Barbara

every time I read Torres' name in this thread except when it's showing the absolute gratitude for not having him anymore a part of me dies. People saying he's performing at Torres level should be ashamed of themselves. I know you guys make me embarrassed... that's why opponents call us plastics btw... some people just don't get the first thing about supporting a team, its players and manager. They only know how support titles and outstanding performances.

as I said... wannabes.... peasants... there's a reason why I don't pay attention to them. We've been struggling now, but guess what... RM, Atletico, PSG, City, Bayern - none of those teams are playing out of their minds at this point. The only top team playing better now than they were earlier in the season is Barcelona. Bayern had their annual Hamburg spanking, but apart from that they haven't been playing well. And who's Nasri to say anything when City went SIX matches - including three home - without a win? Players - especially in England as there's no winter break - are tired, many teams (including us) dealing with injured or not 100% fit players. It's normal for teams not play exceptional football at this point. Also nobody claimed we're fantastic... but if he's not impressed with us he can be impressed with his own team playing against Barcelona next week. Peasant. Thanks for the answer

I like the idea of Pogba here, but really, he isn't a #10. If we're going to address the position it shouldn't be with him... We need to address our defense and a Cesc better backup way more than we need to address a new #10. If we play like we did yesterday (game play) we could have the best ever #10 playing for us and would still change very little. It's Mourinho's defensive demands not only from his #10 but from Hazard and Willian - therefore isolating the striker - that makes us struggle in those big games, not exactly Cesc being marked out of them. If Cesc has a little more freedom as well as the players he's supposed to link up with and catch running behind the defense and through the channels, then he finds a way out of the marker in a few situations. Yes, he'll be nullified most of the match, but with US giving our attackers the right conditions for them to attack, Cesc will do much better than he did yesterday and we've seen it before this season. I don't remember now - because my memory sucks - but I'm sure he played well as #10 in at least two games this season because I remember me and others praising him for that. He's definitely better playing as a #8, but getting Pogba in the team will change basically nothing in terms of creativity imo. Actually with Pogba coming - we'll have a problem because his best position is also #8... he'd be the backup we keep talking about, but we won't splash that much money (nor he will agree) for a backup player that will start whenever we decide to play Fabregas as #10 (which won't happen many times because his preferred and best position is still #8). I don't care about Cesc's big games record for Arsenal and Barcelona (and there are two digits of big games for those teams that he played really well), but as long as we keep this game play where we isolate the striker and swamp our CAM and wingers with defensive responsibilities, Cesc won't play well (creative wise). It has little to do with his limitations in the position and a lot with the tactics. I wish people could at least acknowledge there when they criticize his performance in the position. Also can someone with a better memory please mention which were the games he played really well for us as #10?

The moment Mourinho wins something again, I suppose he'll improve his approach on big games. The best signing we'll have for next season is winning the league this season, so we have to make sure it happens. If we beat the lesser teams we'll play away (Leicester, Hull, QPR and West Brom) and win all our home games (Burnley, Southampton, Stoke, United, Palace, Liverpool, Sunderland) we can even afford dropping some points in the two derbies we'll play away (West Ham and Arsenal). Those are games where Cesc will have a chance to shine (especially the games at home). He'll probably struggle (if even then) against Arsenal away as I don't see José showing West Ham that much respect. For people who defend he doesn't play well in big games we definitely don't have many of them to play yet (Utd, Liverpool and Arse) and as two of those are home, I suppose José will continue to play him in the pivot, so we shouldn't be worried about the glorified myths that he doesn't play well big games and second half of the season. The moment this team wins some silverware (and here's hoping it comes in 10 days) - especially something as big and relevant as the league, we'll reach another level. The players and the manager will play with less pressure (some people say there's the same amount of pressure to defend a title, I disagree) and with more confidence. Then it'll be a domino effect. With less pressure on his shoulders, Mourinho will be less pragmatic. With less pressure on their shoulders and with an important title under their belt some of our younger players (Zouma, Azpili, Oscar, Hazard) and recent newcomers (Matic, Cesc, Thibaut, Remy, Willian) will play with more motivation, experience and just improve their all around game. Titles gives players confidence and growth and with them playing better because of it, Jose will be even less pragmatic. I still believe we'll reach the heights of his 2012 Real Madrid - which was an attacking force (counter-attacking actually). We just need to have some patience. But if for some terrible situation we don't win the league (I don't like to even imagine this is still a possibility) then I think the opposite will happen as well - which is why we absolutely need to win it. I said so many times our fixtures were easier than our rivals in this final run, but I'm surprised we still have to play United and Southampton at home (I remembered only Liverpool and Arsenal away). It makes me a bit nervous, but we've been immaculate playing at the Bridge this season and I'm positive we'll carry on. I guess it's just jittery with the title possibility getting bigger with each round we maintain our lead over City.

