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Baldyboy

Chelski on Saturday

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watching MOTD this weekend, it struck me how many chances Sunderland created against Chelski''s back four by actually running at their back four!!! I hope City do this on Saturday rather than paying them too much respect as they did against Arsenal and Spurs! I hope that we play 442 with Holt and Morison up front so as to bully their centre backs, especially as Terry said he didn''t enjoy playing against Holt at the Bridge.

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If Lambert does him homework, and I think he will, I think he can suss Chelsea out. They''re not THAT good. If we don''t give away any sloppy pens/free kicks and if the ref. sends off Chelsea players when they should be sent off, er should be OK.

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We can beat them. I think Holt and Morison could prove a massive problem for their defence. They have never really come up against the type of striker that they are. We could have a field day from Luiz mistakes alone.

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[quote user="SnakepitCanary"]We can beat them. I think Holt and Morison could prove a massive problem for their defence. They have never really come up against the type of striker that they are. We could have a field day from Luiz mistakes alone.[/quote]

 

I think training against Drogba every week probably means they know all about big strong strikers.

 

I was at the Chelsea game and they are still struggling to get the right balance in midfield, there is a lot of space between Lamps, Ramires, Merelies and Mata and the Chelsea defence. Romeu is a good player but drifts too far forward at times, leaving the slow Chelsea defence exposed (especially as Bosingwa and Cole go on runs up field).

 

However, it looks like Essien will start the game against Norwich and he will add some discipline to their midfield and if Cahill can play like he did last season rather than this season they will be tougher to break down. Chelsea''s main weakness is players running at them from the space in front of their back four, this isn''t something Norwich are particulary good at. An arieal bombardment will play into the hands of Terry and Cahill.

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With points on the board & on the back of a good run of results, we can really have a go at them with no pressure.

They''re not playing particularly well and have some pretty major issues at the back. Lambert is tactically very astute and will have a strategy. I don''t see why with a vibrant home crowd we can''t claim the scalp.

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I think a cheeky 2-1 city win will do. As people have pointed out Chelsea''s defence is p*ss poor, and John Terry only ever got made to look world class when playing next to Carvalho, who was the real defender. As for Luiz, you''ve got to love the character of the guy but not quite up to the premier league standard yet is he.

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[quote user="Canary_on_the Trent"]They''re not playing particularly well and have some pretty major issues at the back. Lambert is tactically very astute and will have a strategy. .[/quote]

 

I''d agree with that CotT . Without wishing to sound too smug or dismissive, frankly, teams like Arsenal and Chelsea are not the sides they once were, and with a bit of smart tactical awareness and application , they can be seen off, as Swansea showed yesterday . It''ll be interesting to see if Cahill plays from the start . Either way, their defence is vulnerable. Dogbreath has his critics, but when he is away , or out (as he is in Africa right now) Chelsea look a lot less potent up front, too. Mind you, what''s the betting Torres breaks his scoring duck against us though?!

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[quote user="Eric Pickles Pie Supplier"]

[quote user="Canary_on_the Trent"]They''re not playing particularly well and have some pretty major issues at the back. Lambert is tactically very astute and will have a strategy. .[/quote]

 

I''d agree with that CotT . Without wishing to sound too smug or dismissive, frankly, teams like Arsenal and Chelsea are not the sides they once were, and with a bit of smart tactical awareness and application , they can be seen off, as Swansea showed yesterday . It''ll be interesting to see if Cahill plays from the start . Either way, their defence is vulnerable. Dogbreath has his critics, but when he is away , or out (as he is in Africa right now) Chelsea look a lot less potent up front, too. Mind you, what''s the betting Torres breaks his scoring duck against us though?!

[/quote]

Torres was excellent on Saturday and should have been given 2 penalties and was unfortunate not to score with his volley. His movement off the ball is as good as it ever was and if he keeps playing like that then it won''t be long before he is back amoungst the goals. The main danger is Mata who only had a brief appreance against Norwich at Stamford Bridge - Johnson is going to have to do a close man marking job against him.

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We''re always better when Holts on the pitch cause the ball sticks upfront more and he unsettles defenders!

 

For me if we play Morison and Holt upfront, run at them and play a good tight game at the back then we can get a result!

