Closed Chelsea v Shakhtar Donetsk

[Professor_Moriarty 4]

May be, but Ivanovic has more experience and is 1on1 (in defence) the better player atm. This is important because Shakhtar likes to play with combinations.

[manpe 10,861]

I really must reply to this. I am sorry, but you are being unfair.

1. I know chelsea have been winning with Torres. But he sucks right now. So I do not think he deserves a start. He has had a lot of credit and did not deliver. Don't give just stats on this. He isn't the striker Chelsea deserves.

2. Real supporters? What does that mean? I know I am relatively new to this forum, but this is an authority argument purely and thus invalid. I am a supporter as much as you. I bet I am even older then you. but I do believe you love Chelsea for real, much unlike you think of me from your post. Shame.

3. About the 'you should be able to watch us getting trashed'. Fuck no, not because of Torres. He sucked, deal with that. I can deal with defeat, I cannot deal with complete blindsight to the fact that Torres is really, really bad right now. or do you want his price justified in your mind?

If you want to go all psychological on the analyses with me. You will lose. It is about fact, not your interpretation of facts.

No, I know that Torres sucks, but it is no reason not to watch a Chelsea match, especially such an important game, because you would miss 90% of games this season in which Torres will inevitably start.

Oh, and a striker is rarely the reason for losing. You can have a crappy striker and a good defence and the game will end 0-0, but you can have a good striker and a shit defence and the game can end 4-5. So if you are afraid of us losing, you should be worried about our shakey defence, not Torres.

[cousin benson 76]

Hope Mata will be back for this one!!

[GoldChelsea 7]

Go chelsea

[Hutcho 8,443]

No, I know that Torres sucks, but it is no reason not to watch a Chelsea match, especially such an important game, because you would miss 90% of games this season in which Torres will inevitably start.

Oh, and a striker is rarely the reason for losing. You can have a crappy striker and a good defence and the game will end 0-0, but you can have a good striker and a shit defence and the game can end 4-5. So if you are afraid of us losing, you should be worried about our shakey defence, not Torres.

True,

Love chelsea in defeat as well as in victory, even if the victory feels better... Never turn off mid-game EVER.

[cousin benson 76]

Cech

Ivanovic-Luiz-Terry -Cole

Mikel-Ramires

Oscar-Hazard-Mata

Torres

[Yasser 63]

Cech

Ivanovic-Cahill-Terry -Cole

Ramires-Mikel

Mata-Oscar-Hazard

STURRIDGE

^

pleaaaaaase Robbie!

[Jase 43,479]

To top the group after this game, we need to either win 1-0, 2-1 or anything more than a 1 goal margin. Should we win it 3-2, 4-3, 5-4 etc, then Shakhtar will still remain top of the group after it because they'll have more away goals than us over the 2 meetings in the group.

[teignman 441]

To top the group after this game, we need to either win 1-0, 2-1 or anything more than a 1 goal margin. Should we win it 3-2, 4-3, 5-4 etc, then Shakhtar will still remain top of the group after it because they'll have more away goals than us over the 2 meetings in the group.

I don't think we're there yet (i.e. worrying about away goals). The most important thing is victory. I can understand your concern though.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

To top the group after this game, we need to either win 1-0, 2-1 or anything more than a 1 goal margin. Should we win it 3-2, 4-3, 5-4 etc, then Shakhtar will still remain top of the group after it because they'll have more away goals than us over the 2 meetings in the group.

But our goal difference is better than theirs..

EDIT: No it's not, never mind.

[YouNameIt 1,511]

I'm more concerned about Luiz than I am about Torres, I think the defence is more solid without him.

In MAZACAR I trust.

Luiz-Terry has been FAR better than Cahill-Terry and when its been Cahill-Terry its usually (lately) been Cahill whos looked less solid. Just look at the PL match against man u.

Luiz is a really good CB, he just needs to stop rush forward. Thats it.

[OneMoSalah 8,886]

If Lampard is fit and starts then I will headbutt my wall 40353 times.

[KonohasOrangeFlash 2,607]

We can't face another English side in the round of 16.

We'd beat United anyway. We're simply better than them. Imagine when we buy a good Striker.

[The Skipper 20,609]

Had a dream we smashed these 9-3.

[edetarod 2,155]

Shakhtar will no doubt sit back (while pressing really hard in their own half) and counter attack, it would be a mistake trying to force things from the start

surely we must have learned from the Atletico and Shakhtar game

i would love if we started without a striker and put an extra man in midfield, and after 60 or so minutes if the game is still 0-0 bring in Sturridge

[Jase 43,479]

But our goal difference is better than theirs..

EDIT: No it's not, never mind.

Head-to-head record comes into the play first if two teams are on level points.

[Rmpr 8,977]

Head-to-head record comes into the play first if two teams are on level points.

Does the goal difference count?

2-1 in Ukraine and 3-0 in London, are we ahead?

[Jase 43,479]

Does the goal difference count?

Yes but it will only be used seperate the two teams if the head-to-head record is equal after the 2 meetings(e.g Nordsjaelland 1-1 Juventus & Juventus 1-1 Nordsjaelland) and are on level points. Away goals are taken into count in the head-to-head meetings IIRC.

2-1 in Ukraine and 3-0 in London, are we ahead?

This.

To top the group after this game, we need to either win 1-0, 2-1 or anything more than a 1 goal margin. Should we win it 3-2, 4-3, 5-4 etc, then Shakhtar will still remain top of the group after it because they'll have more away goals than us over the 2 meetings in the group.

[Azpinator 2,325]

Luiz-Terry has been FAR better than Cahill-Terry and when its been Cahill-Terry its usually (lately) been Cahill whos looked less solid. Just look at the PL match against man u.

Luiz is a really good CB, he just needs to stop rush forward. Thats it.

I've been more impressed by Cahill-Ivanovic than any other combination. I like Luiz a lot but I prefer the other 3 CBs because I don't think he'll stop rushing forward.. And I disagree on Cahill, he has been really good so far imo.

[YouNameIt 1,511]

I've been more impressed by Cahill-Ivanovic than any other combination. I like Luiz a lot but I prefer the other 3 CBs because I don't think he'll stop rushing forward.. And I disagree on Cahill, he has been really good so far imo.

Cahill was absolute shite against united.