The term ‘bogey team’ comes to mind when you talk about Aston Villa. They are not the toughest opponents we could face but we have always found it more difficult to beat them than any other team. We haven’t won at Villa park for God knows how many seasons. Anyway, this match tomorrow is at Stamford Bridge. Do you know that fact that the only team that got 4 points in two matches against us last season was Aston Villa?
Aston Villa are a very good team but Chelsea should no way be worried. What can cause a worry is some of the first teamers are injured and some have niggles. Deco, Drogba and Carvalho are still out. Alex and Ashley Cole are doubtful. Terry would play and Joe Cole could come back. I wonder where Joe Cole would play. He has no place unless Scolari benches Kalou. If we play 4-3-3, Kalou is a better bet to play on the wings than Joe Cole. If it’s a 4-1-4-1, Joe Cole might get the nod. In any case, if Joe Cole plays, and if he is crap, I don’t want to tolerate that for all of 75 minutes before Kalou is introduced. Felipao should start making changes bit early than the traditional 60th or 70th minute. That way players will know, he means business.
The current injury table puts Anelka firmly on the first team. If Felipao thinks otherwise, hats off to him. I have no more faith in Anelka. I hope scores so much that I will eat the humble pie right here in this blog. I’d even write a dedicated post apologising to Anelka, the goal machine. So far, it appears that Anelka has to write an apology note to all fans and the club. Sometimes, when he is up front, I feel like we are playing 4-3-2 and the opponent plays 5-4-2. Remember that last gasp chance against Cluj that fell at his feet with about 8 yards from goal? Perfect clearance from Anelka. I think Cluj defenders shook hands with him for sharing their workload. All right, I’ll leave Anelka alone. Poor guy, some times I feel for him. Hope he gets back to his glory days.
Villa are quick. And we don’t normally wake up until the 30th minute. Now that’s a dangerous combination. That’s what happened against Man Utd. They were quick and before we could find our feet (at Stamford Bridge, sadly), they scored. Villa too, would plan to do that way. The best time to score against Chelsea is the first half hour. After that Chelsea becomes so solid and strong, it virtually becomes near impossible to score without taking too much risk. The first half hour will be crucial. If we don’t trail by the 30th minute, I’d watch the match at peace.
Some people say that the home league record is becoming some sort of a burden on us and thus results in home draws. Well, I was saying that last season. This season, I don’t have that feeling. If the record has to go, I don’t want that to be broken by a top four team. If someone has to beat us this season at home, I don’t mind if it’s on Sunday. One is, the defeat won’t come later in the league and it will not be by enriching a top four team. But the thing is, I don’t want us to lose because it would free us at home or something. That’s what we must have thought after the first season and second season and look how far we’ve come!
See, we’ve drawn two games at home so far. One is against Man Utd. That’s not a bad result. Ask Fergie, if they hold us at Old Trafford, he’d call it a good result. The other match was against Tottenham. That’s bad considering where they are at the moment. Spurs can always make a come back and still finish well. Remember, there are 32 more matches to go. So, I wouldn’t be alarmed yet, by these two draws in three home games that included title rivals clash against the defending champions. Not as bad as losing two matches already including a home defeat against Hull City. Chill out. We’ll beat Villa.
While I say we’ll beat Villa, I can’t help wondering where the goals would come from. Lampard or Ballack could score but under Scolari, we don’t seem to set them Lampard/Ballack for the screamers. They attempt one only by chance. It’s no longer a game plot. This means the goals are expected from the forwards and the midfielders are only expected to set up the forwards. Malouda is in fine form so he can score. Kalou can, but he is a hit or miss. Anelka is a miss. Belletti? My bet is, it’s going to be Malouda and Lampard on the scoresheet. My prediction would be 2-1 to Chelsea.
To you fellow-gamers! FIFA 09, supposedly the best football game ever, was released yesterday. As it won’t be release in India for some weeks, I had a mate buying it for me in London and I’d get it in a couple of days. FIFA 09 has received some fantastic reviews with ratings ranging from a 9/10 to 10/10. The demo was very exciting. And the final game is supposed to be brilliant and far better than the demo. I’ll post my FIFA 09 review next weekend. Great topic during the international break!
In other key matches, Arsenal travel to Stadium of Light, Man Utd travel to Ewood park – both matches played today. On Sunday, Liverpool play Man City at the Middle Eastlands. I expect Sunderland to hold Arsenal, Man Utd to beat Blackburn and Man City to beat Liverpool. The league is sure to be rearranged by Sunday evening but if we beat Villa, our place will remain the same. Now you know, there are enough reasons to get motivated for this match. It’s time to do a double against Villa. At the moment, we are treating them or
they are playing us, like a top four team. We should stop their run, now.
