On 01/11/2020 at 15:00, coco said:

20 Brazilian players currently playing in the Premier League.

Never knew that,seriously.

Pulisic out for weeks, no surprise I guess, but certainly makes we glad we have some options up front. I fear Pulisic will struggle to stay fit.

 

2 hours ago, ozboy said:

Pulisic out for weeks, no surprise I guess, but certainly makes we glad we have some options up front. I fear Pulisic will struggle to stay fit.

 

Hopefully back for Newcastle game. Having two fit natural wingers isn’t exactly ideal, might want to sign in January. 

Edited November 3, 20205 yr by Floyd25

I still think GD is going to be crucial, whilst we're most likely not going to get an emphatic win against Rennes we need to out do Sevilla. 1 goal is not enough. I would quite a 3-1 here and hopefully Krasnodar do about better against sevilla. If Krasnodar can keep them to 1 or 2 that'll be great. For that match I'd like a 2-1. We can't realistically hope for Krasnodar to win so let's hope they keep it close but if they do win or draw that'll be a huge bonus .

It's not very likely to come down to general goal difference in the Champions League, as the direct matches count first. Unless we play 0-0 against Sevilla a second time the scores of other wins are irrelevant.

We've been playing great recently but need to stay focused. Any win with a clean sheet would be a beautiful result

Need to keep the same team...international break to follow so no need for resting...

Mendy

James Silva Zouma Chillwell 

Kante Mount 

Havertz

Ziyech Abrahams Werner

 

For me the league has to be the main focus, so give Silva, Werner and Havertz a rest.

Mendy

Azpi Christensen Rudiger Chilwell

Kovacic Jorginho Mount

CHO Abraham Pulisic

Mendy

Azpilicueta - Rudiger - Tomori - Chilwell

Kante - Kovacic

Ziyech - Havertz - CHO

Werner

 

I feel Zouma and Silva need a rest. Chilly can't rest yet, neither do Kai.

39 minutes ago, evissy said:

Mendy

Azpilicueta - Rudiger - Tomori - Chilwell

Kante - Kovacic

Ziyech - Havertz - CHO

Werner

 

I feel Zouma and Silva need a rest. Chilly can't rest yet, neither do Kai.

On the contrary I think chilly needs a rest. He only just returned from injury and we don't want another pulisic situation with him. Azpi can play left back and havertz should rest and only come on as a sub if needed . Will go for

                     Mendy

James.   Silva.    Zouma.   Azpi

                       Kante

        Mount.            Kovacic

Ziyech.       Abraham.      Odoi

 

 

 

Silva looked slightly injured at the end of the burnley game. So I would rest him, and pulisic is injured
 

Team I would go with 

 

mendy 

azbi zouma rudiger chillwell 

havertz Kante Mount 

Ziyech Werner CHO 

 

Apparently Havertz didn't train today, might be that he sits this one out. 

                   Mendy 

Dave - Zouma - Silva - Chilwell 

                    Kante 

           Kovacic - Mount

    Ziyech - Abraham - Werner 

 

1 - 0 Chelsea. 97th minute winner by Mendy who upon scoring lift his shirt to reveal that he's wearing Petr Cech pajamas. 

On 03/11/2020 at 04:55, Paddy said:

 

I understand that he wants to play for Brazil and that his contract releases him, but if he can play back to back games for Brazil with all the travelling involved, then why not for Chelsea ? 


 

 

 

It is actually not a contractual thing - FIFA regulations stipulate that eligible players must be released from their clubs for international duties. Clubs who do not release players can be suspended, have points deductions etc.

However as @bisright1 might be happy to know, FIFA amended their regulations on Oct 1 to state that this no longer applies where there is a requirement for mandatory quarantine, lockdown or travel ban. 

As pointed out there are 20 Brazillian players in the EPL right now. The UK Government and the Premier League would be incredibly stupid to allow any of these to travel to a coronavirus hotspot.

