Chelsea 0 Manchester City 2

[Sciatika]

2 hours ago, Sciatika said:

Sadly, I will.

Worse, it will be on Peacock. The joy of Peter Drury and Jon Champion on microphones. 

[chara]

8 minutes ago, Sciatika said:

Worse, it will be on Peacock. The joy of Peter Drury and Jon Champion on microphones. 

I watch all games without the commentary now...lose some of the "crowd" game atmosphere and responses but a fair trade off to avoid the annoying babbling of talking heads,!

[Sciatika]

Personally, I think Peter Drury on drums might be preferable. I'll try sound off. Wish we could get a feed with just crowd sounds. I know who the players are and I don't need inane comments like"the boy's got a lovely left foot" or "it's like they are really trying for the equaliser". 

[chara]

7 minutes ago, Sciatika said:

Personally, I think Peter Drury on drums might be preferable. I'll try sound off. Wish we could get a feed with just crowd sounds. I know who the players are and I don't need inane comments like"the boy's got a lovely left foot" or "it's like they are really trying for the equaliser". 

Mrs C in her somewhat innocent way has asked in the past ,with some annoyance, why the "Talkers" have to keep referring to what a player did years ago....

Further annoying for me is/was when an "incident" occurs and instead of focusing on the ongoing situation,,a bad injury for example,,the "Talkers" babble on about unrelated matters and often so does the camera work.

Added,while I'm at it....the camera stuff,,the time has long passed when some ratty little kid holding up a homemade sign asking for the shirt of a named player was in any way cute or of interest,

Edited August 13 by chara

[chiswickblue]

I find it hard to believe that the players that had a minimal pre-season will be fit to start this one - Cucurella, Enzo, Caicedo, Palmer and Jackson.

Equally, it seems unlikely that forgotten man Chilwell will be given a start, or that we would give speculative punt Guiu  a start in such a match.

I'd like to see Ugochukwa and Caicedo start in the base of midfield as they seem to be our solidest pairing, but Lavia and Enzo seem to be must haves.

[Sleeping Dave]

6 hours ago, My Blood Is Blue said:

 

No idea what the CB pairing will be. Is Fofana fit enough to start?

 

Never mind if he’s fit. Has he learned how to man-mark yet? 

€80m for a defender who can’t defend. It’s almost (only almost) as bad as €70m for a goalkeeper who can’t make a save. 

[chrisb]

7 hours ago, Sciatika said:

Sadly, I will.

I’ll swap you.

I’m at work at Ipswich train station on Saturday from 12 till 22:00. Guess who the visitors to Portman Road are? Yep, the Scouse scum. 

Doubt there’ll be any trains left with wheels on by the time I need to go home.

Edited August 13 by chrisb

[Sciatika]

I'm good, thanks. Peter Drury sounds like a blast compared to that. 

[Chelsea_Matt]

Anthony Taylor is the ref. As @Mark Kelly might say, sounds a bit rigged to me. I can see it now:

In the tunnel:

”Hi Pep! All the best for today. Don’t worry. I got your back. Love you bro!” 

- Yellow card for Disasi for smiling. 
- Yellow card too for Fernandez “as a deterrent”
- Nkunku booked for having a creased shirt. 

Warm-up:

- Sends Maresca and his entire staff  to the stands for “clapping the fans too loudly, inciting them”.

- Books Palmer for juggling with the ball “in a blatant attempt to intimidate the opposition”.

First half: 

5 mins - Haaland falls down with no one around him in the centre circle. Straight red for Caicedo. 

25 mins - Madueke booked for coughing “as there is the risk of Covid”.

30 mins - Brilliant save by Sanchez - but penalty given as it upset Jeremy Doku. Sanchez saves the penalty  but it’s retaken several times until City score. 

37 mins - Madueke sent off for straying offside. 
 

Second half: 

46 mins - Haaland punches the ball into the net. Goal given. Cucurella sent off for “looking at the officials in a threatening way.” 0-2.

62 mins - Chelsea score a brilliant breakaway goal by Nkunku. Neither the crowd nor fans celebrate as they know it’ll be disallowed. Nkunku sent off for “sarcasm towards the officials”. 

71 mins - Elvis returns from the spirit realm to catch the ball and hurl it into the net. VAR check: Goal given. 3-0 Citeh.

80 mins - With Big Les preparing to come on, he’s sent off for “encroachment” as he was standing 0.5 inches over the white line. Maresca is sent off again for good measure.

