Chelsea vs Manchester United- Capital One Cup- Preview

Competition : Capital One Cup
Opponent: Manchester United
Venue: Stamford Bridge




After the stormy affair at the Bridge where the referee's poor decisions cost us the game, Chelsea and United go head to head again, this time in the league cup. With a new race row also added to an already ridiculous performance on Sunday, Mark Clattenburg will really find it hard to justify his actions and words. Thats another story and I am not really interested in discussing any aspects of the game that I certainly thought we were robbed in.

The league cup gives an opportunity for the manager to try out his fringe players and RDM should use it to give some much needed experience to some of the players on the fringes of the first team. Suspensions to Ivanovic and Torres means that they will definitely not start the game. Terry continues his suspension while Lampard is still injured. The likes of Mata,Oscar and Hazard have toiled hard without rest for a number of weeks now,and they carry a risk of burn out. As such RDM should choose a fresh team for Wednesday's match. Marko Marin might get his first start for the Blues. This is the team I would like to see on Wednesday.

Turnbull

Cahill                           Luiz

Azpilicueta                                                                       Bertrand

Ramires                  Romeu

Moses                                        Piazon                                    Marin

         Sturridge

Piazon deserves a chance in his preferred position as he looked good in the Capital One clash against Wolves. Moses and Marin are best suited for the flanks and should give us plenty of pace along with Ramires. Sturridge leads the line in the absence of Torres and will hope to impress RDM in the lone striker role. 

Hopefully, this won't be marred by controversial decisions and the young team should give a good account of themselves.

Man of the match Clattenburg gives United victory

It was disappointment again for the Blues as Chelsea went down 2-3 to United at Stamford Bridge. It was yet another match which again saw an absolute appalling performance from the referee. United were 2-nil up by 12 minutes before a brilliant free kick from Mata followed by a Ramires header brought it to 2-2. Chelsea were dominating the second half, when Ivanovic was shown a straight red for denying a goal scoring opportunity for a foul on Ashley Young. Probably the right call. The second red was absolute rubbish. Torres was fouled by Evans, only for Torres' and Chelsea fans' horror to see that Clattenburg give him a second yellow. On wonders why such decisions go in favor of United in these big games. Yet United needed an offside goal to win against 9 man Chelsea.
It was a wonderful match until it was destroyed by the morons officiating the match. The two suspensions means that Chelsea have a lot to worry in the coming matches

Chelsea vs Manchester United - Preview

Competition: EPL
Opponent: Manchester United
Venue: Stamford Bridge


Form(latest first)
Chelsea: LWWWW
Man United: WWWWL




In what promises to be yet another watering clash, Chelsea and Manchester United go head to head at the Bridge on Sunday. While the high flying Blues suffered a set back in the UCL in midweek, Manchester United once again demonstrated their ability to come back from adverse scenario, winning 3-2 against Braga after being 2-0 up.

The Reds are at second place in the league,four points behind us and scored the maximum number of goals(21) in the league. But they have also conceded 11 goals,which shows that the defense is leaky. Chelsea have scored 19 goals but have conceded only 6 goals. The Red Devils have not won at Chelsea in their last 10 meetings, a record which no other club in EPL has. Last year saw United making another comeback to draw at 3-3 with two penalties awarded by Howard Webb. But Chelsea are a completely different team from the team that went unbeaten at home for 10 games. With Van Persie and Ronney in their ranks, United are one of the most dangerous teams going forward and our defense have to be wary of them. Van Persie is among the most successful away players at the Bridge,scoring 5 times(all in his Arsenal days). Our defense have not conceded many goals, in fact we have the best defensive record along with Arsenal, but it has looked shaky at times.

United's worry will also be their defense with the team leaking goals at will in the continued absence of Nemanja Vidic. They will have a tough time negotiating the fantastic 3 of Chelsea- Mata,Hazard and Oscar.

RDM will not take any risk with his starting lineup though some of them really seem to be fatigued.

Cech

Cahill                            Luiz

Ivanovic                                                                      Cole

Ramires                  Mikel

Mata                                 Oscar                           Hazard

   Torres

Squad rotation is one area that RDM has been found wanting. With Marko Marin fit, we could probably see him coming on for one of the 3 attacking mid fielders as the game proceeds. Torres has been found wanting in the last couple of matches and would need to answer his critics by scoring in a match of such high profile.

United will probably be lining up in the below formation:

De Gea

Ferdinand                                 Evans

Rafael                                                                         Evra

Scholes                    Carrick

Valencia                   Ronney               Hernandez

Van Persie

The two teams will meet again at the same venue for the Capital one clash on Wednesday. The result of this game will obviously have an impact on the next match. The league may be just onto Game week 9, but 3 points here will give us a 7 point advantage against one of the contenders. 

The match promises so much and lets hope that its not ruined by any bad referring decisions. Can't wait to watch it.

Please leave your thoughts on the game.

