Superblue

United I think will be worried purely on the basis that Atletico have a reputation for shit-housing their way to wins worse than United do. It could very easily end up being the most unwatchable tie.

On a pure basis of chances drawing Lille would be 25% on both occasions, I think to draw them back to back would be around 6%. However, I'm sure I read before the draw that the team we were most likely to play was Real Madrid. No idea how it was calculated but they were a higher percentage than the other three, which if true would actually mean drawing Lille back to back would be an even lower percentage probability.

Be interesting I think if Real Madrid draw us or PSG as they are apparently raging that their draw should remain as it was done before the cock up. They are very much the type to challenge UEFA on it too...

I haven't said that Ajax are easy. Any team realistically getting out of the group stage should not be a walkover. However, I would still expect us to beat Ajax if we're drawn against them.

Not a great result and performance last night but somewhat expected with the team that was put out. I think it was the right opportunity for Tuchel to try a couple of different options like James in midfield and Saul wing back because options are limited at the moment with the midfielders we have out injured and Saul clearly not working in there. We'll have to see who we get in the draw but the idea of having to win the group I think is flawed, even more so in the current format where the league champions are seeded in the group and more likely therefore to lead to groups with two top teams within. For me the two teams I would really want to play that early in the Champions League is Bayern and PSG and either 1st or 2nd place finish would give us a chance of drawing one of them. Real Madrid aren't the team they once were and are very much beatable and Ajax and Lille we'd be strong favourites.

They've had an excellent season so far and whilst I'd rather it be somewhere else than West Ham, I'm glad that Moyes is rebuilding his career because I think he did a really top job at Everton for a long time and got the rawest of deals at United that ruined him for a long time. However, they have also dropped off since the international break only taking 1 point from the last 3 games so this might be a good time to play them so long as we can get a couple of key players back fit in time. You can only believe that Tuchel will be doing everything to ensure that we won't see a repeat of the lacklustre nature of last night's performance any time again soon.

Definitely they've both set the benchmark and as you said have shown the recent experience and expertise for a title fight. At present, 14 games in, we're trending towards 90 points for the season. I think realistically getting the experience and exposure of a title race this season and running it hard to the end of the season will be a significant improvement on everything since Conte's first season. to As you mentioned remains to be seen how we can handle the pressure later in the season if we're still in the race but I do think we've shown a lot more mettle in games this season than we have in recent seasons to grind results out and find ways to win which can hopefully only bode well.

Never going to play well every game throughout a season. We were desperately poor tonight but when it's games like this it's all about grinding the 3 points out. I don't think we were nearly this bad against Brentford but we did take a hammering from them in the last half hour and struggled. But that is two games that we've managed to pick up maximum points when really not having any right to. It bodes well for the season because I do feel that Liverpool and City have a tendency to drop points if they don't play well, which both have recently.

Lukaku will never fall into the Kepa category. I don't think there will ever be a worse signing when you break the world record for a keeper and he turns out to be a bust. At least with outfield players if things don't turn out how you'd hope they can still play a role within the squad. A second choice keeper, barring injuries, will be lucky to play half a dozen games a season. I'm definitely not giving up on Lukaku though. I think he needs to adapt to the way we play compared to how Conte did at Inter. It might be a back 3 but that's where the comparisons stop between Tuchel and Conte. However I believe Tuchel will get really good mileage out of Lukaku. There's few players who haven't benefited from him since he's been here. Of course he has deficiencies to his game but he will score goals and if we're challenging for the title this season his presence up top could be the difference between 3 points and 1 point in some games.

It is two tough league games though, you have to expect Conte will have Spurs in better condition by then and City away will be the hardest test on paper of the season. I did read somewhere that countries can call the players up I think a week before at their discretion so there is the possibility he misses Liverpool but then I guess on the flip side they would also lose Mane in that situation and possibly Salah.

With everything now seemingly set in stone, which games is Mendy expected to miss due to AFCON?

I guess we'll have a bit more clarity on the situation hopefully at Tuchel's presser today.

Yes fingers crossed with this. If it's say a few weeks through to the end of the year or into January it's not ideal given the volume of games to come but it becomes far more of a manageable situation. Anything that becomes months or end of the season I feel will need to be addressed as a priority in January.

It's not beyond the realms of possibility. I don't think anyone expected Chalobah to come back and break through in the summer, and similarly that RLC would have earned as many minutes as he has so far this season. Tuchel has shown that if you're good enough and suit his system, he'll play the player and not the name.

With an ACL is the absolute minimum 3 months? Is it possible that a minor tear or even a sprain of some sorts can be a few weeks? Matt Law hasn't even confirmed it to be an ACL injury yet it's still a suspected one, which makes me wonder still whether it's quite as bad as feared. Hopefully with no surgery required it's something that can see him back for the business end of the season. I think Alonso can do a job in his absence it's just his lack of athleticism which hinders him. Chilwell and James' ability and desire to get up and down the pitch regularly and at pace has added a new dimension to our attack in recent weeks.

