TorontoChelsea

In the Bible and the Koran both, it says that the sun revolves around the earth which was the science of the time but actually incorrect. The science in holy texts is exactly as good as the science of the time was which is to say, very poor from today's standards. Religious texts are fine, even quite poetic sometimes, if you view them as allegories and stories. As some sort of guide to life, they are about as useful as any document written thousands of years ago is to living today.

Like what? That the earth is 6,000 years old? Like Moses split the Red Sea or Jesus turned water into wine? Science and religion don't mix and the percentage of scientists who are religious is extremely small. Holy texts say some things that are factually untrue and many many things that are just stories like the Greeks told about Zeus. I Humans didn't come from Adam and Eve. We evolved over millions of years. Science and religion are at loggerheads. One is empirical and logical and the other is the belief in the unknown.

Barcelona are just dominating them and really they should have had a penalty and Abate sent off. Barcelona fans are so annoying, whistling and booing any time the opposition has the ball.

What a touch and finish that was.

Be careful mate, you know what can happen to Lebanese referees..

It's still difficult to watch this with us out. This is the real European tournament. I'm hoping for a 2-0 game with it going to extra time (but not penalties) and Milan winning.

No idea, you can ask him. To me, it looks like a pic of a bunch of friends meeting up at the Ibrox gates. Maybe one of the friends is Israeli.

I assume Dave was referring to Loyalist in the sense of being nationalist, protestant, and against a unified Ireland as opposed to being "loyal". Religion did not create morality and does not own it. In fact, countries that are less religious tend to have better morals IMO than countries that are more religious (less violent, more equality, less discrimination, etc...).

Van Persie was accused of rape a while back but the accuser later admitted she made it up for attention.

If only the other De Guzman would play for us as well. Spain has a lot of racism unfortunately, even the Madrid clubs have problems with it. About religion. It's obviously a weighty topic and very complex and difficult for many to discuss. I don't really get religion, how anyone can believe in some creator being that watches over us and judges us based on our morality, is beyond me. Marx was wrong about a lot, but he was right about religion being the opiate of the masses. When people think there is going to justice in the world to come, they can overlook the horrible injustices in the real world. That said, I can see where religion comes from. It's a natural instinct and I don't think that without religion, we'd have peace or anything. People find ways to divide themselves and squabble. We are tribal beings which once may have served us well but now destroys us. Overall, if someone wants to be religious, I don't care at all, just don't try to force it on anyone and don't use it as an excuse not to allow basic human rights.

And in Italy, it's commonplace to boo black players. Even in Spain, racism is not uncommon even among the big clubs. It's loathsome.

No football club is completely above politics, but Chelsea are a world-wide team now and groups like the Chelsea Headhunters are a tiny percentage of the fan base. There are racists in every clubs' supporters, of course, and we have to try to fight it when we see it, but it's not a major issue at Chelsea IMO. (and certainly nothing like you see in much of continental Europe).

Azpilicueta is certainly better than Bosingwa, but he was one of our worst players against ManU. He was caught badly out of position about 3 times forcing Moses to make a couple of key tackles (including the foul that led to the Rooney goal).He's had a very good first season with Chelsea but he does have room to grow. Azpilicueta and Ivanovic are as good a RB duo as there is in the Premier League (except perhaps Zabaleta and Walker and Maicon) so it's not an area of concern.

Absolutely agree. People will almost always fixate on individual moments rather than their play in general.

It will be one of RVP, Suarez, or Bale and rightly so. Mata has had a fabulous year though although I didn't think his performance yesterday was anything special.

Don't think Cech had a shocker at all. First goal, he maybe shouldn't have come out, but second was perfectly places and there was really nothing he could do because he has to be in between. Luiz should have got his head on it. It was low enough, but he just missed it. He also made a fantastic double save and his save of Luiz's header was especially excellent. De Gea is an impressive if unorthodox shot blocker.

Am I seriously the first person to vote for Ramires as MOTM? I thought he was the obvious choice (with Hazard being second) Not only did he score the tying goal, but he was solid throughout, breaking up plays and leading the charge, and our central midfield was the only part of the team was solid all game. Luiz had some brilliant moments (the interceptions that lead to the goal, the pass to Mata), but also had some awful ones (he probably should have got a head to the opening goal, his awful almost OG, letting Welbeck walk right around him to create a 2 v 1). Nice to see us come back. We've had three games against ManU and all three have been very entertaining. We've got two more to go as well.

Mata twisted his ankle it looks like. Not good...

Ramires!

What a shot by Hazard

Weird substitution. Lampard was one of our best players today and is a threat going forward unlike Mikel. Moses tracked back nicely to save us a couple of times and got into some very good positions, but his final pass/touch/shot were pretty bad.

Overall, we both have 6 shots, 4 on target and we have 51% of possession. Neither of the goals were the result of sustained pressure. The overall play has been about even. Their defending and finishing have just been better.

Not really a bad performance so far, just gave up two weird goals. We've had some chances on the counter but our decision making and execution have been poor. ManU are attacking us effectively on the wings and Azpilicueta has fallen asleep a couple of times, once which led to a goal.

I agree. We've had some chances, often controlled the ball. We're not being outplayed nearly as badly as we were for the first 20-30 minutes of the Clattenburg game. Not even close.

1) There are a lot more theoretical tryouts than real ones in football. Rosters are pretty much set early and pre-season form doesn't change that. How much did our pre-season games change our roster or our lineup this season? The answer is none. It just doesn't work like that in football. The changes that get made in the roster are when someone is a sub is able to get a shot and show their quality and earn time. Feruz isn't even on the fringes. At best, he's our #4 striker right now. Feruz will be loaned out, probably to a Championship team. 2) KDB has rarely played CM and he certainly hasn't this year. The only games I can see his position from last year, he either played attacking midfield, winger or left midfield. He may have played CM with Genk a few times, but at that form, he wasn't good enough for Chelsea. The reason people are rightly excited by him is because of his form this year which has been as a very attacking player. The type of game he's playing this year is excellent for an attacking player, but it would be awful for a central midfielder. (Excellent in crossing, setting up chances, scoring, but a 76.7% passing percentage and poor defensive game). The idea that he will easily be able to play as a deep-lying midfielder is absurd. He might be able to play there but he might not. 3) I was agreeing with you. 4) Yes, it is my opinion which is why I said "I think" rather than a statement of fact.