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I can tell you now that Torres is going to run us ragged at the weekend. He looked majorily p''d off when his Scissor kick hit the bar and luckily bounced in off Lampard. You could see he was thinking ''Why me?!"

Bare in mind that they had just scored!

He played really well, infact has been playing really well lately, and he''s going to come into this game focused on one thing, and thats to bang one in. And lets be honest, he''s got to be pretty confident what with our lack of a clean sheet.

Whoever thinks Chelsea ''Aint that good'' really should wake up - This is going to be a tough tough game, injured animals and all that.

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I tak the point about "running at their back four". There could be an argument for playing both Pilkington and Bennett, although if we include Wes in the midfield four it leaves only one defensive mdfielder. I suspect that PL could play both Holt and Morison, but play the in-form Surman rather than Bennett.

Theonus will be on Tierney/Drury/Naughton and Naunton/Martin to get forward and feed the strikers, with Surman and Wes to provide through the centre.

 

Above all, we have to attack. At Stamford Bridge we matched them, and we are a more experienced team now - no penalty gift, no silly tackles in the penalty area and we could nick it! Chelsea are not the force they were, although Torres does seem to be coming back to form.

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[quote user="Skijumptoes"]I can tell you now that Torres is going to run us ragged at the weekend. He looked majorily p''d off when his Scissor kick hit the bar and luckily bounced in off Lampard. You could see he was thinking ''Why me?!" Bare in mind that they had just scored! He played really well, infact has been playing really well lately, and he''s going to come into this game focused on one thing, and thats to bang one in. And lets be honest, he''s got to be pretty confident what with our lack of a clean sheet. Whoever thinks Chelsea ''Aint that good'' really should wake up - This is going to be a tough tough game, injured animals and all that.[/quote]

 

Not really worth us turning up on Saturday then SJT, is it ?  You''ve obviously decreed that we are going to be annihilated , so we might as well give Chelsea the 3 pts here and now.....

 

Don''t think anyone has suggested either that Chelsea aint that good, or that it''s going to be anything but a tough game (aren''t they all in the Premier League) . All that some of us have said (and I stand by it) is that they are not the force they were a couple of seasons back, and , if they have a bit of an off day, and we play to our best capacity, they ARE beatable.

 

But, clearly, you have decided otherwise.

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Agreed Eric.

 

And whilst we should and will show Chelsea the utmost respect I''m sure, beyond that, Lambert will be concentrating on causing them problems much more than worrying about what they "could do".

 

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I do think they can be got at but equally i''m not sure we''re playing them at the bet time. They seem to be improving, Torres looks like he will break his duck any day now while Cahill might be just what they need at the back. Hopefully he won''t settle in so quickly and we can exlpoit the lack of experience he and Terry have in playing with each other. Maybe Morison and Holt will be the last two they want to play for their debut together!

Tough one to call, but i''m going to be dull and go for a draw!

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Torres has had so many false starts now it''s difficult to imagine he will ever be back to his best. He was excellent away at United early in the season but his bad miss in that same game seemed to put him back to square one. By all accounts he played really well on Saturday but you get the impression that if a couple of decisions go against him, he misses a decent chance or his team mate doesn''t pass to him when he''s free then the confidence just drains out of him. If we can keep him quiet for the first twenty there is a good chance he won''t do us much damage.

 

We used to be the team to play if you were struggling for form (not just recently either. I can remember Gary Lineker getting his first Spurs goals at Carrow Road after failing to score on his return to English football) but we''re made of sterner stuff these days.

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Its a huge task but one I feel we are well equipped to have a good crack at. As I said in the other thread I think our approach to the Arsenal and Spurs home games was disappointing and for me we lacked a belief that we could win the game. I very much hope this will not be the case on Saturday. We are at home, we are in form and we are not under any immediate threat of being drawn into the relegation battle. There is therefore no real pressure on us on Saturday. This is a real opportunity for us to take the game to a top side and have a real go at them. We matched them for most of the game earlier in the season so there is no reason why we cannot do it again.

