Spuds Vs Chelsea (PL) Sun 20 Aug 2017 KO 16:00 GMT

Hopefully Pedro will be available by next week. I don't know how far off Bakayoko is and if there's a chance he might be rushed back, but I'd expect something like:

 

Courtois

Rudiger
Christensen
Azpilicueta

Alonso
Kante
Luiz
Moses

Pedro
Morata
Willian

Feel Willian will sit a bit more deep and play as a CAM while Morata and Pedro will be strikers

Oh God, Luiz in midfield and I'm not sure if we can actually come up with 7 subistutes. 

f**king stupid selling Matic with no replacement. Now with Fab suspended and Bakayoko still out, we'll probably play Luiz alongside Kante. Our defence is f**ked, unless we buy a couple during the week.

 

Going for an optimistic 1-1, but I can see us losing this.

7 minutes ago, dynamite said:

f**king stupid selling Matic with no replacement. Now with Fab suspended and Bakayoko still out, we'll probably play Luiz alongside Kante. Our defence is f**ked, unless we buy a couple during the week.

 

Going for an optimistic 1-1, but I can see us losing this.

I wonder if Conte told the ref to give Fab the yellow for his (extremely petty) dissent just to slap the board in the face for selling Matic.

Courtois

Azpilicueta, Christensen, Rudiger

Alonso, Moses

Kante, Luiz

Pedro, Morata, Willian.

Bench: Cabellero, Tomori, Scott, Boga, Musonda, Batshuayi, Remy.

And this is IF Pedro is back, which is definitely not guaranteed. If Pedro is out, then Boga or Musonda comes in and some other kid is on the bench.

My goodness, i have never seen anything like this. Does this board understand the situation we are in right now ? Plans should have been made since the F.A cup final defeat. It's like they have ignored it completely, the same goes with the Hazard injury and the tough Premier League fixtures we have to start with. It's like they haven't assessed things at all. It's like they have just sold players with the assumption that things will be fine. It's madness. 

6 minutes ago, TrueBlueSeaFC87 said:

I wonder if Conte told the ref to give Fab the yellow for his (extremely petty) dissent just to slap the board in the face for selling Matic.

Yes, we need a holding midfielder brought in this week and 1-2 defenders. Of course it doesn't help that 2 key players for us in Hazard and Bakayoko are out (when are they expected to be playing again?), which is why the board should've acted weeks ago.

 

You can bet they'll be words on Monday between Conte and the board.

Just now, Scott Harris said:

Courtois

Azpilicueta, Christensen, Rudiger

Alonso, Moses

Kante, Luiz

Pedro, Morata, Willian.

Bench: Cabellero, Tomori, Scott, Boga, Musonda, Batshuayi, Remy.

And this is IF Pedro is back, which is definitely not guaranteed. If Pedro is out, then Boga or Musonda comes in and some other kid is on the bench.

My goodness, i have never seen anything like this. Does this board understand the situation we are in right now ? Plans should have been made since the F.A cup final defeat. It's like they have ignored it completely, the same goes with the Hazard injury and the tough Premier League fixtures we have to start with. It's like they haven't assessed things at all. It's like they have just sold players with the assumption that things will be fine. It's madness. 

That bench is frightening, absolutely no depth at all in this squad.

Cahill and Fabregas both out, Pedro's availability is dodgy (to the best of my knowledge). If he is still out, this is the team I could see us lining up with

Courtois

Rudiger Christensen Azpi

Moses Luiz Kanté Alonso

Willian Morata Boga

The Bench: Caballero, Tomori, Kennedy, Scott, Michy, Musonda, Remy/youth player

That's absolutely frightening. There is absolutely no depth in this squad, for a team fighting for FOUR different titles, that is shambolic. In all honesty, I would be relieved to come out of this one with a point, and I would be very surprised if we win this one.

 

Off topic now, but at the start of the season, I wanted a run deep into the CL, winning either the League Cup or FA Cup, and a title challenge. If we still have this squad beyond the transfer deadline, I would be happy with a top four finish, and even then, we would be looking over our shoulders

Squad looks so think right now. I don't think holding on to RLC and Chalobah would have helped much either. If we are going to challenge on all fronts we need a couple of seasoned pros to bolster what we've got. 

Oh only if we signed Drinkwater a few weeks ago.