what Nasri even said? I usually don't pay attention at those wannabes quotes/interviews to the media, so I have no idea what you guys are talking about....

Cesc didn't play well, but neither did Willian. He didn't train - according to Mourinho - who also said he played with an injury against Everton. Willian is supposedly also caring a physical issue - although Cesc was in bed for three days according to Mourinho. So in that situation yesterday if we have Cesc in the pivot, we expose the defense - which had Cahill, so that's a walking nightmare and the only way for Willian to play CAM was benching Cesc and deploying either Cuadrado or Oscar in the wing as Cesc can't play in the wing. So we gave our best shot in terms of starters and the positions they were playing. The game play was poor though.

Even if Cesc is way better in the pivot, in a game like yesterday for Willian to play centered, Cesc has to be benched. There's NO WAY Willian is a better #10 than Cesc is, not even close imo. With Cesc in the pitch we can always have something created for someone else, as long as he's given the minimum freedom - which he wasn't yesterday. Willian will be only able to hold up better than Cesc, but what's the point if he won't do much with the ball? Then he'll give his trademark square pass or pass back to the pivot players a few yards behind him and we're exactly where we were if Cesc was there without 1) the set-piece threat and 2) the vision. No, thanks. Now for medium and small teams where Cesc can play in his best position, then we can play with Willian as #10. edit: I edited my previous post because I realized it wasn't clear that overall I prefer Cesc in the pivot. I've said many times Cesc is better as a pivot player, but in games where he has to play #10 because he would expose us in the pivot - aka big teams - he either plays #10 or he's benched for Willian (or whoever else) to play there. I still believe he's our best #10 in the team even if he's way better in the pivot. But we don't have someone with his passing, vision and creativity - even as a CAM - in the team.

There's no way, situation, game size where Willian should start ahead of Cesc in the middle (supposing Cesc won't play in the pivot - his rightful and best position). Absolutely no situation. No, thanks. Ahead of Oscar, absolutely, because he's in better form, but ahead of Cesc? Especially when we're supposed to either remove Cesc totally from the team or have him partner with Matic? Only works in small-medium teams, big teams will trounce us if we have a pivot with Cesc... So yeah, he was poor, but he's supposedly injured, still I wouldn't have played him in the middle at all and I don't buy this story he plays better there. Willian when he's positive and smart he plays as well in the wing as in the middle. The problem is those occurrences aren't often. Having him the middle might even hurt the team more than in the wing if he doesn't have one of his rare special days.

now that Ramires is recovered there won't EVER be one single big match where he won't play. When he's given more freedom in the attack and he's in good form, he's quite useful, but to play the role demands from him and ALL AMs in those matches? Yes, it's frustrating.

In a game like yesterday, especially seeing how PSG played the first half, Mourinho SHOULD have yelled at Eden to come to the sidelines and tell him, 'Son, go do your thing, Azpilicueta will cover, and I'll ask Cesc to give you some support in the attack'. Instead Mourinho kept the dressing room speech which I'm sure was along the lines 'Son, we'll win this at home, reduce the dribbles, mark your winger and full back, draw some fouls and if we have a good counter, and you're in position, go for it'. Depressing really. Can't blame him at all.

