Our bench must be worth a quarter of a billion £.

Chilwell over Alonso he is worried about the pace down our left.

Jorginho missing think he is worried about Utds midfield runners.

I think he is going to try and make Utd make the play then with Kante nick the ball and counter them.

 

Ugh ... Kante/Kovacic is not a midfield that works typically ... maybe the idea is that Kante follows Bruno Fernandes all over the park ?

Surprised Werner isn't starting ...

2 minutes ago, LongtimerLurker said:

Hmmm no Jorginho interesting. Ziyech start I'm happy to see hopefully he can justify his selection. Have to admit either Tommy is treating Pulisic like a priceless vase, or he doesn't rate him to start in prem surely it has to be the former.

I don't know, I still have hope Pulisic will have a part to play this season, at the moment with our current fixture congestion it's hard to slot him into the side. 

Be nice if we were 1 - 0 up and United are chasing a goal, Werner coming on...

Maybe that’s what Tuchel is hoping for.

Chelsea TV coverage live on YouTube for anyone interested: 

Matchday Live: Chelsea v Manchester United | Pre-Match | Premier League Matchday - YouTube

Well it’s a draw on sh*ttest possible start XI from both teams. Tuchel has been partaking of Gods lettuce it would seem. 

5 minutes ago, LongtimerLurker said:

Hmmm no Jorginho interesting. Ziyech start I'm happy to see hopefully he can justify his selection. Have to admit either Tommy is treating Pulisic like a priceless vase, or he doesn't rate him to start in prem surely it has to be the former.

We will be behind at half time now right Gol15

A bit surprised to see chilly and ziyech start.

though we do have some good options on the bench 

 

let’s see 

Ziyech will play the creative fulcrum rather than Kova, who will instead be tasked to sit deeper for this one. Kante like a few have mentioned will probably be looking to neutralise Bruno. Chillwell again added pace to make the team more defensively sound. Seems like Tommy thought this one through, and again as others mentioned Werner or Pulisic on late to cause trouble to their defenders tired legs.

Greeat team selection for me, apart from the ziyech bit. However with utd defending deep, we need that bit of guile that ziyech provides, rather than maybe werners pace. 

Kante on the pitch. TT's goal for this game: a draw?

3 minutes ago, Strider6003 said:

Chilwell over Alonso he is worried about the pace down our left.

 

Obviously Tuchel does not like the space for Greenwood and Rashford in the back of Alonso.
This decision is absolutely fine for me.
But what about Ziyech ? He did not show anything to deserve a place in the starting eleven.

James is one of our best talents and I can see him putting in a transfer request, TT doesn't like James in the 3/5 in the back but if that means he doesnt fit in the system why would he stay and waste his career on the bench

1 minute ago, axman2526 said:

We will be behind at half time now right Gol15

2-0 down.

It does seem like every time Jorgi & Kova get a run of games and get inform Kante turns up to break that up too. 

4 minutes ago, coco said:

Our bench must be worth a quarter of a billion £.

Not even close LOL

According to the figures on Transfermarkt, we paid £229.3M for our starting XI, and we have £353.6M on the bench ?

Tommy Tactics seems a bit concerned with United's pace on the counter attack. 

Out go two of the slowest players from the starting XI and in comes Kante and Chilwell. 

Surprised to see Ziyech get the nod but not completely against the idea of having his passing ability in the team, especially with Giroud starting to potentially get onto any of those backpost whipped crosses that Ziyech likes. 

Huge game.

If we win this then 3 of the current top 4 would of lost this weekend.

2 minutes ago, Sexyfootball said:

Not even close LOL

According to the figures on Transfermarkt, we paid £229.3M for our starting XI, and we have £353.6M on the bench ?

I would say 353m is relatively close to a 1/4 of a billion only being a tenth of a billion over is in my opinion within the scope of close...just me though

Edited February 28, 20215 yr by Malta Blue

9 minutes ago, Sexyfootball said:

Ugh ... Kante/Kovacic is not a midfield that works typically ... maybe the idea is that Kante follows Bruno Fernandes all over the park ?

Surprised Werner isn't starting ...

That is a possibility a tactician might consider, man-marking Bruno yet does Tommy T man mark or is it against his principles?

I'll go for 2-1 Chelsea.

More from the perspective that it would be fabulous to take all three points so that the gap to 2nd is down to 2 points, rather than any degree of confidence or expectation. The team selection seems to be a reactive and "not lose" approach to me.

7 minutes ago, Munkworth said:

Well it’s a draw on sh*ttest possible start XI from both teams. Tuchel has been partaking of Gods lettuce it would seem. 

Tommy Toker 

 

1 minute ago, Sexyfootball said:

I'll go for 2-1 Chelsea.

More from the perspective that it would be fabulous to take all three points so that the gap to 2nd is down to 2 points, rather than any degree of confidence or expectation. The team selection seems to be a reactive and "not lose" approach to me.

He has admitted to being stunned when Utd won a 90th minute penalty against PSG a season ago so might well be reactive or proactive.

7 minutes ago, Malta Blue said:

James is one of our best talents and I can see him putting in a transfer request, TT doesn't like James in the 3/5 in the back but if that means he doesnt fit in the system why would he stay and waste his career on the bench

Tuchel isn't going to stick with 5 at the back, he's only doing it for the time being. 

Our bench looks stronger than our starting lineup to me.