Chelsea (A) pre match

[NaijaFox]

Surprised at all the negativity...

 

Chelsea UPPED their game last night, and I fully expect us to UP ours on Sunday. 

[norwichfox]

Biggest threat comes from Kante - he looked absolutely awesome against Liverpool in the Supercup, not sure whether he has a cloak of invisibility but a couple of times he just took the ball from the opposition as though they didn't see him. Seemed to have gained a bit of pace too, time to apply the buyback option.

 

I don't want to see a diamond, and not anticipating any positive outcome from this, but any points would be very welcome. I'm expecting another Puelesque performance, really hope I'm wrong.

[Dahnsouff]

Charlie Nicholas has tipped us to win 1-2. So thats that buggered then. 

[Haywood_6]

Probably a 2-0 defeat and a loud chant of "you can shove your ****ing pink caps up your arse" incoming.

[Johnthefoxrayner]

6 hours ago, NaijaFox said:

Surprised at all the negativity...

 

Chelsea UPPED their game last night, and I fully expect us to UP ours on Sunday. 

I agree with you on some people being negative, 1 game played and already negative feedback, clean sheet last Sunday, and a good point earned imo 

[Johnthefoxrayner]

17 minutes ago, norwichfox said:

Biggest threat comes from Kante - he looked absolutely awesome against Liverpool in the Supercup, not sure whether he has a cloak of invisibility but a couple of times he just took the ball from the opposition as though they didn't see him. Seemed to have gained a bit of pace too, time to apply the buyback option.

 

I don't want to see a diamond, and not anticipating any positive outcome from this, but any points would be very welcome. I'm expecting another Puelesque performance, really hope I'm wrong.

You will be wrong, BR has so much more experience than Puel and R knows what he is doing not like the clueless Puel

[ARTY_FOX]

I think we’ll win this. Will score a couple of goals too. 

[ClaphamFox]

Clearly, away at Chelsea is going to be a difficult game. But we won this game last season when they had Hazard and a stronger defence than the one they've got now. Kante played that day, too. So let's not pretend it's impossible to get a win there.

Edited 16 August 2019 by ClaphamFox

[That_Dude]

23 minutes ago, ClaphamFox said:

Clearly, away at Chelsea is going to be a difficult game. But we won this game last season when they had Hazard and a stronger defence than the one they've got now. Kante played that day, too. So let's not pretend it's impossible to get a win there.

Anything's possible. But to think that we will play them off the park, like some are implying, is delusional.

[Pliskin]

They’re certainly more vulnerable than they have been for some time. But we still need to go there and play out of our skins. I’d like to think Rodgers has the measure of Frank, but Chelsea will se this as an opportunity to win, so we need to go with the same mentality, but not underestimate them.

[Nick]

8 hours ago, Dr The Singh said:

Defo he is playing 2 CDM's

And it’s why I just can’t seem to get my mojo up for the match as a result of this. Whilst the few good performances (in terms of results) with Puel were achieved against the big sides playing two DM’s and whilst it can be argued that Hamza is more than a DM, I was so happy with 4141 last season and our attacking approach but to play no wingers for the majority of the match v Wolves and Maddison wide just feels like round pegs and square holes again. We need to be creating goal scoring opportunities and lots of them and setting up as we did last weekend means we won’t do enough of that.

[Babylon]

7 minutes ago, Swan Lesta said:

And it’s why I just can’t seem to get my mojo up for the match as a result of this. Whilst the few good performances (in terms of results) with Puel were achieved against the big sides playing two DM’s and whilst it can be argued that Hamza is more than a DM, I was so happy with 4141 last season and our attacking approach but to play no wingers for the majority of the match v Wolves and Maddison wide just feels like round pegs and square holes again. We need to be creating goal scoring opportunities and lots of them and setting up as we did last weekend means we won’t do enough of that.

We were as boring as fook against them when it was a complete free hit at the end of last season, so I'm not expecting much more. The drab final few games of last season and the negative start to this do have me wondering how much I'm going to enjoy this season if it carries on like that. 

[RowlattsFox]

I think we will be unchanged, and there is potential for it to work when we will predominantly be on the counter attack. Ndidi and Choudhury winning the ball back and the front 4 breaking. Could see him maybe bringing in Albrighton for Perez.

 

We may well lose but I hope we give them something to think about. Rather us lose in a way like we did at Spurs last season rather than being defensive and losing 1-0.

[ClaphamFox]

10 minutes ago, RowlattsFox said:

I think we will be unchanged, and there is potential for it to work when we will predominantly be on the counter attack. Ndidi and Choudhury winning the ball back and the front 4 breaking. Could see him maybe bringing in Albrighton for Perez.

 

We may well lose but I hope we give them something to think about. Rather us lose in a way like we did at Spurs last season rather than being defensive and losing 1-0.

What about if we were defensive and got a 0-0 draw? Which would you prefer then?

[That_Dude]

17 minutes ago, RowlattsFox said:

I think we will be unchanged, and there is potential for it to work when we will predominantly be on the counter attack. Ndidi and Choudhury winning the ball back and the front 4 breaking. Could see him maybe bringing in Albrighton for Perez.

 

We may well lose but I hope we give them something to think about. Rather us lose in a way like we did at Spurs last season rather than being defensive and losing 1-0.

It actually worked well against them and MCFC last season.

