Barbara

how many offsides will Torres have in this match? He's wearing Ba's socks, it seems.

gosh, they're toooooooo bad their defense is even worse than Gala's

oh the support singing Willian's song even if he's only in the bench.

our defense watched Dempsey head completely unmarked... Rami's mask is cute

time flies, here's waiting for him to reach the 500 mark

If the whole leaked french interview thing is the reason why our most reliable (and even then, far from ideal) striker is completely dropped from the squad, FML. I do hope Torres does well, he did against Gala imo, but I trust Eto'o much more than I trust him currently. But here's hoping he has a good match, maybe a hat-trick? I wish both rested him. I forget those worthless friendlies are this week... here I was thinking our players would have a week's rest. Stupid me, but even more worthless friendlies (although even I admit this friendly makes sense for the managers to have an idea of who to call for the few doubts they might still have, still I HATE international football). A burnt our Hazard has no use for Chelsea in April neither for Belgium in June.

The day Mourinho starts thinking about any NT - including Portugal - is the day he can't be a club manager anymore. He's justified his choice and said Wilmots should rest Eden instead from a worthless friendly. He's doing his job and Wilmots will do his by having Eden playing. Sorry, mate, but that comment makes no sense here. I agree he should be rested, including from worthless friendlies... Hazard has nothing to prove to Belgium or Wilmots, especially as tired as he is. But it's part of the schedule and he should play. Choosing between any of those matches goes down to personal preference. I'd rather he didn't play either.

what people fail to realize is that defensive responsibilities take away from their offensive performance. Haven't we been discussing Mata's bad form this season for months now? Do you think he simply forgot how play football in the time span of three months? No, he was bad or subpar offensively - and his stats say as much - because he was coping with what Mourinho asked him to do defensively (and in the end it was proved he couldn't cope at all, hence why we kept saying he didn't fit the system). Why is it so hard to understand that asking more defensively leads the player to get more tired, to divide his focus and efforts and just to change how he approaches the game? so if Mata's creativity and offensive game suffered because of the other responsibilities he was asked, why can't Willian and even Oscar have the same fate (especially because they aren't anywhere near as creative as Mata)? Mata's playing in the wing for ManU and still he's had more assists there in 3 or 4 matches than he's had here in 11 (or 15, don't even remember the number of times he's started for us this season). Is he still only a shadow of what he's used to be? Absolutely, he's been through a patch of bad form. I don't buy the playing in the wing destroys him BS. He's played in the wing for his whole career except the last two seasons, he knows how to play there too (although I agree he's way more effective in the middle, but he isn't supposed to be garbage in the wing). He's just lacking any resemblance of confidence, even happiness to play and he's been in bad form. It's a vicious circle where each of those things makes the other worse and he'll need a new season (basically a well done pre-season, without injury) to start over. He probably won't make it to Brazil in the abysmal form he is (compared to his good days). Spain has incredible depth on his position and many players are preferred over him by del Bosque. I think he could use the vacation and after a good pre-season he'll come a new player, more like the one he's used to be. So ignoring a bit of Mata and talking about the problem in hand, Willian is coping with everything Mourinho's been asking him to do defensively and it's affecting his offensive game. He's through EPL football adaptation, has been trying to prove himself to Mourinho and Scolari. I think he's doing well (nothing exceptional, just well) under those many circumstances. I think once we have a more reliable pivot next season with Matic already settled, and maybe just maybe, a better partner for him (here's hoping Marco really recovers well and continues from where he's stopped), Oscar and Wilian will be released of some of their defensive responsibilities, although in a Mourinho team one, at most two, players in the whole pitch are exempted from defensive responsibilities.

dude, have you hanging out with YouNameIt? This is a forum, everyone will have opinions. If you think Luiz is garbage and I think Ramires is poor, that's our opinions. I think is ridiculous when you say people have mental issues if they think Luiz can play in CB against Fulham of all teams. If there's a game he can offer Cahill or Terry a rest is this one... but we need him more in the pivot than we need to rest our CBs (let's not forget Terry just had a 'pre-injury' that left him out 3 weeks and Cahill almost missed a match the other day, all from playing too much if you ask me). If people like him, they're not mentally sick, they just like him... Ramires is TIRED, he's played 90 minutes in Turkey, had a hell of a trip and might be without legs (which are his best asset) he's already been struggling physically according to Mourinho and then someone says if he plays we need divine help, people like you don't even try to understand why, just get offended as if I was talking about your mother instead. I'm above this kind of petty argument, if you want to have them, you'll have them alone, especially when you call me an hypocrite without even quoting me in the post. You're back to the place you should have never left to start with.

