Closed Chelsea 2-3 Man City

[Heisenberg 1,824]

We parked the bus under Di Matteo , i think we'll do the same against City , see us win 3-1 , optimistic supporter.

[chealsist 23]

Well, I'm expecting big changes after Brighton match. I saw many comments about bus parking we can not play like against barcelona and bayern we need to change our system because we have new player and new quality so we can win this game and would be very good motivation for league.

Cech,Cole,Terry,Luiz,Iva.Essien,Lampard,Ramires,Marin,Hazard,Torres.

[capriccioso 2,545]

Bus it or lose it.

As I've said many times, none of our attacking players are in the prime of their careers. We can't rely on them to consistently win us games.

[chealsist 23]

Bus it or lose it.

As I've said many times, none of our attacking players are in the prime of their careers. We can't rely on them to consistently win us games.

Yeah but how many game we can play with parking bus

[capriccioso 2,545]

Yeah but how many game we can play with parking bus

Every single one where the opponent is too good for us to attack them.

I make that out to be:

Man City

Man United

Arsenal

Spurs

Newcastle

Barcelona

Real Madrid

Valencia

Borussia Dortmund

Bayern Munich

Juventus

AC Milan

PSG

Porto

Benfica

We can play our game against everybody else, but for the time being we're still far too shit to try taking on the above teams with an attacking approach. At the best, we will have to counter attack against those teams, at the worst, we'll have to bus.

[capriccioso 2,545]

What I really hope is that we don't go down the route Liverpool took after Istanbul and get complacent. That squad, like our current one/the squad that won it last season, was nowhere near good enough to win something like that again, finals in 2007 or not.

We absolutely have to keep investing in the team for the next 5 seasons or so. Those two trophies we won were a nice taste of caviar, but we're still in the gutter, compared to where we were in the early years of Roman's era; and we have to remember that we still have a long, hard, road to go back to the top.

[Heisenberg 1,824]

Absolutely , we are not that good Chelsea , and with Drogba gone , we dont have the hero that saves us , we need to re-built again , and we still lack of creativity.

[Django 83]

The pessimism is unbelievable, you'd think we defended for our lives in every game last season. Hoping to see the lads give it a good go and get in City's faces, give them a real challenge, take them on properly and with pride. Keep The Blue Flag Flying High.

[Heisenberg 1,824]

The pessimism is unbelievable, you'd think we defended for our lives in every game last season. Hoping to see the lads give it a good go and get in City's faces, give them a real challenge, take them on properly and with pride. Keep The Blue Flag Flying High.

Not Pessimism , realisme.

[DDA 9,985]

I'm beyond pissed off that I have to drive all the way to Birmingham from Kent to watch this game but having said that I am busting a gut to see our new boys in the flesh.. ...

The only thing about losing away is the drive, coach or train journey home.. I HATE that ride home so we best bloody win lol!

[manpe 10,861]

If it's true that Silva and Balotelli won't play, then this makes things a lot easier for us. Of course the loss of Balotelli is no biggy, they can still slot in Agüero or Džeko But Silva is very important for them, we can take advantage of his absence. Whoever plays in central attacking midfield, will be in for a treat against De Jong and Toure. I think Hazard will be the best option there, because he can keep the ball well, as well he can draw fouls and he's bound to get quite a few.

I wouldn't also mind a Mikel-Ramires pivot, because Mikel-Lampard is too slow and static against the likes of City. Ramires can be the ball winning midfielder and hassler, while Mikel is the defensive shield and provides cover. Lampard is good at distributing the ball and being the extra body in front of the box, but in defence he falls short to Rambo. If it does not work out, Robbie can always sub him or move him to the wing and sub someone from there. But I am pretty sure it will be a 4-2-3-1 with Mikel and Lampard.

[Jase 43,479]

After the pre-season that we had, just hoping for the best. Would definitely like to see us win but not having too much hope here.

[mtowle182 79]

Very excited for this game. Expecting a great performance from the lads.

[The Rising Sun 711]

i am expecting a 3-1 loss here.

We simply havent shown enough this pre season to suggest we will do anything other than lose.

We really need mata and Oscar back fast and need to get a Pacy RW.

While Mata will probably get some game time , he will not have an understanding with Marin and Hazard, so he wont be as effective.

While Parking the Bus is Embarrasing, i agree with some others here that even if we wont intend to do that in this game, City will be so strong that we will be forced to do a lot of defending and then the odd counter attack.

Whether its the double pivot, lack of speed on wings, style of play, or whatever else..... Something is wrong i feel, as we have played pretty shit football over pre season, not really improving game on game.

All we can do is hope that Mata and Oscar are the solution.

[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.