Man City v Chelsea (PL) Sat 23rd Nov 17:30 GMT

[chiefBlueCFC 341]

Is the international break over yet?

[ws6blue 136]

IMV City not as good as last season and we have improved in key positions - cf being one of them (last year Higuain) - so I think we have good chance of getting a result through counter-attacking as we did couple season ago. 

I would go with RJ and Azpi as full backs - Reece a good matchup to Sterling and Azpi on the left to take bernado silva who is very very good but all left foot - so right footed left back a good option.

Midfield has to be Kova, Georgino and Kante - key against city is to intercept their passing game and all 3 do that well - also one of em can pick up De Bruyne who plays off the cf but switches position all game.............

Willian, Tammy and Pulisic up front as we can spring counter attacks with those 3 and Tammy maybe draw some fouls from fernadinho 

Mason and Callum as impact players if we need em.

3-1 to chels is what I think we can achieve

Big one this................................ 

[Argo 3,593]

On 11/11/2019 at 10:31, hephzibah said:

Should Jorginho play? Is there anything Jorginho will do against the big teams that Kovacic cannot do. I think we should ask ourselves, if Jorginho plays, are we going to be able to stop Aguero, bernando Silva, Sterling, de bruyne, Silva, Mahrez, Rodri, etc. I think that is the most important question we should be asking ourselves. We must make sure man city does not win the midfield battle. 

We need Mount to support the attackers, we can't drop Mount.

Against City, it must be a war, you must not allow them to have too much possession of the ball. If they have too much possession of the ball, they will beat you silly.

To those arguing with me when I said Jorginho should be playing against the lesser teams but not against the big teams. Against City last season at Etihad, we used our normal starting eleven with Jorginho, Hazard, and everybody,  we were thrashed 6-0 by Man city. And, under Sarri, we were having it very easy with the lesser teams. Jorginho organises the team, makes good passes to the midfielders and from the midfielders to the attacking players, and we were winning the lesser teams. However, against City, we were thrashed 6-0. Doesn't that say something about the team that although Jorginho helps the team against the lesser teams, we may have to find a solution when we are playing with the bigger teams because we all know that anybody who plays in Jorginho and Kante's positions must be good defensively to protect the defence, but Jorginho is not good defensively, and big teams will expose this weakness. 

If people did not understand what I was trying to say before about Jorginho, I think they should be able to understand with this one. We cannot do without Jorginho against the weaker teams, but against top teams that are obviously better than us at the moment, vis Man City, Man Utd, Liverpool, or against teams that are decent like Leicester, Crystal Palace, everton, spurs etc., if we want to try to get something out of the game, We should be dropping Jorginho and be playing Kante, Kovacic and Mount. That is what top coaches do when they are playing against a team that is better than them. That is all I'm saying.  

Against City next weekend,  I think the team should look like this. 

Kepa

James

Tomori

Zouma

Emerson

Kante

Kovacic

Mount

Pulisic

Willian

Abraham. 

Absolutely he should play.

[hephzibah 15]

2 hours ago, Argo said:

Absolutely he should play.

Listen, forget the dumb statistics, so you are saying Jorginho is better than Fabinho. Read my analysis and for once understand what I am trying to say. Give me your own opinions about everything I wrote. You either support what I said and give reasons or you oppose it and give reasons. 

[Argo 3,593]

1 hour ago, hephzibah said:

Listen, forget the dumb statistics, so you are saying Jorginho is better than Fabinho. Read my analysis and for once understand what I am trying to say. Give me your own opinions about everything I wrote. You either support what I said and give reasons or you oppose it and give reasons. 

Well you're main argument is the defensive side of his game, that alone proves he's very good in that aspect.

Another one is the 6-0 which was a collective sh*t show, but you have also missed out the fact in the other two games against City we kept clean sheets trying to be proactive and play them at their own game, and it worked (in terms of game plan) so 2/3 isn't bad. It's a myth that teams should be defensive against City, that's exactly what Guardiola wants, as was shown in Conte's second season play defensive against them they wear you down physically and mentally to the point you're seeing stars, if you escape a game against a Guardiola side with a result playing defensive it's because you get an extreme amount of luck, not because of any tactical masterclass (in 11 years of his management only Hiddink has managed to nullify a Pep side with conservative tactics).

