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WOW. The knee-jerk reactions we get on here sometimes says how unforgiving some of our fans are. People saying he is only made to look good because he is at Chelsea, overrated etc. Just OTT. I accept he has his flaws like every other CB does (they are human IIRC) but it can't be denied that he has a lot of qualities as well. Simply amazing how fans are so quick to turn their back on our players after 1-2 sloppy performances but they seem to forget the games he performed excellently in. This is a player who deservedly got into the PFA team of the year last season but as I was saying there are too many knee-jerk reactions so I am not surprised. Can't wait to see the changes in opinions when he is back at his best. Memories are very vague with some people. All top CB make errors like Cahill but they also have qualities and if people can't see that in Cahill, we are obviously not watching the same games.

Think majority of us were very surprised to see Drogba start. It was clear he was very rusty and ineffective but Mourinho decided to keep him on and only subbed him off 70th minute. Normally if Mourinho sees a player/striker playing below par he would have no qualms in subbing them off half time. But with Drogba I can't help but think that because of the sentimental factor that evolves around Drogba he feels he almost owes him something. Drogba was returning from injury so if Mourinho decided to rest Costa, Remy should have started 100%. This is not in hindsight and I think a lot of us expected us to see Remy starting as he is much more fresh and should be our 2nd choice striker. We got a point so there is no catastrophe but it irritates me that Mourinho underestimated Schalke and decided to sub Drogba after the 70th min mark. I just have the gut feeling that if it was another striker they would have been off in no time. On the positive note it looks like Hazard is reaching that level everyone wants to see him perform at. Shame he could not score but he is at times, simply unstoppable.

Zouma has made a big step up by joining Chelsea. You don't throw your two best CB out for a 19 year old kid because it is a "perfect match" to see him. No.... this is not a friendly or a cup game like I said. This is the Champions League. Zouma is a very promising defender but also still raw which is natural. If Mourinho suddenly takes out Cahill or Terry for Zouma that is underestimating the opposition. Has he done so in the league so far? No. So why would he do it in the UCL? We have to go out with more or less our best team. Cahill was not bad tonight anyway. It was not his fault why we conceded. Fabregas lost the ball for a start and it did not help that we struggled to put the game to bed.

This match proved two things. You must take your chances or it will come back to bite you. The next thing is we should never get complacent and underestimate any CL team. To think that there quite a few people saying that it would be ok for all of Fabregas, Hazard and Costa to be rested for this game shows how naive and complacent some people are. As I said in the pre-match you cannot underestimate the CL and thinking you can take out your 3 best players for rotation is ludicrous considering this is our first CL game. Hope some people wake up really. A few were treating this match like a carling cup game by even hoping Baker would feature and Zouma start. Just Anyway we should have taken our chances. Luckily we have got a kind group so the draw does not really disappoint me much. Bring on City.

Just seen the second goal. What a run from Loftus-Cheek. Simply magnificent. Reminds me of Toure's run against Villa last season albeit, Toure scored and RLC assisted

We drew with them mate. 1-1.

LOL, so because Remy needs playing time he should play for that reason then even though it is our first UCL game? But anyway, Remy does not "need playing time." He has already played 2 full 90 minute games for QPR this season already and started for France during the international break as well and like we all know he is our 2nd choice striker, not our first. Remy's match condition is fine and it is lucky we have a quality option like him to start if Costa is injured or needs to be rotated for whatever reason but right now with the form Costa is in and with the key to getting of to a good start in the UCL, I can't see Mourinho not starting him. Get the game done and dusted then take our key players off with the game in City in mind.

No way is Ramos, Godin or Miranda better than Kompany.

But why would we drop Terry or Cahill? City is obviously a tougher game but they are 2 important games and after the Schalke game is finished we have 4 days to recover anyway. Zouma can get his start in the COC in just over a week. Zouma had his good games last season like the one you mentioned but he also was very raw as well and shortly after he agreed to join us he was dropped a few times. Not that it means anything but I am just pointing out it is not just that simple where you bring in a 19 year old kid to replace your two top CB. There is no reason to do that right now. If Terry and Cahill are fit they must play. Tbh even if Terry or Cahill was likely to take a rest I think Ivanovic would come in at CB with Azpilicueta at RB. I don't think Mourinho will throw Zouma in for our first UCL game. Bolton will and should be his first start hopefully.

Yes but the difference is he is playing for Chelsea. Much bigger step up and we have Terry and Cahill. This is not our last group game, it is our first so why would we change Terry or Cahill for Zouma? That is being way too complacent to make a defensive change like that. Yes we should win and they have not started the season too well but this is a UCL game. Ease Zouma in and give him his first start against Bolton. This is a serious game. Basel are an inferior side to Schalke yet we lost 2-1 at our own ground last season. We should play pretty much our best team. Maybe couple changes at best but the last thing we want is to be complacent and it ends up backfiring.

