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

[salford blue 62]

Boys and girls,how many times have we won the league in the last five years?
Just chill and enjoy what we are now compared to the hope

 

[Gone for a Burton]

Well we have played 16 games in the league and have 44 goals…

Last season after 16 games we had 33 goals. So we are scoring more now, quite a few more in fact. So I’m not sure where you’re getting that idea from.

We are only actually 2 points behind where we were after 16 games last year

So we’re pretty much on par with what we were doing last year at this stage, just a couple of points less but more goals

The only difference last season is there wasn’t a front runner like Arsenal.

People need to stop pissing their pants. We’ve had a couple of results that should’ve been wins but we did last season too and we ended up winning the league. There’s absolutely no reason why we can’t chase Arsenal down.

Like I said, we’re pretty much where we were after 16 games last season, so now we just need to put a good run together, which we will, I’m sure.

 

[Gone for a Burton]

90% agreed apart from "a couple of games we should have won"

IMO we've NOT deserved to get more from the the games where we've dropped points, all of which were agin teams below us in the table.

Additionally, we needed rescue acts to win two games from behind at home.

Generaly, we've not hit our straps so far and there's little or no margin for error.

We need all our elite players to now be firing at 100% and a settled first 11 for the PL games

 

[Blueknows]

Alvarez and Phil in for Jack and Riyad please

 

[Tolmie scores]

Well we have played 16 games in the league and have 44 goals…

Last season after 16 games we had 33 goals. So we are scoring more now, quite a few more in fact. So I’m not sure where you’re getting that idea from.

We are only actually 2 points behind where we were after 16 games last year

So we’re pretty much on par with what we were doing last year at this stage, just a couple of points less but more goals

The only difference last season is there wasn’t a front runner like Arsenal.

People need to stop pissing their pants. We’ve had a couple of results that should’ve been wins but we did last season too and we ended up winning the league. There’s absolutely no reason why we can’t chase Arsenal down.

Like I said, we’re pretty much where we were after 16 games last season, so now we just need to put a good run together, which we will, I’m sure.

Not panicking i just don't think a traditional CF suits us really - i mean Haaland is likely to get injured at some point, he has a history of long lay off's. You can't expect us to revert to the old pattern of deep lying midfielders to attack the box at the right time as we have in prev seasons. Takes some work getting those patterns of play going. Just think in the long run may not be the best way to play for us (having a CF). Hope i'm wrong..I am a big Haaland fan though of course, his attitude is refreshing one of the most confident and hungry players we have ever had.. Trevor Francis on par re confidence. If we had the right manager TF would have saved us from the dross and driven us on, our recent history could have been very different

 

[OccupiedPalestineBlues]

Alvarez and Phil in for Jack and Riyad please

IMO that’d narrow our play, take out 2 of our safest ball keepers and inject a load of exciting / direct but less controlled play.
I wouldn’t mind seeing that myself but suspect that it would be the recipe for plunging possession stats and a far more open / end to end game - maybe that’s what we need to make the most of Haaland?

 

[Bluemoon has risen]

I think some people are overly panicking at this stage. I'm seeing allsorts of videos on twitter showing old clips of how good our football was back in 17/18 etc, conveniently forgetting the football we played earlier in the season, especially in that period around the Derby where we stuck 5 on Copenhagen, 6 on Man Utd and 4 on Southampton.

I think since the game at Anfield our form has took a dip which has also coincided with some injuries and a downturn in form of some of our players too.

I think we need to go back to what we know works and try to grind out some results and keep up the chase. Arsenal are in incredible form right now and they're able to pick the same back 4, same midfield and bar Jesus, the same front 3. Who knows what will happen too their formcshould they suffer some key injuries or we close the gap to put pressure on later down the track. One thing we can't allow is to go 10-13pts behind. We need to try to be in touching distance come our 1st meeting in Feb to make it a pressure game for them.

Personally would stick Walker and Cancelo back in and pick either Stones and Ake or Stones and Laporte (if fit) at the back. Think we need Foden in one of the wide positions too. Would personally go with Foden and Alvarez but think we need at least one up there to give us energy and press in the front 3.

 

[Tb1981]

Feels to me like pep is trying to manage the squad over Christmas and probably plans stronger sides for the Chelsea united amd spurs league games while rotating for the cups
Just fell a bit short against Everton
We need to really go big over next 6 games
If we was to win the next 6 we would be unstoppable
Foden, walker, cancelo and Bernardo have to start these big games

 

[richards30]

Ederson
Walker
Stones
Laporte
Cancelo
Rodri
De Bruyne
Gundogan
Alvarez
Foden
Haaland

 

[Fordyboy46]

Feels to me like pep is trying to manage the squad over Christmas and probably plans stronger sides for the Chelsea united amd spurs league games while rotating for the cups
Just fell a bit short against Everton
We need to really go big over next 6 games
If we was to win the next 6 we would be unstoppable
Foden, walker, cancelo and Bernardo have to start these big games

Agree with the first three names, but Bernardo really needs a kick up the arse, absolutely nothing is coming from him , no assists or goals for quite a while