2 minutes ago, Huttsey said:

I think we'd be more likely to see Willian at RWB over Pedro. 

Dunno personally, if Conte was going to play Willian as a wingback I think he would have tried it by now, even if it meant bringing him on to play there as a late sub. 

But it's Pedro who he's looked to as someone to fill and at such a late stage in the season I can't see him experimenting with someone new. 

2 minutes ago, ForeverCarefree said:

Dunno personally, if Conte was going to play Willian as a wingback I think he would have tried it by now, even if it meant bringing him on to play there as a late sub. 

But it's Pedro who he's looked to as someone to fill and at such a late stage in the season I can't see him experimenting with someone new. 

Fair point. It could be an interesting experiment though to have Willian at RWB, Pedro as the right midfielder and let them interchange with each other through the match.

It'll either screw Stoke's head or screw our own defenders!

I'm missing so much to see our boys playing.... 

Was so happy to see us winning Man United, unfortunately, can't watch the game vs Stoke as well. I'm sure we will do our job at best!

COME ON CHELS!!!

Is Moses out for this one then?

9 minutes ago, Zeta said:

Is Moses out for this one then?

http://weaintgotnohistory.sbnation.com/2017/3/17/14956260/victor-moses-struggling-with-fitness-doubtful-for-chelseas-stoke-city-trip

It's not confirmed but apparently he has a calf injury. 

15 minutes ago, Zeta said:

Is Moses out for this one then?

 

 

1 hour ago, ForeverCarefree said:

Dunno personally, if Conte was going to play Willian as a wingback I think he would have tried it by now, even if it meant bringing him on to play there as a late sub. 

But it's Pedro who he's looked to as someone to fill and at such a late stage in the season I can't see him experimenting with someone new. 

I think we can guess where Stoke's goal kicks are gonna go...

Have a bad feeling that this will be a similar match to the one we had against Burnley a little while back.

It will be massive if we come away with all three points.

Antonio's pre-match press conference.

 

20 hours ago, Argo said:

Im dreading the thought off Azpi WB and Zouma RCB but it looks like we don't have a choice. Its going to take so much away from our ability to build and play from the back.

Why on earth are you dreading that ? That's how we should play all the time, you don't trust a CB to be a CB and a world class right back to be a wing right back but you trust a RB to be a CB and a winger to be a winged back ? I get the point about building from the back but it's going to be minimal impact what won't be minimal is the ability to defend the back post 

Pedro is nowhere near good enough defensively to play as a WB against Premier League sides. Azpilicueta should move wide if Moses is out, with Zouma or Ake replacing him in the middle.

4 hours ago, DonAntonio said:

Why on earth are you dreading that ? That's how we should play all the time, you don't trust a CB to be a CB and a world class right back to be a wing right back but you trust a RB to be a CB and a winger to be a winged back ? I get the point about building from the back but it's going to be minimal impact what won't be minimal is the ability to defend the back post 

Moses is a better wing back then he was a winger and Azpi is a better RCB than he would be wingback, yes they can be got at in the air but the Alex/Terry partnership was susceptible to pace yet no one wanted either dropped, its a small price to pay considering what both bring to this setup. This post on Talk Chelsea by Peace (the best member ive ever come across on a football forum )  basically sums up my thoughts on the whole situation and explains it better than i ever could.

Quote

Playing Azpilicueta at RWB would be a terrible mistake.

Azpilicueta is a quite good passer of the ball for a ("central") defender yet he would be a very bad passer for a midfielder. Additionally, Zouma is a terrible passer of the ball (whatever his position).

The best thing produced by Conte's shift from a four-men defense to a three-men defense is that it has allowed to play Azpilicueta next to Luiz ; meaning we have, out of three defenders, two who are able to participate to the game construction, and more importantly who are able to start our offensives (or the building up). This has been critical to our success just has it is critical for all the best teams out of there (Barça, Madrid, Juve, Munich, etc.). Leaving out (of the defense) Azpilicueta for Zouma would just undo all the good work Conte has done and we would be back to square one : a defense that has little usefulness when we are in possession of the ball and no, one player (Luiz) out of three is not enough.

