FA Cup, Matches - Written by Blue Devil on Friday, February 15, 2008 15:02 | 2,308 Views | 26 Comments | Add Comment
Chelsea vs Huddersfield | 16-Feb-08 @ 15:00 UK
Chelsea play a team that is 56 places below them in the league standings. We are almost full strength, with players returning from injuries and African Cup.
At these circumstances, playing at Stamford Bridge, this should be a walk in the park (no disrespect to Huddersfield Town). That said, upsets do happen in cup competitions. I have a feeling that this could be a 4-0. Even if it is a 1-0, I just want to see a commanding Chelsea performance by completely outplaying and outclassing our league one opponents.
So here comes the problem of plenty! Terry is back. He has surprised the manager and everyone else by recovering so quickly. That’s bad news for Alex. If grant played a injury-returned Lampard against Liverpool in a premier league game, he would certainly play Terry against Huddersfield in an FA Cup game. If Ivanovic is anywhere near match-fit, he should play as well.
In midfield, Essien is available. So is Mikel, Lampard, Ballack, Makelele and if at all you need, Sidwell too. And then you see Drogba, Kalou, Anelka, Joe Cole, Malouda, SWP plus Sinclair, Di Santo and Sahar in the attack. Ooh! Ok, this is a relatively easy match up in the FA Cup. So you can either play a strong team and say that you take it seriously or play some second string players and say that you’re giving chances to youth. The real selection struggle would come in for the champions league and premier league matches.
Here is Essien returning from African Cup, talking about Chelsea’s progress in his absence:
I think they’ve done a good job and didn’t lose a game. It didn’t surprise me because I know we have the players to do it. The team has done really well, and we have to keep going and continue to win our matches.
BBC’s Mark Lawrenson says that the Blues could enter two teams in the Premier League and they would probably both be good enough for a top-five finish. Quite rightly so. That’s the pressure that comes with the money spent and quality of players we have. Avram says that he will play a strong team against Huddersfield Town. Any eleven players from the Chelsea squad could prove to be very strong for our opponents.
I’m still waiting for Frankie Lampard’s 100th Chelsea goal. I wish he gets there as soon as possible. These are landmarks that make you feel uneasy and restless, which could show up on the pitch in crucial moments.
This is my team. The idea behind choosing this team is to see that certain players get some deserved rest, certain players get some playing time and certain players get some first team experience. Drogba and Kalou can make substitute appearances while this could be last first team match for Sinclair this season. Also we have an away fixture in champions league on Tuesday. Just like in FA Cup, we’ve got an easy draw in champions league but at champions league level, you can’t take an team lightly.
As I said before, I think this could be a healthy 4-0 and if we score 2 or 3 goals in the first half, we could even run riot.
P.S: I’m not sure how many have noticed this. In the main menu bar, you have the comments page and footie news page. They look much better this way, I think.
26 Comments
1. Arun
2. AUSTINO
I think the line up above is okay.Lets use our young lads against this lower side although we should not take them for granted.I’ll like a situation where Di Santo and Ivanovic should be starting the match as this will give us the opportunity to access them.
3. True Blue Fusion
Line-Up
Cudicini
Ferreira
Ivanovic
Ben Haim
Bridge
Stoch
Sidwell/Lampard
Mikel
Sinclair
Anelka
Sahar
4. king blues
i want to see di santo, ivanovic in action.
_______________cudicini_______________
paulo_____ben haim____ivanovic_____bridge
sinclair___lampard_______mikel______malouda
_________sheva__________di santo________
5. True Blue Fusion
@Nihongo blue
you failed to get my point………..i have watched lampard for 3 years………………….grant for 5-6 months……………if he doesn’t fire us to trophies and attacking footy by the mid of next season as he has been claiming a lots……………..i will be the first one to slam him and thrash him……………..as for mourinho i never critisized him till he was manager caus he was getting us result and at that point i thought he really was in a bad condition caus of injuries and other stuffs but later i simply reliazed that the excuse doesn’t cut……..everyone has injuries and neither can u blame the management for 2 players out 0f 26 as you are the final person who is deciding the starting 11………………as for boulahrouz[i m not a fan of boula]he was never given any kind of time to adjust to epl caus he made mistakes in many matches he played and he was an arnesen signing………………….a similar case like alex…….jose wanted ben haim and didn’t want alex…..i don’t think it’s any secret
6. MatBlue
Terry is reported to be back folks! pehaps he needs a run out tomorrow. The are tighter games coming up and we need him to be sharper then. Plus , i think Alex needs a break he’s been excellent these past few weeks.