 

I thought Wes caused them all sorts of problems at Stamford Bridge playing in that hole between the midfield and the attack so i would definitely employ him there. Other than that i would be tempted to play Bennett instead of Pilks to give us a bit more workrate in the midfield. I also think this is a game for the Holt/Morison combo. They gave Terry a torrid time at Stamford Bridge and if Cahill plays he will be making his debut so lets give him a real working over. If Tierney is fit would be tempted to move Naughton back to the right so:

 

Ruddy

 

Naughton Ayala Whitbread Tierney

 

Bennett Johnson Hoolahan Surman

 

Holt Morison

 

 

 

 

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I dont read SJTs post as suggesting we will get a thrashing?    He points out that Chelsea are a good side with signs that Torres will prove a real handful for us.  If things go badly for us we could get a tonking...  saying that is not defeatist at all though.

 

Turning up and blindly thinking we will win is equally as risible as expecting a thrashing.

 

It will be a tough game and one where we can get 3 points.  Because its a tough game we go into it with nothing to lose - a win and it continues our recent run of excellent form,  as does a draw - a defeat, even a 5-1 like citeh gave us, will just be one of those things that we will bounce back from and carry on regardless. 

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perhaps a further shock tactical selection could happen as we did at stamford bridge?

                             Ruddy

                  Martin   Ayala   Whitbread  

naughton                                                    Drury

                       Johnson        Fox

                             Hoolahan

                      Morison        Holt

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I think we could get three points on Saturday. This Chelsea team is nowhere near as good as the one we played under Mourinho last time we were up.

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Some really interesting posts on this thread.

 

The first thing I pick up from them is that we can treat this game as one where we have nothing to lose and so should play without fear and with far less respect than we have afforded to the likes of Arsenal and Spurs.

 

To that end I hope Lambert will rekindle the sense of injustice he felt at Stamford Bridge and the snivelling opposition manager who slagged him off on TV. As I said before we played West Brom - who also took the p earlier in the season - Lambert does well when there is an edge to things. It must be all those Glasgow derbies.

 

The second thing is the perception that Chelsea have exploitable weaknesses. The common consent seems to be running at their back four is a good idea. Well, at their place we flooded the midfield to stifle them there and could do so again but with players capable of running with the ball out of midfield. For me that means Pilkington, Hoolahan and Surman principally. We score most from crosses, inside the box and also from where we get a lot of bodies forwards to score in the box. This leaves us vulnerable on the counter. For me, Chelsea will be happy to fend off crosses all day. Up front, therefore it has to be Holt or Moro plus Simeon running off one of them to start or even just the one up front.

 

Thirdly, Chelsea are strong down the flanks but in Torres have a player who sod''s law says will resume his goal scoring form against Norwich. I believe Torres could be all or nothing on Saturday but must be prevented from running with the ball and his service from Mata has to be prevented. The key role could therefore be whoever marks Mata. I would place this with either full back and give Johnson a specific role on Lampard.

 

This season is really heating up now but this game is a tactical fascination in it''s own right. Wolves and others have recently shown that with a high work-rate against them Chelsea find it tough. The biggest problem we face IMHO is finding strong forward ball running midfielders which has been a weakness in our armoury.

 

On a positive note the confidence is flooding through this Norwich side and they must feel they are due to beat one of the top six. We are going to have to get home results against the top six if we want to stay up this season.

 

As a footnote, at this stage Blackpool lost five on the trot and like Hull went into a downward spiral. After Chelsea we have a tough one away at Sunderland and then Bolton at home. Points gained now, even draws, are momentum points so anything from each of the next two will be huge.

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[quote user="RUDOLPH HUCKER"]........ We are going to have to get home results against the top six if we want to stay up this season.[/quote]Not true Rudolph. Far more important to get results against those outside the top six although with our current healthy points tally even that isn''t quite as vital now as it seemed back in August.In theory they should roll us over but, with Liverpool, Chelsea are the most inconsistent  team in the '' top six ''. If we play at our best I can see us getting something out of this one.

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..but which team has changed most since the first match at the beginning of the season.  Certainly I think we are more of a team - no real sense that under AVB the Chelski team have retained a real team spirit.  Also our confidence is improving all the time.  A lot will depend on whether Cahill slots in, Essien is match fit.  And Torres probably will score, then miss a couple of sitters.  Can''t see us getting a clean sheet.  Think it will be tough but if we keeo going to the end who knows.....

