Id like to think that Abram will stick through the good and bad(like today) with Jose as i agree there really isnt anyone better around.

I think Pep is possibly the only one Abram would want to get over Jose but he looks to be staying at Bayern for the foreseeable future, i wouldnt be surprised to see him managing in the premier league eventually though.

I think the Pep boat sailed along time ago. If he was going to come he would have by now

Think we are getting way ahead if ourselves. Whilst we cannot hid behind the fact it's a poor defeat it's the third choice of competitions we want to win. It's a setback but so much still too play for.

Jose went up in my estimation today and I think he showed a lot of class going into Bradford's dressing room after the match and shaking everyone's hand and congratulating them.

He has done this sort of thing before.

I also seem to remember he gave some manager the file he created on his team after we played them, he said it contained so much information on his team and he learned so much from it about his own players and their strengths and weaknesses.

You can't expect players to play 2 high matches a week, week after week, and they need a rest and other players need to be given a chance. 9 changes was probably too much and they probably didn't have enough match practice. There's a lot of fresh players for Tuesday though and they shouldn't be as tired as the Liverpool team.

To succeed over the course of a season you have to get used to rotation and utilising the squad. Play your best team? What's your best team? Using players that are knackered because they've played too much?

When Man Utd won the treble they utilised their squad and regularly rested players. It's the only way to do it.

Tuesday 27th January

Chelsea will welcome the return of several rested players, although unless they really want to win this match and are prepared to match the pressing etc of Liverpool then Chelsea could lose again.

You don't get given chances you take them. You show something in training or in the ten minutes you come on for

Bradford is not a "high" match. Its a game where you pick your best players get the game over and done with then start taking players off

Players only get knackered when they are losing (or told they are)

You stick to your football and we did not do that yesterday, We chucked out all the work we have done this season with regards to style and type of football for no reason whatsoever and guess what? It backfired

The team we had out yesterday should of been capable of winning without the need of bringing the big hitters on. That's the bottom line.

Of course and they played badly something no matter what you do is going to happen every so often but there are still things you can do to minimise the chances but yesterday we seemed to be determined to increase the chances.

Not so fussed about the players chosen (most deserved to play) but two up front etc? The chance of a upset greatly increased when we lined up that way against a team like Bradford

With MC losing, it was probably a blessing in disguise.

I agree, and as JM pointed out, it was practically the same side that beat Watford (high in Championship) 3 - 0.

Didn't see the game, but you can guess what happened. Chelsea started backing off, giving the opposition space especially in front of the back four, where two defensive midfielders should be closing the space.

Matic is back for Tuesday, but the likes of Mikel and Ramires should be trying to copy his style of play and close space down much better.

These teams in the cups treat these games like world cup finals, and you can't afford to back off and give them space. Chelsea need to learn their lessons, and maybe the 'kids' would have done better.

I didn't see the game either (just the highlights), but it's interesting the collapse happened after Mikel was subbed. I'm not a big fan of Mikel but surely it would have made more sense to have subbed Ramires for Fabregas and left Mikel on? Ramires isn't really a DM.

I think players should be selected on form, it's what they expect at any level of the game. It's not the idea of giving players a chance that I disagree with, it's just rotation purely for the sake of it that I dislike.
It's not really giving a player a chance if he knows that he's just being selected for a game of lesser importance to give the incumbent player in that position a rest. I think a select group should be fighting for places knowing thay they can make that position their own if they prove themselves.
I've yet to be convinced that resting a player to bring him back fresh actually improves performance anyway. Sometimes it appears to work, other times it doesn't. But generally a player who is on top of his game will be raring to go, and it doesn't matter if the next game is against Bayern or Bradford. It goes without saying that a player carrying a niggling injury is a different matter entirely.

On a lighter note, what has Dennis done to his barnet?

http://metro.co.uk/2015/01/24/former...hairdo-5035088

One piece of good news this weekend is that Patrick Collins has finally hung up his poison pen.

Sadly will be replaced with some just as bad

Oliver Holt.

Courtois; Ivanovic, Zouma, Terry (c), Luis; Matic, Fabregas; Willian, Oscar, Hazard; Costa

SUBS: Cech, Azpilicueta, Cahill, Ake, Ramires, Remy, Drogba

Big game tonight, to go out of two cups in two games would be pretty rough going. Man City at the weekend too, big week for us.

Clear pen on costa, awful non decision by this terrible ref

Yeah, he also missed that disgusting stamp on Can too, shocking ref!

So glad we have Courtois.

Stamp? Costa was looking the other way.

If is was a stamp, then it's not a sending off as it was not on the pitch! What a crazy rule that is.

Enthralling game. Ref's been completely incompetent. Extra-time it is then!