With Aguero out it appears the football gods are smiling and looking to even out the extra day's rest City got midweek, still we need to focus and get the job done.1 goal in it for me, come on Chelsea.

Same Aguero who tried to break Luiz legs and possibly maim him. Karma bitch.

They are missing some key players: Kompany, Mendy and c***.

But I hope we dont get complacent, aka, FA cup Final.

15 minutes ago, didierforever said:

They are missing some key players: Kompany, Mendy and c***.

But I hope we dont get complacent, aka, FA cup Final.

It’s still a formidable attacking line up with Sane, Sterling, Jesus, Silva and Debruyne. Aguero being injured really doesn’t change much.

I think this changes a lot, how can it not, this guy has scored 7 goals this season. That's like taking Morata out our team, it would obviously weaken it. Of course City still have dangerous players, but Aguerro out weakens them a lot.

 

Seriously looking at their defence we should have our chances. The midfield battle will be key in this match. I would take Kante and Bakayoko pairing over Silva and Fernandinho all day, but they both put in one hell of a shift against Atletico, so I just hope their energy levels are good enough to last the 90 mins.

33 minutes ago, Drogbaholic said:

It’s still a formidable attacking line up with Sane, Sterling, Jesus, Silva and Debruyne. Aguero being injured really doesn’t change much.

Formidable - YES

Does not change much - Not true. c*** has a knack of scoring against us. GC would not have slept for nights knowing he might have to play c*** again. While Jesus is a more than capable replacement, Kun is still world class and one of the best and complete strikers in the world. 

Looking at BM they are anticipating their toughest fixture this season and just want it out the way and would mostly settle for a draw.

If their players come to SB with that same approach we should win.

Wishful thinking not to expect some needed rotation, so, besides Luiz/Christiensen, it's a question of who. 

I think we'll need a midfield three to limit City's threat. Expecting Fabregas to be the CM most likely to start on the bench. Any chance Willian comes in for him? Playing as a 10 behind the front two? Something like:

Tibo

Azpi, Christi, Rudi

Zappa, Kante, Baka, Alonso

Willy

Morata, Hazard

Willian pressing Fernandinho and carrying the ball forward on the counter.

 

Edited September 29, 20178 yr by EidurGoodJobSon

27 minutes ago, EidurGoodJobSon said:

Wishful thinking not to expect some needed rotation, so, besides Luiz/Christiensen, it's a question of who. 

I think we'll need a midfield three to limit City's threat. Expecting Fabregas to be the CM most likely to start on the bench. Any chance Willian comes in for him? Playing as a 10 behind the front two? Something like:

Tibo

Azpi, Christi, Rudi

Zappa, Kante, Baka, Alonso

Willy

Morata, Hazard

Willian pressing Fernandinho and carrying the ball forward on the counter.

 

That could work Willian has good work rate and pace.

and he could be used to play just ahead of Baka and Kante 

the key is to load the midfield area to help break up play.

 

Looking at this new formation I have to say I like it but it could be better filled with personnel, we have 2 forward, fab isn't a forward and our wingbacks are our weakest players, for me VM did very little against atletico, he just doesn't offer enough, he isn't the quality to grow with this Chelsea team, if we are going to have Willian and Pedro on the bench with this formation rotating for one spot (fabs) why can't we convert Willian into a rwb? He has the pace and the engine, he is a far better footballer than Victor, seems like a possible way to get a bit more quality on the pitch, or alternatively get Dave at rwb, because that team in that formation could beat anyone with two top class wingbacks, there isn't another weakness in that team (maybe GC for Rudiger) and I think we would match anyone. For me if we ever get Sandro and move dave to rwb, I think that is one of the top teams in Europe. 

Edited September 29, 20178 yr by DonAntonio

Are City getting a cab to the game tomorrow?

I find it confusing that people are so worried about stopping City and suggesting we leave Cesc out of the lineup. They're defense is quite sh*t and you think we shouldn't find every way to exploit it? Pretty sure Kante and Bakayoko can handle Silva and De Bruyne. 

Be interesting to see how Conte addresses this game. Will he go more defensive and play on the counter, or look to take the game to City like we did with Atletico.

I reckon we will win this one. We are on a high after the mid week result, and they just had a couple of major injuries, believe Aguero is out in addition to Mendy. It's never easy to replace the starting wing back in 352, as we have witnessed last season when we lost Moses or Alonso on a few occasions. They have been awesome in the last 5-6 games, but they haven't been tested by tough oppositions. We are the team to surprise them and put them under the sort of pressure they haven't experienced in a couple of months.

26 minutes ago, Zeta said:

Be interesting to see how Conte addresses this game. Will he go more defensive and play on the counter, or look to take the game to City like we did with Atletico.