I really like Diego and I don't think his link up and hold up is as bad as some make it out to be, but for God's sake, he needs to learn how to win aerial duels. I don't even mean in the box, but his timing, positioning and everything else that should be taken into account when it comes to a header is off. He has the physical tools, he needs to work on the technique. He'll never be a Drogba or Terry and I'm not demanding that from him, but there's a huge room for improvement and we need him to start winning those if we want to have more counter-attacks in the game. He loses them all, 100% of them and way too easily. He was off pace yesterday, the attack was nonexistent, at least he'll arrive to Burnley with some minutes on his bag and will probably play very well.

muscular minor injury on his thigh, same he had playing against Villa, which led him to be spared against Everton and now to miss training sessions since then. Don't think he'll be healed completely for Burnley if he didn't train at all for one week.

don't worry. I don't mind when people disagree with me. I mind when they misunderstand what I'm saying, assuming I'm saying a different thing - which I didn't even can say you were implying as most of my posts focused on something else and I wasn't explicit on what I think we could have done differently. I didn't think they were that unfair fouling Hazard. Tbh, fouling is one aspect of the game, whether it makes it dirtier or not, it's a different story and sometimes I wish we fouled opposition in not dangerous areas than we do. It disrupts play. As I said, a bit dirty and I hate when they do this to our players, I just wish we gave teams of their own medicine. I think we could have approached the first 45 in a different way and killed the tie. I can't predict it would have worked though. edit: Mourinho was very explicit in his words (I thought he was making a game of words to lead people to believe something he hasn't exactly said) and named that Willian, Oscar, Cesc, Iva and Eden haven't trained since the Everton match.

no, you're reading my posts wrongly and I'm not clear on them, I suppose. I meant that when we saw how PSG was approaching this match he could have released let's say Eden and Cesc from their biggest defensive responsibility (leave it a normal level) so we would explore the chance PSG was offering. They weren't anything special today in the first half, they were cautious and afraid of us and we could have capitalized that WITHOUT exposing us. Why people don't understand balance? I'm not asking us to be Arsenal for 90 minutes, but to be more daring the first 45. It's very simple. We didn't need Cesc, Hazard and Willian to be swamped with defensive responsibilities as they were when PSG showed how they were going to approach the match. There isn't only the pragmatic way and the Arsenal way. There's a very interesting balance in the between, one we could have used in the first half. I guess now I've been crystal clear about my problem with today's match and if someone disagrees is their prerogative, but now I've been clear, something I lacked before but that you could still catch between the lines without assuming I was asking us to bomb forward with 6 players. Blanc surprised him and instead of counter-attacking the surprise and adapting to the new situation, he stuck to his initial plan when he could have improved it.

