Closed Chelsea v Man City

[Rambo 1,729]

Think the only selection dilemma here should be Ba or Torres. Not sure who to go for

Ba will be fresher

[Santiago. 1,500]

Ba will be fresher

Not to mention the fucking obvious, he's better

[bababoom 4,478]

Not to mention the fucking obvious, he's better

But Torres is back to his best...

[themightyblue 443]

Not to mention the fucking obvious, he's better

He is, but Torres has hit a good run of form and got into a rhythm which is important for a striker. Not as straightforward or obvious as you make out

[Fernando 6,375]

We need to take the game to City, the difference in our games between City and United is alarming. Why are we so scared of City compared to United? is it mental or something?

Is simple really. This Chelsea is like arsenal. Weak and small where we get bully by bigger players. And this city is like the old Chelsea, big and aggressive.

I miss the Mourinho Chelsea. :-(

[Santiago. 1,500]

He is, but Torres has hit a good run of form and got into a rhythm which is important for a striker. Not as straightforward or obvious as you make out

Yeah, scoring against mediocre clubs really is a 'run of form'. Kompany will be trembling at the sight of Torres when 3 occasions this season he made Torres his bitch beautifully...

Ba links up better, Is actually a threat against tough opponents unlike Ladyboy, makes better runs, has a better awareness, has a better finish, and is ten times the player Torres is.

Pretty straight fucking forward if you ask me...

[themightyblue 443]

Yeah, scoring against mediocre clubs really is a 'run of form'. Kompany will be trembling at the sight of Torres when 3 occasions this season he made Torres his bitch beautifully...

Ba links up better, Is actually a threat against tough opponents unlike Ladyboy, makes better runs, has a better awareness, has a better finish, and is ten times the player Torres is.

Pretty straight fucking forward if you ask me...

So Rubin are a mediocre team all of a sudden, and that's funny because Torres has only started against Kompany and City on 2 occasions this season and has 1 goal....

Ba was also dealt with comfortably by Kolo Toure and Nastasic last time out

When Torres find these random bursts of form he actually becomes a good player with good off the ball movement, finishing, work rate, link up play etc. After his injury Ba might be lacking rhythm and sharpness and that'll make him easier to defend against if that is the case. As I said before, don't mind who starts but it'll be a tough decision

Not as straight fucking forward as you think..............

[didierforever 7,349]

Is simple really. This Chelsea is like arsenal. Weak and small where we get bully by bigger players. And this city is like the old Chelsea, big and aggressive.

I miss the Mourinho Chelsea. :-(

i will take the MOU chelsea in a heartbeat over the current squad.

[Pacquiao 1,834]

We need to take the game to City, the difference in our games between City and United is alarming. Why are we so scared of City compared to United? is it mental or something?

I know the game at there place was embarrassing! i have never seen a Chelsea team play with so much fear! hopefully at wembley we can play with some confidence and take the game to them!

[YouNameIt 1,511]

He is, but Torres has hit a good run of form and got into a rhythm which is important for a striker. Not as straightforward or obvious as you make out

One word: rubin kazan

[edetarod 2,155]

i will be over the moon if we win this

but if we were to lose i'd rather be it on penalties

so our unbeaten run in the FA cup continues

[Jase 43,479]

i will be over the moon if we win this

but if we were to lose i'd rather be it on penalties

so our unbeaten run in the FA cup continues

Lets face it. That run is gonna end sooner or later. If we are gonna lose it, would probably be better to lose it against a quality team as opposed to some random lesser team in the future.

And anyway, we must avoid having this going into ET. We have Fulham away on Wednesday to come!

[The only place to be 11,313]

Think the only selection dilemma here should be Ba or Torres. Not sure who to go for

For the first time in a long time, that's actually a real dilemma. Personally I'd go for Ba because I think he's still the more dangerous of the two and he showed exactly what he can do against United, but Torres actually offers something of a threat off the bench. He changed the game against Sunderland simply by having the confidence to run at players and that could be invaluable in the final 20 minutes on Sunday.

Beyond that though, the team pretty much picks itself which is good and bad. The back five is pretty much inked in and the front four is almost certainly going to be Hazard, Mata, Ba and Oscar (although Moses could have played himself into a spot too).

But just like the league game this match will come down to the midfield two and we don't really have any other option but to play Mikel and Ramires. Rami was awful at the Etihad and Mikel was a disgrace against Rubin but we really don't have any other options there and I can't see Rafa shaking things up by putting Luiz in there. The hope is that Rami can't have two games that bad against City and that hopefully his good touches (of which he is more than capable in fairness) outnumber his bad touches. With Mikel we simply have to hope that he couldn't be bothered to play properly on Thursday night as indicated by his comments pre-match. That's a massive problem for the club, but a problem for another day. Hopefully someone at the club sits him down with the tape of that performance and gets a positive reaction from him.

Still, I'm less confident about this game than the United one. I simply think that City are the best team in the country at the moment despite what the league says and they match up against us better than any other team. They've got pacy forwards who can cause problems between the lines, they've got strong midfielders who are comfortable on the ball and they've got Kompany who is a rock at the back. They're beatable, especially without Silva who is still a talismanic figure despite his comparatively poor form this season, but we need to be at our absolute best.

[nachikethas 1,149]

this could be our fixture assuming we get to the two finals

14/04: Man City N
17/04: Fulham A
21/04: Liverpool A
25/04: Europa League Semi-Final
27/04: Swansea H
02/05: Europa League Semi-Final
05/05: Man Utd A
07/05: Tottenham H
09/05: Aston Villa A
11/05: FA Cup Final
15/05: Europa League Final
19/05: Everton H

i dont know is it legal in football whatever that thing starts from 2nd

but first thing first.city match gona be very physical. hope mikel and rami dont fuck up.

dont think oscar should start so do torres. kompany just owned him last time.

[Ryan Fong 2,776]

Think the only selection dilemma here should be Ba or Torres. Not sure who to go for

How about they both start and drop Oscar? Just a thought.

[magicrico 175]

I am one of Zorres biggest critics, in fact i'd go as far as say I hate the guy. But he has shone a little promise, I still think it's too late. But praise where its due he has been decent past few games. Deffo done himself no harm in terms of being in contention. Ba holds up play very well, in to feet back to goal. Torres is different. Depends how we approach the game.

Either way i'm fed up of city beating us, need that to change asap.

[Billy. 2,739]

Id go for Torres in this on he seems to have fire in his belly ATM I think he will be up for this one

[couris 232]

Ba is 10x better than Torres? bahahahaha