Magic Lamps

Cakir is getting on my nerves with his wuzzy refereeing

Usually yes but today not really

75% posession for barca but that is only because they are playing so ponderous

Our plan is obviously to outpace them given they are not really fast anymore

Alonso obviously got the order to stay back so the ams have to provide width

i only just saw the lineup. DAFUQ. we could not even beat Watford with this lineup. Where are our strikers?

yeah we should defo set fa cup as major target now. but anything can happen. Mancity approached this tie with much of their 1st XI and still failed miserably. I saw Stones took a leaf out of Cahills book and almost backed himself out of the stadium.

the sarcasm is strong in this one^^ Obviously Giroud-Morata is world class strike force and we will need a few signings to upgrade it for the long-term, however they both fit our playing style much more than Bats. This is not only because of Conte. We are a defensive team and we always have been a defensive team that relies on individual brilliance up front. even before 2012 we had Lampard and Drogba and a supporting cast of varying quality, which ultimately determined the height of our success. when we kept Lamps and Drogs fit and scoring we would at least finish 2nd and win the odd cup, when the supporting cast was robben and malouda and anleka in the only season they were good we would most definitely win the league, too. but we never really were a team of intricate short passes and one-touch football in the final third for a longer period of time. for the last 3 years we had Costa and Hazard doing the same. And this is where Bats comes into play. He is not the kind of player to create his own chances, win games on his own, so he would never be part of this 2man army to carry us season over season. As we play with only one strikerand have done so for ages now this automatically degrades him to the bench. Hazard and friends are used to have a striker to hold up the ball long enough for them to make runs. Bats is really more or less just a finisher. and as long as Dortmund dominate the ball, peg oppositions back that is all they need. We, chelsea, even approach games agaisnt mid-table opposition in a way more conservative way and rightly so, because in the premier league, every small team fancies its chances, gives it a go and may leave a team like dortmund exposed. against BMG which was a shit game, bats limitations were obvious, dortmund were not that dominant and bats struggled to make an impact. the thing is for dortmund, there are like 4, 5 teams in the league which will make the game that awkward for them, in the epl it is almost always like this.

far from frightening on paper. that offense is some great names but ageing and way over the hill. The rest of the team is rather ordinary. Not that we are any different but on a really good day we might have a chance. the only thing we really need to improve on is our finishing. If we get lucky and score from the few chances there is something in it.

Given his name is croatian i would say pulisitsch like the german commentatora do

The boy's got balls of steel. He might look like a palm tree but he plays like a young Beckenbauer.

you have to give Conte credit that despite his job in the balance he plays more youngsters than his last 10 predecessors did.

I said it once I will say it again, if Willian's mind was as quick as his feet, he would be one of the best players in the world. He got the skills, the technique, the pace and the shooting skills on level with Hazard's but he just has not that intelligent. Still let's hope for a few sharp moments of his against Barca. Definitely deserves to start.

decent debut. One great assist and a couple of decent runs. looks a tidy player and not easily outpaced. Barcelona comes too early for him though.

Assured performance, a few nervy moments at the back but when you got Cahill there and a rookie, things will get shaky from time to time. Great dispaly from Willian, i hope he has sth left in the tank for Barca. Drinkwater was ok, too. I like Callum's and Scott's cameos.. Morata really not up to it yet.

It's not that Barkley is any useful the way Conte deploys him but still his obvious lack of fitness does not help driving up his market value.

Friday night is the best. I hate it to wait anxiously all week and get nothing done before the game.

I really really hope that Marina or someone else could do some blood magic to keep him at Chelsea for at least another 1 or 2 seasons. Even if we will not achieve the CL with this generation I think Hazard will be key to attracting other targets and achieving minimum goals like top 4 finish and occasional cup win to facilitate the rebuild this squad and club needs. And to be considered on the same tier as Drogs, Lamps, JT, he needs to win the CL. He is probably the most talented player ever to don the shirt but I think the 4 major titles we won during his tenure are still short of the 13+ titles we won with our prior great generaton. Also we have to consider that our great legends won the CL and reached 5 semis and should have gone through 4 of them if not for a lot of dodgy refereeing and obvious manipulation. And don't tell me that our team overall was much better back then. We were full of average players back then too. We went through rough spells, the quality of coaches was really mixed but those great players were the reason we never fell apart and always made top 4 easily. I remember i really did not value the 4th place trophy back then but seeing how we are struggling now, it really was a great achievement being top 4 for 10 years straight. Also the 4+ fa cups we won meant something. With Drogba and Lampard on the field there was no opposition we could not beat. On our day we would always be the best team in the world.

Let's hope we can win this early and 3 of our most reliable starters off as soon as the game is won. But knowing us, this will go to the last second. I would love to win the FA cup but doing so gives us nothing, so rather risk losing the game than going fatigued into the weeks that will decide our season. Hull are one of the poorest sides in the championship and might very well go down, they would do well to rest a few players against us too. Their best defender is our very own Michael Hector so I guess he will be ineligible too. -----------------Willy--------- ---Ampadu---Luiz--Cahill--- Sterling-Drinks--Baka--Emerson ----Willian---Morata---Hudson----

i read that too, horrible story. I remember the game perfectly. The game was in the balance until Gary cahill and ryan mason shattered heads. Gary stood up and shrugged it off as if it was nothing but Mason was terrible. had to be treated for ages and directly sent to hospital. Hull never recovered from that shock and we easily won. I jested in the match thread, that Gary cahill's match winning contradiction was getting one of their better players off the pitch . Now I regret it, even though I never thought it would be that bad. I have seen some friends of me break their skulls too and they fully recovered within days but that really was a mean collision.

I also think he played well and is a good player, but as a right foot he naturally turns inwards and that slows our play and limits our space on the side which is why hazard scored both goals coming from the right. Pedro often had to stay wide on the left in order to create width.

Mikel at that age was so much more accomplished technically allready it is really hard to compare.

If giroud would have scored that chance he would not be giroud. Still a good home debut. As long as he keeps hazard scoring i am fine with him being wasteful.

wba are one dirty bunch. should have seen way more cards so far

we got no width at all on that all important left side with zappacosta on it.