OneMoSalah

Hopefully Ramires is back. Play 4-3-3 with Matic shielding and Ramires and Cesc ahead of him. United are a different animal to Arsenal in terms of midfield, will they go for a diamond against us or what? Van Gaal will probably go for a 3 man midfield of some sort just to get Herrera, Blind and Di Maria in the team. Blind and Herrera give them quite a bit of aggressiveness to their midfield as well as Di Maria's work rate and pace giving them legs. Can't underestimate United, their defence might be poor but they will be up for it at home surely. 2-0 Chelsea though.

I've been very impressed with this lad ever since Steve Clarke gave him a run of games for West Brom a few seasons ago, for his age his starts to goals record is incredible. I think its basically a goal in every 2 games. Also he has a great record for England U21s IIRC. If we didn't have Bamford and Solanke then I'd say go for it but maybe next season when Drogba probably retires only issue is hes not gonna start ahead of Diego Costa and Remy will still be here as well as Bamford will come back from his loan spell.

What Atletico are gonna be replacing a number 8/10(also their best player) with a number 6 (good young player but hardly Koke's level)? lol

Diego's already had about 3953959 injuries in 10 weeks according to the press, fuck knows how hes gonna make it through his 5 or 6 year contract.

If we sell someone first, like Schurrle or Willian or Oscar then yes we should go for him but I can't see it.

Its fair to say Cesc Fabregas is every bit as good a footballer as Mesut Ozil if not better. What a silly bastard Wenger is. Anyway great performance (except for Cahill's awful reckless challenge). Its out of Oscar, Cesc, Ivanovic, Hazard for MOTM.

The big man always delivers in big games. People have been very critical of him this year but when it comes to the big games, the ones you call '6 pointers', he always steps up and is always rock solid. Alexis Sanchez is a very very very good player perhaps even world class and he was in Branna's back pocket all afternoon. Absolutely excellent performance.

What a run for the penalty, was Messi like, he just eliminated 3 players as if they weren't there and in general he was a threat through out the whole game.

to be honest hes just a failed winger who can't defend, utter shite.

Against the bigger teams, we usually sit compact, press them in phases and counter against them (or what you call parking the bus) and against Arsenal I think we will again. Why play into Arsenal's hands? They play best when you play openly, with lots of space in between the lines and commit men forward so they can pick you off 1 by 1. Depleted squad or not due to injury or the fact we've not lost yet doesn't mean we can go out and play with 7 or 8 men in the oppositions half against a big team without keeping a bit of defensive solidification straight away. People seem to underestimate the quality they have in Ramsey, Wilshere (although both of them injured), Cazorla, Ozil and Sanchez in midfield. We play best against them when we give them very little opportunities to play penetrating passes between the lines and press them high early on and disrupt their rhythm. I doubt a Jose Mourinho team will ever go into a big game, 11 v 11 and play without some sort of defensive aspect in his game plan like parking the bus at times while playing with a high energy midfield triangle as he called it at Real (which will be Cesc furthest forward and Ramires and Matic behind him).

If people are complaining about his 'lack of' productivity at times, look at how many chances he has created for Chelsea since moving here....

Yes 5 of the 8 goals we have conceded may have come from the right but its not always Ivanovic's fault. Some were but you can't always look to blame the right back who is normally up past the half way line as most of the time we are playing in the oppositions half. I am not Ivanovic's biggest fan some times but he has been pretty good so far this season, sometimes mistakes we are making with possession of the ball higher up the park lead to teams countering against us and exposing the right hand side because he's so advanced to support the attack. Also I think SeB said this a lot before that Cahill isn't the best at covering his full back which certainly doesn't help at times too or having certain wingers losing their man (Schurrle losing and not tracking Milner v City). I am not leaping to Branna's defense, no way, he has had some bad moments in goals we have conceded but 5 of those 8 we have conceded are not all his fault. The thing is if you make a mistake as a defender its more likely to cost the team than as a winger, central midfielder, #10 or striker.

The circumstances haven't changed. Gibbs is still an average defender who plays in a team where full backs play very high with little protection in midfield.

