Champions League - Chelsea vs Schalke 04

It's not as bad as you're making it out to be, Shed.

Sure it's 2 points dropped, but we're no worse off, and we learned a lot from today.

Cesc is a liability in defence, Drogba is past it and should not start, Costa cannot play 3 games a week, Luis is a fantastic option and Ramires is finding decent form.

While I was annoyed at the result. We'll push on and get out of this group and our players will be largely rested for Sunday against City.

Not all doom and gloom.

If anything good can come out of it it's a wake-up call. Players being brought back down to earth very much a good thing, especially with such an important game coming up at the weekend. Buying into their own hype very much a danger for this lot; hopefully this will go a long way to preventing that.

There is that too.

The whole game felt like a preparation game for City, which, if it was, is a good sign as they'll be much better on the Weekend.

We shouldn't need a listless performance mid-week to ensure a good one at the weekend. No excuses.

I won't be bothered at all if we win on the weekend and still progress from the group.

No one will remember or care about this draw.

Nor will I, provided it's the first and only. Problem is, this is precisely the type of performance we made a trademark out of last season.

Yes, because we were playing Drogba.

I get the feeling we've learned from that.

Once Costa can play more, he will, Remy will probably get more gametime once he's settled in too.

I agree wit Kick. We learned our lessons in this match. Mou is smart enough not to make same mistakes again.

We could have won this 3-1 - Drogba missed a tap in and another one with a poor first touch and a complicated finish. Not sure why Remy didn't come in after 60 mins. Drogba was painfully bad. He doesn't deserve another start, Remy does.

Fabregas against big teams should not play in pivot but play much further - as he did against Swansea in 2nd half.

I think we will play 4-3-3 against city. With Matic covering Fabrigas.

Iva----Terry----Cahil----Luis

----Ramires---Matic
                            --Fabrigas
---Oscar ---- Costa---Hazard

I think Willian over Oscar and potentially Oscar over Ramires would work.

Willian has a great engine and is quicker than Oscar, better for counter attacking.

The problem was about more than just Drogba. Although his place as a starter typifies what was.

I have a feeling we would have won had Costa started.

Hell, we would have won if Cesc buried his second chance.

I'm more angered by the fact that we were outplayed by a team with three quarters of their players injured. Let's not forget that we've also been outplayed for most of the game by Everton, most of the first halves against Leicester and Swansea - both at home, and even in patches by Burnley. Now, if we were as tight at the back as we were last season it wouldn't be as much of a problem/concern, but teams are having it too easy against us at the moment and better finishing by the opposition in just about all of those games could well have seen different outcomes.

We were hardly outplayed. If Drogba and Cesc buried their chances no complaints would be made. We just were not clinical enough today.

I don't know many teams that dominate 90 minutes every week.

Are you kidding? They were passing rings around us for long stretches.


Swansea should have been 3 or 4 up at the break.


Leicester were the better side going into the interval and had us on the ropes for long periods.


I'm hardly arrogant enough to expect us to be 100% flawless and completely steamroll any and all opposition without a hint of difficulty, but I'm also not going to pretend to be happy with the points I raised.


That said, it's still very early days and no one's quite at their best yet, and I'm willing, at least for now, to chalk it up to early-season rustiness and needing a bit more time to get fully into the groove of things.

They had two decent shots, all game, one of which went in.

Regardless of how many passes they made, they were barely on top of us at any stage.

Very true that they didn't create much, just that a better side, given that kind of freedom, would have.

But we weren't playing a better side.

You and I both know we'll play very differently come Sunday, thats just how Jose gets results, which I am fine with.

I hope you're right Kickster

I have faith in Jose and I very much think he is putting emphasis on the PL, which would mean not losing to City.

Highlights & All Goals - http://tinyurl.com/pcfahnk
Full Match - http://tinyurl.com/o3cqsgd

If we are playing 4-2-3-1 : Given Oscar's tackling is better than Ces I am not sure why Jose doesn't put him pivot. Oscar is also more creative than Ramires. This makes him a better choice than both in pivot. Willian naturally replacing Oscar on the right.

But with 4-3-3 against teams like city - we  need more men in the middle to deal with players like Yaya. That is where nasty Ramires comes in along with Matic covering Cesc. Cesc would look for diagonal passes like Alonso used to for Madrid/L'pool. Let see how we play.

fatman123 wrote:

Shed wrote:




http://www.goallegacy.net/t33594-champions-league-group-match-4-chelsea-vs-schalke-04#1052918



101greatgoals ripped off my graphic from last year, the d-bags

Thats actually quite impressive Shed, well done

Cheers for this fitster. I know with what immense difficulty it was said

Trust me shed, you have no idea

Your efforts are noted and appreciated.


Perhaps I'll pay you a compliment too someday, when you actually do something around here

Torres would've won you the game imo

Shed wrote:Your efforts are noted and appreciated.


Perhaps I'll pay you a compliment too someday, when you actually do something around here

El Shaarawy wrote:Torres would've won you the game imo

I dont even know where to begin