The College Dropout

For how much I deride him - a world class manager like Mourinho or Benitez would struggle with a crap defence

No. Chelsea will play like that at home.

Palace haven't been all that direct from what I've seen of them. Solid banks of four. Pace on the wings. Striker capable of holding it up.

Brilliant at defending deep. Can he push up and defend well though? He has the pace and reading of the game to defend where he likes tbh. Of course in such a negatively set out Chelsea side he was always going to be defending deep. he's played most of his Chelsea career with deep, negative managers so I couldn't say one way or the other.

Instruct your side to play like a classic Tony Pulis side and get called a tactical genius.

Brilliant at defending deep. Can he push up and defend well though?

Chelsea will play like this next week you know.

You can see why Abramovich is pissed.... all this money and look how they've played in the QF and Semi

This tie was always really going to need an early goal for it to be exciting. Chelsea don't plan to form any attacks and the only way they'll score is from a mistake. Even if they conceded they would probably take the 1-0 loss. Atleti should probably force the issue a bit more but they'd fancy their chances of a score draw at SB or win. So yeah. Boring as fuck.

That probably rules him out of the Barça job too. Damn. Good on him though. Would be easy to leave Dortmund at this point. Why would it be easy to leave BVB for Man U in its current state? Man Utd. have greater financial pull and get to keep their best players most of the time. After basically having to sell his first team, it looks like BVB will be in a position to compete better in wages and transfer fees now they've cleared most of their debts. So I guess Klopp thinks they'll become better rather than coming to the end of the glory days. Truthfully there's only maybe 6 European sides that have as much potential as Manchester United & BVB isn't one of them.

Us being a sideways step from Everton. It's a step in the wrong direction

Very kind to us. Under Ashley it is simply a lie

That "was" stuff is really irksome.

We'll not get a proven PL manager to replace Pardew unless halfway through a relegation battle. We'll do well to get the next Moyes, Martinez or whoever

haven't seen them play for ages.

Why play with a holding midfielder? It's pointless in international football in 2014. Gerrard's the best option to sit deep and concentrate on playing the better pass. Since when did Alonso, Mascherano and Busquets become obsolete in international football? England doesn't have too many options in that particular position, I'll give you that, but I kind of like Huddlestone >_> Only Mascherano is a pure DM. Busquets and Alonso are passers first and foremost - like Gerrard. Gerrard lacks their positional sense however. What do you mean by a passer? Alonso and Busquets are two very different type of midfielders. Busquets is a player that makes it tick, but he's nowhere near a sitting playmaker a la Alonso or Gerrard at this stage. I would disagree. While he doesn't switch play or attempt to launch a counter with a long diagonal he's definitely a passer first and foremost. Playmaker? Not really, he plays with Xavi, Iniesta and Fabregas. What puts Busquets over the top is his technique and speed of passing. 3 touches max. and he's turned and passed it forward, perfectly weighted. Defensively, Javi Martinez (who is probably a better all-round player) and even Mascherano are better due to being more mobile but Busquets is a smoother passer.

All out...

He puts out the same side the majority of the time and they play the same way. He's not going to surprise you with his formation. The players. Against top sides they'll look to sit deep and counter with pace. Tactically, he does what he does. The thing he does better than others most is team building and inspiring belief in his players. I've never seen Sneijder play so consistently well for example. I know when he first came to Chelsea, playing a 3 man midfield blew people's minds.

The one big concern I had with Atleti is that they may get tired but that hasn't transpired so far.

Only 2 of their regular first team players were born in the 90's. Liverpool have 4. The youngest member of Chelsea's back 5 is 24 years old. This young team stuff is guff. Chelsea have won silverware in previous seasons. Not winning siverware would be a failure considering the investment. It's Atletico not Athletico. Chelsea will need to be at their very best to beat Atleti and I just don't see it. In many ways, Atletico are the side Mourinho wish Chelsea were. Strong, determined, organised with lethal finishing. If someone is going to win it comfortably, it's going to be Atleti. The 2nd leg being at SB is a nice advantage.

No it is not. This is the most irksome thing about the Mourinho love-in. That he's some type of tactical genius. He's not. He's great at making decisive substitutions but tactically if the sit deep and counter at pace approach doesn't work he's stuck.

Mascherano's spent so long at CB I haven't seen him play DM in what... 4 years?

Why play with a holding midfielder? It's pointless in international football in 2014. Gerrard's the best option to sit deep and concentrate on playing the better pass. Since when did Alonso, Mascherano and Busquets become obsolete in international football? England doesn't have too many options in that particular position, I'll give you that, but I kind of like Huddlestone >_> Only Mascherano is a pure DM. Busquets and Alonso are passers first and foremost - like Gerrard. Gerrard lacks their positional sense however.

Never heard of them either.

He's getting emotional haha