Chelsea humbled by Shakthar

The away game against Shakthar was always going to be difficult one,but the way that Chelsea went down might have raised eye brows as to how much capable the team is in defending the crown. Shakthar were dominant in the game and a scoreline of 2-1 didn't mean that it was a close game. It was a game where our midfield was dominated by the opposition midfield and where our main striker again showed his reluctance to shoot from favourable positions. The only good outcome of yesterday's matches were that Nordjaelland held Juventus at home,which means that Chelsea are second in the group despite the loss. The home matches against Nordjaelland and Shakthar now becomes must win games for Chelsea to qualify and we will also need a point at least from Juventus.

The performance has certainly upset the momentum of the side before the face off against Manchester United this weekend. Hopefully, it will not affect the performance in the league. 

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.

Blues prevail in a pulsating encounter

The match was sure to be a pulsating encounter with two form teams going head to head, and it was a really pulsating encounter and Chelsea prevailed by 4-2.

With Terry out suspended, Cahill started in his place and it was probably a blessing in disguise as the defender blasted home a volley at 17 minutes to provide the lead for the Blues. The first half was almost Chelsea's as Tottenham struggled to keep track of the one touch passing. There weren't helped by the fact that Gareth Bale and Dembele were out of the squad and the Blues were able to dominate the first half quite easily. It could have been more than a goal but Spurs were gaining momentum and as the first half came to a close,Tottenham were looking dangerous.

Ten minutes of slack defending in the second half allowed Tottenham to go 2-1 up as Gallas and then Defoe scored. All of a sudden our proud record of not allowing any second half goals in the EPL was gone. But with the likes of Hazard,Mata and Oscar in the lineup, there was always the chance that the Blues will come back strongly and it was the in form Spaniard Mata who drew us level and then put us into the lead after a wonderful pass from Eden Hazard. The time when Chelsea would resort to going deep after securing the lead is not something we have come to see this season as the Blues kept on attacking and so was Tottenham. It was end to end stuff as Cech was forced into a couple of good saves. The win was all secured as Mata robbed Kyle Walker at the right hand side and slided a pass to substitute Sturridge who slotted home from a yard out.

 Two goals and an assist, Mata is clearly in absolute form and it is probably the time we needed our main players to be on form.

The win was a first at the Lane since 2005 and kept our unbeaten record in the EPL. The way the Blues came back after going 2-1 down is just another sign that Chelsea are serious contenders for the title.

Tottenham   2                                 Chelsea   4
                                                             Cahill   17'
Gallas  47'
Defoe  54'
                                                             Mata  66'
                                                             Mata  69'
                                                             Sturridge  90+1'

Do we really need Radamel Falcao?

The sport sites are buzzing with news that Atletico Madrid striker, Radamel Falcao will be signed up by Chelsea in the January transfer window. While the Colombian is a real potent force in front of the goal, something that Chelsea saw in the Super Cup loss,one wonders whether we really need Falcao at the club. There is no doubt that Falcao is a really good striker but the question is whether he will be beneficial to us?

Falcao - Do we need him?

Chelsea are playing exciting football while scoring a lot of goals in the process. With Torres slowly but surely thriving in the main striker's role, the arrival of Falcao will spoil the current set up. With RDM preferring the 4-2-3-1 formation, there is simply no place for two strikers on the pitch. With the likes of Mata,Hazard,Oscar,Marin and Moses behind the lone striker, changing the formation to one that fits in 2 strikers will again spoil the balance. Can we go for a 4-2-2? Well its possible, only that it will mean that the we might not get the best out of our midfield trio. Another possibility is to have just one defensive midfielder, with the attacking midfield trio behind Torres and Falcao, but this will mean our defense will get exposed more often than not and with the likes of Hazard and co needing to track back and support the defense every now and then. This will again limit their threat going forward. So it does look like the only formation we can use to get the best out of our attacking midfielders is the 4-2-3-1 formation.Which again means that only one of either Torres or Falcao can play and after spending 50 million on Torres and finally getting back the value from him, it wouldn't be a wise decision.

Torres isn't the only reason I think that we shouldn't sign Falcao. What happens of our young strikers? The likes of Islam Feruz,Piazon and Lukaku needs game time and if Falcao arrives, it will send them again down the pecking order. Sturridge is presumably on the way out in January and this will leave Torres as the lone striker in the team. The easy decision for the Chelsea hierarchy would be to sign another striker like Falcao. But the wiser decision would be to bring Lukaku back from his loan spell at West Brom. While the Belgian impressed at West Brom,already scoring 2 goals, he isn't getting enough playing time there and it would be better for him to return to Chelsea and with only Torres as the striker, he will surely get his chances at his parent club. The Belgian has the pace and power to easily fit into the current setup and should Torres get injured, we will have an adequate replacement in Lukaku. 

Lukaku has impressed at West Brom

The academy graduates Islam Feruz and Lucas Piazon are two exciting prospects for Chelsea and if the Barcelona style is what Chelsea wishes for, giving the youngsters a chance is also really important.Lukaku,Feruz and Piazon may well want to leave Chelsea if another striker is signed.

All this brings me into one conclusion. We don't really need to sign Falcao. He is brilliant and there may be times when we would feel that he should have been signed but for a team that is not at all struggling in front of the goal at present and with exciting young talents at their disposal, the wise decision would be a "NO".

Do should your opinions by commenting on the article.