Closed Chelsea v Schalke

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

I think we will start in a 4-3-3 formation, Jose loves to be solid on cl away games.

It might be a good idea to rest Matic before he's interesting battle with Yaya toure.

We play at home..

[kellzfresh 7,226]

Cech, Willian, Luis to come in for courtois, Schurrle, azpi

Remy to come on for Costa after 60-65mins

3-1 win

[Nike 373]

i heard half their team is injured.

3-0

Schurrle-willian-salah

Give Eden, oscar and costa rest for city. Along with matic and cesc.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

I'd like to see Baker in the second half if we're winning comfortably, possibly for Ramires.

This is Schalke, not Brentford!

I really think people are underrating Schalke. There is no room for complacency. This is a much tougher match than Swansea, although I could see Jose resting a player or two for Man City at the weekend, but that's about it.

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

i heard half their team is injured.

Sounds de ja vu as last year. Their medical certainly not the best in the world.

[robdog 2,084]

Sounds de ja vu as last year. Their medical certainly not the best in the world.

I am sure Schalke 04 is not worry about Chelsea FC

[Mustafa 885]

This is Schalke, not Brentford!

I really think people are underrating Schalke. There is no room for complacency. This is a much tougher match than Swansea, although I could see Jose resting a player or two for Man City at the weekend, but that's about it.

Exactly! You don't have to look far to see us under-performing and fucking up... Remember Basel last season?

If we're thinking about resting players we can also do that by looking to put the game out of their reach early on (with our best players on the pitch). So then the likes of Cesc and Hazard can just walk around the pitch without tiring themselves too much. I'd much rather that than playing Mikel, Salah etc. and a repeat of Basel last season

[Jype 6,398]

Remy

Schürrle - Oscar - Willian

Matic - Ramires

Luis - Terry - Cahill - Ivanovic

Courtois

Schalke are definitely not a bad team and it might bite us in the ass if we rest too many key players but topping the group shouldn't be that hard even if we were to draw here so IMO it's better to keep the most important players in top condition for the game at the Etihad next weekend. And it's not like players such as Remy, Schürrle, Ramires and Luis aren't good enough to beat an average Schalke side ravaged with injuries.

[TheOneChan95 225]

Priority for rotation would be Costa and Hazard imo. We need them fresh for City and they did pick up injuries recently. Remy and Schurrle should be able to do the job. I believe this should be the perfect time for Luis to come in as well. Can't see too many others getting changed. If we manage to cruise early then it would be good to put the brakes on and introduce Mikel for Cesc or something similar.

[LAM09 6,535]

They won't be pushovers, but they are weaker than last season. We should win by a few goals, and give some of our star players a rest later on in the match.

[Myself 793]

Cech

Ivanovic - Zouma - Terry - Filipe Luis

Matic - Ramires

Willian - Oscar - Hazard

Remy

with baker coming on later

[The Chels 2,502]

Cech

Ivanovic - Zouma - Terry - Filipe Luis

Matic - Ramires

Willian - Oscar - Hazard

Remy

with baker coming on later

Zouma and Baker will definitely not play.

[MrBlueGuy 1,552]

Would be funny if all this talk of resting Hazard, Costa...etc and Schalke is 2-0 up by half time. We will then send them on and suddenly make ourselves working harder than we should. This is CL people, please keep that in mind. This Schalke starting 11 will have the likes of Boateng, Draxler, Max Meyer, Huntelaar, Howedes...etc

[Stats 6,980]

Cech

Ivanovic - Zouma - Terry - Filipe Luis

Matic - Ramires

Willian - Oscar - Hazard

Remy

with baker coming on later

Is this a Carling cup game or a Champions League one? Think some people are getting the two confused

[Myself 793]

Is this a Carling cup game or a Champions League one? Think some people are getting the two confused

Is Zouma really not capable of playing in the Champions League? He played teams their level all the time in Ligue 1.

[Stats 6,980]

Is Zouma really not capable of playing in the Champions League? He played teams their level all the time in Ligue 1.

Yes but the difference is he is playing for Chelsea. Much bigger step up and we have Terry and Cahill. This is not our last group game, it is our first so why would we change Terry or Cahill for Zouma? That is being way too complacent to make a defensive change like that. Yes we should win and they have not started the season too well but this is a UCL game. Ease Zouma in and give him his first start against Bolton. This is a serious game. Basel are an inferior side to Schalke yet we lost 2-1 at our own ground last season. We should play pretty much our best team. Maybe couple changes at best but the last thing we want is to be complacent and it ends up backfiring.

[DavidEU 2,023]

Jose will want to get off to a really strong start, so I don't see any changes apart from Filipe Luis and possibly Ramires coming in. Other than that, Hazard, Matic, Fabregas and Costa will all start I expect. These are fit Premier League footballers, they don't need a rest after 4 weeks. Most will get one vs Bolton anyway.

We made the group more difficult than it should of been last season by losing the first game to Basel. No repeat of that this time round.

[Myself 793]

Yes but the difference is he is playing for Chelsea. Much bigger step up and we have Terry and Cahill. This is not our last group game, it is our first so why would we change Terry or Cahill for Zouma? That is being way too complacent to make a defensive change like that. Yes we should win and they have not started the season too well but this is a UCL game. Ease Zouma in and give him his first start against Bolton. This is a serious game. Basel are an inferior side to Schalke yet we lost 2-1 at our own ground last season. We should play pretty much our best team. Maybe couple changes at best but the last thing we want is to be complacent and it end up backfiring.

If he can handle PSG (he basically stopped their attack on his own) I'm sure he can handle Schalke. With Terry / Branna partering him he'll have someone to guide him through the game. Schalke aren't exactly in top form, nor is their attack great. Games like this don't get much better for young defenders