Matchday thread for the Fifa Club world cup final against European Champions PSG.

Well this is going to be one tough match.

i

Fingers and toes crossed that Caicedo (and Lavia) are available.

Chelsea being an outsider in a final against the current best team in the world.
Reminds me of 2012 and 2021.

It's going to take something very special to beat this PSG team.

Let's get it done boys!

I actually fancy our chances because we have nothing to lose here. Everybody expects PSG to rip us a new one. If we lose, then it's ok, we were massive underdogs anyway. If we win, then maybe it's the perfect push for this new project and will make a lot of people worried that maybe those at the club know what they are doing and the project actually takes a great shape.

I feel that it is important to remember that Maresca said sometime in March or April that the board did not even ask for top four in the season that's just finished. The plan was for Chelsea to get top four next season and then challenge for something major in the 2026/27 season.

This CWC Final is a bonus and we should enjoy it, no matter the result. The last major Final we played was against a City team on a roll, managed by Guardiola, with De Bruyne, Bernardo, Gundogan, Walker, Mahrez and Ruben Dias all in their absolute prime, Foden also on the back of a very good season.

Beating the CL champions will make victory even sweeter, I am weirdly confident.

The South American teams have been giving us space and we have been making use of it with some attractive attacking play but PSG will be much harder to play against.

I dream we can replicate this style of play and get a result but I have serious concerns about defence. I just don't want us to get pumped by more than two. These young players could take a while to recover from a heavy defeat.

PSG look too good. Someone give me hope that we can actually win this. Ill be there regardless.

IF we do this we can banter clubs for the next 4 years… please Chelsea get this done !!!

Great test for our lads.

An upset win would be huge for the club and the playing squad heading into the 2025/26 season.

If we keep it to 2 nil or 2-1 I will be happy. The reality here is we are facing a world class coach and we have an imitator.

We've fought the best of the best throughout the years in the cups. Prime Utd under Ferguson 2008/09, prime Inter 2009/10 under Jose, prime Barca 2011/2012 under Pep, prime City 2021/22 as well.

Hope for Caicedo and Reece to be available. This is a great measuring stick for the squad, time to test ourselves against the best of 2024/25

I feel this CWC has been tremendously helpful with getting us ready for the Champions League. It is a bit of a preview for our boys, and I expect them to be less nervy because we have beaten a CL level team such as Benfica and we will play against the CL Champions. Win or lose, the biggest win here is the experience gained for our young and talented team.

yeah extremely difficult match for sure.

There are certain things that can improve our chances against them tho. We are going to get pressured in the buildup from the back, and frankly, we just aren't good enough at that esp with Sanchez' constant brain farts.
So, we will need to be very smart at when to build from the back, and when to just hoof the ball up and fight for first or second ball. Delap may actually help here, but he needs to control the football a bit better.

The prospect of being pressurized from the get-go using a low block isn't very appealing, but it's still better than the alternative. That's why they are so hard to play against.

7 hours ago, AlexTommo said:

i

Fingers and toes crossed that Caicedo (and Lavia) are available.

If we can field this team. We can definitely win IF Maresca inspires the team right. Doubt we will have the players we need fit.

What a change for psg. Arsenal literally dominated them and now they are relentless.

Maybe President Macron will order PSG to lose the game to avoid another night of Paris riots, deaths, looting and mayhem victory celebrations ?

Edited July 10, 20251 yr by The Rising Sun
Info

Score first then hang on for dear life is the winning strategy.

If they score first and we have to come out and chase the game I fear for us.

Still, win or lose up- the BLUES !

I just don't see how we are going to win this one. I'll eat my words and then some if we somehow do though.

I just hope we can keep the score down to a respectable level and not get humbled like RM.

Edited July 10, 20251 yr by Girish

4 hours ago, acaeus said:

yeah extremely difficult match for sure.

There are certain things that can improve our chances against them tho. We are going to get pressured in the buildup from the back, and frankly, we just aren't good enough at that esp with Sanchez' constant brain farts.
So, we will need to be very smart at when to build from the back, and when to just hoof the ball up and fight for first or second ball. Delap may actually help here, but he needs to control the football a bit better.

The prospect of being pressurized from the get-go using a low block isn't very appealing, but it's still better than the alternative. That's why they are so hard to play against.

Pressed … I lost the edit. 😅

Here’s a silver lining: as long as we don’t get hammered, these types of challenges harden the players in ways which are only available to a few.

It’s a privilege, not a burden, to get to face the best of the best. While the competition itself is questionable, that’s unimportant now. We made it here while others did not.

Whilst PSG seem unbeatable, they didn't exactly thrash arsenal or villa.

Odds on we lose 4 nil. But who knows. If they don't get a fast start we've got the players who can rattle them

Low block and hit them on the counter. Do not let PSG lure the team into pressing them as Madrid did. And most importantly, the players can not follow Maresca's plan, that's the only way that we seem to have won important games lately (Betis and Forest).

Pedro

Neto - Enzo - Palmer

Caicedo - Santos

Cucu - Colwill - Chalobah - James/Gusto

I want James but it is probably going to be gusto. Honestly the team kinda pick itself. Neto is better than Madueke as lw and we need our lw to mark hakimi so can't play Nkunku here.

No chance I will consider Tosin vs psg, you want Chalobah.

11 minutes ago, Bob stark said:

Pedro

Neto - Enzo - Palmer

Caicedo - Santos

Cucu - Colwill - Chalobah - James/Gusto

I want James but it is probably going to be gusto. Honestly the team kinda pick itself. Neto is better than Madueke as lw and we need our lw to mark hakimi so can't play Nkunku here.

No chance I will consider Tosin vs psg, you want Chalobah.

If fit Bob i would probably start Lavia but look to sub in Santos or possibly even Essugo if the destroying is taking its toll on Lavia.