Can only repeat what Roo said, in saying I'll be gutted if Dembele is out, as the only way we can perform like we did against man utd in that 1st half, is to have Dembele being a monster in midfield (alongside sandro), otherwise I won't be as confident about getting a result.
by the way Boss, great thread again mate. forgot to mention that without the creativity and possession retention that Dembele provides, the quality chelsea have in midfield and attack, will gradually take it's toll on us. with no one controlling and dictating out midfield, we'll end up like we did against united second half. **** that!
I'd also vote for Vertonghen to take over Dembele's place, on the grounds that that might just work (if Beni is good to go), while I just can't see Livermore or Huddlestone working. All things considered Dembele is literally the last player I'd want hurt going into this game.
Vertonghen in the middle might work?! Well yeah...might. Maybe. Not sure why you'd want to throw in a player out of position for a crucial game against tough opponents when you have two central midfielders fit. There was a time not so long ago when our whole team looked to be missing something when Hudd wasn't keeping things ticking over in the middle and looking for that killer ball. I really hope he can cement his place ahead of Livermore again and push for more starts. Great player in so many ways. I suspect that if both Dembele and Parker are not fit then AVB will want to shore things up with Livermore.
To be fair lenny, it's more than a "might work" though. Verts is familiar with that position. and based on his performances at CB and LB this season, i'd be more than happy to see him alongside Sandro. he can run at people and turn defence into attack. livermore will not know what to do and looked totally uncomfortable alongside sandro a few games back. against chelsea, he's just not a good enough player to have on the pitch with the quality they possess, IMO. the Livermore and Sandro pairing has been tested time and time again and it just doesn't work. Like you, I hope hudd plays soon. we miss him, but I don't think he looks fit yet.
who will play L/B unless Benny is fit,still don't rate him as a P/L player,but we have'nt any cover in that position.I hope Dembele is fit,we need our best Player's against the top teams
Oh, has he played there before? I didn't know that. Not sure that "tested time and again" is accurate to describe the number of time Sandro and Livermore have been paired (few times this and last season?) but I know what you mean - they've not looked great together a few times. Shame that Sandro didn't work with Parker last season either. Just think he's too much of a monster - wants to do a bit of everything in midfield and doesn't work so well with people who (are told to) sit defensively. Just seems a bit of riddle - Sandro's a superb player. Right - just googled "Dembele" and "Dembele injured" and filtered for results from the last 24 hours and then last week. The ONLY source for the "Dembele injured" story is here at goal.com: http://www.goal.com/en-gb/slideshow/716/6 It is a two line, one sentence story with no quotes. ALL the other search results come back with forums like this where people are discussing his injury. Oh - and the physioroom website and official fantasy football sites all have him down as fit. Wow. Could this entire rumour just come from a one sentence story on goal.com? Let's hope it's all made up.
reading that they say Lamps and Betrand will miss the game,because they were injured on international duty?,they withdrew from the international squad!
yeah apparently. he's been used in that position for Ajax. I'm sure I read that he's played there for belgium too, as well as at left back. Perhaps "time and time again" was an exaggeration, but there's been enough occasions in the past where they've been on the pitch at the same time and our midfield looks clueless. Every match i've witnessed, we've been woeful and offer no support for the forwards or any form of creativity. - we're playing chelsea.. we can't take thst risk or we'll be dominated. let's hope he's fit. this was all rumours, but hey, forums like this thrive on rumours!
Tend to agree with this, although the scumbag does still seem to maintain his 'legend' status. Arguably better news was the poor performance of Cashley last night. Looked decidedly short of pace on occasion and with Lennon not having had to overtax himself on the trip to Poland we might have some success on the RW.
He seems to play better when he's under pressure and getting a load of abuse from fans. I still think it's a shame though.