84 mins - Jackson has every bone in his body broken following Jack Grealish and  Rodri hitting him with baseball bats for five minutes. Jackson sent off for simulation. 

90 mins - Haaland catches the ball and runs with it before punting it from his hands into the net.
0-4.

Injury time - Gusto and subs Chilwell and Guiu booked “for running too fast”. Maresca given a third red card. 

Just how I see it. 💀🫡 🎯🤣🩷

[Mark Kelly]

11 minutes ago, Chelsea_Matt said:

Anthony Taylor is the ref. As @Mark Kelly might say, sounds a bit rigged to me. I can see it now:

In the tunnel:

”Hi Pep! All the best for today. Don’t worry. I got your back. Love you bro!” 

- Yellow card for Disasi for smiling. 
- Yellow card too for Fernandez “as a deterrent”
- Nkunku booked for having a creased shirt. 

Warm-up:

- Sends Maresca and his entire staff  to the stands for “clapping the fans too loudly, inciting them”.

- Books Palmer for juggling with the ball “in a blatant attempt to intimidate the opposition”.

First half: 

5 mins - Haaland falls down with no one around him in the centre circle. Straight red for Caicedo. 

25 mins - Madueke booked for coughing “as there is the risk of Covid”.

30 mins - Brilliant save by Sanchez - but penalty given as it upset Jeremy Doku. Sanchez saves the penalty  but it’s retaken several times until City score. 

37 mins - Madueke sent off for straying offside. 
 

Second half: 

46 mins - Haaland punches the ball into the net. Goal given. Cucurella sent off for “looking at the officials in a threatening way.” 0-2.

62 mins - Chelsea score a brilliant breakaway goal by Nkunku. Neither the crowd nor fans celebrate as they know it’ll be disallowed. Nkunku sent off for “sarcasm towards the officials”. 

71 mins - Elvis returns from the spirit realm to catch the ball and hurl it into the net. VAR check: Goal given. 3-0 Citeh.

80 mins - With Big Les preparing to come on, he’s sent off for “encroachment” as he was standing 0.5 inches over the white line. Maresca is sent off again for good measure.

84 mins - Jackson has every bone in his body broken following Jack Grealish and  Rodri hitting him with baseball bats for five minutes. Jackson sent off for simulation. 

90 mins - Haaland catches the ball and runs with it before punting it from his hands into the net.
0-4.

Injury time - Gusto and subs Chilwell and Guiu booked “for running too fast”. Maresca given a third red card. 

Just how I see it. 💀🫡 🎯🤣🩷

Still not as bad as his performance in the cup final when we played Arsenal 

[xceleryx]

A couple little tid bits. 

We've won 18 out of 38 games in which Anthony Taylor has refereed us, or about 47% of matches. 

Our opening day record however is quite strong, with 19 wins from our last 25 opening day matches - with only two defeats.

Edited August 14 by xceleryx

[Backbiter]

15 hours ago, Sleeping Dave said:

Never mind if he’s fit. Has he learned how to man-mark yet? 

€80m for a defender who can’t defend. It’s almost (only almost) as bad as €70m for a goalkeeper who can’t make a save. 

Or £97m for a striker who goes on strike to get a move back to Italy.

[Sciatika]

@Chelsea_Matt You missed the Man City goal that hit the side netting but was given anyway.

[xceleryx]

10 minutes ago, Backbiter said:

Or £97m for a striker who goes on strike to get a move back to Italy.

Or £30m on soon to be 30 year old striker that had knee issue.

Or a £50m striker that struggled the 12 months prior and also had knee issues.

[Backbiter]

38 minutes ago, xceleryx said:

Or £30m on soon to be 30 year old striker that had knee issue.

Or a £50m striker that struggled the 12 months prior and also had knee issues.

Torres?

[xceleryx]

15 minutes ago, Backbiter said:

Torres?

Sheva and Torres, yeah. 

[east lower]

3 hours ago, Chelsea_Matt said:

Anthony Taylor is the ref. As @Mark Kelly might say, sounds a bit rigged to me. I can see it now:

In the tunnel:

”Hi Pep! All the best for today. Don’t worry. I got your back. Love you bro!” 

- Yellow card for Disasi for smiling. 
- Yellow card too for Fernandez “as a deterrent”
- Nkunku booked for having a creased shirt. 

Warm-up:

- Sends Maresca and his entire staff  to the stands for “clapping the fans too loudly, inciting them”.