I don't follow Ukraine's football and much less Russia's (although I did watch some matches from the latter last season), but I think it's a big jump from either. Patience is a virtue that seems hard to find these days, Ron.

I agree with everything, I'm just cautious about Marco because the boy is 20 and had an ACL injury, so I think his future only God knows. I think Oscar isn't sacrificed in Brazil NT playing as the most advanced midfielder in the 4-3-3 we have. I don't want him in the pivot, I cringe every time someone suggests him to move there in the 4-2-3-1 because he knows how to tackle. He tackles well for an AM, but he isn't strong enough or defensive enough to do it well as a pivot player, even if a B2B that normally is less defensive and allowed more space in the attack. He isn't a #8, he doesn't even have the physic for that... so I guess we agree on that too.

In all honesty I've had enough from them. We don't have many of them here, but their need to come to Eto'o thread to demoralize him when Torres has been worse sometimes gets on my nerves. Neither of them are good, but while Torres has been poor, Eto'o has been decent, especially in 2014.

He hasn't been poor and he's definitely been better than Torres this season. Everything says it - assists, goals scored, shots on goal, work rate. Whoever says otherwise doesn't have any argument. Unless they're assessing Torres for being blond and cute.

I disagree that Ramires is a central player in Mourinho's tactics. That's Oscar while Eden is the star. The thing is Ramires is the only player we have with such a profile to play in the midfield and he's definitely a Mourinho kind of player. So he offers Mourinho some versatility, but here's hoping that one between Salah or André really make it here, so we don't depend so much on Ramires' pace and never see him again in the RW. If in the pivot I rate him a 6.5, 7 at most, in the wing I don't rate him at all, but I'd go with a 5 if I had to really do it. I'd really love for Mourinho to sign a better player for the position, but he just won't. So here's waiting that maybe we move to a 4-3-3 in the future and either Oscar or Willian drop to the midfield. I'm not ungrateful and I'm not disregarding everything he's done for us - although agree with whoever said he's been living off of a goal against Barcelona and is overrated for the exact same reason. But Chelsea three years ago and up to this season had different goals than the team Mourinho is going to get together. The stakes will rise and that's the problem keeping Ramires imo. With stakes higher than the ones we have, he simply doesn't cut. He barely does as it is. It's just our pivot has been so incredibly poor the last few years, that Ramires was more important than he should, but that's because the bar was just too low.

especially against a side like Fulham... do they expect them to score as if they were City? The overreaction about Luiz's quality is really annoying here. Everyone admits he's in bad form, quite behind both Cahill and Terry, but he isn't as bad as they make him out to be. Ridiculous if Eden isn't going to be rested, then I'd play exactly the same trio as Gala. At least one between him and Oscar should be rested. Too bad Mourinho won't rest him. Let's hope it doesn't backfire.

I think the key for us not to struggle tomorrow is more the midfield than the attack I don't think our defense will be that harassed, although Terry and Iva might be really tired. Back to midfield, if Luiz is fit, I can't see other combo, but Matic/Luiz. We won't play again until next Saturday, so the players will have time to recover. Not only Luiz is more composed than Ramires in the midfield, but also Ramires may be very tired. Mikel became a non-factor for me the moment we bought Matic and should be used only when Nemanja can't play, and even then, cautiously. Lampard is probably very tired and I don't think he should even be in the bench in all honesty. But we're sort of shortlisted if David isn't fit and can't play. In that case I'd play Rami and pray for God to help us. In the attack I'd start the same AMs that started against Gala, except Oscar for Eden. I've been campaigning for Oscar's extended rest for a couple of weeks, but now Eden looks as much tired. I don't think we'll play counter - even if the game is away - otherwise, I'd even have Rami in the RW - although I hate it, but desperate times calls desperate measures. Good thing I don't think we'll need pace. I don't want Salah anywhere near the starting eleven, and if he's an unused sub, all that much better. He's useless for us right now (because of the reality shock with the physicality of EPL especially compared to Swiss footie), let's give him minutes at the Bridge, moderately, coming in the second (even if early) and get him better used next season. The attack, I'd say go with Eto'o, although Torres was decent against Gala, but I still believe the key will be our midfield. Hopefully Oscar (who I believe will play) or Willian or even Luiz again can score a screamer, early in the game (15-25 mark) or one of our good headers get in in a corner. I don't really care about performance in this match because it's a derby, crazy things happen in those and we've been fucked by the FA - as usual - with this match scheduled for a Saturday. Many players won't have much legs, which is why I believe Schurrle, Oscar and Willian should play, with Eden coming for Schurrle around the 60' mark (or 70' if André can take it, as Mourinho said he was subbed last Wednesday because he was struggling physically after not playing many minutes for so long (and I wonder whose fault is that)).

