Matches, Premier League - Written by BlueChampion on Saturday, September 20, 2008 5:07 | 1,421 Views | 33 Comments | Add Comment
Chelsea vs Man Utd | 21-Sep-08 @ 14:00 UK
All set for the big day, eh? This match has quite a lot of significance in the league. The press has recognised that Chelsea is the team to beat now and Man Utd are not same team that won the double. So if Chelsea wins this match, the message would be loud and clear - Chelsea are the firm favourites for this league and Man Utd have hell of a job to do.
If Man Utd wins, it could be the trigger that they want to spur them on. Man Utd simply can’t think of a defeat here which would put them 9 points off Chelsea. The whole of England knows Chelsea don’t give away their lead so easily, be it in a match or in the league. Now matter how the match goes, you can’t deny the fact that the Reds are fearing Chelsea this Sunday.
After the mauling of Bordeaux, when the press was going crazy, Felipe chose throw words of caution instead of jubilation. I liked that approach. We should not get too complacent or overconfident after beating a poor Bordeaux made to look poorer by our brilliance. I don’t want us to be an Arsenal who beat hapless Brom by 4 goals and think they are title contenders, only to be brought back to planet earth when the opponent plays football. I’m quite happy that Felipe is not flattered that easily. What he said was true. Though the scoreline was 4-0, we did allow them some dangerous possession at times. Look at these words on what he wants. Truly golden.
More possession, more tranquillity.
He’s won me over with this statement. That’s exactly the way I look at football. The way JM looked at, too. It’s not about the scoreline. It’s about how well we can control the game. It’s about how many chances we make and the opponents make. It’s about how much tranquillity! I’m not sure if he used that word ‘tranquillity’. I thought he was struggling with English language. Also, it is quite an interesting word to use in the football context. Football and tranquillity? I love that combination. With more tranquillity in the game, the fans can watch with peace, can be bloody assured that their team would win, never let their lead slip, never woried about the misfortunes on the pitch. And, he also knows that all this has no meaning if we don’t win! He says we made 300 passes in the first half as against their 44. If he is not happy with that performance, beware Man Utd!
There is no team news as of, it’s mostly team rumours. As I write this in the early hours of Saturday, I gather some information which can always change by the time of kick off. It’s going to be a 4-3-3. As I see it, Drogba and Ballack won’t start but both can make an appearance. In their absence, the team picks itself. It’s Cech, Bosingwa, Terry, Carvalho, Ashley Cole, Mikel, Deco, Lampard, Malouda, Joe Cole and Anelka. I can’t believe I’ve chosen Anelka for the first team. He got a lucky goal last match after missing a host of other chances. I’ve chosen him because this is a big match.
When you’re playing against big teams and experienced managers, they do consider the paper value as against the pitch value of the players. Because, one thing they would have learnt in experience is never to under-estimate the so-called ‘big players’. Anelka is certainly one of them. And these are the kind of matches where one can readily win the fans and also kick start their own form. If Anelka is to score the winner tomorrow, the fans at the Bridge could sing a song for him. He could be a different player then on. Same with Malouda. I think we’re started to see the Malouda that we’ve known at Lyon. One good match and a goal against Bordeaux, he could be a dangerous player against Man Utd.
I’d love to see Ballack and Drogba on the pitch. They were the players that dumped Man Utd last time they visited the Bridge. I’m sure you’d remember that match when Ballack was on fire. He didn’t bother getting a yellow. He post-goal celebration was legendary. That was after that goal, the Chelsea players came up with that ‘Pat Lampard RIP’ shirt to show their solidarity with the Lampards. It was one of the moments that made Lampard continue with Chelsea. It’s a wonderful group of players to work with. Who won’t want to be a part of this group?
Man Utd won’t have Vidic. He made an ‘unrescindable red card foul’, poor guy! Johnny Evans would fill in for him. Luckily for Boy Johnny, Drogba won’t be starting for Chelsea. Drogba has the very quality to demoralise the central defenders, especially the younger ones, that forces them to makes blunders. Ronaldo might start. I want him to start. He’s never made a difference against Chelsea except in the champions league final where he only had to counter a midfielder who was playing as right back. Now we have Bosingwa. Now we have a strong Mikel and a top form Lampard. I don’t think we’re going to allow him too much space or time.
