The College Dropout

When did this happen? John Terry called someone a black cunt and even then you can't prove he's definitely a racist.

Agreed. If given 30+ starts in the PL i'm confident he would get at least 15 goals a season.

He's a far inferior player to Guthrie imo. Guthrie's a terrible athlete but a decent footballer.

A midfielder with nowt else to his game but goals really needs to be towards the 10 mark. A bit like Gouff when played outwide. If he's not scoring, he's probably not worth keeping in the side. From what i've seen Gosling will need to improve to even be a mediocre PL midfielder. He's Karl Henry level.

Regarding the "slips" - I called it from early and it was on show last night. This Chelsea side is poor when it has to be on the front foot. Lacks genuine creativity. Outside of Oscar & Hazard they are lacking badly in creativity. I said they would struggle to break down teams that play for 0-0. That's what happens when you swap Mata for Willian. And Willian's a good player but fuck is he boring.

1. He doen't play Barcelona every week - Arsenal, Man United, Atletico Madrid this season for e.g. - none are Barcelona, all 3 games were 0-0. 2. Who picked the team last night? He didn't need to play Terry nor Hazard, nor did he need to bring an off the pace Eto'o on early doors second half. Nobody disagrees he's a great manager & motivator but he's not the all encompassing hero many think he is. If he'd won last night it'd have been a 'tactical masterclass' not seen many people banding that about Simeone who despite what you say didn't really change Atleti's game up that much, just dropped a bit deeper than the norm. You're right he'll probably pick up a couple of pots next season after a couple more major additions, a wiser manager would've done that last summer when Stevie Wonder could see Chelsea needed a striker but it didn't fit his narrative of being the underdog. This is really all I wanted to say on the subject.

I agree with most of your first point but the bolded is where I disagree. Against a prime Barcelona or a rampant L'pool it makes sense. But the majority of the time, for the last decade - he's had brilliant tip top players to work with. I wouldn't describe Atletico as some attacking super force either. Your second point is not relevant. I'm not talking about results i'm talking about approach. He gets good results but not good enough considering the approach for me as a fan. 3rd: One important factor you missed out is that Atletico came out in the second half to score a second goal - that attacking approach ended making the second half easy. It wasn't just defending and closing down space. They also did Chelsea twice from training ground team attacks which was impressive. Thiago to Juan Fran, back post finish. Tbf to Chelsea - Atletico are simply a better team. Better drilled. Tactically more adept, they simply play their game better. Individually the Chelsea players probably have more talent - that's it. Mourinho's a great manager. I've never said they've had a terrible season. But it will be a disappointment. For the last decade Chelsea have had the talent to win the league and get to the CL final or pick up some silverware. This is the first time, in some time they've done none. And they've spent £100m for the privilege. I had them down as PL winners at the start of the season.

Yesterday's a really good example why people that love the *game* of football find it hard to love what Jose Mourinho brings to the table a lot of the time.. There's something admirable about Ancelotti deciding "all the attackers". As long as i've seen them, Alonso & Modric have had someone doing a lot of their dirty work and tackle to help them out. A Khedira, Mascherano or Parker. But he's made it work with them in a 2 or with Di Maria of all people in a 3. Whatever the system he's managed to have Bale/Cronaldo in the same side. That's how you want to see a big money club line-up. There's also something admirable about Pep and his bloody philosophy. There's nothing admirable about a 300m team starting with 6 defenders against a side with half the team signing on free transfers and then losing anyway. He's so obsessed with being reactive in many games that has become his philosophy. When you spend £400m on a squad you'll be able to beat the dross in the league anyway through sheer talent . They would've achieved that with a better striker for Mourinho too. Therefore he has no use for players that can only play on the front foot. Not having another player capable of doing what Mata can do at his best has probably cost his team the league.

It is though tbf. Liverpool would need to lose against Crystal Palace in reality. And City would need to drop points too.

Talking about Chelsea needing new players - how many of the Atletico team (including benches )would get into the Chelsea side?

I still enjoy it. Ronaldo never legitimately likes to see Chelsea or John Terry lose.

Jose so humble right now. I love it.

Tbf in the second season he was characteristically poor(ish) in the league and they got KO'd earlyish in the CL.

Really didn't understand all the praise for that result. Left them vulnerable to getting done by away goals, especially as Atletico are good going forward. Especially as they are brilliant at protecting any type of lead. The second they went ahead they shut the game down.

I've always favoured Real in Europe and in La Liga but I wouldn't begrudge a Atleti win. In fact it would be beautiful (and brutal).

The reason why Mourinho went attacking quickly is because Atletico would enjoy defending a lead and they're super resillient. Simeone and his team is on the verge of the greatest double i've ever seen. This final is shaping up to be a beauty.

This could get ugly.

Needs to work harder innit. Watch a video of Sissoko init.

TACTICAL MASTERCLASS!!!!!!

FUCK. OFF. CHELSEA.

Ba bumped into his arm ffs

Atleti need to stay on their feet.

Garcia on to defend those balls in the air. Good.

YES. YES. YES. YES. YES. YES. YES. YES. YES. YES.

Brilliant. It gets better.