The team that starred in the QPR match is or will be the team that we will try to use as the basis of our first team going forward I think, the matches previous to them were not exactly our ideal line-up.
I am very confident in De Gea (best keeper in the league, and should be Spain's number one, but for reasons that I cannot work out is not), Rojo, Jones, Rafael, Shaw, with Blind, and Herrera in front of them just as much as you are with yours.

So, it should be a good battle this season between us, even if we started far too late for my liking in terms of league points.


Jose I thought said that he wouldn't do a Real Madrid and have a specific "Cup" goalkeeper?
So I am guessing you mean Cech will play in the last group match, by which time you hope to already be qualified for the next round?

You have some fantastic attacking options. If Falcao returns the same player he was the season before last, it's a frightening prospect. We know better than most, he destroyed us In the he UEFA Super Cup final !
But I do think you look a bit lightweight in midfield, and no team can attack at high tempo for 90 minutes. The addition of Vidal, which was rumoured throughout the summer, would have made an enormous difference in my opinion.
I don't think your back four is as bad as some have suggested, but they may be exposed due to your weaknesses in midfield. We had a similar problem until Matic was brought in, but now we have problems again trying to play Fabregas in the other pivotal role. Sometimes you have to sacrifice flair somewhere in order to maintain balance and solidity.

A typically fair and reasoned post, Richmond.

I agree that Vidal would have been the final piece of our midfield jigsaw. However, in games where we need more solidity, we've got the option of playing Carrick next to Blind, or even Jones at a push.

I still think that we need one more centre-back, but people writing us off at this stage are being quite presumptuous, in my opinion.

Our defence is no way near as bad as some people are making out, would an extra more commanding centre-back be helpful? Of course it would, I am not saying otherwise, but what we have got at the moment, is a good group of similar standing, who each have their qualities, and can be relied upon.

Having Carrick back, and more importantly being able to do something that we haven't been able to do since we first bought him I think, is to rest and rotate him with Blind, for so many years now, we practically had to play Carrick no matter his fitness levels, as he was the only player that we had who could perform his role, we now at least have another option in Blind who we can play and not be worried about missing Carrick.

Adding Vidal would naturally have been wonderful, and a fantastic option, but we didn't do that (or haven't at this moment), so we will just go with what we have got, and Herrera is a wonderful tiger of a player, he will win his fare share of duels in the centre of the pitch, he doesn't worry me there.

As for further forward, we now have a plethora of great options, if someone is underperforming, then we have the ability to bring another great option into the team, Rooney isn't performing, bring Falcao in, Mata not working, bring Adnan in etc, before our options were of an admittedly lesser standing somewhat.

Of course things won't always go as well as they did v QPR, and we will have setbacks, but the way the squad is at the moment, I am far more confident about the season as a whole, than I was even just a few short weeks ago.

Yes, and Di Maria is a lot stronger than he looks. He was generally thought of as an out-and-out winger, but with the arrival of Bale at RM he dropped deeper as he had done previously with Benfica. He showed that he was perfectly capable of putting in the work, breaking up attacks etc, as well as making his trademark dribbles.
It will be interesting to see how Van Gaal finally ends up using the talent at his disposal.

Yes he gives us an option to play him either on the wing or through the middle, and either way, we can be confident that he will perform very well.

He reminds me of (a lot younger version) Giggs, in so much as his work ethic, willingness to track back, tackle, and then his pace and skill on the ball.

I am quite looking forward to seeing how van Gaal manages to fit Shaw and him into the same side, as that would be a good left hand side!

A lot I guess depends on what system/formation that we will use in the forthcoming games, but at least now we can look ahead with far more positivity than we previously could.

IMO he wouldnt get on chelseas bench.

De Gea was nearly victim of two calamity errors at the weekend, it was only the poor finishing in-front of an open goal by QPR that saved his blushes.

Did you miss that?

Of course he wouldn't. Chelsea have the bestest players in the world, in every position.

