part of the modern youth system of the Chelsea we have known for years now- come through. The early fruits can be tasted already with FA Youth Cup victories in 2010 and most recently 2012. Not to mention that we have been very stable in the tournament, always making it far in the knock out stages and beating one of the powerhouses in youth development Barcelona 2-0 away in NextGen series. So I think the future is bright, they just haven't peaked yet. Also more and more prominent clubs are willing to take / want to take our players on loan for much needed play time. Illustrated by successful loans of KvB, Lukaku etc.

Roman has been the foundation for our recent real success and becoming a powerhouse in Europe. As much as we praise a manager and players winning EPL or CL, he was the one that brought these people together to achieve great things. Let's keep that in perspective. Chelsea was a great club with a big fanbase before Roman and will be when he eventually leaves, but we can't deny his involvement. One more thing that baffles me is that some of you are so bitter and just can't wait to spit out sarcastic remarks just to prove how big of a fan he is. I don't think that you can measure the level of support by your time following the club or any other silly criteria like that. That's like saying that a member, who registered 2009 on this forum, is more important than one, who signed up 2013.

424 because more forwards = goals, besides our midfield was solid as ever .. oh,wait a minute..

Exactly, and even he is not what he used to be.

In theory Ivan offers an aerial threat but it was him who lost aerial duels against a fragile Clichy. All in all agree. Our midfield is toothless, that's where our problem lies. No connection between Midfield and forwards. We have also lost the long range shot threat in the form of Lampard, Deco, Ballack, Drogba etc. Now we have Luiz and Ivan who rifle them over more often than not. Regardless, well played to City - totally deserved and the scoreline doesn't flatter them one bit. MOTM for me was Yaya Toure for his dominant display and brilliant solo goal. From Chelsea - as ironic as it is- best were Cahill and Cech.

It hurts to admit this but can't say they didn't deserve this. Toure just owned Mikel and Lampard, totally took them out of the situation. Nothing Cech could have done. Game on - come on Chelsea!

That's his trademark goal. Psychological effect to it - he might not hit right corner but he may. Usually his strikes are too powerful and accurate that they hit the side netting - nothing you can do but Hart is England's GK and knows everything about Lampard's PKs. For example, when his mother died he didn't choose the right corner, same for UCL final. He aims for a different spot when he feels not so sure about himself, so called special occasions. Good penalty, hard and low but Hart knew that, Lamps should have known better. All in all he has been invisible. In my opinion a bit too much fixated to get the record goals - take for example his free kick from a long distance out in the first half when he rifled it over. That's not his range, he is not Hulk nor Roberto Carlos.

Can't say it's a boring game, I quite enjoyed the first half. Man city have adapted the notorious style of play Chelsea played early Roman times - physical side with strong midfield and defenders, though they use more flair players upfront than we did back then. We are lucky not to be behind, because defending standard set pieces -especially corners- has been dire. Nastasic and Rodwell have had a firing competition at our goal and soon one of them is bound to go in. Credit to Cech and Cahill/Luiz for keeping it still level. Ramires on a yellow is always a time bomb waiting to explode and haven't seen much from Lampard to be fair so maybe Moses on for Ramires?. I know that man city are a strong side and we are playing them at Etihad but hopefully the second half will be a bit more promising for us.

Stop reading so much into my posts. You took it way too personally, because I didn't even quote you. I just said that even though Lukaku, Feruz and Ba are great, we shouldn't put all our hopes on them three. Only reason I brought up Feruz as third striker is that obviously Torres won't cut it. (Looking back I see that you suggested him as our third striker, I wasn't aware of that so nothing personal.) No way how and why you brought in Torres and Benitez as I didn't mention them in any form. I've got no idea why are you being so hostile towards me.

Never have I said anything bad about them three and you know it. I disagree with anyone who are EXTREME in their views. Rupert is extreme pro Benitez/Torres and you are extreme anti Benitez/Torres. I opt for the golden middleway and try to stay open in my views not blaming one person for all the bad things happening in this club. I get that this is the Internet and our IDs are 'hidden' but that doesn't mean we should say anything that comes in our minds, let's stay civilized and respect different opinions. Last words, not going to bother.

And again someone manages to trash a thread with the idiotic Torres/Benitez arguments. Not going to sink that low because you will beat me in your game.

Lukaku has been great and is definitely one for the near future, but I can't really picture us going against a top opposition in a CL game with Ba/Lukaku/Feruz. No doubt every man on that list is a great footballer and an asset but hoping that strikers with practically no experience in an European competition can be our saviors seems to be a bit of a wishful thinking. Not to mention that despite all the creativity in our side, the lone striker gets little to no chance to score unless he is very good and adapted. (Like Drogba was.)

Team before personal glory. I think Clark would rather register a win than regret it later on, plus Lukaku will get a big praise from the crowd when he goes off.

Miroslav Klose would have been our answer for a proper striker. The German international of Polish decent is a natural CF and has succeeded everywhere with his prone eye for poaching and timing.