Champions League · Group Match #4 - Chelsea vs Schalke 04

Matchday 3 saw the reverse of this fixture played out in Germany. Chelsea went ahead early on through a Fernando Torres header, before the Spaniard doubled Chelsea's and his own tally on the night in the second half off a well-executed Blues counter-attack. Eden Hazard made it 3 to seal all 3 points for the Blues a few minutes from time, and ensured their bounce-back from their shambolic opening day defeat to Basel on their own patch was well and truly complete.









The two sides currently sit joint top of tournament Group E, with Chelsea with a much superior goal difference. A win on Wednesday would take either to 9 points, and surely within 1 win in their remaining 2 games of qualification to the knockout round.










While Chelsea will welcome Germans to London on Wednesday, one German who's already in London is Andre Schurrle, who celebrates his 23rd birthday on the day of this match

Nothing but a win will suffice here which should make finishing top of the group pretty straight forward

You'd think so.

Exactly, gotta go out and fight as hard as we can for a win here. Nothing less will do.

I imagine Schurrle will start too.

José Mourinho vows to axe Chelsea flops for Wednesday’s crunch clash with Schalke:
The Blues boss was raging after his side's defeat to Newcastle on Saturday and plans a major shake-up for the crucial Champions League clash, after boldly claiming to have made '11 mistakes' with his team selection versus the Magpies:
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/5241217/Jose-Mourinho-Ill-axe-Chelsea-flops-for-cruncher-v-Schalke.html

I imagine DL4 will be axed then, Mata and Torres too.

Wont be surprised to see a very defensive counter attacking side here, im thinking Eto'o will play up top because he's fresher

Chelsea face club in crisis when they play Schalke in Champions League:
The German side have been decimated by injuries to key players, are languishing mid-table in the Bundesliga, and the future of manager Jens Keller is in doubt
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/chelsea-vs-schalke-blues-face-2671359


So all rosy then?

fatman123 wrote:Wont be surprised to see a very defensive counter attacking side here, im thinking Eto'o will play up top because he's fresher

Eto'o
Schurrle-Oscar-Willian
Mikel-Ramires
Cole-JT-Cahill-Ivan

Put Lampard in DM and I think you'd be about right.

tbh Lamps was pretty poor v newcastle and hes played alot of football over the last month, i think Mou is going to rest him, i hope your right though, a Mikel-Ramires pivot wont exactly striker fear into big sides

That is exactly why, Mikel-Ramires is a terrible pivot.

Lampard cant play every game though and i cant imagine mou playing KDB or Oscar there

I know, exactly why CM is top priority in Jan!

News flash, we have a few games to play before the Jan window opens

my god, im turning into Shed........

fatman123 wrote:my god, im turning into Shed........

loool for a moment I didn't notice it was you until I checked the avatar

fatman123 wrote:my god, im turning into Shed........

Ah, well done to yeh then me boy


Nice to see you picking the right kind of role models in life

Soul wrote:

fatman123 wrote:my god, im turning into Shed........

loool for a moment I didn't notice it was you until I checked the avatar

Whom did you think it was?

He thought it was you.

So he thought I was turning into...myself?

No, he thought Fitty was you until he saw Fitty's avatar.

Exactly, why would I be saying I think I'm turning into myself?

What are you on about? I said this:

Kick wrote:I know, exactly why CM is top priority in Jan!

To which Fitty replied in a Shed-like mannor:

fatman123 wrote:News flash, we have a few games to play before the Jan window opens

Soul then quoted the wrong post in reply to Fitty's post:

Soul wrote:
loool for a moment I didn't notice it was you until I checked the avatar

Well, if he did quote the wrong post then it makes sense

Shall we get back on topic now?