Barbara

and why not make the same reasoning with Lampard? I don't think it's the end of the world to have Lamps starting every match, but isn't it a bit obvious that he hasn't been producing in a higher level in those matches? Does he trust so little in Mikel and Essien? If that's the case why didn't we sign another DM? I don't have a problem with the formation and tactics he has been choosing because precisely of what I've written in my last post (I think we need to give him time to make it work and then see if it's good or bad), but I'm trying to understand why he insists on a 35yo player that showed he struggles to produce anything worth of mentioning when playing twice a week.

call me crazy or a Mourinho stan, but I think that's the way to go... Obviously our front men don't have the chemistry and aren't fully adapted to the new tactics yet. Saying that formation parks the bus is a stretch imo. While I may disagree with a name or two, it's not the end of the world as some posters are making it out to be because he has just started his work! He worked on our defense and for some reason quite quickly. Give him time to do the same with the attacking force. I can't for the life of me understand why people are complaining so much with only four matches in. This formation will work in the future with Mata, Eto'o, Lukaku, de Bruyne, and hopefully when Lampard gets tired and can't play every frigging match. So let's assess and evaluate his options in a few months from now? We were granted an amazing UCL group and we some doable fixtures in EPL in the first three months. Then if it's still not working - because the plan sucks, not because the players aren't used to it yet - then we'll complain and stuff. But gosh, so many panties (or briefs) in knots here so prematurely!

not even in the bench it seems

why keeping Cahill instead of JT? That's the part I don't understand AT ALL! Luiz hasn't played a real match in weeks!!!! Couldn't care less about André + Torres. It's not like I've expected much different from it. And yeah, he's going to exhaust Lampard in that double pivot. I hope he gets exhausted soon enough

a nice summarization of the English clubs' groups. I understand why they're whining. Moping is for free though

if we get him he will either leave immediately on a loan or he will play with the U-21 team... as he should (whatever option that may be)

after four seasons playing absolutely nothing... by that parameter we'd have to keep Torres for another one and a half year. no thanks I don't like Torres. I didn't like Torres since he was at Liverpool. I had problems with him although he was much better back then. Technically he was never anything special. He had a few things that helped him - his positioning being one of them, he used to have a better finishing and linked up better. He could also make quite the runs, but I like my players technical - which is why he was never my kind of player. He came here and he got really worse (he was already not that much good in his last season at pool imo). I don't like the bloke, I think he's a walking embarrassment, still I found myself agreeing with some of CHOULO19's arguments about him and the comparisons between the other two. The fact is he'll always look worse than he is for most people here, I've come to terms with that. I'm not even defending the guy, it's just that the bias about him here is all over the place. He sucks, but when he does something good people will ignore and say it's not enough when they're overlooking the same stuff from other players - maybe not as often as with Torres, but still. Also the argument about him cheating, exploring, sucking us on his wage. Who offered him that wage was Chelsea FC, he only agreed to it. Who offered a 5-year contract was Chelsea FC he's fulfilling it. We can't blame the guy and just because all of us want him to leave, it doesn't mean the club wants as well. They could, or they couldn't. Who knows? There had been rumors about other teams wanting him and where did that lead? Nowhere. Why is that? If the club wants to offload the player, they can easily do if others are willing to have him. I want the guy out just like the next person, but the absurdity of what's written in this thread is really funny. It's so funny that before joining here I've never found myself having to say something positive about Torres because normally the Chelsea supporters around me thought he was less bad than I did or just the same. People who were willing to say he had a good match or scored a nice goal. I'll never read more than 3 consecutive posts in this forum recognizing when he doesn't suck. He will suck by default.

