Official Football Thread - 11/12

[MikeNUFC]

@ MikeNUFC, If you was offered a point for Newcastle this weekend would you take it?

Tough question, but probably yes. Despite your form and lack of organisation in general, you still have abundance of class in the squad and it would be silly to underestimate that. Teams are too quickly written off in the Premier League and you'll get back to winning ways sometime.

Saying that, I really do think Ben Arfa and Ba can exploit your back line, and, based on your defence of late, I really feel we can score goals and win the game.

It's Sturridge and Mata I worry about it, especially up against Raylor. Jonas is a HUGE miss defensively and it'll be interesting to see whether Santon comes in for him or plays on the left wing to help out Raylor defensively. I'd guess Pardew will stick with the same back four though.

I think there will be goals, I'm plumping a few quid on 2-1 as well as Ba first goal.

Looking forward to it, especially the Speed tributes pre-match.

[dR3]

^Yeah Tiote and Gutierrez are out.

Newcastle are probably the hardest working team in the PL right now, so a win against them would require proper dedication from EVERY single player on the pitch.

Should be one hell of a match, even for the neutrals.

[cityfan31]

England to finish bottom of that group. We are shit.

Not that I care in the slightest.

Spain have a clear path to the final where they will face Germany and win 3-1.

[Slimm]

Group of death once again. I predict a first or second place.

[dR3]

Killa, Inno, Mike, are you guys going to the game or what?

[Innovation]

Killa, Inno, Mike, are you guys going to the game or what?

Nope, I'm not going to the game.

I really can't call which way this game is going to go. Most skeptical I've been about a Newcastle match since I can remember. It's nice to have the early kick off though, gives us a chance to watch another match.

Edit:

The team is pretty much unchanged from the Wolves game. Lampard is in for Meireles, Torres is left on the bench (again lmfao).

I'm giving up on Torres regaining form tbh, a £50m striker being left out of the first 11 like this is ridiculous.

[Innovation]

I'm too excited everytime there is a Chelsea game, and even when our form is next to shit, I just can't wait to see the players on the pitch. Hope Nino gets a start

Same here mate.

Torres isn't in the starting 11 again btw.

[Innovation]

Luiz could have been sent off right there. He's a liability in defence.

[Innovation]

a missed penalty, exactly what Chelsea needed atm.... :/

It was kind of a dive anyways, keep ur head up!! COME ON LADS!!

Can't believe he missed. That's pissed me off lol. We're not going to get many changes against Newcastle and this is a match that we need to win.

Struddige is on fire though.

[Innovation]

Oh shit, Kalou's coming on.

[Innovation]

COME ON! COME ON!

Torres did brilliantly and Kalou, my word you've taken some of my discontent away from you!

Another! Struddige, you really did deserve that!

[Innovation]

HAVEN'T FELT THIS GREAT FOR A LONG TIME!!! and this time we played very very good against a good side, our 3-0 win against wolves is nothing close to this, our performance was the Chelsea we all love (and most fear), we had some errors defensively, especially Luiz, and Newcastle came close to scoring a few times, but we haven't been this organized and dangerous for a long time

I was the only happy Chelsea fan to see Kalou come on and thank god he's entrance came into fruition with a goal, Sturridge deserved a goal and he NEEDS to work on his finishing, Torres was quite brilliant for the little while he was on

Let's hope we can carry this performance against Valencia this (Tuesday or Wednesday?)

Tuesday.

One of the best games I've watched in a long, long time. I totally agree also, we played very well today especially in contrast to our previous performances. Defensively we looked much more solid apart from Luiz. Should he have been sent off? I'd say so, yes. But it's about time we got a decision that went our way. That's football.

Sturridge is one hell of a talent. He just kept knocking on the door and finally found a way past Krul who was exceptional today. Sturridge should work on his finishing but his flair and control makes him so deadly. Brilliant player.

So happy, I was on on edge in the last 15 minutes of the game. The relief of Kalou scoring was a fantastic feeling.

Great result, great performance. This should hopefully give the team a bit more confidence going into the all important Champions League game on Tuesday.

[cityfan31]

Pardew upset at the arrogance of the Chelsea staff apparently. What was that about?

City 5-1 Norwich. Too easy, far too easy. Come on Villa.

[Innovation]

Pardew upset at the arrogance of the Chelsea staff apparently. What was that about?

City 5-1 Norwich. Too easy, far too easy. Come on Villa.

I just watched his interview. Apparently the Chelsea staff's celebrations were over the top. He said AVB "conducted himself with dignity" and he hasn't got a problem with him, but some of the other staff "need to have a look at themselves".

--

Nicolas Anelka and Alex submit Chelsea transfer requests

The requests have been accepted by AVB. I'm not too fussed about Anelka, he's had his day but he did contribute a lot to the team. We'll always be grateful for that. I watched all of his golden boot goals in the 08/09 season, what a striker he was.

Alex.. well we need him to be fair. Luiz is a huge liability in defence. Unless he plays Ivanovic in the center and puts Bosingwa on the right. Even then, Bosingwa isn't a great defender so I'd much rather Ivanovic play the RB role.

I'm guessing we'll make a move for Cahill in the January window which should help ease our defensive woes. If not, then we best hope Luiz can step up to the plate and improve his decision making.

[MikeNUFC]

Geuninely depressed. Mike Dein's decision was one of the worst I've ever seen (yes, worse than the pen last week), and we controlled a second half without Tiote, Ben Arfa, Colo and Jonas, 4 of our most important players. We also had James Perch on the pitch. Chelsea had a load of chances and probably just deserved a win but 3-0 was ultimately flattering, but playing the last 5 minutes with Perch, Raylor and Simpson as your 3 recognised defenders is always going to be a problem.

If Jonas was playing I think we would have got a result today, he's that important - Ryan Taylor has looked good this season mainly for Jonas' defensive work. He's wstarting to get found out and it's time for Santon to get a chance.

Without the injuries to Saylor and Colo I would be in a decent mood after a good perfomance, but with that, it means we go into Norwich looking at a starting CB pairing of Perch and Santon/Gosling. Doesn't look too good, and my excitement at the next 4 winnable games is ebbing away. Early reports saying Saylor could be out for the season doesn't help.

Sigh.