CHOULO19

Again, it is their job to come back and receive the ball from Mikel. How is Mikel supposed to find one of them between 7-8 defenders without risking loosing the ball? You expecting him to be both the DM and creative midfielder which is impossible for any player.

This explains his constant presence at our games: Sam ‏@daspecial_1 It would appear that Andriy Shevchenko's continual presence at #CFC is because he's doing his coaching badges here with the club. Not sure if that ignites or puts an end to the rumors that he will be offered some position at the club.. (PS: Why am I the only posting in this thread? Feels weird.)

Hazard on the game: http://www.chelseafc.com/news-article/article/3000862/title/hazard-deja-blue

He shouldn't and can't be expected to play such a pass. It is too risky. Sure it looks great if he pulls it off, but if he doesn't then we've lost the ball with only 5 players behind it. As a DM it his job to make 5-10 yard passes as it is the job of one of the 3 behind the striker to come within 5-10 yards to receive the ball so we don't risk loosing possession in midfield.

Btw, if Ashley features tonight he will be the 4th English player to reach 100 CL appearances.

Poll is up. Anyone with 3 or more nominations is up there. Vote! (PS: in the spirit of true democracy, I've made this poll private i.e. you can't see who each member is voting for, just the result)

I don't think, if we go out, that anyone is going to let us forget that we are the first champions to get knocked out of the group stages. So either way it will be a memorable night, but how we will remember it is what will differ.

I don't think so. We got 10 points (or should get) in a very tough group and were unlucky with how results went in other matches.

Dynamo Zagreb celebrating scoring a goal and earning a single point as if they won the CL. This is what pride means.

Tbf I've never heard of some of the players in their lineup. I mean Meade? Angha? Hajrovic?! On a different note, congratulations to Man City to be the first English team to participate in the CL and not win a single game.

Not sure about that because he has featured as a sub for them, if the board was punishing him they would not allow him to play like Malouda and Sniejder. His replacement, Aduriz, has also scored 8 goals in 12 matches (maybe we should sign him ) so he could be keeping him out of the side.

Hmm, tricky question. Huntelaar is definitely the better finisher and he can hold up play very well, but I am never a fan of signing 29yo strikers and tbh I am not a big fan of Huntelaar; I think he wasted his potential (I remember about 8 years back when he was supposed to be the next big thing). On the other hand, Llorente is a couple of years younger and can be a very good striker, but from what I've seen his problem is consistency. His form has also dropped a lot this year. The fact that Aduriz has been prefered to him at Belbao just says it all. So yes, I guess Huntelaar would be a better signing, depending on the fee of course.

I'm not familiar with whoscored so I honestly have no idea what stats are suggesting otherwise. But I did not say his work-rate is 10 times that of Lamps who is a box to box midfielder and naturally has better work rate. I said his defensive work rate is batter than Lampard. He always tracks back even when he is on the wing. And he knows when to press.

Discuss further here:

http://www.chelseafc...ace-deal-agreed Well this came out of the blue..

Wouldn't call it a collapse, but we just killed the game. He also said Torres is scoring a lot in practice...he also scores a lot in my FIFA manager mode, what does that count for?!

Maybe I just feel we are more fickle because I have to endure through the knee-jerk threads after every single match

Meanwhile, Torres is still acting (and finishing) like a pregnant lady:

No need to shout. Football fans are fickle (Chelsea fans in particular for some reason). We win tomorrow and Juve lose and suddenly everyone will be saying that we will win the CWC and retain the CL. There's no point shouting about it, the gloom is a reflection of our current state and will disappear as fast as it appeared once we win a couple of matches on the trot. Meanwhile... ... our season is fucked and will get relegated and all our players will leave and no one will ever want to manage us again and we will have to hire random people from the street to play and manage us.

I've watched enough of Kevin to see that his defensive work rate is 10 times that of Lampard. He always tracks back, and despite not putting in fancy sliding tackles, he knows where to position himself and how to defend.Just watch him when he plays as a CM for Bremen, he probably wins the ball back more than any of their midfielders. I'm not saying he will walk into the DP, but with proper instructions and some time he can be excellent there imo.

Well you completely missed my whole point. I was talking about emotions and the human psychological system while your post is about sportsmanlike conduct which are conscious actions. Never mind...just pretend I didn't say anything in the first place..

No he's still doing rehab training. From Rafa's conference: RB "It's never a bad time to challenge for a trophy, it's not easy preparing for Japan, but we will do our best" #CFC RB "Every training session the commitment is there, players want to win and they are working hard to perform" #CFC RB "The main thing for us is to win. Torres is an important player for us, but we need goals from other players too" #CFC RB "I am confident we'll do well tomorrow" CFC RB "We cannot be worrying about the other game tomorrow, we have to focus on winning our own game" #CFC RB "The players are working really hard, and training very well" #CFC RB "We have to analyse what happened in the second half on Sat, and provide a solution to ensure it doesn't happen again" #CFC RB "The players know we have to win, and win well tomorrow, we are ready" #CFC RB "There are a lot of positives to take from Saturday's game" #CFC RB "Tomorrow's game is still too early for JT and Frank Lampard" #CFC

No there isn't because it wouldn't be success if you are beating anyone. If you think otherwise give one example of a success without competition. Not mocking them, but taking pleasure from their defeat. I know it does not sound 'nice', and that's because humans aren't 'nice'. It is not something that can be explained in a post on a forum. I recommend Freud's illustration on the human's death instinct in "Civilization and it's Discontents" for a proper explanation. Didn't expect you to accept my ideas, just wanted to give a different perspective to the matter.

What does it matter if they are on the pitch or not? Footballers are people, and just like any people who are against you (be it in sport or not) you enjoy their suffering. Your pleasure from Bayern's pain when Drogba scored is the natural instinctive emotion for humans. The "compassion' you feel afterwards is the fear that you would be in their position some day. I did not mean to offend anyone or question anyone's loyalty to the team; my post was not directed at the barca game or all of football for that matter but general human nature. It was a mix of psychology and philosophy that I really expect very few people to accept but it is my belief.

Press conference in 10 mins. Is it on CTV?