Edited November 3, 20205 yr by SydneyChelsea

Still at 36 you might expect him to retire from Brazil team. He won’t be there for the next World Cup. 

26 minutes ago, ozboy said:

Still at 36 you might expect him to retire from Brazil team. He won’t be there for the next World Cup. 

Maybe he's pushing for 100 caps...

Match Day.

Come on Chelsea!

Match day.....COME ON YOU BLUES !

GAMEDAY!!! COME ON CHELS!!

On 01/11/2020 at 14:35, Paddy said:

Agree that there is no need to rest players and I’m a lot more comfortable with Rudiger playing these days especially if Mendy is in goal.

Annoyingly, Brazil have 2 games during the break, the last one on 17th, which ends in the early hours of 18th GMT  -  we play on Saturday 21st in a 12.30 lunchtime ko in Newcastle  - imagine that rules Silva out ? 

Playing in the next world cup is one of the biggest reasons Silva is still so highly motivated (he said as much himself) so this is a trade off we just have to suck up.

12 hours ago, SydneyChelsea said:

As pointed out there are 20 Brazillian players in the EPL right now. The UK Government and the Premier League would be incredibly stupid to allow any of these to travel to a coronavirus hotspot.

Is it any more "stupid" than allowing Leicester to carry on playing games at The KP while they were in local lockdown? Or games being played up North at the moment? 

The (so far highly successful) measures to protect players will have them in bubbles so tight they'll for all intents and purposes be 'in Brazil' about as much as someone transiting through the airport in a pre Covid time.

Edited November 4, 20205 yr by Argo

36 minutes ago, Argo said:

Playing in the next world cup is one of the biggest reasons Silva is still so highly motivated (he said as much himself) so this is a trade off we just have to suck up.

When he’s 38? Who is kidding who? Laurent Blanc was 32 when France won the World Cup I suppose but ther is a bit of difference between 32 and 38. He can’t even play every game this year. Silva is great but who seriously thinks he’ll be starting for Chelsea in 2022?

1 hour ago, ozboy said:

When he’s 38? Who is kidding who? Laurent Blanc was 32 when France won the World Cup I suppose but ther is a bit of difference between 32 and 38. He can’t even play every game this year. Silva is great but who seriously thinks he’ll be starting for Chelsea in 2022?

Zlatan at nearly 40 is top scorer in Serie A, Thiago is the same age now the Sweede was when he went to United.

That's not to 100% say Thiago will last as long, but he's not looking like the usual 36 year old so in his case i don't think he's being that overly ambitious personally. 

10 minutes ago, Argo said:

Zlatan at nearly 40 is top scorer in Serie A, Thiago is the same age now the Sweede was when he went to United.

That's not to 100% say Thiago will last as long, but he's not looking like the usual 36 year old so in his case i don't think he's being that overly ambitious personally. 

Zlatan did retire from the international football years ago though.

T. Silva can hope to be in that next World Cup squad but in the end of the day it's Brazil so it's not going to be easy to get into that squad if some new talents come along. We will also see if Lampard extends his contract for 1 more years before this season ends, he has been playing for us really well overall but if you watch him you notice that after every second or third jump to clear the ball where he lands a bit harder the facial expressions that he makes scream of his body not being too much happy about it...

On 03/11/2020 at 03:50, ozboy said:

Pulisic out for weeks, no surprise I guess, but certainly makes we glad we have some options up front. I fear Pulisic will struggle to stay fit.

 

That is bad news, I was hoping he would be a permanent fixture on the Left for us. 

10 hours ago, ozboy said:

Still at 36 you might expect him to retire from Brazil team. He won’t be there for the next World Cup. 

Pretty sure that's why he chose to stay in a top league. He wants to go to the World Cup with Brazil.

1 hour ago, rtwelch said:

Pretty sure that's why he chose to stay in a top league. He wants to go to the World Cup with Brazil.

That's the impression I got from the interviews I read.