Preferred XI against Levski Sofia

A bare minimum of 0-3 is the scoreline I would be looking at when Levski host Chelsea on Wednesday night in Bulgaria. Barca has already set the standard by scoring a big 5-0 win against them and the Chelsea scoreline on Wednesday will also play a psychological part in the build up to the Chelsea-Barca games. In the game agasint Barca, Levski did not appear to be too interested/equipped in the defence and Barca were running riot. With the kind of attacking power we have, we should demolish them as well.

Once again, I fancy an attacking 4-3-3 with Kalou and Robben supplying to Sheva in the middle. Terry has recovered but I would prefer him to take more rest before he returns to action. The injustice to Bridge should not continue. He should certainly play for us alternating with Ashley Cole. I think Cech can be rested and Cudicini should be given a game. Our weaker defence with Cudicini should not really bother us. If you think Cudicini, Carvalho, Bridge, Geremi & Ferriera are not good enough to contain Levski, then we are having big problems. Drogba can be rested or given some 10 minutes or so. I would prefer Sheva to play 90 minutes and SWP subbed for Robben.

The worrying thing about Chelsea is that the new signings are not really firing all cylinders yet. Yes, they have improved from what they were a month ago. But even now, the goals are coming from the good old sources - Drogba, Lampard, Terry & Carvalho who have shared 10 out of 11 Chelsea goals of this season so far. I agree that Lampard should not be judged by the number of goals he scores but still he has scored 4 times (missed a penalty too), and had a total of 28 shots. Same cannot be said about Sheva who has scored only 1 goal and has had 19 shots. His below-par performance has been hidden under Chelsea’s consecutive wins and clean sheets. He is not quite the terror now like he used to be when he was in Milan. That’s not because he is past his prime or something. He is very fit and he has at least 3 more years before he stops being the Sheva that we know.

We all know what he is capable of. If selected, he would make his 100th appearance in Europe and he has scored a whopping 56 goals. May be he is yet to adjust to the Chelsea strategy and team play. But when he plays Sofia on Wednesday, that’s the perfect opportunity for him to shrug off his form and make a strong come back with two or three goals. I’m not asking for too much. Sheva is quite capable to scoring two or three goals in a European match against Sofia. After we get to a comfortable lead, I hope the team rallies around Sheva, use him as the target man and assist him so that he can score and gain some confidence. May be, he should be allowed to take penalties as well. We are not at all reliant on Sheva but his form is absolutely important and with him firing, we would be near invincible.

Just when the criticism is mounting on Sheva, I thought this would help us remember his sheer quality and world class genius.

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This was one of the best goals scored by Shevchenko. This is my personal favourite as well. This was against unfortunate Lyon in the Champions League 05-06 quarterfinals. Shevchenko is a real hero and he is not a choker. He is simply the best in Europe.