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Villa’s pace has always proved to be too much for us and it will be same this time also…Terry will be particularly susceptible against likes of Agbonlahor and Young…Young moves on flank and I doubt if Bosingwa will be able to retreat that quickly so he may have to curb his attacking…whats the problem with playing both Joe and Kalou as they play on opposite flanks…Malouda is a crap and he should not start no matter how serious injury scene is…instead promote kids but don’t play that player…never seen a more ineffective player….Mikel will have to play superbly to break their attacks….
no. malouda should play. he’s improved a lot this season. he is a first team starter. joe cole is crap and so is nicolas anleka. terry will do well against agbon and carew. he is a bigger player than those two. is ‘chelsea4life’ is a villa fan in disguise??
Actually Abonglahor and Carew are the two guys we need in our team right now !
James, do you really think that terry can keep up with agbon???? i am a lifelong chelsea fan but i can still admit our weakness’s!! Malouda has improved a bit this season but still not enough to guarantee a starting place, joe cole hasnt been great so far this season but he’s a better allround player than malouda, as thousands of the blue army will tell you! (have you been to any of our matches?). The most obvious weakest link is anelka, compared to drogs, anelka doesnt even register, for chelsea to have to rely on the sulky frenchman for goals for too much of this season will end up being very costly, as he is not upto it and cant hold the ball up like didier , allowing frank and ballack to get into the attack (thats what we’ve really been missing this season). Bosingwa has been great so far, but against villa he will have to hang back alot more so as not to get exposedout of position defensively. Having said all that, i expect us to win, by the odd goal.
Joe Cole is crap.Real hot garbage.Most times when he starts its as if he has rubbed invisible cream over his body.You start looking for him in the pitch.I rather go for Kalou and Malouda.Anelka to is crap.Big Phil should risk starting Santo.He might be the God’s answer to what we all have been praying for.
I think chelsea should start like this
——————cech————————–
bosingwa——alex—–terry——-ashley cole—-
—————–mikel————————
—-belleti——ballack——–lampard——–
kalou———–anelka———–malouda——
sub:cudicini,ivanovic,bridge,di santo,joecole,sinclair,
alex should deal with carew while ashley cole and bosingwa deal with young and ablonglahor….i will take a gamble on belleti…he can stun aston villa with his long shots…i have no choice to start wif anelka….hiope he can reagin the faith of the fans…di santo should come in as a sub if anelka fail to perform…joecole may nt be fully fit….what do u think guys?
a team,that too mid table one, coming to Bridge and we are planning how to control their attackers rather than discussing how to destroy them with our attacks…what a shame…
opps my team got 12 players..typo..shouldn’t include belleti then….
——————cech————————–
bosingwa——alex—–terry——-ashley cole—-
—————–mikel————————
——ballack——–lampard——–
kalou———–anelka———–malouda——
we need to plan to destroy them with our attack as well as prevent oursleves from being destroyed by their attack…tts wat all managers do rite
we must beat villa even if by a odd goal show others that we can win without drogba
Either will lose our home record and the match ends in a draw. One of it will happen. I don’t see us winning on Sunday. Aston Villa are fast and well organized than Chelsea, what we have in Chelsea is superstars and they are yet to play like a solid team. We’ll see. I hope I’ll be proved wrong.
——————cech————————–
bosingwa——alex—–terry——-ashley cole—-
—————–mikel————————
——ballack——–lampard——–
kalou——–di santo/anelka———–Malouda——
Sub:cudicini,ivanovic,bridge,joecole,sinclair,belleti
Joe cole gets a goal many times when used as sub…
scolari targeting fabiano!!!!
anelak is an injruy doubt now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
————–Cech————–
Bosingwa–Terry–Alex–A.COle-
———–Mikel—————–
—Ballack——–Lampard——-
Kalou—–Di Santo—Malouda—-
considering their attack options – Agbonlahor & Carew, I might also consider playing safe with a 4-2-3-1 approach , with two holding midfielders – probably belleti and mikel . Lampard, Ballack and Maluda in the attacking midfield, though I feel Joe is better option that ballack at the moment, because ballack is not yet completely fit. Anelka or Kaluo the lone striker.
villa has played the same team for 6 matches, so hopefully LFS, should pretty much understand their game and spring a suprise
Another news from our youngsters –
Chelsea Reserves 4 – Ac Milan Reserves – 0
http://www.chelseafc.com/page/LatestNews/0,,10268~1412411,00.html
ANELKA is injured guys, he wont play!!!!!!
