Tottenham Hotspur 1 Chelsea 0

[Michael Tucker]

 

Please use this thread for all posts relating to our EFL Cup Semi Final match against Tottenham at Wembley Stadium, before, during and after the game.

The Moderators will be keeping an eye on things, so let's try to keep it intelligent.

Please note that this un-moderated forum is a privilege and its abuse will result in the suspension of your account.

The match is scheduled to kick off at 20:00, Tuesday, 8th January, 2019 (Local UK time/date).

 

[jones]

A bit of an injury crisis in attack at the moment, although I recall Sarri saying he thought Pedro and Willian would be ready for this one? Hope they are back! As much as I would like to stick CHO in the XI after Yesterday, the right and likeliest outcome is probably a place on the bench and hopefully a sub appearance. Kovacic missed the last two games with a cold, so I assume he is back and ready to start. Morata swith a brace and a good overall performance, even if he missed two sitters, so expect him to get the nod to build on his momentum. 

Rest of the team picks itself, not necessarily on merit but on history:

Kepa

Azpi Rudi Luiz Alonso

Kanté Jorginho Kovacic

Willian Morata Hazard

Bench: Caballero, AC, Emerson, Ampadu, Barkley, Pedro, CHO

Injured: Giroud, RLC

Not involved: Zappacosta, Moses, Drinkwater

Fabregas and Cahill I guess will already be off by then. Shame we did not get to say a proper goodbye to Gaz. Proper Chels, a history maker for our club although not a legend as per my definition*, and a great man as well. Wish them both the best.

*JT, Lamps, Didier, Cech. Leaders of a golden generation. Those are the legends of the Abramovich era for me. And then you have Essien, Ballack, Ashley, Makelele, Mata, Fabregas and Cahill who come close, but not in the same category as the other four. Either way, we are lucky to have had so many great players and people at the club, just a shame how random their send off from the Bridge is.

 

[Arkie]

You would think Morata played himself into starting 11 but I think there is a big change Sarri reverts to his false 9 formation for the big occasion.  With something like Willian-Hazard-Pedro/CHO upfront.

Midfield will be Kova-Jorginho- Kante

Defense you can probably guess, same with goalkeeper.

[Droy was my hero]

1 hour ago, Arkie said:

You would think Morata played himself into starting 11 but I think there is a big change Sarri reverts to his false 9 formation for the big occasion.  With something like Willian-Hazard-Pedro/CHO upfront.

Midfield will be Kova-Jorginho- Kante

Defense you can probably guess, same with goalkeeper.

Bats got a hattrick against Forest last year with an even worse performance.  Morata cemented himself with the Forest game as 3rd choice CF out of 2.

On 1/5/2019 at 10:01 PM, Michael Tucker said:

The Moderators will be keeping an eye on things, so let's try to keep it intelligent.

And the stewards, we are told will be keeping an ear on things.  I wonder what happens when a Chelsea fan gets banned for using the Y word at Wembley.  .

[Ham]

41 minutes ago, Droy was my hero said:

 

And the stewards, we are told will be keeping an ear on things.  I wonder what happens when a Chelsea fan gets banned for using the Y word at Wembley.  

There's no way the stewards will hear the odd Chelsea fan being anti semetic, what with 70000 Spuds screaming "y*d army".

[Blue_In_Every_Way]

3 hours ago, Arkie said:

You would think Morata played himself into starting 11 but I think there is a big change Sarri reverts to his false 9 formation for the big occasion.  

Played himself into the starting 11????

The guy missed a point blank header and then scooped an offside chance in the most impossible manner high into the stands before scoring the second. 

If anything it was a typical Morata performance. And I have defended Morata heavily since day 1, but fair is fair the guy was 6 out of 10 at the very best on Saturday.

[Sciatika]

Devil's advocate, but if his problem is mainly confidence (as many pundits seem to say), then you have to imagine that scoring a couple of goals might help that. I think his lack of intelligence when it comes to the offside trap might be a result of trying too hard which seems to confirm that. I can't account for his being a bit weak and falling over too often. Anyway, given that Sarri has no idea whether a new striker will be arriving, he has to work with what he has. That seems to suggest that he should use Morata and hope that he

[Mark Kelly]

1 hour ago, Sciatika said:

Devil's advocate, but if his problem is mainly confidence (as many pundits seem to say), then you have to imagine that scoring a couple of goals might help that. I think his lack of intelligence when it comes to the offside trap might be a result of trying too hard which seems to confirm that. I can't account for his being a bit weak and falling over too often. Anyway, given that Sarri has no idea whether a new striker will be arriving, he has to work with what he has. That seems to suggest that he should use Morata and hope that he

Don't leave us hanging .....

[Sciatika]

Whoops ".... gets more confidence back"

[My Blood Is Blue]

Well we're here now so we may as well go all out to win it, I think Sarri will go with his strongest team, so I expect to see:

Kepa

Azpilicueta  Rudiger  Luiz  Alonso

Kante Jorginho Kovacic

Pedro Morata Hazard

Subs: Caballero, Christensen, Emerson, Barkley, RLC, Willian, CHO

 

I hope that CHO at least gets off the bench as he deserves a go against a quality side and I hope it's not just for 5 minutes. I don't expect him too though, I just don't think Sarri has the faith.