40 minutes ago, Garbaggio said:

The US doesn't have matches scheduled.

https://www.ussoccer.com/all-matches

 

Morocco has a couple of games next week. 

Hmm... looks like Palace have been setting up with a tight 4-4-2, letting the opposition have the majority of possession (who would have guessed?). If we set up with a 4-3-3, the deepest midfielder is going to see a lot of the ball. On paper that role seems tailor-made for Jorginho. In practice... I'm not so sure. I'd actually be inclined to give Reece James a go there - probably better at distributing the ball than Kanté without the inherent weaknesses in Jorginho's game.

I think the rest of the team is fairly straightforward. My inclination would be to leave out Werner (in case that knock in midweek meant anything) and start Hudson-Odoi on the left, but bizarrely considering our ludicrous spending, none of our other wide options are actually available! I assume Pulisic and Ziyech are still injured.

That leaves us with this:

 

-----------------------------Mendy

Azpilicueta--------Silva-----------Zouma-----------Chilwell

-----------------------------James

--------------------Havertz--------Mount

--Hudson-Odoi----------------------------------Werner

---------------------------Abraham

 

Another option would be to go for a back three to give us a spare man against their front two (if we were to play two up front I think that would suit Werner better and would also make up for our temporary lack of wide players), but that seems excessive at home against Palace!

At this point it's just cringe to read about how James should play somewhere else and not at his RB position...

I’m really dreading this match, Palace will sit deep and counter. We really need to score early to settle the nerves.

Kante is going to be key in this game, Zaha and Ayew can dismantle a team on the break and I am hoping we are not caught on the break with Kante too far upfield. We know they will be organized and sit back deep therefore we will need to be clinical something we were not in the first half against West Brom, I don't think the Giroud Werner link is quite there yet so I would give Werner a shot up top with Pulisic and CHO on the wings.

I don't think Lampard will throw in both Pulisic and Ziyech after long term injuries, maybe they will do 90 minutes between themselves.

It's just not normal such a big club like Chelsea to have so many problems with such a small club like Palace. How long has it been since we've given them a nice beating? It must have been 5 or 6 years or something. Either dropping points or winning barely.

This is not normal. We take this comfortably. 

Edited October 2, 20205 yr by Droopy

13 minutes ago, Droopy said:

It's just not normal such a big club like Chelsea to have so many problems with such a small club like Palace. How long has it been since we've given them a nice beating? It must have been 5 or 6 years or something. Either dropping points or winning barely.

This is not normal. We take this comfortably. 

This is the last time we racked up a decent score

Crystal Palace (0) 0 Chelsea (1) 3

Date: Sunday, 3rd January 2016 at 13:30ReportTable

Competition: Premier League     Position 14

Venue: Selhurst Park

Attendance: 24,854

Referee: Kevin Friend

Crystal Palace Hennessey, Ward, Dann, Delaney, Souare, Lee (J Williams 80), Jedinak (Chamakh 67), McArthur, Puncheon, Zaha, Campbell (Ledley 67)

   Booked Delaney 13, Jedinak 57, Dann 80

   Subs Not Used McCarthy, Kelly, Mutch, Sako

   Manager Alan Pardew

Chelsea13 Thibaut Courtois, 2 Branislav Ivanovic, 4 Cesc Fabregas, 5 Kurt Zouma, 8 Oscar (21 Nemanja Matic 88), 10 Eden Hazard (17 Pedro 16), 12 Mikel Obi, 19 Diego Costa, 22 Willian, 26 John Terry, 28 Cesar Azpilicueta

   Scorers Oscar 29, Willian 60, Costa 66

   Subs Not Used1 Asmir Begovic, 6 Baba Rahman, 36 Ruben Loftus-Cheek, 7 Ramires, 14 Bertrand Traore

   Manager Guus Hiddink

Match Facts Match 4900      League match 4052   Starting XI    Average age 27.2    Oldest Player 35    Youngest Player 21.1

 

Source: http://www.bounder.friardale.co.uk/Results/2015.htm#4900 

11 hours ago, Gol15 said:

I hope they stay during the international break, the worst thing to do would be to join their national teams now right when they are coming back from injury...

Unfortunately Stupid Southgate invites Chillwell and Ziyech has been called up to the morrocan squad. It all just feels like Kante last season all over again

3 minutes ago, The Don Antonio said:

Unfortunately Stupid Southgate invites Chillwell and Ziyech has been called up to the morrocan squad. It all just feels like Kante last season all over again

I hope they don't play!

1 hour ago, Gol15 said:

I hope they don't play!

England has 3 games so chilwell will probably play one at least. 

On 30/09/2020 at 17:23, Strider6003 said:

Last time out RLC looked way off the pace and Palace are no mugs.

Palace have acquired some decent players for this season so this is not going to be a push over.  Wouldn't be surprised if we dropped points TBH the way are playing at the moment; Roy has them set up as a pretty solid side and we are struggling to score at one end and defend at the other. 

6 minutes ago, CFCCAN said:

Palace have acquired some decent players for this season so this is not going to be a push over.  Wouldn't be surprised if we dropped points TBH the way are playing at the moment; Roy has them set up as a pretty solid side and we are struggling to score at one end and defend at the other. 

If we can get that first goal and hold it for a bit we could win and perhaps score more yet we all know defensively we are open and they have some decent forward players.