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Eric, I''ve said nothing about being Annihilated, after reading this 2nd post in:

"If Lambert does him homework, and I think he will, I think he can suss Chelsea out. They''re not THAT

good" (Which you clearly didnt read?)

I felt it apt to point out that, not only are they a wounded animal right now, but they''ve got one of the WORLDS greatest striker coming back into form.

By saying that Torres is going to run us ragged, i simply mean that the defence are in for a really tough 90 minutes. We''ve all seen what he''s done to Vidic in the past, when he plays the physical game he plays it well.

If it pans out that way we are going to be feeding from scraps up front. That''s not to say we can''t nick a 1-0 of course.

Hope your period clears up by the weekend so you can enjoy the match! ;)

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Having watched Chelsea on the weekend, I can tell you first hand they were nothing special. They lack natural width, both sides. Mata is definitely not a left winger, and always drifts in to support the front man (likely to be Torres, who played very well). Sturridge has to be a doubt, and even he''s not natural on the right hand side. I don''t think we''ll win the aerial battle on Cahill and Terry either, although they are not the quickest, They are likely to be in trouble if . Bosingwa at right back is by far the weakest link in their team (provided Luiz doesn''t play)

I know its a long shot, but I''d like us to line up as we did earlier on at Stamford bridge - before Whitbread got injured I.e. a 3-2-2-1-2 with the two wing backs attacking

Ruddy

R. Martin Ayala Whitbread

Naughton Tierney (if fit)/Surman

Fox Johnson

Hoolahan

Morison Holt/Jackson

Or failing that a 4-2-3-1

Ruddy

Naughton/R.Martin R.Martin Ayala/Whitbread Tierney/Naughton

Fox Johnson

Bennett Hoolahan Pilkington

Morison

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I think Cully likes 5-3-2 or 3-5-2 if you prefer because it''s how his team of the 90s played and they very much played on the counter attack which made us very potent away from home. We''ve tried it a few times before without it working so well but more recently it''s looked more promising or at least variations of it.

Not sure if we''ll try it at home - who knows what Lambert will pull out of the hat this time. He''s getting harder to predict. Which is great because it means the opposition don''t know what they''re gonna face.

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Would love to see us go to a back 3 for this game.I think the couple of times we''ve gone that way in games we have looked much stronger and it allows us to play all our best defenders...            Martin  Ayala  WhitbreadNaughton                                 Teirney                    Fox   Johnson/Surman                      Wes/Bennet                Moro         PilksHolt to come on after an hour for either AM position an Pilks drops back or for Pilks depending on who is tiredest!That team would be tough for Chelsea I think- pace power and skill up front, creative midfield, pace and supply out wide, solid positional intercepting defence.

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[quote user="Skijumptoes"]Eric, I''ve said nothing about being Annihilated, after reading this 2nd post in: "If Lambert does him homework, and I think he will, I think he can suss Chelsea out. They''re not THAT good" (Which you clearly didnt read?) I felt it apt to point out that, not only are they a wounded animal right now, but they''ve got one of the WORLDS greatest striker coming back into form. By saying that Torres is going to run us ragged, i simply mean that the defence are in for a really tough 90 minutes. We''ve all seen what he''s done to Vidic in the past, when he plays the physical game he plays it well. If it pans out that way we are going to be feeding from scraps up front. That''s not to say we can''t nick a 1-0 of course. Hope your period clears up by the weekend so you can enjoy the match! ;)[/quote]

Congrats on a nifty bit of backpedalling, SJT . I hope our defence are as nimble as that on Saturday......

 

I''m sure though we''re all glad that,by pointing out that what you actually meant when you said that Torres will "run our defence ragged" , was that they are all in for (another ) tough PL fixture. I''m glad you cleared that up, as some no doubt some thought that it would be a stroll in the park. Also, what Norwich''s lack of a clean sheet so far has to do with a one-off game involving Torres is anyone''s guess, but doubtless you''ll enlighten us .

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lol chill out Mr Pickles, i can''t help it if you didn''t read the ''They''re not that good'' quote, and went on to totally misread the point first time round.