Fabio boroni is our top YOUNG striker.wenger definitely would used him in EPL AND CL! IS SAID ONE TIME THAT OUR YOUNGESTER ARE BETTER THAN ARSENAL, BUT THE PROBLEM IS WE ARE NOT GOING TO USE THEM .
ARSENAL 0: SUNDERLAND 1 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH
honestly, i am total support of what cfir sad. what stop us using our youngster like boroni, paim and santos etc.
we wanted to play portmouth mr scolari was using first team . The future of any club even country or nation lies in its youth but chelsea doesnt believe in this simple and well known fact. i wonder the way the management are thinking and taking decisions. Very soon chelsea will become another Brazil national side.
Give our youngaster chance
forget about Anelka, Drogba, Joe cole even Ballack
I just dont understand why mr scolari prefer using belletti and ferrera instead of building confidence in our youngster. Well is not too late
my line up against Aston villa
————–Cech————–
Bosingwa–Ivanovic–Alex–A.COle-
———–Mikel—————–
—paim——–Lampard——-
Kalou—–Di Santo—Malouda—
sub Gudicini Anelka, Sncliar, Boroni, Ballack
chelsea 2-1 aston villa
I DONT WANNA SEE ANELKA VS VILLA. di santo and kalou must be our strikers.
this is a mtach where we will be relying on technical ability
chelsea and villa will have an unavoidable high scoring match, bosingwa will keep on attacking, its quality that seperates us, I just hope di santo is up to the task
our best chelsea team, when everyone is fit:
————————————–cech—————————————–
bosingwa—————–carvalho————–terry————————cole
————————————-mikel—————————————–
——–deco————–essien————lampard————–malouda———-
————————————drogba——————————————–
CECH
BOSINGWA ALEX TERRY A.COLE
MIKEL
BALLACK LAMPARD
KALOU MALOUDA
DI SANTO
stop bashing anelka, 4 goals and 9 assists what more do u want from him, he is CR7 or Messi. So sit down and shut up and support your team.
i meant he is no CR7 or Messi. So sit down and shut up and support your team.
anleka has been missing those chances….tts y he should nt be tolerated and hopefully scolari can bench him so tt he will be be comp[lacent…i also hope he can score if he play and make me swallow back my words
Quoting xerxesk
LOL! does bashing anelka mean we don’t support the team? i support my team more than you support yours. get a life or at least make some sense!
I support the notion of Kalou and Santos in front.
They can be effective in drawing out the Villa defense and turning back the ball into areas where Lampard and Ballack can strike.
And it also means A.Cole and Bosingwa don’t have to charge up and down that much and expose us to Abonglahor’s runs.
Might Deco play today ? Guys, what do you think ? Big Phil might spring that surprise and befuddle Villa’s plans.
But the bottomline is that we are recilient at the back and score a goal however scrappy it may be.
Monsieur Anelka ! It is time to earn you pay ! ( if u play that is )
Hey guys, hi BC, I´m back to Germany after a 3 weeks vacation in Nepal and a day in India. Really missed this Blog during the vacation.
and Chelsea vs Ashton villa, probably our most competitive match every season….haha, for some reason we only manage a draw aagainst Aston. With an injury prone squad again, i wonder what GP might do. Its particularly a dangerous situation for us, coz our best forward and best defenders are out or not fully fit…so i expect a defensive game this time. 4-5-1 first half and if we fail to score 4-3-3 in the second…
and since i can no more say we won´t eat a goal, 2-1 would be my prediction….if it were JM i would have predicted 1-0…:-)
i’m loving fifa 09. taking on the world as shrewsbury in manager mode, loadsa fun.
BELLETI STRIKER ?
http://www.goal.com/en/Match-Preview.aspx?IdPartita=20188
line up’s out….cech,bosingwa,ivanovic,terry,ashley cole,mikel,joecole,lampard,ballack,malouda,anelka 4-1-4-1
wohho im so excited to see branislav play.
tyhis is our confirmed lineup
———————cech—————–
–Bosingwa–Ivanovic–Terry—A.COle–
—————-Mikel——————–
-J.Cole–Ballack–Lampard–Malouda—
————–Anelka——————-
anyone have a site for the live stream so i can watch?
It is great that Ivanovic is playing. I hope that Milan is watching.He should leave in January.
Chelsea will beat Aston Villa no doubt about it. We are the best team and I reeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaallllllllyyyyyyy want them to do very well, they deserve it.
Hope the injured players get much better very soon.