so this is 12 kick off? as it says at 11.30

I'm glad it is home. WBA's been pretty solid so this is a game we need to be prepared for. Perfect time to slip up after two massive games.....

It would be nice if we can have a strong start to the game, last 2 games the opponents definitely got the better off us in the first half. The way they will be playing, stay deep compact and long balls on the counter, the longer they hang in there the more dangerous it is for us. An early goal or 2 will definitely ruin their game plan.

Pick the same 11 if we could, this is not the time to make changes, that time will come during the Christmas period.

Edited December 6, 20169 yr by icecoolguy22

Early goal vital here. They will have a negative set up so we must break it down. I'm going 2-0. Hazard and costa

8 hours ago, STATS said:

Instead of who? Fabregas? How does that make any sense. Fabregas will get much more time on the ball this match and Kante will cover for any defensive mistakes he makes. I don't see no sense in playing Chalobah and Kante. WBA are going to be much more defensive. That is where we need Fabregas.

It makes sense because we could have been 4/5-0 down by the time cesc played his assist pass to costa. 

We are building a squad here and cesc in a 2 man mid is nothing short of a disaster waiting to happen.

For 60 minutes we had no balance, no defensive nuance and looked like we could concede any second.

Nat is a more apt replacement for Matic in a system where the creativity is provided by 3 attackers of the quality of hazard, costa and pedro/willian rather than sacrificing the team balance by playing cesc in the mid.

20 hours ago, Jezz said:

Anyone know what the current situation is with Costa's minor injury on the weekend?

seems like he's a-okay, think he just gassed out last week

14 hours ago, Richard P said:

something for the younger viewers who hopefully won't see a repeat!!!

That was a very good WBA team, seen them play Ipswich that season, two of the best teams in the league at that time.

We need to stop with this Fabregas revision. Yes he had a nice asssist but people are forgetting his game against Arsenal, not to mention he wasn't really that good in the city game as he went missing for large parts of the game. West Brom are no City and with our attacking talent we should win easily but we also need the defensive solidity that Chalobah and Kante will bring. 

Edited December 7, 20169 yr by Ivanov87

6 minutes ago, Ivanov87 said:

We need to stop with this Fabregas revision. Yes he had a nice asssist but people are forgetting his game against Arsenal, not to mention he wasn't really that good in the city game as he went missing for large parts of the game. West Brom are no City and with our attacking talent we should win easily but we also need the defensive solidity that Chalobah and Kante will bring. 

That's also revisionism of Fabregas contribution to the team. 

Yes he was poor against Arsenal but who wasn't? 

Cesc has been one of our best players since he signed but suddenly he's viewed by some as a liability? 

Why we need defensive solidarity when playing at home to WBA is lost on me, especially when there are 5/6 players in the team already whose main strength is defending. 

1 hour ago, ForeverCarefree said:

Cesc has been one of our best players since he signed but suddenly he's viewed by some as a liability?

 

Not getting at you FC but didn't you say this last month ..

 

"Fabregas doesn't have the legs or defensive skills to play in the 3-4-3 which is why he's not getting game time."

 

Think it's going to be an interesting decision by Conte if Matic is fit, I can see both sides of the argument. It is West Brom at home but Pulis is no mug and it's a potential banana skin, plus you know West Brom are going to be very physical. Last time round Fabregas started against Leicester away in the LC, impressed, everybody wanted him in against Arsenal and we all know what happened, though I take your point he wasn't the only flop that day and Arsenal away is different to West Brom.

 

The other interesting decision is going to be Willian or Pedro.

 

Decisions decisions ..

There should be no debate. If Matic is fit, he starts. 

41 minutes ago, Davey Baby said:

Not getting at you FC but didn't you say this last month ..

Then again I did also say this:

So clearly I don't know what I want. 

 

 

Edit: BTW that's a very cool feature how you can embed a link to previous quotes on the forum. First time I've seen and used it. 

Edited December 7, 20169 yr by ForeverCarefree
Because I'm an attention whore.

Why is this on poxy BT sport? I despise that bloody channel

14 hours ago, Itsintheblood89 said:

Early goal vital here. They will have a negative set up so we must break it down. I'm going 2-0. Hazard and costa

WBA were solid vs Watford. Can't be complacent.

15 hours ago, didierforever said:

It makes sense because we could have been 4/5-0 down by the time cesc played his assist pass to costa. 

We are building a squad here and cesc in a 2 man mid is nothing short of a disaster waiting to happen.

For 60 minutes we had no balance, no defensive nuance and looked like we could concede any second.

Nat is a more apt replacement for Matic in a system where the creativity is provided by 3 attackers of the quality of hazard, costa and pedro/willian rather than sacrificing the team balance by playing cesc in the mid.

You keep blaming it all solely on Fabregas. Do you know how many times Kante lost possession sloppily against not only City but Tottenham? He was needlessly giving the ball away to the opposition. Not only Fabregas. In the end of the day Fabregas was a key reason we got the victory. He made a couple brilliant passes that game. And let me reiterate again, the quality of the opposition is different. Fabregas will shine in these games. WBA will be sh*tting themselves every time he gets on the ball. I would keep the same team. I don't like the idea of Kante and Chalobah. And although I enjoy discussing debates like this, the reality of Kante and Chalobah being a pairing on Saturday is a fat zero.

