closed Man City v Chelsea

[Leif 6,006]

Training in pitch black conditions? Nice. Next level. Supreme. Warlords. Our players are learning how to pass without even seeing.

[Laylabelle 9,464]

Minute silence held in training :-( 

Hopefully we'll train not to keep passing backwards! someone will take advantage of that.

 

[Essien19 1,415]

City didn't look too convincing in their recent matches.. i thought Pochettino could snatch up a point against Chelsea after their game against Arsenal, wrong.

Stones is going to make the bench yet again, isn't he?

[NiclasCFC 2,582]

  On 29/11/2016 at 20:03, Essien19 said:

City didn't look too convincing in their recent matches.. i thought Pochettino could snatch up a point against Chelsea after their game against Arsenal, wrong.

Stones is going to make the bench yet again, isn't he?

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Kompany injured and Otamendi suspended, I expect Kolarov and Stones at centre-half.

[Captain Ahmed 528]

-Bravo, Sagna, Stones, Otamendi, Kolarov, Fernandinho, Toure, Sterling, De Bruyne, Nolito, Aguero

standard.co.uk

[Diceflix 207]

  On 29/11/2016 at 16:16, Chelsea Legend 11 said:

I don't think that at all. The Spurs couldn't maintain their press we didn't figure out how to break it in my opinion

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Agreed, no one can maintain hard press for full 90 mins, it's a very exhausting play, and we managed to exploit them when they were loosen up...

[petre.ispirescu 4,928]

  On 29/11/2016 at 20:23, NiclasCFC said:

Kompany injured and Otamendi suspended, I expect Kolarov and Stones at centre-half.

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Otamendi picked up only his 4th at Burnley, is in line to play this one. 

[mccg 1,528]

  On 30/11/2016 at 10:39, Mana said:

Not yet. City play today. Let's hope Pep plays Otamendi and picks up his 5th.

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Who are City playing today dude? Just hope Costa's hamstring+groin areas are 100% firing and don't worry about otamthingi 

[Special Juan 27,629]

City aren't playing today.

[Adnane 1,101]

This one might be intriguing, City press high also but they don't have as much physical impact as Spurs had last week ( which was showcased by the game between the two sides earlier in the season ), on the other hand, City's ability on the ball is level above and their center forward is very mobile. 

It will be interesting to see if we will cope better in terms of playing out from the back than the last game, I think we should engage things and be on the front foot rather than wait for them and hit them on the counter ( although we are able to do this but it's a bit risky to defend deep against Guardiola teams ). 

Another thing which is worrying me is that Guardiola has used the 3-4-3 a lot in his career, fair to say it hasn't worked a lot for him and you would think that of all people he knows why it didn't, thus having an advanced knowledge of the weaknesses of the system...

[NiclasCFC 2,582]

  On 30/11/2016 at 09:14, petre.ispirescu said:

Otamendi picked up only his 4th at Burnley, is in line to play this one. 

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Oh really? My bad then.

[kellzfresh 7,229]

  On 30/11/2016 at 10:55, Adnane said:

This one might be intriguing, City press high also but they don't have as much physical impact as Spurs had last week ( which was showcased by the game between the two sides earlier in the season ), on the other hand, City's ability on the ball is level above and their center forward is very mobile. 

It will be interesting to see if we will cope better in terms of playing out from the back than the last game, I think we should engage things and be on the front foot rather than wait for them and hit them on the counter ( although we are able to do this but it's a bit risky to defend deep against Guardiola teams ). 

Another thing which is worrying me is that Guardiola has used the 3-4-3 a lot in his career, fair to say it hasn't worked a lot for him and you would think that of all people he knows why it didn't, thus having an advanced knowledge of the weaknesses of the system...

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I'm more worried about the fact that he has a full week to prepare for us. Especially how tottenham showed some of our weaknesses in the first half, Guardiola will be looking to exploit that. But hopefully we play with intensity and hazard has a great game so that we win. 

