v. Chelsea 22-4-5, 70 PTS, 2rd Place (-7) Middlesbrough, 11-8-12, 41 PTS, 12th Place (-36) 3:00 PM Local Time 10:00 AM EST US TV: 2 Hour Delay on Fox Sports World Live on Big Blue ChelseaFC.com News on Soccernet TEAMtalk-Chelsea BBC-Chelsea
They're all "must win" games now, but this is more than usual. Chelsea need to show they can comeback from the CL and win and they can handle a crowded fixture list. What will the line up be?
Dude, I agree, every week is big from here on in, but Middlesboro without Southgate and a light weight attack presents an opportunity to use the full squad. Here's my line up: 4-4-2 Ambrosio Celestine Melchoit Huth Marcel Gronkaer (right) Duff (left) Parker (c) Cole (c) Crespo Jimmy Let's try Parker and cole in the middle, i thought Ranieri bought Parker to give Lampard a break not as a right winger. Rest Lampard, Terry, Gallas that's key cheers
Saw that - bet he'll get a run out towards the end as well. It only bodes well for us that we're geting him back for the run in, the more players fit the better. With 2 games in three days, and 3 inside of a week, it's inevitable that Ranieri will have to change the side somewhat, tinkerman or not. I suppose it will come down to which of the 2 league games he deems "harder to achieve a result" as. Boro being handed a massive blow with Southgate out and Zenden unavailable for selection would have to be given the edge as a bit easier - although, as has been proven many times over, nothing is certain in football. Going with that though, and the fact that there is only a slight drop-off in talent with the great squad we have, I expect to see Babayaro get the nod at left full today leaving Bridge to play away @ Villa park. I doubt that Duff will play in both games either so i would expect to see J Cole start one of the two on the left wing (hopefully eh?), probably the one today as well. Will Huth gat a game at center-half, or Desailly for that matter? I would leave both Terry and Gallas as the starters for both matches to be honest and give them a rest only if we're comfortably ahead in the second half.Our one main staying power this season has been the sheer dominance of the back line, and this has been when both Terry and gallas have played together.Now is not the time to mess with it.Some players on a team simply have to play just about all the games and these are 2 of those players i believe.With Johnson injured though that means that Melchiot could play both games there, but i doubt he'll do that and Geremi may get a surprise nod at right full for one of the two - especially Villa away. Now then, what to do with the troubling right side of midfield huh? Gronkjaer should start against Boro i think and maybe, just maybe, we could see the return of that poxy diamond if Veron gets a start against Villa and thus well have a central midfielder playing wide right of midfield again. Lots of options really i suppose, but, as has happened to us over the past seasonal fixtures games we have lost our way because of not staying with a steady line up.This xmas is really coming to the fore as a point in the season where we may have lost the title to the A*se!
Bridge is indeed rested today - but, *groan* Gallas is at right back so as Desailly can get a game in the middle........why, oh why, does he continue to do that!
...and....J Cole does indeed replace Duff at left mid - not making the squad at all, but, thats not a big surprise i suppose. Mutu doesn't even make the bench - now, that is indeed a surprise!
Very disapointing game, I hope Makelele is not too badly hurt, Baba was injured too. Well so far it has not been a good Easter, what is it about Holiday games for us?
I hope Claude is ok too. He has been easily, in my mind, the best ofseason acquisition for Chelsea this year (Duff being the second best). Lot's of chances. Should have put at least one in. I think the world of Joe Cole but he really seems almost useless in the final third.
What a flat performance from us today. I was happy to see Veron play and i thought Terry was simply huge for the entire game. Gallas did himself no harm at right full, but he drifts into the middleof hte defense far to easily, most of their best attacks came down our right as he was continually hustling over to cover the unmarked man.He did better in the second half - guess Ranieri probably had a little chat with him about staying in position.Desailly did nothing wrong in the middle, but breaking up whats Europes most underrated pairing to have him on the field is not the ay to go. J Cole still proving he's no left winger and quite honestly i wanted to slap Babayaro for continually stoping when he got over the half way line - when he did get the bug to keep going forward he put in a few good crosses. The difference between the Bridge/Duff pairing was glaring i thought, which in a way, is a testament to just how much Bridge has improved this season as it went along.There simply isn't any replacing the likes of Duff and the need to rest him for the next game would seem to justify bringing in Robben. Pity we didn't haul all three, but that was a game that was ripe for us to lose after the heights of Tuesday night and the fact that we held our own shows great character from the team as a whole.We had our chances, probably should have scored one of them, didn't take them and didn't give up what seemed like it could turn into a 0-1 home defeat. Can't wait untill we get a true right midfielder though.
Amen to that. Speaking of which, what do people think of Shaun Wright Phillips? He's not Beckham or Joaquin, but he isn't too bad, and he's English. Other than that, Joaquin would be my top choice. Missed half of the game because I had to run to work (man, I wish I got paid overtime), but from what I saw it appeared to be the usual - put 10 men behind the ball, and hope for the best from our opponents. Few teams do well against tactics like that, even Arsenal. Once we have a summer to gel, and a real right winger, we should have a bit more ease in overcoming such lineups. The hangover from our CL win was expected, and in the last few years we might very well have lost. So all in all, not a terrible result. Granted, this practically gives the league to the Arse, but it was always theirs to lose. Besides, what do we care if we finish third when we automatically qualify for the CL by winning it this year?
As an aside for you stateside folk, the New York branch of the Chelsea supporters club were on the field at half time. I agree with Clan it could have been worse, this was a banana skin waiting to happen and although we stepped on it we managed to sat upright. Veron played a nice cameo role and put is a few good passes, his first free kick at goal was a good effort but everyone in the Stadium was screaming for Huth to take the 2nd one. Joe is continues to be a conundrum. Word is that Claudio is having a big meeting this Wednesday to try and sort something out. Seems the issues go far beyond the 1st team and it is to do with some "grand scheme" for the future of the club and the youth set-up seems to be part of this. I always thought that one of Claudio's main strengths was youth development, but what do I know? Oh and the result was 0-0 for those that missed it.
Yes. I like Joe Cole, I've defended him before, but unless he takes over Lampard's role, he's going to be stuck playing on the left or the right. Neither of which suits him. Send him to a team like Charlton or Bolton (to take over Okocha's role and piss off Nurspec ) and let him learn there. Robben is the perfect sub, because he can play on the left or up-front, something that Joe just can't.
I've been a Ranieri apologist this whole season, but that was a change too far for me. Why not at least have Duff and Bridge on the bench? And if you are going to put in Veron, why not add Crespo instead of Huth? Jimmy was pouring blood for the rest of the match. Wasn't that bizarre that he was allowed to continue carrying a bloody rag around the pitch? Boro had very few scoring chances, though Mendieta's free kick was probably the closest either team came to scoring. OK, at least we didn't lose and we were able to rest some players.
Well we had lost two defenders to injury so I guess that is why Huth came on, he was the only defensive replacement on the bench. Don't forget Eidur hit the post!