Oli

So in all likelihood it's going to be the Saturday lunchtime game, given that if it's played on Sunday lunchtime the Wigan game would surely have to be re-arranged.

I'm in the same boat. Not skiing but busy on the 24th so praying for the Friday or Sunday.

I expect it will be more of a 4-4-2 with Kuyt and Benayoun interchanging to play just off Keane.

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Masch is a big loss. Otherwise it's the team I expected and probably as strong as we could put out.

I've avoided reading nearly anything football related in the media for some time now because I found a lot of it to be uninteresting and offering very little in the way of real insight into or analysis of matches. Are there any football writers or journalists in either the print media or on radio who you think are consistently good? Those who don't simply state the obvious and actually make you think?

It happened during the West Brom game too if I recall correctly.

Ruud Gullit: "So if I catch the ball, is that then handball?"

I would guess probably the former due to the latter. It's definitely a very difficult injury to manage. The majority of recurrences come about due to inadequate rehabilitation and perhaps more siginficantly a rehabilitation that is simply too rapid. I don't think it's difficult to imagine that in a game where the stakes are as high as they are in top level football that injured players are brought back into action before they are 100% injury free. That's not to say they are playing with pain. If you decrease the stride length on your injured leg (subconciously), you would protect the hamstring at the expense of absolute speed but if you lapse out of this, the potential for reinjury is there.

As bad news as it is I wouldn't have been too concerned if we didn't look to be collectively stuttering somewhat. That said we clearly have the personnel to cope in this situation as evidenced earlier in the season. A lot of players need to up their game now.

Anybody heard anything on Torres possibly having re-injured his hamstring?

After Saturday's effort I was really hoping we'd put in a dominant performance tonight but didn't, so it was disappointing. That said, the win was the important thing so in that respect it was job done. I think some credit should go to Marseille for the way they played. They've got some very handy players.

I'm not in a position to criticise those who regularly attend matches and support the team but this was very noticeable watching it online yesterday. The point has been touched on previously about the tension at Anfield, particularly when we've entered the last 15 minutes of games. Is it simply because everyone knows how utterly crucial every single point is in maintaining a title challenge and this anxiety is outwardly manifesting itself in a somewhat negative fashion?

Chelsea: Cudicini, Ivanovic, Alex, Belletti, Bridge, Ferreira, Deco, Mineiro, Malouda, Drogba, Kalou. Subs: Hilario, Lampard, Di Santo, Mikel, Sinclair, Terry, Woods. That was how they started.

What a woeful performance. Bizarrely there seems to be nothing recognisable in the efforts of the 'squad players' when they play, from the first XI and the way they perform. They don't look like a Rafa team. Of course this now means that the derby will be played on the Monday night.

Kuyt Alonso Gerrard

Does anybody else think that the way we defended so successfully for so long against Chelsea meant that when the second goal wouldn't come today we sat back a bit too much in the belief that we could probably see it out or is that what we do anyway?

Really gutting. After Stevie's effort came off the bar I had a bad feeling but still felt we could see it out. What's more damaging to confidence - Losing in the manner we did today after dominating for so long or being comprehensively outplayed?

The thing that impressed me most was how in control we were. After the way the match was beginiing to shape up before half time I was fully expecting an onslaught in the second half and us holding on by our fingernails yet it never materialised. Very impressive display by everyone I thought.

Not bad at all.

I thought the same. It was almost a little too comfortable in the first half, if that makes sense. It was as if once Atletico came back at us in the second half we struggled a bit to up the tempo of our play. Perhaps a lesson learned in the importance of really killing the opposition off when you are so dominant.

Definitely felt a little disappointed after the game as was bound to be the case when we conceeded so late having controlled the game for long periods and having had decent chances (and a legitimate goal disallowed) to win it. Overall though I'm satisfied with the point and hopefully most of the players will be fresh for Sunday.

Well isn't that a kick in the stomach. I don't have any great beef with internationals, friendly or competitive but I must say that it is a bit ridiculous how often our players seem to pick up injuries playing for their national teams. I wasn't watching the games last night and this morning my first thought was to wonder if any of our players were injured again, half jokingly, so I check online and lo and behold 'Torres injury scare'.

Feel a bit for keane but not surprised by the team. It makes sense.

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