Blackpool 1-3 Chelsea

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Carlo Ancelotti is hopeful David Luiz and John Mikel Obi will be fit in time to face Blackpool on Monday night.

Mikel suffered a knee injury in the warm-up before Tuesday's win over Manchester United, while , who scored the equaliser in that game at , has not trained since due to a hamstring problem.

'After the game we had a problem with David Luiz. Until now he was not able to train,' Ancelotti explained earlier today (Friday). 'Obviously I hope he will train tomorrow, and with Mikel, he had a little problem on his knee in the warm-up before the game. He had a scan yesterday and everything was okay, so I hope also he can train tomorrow.'

There was promising news on our other two injury victims, Yossi Benayoun and Alex, both of whom are making progress on Achilles and knee injuries respectively.

'Benayoun is starting to train on the grass outside alone, and it is difficult to say when he will be fit,' Ancelotti said. 'Alex will come back next week and after that, I think Friday, when he comes back we will check him and take a decision.

'I think Alex is very close to recovery. Not for Copenhagen, but we hope for the next game in the Champions League he will be fit.'

Discussing David Luiz's impact since arriving at the end of January, Ancelotti suggested the Brazilian still has plenty of room for improvement as he adapts to life at Chelsea.

'He is showing fantastic ability, offensively he is able to pass the ball and move in front without problems, able to shoot for goal, but defensively I think he can improve there, he can be better,' the manager said.

'He has to know English football, he has to be more calm on the pitch. Obviously he showed fantastic ability and quality, but there he has to improve and he will improve with experience and more knowledge of English football.'

Reflecting on victory against league leaders United, Ancelotti is hopeful the confidence boost it brought will serve us well against Blackpool, who have surprised many observers this season with their attacking displays.

'It was an important victory for us because I think that we repeated a very good performance against Copenhagen,' he said. 'It was an important check, the team is living a good moment and we want to maintain this in the next game.

'It was an important performance because we were 1-0 down and able to maintain composure, we were better in the second half and in the end I think we deserved to win, against in my opinion a fantastic team that deserves to be top of the table in this moment.

'Blackpool had fantastic performances in their home games, they beat Tottenham in their last home game, they were 2-0 up against Manchester United and are a team that like to play football with intensity and pace, attacking football. It will not be an easy game, our moment is good and we want to maintain continuity with a result.'

The Italian believes our extra resources compared with the Seasiders, who operate on a shoestring budget by Premier League terms, make no difference once the players get on to the pitch.

'It doesn't mean anything,' he said. 'Obviously when you have money you can have important players, top players, but the difference in football is the team, the teamwork, if you can reach the teamwork with fantastic players you can reach the most important title in the world, but the most important thing is to have teamwork.

'In theory we can have more chance than Blackpool because we have more ability, better individuals, but they are a very good team, I saw them play very good football and I like the philosophy they use on the pitch. We will have to pay attention because it will not be easy.'

As the season approaches its run-in and with the gap to United reduced in midweek, Ancelotti was asked whether if they lose against Liverpool this weekend and we are victorious at Bloomfield Road he would once again start to consider us Premier League contenders.

'It is difficult to believe,' he conceded. 'Our aim is not to reach the top of the table because it is too far. In this moment it is not [possible] but in the future we don't know.

'We have to stay in focus on our games and not think we can reach Man United because the title is in the hands of Man United. If they miss some games, I think we can have some possibility to think but in this moment we cannot.'

http://www.chelseafc.com/page/LatestNews/0,,10268~2307943,00.html

[True_Blue 469]

Malouda needs to sit off, heck, I think Kalou is even better than him at the moment.

Mate i love you posts and you are a good member,but lets face it Kalou was one of our BEST performers all season long.And i won't take the excuse that we were out of form,since all of them should have played better.

Long Live King Salomon!

Edited March 4, 2011 by True_Blue

[DYC. 7,542]

Our 4-4-2 doesn't have any width. Ramires and Louda are snuck inside and it presents a problem because 1.Ivan isnt a threatening RB in the attacking sense and 2.A smart manager will pin Cole back with a winger to stop him joining in on the attack as he likes to do so often. If we're playing 4-4-2, go with Zhirkov on the left and Kalou or even Bos on the right.