Even more impressive when one of those games we conceded five goals. Pretty sure that Villa away game is the only other match we've conceded more than once.

Some rumours he wants to stay in Europe one more season so would make sense for us to keep him here, even more so with question marks over a number of defender's futures. PSG must be kicking themselves every day that they gift wrapped Silva and then Tuchel to us.

I don't think the Lukaku signing is the issue. This happened at the end of the transfer window, there's been plenty of time before that to sort out Rudiger and Christensen. I haven't seen anything which suggests that either want to be the highest paid player ahead of Lukaku or Kante. From what I've read, Rudiger wants to be "amongst" the best paid players and Christensen it would appear is still being offered a deal which would put him in the bottom bracket of what our first team players earn. The bigger issue is when our backup goalkeeper is one of the highest paid players because he sets an obvious benchmark for any important and regular first team player in terms of what their likely self-worth would be. From what I've read also, Hudson-Odoi and Loftus-Cheek are also on huge contracts which neither have really warranted as of yet. This should be noted too this isn't simply a Chelsea problem, the majority of top clubs will have similar issues with players out of favour or underperforming on big contracts.

The contract situation is definitely a little concerning. I think Azpi and Silva will happily sign one year extensions at similar terms if offered and will prioritise staying here (and I think both will end up extending). Christensen I'm fairly confident will be resolved. I think there will be a middle ground found for him and his preference would be to stay here. Rudiger remains the one I'm unsure about. I think whilst he may prefer to remain at Chelsea, I don't think he'd have any reservations moving on if the right deal was available. I hope that all 4 sign new contracts.

I think it's far too early to judge Lukaku and I'm certain there will be games throughout the season where he is the difference maker between maximum points or not in some tight games. Saul currently looks like not working out but it's a loan signing to cover an area we were potentially weak in depth within. If he doesn't work out like it's looking then the risk has been kept to a minimum. Add to this too he's found solutions. We didn't sign Kounde but he's brought through Chalobah who's really establishing himself within the squad. And Saul has struggled to adapt, but he's started rebuilding RLC into another good option within the squad like he was pre injury.

Just looking at the options in the betting for next United manager and lots of United fans not convinced on the options they could replace Ole with only emphasises how fortunate we got with bringing Tuchel in when we did. From the outside looking in, the club seem to have found a world class coach that so far has been incredibly low maintenance, represents the club impeccably and doesn't want more power at the club or to get involved in areas that shouldn't be of a concern to him. From Tuchel's perspective, it feels he has found a top club with the resources and squad to challenge for trophies, but also will just allow him to focus on the coaching side. This is Chelsea, so past experience usually suggests that something will likely happen to derail this but it does feel at the moment that both have found what they're looking for.

Barkley and Loftus Cheek are both potential options to play the more advanced roles. It's not ideal but we just have to get on with it.

About Lukaku? I don't think I was ever dead set against signing him. He offered something we don't have which is a significant goal threat. When we were linked with him I was mainly concerned about his first touch and ability to play a target man like role for others to play off of him. He's never going to be perfect technically and will always have some balls mis-controlled, etc but when he's had the ball in such situations I've been pretty pleased so far and am a little perplexed the team as a whole don't make more of this chance. Players such as Werner and Mount who are particularly busy players should thrive from playing off Lukaku but it's not quite there yet. The move that saw Lukaku back heel the ball to Werner who took it on and had a shot saved was the sort of link play that I'm expecting to see more regularly because at the moment it has been extremely inconsistent.

Perfect weekend - We were the only team starting in the top 10 before this weekend's games that didn't drop points. It feels like the game played out today will be gushed upon for a while and Liverpool and City will go back to being considered the favourites for the league this season, putting us back into a position where we can be the third wheel again and hopefully have a few weeks going under the radar a little, just at the time that our fixture list, on paper, becomes a lot more appealing. We still look a work in progress with Tuchel trying to get the right balance in attack with Lukaku, and the rest of the attacking players blowing hot and cold so far. I can't help but feel that the attacking chemistry will improve over time. For now though, we've had as hard a season start as anybody else and are top of the league, second highest goal scorers (averaging over 2 goals a game) whilst having the joint best defensive record (3 goals conceded being 2 penalties and a heavily deflected goal). Considering most of us would admit to feeling that we're nowhere near playing at 100% currently, I think we should be delighted with how good the season has started, results wise, so far.

Give it time. He isn't being helped at present that the other attacking players so far this season have been inconsistent at best, and our midfielders like Kova and Jorginho just seem reluctant currently to play in a more direct manner straight into him. One thing I've noticed on a fair few occasions is he's been in a good position and not been picked out. There were a couple of times again yesterday. I think we'll benefit longer term having someone spearheading the front line, whether in a front 2 or 3. Winning games whilst still adjusting should be a positive.