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Chelsea - pre match thread

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Another heart attack game I reckon. Loads of goals.

Prefer agger to Sakho at the moment, but it's Johnson and mignolet that worry me most at the back.

Suarez due a worldy performance too
 
Mourinho is gonna have a couple of big things to try to do in this game.

Firstly, stop Sterling. That'll be his number one priority bar none. Yes Suarez can score from nothing, but of late he's needed the movement of sterling to make that happen. He'll try to cripple him, quite literally, early doors.

Secondly, he'll try to force stevie back as far as possible by matching us in midfield & possibly even putting two men on him from the start.

Following that he'll try to push our fullbacks back. With stevie playing almost as a third cb & our fullbacks forced back we have a huge disconnect, a literal gulf in midfield that means we our playing in front of our own box.

This is much harder to do with Sturridge & Henderson playing as no team can afford to double up on stevie & use at least another two men to force our fullbacks back also.

If we have Sturridge back it means his lesser priority, the fullbacks is left alone, & our best chance at success will be running from deep in the wings.

If we're forced back a lot in midfield with Johnson & Flanno unable to release the pressure & get forwards with the ball I wouldn't be surprised to see Sterling play at rb, with Agger coming on for Johnson (maybe even Flanno with Johnson going to lb) & us changing to 5 at the back, meaning Agger is pushing up behind Gerrard & giving us a much better outlet down the right.
 
We are amazing attacking wise, but we have to be really careful and not be too reckless with it against Chelsea.

I fear a Jimmy White vs Steve Davis scenario!
 
Btw, that is all assuming Mourinho is making a game plan just for us.

There's also the possibility his ego will mean he tries to do what he knows best, & defend at all costs.

I hope it's the defensive option, cos with Henderson out a good team with quality players doing what I described above can beat us.

The up until he was out I would look at us & honestly couldn't think of a way to successfully set up to play us.
 
I gather your point is that we can win games which haven't been easy . Fair enough , all true . In this case though i was talking about big matches where the first goal can have a massive influence on the game . If we don't get that and it's still 0-0 after 60 mins it will be interesting to see how we approach the game and deal with that type of situation . For me it's another type of test that requires some composure and patience . That's all i'm saying .
Agreed. Not sure my response was really aimed at you - more something I wanted to say, and your post gave a good lead-in. :) We also, for the first time, have the situation where a draw would not be a bad result, so maybe that will have an effect on our mentality.
 
Btw, that is all assuming Mourinho is making a game plan just for us.

There's also the possibility his ego will mean he tries to do what he knows best, & defend at all costs.

I hope it's the defensive option, cos with Henderson out a good team with quality players doing what I described above can beat us.

The up until he was out I would look at us & honestly couldn't think of a way to successfully set up to play us.


Anyone think he might play Sterling in Hendo's position and move Coutinho back to the tip of the diamond? Sterling has the energy, and even the physicality necessary to do the role. He also has the positional responsibility needed to track back and cover the FB.
 
Anyone think he might play Sterling in Hendo's position and move Coutinho back to the tip of the diamond? Sterling has the energy, and even the physicality necessary to do the role. He also has the positional responsibility needed to track back and cover the FB.

Wow. Interesting. It's a HUGE gamble though, & despite his desire to gamble with positions this season I doubt he'll be as keen to do it with just three must wins to go against the hardest opponent we have left.

Also, despite Sterling showing incredible workrate, I wonder if he'd suffer in the same manner stevie did when playing bang in the centre when he was younger. As in having the footballing brain & body to see where gaps were ahead of him then use that split second advantage plus his pace & power to push ahead a little too often, exposing those behind him.
 
Wow. Interesting. It's a HUGE gamble though, & despite his desire to gamble with positions this season I doubt he'll be as keen to do it with just three must wins to go against the hardest opponent we have left.

Also, despite Sterling showing incredible workrate, I wonder if he'd suffer in the same manner stevie did when playing bang in the centre when he was younger. As in having the footballing brain & body to see where gaps were ahead of him then use that split second advantage plus his pace & power to push ahead a little too often, exposing those behind him.


Yup, huge gamble. But every time you think that BR is sure to play it a bit safer considering the strength of the oppo, he manages to find an even more attacking set up, with a more attacking combination of players. Honestly, I bet he fucking does it.

@Modo. What's the latest on bib theory?
 
Anyone think he might play Sterling in Hendo's position and move Coutinho back to the tip of the diamond? Sterling has the energy, and even the physicality necessary to do the role. He also has the positional responsibility needed to track back and cover the FB.

Yup, I mentioned that earlier in the thread I think. I'd like us to go with that. For one, it'll spring a surprise on Mourinho and his sheep. Secondly, Sterling has the strength, tenacity and determination to match Lucas, with the added bonus of being more skilful, quicker on the turn, faster, and being able to play the ball more quickly.

