The Big Drog

Now isn't the time the time to take the foot off the gas. We should look to build on our strong results as of late. Cech Ivanovic, Luiz, Terry, Cole Ramires, Romeu, Lampard Sturridge, Drogba, Mata

If it means we get more players the quality and calibre of Romeu then I don't care how many supposed "rejects" arrive.

Again last night, it was a performance of the utmost class and quality, I can't remember ever being this impressed by one of our young players.

Has anyone got the full post match interview that they can post on here?

I think you guys are really undervaluing Cole and at the same time over-hyping Bertrand.

Its really very easy to pick and choose games with any player. EG. last night Cristiano Ronaldo, a player generally accepted to be one of the best players in the world (in my personal opinion he is the best), had a poor game against Barcelona last night. However what I don't mention are his numerous quality performances prior to that.

Despite it being roughly quarter past 12 in the night I will give you a few games off of the top of my head because I am kind. Most recently, Valencia. Despite your assertion that he was the weak link in that game, I don't agree, he was generally solid defensively and didn't leave gaps at the back by going forward. Newcastle. Along with Terry, the best defender on the pitch. Wolves. Had Jarvis in his pocket and caused all sorts of problems going forward. Blackburn. A constant threat going forward. Genk. Our best defender. QPR. Along with Terry, our best defender. Genk (at the Bridge) another wonderful attacking display. Everton. Assist for Sturridge and again our best defender on the day. Valencia (away). Solid performance, best defender on the night along with Luiz. Swansea. Assist and a tremendous attacking display, best defender on the day. Bayer Leverkusen. Rock solid defensively, very good performance. Happy enough with that? Honestly Im amazed at how under-appreciated Cole is on here by some people, Bertrand's first team experience is very limited and maybe in the future he might turn out to be a very good left back but right now we have a bonafide world class left back in Ashley Cole and he deserves a lot of respect.

No I don't agree with that at all.

Ye but Im not going to miss a perfectly good opportunity to bash Mikel.

During the course of his long absence Essien developed the technical attributes of a world class playmaker, given how much he is absent I suppose it isn't THAT unbelievable.

I don't think there will, he is a natural holding midfield player and unlike another Chelsea holding midfielder that we could name, he is actually effective defensively.

Ob Obviously I must be watching a different Ashley Cole then because Id say he has been the most consistent of any of our back four this season.

Sorry but I don't understand where the criticism of Cole has come from. Has he had a couple of bad games this season? Yes. Did he have a few bad games last season? Yes. Did he have a few bad games the season before that? Yes. Every player does. For the most part though Cole has been one of our most consistent performers and has generally played quite well.

Mate Ramos has been playing centre back ever since Carvalho got injured and he has been quite excellent at centre back in that time, a far better option than Raul Albiol, I've never been Sergio's biggest fan (always considered him a vastly overrated right back) but he has completely won me over as a centre back. Diarra over Khedira proved to be the right decision, Lass was Madrid's best player on the night, pressed well, covered a lot of ground and made some jawdropping tackles, I like Khedira but for this game Lass was the right choice. Though I agree Ronaldo was poor, a shame because he has been in such good form this season. Someone as mentally tough as he is will bounce back from this.

I think that, aside from those 5 minutes, you may have missed the other first 25-30 minutes of the first half mate. Also one of the recent criticisms of Barcelona's recent run of form has been that their pressing game doesn't have the same intensity as it once had, there were a few problems for Madrid last night, their pressing game was not one of those.

January sans Drogba with the replacements being Torres, Lukaku (very little Premier League experience and still rough around the edges) and Sturridge (our starting right winger, we haven't got a quality right wing replacement) being the 3 replacements really does worry me.

lol Real Madrid are very far from average, they are a truly world class team and the closest team there is to Barcelona, on another day, with a bit more luck, they could have gotten a win last night.

In theory it was perfect. Madrid's pressing unsettled Barcelona and stopped them getting a rhythm in their passing and as a result were the better side in the first half. With at times as many as 5 Madrid players pressing the Barcelona backline and keeper in their own half it was a brave move from Mourinho. A moment's loss of concentration allowed Barcelona in to equalise. What Mourinho's masterplan couldn't account for was a fluke, deflected goal to make it 2-1 or Ronaldo missing chances he would usually score in the dark, because Madrid did create chances. Once Barcelona scored the 2nd it was game over as the Madrid gameplan went bust and they lost their discipline. However had Ronaldo scored with the score at 1-0 or even had he scored the header (the decisive moment in the game) with the score at 1-2 we might have seen a different result. But even despite this loss Real Madrid can go 3 points clear with their game in hand, Barcelona don't play until the second week of January which gives Madrid time to build a healthy lead. Anyway a stunning game of football last night, a quite spectacular tactical battle between two new age managers, it was football as it should be played, technical, skilful and brave.

Good player, not the kind of midfielder we need though but would be a useful addition to the squad if we were to offload Mikel.

Wow they really hate AVB. Personally Im a big fan already, he has completely won me over with the style of play he is looking to implement, the clever buys he has made (seriously Romeu for around 4 million is mental) and he has a personality that Chelsea fans can get behind and support, rather than the almost always entirely neutral Carlo Ancelotti.

Hells yeah!

Im not blaming him for all of our bad form, Im simply saying that the team benefits from Drogba starting ahead of him.

I agree with that but either we need a significant change in approach or a similar type player to Drogba.

Drogba has been getting the same (and for a couple of years) worse service than Torres is now and he hasn't done too badly.

Based on quality. There can be no doubt about it, these are the two strongest teams on the planet. Barcelona are the team of their generation and will rightly go down in the history books as one of the very best teams ever created in the history of the game. Real Madrid have made giant strides under Mourinho and are now in a position where they can challenge Barcelona, more so this season than last thanks to Mourinho's introduction of the Barcelona style pressing game and some individual changes (Sergio Ramos to centre back, Kaka's revival, Benzema and Higuain both in stunning form). Mourinho always said Madrid would be better in his second season and that is exactly what has occurred, for me they are currently the best side in the worldand this Saturday's El Classico could prove exactly that. Sorry mate but there is no denying it, the best players in the world play for these two clubs, the two best managers in the world manage both clubs, both clubs have a glittering history, a massive fanbase and I personally believe that they play in the best league in the world. Ilker Casillas put it best last season when he said that Barcelona got a lot of plaudits for how they took Man Utd apart in the Champions League final at Wembley but had it been Real Madrid playing Man Utd, they would have done the exact same thing to the English club and I tend to believe Ilker, the two Spanish giants are on a different level to all other teams.