2 hours ago, Gol15 said:

I wouldn't trust T.Silva, Jorginho and Alonso so I hope they won't be in the starting lineup.

Would trust Silva more than Kurt Luiz Zouma after that awful display of positioning and awareness.

1 hour ago, Paddy said:

Did I miss something ? Is this really still Gol ? 

Gol is a big defender of Jorgi but, what is not always seen on him, does point out when he does things wrong and has limitations.

Jorgi was so bad on Saturday there is no defending him and you really should not start a player who was so awful he literally was the opposition's best player.

Think Gol sees what I do, you have to let players know levels like that are unacceptable and cost you a place in the team.

               Mendy

   Dave - Christensen - Rudiger

James - Kante - Kovacic - Chilwell

     Ziyech - Havertz - Werner

 

That'd be my team. But pretty much any XI as long as it doesn't contain Jorginho and Alonso I'll be happy. 

Tuchel confirmed today Kante will only make the bench. So it's without a doubt going to be Jorginho and Kovacic in midfield.

9 minutes ago, Sindre said:

Tuchel confirmed today Kante will only make the bench. So it's without a doubt going to be Jorginho and Kovacic in midfield.

Play James or Gilmour or Mount alongside Kova, plenty of good options.

Mendy | Azpi Silva AC | James Kova Mount Chilwell | CHO Havertz Werner

I don't think you can leave Mason out of the squad and I'm torn between him playing where I put CHO or in midfield with either Jorginho or Kova. Back 3 I would be okay with Azpi AC Rudi as well, but I imagine Tuchel will roll with Azpi Silva Rudi. 

I imagine we are going to focus on being solid at the back and strive for a clean sheet. 

39 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

Play James or Gilmour or Mount alongside Kova, plenty of good options.

Mount + Kova is going to be disaster. Kova can't play as holder, and you don't want Mount to play very deep either so you have to play either Gilmour, james or Chris. But with very2 short turnaround since wba game, I'll be surprised if Tuchel elect to do so. You probably will see jogavic in the middle again. 

1 hour ago, Sindre said:

Tuchel confirmed today Kante will only make the bench. So it's without a doubt going to be Jorginho and Kovacic in midfield.

Not what any of us wanted to hear but it is what is. Perhaps start with Jorginho and then after 4 or 5 minutes bring on Kante?

Kante on crutches is still quicker than Jorgi boy.

As far as I'm concerned, every game is important enough to play your best team,sod tinkering,we're at the business end now.

5 hours ago, Gol15 said:

I wouldn't trust T.Silva, Jorginho and Alonso so I hope they won't be in the starting lineup.

Surprised some fans have Silva back in the team. We got past Atletico without him, that defence continues IMO

25 minutes ago, ducavis said:

Surprised some fans have Silva back in the team. We got past Atletico without him, that defence continues IMO

I think with Silva's suspension for the next league game he may start Wednesday due to a short turnaround time between the league game and the 2nd leg. If Silva were to be dropped and we suffered and injury to Rudi or Christensen we may be short a genuine CB for the weekend.

Plus as poor as Silva was on the weekend I think he is experienced enough to bounce back, I remember his poor showing against WBA earlier in the season where after the game he was immaculate for a number of games.

1 hour ago, Bob stark said:

Mount + Kova is going to be disaster. Kova can't play as holder, and you don't want Mount to play very deep either so you have to play either Gilmour, james or Chris. But with very2 short turnaround since wba game, I'll be surprised if Tuchel elect to do so. You probably will see jogavic in the middle again. 

Why? Every confidence mount could do a very good impression of Kante, he has the energy for it.

James is a tank and excelled there for Wigan. No reason to start Jorgi.

6 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

Why? Every confidence mount could do a very good impression of Kante, he has the energy for it.

James is a tank and excelled there for Wigan. No reason to start Jorgi.

Not to forget we have 3 CB's behind our double pivot in case Mount and Kova are caught high up the pitch.

6 minutes ago, Imran_CFC said:

I think with Silva's suspension for the next league game he may start Wednesday due to a short turnaround time between the league game and the 2nd leg. If Silva were to be dropped and we suffered and injury to Rudi or Christensen we may be short a genuine CB for the weekend.

Plus as poor as Silva was on the weekend I think he is experienced enough to bounce back, I remember his poor showing against WBA earlier in the season where after the game he was immaculate for a number of games.

He had 2 bad games vs West Brom now and while he was absent we played well with Dave,Christensen and Rudiger so we don't lose much by having him on the bench.

I would be fine with that backline and with Gilmour and Kovacic in the midfield. I know that he kept Rudiger even after he scored an own goal but the way T.Silva,Jorginho, Zouma and Alonso played was simply not good enough and there is no Kepa to take the blame either.