Statistically speaking is general consensus that up to 2% differences are considered technically equal, a draw. But that's me being technical about stats Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Note 4G using Tapatalk

People need to get one thing straight and that's about every other player. You can't keep bringing their price tag and demand them to perform according to that. Who decided to pay that money is Chelsea. Many players have release clauses that are overpriced to keep the players - who are important for their clubs. Also right now attacking football players seem in general overpriced... so it really bothers me when people accuse others of not playing their transfer fee. Their wage would make sense, as that's what the club is paying to them personally. But fees are paid to other clubs, that either imposed such a price or that we offered as much. Whoever says he's not worth 30M, it's a valid point that I even agree with, but saying he's not playing like a 30M is stupid imo as who decided or at least agreed to pay as much was Chelsea, it wasn't Willian saying he was worth that much.

how is he supposed to get the players used to the tactics and prepare them for the following season if he keeps rotating them? People were jumping on him until december because no other team rotated as we did, now they're jumping on him because he doesn't rotate. That's right, let's not forget we only had an expected starting ten/eleven in December, which means the players were rotated until them and now the titular players aren't missing matches. So when he's finally found his team he had to give them chemistry and have the tactics settle... it's damaging them physically? Yes, it is. I never said there was a way out of it, it is what it is, but I don't see how he could do things differently, unless he gives up on winning the title - which he and the club won't. If he gave up in the title and focused only on getting his players ready for next season, as a squad, and not only as a team, then he could rotate more. Now, who's willing to accept that? @MrExcalibur100, I'm infamously known for my huge posts, that wasn't nearly the biggest one I've written here. It's both a blessing and a disgrace and ofc a chance to spout much more shit than others