7. moyo
I only have one thing to write. Grant must be sacked immediately if we should draw with huddersfield tomorrow
8. Peter
Be happy with 1-0?hehe wtf!??
9. AGfriend
5-0 and this is an order
10. bluesluv
ivanovic—-terry—ben-haim—bridge
———essien—————-sidwell—-
siclair———————————joecole
—————–anelka-
———–franco di santo————————
so this is a 4-2-2-2 as fanco as the target man… i heard hes 6ft+! lol
bench can see ballack lamps, hilaro, drog, and kalou.. in this team we still have
the quality of essien, anelka, jc,jt etc.. if ivanovic has early jitters, and essien gets to much front,
we dont want him in center defence.. let him play what he played in his club
i dont see ag having the b*ll* to field this team. he will probably have this…
cech
cole–terry–ric.c—ferriera
–essien—lamps–ballack
joe—–drogba—-anelka?
11. Den
————————-Cudicini————————–
——Ivanovic——Terry——Ben-Haim—–Bridge–
——————Sidwell—-Lampard—————–
——-Sinclair—————————–Malouda—
—————-Di Santo—–Sahar——————-
12. Jack
How are Terry, Carvalho, Alex, and Ivanovic supposed to co-exist? Are we starting Rafa-rotations?
13. blueboy
how come none of you have ballack in your line-ups? hes been playing brilliant lately and should continue to play. in my opinion, he is better than lampard.
14. chelsea forever
play JT and keep carvalho totally away from the action. its a jinx with terry and carvalho. lampard for his 100th goal.
cech-ferreira-JT-ivanovic-bridge-swp-essien-lampard-kalou-anelka-sinclair
sub-cudicini,carvalho,joe cole,ballack,pizarro.
15. CaLiFoRNiCaTioN
how come nobody is talking about pizarro anymore…not even the person who wrote the post !!!
16. trueblue
joe cole n lamps shouldnt be playin because of their yellow cards
17. king blues
we should keep on mind the champions league and league cup final. grant should choose players wisely we have JT,lampard,sheva coming from injury & our african players must get some match practice before these important games
18. aaron + chelsea!!!!!!rocks!!!
why is ivanovic not playing in the last few matches? is he injured or something?? =)
19. Nihongo Blue
play terry only if he will be used in the champions leaue game or the carling cup final else bring him back later directly in premier league
20. Renato
More than 20 quality players are fit and available. 4-0 or 5-0. A drogba hattrick plus 100 goals for Frank.
21. king blues
no room for ivanovic even on the bench
22. cap123
1-0!
and is it just me or is pizarro looking like a proper player now? against huddersfield granted, but this is a few good performances in a row now! he’s riding tackles and moving the ball well.
23. cap123
and of course! that’s lamps 100th goal yay 
nice finish too
24. mike ayad
1-1 damn
25. moyo
hahaha. I knew they’ll equalize and i won’t be surprised if they win…….. Grant’s luck has ran out. Now, even Huddersfield (56 places below us) can score at the bridge. Everyone now knows we are crap.
26. cap123
frank gets another one! 2-1!
and holy crap, pizarro almost just scored one hell of a goal, going round 3 players before forcing a save from the keeper, then sinclair puts it in the back of the net, but it’s disallowed for offside.
i am waiting to see young chelsea boys to play this match, Scott Sinclair, Ben Sahar,Branislav Ivanovic,Di Santo all starting with lampard and shevchenko for getting match witness before Carling CUp Final.keep joe cole ,Kalou ,drogba ,Anelka,cech in bench
formation 4-3-1-2
—————————— Cudicini ———————————
———- Ferreira —– Ben Ham —— Ivanovic ——– Bridge———
——————-Sinclair —— Lampard —– Malouda —————–
————————– shevchenko ————————————
——————Ben Sahar————– Di Santo————————
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