Closed Chelsea 2-3 Man City

[Pacquiao 1,834]

Sorry to burst your bubble mate but As good as Ramires can be, he is not suitable for an attacking style of play. If we play counter attack with all the spaces in front him then he will surely be on my first 11.

sorry to burst your bubble mate but playing an attacking line up and playing attacking football is stupid against City! what you dont realize is Ramires is not only very dangerous on the break but also helps out the midfield!!! Lamps and Mikel would get destroyed against the City midfield we need Ramires in there to help them out! I guarantee Ramires will be starting! as i said sorry to burst our bubble!

[Pacquiao 1,834]

I'm not a fan of Ramires on the right wing and I'm not sure about playing him in the double-pivot. I think he's an excellent player but 4-2-3-1 doesn't really suit him imo.

yeah because it just didn't work last season did it with Ramires on the right in a 4-2-3-1! he was only our 2nd best player last season!

[Pacquiao 1,834]

How would it be mad? We have seen him be ineffective at RW, so unless we play a 4-3-3 i think he will be on the bench for this one... Unless we actually are going to be parking the bus which would be the craziest thing...

how much do you want to bet that Ramires starts? your either mad or know nothing about Chelsea if you think Ramires wont start on Sunday! he is so important to our team and gives us that extra man in midfield and is dangerous on the break! your are crazy to even consider leaving Ramires out of the team!

[KonohasOrangeFlash 2,607]

I don't think we're quite as strong as City. Nor are we settled enough. Nor do we have Mata (I'm assuming) and Oscar for this. Too many question marks over us at this point and our pre-season results don't fill one with confidence. I would love to win this to get a confidence boost that we can take into the season. Of course, the shield is silverware and Silverware is worth winning but this is one of the less significant competitions so it won't matter too much.

I forsee a comfortable win for City. Something in the range of 3-1. I hope we can come out of 2nd gear and really give them a game. Going out and giving a good display is almost more important than the result.

[capriccioso 2,545]

I think we'll win 1-0 with City dominating, or we'll lose 2-0 with City dominating.

[Pacquiao 1,834]

I don't think we're quite as strong as City. Nor are we settled enough. Nor do we have Mata (I'm assuming) and Oscar for this. Too many question marks over us at this point and our pre-season results don't fill one with confidence. I would love to win this to get a confidence boost that we can take into the season. Of course, the shield is silverware and Silverware is worth winning but this is one of the less significant competitions so it won't matter too much.

I forsee a comfortable win for City. Something in the range of 3-1. I hope we can come out of 2nd gear and really give them a game. Going out and giving a good display is almost more important than the result.

Mata is back in training today so he will get 5 days training with the team and is already match fit so im pretty sure Mata will start the game and probably play the full 90 minutes.

[Nando 106]

It will be an open game. Both teams aren't fully prepared and I expect lots of chances, lots of goals and offensive play for 90 minutes. The better attack wins it, so I hope we'll be collected in front. Adding to that a solid display from the back 4 (it's finally time to see that) we're fully capable of winnig the cup. Otherwise we are just losing a friendly, no biggie

[KonohasOrangeFlash 2,607]

Mata is back in training today so he will get 5 days training with the team and is already match fit so im pretty sure Mata will start the game and probably play the full 90 minutes.

Wasn't RDM going to give Mata a long break? I remember hearing he'd be given a break until early September?

[LeonDavis23 371]

so am i right in saying that its straight to pens after 90mins if they're level

if so i predict 1-1 and cech being the hero in the shootout

[LeonDavis23 371]

mata, romeu or sturridge eligible to play? Maybe even oscar coming off the bench 'IF' we see brazil lose tonight

[cchuka 99]

Sunday cant come sooon enough.

A fitting EPL introduction for Hazard & Marin

I better not see MRLSH in the starting XI

[xPetrCechx 13,563]

We had all the transfer window to buy a quality players and to play an attacking football.

WHY we need to park the bus again?! it's the manager fault or the players?! RDM only know how to park the bus?!