I think it's a combination of things that gravitate around those two. When you go years without proper tactics that only rely on individual brilliance - defending (UCL whole defensive line), creating (Mata for two years) or scoring important goals (Drogba) you gamble a few things. But tactically we were very poor for 3-4 years now. I disagree we don't have world class players (I HATE that expression to start with). We have some very high class players - that make mistakes just like any others. Cech is still one of the top goalies in the world, our defense is one of the best, especially Terry/Cahill partnership this year. But then you look at midfield and attack and we have four kind of players: promising young talents, players over their peak struggling physically and technically at points, flops and players not good enough. Ramires, Mikel, Lampard, Willian, Hazard, Oscar, Schurrle, Torres, Eto'o and Ba all fit one (or more) of those categories... Then we've got Matic and Salah this winter. I don't want to rate Salah now, I predict he'll have a very challenging season comes next year, so let's give the kid a couple of years to adapt. It can't be worse than Ramires when he's first arrived here and I find a lot of similarities in their style, although they play in different positions, but I expect something as bad as that. So the players (the ones who were already here) go years (or months for players who arrived last season) without a strong and well defined tactical plan. We used to get a new manager at every breath Abramovich took so there was no stability, and they just kept changing tactics. It's so much easier for the players (the talented ones) to rely on talent rather than on tactics. Their talent comes natural and effortless many times, but tactics demand a lot of hard work. I'm not saying those guys weren't working hard the last few years, but can anyone honestly compare what was demanded from them then by all the wannabes coaches we had and what Mourinho demands? Just look at Mata. Rely on his talent is much easier than make a lot of sacrifices, concessions and double your work on the pitch. That alone, regardless of the tactics Mourinho chooses already causes an impact physically. The training sessions are harder (many players said it throughout the years, Drogba said it just this week), Mourinho is fiercer than many and demands a lot in general and then you add the tactics. Mourinho is using what is imo the most demanding, exhausting, all-consuming tactics, which is counter-attacked combined with high pressure (high in the amount and in the zone in the pitch). So not only those guys are working now more than they were used to, they're asked more from their manager, but they also 'play' more. They run more, they tackle more, they pursue and chase more the ball and the opponents. It's no wonder most of them look like The Walking Dead - Footie Edition. I really, really, really, really (did I say how much I really?) dislike it when people just throw words like 'they're paid millions, they're professional athletes, they only play twice a week and many weeks only once, that's all they do, they only trained the whole week'. The only way I can accept that is if you've been a professional football player, played in a top team and can testify about what you went through, otherwise it's just a bunch of assumptions from people who think modern football is a cake walk because the players are paid so much money. I know in person some retired professional Brazilian footballers such as Silas - a striker who's played the 80's and the 90's - some of you may know. Marquinhos - a defender who played in Brazil, a few Flamengo players (including Zico, but Zico is from a different time) and many, many, many volleyball players I had a chance to talk to some of those guys about football. It's not as easy as you think. So people come here and say 'but we had a week's rest, but player X hasn't played two matches, but we have depth, blah, blah, blah'. Silas became a manager a few years ago and he's talked about physical recovery with a group of us some time ago (we used to go to the same church0. It's insane. Those guys get dumped into tubes filled with ice, after hot showers, get a lot of massages, some get some injections to recover muscles and articulations. And they deal with a crazy amount of pain. Silas said that after 5-6 months of competition, most of those guys are playing in pain... and then someone says 'but he had a week's rest'. The human body has its limitations and professional modern sports became way too demanding. It's so easy for us, glorified couch potatoes that may at most go to the gym, play some footie, tennis or even golf a few times a week (no longer than 90 minutes) come here and say tiredness is an excuse. Some players deal better with that, some teams win more easily and the matches are less demanding, some tactics (like the ones we had in the past) are softer, but at the end of the day modern sports keep 'evolving' as if the human body followed the technology and players were robocops, part machine, part human. Modern medicine, physiotherapy and other areas help to body to endure more than it could 50 years ago, but I wonder where the end of this will be. So I look at those human beings and their human bodies and I can understand and believe when Mourinho says Ramires and Oscar have been playing injured and how Terry who we were said to have an 'almost injury' and was supposed to miss a match missed three weeks of football. They're not made of steel and as I said at the beginning, unless you've endured what they do for a few years, don't come here and say tiredness is an excuse as if you were talking about how tired you are after a semester at college or after a few consecutive days working 10h a day in your office. There have also been a lot of TV programs produced about it and I'm sure a few of you already came across them. They are tired, the tactics settled, but I think physically they're too much for them to handle now, so they're coping. Some matches - the big ones - they naturally have bigger motivation. They know the importance, they bring something from their 'storage' and just deliver an amazing performance. Just yesterday I said I was worried about how far we were in this transition year in terms of completing the transition, but earlier today I was thinking about exactly this and I convinced myself, they're already working 'overtime'. They are already at the end of their breaths because those guys (regardless of the teams they played, as most of our new players in the past couple of years came from softer leagues and managers) aren't used to all this. They;ll get better at it, they'll cope, but let's not forget that despite being awfully rich and getting paid some ridiculous amount of money a week, it does nothing or very little to turn their bodies in the machines some expect them to be. Had Mourinho picked a softer tactic, I think they'd go through the same exhaustion process, maybe a month down the road (if so) because Mourinho is demanding himself as well as his training sessions. But Mourinho didn't pick a softer tactic, he went with one of the most consuming and the players are running out of gas, making gas stops too often because they can't get their tanks full, only get 10 bucks of it every time they stop. I'm not as worried as I was yesterday (even then it was a slight concern, nothing major) about how far we're in the transition. I think we completed the tactics adaptation in the practical sense of it. Now we're going through the physical part. That's not suppositions and theories, that's physics, biology, physiology and in all honesty, obviousness. But still, anyone here is entitled to disagree and think otherwise, what's obvious to me could make no sense to the next person.

that's precious, sweetheart, because I'm one of Ramires biggest criticizers in the forum and I get criticized on my dislike for him a lot. I just said I don't know if Willian has the winner spirit in him and I admitted in many posts that Oscar's been poor, what's your point really, lovely? Come back when you have something useful or substantial to say. *rolls eyes*

yeah, but having people disagree with you shouldn't lead to this hostility. And I think while many have decent posts - positive and negative - some make it look like we suck further than Manchester United. IDK but it's been a while since there was such a hostile environment here among our own.

wow, I'm a few pages back, catching up with the thread and I have to concede to people complaining... it IS worse than the Gala fans trolling. The fights and the environment seems very negative, not only about the match, but very unfriendly too. Are we seriously getting into that kind of mood - as a forum - over a draw away? Yeah, disappointing, pathetic second half and display, but one would think we've lost the title or were Manchester United...

