OneMoSalah

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.

To be honest hes been the most reliable English LB in the league so far this season (Baines as good as he is going forward is the most overrated defensive player on the go) and Southampton also have got Clyne who has been the most reliable English RB in the league at the moment.... even though none of them are in the England team, which is ridiculous given that John Stones has started at RB for England. I was speaking to a mate of mines who is a Southampton fan and his family who are Southampton fans and they have said that as gutted as they were to see Shaw go they reckon Bertrand has been just as good if not better so far this season and they also think Tadic is a better footballer than Lallana and Pelle much better than Lambert. I think we will sell Ryan at the end of this season to Southampton for the £10M or £12M or whatever it is and honestly I think that is a good deal on both halves. We will generate a big fee for someone who cost £150k or whatever it was when we got him at a young age where as Southampton get a pretty experienced player who has played in a Champions League final, the Premier League and also the Europa League.

To be honest I'm still surprised we didn't keep him here. Sure perhaps he wanted to be a guaranteed starter but hes English, still youngish and would have been decent for us if we got an injury at fullback. Nathan Ake looks like hes going to be used more as a left sided fullback than a center halve but still I reckon he could have done with a loan this year to keep improving as a player.

Don't know if he can actually decline himself but managers like Harry Redknapp and Fergie have said before they have had players go to them and ask them to tell their national team coach they are injured or struggling with an injury or whatever. He does need to be watched very carefully, everything that happened to him towards the end of last season at Atleti under Simeone could potentially happen again if we aren't careful.

........and we need none of those players. I still don't get why people are concerned that we don't have enough 'world class players' or more than enough good players in our team because we do. Realistically is Paul Pogba better than Cesc Fabregas? No. Is Reus much better than Hazard? No, debatable that hes better than him in the first place. Is Varane better than John Terry? Doubt it. Maybe when Terry hangs up his boots we should replace him but I think we won't get Varane or someone, we will go and get an established player who is in his best years, someone who's about 25 or 26 years old.

Must win game. Would prefer to see us play as a 4-3-3/4-1-4-1 rather than 4-2-3-1 but who knows. I'd imagine since Sporting are at home they will look to keep the ball and take the game to us from the beginning which could suit us down to the ground if we play more on the counter as we are the away team. Not saying we wouldn't beat Sporting if we went gun ho but we need to get a win and after that goal we conceded in the Schalke game I wouldn't be surprised if we were a bit more cautious against a fairly decent side. Courtois Ivanovic - Cahill - Terry - Luis Matic Schurrle - Ramires - Cesc - Hazard Costa Wait is Ramires injured?

Yeah. Bit worrying too sometimes young guys in poor teams, like Wilshere at Bolton a few years ago, can get a grip of the game by the scruff of the neck and try and change it but Nat didn't really look like doing that today. Hopefully he will get a better loan in January than Burnley, who are going to be struggling all season.

If Schurrle can get a run in the team and keep getting shooting opportunities like tonight, I believe he will score about 15 goals this season. Think hes one of those guys who needs a sequence of goals to start a decent run. Sure he only got 3 shots on target out of 12 but hes getting shooting opportunities due to him not being afraid to shoot when others would maybe pass and that itself is encouraging giving how Hazard and Willian sometimes refuse to shoot when in a decent position a lot last season.

The thing with Eden is, he might not score a goal or get an assist in every game but you have to look at how much space he creates for others and opportunities for others to assist by eliminating players in 1v1s, going past a few players or attracting more players to deal with him leaving others free. Its a sort of similar situation (although in a different way due to different playing styles) with a player I admire a lot in Luka Modric, when he was at Spurs and we were linked with him, people questioned his goals and assists a lot and the same has happened in Spain as well. He doesn't always directly assist or score but the nature of his game means hes involved in the goals, be it finding that pass in behind a pivot or defense that opens the spaces up for someone like James, Ronaldo, Bale or Benzema to create a chance or in the past Lennon, Bale, Van Der Vaart etc. The pass that is 2 or 3 passes before a goal is sometimes the most important part of a move. Its also the same with the dribble that is 2 or 3 passes before a goal at times. I read somewhere Eden has completed 31 take-ons already this season, obviously a player of his talent you want to see him scoring 20-25 goals a season or whatever but when hes going up against fullbacks and beating them and dragging others out of position to deal with him, hes having a big effect on the game even without scoring or assisting directly. He needs to keep it up, his problem last year was consistency, hopefully he keeps a high performance level through the season. He should be looking for at least 10-15 goals and 10-15 assists but if he plays very well and drags players out of position by beating people then players like Cesc, Costa, Schurrle etc. all have more space and time on the ball at times too. I know the Modric thing is a bit off topic and maybe not 110% comparable but yeah haha....

Really confused by his form since the turn of the year. Needs to get himself together. Hes not playing every week now so hes got to be a bit fresher than he was last season surely? Hope he gets out of his rut, hes a good player but I haven't seen much of it in a Chelsea shirt since the first 3 or 4 months of last season.

Love this guy, embodies everything I feel Chelsea FC is about. Winner, passionate, hard working and a bullish fighting spirit. Always has an influence, no goals today but he said himself he won't score every game. 32M is a snip.

They had 10 men and we fucked a 1-0 lead, bitterly disappointed, although one point isn't too bad but really against 10 men with a 1-0 lead you'd expect to take 3 points. City were on top with 11 but when they had 10 we should of had won the game. Costa hitting the post was desperately unlucky. A game where the subs made the differences really. Although Ramires I thought made some very vital interceptions and tackles. Andre's goal was great too. Still top of the league but we should have 8 points over City, not 6.

There was a bit of both. Various photos appeared on social media of both red hand of Ulster salutes and Nazi salutes. Obviously doing either salute next to war monuments doesn't help their case in case its misinterpreted but still a joke at the same time. The riots were started by unionists, which as you can guess contain a shit load of Rangers fans - not all of them are tarred with the same brush obviously but there was a fair share of them there with the unionists that were rioting despite the No vote winning. Doesn't matter who turned up in the end was it the CSC or GB, the unionists started the riots.

Got to be the most embarrassing thing Scotland will ever do. We get the chance to vote to become an independent country, half the world was watching, hoping we did do it and then we fucking make a tit of ourselves by voting no. Brilliant. Now Rangers fans have been making Nazi salutes next to war monuments and a Yes voter has even been stabbed. Fucking scum. George Osbornes announced £37 billion of austerity cuts too to top it all off. Well done Scotland.....

Perhaps yes but Cesc's mistake starts it, then Ramires' fails to take Draxler out before Ivanovic also fails to get a touch on the ball or even take the man and then Cahill makes the biggest error and isn't anywhere near tight enough near Huntelaar. Willian came back but if he tries to even touch the ball when Huntelaar's back is to him before he shoots, he probably fouls him.