Chelsea 2-0 Man City

[Aesthetic Relic 301]

IIRC the last game consisted of City packing the midfield and we resorted to lumping balls up to a uninterested Drogba who got owned all day by the City defence.

The best way to beat City if they adopt a defensive set up (which they probably will) will be to play around them and not through them. Stretch the play at every opportunity and do what we do best.

I reckon we'll go 4-3-3

[chrismada9 1,948]

I genuinely think it would work. Ivanovic isn't the best offensively and Bosingwa isn't the best defensively...

Brano does offer us the odd cross here and there, and most times they're pretty dangerous ones! There just isn't anyone on the end of it though!

[steve5221 91]

Brano does offer us the odd cross here and there, and most times they're pretty dangerous ones! There just isn't anyone on the end of it though!

He is to weak to play in this game - we need Invanovic on the right..

[steve5221 91]

Great Malouda is confirmed to start in this game, expect more Greed Greed Greed....he seriously limits Torres chances of scoring...as down the left is the best outlet for him, Ramires on the right is more for his strength and tackling and we all know we have no creativty in the middle....

[J.F. 1,484]

Come on Chelsea, please win.

[Term-X 7,891]

[LDN Blue 7,903]

They'll park the bus. Luiz, in this type of game, could be a liability. (if you're intelligent enough to work out that's not doubting his abilities, then only reply to that).

Ivanovic - Alex - Terry - Cole would be ideal, but it could be too much to ask from Alex so soon, so Bosingwa - Ivanovic - Terry - Cole would make more sense. For me, Mikel & Essien should play but I doubt that will occur since Mikel has fallen down the pecking order (unfortunately).

[Henri 115]

Malouda`s last change to prove i`m wrong "ignoring Torres". Hope Mancini bench Balotelli, he is great player but got a brain as a chicken,

The red card against Kiev says it all , they got a lot of no brainers = De Jong another exsempel.

Guys watch out for your knee`s or rather the entire body .

[magic weeds 446]

Carlo just confirmed that David Luiz will start. also to start are Torres, Essien and Malouda. the others are obviously Cech, Terry, Cole, Lampard. So it remains to be seen if he will go with Mikel or Ramires, Bosingwa or Ivan, Drogba or Anelka. Carlo has some hell of a time deciding.

[Ray. 217]

At least we won't have to worry about JT shaking Wayne Bridge's hand.

[BLionheart 516]

They'll park the bus. Luiz, in this type of game, could be a liability. (if you're intelligent enough to work out that's not doubting his abilities, then only reply to that).

Ivanovic - Alex - Terry - Cole would be ideal, but it could be too much to ask from Alex so soon, so Bosingwa - Ivanovic - Terry - Cole would make more sense. For me, Mikel & Essien should play but I doubt that will occur since Mikel has fallen down the pecking order (unfortunately).

Seriously guys , what does luiz need to do to prove that he is on another level than alex and ivanovic ??? he was MOTM in most of the games he started !!!

and correct me if i am wrong but against teams who parks the bus and uses counter attacks , you need your defenders to be ball playing defenders who can support the attack when you need them , and you need a defender who has pace to not be caught on the counter specially with fast and agile players like teves , balotelli and silva .

i think this is exactly the kind of games when you need a LUIZ defender .(Remember when Man utd parked the bus at the bridge )

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Ramires has to play in this game. This is the sort of match his energy and work-rate will be absolutely pivotal.

On a different note, I'm not confident about this game at all. Not because I doubt the players, but because Mancini seems to have some sort of tactical hoodoo over Carlo....

[Henri 115]

Seriously guys , what does luiz need to do to prove that he is on another level than alex and ivanovic ??? he was MOTM in most of the games he started !!!

and correct me if i am wrong but against teams who parks the bus and uses counter attacks , you need your defenders to be ball playing defenders who can support the attack when you need them , and you need a defender who has pace to not be caught on the counter specially with fast and agile players like teves , balotelli and silva .

i think this is exactly the kind of games when you need a LUIZ defender .(Remember when Man utd parked the bus at the bridge )

Agree. Putting Luiz on the bench is a real bad idee. He needs to adapt more to english football, but still you dont bench that kind of fantastic creative player!.

With all do respect, neither Alex or Ivanovic got that, they got other skills.

[MikeCFC 45]

Time to put these upstarts in their place,fuck knows how they've beaten us 3 times on the bounce,but things have to change tomorrow.

Hopefully Torres does start hitting the back of the net,if only to send a message of the other Manchester club,ahead of our impending duels.

We're gradually getting our team back and back to full strength.

3-0 Chelsea.Let's fuck them proper!

[NattyBlue 44]

Going for a draw, not that bad of a result

[Drogba11CFC 108]

Expected Lineups (Mail):

Chelsea:

Cech

Ivanovic Luiz Terry Cole

Ramires Essien Lampard Malouda

Torres Drogba

Man City:

Hart

Richards Kompany Lescott Kolarov

Toure De Jong Barry

Silva Tevez

Dzeko

One thing of note: On Sunday, Carlos Tevez is a super king kamehameha cunt, just to be different.

[LDN Blue 7,903]

Seriously guys , what does luiz need to do to prove that he is on another level than alex and ivanovic ??? he was MOTM in most of the games he started !!!

and correct me if i am wrong but against teams who parks the bus and uses counter attacks , you need your defenders to be ball playing defenders who can support the attack when you need them , and you need a defender who has pace to not be caught on the counter specially with fast and agile players like teves , balotelli and silva .

i think this is exactly the kind of games when you need a LUIZ defender .(Remember when Man utd parked the bus at the bridge )

Yeah I get what you mean, however, Luiz is still quite inexperienced. He could've easily been sent off versus United & he nearly cost us at Fulham, he will of course learn to control his tackling as his career develops. However, for this match, we should play an experienced back line. City is a team which has been causing us problems for the past 2 seasons now, communication between defenders & goal keeper is vital. Yaya Toure, Tevez, Silva & Dzeko are very slippery players and they will need to be watch properly and our defenders can't over commit or they risk conceding.

I love Luiz as much as they next guy! He's a fantastic defender, who's attacking abilities are amazing! However, his inexperience shows, he could have cost us 2 matches with silly fouls (again, not doubting him at all here). Ivanovic - Alex - Terry - Cole is a safe bet imo, though I wouldn't complain if Luiz started instead.

[moving on] Who do you guys think should partner Torres? Personally I think Anelka should. They've shown good understanding amongst themselves, Anelka is a very selfless player who'll pass to someone else if they have a better chance. It's a shame because Anelka is most likely to make way for Drogba (if he's called upon), but he's still a better partner than Drogba would be.

[Bosnian Blue 2,471]

Hope that Drogba starts with Torres.

Don't think they are going to push up or try to dictate the play.An early goal and everything would be lot easier.