City vs Chelsea pre-match thread

Status
Not open for further replies.
Bewar3them00n said:
If we can give another Barca level performance, we could well blitz Chelsea in the same manner.
Pep will indeed do his homework prior to this game.
Click to expand...
Conte is one of the best managers tactically. Doubt he'll leave his team exposed like Luis Enrique did.
 
We have one massive advantage: we can be 95% sure of exactly who will play and how they'll set up. Pep's biggest asset is the ability to analyse a team and figure out how to tactically destroy them.
I think Fernandinho and Fernando both need to play. The main reason for this is that they have a similar set-up in an energetic, ball winning passer and a strong, defensive player in midfield. We can counter that with our own counterparts in the City team. Fernando also has to double up and deal with Moses- we can't give the wing-backs the kind of space that Tottenham did. Cahill is someone I'm looking at who might suffer under the press, so Aguero in particular needs to be looking to pressurise him. I would start Navas in front of Sagna on the right in order to deal with Hazard's pace. Navas may not be popular but his defensive contribution is undeniable and I for one think he's more likely on current form to play well than Sterling, who's looked badly out of sorts lately. Otamendi and Stones need to work hard against Costa- if they can shut him down for the opening 30 minutes then maybe they can frustrate him into a booking, meaning he'll be forced to stay careful from then on. Normally I'd suggest Clichy would deal better with Pedro but Clichy's been dreadful recently so I think we need to play Kolarov.
I think De Bruyne has to play because he seems to be able to regularly get assists no matter how well he plays. Next to him I'd start with Silva because I'm not convinced Matic has the ability to mark Silva out of the game. Aguero has to start up front, obviously.

Bravo
Sagna Stones Otamendi Kolarov
Fernandinho Fernando
Navas De Bruyne Silva
Aguero

Caballero, Zabaleta, Clichy, Nolito, Sterling, Sané, Iheanacho

2-1 City, a ground out result not dissimilar to the United game.
 
MarsLlama said:
We have one massive advantage: we can be 95% sure of exactly who will play and how they'll set up. Pep's biggest asset is the ability to analyse a team and figure out how to tactically destroy them.
I think Fernandinho and Fernando both need to play. The main reason for this is that they have a similar set-up in an energetic, ball winning passer and a strong, defensive player in midfield. We can counter that with our own counterparts in the City team. Fernando also has to double up and deal with Moses- we can't give the wing-backs the kind of space that Tottenham did. Cahill is someone I'm looking at who might suffer under the press, so Aguero in particular needs to be looking to pressurise him. I would start Navas in front of Sagna on the right in order to deal with Hazard's pace. Navas may not be popular but his defensive contribution is undeniable and I for one think he's more likely on current form to play well than Sterling, who's looked badly out of sorts lately. Otamendi and Stones need to work hard against Costa- if they can shut him down for the opening 30 minutes then maybe they can frustrate him into a booking, meaning he'll be forced to stay careful from then on. Normally I'd suggest Clichy would deal better with Pedro but Clichy's been dreadful recently so I think we need to play Kolarov.
I think De Bruyne has to play because he seems to be able to regularly get assists no matter how well he plays. Next to him I'd start with Silva because I'm not convinced Matic has the ability to mark Silva out of the game. Aguero has to start up front, obviously.

Bravo
Sagna Stones Otamendi Kolarov
Fernandinho Fernando
Navas De Bruyne Silva
Aguero

Caballero, Zabaleta, Clichy, Nolito, Sterling, Sané, Iheanacho

2-1 City, a ground out result not dissimilar to the United game.
Click to expand...

Where is Gundogan ? - not even on your bench.....
 
How many Chelsea players would we want in our City team?
Hazzard - yes. Courtois - yes. Anyone else ..?
 
Surprised people seem to think Pep will play this one defensively, when all signs point to Chelsea being suspect against a team employing high pressing and fast-paced attacking football. How he can get that out of his squad, is another issue, but I'd honestly be surprised to see Fernando start even though he's been rock solid of late.

MarsLlama said:
Forgot him tbh, chuck him in for Sterling.
Click to expand...

FWIW, I think it's safe to assume the players rested on Saturday won't be starting on the bench.

Bluep*ss said:
How many Chelsea players would we want in our City team?
Hazzard - yes. Courtois - yes. Anyone else ..?
Click to expand...

Hazzard yes, Luiz maybe, that's about it.
 