So, I can see, for example, Sterling harassing and pressing Willian or Ramires. The moment he wins or intercepts the ball, he can then carry the ball forward himself with his blistering pace, or play the quick outlet pass to Coutinho or Allen, and then break forward into space. The sloth that's Terry will quake in his boots when he sees the quick movement of the ball and speed of our CMs breaking forward, with Suarez and Sturridge as possible outlets making slashing runs dragging defenders away as well to inject even more terror.

It's Blitzkreig on the field. I'd really love to see it.
 
Wow. Interesting. It's a HUGE gamble though, & despite his desire to gamble with positions this season I doubt he'll be as keen to do it with just three must wins to go against the hardest opponent we have left.



Also, despite Sterling showing incredible workrate, I wonder if he'd suffer in the same manner stevie did when playing bang in the centre when he was younger. As in having the footballing brain & body to see where gaps were ahead of him then use that split second advantage plus his pace & power to push ahead a little too often, exposing those behind him.


The kid will be all right. Just when you think he can't get better, he ... erm... gets better!
 
If we're forced back a lot in midfield with Johnson & Flanno unable to release the pressure & get forwards with the ball I wouldn't be surprised to see Sterling play at rb, with Agger coming on for Johnson (maybe even Flanno with Johnson going to lb) & us changing to 5 at the back, meaning Agger is pushing up behind Gerrard & giving us a much better outlet down the right.

Can't see Sterling at RB at all Jon. No chance. We have him at the point of diamond hurting teams so I don't see why we'd put him as make shift RB. Unnecessary changes. I'm hoping Glen ups his game against a former club who got rid of him. I wouldn't be worried about Chelsea trying to cripple Sterling either. They'll have to catch him first.

I also want to see Flanagan start as I'm looking forward to him planting Eden Hazard into row 7 of the Main Stand first chance he gets.

If Sturridge is fit, one of Lucas or Allen loses out. I'm 50/50 on Agger and Sakho playing.

We've tried to blow a lot of teams away early doors and I presume we'll try it again Sunday. Chelsea will hold firm so maybe it's a game for Suarez to pull off a bit of magic. I can see him winning us a penalty too btw.
 
Yup, huge gamble. But every time you think that BR is sure to play it a bit safer considering the strength of the oppo, he manages to find an even more attacking set up, with a more attacking combination of players. Honestly, I bet he fucking does it.

@Modo. What's the latest on bib theory?
Thursday
 
Henderson being out really fucks us in the middle of the park. We definitely need to buy another midfielder in the summer. It'd be nice to be able to turn to someone like Alberto or Tex, but with them not getting a look in all season really it's probably too big of an ask to bring them in for a game like this.

I think it has to be 4-3-3 really. Lucas can't cover the right as well as Allen can cover the left so it makes sense to put Sterling in a position where he can pitch in defensively and help Johnson out. Coutinho on the left.

I'm assuming Sturridge will be on the bench if anywhere near fit rather than starting.
 
Allen retains his place for sure.

Would almost be tempted to play anyone bar Lucas

Ming
Johnson
Skrtel
Sahko
Flanagan
Allen
Gerrard
Coutinho
Sterling
Lucas
Suarez

Hopefully blow them away early
 
So we all agree that we need Sturridge against Chelsea.
But why?

The reason I feel that we need him back is mainly because I want another attacker on the pitch. Suarez looks jaded imo and despite the one game a week schedule he doesn't seem as energetic as he was earlier in the season.
Sturridge offers us another outlet, his pace and trickery might cause the Chelsea defence problems.
In the Norwich game Suarez was often isolated up front and didn't get enough backing from midfield. Chelsea would make it a lot more difficult than Norwich did in defence. We missed Sturridge in the away game against Chelsea but I hope he makes it back for this one.
If he's not 100% I hope he doesn't start
 
We are stumbling to the finish line. Chelsea the best team to exploit that.
How in gods name are we stumbling to the finish line?
11 wins on the spin beating relegation threatened teams who have taken points off our rivals as well beating our rivals?
And how are a team who have lost 3/5 the team to exploit this fictional stumbling?
 
If Chelsea win then they are right back in it too.
Would be a miracle if 84 points wins the league.
No they aren't we'd have to lose at least one of final 2 games against 2 teams with zero to play for
 
Anyone think he might play Sterling in Hendo's position and move Coutinho back to the tip of the diamond? Sterling has the energy, and even the physicality necessary to do the role. He also has the positional responsibility needed to track back and cover the FB.
Yes - that thought had gone through my mind - along with about 27000 others these last few days. If Sturridge is fit to play, I think its worth considering.
 
I'm buoyed by the fact that Chelsea need to play for a win. A draw doesn't really help them out a lot and I'm certain that in an ideal situation Maureen would 100% set up for a draw in this game.

I think we could actually see quite a few goals as I think Chelski might go guns blazing early doors to try and score one or two. Their recent strategy of trying to hold a one goal lead has gone awry lately because after they have conceded they can't manage to fight back. Even after throwing 3 strikers on the pitch.

Obviously a more open game plays to our strengths.
 
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