2 minutes ago, Imran_CFC said:

Not to forget we have 3 CB's behind our double pivot in case Mount and Kova are caught high up the pitch.

So long 1 of those 3 is not Luiz Zouma otherwise the 3 becomes a 2 like for the WBA first goal.

1 minute ago, Gol15 said:

He had 2 bad games vs West Brom now and while he was absent we played well with Dave,Christensen and Rudiger so we don't lose much by having him on the bench.

I would be fine with that backline and with Gilmour and Kovacic in the midfield. I know that he kept Rudiger even after he scored an own goal but the way T.Silva,Jorginho, Zouma and Alonso played was simply not good enough and there is no Kepa to take the blame either.

Mendy was not good enough either.

Gilmour is not traveling with the team.

1 hour ago, just said:

Not what any of us wanted to hear but it is what is. Perhaps start with Jorginho and then after 4 or 5 minutes bring on Kante?

Kante on crutches is still quicker than Jorgi boy.

Sounds like the sensible thing to do to me.

20 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

Why? Every confidence mount could do a very good impression of Kante, he has the energy for it.

James is a tank and excelled there for Wigan. No reason to start Jorgi.

Mount barely play as double pivot. I remember he looked absolutely lost for 15/20 min against Leicester playing this role. Plus it mean that kova is playing as 100% holder which negate his strength. 

Reece is an interesting option, but again he hasn't played there since his wigan day.

 

32 minutes ago, Bob stark said:

Mount barely play as double pivot. I remember he looked absolutely lost for 15/20 min against Leicester playing this role. Plus it mean that kova is playing as 100% holder which negate his strength. 

Reece is an interesting option, but again he hasn't played there since his wigan day.

 

Fair point.

 

Given I would not expect Kante to feature at Palace snd TT saying Kante feels "quite comfortable" think we should risk starting him and set ourselves up to go for goals.

 

Kepa

 

James

Rudiger

Silva

Chilwell

 

Kante

Kovacic

 

CHO

Havertz

Mount

 

Giroud

 

2 hours ago, just said:

Not what any of us wanted to hear but it is what is. Perhaps start with Jorginho and then after 4 or 5 minutes bring on Kante?

Kante on crutches is still quicker than Jorgi boy.

Don't be so ridiculous..5 minutes, thats far too long.

After the draw for the CL that gave us 2 games porto > then 2 games against winners of lpool/ real Madrid i was seeing a possible path to the CL final.

This was due to our only letting in 2 goals since TT took over and no defeats . For sure chelsea was not scoring bucket loads of goals ,but we was getting 3 or 1 point game in game out .

Then we played WBA and that display has me now asking questions about our top 4 finish and path to CL final .A team worth its salt in top 4 of any League dont Get di ck ed 2-5 at Home by a team that is relegation fodder . ( real Madrid just gone 1-0 up ) . 
 

another thing that has set alarm bells going off in my head is which t w a t (s) at CFC released the fight between kepa / rudiger after the wba defeat to many media outlets ?  Whoever they or him/ her are want throwing out of the club asap . Getting sick to my back teeth of CFC having this issue of player(s) leaking bad stuff to the press ,which inturn has allways ended up with sacking  of the manager . Maybe its not a player(s) that leaked to the press but it needs to be stopped as i type .

Having watched first half of real - liverpool, Liverpool looked dreadful and Real miles better than they did earlier this season- like a different side. Things can always change of course but as things stand, two thoughts : 1) it casts doubt on the narrative  that Liverpool have turned a corner (implications for PL?); and 2) hard to see Real not getting to the final.

1 hour ago, Dean said:

Having watched first half of real - liverpool, Liverpool looked dreadful and Real miles better than they did earlier this season- like a different side. Things can always change of course but as things stand, two thoughts : 1) it casts doubt on the narrative  that Liverpool have turned a corner (implications for PL?); and 2) hard to see Real not getting to the final.

Not the first time that Real just decided to show up in CL either. It's a tough season so maybe they won't have the sheer amount of energy to match Kante and Mount, if we pass Porto that is... But yea, they look really comfortable.

5 minutes ago, Gol15 said:

Not the first time that Real just decided to show up in CL either. It's a tough season so maybe they won't have the sheer amount of energy to match Kante and Mount, if we pass Porto that is... But yea, they look really comfortable.

They do. I’d much rather face Liverpool tbh as far as our chances of winning that particular fixture go. That said, we don’t have a hope in hell of winning the CL this year anyway, so with that in mind - if we got past Porto (which don’t get me wrong is a big IF), losing to Real in the semis would probably better than losing in the final. I hate same country CL fixtures and a semi vs Real would just be by far the more appealing prospect.