Blue Armour

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The fans getting on his back just don't have a clue about Eden Hazard. He values his friends and past connections a lot. It is also how he approaches the game when playing. Carefree. Forever glad and grateful that he played for Chelsea, and glad that he got to play again at the Bridge.

Same place that Mount usually plays, behind the striker. It wouldn't be too dissimilar from how he played as an advanced member of the midfield in a 433, with Hazard (who was false 9) under Sarri. But like I said, it's an already crowded midfield, and I'm not sure who we could displace. Too many options. Of course, Tuchel could always change the formation to something different next season., so who knows.

Said it before, but I think Tuchel can extract more out of RLC, just like he has with our other midfielders...His comments about RLC today might have been just part of pre match banter, but they are interesting. The question is where RLC would fit in an already crowded midfield.

We should start Giroud at the opposite end just to piss Benzema off. Have a feeling that he's going to start regardless

Which means we must take every opportunity or risk to push for away goals..

Interesting..just realized our cup final clash against Real was 50 years ago in 1971.

It's weird isnt it? I'm wondering if the breakup clause in Mourinho's contract had something related to trophies delivered,..maybe Levy didn't want Mourinho to win a trophy before leaving

Exciting for many reasons... Champions league semifinals Our first meeting in the knockout stages of the UEFA CL against Madrid Hazard's first match with us after moving to Madrid.

Nice that he gets to meet Chelsea again, but wish it was in front of the fans. He would have got a very warm welcome at the Bridge.

Yeah that too..hopefully Cech without his mask on either, during the protest..only way to get himself heard, but massive risk.

Anyway, game aside. What a day for the club. Not sure what drove it, but respect to the club for having the guts to correct course in face of intense scrutiny. And most importantly, massive props for Chelsea fans who went out in protest.

This game was crying out for more energy from Chelsea, and he left Kante on the bench. Why have Kante on the bench if you're not going to use him? Granted you want to protect him, but not even for 15 mins? Should have brought on Kante and moved Mount further up., a lot sooner in the game. Also substituting Alonso to leave Pulisic as a wing back was complete waste of time. Also waited too long to bring on Giroud who is lacking match sharpness from barely playing, and is given just a few minutes to make an impact. This one is on Tuchel really.

Like @Magic Lamps said, these founder clubs and UEFA are most definitely going to reach a compromise. The latest ESL announcement is nothing but an opening shot. It's been a long time coming. Ever since Spurs and City started breaking into the top 4, the power players have been trying to protect their nest. FFP was one of the first signs. Now you have clubs like Newcastle also looking at getting foreign investment, to break into the elite circle that doesnt really want more competition. The one certainty in all this is that the current Champions league format is most definitely going to change. What I'm more worried about is the timing of this announcement and how it could potentially affect our remaining games this season. Refereeing decisions, and the rest are all likely going to come into question. I doubt that they will go to the extreme of docking points (not without warning at least) or kicking teams out of existing competitions, but this goes beyond that. Will managers like Tuchel still want to be involved in something like this? Hope he and the team are able to shut out all the noise and keep themselves 100% focused on the remaining games., at least for this season. Pre match conferences are going to be very interesting over the next few weeks.

Lovely.

Any chance he could travel with the Madrid squad, even if unfit? Would have been nice if he was on the Stamford Bridge pitch to get his return,..and also nicer if there were fans to welcome him.

Not any better than Atletico? Sorry, but you should watch some of the more recent La Liga matches. Atletico have sucked balls ever since we faced them in the CL, and Madrid are miles above them right now. EDIT: Granted AM are top of the table atm., but barely We better hope Kovacic is fit by the time of the first leg of the CL. Same goes for Kante.

Double post

I'm saying it again. We need to focus on getting above Leicester and Spurs to secure a top 4 spot.

First time listening to an audio interview of him today. Surprisingly sounds a lot like Michael Ballack when speaking, especially given how young he is!

Not sure why Souness keeps saying that Havertz goal was just down to bad goalkeeping, and nothing to do with his finish. Does he have an agenda?

LMAO, seriously? What a way to bounce back from the West Brom game, eh?

Good. Don't even care about the West Ham game to be honest, even if they do go ahead in the table. We need to focus on picking up more points than Leicester in the coming games., and the all important 6 pointer against them next month.

Couldn't catch the west Brom game because I was traveling, but what a horrible result to come across when checking the score. Anyway,..I said this more than a month ago,...Man City, Man Utd and Liverpool are nailed on to finish in the top 4. It may have looked absurd when Liverpool went on a losing streak at home, but they are well placed to recover. IMO, Leicester and Spurs are our biggest threats, and we need to look at closing the gap on Leicester. 5 point gap at the moment, but I fancy our chances at closing that gap more than our chances of keeping Liverpool out of the top 4.