Jase

Maybe so but think after 2-3 years of like having no strikers, it's not the best of ideas to have another unpredictable ST in our ranks.

If Pellegrini starting with 2 STs wasn't naive enough, it's probably even more ridiculous that he did not rectify their problems in midfield at HT when City were only 1-0 down by getting another midfielder on. Had Mancini still been in charge, yesterday's humiliation probably wouldn't have happened.

There are some sensible ones on both sides, never said there weren't but those that are supposedly 'anti-Mikel' come up with even more silly excuses and reasons and blame him even when it's not his fault. Their 'opinions', if you can call it that, are arguably even more myopic than some others.

Not really. Sense that they are arguably a tad more sensible in their evaluation of Mikel..

Incredible to see Pellegrini playing a 4-4-2 against Bayern. Tactical genius...

It's not his natural position. It's not his forte. He's a wide player. And using pre-season games especially just because he scored from a ST position is not exactly a strong evidence to support the claim. Him playing there was just more of an experiment before the season starts. Nothing more.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yN2smiXxA64 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALt5O48pUg8

Agree but too often we have not got Hazard into a 1 v 1 situation to attack their RB and instead play it short and sometimes slow passing that by the time we get to the final third, Hazard already have 2-3 players marking him. Maybe his niggling injury is affecting his performance right now but it will certainly help if we isolate the opposition's RB with him more.

Proof from Chelsea TV yesterday that Mourinho DID NOT storm out of the press conference on Monday like how it was reported by the media.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNG6Lk1SAok&feature=player_embedded

Kinda agree with this. Even though Hazard and Schurrle are different type of players, Hazard can certainly learn from the latter on how to be a tad more direct offensively and avoid coming into the middle too much to provide us some width out wide. However, it would probably help Hazard if he's played higher up the pitch more often similar to how Schurrle was used last night and get the ball to him out wide quickly to get him into a 1 v 1 situation with the opposition RB. Would actually have been interesting to see how would Hazard fare against Steaua's RB yesterday after seeing Schurrle took him to the cleaners..

If only we have a goalscorer to bang in 30 goals a season..

Agree but it's Spurs, you can maybe understand why Mourinho played Ramires on the RW to stifle them up. However, this is Norwich. Playing Ramires there to be defensive against a team that is likely to be defensive against us is even more ridiculous than having him there at WHL last Saturday.

We are definitely capable of beating Schalke home and away but the performances are yet to fully convince. We played well in the 2nd half against Spurs and the whole 90 against Steaua. Will be more confident if we can keep this going in the upcoming matches but right now, just not yet. And as for Steaua being able to get a draw against Basel, looking at the way they played yesterday...not getting my hopes up at all. They were rubbish going forward and arguably even more rubbish defensively..

From 2:10 onwards...like what the heck! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ug-2Rrtz1oI

There's just no win-win situation with Mikel with some people at times. If he plays badly and get criticized, then fair enough. But when Mikel plays well or does nothing wrong in matches, people will still find reasons to blame him, one way or another. Even if Mikel had played yesterday against Steaua Bucharest and the result as well as performance went the same way, some will likely then use the excuse of how shit, poor or rubbish etc Steaua were..

Chelsea's Fernando Torres out of Spain qualifiers after injuring knee in Bucharest Could be out for around 2 weeks it seems..

For anyone that missed it...

Mourinho on Schurrle.. http://www.chelseafc.com/news-article/article/3477977/title/final-whistle-verdict-growing-confident

http://www.chelseafc.com/news-article/article/3477977/title/final-whistle-verdict-growing-confident

This is more of a LOL. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Im74qUQA2Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uFLw0-JU6Q

The 4-0 win in Bucharest was definitely most welcome but on the other hand, am rather worried at the group standings and upcoming fixtures. 1. Schalke - P2 6pts 2. Basel - P2 3pts 3. Chelsea - P2 3pts 4. Steaua - P2 0pts Matchday 3 fixtures - Schalke v Chelsea; Steaua Bucharest v Basel We are behind Basel on H2H record and one would imagine them to get 6 points against Steaua, judging by the way they play tonight. Can't afford to screw up against Schalke. Need at least 4 points. Otherwise, we could be in for another nervy scenario like last season or even the one under Scolari where it went down to the wire and needed help from others.

Danijel Georgievski the MOTM. Easily.

Juan Mata has covered the most distance in that first half - 6.46km - more than any other player. Second highest for Chelsea, Oscar - 5.79km.