CHOULO19

Looks more unfit to me.. He's just a yard behind everyone atm.

Apparently, it varies depending on the color of the jersey....

Either I don't get the violent conduct rules or their implementation varies wildly. Can someone explain ti me how that was only yellow for Dier??!

Bakayoko is very clearly not match fit. Very weird decision to play him here...

Alvaro needs to put that one behind him and score the next. Don't get many chances like that against Spurs..

Shit, is it match day already? I guess the way to look at this day would be that it is perfectly set up for a famous CFC upset and that Tottenham don't usually do too well when they are favorites for anything. Hope the players are ready to dig deep today...Come on you BLUES!

You can also look at it that our depleted team is still better than the Newcastle side that kept their own (with 11) against Spurs at the weekend. But really, we're more clutching at straws at this point. There's no two ways about this, Tottenham come into this one as clear favorites.

I know that is the most likely XI, but I hadn't really considered it all together until you wrote it down... ...all I will say is that Conte should be given another season extension..and a bloody statue outside the brige if we manage to beat Spurs with that lineup!

My best guess is that we're going to see Luiz in midfield, unless Conte wants to give us another surprise like Boga today. Speaking of whom, Boga himself might start again if Pedro isn't fit for this. This is going to be....interesting to say the least.

I don't think we went AWOL as a team in the first half. That's not to say that we played well or that we didn't improve massively in the second half. But we were pretty comfortable until the sending off. Sure we were lacking some sharpness in our passing, but it was the first match of the season. Even after the sending off, we certainly weren't 3 goals worse than Burnley in terms of performance. We made ridiculous mistakes 'defending' crosses into the box and Burnley to their credit took every single chance they got. But no one would have said it was massively unfair had went into the break goalless with that performance. But of course scorelines are all that matter in the end...

Some positives from this are that morata has hit the ground running and hopefully eased any doubts some had about him. Christensen was good but we already knew that. Hopefully Rudiger has put a stop to all the nonsense that was being said about him by a lot of fans. Thought he was out best player until Morata came on. Also, great to see the fight from all the team, but for me, particularly Luiz whom I thought lacked a bit of his competitive edge last season. The negatives are obviously the dropped points, but also, WHO the hell plays in central midfield next week??

Well that was....dramatic. At least no one can accuse us of being boring..

You have a terrible imagination, then!

I do hope he's right but I'm not expecting him to be..

Unfortunately, Dan Levene is a xenophobic idiot who know never knows what he is talking about.

No we wouldn't. No one would have blinked an eye is the ref gave yellow there. I can see why he might go for red, but this a friendly and a red card carries into the PL. Ref has to use his head there and not give a red. Awful refereeing.

Honestly couldn't care less who wins on pens, what I care about is Pedro being suspended while Eden is still out injured!

Complete stab in the dark, but I think he has a bit too much bicep or shoulder muscles.

@Pizy right on cue!

Ideally of course both need replacing but I think we can afford to have Moses because while he is frustrating his mistakes are rarely as directly costly as Alonso's.

That's because they were playing VERY high while we played with with a low block to accommodate Cesc. But in term of actual chances and danger on goal it was pretty even.

Pretty even half all in all, but we certainly could and should step it up a notch. Think it should come as a surprise to no one that Cesc can't play in a 2-man midfield against the top sides and we need an upgrade on Alonso.

Is it just my TV or is the angle of camera REALLY not working well with the sunshine?

Don't care about the Community Shield but we need to win here to start the season with confidence and momentum. Also, I hope the board have a look at our bench to realize how badly we need a couple more depth signings.

THIS IS THE REAL TEST!