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Chelsea v Man City (PL) Sat 25th Sep 2021 12:30 GMT

axman2526 said:
Likely although he may play Ziyech or Havertz as the deeper of the 10s and stick with the 343.

For Peps ego sure, for revenge sure. In reality though another title is just like another league cup to Cities owners imo, what they crave the most is a CL, almost as badly as PSG crave it.
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Thank God we are past that stage with the UCL. The amount of heartbreaks i had before we eventually won it is indescribable. It honestly became an obsession and rather ironic that we won it with probably our weakest team of that era.  I think i will rank the heartbreak  it in this order

1. Moscow shootout ..... Final

2. Liverpool Ghost goal ..... Semi Finals

3. Barca's Iniesta ( Its a f**king disgrace)..... Semi Finals

4. Liverpool Penalties ...  Semi Finals

 
I think we can safely assume one of Stones and Laporte will start with Diaz, Gundogan and Rodri will likely be in midfield unless one is benched for Fernandinho, though it sounds like Zinlenko is the one who has not made it.

 
We will probably see a midfield trio of Kante, Kova and Korginho with Kavertz and Kukaku up top. But I think I would prefer Werner and Wukaku up top with Wavertz behind and Wante and Worginho in midfield

 
Mason is never injured but he played through injury and even took a penalty, I think this is a minor injury. Which is fine because he has been in a bad form in the most recent games anyway.

 
CFCCAN said:
I'd start Chillwell over Alonso for this one.  City will have Walker bombing up our left side and while Alonso has been great since the start of the season, and has offered the opposition a headache, he gets caught up the pitch far too often which causes Rudiger to be pulled out wide to cover.  Chillwell is the better defender IMO and can still offer an attacking threat; I think the midweek Villa game was to blow off the cobwebs. 

Werner starts for me over Havertz and can pull City's defence out of position for Lukaku.   Kante / Kovacic / Jorghino in the middle with Kante / Kovacic sticking to DeBryune and Gundgan when they are on the offensive.  James at RWB with Rudiger / Christensen / Azpi.   Won't be surprised to see Kepa start in goal.  

Confident of 3points, although I hate early kick offs for us, but won't be disappointed with a point at least. 
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That’s why you play 3 at the back so Rudiger is pulled out wide to cover! We don’t need 3 centre backs staying in the middle marking no striker lol. Let Walker worry about what Alonso is doing imo. 

 
The Don Antonio said:
I think sometimes Tuchel is too honest. All he had to say was that Mendy was back and that we had some players to check on before the game at 12.30. Pep was asked about his 5 injured players and didn't give any information on who could play and who couldn't , he just said some can and some can't. Now with Mason out it is obvious we will play a 352 .
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So you argument is because Pep knows mason is injured we are at a disadvantage because he suspects we’ll play with a 352. If that’s the case then in 2020 every team should have found a way to beat Liverpool because they basically played the same formation throughout the entire PL campaign, yet they steamrolled everyone to win the title. 

 
The odds for that game are pretty even. It's really difficult to predict a winner in this top match.

Some Tuchel quotes:

“If you have N’Golo, you have something everyone is looking for – he is a top player,” Tuchel beamed.

“You have everything you need in midfield; you have work-rate, intensity, ball wins, skilful play, dribbles, half-field drives and even a goal.

“I see this every day in training and it is hard to believe how good he is. He is a unique guy, there are no more words from me. N’Golo is N’Golo, he is fantastic.”

 
This game might just be one of those tough derby games with little goals but I believe that due to the previous 3 meetings that there will be goals, lots of them.

 
Faisal said:
So you argument is because Pep knows mason is injured we are at a disadvantage because he suspects we’ll play with a 352. If that’s the case then in 2020 every team should have found a way to beat Liverpool because they basically played the same formation throughout the entire PL campaign, yet they steamrolled everyone to win the title. 
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Your analogy doesn't even come close. Liverpool were a well oiled machine and were masters of their formation. Right now we play 2 formations the 3421 and the 352. Sometimes you don't have to show all your cards. The media are all waxing lyrical about how Tuchel is a breath of fresh air and how they love his press conferences because he is so engaging and open with them. These same wolves will be sticking the knife into him when the pressure mounts because we all know it isn't always going to be rosy. 

