Chelsea v Man City (PL) 12/12/11 KO 20:00 GMT

[MrSkyBlue]

Citys exploits in europe have proven that prem teams have to much respect for them, Napoli and bayarn went in not fearing them and got the results (could be posting this a bit to early)

They still have a defence of Richards, Kompany, lescot and a left back of there choosing, this is not world class in my opnion, good but not great. When they have beaten us previously its because they have played deyong (sp), Barry and zabayaletta at DM with tevez and belamy and jonson the only reall outlets . evffectivly 7 outfield players didnt go beyond the half way line. they had been happy to absorb preshure and catch un on the break.

In seasons gone by our style has played straight in to that because we had no widthc, no way to streach them game. This is now a bit different.

Additionly they have changed there style - I cant believe that Manchini is going to start with 3 DM's on monday, he thinks he has us out gunned and he may do but id rather play against a city side that think there better then us then one thats happy just to sit in.

I still dont think they are going to win the league and the rot starts here!!

The Rot starts here!... Quality, I Recall Man U fans saying the same. Monday should be interesting but i certainly won't be happy with just a point. As much as i respect your team, Chelsea are no where near as strong as you once where for a few different reasons all best left for another discussion. One thing i can promise you is you will HAVE to score at least 2 goals to get anything against us... probably 4 if you hope to win. Because we WILL score, Probably a few. We always do and i don't see your back 4 changing that.

I'll say 1-3... Drogba - Yaya, Balotelli, Aguero

 

[Mike 93]

The Rot starts here!... Quality, I Recall Man U fans saying the same. Monday should be interesting but i certainly won't be happy with just a point. As much as i respect your team, Chelsea are no where near as strong as you once where for a few different reasons all best left for another discussion. One thing i can promise you is you will HAVE to score at least 2 goals to get anything against us... probably 4 if you hope to win. Because we WILL score, Probably a few. We always do and i don't see your back 4 changing that.

I'll say 1-3... Drogba - Yaya, Balotelli, Aguero

Because of your confidence, would you be willing to donate £5 to the site if you lose to us?

 

[MrSkyBlue]

Think Daniel Sturridge will be buzzzing to score. IIRC he didnt leave city on good terms ?

Sturridge Is a True product of our Academy in that period. There was a culture of arrogance that we didn't have the power to control then, The likes of Joey Barton and Michael Johnson also both portrayed this but neither as bad as Sturridge. He came with such a hype from the youth team. He was given the tag of the next big thing and he believed it himself. At that time our highest earner was Richard Dunne on £70,000 a week. He was the captain of the squad and had single handedly saved us from relegation for two seasons in a row.

When it came to the the end of Sturridges youth contract he was offered a standard young players full time contract, probably on £15,000 - £20,000 per week. This wasn't good enough in his over inflated sense of self worth, He damanded to match the wages of the highest player, our Captain Richard Dunne... At this time the jumped up little tosser had played 2 games in the first team and looked no more than average in both. Quite rightly we told him to sling it and that's why you got him. You were the only club who would pay him what his ego demanded... Now he wouldn't get near our first team, Perhaps not even our bench.

 

[MrSkyBlue]

Because of your confidence, would you be willing to donate £5 to the site if you lose to us?

Crikey lad, I'm unemployed at the mo. That's a weeks worth of beans to me... But i will sportingly allow your head mod to change my Avatar to whatever pic the forum desired if we lose... (god i hope we win now )

 

[TrojanMan]

.. Now he wouldn't get near our first team, Perhaps not even our bench.

Yeah, nobody wants a 22 year old winger with speed to burn who has scored 7 goals in 10 games this season. Adam Johnson's 4 goals in 10 games is far more impressive.

 

[Castiel]

Aside from Mata he's been our best attacker this season. You missed out, I'm afraid to say. I'd have him over any of the other English talent on display at the moment. But you'll get to review your opinion on him on Monday.

