Hutcho

Hopefully our fans at the ground can be very noisy because they are being supportive of the team and not be loud due to the fact benitez is the manager. Come on chelsea.

Luiz has definitely been our worst defender in recent games, but then i don't think you can say the rest of them (possible exception being azpi) have been that good either. I would still bench him and play cahill though.

Not sharing the optimism... Have you not seen his goalscoring record under benitez...

Same as usual, azpi rb ivan and luiz cb.

Ps3, he is an absolute beast... clearly EA sports havent made a true likeness... Honestly, he has pace, and when hazard passes to him he doesn't lose it its beautiful to see...

Torres Hatrick anyone...

I don't know why, because i know it will end in disappointment, but for some reason i had the same feeling of expectation that i had at the start of the season with him... It;s absolutely crazy because we went through every game for like a year where i kept thinking this will be the game he turns up. But the feeling is back again....Brace for disappointment...

Come on rafa, i hope you have worked your defensive magic.

I would rather see tevez coming off the bench than dzecko lol.

Ray wilkins knows what he is on about bring him back as assistant manager...

I AM 100% BEHIND YOU LADS... LETS DO THIS!!! :blue scalf: :blue scalf:

Yeah i agree with konohas tbh, it would be pretty stupid to be there 5 mins then come in changing things, give him a week or 2, and then he can start adapting things, i am sure he will have been very clear in his defensive instructions to them, and he is not afraid to make subs when needed.... Come on chelsea.

We all knew torres was starting, perhaps his friend as manager could be the push he needs to start performing better... We can dream...

I predict Marin to get his first minutes for us today, espically with a our bench being pretty thin with just the two attacking players in it. The only way i can see he doesn't get some time is if we have quite a big lead (which would be nice)...

OK same team, i expected the front 4 to be the same, but tbh he has only been there a short time so you wouldn't expect to see major wholesale changes. No tevez is a big positive for us.

I am not sure, given everything this week, i don't think i can be dissapointed with a draw, but being at home and given recent history i am not too sure. Be great for the team to get 3 points and end this bad run we are on without winning a game.

I don't think they are a real threat for top 4. They are are very good well organised team, but when it comes down to it, they can threat for a europa spot. Also if for some reason we got into early next year and lukaku was being amazing for them always starting and they were challenging for it then we would of course recall him. But until then we may as well give him the season there to get some more game time.

Its good than benitez identified our 3 best attacking threats as our 3 AM's which leads me to thinking we will line up Oscar Mata Hazard Torres. only about 2 and a half hours before we find out.

Well tell your dream we don't want rambo at RW!

I think our squad dictates the types of formations he can use anyway, the number of AM's and extreme shortage of strikers mean it has to be a packed midfield with one up top. I am sure we are all expecting that man to be torres. It will be interesting how he sets it up though and whether he decides to keep our trio which can be at times a bit narrow or decide to add more width with the likes of moses and marin. Due to our heavy schedule we will probably see both but I think the changes we see may be more in terms of personnel and general tactics than the actual formation.. Time will tell though.

Yeah i accept that for sure it is an option and with defenders behind his style would be perhaps more suited to it, though it's not like he suddenly becomes an amazing holding player (he could) but these things take time. Also he doesn't (shouldn't) have a license to roam at cb but he still does. Though perhaps with the Spanish connection we will se. More of Romeu in there. Especially as we will need him in when the African cup of nations is here.

Yes I know and tbh that's like apples and oranges. Height isn't everything. For one thing moses is a lot stronger and has a great leap. I. E. When Cech was lobbing long balls up to hazard last week the West Brom defenders were easily out muscling him and cheating it down. That wouldn't happen with moses. For example Tim cahill is also 5 ft 10 and he is a beast in the air.

Really can't wait to see the team he goes with, it will be fascinating to see, even though he has been there 3 whole days.

Thats hardly more defensive tbh. Moses in for oscar means we have a different kind of threat and someone for cech to kick balls up to, and luiz holding doesn't really make us more defensive as if you give him more license he will for sure take it. IMO, it would be madness to take out mikel who has performed solidly for us in there for ages to replace him with a defender who (to put it lightly) has struggles with his defensive responsibilities at times.

Yeah, they dropped points, great news for us.