Closed Chelsea 6-0 NK Maribor

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Is it Drogba's son?

Yup. Isaac Drogba. He plays for our U14s team.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Did people noticed that the stadium was not full?

I saw a lot of empty seats....

The capacity of the Mathew Harding stand is reduced for CL matches. Also, I imagine that Maribor did not sell all of their allocated seats.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--cfBxkyloM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PO17v5S_8Hc

[CHOULO19 24,332]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18qgw1FyEq4

[Barbara 15,149]

Agreed.

Also, against weaker sides, he will let our very slow CBs move up a bit. Against guys who can punish us, he will keep our defense line very deep. That changes everything attacking wise.

I quoted a very specific statement from your post and that's the one I disagree with.

I got from your post, at least that specific sentence, that you think all it takes for us to win is will. So I ask you now, do you believe that our team is so superior to others that having the will essentially guarantees the win? Because I thought we were lucky against City - an opponent with just as much quality as we have (hence the low block as mentioned above). We have a couple of deficiencies that could be exploited by the opponent.

We played against an extremely weak side today. Reckon Hazard wages would come close to covering their entire starting XI.

I personally don't care for these type of games. Gotta win them and if by scoring a bunch of goals, good, but nothing more than your obligation considering the difference between the squads. Make no mistake we've got a VERY expensive squad!

There is only one reason that may lead Real and Bayern to beat us and that is quality; quality our adversary today does not come close to having. English outfits would be far more physical and defend better, and deeper. Then we go into characteristics too.

Speaking of determination and will, that's part of the package when Jose signs players. He always values the determination and work rate aspects of the game and demands that from his players. That's why Mata went and Oscar stayed. Jose is right and our squad will ALWAYS show determination which is part of overall quality. However, like you said, for a million reasons, things may not work out. Perhaps the opponent can stop Hazard like City did. Or they will keep the football for most of the game like Barca, PSG, and Bayern do (or try).

It will take more than the opponent today for us to find out how good we really are. It will take time and to come out of this very weak CL group we got - not complaining btw just stating facts and option.

OK let's just play Championship teams then! Great idea right!? We are going to win many times by 4-6 goals... Again, because we have excellent and very expensive players...

However, for us to win the CL we actually have to beat the likes of Bayern, etc. If beating these nobodies by 6 is enough for you, then great. It is certainly not that important to me. Grinding a result next Sunday is - a match that will be just a bit more difficult than today's.

Actually what I meant by that single line was: it doesn't matter that the opposition was weak. We played a good match and we didn't settle when we were winning 3-0 on HT. We kept going and that's an attitude of a team that is hungry to win.

I don't like the idea we should disregard a good display of football just because the opponent is weak. Most of the opponents we face during a season are way weaker than us. We have a few good sides and even fewer as good or better sides than us. I just meant that the quality of the opposition shouldn't disregard how good we played. I didn't mean anything other than that.

And I basically disagree with everything in your post, so let's settle for that: disagreement.

[robsblubot 3,595]

Actually what I meant by that single line was: it doesn't matter that the opposition was weak. We played a good match and we didn't settle when we were winning 3-0 on HT. We kept going and that's an attitude of a team that is hungry to win.

I don't like the idea we should disregard a good display of football just because the opponent is weak. Most of the opponents we face during a season are way weaker than us. We have a few good sides and even fewer as good or better sides than us. I just meant that the quality of the opposition shouldn't disregard how good we played. I didn't mean anything other than that.

Fair enough. I still don't completely agree with it, but I can certainly see where you are coming from.

I still see vastly different team posture when playing a weaker side - there are weak and very weak (can hurt us vs cannot hurt us) - and the very weak allow our (slow) defense to move up and participate in attack. I reckon we won't be seeing Terry moving into the opponents half (with just as much freedom) again this season.

What you want to do can be very different from what you are allowed to do.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Sorry, if you didn't vote Hazard MOTM you're wrong.

The whole team was fantastic but he was on another level.