Closed Roma v Chelsea

[didierforever 7,349]

spain squad has been announced and only azpi will be travelling from the team. mata has to and needs to start the game. with torres also available, this match will be very important to see who jose thinks is our main man.

[matheradam 4]

Cech

Dave - Cahil - Terry - Bertrand

Essien - MVG

Hazard - Mata - Shurrle

Ba

I could see this being the starting line up as I think Shurrle needs some game time and Mata hasn't even started a game yet

[Jase 43,479]

Just wrote a match preview for this game. Have a read.

[dave30 728]

VIVA LAZIO !!!!!!

[didierforever 7,349]

I have a feeling that Torres will start this game. It's time for him to be starter.

oh dear!!!

[Goemaere 131]

I hope lukaku starts played decent againts Inter and milan, and was unlucky against real just like eden and oscar.

[Sidzeret 2,257]

Lukaku should start and Torres might come in somewhere in the 2nd half. Lukaku's hard work should be repayed.

[Belgiannutt 3,201]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVfpluXPH7k

Found this video. Reaction of Mourinho after Real Madrid game. Talks about the Roma game.

Said that he'll rest the boys that played 90 minutes vs Real. Mentions Hazard, Cole and Cahill.

Also said he'd play Mikel, Bertrand and Azpi.

I'm guessing that the players he wants to rest are probably still going to play against Roma but just half an hour or so.

Edited August 9, 2013 by Belgiannutt

[Stef 15]

It's like he's saying what I'm thinking. I knew it all along, great minds think alike!!!

[Belgiannutt 3,201]

no, he had those stats during the half he performed.

I was reacting to your second sentence. "Eden's hype is more potential than quality."

9 goals 16 assists = quality

[blu35_army 551]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlTuXLaZK_o

[Chelsea? 892]

I was reacting to your second sentence. "Eden's hype is more potential than quality."

9 goals 16 assists = quality

not balloon for quality, which most of us expect him to start competing for in a couple of years.

[Belgiannutt 3,201]

not balloon for quality, which most of us expect him to start competing for in a couple of years.

Emphasis on a couple of years. Messi and Ronaldo didn't start off with 50 goals a season.

9 goals and 16 assists in his first PL season is a good return and he's proven himself as a quality player.

Now he just needs to become more efficient and add more goals to his game.

[Azpinator 2,325]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlTuXLaZK_o

I really find Will Dalton's voice irritating.

[Barbara 15,149]

Well Mourinho seems concerned about fatigue although the season is yet to start... and I understand why he is (though I must admit I haven't thought of it until now). The players traveled a lot to make this pre-season work and I wonder if that's the best way to do it, but that's another discussion.

Many guys picking small injuries (Lamps, Kevin, André, Mata, Luiz) and I understand where the concern comes from because within a week our official competition starts. So while I was really looking forward to see the best team (or mostly) against Roma so we can have an idea before playing Hull, preventing injuries is much more important than doing adjustments on the main team out of one match. One match won't make much difference now. as I said earlier I would have preferred the last three matches featuring most of the main team or the whole main team. But there's this issue Mou mentions - which is different from recovering best physical form coming back from vacation and testing formations...

Ramires may look like the man of steel, but it would be nice to spare him physically at this point. The same maybe it's true about Terry (although he started physical training a week earlier than the the rest of the team) and Coleand I guess Oscar could use a break as well.

It's more about being cautious about players who played too many minutes now - added to the constant traveling - rather than making additional tests on formation.

I was really happy when the fixtures came out, but I'm even happier now knowing our first matches will be against Hull and then Villa.

I do hate International football next week and some of those players could be exposed to injuries unnecessarily. *starts prayer circle*

[Atlas Lion 1,223]

Always a good sight to see Spain absolutely filled with Barca players during their friendlies.

[different level 1,056]

Don't get all too excited about these friendlies. I have a friend who is a Madrid fan and he was trying to taunt me over the match we had with them the other day, LOL.

[Ollie 4,400]

Finally a game i can watch and i'm really looking forward to it. We played em at the start of Jose's last era where and comprehensively done em 3-0 although Robben got injured by that dirty scum bag Olivier Dacourt. Think he was sent off actually, no surprise there, dirtiest team to ever play the game. After losing to Madrid, i'm sure we'll be determined to get back to winning ways. I'd say 4-1.