Actually my order would be Madrid Bayern Chelsea/Barça. The thing is Ozil has been on snooze for a while and Isco in new in the team (and Bale may replace Luka), but I think they have a slight edge because of Cris.

the way he talks about Oscar

pls... Messi is still the best in the world, but both Xavi and Iniesta while still playing well are already on the descending side of their careers and aren't the players they were two years ago (maybe not even a year ago). How long has it been since you've watched them? I'm not saying both attacks match, as our fellow mate, but not even close is a stretch. I think it's very close, if not a match as he suggested. Pedro and Sanchez are really overrated, Neymar has to prove himself in Europe more than any of our players and Fabregas isn't as proficient at Barça as he was at Arsenal. The only clear advantage is Messi. The rest is a draw or us having a slight edge

I believe Oscar and Mata will rotate the CAM and Kevin will be used in the wing, not sure if rotating with Willian - most likely as Hazard is the man Mourinho is putting his money on and will rarely miss starts. If anything between Oscar and Mata is more likely Willian will rotate with the only leftie in the AM - Mata.

the most reliable source in England disagrees with you Chelsea have completed the signing of Brazil forward Willian from Russian club Anzhi Makhachkala for a fee thought to be in the region of £25.5m. edit: sorry didn't see Jay had already corrected you - and you replied to him. I clicked on the notification bell (that I keep thinking is a slice of pizza) and then I answered. my bad

what exactly is happening here?

his Spanish is flawless (ofc I know that's because of his time in La Liga, still flawless and not accented at all) and am I wrong or didn't SSN confirm the fee for Willian was 25.6 or something around the 25m pounds and still people keep talking about 32m for both. 6-7m is what Eto'o will make in wages - we don't know how much Willian does, so it makes no sense to have an amount that includes one player's wages and the other not. So both came for around 25m as far as I can say + wages. That's great business in my book I don't have one single complaint about the names we did sign this summer. I wish we had added another DM in the pivot, but I think we can work with the guys we have. They'll definitely improve tactically under Mourinho and possibly even technically. edit: btw is there a way in Windows 7 to hear to the sound channels separately? The translator guy missed tons and I'd like to hear it straight from Samuel

thanks for breaking it up so nicely, boys I think it was capital for us to get a group like this because imo this is a transitional season - although some of you consider the team a finished article because Mourinho is here and he reached success in his first year in the previous spell. I think is a little bit more complicated than that because except Eto'o, Mata and Torres our attacking guys are quiet young and not that much experienced, especially on UCL. So an easy group and (supposing we get through) an easy fixture in the R16 is all we need for this group to gain some experience in Europe all while Mourinho does the necessary adjustments. I think he's worked crazy fast in our defense that already looks completely different from how it was let's say 6 months ago. But there's the pivot issue and definitely the attacking issue. Those things demand time to get fixed because I believe with the players we have - despite their age and lack of experience in some cases - they're good players. The potential is there and Mourinho had made it clear that he's going to work on converting that potential into talent. We can manage to focus on both UCL and EPL this semester because we have a nice UCL group. And winning those matches will add to the team's confidence and it will make the transition smoother if not faster. While my expectations for the season in terms of trophies is still low, I think that's exactly what we needed and I can see this team growing because of such a group. We also had a lucky draw in Capital Cup and hopefully we'll have another in FA Cup as well and it makes the squad more rounded, by going to those places and potentially adding wins and making through the next stages. I'm quite happy with our EPL fixtures, our UCL group, our CC fixture. It seems Mourinho in addition to his outstanding ability to set up teams also has luck on his side right now. One can't complain of those

I won't complain about either For once I have no idea of what to expect from Mou tomorrow. He already said this trophy isn't important for him - although obviously he would like to win it. So I'm not sure if he's going to use this big opponent to try another formation he may think as an alternative or if he's going full throttle on them. Either way I think there isn't a better match to start Lukaku and I guess that's what he'll do.

one thing I can see from those pics is how high Luiz can jump. Compare him to Essien and both to Nando... Essien was decent, but Luiz was just wow Also I miss seeing him wearing a Blue shirt so I hope he plays tomorrow. Also my kits are finally arriving next week after one failed attempted. I can't wait!!!! I have a 3rd Oscar and home Hazard :getin:

I'll do the Fulham then

I got all three right, so I beat you

as I didn't bet money can I have reps instead? I guessed all three

Celtic beat Barça last year... just saying

Arsenal is really Fucked

City x Bayern hahahahahahahahahaha

wow, I've got 66% of our group right already! Basel, Schalke! I need to move to England and start taking bets for money - as you guys love a bet. I'm good at those things it seems

We've got Schalke - I'm 33% right in my bet for our group