Last gasp winner keeps alive Champions league defense

A last gasp header from Victor Moses gave Chelsea a 3-2 win at Stamford Bridge against Ukrainian champions Shakthar Donetsk. Shakthar had already shown that they are a wonderful team when they thoroughly outplayed the European champions at Donbass Arena, and they once again nearly outplayed the Blues at the Bridge. Two goalkeeping mistakes led to 2 Chelsea goals and the result would probably had been different if not for their defensive lapses, not that Chelsea defended great themselves.

It was an entertaining match with the attack minded players from both sides running riot while both the defenses looked like conceding every now and then. Oscar's wonderful cross in the 5th minute should have probably been turned into the net by Torres,but the Spaniard made up for his miss soon enough as his opportunism meant that Andriy Pyatov hit straight onto Torres. It was more of a gift from the goalkeeper, but Chelsea were soon giving the gift back as horrendous defending from Bertrand and Luiz allowed Willian to slot home after Fernandinho's wonderful run in the 7th minute. The Shakthar goalkeeper was again the culprit as he tried to play sweeper when Mata crossed to the path of Torres. His clearance went straight to Oscar, who lobbed the ball into the empty net from 45 yards. 2-1 to Chelsea at half time.

Straight after half time, Shakthar equalised through Willian in the 47th minute. With the score at 2-2,Shakthar even hit the post while Chelsea also had a case for a penalty. Finally in the last minute of extra time, with almost the last kick of the game, an unmarked Moses rose to head home Juan Mata's corner to keep the Champions league hopes alive.

Shakthar definitely looked the better side and was probably unlucky to lose. With Juventus winning 4-0 at home to Nordjaelland, the group is interestingly poised with Shakthar and Chelsea with 7 points while Juve have 6 points. It could go down to the wire and Chelsea have to improve a lot against Juventus, who as always are strong at home.

Shakthar Donetsk vs Chelsea- Preview

Competition: Champions League
Opponent: Shakthar Donetsk
Venue: Donbass Arena


Chlesea travel to Ukraine to meet the current Ukrainian Premier League champions Shakthar Donetsk on Tuesday.
The Blues are in dominant form at the moment winning the last 6 matches since the 2-2 draw against Juventus but if anyone thought that the Ukranian outfit can be easily brushed aside by the ever improving Blues, here are some quick facts about Shakthar Donetsk.

• Shakthar are the current holders of the Ukranian Premier League. They won an impressive 25 matches in the league campaign,losing only once to garner 79 points out of a possible 90 last season.
• This season has been even more impressive as they have won all 12 of their matches, scoring an outstanding 38 goals in the process.Shakthar already leads the table by 12 points.
• Including last season, they are on an unbeaten streak of 28 matches in the league, winning 26 of them.
• Shakthar also has a Brazilian flavour to its side with as many as 9 Brazilians in the team,including the highly rated Willian.

The facts above prove that Shakthar Donetsk are no pushovers and the match being played at Ukraine makes this tie a lot more difficult for Chelsea. Shakthar also has a good record against English opposition at their home ground winning 3 out of the 4 matches played. All this proves that we are off to face a tough opposition and with the table interestingly poised, Chelsea has to come back with at least a point from Ukraine.

The match promises to be yet another encounter that promises a lot of goals. Chelsea have scored 4 in each of their last three matches and with Mata and Hazard in sublime form at the moment, goals will come. Our defense will be tested against the likes of the Armenian attacker Henrikh Mkhitaryan,Eduardo and Willian and getting back with a clean sheet will be really difficult. It all the more proves that this should be another match where we will need to take the attack to the opposition.

RDM will not want to lose the top position in the group, and with Juventus tipped to win against FC Norjaelland, RDM will certainly hope that the team comes away from Ukraine still at the top of the pile. Di Matteo will again be forced to choose his best XI for the encounter.Probable team for the match :

Cech

Luiz                           Terry 

Ivanovic                                                          Cole

Ramires             Mikel

Mata                             Oscar                     Hazard

    Torres

The central midfield pairing of Ramires and Mikel seems to be the best for Chelsea and both were absolutely wonderful against Tottenham, with Mikel breaking up plays and Ramires thrusting forward whenever there was an opportunity. Torres missed a couple of good chances against Tottenham and will need to make amends for them. Having started all of Chelsea's matches so far, the Spaniard might be tiring and RDM might be thinking about giving a rest to him but with Sturridge just back from injury, I don't think he will risk it.I hope to see Marin playing at least as a substitute in the match but with the abundance of talent at his disposal, RDM might be having a hard time to select even the bench for the matches.