It's no coincidence Klopp has the best head to head record against Pep while the defensive managers like Emery, Jose and Simeone have absolutely wretched records against him. If we want a chance to getting a result against them we have to approach it the same way which means every single technically capable player out there, it's a risk but it's also our best chance of getting any points, and that's even against the best City, given the back four we will be facing (and potentially Bravo aswell) it reinforces my point even more. If we set our tactics based on worrying about what they can do to us, we will just get ground down and beaten with minimum fuss (while Stones and Bravo fist bump eachother in pure relief), we should be going there with a mindset of what we can do them.

Edited November 12, 2019 by Argo

[Slojo 3,882]

Jorginho this season looks 100% better defensively, if this was the Jorginho of last season I would agree with Hephzibah, against City we need to be capable of comfortably winning the ball back. 

[AsianBoy 313]

This is going to be my first time watching Chelsea live! (been supporting the club since 2011), sadly im going to be sat with city supporters and my friend told me not to wear my chelsea shirt incase i get beaten up 😞

gonna find it so hard to resist celebrating when tammy scores the winner in the 93rd minutes LOL

[icecoolguy22 1,655]

If the game is this weekend, I'd be confident to get a point off them. Their defence has been crap this season, and for some strange reasons they haven't been putting chances away recently either. Considering we have been so good on the road ( against lesser team I admit), our front three loves spaces to run into, and City will leave plenty. International break could do some really terrible things, so at this stage I won't be making a prediction. I don't think Lampard will take the pragmatic approach, we didn't get this far by being conservative, and changing it for an one off game won't go well.

[Gol15 1,091]

Kepa

James Zouma Tomori Emerson

Kante Jorginho

Willian Mount Pulisic

Abraham

/60' Mount off Kovacic in

 

[Imran_CFC 868]

27 minutes ago, Gol15 said:

Kepa

James Zouma Tomori Emerson

Kante Jorginho

Willian Mount Pulisic

Abraham

/60' Mount off Kovacic in

 

I reckon Kovacic is a must in this game, City's pressing success comes mainly from cutting down passing channels & Kovacic is someone who prefers driving forward with the ball sometimes even when he has options available & I think his drving runs into space are going to be key in breaking City's press and opening up space to attack there vulnerable backline.

One of the main reasons they dominated the midfield battle against Liverpool was because Liverpool didnt have anyone in the midfield who could drive them forward, Liverpool did come out with a convincing win however that was largely thanks to VAR and a clinical front line but I would say in terms of the midfield battle City absolutely dominated. With City being at home and our record with VAR we cannot allow City to dictate terms in midfield and therefore its absolutely imperative we go in with our best midfield options which includes Kova-Jorg-Kante.

[dkw 24,273]

Our attack against there defence..

 

 

Our defence against there attack

 

 

 

 

[ZippyNW 41]

13 hours ago, AsianBoy said:

This is going to be my first time watching Chelsea live! (been supporting the club since 2011), sadly im going to be sat with city supporters and my friend told me not to wear my chelsea shirt incase i get beaten up 😞

gonna find it so hard to resist celebrating when tammy scores the winner in the 93rd minutes LOL

I remember going to City v CFC in the late 80s in the home end and getting told off by the City fans for hiding my shirt under a coat. "This isn't United" they told me. 

Nowadays, I think you wouldn't be allowed in with it. 

[ZippyNW 41]

I just hope for a better result than last season. I enjoyed the day - pub and in the ground - until the ref blew for kick off.

My Mrs is season ticket holder in home end so the drive home was not good.

2-1 to Chelsea. 

[Dixons 216]

15 minutes ago, ZippyNW said:

I remember going to City v CFC in the late 80s in the home end and getting told off by the City fans for hiding my shirt under a coat. "This isn't United" they told me. 

Nowadays, I think you wouldn't be allowed in with it. 

I remember going to Luton for the first time, losing my mates and ending up in the Luton fans end wearing my Chelsea shirt.  Height of hooligan era, so lucky i didn't get my head kicked in.                                                 Btw. What a sh*thole that place was. Just some flimsy cowsheds around the pitch.

Edited November 13, 2019 by Dixons

[Gol15 1,091]

1 hour ago, Imran_CFC said:

I reckon Kovacic is a must in this game, City's pressing success comes mainly from cutting down passing channels & Kovacic is someone who prefers driving forward with the ball sometimes even when he has options available & I think his drving runs into space are going to be key in breaking City's press and opening up space to attack there vulnerable backline.

One of the main reasons they dominated the midfield battle against Liverpool was because Liverpool didnt have anyone in the midfield who could drive them forward, Liverpool did come out with a convincing win however that was largely thanks to VAR and a clinical front line but I would say in terms of the midfield battle City absolutely dominated. With City being at home and our record with VAR we cannot allow City to dictate terms in midfield and therefore its absolutely imperative we go in with our best midfield options which includes Kova-Jorg-Kante.