I'm not terrified of City in the way I was of previously great Arsenals or Uniteds because a full strength Bayern pretty much beat them down without breaking a sweat. Then Napoli gave them a slap around the chops. Then Liverpool held them at bay. In fact if Liverpool could finish they would have beaten them. We're finally coming out of our little catastrophe and we've got some momentum going. They're coming off a severe disappointment. We'll need to throw everything we've got at them to bring them down, but its not like we'll be the ones to prove their vulnerability.

There are questions to be asked about their back line. Their demolition of United was flattering and only really reached embarrassing levels towards the end with a man down and with them giving up on the game. Silva obviously needs to be contained (I'd just have Rambo man mark him to death) and we can't concede the space they enjoy.

Considering their league form, a draw looks a realistic goal. But I feel we are capable of a win if we really go to war with them. Main concern is obviously the lack of Luiz and the inclusion of Bosingwa. They will no doubt go to exploit that.

 

[TrojanMan]

Considering their league form, a draw looks a realistic goal. But I feel we are capable of a win if we really go to war with them. Main concern is obviously the lack of Luiz and the inclusion of Bosingwa. They will no doubt go to exploit that.

Scares the crap out of me too. Bosingwa needs to be told to exert all his effort at the defensive end. Forget streaking forward every time to send in (usually crappy) crosses. DEFEND. Let Sturridge handle the right side attacking.

 

[Mike 93]

Crikey lad, I'm unemployed at the mo. That's a weeks worth of beans to me... But i will sportingly allow your head mod to change my Avatar to whatever pic the forum desired if we lose... (god i hope we win now )

cheers.

Edit: If you win, ill personally send you some beans

 

[Gilvorak]

Sturridge Is a True product of our Academy in that period. There was a culture of arrogance that we didn't have the power to control then, The likes of Joey Barton and Michael Johnson also both portrayed this but neither as bad as Sturridge. He came with such a hype from the youth team. He was given the tag of the next big thing and he believed it himself. At that time our highest earner was Richard Dunne on £70,000 a week. He was the captain of the squad and had single handedly saved us from relegation for two seasons in a row.

When it came to the the end of Sturridges youth contract he was offered a standard young players full time contract, probably on £15,000 - £20,000 per week. This wasn't good enough in his over inflated sense of self worth, He damanded to match the wages of the highest player, our Captain Richard Dunne... At this time the jumped up little tosser had played 2 games in the first team and looked no more than average in both. Quite rightly we told him to sling it and that's why you got him. You were the only club who would pay him what his ego demanded... Now he wouldn't get near our first team, Perhaps not even our bench.

Robinho was by far your highest earner at the time. He was on around £170k p/w I think.

 

[Davey Baby]

Sturridge Is a True product of our Academy in that period. There was a culture of arrogance that we didn't have the power to control then, The likes of Joey Barton and Michael Johnson also both portrayed this but neither as bad as Sturridge. He came with such a hype from the youth team. He was given the tag of the next big thing and he believed it himself. At that time our highest earner was Richard Dunne on £70,000 a week. He was the captain of the squad and had single handedly saved us from relegation for two seasons in a row.

When it came to the the end of Sturridges youth contract he was offered a standard young players full time contract, probably on £15,000 - £20,000 per week. This wasn't good enough in his over inflated sense of self worth, He damanded to match the wages of the highest player, our Captain Richard Dunne... At this time the jumped up little tosser had played 2 games in the first team and looked no more than average in both. Quite rightly we told him to sling it and that's why you got him. You were the only club who would pay him what his ego demanded... Now he wouldn't get near our first team, Perhaps not even our bench.

Firstly, the idea that Dunne was your highest earner is poppycock. The Arabs had taken over the asylum by then, and anyway, the previous owner who hired Sven wasn't afraid of his chequebook. Sure, Sturridge wanted more than you were prepared to give, but he was within his rights, as he knew he could get it elsewhere. The fact that he came to Chelsea shows, despite the money, he believes in himself, as it could have seriously curtailed his development, but he has proven himself, and he's indispensable now, and the idea that he couldn't play for you is poppycock. You have serious strikers but he'd fancy his chances against any of them. I understand that Aguero is top-notch but you wouldn't have signed both Dzeko and Balotelli if you had Sturridge. As for the right, I believe you vary between Milner and Johnson. I don't think either of those two scare Sturridge.