Is this a Carling cup game or a Champions League one? Think some people are getting the two confused

No he is not. He is a quality defender and you see the difference he makes to City when he is in the team and not in the team. Sometimes you have to accept a player's quality even if they are not playing for the same team as the one you support. He might make the odd error like everyone is suspectible to because he is human after all but I think he is an outstanding defender and probably the best in this league.

Ermmm... hello, Costa scored a hattrick

I think people are underestimating this match if they think the likes of Fabregas, Costa and Hazard will be rested. I expect to see Fabregas, Hazard and Costa all starting. This on paper is the second best team in the group. We have got the easiest group on paper out of the English teams. What we should aim to do and I am hoping Mourinho will do is take the first 3 games very seriously by playing pretty much our best team. We have 4 days to recover for the City game so while we have reliable backups this is our first match and we should show a signal of intent. Get this group done and dusted then rest players. If we win our first 3 CL games we obviously will be on 9 points and pretty much have the group sealed. Going into the fourth game against Maribor is when we should look to rest the likes of Fabregas, Hazard and Costa. That is on the Wednesday night and 3 days later we play Liverpool at Anfield in a 12.45 kick off. Realistically that is when we should start mentioning resting our key players. Not in our first game! On the other hand Liverpool play Real Madrid that week and will have to play, pretty much their best team. You see the difference? Keep the winning formula please. Win our first 3 games. Mission accomplished. Then we can rest players against the weakest team in our group so they can be 100% fresh for the Liverpool clash.

Well now we all know why Lukaku wanted to leave? He knew he was never going to get ahead of this beast

That is the thing. The more attacking you play the more goals you are prone to succeed. Look at Arsenal. I think their CB are very good but because of their open game they are more vulnerable to also conceding goals. Now we play with more flair, we score more goals but on the other hand our defense will not be as solid.

What a goal! Who says he cannot improve his technique? https://t.co/oX3MtpxpPC

I don't think Mourinho necessarily thinks Courtois is better than him. I think he rates them very similar. But as Mourinho said the logical decision was to have Courtois as no.1: " I had in my hands a 22 year-old goalkeeper I thought could be in Chelsea's goal for years and years and years and this situation is quite similar. But Petr is an amazing goalkeeper and the difference between them is 10 years, and we have to think about the future of the club and I made the decision to give the goal to Courtois."

I think Bony will be fine. Even if Bony is out injured which I doubt, Gomis will come in instead of Emnes. They have 2 very good strikers in Bony and Gomis. Gomis has been a sub for every league game so far. He will be desperate for a start and I don't think he will be content with being a sub for too long. While Bony is the better striker, Gomis is a real handful on his day and a goalscorer.

True but that is exactly how I feel about Luis. He was the best LB in Europe last season and is an excellent addition. He gives us a much better dimension going forward and like Courtois we pretty much know what we are getting with him in the team.

Jose dropped Cech for Courtois tbh and it is not like had exactly had to "earn it". It is just that age is on his side. Azpilicueta has improved significantly during his time here but out of the two, Luis is just a more natural LB and we invested a lot of money for him so sooner rather than later I would hope he cements that LB position and he was excellent at Atletico. It is not like he is a risk if we play him but in either this Swansea game or Schalke one I would hope to see Luis play at least one of them.

As much as I appreciate Azpilicueta's performances at LB, when Luis cements his place at LB I really think we are going to see how much of an improvement he adds in that position. Especially going forward. His defensive game is very solid as well.

Looks a very promising footballer but let's be realistic here, he would be a fool to join us unless he values money a priority over his football career.

Moral of the story: Don't believe everything you read! Have you heard LVG say he does not want him? As far as I know he has not. Daily Fail!

I liked him a lot. We had our disagreements on a lot of issues. Especially Lukaku. But that is what is great about this forum. It would be boring if everyone agreed. I can see why he came across aggressively but I am utterly disappointed he has been banned. I think he was one of the best posters around. I will miss him. There is not a place to discuss this so that is why I felt I should mention it here. Part of me hopes that the mods reverse their decision. Please Regarding the game I hope Costa is fit. With the form he is in I want him to carry on playing and add to his goal tally. Swansea cannot be underestimated. Both of us are the only teams with 100% records. Just want this week to get out the way so I can get back to the enjoyment of PL football. You appreciate how much you love PL football when the international break is on.