City vs Chelsea pre-match thread

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We should be looking to win this but the reality is that they are in better form than us. As such the key is not to lose, we need to be in touching distance come January.
 
typicalcity... said:
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.
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Best to replace won't with"probably won't". Why ? It will leave us adrift of Chelsea and perhaps Liverpool with a very tough fixture list coming up. More importantly the
damage to our inner belief while difficult to quantify will most likely be significant particularly if we are well beaten. I would ask you to cast your mind back to last November when the
dippers roasted our butts at home. I said afterwords that we would not recover from the psychological damage inflicted and had very little chance of winning the league. Many deluded souls poured scorn on this ( some of whom believed we would still win the league after successive home defeats to the surprise winners and spuds in February) and maintained it was only 3 points and we would turn it around.
Now I will not comment until after the match but one thing is clear a bad performance and a bad result will be very hard to recover from even at this relatively early stage. Personally I think we will get a draw so I expect us to stay in it at least for another few weeks and hopefully all the way to May.
 
Chippy_boy said:
I was just about to post exactly this. If Chelsea go toe to toe with us, we can and probably would win imho.

But if they sit back, they are extremely well organised and good at defending and we will struggle to break them down. Inevitably we would end up being caught on the break and looking at our defensive frailties, I think it's unlikely we'd keep a clean sheet if it goes that way.

Bizarrely; our best tactic might be to sit back, let them have the ball, and then him *them* on the break. In a way, a bit like how the Barca game played out

Our defending has looked shaky at times because often we are over extended high up the pitch. When we stay compact and organised we actually do defend pretty well and we have the quality to hurt them if we nick the ball back off them when they are building an attack of their own. Fernandino will be our most important player imho.
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This may happen and a stalemate emerge. Bet on a draw
 
abu13 said:
We should be looking to win this but the reality is that they are in better form than us. As such the key is not to lose, we need to be in touching distance come January.
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/

Form usually changes with the outcome of a single game. Which could be this one. I dont see that recent form has much relevance for this game. We will be well prepared, have a near full strength squad to pick from. I cant see any reason why we shouldnt be at or very near to our best.
 
Danny_Johnson4 said:
Expect a biblical match up in midfield for this one, wouldnt be overly surprised if we matched up 3-4-3 as I can imagine pep sees chelseas shape as their biggest asset
Don't want to pray on the absolutely tragic nature of the Chapeco plane crash but dont underestimate the motivation of fernandinho for this game. He has many friends in brazil and probably in that squad which died, hence his doing the speech yesterday and being given the day off training.
Fancy his battle v Kante to be crucial and I truly think he will be a man possessed this weekend. Don't see chelsea winning 7 (i think?!) games in a row in this PL and I dont see us missing the opportunity to show our superiority technically on saturday

I know it is a team game but **** me that Chelsea side individually shouldnt live with ours
A back 3 of Cahill Luiz and Azpilicueta can be got at, but its the 2 in front that are vital to them. If we can make the gap between matic/kante and their front 3 large enough, we should dominate the ball and game
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I think Chelsea are already on 7 now, aren't they?

Think you're underestimating the individual class in Chelsea's team a bit mate. Yes City is superior, but only just, imho if we compare 1 v 1 in a 343 system:

Bravo < Courtois (0-1)
Kolarov > Cahill (1-1)
Otamendi < Luiz (1-2) (*)
Stones > Azpilicueta (2-2)
Sterling > Alonso (3-2)
Zabaleta < Moses (3-3)
Fernandinho = Kanté (3-3)
De Bruyne > Matic (4-3)
Silva = Hazard (4-3)
Nolito = Pedro (4-3)
Agüero > Costa (5-3)

(*) "Chat sh**" about Luiz all you like, but in this formation, as a leader and organizer of a 3-man-defence, I think he's brilliant.

And I don't think many chavs will agree Hazard is not superior to Silva and Costa is inferior to Agüero ...

So make no mistake both as a team and individually, Chelsea are going to be extremely difficult to beat.
 
KDBestplayerintheworld said:
I think Chelsea are already on 7 now, aren't they?

Think you're underestimating the individual class in Chelsea's team a bit mate. Yes City is superior, but only just, imho if we compare 1 v 1 in a 343 system:

Bravo < Courtois (0-1)
Kolarov > Cahill (1-1)
Otamendi < Luiz (1-2) (*)
Stones > Azpilicueta (2-2)
Sterling > Alonso (3-2)
Zabaleta < Moses (3-3)
Fernandinho = Kanté (3-3)
De Bruyne > Matic (4-3)
Silva = Hazard (4-3)
Nolito = Pedro (4-3)
Agüero > Costa (5-3)

(*) "Chat sh**" about Luiz all you like, but in this formation, as a leader and organizer of a 3-man-defence, I think he's brilliant.

And I don't think many chavs will agree Hazard is not superior to Silva and Costa is inferior to Agüero ...

