I agree, top players will always remind us now and again, given situations where he has time, I've no doubt he'll finish with aplomb, but tight games where he's given close attention, he may struggle with that most of the time.
The standard Spurs haters UEFA template : 1. Spurs beat team X = X are past it 2. Team X beat Spurs = X are a poor team, and so are Spurs. 3. Team X beat a PL rival of Spurs = X were lucky, rival on an off day etc.
Didn't see the game last night but against Everton he just looked a bit rusty. He might prove me wrong but I think he'll find his awareness and lethal finishing will come back to him and I would think he'll be around the 18 goal mark, give or take a couple, at the end of the season.
Basle are experienced in the CL and have goals in them. For those reasons they are a dangerous team. They are never going to string enough good performances together to progress very far, but if any team takes them lightly or has an off day defensively, they've shown they can take advantage. Mourinho took them lightly by changing his team about. You do that when you've qualified after 4 or 5 games - not in the opening game when some of your players don't even know all their teammates names yet. Moyes picked the best players available to him; credit to him for that.
Chelsky on paper have the squad and manager to be able to easily deal with Basel. They beat them 3-1 comfortably last April. Basel played the same game they did against Man Utd / Spurs / Chelsky in recent UEFA ties. So no surprises about how they were going to play yesterday.
That's a fair post Boss (as per). I'll keep on saying till the cows come home that all four of the Premier League sides are ordinary in comparison to the rest of the field. This Chelsea team couldn't hold a candle to the side that reached the final in 2008, but the same could also be said of United and also the Arsenal side that were cruelly dumped out in the QF stage by Liverpool. I don't think Mourinho has lost the spark he had but the rest of the league has caught up and wised up to his tactics, many teams now incorporate a similar style and formation. I'm not at all worried and believe we will get out the group. All of the English sides will lose a group stage game at some point, mark my words.
Fully agree. There has been a massive overreaction in my view. I remember when Switzerland beat Spain in the opening game of the group stage and Del Bosque being taken apart for "undoing all of Aragones' work" and people dismissing the need for two holding midfielders. Spain went on and won the World Cup and since haven't looked backwards. Of course, Chelsea are no Spain but they are capable of getting out of this group and winning the competition just as Spain were. If Chelsea fail to beat Bucharest and Fulham, then by all means people should lay into Mourinho and the team, but a lot can change in football in a month. 4 weeks ago Arsenal fans were actively protesting outside the Emirates and stating Ramsey wasn't good enough to play for them.
Of course there is, this is England, its what we do, just the same as blokes like you did after our first half v I.Milan..."embarrassment to the PL", "shouldn't be there", "never get out of your group"...we ****in topped it! In the mean time and you've clearly failed to spot it...but the shoe is on the other foot for now! , so swallow your medicine!
notso : The "do not as I do" hypocrisy of WUMmery is always amusing. The only rule is : today it is your team, tomorrow tis another.
Wrong about Ramsey. Since the turn of the year, we all have noticed the improvements he has made. He was easily our best player in pre-season, so his current form is not a massive surprise.
So far, nobody. Everyone seems to be playing at a decent level, hence we won 6 of our 7 games this season.
I will confidently predict all four English teams to get out of their groups - and they will all probably lose an odd game as most teams do. Barcelona lost to Celtic last year and the imperious Bayern Munich lost to Bate. Once it gets to the knockout stages, it's a cup competition where all the English teams are capable of beating any other team on their day whether or not they have the same star names in their ranks. All have very experienced players and can adopt tactics suited to specific matches - this counts for a lot. We saw how Chelsea were able to win the competition 16 months ago, how Utd were able to keep Real Madrid at arms length until the ref intervened and how Arsenal almost turned it around against Bayern last year. City have a lot of good players and are bound to come good at some point. And the invincible Barcelona, who were so superior to everyone else, supposedly, were made to look very ordinary by Bayern's power and organisation. English teams always have a chance in the CL. This year will be no exception. They may not be as dominant as 4-5 years ago, but the four sides are still among the top 8 or so contenders.