Exactly. The combination Ramires and Ivanovic provides us too little offensively. It's either Bos and Rami on the right or Ivan and Kalou/Benayoun on the right.

[DYC. 7,542]

Petr Cech

Luiz - Ivanovic - Terry - Zhirkov

Ramires - Lampard - Mikel - Kalou

Anelka - Drogba

I agree with the idea of resting Cole although Zhirkov has to start in midfield if you ask me. Both Ramires and Kalou aren't wingers, drift inside and dont stretch play. We need at least one winger who doesn't that. People shouldn't forget our first half performance against Man Utd in which created practically nothing and Man Utd had no problem defending against us since everything went through the middle (in a slow tempo to make it worse).

And Torres can't be dropped. This is a game where if we play well, we can create a lot of chances since Blackpool aren't the type of team to park a bus in front of goal. He needs to get that 'first goal for new club', mixed with a 50 mil and playing at the hated Chelsea, pressure off him.

I would go for something like this:

Cech

Bosingwa - Ivanovic - Terry - Luiz

Ramires - Essien/Mikel - Lampard - Zhirkov

Drogba - Torres

or

Cech

Ivan - Terry - Luiz

Bosingwa - Ess/Mikel - Zhirkov

Ramires - Lampard

Drogba - Torres

[magic weeds 446]

Just Play anyone in any position except Malouda. Zhirkov should be played in his position and not Left Back. If a manager plays a winger to stop Ashley Cole, just play Zhirkov to attack on that wing, and we will be having a Spurz type of attack. Ie Bale ripping defenses apart.

[milllz 43]

luiz is a doubt how will we score?

[Peace. 4,352]

Cole needs a rest, and Luiz is better going forward than Ivanovic. Much better. I'll also be moderately fucked off if Mikel doesn't start, he's gone from being everybody's player of the season into substitutes obscurity.

Yep, I did forget about Cole. Though, I wouldn't replace him with Zhirkov because he has to play as our Left Winger. I would play Ryan Betrand at the LB spot, I got no doubts he has the potential to play against the likes of Blackpool. This game affords us a good opportunity to play him.

So my back line, know I remind about Cole lol, would be Bosingwa - Luiz - Terry - Bertrand.

[Krypt 241]

"The team is living a good moment"

ah back to the Moment again...

I think Zhirkov wont start as he has only just really come back from injury i dont think carlo will rush him... though i would like to see drog and torres up front and see what they could do.

[LDN Blue 7,903]

I'll also be moderately fucked off if Mikel doesn't start, he's gone from being everybody's player of the season into substitutes obscurity.

Could not agree more! The attitude towards Mikel is worse than Ramires'

[eldo 868]

"The team is living a good moment"

ah back to the Moment again...

I think Zhirkov wont start as he has only just really come back from injury i dont think carlo will rush him... though i would like to see drog and torres up front and see what they could do.

At least it's a good moment.

[TomCFC 356]

Torres has lost every game against Blackpool, so hopefully it will be third time lucky now he's at a big club!

[B.Jen <3 23]

i relli hope your right tom!

[eldo 868]

i relli hope your right tom!

Guys will be disappointed now, when you changed your avatar.

[Tortilla9 390]

Torres has lost every game against Blackpool, so hopefully it will be third time lucky now he's at a big club!

You may be right. He played twice against United this season with Liverpool, lost both games. Came to Chelsea and United lost.

Torres came off injured against Blackpool the first time. I don't even think he played 20 minutes. Second game he scored then Liverpool blew it.

A "big" club? I thought it was a "top" club. Isn't that what made RAWK go into meltdown?

[Kojo 4,676]

The man is trying too hard. I think he's even more desperate to score than the supporters are, and that is counter-productive to the team. I love the guy and can't fault his commitment and effort; but he's seems to be playing in a selfish manner. Obviously I like my strikers to be selfish, but what is more important than him scoring is him striking an understanding with the players. Not playing him won't help that, granted, but it will instil some discipline in him and assert the fact this is a team sport.