 
The Don Antonio said:
Your analogy doesn't even come close. Liverpool were a well oiled machine and were masters of their formation. Right now we play 2 formations the 3421 and the 352. Sometimes you don't have to show all your cards. The media are all waxing lyrical about how Tuchel is a breath of fresh air and how they love his press conferences because he is so engaging and open with them. These same wolves will be sticking the knife into him when the pressure mounts because we all know it isn't always going to be rosy. 
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Pep historically doesn't have the best record against us in general. 1.35 points per match in 20 games played, he has a better record against Man United and Real Madrid at this point and the one team that comes close is Liverpool that he played 7 times less (1.38ppm). Against Tuchel he won 3 times with Bayern when Tuchel was at Mainz and Borussia but that's all, 3 wins and 2 draws and now 3 loses since Tuchel has been here.

It might seem on the surface that Tuchel isn't playing any mind games, he said that it's not about him vs Pep but about their teams, he then went on saying that all 3 previous matches were 50-50.
But if Pep is also casual about this rivarly as Tuchel apparently wants it to be, we might win again. Pep commented in an interview Tuchel's tactic prior to the CL final and some hailed Pep as he seemed to have nailed Chelsea down, he "knew everything", yet when all was said and done Pep was powerless and he lost again.

Maybe, just maybe Tuchel is the type of person that Pep doesn't know how to deal with since he loves to be in this very comfortable environment as the manager and Tuchel is granting him that. "Here is my team, this is how we play, you are so great Pep I learned from you so much" - so Pep might overlook or undermine some details here and there and Tuchel can once again end up winning, all with a smile on his face. Let's hope that's the case.

 
The Don Antonio said:
Your analogy doesn't even come close. Liverpool were a well oiled machine and were masters of their formation. Right now we play 2 formations the 3421 and the 352. Sometimes you don't have to show all your cards. The media are all waxing lyrical about how Tuchel is a breath of fresh air and how they love his press conferences because he is so engaging and open with them. These same wolves will be sticking the knife into him when the pressure mounts because we all know it isn't always going to be rosy. 
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Actually it does, you implied we’re at a disadvantage because Tuchel indirectly revealed our formation to the press and Guardiola, and I gave you an example about a team that used the same formation for two seasons and almost succeeded in 2019 and succeeded in 2020. Now let’s assume you’re right and we play with two formations are you telling me pep would not be prepared for either formation. Finally regarding the press, I agree with you they’re unbearable and there main objective is only creating stories and drama. They did the same thing with pep and Klopp in there earlier seasons and the same with Jose so I have no love for the British press. 
Anyway I’m optimistic let’s hope we beat them and make a statement to the rest of the league. 

 
No Pulisic again - going on three weeks now. Don't have a good feeling about this. Tuchel barely mentioned his name today. Think he is  buried deep on the depth chart. Really hope Chelsea sells him. He needs to go to a place where he is going to get playing time when healthy.

 
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Valpo said:
So who starts in Mason's place?  Werner or Ziyech?  

I am thinking Werner.  
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It will be a 50/50 call for Thomas but if you ask me it would be Ziyech. He was arguably our best player in pre-season and now after that injury he's surely eager to prove himself. If he starts I think that with his left foot we could cause havoc in their defence. Not to mention he already scored twice against City. 

 
USATim said:
No Pulisic again - going on three weeks now. Don't have a good feeling about this. Tuchel barely mentioned his name today. Think he is  buried deep on the depth chart. Really hope Chelsea sells him. He needs to go to a place where he is going to get playing time when healthy.
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Think you will find it was playing for the US national side thar has put him out injured this time around.

 
True. But three weeks on a sprained ankle is highly suspicious - kind of frees up Tuchel from having to explain why he isn't playing, now doesn't it? With Chelsea winning and playing well, don't see this changing anytime soon. Again, really hope Chelsea sells him soon as he will be buried  three to four deep when he is "finally healthy." 

 
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I hope so too if it stops people consistently watching his every move when he isn’t even playing.

Never has there been so much attention towards a mostly mediocre player that I’ve seen.

 
A win tomorrow and Manchester City will need a long time to have a chance for the title this season i think.

 
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