This is certainly going to be another encounter that promises end to end stuff from the two teams.

Chelsea prevail 4-0 but an unconvincing performance

The 4-0 scoreline would normally mean a match that we dominated but the match was far more closer than the final score line suggested. A flurry of late goals meant that the scoreline had a gloss to it but the performance of the team in the match against Champions league newbies FC Nordsjaelland was far from convincing.

RDM started a really attack minded team against the Danish champions with Lampard and Ramires in central midfield and Oscar,Moses and Mata behind Torres. That meant that there were as many as 6 goal scoring midfielders in the Chelsea ranks. Terry was rested which meant that Cahill and Luiz started at the center back positions with Cole and Ivanovic on either flanks. The first half saw the Danish champions giving the European champions a real fight and it was really an even match until Mata scored following build up play from Torres and Lampard.Until the 79th minute, the Danes threatened many times at the Chelsea goal with Cech called into action more than a couple of times. They even hit the post and were the dominant team in many parts of the games. At 79th minute the flurry of goals started with David Luiz converting a lethal free kick followed up on the 82nd minute by Mata's second. Ramires' tap in from Oscar's pass on the 88th minute gave the scoreline a gloss but it wasn't a fair reflection of the actual contest.

The Danes can feel proud of having given a really good fight to the European champions. RDM and Chelsea would know that they will need to improve, especially with tough encounters coming up against the likes of Tottenham,Man United and Shaktar. With Shaktar drawing against Juventus in the other Group E encounter, Chelsea are top of the pile in the standings but they will know that they really didn't perform that well. 

Looking ahead to the champions league match against FC Nordsjælland

Opponent: FC Nordsjælland

Competition: UEFA Champions League

Venue : Farum Park, Farum Denmark





Chelsea play current Danish champions FC Nordsjælland at Farum park in their second champions league group stage encounter. The newbies to the competition is not really favored to win against the current European Champions but you never know as this could very well be a tricky encounter. After the 2-2 draw against Juventus, this is one match that we cannot afford to lose.

FC Nordsjælland lost 2-0 to Shakthar Donetsk in the opening match at Ukraine. FC Nordsjælland are very much a new side to the champions league as none of its players have been part of a champions league squad before but then a home crowd might very well inspire them to something great and this is one thing Chelsea must be wary about.

i don't think Di Matteo will tinker much with the formation for the match as the trio of Hazard, Mata and Oscar will start behind the lone striker Torres. He might want to field Sturridge in the line up ahead of Torres to give the Spaniard a break, but since  Sturridge isn't a 100 per cent fit, Torres will again start upfront. Also with Torres looking good against Arsenal, it won't be advisable to not start him.

I think that Di Matteo should stick with Ramires in the central midfield area in place of Lampard. Lampard cannot be expected to start every game and probably should accept the role like the way Ryan Giggs plays at Manchester United. Fielding Ramires in the central midfield area again will only enhance his capability in the role and since we are really short of options here, Ramires should be molded into a good defensive midfielder too. The tireless Ramires will obviously be able to support the attack as well, so we will not be losing his energy in the attacking third.

After his exploits against Juventus, one player who is sure to be in the starting line up is Oscar. Hazard and Mata are now certainties for the other two positions. I would really like to see Marin and Moses get a chance against  FC Nordsjælland. If we are leading by a couple of goals by half time, I can see these two coming in early from the bench. I would also replace Mikel with Romeu and see how the pairing of Romeu and Ramires works. This might well be our best central midfield pairing and it is worth a try.

My lineup would be

Cech

Ivanovic      Terry                Cahill            Cole

Ramires        Romeu

Oscar                 Mata             Hazard

Torres

Subs : Moses for Oscar, Marin for Hazard and Azpilicueta for Ivanovic

Chelsea vs Juventus - Who should play for the Blues

Game : Chelsea vs Juventus
Competition: Champions League
Venue : Stamford Bridge,London

Domestic Form:(Latest match first)
Chelsea : DWWW
Juventus: WWW



As you can see from the domestic form, both teams have begun their domestic campaigns well with Juve maintaining a perfect start to the Serie A title defense.The old lady went unbeaten in the previous Serie A campaign and is by far the toughest assignment for us in Group E.