[Stevosevic]

1 hour ago, Babylon said:

We were as boring as fook against them when it was a complete free hit at the end of last season, so I'm not expecting much more. The drab final few games of last season and the negative start to this do have me wondering how much I'm going to enjoy this season if it carries on like that. 

The Arsenal game was good, we were well on top even before they went down to 10 men. 

 

I really hope it picks up. The fact Brendan's previous teams score plenty of goals gives me hope we'll find that edge. 

[Babylon]

7 minutes ago, Stevosevic said:

The Arsenal game was good, we were well on top even before they went down to 10 men. 

 

I really hope it picks up. The fact Brendan's previous teams score plenty of goals gives me hope we'll find that edge. 

I just think he's been overly negative. Two DM's at home to Wolves when they've been in Europe is not needed IMO, ditto last season against Chelsea when it's a free hit playing their reserves. When we have Maddison and Yuri central we are far more attacking and creative. 

[urban fox]

I think this game is an early test of our credentials to be a potential top 6 challenger. In my opinion we should not play 2 DM's and be positive, with Albrighton/Barnes in for Hamza, and Maddison moving back to a more central role just behind the front men where he is far more effective.  I would rather we went down giving it a real go than try to stifle them playing for draw. The 4-0 defeat by MUFC was a harsh result and Chelsea actually looked the better side for most of the first half, but the result did show that they are vulnerable at the back and we should be looking to exploit this by picking an attacking side.

 

Somehow though I think BR will go for the "safe" option and we will see trying to contain rather than taking the game to them.

[Ric Flair]

1 hour ago, Babylon said:

We were as boring as fook against them when it was a complete free hit at the end of last season, so I'm not expecting much more. The drab final few games of last season and the negative start to this do have me wondering how much I'm going to enjoy this season if it carries on like that. 

Same here, Rodgers has the reputation of being stubborn in how he approaches games against better teams than his, with an element of naivety in refusing to change how his teams play. However, the starting formations and personnel vs Arsenal, Man City, Chelsea and Wolves have been scarily defensive and was quite clear we were more worried about the opposition than about ourselves. 

 

If this continues then I can't pretend to enjoy it.

[Babylon]

2 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

Same here, Rodgers has the reputation of being stubborn in how he approaches games against better teams than his, with an element of naivety in refusing to change how his teams play. However, the starting formations and personnel vs Arsenal, Man City, Chelsea and Wolves have been scarily defensive and was quite clear we were more worried about the opposition than about ourselves. 

 

If this continues then I can't pretend to enjoy it.

There are times you accept it against the bigger teams, Man City are such a danger and in such great form almost constantly that you forgive it. Other times you look at others and say, now is perhaps a good chance to attack them and be more creative. We need to strike that balance.

[nwl fox]

10 hours ago, Goober said:

Been quite impressed with these this season. Midfield is top 3 in the league for me, slightly let down by their options up top and at the back but they're still a very good side. Anything we get here is a bonus so I'm looking forward to it.

We're 1 game in???! 

[Ric Flair]

9 minutes ago, Babylon said:

There are times you accept it against the bigger teams, Man City are such a danger and in such great form almost constantly that you forgive it. Other times you look at others and say, now is perhaps a good chance to attack them and be more creative. We need to strike that balance.

Arsenal, Chelsea and Wolves at home. In fact anyone we play at home can get the full treatment, fcuk um.

[norwichfox]

42 minutes ago, Babylon said:

I just think he's been overly negative. Two DM's at home to Wolves when they've been in Europe is not needed IMO, ditto last season against Chelsea when it's a free hit playing their reserves. When we have Maddison and Yuri central we are far more attacking and creative. 

 

15 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

Same here, Rodgers has the reputation of being stubborn in how he approaches games against better teams than his, with an element of naivety in refusing to change how his teams play. However, the starting formations and personnel vs Arsenal, Man City, Chelsea and Wolves have been scarily defensive and was quite clear we were more worried about the opposition than about ourselves. 

 

If this continues then I can't pretend to enjoy it.

We are have seen for the last few games last season and versus Wolves precisely what Puel was doing that he was slated by so many and ultimately sacked for.

 

The main difference (as I see it) is that Rodgers is blessed with some Personality and can make the dire display's seem somehow acceptable via his "blarney". I don't buy into his tactics, there is no progress that I can see despite the "they gave their all" and "it will get better" from Rodgers.

[HighPeakFox]

4 minutes ago, norwichfox said:

We are have seen for the last few games last season and versus Wolves precisely what Puel was doing that he was slated by so many and ultimately sacked for.

 

The main difference (as I see it) is that Rodgers is blessed with some Personality and can make the dire display's seem somehow acceptable via his "blarney". I don't buy into his tactics, there is no progress that I can see despite the "they gave their all" and "it will get better" from Rodgers.

Sadly, you are on record as being anti-BR since before a ball was kicked, so it is hard to not view the above as 'I told you so'-ism

[don_danbury]

10 minutes ago, HighPeakFox said:

Sadly, you are on record as being anti-BR since before a ball was kicked, so it is hard to not view the above as 'I told you so'-ism

yeah i wouldn't even say he got sacked for his boring football. they probably sacked him because of all the loses/draws and massive spankings from crystal bleeding palace.  that's a question, is puel a palace fan?