So make no mistake both as a team and individually, Chelsea are going to be extremely difficult to beat.
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All individual opinions that I wont argue against, but I just don't see them as this all-conquering side that many do since they've changed to 3-4-3
I simply think we are going to click again soon, and I've seen this chelsea squad (formation or not) get slapped at Arsenal inside 30 mins and I remember Conte standing there desolate not having a clue what to answer with when Ozil made it 3-0.
You won't convince me Luiz is a leader of men nor a brilliant defender, back 3 or not, and Cahill is a genuine liability without Terry by his side (in my opinion)
The Luiz one is a bit like Kolarov for me. They are both technically as good as any defenders out there in terms of their passing ability and technique, but they're more great footballers than great players; for me there is a difference anyway!
 
Really looking forward to this game, nervous and excited at the same time

Super Kev is due a goal and Serge seems to have a good record against them. Need to be aware of the counter attack especially with Hazard.

Think this will be a tight game 1 goal either way
 
Danny_Johnson4 said:
All individual opinions that I wont argue against, but I just don't see them as this all-conquering side that many do since they've changed to 3-4-3
I simply think we are going to click again soon, and I've seen this chelsea squad (formation or not) get slapped at Arsenal inside 30 mins and I remember Conte standing there desolate not having a clue what to answer with when Ozil made it 3-0.
You won't convince me Luiz is a leader of men nor a brilliant defender, back 3 or not, and Cahill is a genuine liability without Terry by his side (in my opinion)
The Luiz one is a bit like Kolarov for me. They are both technically as good as any defenders out there in terms of their passing ability and technique, but they're more great footballers than great players; for me there is a difference anyway!
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fair enough, just not a team to underestimate was my main point
 
KDBestplayerintheworld said:
I think Chelsea are already on 7 now, aren't they?

Think you're underestimating the individual class in Chelsea's team a bit mate. Yes City is superior, but only just, imho if we compare 1 v 1 in a 343 system:

Bravo < Courtois (0-1)
Kolarov > Cahill (1-1)
Otamendi < Luiz (1-2) (*)
Stones > Azpilicueta (2-2)
Sterling > Alonso (3-2)
Zabaleta < Moses (3-3)
Fernandinho = Kanté (3-3)
De Bruyne > Matic (4-3)
Silva = Hazard (4-3)
Nolito = Pedro (4-3)
Agüero > Costa (5-3)

(*) "Chat sh**" about Luiz all you like, but in this formation, as a leader and organizer of a 3-man-defence, I think he's brilliant.

And I don't think many chavs will agree Hazard is not superior to Silva and Costa is inferior to Agüero ...

So make no mistake both as a team and individually, Chelsea are going to be extremely difficult to beat.
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Kante is not close to Fernandinho. Fern has a lot more in his locker than Kante.
Luis has a few more faults in his game than Otta,

I am also pretty sure Pep knows his best eleven in the best formation and he will use it against Chelsea,
He wont have a repeat of Tottenham where he got the tactics and the starting 11 wrong.

He has been changing the formation and line up, looking for what works best with the tools he has got with these Kind of games in mind.
Sometimes this results in mediocre performances. With his reputation I am confident he will get it right most times when it counts.

My prediction - city 2 - 0 chelsea.
How it happened, Pep exposes the Frailties of Chelsea's 3-4-3 formation.
superior tactics.
 
Saturday's team won't necessarily be his strongest team (as in best 11 if everyone fit) but it will be the strongest team he thinks will beat Chelsea. His strongest team he can pick will vary depending on the opposition. Hope you get my drift.
 
blue wang said:
Kante is not close to Fernandinho. Fern has a lot more in his locker than Kante.
Luis has a few more faults in his game than Otta,

I am also pretty sure Pep knows his best eleven in the best formation and he will use it against Chelsea,
He wont have a repeat of Tottenham where he got the tactics and the starting 11 wrong.

He has been changing the formation and line up, looking for what works best with the tools he has got with these Kind of games in mind.
Sometimes this results in mediocre performances. With his reputation I am confident he will get it right most times when it counts.

My prediction - city 2 - 0 chelsea.
How it happened, Pep exposes the Frailties of Chelsea's 3-4-3 formation.
superior tactics.
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I rate Kanté extremely high and I think he's proving it week after week. Immediately after Chelsea announced his signed I said this could be a title winning signing for them. Luckily I also rate Fernandinho extremely high so I put them at the same level, which is a VERY HIGH one!

Luis/Luiz or however you write his name may have a bit more faults than Otamendi but he makes up for it with intelligence, charisma & way better feet.

And finding out Conte on a tactical level will prove very difficult, but I can't blame you for being a positive blue! :)
 
our tommy said:
Saturday's team won't necessarily be his strongest team (as in best 11 if everyone fit) but it will be the strongest team he thinks will beat Chelsea. His strongest team he can pick will vary depending on the opposition. Hope you get my drift.
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Are you saying that we don't actually have a best 11 but rather the manager will pick 11 players on a game by game basis in relation to who we are facing?
This is not unreasonable but it is probably true that any team picked against top competition will most likely always contain a core of 6 or 7 players when fit.
 
Interesting this Kante vs Fernandinho comparison
If you're team comparisons boil down to these two being compared it's a toss up match
Both are excellent
City 2-1
 
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