Slam Dunk

Better by Torres.

Fuck me. Come on boys.

That's the difference a good delivery makes.

Good call. Bertrand off. Bad decision to start him though.

Corners need to go past the first man...

Christ, how slow were we to get back there?

De Bruyne would do well in this midfield I reckon. Romeu's range of passing is fantastic. Bertrand is adding nothing except pace. Azpilicueta is turning into a very astute buy.

The team's not playing well, yet as per usual, it's all Torres' fault. Obviously. *This doesn't mean Torres is playing well before you all start.

Luiz showing some good leadership when we lack it.

Come on, he did well to get the shot away there.

Come on Ivan, Berba ain't that strong.

First thing Benitez should've taught the team? Football doesn't work if you stand still when you haven't got the ball.

Note to Benitez... Blue tie next time

Can understand Mata being rested, he's going to need it sooner or later. We just need to find a way to play well without him... Nothing worse than becoming over reliant on one player. Bertrand on the wing though? Would've gone for Moses myself.

No, I know that, but if 64 teams are allowed to participate, I just have a feeling it'll go the same way as the Europa League. Depends how much these new 'qualifying rounds' affect the big teams though I suppose. I reckon UEFA would want to protect the bigger clubs anyway and all we'll end up with is an extra couple of rounds of pointless games nobody cares about. Good idea to scrap the EL though. Would rather we just not bother with it if we go out of the CL this year. Mind you, I grew up with the UEFA Cup and the Cup Winners' Cup so i've always been against it.

Stupid idea. Sort of ruins the entire point of the Champions League.

He seems to be saying the right things in the press conferences, from which you can tell he's obsessed with detail, organisation, attitude and commitment. I think i'm at the stage of 'optimistic acceptance' with him now.

Excellent read SeB, good job. Now i'm looking forward to tomorrow's game, purely to see how Benitez sets the team up against a lower team, just because I want to know how much the cautious approach to Sunday's game was down to the fact it was his first game and he wanted to avoid defeat at all costs.

Would be nice to see some rotation in the team. Better start doing it now Mr. Benitez, or you'll end up regretting it later. Reckon Moses/Romeu might be in with a shout at starting. Can't see Marin starting, but he should surely get some game time here. Hilario Ferreira - Ivan - JT - Cole Lampard - Essien Benayoun - Mata - Malouda Torres Think that's the oldest team we could've played with this year. That better mate?

Can't stand Ridgewell. Good on Rom for volunteering to take that one though.

Frank looks so uncomfortable.

I heard 'tactically', but Mata's accent might be disguising it as something else. Also thought he said 'persons who came with him', referring to Zenden, the fitness guy and the analyst, not 'person' which makes it sound like he doesn't know who Bolo is.

*Tactically

#2000!

Can guarantee most of them will be back as soon as we win a few games.