Chelsea Legend 11

In fairness to Jose, Cesc has never won likely because he doesn't know how to defend. He wants to play deeper but when you play him there he's a liability. That's the lesson Jose needs to learn, when you are trying to grind out a result you can't have Cesc playing in the holding role. He should've been subbed out and Oscar should've continued, even on a yellow. We had the wrong approach today and it cost us, you have every right to get on your soapbox and use this opportunity to spew the "Jose out, he can't coach offensive players" propaganda, I happen to think had we gone out and attacked today we may have won and we also may have lost. Jose took the wrong approach today, anyone watching can agree with that, but I don't think the sky is falling, not at all, good managers look at where things went wrong and look to learn from them. What if we win the league? is a double not enough anymore?

You're proving to be a real cunt. Why are you trying so hard to get under peoples skin? Weird...

Not true at all. We stopped pressing when Zlatan went off. We had nothing in the middle whatsoever with Matic so deep and Cesc a pylon. Oscar made it hard for them to play out the back and when he went off and we went to 4-3-3 we sat back and never got near them. Bottom line is Jose got it wrong today in so many ways.

wow so much descension. Look, Jose got it wrong, he rode his luck and it caught up to him. We played awful today and the team played his tactics, we deserved to go out and Jose will have to answer that. He's still the guy for me, this is awful but not inexcusable, he needs to learn from this and get the balance right again... We never looked like scoring and we always looked like conceding, he has to come to grips with the fact that if he's gonna play Cesc we have to be on the front foot.

Good luck the rest of the way.

Exactly. Didn't understand taking off Ramires and Oscar and leaving on Cesc. If we're gonna sit back and defend then he's the last guy you want. I know they were on yellows but that shouldn't make much difference when PSG already had a man sent off.

Couple things I took from the game. We still don't move it quickly enough, when we're in possession too many guys are taking 2-3 touches before the pass. Its been a problem for years now and today it was there again. The game changed when Oscar came off the pitch THE GAME CHANGED WHEN OSCAR WAS SUBBED. PSG found it so easy to play through the middle when we stopped pressing high. Matic sat deep and couldn't get close and Cesc is pretty much a pylon when asked to get stuck in. For the life of me I couldn't figure out why we changed shape when Zlatan went off... Basically gave them the advantage when it was ours, there was no reason to go 4-3-3 in that situation we had the extra man and could've kept them hemmed in had we stayed 4-2-3-1. Jose got it wrong, as I've said before we aren't the type of team that can sit back and invite pressure anymore. Once Cesc is in one of the holding positions we have fissures to exploit. Up a man and a goal we should've been looking to go for the kill. We surrendered the midfield and possession to PSG and they punished us. We get up a man and play on our heels, Bayern go up a man and win 7-0.... I put this one 100% on Jose but having said that I still love him, he will hopefully learn from this. All in all we should be embarrassed by that display at home and more than likely we are, you can't invite that sort of pressure to come onto you with the game on a knife edge. In the end hats off to PSG they played hard and deserved to go through, we need to regroup quickly and start getting the balance between attack and defence right again. Not sad just disappointed we didn't match the intensity of that game.

This is probably the best post I've read so far.

Agree with almost everything but this bit here. He didn't get him sent off that was a clear foul if the ref deemed it too reckless that's on him not Oscar.

He's a very good defender. Anyone who can function so well in a back 3 gets my vote. he's good on the ball and came within inches of knocking Real out of the champs league

http://www.espnfc.com/blog/the-toe-poke/65/post/2342226/mohamed-salah-has-a-secret-admirer I can put good money down on who this fanboy is.

If Cahill starts the right thing to do is get behind him and support! He's been a fantastic player for us and has hit a bad patch, he's still better than Luiz so lets get behind him and support, no moaning and complaining about the selections tonight please!

I don't know why everyone is so focussed on what City have to do and how hard/easy their schedule is. Its all about us! If we take care of our shit it doesn't matter what City do! We have a decent cushion and a game in hand...

I wrote something else but it wasn't you that it was intended for.

I was one of the few that fought hard with the 'no thanks' brigade. He's got good potential but there was nothing I saw that he did particularly well that made me think he was for sure a 30m player. The English tax is a joke... Especially when English players are nowhere among the best in the world. 30m plus 100k in wages is just way too much to spend on a teenager because he's English. Ricardo Rodriguez is the guy you can see being the next big thing at LB, he's shown way more than Shaw, miles really

This entire season I haven't been nervous before a game, not once, I just feel so content with the balanced side we have. Maybe its because I love the manager and for the first time in forever I like every player on the roster. I guess for me its easy to be contented with winning and losing when you have a squad you can say you love. I definitely want the win tomorrow but I'm not nervous about the game. If we play our football we will win and the manager will surely have them up along with the supporters so I'm about as carefree as one can be before a knockout game. UP THE CHELS

Lets get this one before we start getting Nostradamus predicting the future and what not. If we get this one we have a platform to build from but first things first and lets not get carried away...

Wrong guy.

Ya the numbers I was referencing were in Ligue 1 not all competitions. Anyways no reason to keep talking about Moura since he won't play. I'm not so sure playing Pastore on the left is the best course of action. Yes, he can get central when you go to attack but if we trap and win the ball it will leave all kinds of space in behind for us to exploit. As is you guys already play a hybrid of 4-3-1-2 because Cavani looks to get into the box a lot. If Pastore comes inside(he will for sure) it will leaves the flanks open to be exploited. The only thing I saw that saved you guy from getting exposed on the counter was the amount of fouls that were not given cards. If the ref makes the calls this time we will put pressure on your defense. Lavezzi isn't a great player but he is a very good team guy he always does the job asked of him, if you take him out of the team(and I think Blanc will) you are basically surrendering both flanks for us to make use of. Hazard and Willian will have license to run at your back four unchallenged... Still the way I see it this game will be won and lost in the middle of the pitch. I expect Matuidi, Luiz and Verratti to do battle with Matic, Cesc and Ramires. The last game PSG controlled this area of the pitch and for that reason were the better team, if that happens again you will win.

Correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't Moura have 8 goals? One behind Cavani? Anyways I know what threatens our defenders most and without question it's pace. Pastore for me is much better in the middle of the pitch so unless Blanc decides to play 4-3-1-2 (suicide) I doubt Pastore will have the influence you think he can have.

Every game produces different set of problems. Lucas' pace and attack nous would give our defenders problems.

Moura is the guy I was most worried about. He's the only guy with real pace which is what we struggle with. I'm surprisingly very confident for this... I'm convinced we have the squad to control PSG. If the game is slow and cagey like the first game I think we will win, our low block defending is very difficult to break down on small pitches like the Bridge.

You think he's supposed to be like Essien? Nah... He's supposed to be like Yaya Toure. And at 21 yrs old the level he's playing at is EXTREMELY impressive. He's got the perfect combination of size, technique and skill all he needs to develop is that football brain and Jose is the perfect manager to help him in that regard.

Sign him up... Seriously. SIGN. HIM. UP!

Actually yes it is very defensive, very little creativity on that team you posted. Matic is decent but he's not exactly a creative player... And if last game is any indication PSG will sit on our creative outlets and make it hard for us to get them involved in the game, with that lineup you are making it easier for them to play that way because they will just cheat off of Zouma and lock down Cesc. We would find it very hard to build from the back and put loads of pressure on Ramires and Matic to create. We need to have the right balance between defense and attack because we will need both in this game