Sir Alex has a confusion up front. To play Rooney or not. I would want Rooney to play because he is ineffective in the midfielder role that he has started to play of late. Berbatov again, does not worry me. He was never a problem for our defence, but then he might get better service in Man utd than what he got in Spurs. If there is one player in Man Utd who we need to be wary of, it would be Tevez. He’s got his own morale and he refuses to be bogged down by the team mentality. When the whole Man utd team has dropped its shoulders, he runs around like he’s on drugs. Irrespective of the stage of the match, the scoreline, the venue or anything, Tevez just goes on delivering with the same attitude and commitment. He’s the kind of player I’d love to have in Chelsea. He fits in to our culture and spirit so well. But Felipe pulled a fast one saying he’d love have Ronaldo in Chelsea next season. Perhaps he just wanted annoy Sir Alex.
As Sir Alex admitted, Man Utd lost to Liverpool, because Pool kept hassling Man utd. They did not allow them to play their game. They tackled them, fouled them and congested them. It was a tactical victory for Benitez over Sir Alex. The bad news for Man Utd is that, Chelsea can outfox them tactically much better than Liverpool did. We’ve got better players with better tactical awareness than Liverpool. Chelsea’s hallmark in defence and midfield has been the way with which we win the ball. In fact, Chelsea’s ball-winning skills are a pleasure to watch. In Mikel, Deco and Lampard, we have a midfield who can win the ball with ease and also make it to good use.
The one thing I’m keen to see is if our wing backs would bomb forward in this match also. If you remember, in the last match, seconds after kick off, Bosingwa, of all players, was adjudged offside. Such was the attacking intent in the wing backs. Knowing that Man Utd has the pace and skill in the counter attacks, would we still risk having wing backs instead of full backs? By surging wing backs, do you think we can really peg Man utd back like the way we have done to other teams? I’m very curious to see our tactics in this regard for this match.
BBC predicts a 2-0 win for Chelsea. Every single ESPN expert predicts a win for Chelsea, most of them saying 2-1 and some of them going for a 2-0 win. I don’t see anyone expecting a Man utd win, their own fans included.
Just over 24 hours to go for the match. I want us to win, somehow. While I’m confident that we can notch up a good win, I don’t mind a scrappy goal which we need to see a dozen replays to know who had the last touch. I don’t mind. Just get those three points. And to the Man Utd boys, just play your game on the pitch by kicking the ball, don’t go kicking around the ground staff, ladies that too. And remember, if Chelsea beats you, you’ll never catch ‘em again this season!
The poll continues . . .
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33 Comments
1. arnold
2. sule
i would like 2 see Didi starting.
3. CFCIR
scolari want to give fergusen a Brazilian wine after the red devils second defeat of the season.
4. k/drogba
———————Cech———————
—Boswingwa—Terry—Carvalho—A.Cole—
—Lampard—-Deco—-Ballack—
—J.Cole—D.Drogba—Anelka—
Sub:Belleti,Ivanovic,Mikel,Malouda,Kalou,Di Santo
Go Go Chelsea (H)
Chelsea 2-1 Man Und
5. patty trublue
i’d do the formation above cept put in malouda for anelka and if didi isnt right then i would play anelka.
6. cap123
———————Cech———————
—Boswingwa—Terry—Carvalho—A.Cole—
————-Mikel—————–
—Lampard—-Deco—-Ballack—
——–—J.Cole——————–
—————D.Drogba————–
but i’m really not sure, i’m stumped with whether or not we need wingers, with much more of a threat on their wings. When we cancelled out ronaldo in the charity shield (was it? the one where drogba scored last couple of minutes), it was because shaun wright phillips kept covering ferreria, and together they destroyed him.
