558 replies to this topic

[wxwax]

That may be dead on, Mac. But it wouldn't suprise me to see Malouda instead of Essien. Either Mata or Malouda drop into the midfield.

[eldakar]

Pretty sure it will be:

Cech
Ivanovic-Luiz-Cahill-Cole
Romeu
Meireles-Malouda
Sturridge-Torres-Mata

[TrojanMan]

That's what I expect too, eldakar. Essien on for either Meireles or Malouda at some point if we're struggling and AVB wants to shake things up.

[Adamrb]

Our midfield looks so weak :(

I can't believe josh is sitting in the stands rather than starting in our team

[Spiller86]

Essien, Meireles and Romeu will do fine.

I actually liked the concept of Meireles directly behind Torres that someone suggested, both did well when played like that at Liverpool last January.

[ozboy]

Its always going to be difficult until Torres starts scoring every other goal.

Recently Sturridge has gone cold as well.

With Lampard out our routes to goal are much reduced. Mata will score a few but is obviously much more a creator.

If we don't play Boswinga and with Ramires injured the team is not that quick.

I guess the obvious centre defensive pairing is Cahill and Luiz, but with goals a priority is it better to go with Bossy or Ivan?

Unfortunately when you are running 4th in the premier league there is little room for experiment. Other wise I quite like the idea of Torres playing behind Lukaku

An experimental lineup might be

Cech

Ivan Luiz Cahill Cole

Romeu
Essien Torres Mata

Sturridge
Lukaku

But almost certainly we will play either Mereiles or Malouda and leave Lukaku out of the starting lineup.

[wxwax]

I trust Ivan's crossing a lot more than I trust Bosingwa's.

[evissy]

Now that JT is out I think AVB will not risk by playing all our CB's in the game á la Ivan--Luiz--Cahill--Cole. He'll use Bossy or Paulo at the right back. I think Cahill won't start.

I have no idea why AVB won't play Mata in the middle but this is one game where we can expect the opponent to attack and have more open setup. Bad thing is their coach knows all about us and our players but our quality should shine through.

[ozboy]

Agreed, but whatever Bossy's other failings he has been good at creating space for the cross down the right often beating the opposing full back in the process.

Ivan's due a couple of goals from someone elses's corners anyhow. We haven't seen many goals from him recently.

[Adamrb]

ozboy, on 31 January 2012 - 05:46 AM, said:

Agreed, but whatever Bossy's other failings he has been good at creating space for the cross down the right often beating the opposing full back in the process.

Ivan's due a couple of goals from someone elses's corners anyhow. We haven't seen many goals from him recently.

We haven't seen many goals at all.

[Sturridge23]

Cech,Ivanovic,Cahill,Luiz,Cole,Meireles,Romeu,Mata,Sturridge,Torres. This team will win today

[Eggy McMuffin]

Sturridge23, on 31 January 2012 - 10:54 AM, said:

Cech,Ivanovic,Cahill,Luiz,Cole,Meireles,Romeu,Mata,Sturridge,Torres. This team will win today

Now that's confidence. Starting with a player less would surely send a message to our rivals.

[Nibs]

Sturridge23, on 31 January 2012 - 10:54 AM, said:

Cech,Ivanovic,Cahill,Luiz,Cole,Meireles,Romeu,Mata,Sturridge,Torres. This team will win today

That's only 10 players. I think we will need all 11 to beat Swansea.

I am worried about how they will out-pass us in the midfield. Our MF is looking extremely thin on the ground, both in terms of quality AND ability.

Let's just hope all players selected are up for it, especially Mata, Sturridge and Torres as they are the three who can cause Swansea problems.

[Vinit Paul]

Cech

Ivan Luiz Cahill Cole

Meireles - Romeu - Malouda

Sturridge - Torres - Mata

if its 0-0 till 60 minutes.
then Malouda should come off and Lucas Piazon should make his debut.
and then essien for romeu.
Lukaku only if Torres is not doing well.

[CFCCAN]

1-0 to us, Swansea seem to up their game against the bigger teams but they are 13th in the table so they can't be that good. They don't get scored on very often at home but unlike Arsenal I think overall we will be to strong for them

[evissy]

They have natural pace in the team and they want to attack fast and straightforward; same as we should be doing. Tough team to beat as Rodgers knows us very well. I wouldn't be too surprised if it ended up as draw but I would be very disappointed.

[G-Wrath]

Looks like another game with poor streams. I can't for the life of me figure out when the game will be shown on Chelsea TV. It isn't clear if it is tonight's game or last game vs Swansea.

[Zeta Orionis]

Wait, what. This is tonight? Since when do we have matches on transfer deadline day?

[Myles_91]

CFCCAN, on 31 January 2012 - 01:37 PM, said:

1-0 to us, Swansea seem to up their game against the bigger teams but they are 13th in the table so they can't be that good. They don't get scored on very often at home but unlike Arsenal I think overall we will be to strong for them

Yet at home they have:

- Kept more clean sheets than us
- Lost fewer games than us
- Conceded fewer goals than us
- Beaten Fulham and Arsenal at home which we couldn't

[Brayerz]

Completely forgot about this match, can see us winning it 3-0.
Not going to say who i think will score as I am sure it will jinx it