- Books Palmer for juggling with the ball “in a blatant attempt to intimidate the opposition”.

First half: 

5 mins - Haaland falls down with no one around him in the centre circle. Straight red for Caicedo. 

25 mins - Madueke booked for coughing “as there is the risk of Covid”.

30 mins - Brilliant save by Sanchez - but penalty given as it upset Jeremy Doku. Sanchez saves the penalty  but it’s retaken several times until City score. 

37 mins - Madueke sent off for straying offside. 
 

Second half: 

46 mins - Haaland punches the ball into the net. Goal given. Cucurella sent off for “looking at the officials in a threatening way.” 0-2.

62 mins - Chelsea score a brilliant breakaway goal by Nkunku. Neither the crowd nor fans celebrate as they know it’ll be disallowed. Nkunku sent off for “sarcasm towards the officials”. 

71 mins - Elvis returns from the spirit realm to catch the ball and hurl it into the net. VAR check: Goal given. 3-0 Citeh.

80 mins - With Big Les preparing to come on, he’s sent off for “encroachment” as he was standing 0.5 inches over the white line. Maresca is sent off again for good measure.

84 mins - Jackson has every bone in his body broken following Jack Grealish and  Rodri hitting him with baseball bats for five minutes. Jackson sent off for simulation. 

90 mins - Haaland catches the ball and runs with it before punting it from his hands into the net.
0-4.

Injury time - Gusto and subs Chilwell and Guiu booked “for running too fast”. Maresca given a third red card. 

Just how I see it. 💀🫡 🎯🤣🩷

What about booking all our players anyway, just because he can!!

🥷

[RDCW]

3 hours ago, Sciatika said:

@Chelsea_Matt You missed the Man City goal that hit the side netting but was given anyway.

On that subject, do you remember the time Mark Hughes scored for us at The Dell (in Southampton's last season there I think), but it hit the board behind the net, bounced back out and wasn't given ! I don't know who the ref was that day.

[RDCW]

3 hours ago, xceleryx said:

Or £30m on soon to be 30 year old striker that had knee issue.

Or a £50m striker that struggled the 12 months prior and also had knee issues.

Or the Romanian striker with a coke habit.

[Sciatika]

1 hour ago, RDCW said:

On that subject, do you remember the time Mark Hughes scored for us at The Dell (in Southampton's last season there I think), but it hit the board behind the net, bounced back out and wasn't given ! I don't know who the ref was that day.

I remember Alan Hudson being given a goal against Ipswich. Funniest thing I saw that season (1970-1). 

 

[chara]

26 minutes ago, Sciatika said:

I remember Alan Hudson being given a goal against Ipswich. Funniest thing I saw that season (1970-1). 

 

I was behind the goal...no replays back then and from my angle seemed ok !

@Chelsea_Matt...you forgot the scenario whereby the ref orders the riot police to charge the stands and disperse/eject the Chelsea fans. In order to keep the peace.

[BMox81]

Bobb out with a suspected broken leg...

[Rob B]

On 13/08/2024 at 12:58, paulw66 said:

I think that will be wrong by a factor of 4 or 5 players.

he hasn't used Nkunku as a 9 at all. Sterling was left out bar 10 minutes v Inter. Lavia I would expect to start, and I think Fofana partners Colwill.

Just shows how many players and options there are! Too many. 

Inclined to agree,  I think he will pick this….

                            Sanchez 

Gusto.   Fofana.  Colwill.   Cucurella 

                       Lavia   Caicedo 

           Palmer    Enzo.    Nkunku 

                               Guiu

Mudryk simply hasn’t done enough and KDH was anonymous against Inter.   Cucurella plays through necessity given Reece’s injury and the fact that he doesn’t seem to like Chilwell.   Guiu maybe done enough to get the nod up top as he’s a hard worker and I think he might risk Palmer who doesn’t play with the highest intensity in the world.

All of that said, wouldn’t surprise me if we saw Tosin instead of Fofana, Sterling instead of Nkunku (who would push up and replace Guiu) or Madueke instead of Palmer.   I would be surprised however if we saw an XI outside of that core 13-14 though. 

 

[chara]

I'm wondering (hoping!)if the bench line up will reveal a tactical approach to any unforced substitutions.

In all the preseason games the bench was primarily made up of options for a switch of second half players and match fitness,,some tryout placings but basically not real game approach to game changing substitutions.

[chiswickblue]

What I'm looking forward to most is the pre-match injury update.