Pre Match Thread: Chelsea vs City

[Chippy_boy]

Someone has put £500 on Frank first goal scorer after 'seeing his face in the moon'

10/1? What shit odds. He might not even play FFS. He might not play for more than 20 minutes. He might not score. And he might not score 1st.

I'd need 100/1 before putting any more on that.

 

[tolmie's hairdoo]

Stop Hazard, stop Chelsea.

He takes them 30 yards upfield, he creates panic.

They won't have anyone else in the team who instills panic this weekend. They won't play through us.

We have to play smart, and pick our battles. Make our tackles as high up the pitch as possible, try and avoid yellow cards for the first half.

We will be tested by Ivanovic, Terry and Cahill at every set piece.

Hart has to punch anything and everything.

 

[J_Bow]

I don't think Cahill will play, looked terrible this season. He's also turned into a thug like Terry. Hopefully Zouma plays so Aguero can give him a real test.

 

[B3nStr0ng]

Hart has to punch anything and everything.

Or preferably catch! He has a tendency to punch when it would seem there is little pressure around him causing unnecessary pressure. Catching could set us up on the counter, hopefully!

I'm feeling confident!

 

[Marvin]

Chelsea's set pieces are always a threat. From direct free-kicks to corners. That's something that they are a lot better at than us.

I can't think of a team who are better at set pieces than Chelsea and largely down to Terry and Ivanovic plus great delivery from Oscar/Hazard

Confident we can take a point.

 

[chris85mcfc]

Chelsea's set pieces are always a threat. From direct free-kicks to corners. That's something that they are a lot better at than us.

I can't think of a team who are better at set pieces than Chelsea and largely down to Terry and Ivanovic plus great delivery from Oscar/Hazard

Confident we can take a point.

And i cant think of a team that gives away as many silly needless free kicks away as we do

Like Tolm said, we need to get our tackles in high up the pitch

 

[tolmie's hairdoo]

Chelsea's set pieces are always a threat. From direct free-kicks to corners. That's something that they are a lot better at than us.

I can't think of a team who are better at set pieces than Chelsea and largely down to Terry and Ivanovic plus great delivery from Oscar/Hazard

Confident we can take a point.

And i cant think of a team that gives away as many silly needless free kicks away as we do

Like Tolm said, we need to get our tackles in high up the pitch

Which also means Vinny doesn't have to try and be Captain fecking Fantastic with every challenge he makes.

He seems to be increasingly prone to panic, even when someone has given him the slip still 30 yards from goal. It's not like he isn't quick.

Trust his team-mates. I might go with Mangala because of his pace and it won't need two to pick up Drogba, freeing Kompany to step out with the ball into the midfield.

On the other hand, Demichelis is a better passer into midfield than both of them.

Last think I want to see is Komps jamming in Zaba on the touchline, 20 yards from our own goal, because the only direction that ball is then going is back to Hart and the big aimless kick upfield.

Exactly what Chelsea want.

 

[supercity88]

Chelsea's set pieces are always a threat. From direct free-kicks to corners. That's something that they are a lot better at than us.

I can't think of a team who are better at set pieces than Chelsea and largely down to Terry and Ivanovic plus great delivery from Oscar/Hazard

Confident we can take a point.

And i cant think of a team that gives away as many silly needless free kicks away as we do

Like Tolm said, we need to get our tackles in high up the pitch

That's spot on. Press really intensely up the pitch and don't allow the likes of Hazard to turn and run with the ball. Stand them up and trip them up if necessary, but never too close to the penalty area. I think we'll play this differently to how Chelsea will expect us to. We won't look to keep the ball and pass it slowly like we normally would. Without Yaya and Nasri we aren't the best team in possession. Instead we'll attack quickly and if we lose the ball try to win it back as soon as possible. If we can keep that up for 90 minutes - and we should be able to considering we have Milner, Aguero, Jovetic, Navas, Silva, Fernando, Fernandinho all fit for this - and we can win. Chelsea have played 120 minutes of intense football on Tuesday. They played a tough game with Bradford where they had to chase a result. They also played a tough game at Anfield. We've had a break in Abu Dhabi that should see us refreshed for this.

If we play with intensity we will win.

 

[BigOscar]

Demichelis last year, when he played in midfield, really struggled to stop them hoofing long balls to Hazard. He surprisingly couldn't stop him from bringing it down on his chest and then bringing others into play. I think that's one of the things we are going to have to stop, them getting any relief from long balls up the pitch. If we make sure we dominate them there, they are going to have to work the ball up the pitch, which they will struggle to do. Mangala and Kompany did a fantastic job of doing that in the first game, so I'd be tempted to start them again. Keep them pinned in, give them no respite, then take our chances for a change. Also, we need to drag Matic out of position so we can run at whoever they have at CB, as they are all absolutely awful at dealing with anyone running at them.

 

[uwe rosler 28]

Stop Hazard, stop Chelsea.

He takes them 30 yards upfield, he creates panic.

They won't have anyone else in the team who instills panic this weekend. They won't play through us.

We have to play smart, and pick our battles. Make our tackles as high up the pitch as possible, try and avoid yellow cards for the first half.

We will be tested by Ivanovic, Terry and Cahill at every set piece.

Hart has to punch anything and everything.

Very true silva and sergio will have the attention of 2or3 players every time they get the ball so we need to do the same to hazard! Get stuck into oscar early doors and he won't want to know! A moment of magic will win it for us or a set play for them!