CHOULO19

*phew* Still, we should make sure that his 5th yellow 'happens to be' before a game were we can afford to rest him.

How many yellow cards does he have? Is he on 4 already like Cesc? Can't afford to lose him against Liverpool.

To the people saying he can never be a Chelsea starting XI player, how much of Gladbach have you seen this season? They are not AT ALL far behind us. They're second in the Bundes Liga and have not lost any matches in any competitions this season. They're playing some excellent football. Imo, they are just lacking the killer instinct and the ability to break down teams that defend deep (what Jose would call "balls") to be a really top team. They're certainly better than many teams in the CL this season including all 3 of the teams in our group. Granted, Thorgan is not a starter for them yet (hopefully the goal mid-week earns him another start in their next match), but he's not far off at all. He comes on in almost every match and starts in the cup and the EL. I have no idea why people would want to write him off when he clearly has talent and room for development.

Don't pretend you don't like it!

I think people are forgetting how dreadful he was at united. I honestly don't think he'll adapt well to the league or the team for that matter. I get that we need to sign a CB in the next two windows, and I get why Pique would seem like a great choice: He's experienced, won literally everything and is homegrown. But I just think he would be a huge risk.

Only on TalkChelsea would a match thread get turned into counseling for thehappyone's girl troubles!

But we already know that about Andre and Salah, don't we? They have terrible decision making in the final third, even Oscar's is inconsistent and even Hazard's is not not par with top forwards. And I reckon Salah and Schurrle were extra desperate on Tuesday because they are trying to get into the team.

They play very different football than what our players, especially the light weights like Salah, are used to. They were very very physical and like I said, the ref was not getting any cards out which encourages them to be even more physical. Add to that the terrible pitch and weather conditions. Means absolutely nothing in which league they play in when they want to defend in numbers and play physically. Last night I watched a team of amateurs (literally) keep up with Real Madrid for 45 minutes and only conceded from 2 corners. Those kind of teams are difficult to break down. I do agree with Pat Nevin's analysis that we did make it difficult for ourselves by not trying to keep the ball in midfield and by going for the hollywood pass and long range shot way too often. But I do think we played decently in the second half. End of the day, we go through to the next round and we got Derby who I genuinely believe will be easier than Shrewsburry and we can play a couple of youngsters again. So, it's all good.

See? Being a man-whore has its advantages...

You two are weird...

No need to scream about it... To be fair, I'd take him as a backup keeper for Thibaut next season

Pique has already failed the premiere league test at united, why would we take it with him again?

Israeli-American political crisis? Nah, I don't buy it. It's just that the Israeli government's actions, particularly in Al Quds, have become inexcusable even for the the shifty US regime that can justify almost anything. They'll get the UN to 'condone' Israel (I bet that has them shaking in their boots!) and the stealing of land, burning of olives, killing of protesters...etc. will continue.

That's nothing, I remember a team we drew last season or the season before (I can't remember who, maybe Boro) had something like 12 consecutive away draws before they were draw at home to us!

Who are all those QPR fans? Their stadium is always empty!

That just sounds so wrong!

Talk about emphatic finish! http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x28wa6n_goal-hazard-frankfurt-0-1-monchengladbach-29-10-2014_sport

Can someone explain his face? thanks.

I like how he seems to be growing in confidence. Looks a lot more comfortable now than when he first broke through under Rafa. Still needs to improve his decision making which will naturally improve with experience.

I think he has the goals in the FA cup final and semifinal as well as the goal against Stoke in the league from a Mata through ball IIRC.

Just watched the second half and boy do people around here love to whine! I half expected us to be shooting at our own goal by the comments here! But it was an average performance by the team. The Pitch was terrible and the grass was way too long and the weather conditions pretty bad which all combined to make moving the ball on the ground very difficult and slow, Shrewsburry played very very physically and the ref was really not helping us out by not producing any cards. But despite all that, we were pretty comfortably in control of the game, they scored with the only chance in the half which came from lapse of concentration from Zouma. They were back on level terms with us for just 4 minutes. We raised our game when we needed to. Schurrle wasn't good but I don't think Salah was nearly as bad as people are trying to make him out. He was trying to make things happen but we already know that his decision making in the final third is pretty bad. All in all, it was a league cup game, and we had a bunch of youth and fringe players in the XI. We got the win without getting out of first gear and gave some youngsters a chance. There is absolutely nothing to moan about!

Yes. Exactly this. We setup first and foremost to win. Giving chances to youth players is a secondary objective and I think we managed to combine the two to the best we can yesterday. And Solanke was not needed on the bench because Brown can play striker as well. No point keeping him from the U21s if he's not going to get any minutes. Still can't see how what Jose said is different from what has happened. No of course Baker can't do what Oscar does! There is a reason why one is a Brazil international and the other plays for our U21 side! We only think that the youngsters like Christensen and Ake are MOTM because it's 'cool' to play youth and we see them once or twice a year in unimportant matches. If you think our backups are shit, imagine what you'd say about our youth players if they were regulars with the team!

Can we just take a moment to laugh at Fullham who were 2-0 in the 45th minute against Derby and went on to lose 5-2!

Why? Because Baker is not anywhere near the level Oscar. Not even close. I can't believe I need to even state this. And because we had Salah and Ake we couldn't afford to have Baker as well. I repeat: The squad needs a certain balance even against Shrewsburry and I think Jose got it exactly right as is evident by the very close game.