Closed Chelsea v Man City

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

This is the game where Mata should not start!

He always go shit against people like Yaya on his ass.

So get some dynamite in the team this time.

Yup. Give him Arsenal his Dad can come cheer him on.

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

Mourinho full of praise about Yaya toure, saying he is complete midifelder.

Nothing more true than that. He is the most complete midfielder in the world.

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

If Chelsea start ponderously (as per usual for the last 5 years), the result is likely decided by whether ManCity pounce on Chelsea early in the match.

Should start a flat 4-3-3, use Mikel or Oscar in CM with Lamps and Ramires. Put Hazard Left, Willian Right, Torrres/Eto'o in the middle.

I feel the first goal will decide the match. And there is no reason to divert from playing the style we are most comfortable playing. 4-2-3-1

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

3pts is a must now that Kompany is ruled out of the game.

Strongest XI and look to attack them through the middle. Fernandinho hasn't bee anything close to formidable in that midfield and Yaya can't be everywhere(or can he?)

I have a strong feeling the 1st goal will go a long way to deciding the winner so its imperative we get off to a good start. I still want Eto'o to start because I feel we're gonna need movement and clever passing.

Torres on at 60 if we're chasing the game.

[didierforever 7,349]

the trend of the weekend has been disappointment.

1. arsenal going 10 men against a palace side which was looking deangerous and looking like scoring a goal. end 2-0 to arsenal

2. united looking so hopeless. yet somehow won the match 3-2.

3. barca beating real.

lets hope chelsea can break this trend and give me something to cheer this weekend.

[quickpassnmove 924]

let's just underline the fact that Chelsea are the underdog in this match. how does anyone here dispute this fact? ManCity's weakness is at the CB pair and the fact that this group have not been playing together very long. Still, they are better the way they normally line up.

Chelsea's weakness is Lampard and possibly lack of attacking prowess from the fullbacks. Oscar can do just as much from a deeper role as he can from just behind the striker. An experiment involving an all-Brazil center midfield: Oscar, Ramires, Luiz could tip the balance in our favor. If it must be a 4231 again, I understand; it seems that Chelsea play this way because the primary striker (Torres) is proven too weak up against Premier League center backs alone and because Chelsea have played with Mata behind him for awhile up until this season. I would still like a 433 as a plan B or plan C, but maybe Chelsea don't have the right striker for this now(?).

[NishC300 1,865]

Been a horrible weekend in football so far! Arsenal win, Man United win by luck, Barca beat Madrid. Let's make this weekend better!

[y10edn 185]

We used to win this easily till Terry v Wayne Bridge: the incident fired them up and we've not been able to have it easy ever since.

[NishC300 1,865]

After today matches. Wis is a must.

Knowing what is a must?

[xPetrCechx 13,571]

We used to win this easily till Terry v Wayne Bridge: the incident fired them up and we've not been able to have it easy ever since.

Maybe Because Very Rich people bought city... Instead of bridge, they have players like Kompany, Toure...

[NishC300 1,865]

Manchester City have scored a league-high tally of five headed goals this season, with two of those coming from Spanish frontman Alvaro Negredo. Makes starting Ivanovic at RB seem even more important!

Although one must keep in mind Azpi has performed well vs City (at home to City last season)

[edetarod 2,155]

shite football day

please don't make it a shite football weekend Chelsea

[Mustafa 885]

Aguero is on a great run of form; Silva has been terrific; Negredo is a threat and they have Yaya. Im not confident...

[Liquidator 5,176]

Don't think we will lose because home losses just don't seem to happen under Mourinho. As much as I hope they will fail to turn up for another away game like they did at Villa and Cardiff, they always seem to play well against us. Aguero will probably score and yaya toure outplay our entire midfield as per usualh but I still don't see us losing.

[Sovieticus 743]

No Tevez, No Kompany. There is a chance.

[Henrique 9,133]

Cech; Ivan, Terry, Cahill, Cole; Luiz, Ramires; Lampard, Hazard, Oscar; Torres. Schurle to replace Lampard in the 2nd half to, get CIty on the counter attack.

[OneMoSalah 8,886]

In case you've forgotten Varane's age, he's only 20.

Yes Varane who has caps for the French national team who are one of the top international teams and is arguably the best u21 CB in the world with world class potential in comparison to Kenneth Omeruo. There is an absolute massive jump in quality between Raphael Varane and Kenneth Omeruo, laughable you'd really try and argue your point using Varane as an example when he's arguably Real Madrid's second best CB behind Sergio Ramos.

Its obvious why Mourinho used Varane at Madrid and Balotelli at Inter when they were young because they were exceptional talents and good enough to play. Omeruo isn't good enough to play in the Chelsea first team this season, he needs to play on loan somewhere, arguably a lower PL club or Championship club.. so do you really think hes going to play him against Man City or even Arsenal? Of course he fucking isn't.

[Pizy 18,916]

I know it's still early and it's really close at the top, but after entering the weekend in 2nd we can end it in 7th if we lose tomorrow.

Can't afford to let Arse slip away or for City to get a big boost in confidence by beating us at home. It'll give them momentum and even more belief in their title challenge.

[Barbara 15,149]

Yes Varane who has caps for the French national team who are one of the top international teams and is arguably the best u21 CB in the world with world class potential in comparison to Kenneth Omeruo. There is an absolute massive jump in quality between Raphael Varane and Kenneth Omeruo, laughable you'd really try and argue your point using Varane as an example when he's arguably Real Madrid's second best CB behind Sergio Ramos.