And yes, course i''ll enlighten you on the lack of clean sheet and Torres scenario and then you can return the compliment with an equally sarcastic reply... I can''t wait, reply to this you mother!! :-

Once upon a time there lived a man called Fernando Torres, he played for Liverpool and was regarded as one of the greatest strikers in the world.

However, he got a bit poorly and couldn''t score like he had done in the past. Luckily there was a big tournament that the king of FIFA had arranged, it was called the World Cup. A Cup so golden that any players eye would twinkle as it revolved in the evening sun.

This great event was to take place in South Africa. Fernando was sure that this was going to be his rebirth as the worlds greatest striker, he packed his bag and headed off to the grand tournament.

Despite winning the golden cup, Fernando wasn''t happy with the performance he had put in. "You''re rubbish!" "Yeah, you''re not as good as you once were Fernando!" the crowd would shout as he played, and subsequently got substituted.

He returned home, infact, it wasn''t even his true home. You see, he lived in a land of golden sun, girls in Bikinis and people that eat mushrooms in olive oil with peppers and bread and all like fresh vegetables and stuff around the plate.

This home, the one where he was returning to was in Liverpool, a place where the sun is not so golden, girls wear Argos chains with their initials on and people eat stuff like Chips, Kebabs and Pot Noodles. Some would say that the Golden child had lost his soul.*

(* The Golden Child chinese restaurant strongly dispute this claim)

He continued playing, as best he could, but it was clear to his friends in Liverpool that he just wasn''t the player he was. "You''re less than average now, Fernando!" "Yeah, and your hair looks crap, you look like Jordan!!" they would shout.

And so they sold him for 50 million golden coins in the hope that the move would make him golden inside again. He packed his bags and set sail for London.

However, once there, despite the sheer number of golden coins that surrounded him, he soon realised that he was still the same and things got a lot worse.

You see, the club he joined were very wealthy and they had an evil russian emperor at the helm who demanded that he score goals or he had to scrub the floors in the Changing rooms.

It got to the point where he was spending more time watching QVC for floor cleaning products, than doing his intended role of scoring goals. This went on for a long time, and infact became a source of confusion for Fernando as to where his abilities lay.

Then, a magical thing happened. One of his friends called Ashley came into work carrying a gun and shot all his cleaning products to bits! BANG! "You don''t need this s**t" he said, KAPOW! "We need you out there with us..." CHOW CHOW! "...there''s women here that can clean!" PIAOOW! "...we''re men!!" ...and with that, they ran out together, hand in hand, on to the pitch... Where they stood, shoulder to shoulder.

This pitch, was home to none other than Chelsea FC.

Chelsea FC had been massive over recent years, with the russian emperor they had managed to buy almost all the trophies and trample on all in their way, but one still alluded them... It was an equally golden cup to the one that Fernando had won.... And they wanted it. And it was for this reason that they had spent so much money on Fernando.

Fernando awoke! A gunshot knocking him out of his pitchside trance.

"Oh my god! Ashley!", he looked up, his friend had shot someone... Fernando ran out of the stadium to a nearby field. He realised he was next, he realised that this was a threat, to his life!! And if he didnt start scoring that was it... Bang!

He had to work! He had to focus.

And that''s exactly what he done, game-by-game he slowly got each part of his ability back. He was eating thistles in the Chelsea garden to cleanse his soul, and it was working. Ashley was walking past the gates of his mansion cleaning the barrel of his gun and smiling to Fernando, it was only a matter of time!

His soul was starting to turn gold again, but for it to turn totally golden he needed that goal!

"This is it Fernando..." Said the manager

"I know, i know their history, i now know what i''ve got to do." He replied.

"They''re a club that have just recently crawled out of the swamp of League one, dragged themselves through the corpses of the championship and are now on our doorstep" he said.

"You know what you''ve got to do, Fernando, if we fail to score against them this weekend, we, the greatest team ever, with the greatest striker ever, will be the first ever team to not score against them this season."

Fernando looks down... "Then, my destiny awaits...."

To be continued....

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Like i say Eric, Ran Ragged!! ;)

...I just got it the wrong way round. So glad i was wrong, and hats off to all you who predicted that we had more than a fighting chance yesterday.

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