He did mess up that golden chance. But overall I thought he was superb. I can't remember him giving the ball away very often ? He's so calm and assured, and he reads the game so well. It's hard to believe he's still only 21.

Agree with others, the result doesn't really matter for me, intact ifs a very good result as we drew with the best team in Europe over 120 mins and were down to 10 min for 40 odd mins and still survived.

We played well, disappointing to lose the late goal but hey ho, losing on penaltys is no shame, it is a lottery after all

Felt sorry for lukaku but I wouldn't have let him take the final penalty, probably the only mistake Jose made. Never mind, was a really good match and there was some heroic performances again and I think it showed we are a top European side that any team would fear in the CL.

What was a bit surprising to me was that they actually bother with Extra-time in the Super Cup, seems a bit pointless for a game like this? I was thinking it might just go straight to penalties after the 90 mins were up, like in the Community Shield.

I feel a bit sorry for Lukaku, and i'm wondering what we're going to do with him now?

He looks out of his depth, but we are stuck with him now. If we don't play him it would be very unfair on the lad and might well knock his confidence. If we do play and he continues to look so bad, then that would also damage his confidence and knock a fair bit off any possible transfer dealing in the future.
Pity it's looking too late to send him out on loan again.

It is a bit of a joke that a club with our resources is now pinning it's hopes on Torres and a 32 year old Etto having something left in the tank.

Finally. I hope this defeat makes Jose have a rethink about being over cautious.
We got away with a lucky win against Villa, an ugly draw against Utd, but came unstuck last night.
With the players we have, attack is our best form of defence!

For the most part I thought we played it quite smart, hitting them on the counter. I did think at the time it might be a mistake though to bring on Terry with a few minutes left. I know it's a classic Mourinho move to throw on an extra defender to protect a lead late on in a game, but with us down to 10 men anyway it was just inviting them onto us more, with not much of an outlet to relieve pressure or kill a bit of time. Not to mention there was always the risk that if Bayern did equalise we'd just taken off one of our main penalty-takers.

We've played the Premiership champions on their own ground, and the best team in Europe. Both games were effectively drawn. I think the results speak for themselves, we are not there yet, but we're going in the right direction.

I think it's still too early to judge Lukaku. He didn't impress me either, but it was a baptism of fire for the young guy. He did seem to freeze, but I think that's understandable. Picking up that booking almost immediately couldn't have helped.
I think if we're honest, we always knew that we were going to be second best to Bayern last night. They are at least a season ahead of us in development, but we put up a good fight and nearly snatched the game.

In fairness to Lukaku, by the time he came on our midfield had dropped back very deep and we were in hold on to what we have mode. I think he'll get quite a few starts this season in the PL and expect him to shine.

I don't think it is too early to judge Lukaku.

At the top level in any sport that requires athletic ability and mobilty, if a sportsman looks too big, clumsy and moves awkwardly, then they will be found out!
I'm sure he can, and will be effective at a lower level, but never in a team that wants to challenge for the Premiership title.

You may prove to be right. But we were watching him for a long time before spending £17/18m to bring him in. There were also a lot of other European clubs doing the same.
It's always a bit of a gamble when you have a player who looks impressive at a such young age, in a lower level of football. I think he was playing at senior level in Belgium when he was only 16 ?
Let's hope you're wrong.

Just curious, who would you like to see us try to bring in (realistically)? Everyone's entitled to their opinions of course, but you seem to focus on criticising what we've got but never put any suggestions forward on players that might improve us.

Watched the match last night and compared to last years nightmare thought we did really well. BM have the best player in Europe in there ranks and are an outstanding team but they couldn't beat us over 120 mins and also playing for 40mins with 10 men,(and yes Rameries deserved to go),except by Pens.
Our defence was great,and Torres goal was wonderful,back to his best how many times have we thought that? Hazzard's goal was also great.
Sort of felt when it went to Pens we wouldn't win and really felt for Lukaku,big match to come into. Seen a lot last night to be really hopeful for the season.

He, like most of Chelsea's players were very good defensively. But he in particular had a 64% passing accuracy, from 39 passes, very low. That's about fourteen times he failed to pass successfully. Isn't Oscar meant to be a creative player?

