Pitch inspection underway. Drainage issues. Preliminary tweets say Dowd will go on with the match. We'll see. Thx, Jay!
XI - Krul - Simpson, Steven Taylor, Coloccini (c), Santon - Ben Arfa, Cabaye, Anita, Gutierrez - Ba, Cisse. Bench - Harper, Williamson, Perch, Marveaux, Amalfitano, Obertan, R.Taylor. Tiote ruled out but Colo returns. Cech, Ivanovic, Cole, Luiz, Cahill, Meireles, Mikel, Bertrand, Mata, Hazard, Torres. Turnbull, Essien, Romeu, Lampard, Ramires, Oscar, Sturridge. Our bench no strikers, their bench no defenders.
HBA was unreal last week, I see this as being a bit of a battle between him and Hazard. Chelsea look vulnerable at the back, their attacking options are potent but they have looked shaky at the back. We have the most clinical strike force in the PL in my opinion, so I fancy us to get a goal or two. Losing Tiote is a blow, although he was awful last week. Hopefully Anita can step up. We haven't lost at Stamford Bridge since 2007 - even in the season we were relegated we got a 0-0. Howay the Lads.
Mata and Hazard are roaming free too much with no set area and the defenders & mids are losing them. This is causing Cabaye to sit too deep trying to support. AP needs to pull Jonas central to partner Anita and give Cabaye more freedom. The offense is going to suffer until he moves further up field because Chelsea are doubling HBA with Bertrand and Cole and we are left with very little outside the long ball.
If I never see the 4-4-2 again it'll be too soon. Abysmal. Why does Pardew insist on starting with this and then adjusting when we (inevitably) fall behind? I'm getting sick of poor first half play.
I don't even know where to begin. I'd root hard for a downpour but the replay wouldn't be any different.
It's not like we should really expect another 2-0 victory like last time. Losing away to the Champion's League winner isn't the end of the world.
Ba's not hustling, take him off and put in Amfy. His headers have been poor today and he just doesn't look sharp. Move Amfy to the RM and let HBA continue to run free
Slightly disappointing performance, things just didn't break our way today. Still I would have been happy with three points from our first two games before the season kicked off. Not sure what part the trip to Greece played in it but I'm not looking for excuses, we never posed a threat. Cisse has started the season the way he finished the last one, which is off the boil. He's the kind of player that if he's not scoring you don't really notice he's on the pitch. Not that it's the strikers fault we gave them no service.
It's a bonus. Kevin Keatings on the feed we had in the States questioned whether or not NUFC had what it takes this season to contend for the Champions League seeing as how we only got one point from our first two games. This game was maddening. Almost nothing went forward. Nothing at all into the high wings for crosses into the box. Jonas and Santon looked to be fighting for the same piece of real estate the entire game. Ba and Cisse would take the ball down and pass straight back to deep midfield, whether or not one of our players were there to take the pass. It still amazes me that ManU and Chelsea and the like always manage to have an open forward for a quick-strike counter. Whether clearing a corner or hoofing it long to get it out of danger there's always a Torres or Rooney to pick up that ball. HBA, Cisse and Ba never get in that space behind the midfield and in front of the defense without having someone draped all over them. Thx, Jay!