League Cup, Matches - Written by BlueChampion on Wednesday, September 24, 2008 4:55 | 847 Views | 19 Comments | Add Comment
Portsmouth vs Chelsea | 24-Sep-08 @ 19:45
Scolari is quite similar to Jose Mourinho in various aspects. One such aspect is respecting all the competitions and the desiring to win all of them. But we’ve always seen the top premier league teams field weakened teams for the league cup. While this can be seen as disrespect to the cup, the fact is, even the weakened sides that the premier league teams put out can do the job.
Chelsea does not field weakened sides, so to say. Generally, it is the usual starting eleven that has reserve players in three or four places. A team that has Cech, Lampard, Drogba etc cannot come under the definition of ‘weakened side’. Of course it would be weaker than the Chelsea first team in a premier league match but no way the same as what the Man Utd and Arsenals do.
Tonight, for this league cup match, the team selection has to be spot on. There are four objectives here: (i) to give a game to the youngsters (ii) to give a game to the players needing match practice (iii) to rest some of them a bit (iv) to win this match. Therefore, I’m sure players like Drogba and Ballack will play a role in this match. Also, I want to see players like Franco di Santo, Fabio Paim and a bit of Mineiro may be.
See if we experiment too much and see Portsmouth beat us at Fratton park, we should not complain much. Pompey have just got a humiliating beating at Eastlands and they would be expected to show a reaction. If our team happens to be a reserve team with some first teamers, as against the usual cup mix of first team with some reserve players, we run a risk of losing this away fixture.
Do I value league cup? Yes. But if we lose tonight, I won’t cry over it. I’ve seen Chelsea lose to mighty Barnsley. Portsmouth are a good team. If we don’t take the game seriously enough, we could be beaten. If there is one thing I don’t want to see, it is the complete Chelsea first team walking in at Fratton park tonight. Please no. I don’t want to see Anelka, Joe Cole, Cech, Terry, Bosingwa, Ashley Cole and Mikel. I’ll have a team captained by Lampard with a lot of able players around such as Bridge, Ferreira, Franco, Fabio, Carlo, Bridge, Mineiro, Hutchinson, Sinclair, Drogba . . . you can complete this list.
That’s it. Short post today. Gotta run.
19 Comments
1. owonatty
2. chelsea4life
is match aired on any Indian channel…
3. Blues_Godson
it would be out right maddness if we field a strong team for this match….i dont know why we cant give the younger players chance to show their worth…i simply believe its because we’re scared of losing thats why we do that…..its about time a see franco and ivanovic play…please a beggingg..and BC i agree with you…if we loose…its not a big deal..
KTBFFH
4. Blue Dominos
O yea.. desperately need to see sinclair, paim, di santo n ivanovic play !! These are guys with potential.. cant afford to waste these guys in bench again…
5. Nihongo Blue
last season man utd lost in the opening weeks and won epl as well as champions league. So it does not matter rather may work as a blessing. Just 1 thing.. No draw .. we cant afford a rematch with our injury list and christmas hasnt come yet … anyways we always get 1-2 injured that time especially the most important ones.
will love to see bridgey and ferreira and alex and ivonovic as CB. di santo to start.
6. manu sucks
pls play ivanovic n paim
———————–Cudicini——————————–
Ferreira———Ivanovic—————–Alex———Bridge
—————————Minerio—————————–
——-Ballack—————obi——————Fabio Paim—
—————Drogba———di santo———
7. BlueFan nr:1
—————-gudicini——————-
ferreira—terry–ivanovic—bridge
——————mikel————————
———–balack——lampard——
—-sinclair——————–paim—
—————–drogba——————-
subs:alex beletti di santo malouda joe cole cech alex
anelka should not even be on the bench let him learn how to put the ball in the net.
8. mcurto
BC,youre not being very realistic.Mineiro has not even arrived yet and since he doesnt train from June till now most likely he’ll have to play 1 or 2 reserve matches to be evaluated.
Fabio Paim came as a late substitute in last reserve match so most likely he is not ready yet.
9. ravi
@5 - there will be no rematch , it goes on to penalties . i think only fa cup has a rematch.
10. Techii
Is the match in any Indian channel? does anybody know?
11. Nihongo Blue
Quoting ravi @ 51281
@5 - there will be no rematch , it goes on to penalties . i think only fa cup has a rematch.
got u.. just saw the sunderland result. it goes to penalties if its a draw.
12. Stamford Bridge will NEVER Fall
heyy guys, BC yr right, no full flegded team to start please, give drogs and ballack some match fitness, other than tht, give ivanovic + sinclair + ferreira + bridge and kalou or di santo a start Big Phil. Anyways, any links available fr this game ? i read on the CFC website its ONLY shown on ChelseaTV..any1 can confirm tht maybe ? thanks
13. Chelsea Boy 08
At the start of the January transfer we need to buy some quality strikers and sell Drogba and Anelka.
Drogba is starting to get old and starting to slow down. He is also a diver and when he dives he makes a nuicence out of himself. Chelsea is not a football club who takes shortcuts or the “easy” way out. Chelsea is a club who will work there asses off until they get what they want.
N.Anelka is a semi-professional player. Chelsea most probably bought Nicholas because he stood out at Bolton and yes he did. He was the only semi-professional surrounded by amatures. The looses focus in the game and he is starting to slow down because of his age.
Don’t get me wrong, both of them are good players but unfortunatly they probably worth a 2nd string jersey.
14. moyo
Who knows which channel will be airing this match live in the usa? Fox soccer channel is not even showing any carling cup today while setanta sports seem to be more interested in swansea vs cardiff. Any american here?
15. CFCIR
SINCLAIR AND DI SANTO MUST PLAY.
16. Pensioner
There should be only one winner in this match.
And that is Chelsea because I saw the match between Man Utd and Portsmouth last year in the FA Cup and Pourtsmouth won on luck. Portsmouth are coming off a hiding and the teams morale must be very low as well. This should psyche a proffesional team to do well.
Cheers
17. Adonis
Our line-up is
Cech, Ivanovic, Alex, Terry, Bridge, Belletti, Lampard, Ballack, Kalou, Drogba, Malouda.
Insanely strong starting line-up. It shows our intent. I’m disappointed though, why is Lampard playing? Why Malouda?!
The youngsters better play.
18. Adonis
It’s good that we have a very young bench: Sinclair, Stoch, Mancienne, Di Santo, Ferreira, Mikel, Cudicini.
19. Blues_Godson
Here was our line up
Chelsea: Cech - Ivanovic; Terry; Alex; Bridge - Belletti; Ballack; Lampard; Kalou; Malouda; - Drogba
i think we still fielded a strong team but i am glad we got 4 goals and happy that ivanovic had to play..
I am expecting up to seven changes in the line up
———————–Cudicini——————————–
Ferreira———Ivanovic—————–Alex———Bridge
—————————Minerio—————————–
——-Ballack———————————Lampard——–
Fabio Paim———————————————–Kalou
—————————Drogba——————————–
Subs: Hilario, Joecole, Mikel , Sinclair , Anelka, Di Santo and Hutchinson.
There will be a strong reaction from portsmouth and we need to contain them. This also will be a room a to see more of some players Ivanovic, paim and minerio. Particularly I want to see Paim impressed and threaten Joecole in the first team. Now I know kalou has proven himself once more and he has already given Scolari a selection problem ahead of the next premier league game. Either JoeCole or Malouda will be benched. I will simply go for Joe Cole to be benched. He is too wasteful.
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