I liked your post, but I think the overreaction from 'the positive wing' isn't on people simply showing discontent with how we played. There are always people with the same old thing that we should play 'beautiful football', 'proper football' or the good old one 'we have millions worth players, they should play as such'. I honestly think that's what bothers most (it bothers me too). So I suppose most people complaining about the moaners are complaining about the overreaction. Or maybe you're right and they aren't. Well, I'm not here to be Miss Positive (and I'm positive), but I do agree with many - and I've said it myself - we've been quite poor in some matches this season (some say the last four, but because of my job, this is the first live match I've watched among those 4. I watched a replay of Everton and we weren't as nearly as bad as some made it sound). Maybe I'm a victim of what I said the other day when I watched the replay. At the heat of the moment your frustration grows and your perception is affected by it. When you watch later knowing the result (in that case a last minute goal, a draw would still entice some frustration because the top of the league was at stake) you can see things in a much more rational way. I think we were poor piss, but that's it. We could play one of those big matches in the home leg (I hope we do because they actually have a decent attack) and everything is fine. What bothers me - and I don't care what names I'm going to be called by 'proper fans' for saying it - is that imo our main objective this season was getting the team ready for next season, giving Hazard and Oscar another season in English football under their belt and work on their development. Have Schurrle and Willian go through their adaptation. I feel most of our evolution isn't about those players getting better (although ofc Hazard improved a lot), I think most of the evolution we've showed so far (results wise) is simply because of Mourinho's presence and tactics (which are highly effective imo). When Mikel came I bitched, but 2 minutes later, after I calmed down, I knew he did the right thing. He knows he can't trust the team yet, and if stating such thing makes me a bad fan, I'm sorry, but that's my opinion. We don't have a reliable team. Which isn't the end of the world, I'm one of the firm believers this season was all about transition. It's the transition itself that worries me a little bit. I think we've solved 70% of our pivot problems with Matic and we're headed to solve partially or totally our strikers' issue. While we could use another LB and a better partner for Matic, we can survive and be very competitive with the options we have. I think Hazard, Oscar, Willian, Schürrle, Matic (but not Salah) will have much better seasons next year, not only because the young boys will be more mature, but because they'll be more (or completely) adapted to the English style. It's not the quality of them that worries me (a bit) as much as it is their mentality. Sorry, but I can't look to a player like Mikel and see the thirsty from a winner in his eyes. I can see that in Oscar's eyes (and his dedication in the pitch also testifies to that), but I'm not sure about Willian or Schürrle, for example. That's the difference and Didier actually talked about it in the interview about Chelsea and Mourinho that he gave yesterday. He said Mourinho taught them how to be winners, how to hate losing. I hope Mou does the same here, and I hope we don't have any players that instead of lacking a bit of the ideology, just lack the real thing and then Mourinho can't help them. It's just it's a bit unexpected for me that comes March and we still show the same issues we did in September... the 180 turns we keep taking is a bit uncomfortable, and something I honestly expected not to see by now. Maybe the team is tired, but I think they simply lack the winner's spirit (except our old legends, who've proved in the past to have a lot of hunger for victories. Mourinho taught or developed further that about them). But count me out of the bandwagon that thinks this is the end of the world, that we're passive, don't attack, that Mourinho is conservative and all that jazz. I think we should do better when possessing the ball than we do, but that's the least of my concerns now. It's the overall bipolar performances that bother me a bit. what he's said. If there's something I don't really care is what the world thinks of the level or the kind of football we present. I don't give a flying fuck, as you put so well. I do have any idea of what I want to see (not style wise, but performance wise), so I also agree about the bit that we're inconsistent and that's the main issue. But then again his season is here to work on that, not to win titles - IF WE WIN TITLES (the caps aren't for you), that's great, if we're in a position to win them, amazing, but the main purpose of this season I think was settling the players down with Mourinho's tactics and develop them further. That's where I'm a bit lost in the real assessment of what's happened so far.

They wasted a chance with our very own Sideshow Bob, but this is pretty cool. lol, internet can be such a blessing: It seems like they'll feature in an episode, according to the Bleach Report http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1974692-chelsea-players-to-star-in-an-episode-of-the-simpsons?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=programming-UK