Last edited:
Blue Hefner said:
If we play well we can pin their wing-backs and they could end up with a flat back 5

It goes without saying but we need to take our chances, do that and I can see us winning 3-0 or 3-1. Aguero is usually good for a goal against Chelsea
Click to expand...

I think they will almost certainly play with 7 men behind the ball, Costa up front and Hazard & Pedro given a degree of license.
 
Bluep*ss said:
How many Chelsea players would we want in our City team?
Hazzard - yes. Courtois - yes. Anyone else ..?
Click to expand...
I'd have Willian or Pedro as squad players to replace Navas along with Alonso as a replacement for Clichy.
 
Bravo
Sagna Ota Stones Kolarov
Fernandinho
Sterling DeBruyne Gundogan Silva
Aguero
​
This game is massive. Win and it sets us up great for the Arsenal fixture 2 weeks later.
 
Chrisdunk said:
Conte is one of the best managers tactically. Doubt he'll leave his team exposed like Luis Enrique did.
Click to expand...

You mean like against Arsenal when they were 3-0 down prior to half time?
You simply cannot do anything tactically when man for man our key men AKA Aguero, KDB, Sterling, Silva and Fernandinho are on it to their max. Its unplayable in this league and Barca showed even the best cannot handle it but we must be perfect.
Making no false judgement here I rate Chelsea hugely under their new set up but we have the capability to kill any side on the planet if we turn up. I dont think we have turned up once since Everton besides the second half against Barca where we were nothing short of beasts to a man.

I am usually not too confident in these kind of games as Pellegrini left me with little to no hope that we were prepared, but with a full week on the training ground I truly believe we will romp it saturday. As childish as it is, law of averages says Chelsea cannot continue to win back to back to back in tight games, so I fancy us to stun them
 
Akiva said:
I watched the Spurs game and they were the better side, further I feel Boro did enough to earn something from their match with you. This is not a disparagement, on the contrary, it's fitting for potential Champions to get all three points from games when they should be getting one or none. I'm simply stating I think we are in somewhat of a similar situation.

I've seen a lot of talk on your forums, and ours, and many fans on both sides seem to be willing to accept a draw up-front. There's that level of mutual respect for the dangerous players in each squad, and the tactical prowess of both managers, which dictates that it could seriously go either way. My feeling is though, that Guardiola has a slight advantage insomuch as he knows by-and-large what to expect from Chelsea and can tailor the team around that in his first full week of training with a full squad since taking over. We'll see.

FWIW, I agree that we'd all much rather see Chelsea succeed than Arse and even more so the bin dippers.
Click to expand...

I would still disagree that we played poorly in those games, but yeah, I would agree that we weren't as fluid and dominating as we know we can be, and as you said, grinding out wins is a really good habit to develop.

I think most Chelsea fans I talk to believe we are a notch below City in terms of ability. We are riding high on momentum at the moment and there is still an air of 'teams haven't figured out how to play against us yet' about us (Spurs did, but their game management was poor), hence the current 7 match winning streak. Pep is currently the best manager in the world, and as many have pointed out, he has a whole week to prepare, so I expect you to be the better team on the day.

Beating City away is not something I expect this team to be able to do, but this whole season has been full of pleasant surprises, so we're going into this game going for the win.
 
Chelsea seem the more settled side at the moment and obviously bang in form. If whatever team we pick all play to their maximum I take us to win but we really need our players bang on it from the off.
 
What concerns me is Chelsea are strongest where we are weakest. They'll do well on the flanks and Costa will have fun with our CB's, compared to the days when Mangala would just bully him off the field.

I'm hoping we get big performances from KDB, Silva and Gundogan as if they can pass it at a good temp we could have good success at their backline.
 
We need to press with the same intensity we did against Barca. We havent come close to that level of energy since. A whole weeks rest ( i think this is why gundogan and silva didnt play at all against Burnley) should aid with that.

I predict..

Bravo
Sagna Stones Ottamendi Kolarov
Fernandino Gundogan
Sterling De Bruyne Silva
Aguero

I would choose...

Bravo
Sagna Stones Ottamendi Kolarov
Fernandino
Sterling De Bruyne Gundogan Nolito
Aguero
 
Holy balls.

This game is going to be good. Hopefully it's on TV.

Reckon it'll be a draw. 1-1
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Unread Posts

Don't have an account? Register now and see fewer ads!

SIGN UP
Back
Top