BlueLion.

All nominations here please.

And here, children - proof that stats mean fuck-all in football. I have eyes, and those eyes saw Mikel do a very good job in man-marking and denying the likes of Ribery and Shaqiri - who were given freedom beyond measurement whilst Ramires was on to do their thing - the space and time needed to create a match-winning moment.

Liverpool are no threat. They haven't played a real team yet.

I think that's just reflecting the goal target he's set himself for the 13/14 season tbh.

I honestly think that was Cech's greatest game for us. Even better than Munich. Okay, we won there of course, but in terms of the number of brilliant saves - that wins. Easily. Easily top two, as far as I'm concerned. Who's better? Neuer is on par - Casillas well below his best - Buffon is on the decline - Lloris is brilliant but not as competent all-round - Hart is over-rated and error-prone - Courtois is close, but again isn't as rounded as Cech in all departments - and there's certainly no-one better in England. Cech - Chelsea's number 1, and the world's number 1 AFAIK. But each to their own!

Makes sense. Strengthen Liverpool - who aren't one of our rivals - but are rivals with Spurs and Arsenal. Smart move, and he'll get games there.

^ I should have locked this thread to avoid pointless 10-week bumps.

Credit where it is due, he played like a £50m striker in the first half. He played as well as anyone could have against that Bayern side, and worked tirelessly for the cause in the second half when things weren't going our way. He's not spent yet.

Hi all - have people with the magazine tier received the September issue of the magazine yet? (Schurrle on the front)? I haven't... should have been here ages ago.

YES SAMMY <3

He and Ronaldo are slightly different in their styles, but the Hazard I am seeing now suggests he can be every bit as good as CR7 is in terms of his overall technical ability.

That's what we need. A goal-poacher who is lethal within 20 yards. Best of luck to him.

Who'd have thought this baby-faced beauty would have become the player he is in such a short time! I hadn't even heard of him until 2011, when he made his international debut. But boy, he's incredible. Absolute adore him, may well become my favourite Chelsea player ever at this rate.

I thought he played very well when he came on. Mikel is brilliant in the big games.

Rambo, I absolutely adore you, but what the fuck were you thinking, boy?! Very disappointed.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, absolutely. I'll keep my eye on things. People call others "idiots" for their opinions - instead they should break the argument down critically and offer a counter-opinion. It really isn't that hard.

I love this club. I don't think I've ever felt prouder as a Chelsea fan. It's odd considering we've lost a final of sorts, but this is the most positive I have ever felt ahead of a season. With ten men, we pushed the supposed best team so far that they only just managed to claw their way to penalties. This game was meant as a yardstick to gauge ourselves at this early stage against a major European rival. Well, let's put it this way - if that's the best Bayern can offer against 10 men (plus when you consider we now have Willian and Eto'o to throw on, plus Mata when he returns to fitness) then I am certainly not scared by them. I find it laughable that Bayern fans call this "revenge". I hope that they can convince themselves that this Mickey-Mouse cup makes up for them losing their trophy in their stadium and in their city. Until they beat us in a Champions League final at our home ground, they've got nothing on us. Last night encapulsated everything and more I want to see from the team. Effort, determination, committment and desire. Even though it was a glorified friendly the players gave their absolute all, especially when down to ten men. The fact they were all gutted at the end shows the players care, and the unity they showed when Lukaku missed was heart-warming. This will hurt Romelu for a while, but he will come back stronger for it. The best players are the ones that use defeat as a motivation. We learnt so many valuable lessons last night - firstly, that Eden Hazard is the most-complete attacking player in world football (in the sense of his all-round game; especially his defensive contribution). Also that Oscar is perfect in the number 10 role for the way this side works. As we already know, Cech is the best in the world, but he rubber-stamped that last night. Lampard bossed it in the midfield as well - it is official, we can have no concerns over his fitness any longer. He did a great job for the team. Everyone played well - even Ramires before his mindnumbingly-idiotic sending off. I couldn't be any prouder. This bodes very well for the new season.

The save from the two headers and Ribery's free-kick in extra time were incredible. He should have saved Ribery's goal, the same way Hazard should never have scored. He more than made amends; as did Neuer with his save from Luiz. We saw the two best keepers in the world last night.

^ aren't there? Do they just randomly decide on New Year's Day... "WE'RE GOING TO HAVE ONE THIS YEAR, BITCHES"?!?

Looks like an unbelievable amount of work though, FB! We need 50 members to become a silver-level supporters club. Got about 15 so far.

Locked. He'll come begging next summer - it won't matter, we'll have rescued Falcao from Monaco by then. Enjoy the bench and a silverware-free season, Wazza. Shame, really.

Brilliant shout - especially when Mikel - and maybe Essien also - goes to the AfCoN.

Everyone outside of Chelsea is using the fact he is conveniently horrifically out of shape in terms of his fitness at the minute (let's not forget, he hasn't really had a pre-season) to make it out that Mourinho doesn't like him. Untrue: why would Mourinho dislike the player who has obviously been our best and most consistent star over the last 18-24 months? Let's see how Mata performs when his fitness levels improve, then we can see whether José likes him or not. Whether he does or not, don't expect him to play 60-odd games against this season. And that's good - how often did we complain that Mata was suffering from a burn-out of sorts last year?! We'll keep him fresh and rested and he can make as much of a difference as he possible can. Wait and see.

Lukaku/Torres/Eto'o/Ba Hazard/Schurrle - Oscar/Mata - de Bruyne/Will.I.An/Moses Lampard/Mikel/Luiz - van Ginkel/Essien/Ramires Cole/Bertrand - Terry/Luiz - Cahill/Ivanovic - Kalas/Azpilicueta/Ivanovic/Essien Cech/Schwarzer/Blackman What a squad we have now. And the above doesn't even infer player interchangability, such as Schurrle/de Bruyne/Ramires/Hazard/Willian/Oscar/Mata all being able to rotate.