WBA Vs Chelsea (PL) Sat 18 Nov 2017 KO 15:00 GMT

[coco]

[TomCFC85]

Hope we build on our form, but y'know how WBA play, Morata will get the sh*t kicked out of him. 

[Zeta]

Another f**king international break, so sick of them.

[axman2526]

The win today is wonderful but means little if we cannot build on it, that will not be easy to do as we have this and Liverpool coming in quick succession. 

 

Here is the question though, what are our hopes an aims in the league? After today we are a point behind both Spurs and United, and three ahead of Liverpool and Arsenal. If the goal is to catch City then every single game whether it is City away, or Liverpool away, or whoever is a must win because that nine point gap is huge and they are ruthless at the moment so we gotta win and keep winning and even then it may not be enough.

Or is the aim more to come top of the group of five we find ourselves in? If so then games like Liverpool away become more a must not lose game rather than a must win. 

Or are we simply going to do as Antonio says? Think about ourselves only and work on that, not worrying about the rest do?

 

Hard game coming up, they always make it difficult and is a bad time of the season to be going there when they have something to play for. Hard to pick a team or formation now given we dont know how our boys will come back from the international break so... 

[dynamite]

WBA have only won 2 out of their last 23 Premier league matches and we've just come off a great win over United. Which probably points to a WBA win LOL.

[Jezq8]

Another international break I just hope we don't pick up any injuries FFS, Kante was a huge loss for us and it showed 

[evissy]

If we are full strenght and the boys are still fired up and ready to catch City we should be able to win this.

Christensen to start with Azpi and Gazza/Rudiger. Kante, Cesc, Baka midfield. Haz, Morata in front and Zappa, Alonso on wingback-positions. Basically Manu lineup. Loved the way we controlled the midfield.

[didierforever]

Will be a tough game, no doubt about it. WBA put their best foot forward against the big teams normally. 

Tibo

Azpi Andreas GC

Zappa Cesc Kante Baka Alonso

Hazard Morata

Btw, whats the ETA on moses? Should he be back from injury already?

[Ukraine Bolt]

Tbo

Azpi  Andreas  Rudiger

Zappa  Cesc  Drinkwater  Baka  Alonso

Morata  Pedro

 

Give Kante and Cahill a rest as they'll be playing all of France's and England's games and only just back or close to injury. Possibly give Eden a rest too but would prefer to see him up next to Morata. 

[Deino]

I hope our players are fit and healthy after the break. Sometimes just wished our players weren't picked for certain international games 

I hope to see the same formation and fight from our players. Has to stop giving points to mediocre teams.

[axman2526]

4 hours ago, RIP Mourinho said:

Tbo

Azpi  Andreas  Rudiger

Zappa  Cesc  Drinkwater  Baka  Alonso

Morata  Pedro

 

Give Kante and Cahill a rest as they'll be playing all of France's and England's games and only just back or close to injury. Possibly give Eden a rest too but would prefer to see him up next to Morata. 

Neither Kante nor baka nor cesc have been called up for these friendly games, nor dave or David luiz. Is strange but that is what I have read.

[Deino]

3 hours ago, axman2526 said:

Neither Kante nor baka nor cesc have been called up for these friendly games, nor dave or David luiz. Is strange but that is what I have read.

Kante's the weird case. The rest isn't first choice for their respective NT. 

Luiz is dropped after the 7-0 and the Spanish NT coach wanted to experiment with less popular names (whatever that means lol).

Better for us I'd say, our players need the rest.

[Valerie]

3 hours ago, axman2526 said:

Neither Kante nor baka nor cesc have been called up for these friendly games, nor dave or David luiz. Is strange but that is what I have read.

Halleluia, praise the lord/lady/whomever, and pass the whisky!

[Slojo]

I think we'll smash them. We can't bank on getting a lot of fouls though, so Morata has to get stuck in rather than going down easy. 

Really really really hope this Luiz thing has blown over, could really do with him this game, he'll put immense pressure on them. 

[Maksimov]

8 minutes ago, Slojo said:

Really really really hope this Luiz thing has blown over, could really do with him this game, he'll put immense pressure on them. 

