Jase

Sunderland vs Chelsea PRE-MATCH DISCUSSION AND LIVE CHAT 2014/15 Premier League Match 13 29th November, Saturday, 2014 Stadium of Light 17:30 Kick Off (UK time)

Sunderland 0-0 Chelsea POST-MATCH DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS 2014/15 Premier League Match 13 29th November, Saturday, 2014 Stadium of Light 17:30 Kick Off (UK time)

Get what you're saying but them not having midweek European advantages and able to focus on the league is an advantage and I would not like my rivals to have that advantage. Not that City will go far into the competition even if they make it to the last 16 but it will still be another tournament for them to contend with. We do have an 8-point lead over them but the more 'insurance policy' we have, the better (goodness what the lead would be like come next February anyway). Also, seven weeks in the knockout stages may seem like nothing but mentally and psychologically, it's huge IMO. Can focus on one major competition without any other distraction.

Not if you're Xavi...

Slightly off topic but for our sake in the Premier League, need City to progress into the knockout stage of the Champions League or at least qualify for the Europa League. Last thing we need is City having only two competitions left to contend and able to focus almost everything on winning the league.

Don't mean to be harsh but who cares about Torres? That fella is all bark and no bite. Doesn't deserve any sympathy.

True but at times, we also couldn't defend under RDM and had to rely on luck. Moreover, the minute we started taking an attacking approach under RDM, we couldn't even defend to save our lives. And looking at his Schalke side so far, they have issues when it comes to preventing goals flying into their net. Also, he may know the club but this current team? Not really. It's a different and much better side than the one he managed.

Because of the RDM factor?

Then please do not watch the game when we play Newcastle in two weeks time...

Not really. In the last few games, they sat back and only pressed us when we got to certain distance of the goal. Yesterday, they tried to do that a bit higher up the pitch, like on the 18-yard line. There were number of times we nearly got in behind their defence with just a simple long ball or got caught offside, two things that, as far as I remember, didn't happen a lot in the previous meetings. Not taking anything our quality of play though because we did really play well, mind.

Things are not all rosy it seems for RDM at Schalke... http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/nov/22/roberto-di-matteo-big-name-status-schalke

Yup, it's working for me now. Cheers boss!

Have to say, West Brom surprised me somewhat with their approach. Thought they were sit back, defend deep and play on the break like they have done in the last few games. Instead, they defended a tad higher up and actually even tried to press us, which made it slightly easy for us.

Thought about that but slightly disagree with it because our next opponent Sunderland are unpredictable, you never know what you're gonna get. Same can be said about the game against Spurs and that's a London derby and not to mention, we face an in-form Newcastle, who are one of our bogey teams recently especially at St James' Park.

Bait taken.

From the replays I saw earlier, think Costa nearly combusted after that challenge from Yacob and Terry had to calm him down a bit, especially when he's already on 4 yellow cards.

http://www.bvb.de/eng/News/Overview/Reus-taken-to-hospital-with-suspected-torn-ankle-ligaments Reus taken to hospital with suspected torn ankle ligaments...

Schalke, under RDM, have conceded 12 goals in 7 matches and kept just 2 clean sheets. As for the game against Wolfsburg, they were fortunate to escape with the win having taken a 3-0 lead in the first place.

Here's the group permutation ahead of this game: Win - Beat Schalke and we will qualify for the last 16, including securing top spot in the group regardless of what happens in the Sporting Lisbon v Maribor game. Draw - Get a point against Schalke and we will secure last 16 qualification, but not top spot yet unless Sporting fail to beat Maribor. Lose - Lose in Germany and we'll drop to second on H2H record behind Schalke with everything to play for on matchday 6.

Only 3 pages of reaction? Unbelievable!

Schalke vs Chelsea PRE-MATCH DISCUSSION AND LIVE CHAT 2014/15 UEFA Champions League Group Stage Matchday 5 25th November, Tuesday, 2014 Veltins Arena, Gelsenkirchen 19:45 Kick Off (UK time)

Schalke 0-5 Chelsea POST-MATCH DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS 2014/15 UEFA Champions League Group Stage Matchday 5 25th November, Tuesday, 2014 Veltins Arena, Gelsenkirchen 19:45 Kick Off (UK time)

What has that gotta do with this game?

There certainly were few moments where the player should pass to a teammate, who is a better position, to shoot. One of it was that Oscar back-heel chance. Willian was in space to the right of him.

For goodness sake, the lads need to just shoot in the box. The over-complicating stuff is annoying. Would be criminal if we don't bang in a few more goals given the circumstances!