I don't agree... I'm very open to criticize him and I'm tempted to agree with you that while Mourinho is equally the hero and the bad guy in this team's potential, I still don't. In a certain way he's become a hostage to players that aren't the level we need them to be. A team that has Cahill, Ivanovic, Mikel, and for some even Willian and Oscar just lacks the bench to make an impact in a match. I personally even include Cuadrado in that list because he didn't convince me even before coming here, and I expect him to struggle a bit as every new player coming to English football. Also there's a lot of pressure on him to win something (preferably significant) especially after the fiasco at RM (fiasco the way he left, I don't think it's fair to call the guy who broke that Barcelona's team dominance a failure). Yes, he failed to win La Decima and he had a lot of problems in the dressing room, but the Madrid job is the hardest - by very far - job in the world of football managers. A lot of egos (that many times are created with the insane amount they pay for them and the hype the club creates about them). So he knows he needs to win. As he doesn't trust certain characters in his team - whether they are good or not technically and doesn't trust others technically - whether or not they have the right attitude, he isn't that much responsible for the team not reaching the heights it could. At least not yet. I think it's too premature to make such a bold statement. He put this team together. He gave the board the names he wanted and the board worked to have them (although he's the one who did Cesc's convincing, I don't believe Cesc would have come if he hadn't talked to Mourinho - especially given their past and I doubt even further he would have come had the manager been someone else). Mourinho brought us back to big title contenders, something we haven't been since Carlo left. We won the UCL we had coming under very difficult (and lucky) circumstances. Big teams were more annoyed than afraid of playing us and despite what some here claim, I think Mourinho brought some of our respect back. Teams at least respect us now. When have you seen players we've seen this season showing respect to Chelsea? They acknowledge we are strong on UCL and EPL and while that's not all Mourinho he has a big saying on that imo. So I can't say he's preventing this team from reaching the glory it could if I don't believe we would have said team and the respect we still have if he wasn't here. Yes, they say all that bs that we are the buses parkers, that he has a siege mentality in the club, saying too much to the media, getting too many fines and what not, but they still acknowledge what a respectable and big team we are. When was the last time people showed us that respect? Not since Carlo was here if you ask me, even then one could argue if it's been to this extent. And Mourinho did that without winning ANYTHING in his first season here. It's not simply the Mourinho effect, it's because people can see that he makes us stronger, that he's very intelligent, that he's the smartest buyer (and seller) out there now. He said it clearly that he gave the board a few names of players he wants and I'm sure he had to endorse (and assume responsibility if it backfired) selling players such as Mata, Luiz, de Bruyne and Lukaku. He's been making more mistakes than I'd like him to do (imo anyway) and he's way more pragmatic (and even lacking some balls at some moments) than I think he needed to do, but he has a lot of pressure on his shoulders to win again, he has a difficult squad to manage for different reasons (we have talent/quality in some players and winning mentality in others, but very few with both - not mention a few key players that aren't on their peak yet and/or aren't that much experienced yet). This team has everything to be the next big deal in football, but we can't too anxious and demand it to happen now. Whether some players like Cuadrado, Oscar and Willian prove or not to be Chelsea material after being given time for that and therefore be replaced or kept, to be the team we all expect us to be demands time. I think if there wasn't so much pressure on him (and the players) to win something now (it's been a while for both, if you consider Europa League and Super Cup things beneath Chelsea and Mourinho) things would happen faster. But I'm positive we'll win the league this season - we could even do it comfortably and he deserves - as well as the players - ALL credit for that. Every manager will make mistakes, and I've blocked a few people here because I think they're completely unfair on Mourinho and I think they take their criticism and negativity to a level *I* can't cope with and that annoys me. It doesn't mean some of their points aren't valid. My instance with Mourinho is much like my instance with Oscar. I think both need time, I think people can be too harsh on them and while I address weaknesses, mistakes and limitations on both, I still believe on them. Mourinho even more so than Oscar. Other manager - with less pressure to win and with a more bold approach could have taken more from this team even in the not so favorable situations we have that I just mentioned (we aren't as easily manageable as some think due to those limitations), but it's easy to give the team HE build, the players HE improved and give to someone else to polish it. Would this other manager sign exactly the right players we needed? Would he have improved the players that did improve under Mourinho (Hazard tactically, Ramires overall, Azpilicueta in the LB, Oscar tactically). Did I miss something or our deals before Mourinho were a little bit hit or miss? Underused by other managers even when the board did good business? So I think it's unfair to come and say other would have make this team produce more when I don't believe other would have gotten those players together and wouldn't have contributed to their development as he did. At the end of the day he just needs to be bolder, but I believe most of his excessive pragmatism is coming from the pressure on him as a manager, the pressure on the club for the investment and squad it has as well as the team's shortness in a few aspects that are essential to make not only winners, but the team to beat. My biggest problem with his critics is that they take for granted the good he's done and don't value his work enough, only opening their mouths (or in this case release their fingers) to point his mistakes. Double standard-ish and unfair.

