Chelsea (H) | Pre-Match Thread

  • Thread starter Thread starter MAG
  • Start date Start date

Result Prediction

  • Total voters
    568
Status
Not open for further replies.
We should line-up with the strongest side possible. Sure Tuchel will be able to get an idea of our tactics against them in the game - but it is not a one-off winner takes all. And he has got three more games after this weekend to watch us on video - same as Pep will be watching them in their games.
Also, Pep will be able to see how their defence lines up against our attackers - that will give him more clues on how to overcome them in the final.
 
Last edited:
The more I think about this match, the more I think that City need to go as strong as possible.

Chelsea are under pressure from West Ham, Spurs, and the Dippers for the Champions League place. They are three points ahead of West Ham, five ahead of Spurs and seven ahead of Liverpool, who have an extra match.

Lose to City and West Ham could be breathing down their neck. After playing City, Chelsea face Arsenal, Leicester twice (once in the FA Cup), and Villa before the CL Final. Lose to City and they will be forced to go strong every match. West Ham have a considerably easier run-in with Everton, Brighton, West Brom and Southampton.

If City play silly buggers with a weakened team v Chelsea, will potentially take the pressure off them. That might allow them to rotate in their last two matches.
 
Tricky_Trev said:
To me it makes absolutely zero sense to give them a practice run at playing our best team. Save that for the final. Tuchel is a smart coach, he would learn too much from it. Wheel out Mendy and co. 8+ changes please. Play the 44 fucking 2 that faced Palace, absolutely nothing like what will face them in the final. I want the team to be as far away from that side as is imaginable, both in personnel and in tactics.
Click to expand...
Can’t really argue with that approach. Makes sense but I’d like to see us wrap the title up way before the final. However if Pep does what you say takes a gamble and we win, that would be perfect.
 
So many pros and cons for playing a full strength side against Chelsea. On the bright side, winning this game wraps up the league for us and mounts pressure on Chelsea to win their remaining league games before the CL final. This will allow us to rotate and keep everyone fresh while they will be required to keep playing their strongest side in the remaining league games to secure a top four finish and qualify for CL next season.

Important to note that the winners of the CL Final automatically qualify for next seasons CL group stages and undoubtedly this will be on Chelsea’s mind (i.e. they won’t need to finish in the top four if they manage to win the CL Final). The thought of that alone makes me sick.

My point is, they have a way of qualifying for CL next seasons CL without finishing in the top four, although they wouldn’t want to leave it that late to qualify.

Playing a strong side against Chelsea risks us losing key players to injury. Nonetheless, we need to keep our players match fit through rotation in and out until the end of the season. I think Aguero starting against Chelsea is a no brainer. Played well against Palace and for his service to the club over the years, he needs to be given the chance to score two more goals and become the player with the most PL goals for a single club.

He deserves nothing less than that record and a CL trophy for his service to the club and the fans. Come on City!!
 
Many, many years ago when a team won an FA Cup semi final and then rested players or the players didn't play hard because they didn't want to get an injury they usually ended up bombing out in the final. Players going into a final with wins under their belts boosts their confidence.
Whatever any of us want Pep will be Pep and he will put out teams for the remaining league games that he thinks will not only win those games but also minimise the risk of key players losing match sharpness before the final.
In Pep I trust..
 
Bluemoonadam said:
Wouldn't 5th be enough for Chelsea to get champions league now because it's an all English final?
Click to expand...
Yes very likely. But Chelsea are currently 4th with teams within striking distance of them, meaning they cannot risk dropping pts. On top of that they have a cup final to play against Leicester, which will be another difficult and tiring game.
If we can beat Chelsea this weekend it just adds to the pressure for them. That could easily generate injuries with 5 games to play including the Cup final in 3 weeks. Maybe losing the cup semi final wasn’t such a bad thing even though it pisses us all off.
 
BLUEMATT23 said:
Cannot understand people saying make loads of changes.
Win this game then we can rotate all we want until Istanbul
Click to expand...
Tactical reasons for the final. Don’t show our hand against them too early. Don’t give them the opportunity to learn how their system works v our best team (or how it doesn’t). Don’t let them see which individual match ups work in reality. Just don’t give them all this information that they can then turn against us when it REALLY matters. There’s no need for it. Let them have to adjust at half time in the final when they are already behind, as opposed to making the adjustments pre-match with what they learnt this weekend.

Then focus on keeping the key players ticking over in the other remaining league games.
 
If Chelsea win the FA cup and CL it would completely undermine our own achievements of a league cup and Premiership title double, just like, Liverpool's CL win undermined our domestic success a couple of seasons ago.

The reason Chelsea knocked us out of the FA cup is we made 8 changes. When we brought our regular first team players on we dominated but they were already ahead and have a strong defence it was too late. That win albeit against a weakened team will have given them confidence. We must play a strong enough team to win. We must reassert our dominance. We don't want to boost their confidence a second time.
 
ninjamonkey said:
Get what your saying but Pep is an overthinker, he will want every tiny advantage possible. Not giving them a chance of a psychological boost and not giving Tuchel any experience of playing against our best side before a potential final are two key factors
Click to expand...
I think you are over thinking it. We need to field a strong team, beat them and fuck their condfidence before the CL final. If worst comes to the worst and they do well against our strongest side, it gives Pep more time to think about his tactics
 
Play strongest team possible and play the same tactics as against PSG, be a solid unit and deny them space, we will grab a couple of goals and hopefully keep a clean sheet.
 
Tricky_Trev said:
Tactical reasons for the final. Don’t show our hand against them too early. Don’t give them the opportunity to learn how their system works v our best team (or how it doesn’t). Don’t let them see which individual match ups work in reality. Just don’t give them all this information that they can then turn against us when it REALLY matters. There’s no need for it. Let them have to adjust at half time in the final when they are already behind, as opposed to making the adjustments pre-match with what they learnt this weekend.

Then focus on keeping the key players ticking over in the other remaining league games.
Click to expand...
IMO We should put out our strongest side on Saturday and thrash them soundly so that he engraver can get to work on the PL trophy.
I want them to experience how we play at our best, have them learn all about us, have them learn that we’re a better side than them, have them learn that we’re going to thrash them in the CL final.

All than talk of engineering a weaker performance than would be possible, to ‘hide our hand’, is crazy, because the last time we played them we got beat and if that happens again tomorrow then they’ll be going into the final full of confidence while we’ll be dreading getting beaten by them 3 times on the trot.

Let’s go full strength, blow them away and show them who's the Daddy!
 
OccupiedPalestineBlues said:
IMO We should put out our strongest side on Saturday and thrash them soundly so that he engraver can get to work on the PL trophy.
I want them to experience how we play at our best, have them learn all about us, have them learn that we’re a better side than them, have them learn that we’re going to thrash them in the CL final.

All than talk of engineering a weaker performance than would be possible, to ‘hide our hand’, is crazy, because the last time we played them we got beat and if that happens again tomorrow then they’ll be going into the final full of confidence while we’ll be dreading getting beaten by them 3 times on the trot.

Let’s go full strength, blow them away and show them who's the Daddy!
Click to expand...
It’s not crazy though. We beat them 6-0 in the league once. Then just 2 weeks later we drew 0-0 with them in the League Cup Final and had to rely on pens. SIX. NIL. What happened to them “learning we will thrash them again”? They learned from it and nearly beat us. And they are a better team with a better manager now.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Unread Posts

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

SIGN UP
Back
Top