Chelsea 0 Manchester City 2

[east lower]

35 minutes ago, Ham said:

Petrovic is atrocious at crosses. That puts the defence on edge at every set piece.  

 

He’d gotten noticeably better with more game time and was doing far better than when he first came in to play and barely got off his line. 

There were a couple of games in that decent run at the end of the season where I can recall thinking, he’s helped the team brilliantly there. I’ll try to remember which ones.

I know which one of them I’d rather have playing behind me, and it’s not Sanchez. Paid too much for too long, and I suspect that’s one of the reasons behind his promotion back into the first-team. If it’s his keeping, then they’re watching a completely different game to the one I see.

[martin1905]

5 hours ago, Ham said:

He's looked good in pre-season, let down by the defenders on a couple of occasions.  Made a lot of excellent instinctive saves that could easily have resulted in goals.

Also, and particularly against Club America, his footwork was excellent and he looked like an extra outfield player when we were playing out from the back.

I don't get the hatred on here. 

I don't think he was that bad last season.

Would love to see all his apparent howlers, I can't remember any really simple saves he should have made that he didn't. I do remember some very good saves. He definitely made some mistakes with the ball at his feet but the question is was that because he's not got very good distribution or was it because we were an ill disciplined,  un coached team?

 

[jasonb]

I think this one comes too early for us even without Oscar Bobb being available for them.

[CarefreeMuratcan]

12 hours ago, jasonb said:

I think this one comes too early for us even without Oscar Bobb being available for them.

They usually start rusty though, probably will be a draw.

[paulw66]

12 hours ago, jasonb said:

I think this one comes too early for us even without Oscar Bobb being available for them.

 

7 minutes ago, CarefreeMuratcan said:

They usually start rusty though, probably will be a draw.

best time to play them, 100%

[paulw66]

No Rodri.

[CarefreeMuratcan]

43 minutes ago, paulw66 said:

No Rodri.

Excellent.

[CarefreeMuratcan]

Is Kepa available for this?

[johnnybozo]

Shunting all the Chels players out of my FPL team for this one. Going to be a naughty, long 90 minutes

[Chelsea_Matt]

2-1 to the Chels! 🥰🎯💯🙌🏻 

[jasonb]

If both Oscar Bobb and Rodri are out then we have a chance of a point or points though of course we will still need to play well.

[Miguelito07]

1 hour ago, jasonb said:

If both Oscar Bobb and Rodri are out then we have a chance of a point or points though of course we will still need to play well.

And the other players Man City has?

[east lower]

22 hours ago, CarefreeMuratcan said:

Excellent.

I think that the only games they lost last season, was when he wasn't available.

[Max Fowler]

On 15/08/2024 at 22:52, martin1905 said:

Sanchez definitely made some mistakes with the ball at his feet but the question is was that because he's not got very good distribution or was it because we were an ill disciplined,  un coached team?

His distribution is dreadful. De Zerbi replaced him with Steele precisely because his distribution was so poor. The fact that we've landed on Sanchez as a supposedly good fit for possession-based football speaks terribly for our strategy.  

[Chelsea_Matt]

12 minutes ago, Max Fowler said:

His distribution is dreadful. De Zerbi replaced him with Steele precisely because his distribution was so poor. The fact that we've landed on Sanchez as a supposedly good fit for possession-based football speaks terribly for our strategy.  

I’d prefer we sign players who can do the basics well to start with. Everything else is just a bonus. 💯🎯💯

[NoblyBobly]

Just noticed we are 25/1 to win the Prem. 

I might have a bit of that!

[east lower]

36 minutes ago, Max Fowler said:

His distribution is dreadful. De Zerbi replaced him with Steele precisely because his distribution was so poor. The fact that we've landed on Sanchez as a supposedly good fit for possession-based football speaks terribly for our strategy.  

We'll all see soon enough tomorrow when Pep's side press the bejesus out of us in our half.

I think he's a liability for a number of reasons and another Winstanley & Lawrence balls-up. Decisions like that one are behind the 'need' to sell the home-growns. 

Edited August 17 by east lower

[Max Fowler]

29 minutes ago, Chelsea_Matt said:

I’d prefer we sign players who can do the basics well to start with. Everything else is just a bonus. 💯🎯💯

Distribution is the basics the way we want to play Matt. See Ederson at City, who can't save very well but is amazing on the ball.