I'll be very patient with the mistakes - which imo were very few all things considered - because GK needs chemistry with the defenders ahead of him. Thibaut has absolutely NOTHING to prove about his goalkeeping skills. I love Cech to the bits, but we have one of the best goalies in the world coming to play for us. It takes some time to get him and the defense to have the same understanding they have with Cech for example. So the very few mistakes Courtois made this season are all understandable, I guess he lacked a bit of confidence, but when the shadow you have in the bench is Petr Cech, that's absolutely normal and expected. Anyone else on his position would probably have made more mistakes. He hasn't (and I dare say won't) cost us anything this season, quite the opposite he may have already saved our arses endless times this season - today included. Maybe one could say he cost us the result against City. Who knows if they wouldn't have scored anyway if he didn't make that mistake? In the big scheme of things, that draw won't cost us the title at all. Drawing against your biggest rivals for the title away or home is something a team can deal with. So while I praised Cech a lot for the amazing matches he had the last couple of games he played, I also praise a lot this lad. He was amazing today and in many other occasions, including Liverpool, and he deserves a lot of respect and praise. People shouldn't be harsh on him for a few mistakes. I acknowledged (and was even mad at some of his 'defenders' when they were denying he was shaky), he was, but that HAPPENS especially transitioning for a new club where the defenders are there for half a decade working together (JT and Cech are actually a whole decade). Our defense as a whole is giving space to the new generation. Zouma, Azpili and Courtois are coming to be the next 10 years and I think he's been a smooth process so far. I think people asking him to be benched were unfair, although I see their point, but I think Mourinho has been handling this situation perfectly. When he realized Courtois lacked a bit of confidence, he took him from the team to protect him, to alleviate the pressure on him and the fact that Cech came and had a worldie actually helps Thibaut more than concerns him. It's nice to know that while the pressure was taken off of his shoulders, someone took the pressure off of the team. Had Cech had a bad match then there would be even more pressure on Courtois to play better. So with a very good match against Everton and another one today, I think he's more than redeemed (if there was even need for that, I don't think there was) for the mistakes he's done in a couple of matches. Cech is a legend to this club and its fans, so I guess it's natural people will come to defend him, to want him to break the EPL clean sheet record, to praise him, but don't write off, disrespect or be ungrateful about Courtois. Acknowledging his mistakes is one natural thing - we should acknowledge all players mistakes so we don't become those delusional fans that think their players are perfect, but I felt people were a tad too harsh on him. He's deservedly the #1 GK - but I also hope we win the title with a few rounds to spare, so Cech can have three more appearances in the league, when the title is already assured, and Mourinho can give him a chance to get that record because he deserves it. But yeah, Tibo is our #1 goalkeeper and he's earned it.

I agree he's easily marked off of a game, but he can still influence it because all he needs is a moment of genius because he makes his lack of athleticism with his intelligence - as you implied. If OUR team is attacked minded and the opposition is marking him off the game, still he could end up with a winner assist because he's that kind of player. I'm not denying he has limitations, but that wasn't the case today. Luiz didn't nullify him on athleticism, his work was cut for him because the way we played made it way too easy to mark Cesc and all the other guys. People just ignore OUR approach in those games and what OUR manager asks from ALL of our attacking players defensively wise isolating our striker, which is why I said I prefer if Cesc is dropped altogether from those matches because at least then people won't blame him for something that is partially his own limitation but also largely due to Mourinho's approach in those matches. He ran nearly 2km more than the average in the team, which means he moved and ran a lot, but I suppose defensively because no matter if it's Willian, Oscar or Cesc there, in big matches Mourinho will just demand them to mark more than they attack. That's hardly their fault...

we already provided stats about his second halves of seasons at Arsenal, we provided big matches were he played well. So please, at least do some research about it. Barça fans also said he was useless, that the team should get rid of him because he weakened their team and that we were getting their dead wood. Still that's the guy on route of beating EPL's most assists in a season record - being key to us winning the league (which I hope we end up doing) and completely changing us. You can't blame him for a match like today's when we gave no conditions for him to create anything. AS I said, go make some research about his stats in the second half of seasons in England (except injured) and watch some big games at Barça and Arsenal. Yes, he can be marked out of a match, but if a guy doesn't have pace and dribbles on him (which #10 in the world have them? Maybe Coutinho, so I suppose we should swap them?) and that's normally the case with CAMs, then he relies on players running behind the defense, on players overlapping in the wings to decrease the amount of opponents in the middle as well as other players supporting the attack. If our striker is isolated - as well as off pace as was the case today - if our other AMs main role in the game is to be right and left wing BACKS and if he's well marked by opposition we'd need a miracle for him to influence a match. But as normally people are too lazy to think and analyze matches they come up with those myths as if they were gospel. The worst part in Cesc's case is that there are many big matches he played well and good second half of seasons by him. In two years for Arsenal he was even more effective directly (with goals and assists) in the second half rather than the first. There's no problem addressing his weaknesses and as any other player he has them, but those myths are annoying because they aren't true.