That's two "poppycocks" in one post. Do I get a prize?

 

[MrSkyBlue]

Aside from Mata he's been our best attacker this season. You missed out, I'm afraid to say. I'd have him over any of the other English talent on display at the moment. But you'll get to review your opinion on him on Monday.

I'm not terrified of City in the way I was of previously great Arsenals or Uniteds because a full strength Bayern pretty much beat them down without breaking a sweat. Then Napoli gave them a slap around the chops. Then Liverpool held them at bay. In fact if Liverpool could finish they would have beaten them. We're finally coming out of our little catastrophe and we've got some momentum going. They're coming off a severe disappointment. We'll need to throw everything we've got at them to bring them down, but its not like we'll be the ones to prove their vulnerability.

There are questions to be asked about their back line. Their demolition of United was flattering and only really reached embarrassing levels towards the end with a man down and with them giving up on the game. Silva obviously needs to be contained (I'd just have Rambo man mark him to death) and we can't concede the space they enjoy.

Considering their league form, a draw looks a realistic goal. But I feel we are capable of a win if we really go to war with them. Main concern is obviously the lack of Luiz and the inclusion of Bosingwa. They will no doubt go to exploit that.

Ofcourse you CAN win, You're Chelsea at the Bridge... Night game under the floodlights, You will give any team in Europe a good game and fancey your chances. But your idea of Getting at us is a very bad idea, That is where we are at our most lethal, within three passes from Yaya to Silva to Aguero and it's 0-1 and "what the f*ck just happened. Liverpool May have had a go but we had to score their goal for them, If not for that cruel diflection off of Lescott we would have won. If you look at How Napoli played they sat back and didn't allow us space and they hit us with pace and ruthless accuracey on the break, That is how you get at us imo because our fullbacks will be at the other end of the pitch... Hit us hard and fast down the breaks when our attack breaks down which is not very often, Above all you HAVE to take your chances when they come because 48 goals in 14 games proves we will...

P.S. People like to lul themselves into believing our defense isn't that great but along with United we still have the fewest goals conceded. I also love the way that every forum i visit, every week, with every different aponent they all universaly have one or two posters that say "I'm still not sure about City, They're nothing special"... i mean just what have they been watching?

 

[Castiel]

Its mainly because of your performances against Bayern and Napoli. The top English teams are weak at the moment, except for City. Bayern completely outclassed you in that first leg and you didn't exactly demolish their carling cup team.

You've been very impressive in obliterating the league fodder but I feel like Barcelona or Real Madrid would have pulled your pants down and spanked your arse raw had you progressed to meet them in the CL. Something just seems vulnerable when I watch you, but I wont deny that you're by far the strongest English team around at the moment. Last time we won the league we broke the goal record by hammering these sh*te teams, but we weren't anywhere near as good as we were in 2005. The results are good, but against Europe's elite you came short. Thats why I'm not entirely convinced.

That said, I give City a greater chance of winning on Monday because we've not been convincing at all. Good results against Newcastle and Valencia but their teams pale in comparison to yours. It'll be an interesting contest either way but I do hope we beat you and you go through the rest of the season unbeaten so that little payback is returned from when you ruined our unbeatable run back in 2005.

 

[MrSkyBlue]

Firstly, the idea that Dunne was your highest earner is poppycock. The Arabs had taken over the asylum by then, and anyway, the previous owner who hired Sven wasn't afraid of his chequebook. Sure, Sturridge wanted more than you were prepared to give, but he was within his rights, as he knew he could get it elsewhere. The fact that he came to Chelsea shows, despite the money, he believes in himself, as it could have seriously curtailed his development, but he has proven himself, and he's indispensable now, and the idea that he couldn't play for you is poppycock. You have serious strikers but he'd fancy his chances against any of them. I understand that Aguero is top-notch but you wouldn't have signed both Dzeko and Balotelli if you had Sturridge. As for the right, I believe you vary between Milner and Johnson. I don't think either of those two scare Sturridge.