He played against them last year though and had no problems with Koscielny or Gibbs 'tracking his runs'. Still think he shouldn't start, Willian should in his place.

Yes but that doesn't count for anything this season.

Same as at the Bridge last year hopefully. Sit compact, press them and then exploit them on the counter. Hopefully Willian or even Salah starts ahead of Schurrle, his finishing was woeful tonight.

Creating good chances, just not taking them. Costa should have scored. Schurrle should have scored. Salah should have scored. Sporting gave it a real go in the second half and credit to them they put us under a bit of pressure at times. How Cedric stayed on the park I don't know, he must of fouled Eden at least 10 times.

To be honest last year when teams played against Chelsea they very much set up firstly to stop Chelsea playing but they also went about nullifying the threat of Hazard more than any player by doubling up on him and preventing him from playing 1v1 in dangerous areas. Now that we have Diego Costa and Cesc Fabregas, I think that gives him a bit more freedom knowing that hes not always gonna be the only player teams really worry about when they face us so he should have a better season than last year, as he doesn't have to carry the team by himself.

Na I can't see it now to be honest. Salah signing was the nail in his Chelsea career.

Who knows what he could have gotten last season if we had him instead of someone like Schurrle or Salah or whoever. He had an impressive pre-season before going on loan as well if you remember.

To be honest I am generally surprised van Gaal dropped him to play Rooney as a number 10.... I think Rooney's better as a striker than a number 10 but I suppose van Gaal has to get Falcao and (an under performing) RvP in his team. Still don't think United will get rid of him that easily either, Rooneys got a 3 game ban, van Persie's legs are going and there's constant talk of injuries/surgeries so he will get plenty of games. Still he made his decision and to be honest he could have still been a part of the team here but he chose not to and now hes perhaps having a bit of deja vu although I think van Gaal is stupid not dropping van Persie who has been terrible since the start of last season. Anyway... I suppose going back to Valencia could be interesting for him, they have a new owner who seems to be spending money but I doubt they will ever become a force like Atletico, Real and Barca.

For someone who was 23, started in maybe 15 or 20 games that whole season, made European debuts and played for a team fighting for a top 4 place and not relegation, I think its more than good enough. Footballs a squad game these days, having players who can come in as a sub or start when you need to rest players or whatever and get that sort of return is more than good enough and anyone who thinks otherwise would be mad to think like that.

I think I just seen someone say Ramires doesn't have a creative bone in his body and they would rather see Mikel pass the ball than Ramires (which I can't disagree with because Mikel takes very little risks when perhaps some players would, keeps the ball moving and rarely gives away possession) but they want Khedira, who is just as average a passer as Ramires and rarely plays risky forward passes? Cmon man. Khedira is a big presence in midfield and if we didn't have Matic then he'd be a useful buy but hes not exactly a necessity because we have Nemanja. Ramires provides the same bite and has the ability to carry the ball up the park. If it ain't broke don't fix it.

I feel that £20M is a joke price for a player who has had one 'good' season in the PL. Sure he's a decent player but I doubt he'd ever start ahead of Ivanovic or Azpilicueta to be honest and quite frankly I'd prefer we got value for money. If you said to me we could pay £20M for Seamus Coleman or £20M for, lets say, Juanfran from Atletico (not literally but someone of that level), well you'd have to be daft to pick Coleman in my eyes. British players are overpriced, that won't change.

Think Costa starting is the right thing for the team. Hes scoring goals and hes very much like the Drogba of old where even if he doesn't score against Sporting hes constantly battling with defenders, tiring them out so if Remy comes on hes getting a run out against tired legs who have had a physical encounter with a player like Costa but I think he'll score a goal or two surely. We should win this game but the intensity, urgency and you could say passion perhaps that wasn't there against Schalke, needs to be there. Sporting won't compromise their style at home as their coach has said so we need to press them high or sit off them and play on the counter. Really interesting to see who starts at LB, would think Luis will start but who knows? Sporting's wide players Nani and Carrillo are very very fast so maybe Azpilicueta on the right and Luis on the left would be a good idea instead of using Branna on the right, who is a bit slow and lethargic at times.