Jase

Wasn't the best player on the pitch yesterday but thought he was quietly solid in what I think it's his 1st big away game in England.

With that strikeforce, we'll never be able to challenge for the league. Might get away with it in the cups but not the league. Lukaku has massive talent and potential but he's nowhere near the finished article yet to provide us the quality needed to challenge the two Manchester clubs. Ba is good but not great. As for Le Fondre? No thanks. A sub impact he is for Reading but he's just mid-table range player. Think after years and years of having just 1 top notch striker in Drogba(and maybe Anelka), it's really time for us to acquire a world class striker in the team. Otherwise, come this time next year, we'll just be moaning about the same old thing again. No quality striker in the team and then compare ourselves with United and City. Failling behind in the league and struggling to finish in Top 4 because we don't have a top notch striker etc.

Happy 35th Birthday to Didier Drogba aka Chelsea Legend and King Wembley! Thank you for the night in Munich. :blue scalf:

Would actually like to see more of Ramires with Mikel in the pivot. With someone sitting in there like Mikel did yesterday, it then allows Ramires to bomb forward without having to worry too much about defending and even if its needed, he has more than enough pace and stamina to chase back all game long. Also while it's obvious that Ramires is useful when we play on the counter, think he would also actually be useful in the team IF we actually press high up the pitch and attack from there rather than just sitting deep in almost every game. The first half against Arsenal at home recently showed that. I do agree that we need a midfield passer for the pivot but do think we can get more out of Ramires in the pivot if we actually start playing and pressing high up the pitch. We have the players to do that.

One United fan said this on Redcafe. http://www.redcafe.net/f7/juan-mata-344796/index11.html

Indeed. Conceded his 1st goal at home in ages and then Atletico Madrid lost their 100% home record in La Liga. Oops!

Anyone realized that this was the second consecutive game at Old Trafford that Lampard has been practically brought off at HT? Was subbed off at HT last season by AVB and then now just after 5-6 minutes into the 2nd half by Benitez. And also, you gotta really hate De Gea. Last season in the home league game, he somehow saved Mata's free kick in stoppage time and now he denied him again from close range in injury time too!

We missed a HUGE opportunity with this! And was fun reading comments on Redcafe after the game. I know they have been complaining about Antonio Valencia for sometime but saw today that they have compared him with Bebe and even called him Antonio Bebe.

Chelsea vs Steaua Bucharest POST-MATCH DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS Europa League Last 16 Second Leg 14th March, Thursday 2013 Stamford Bridge 20:05 Kick Off (UK time)

That was a peach of a goal from Hazard. Just another reason why we paid 32m for him Fergie! And at this rate, we're gonna have a major problem in selecting our goal of the season!

He was superb after coming on today. Gave us a platform to build from the midfield and stregthen our position in there.

Regarding the date of the replay...

Think it's fair to say that the second half performance is what we all wanted to see. Fight, desire, determination and passion in wanting to win the game. Didn't have any hope whatsoever before the game and the first half performance showed why. It was just awful especially defensively where we gave away yet more cheap goals against United! Could have easily been 3-0 or 4-0 down at HT but luckily Cech made some crucial saves after his somewhat blunders for the two goals. The performance was much better in the second half and it owed to introduction of Mikel and Hazard. Benitez selected the wrong starting XI but credit where its due in regards to making the changes very early in the 2nd half. From there, we were just dominated. Mikel and Ramires owned the midfield. Defence was good. And in attack, we were causing major problems. We really should have won the game given the chances we had but would have taken the replay anyway after being 2-0 down at HT. Plenty of positives to take from the 2nd half. We just need the players to show the spirit, desire and performance on a more consistent basis! And to top it off, Spurs lost! It was a completely turnaround of the miserable feeling I had earlier on watching those 2 games.

That was tweeted 7 minutes ago.

Azpi's face. The way he sits. The body posture. Everything. Creepy!

Full Semi Final ties: Millwall/Blackburn v Wigan Man United/Chelsea v Man City

Would be happy as long as Spurs do not win tonight though I'm afraid, very afraid that they might well get the 3pts tonight.

Most of my attention today would likely to be at Anfield for Liverpool v Spurs instead. Gotta watch both matches simultaneously.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2013/mar/09/oscar-chelsea-winning-tempo Oscar did an interview with the Guardian. Good read.

Won't be surprised TBH. Playing Terry may work against us in terms of when we have to deal with United's pace. Terry won't have the legs to deal with it. On the other hand, his experience could be vital. And heck, don't be surprised if he starts Torres ahead of Ba too!

@Leif, should have seen that 'like' coming given all the toilet talk you had in the pub.

Talk about taking a whack to the guts! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PI_LRV0CA6M&feature=youtu.be

QPR won again, beating Sunderland 3-1. They still remain 4pts from safety with Villa sitting in 17th. And next Saturday? Aston Villa v QPR at Villa Park. Massive!

David Moyes - 11 years at Everton = 0 trophy. Michael Laudrup - 1 year at Swansea = 1 trophy.

I know Martinez plays good football but he hasn't really take Wigan to the next step, has he? I mean, every season they are involved in the relegation battle and one can hardly see any improvement he does there for the club.