Pulisic in the squad but not starting according to FL. I don't know why he has to reveal this though at least keep your opponent guessing

1 hour ago, rtwelch said:

Pulisic in the squad but not starting according to FL. I don't know why he has to reveal this though at least keep your opponent guessing

To wind up all the Yanks wondering about tuning to see Captain America in action. ?

1 hour ago, rtwelch said:

Pulisic in the squad but not starting according to FL. I don't know why he has to reveal this though at least keep your opponent guessing

I agree it doesn't seem to be necessary to show his cards that way. Then again I would have been shocked to see Pulisic go straight back into the starting lineup after a long layoff. I suspect 20-30 mins off the bench at best.

On 30/09/2020 at 13:53, The Don Antonio said:

Since we don't have the creative wingers to stretch the game why don't we switch to a 442 diamond. It makes no sense playing square pegs in round holes ( aka mount and Werner on the wings)

 

                       Mendy

  Azpi.    Zouma.   Silva.   Chillwell

                       Jorginho

          Kante.                 Mount

                      Havertz

         Abraham.        Werner 

 

With no width to push Zaha back he would rip us a new arsehole. We need to put fake wingers out just so every now and then he has to back track

18 hours ago, reparto corse said:

-------------Werner--------Abraham--------------

---------------------Havertz-----------------------

Chilwell------Jorginho-----Kovacic--------James

----------Zouma-----Silva------Azpi--------------

----------------------Mendy-----------------------

On paper for me this our best formation with players currently available. If we need to go more attack minded going forward during the game swap Kova for Mount. 

Pulisic will be on the bench and Ziyech will not feature, looks like Mount and CHO will be our wingers

We should not release Zyiech, we dont need him coming back injured or with covid.

 

Based on Lamps update and Palaces play style I would say 4-3-3 is our best bet.

 

Mendy

 

James

zouma 

Silva 

Chilwell

 

Jorginho

Kante

Havertz

 

Mount

Giroud

CHO

2 hours ago, axman2526 said:

We should not release Zyiech, we dont need him coming back injured or with covid.

 

Based on Lamps update and Palaces play style I would say 4-3-3 is our best bet.

 

Mendy

 

James

zouma 

Silva 

Chilwell

 

Jorginho

Kante

Havertz

 

Mount

Giroud

CHO

I agree. I would prefer to allow Ziyech to continue his recovery with the club. But do we have a choice?

Someone really has to convince me that Tammy is the man. Would any of our rivals want him, I think not. Mount needs a break. We need a performance that looks like Frank knows what he is doing. We need a win win win. My expectations have been curtailed, and will take a draw. Btw, wtf has Rudiger done to get banished? 

10 hours ago, dansubrosa said:

I’m really dreading this match, Palace will sit deep and counter. We really need to score early to settle the nerves.

You know that if that happens , you'll be thinking " we've scored too early" !

10 hours ago, Strider6003 said:

This is the last time we racked up a decent score

Crystal Palace (0) 0 Chelsea (1) 3

Date: Sunday, 3rd January 2016 at 13:30ReportTable

Competition: Premier League     Position 14

Venue: Selhurst Park

Attendance: 24,854

Referee: Kevin Friend

Crystal Palace Hennessey, Ward, Dann, Delaney, Souare, Lee (J Williams 80), Jedinak (Chamakh 67), McArthur, Puncheon, Zaha, Campbell (Ledley 67)

   Booked Delaney 13, Jedinak 57, Dann 80

   Subs Not Used McCarthy, Kelly, Mutch, Sako

   Manager Alan Pardew

Chelsea13 Thibaut Courtois, 2 Branislav Ivanovic, 4 Cesc Fabregas, 5 Kurt Zouma, 8 Oscar (21 Nemanja Matic 88), 10 Eden Hazard (17 Pedro 16), 12 Mikel Obi, 19 Diego Costa, 22 Willian, 26 John Terry, 28 Cesar Azpilicueta

   Scorers Oscar 29, Willian 60, Costa 66

   Subs Not Used1 Asmir Begovic, 6 Baba Rahman, 36 Ruben Loftus-Cheek, 7 Ramires, 14 Bertrand Traore

   Manager Guus Hiddink

Match Facts Match 4900      League match 4052   Starting XI    Average age 27.2    Oldest Player 35    Youngest Player 21.1

 

Source: http://www.bounder.friardale.co.uk/Results/2015.htm#4900 

 

This game was f**king brilliant. I remember very well a MOTM performance from:

 

Out of the many, many sins that Conte committed, selling this Chelsea legend was the worst. He should be our captain right now.

This match really should be the introduction of Frank's first choice defence that will see us through for the rest of the season. AFAIK all the back five are fit and available so he has to choose now whether AC or Kurt will pair Silva. I imagine given recent game time that Reece is his preferred RB. I won't even speculate about GK, if it's not Mendy then Frank's headed too many balls during his playing career. He needs to stick with it as much as is reasonable so they can get some kind of form together. It's essential now that we get a 'core' to the the team. Pick a first choice defence, then decide what Kante's role is in midfield, and finally who our first choice striker is.  You can experiment with the rest but without a basic foundation we'll flip-flop for the rest of the season. 

 

 

42 minutes ago, PloKoon13 said:

 

This game was f**king brilliant. I remember very well a MOTM performance from:

 

Out of the many, many sins that Conte committed, selling this Chelsea legend was the worst. He should be our captain right now.

And yet some still try and explain what a regista is to us...

Jorginho is really just Mikel without the physical or defensive attributes.