7 hours ago, RMCM said:

Why is this on poxy BT sport? I despise that bloody channel

Me too. They just try and copy BBC and Sky but fail to actually make it good. They have pundits and presents who used to be or are still on the BBC. It makes you wonder if they have some sort of agreement with BBC going on. Their Champions League and Europa League coverage is terrible compared to what Sky's used to be. I actually preferred ITV's Champions League and Europa league coverage over BT, and that's saying something because ITV are sh*t with their football. They are trying to copy Sky's Soccer Saturday and BBC's Final Score now too. They have a lot of money, but they do come across very amateurish.

1 hour ago, Scott Harris said:

Me too. They just try and copy BBC and Sky but fail to actually make it good. They have pundits and presents who used to be or are still on the BBC. It makes you wonder if they have some sort of agreement with BBC going on. Their Champions League and Europa League coverage is terrible compared to what Sky's used to be. I actually preferred ITV's Champions League and Europa league coverage over BT, and that's saying something because ITV are sh*t with their football. They are trying to copy Sky's Soccer Saturday and BBC's Final Score now too. They have a lot of money, but they do come across very amateurish.

Agreed on the BT point, but every station has its fair share of awful presenters.

Seems every time I watch a match on TV I have to endure Jamie Redknapp, Michael Owen or Robbie Savage spout nonsense in broken English. 

I honestly feel sorry for the genuine football reporters and pundits having to watch these idiots (and plenty others to add) repeatedly get air time.

Edit - and another one Sky and BT are guilty of... showing replays/manager reactions while play is going on. Is it going to have to be a major missed goal or something for this to stop? 

Edited December 7, 20169 yr by spadefx

I hate BT purely because I  can get Sky on my Now box whereas I have to go on dodgy streams for BT.  Pah!

You're acting as if Chalobah hasn't got an absolutely wicked pass on him...

7 hours ago, STATS said:

You keep blaming it all solely on Fabregas. Do you know how many times Kante lost possession sloppily against not only City but Tottenham? He was needlessly giving the ball away to the opposition. Not only Fabregas. In the end of the day Fabregas was a key reason we got the victory. He made a couple brilliant passes that game. And let me reiterate again, the quality of the opposition is different. Fabregas will shine in these games. WBA will be sh*tting themselves every time he gets on the ball. I would keep the same team. I don't like the idea of Kante and Chalobah. And although I enjoy discussing debates like this, the reality of Kante and Chalobah being a pairing on Saturday is a fat zero.

"Losing" the ball and "defensive stability" are 2 very different things. Against spurs, despite being under their Kosh, we were quite comfortable and they needed a gem of a shot to score.

Against city we were getting SLICED time and again. 

Cesc would have been the main reason we would have lost 4/5-0. Because for 60minutes he was a passenger who simply let the game pass him for the majority of the game.

WBA will be sh*tting themselves irrespective of if we play CESC attackingly or not. Because they have Hazard, Costa and pedro/willian to deal with. But they would sure be rubbing their hands with joy when they see Cesc in the midfield as they would see a MASSIVE chink in our defensive armour.

Also, how is Kante and Nate any different than Kante and Matic. If anything Kante-Nat is much more a partnership in the mould of kante-matic than kante-cesc would be. And despite playing Matic-Kante midfield pairing, we have been able to score 19 goals in 7 games without looking defensively INAPT. And thats the main difference.

What a win at Manchester City! Here's the crystal ball predictions. If they weren't harmless, I'm sure I'd have been asked to leave on numerous occasions by now:
 
Chelsea (3-4-3): Begovi?; Zouma, Chalobah, Moses; Azpilicueta, Kanté, Oscar, Alonso; Batshuayi, Willian, Hazard Subs: Eduardo, Aina, Cahill, Fábregas, van Ginkel, Pedro, Solanke   Prediction: Chelsea 1-2 West Bromwich Albion (Willian)   Yep, it's like I've just copied and pasted the names onto the thread in random order. I don't think I'll put too much analysis into this. I'll just show myself to the door...(go, Blues).

I forgot about Eduardo!

That's also revisionism of Fabregas contribution to the team. 
Yes he was poor against Arsenal but who wasn't? 
Cesc has been one of our best players since he signed but suddenly he's viewed by some as a liability? 
Why we need defensive solidarity when playing at home to WBA is lost on me, especially when there are 5/6 players in the team already whose main strength is defending. 

You know sometimes we like to invite pressure on ourselves

i really don't think there is going to be much of a difference if either of [Cesc/Matic/Chalobah] , [Willian/Pedro] start.  I still expect whoever is on the team in these positions to deliver whatever is necessary for the team to get 3 points.  I am unusually and justifiably very optimistic these days!  The team has given me this confidence and I think we should comfortably get 3 points on Sunday!

Buzzing here for this show!  4-0 i maintain!!!!

Edited December 8, 20169 yr by dhidza
spelling update

some of you talks as if we definitely wouldn't get dominated if Matic played against City
it's City we are talking about

Edited December 8, 20169 yr by magichat

1 hour ago, wallosh said:

I forgot about Eduardo!

Think he'll ever get any minutes? It's like having Hilario (who I love) back at the club