36th Fixture: May 8, 2011 - Manchester United FC v. Chelsea FC [R]

Re: 35th Fixture: April 30, 2011 - Chelsea FC v. Tottenham Hotspur FC [R]

I say Chelsea wins on Sunday and wins the league

 

Re: 35th Fixture: April 30, 2011 - Chelsea FC v. Tottenham Hotspur FC [R]

biggest game of the season without a doubt. I've got a good feeling about this one thanks to our recent form + seeing Torres finally score.

 

Re: 36th Fixture- Chelsea vs Manchester United- Pre Game Thread

Much as I would like to win, I see a dodgy ref decision in their favor or a hard fought draw. Maybe I am too negative nowadays.

 

Re: 36th Fixture- Chelsea vs Manchester United- Pre Game Thread

Listened to rednose last night after the Schalke demolition. He was really gungho about the fact that the mancs have got to the CL final, made 9 changes to do it, are on top of the league with 3 matches left. He said that utd. will definitely be 'going for it' on Sunday.

IMO we're going to face a manc team brimming with confidence. Utd. intend to make a big statement on Sunday. Barring injuries they will have their best side out, the crowd will be noisy, which means we MUST be mentally ready for a blitz from the whistle. I always think in these situations that mental preparation is key. If Carlo has everybody available (which I believe he has) then instilling confidence and emphasising the need to concentrate will be paramount.

So how will it go ? We will need to turn up BIG TIME for this game. In fact it will probably require one of our season's best performances to get past them. But I would just LUV IT (to repeat Kevin Keegan's words ) if we could come away with all three. If we fail to prepare properly then we're going to get beaten; if everybody does their homework correctly then anything can happen, including us being top on Sunday night.

 

Re: 36th Fixture- Chelsea vs Manchester United- Pre Game Thread

These are the games Drogba comes alive. Remember that goal against Liverpool a few years back?

If they're in the box our boys might as well not go down if they're fouled. We're gonna have to score from open play.

 

Re: 36th Fixture- Chelsea vs Manchester United- Pre Game Thread

i can't wait for this!!! Honestly with everyone being healthy....I'd like to see a 433

Ivan luis Terry Cole
Ram Mikel Lamps
Kalou DD Malouda

Torres for Kalou at the 60th
Essien for Mikel or rams if need be at the 70thish
and hope the third sub isn't a rb

 

Re: 36th Fixture- Chelsea vs Manchester United- Pre Game Thread

I agree with that. Drogs is on a mission right now and to bench him in favour of torres would be as big an error as benching him for the CL SF was.

 

Re: 36th Fixture- Chelsea vs Manchester United- Pre Game Thread

As I said in the OT thread, we need to surprise rednose on Sunday (and play bloody well of course). How about this 4-1-3-2 :

Ivan Alex Terry Cole
Luiz
Ram Mikel Lamps
Kalou DD

The idea being to give Luiz a primary brief of shackling Rooney ?

 

Re: 36th Fixture- Chelsea vs Manchester United- Pre Game Thread

not sure "surprise" is part of Carlo's game. The setup that Dtrip laid out seems most likely

"Ivan luis Terry Cole
Ram Mikel Lamps
Kalou DD Malouda

Torres for Kalou at the 60th
Essien for Mikel or rams if need be at the 70thish
and hope the third sub isn't a rb"

Has there been any additional Kalou news this week after his quick exit from the field on Saturday?

 

Re: 36th Fixture- Chelsea vs Manchester United- Pre Game Thread

You're right mate, its not unfortunately. But my thinking on using Luiz in a Pepe-like role is as follows : Rooney drops so deep these days he is almost an AM at times, and to great effect. When he's not boring down on goal himself he's spraying passes to Nani/Valencia/Chicarito while the duracell rabbit (Park ) is scurrying around looking for loose stuff. We need to somehow disrupt this and I feel that playing Luiz in front of the back four could have that disruptive effect. We could try another option of pressing them high up the pitch but I feel we don't have the personnel for that.

 

Re: 36th Fixture- Chelsea vs Manchester United- Pre Game Thread

problem with Luis playing that role is that he will pick up cards quickly. He has a tendency to over commit and either lays a hip check or the player gets one on him. We need more of an attacking presence while still avoiding the counter that manure is so well at. A mixture of Rams/Mikel or Essien would benefit us best since they are far more familiar with those roles.

This game should be exploding with energy going back and forth. Both teams seem hungry and are at a high confidence level. Its going to be good, just hope for the sake of football that it isn't influenced by the refs.

 

Re: 36th Fixture- Chelsea vs Manchester United- Pre Game Thread

TBH this is what we've been playing, and i think, its what we'll see.

ivan--luiz--jt--ash

--essien---mikel--

sala---lamps---flo

------didier------

 

Re: 36th Fixture- Chelsea vs Manchester United- Pre Game Thread

Once again I agree, but I think he's improving in that area and because of his tenaciousness and good reading of the game plus his ability to join the attack, I might risk it if I were Carlo.

 

Re: 36th Fixture- Chelsea vs Manchester United- Pre Game Thread

I'd rate our chanced of winning the league at about 20% now. Still a MUCH better chance of doing so then when we were 15 points behind, or even last week when we were 6 behind with Tottenham to play. Let's hope for a win, would love some revenge for being knocked out of CL.

 

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