7. Den
if berba, roo, tevez and ronnie all play id go with a 5-4-1
——————-Cech——————
———Alex—–Terry–Carvalho——
-Bosingwa———————–A.Cole–
——————Mikel——————
——Ballack————-Lampard——-
—————–Deco——————–
—————–D.Drogba—————
8. Den
miniero is set to sign today after mocpleting a medical yesterday
9. Ravi
I think Fergie will start will all the four - Berba , Rooney, Tevez and Ronaldo . The weak link would be the cental defence without Vidic.
May be Wes Brown might not play and it would be Owen Hargareves starting there. It will be a tough match and love to win this one..
10. Stamford Bridge will NEVER Fall
Hey, i think that ronaldo doesnt really make an impact against a stable chelsea defence. Knowing that now he’ll either play agnst ashley cole (who owns him any day) or bosingwa, he can be kept at bay. berba and rooney, not a problem bt yr right BC, tevez has got this power and energy about him that might be somewht a threat. Still, our defence can handle him , that said, 2-0 to chelsea ! lets beat ManUres 80+matches record of not losing by more than 1 goal at our very own Stamford Bridge ! Rmmber, Blue IS the colour !!
11. Ravi
Liverpool drew with Stoke City.
12. bcfan
Guys, who is John Ryan and why the hell is he blabbering..
13. owonatty
It is going to be a tough match. It has to be won by chelsea anyhow. All i need is 3 points and probably 2-0 the score line. Up Blues
14. johnarejr
Did anyone read Ruud Gillit’s comments on the BBC? For a man who couldn’t manage an American LA Galaxy, he has some nerve to talk junk about the team that he once played for and managed. Oh, he talked crap about how under JM they didn’t play “sexy” football. JM has silverware. Ruud has lint. And now he belittles Chelsea saying they are a team in “transition” and thought the Bordeaux match was there best performance. Scolari, the man who does manage the team, doesn’t agree. Phil has a World Cup. Ruud has lint.
Ordinarily, I’d be pleased with a 1-0 victory. But, just to make this man shut his non-managerial mouth, I am hoping Chelsea will dismantle United the same way they did the other Manchester team except with greater accuracy on goal shots.
As far as Ronaldo is concerned, I hadn’t seen him as that much of a threat to Chelsea over the past five seasons. I don’t know why this time should be any different.
15. Mark
Ballack does not have “full confidence”
I think Anelka could score.
Joe cole definitely. Ashley cole,Bosingwa or Malouda will do the crosses.
Lampard will pass..as Carvalho and Terry do all the defending.
16. Siddharth
how can i see the match online?
my prediction 2-0.
17. mcurto
@16. Siddharth, Try here: http://myp2p.eu/competition.php?competitionid=&part=sports&discipline=football
18. blabliblublu
from telegraph arent they correct?????????
Chelsea’s biggest problem is also in defence: because John Terry is their weakest link. He is fortunate to be playing against United but I believe Chelsea are a weaker side because of it.
In recent weeks his lack of mobility would have been severely exposed had it not been for the brilliance of Ricardo Carvalho. Everybody has debated whether or not Terry should have been dismissed against Manchester City last week, but few have discussed the reasons behind him committing the foul.
Having been confronted by Jo in a one-on-one situation he should have delayed the Brazilian by retreating, giving other players time to recover.
Yet, fearful he would be embarrassed by Jo, he sold himself so that his lack of pace was not highlighted. Having watched Terry closely, I think he tries to hide his lack of athleticism and ability by simply promoting his leadership qualities.
So if United are to cause Chelsea problems, they need to put Terry under pressure by running at him with the ball or rolling balls down the side of him for their front players to chase. With Ashley Cole playing so far forward now, Terry has a big area to cover. The returning Cristiano Ronaldo would relish the prospect of isolating Terry in a one-on-one.
19. Thunder
GO GO CHELSEA : )
20. JoseHoliday
The first goal from Chelsea is all important. Then ManUre need to chase the game and more lovely goals !
The full-backs bombing forward are something ManUre don’t usually encounter so “UP & AT ‘EM ” I say !