[Miguelito 459]

  On 30/11/2016 at 14:55, kellzfresh said:

I'm more worried about the fact that he has a full week to prepare for us. Especially how tottenham showed some of our weaknesses in the first half, Guardiola will be looking to exploit that. But hopefully we play with intensity and hazard has a great game so that we win. 

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I know that it should have been already well known,  but I am glad Tottenham showed the weakness of playing out of the back under high pressure.

 

I think in doing that, Conte will be working in overdrive this week with the team on it. I am hoping during that, our players start to be more comfortable with passing patterns from there. Where to pass, where to open up, where to move after we pass to create space. Do I think these particular players will ever be great at it? No. But practicing the patterns will improve it. 

Tottenham showing that weakness so obviously I think will force Conte's hand to work on it more.

[fmsch24 312]

the one lesson I learned from our match against the spuds is that we invite pressure when we play from the back and spuds kept pressing until they scored. we must not give city any space we have to keep pressing them the entire match thats how we can beat them, thats how they lost against the spuds and almost lost against burnley, waiting for the right moment and counter attack won't work. with our team spirit I'm optimistic we can pull it off, if we beat city our next fixtures in the christmas period are relatively easy. KTBFF

[Dazzy_Vance 454]

Why do we continue to play out the back when we're pressed? Why don't we play long balls?

[Hybrid Angel 2,130]

  On 01/12/2016 at 02:21, Dazzy_Vance said:

Why do we continue to play out the back when we're pressed? Why don't we play long balls?

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We are developing a philosophy and we need to stick with it. It's about time we start playing like a modern team because I'm tired of seeing JT and Cahill hoofing it upfield to no-one. We have some very talented players on the ball and we should play to their strength.

There is no top team in Europe without great press-resistance. Just look at Barca, Paris, and Bayern for example. The ease in which they deal with the opposition's press is remarkable and at the end it's the foundation of their attacking play.

Playing a long ball when necessary isn't a bad thing but when you do it over and over again, you end up giving the ball away almost every time. In Antonio's words, the only way to improve is to 'work' and I'm certain he knows we can and should improve in this aspect. 

[Chelsea Buzz 487]

  On 27/11/2016 at 16:14, Unionjack said:

 

I owe Costa a big appology. Never in a miillion years did I expect him not to get booked at Spuds. They tried fuckin hard from early on to rattle him and a Diego from any other year woulda been bringing blood up. But hes been excellent. A totally reformrd,changed,better player and I love the guy. I hope he wipes the floor with Aquero.

 

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This. Absolutely spot on mate! Hiddink tweaked Diego's on pitch behavior and as you stated it, Conte has reformed him. You have to wonder if Jose did not direct him a bit to play the villain role at it's utmost.

Regardless, Costa is winning back Chelsea supporters previously turned off by his antics and is proving his one of the best finishers in the world and has improved his passes/assists. He gives it his all for the Chelsea blue!!

Come on you Chelsea!!

[Dazzy_Vance 454]

  On 01/12/2016 at 03:31, Hybrid Angel said:

We are developing a philosophy and we need to stick with it. It's about time we start playing like a modern team because I'm tired of seeing JT and Cahill hoofing it upfield to no-one. We have some very talented players on the ball and we should play to their strength.

There is no top team in Europe without great press-resistance. Just look at Barca, Paris, and Bayern for example. The ease in which they deal with the opposition's press is remarkable and at the end it's the foundation of their attacking play.

Playing a long ball when necessary isn't a bad thing but when you do it over and over again, you end up giving the ball away almost every time. In Antonio's words, the only way to improve is to 'work' and I'm certain he knows we can and should improve in this aspect. 

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I am also tired of seeing it but Cahill and Azpi aren't great on the ball and having them pass out the back isn't necessarily 'playing to their strengths'. I think next season Conte should try and employ it (when we have the personnel), but right now I don't think we're capable. I shit myself every time opposition players are running at Cahill, Azpi and Courtois. Zouma will be no better. They panic under pressure and their decision making is poor. Luiz is the only capable ball playing defender we have.

On a side note, if we keep playing this way going forward, I worry for the future of Zouma. He's an old school defender and not a modern day defender.