Chelsea (A) - Thu 5th Jan, 20:00 | Pre-Match Thread

Match Result Prediction

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Mahrez and Grealish must play. Anyone who is being difficult for whatever reason does not deserve to play until their attitude improves.
I would rather drop points than have players not putting in a shift with the right mindset. Don’t cave in pep. Let them watch from side and yap.

Only those players that want to play for city deserve the shirt. The rest can feck off.
 
ojeme said:
Folks I have a candid question and please pardon my ignorance:

Is it a tactical taboo to have Foden, Haaland and Alvarez in the same starting line up?
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I feel like pep thinks this is sacrificing too much control. Maybe it has something to do with the balance of the rest of the team and the full back situation too. Personally I agree that is our strongest front 3 but I'm really trying to understand peps lofic
 
Key game this. A win could really revitalise us. A loss and morale could slump.
 
It's alright stomping and screaming for him, him & him to start but its all about game management chaps. Games coming thick and fast - a game every 3/4 days more or less in Jan. Undone by a wonder goal on Saturday, trust Pep on this one, he knows his best 11
 
M16 citeh said:
I feel like pep thinks this is sacrificing too much control. Maybe it has something to do with the balance of the rest of the team and the full back situation too. Personally I agree that is our strongest front 3 but I'm really trying to understand peps lofic
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It sounds like our strongest front three on paper, but I don't think we've seen it enough to comment one way or another with any certainty. And I do suspect that front three could get caught in the end-to-end thrillers Pep is trying to stop.

I personally quite like the idea of the 4-2-3-1 with Alvarez playing just off Haaland's shoulder, and Grealish and Foden playing behind Haaland in the front, but we are into football manager territory there and would sacrifice Kev and potentially Bernie to do it.
 
Huge run of difficult games and cup ties coming up, time to start the season properly. We could go on a run that puts pressure on Arsenal, or we could be out of it. Defensively we have to be better, and that starts with more intensity up top. Foden, Haaland and Alvarez the front three to make this happen.
 
Brightwell Bros. said:
It sounds like our strongest front three on paper, but I don't think we've seen it enough to comment one way or another with any certainty. And I do suspect that front three could get caught in the end-to-end thrillers Pep is trying to stop.

I personally quite like the idea of the 4-2-3-1 with Alvarez playing just off Haaland's shoulder, and Grealish and Foden playing behind Haaland in the front, but we are into football manager territory there and would sacrifice Kev and potentially Bernie to do it.
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Completely forgot about that formation similar to the forest game this season? I agree that he has to find a way to start Alvarez... Foden and grealish on the same pitch also intrigues me. It is ridiculous to think of not playing kev but it is interesting to think how the balance would change if we weren't so reliant on him - a very privileged dilemma!!
 
M16 citeh said:
I feel like pep thinks this is sacrificing too much control. Maybe it has something to do with the balance of the rest of the team and the full back situation too. Personally I agree that is our strongest front 3 but I'm really trying to understand peps lofic
Click to expand...

We just need to defend properly. It's far too easy for the opposition to score. It's coming from a lack of communication and poor defending. No one seems to be spotting the danger and picking up a man. We dominated Liverpool in the league cup yet they scored from incredibly easy football. A simple pass and not picking up the movement. The Everton goal came from giving it away in their half, Gray then gets it and run the length of our half, stops, turns, slips and still scores. We had plenty of cover yet no one was communicating. Akanji should have been covering Gray and blocking the ball, but falls for the overlapping run. Stones and Rodri had gone into the box to cover that space and could have covered a ball into the middle. Lewis followed his man thinking Akanji had Gray covered. If someone was shouting it would help. Stones probably should be calling to Akanji to take the man, as he could see the runner and come across to block. Chopping and changing defence doesn't help, but we're making too many errors in general and then defending in such an amateur manner. Look how bad it is on the screenshots, no way should they score here. Chelsea can't score for shit so we'll know if it's still an issue if they do!
 

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M16 citeh said:
Completely forgot about that formation similar to the forest game this season? I agree that he has to find a way to start Alvarez... Foden and grealish on the same pitch also intrigues me. It is ridiculous to think of not playing kev but it is interesting to think how the balance would change if we weren't so reliant on him - a very privileged dilemma!!
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Yes, exactly! Though Forest are difficult to measure against, and we still gave up some chances, and Walker/Cancelo might be more improtant than Alvarez, I do think breaking up the Kev/Haaland reliance is probably important for us for the rest of the season.
 
supercity88 said:
We just need to defend properly. It's far too easy for the opposition to score. It's coming from a lack of communication and poor defending. No one seems to be spotting the danger and picking up a man. We dominated Liverpool in the league cup yet they scored from incredibly easy football. A simple pass and not picking up the movement. The Everton goal came from giving it away in their half, Gray then gets it and run the length of our half, stops, turns, slips and still scores. We had plenty of cover yet no one was communicating. Akanji should have been covering Gray and blocking the ball, but falls for the overlapping run. Stones and Rodri had gone into the box to cover that space and could have covered a ball into the middle. Lewis followed his man thinking Akanji had Gray covered. If someone was shouting it would help. Stones probably should be calling to Akanji to take the man, as he could see the runner and come across to block. Chopping and changing defence doesn't help, but we're making too many errors in general and then defending in such an amateur manner. Look how bad it is on the screenshots, no way should they score here. Chelsea can't score for shit so we'll know if it's still an issue if they do!
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Chelsea can't score for shit, until they play us of course
 
Sibierskii said:
It's alright stomping and screaming for him, him & him to start but its all about game management chaps. Games coming thick and fast - a game every 3/4 days more or less in Jan. Undone by a wonder goal on Saturday, trust Pep on this one, he knows his best 11
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We weren't undone by a wonder goal,we were undone by playing poorly, and not being able to put the game to bed after going 1 0 up at home to a poor Everton side
 
Mariosfireworks said:
We weren't undone by a wonder goal,we were undone by playing poorly, and not being able to put the game to bed after going 1 0 up at home to a poor Everton side
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...and if he doesn't stanch it into the top corner we win 1-0 ugly. Champions performance etc.
 
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