Chelsea 4-1-0, 13 PTS, 2nd Place (-1) Aston Villa 2-1-3, 7 PTS, 11th Place (-7) 3:00 PM Local Time 10:00 AM EST 2 Hour Delay on Fox Sports World-12 PM EST ChelseaFC.com Live on Big Blue News on Soccernet TEAMtalk-Chelsea BBC-Chelsea
How about this squad Ranieri, whose team face Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge, has striker Adrian Mutu, midfielder Juan Sebastian Veron and centre-back Marcel Desailly all back from injury. The trio had all been sidelined by minor ankle niggles but are all available to face David O'Leary's team. Chelsea (from): Cudicini, Johnson, Huth, Gallas, Terry, Desailly, Babayaro, Bridge, Gronkjaer, J Cole, Lampard, Makelele, Veron, Duff, Mutu, Crespo, Gudjohnsen, Hasselbaink, Sullivan. Add Geremi, Petit, and Melchiot to that list - that would make 22. Plus we have Forssell, C Cole, and Zenden all out on loan, Kniessl lighting up the reserves, Macho and Pidgeley as reserve GKs, ... the depth of this team is ridiculous. I think some poster last week questioned why no one was on this board posting during the match. The answer is most of us are watching it and post later. Simple really.
Re: How about this squad That, and the fact that on our form, what exactly are we supposed to say? Uh, I think we should beat Villa? Well duh! Besides, anyone who can predict Ranieri's lineup changes deserves to take over Ms. Cleo's racket - there's no point in trying to figure out who's starting.
You give Miss Cleo a lot of credit. Didn't they shut her down for fraud? What we need here is The Amazing Kreskin.
On the telly again Great stuff ain't it? Think we've only missed a single game so far this season.Another good showing from the lads later today could see us with even more increased TV showing.
I`ve just seen the Villa team and I think we might be playing a 5-5-0 formation. Although Dublin is a centre forward he played in defence against Wycombe and may do again. Win corners and score through Angel, Alpay and Dublin headers.
I've had them both, and in my opinion dish is way better. Lots more programming. I have Directv and like it a lot.
Chelsea were second best team on the day Villa played great and did deserve a draw Jimmy, Mutu and Duff were all playing to their individualistic objectives Which I thought lead to the many missed opportunities. They have to get their act together for CL match And if possible play as a team
Finishing was Villa's downfall and Chelsea's saving grace today. Juve all the way: I wouldn't say Villa deserved anything today, in the end it's a simple game, put the ball in the net.
Quick though....... Before all the knockers and begrudgers come on here and spout their bollox about being overrated, remember, United barely beat Wolves 1-0 at home with a similar lack-luster performance. Also, bear in mind, that we played like crap and still took full points. United have several league titles from doing that exact same thing. The problem today for us-well, one of them anyway-was that Veron is not going to hack it as a right winger. I though he was deplorable today and showed all the reasons why i cringed when we went for him in the first place. How much more dangerous we looked when Gronkjaer came on could have been seen by a blind man! Gronks should have been on for Veron not Mutu.Taking Mutu off and bringing on Gronks just so Veron could slide into the middle did absolutely nothing for us-except waste a sub. Defence was solid for the most part-is it a coincidence that we posted our second clean sheet with back to back starts by Gallas. He needs to be in for the league games.Rotate Desailly and Terry if needed as he can play well alongside either. I dunno....we won...'nuff said.