The problem that can hurt us is that the midfield trio in the last third wouldn't be potent enough. My idea is that we score first and then play more defensive, Mount can do his role in the first half, then comes in Kovacic and we would look more stable with the ball and in defensive tasks.

[Imran_CFC 868]

42 minutes ago, Gol15 said:

The problem that can hurt us is that the midfield trio in the last third wouldn't be potent enough. My idea is that we score first and then play more defensive, Mount can do his role in the first half, then comes in Kovacic and we would look more stable with the ball and in defensive tasks.

My issue with having a 2 man midfield (Playing Mount will always result in a more 4-2-3-1 formation as he has a natural tendency to play further forward) especially if 1 of those 2 is Jorginho, against the best midfield in the league we will keep getting pegged back defensively and with Zouma and Tomori I dont think we have the CB pairing to defend deep.

Against City we will need to play 3 specialist Central Midfielders & play a slightly higher line as I think Zouma and Tomori would have the pace and power to deal with Aguero & co when they try to get in behind, against City I reckon the match will be decided by who wins the midfield battle.

[Imran_CFC 868]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/50404855

Bernardo Silva banned for our game against City

[Gol15 1,091]

4 hours ago, Imran_CFC said:

My issue with having a 2 man midfield (Playing Mount will always result in a more 4-2-3-1 formation as he has a natural tendency to play further forward) especially if 1 of those 2 is Jorginho, against the best midfield in the league we will keep getting pegged back defensively and with Zouma and Tomori I dont think we have the CB pairing to defend deep.

Against City we will need to play 3 specialist Central Midfielders & play a slightly higher line as I think Zouma and Tomori would have the pace and power to deal with Aguero & co when they try to get in behind, against City I reckon the match will be decided by who wins the midfield battle.

Yea so we will see in that case a pressing game from Man City where someone will need to find an opening with a more direct approach, and we will need to be totally focused on pressing them as soon as they come to our half and not before. If this works then we wouldn't need to change much at, like in the Cup last time, but if they score first I'm afraid it will be up to Frankie to solve the game...Jorghy, Kovacic, Pulisic and even Willian can get an easy assist if things go right.

[rtwelch 353]

                     Kepa

James Zouma Tomori Emerson

      Kante  Jorginho Kovacic

  Pulisic      Tammy       Mount

[the special one 1,831]

Chels 2-1

                         Kepa
James - Zouma - Tomori - Azpi
    Kante - Jorginho - Kovacic
    Willian - Abraham - Pulisic

Edited November 13, 2019 by the special one

[expertchelsea 0]

Hello everyone im new about the game i would line up like this:

Kepa

James-Azpi-Zouma-Tomori-Emerson

Jorginho-Kova-Kante

Pulisic/Odoi/Wilian/Maunt hard to choose here.

Tammy/Michy

[Slojo 3,882]

When I think about how good we are at attacking and on the ball, I get so much confidence, then I remind myself of the defence and our set piece defending, and it all goes to pot. 

We're going to have to ride our luck and hope Aguero has a game like he did at Anfield, but there's little chance we will be as lucky as Liverpool. 

[haviet1 74]

1 hour ago, Slojo said:

When I think about how good we are at attacking and on the ball, I get so much confidence, then I remind myself of the defence and our set piece defending, and it all goes to pot. 

We're going to have to ride our luck and hope Aguero has a game like he did at Anfield, but there's little chance we will be as lucky as Liverpool. 

 

I feel a little better about the defense overall from where it was about 2 months ago. But that set piece, it's scary - and not in a good way.

 

[Emenalo 1]

On 09/11/2019 at 15:40, coco said:

Who's Lamp Knocking Off The Midfield,?...FYI Kante is Back.... Surely a BIG Headache for LAMP 

[Emenalo 1]

On 11/11/2019 at 11:57, Malcolm9 said:

With our current squad we are more than capable of beating City, they aren't miles better than us. As for Jorginho he should play, that 6-0 defeat was one of those freaky games that happen now and then plus we have far more threat going forward compared to the previous few years where we relied on Hazard far too much.

City are rocking defensively and with the players we have we should easily exploit that like Liverpool did.

Chelsea fc don't play Like Liverpulz Metal Football....And Let's Not Forget That Jorginho is a Creative N0 4..... Chelsea Can get Something out of this Match if Lampard Fields the right Players or Uses the right Tactics. Telling which Player/Tactics that will pay for him might be the major Challenge, Team spirit at its Highest...He will Learn tho...