February 16, 20205 yr Well I guess what happens on Monday night will influence how this thread goes. Â Â
February 17, 20205 yr There only has to be one result that will do regardless of Monday.  If the Spuds get above us it will just give Jose the impetus he needs to make his ego bigger than ever....and we'll never here the end of it. Â
February 17, 20205 yr Two big games this week. We need a win in both. Bayern game doesn't really matter to me as much. Just need to beat Spuds and United. With City looking banned that will go a long way to sewing up a spot in next years comp and the revenue bump.
February 17, 20205 yr Jose gets his revenge I reckon. Things are just not right from top to bottom with us.
February 17, 20205 yr Welcome Real Madrid (the team that won three CL) in a row on Saturday afternoon lads.
February 17, 20205 yr Play Alonso up top and we’ll score bagfuls. He loves scoring against this shower!
February 18, 20205 yr Last time we played with 3 at the back and we won. Kepa Azpilicueta Rudiger Tomori Zouma Alonso Kante Kovacic Willian Mount Giroud Sub in James, Jorginho, Barkley
February 18, 20205 yr 3-4-3 worked against them last time, but I think Mourinho will be prepared for it if we adopt this formation. We were not in good form in the lead up to the Spurs match in December, yet we beat them. Hopefully we pull something out of the hat again.
February 18, 20205 yr 1 hour ago, Gol15 said: Last time we played with 3 at the back and we won. Kepa Azpilicueta Rudiger Tomori Zouma Alonso Kante Kovacic Willian Mount Giroud Sub in James, Jorginho, Barkley I doubt Kante is going to be fit for Saturday.Â
February 18, 20205 yr I don't envy Lampard at the moment, he's got a really difficult job and he's scraping the barrel for options. I'll be disappointed if he plays Christensen at the back though, if it's a back 4 that is. There's no valid reason why Tomori shouldn't be playing instead.Â
February 18, 20205 yr Based on who's available today the line-uo should be:CaballeroAzpi - Rüdiger - ZoumaJames - Jorginho - Kovacic - AlonsoWillian - Giroud - PedroIf Tammy, Callum and Pulisic make the cut play Pulisic for Willian and bench Tammy and Callum to bring them on 2nd half
February 18, 20205 yr Playing at home clearly does not bring out the best in us. We could easily lose this and low confidence is beginning to sweep through and appears just  as contagious as a virus. That said, the probability of losing 2 on the trot at home must be slim. We got a good result against a better team at Leicester. I think it will be a draw. But it will feel like a defeat if we throw away a lead. We didn’t play well yesterday but even so things went against us (injuries, VAR). Forced subs constrained Frank. If we don’t pick up injuries during the match and things are not working expect Frank to change things quickly. What will get us over the line in this game might not be tactics but passion. Let’s hope the players want it as much as we do.  Â
February 18, 20205 yr 42 minutes ago, Luiz4Chelsea said: Based on who's available today the line-uo should be: Caballero Azpi - Rüdiger - Zouma James - Jorginho - Kovacic - Alonso Willian - Giroud - Pedro If Tammy, Callum and Pulisic make the cut play Pulisic for Willian and bench Tammy and Callum to bring them on 2nd half Exactly the team I would go with, only perhaps with the exception of Tomori for Zouma. Although for some reason Tomori can't get a game at the moment - not sure if that's injury related or what? Really hope the crowd get behind the team and create a hostile atmosphere, similar to the 2-2 in the "Battle of the Bridge". Hopefully at least one of Abraham, Pulisic or CHO is able to make the bench (going to assume Kante and RLC are definitely ruled out) - I think that'd really help to lift the crowd. Failing that I do wonder if it might be the game to re-introduce Kepa? We need a spark from somewhere!
