Jase

Benitez just said he has returned to London with a knee injury. Won't be traveling with the squad to Japan. A major shame.

Don't think so. The English authority are not so helpful to us. Remember the FA Cup semi final and 1st leg against Barcelona? I know we have the long traveling to do but if the authority really want to help us, they would have done so long time ago. And besides, don't think there are any free dates to play the cup tie at a later date especially with the semi final matches to be played in January.

Absolutely piss taking that Bardsley wasn't booked for that late challenge on him in the 1st half. Bardsley escaped punishment during the game in the corresponding fixture last season after stamping on Mata too! Prick!!

So, this is how a win feels like... Good performance. Looked dodgy at times but getting that win and 3 points is all that matters here.

Supposed Benitez wants to continue the winning momentum after the thrashing win of Nordsjaelland on Wednesday. Oh well. Just get that 3 points!!

The draw for Last 32 and 16 will take place on 20th December(Thursday) at 1pm UK time.

We'll find out who our semi final opponent is this Sunday when Ulsan Hyundai take on Monterrey in the quarter finals.

There's already a thread for this topic. So, merged.

This was present in the game against Nordsjaelland...

Hiddink trolling with us? No way Cech is ever gonna leave for just 10m. Madness!

Only managed to pick out 8 that I like... 1. Oscar vs Juventus (Second goal) 2. Oscar vs Shakhtar (Home game) 3. Cahill vs Tottenham 4. Mata vs Wolves (The passing move and 1 touch finish was just stunning!) 5. Luiz vs Nordsjaelland (Free Kick goal - Away game) 6. Torres vs Newcastle 7. Mata vs Man United (Free Kick goal) 8. Mata vs Tottenham (His second goal)

Oh the hypocrisy in that old man...

A very young Mata.

Rumours floating about that Lampard may well sign a contract extension soon.

Hazard who?

No, he wasn't apparently. Cech, Mata, Lampard and Torres did not attend the dinner from what I've read.

His good performance on Wednesday was probably a response towards Benitez's comments the other day OR it's maybe because it was only against Nordsjaelland. Take your pick.

Precisely my point earlier. Let's just focus on getting the 3 points and staying in the Top 3 for now, ignoring what happen with the 2 Manchester clubs above us. If we can do that, then we'll see where we are come next January or February and re-evaluate our targets/priorities then. Do not want what happened last season in the league to happen again.

Our home game against Southampton has been postponed due to our involvement in the CWC. On paper, we have games coming up that we should win and so should the other teams but given the unpredictability of the results these days, we could easily drop points in those games as well. Remember, what happened against Villa at the Bridge last season? After the game, we have Norwich and Everton both away during the Christmas period. Norwich are in good form now(unbeaten in 8 - W4 D4) and Goodison is generally bad place for us where we never seem to win.

Think I would be happy as long as United don't win but the best possible result for us is probably a draw. Will be 8 points behind United and 5 behind City. Closer to second then as opposed to City winning and then staying 7 clear of us. Having said that, right now think I'm more worried what are the teams below us are gonna do. West Brom and Spurs are on level points with us while the likes of Everton and Arsenal are not too far behind. Forget the title race at the moment, we need the points mainly to stay in the Top 3/4 and pull clear of the others.

What do you expect him to do when he doesn't have many options to rotate?! On hindsight, people think he should have rested the big players because we won and Shakhtar lost. People would have slaughtered him had he rested the big players, field a weakened side and then fail to beat Nordsjaelland and see Shakhtar beat Juventus. Furthermore, he played some of the big players to help the team build better understanding in terms of what he wants the team to do and get the win to help raise confidence and morale.

Wouldn't be surprised if you guys have the game of your lives against us. And worth remembering that the last time Benitez visited the Stadium of Light, his Liverpool team lost 1-0 via a beach ball!

All the Europa League group games have concluded and I have sorted the two pots based on who won their group and who finished second. There are more tough teams in the 'Unseeded' pot than the 'Seeded' one.

That tweet I posted said he gave it to his teammates and our backroom staff, only those involved last season I would imagine.