Not only this move would worsen our defense but it would also worsen our midfield. Our biggest weakness over the last seasons (especially under Mourinho) has been the lack of ability on the ball displayed by our midfielders. Actually, this is by far our biggest weakness today. Do you imagine a midfield composed of : Alonso - Matic - Kante - Azpilicueta ? Oh my Goodness, it would be a sore to the eyes. Moses is not Iniesta neither I am his biggest fan, but in all seriousness, he is technically better equipped to play in midfield than Azpilicueta is.

We do not need more denfensive quality we do need more offensive quality. If people are so obsessed with Azpilicueta lack of aerial ability, then the solution is in front of him ! Why are opponent players are allowed to take in good crosses ? This is the real problem !

And to be honest, with the players we have at our disposal, this is the best we can produce and there is little room nay none for improvement. The only change of (positive) significance we probably could make would be to Fabregas instead of Matic that is, an offensive change. Otherwise, we will have to wait for the summer transfer window for any major change ; and even then if you bench one of our defender, it has to be Cahill and not Azpilicueta (playing the spaniard as a CB as been the best move that Conte has made so far). To play Zouma in defense while shifting Azpilicueta to midfield would actually be more problematic than going for the ultra defensive approach that Mourinho mark II adopted in his first two seasons, respectively after Stoke and after Tottenham funnily enough, this is once again after a defeat against Tottenham at their ground and on the very same date (two or three days of difference) that people started to advocate for an ultra defensive move.

P.S. On top of that, Azpilicueta is significantly a better defender than Zouma, the latter being better than the former only in the aerial aspect... which is a very meager upside in comparison to the many downsides.

14 hours ago, Huttsey said:

I think we'd be more likely to see Willian at RWB over Pedro. 

Willian is too lazy to play RWB. RWD should be ready to run up and down all the time.

 

3 hours ago, JPH said:

Willian is too lazy to play RWB. RWD should be ready to run up and down all the time.

Interesting. Out of all the criticisms I've read about Willian, lazy has never been one of them.  

Come on Chelsea!

Is hazard out for this now? Seems to be a few whispers. Gutted if he isn't playing. He is fantastic to watch at the moment. 

If hazard is out f**k that Mourinho

Match day.....COME ON YOU BLUES !

The belgium FA are c**ts for leaking the fact that Hazard hasnt travelled to stoke. On the bright side he shd be well rested after the international break. I have faith in willian pedro and costa. Hopefully Batshuayi can ease the pressure off costas legs or he will be next bcoz conte doesnt believe in resting players.

I hate this fixture against Stoke. We can be assured it will be physical bordering on dirty. A bit like Manure earlier in the week.  My worry for a while has been Costa's form. He really isn't on the ball at the moment. He needs to up the ante. This will be a tough match. Stoke took points off of Man City away so I reckon we are in for a real battle. Let's hope we prevail. COME ON YOU BLUES !!!

Edited March 18, 20179 yr by TheBluesBrother

9 hours ago, Argo said:

Moses is a better wing back then he was a winger and Azpi is a better RCB than he would be wingback, yes they can be got at in the air but the Alex/Terry partnership was susceptible to pace yet no one wanted either dropped, its a small price to pay considering what both bring to this setup. This post on Talk Chelsea by Peace (the best member ive ever come across on a football forum )  basically sums up my thoughts on the whole situation and explains it better than i ever could.

Agree on the moses point, better wb that winger,  but I think dave is potentially a better wingback than moses, plenty of energy, better crosser, far better defender just a far higher standard of player, if he can play on his wrong foot for years he can run up and down the wing  and zouma is a better CB than Dave, no question, big powerful , fast, contests in teh air, great tackle, people forget how much of a beast Zouma is, he is getting back to form every week, takes time he had a major injury, even on current form he is a better CB than dave. 

i know it likely won't happen, but it would be great to see musonda in place of hazard. one can wish i guess 

Looks like Mourinho's tactic of hacking down hazard worked after all. I'm really beginning to hate this guy.

Muscle injury in training. Not necessarily because of the rough treatment in the United game. 

Still feeling confident we grab a win though, fabregas has to start now for me as we will need his creativity.

Costa to step up with a brace today 2 nil win.

Edited March 18, 20179 yr by big blue