*Chelsea-*-- We’re Champions of Europe, You'll Never Sing That

13 games, 2 goals allowed.

 

i keep thinkings its unsustainable but then matches like today and Everton happen and it has me believing

 

Also he somehow doesn’t get enough publicity, but is there any question that Mendy has had the biggest impact of any signing? Yes, part of it is where we were with Kepa. But imagine this same team with Kepa in the net

 

You can see how much confidence he gives the back line

 

I'm loving me some Rudiger lately, has his swagger and is playing really strong in the back. Also just yoloing and marauding forward and launching 40 yard shots

 

I get annoyed at the persistent GK transfer rumors.

 

Joe cole on BT sport post match “it looked like chelsea were playing against a team from the championship or someone like west brom.”

feels awesome to dominate a legit side like that. They got healthy. We were missing mount, Thiago Silva, Christensen and Jorginho. Still fired up about that performance

 

I can't get enough of Werner on the 1st goal. Just the work rate to be the one to block the cross, then sprint forward to get behind the defense to receive the ball from Havertz

 

Amazing. Equally amazing to me is Kante outsprinting two Atleti subs in the 94th minute for Emerson’s goal.

 

In addition to the obvious that we are in the quarterfinal, the win is also good for us financially. Clubs get €10.5 million for making the quarterfinal round. Another €12 million if we make the semifinal and €15 million if we make the final. It also helps our UEFA coefficient stay high which earns us more guaranteed money each year we qualify got the champions league. We make €9 million more than Liverpool and €6 million more than city from that. Our 2 Europa league triumphs and our champions league win make up for missing out on Europe altogether 1 year and our champions league round of 16 disappointments.

 

Tomori’s loan deal with a buy option seemed stupid at the time and has only looked worse

 

I don’t think it’s really deciding so much as if they can cobble together the funds. Losing in Europa today is good; every little bit they won’t have is good for us.

 

not really. Not sure who is paying more for a CB in a pandemic and he wouldn’t have played a game at chelsea. He’s 5th string next season if he comes back by far. All our guys now are playing so well. Eventually you have to sell. Our young guys like fik or Tammy either have to play here or be sold. They’re done enough to earn real playing time and it has to be elsewhere if we can’t give it to them. That’s what top clubs do. So many top players are youth products from PSG, Barcelona and Real Madrid.

 

That’s huge

 

Man that's awesome. Didn't think we had a chance at drawing Porto

 

PORTO

They are playing well at the moment but have faith in the squad

 

maybe they gained some confidence from the juventus game and we tend to play down to competition but they’re 10 points adrift in the Portuguese league, juventus played really poor and they still got a bit lucky to get through

 

No Bayern, PSG, or City until the final and Porto in the quarters is the best possible draw we could have gotten.

 

This is pretty amazing.

Also, we have played Porto a couple times in last couple UCL - they are clearly a step below the level. Should be an easy tie.

 

Won’t be easy but it will be easy compared to the other 6 options.

 

Games against Southampton and Leeds have shown that we can play down to competition and we don’t do well if a team sits back as the underdog but it’s still the best matchup we could hope for. We are away first leg as well against Porto and in the semifinal if we advance.

 

I love this about Tuchel, he always seems so honest in his assessment and I have to image it resonates well with the squads (re: Giroud):

"He has suffered in the last four games or so and I’m not sure I can be totally happy with my team management in the games against Southampton and Leeds. I felt that perhaps these were matches he could have featured for 20 or 25 minutes. So it's my fault. He is training really well, he made a decisive goal against Atlético and I assumed the games against Everton and Liverpool would be high intensity games where we could use more speed. It is my job to push him and give him the feeling that he is still important and important for me, which he is. So the game on Sunday is important. The international break is good for Oli to keep his head in the clouds and enjoy this moment with us."

even the retrospective to admit that he probably made mistakes against Southampton & Leeds. I'm sure some of it is just lip service, but it's refreshing to see.

 

he does a great job of focusing positively on the guys not playing 90 minutes. From what we’ve heard, this is where lampard just completely failed. Tomori said he never spoke with him. We know there were others frozen out. Lampard had 5-7 first team guys who didn’t think they were part of the team. I think that eventually impacted training. Tuchel has maybe one (gilmour) who could probably feel he isn’t part of the team. He’s gone out of his way with giroud, Emerson and pulisic to talk them up. Especially Emerson. I think that has had as much of an impact on the squad harmony and our buy In as anything

 

I’m pretty sure this is the first interview he has given in something like 15 years. As rare as Tottenham winning a trophy.

 

Good read.

 

Would love to know just the process of getting him to do an interview. I'm sure there's multiple faces of Abramovich but it was a good read.

 

There's the 90s gangster face and the 20s philanthropist face. Fun times.

 

I’d imagine that the writer had to give abromovich full power to take things out. I doubt that was a real interview. When you never give interviews you can make those type of demands.

 

I’m going to guess that whatever is happening on the right side isn’t part of the official jersey and just some shitty knockoff mistake. It doesn’t fit at all.

 

We're bringing back the 90s look

 

I've seen like 3 different "official" lineups, think we messed up the graphic initially. This looks like what it is:

 

Not even close to right, is that from a prior match?

 

I like that Emerson is playing but I wish he got the start at LWB instead of LCB. Hopefully he’s more comfortable there than the last time we tried this. I think Zouma looked more comfortable last game and AC back there should help. Interested to see what gilmour/kova can do. Big game for billy. Also pulisic could really use a good game before the international break.

 

Even this one, on like the 5th try, is wrong. CHO isn’t playing RB. Emerson at LCB. How do we have a social media manager who doesn’t follow the team?

 

Wish this was the real design:

 

AC on the right and Zouma in the middle. I wouldn’t have guessed that.

 

that fan made design would be the best home kit we’ve had since I was a fan. Only yellow socks could make it better

 

Need someone not named Kai to show they can unlock this dense, physical setup Blades have.

 

Just need the win today. I’ll take it

 

Proper ball from Chilly tbh. Put it in the chaos and inshallah.

 

My god Sheffield United are trash. 9 behind the ball and kicking the shit out of everyone. Far cry from some of the nice stuff they played last season.

 

Yeah they’re just nicking ankles and calves