[My Blood Is Blue]

22 minutes ago, NoblyBobly said:

Just noticed we are 25/1 to win the Prem. 

I might have a bit of that!

25/1 is madness, I’d put us closer to 50/1.

[NoblyBobly]

2 hours ago, My Blood Is Blue said:

25/1 is madness, I’d put us closer to 50/1.

Here’s how look at it.  So which teams are almost certainly going to finish above us this season.
Man U ? No .

Spurs ? No.

Newcastle ? No.

Villa ? No.

Liverpool ? New coach so unknown.

Arsenal? I think they may have shot their bolt last season and have no record of consistency .

 So it’s City which is the only team almost certain to finish above us. I’ll take 25/1 on that. 

 

[My Blood Is Blue]

14 minutes ago, NoblyBobly said:

Here’s how look at it.  So which teams are almost certainly going to finish above us this season.
Man U ? No .

Spurs ? No.

Newcastle ? No.

Villa ? No.

Liverpool ? New coach so unknown.

Arsenal? I think they may have shot their bolt last season and have no record of consistency .

 So it’s City which is the only team almost certain to finish above us. I’ll take 25/1 on that. 

 

I would look at it as:

Man City and Arsenal will finish above us, based on recent seasons results and form and the fact that we haven’t significantly improved our squad and have a new unproven manager. So that means our chances of winning it are already very slim.

Liverpool, we all hope and maybe a hint of expectation that they drop off under the new manager, but again, recent seasons would suggest they’re far enough ahead of us in terms of quality and again based on us not really strengthening and having a new unproven manager, means they must be favourites to finish ahead of us, so we’ve now got 3 teams to overcome.

The rest, Spurs, Man Utd, Newcastle, Villa and  Chelsea is bit of guess work and all could reasonably finish in any order. The advantage they do all have over us though is manager consistency, so they must start with a slight edge in that sense.

That’s my view anyway. 

[NoblyBobly]

2 hours ago, My Blood Is Blue said:

I would look at it as:

Man City and Arsenal will finish above us, based on recent seasons results and form and the fact that we haven’t significantly improved our squad and have a new unproven manager. So that means our chances of winning it are already very slim.

Liverpool, we all hope and maybe a hint of expectation that they drop off under the new manager, but again, recent seasons would suggest they’re far enough ahead of us in terms of quality and again based on us not really strengthening and having a new unproven manager, means they must be favourites to finish ahead of us, so we’ve now got 3 teams to overcome.

The rest, Spurs, Man Utd, Newcastle, Villa and  Chelsea is bit of guess work and all could reasonably finish in any order. The advantage they do all have over us though is manager consistency, so they must start with a slight edge in that sense.

That’s my view anyway. 

Realistically I’m hoping for top 4.  But I bet no-one  guessed last seasons top 4 correctly. You just don’t know.  But as a bit of fun ( and because we could still make a couple of great signings) I’m going to have a tenner at 25/1.  I like a reason to get excited!! I think this season is very open . Lots of surprises in store I think. 

[Original 21]

Worried about our defence. I just hope we put up more of a fight than we did in preseason. It will be tough to try and outscore them while we’re leaking goals at the back. A draw would be a great result. 

[Holymoly]

I'm watching all these previews of the game on places like The Athletic where it seems that the journalists are strangely looking to big up our chances in the league this year while also pointing out that the new manager is going to dissuade us from relying on quick breaks. Speaking as a cynical old twat I am fearful of the immediate future. Our players have shown that they are extremely slow on the uptake when it comes to changing tactics and the thought of us doubling down on the endless side to side passing before inevitably losing the ball and getting hit on the break ourselves fills me with dread. We are likely going to be the most boring side to watch with players not having the basic skills to perform the basic jobs adequately.

I predict  a season similar to last year with the proviso that we are (hopefully) going to have a lot more games to play. Unless we have another Cole Palmer like star emerge from nowhere in midfiled that is able to produce defense splitting passes to strikers that are capable of hitting the target I foresee these forums being another battlefield of pessimism vs tolerance while the media gloats over our inability to buy success.

Chelsea to lose 3-0

[Blue Moon]

My heart says 1:0, Cole Palmer driving one in from the halfway line to show his old employer what a mistake he made;  but my head says 0:4, Mudryk finally coming right coinciding with Cucurella reverting to the liability he was at the start of last season while the Troll has a field day. 0:2.