Closed Roma 1-2 Chelsea

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Two top players taking a pic together! Nothing wrong with that..

As for Totti, I really like his aggressive play (as long as he doesn't injure any Chelsea players).

Dirtiest player in the entire Serie A. Absolutely no sportsmanship and a grade A cunt. Wouldn't want him anywhere near my team.

[Clevemayer 764]

in the first 20 min i see defo a difference in Mikels play he did work much more then his nonchallante uninterested self he was over last 2 seasons... he tackled he did run he intercepted and made some quick passes...

Essine slowed (despite that one vintage run in the first 2 mins) the game much more... so don't understand what ppl said about him... he even pressed at the oppositions box... I feel Mou will get something out of him... but its still in the balance what happens...

from 15 mins on we were sloppy in our passing in the front three... really bad...

[chrismada9 1,948]

What really annoys me, is that some people last season were saying that loaning Essien out was one of the worst things we could have done, and they were all wishing he was there during our bad run under Benitez, saying "if we had Essien, we wouldn't be leaking so many goals!"

Essien has played a couple of games during pre-season, and now they're all saying he's useless. FFS it's pre-season... none of this shit matters according to Mourinho.

Let's watch Essien in the first few matches of the season, and then decide! He might be 30, but Essien has been here a long time and could prove to be a very useful utility player... it's not often we have a player who can play multiple positions.

Mourinho knows him well, and he'll know what to do with him.

[Toli 977]

^ if we decide not to sign a proper DM because of Essien, than mourinho is deluded. clearly the position where we need a world-class signing the most. but mourinho thinks that mikel, essien, lampard, MVG and rambo are enough

[Spenzy2010 8]

So much better from the lads... Can't wait for the hull match already.

[Arief 40]

No more essien & mikel combination for the pivot, its just way too slow.

I guess for this moment, the best choice for our pivot is ramires and MvG. Just like a yin-yang, fills each other perfectly

[Ryan Fong 2,776]

Shirley Schurrle was shockingly awful. Can't dribble can't pass can't defense and very poor first touch except a decent shot and a decent set piece.

He needs to put his acts together quick otherwise his pecking order will be even under Moses.

[Sidzeret 2,257]

Would've looked better on Schwarzer if it had been a own goal....he looked half-baked there.

[Arief 40]

Shirley Schurrle was shockingly awful. Can't dribble can't pass can't defense and very poor first touch except a decent shot and a decent set piece.

He needs to put his acts together quick otherwise his pecking order will be even under Moses.

Yeaaah!! I mean i know its still pre season, but he havent impressed me since the day 1 he's here.

[Christacinto 137]

That was 23 minutes(?) of all-out awesomeness from Hazard; Ramires was the key changing in my opinion though.

Mikel - Essien were just... *sigh*, I would give anything to see Mikel replaced in the squad by someone like de rossi.

My favourite team to start against Hull is definitely:

Cech

Luiz Ivanovic

Azpilicueta Cole/Bertrand

MVG/Essien Ramires

Oscar/KDB

Mata Hazard

Lukaku

With the players before the / being my first choice, and the ones behind it close runners up.

Peace brothers, am ANXIOUSLY awaiting the first whistle to blow

[Goemaere 131]

Van Ginkel was shit today. Hope he does better against hull if he plays. Hazard was amazing so were lamps and ramirez

[didierforever 7,349]

That was 23 minutes(?) of all-out awesomeness from Hazard; Ramires was the key changing in my opinion though.

Mikel - Essien were just... *sigh*, I would give anything to see Mikel replaced in the squad by someone like de rossi.

My favourite team to start against Hull is definitely:

Cech

Luiz Ivanovic

Azpilicueta Cole/Bertrand

MVG/Essien Ramires

Oscar/KDB

Mata Hazard

Lukaku

With the players before the / being my first choice, and the ones behind it close runners up.

Peace brothers, am ANXIOUSLY awaiting the first whistle to blow

azpi wont be available.

[Styles 9,790]

Oscar was awful, did almost everything wrong and his first touch was shocking.

Last two games have been a good reality check for the team.

[yuvala 2,167]

Oscar was awful, did almost everything wrong and his first touch was shocking.

Last two games have been a good reality check for the team.

Yea I also thought Oscar wasn't really good.. dunno if 'awful', but not a great game for him.

Saw some comments about how he played well though.

[chelsea blue 615]

Amazing save by Blackman

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=593kjzDX9MQ

[Muzchap 8,964]

The biggest problem we have (still) is Tempo...

We are too slow and laboured in our build up play

You can't expect Miracles from Jose - it will take a long season to get right.

The massive overreaction here is driving me mad! Everybody needs to CHECK their emotions.

We COULD challenge for the title but I'm not expecting it - a top 3 finish and decent CL run will do me fine - what we need hasn't changed - CONSISTENCY OF MANAGEMENT FOR THE NEXT 3-4 years - to I impress upon the team a playing style and mantra - from there we can build a platform to dominate!

It seems now we pigeon hole people immediately - Schurrle is Marin (who is playing well in pre-season btw) - that's just ridiculous, give the guy 2 seasons and then judge!

How would you like your Boss/Lecturer to declare you are shit at your favourite subject after just a few weeks? There's a reason why exams and gradings are done at the END of a season/year - it allows for a holistic AVERAGE of performance - discounting bad and super performances and giving a MEAN result!

As for Schwarzer - better to happen in a Pre-Season game - he won't make that mistake again

So plenty to be positive about

[Leif 6,006]

Taking off your captain (Terry) and throwing on another striker (Lukaku) is bold. It paid off. It won us the game. This is what Mourinho does and what we've been missing ever since he originally departed.

Apparently, Inter were once about to lose so Jose played with 4 strikers in the last few minutes. They won.

[Jase 43,479]

@,

Scoreline in the thread title

Apologies but I stated clearly that the change to the scoreline will only start from the Hull City game onwards.

3 at the back? Didn't Ramires just move to RB when Terry went off?

Ramires - Cahill - Ivan - Bertrand

It was probably a bit of both, depending on how you view it. At times, it looks like a back 3 with Ramires and Bertrand being the wing backs and van Ginkel dropping back to CB alonside Cahill and Ivanovic.