Its obvious why Mourinho used Varane at Madrid and Balotelli at Inter when they were young because they were exceptional talents and good enough to play. Omeruo isn't good enough to play in the Chelsea first team this season, he needs to play on loan somewhere, arguably a lower PL club or Championship club.. so do you really think hes going to play him against Man City or even Arsenal? Of course he fucking isn't.

sorry to correct you, but Varane and Balotelli played in a Mourinho team much before they were capped in the senior teams of their countries, and even before they were a constant presence in the U21 NT. If anything Mourinho is the one responsible for their later presences in the their NT's - even in the U-21 - not the other way around. So because Mourinho saw talent (in Varane's case as Mario was already in Inter), signed them, and brought them to the main team, the NT's managers (youth or not) brought them to their team. Varane had a total of 5 caps (U-18, U-19, U21 combined) before Mourinho signed him in June and then played him in September in Madrid... he was 18 then... Mario was 19 when Mourinho started him in the senior team as well. So bottom line is, if Mourinho trusts a youngster, they will play. If Mourinho thinks they're ready, he'll promote them to the main team or allow eventual matches.

If Omeruo is ready and Mourinho trusts him, he'll eventually play regardless of his age as well as other boys. IMO it's sort of a myth that José can't work with youth. He can, the thing is he protects a lot his youngsters and don't risk playing them when they're not ready emotionally, physically and technically. He's not an expert like others and he prefers to work with boys older than 21, but he gets too much stick for how he handles young talent when he isn't as bad as people make him out to be.

Oh and btw, Varane isn't RM arguably second best CB. He's our best CB, period.

also I don't know the context of your convo with Sidzeret, just thought I'd give my two cents as I support followed closely Inter and Madrid in the seasons both of them were promoted to the main team and watched first row how Mourinho handled them, especially Mario who had tons of disciplinary issues and was quite handful for Mou to manage.

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Tons of posts today saying if we lose we'll be 7th place... Only a quarter of the fixtures was played, being 7th, 5 points behind the leaders we'll still play both away and at home isn't as tragic as you guys are making it out to be especially when Arsenal had the easiest fixtures they possibly could and they'll start to drop points when facing harder opponents more often. Losing to City at home, means we'll probably have to beat them away in a few months from now to balance it. You look at those teams at the top of the table and the likes they dropped points to (especially losses) and invariably they slipped against teams they shouldn't and they still have to play other teams that really have potential to make them drop points. So they dropped too early against oppositions they shouldn't drop at all. We dropped points against ManU, Totts and Everton, not against Villa, Cardiff, Newcastle, Swansea, West Brom/Ham and Stoke City.

Except ManU, most of the other teams haven't played tough competition and still they already dropped almost as many points as us. It's not time to desperation or panic, whether we lose or draw tomorrow. I really can't bring myself to be concerned (or maybe even care too much) if we finish the weekend 7th place. There are 29 rounds to make it up... that is if we lose

[OneMoSalah 8,886]

sorry to correct you, but Varane and Balotelli played in a Mourinho team much before they were capped in the senior teams of their countries, and even before they were a constant presence in the U21 NT. If anything Mourinho is the one responsible for their later presences in the their NT's - even in the U-21 - not the other way around. So because Mourinho saw talent (in Varane's case as Mario was already in Inter), signed them, and brought them to the main team, the NT's managers (youth or not) brought them to their team. Varane had a total of 5 caps (U-18, U-19, U21 combined) before Mourinho signed him in June and then played him in September in Madrid... he was 18 then... Mario was 19 when Mourinho started him in the senior team as well. So bottom line is, if Mourinho trusts a youngster, they will play. If Mourinho thinks they're ready, he'll promote them to the main team or allow eventual matches.

If Omeruo is ready and Mourinho trusts him, he'll eventually play regardless of his age as well as other boys. IMO it's sort of a myth that José can't work with youth. He can, the thing is he protects a lot his youngsters and don't risk playing them when they're not ready emotionally, physically and technically. He's not an expert like others and he prefers to work with boys older than 21, but he gets too much stick for how he handles young talent when he isn't as bad as people make him out to be.

Oh and btw, Varane isn't RM arguably second best CB. He's our best CB, period.

also I don't know the context of your convo with Sidzeret, just thought I'd give my two cents as I support followed closely Inter and Madrid in the seasons both of them were promoted to the main team and watched first row how Mourinho handled them, especially Mario who had tons of disciplinary issues and was quite handful for Mou to manage.

I was just using the fact Varane was playing regular games for Real Madrid against the case of Kenneth Omeruo realistically playing against City or Arsenal just because he was training with the first team. Jose played Varane (whos very talented) when he was 18 or 19 (cant remember how old he was when he made his debut) because he was ready. Obviously then he's gone into the France team a year later, who are a very good team too. The same with Balo after but he probably would have gotten an Italy call up sooner if he didn't have to wait for Italian citizenship as he was always eager to play for Italy and they had tabs on him for a while.

I was meaning though, Jose plays the youngsters who are exceptionally talented, who are ready physically ready, mentally ready and at a level where they can contribute straight away which is the Balotelli's and Varane's he has worked with. Obviously Omuero is a decent young CB who can go far but he has a lot of work to do, Balotelli and Varane were miles ahead of him in their development which ultimately was why I was saying that using Varane playing regular games as a reason for why Jose might play Omuero is totally different due to the level of talent of the players.

Yeah Jose will work with youth, he started to give Morata minutes at Real too but he didn't give Jese or even use Carvajal at Madrid when they desperately needed a RB. Probably because he had to develop a bit before his game was at the level Jose felt he was good enough to start, so he sold him to Leverkusen and they brought him back in the summer.