I think Christensen has earned another start.

[boomerdog]

Shame that another international break is probably going spoil our momentum after a massive win. 

Imagine, as a player, buzzing after beating man u to only have to play a meaningless friendly the next week. And then by the next league game that feeling has probably numbed.

[Slojo]

4 hours ago, Maksimov said:

I think Christensen has earned another start.

He can play with Luiz can he not? I actually think Alonso needs the better cover I would put him LCB. 

[Deino]

8 hours ago, Slojo said:

He can play with Luiz can he not? I actually think Alonso needs the better cover I would put him LCB. 

So.. Andreas-Luiz-Azpi? It could work as long as Luiz's head is screwed on straight

----

How far along is Moses?

[Scott Harris]

17 hours ago, boomerdog said:

Shame that another international break is probably going spoil our momentum after a massive win. 

Imagine, as a player, buzzing after beating man u to only have to play a meaningless friendly the next week. And then by the next league game that feeling has probably numbed.

I am so bored of international football disrupting club football. This is the third time this season that club football has gone on a two week break. Think how many games could be played in that time. A league cup match, a few Premier League games, a Champions League match or two.

It would be better for everyone if international football was played at the end of the season. Surely it's not hard to do.

[Maksimov]

39 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

It would be better for everyone if international football was played at the end of the season. Surely it's not hard to do.

How's that gonna work when every other summer there's either the World Cup or the Euros? Are they supposed to play the qualifiers during the off season in the year that there's no big tournament? And if there's a Confederation Cup, that's one less summer available. Some players have very little or no time away from football during the summer as it is, so trying to cram even more football into the one part of the year when most players are supposed to get their brief rest doesn't sound like a good idea. Besides... Not all domestic seasons run from August until May anyway. 

And for once there's interesting international matches with the play off matches being played during this international break.

[evissy]

Never rest Kante. Never. If you have a Kante use it.

[JJP]

Hoping to see Kante and Christensen starting! Morata and Hazard upfront with Baka-Kante-Cesc behind them I think will work gloriously! 

[The Don Antonio]

On 11/8/2017 at 09:07, axman2526 said:

Neither Kante nor baka nor cesc have been called up for these friendly games, nor dave or David luiz. Is strange but that is what I have read.

nor pedro nor alonso... Not compaining though

[Scott Harris]

8 hours ago, Maksimov said:

How's that gonna work when every other summer there's either the World Cup or the Euros? Are they supposed to play the qualifiers during the off season in the year that there's no big tournament? And if there's a Confederation Cup, that's one less summer available. Some players have very little or no time away from football during the summer as it is, so trying to cram even more football into the one part of the year when most players are supposed to get their brief rest doesn't sound like a good idea. Besides... Not all domestic seasons run from August until May anyway. 

And for once there's interesting international matches with the play off matches being played during this international break.

But without the interruptions, the club football season would end a lot earlier, possibly two months earlier. They could then easily play the international qualifiers in April and May. The top sides in the Premier League can play a maximum of 65 games in a season (excluding the club world cup and super cup), and i worked out that without the international football interruptions, they could easily fit those games in between the first weekend of August and the last weekend of March. That leaves plenty of time for a break in the summer after playing the international games. 

You make a good point about some domestic season's starting and finishing in different months around the world, but they can work around this. If they wanted to, they could move the start date of many club season's around the world. I know that in some countries around the world weather conditions make this impossible, but most countries can move their start dates around enough that would suit all. Or it's even possible to play the international games at the half way point of a season. It's still an interruption, but one interruption is better than four. They could also separate it into two season's. Play half of the qualifiers one season and another half the next season.

I don't believe that the current way of things is the best they can do. A third of the season is a mess because of these two week international breaks.

[yorkleyblue]

10 hours ago, Scott Harris said:

the club football season would end a lot earlier, possibly two months earlier. They could then easily play the international qualifiers in April and May.

I agree with most of what you say, Scotty, but, for me, the end of the league and particularly the FA Cup Final HAS to be in May.  For me the international breaks are the cause of all of the mid-week league matches that we have to play, when all teams, not just us, could do with some time to train and recover.