Big game against Chelsea coming up on Wednesday. Can't see much coming our way that evening but a game in hand and one which I'm sure the players will be right up for! My Prediction: Chelsea 4-0 SAINTS Mata with 2, Lampard and Oscar also scoring...
Got to pack the midfield I think, rely on any breaks we get. Could of done with Mayuka in this one but we've got Guly I suppose =============Boruc============== ==Clyne===Yoshida===Hooiveld====Fox=== ===========Schneiderlin============ ======Cork============Davis====== ============Ramirez============= =======Lambert=====Rodriguez======= Think Adkins will want to attack Chelsea, QPR caused an upset so why can't we.
Hopefully Guly will be back in the squad, could do with his physical presence in this game. Apologies for not writing up a full match thread now, will be updated some time tomorrow!
I can't see anything positive about realistically predicting the score on this one, so I'll offer a suggestion that might have a positive impact in the longer term. If someone could take out Ba or Torres in this game then I'm thinking Chelsea might recall Lukaku and then West Brom will definitely continue their freefall down the table and help keep us out of the bottom 3. After extensive debate we think that Danny Fox might have to do this and take a red card for the team. As long as Luke's back for the next game we can survive without Danny for 3 games. Sorry Danny, but you've got to look at the bigger picture.
Agree largely in theory but not sure about such a lack of width. Chelsea love getting their fullbacks forward, and especially with Fox coming back in if we leave our fullbacks isolated at all we could get taken to pieces out there. To be honest I think I'd stick with the same team, or Guly in for JRod and go back to our 4-5-1/4-2-3-1/4-4-1-1/4-4-Whatever with Gaston in behind Rickie. I'm struggling to think of much any ingenious solution to playing Chelsea. I don't think we can go after them as they're not really a team I think are vulnerable like that, some big teams you can upset them by attacking and pressuring them, but I think Chelsea would just pick us off on the counter. You can upset them by just parking the bus and out Chelsea-ing Chelsea, although if Ba plays that problem might be resolved because he's a lot better at grabbing goals in those situations than Torres. So basically, I've got no clue, I hope Nigel has got something up his sleeve!
I can understand if Adkins wants to attack the Chelsea defence, but I would expect that to only go one way. Boruc Richardson Yoshida Hooiveld Clyne Cork Puncheon Morgan Davis Guly Lambert Davis, Seaborne, Fox, JWP, De Ridder, Ramirez, Jay *If Guly is still ill, then play Jay out there and put Lee on the bench. **Not actually fussed which of Cork, Morgan and Davis sit in just in front of the CBs.
So 10 men behind the ball, bore/frustrate them and counter after a period of being under pressure? Not sure adkins will go for that but good suggestion.
This is the problem, I think that is the best way to win against Chelsea. When a game is open, Mata, Hazard, Torres etc. have the skill and class to take it away from you, when a game is closed off and tight then it can be a lot harder for them to grind out results as they have a lot of 'flair' and not much grit, although worryingly Demba Ba may add this. So in theory I think a defensive approach to try and frustrate them and nick something would be the best way of getting a result, but we neither like to do this or are particularly good at it. But I do really worry that if we tried to attack them then we could get picked off and it could end up being a nasty scoreline. Will be a real test of Nigel's attacking principles this one I think... Hopefully he has something great like the Stoke tactics up his sleeve and we can catch them out.
And I believe how they got a 0-0 draw vs Spurs, and how they got a second half 0-0 vs Liverpool (I know Liverpool were 3-0 up at HT, but they did change formation at HT and brought on Derry as an extra defensive midfielder). So that's 2 and a half consecutive games, against decent opposition, which they haven't conceded a goal in - and all they've done bascially is drop Cisse for Derry.
Graeme Souness made a good point yesterday (not talking about us, but relevant)...'It's all very well wanting to play like Barcelona, but you also have to defend like Barcelona. They don't let you play by fighting for every ball'. I think Adkins is trying to do this and that has resulted in fewer goals against. We must go for every ball and our attacking play may have to take the back burner against Chelsea.
I would play 5 in midfield keep Gaston on the bench with Lambert in midfield linking with jay up front. Guly on the left & rest as usual maybe fox at left back if Luke is still injured.
Chelsea v Southampton REFEREE Michael Oliver .......... LINESMEN S Burt & P Kirkup .........4TH OFFICIAL H Webb
Our rather shapeless second half performances haven't been a patch on first halves recently. First half pack the midfield, concentrate, frustrate Chelsea and the restless home crowd, as if defending a lead. Then stun them by playing our trademark expansive total football first half... in the second half.
