Chelsea (h) pre-match thread

[Vialli98]

Pulisic has returned to training. Hudson-Odoi has a hamstring injury

So Mount moves up to wide forward then, alongside Abraham and Willian, so Kovacic, Kante and Jorginho can play together in the middle. Not his best position tbh.

 

[willipp]

Frank Lampard on #ManCity: "I had a great year at City, I go there with nothing but good feelings. But I am Chelsea manager and I want to win. I see them with the same strength. They have had their issues with injury problems."

Never heard him say a bad thing about his time at City. Ive got a lot of time for Frank, just not tomorrow.

 

[Gray]

Should be a better game than some of the recent ones as Chelsea will not just sit back and defend.

 

[aka blue jambo]

A decent 2 goal win to make up for hotels being extortionate tomorrow night
Scottish takeover of manchester both Lewis Capaldi and Rod Stewart playing gigs :(

 

[Vialli98]

So Mount moves up to wide forward then, alongside Abraham and Willian, so Kovacic, Kante and Jorginho can play together in the middle. Not his best position tbh.

Or Lampard could try the system he went with vs Lille and go with 3-4-3 with Emerson and James as the marauding full backs, which would be quite interesting tbh. I like the idea of Lampard throwing Pep a curve ball like that.

 

[SebastianBlue]

Recent interview with Nico regarding our mentality going in to the match against Chelsea.

His English has really come on as of late.

 

[ninjamonkey]

Or Lampard could try the system he went with vs Lille and go with 3-4-3 with Emerson and James as the marauding full backs, which would be quite interesting tbh. I like the idea of Lampard throwing Pep a curve ball like that.

I’m not sure why more don’t do this against us, if it’s done well we always struggle against it. it tightens the spaces we like to play in around the edges of the box on the shoulder of the fullback and only really leaves you vulnerable out wide and on the counter. given that we only have sterling for any genuine width or pace in the side and we rarely put balls In to the box for a waiting lone 5ft nothing Aguero being marked by 3 giant cb’s it’s something I expected us to face a lot more this season as soon as we lost Sané.

 

[Goater=Legend]

Would be nice to actually be clinical up front instead of needing about 5 chances

 

[SebastianBlue]

I’m not sure why more don’t do this against us, if it’s done well we always struggle against it. it tightens the spaces we like to play in around the edges of the box on the shoulder of the fullback and only really leaves you vulnerable out wide and on the counter. given that we only have sterling for any genuine width or pace in the side and we rarely put balls In to the box for a waiting lone 5ft nothing Aguero being marked by 3 giant cb’s it’s something I expected us to face a lot more this season as soon as we lost Sané.

I think the reason most teams do not try it is that, as you said, it leaves them vulnerable on the wings, but also in midfield attacking channels, as very often defending in that formation requires the left and right CBs to split to cover wingers or overlapping fullbacks attacking the open space, leaving the centre CB to cover onrushing midfielders for the cutback or give-and-go pass with those wingers/fullbacks, forcing the defending team’s midfielders to run back to their own goal to cover the space, which can lead to some desperate (potentially calamitous) scenarios. And those types of attacking sequences (wingers attacking the box, midfielders presenting for cutback, ball across the box for a tap-in) are our bread and butter, so if your wingbacks and midfielders are not constantly aware and proactive, it plays right in to our tactics. It’s a high risk, low reward approach most of the time. If we didn’t have Sterling, Sane, Bernardo (mostly) and Mahrez on the wings and Kev, David, and Rodri in midfield (some of the best players in the world for that winger thrust, late midfielder run and shot/chance creation scenario), more teams would do it, though, as it would then be more an equal risk and reward proposition.

When it is employed against us, and is successful, it is usually because we missed about 10 sitters in the first 75 minutes and it is difficult for opposing managers to justify employing that system in their game against us based on the hope that we will do that. Especially when you see it work (based on the aforementioned profligacy in front of goal), then see the next team we play try something similar and get hammered.

 

[Millwallawayveteran1988]

Anyone know if Regent Road/Manc way roadworks are complete yet? I haven’t driven for ages but may do tomorrow