Who should we play?
Juventus normally plays in the fluid 3-5-2 formation and it has  arguably the best midfielder in the game,Andrea Pirlo along with Claudio Marchisio and Arturo Vidal in the center midfield.How we excel in stopping the services from the trio to Giovinco and Vucinic will determine the result of the game.
As such, I don't think RDM should tinker with the back five for the team.
Cech will without doubt start between the sticks
Ivanovic at right back- his aerial ability might well make the difference between the sides
while the Serbian's composure in defense will be needed to stop the runs of Asamoah and Marchisio.
Terry and Luiz at Center Back
With Terry having shaken off an injury,the skipper and Luiz will form the center back pairing and the pairing played well in the QPR game. If at all Terry doesn't make it, Cahill can easily take the responsibility.
Ashley Cole at Left Back- No changes required here but the left back might need to be a bit less adventurous in the game.

Center-Midfield
The Center midfield remains a concern for us and dominating the area against the likes of Pirlo will be really important for us. Mikel and Lampard  will again start the game but this time, Lampard should remain at that position most of the times instead of laboring forward most of the times.

The attacking trio behind the lone striker are positions where we have an abundance of talent and picking three from the lot is RDM's major headache. Mata should return to the side and his partnership with Hazard was missed in the QPR game. The third spot should go to Moses as the Nigerian was lively when he came on as a substitute.

Torres again should start as the lone striker even though the Spaniard was not at his best against QPR.

Formation - 4-2-3-1

Cech

Terry          Luiz

Ivanovic                                  Cole

Mikel Lampard

Moses         Mata            Hazard

  

Torres

Champions League Squad Analyzed

I was rather confused what should I start my blog with. I could have started with a lot of history about the club but then this blog is meant to carry the latest news,rumors and match previews and reviews. The club had its greatest moment when we won the Champions League and so my first post is related to the Champions League. The Champions League squad was announced last week.

Here is the list of the squad members.


Goal Keepers:

Petr Cech
Ross Turnbull
Jamal Blackman

Defenders:

Branislav Ivanovic
Ashley Cole
David Luiz
Paulo Ferreira
Gary Cahill
John Terry
Cesar Azpilicueta
Ryan Bertrand
Aziz Deen-Conteh
Todd Kane
Daniel Pappoe

Midfielders

Oriol Romeu
Ramires
Frank Lampard
Juan Mata
Oscar
John Obi Mikel
Victor Moses
Eden Hazard
Marko Marin
Billy Clifford
George Saville

Forwards

Fernando Torres
Daniel Sturridge
Lucas Piazon
Adam Phillip

* The ones in grey are from the B-List.

Thoughts on the squad

There is no doubt that this is a very good squad and more than capable of making good progress in the Champions League, hopefully even win it again. There is no doubt that unless Petr Cech has an injury ,the Goal Keeper's post will be his. If he does have an injury, then we might have be in a bit of a trouble as Turnbull hasn't really impressed and Blackman is very young and hasn't had a lot of exposure. Hilario is the notable omission from the Goal Keeping lineup with the youngster Blackman preferred.

Our defense is not as strong as the days when the Terry-Carvalho partnership was on but still they should do the job. Ivanovic should keep the right back spot ahead of new arrival Cesar Azpilicueta (still wondering how to pronounce his name). Ashley Cole will no doubt keep the left back spot with Ryan Bertrand a very capable deputy. The center back pairings will differ depending on Luiz's form I guess. Terry picks one spot automatically.Cahill and Luiz to fight for the other spot, though I will give the slight edge to Luiz. Our defense has not been the greatest in recent times, but hopefully everything should be all right. Also Ivanovic's natural position being center back, he can always be paired with one of the other three in case of any  injuries.

The central midfield or the defensive midfield position is one area of concern. With only Mikel,Lampard and Romeu to play there,this has to be a real concern for Di Matteo. I still think that letting Essien go on loan to Madrid was a blunder as the Ghanian. Even Meireles's departure to Turkey could have been avoided as we are really short in the central midfield area.One option would be to play Oscar there but then it might just be too risky.

The attacking midfield is no doubt one of the best in the world and RDM's main challenge would be to pick three from Mata,Hazard,Ramires,Moses,Marin. Hazard and Mata would be the first choices with the others competing for the third spot in the trio.

Another area we are a bit short is strikers. Torres has found his form back but this being a long season and with chances of injury,adequate cover is simply not there. We can only hope that Torres doesn't get injured and also Sturridge to come good. Young Lucas Piazon being handed a spot is a really welcome news and hopefully he will get some minutes on the pitch.

That ends my first post for you fans. Tell me what you think about the squad and my analysis. Please feel free to comment. Thanks for reading.