It was more likely to us to have crushed PSG in their own turf with their first half tactics than PSG crushing us after we conceded the goal. That's the missed opportunity that could bite us in the ass four weeks from now... I hope it doesn't, but we could have gotten business done today when they were afraid of conceding. We have some amazing attacking players with a little bit more of license to attack would have killed the scared PSG we faced. Now we're one mistake away from losing a tie that could have been won today. Sorry, he was unnecessarily pragmatic today and while 1x1 is a good result we could have settled everything with a little more daring first half. All he needed to do was call a couple of players to the sidelines and give them some instruction - even if we had five players that according to him haven't trained before this match, which honestly I don't believe was quite like that. Willian and Oscar may have missed a couple training sessions, as well as Cesc and whoever else he needed to spare, but there's no way I believe him we have five players that didn't train AT ALL in the WEEK LONG match preparation we had.

THANK YOU! I'm sounding like a broken record... but if you want Cesc to play more forward, behind the striker, he needs a few things (he and anyone else really), which are: 1) space; OR 2) players running behind defenses and channels for him to spot them; OR 3) width. There's only so much you can do when the other team is sitting there waiting for you and your own team has absolutely NO attack ambition. No players making runs, no players going to the wings to create space for him in the middle, no nothing. And to make things worse Costa was off pace and lacked rhythm which minimized our attack power even more. Cesc had a weak match, imo Luiz neutralized him, but the tactics also played a great part on it. I'm not saying he absolutely works against big teams. I think attacking wise - when we offer him service and opportunity to that - he does. His problem against big teams is playing defensively in the pivot. His problem has never and will never be being creative. But if we don't give him the conditions to play his game, there's no way he can do it. If that's how Mourinho is going to approach those big games, I'd rather him not to play Cesc at all because the naive and the haters, critics and moaners will come with the old story he doesn't play well in big games (which can be true if he's well marked, but it's true to him and 98% of the players out there) when in fact Mourinho is sacrificing the team's attack and therefore, Cesc's chances too.

Come on, that was a 'winnable' game through and through from minute one. There was no need to be so defensive against such a weakened PSG - especially when they showed they were more worried about not conceding than scoring. You see an opportunity to kill a match, you do it, you don't stick with your inadequate plan. If PSG were attacking us nonstop, then I'd agree with him, and the 1x1 would look much better than now. We're always at risk of conceding because there's no defensive solidness in the team. Mourinho is counting with our ability to win at the Bridge and not concede there. It's not set on stone like that. He could have dared a little bit more today and he didn't. I don't feel confident about any UCL chances this season. We started the season in a great way, then we started receding. Then now we have an inflexible approach to certain matches, even when the scenario presented is different. We'll defend like crazy against Spurs, and we won't even attack much against PSG. It'll be the match against Liverpool all over again, with us relying on the away goal advantage. The problem is with this defense it's too risky and we're one single goal (one that we have coming) at home to be kicked out of the competition. Why risk so much if we could have done something more in that first half? This isn't City in the league or Bayern, Barça, Madrid teams in Europe. This is struggling PSG with a few injured players limiting their horrible manager options. Blanc even got his tactics right today if you ask me, but Mourinho fell short imo. The result is great, I see us going through, what I don't see is us making progress to become a team that could win this or a team that won't make me nervous about playing a small domestic cup final. I don't like feeling like that. I hope winning the league alleviates the pressure he clearly has on his shoulders about winning something again - preferably something expressive such as EPL or UCL. EPL we are in good position, but I don't see us even reaching the SFs on UCL depending on who we draw first (that if that home goal that we have coming doesn't arrive earlier).