Everyone knows that, right?

Normally I would agree with taking apart what codeblue says BUT in this case it's probably correct. De Gea would not start and I would probably put Cech as the sub keeper over De Gea. That's not saying he is not a top class keeper but just prefer the other two

Which is perfectly fair enough.

It was a comment on the predictability of the post, and the dismissive tone, rather than the actual opinion.

I honestly think that Cech and Courtois are better than De Gea.

Its such an important position. I think our defence are not quite at their best because we have changed keepers.

Its not that Cech is a better keeper than Courtois, its just that the players in front of him are far far more used to playing with cech. They know what he would come for, and what not.

It will take time for Courtois to settle in. Thankfully we have been scoring for fun to make up for it.

I think Petr Cech has been the best keeper in the PL for some time now. I wouldn't have swapped him for either Courtois or De Gea except for reasons of age. Looking to the future we had to give Courtois his chance or risk losing him for good, but it is bizarre having a keeper like Cech on the bench.
Still early to say who's the best out of Courtois and De Gea in my opinion. Both great young keepers who are one day going to be among the best in the world.

We could not risk losing Courtois. He is arguably (and i can see other arguments) the best young keeper in the world and was signed to chelsea for 12 more months?

He had to come back from loan and be played. If not, he would have demanded a transfer (and rightly so). To stop this, we had to bring him back and install him as #1 in front of Cech.

Now Courtois has signed a new 5 year deal, it will be easier to rest and/ or rotate.

It is a good idea to keep cech for 1 year. He will still play in the top competitions, get paid handsomely, and be there to step in if TC somehow cannot cut it in the prem.

I wouldn't trade either Cech or Courtois for any other Premier League goalkeeper. I also prefer Lloris and Begovic over De Gea.

Yes, I wouldn't argue with any of that. Must confess though, I would still feel a little more confident with Cech between the sticks, he's been fantastic for us for so long. Of course that might change as the season progresses, Courtois has all the attributes to become one of the best (if not the best) in the world.

How could I miss them, I was at the actual match itself, so no I didn't miss them, but there is a reason why De Gea has been voted by his peers as the best goalkeeper in the league previously, it is because he is that good of a goalkeeper.

I can only think it must be a political decision for him not being Spain's number one goalkeeper, as I can't think of any other reason.

As for getting on your bench, I think that he very well might at the very least, if not start for you, as he has proven himself to have been a success in this league, Cech whilst still a superb keeper, is not getting any younger, and then you have the battle between the two former Madrid keepers, both of which are world class, it is just one has already proven himself here, whilst the other still has to do so over a whole season.

All the pundits predicting that tonight's game should be a stroll in the park for us. Schalke have had their worst start for 46 years and are ravaged with injuries. Never like it when we are such strong favourites, you just know the opposition will up their game.
It will be interesting to see if Jose rests a few players with Sunday's big game against Man City coming up. I wouldn't take too many chances, maybe bring in Luis (have to give him a game soon !) then switch Ivanovich to the centre giving Terry a break ?

Courtois; Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Filipe Luis; Matic, Fabregas; Ramires, Willian, Hazard; Drogba.

Drogba..didn't expect that. I thought he was still nursing an ankle injury, you can never second guess Jose, always has a surprise up his sleeve. Looks like 4-3-3 ?

Surprised at no Cech, surely his Chelsea days are numbered... A shame but Courtois is the future.

Drogba starting isnt too big a surprise, although i thought Remy had a chance of starting also. I think Costa will be rested.

Don't see the point in starting the Drog. Remy should have been in instead.

I can see the point in wanting to rest Costa, but we needed to get this game done and dusted. Can't help feeling the game would have been over by now with Costa up front, he would have relished playing against their makeshift back four.

Take Drog off please

Yes, we're just making life difficult for ourselves. Drogba is ok for a few cameo appearances but was he even playing a full 90mins for Galatasaray ?

You were very very unlucky to not be infront again just then!