Perhaps but some of that was when we only had 10 men and so it was hard to pass well. I thought that he stood up and was counted and played well. The icing on the cake would have been if he had rounded the keeper and scored....

But we played really well and I hope that there can be a rapprochement with Mata as then we really do have a midfield in depth.

Werent you guys saying the same about Sturridge too?.............

That's a fair question.

As we know, we were unabale to attract our main targets this summer, so we were left pinning our hopes on getting Rooney.
Imho, they should have gone in with an over the top offer for Rooney of say 45-50 million, then sold Lukaka and Ba for and then gone for Etto as backup.

I don't want to see anymore panic buys like Ba and Moses. Instead, we should just get on with what we've got now, but already be thinking about who we should go for next summer, and putting some 'feelers' out there.

Yes, a lot of times Oscar was forced to just clear the ball, there just wasn't the time or space to pick out a pass. I do think Ramires wastes the ball a lot, but I can forgive that for all the work he puts in.
What a stupid challenge by Ramires though, I can't imagine what he was thinking. He looked favourite to win the ball anyway, and if you're going to get sent off make sure it's for a vital challenge in an important area.

Not me. I always wanted him to be given more chances up front. He was unlucky to be at the club when every manager just HAD to play Torres.

Newcastle fan here . Do you think you will sell / loan Ba back to us?

Same here. All the 'he's too selfish' claims are bullshit. He's a goalscorer, which is the thing we've lacked for far too long up-front.


I don't think he'll be here past Monday, but would he go back after only 6 months away?

Well, according to the The Mail and The Mirror Chelsea are prepared to loan Demba Ba back to Newcastle for a season for £3m ?
Is that usual, to charge a fee for a loan, or is it just to pay his wages ?

Stranger things have happened . I would welcome him back tbh . But I head you wanted 3 mill for him, jst the loan deal . Could just be paper talk mind .

I don't think the Rooney signing was ever likely to happen, even if we had bid that much. Can you really see United selling him to us, especially with him unwilling to force through the move himself? I also think for as much as £45-50m it would have been bad business, I can't help feeling that Rooney's best days might be behind him, and even a lot of Utd fans didn't seem particularly bothered at the prospect of him leaving. I do agree that we still need a top class striker though. Torres and Ba aren't good enough. I think it's much too soon though to write off Lukaku. He suffers from the fact he's been compared to Drogba, but Drogba was 26 when we signed him, and had only really had that one notable season before that for Marseille.

Yes. I agree with you there. I was searching around online reading various Man Utd chat forums, it was surprising how few fans seemed to be particularly bothered about Rooney leaving.
Most appeared to be more concerned about signing Fabregas, and would have been only too happy to swap.

Yes that's right, not to mention many would have willingly swapped him for our own Mata.

I can't stand Mandzukic! Everytime his face appeared on the screen I just wanted to slap him

Our boys should be proud of their performance last night. They gave everything they had and left nothing behind. We took a treble winning side and arguably one of the best sides in Europe all the way to ET + Penalties. It did hurt to see them scoring with 5 seconds left but give me the CL anyday! Not to mention, this might not even be our strongest XI - we still have Mata/Willian/Eto'o!!!!!! Everyone better watch out, our team can only get stronger.

Schurrle seems to have finally found his feet. Great performance by him yesterday. Good to see Torres scoring too. I don't understand why Torres bothers dribbling past players because let's face it, he's not very good at it! He needs to keep it simple and let Hazard/Schurrle get behind the defence.

Speaking of Hazard, he was a joy to watch yesterday - the way he skips past players with such ease! Cahill was immense too; the tackle on Muller, his clearences and blocks. So glad that Luiz is back too. I think it was Cahill who made a sidepass to him and instead of knocking it around our defence, he pushed forward and made a pass to Hazard which eventually led to the goal in ET. This is why Luiz is the best CB we have. He's not passive like Cahill or JT is. He helps link up our defence and midfield and if he sees an opening, he'll take full advantage of it!

One final thought, I hope Lukaku doesn't beat himself up over about the missed penalty. Even the best players miss them. I have to say, I do love Luiz's penalty technique. His run up, the power he generates on the ball - just beautiful. As for Cole's, I think my heart stopped when it hit the post!