I don't think Conte was looking to take the game to Atletico as such, and it was mostly down to Hazard being back on tip top form and fit. I think you can expect us to look a lot more like that on Wednesday. If we can just take the points in this one the sky is the limit with this team.

2 hours ago, EidurGoodJobSon said:

Wishful thinking not to expect some needed rotation, so, besides Luiz/Christiensen, it's a question of who. 

I think we'll need a midfield three to limit City's threat. Expecting Fabregas to be the CM most likely to start on the bench. Any chance Willian comes in for him? Playing as a 10 behind the front two? Something like:

Tibo

Azpi, Christi, Rudi

Zappa, Kante, Baka, Alonso

Willy

Morata, Hazard

Willian pressing Fernandinho and carrying the ball forward on the counter.

 

That's the exact team I had in mind, rotating in places that don't weaken us and I think Willy sitting a little deeper and using his pace breaking could really damage them.

By the way, Guardiola at Stamford Bridge it's 4 games, for only 1 draw, and 3 defeat (2 with City, 1 with Barcelona), so i'm confident for tomorrow

4 hours ago, DonAntonio said:

Are you mistaking Davide  zappacosta with Frank Zappa ? One is a football player one a musician 

I'm going to refer to him as Frank, just shorter and easier to type. It Zappacosta sounds like Zappa enough, plus we already have a Dave!

7 hours ago, didierforever said:

Btw, what was aguero doing in holland 48 hours before the start of the game?

Reports said he went to a concert.

1 hour ago, Cyborg7 said:

By the way, Guardiola at Stamford Bridge it's 4 games, for only 1 draw, and 3 defeat (2 with City, 1 with Barcelona), so i'm confident for tomorrow

Conte's record against Guardiola - 2 games 2 wins

2 hours ago, Barrettinator said:

I find it confusing that people are so worried about stopping City and suggesting we leave Cesc out of the lineup. They're defense is quite sh*t and you think we shouldn't find every way to exploit it? Pretty sure Kante and Bakayoko can handle Silva and De Bruyne. 

Because they by far have the most superior attack in the league.

We failed to outplay Arsenal at Stamford Bridge and they're half the side City are. If we try to outplay City we only give them a decent chance of winning the game, if we play it smart we'll win. You can't let the likes of KDB & Silva have space, Fabregas is lethargic I would never trust him in a two-man midfield again against a top side. 

4 hours ago, Drogbaholic said:

It’s still a formidable attacking line up with Sane, Sterling, Jesus, Silva and Debruyne. Aguero being injured really doesn’t change much.

 

You forgot the other Silva as well.

 

Aguero is a top striker, we all know that, but I'm not convinced City were going to play two up top tomorrow, and Guardiola prefers Jesus, so while I'm glad he's out it may not have any bearing on their line-up.

 

Very hard to stop them scoring, Sane, KDB, Jesus etc all on top form. The extra day's rest is a massive advantage, plus the fact they were at home midweek while we had to travel back from Spain.

 

This is a massive, massive test for us.

352 should be enough to go at them. They'd probably overload the midfield too. I hope our players have enough gas in the tank and then hopefully not chosen for their international games.

Our team could use the 2 week+ rest 

Hoping for the same starting 11 but Andreas and Rudi instead of Cahill and Luiz. I'd expect Moses to be subbed for Zappacosta if we score early. 

---

Can't believe we're playing on a Saturday after an away leg, we have a lack of depth but in this circumstance, it's an FA/TV mishap. At least put it on Sunday because it's the last game before the break or Monday.

How can Liverpool be the only CL team to have a Sunday game but the rest of the English CL teams have to play on Saturday? 

 

4 minutes ago, Davey Baby said:

 

You forgot the other Silva as well.

 

Aguero is a top striker, we all know that, but I'm not convinced City were going to play two up top tomorrow, and Guardiola prefers Jesus, so while I'm glad he's out it may not have any bearing on their line-up.

 

Very hard to stop them scoring, Sane, KDB, Jesus etc all on top form. The extra day's rest is a massive advantage, plus the fact they were at home midweek while we had to travel back from Spain.

 

This is a massive, massive test for us.

I don't think we are too disadvantaged by playing a day late, maybe if we had any small injuries with little time to recover that would be detrimental to our chances. And the 1:45 hr flight from Madrid on the same timeline is nothing to these globe trotters. If we lose we won't be able to use that as an excuse imo. It will probably take them longer to get from the Etihad to SB, that must be 3 hours door to door.

1 hour ago, TheChelseaBlues said:

I'm going to refer to him as Frank, just shorter and easier to type. It Zappacosta sounds like Zappa enough, plus we already have a Dave!

Not sure that will catch on