Closed Chelsea v Aston Villa

[justa08 23]

Want to see more of de bruyne, hope he'll start.

[edenhazard17 281]

Bet Mata will play in this match.

[Mceachran 109]

Want to see more of de bruyne, hope he'll start.

Bet Mata will play in this match.

All of this.

[Mouri_Matic 560]

Team to start for this match:

Cech

Ivanovic Cahill Terry Cole

Ramires Van Ginkel

Kevin Mata Hazard

Lukaku

Maybe Hazard can be a sub so Oscar can start as he was more impressive in the last match. Maybe Dave for Ivan too and Terry can have a rest.

[Roquila 1,335]

Villa is not a team to joke with

My team: Cech,Azpi,Iva,Terry,Cole,MVG,Ramires,Bruyne,Mata,Hazard,Lukaku.

I'm so excited :blue scalf: :blue scalf: :blue scalf:

[TorontoChelsea 4,064]

I dont have a problem with players like andre mvg etc playing. We do have a deep squad. What I had a problem with is the expectation of just putting all our thoughts into the man u game. This game shouldn't be seen as a great opportunity to rest players for the important games. It should be primarily seen as a game where 3 points are up for grabs and not taken lightly. Hazard for example doesn't need to be rested for this game. We could not play hazard mata or Oscar and would still be favourites to win the game.

But imo the whole resting players especially this early is just going too far. Squads need time to familiarise themselves with each other in game. Only so much can take part on the training ground. And we would be worse off imo by every game swapping 5 players over.

Villa is worth 3 points. So is united. It's a 5 day gap. Just wait til we are playing every 3 days.

And I know we haven't won it before and it's vs bayern etc (this probably deserves a place in the unpopular opinions thread) but any premier league game is much more important imo than the super cup.

So its not the rotation that annoys me. Essien arguably deserves to be in the team along with probably 15 others. It's just the worry about United mentality and unnecessary resting of players. We have great depth, that also means that we can get change games in the actual games through use of subs etc. Get the game won then, start thinking about the United game.

I agree with you re: Super Cup. It's an exhibition game as far as I;m concerned. If we win this year, does it mean we are actually better than Bayern or that accomplishment was greater? Of course not, so what's the point? (Answer, a way to make money) . I agree, I have never been for lineups were you rest everyone (except in Carling Cup games maybe). I disagree with not rotating players early. Squads have to get used to playing with different players. We don't have a set starting XI that needs to familiarize with itself, everyone has to learn to play with everyone. So, rotation is a must even early.

And sometimes, it does come down to priorities. Can Cole's ankle take 3 games in a week? Do you want De Bruyne, Hazard, and Oscar starting 4 times in 12 days this early in the year? And starting is much more taxing on the body that being a sub. You're talking about a 65-75 minute appearance versus a 15-25 minute one. Even when we had no depth last year, our top players only started about 30 games a year in the Premier League and the time to generally rest them is when you have a flurry of games, you rest them against the weaker sides. I don't think any player or Mourinho is just concentrating at ManU but the manager has to be aware of pacing the team for the long season as well.

[tmessy 139]

Cole-Ivan-Cahill- azpi

----rami---ess----(or MvG)

Hazard--mata--KdB

--------Torres--------

Lights out.

[sodasys 40]

Lamps must start any match against Aston villa as he has a great scoring history vs them in addition to that this type of matches fits Lamps situation now (teams of the lower part of the table in SB) like Hull City, Aston Villa, Crystal Palce and so on...

Wanna see Azpi, MVG, Schurrle and Lukaku from the start in this kind of matches as most as possible

-----------------Cech--------------------

Azpi-------Cahill-------Terry-------Cole

------------Lamps---MVG------------

Schurrle-----------Mata-------------Hazard

-----------------Lukaku------------------

[Pacquiao 1,834]

I hope the Chelsea team aren't underestimating Villa like fans are on here. Very very dangerous team. Would love to see Van Ginkle start though, think Villa are the sort of team where he could dominate the midfield.

If Villa never beat Arsenal i bet people would not be overrating them the way they are! Playing Villa at Stamford Bridge is no where near as dangerous as some are making it out to be! It could be a tricky game but as long as we score first we should win comfortably.

[zyzz 711]

This one won't be easy. Hope Mata and Lukaku will start. Also the first real test for our defense

[We Hate Scouse 10,261]

If Villa never beat Arsenal i bet people would not be overrating them the way they are! Playing Villa at Stamford Bridge is no where near as dangerous as some are making it out to be! It could be a tricky game but as long as we score first we should win comfortably.

Think they would to be fair. Villa are our bogey team.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Opposition Views 1 & 2

[Jose M 140]

Iv heard Mou say in the past he would like to play Mata as a inside forward coming from the right. I see alot of people thinking Mata will start in the hole today, but I think Oscar will play alot of minutes this season as our designated No 10. Im almost certain lampard and Ramires will start, Lampard has a great goal ratio Vs Villa and we will need Ramires to track back and run down any counters. Would love to see Moses off the bench for Hazard, MVG off for Lampard and Mata off for KDB.

My team to play Villa:

Ivanovic-Cahill-Terry-Cole

Lampard-Ramires

Mata-Oscar-Harzard

Lukaku

[Pacquiao 1,834]

Think they would to be fair. Villa are our bogey team.

If you believe in that bogey team crap maybe, but i prefer to look at their current team, and there current side is not the same side that has given us problems at stamford bridge in the past, when you look at the Villa team compared to the Chelsea team its clear that Chelsea should win comfortably, if Arsenal had beat Villa 3-1 last weekend, i don't think many people would be calling Villa a dangerous team! Arsenal were poor and we wont be a bad as them! i expect a nice 3-0 win

[nachikethas 1,149]

If Villa never beat Arsenal i bet people would not be overrating them the way they are! Playing Villa at Stamford Bridge is no where near as dangerous as some are making it out to be! It could be a tricky game but as long as we score first we should win comfortably.

this!

[bushman 2,043]

Sometimes, I wonder why folks in here attribute Villa as someone that could beat Chelsea at home.

If I remember correctly, Chelsea whipped them badly last season. Just because Villa had beaten Arsenal, it means zilch to me.

Relentless attack by Chelsea will be seen in the first 40 minutes tonight. No team can withstand that kind of pressure & Jose knows it. Therefore, I predict Chelsea will lead 2 zip by half time.

[borriske 330]

All these different lineups... :confused:

Compare this to last season!

[Special Juan 27,111]

Let's face it, it was only Arsenal.