Closed Swansea v Chelsea

[magicrico 175]

make no mistakes guys, we ARE out of this competition

I'd be inclined to agree with you, deffo not in our favour, and with our incosistency or lack of, we aren't going to be favourites to go through.

BUT, look at the positives -

We are better away from home,

Torres may not start

and if we score first...then it's game on. We have to be on them from the off. Nothing to lose.

[Pacquiao 1,834]

we will get through, its written in the stars!!!

[ERickhi 0]

this match will be awesome, i like what swansea is doing right now with Michael Laudrup. But this time the team will manage to get the win.

ba may start

[Hutcho 8,443]

make no mistakes guys, we ARE out of this competition

Hardly. Swansea like to come out and play against teams and they will be stuck between whether to play thier normal game or just trying to hold on which should help us. It won't be easy at all, but i think we still have a very good chance, and our away form is excellent.

[Ankit 3,176]

make no mistakes guys, we ARE out of this competition

A goal for us in the first 10 mins and we will go through!!

[DONI. 1,291]

Chelsea FC ‏@chelseafc

The players are currently outside training down here at Cobham, before departing for Swansea. #CFC

[The only place to be 11,313]

Can i just ask people, are they really bothered about winning this cup? It's not like it's the FA Cup, the final four teams are us, Swansea, Villa and Bradford and at the end of it we're going to have a picture of Rafa Benitez lifting a trophy with our players.

Yes I'm aware it's a cup, but this cup has only ever meant something when it's part of something bigger (under Mourinho it was something nice on the way to winning a league) but on it's own, is it really something that noteworthy?

Put it like this - if Arsenal won it, wouldn't we all be saying they still haven't won anything for 7 years because it's only the Coca-Cola Cup? I know we should try and win everything we go in for but even if we won this trophy (after beating Bradford??), to me it would still be most memorable for us making our best players play almost 120 minutes against United's reserves before going away to Swansea and drawing 1-1 in the league.

Maybe I'm just being pessimistic (can you blame me after this season) but is there anything more to this cup than being something Benitez can show as evidence for why he should keep his job?

[edetarod 2,155]

Can i just ask people, are they really bothered about winning this cup? It's not like it's the FA Cup, the final four teams are us, Swansea, Villa and Bradford and at the end of it we're going to have a picture of Rafa Benitez lifting a trophy with our players.

Yes I'm aware it's a cup, but this cup has only ever meant something when it's part of something bigger (under Mourinho it was something nice on the way to winning a league) but on it's own, is it really something that noteworthy?

Put it like this - if Arsenal won it, wouldn't we all be saying they still haven't won anything for 7 years because it's only the Coca-Cola Cup? I know we should try and win everything we go in for but even if we won this trophy (after beating Bradford??), to me it would still be most memorable for us making our best players play almost 120 minutes against United's reserves before going away to Swansea and drawing 1-1 in the league.

Maybe I'm just being pessimistic (can you blame me after this season) but is there anything more to this cup than being something Benitez can show as evidence for why he should keep his job?

we should have always played with the reserves in this, even against Utd

for the game tomorrow i would go with

Turnbull, Ake, Piazon, Bamford, Marin, Terry, Bertrand

but that's just me

[Hutcho 8,443]

Can i just ask people, are they really bothered about winning this cup? It's not like it's the FA Cup, the final four teams are us, Swansea, Villa and Bradford and at the end of it we're going to have a picture of Rafa Benitez lifting a trophy with our players.

Yes I'm aware it's a cup, but this cup has only ever meant something when it's part of something bigger (under Mourinho it was something nice on the way to winning a league) but on it's own, is it really something that noteworthy?

Put it like this - if Arsenal won it, wouldn't we all be saying they still haven't won anything for 7 years because it's only the Coca-Cola Cup? I know we should try and win everything we go in for but even if we won this trophy (after beating Bradford??), to me it would still be most memorable for us making our best players play almost 120 minutes against United's reserves before going away to Swansea and drawing 1-1 in the league.

