Wow, Morata not even on the bench. Serves him right. 

No recognized striker in City's lineup either.

3 minutes ago, Jezq8 said:

Was hoping to see Emerson instead of Alonso who has been pretty dreadful recently 

You still might. At least he made the bench this time. Short leash for Alonso. 

False No9? That doesn't work.

RLC dropped

same defence

meh

False 9 and Emerson suddenly in the group after being left out whole season, except for the cups. In case of emergency if Alonso (and he will) struggle too much.

12 minutes ago, Amputechture said:

No recognized striker in City's lineup either.

Trouble is City score goals from all over the park. Disappointed neither RLC or Barkley start and Alonso still starting but let's hope we're well up for it today and give 'em a game.

COME ON THE CHELS!

Genuinely can't watch. Not very hopeful.

The front 3 makes sense, Giroud and Morata have offered next to nothing for weeks (arguably longer), but it's the lack of physicality that concerns me.

No height anywhere outside of the back four, and while Kante & Kovacic are tenacious, they aren't all that imposing. We'll struggle to retain much in the air, but then that's usually the case with Morata anyway.

It's a strong team with the ball on the ground, passing and movement should be good, and we're well set up to counter. Hope the selection pays off, hasn't worked often with the false 9, quietly optimistic.

Looks like sarri has finally lost patience with the strikers. I'm guessing alonso is on his last chance aswell given Sarri's comments yesterday.

It's a pity RLC didn't get the nod. 

I'm pretty happy with the false 9, I think it has worked pretty well at times under conte. We just need to keep the ball on the deck, and let the front 3 play close to each other. 

COME ON CHELSEA !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, at least he's trying something different.

No idea why Emerson isn't starting. Alonso has been terrible as of late. 

2 minutes ago, spadefx said:

The front 3 makes sense, Giroud and Morata have offered next to nothing for weeks (arguably longer), but it's the lack of physicality that concerns me.

No height anywhere outside of the back four, and while Kante & Kovacic are tenacious, they aren't all that imposing. We'll struggle to retain much in the air, but then that's usually the case with Morata anyway.

It's a strong team with the ball on the ground, passing and movement should be good, and we're well set up to counter. Hope the selection pays off, hasn't worked often with the false 9, quietly optimistic.

I am too quietly optimistic, would like to see Pedro as the false 9, finishes with both feet and has good movement.

This false nine will only work if we play our game, trying to keep the ball as opposed to what we did last year when we hoofed it 60 yards to Hazard and hoped for the best. Having Kovacic and Kante in the midfield gives us better protection and today's front three probably has more goals in it than if one of our strikers started so hopefully things won't be too bad... 

Disappointed not to see RLC or Ross, and v disappointed to see Alonso still there. I think disappointment is going to be the general theme today!

by the way, very good piece by Jamie Carragher on Morata in today’s Telegraph which is worth reading ... I’d post it here if I knew how to do that!

On the Emerson/Alonso debate, the rotation should've happened sooner, but from the start today wasn't the right call.

If Emerson had started, and flopped, he'd be slaughtered and we'd be dealing with two out of form/low confidence left backs. He'll be eased in for sure, as pointed out above he's been picked ahead of Zappa on the bench for the first league game in a long time. This could well be (an overdue) last start for Alonso for a while if he underperforms again.

Well, at least he's trying something different.
No idea why Emerson isn't starting. Alonso has been terrible as of late. 

Alonso has been below par but he is a better player than Emerson imho.

P.S. assuming humble opinions are allowed in here!

Hate the false 9, especially if it's Hazard playing through the middle, it takes away 50% of his game and makes us as a team much weaker. If it's Pedro playing through the middle, I would be much happier.

 

Come on Chelsea, let's get a win today.

Our warm up kit is the worst ever..

Unless Alonso stays back all game he will be exposed yet again. Good on him on Morata....enough is enough. A win would do us a World of good.....fight for the badge and hound them out the SB.

3 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

Hate the false? 9, especially if it's Hazard playing through the m?iddle?,?

I do too, but hopefully it won’t be quite as toothless as it was before when we ran a back 5. There should be at least one extra player in attack. I just think the build up with those 3 players is too slow for a team of quality in the back like City. 

I think starting without a recognised striker is the right move - I expect a far more coherent pressing performance than what we have seen recently. Having Giroud available as a sub option instead of Morata is probably also the right move as the former is far more effective off the bench.

A good performance from Kovacic today could go a long way towards cementing his place in the side (and in the hearts of the fans, who, on the whole, appear undecided on him). The midfield have a proper job on their hands to break off the passing channels of the two Silvas.

I wonder if being so dire of late might make things easier for us. It's strange to go into a home game without absolutely zero expectations. Come on Chelsea!

Fair play for trying something different, and hopefully it turns out how it did at Napoli with Insigne, Mertens etc. I also hope it's something we've at least worked on a bit rather than it being a knee jerk, try-something-for-the-sake-of-it decision, but I guess it can't produce any less goals than going with a recognised striker has of late! I just hope we're brave today and don't end up camped in our own penalty area hoofing it upfield to no-one! 

They will press high and disrupt us starting from the back when Kepa has the ball.

Will be interesting to see how we solve that.

1 minute ago, Sindre said:

They will press high and disrupt us starting from the back when Kepa has the ball.

Will be interesting to see how we solve that.

We're better with the ball than last season, so hopefully it won't be the same case as hoofing it forward and having no height up front, so giving it away every single time.