Closed Chelsea v Crystal Palace

[Jase 43,479]

Chelsea vs Crystal Palace
PRE-MATCH DISCUSSION AND LIVE CHAT



2015/16 Premier League Match 4
29th August, Saturday, 2015
Stamford Bridge
15:00 Kick Off (UK time)

[Jase 43,479]

Another tough game but need the 3 points at all cost! We have Everton, Arsenal and Newcastle after the international break.

[CurlyHairLikeLuiz 1,625]

Courtois

Azpi Zouma Cahill Baba

Matic

Oscar Willian

Pedro Costa Hazard

Bench Bego, Iva, Traore, Mikel, Cesc, Moses, Remy

It would be very unwise to play Cesc in this match against such a fast bunch of players, imo. The defense/midfield will be exposed heavily. Hopefully, Oscar is back.

[Petethebulgarian 24]

Courtois

Azpi Zouma Cahill Baba

Matic

Oscar Willian

Pedro Costa Hazard

Bench Bego, Iva, Traore, Mikel, Cesc, Moses, Remy

It would be very unwise to play Cesc in this match against such a fast bunch of players, imo. The defense/midfield will be exposed heavily. Hopefully, Oscar is back.

No Falcao / Ramires on the bench?

To be fair it's too early to write Falcao off, considering our offensive line up and the countless chances we produced vs WBA.

As for Ramires, for me he was our best player after Begovic and Zouma against City. Although he's really inconsistent. He'll either give you a solid performance or he'll be the missing link - both in attack and defence.

[Yeboii 1,844]

Would be nice to see a better defence display from the team. I'm not sure we can play the "just score more than the opposition" kind of football.

[Yeboii 1,844]

We would win

If the plan succeeds, of course. However, these kind of tactics won't work for us.

[CurlyHairLikeLuiz 1,625]

No Falcao / Ramires on the bench?

To be fair it's too early to write Falcao off, considering our offensive line up and the countless chances we produced vs WBA.

As for Ramires, for me he was our best player after Begovic and Zouma against City. Although he's really inconsistent. He'll either give you a solid performance or he'll be the missing link - both in attack and defence.

Remy deserves his chance. As for Ramires... I just can't stand to watch him play. Such a frustrating player to watch - he knows where to be, just that he can't shoot for shit apart from 1-2 times a season where he pulls off a rocket. Plus it seems that his pace is dropping off, he was getting outrun by Sterling on that right flank on Sunday.

If you added football intelligence to Ramires you would call him Arturo Vidal.

I'll be on holiday for this game anyway, haha. @supporter, which channels show EPL in Spain?

[Last Sicarius 610]

God bless Baba, he should plays in team after 3 low matches from Iva.. PLS

Courtois

Azpi-Zouma-Cahill/Iva -Baba

Matic-Fabs

Pedrito-Oscar-Hazard

Costa

We need Oscar fit for this one. Next matches will be hard.

[didierforever 7,349]

courtois

azpi GC zouma baba

matic ramires/oscar

pedro willian/oscar hazard

costa.

[coolhead23 1,146]

Pedro's debut was a breath of fresh air again West Brom ... Hoping we can have the same with Baba against Palace ...

[Pizy 18,370]

Bolasie against our defense is worrying. So is Cabaye playing balls through and over the top.

Damn, would it be nice to have a mobile CB who's super comfortable on the ball and calm under pressure for a match like this. Someone like John Stones.

[Ollie 4,400]

Dangerous game, very dangerous. Crystal Palace are like the perfect away team, they have quick players in many positions and are a proper counter attacking side. Their away results have proven just how dangerous they are. It'll be tough. We really need to keep a clean sheet, the defence is worrying. I'll go 3-2 again.

[Despiadado.Maleante 1,046]

Zaha, Bolasi, Puncheon which one will beat Ivanovic the most?

[MrBlueGuy 1,552]

Chance of Fabregas being dropped for this is 0 even though it should be certain, that is because he was bought for games like this really and not the big games. Therefore, unless by some miracle Ivanovic is dropped expect the exact same team again maybe with Oscar instead of Willian but if he is just recently back from injury, I doubt Jose will start him.

Basically same team again with Cahill instead of Terry from the start and expect us to win 2-0.

[Pacquiao 1,834]

In the unlikely event that Ivanovic doesn't start, i would like to see Hazard given the Captains armband.

Courtois

Azpilicueta - Cahill - Zouma - Baba

Matic

Cesc - Oscar

Pedro - Costa - Hazard ©

Chelsea 4 Palace 1

Costa x2

Pedro

Oscar

[kmk108 1,186]

Would be nice to see a better defence display from the team. I'm not sure we can play the "just score more than the opposition" kind of football.

That's how you win matches...

[Yeboii 1,844]

That's how you win matches...

Wow people are not getting what I mean...

Of course I know that you win matches by scoring more goals than the opposition. What I am saying is that we can't afford to ignore defending. Some teams leak goals but often make for it because they score a lot of goals. In my opinion, Chelsea is regarded as a team with one of the best defending in Europe and we have to keep that going. We won West Brom 3-2, not 2-0 which is, in my opinion, a much better result.

Maybe what I'm saying is difficult to understand. What I'm trying to say is that we can't only focus on attacking and scoring goals. Defending well should be one of our highest priorities.

[kellzfresh 7,229]

Fabregas must play, he's still a huge part of our creativity. He has to learn how to move all around the pitch so that he'll be difficult to mark. And he needs to hit the gym to get some upper body strength to hold off some challenges