Chelsea (H) - Sat 15th Jan, 12:30 | Pre-Match Thread

[Cotton Weave Blue]

We probably have a similar number out to what we had v Swindon. Maybe 1 more available. It seems like 2 or 3 back but 2 others out. I worry that Ederson might be one that’s still in isolation. That will hurt our build up so much.

That would be the killer, need his line breaking passes against the best teams

 

[Eds]

We had seven out for Swindon including Wilson Esbrand and Ferny neither who would have probably started against Chelsea. Ferny would have been on the bench though. We know Sterling is back and possibly Foden so that leaves Grealish, Zinny and Ederson plus two possible additional players. Can cope without Grealish and Zinny but Ederson would be a huge loss although Steffen is an excellent back up and is better than Kepa in their goal. Have to hope it isn't Dias and Bernie who are the extra two to have caught it. Should have enough to win though.

 

[kaz7]

Apparently we haven’t got covid, even though we’ve 6 or 7 players out with it and they have 1. They love a whinge these German managers.

Him and bingo love getting in their excuses

 

[tolmie's hairdoo]

............. EDDIE..........
WALKER....DIAS...LAPORTE...CANCELO
............... RODRI........
..........BERNARDO...FODEN...
JESUS......KEV.......STERLING

My only doubt would be if Gundo is in the middle three and one of Sterling or Jesus misses out for Phil.

 

[waspish]

............. EDDIE..........
WALKER....DIAS...LAPORTE...CANCELO
............... RODRI........
..........BERNARDO...FODEN...
JESUS......KEV.......STERLING

My only doubt would be if Gundo is in the middle three and one of Sterling or Jesus misses out for Phil.

Good team rather have Jesus on the left and Sterling on the right

 

[Alan Harper's Tash]

Are we really that different than City fans or other fanbases in that regard? I'd like to think our knuckleheads are no worse or bigger in number than your knuckleheads.

 

[tolmie's hairdoo]

Good team rather have Jesus on the left and Sterling on the right

Yep, probably suits Sterling better.

Just need the legs and maintain control of the ball, which is why I'm not certain if Pep might chuck one of Gundo or Grealish into the mix at the expense of Sterling.

 

[Tricky_Trev]

We had seven out for Swindon including Wilson Esbrand and Ferny neither who would have probably started against Chelsea. Ferny would have been on the bench though. We know Sterling is back and possibly Foden so that leaves Grealish, Zinny and Ederson plus two possible additional players. Can cope without Grealish and Zinny but Ederson would be a huge loss although Steffen is an excellent back up and is better than Kepa in their goal. Have to hope it isn't Dias and Bernie who are the extra two to have caught it. Should have enough to win though.

If it’s 2 senior players that are the new cases, unless someone has got it for a second time (totally possible of course), who are we left with as possibilities? These were the 12 senior players available v Swindon:

Steffen - Already had it
Walker - Already had it
Dias -
Ake -
Cancelo - Already had it, but back in summer last year
Rodri - Already had it
Gundogan - Already had it but back in 2020
De Bruyne - Already had it
Bernardo -
Jesus - Had it in Dec 2020
Laporte - Had it in Aug 2021
Carson - Had it in Jan 2021

Obviously there’s nothing scientific here, and people can get covid multiple times, as Ederson has done. But as far as I’m aware, only Ake, Dias and Bernardo have NEVER had it out of the 12 available in the last game. So… they’re due, you could say.

 

[alexmcity]

Close to perfection? Not quite.

Pep basically gave you the game in the CL final by overthinking it. Every blue i know thought his team selection and formation was bizarre. Had he played the team that quite easily disposed of PSG both legs i think old big ears would have sky blue ribbons on it now in our trophy room. I bet you Chelsea fans thought the same when reading through our line up?

Basically, fans knew better than Pep the team that should have played? I very much doubt it.

This overthinking stuff is blown out of proportion and is a daft and tiring cliché now. Fans should accept that nothing guarantees success in a single game, especially in a CL final. People notice Pep's "experiments" only when they fail. They forget that Pep won the league with 100 pts by experimenting with a midfielder at LB, and then beat Liverpool to the title with another midfielder at LB, and then won another title by experimenting with Gundogan at false 9. If fans were told before the start of the season that Pep would try to win the league with Gundogan as a false 9, they'd have said that's the silliest thing they have ever heard. But the silliest thing worked to perfection! Pep's been experimenting all the time. Pep would be a flop if he wasn't Pep.

All this nonsense about Pep overthinking things should stop. It's embarrassing now.

 

[kaz7]

Pep is back

Pep Guardiola on #ManCity's Covid-19 latest: "Some people are coming, some are positive again. When you test once, twice, negative you come back. Otherwise not. It happened in all the clubs. We have some new cases, they want privacy so I can't say." [via
@_joebray

Pep Guardiola has confirmed #ManCity have new Covid-19 cases within the first-team squad from those that were confirmed before Swindon