Posted April 5, 200915 yr So to the game that makes more comebacks than Rocky. I haven't heard anything about the injury that kept Drogba out of the Newcastle game, having him back and fit will be vital for the game at Anfield. Against Newcastle Anelka and Kalou, once again, looked toothless and we can't afford to gift so much easy possession, and territory, to Liverpool. I am not so fussed about Bosingwa being fit as we will be under pressure for periods of the game and in those situations I trust Bosingwa like I trust people in their thirties who still collect Panini football stickers. I can see Ballack being selected ahead of Mikel and Carvalho being brought back with Alex returning to the bench. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see Deco picked ahead of Kalou.
April 5, 200915 yr I wouldn't be at all surprised to see Deco picked ahead of Kalou. Well, that would come as a surprise to me. Kalou wasn't so bad yesterday. I expect Anelka, Drogba and Kalou in a 3-man attack, while I can imagine Lampard and Deco been deployed as attacking midfielders and Essien in a holding position. It's going to be one hell of a game. BRING BACK JOHN ARNE RIISE!!
April 5, 200915 yr It pains my right down to the pits of my - admittedly - black flinty soul but at the moment Liversum are a far better side han us at the moment and for that reason I am not looking forward to Wednesday. They are defending really well, passing the ball swiftly around midfield, varying the pace of play before exploding into action when 40 yards from the goal. They are showing great movement up front and - something that we haven;t been able to do since Robben and Duff - spreading the play and using the complete width of the the pitch. They are full of confidence and have developed that knack of scoring in the last few minutes of games. By contrast we are back to where we were in the last few days of the Special One. We have a few great individuals in Cech, Terry, Lamps, Essien and Drogba - if he's up for it or indeed fit - so our core is strong (enough to get us past mediocre opposition in the past few weeks). It is outside of that that we are weak. Kalou? Malouda? Anelka? Ballack? Deco? Ivanovic? Don't get me started. Even Ashley is off form at the moment. We have shown little invention for ages now (when was the last time we scored a goal of the month of even a goal that would be included in the competition?). I feel our best hope is to ruin their game, get players behind the ball and hope for a clean sheet. I don't think Wednesday is going to be easy watching. That said, I imagine that Liverscum are seriously confident at the moment and expect to win comfortably and that may play into our hands. In addition, hopefully it wull be in this game that we will see Hiddink's mastery of tactical football come to the fore. Edited April 5, 200915 yr by Blue Sun Tzu
April 5, 200915 yr I don't think Wednesday is going to be easy watching. You can say that again. And taking as granted the usual totally biased commentary in favour of all things Liverpool, not easy listening either. Yes, yet another 90 minutes of torture at the people's club. I am more worried about this one than any of our previous CL visits. They really do have the bit between their teeth at the minute. I forsee our usual Anfield performance. They harry and close us down early all over the park and play becomes compressed in an over-crowded midfield. We have our share of possesion but do little with it and struggle to carve out even one clear cut chance. I just want it to be over already.
April 5, 200915 yr My biggest fear for the game is - if Hiddink was impressed with Malouda against Newcastle, he might start him at Anfield. Playing with 10 men is not my ideal scenario for this one. I hope we play a back four of Ivanovic - Terry - Carvalho - A.Cole, as we will need plenty of defensive stability against the Scum. Ballack in for Mikel makes sense, but we will need to bleed him even more for those big games some time or another. I know this might sound ludicrous, but why not play Mancienne to man-mark Starfish ? In the little time he has been with us, he has shown he has bags of confidence and is quite decent defending up close. If we can stop Starfish and Torres, we might even hope to win the tie then and there. I also hope we don't start with Anelka. He has never had a decent game for us against a top team and it makes more sense bringing him on as a sub to utilise what pace he has (as we did last year), rather than feeding him to Mascherano, Skrtel and the rest from the off. Having said that, I would love to see Di Santo play some role in the game, even in a starting place, as he doesn't look like the easily scared type. Edited April 5, 200915 yr by Virosh
April 5, 200915 yr I can't see any details on Drogs injury, was he rested yesterday or carrying a knock? Whether Anelka starts or not, Drogba must, he enjoys playing this mob (wasn't he injured when we played them last year?)
April 5, 200915 yr Drogba picked up an ankle injury while on international duty, I don't think it is too serious.
April 6, 200915 yr First time in the long time the Scums will be the favourite, will that be an advantage in disguise that they have to come out and get us? I dont remember much of the last Anfield visist, but until Lampard was sent off (harshly), they didnt really threaten us either. I believe we are in better shape now than that day. I think we will play Drogba, Anelka and Essien in the front 3. Ballack will never be dropped, and we need Mikel to match up in the midfield battle. Essien is no winger, but we don't have a decent winger anyway.
April 6, 200915 yr We should probably play five in the midfield for this one with Anelka upfront. I quite like the idea of playing Mancienne at right back but it isn't going to happen. Injury situation is also unclear given that Hiddink was clearly resting players on Saturday. Is riccy fit? Clearly must have some one fast in centre of defence and possibly someone (mikel) to man mark Lampard. If drogs is fit would start him, but doubt if he is fully fit. bossy riccy (alex) terry ashley mikel essien ballack lamps malouda drogs(anelka)
April 6, 200915 yr Clearly must have some one fast in centre of defence and possibly someone (mikel) to man mark Lampard. Shouldn't Mikel concentrate more on the Liverpool players? :mellow:
April 6, 200915 yr According to Hiddink both Bosingwa and Drogba might be fit to play against Liverpool. I do hope he's right. On the other hand he was the one saying that Deco would be out for the season Now it's time for Hiddink to show his magic. At the moment Liverpool seem really tough to beat and we seem far from the level we could/should play at. So he need to show why he's concidered one of the best and then the players have to show that they really, really want to win this. If not, we're screwed.
