Chelsea Legend 11

Not exactly a cup final... He also played in that same fixture against Bayern and scored. Those are friendlies to kick off both the domestic and European competition. This is a real cup final, big stage, everyone watching.

Trust me I do NOT like the idea of cesc and Ramires acting as our screens for the back 4. What I also don't like is playing young/uncomfortable players out of position in cup finals. I don't think there is a natural solution in the squad we have right now, I'm looking at the lesser of the evils and for me that is a three man midfield with either Azpi or Ake playing with cesc and Ramires.

For the people screaming out for youth to play, have we been obliterating teams? In my estimation the games have been uncomfortable for the most part with a goal here and there, especially lately! So how does playing youth players during these circumstances make sense?

Yes it is less difficult and Atletico are a poor example, they are a great team. So in La Liga its now a three team league instead of two, that doesn't mean its not an easy league. And wasn't Niguez a substitution for Koke against a depleted Real Madrid? Come on... Chelsea every week are facing difficult teams and are trying extremely hard to win every game, the time for integrating untested youth is when the games are again meaningless. Unless of course the managers hand is forced and a youth player is needed to fill a hole. We are competing at a very high level and

Just so we're 100% clear that there is indeed a campaign against Chelsea the FA decided to rescind Sandro's red card in the u-21 game jusr hrs after pretty much upholding the Matic ruling. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2967102/Sandro-sent-violent-reaction-bad-tackle-QPR-U21-game-just-like-Nemanja-Matic-did-Ashley-Barnes-incident.html Is there any difference whatsoever in the two incidents? YES! One player is wearing the Chelsea blue the the other isn't!

Our first cup final in quite some time! I am excited! I'm also curious to see who of our core players has the make up of a champion? Does Hazard possess that certain Je ne sais quoi to be the prettiest peacock at the ball? Does Fabregas rise to the occasion and take the game over? What of Willian or Oscar can they step up in the cup finals? These are the questions I want answered, who is our new Didier? the person who saves his best games for the biggest! Its gonna be intriguing to see if we have that sort of mettle in the squad.

If this happens we're royally screwed. Zouma and Ramires are probably the two worst players you can play in that holding role when trying to play out of th back

With our preferred squad are we blowing teams out?

I'm not so sure we have the make up of a team that is capable of sitting deep unfortunately. Especially without Matic.

I guess Routledge's push was less severe than Matic's? The FA are truly a bunch of cheating cunts who have exposed themselves mightily this year

Better result than I thought we'd get

He is a big player for us but its not like he's the sole reason why we're in first. We have a good team and we will compensate for him missing games.

Pretty sure the same appeal was successfully launched by Routledge in January

Not exactly true. Chelsea are appealing under the "let the punishment fit the crime" umbrella. They acknowledge he needed to be sent off but three games is way to much for a push. This isn't a wrongful sending off appeal.

So all those games we played and won without him before he came last January were flukey? He's an important player but you guys need to relax.

i didn't but I fail to see how that is a factor. He looks upset.

Fabregas isn't a world class defender by no means but he understands where he needs to be. He's also got 2.7 tackles a game, can you see Mata coming anywhere near that number? You guys only look at one aspect of the game, I grew up a disciple of Dutch football so I'm and advocate for total football. Jose clearly is too and while Cesc isn't the best defender he does get himself dirty from time to time, Mata isn't that type of player at all.

Mata looks Dastardly in this pic... Obviously very upset.

Come on now. Mata is a great player in the final third but largely useless anywhere else on the pitch. I loved him, still do but he's not the type of player we need right now.

In my opinion I would go with square pegs in square holes. Play Ake with Ramires and Fab(he needs to turn up now he's looking invisible out there lately) Courtois Ivanovic Zouma Terry Luis(thought he was very good yesterday) Ramires Ake Fabregas Willian Hazard Costa

I doubt the Europa league will take a back seat, I think he underestimated Fiorentina. He will play a strong lineup because there are no guarantees on top 4 this year, winning the Europa league is a direct path to the Champions League. I could be wrong but I have a feeling only a few players will be rested against Fiorentina. They went with this lineup against them last week Lloris Walker Fazio Vertonghen Davies Paulinho Bentaleb Townsend Eriksen Chadli Loldado Kane will likely be rested, Lamela isn't really a threat, Danny Rose probably plays for Davies... Who knows but either way they will have some tired players.

The other decisions aside, that hand ball was about as blatant a penalty as I've ever seen. Might as well take it out of the rule books if what happened today isn't a penalty. Pretty much the most textbook....

Way too early for that sort of talk. He's still adjusting to the pace of the prem, way different to Italy

I have no doubt we got the shaft mainly because of those idiots at Paris. Its a shame we decent people have to pay the price for a few morons.

No real influence.