[KonohasOrangeFlash 2,607]

I'll call it now. If RDM parks the bus against City, he won't be our manager start of next season.

[vion_vion 0]

Let's not be demoralized by the pre season results. We are the European Champions and toiled a lot to grab the holy grail. Players of such caliber know when to step up the peddle. I beg to disagree with some of us here that we will be swept away by ManCity. Other than Hazard and Marin, there is NOT much change in the squad guys! Its the same! And I dont see Hazard or Marin making an impact right away. They need time and if Hazard can replicate the form shown by Mata in the first season, we are on for a festival.

We will see the familiar back line of Ivan\Luiz\Terry\Cole with 2 men wall of Mikel and Lampard. Hazard and Marin\Ramires will fill up the wings while Torres starts up front with Mata being the crux. I doubt whether RDM will try something different. Remember that he is now a full time employee and needs to prove his permanent appointment contrary to the temporary post(where he was under lesser pressure).

Its going to be a tight affair and I feel we will edge out by a goal or so.

[HRiver 1,512]

I don't want to see us park the bus again. That worked last season, won't work again. My biggest worry for this season is whether RDM will be able to stop the rest of the top clubs without parking the bus.

[gary gordon 1,777]

Got a feeling we will win this.. Don't ask me why though

[chelsea blue 615]

Talking about parking the bus

Travel advice for Villa park

http://www.avfc.co.uk/staticFiles/74/b7/0,,10265~178036,00.pdf

[Peace. 4,352]

I strongly believe that to park the bus in this game is the best tactic to adopt. I am not really fond of this style of play, but I don't think we have much of a choice.



Admittedly, the Community Shield isn't the biggest silverware we will be competing for this season. But, a silverware is a silverware, and winning one is a good way to start the season. Furthermore, we play this game against Manchester City, the team which is dubbed the best one in England. Thus, if we manage to defeat the best team in the Kingdom and win this trophy, it can boost our confidence after the poor pre-season we had. We can also build a good dynamic around this success, a winning dynamic.

Furthermore, last season we were arguably one the most negative, unproductive, toothless and boring teams in Europe. We can't turn out the be a team playing a sexy football in a matter of days, despite the fact we bought some technically gifted talent (Oscar, Hazard, Marin). It will be a long process. It will take time to play a beautiful football. And I deeply believe that to ditch overnight our defensive approach of the game isn't a wise thing to do. Indeed, to make our transformation of playing style, it isn't as simple as to tell to defensive players to play an offensive football. At some extend, André Villas-Boas tried to do it last year... No need to recall the major failure it was.

We also gotta keep in mind we don't have what it takes to play our way regardless of our opponents. As Cap stated, there are certain teams against which we shouldn't adopt an attacking approach. It's suicidal to think we can suddenly play an attacking football against a team with the firepower that Manchester City has in attack. It's still too early. We aren't used to play this way, and neither our new attacking-minded players are settled in the team. As a start, we should only play the offensive football against average sides.

It is a big utopia to think that, because we have purchased some talented attacking players, we should right away play in a Barcelona-esq fashion. No. The fact we bought these kind of players doesn't mean we have to play right now a sexy style of football. It does mean that our aim is to go from an defensive football to an attacking football. That's a subtle difference. We can't change our playing style by leaps and bounce ; that doesn't work like this in reality, each and every change needs time. And to my honest opinion, it's better to gradually adopt an attacking style, because this way, we will establish solid basis for the years to come.

There's also a psychological factor we need to think about. What will happen, if for our first competitive game, we try to play an attacking football and get trashed 3-0 ? Do you think it will do any good to the squad's moral ? No, not at all. As the saying goes "once bitten twice shy" : we might lose our faith toward the sexy football and thus be recalcitrant to adopt anew an attacking approach of the game.



Of course, to park the bus is an embarrassing thing to do. But come on ! We won one the biggest trophy in Football by parking the bus. The whole world has seen us doing so. It doesn't make that much of a difference to park the bus in this more or less petty trophy. We are already famous for our 9-0-1. One more game won't make a difference.