That's two "poppycocks" in one post. Do I get a prize?

I agree. Two Poppycocks in one post gets you a well deserved round of applause

Now guys, I'm not posting this stuff to be obtuse or confrontational, Far from it... But

The Sturridge contract saga was absolutely epic, it lasted over a year. Perhaps i should have pointed out that the demands i reffered to were at the very beggining but they remained the same throughout. This is common knowledge up here. When negotiations first started Dunne was our top earner. I have followed my club for over 20 years home and away and i remember clear as it was yesterday the talk of the terraces being about "What's happening with that Sturridge kid" and "He wants the same wage as the Dunney Monster".

Now at this time as you pointed out we were indeed owened by the ever loveable Thaksin "Frank" Shinawatra who had previously spent over £30M on bringing some decent players to City, Elano, Petrov, Corluka etc. At that time a huge amount for us. However something most rival fans don't know is that just before The Sheikh bought us at the end of Franks ownership we were totaly broke, So much so we couldn't even afford the paint to mark out the pitch (no exageration, give Blue Moon Rising a watch to see how desperate it became). We hadn't paid anyone at the club for over ages and the entire squad was put up for sale, This is why Corluka went to Spurs and Stephen Ireland was hours away from joining Sunderland. City ourselves were just days from Administration and oblivion before That mad day when Sheikh Mansour bought us.

When that happened you are quite right, Our highest earner doubled over night.

As for the subsiquent development of Daniel Sturridge as a player, well it is in no doubt doubt that he is a very very good player. Bags of pace, quality finisher... No suprise really, it is what he was always going to be. But you are looking through some pretty thick Chelsea Blue tinted Specks if you think you can put him alongside Aguero, Dzeko or Super Mario... All are miles ahead of him. I'd put him on par to Johnson but i think Johno is better technically and is a better dribbler, both are quality finishers though and both have the world at their feet. Danny has the potential to be as good as he wishes to be. It's all up to him and i wish him well. I'm glad things have worked out well for him.

P.S. I appologise if this post is a little Off Topic :139:

 

[Mike 93]

I agree. Two Poppycocks in one post gets you a well deserved round of applause

Now guys, I'm not posting this stuff to be obtuse or confrontational, Far from it... But

The Sturridge contract saga was absolutely epic, it lasted over a year. Perhaps i should have pointed out that the demands i reffered to were at the very beggining but they remained the same throughout. This is common knowledge up here. When negotiations first started Dunne was our top earner. I have followed my club for over 20 years home and away and i remember clear as it was yesterday the talk of the terraces being about "What's happening with that Sturridge kid" and "He wants the same wage as the Dunney Monster".

Now at this time as you pointed out we were indeed owened by the ever loveable Thaksin "Frank" Shinawatra who had previously spent over £30M on bringing some decent players to City, Elano, Petrov, Corluka etc. At that time a huge amount for us. However something most rival fans don't know is that just before The Sheikh bought us at the end of Franks ownership we were totaly broke, So much so we couldn't even afford the paint to mark out the pitch (no exageration, give Blue Moon Rising a watch to see how desperate it became). We hadn't paid anyone at the club for over ages and the entire squad was put up for sale, This is why Corluka went to Spurs and Stephen Ireland was hours away from joining Sunderland. City ourselves were just days from Administration and oblivion before That mad day when Sheikh Mansour bought us.

When that happened you are quite right, Our highest earner doubled over night.

As for the subsiquent development of Daniel Sturridge as a player, well it is in no doubt doubt that he is a very very good player. Bags of pace, quality finisher... No suprise really, it is what he was always going to be. But you are looking through some pretty thick Chelsea Blue tinted Specks if you think you can put him alongside Aguero, Dzeko or Super Mario... All are miles ahead of him. I'd put him on par to Johnson but i think Johno is better technically and is a better dribbler, both are quality finishers though and both have the world at their feet. Danny has the potential to be as good as he wishes to be. It's all up to him and i wish him well. I'm glad things have worked out well for him.