One of Torres' primary attributes is his pace. Blackpool - having watched them many a time this season - do not have particularly brilliant defenders, and none of their players boast wonderful stamina. In fact, their high work-rate is what costs them points; if they did less in games they'd win more. How many times this season have Blackpool conceded in the last 20 minutes? I can't tell you the exact figure, but I believe only Wolves and West Ham have conceded more at such a stage. They get tired - and when they're tired, you give Torres 30 minutes. Drogba's power will be ideal in this match, in my opinion! Carlo will no doubt start Torres, however. I'm just offering an inch of wishful thinking. I'd also like Kalou to start, I have a crazy feeling he and Torres could strike up an understanding :ph43r:

However, as for the defence;

Luiz - Ivanovic - Terry - Zhirkov

Cole needs a rest, and Luiz is better going forward than Ivanovic. Much better. I'll also be moderately fucked off if Mikel doesn't start, he's gone from being everybody's player of the season into substitutes obscurity.

Again; more wishful thinking:

Petr Cech

Luiz - Ivanovic - Terry - Zhirkov

Ramires - Lampard - Mikel - Kalou

Anelka - Drogba

Alternatively:

Petr Cech

Luiz - Ivanovic - Terry - Zhirkov

Ramires - Mikel - Lampard

Kalou, Anelka

Drogba

You made a brilliant point right there. But would be benching Torres effect his confidence and get him down?, it could be worth the risk. It's obvious we can only assume how Torres would react. The formation is great, but Essien needs his game, and he needs to be starting, he deserves it for how well he played. So it's a bit of a struggle who to get playing, even making Lampard a substitute would be pretty ungreatful.

[Rambo 1,729]

The man is trying too hard. I think he's even more desperate to score than the supporters are, and that is counter-productive to the team. I love the guy and can't fault his commitment and effort; but he's seems to be playing in a selfish manner. Obviously I like my strikers to be selfish, but what is more important than him scoring is him striking an understanding with the players. Not playing him won't help that, granted, but it will instil some discipline in him and assert the fact this is a team sport.

One of Torres' primary attributes is his pace. Blackpool - having watched them many a time this season - do not have particularly brilliant defenders, and none of their players boast wonderful stamina. In fact, their high work-rate is what costs them points; if they did less in games they'd win more. How many times this season have Blackpool conceded in the last 20 minutes? I can't tell you the exact figure, but I believe only Wolves and West Ham have conceded more at such a stage. They get tired - and when they're tired, you give Torres 30 minutes. Drogba's power will be ideal in this match, in my opinion! Carlo will no doubt start Torres, however. I'm just offering an inch of wishful thinking. I'd also like Kalou to start, I have a crazy feeling he and Torres could strike up an understanding :ph43r:

However, as for the defence;

Luiz - Ivanovic - Terry - Zhirkov

Cole needs a rest, and Luiz is better going forward than Ivanovic. Much better. I'll also be moderately fucked off if Mikel doesn't start, he's gone from being everybody's player of the season into substitutes obscurity.

Again; more wishful thinking:

Petr Cech

Luiz - Ivanovic - Terry - Zhirkov

Ramires - Lampard - Mikel - Kalou

Anelka - Drogba

Alternatively:

Petr Cech

Luiz - Ivanovic - Terry - Zhirkov

Ramires - Mikel - Lampard

Kalou, Anelka

Drogba

Agreed mate that would be the ideal lineup but knowing Carlo it will never happen and Torres will get the nod to start. However, Ashley MUST rest, the guy has been playing his ass off at LB.

[MetsajCFC 1,255]

Don't go too far with your line-up theories. We just beat Manu with the line-up, give it a bit more faith, will you? Agree on Malouda getting to warm the bench a little bit.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Our 4-4-2 doesn't have any width. Ramires and Louda are snuck inside and it presents a problem because 1.Ivan isnt a threatening RB in the attacking sense and 2.A smart manager will pin Cole back with a winger to stop him joining in on the attack as he likes to do so often. If we're playing 4-4-2, go with Zhirkov on the left and Kalou or even Bos on the right.

Which is exactly why I suggested playing Luiz at right-back.

People forgot he played at right-back at Fulham during the second half, after switching with Bane.