CHOULO19

It was just a little knock and he was only left out of the Cardiff game as a precaution and because we didn't really need him. I don't that will affect Jose's team selection.

Agree about Mata, this isn't his kind of game at all. Willian's work-rate looks great so far, but I don't think he's fit in 100% yet.

I think he will. Draxler, on the left for Schalke, have been by far their best player and has been involved in 3 of their 4 CL goals this season (scored 2 and assisted 1). Andre is the best defensively among our possible options at RW, so it only makes sense to start him. Plus, Andre knows Schalke and German football the best among our players, so his experience there could be valuable.

It's not down to the FA but what the ref wrote in his match report. If he reported misconduct by Jose, the FA have to charge him. At least that's my understanding of the matter.

Match preview here by @Barbara.

I think Jose is cooking something up tactically. He had the final training session at Cobham instead of in Germay as is usually the case to keep the session private. Draxler has scored two and assisted one of Schalke's 4 CL goals. Expect Schurrle to start on his side to help defend against him.

Bump.

I've watched a couple of his matches so far and while he scored in both, he missed a couple as well which goes along with what he was doing with the U21s. He can come up with some great finishing but can also miss sitters. Bamford usually gets a lot of chances each match because his movement is miles ahead of his age and anything in league one. At 20, it is only natural that his finishing still needs improvement.

I'll pass on Luiz in midfield. He gets caught on the ball in defense where he has time and space. He's a nightmare in midfield where he has no space and time and still trying to dribble with the ball. Plus his positional sense in midfield is very weak which is only natural for a defender.

I think Garry Neville put it perfectly. The EPL and the English "pundits" are not used to defenders like Luiz. It's a cultural difference and no one style has to be wrong and the other right.

Brilliant as per usual. I would've liked if Lampard's contribution was highlighted because I thought it was his best game for us this season. He was much more disciplined, his passing, which has been way off so far this season, was miles better as he tried to keep it simple of going for the Hollywood pass most of the time. His overall work rate was better as well. A minor note about Bertrand, he was our leading passer in the final third! Most of them were to Hazard as you mentioned but 8 of them were to Eto'o which highlights both Eto'os good movement yesterday and Ryan's attacking contribution. Oh, and I thought Luiz should have got at least -50 for the goal!

I thought the way he controlled the ball in the crowd, created space with quick feet then finished coolly and clinically was very Raul-esque. I loved his celebration, btw. Very passionate and the way he ran towards the fans was great to see.

Most notably Huntelaar, Farfan, Papadopoulos and Hoeger from their usual starting XI. Kevin-cunt Boateng is expected to be back for this game.

Pique wouldn't make the bench at any top PL team. He just suites Barca because of his ability on the ball.

Well, you need to try to get lucky which is more than our strikers do most of the time.

Don't remember which game, but I remember he came on as LB in a game last season. Maybe when Ash was injured.

Yeah, that was Italian, my bad!

The game at the bridge, the one that saw ballack's return, was actually Andre's CL debut. Kind of a weird coincidence that he made his CL debut where he'd end up playing. Destiny!

It's probably down to sentimental reasons, but I thought Ballack is always excellent when sky get him for the CL. Al Jazeera also got Jose a few times for the last Euros which was beyond brilliant! Wenger has a weekly segment there as well which is rather good, tbh. He's surprisingly rational and honest.

Inter are the Liverpool of Italy. You can always count on them to make you feel better after a bad result

Hey there, closet Inter fan. How's your loser team doing right now?

Haha, my bad "putana" is Italian not Portoguese

Not saying otherwise, just that Luiz thought Cech would get to it first and probably didn't see Mutch make a run.

Come back when you qualify to Europe. Mid-table shit don't get to talk about the best team in Italy's history

The goal was a misunderstanding between him and Cech and misjudgment from Luiz, but you weren't talking about the goal alone, were you? You were talking about the whole performance which wasn't up to his standards because he was slower and less sharp than usual because of the international break.