P.S. I appologise if this post is a little Off Topic :139:

Yeh I agree with you about Aguero and Mario, but I personally dont rate Dzeko a highly I still think he has so much more to give. But you watch him every week and I always here the f**king Dzeko song so he cant be that bad, I just rate Balotelli and Aguero higher. He's like torres a bit clumpsy with the ball.

 

[wxwax]

If it wasn't for the match sharpness issue I would happily play Paulo ahead of Bosingwa. Paulo is still the best proper right back we've had since Chappie Ferrer.

Really? I think he gets lost far too often. He scares me to death.

 

[wxwax]

If you look at How Napoli played they sat back and didn't allow us space and they hit us with pace and ruthless accuracey on the break, That is how you get at us imo because our fullbacks will be at the other end of the pitch... Hit us hard and fast down the breaks when our attack breaks down which is not very often,

That's how Chelsea played Newcastle in the 2nd half and Valencia from the start. I sincerely hope AVB goes back to it again.

 

[MrSkyBlue]

Yeh I agree with you about Aguero and Mario, but I personally dont rate Dzeko a highly I still think he has so much more to give. But you watch him every week and I always here the f**king Dzeko song so he cant be that bad, I just rate Balotelli and Aguero higher. He's like torres a bit clumpsy with the ball.

Dzeko is very different from Balo and Aguero but he is absolutely world class. His record speaks for itself He already has 10 league goals this season in 14 games. He will easily reach 30 by May. He is known as the 58 minuite man as he has averaged a goal in all competitions every 58 mins this season. That is a remarkable stat. He is decievably very gifted on and off the ball and his link up play is first rate. watch his goal against QPR to perfectly sum up the kind of player he is. He's absolutely lethal. He's Better at his type of striker than Ibrahimovic in my opinion.

To top it all off he is a really nice, mild mannered young guy. I absolutely love our Edin.

 

[ozboy]

In past season we have lost to cited because we attacked too hard and got caught on the counter. This time I hope me play it smarter. Much smarter.

Citeh have an excellent team and you would be a fool to deny it. Great forwards and a ver strog(toure) and creative (silva) midfield

Chelsea are in transition.

I think we can match Citeh but I think we should play defensively and hope to catch them on the break. Cole Kane bossy need to hang back. Drogs and mata can feed studge and ramires and if the dice fall our way we get there.

 

[barak81]

MrSkyBlue - I really hope your players and manager share your attitude.

It seems that Man city's exit from the CL is almost considerd a "valian effort" by the media. If we had gone out of the competion on tuesday night we would have been completly destroyed, every journo and his dog had an article written and ready to submit regarding the demise of chelsea and the young pretender AVB.

Lets a get a couple of things in to perspective - it was not a valiant effort!! you where sh*t. you f*cked it up. You should have got out of that group second, Napoli are usefull but they havent got the quality in there team that you have. I have heard this "10 points" argument and the fact that another lesser team got out of a group on 9 points... sorry but Bayarn had what amounts to a nothing team out, if they could have given you the points and stayed in germany they would have. They where there to fuffil the fixture.

This may sound like a strange point but you have been fortunate with the mild winter thus far IMO, you have some great footballers in your team but in really terrible winter conditions when you cant knock the ball about so much, how are you going to respond?

I hope you guys think its all done and dusted, I dont believe Manchini will be able to see this home, I dont believe he is a born winner as a manager and I say he's going to choke!!

 

[barak81]

Dzeko is very different from Balo and Aguero but he is absolutely world class. His record speaks for itself He already has 10 league goals this season in 14 games. He will easily reach 30 by May. He is known as the 58 minuite man as he has averaged a goal in all competitions every 58 mins this season. That is a remarkable stat. He is decievably very gifted on and off the ball and his link up play is first rate. watch his goal against QPR to perfectly sum up the kind of player he is. He's absolutely lethal. He's Better at his type of striker than Ibrahimovic in my opinion.

To top it all off he is a really nice, mild mannered young guy. I absolutely love our Edin.

hmm so that actually means he has hit 6 goals in 13 games - still impressive ill give you that