April 6, 200915 yr According to Hiddink both Bosingwa and Drogba might be fit to play against Liverpool. I do hope he's right.. So do I, we need him so much for this one. Not too fussed about Bosingwa playing as he leaves open a massive door at the back, but Drogba has to play.
April 6, 200915 yr Agreed, but only if he is actually 100% fit. A half-fit Didier normally means a very ineffective Didier, given so much of his game relies on his physical strength allowing him to bully the defenders. If he's not ready, hold him back for the second leg, start with Nico (although I agree he is often anonymous in these big games) and give Di Santo a chance at some point if we need to give Pool somerthing more to worry about. That said, I seriously do hope he is fit and ready to go, as we're pretty toothless without him and we do need to ensure that Pool can't committ everyone forward without worrying about us threatening their goal.
April 6, 200915 yr I think I will start with a full set of nails, but I don't expect to end the match with those nails fully intact. I am not looking forward to this... Still no word on Drogba's availability? If fit, I would love to see him in the starting line-up, he has a way to annoy the bin dippers
April 6, 200915 yr Still no word on Drogba's availability? I think the medical team was suppose to look at his condition today and then a decision would be made. Well, at least according to Sky Sports. Hopefully it's just a little mind games to keep Rafa guessing.
April 6, 200915 yr i hope ivanovic plays instead of bosingwa i just feel hes more solid and calm on the ball bosingwa can panic at times and we need calm players that wont get wrapped up in the anfield atmosphere. i think we have the beaten of liverpool its nice where away first try nick an away goal but what worries me is the hillsbourgh anniversey they will have every descion goin there way at the bridge and thats a fact.
April 6, 200915 yr I agree on Ivanovic over Bosingwa, we need to be more solid at the back. So long as Ivanovic stays back using midfield to get it down there instead of trying a 'Bosingwa' himself.
April 6, 200915 yr Shouldn't Mikel concentrate more on the Liverpool players? Yes that would be a good idea. Gerrard was the man I had in mind. Ivanovic is more solid defensively than Boswinga but looked very average going forward down the right wing and gave the ball away frequently. He is strong which might suit against Riera. We have been pathetic against the big teams this season. This is the time to show some character and spirit. 0:0 is the usual expectation against lpool and this time it should be no different.
April 6, 200915 yr lets just hope we dont have to rely on an og in the dieing minutes this time it will be great to come away with a good win
April 6, 200915 yr News is that Drogba is fit to play Fantastic news! Hopefully its the same Didier as last years 2nd leg. Perhaps the Fat Spanish Waiter fancies harping on about some crackpot diving dossier again?
April 6, 200915 yr Great news on Drogba. Perhaps the Fat Spanish Waiter fancies harping on about some crackpot diving dossier again? :lol: I forgot about that, the sliding celebration in front of him, class!
April 7, 200915 yr Goal scoring, just checked the records at: http://www.mychelseafc.com/statistics.htm In the premiership and CL (so ignores soft games) Anelka: 17, Lampard 13, Kalou 6, Malouda 4, Drogs 5, (Belletti and Deco 3 each). Mikel 0; Ballack 0, Terry 3, Alex 1, Bossy 2, riccy 1 My observations. (1) The team is very heavily dependent on Anelka and and Lampard, and Anelka hasn't scored for weeks and weeks. (2) 10 goals from Kalou and Malouda between them is not that bad. Kalou in particular should have had a lot more. (3) The defence has contributed a reasonable share of goals despite nothing from A Cole. (4) We need some goals from Ballack in particular and even Mikel. I'd like to do some more analysis to see who scored in the games against the big teams but there it stands. We can expect Liverpool to try and shut Lampard down, possibly by following Mikel around and trying to stop his early distribution. It would be a good time for Ballack to convert his international form into Chelsea form.
April 7, 200915 yr Goal scoring, just checked the records at:http://www.mychelseafc.com/statistics.htm In the premiership and CL (so ignores soft games) Anelka: 17, Lampard 13, Kalou 6, Malouda 4, Drogs 5, (Belletti and Deco 3 each). Mikel 0; Ballack 0, Terry 3, Alex 1, Bossy 2, riccy 1 My observations. (1) The team is very heavily dependent on Anelka and and Lampard, and Anelka hasn't scored for weeks and weeks. (2) 10 goals from Kalou and Malouda between them is not that bad. Kalou in particular should have had a lot more. (3) The defence has contributed a reasonable share of goals despite nothing from A Cole. (4) We need some goals from Ballack in particular and even Mikel. I'd like to do some more analysis to see who scored in the games against the big teams but there it stands. We can expect Liverpool to try and shut Lampard down, possibly by following Mikel around and trying to stop his early distribution. It would be a good time for Ballack to convert his international form into Chelsea form. Where is Essien in your stats? He has scored 3(or 2) times if I remember correctly. I think he is the Michael we can wait goal contributions from. But you are right though Ballack should score more, well even one against Scum would be allright. The way Mikel is playing there is no chance he will score. He never heads the ball inside the box as he is ready to go back to defend and his shot is just not worth using although it can be heavy. It is somewhat strange Ashley hasn't scored...He has had opportunities. We need Drogba's goals and some world class defending against redhot Scum. There is that possibility they run away with a large victory in their home leg. We have not seen that in these recent games against them but it is very possible...
