on the flip side i'd like chelsea to use the following
merrick curd harrison smith golding gee castledine richards washington ugochukwu taurianen moreira stutter (all ****agers, at least have their 1st 11 out of these lol)
hate doing this but i'd strongly consider resting as many key players as possible, i wanted us to get maidstone at home so we could have put out a slightly rested side but as chelsea are a midtable prem side with a 1 billion quid squad, they could play their 3rd 11 and still be good enough for championship, I don't think farke will rest too many if i'm honest
I'm assuming we will be without Darlow, Dallas, Struijk, Bamford, Summerville, James and Rutter
this leaves us with a squad of meslier klaesson vandenheuvel ampadu piroe gray rodon gnonto kamara anthony gruev firpo cooper joseph shackleton gelhardt cresswell and roberts
i'll be honest, i'd consider playing out of that lot an 11 of Klaesson shackleton roberts cresswell cooper gruev kamara gnonto anthony gelhardt joseph
we just can't afford to lose any key players, promotion is too important, that 11 could get a thumping but the cup this season aint important, cups will become important again when we become an established premier league club again, until then, league is the only competition that matters imo
on the flip side i'd like chelsea to use the following
merrick curd harrison smith golding gee castledine richards washington ugochukwu taurianen moreira stutter (all ****agers, at least have their 1st 11 out of these lol)
Thought I saw somewhere that Rodon is hurt. that is a huge blow if so. He's a rock.
I think chelsea will put out there very best squad. managers job is on the line and he has to be thinking the FA cup maybe saves it.
Bummer all around for us.
Normally I’d love to see us put out a strong 11 and go for it, but Huddersfield and quickly followed by stoke, then Sheffield (thanks sky, you ba@@@@ds) are more important to keep our best 11 injury free.
Agree mate, priority is the league IMO
Sheffield took points off us at ER earlier in the season and Stoke beat us at theirs where both teams where gash. Huddersfield will be looking for revenge following their drubbing at ER not so long ago.
If we want to remain in the top two we need 9 points next week otherwise Ipswich will get in front I reckon given their next three matches.
Having said that - its ALWAYS enjoyable beating Chelsea.
So torn on this. All of the above posts are correct.
However, how many times have you seen teams "take their foot off the gas" and then lose all of the momentum? Chelsea is beatable this year and Lpool played a lot of youngsters and won the EFL cup.
Maybe play the best 11 for first half and then sub in? I know it makes no sense on paper but maybe as a confidence boost to us.
Why no Bamford, Summerville or James? Perhaps not as starters but would like to see all as potential impact subs (it's worked quite well recently!)
If they were included, and taking the names you mention in the "squad", I'd start with;
Meslier, Gray, Gruev, Rodon, Firpo, Ampadu, Kamara, Piroe, Gnonto, Gelhardt, Joseph
Of the remainder we are allowed 9 subs right?
Klausson, Shackleton, Cresswell, Cooper (but as a real last resort unfortunately),Anthony, Bamford, Summerville, James (assuming those last three are available). Can't decide on a 9th!
Think the youngsters would be up for proving they deserve time, and bringing on impact subs (almost irrespective of the scoreline) might give Chelsea pause for thought.
Last edited by WTF11; 27-02-2024 at 03:41 PM.