We head to Stamford Bridge, to a Chelsea side off the back off spending £200M, and an impressive win at Brighton
My take is
Strengths
Werner - His pace and intelligent runs brings a new counter-attacking element to Chelsea. That is a new dimension to their play, and given our high line we will need to be careful.
Lampard - Dont rate him particularly as a manager, but he clearly has a personal dislike for our club. Expect them to approach the game as a grudge match. As well as setting a marker at PL challangers.
Squad Depth
If you spent £200M when you already have a solid base for a team, you are going to have depth. It will be interesting to see if Hakim Ziyech plays, as well as Thiago Silva (for Leadership). After his performance against Brighton, I somewhat hope Kai Havertz starts.
Weaknesses
Kepa- His poor performances last year are well known. Last week at Brighton he could also have done better.
Defence - There is a lack of leadership in the backline. Athletic and technically good players but no leadership.
Team Work. The first quarter of the game they looked disjointed. Ultimately they have enough individual quality to beat Brighton but they will likely struggle against better teams till they gel.
It’s going to be probaly cupfinal intensity as the usual punditry predicts , but in Chelsea’s case there is the added spice of Lampard hating on Klopp , the team having been spanked by us recently and afterwards watching us lifting da thang and maybe even Timo Werner wanting to prove a point against the club that rejected him.
If we can wake up Virgil in time , we should be fine defensively.
True , there is Werner’s pace threatening a high line defense , but then again there is some decent recovery speed in our back 4 and some guy called Allison to overcome.
A lot will rest on the efficiency of our offense finishing off the plenty chances we will undoubtedly produce against a still shaky defense, unless Rüdiger is back match fit or Silva miraculously fitting in seamlessly.
Even then Kepa’s still shit.
That’s probably one with goals, so it’s fitting that @ISMF1 started this thread…
Both sides have impressive firepower in their ranks, and both sides aren’t at their best at the back right now. A bit like at the end of the last season, when it ended 5-3 for us.
I expect a tough fight again, goals, and hopefully we can take the three points and make a big initial statement of intent. Fingers crossed!
We’re comfortably better than them all over the pitch. Goalkeeper, defence, midfield, attack. We just need to show it on the day. A more assured defensive display would be welcome.
I would tweak this a little using Hendo and Fab as dm´s and Keita in front of them. Up front I would play Taki, Mo and Mane.Those 3 would obviously interchange but mostly Mo down the middle. This would create space for Trent and Robbo on the flanks. Problem we have is two great crossers of the ball but no big guy or the headers but this has not worked badly for us so far.
judging by how poor both teams are at the back and the attackers on show,this could be another 8 goal game like the one at the end of last season. id play matip instead of gomez as he’s better defender in general although maybe a bit slow for that high line we insist on playing. keita didn’t do enough last week so i’d bring fabinho in although im not not sure what version of him we will get.
we struggled against these at times in all 3 games vs them last season so think they are due a win, 3-2 them if i had to bet. please god ill be wrong.
If we have the Navy in midfield we should be alright.
Fab , Gini and Hendo guaranteed to start for me.
Please let Bobby find a bit of form. It’s beginning to become a worry now. If it goes on much longer then Minamino surely has to be considered as an alternative. . (Not that I believe Klopp feels that way.)
Just beat these twats , don’t care how. I fukin hated Lampost as a player , and I hate him even more now after his little outburst at our place.
We need to cut out the silly errors at the back and we will beat them. They didn’t look great v Brighton but still won 3-1. They are still poor in defence so we need to put our chances away . I predict 2-3 to the champions.
I wonder if Frankie boy is gonna be giving it the biggun again?
Jorginho really pisses me off - snide little wanker. I hope he gets chopped down early and gets uppity and gets into one of his little moods - will set the tone nicely.
Werner’s pace is the biggest threat here, so control in midfield will be key - win that battle, and we will win the game. Hendo, Fab and Gini will prob start, but I’d quite like to see one of Minamino or Keita involved for that bit of cut and thrust.
Willian was Chelsea’s best player - he’s gone, and now all the pressure will be on Havertz. We are facing Chelsea at the right time, before all the new players settle in to PL life.
For this match, I’m getting that feeling it’s gonna be a bit rough and tumble. Frankie will be using the Jose playbook of playing like cunts, and I’m looking forward to it. Reminds me of 15 years ago, out on the drink, and looking around thinking if someone kicks of I’m game for throwing a few punches. Should be a good one. I am not advocating violence…but I wouldn’t mind seeing a bit of it.
Fuck I’ve heard of parking the bus but using ships in midfield is going over the top.
This is going to be another game like Leeds lots of goals,VVD and Ali back at their best will ensure a tighter back line for us.
Kepa won’t know what’s happening by half time.
I really, really want to see us send Lampard into complete and utter meltdown - absolutely fry his brain with some very close calls by the refs going our way (rightly).
I never had a lot of time for him, but after his escapades and comments re us and ours, he deserves that and more. I hope we smash him, snide, spoilt brat.
