Please give CHO and Ampadu a start. 

                                       Caballero

                     Zappa   Cahill  Christensen   Emerson

                                         Fabregas

                                 RLC             Barkley

                  Pedro             Morata          CHO                Should get the job done.

Bulka

 

Zappa

Cahill

Ampadu 

Emerson

 

Cesc

RLC

Barkley

 

Morata

Giroud 

CHO

 

Yup morata as a wide forward. Him and giroud need goals badly.

And yes I dont expect sarri to use this team.

Should really be winning this with a B-team. 

I do think ampadu deserves a run. He looks as good as Christensen in what I’ve seen. 

 

CHO could also get a run. We need more competition for the front three. 

I think we'll still a pretty strong starting XI for this one. Sarri wants to get the group won as early as possible, rotate too heavily and what on paper should be a routine win turns into a potential banana skin. 

I'd expect to see something along the lines of:

Kepa

Zappacosta - Christensen - Luiz - Emerson

Kante - Fabregas - Barkley

Moses - Morata - Willian

We have Southampton away after this, so isn't like we are playing a tough fixture on Sunday. 

I'd be more worried about Southampton than Videoton, even if they are underperforming. 

Also they changed their name to MOL Vidi for sponsorship reasons. I'd be pretty pissed off if (say) Chelsea was renamed Mobil Chels so I have some sympathy with any fans angry at the name change. 

Videoton are 8 points from top in the Hungarian league and have to travel over 1000 miles to get to London. This is exactly the type of game to be playing a fully rested starting 11.

Willy

Zappacosta  Christensen  Cahill  Emerson

Cesc

Kante      RLC

Moses     Morata     CHO

 

We can't afford to lose players that will be starting at the weekend, however i can't see another player other than Kovacic that can fill that high energy Kante role. Kante is also super human and can manage two weeks a game. Hoping RLC is back from injury and can make a mark. I also imagine Willian will start left wing, hence why he was hooked against Liverpool, but i'd rather see CHO for obvious reasons.

If CHO and Ampadu don't start this one, I can't see them getting any minutes this season.

I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if CHO and Ampadu weren’t given a single minute, we know the story by now. 

10 hours ago, enigma said:

We have Southampton away after this, so isn't like we are playing a tough fixture on Sunday. 

Never say that about a Premier League game.

3 hours ago, Scott Harris said:

Never say that about a Premier League game.

I’ll second that there is no easy game in the league

9 hours ago, Floyd25 said:

I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if CHO and Ampadu weren’t given a single minute, we know the story by now. 

Whats the story ?

Hopefully, a full rested team should be expected. Need to win away at soton. Plus, we should beat videoton easily with our youth!

Edited October 2, 20187 yr by Londonisblue

I hope we rotate a few players here,

caballero 

zappa Cahill christensen Emerson 

RLC Fabregas Barkley 

Moses morata willian 

Interesting sidenotes about some of Videoton's players - these players were known to me previously and some here might recognise them:

Roland Juhasz: Formerely played for Anderlecht - nearing the end of his career - stereotypically strong, slow, aerially-accomplished CB at this stage of his career. @Krc-fan might have seen him play for Anderlecht?

Szabolcs Huszti: Played in the Bundesliga and for Zenit - also nearing the end of his career - has reconverted from a winger to a CM/AM playmaker presumably because of his loss of pace - had good passing, good free kicks and good technique in his prime, traits you don't expect to lose as you grow older (see Pirlo for proof). No idea if he'll play. 

Georgi Milanov: Played for CSKA Moscow - Attacking midfielder who is just OK at everything.

Stefan Scepovic: Not quite good enough to play in La Liga, but too good for the Segunda Division. He also played for Celtic. @erskblue I know you follow Rangers but do you recall him ever playing?

Going by how slow Juhasz must be these days (not to mention flying to Stamford Bridge), I would expect a deep bus-parking operation, which encourages us to start Giroud. We can sub Morata in to take advantage of tired legs.

The rest of the lineup is a mystery. I'd go with something like this:

Caballero

Zappacosta - Christensen - Cahill - Emerson

Kante - Fabregas - Barkley

Moses/Pedro - Giroud - CHO

Caballero's distributional skills were better than I expected against Liverpool. They're not as good as Kepa's, but I don't expect pacy attackers (which Videoton lack) to put him under any real pressure either. 

The back four should do fine against an opposition that doesn't appear to be particularly pacey. 

I have no problem with the middle 3. One or more may have to be subbed though.

I am doubtful about Pedro's fitness and we shouldn't need him, but he may get in 20 minutes if the game looks tight. 

I have decided to give CHO a start - if he's electric, he gets most of the game, but otherwise sub him off in the 2nd half for Willian, who does well against tired, slow legs. 

Ampadu is a curious case. He has the ball-playing ability to replace Christensen at the base of the defence but he could also replace Fabregas as a deep-lying playmaker, having done so against Wales.

I expect Sarri to play a very different lineup given his desire to win the group ASAP but anyway...in Sarri we trust! 

Gaffer's pre-match press conference

 

6 hours ago, DaRick said:

Interesting sidenotes about some of Videoton's players - these players were known to me previously and some here might recognise them:

Roland Juhasz: Formerely played for Anderlecht - nearing the end of his career - stereotypically strong, slow, aerially-accomplished CB at this stage of his career. @Krc-fan might have seen him play for Anderlecht?

 

Yep. I have, DaRick. Almost 8 years. He signed Anderlecht on 2005 as Vincent Kompany backup. He made his debut for the club against Chelsea in the Champions League on 19 September 2005. He did well.

Game Day.

Come on Chelsea !

Can't sort of get excited for these games, in fact zzzzzzzzz. Unless of coarse Sarri does something wildly different like ?

  This lineup is good enough to win:                                                                                                                                                                                    

                                                                                                                                                                                      Willy

Zappacosta  Christensen  Cahill  Emerson

Cesc

Barkley        RLC

Moses     Giroud      CHO

1 hour ago, Kev56 said:

Can't sort of get excited for these games, in fact zzzzzzzzz. Unless of coarse Sarri does something wildly different like ?

You can't get excited for a Chelsea game!? 

It had to be before another away game in PL, didn't it? 

Hope this time Sarri has learnt his lesson and he doesn't go with Alonso, Willian and the other players with very questionable physical stats. And then again in the week-end. Azpilicueta also needs desperately a game off. 

I always watch Chelsea with desire. Even for the pre-season games at 4 pm in my time zone, I'm always up and excited to see the team. the most common desease among football fans right now is oversaturation. too many games, tournaments and opportunities. But when it comes down to your club, don't try to sell me that bollocks. Sounds like the dippers last week and their excuses about the value of Carling cup. Just cut it, it's ridiculous. 

Edited October 4, 20187 yr by Giordano_Bruno