but he isn't stupid. He can't be that stupid to rely in our vulnerable defense. We have walking liabilities there, literally, it's suicide to rely in this defense. He needs to grow a pair in some matches. If that's the approach against RM, Barça or Bayern, I won't complain. But against a PSG that from minute one showed they were more worried about not conceding (to avoid what happened last year and maybe go for it at the Bridge and surprise us), he SHOULD have been more attack minded. I'm not saying to go for the kill, but release ONE attacking midfield, allow the team to attack. But yeah, he's too afraid of losing these days and it's starting to get its toll on him. Good thing the league looks like a done deal, but I wouldn't be surprised at all if we lost to Spurs in a couple of weeks. Like not at all. specially after the 5-3? He'll defend like there's no tomorrow against a team that is inferior to ours in terms of quality and that has good attackers. With this defense he should try to WIN the game instead of settling for a result because if there's one certainty is that a mistake will come. If our keeper will save us, or the opponent will miss the goal (like Cavani did today) it's another story. But that's not a reliable defense, he shouldn't be so defensive in games against PSG, Liverpool and Spurs. He should understand that there are chances we'll concede, especially away from the Bridge and he could show a little more ambition against teams that are clearly not at the same level as us. we're doing something right. And also a few wrong things and counting with a lot of lucky results. Well, I'm not complaining about the results, but it also doesn't make me have any sort of hope about winning this competition. Actually as I just stated, it makes me feel nervous about playing Spurs. I mean freaking Spurs!!!!! There's a reason why we were spanked by Atletico and Spurs... and that shows what happens when we don't have our keeper saving our arses or any lucky goal for us.

which is why if you're going to play Fabregas at #10, you have to play Luís in the LB. Simple as that. Cesc is easily marked out of these games - Luiz did it very well today imo - but it also helps him to find more space for his magic passes if we drag players to our wings. We just CAN'T do that with Azpili in the team. Sorry, he has a lot of defensive qualities, but he's really null in the attack with the eventual good cameo there. Also Willian was visibly tired - I didn't think I'd see this day, but even he didn't have the usual energy. So if he wants to start Cesc as #10 because he's more creative than our alternatives (Oscar, Willian), just make sure to also add width to the team, otherwise we're easily nullified as we were. We didn't have ANY attack in this match and it showed when our goal came from a play orchestrated by three out of our four defenders in the match. I think we controlled well the game until we made another stupid defensive mistake. It's their turf, Courtois saved us, but I even expected more bite from PSG, so I won't count those headers as something unexpected, or completely avoidable. It's normal stuff from a team playing the first leg of an UCL round of 16 at home. Still I didn't feel we'd concede (although with this defense I ALWAYS feel insecure about conceding stupid goals). So we were in control to win the match, but when he saw Blanc's approach to the match he could have instructed at least one of our AMs to show up more in the attack. He didn't. Then he played Fabregas - who is still coming from injury and no Luís, we were the terrible attacking show. I said early in the first half that if we didn't show some bite we'd end up the match with no shot on goal. I wasn't that off mark if you ask me. That's completely giving up on attack and NO TEAM should ever do that unless there's a huge disparity in the quality between both teams. That wasn't the case. We're becoming more and more pragmatic in those matches and while I defend it in a few instances, today was completely unnecessary.

I voted for him but forgot to mention.... he's been amazing, the reason we didn't lose

We had this game COMPLETELY under control, until our defense once again just succumbed. I know his classy flick has played a big part on our goal, but Cahill is a liability. With him in defense we'll never look confident or comfortable. His flick in the attack was luck. Iva is also a liability (although he improved as the match went on - there was clear some manager instruction for him to be in the box instead of closing down wingers and LBs in the wings, so I can't blame him for this positioning, rather Mourinho), but he ALWAYS scores important goals. It wasn't luck, he's always in those positions. I hope to see Zouma at the Bridge. It was sort of expected that Cahill would start this one, but Mourinho needs to let it go completely and start Zouma away and home, league and Europe, it doesn't matter. Or he buys a replacement that he trusts to do it, Cahill shouldn't ever start a Chelsea match again. Cesc was terrible, Willian and Hazard were hiding in the pitch. Our attack was disappointing, pathetic and invisible - with Costa also having a bad match. I understand that was the approach Mourinho went with, but it was still terrible. We didn't play bad, we just didn't seem to want to do something with the match, which is disappointing because PSG wasn't any better than I expected them to be. They were beatable, we leveled things up with our tactics and our players being invisible. I trust us to win at the Bridge, but what I don't trust at all is us not conceding.