Well...... it wasn't a great game. I don't understand what Ranieri was thinking with Veron on the wing - he just isn't very good there. I thought Johnson had a great game - once the lad learns how to cross a bit better, he will be phenomenal. Plus he had a few timely challenges. Otherwise, a disjointed and disappointing performance. But, it was a game we should have won, and we did. Case close. Oh, and I think buying Angel was one of the best things Roman did in this game
Johnson did very well today, he just gets better the more he plays. I can see him playing for England before too long, maybe next year if he gets regular starts. He is one of our best buys, actually I like all our buys except Veron. I have to agree with you Clan. We look a much more balanced team without him. Duff had a quiet game today by his standards but still looked lively. I have to agree we are a better team with Galas playing as much as I like Terry and Marcelle. His pace saves us many a goal. Well roll on Wednesday, I see they are still top of Turkish league
thoughts from the Villa match I found myself questioning Claudios lineup, what else is new these days. I thought Guddy would have been a little better match up against the physical (read less skilled so they will kick you) centre halves of Villa. Also suprised with Veron on the right and Petit and Lamps in the middle. Veron struggled again, and Lamps and Petit seem to be the same player in the middle of the pitch. I thought Veron would have been in the middle or at least Makele to allow Lamps to run free. Also thought J. Cole would get the start on the right side of the pitch. Of course thats why I am sitting at home in front of my computer and Claudio is getting paid a nice packet to manage the club. Thought Johnson had a good game. Gallas and Bridge looked fair enough, and Dessa was tidy, although our defence certianly had its moments. Really struggled in the midfield, Villa made it tough by putting 5 across thier middle and they certianly had a game plan of kicking the shyte out of any Chelsea player that came near the ball. Well a win is a win, but the lads need to continue to play with passion or we could be asking ourselves, what if, once again.
I'm still in two minds about Veron - which, I agree, is spreading it a bit thin.. I think the problem with him is that he can't quite seem to adapt quickly enough to the other side. Villa were closing us down quickly yesterday and yet he can't seem to release the ball quickly enough in those situations where a simple pass, even one that goes backwards, maintains possession of the ball. I think he is an asset but we will have to use him in the right situation, (and don't suggest as a doorman, Clan), and in the right games. Maybe it's simply a question of confidence - having a psychpathic jock screaming at you from arsehole to breakfast time for 2+ years can't particularly help the confidence... One thing I did notice was that Frank gave away the ball, (again), in a dangerous situation. He's got to start concentrating more.
As if i would I fully expect him to be in the middle of the pitch against the Turks during the week. I would hazard a guess that the middle of the field will have a simple 4 across it... Geremi----Makelele----Veron----Duff ...and i will be willing to bet that he will have an excellent game.Not only will he have players on either side of him that actually look back at the player with the ball to see if they can get open for him, but, he will have the confidence to try something as Makelele will be behind him. Also, and probably most importently, he will most likely be given time and space on the ball as the Turks will undoubtedly not be coming to see if the can win a shoot out with us. Now, all thats grand, but you see we're no better off than United were with him.Great in Europe and the dogs bollox in the league if he can't be in the middle of the field-and even then he's prone to still being in "European mode" The problem is not with Veron though imho-it's with Ranieri.He must stand up now and realise that the team might be better off if he didn't play him in the league matches against certain teams, actually make that just about all of 'em. Picture this--FA Cup third round, drawn away to Wigan.How much time do you think he would be allowed on the ball before he got his shins kicked out from under him? Would you want him in the squad? Most of the managers in the Prem have sussed him by now and he will continue to be harassed and harried and forced into mistakes for the remainder of the season.
Funnily enough I watched the Villa game again last night and, as you say, it does seem to be a question of people targeting him to get the ball back. Maybe he needs to grow some hair or wear a wig but it does seem to be a question of people thinking, 'There's that slap-head who gives the ball away...". Funnily enough, though, he did win the ball back quite a bit as well. I don't know - Having watched the game again and being entirely dispassionate about, (or, at least, as dispassionate as a football supporter can be), it didn't seem as if he lost the ball any more than some of the others in the same position. Frank passed the ball straight to Angel and later on tried to out-run McCann on the right with nowhere to go and, let's be honest, Frank's not that quick. Like I said I'm still undecided about Veron. Maybe the bottom line is that if you've got a few hundred million to spare and he's going cheap you might as well have him if you think he's going to be useful to stick it to the foreigners. My big problem is that he is someone else to keep Joe Cole out of the side - at least he can keep me entertained while losing the ball. Ho-hum - I guess we'll see.