21. BlueChampion
Siddarth - Thought you knew this - the oasis among bad streams - Check live streams for the Chelsea vs Man Utd match here!
22. Jo
terry cant be replaced…he has the greatest leadership and commanding qulities…he can lead the team…he lack pace but he is a gr8 defender too…
23. Jo
my line up for chelsea
cech
bosingwa carvalho terry acole
mikel
deco lampard
jcole malouda
drogba
ballack will sub in later to increase the lead
my reason to start malouda and not ballack is 1.ballack is still not totally match fit so we cant will come in later in the game…2.malouda can provide the crosses for drogba..3.we need at least 2 wingers and the game will be very tight in the middle 4.malouda can help cover ashley cole when dealing with players like cristiano ronaldo,rooney and tevez.5.we should give more chance to malouda as we have yet seen his best, no doubt we can see some improvement and confiednce in him.
24. Blues_Godson
the score line would be 2-0 in chelseas favour…period…anybody up for a bet???
25. trueplatinum
we should be targeting man utd straight down the middle, fergie will probably play a 4-3-3 to protect his defence if he has any sense
we will see a very reserved man utd today
im also predicting two injuries today, there is going to be a nasty clash with someone
but an overall win, 2-1 id say
26. BlueChampion
Finally, we have a ‘comment quoting’ feature that works well! Now you don’t have to say ‘xyz @ 24′ etc. You can straight away quote the comment that you’re referring to, by clicking the QUOTE link under the comment you want to be quoted.
When we want to quote a small part of a long comment, you can still edit that in the text box for typing in comments. Let me know if you find it useful.
27. BlueChampion
Quoting BlueChampion @ 51005
When we want to quote a small part of a long comment, you can still edit that in the text box for typing in comments. Let me know if you find it useful.
So, as a test of the ‘quote’ feature, I quote my own previous comment. It could be quite handy, isn’t it?
28. cap123
Quoting cap123 @
Quoting BlueChampion @ 51005
When we want to quote a small part of a long comment, you can still edit that in the text box for typing in comments. Let me know if you find it useful.
So, as a test of the ‘quote’ feature, I quote my own previous comment. It could be quite handy, isn’t it?
Quoting BlueChampion @ 51005
Finally, we have a ‘comment quoting’ feature that works well! Now you don’t have to say ‘xyz @ 24′ etc. You can straight away quote the comment that you’re referring to, by clicking the QUOTE link under the comment you want to be quoted.
When we want to quote a small part of a long comment, you can still edit that in the text box for typing in comments. Let me know if you find it useful.
fantastic stuff (testing double quotes :P)
29. BlueChampion
You’ll be there at BC Shout for the live match chat of Chelsea vs Man Utd!
30. Michael
Now look who’ll be just ahead of Hull City tonight - it’s Chelsea! (Just to put Chelsea and Hull in the same sentence)
31. CJ - 16yrs Blues Fan
Now watching the ManCity game and our former boy SWP scored the fourth goal for City…. he clearly do not know how to use him…good for him though….
My Player Ratings :
Cech - 6
Ashley Cole - 7
Bosingwa - 7
Terry - 6
Alex - 8 (sub)
Mikel - 9 (MOTM no doubt)
Ballack - 6
Lampard - 7
Malouda - 6
Joe Cole - 6
Anelka - 4
Drogba - 6 (sub)
Kalou - 7.5 (sub, should have started)
There’s a lot we can learn from this match, we certainly can play and control the midfield and create half-chances but to win matches we need to put them away and we certainly lack of that tonight. Yes, we miss the “on-form & fit” Didier but we need have a better back-up than Nicholas”oh-I miss another sitter”Anelka. Kalou play best as Forward but not out & out striker and January is too far away. As I said before, I cannot wait till the cup matches starts as maybe we get to see Paim and Di Santos in full colour.
32. Spyder
BTW Robinho and SWP have scored and its 5 -0 .
33. ravi
by the time, i complete typing man city have scored 2 more .. 6 - 0 .. great scoreline..
i want ballack to play
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