Maybe I'm just being pessimistic (can you blame me after this season) but is there anything more to this cup than being something Benitez can show as evidence for why he should keep his job?

Your forgetting the crucial point, that we are a club who try to win cups. We have for years and years always played strong teams in this cup and the fa cup. Arsenal haven't won this cup because they are not good enough... Yes they haven't always played their best team but they got beaten by bradford. We should try to win this because a cup is still a cup... And it is not about winning it with benitez or whatever, this is about the team winning it and the players, especially our younger ones getting their first taste of victory. Rafa winning the league cup isn't gonna change his chances of keeping the job or not, as we know all to well from past experience. Bottom line, we are a club who want to win things, like to win things, and ultimately (this season perhaps excluded do win things and i would still consider it important...

[edetarod 2,155]

i know i'm in the minority, but i would go with this

Lampard to only play 1 half

Ba to only play 1 hour, after that Feruz comes in

[xPetrCechx 13,570]

i know i'm in the minority, but i would go with this

Lampard to only play 1 half

Ba to only play 1 hour, after that Feruz comes in

You want to lose again?!

[TorontoChelsea 4,064]

People, Piazon is loaned out! I think we need to rotate players to keep them fresh (I'd sit Lampard and Mata) but we can still field a strong team without playing scrubs, League matters most though.

[BleedsBlue 1,549]

i know i'm in the minority, but i would go with this

Lampard to only play 1 half

Ba to only play 1 hour, after that Feruz comes in

Piazon?Why not add KDB also?

[Hutcho 8,443]

i know i'm in the minority, but i would go with this

Lampard to only play 1 half

Ba to only play 1 hour, after that Feruz comes in

I don't understand... You obviously want to play the reserves to rest the first team, as from your selections... JT needs match fitness so i get that... Lamps i suppose due to the thin squad we have in midfield, but if you were gonna go with the reserve idea, why play BA? Surely play torres, then BA gets a nice long rest for the prem.

[edetarod 2,155]

i forgot Piazon was loaned out, my bad

as for Ba, well i would've started him against Arsenal and Torres for this

[CHOULO19 24,332]

make no mistakes guys, we ARE out of this competition

For some reason, I have a "Napoli" feeling about this match..

[Rmpr 8,977]

i know i'm in the minority, but i would go with this

Lampard to only play 1 half

Ba to only play 1 hour, after that Feruz comes in

I think we should play Courtois and Lukaku also!

[NishC300 1,865]

I saw this thing on Troll Football about Swansea.........

Kit like Real Madrid.....play like Barcelona....

really since when did Barca start parking the bus?

Don't u get crucified for even thinking about defending?

[The only place to be 11,313]

Your forgetting the crucial point, that we are a club who try to win cups. We have for years and years always played strong teams in this cup and the fa cup. Arsenal haven't won this cup because they are not good enough... Yes they haven't always played their best team but they got beaten by bradford. We should try to win this because a cup is still a cup... And it is not about winning it with benitez or whatever, this is about the team winning it and the players, especially our younger ones getting their first taste of victory. Rafa winning the league cup isn't gonna change his chances of keeping the job or not, as we know all to well from past experience. Bottom line, we are a club who want to win things, like to win things, and ultimately (this season perhaps excluded do win things and i would still consider it important...

For years and years, we've had the squad depth to have a go at different things. We've also been a very pragmatic club and right now we have to be realistic and plan accordingly. Also, not all cups are equal. This is very much a tin pot cup nowadays and we should've used it purely to give young players experience, not gassing them against United's reserves before a long trip to Swansea.

A cup where the final four are us, Swansea, Villa and Bradford is not a top competition anymore.

[NishC300 1,865]

i know i'm in the minority, but i would go with this

Lampard to only play 1 half

Ba to only play 1 hour, after that Feruz comes in

Piazon is on loan.