February 18, 20205 yr 4 minutes ago, sabin6912 said: Exactly the team I would go with, only perhaps with the exception of Tomori for Zouma. Although for some reason Tomori can't get a game at the moment - not sure if that's injury related or what? Really hope the crowd get behind the team and create a hostile atmosphere, similar to the 2-2 in the "Battle of the Bridge". Hopefully at least one of Abraham, Pulisic or CHO is able to make the bench (going to assume Kante and RLC are definitely ruled out) - I think that'd really help to lift the crowd. Failing that I do wonder if it might be the game to re-introduce Kepa? We need a spark from somewhere! We certainly need a spark from somewhere.
February 18, 20205 yr Have a feeling the players will bounce back against Spurs as well as a few having that odd emotion of wanting to get one over their old boss. Would like to see Giroud start with Bats coming on later if Abraham is not fit. We need an early goal here for me as Mourinho will know teams have been successful defending in numbers against us and then hitting us on the counter.Â
February 18, 20205 yr I still very much trust in Lampard, I believe he's very short in options right now but unfortunately the sole decision of playing bats over Giroud was a fatal one, and that comes down to way more than the conversion of particular opportunities.Pedro and William are very decent wingers but they are not solo-world-beaters (a la hazard) and now more than ever are extremely dependent on the support they are provided, and batshuayi offers zero, not physically and not mentally. By fielding batshuayi we were not only lacking a striker but basically a whole front 3. When I saw that line-up I thought literally the only ways we could score tonight is either a poker from Azpi or Rüdi after a messily defended corner or a Reece brace from outside the box. Here's how to turn things around and fix this team: Play Giroud. Giroud offers that kind of support, not only in the way he holds and distributes the ball, but also by providing leadership. The team clearly is extremely insecure atm and needs guidance from someone like Giroud. He might also well be our most clinical converter currently and could finally reward Reece's crosses. He could well be the player we were looking for in the summer and MUST start against Tottenham and Bayern no matter whos available, even if he's taken off after 60 mins.Kante Out means going back to mf 2 of Jorgi and Kova, which has been arguably our best CMF setup this season. It seems like Jorginho only assumes his role to lead the middle when Kante isn't playing, which the latter can't be blamed for. We need Jorgi and Kova to shine next week.In for kante comes Alonso on the left. I know he's not loved on here but he always shows up physically and has a goal in him, which is what we need right now. Cover for his defensive deficiencies by playing a back 3.Play Zouma for Christensen. I believe tomori is the future but he seems to be a bit away from the Starting eleven rn for some reason and should maybe be eased back in against a "smaller side" (as if that existed these days). I liked Zoumas performance last night. We need his physical strength as opposed to lightweight Christensen. Keep Tammy and Callum out of the starting 11 even if fit for now. They might be our best on their respective position, but given the form of the team and coming back from injury I can already picture their display nervously screaming "this must be my breakthrough performance!!!" in every action. They would be strong options from the bench. Right now we need things to calm down a little. Pulisic if fully fit could offer sth over Willian or Pedro.These changes don't guarantee us anything next week, but at least we have a fair chance, which last night we hadn't before the game had even started. Remember how di Matteo, fixed AVB's shaky side by adding maturity? We obviously don't have the same catalogue of experienced legends at our disposal today, but maybe it's time to try a similar approach.
February 18, 20205 yr As everyone seems to be back in Full Grumpy Mode, perhaps we need a couple of reminders  Edited February 18, 20205 yr by Valerie
February 18, 20205 yr Son out for Spuds. 0-0 anyone?Because we’re gonna keep a CS, right.. [emoji3]
February 18, 20205 yr 15 minutes ago, charierre said: Son out for Spuds. 0-0 anyone? Looks like we might have had a lucky break. ?
February 18, 20205 yr We need to recall kepa and play 3 central defenders. We keep conceding stupid goals and can't score to save our lives. Any reasonable coach would know that our problem is defensive but lampard keeps on saying we create chances but don't score .           Kepa     Rudiger Zouma. Tomori            Jorginho James  kovacic. Barkley.  Alonso            Willian           Abraham   Â
February 18, 20205 yr I be for a Kepa recall too and would like to see Giroud start and be subbed on 65 for Bats unless Tammy is available.
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