City vs Chelsea pre-match thread

[TFC]

I'm worried about Costa in this one. He'll relish trying to bully Stones/Otamendi whereas Kompany and Mangala were just too much.

He's also scoring a lot this year and will be difficult keeping him quiet.

+1, seems to struggle against CB's who give as much as he does. One of those games I'd consider Kolarov as a centre half, he'll have a field day bullying the other two.

 

[citymad]

Conte has them well organized and they've conceded just one goal. Thats a big worry. The midfield will be a huge battleground but ultimately i think Kante will be a spoiler for them and we'll struggle to get some rhythm. Costa will wind up Otamendi so I'll be surprised if theres not a number of yellow cards produced. In the end I'll be delighted with a win or a draw but form is predicting Chelsea will win this one.

 

[mosssideblue]

Yes, Navas tracks back. But when Chelsea break quickly after intercepting one of his ineffective crosses, he's not going to get back quickly enough before the ball reaches Hazard in our half. He's nearly always more effective in home games as a 2nd half sub.

So who would you play as Sterling is equally as capable of losing possession

 

[Manchester33]

As long as we have Silva, KDB and Aguero on the pitch I'm confident. I think we're giving them too much credit - they're on form and getting results, but hardly blitzing anyone. We've dominated every game other than Barca away this season - let's see if they can keep us out. I doubt they can.

 

[Marvin]

Yes, Navas tracks back. But when Chelsea break quickly after intercepting one of his ineffective crosses, he's not going to get back quickly enough before the ball reaches Hazard in our half. He's nearly always more effective in home games as a 2nd half sub.

Park the bus then. I'd play Nolito and Sterling because they have more end-product.

 

[whos_kompany85]

Got the feeling of a huge fixture, dropped points at home against chelsea and arsenal wouldn't be good for our title chances- 6 points from those 2 would be great preparation for away at liverpool. Think we need a decent run, couple of scrappy 2-1s last couple weeks has been positive but performances have been a long way off what we're capable of.

 

[Vialli98]

Conte has them well organized and they've conceded just one goal. Thats a big worry. The midfield will be a huge battleground but ultimately i think Kante will be a spoiler for them and we'll struggle to get some rhythm. Costa will wind up Otamendi so I'll be surprised if theres not a number of yellow cards produced. In the end I'll be delighted with a win or a draw but form is predicting Chelsea will win this one.

On this side of the fence, most Chelsea fans I talk to are feeling the opposite. I hope for a win. I'd take a point right now, but I reckon we'll come out of this with a narrow defeat.

 

[Vialli98]

You need to do one mate, talk far too much sense for the majority of posters on here... ;0)

Thanks. I'm on rival territory, so I try to be as respectful as possible while also backing/defending my team :)

 

[Peggy's a blue]

MAGNIFICENT KEVIN
Manchester City star Kevin De Bruyne undefeated in the Premier League in 2016, despite having played 22 times
KDB must be the first on the team sheet :-)

 

[Zin 'messiah' Zimmer]

Conte has them well organized and they've conceded just one goal. Thats a big worry. The midfield will be a huge battleground but ultimately i think Kante will be a spoiler for them and we'll struggle to get some rhythm. Costa will wind up Otamendi so I'll be surprised if theres not a number of yellow cards produced. In the end I'll be delighted with a win or a draw but form is predicting Chelsea will win this one.

It's won on the flanks, Kante will be a spare part in this one...

I'd be targeting there wing backs personally, Kev could see a lot of ball in behind Moses and alonso, his quality should shine through!!

2-1 city

 

[Marvin]

Got the feeling of a huge fixture, dropped points at home against chelsea and arsenal wouldn't be good for our title chances- 6 points from those 2 would be great preparation for away at liverpool. Think we need a decent run, couple of scrappy 2-1s last couple weeks has been positive but performances have been a long way off what we're capable of.

Of course but they have been in the middle of Champions League games, international week etc. In the real world you fly for a month or two if you are lucky and grind most of the games out because you're inevitably playing below par.

The problem City have is that we concede too many soft goals so cheaply against teams that offer very little and we don't quite have the goals potential we used to. Players like Sterling, and maybe Gabriel Jesus have to up their goal output, because we're very reliant on 2-3 players for goals. Much more so than we have in the past. I haven't checked that out, but it's my feeling that Aguero and De Bruyne are getting the lion share of our goals at the moment when 3-4 years ago we had nasri, Toure, Aguero, Dzeko, Balotelli, quite a few goal scorers. It was very difficult to stop City from scoring. Now our no. of mathc-winners is much reduced. We have very creative players, but visiting teams come to City now, stick 2 central defenders on Aguero and we struggle.

 

[domalino]

It's won on the flanks, Kante will be a spare part in this one...

I'd be targeting there wing backs personally, Kev could see a lot of ball in behind Moses and alonso, his quality should shine through!!

2-1 city

IMO This match is perfect for High and wide fullbacks. If Moses and Alonso get dragged into marking Sagna/Kolarov then we can get at their wide CB's. Cahill isn't comfortable when he comes out wide, so I think Sterling would have a field day there, and Azpilicueta isn't a CB, he will make mistakes.

Sunderland created more than a few opportunities by stretching their back 3, they just didn't have the quality to take advantage. I think Pep will win this one before the whistle goes.

 

[zabisgod]

Just seen the minutes silence in training today seems Fernandinho didn't look like he was training today? Hope I'm wrong

 

[pavelsrnicek]

Crazy to think we haven't won at home in the League since 17th of September. This match is very much about the first goal. They will want to try and play us on the counter, if we score first they'll have to come out and play us. We really need to pass quickly and accurately and work out how to stretch and get in behind them.

A few selection dilemmas as well do we play one of KdB or Silva wide to accommodate Gundogan, does Yaya play, does Fernando play and Clichy or Kolarov.

 

[aguero93:20]

Conte has them well organized and they've conceded just one goal

They've conceded plenty of chances though, hopefully it'll average out on Saturday.

 

[Zin 'messiah' Zimmer]

IMO This match is perfect for High and wide fullbacks. If Moses and Alonso get dragged into marking Sagna/Kolarov then we can get at their wide CB's. Cahill isn't comfortable when he comes out wide, so I think Sterling would have a field day there, and Azpilicueta isn't a CB, he will make mistakes.

Sunderland created more than a few opportunities by stretching their back 3, they just didn't have the quality to take advantage. I think Pep will win this one before the whistle goes.

Agree, although I think Moses and alonso may be told to sit, rather than bomb... If they come to play, we'll win and win well!

 

[Otamendi's Beard]

He's on the same goals as Sergio in the league having started 3 extra games.

Aaaaaand I'd be just as worried if Sergio was on their team.

But that's not relevant to whether Costa is a big threat or not.

 

[Withnail]

If Chelsea don't sit back and push the fb forward I am confident we can win this.

However, I am not sure these are the tactics Conte will adopt which will obviously make the task more difficult. However, we must try and pass quicker and the midfield needs to support Kun with able runners in the box

Looking forward to the game and time we beat a top 4 rival

 

[hilts]

If we lose this game we won't win the title this year, tough game to call

 

[typicalcity...]

If we lose this game we won't win the title this year, tough game to call

May I ask why?

Btw I respect your opinion but I hope many don't think this. Game doesn't have the barometer of meaning to much at this stage.