Hard to anticipate the unjury/suspension situation but Chalo would slide right into our first team and play a significant role for the next couple of weeks if he stuck around

Edited August 12, 20178 yr by TheChelseaBlues

The best we can do is hope no more players get themselves sent off. The game is a write off at this point with so many first team players out.

I am predicting an easy 3-0 win for Spurs. We won't have a chance to get on top 4 until we sign atleast 3 players and a word class wingback.

Edited August 12, 20178 yr by TheAwesomeGem

I dont understand the dislike for Luiz in DM position.

- He has played there before.

- We have more defenders than midfielders available.

- Luiz is capable of going forward and attacking.

What are the negatives ? 

12 minutes ago, brownindian said:

I dont understand the dislike for Luiz in DM position.

- He has played there before.

- We have more defenders than midfielders available.

- Luiz is capable of going forward and attacking.

What are the negatives ? 

He has a tendency to do too much and that may lead to a loss of concentration.

 

Not optimistic for the win but I hope we can. 

I think Luiz should play his position in defence.  We have Boga and Baker - play either of those in Mid with Kante.  No need to shift Luiz here.  Pedro should be abck and we should have him, Morata and Willian up front.  Whoever partners Kante should be told to sit and be disciplined.  In all honesty I think Cesc would struggle as well against the pace of Spurs in mid field so perhaps its a blessing in disguise to have someone like Boga there who is also pacey and physical to battle it out in the mid.  

I was happy with Morata, he's not yet fully fit but at least there was that glimpse of what to expect from him.  God i cant wait to have Eden, Bakayoko back.  I think Morata will shine!!

Courtuois

Azpi-Rudiger-Christensen- Alonso

Kante - Luiz

Willian - Boga - Musonda

 Moratta

What do u folks think ?  Also, Is Pedro really back for next week ? 

Edited August 12, 20178 yr by brownindian

3 minutes ago, Deino said:

He has a tendency to do too much and that may lead to a loss of concentration.

 

Not optimistic for the win but I hope we can. 

I agree about his tendency, But i am less worried when he does it in the DM position than in the Defender position.

2 minutes ago, brownindian said:

I agree about his tendency, But i am less worried when he does it in the DM position than in the Defender position.

It's slightly different in that when he does it at CB, there aren't a lot of opposition surrounding him, usually there's only 1 striker/player and if the player gets past him, he can always try to take the ball away from the player or get a tackle in to make the opponent lose the ball because Courtois can claim the ball or punt it long.

If he loses the ball in midfield, there are plenty of ways the opposition can hurt us 

7 minutes ago, brownindian said:

Courtuois

Azpi-Rudiger-Christensen- Alonso

Kante - Luiz

Willian - Boga - Musonda

 Moratta

What do u folks think ?  Also, Is Pedro really back for next week ? 

If you want to play with these player. I suggest to switch Musonda and Boga from position as Charly used to play on that position before he joined Chelsea als for the youth national Teams.

Boga I believe plays also more natural on the outside. 

2 minutes ago, Deino said:

It's slightly different in that when he does it at CB, there aren't a lot of opposition surrounding him, usually there's only 1 striker/player and if the player gets past him, he can always try to take the ball away from the player or get a tackle in to make the opponent lose the ball because Courtois can claim the ball or punt it long.

If he loses the ball in midfield, there are plenty of ways the opposition can hurt us 

as long as we have a defender between the goalkeeper and the opposition we are in relatively better shape. If the defender is Luiz and he is not there .... ? 

30 minutes ago, dhidza said:

I think Luiz should play his position in defence.  We have Boga and Baker - play either of those in Mid with Kante.  No need to shift Luiz here.  Pedro should be abck and we should have him, Morata and Willian up front.  Whoever partners Kante should be told to sit and be disciplined.  In all honesty I think Cesc would struggle as well against the pace of Spurs in mid field so perhaps its a blessing in disguise to have someone like Boga there who is also pacey and physical to battle it out in the mid.  

I was happy with Morata, he's not yet fully fit but at least there was that glimpse of what to expect from him.  God i cant wait to have Eden, Bakayoko back.  I think Morata will shine!!

I wouldn't be surprised if Baker is gone by this time next week and no way could we play Boga alongside Kante, Tottenham will destroy us. 2 small players up against Wanyama and Dembele ? that is crazy. Luiz will have to play in midfield, just to give us a physical presence in there.

https://www.chelseafc.com/news/latest-news/2017/08/new-contract-and-loan-for-baker.html

Baker's gone already, he's at Boro.