A response is needed after last weekend’s uninspiring display at Cardiff and I’m expecting one tomorrow – the question is, will we be good enough to get a result against Maurizio Sarri’s new-look Chelsea?
We trounced them 3-0 at St James’ Park just a few months ago, but that end of season affair against an unmotivated Chelsea side with one eye on the World Cup (with a manager who knew he was facing the sack) will be very different to this one I suspect.
Do I think we can get a result? Definitely. Chelsea may have won their opening two games, but they showed frailties at the back in their 3-2 win over Arsenal last Saturday and are still settling as a team – not forgetting the fact our side know they got one up on many of these players just a few months ago.
We’ll need to be MUCH better than we were at Cardiff, however – because you can almost guarantee that this Chelsea side will pose much more of a threat and show much more energy than they did when we played them here last.
Sarri’s side love to press and attack in numbers, so even if they are left open at the back at times, it’ll be a tough day for our defence.
We’ll need to be switched on at the back, win our battles in midfield (a big performance from Diame and Shelvey is essential) and show much more cutting edge in attack.
Whoever comes in for Kenedy (who’s ineligible against parent club) will need to perform, Perez must up his game and offer much more and there’s also a hope that Rondon (and/or Muto) can give us more than Joselu can in attack to ruffle a few feathers in this fragile Chelsea defence.
Preferred XI
Here’s the team I’d like to see, followed by the side I expect Rafa to go with:
Predicted NUFC XI – (4-2-3-1) – Dubravka– Yedlin, Lascelles, Clark, Dummett – Diame, Shelvey – Ritchie, Perez, Atsu – Rondon
The Opposition
Here’s a few ‘ones to watch’ in the Chelsea squad:
Eden Hazard – An obvious one who needs no introduction. Looks set to make his first start of the season and will be their main man to watch. A tough task for Yedlin awaits given how he struggled against Spurs last time out.
Ngolo Kante – Arguably the best holding midfielder on the planet, however he’s been given some license to get forward under Sarri, often finding himself in the box and joining attack. We’ll need to track him on Sunday, with him now adopting more of a box to box role.
Pedro – Has scored in each of his their first two league games and looks bang in form. Will be one to watch for Dummett.
Marcus Alonso – Loves to get forward from left-back and will be one of Chelsea’s biggest goal threats. Ritchie and Yedlin could have a real job on their hands containing him. A threat from free-kicks too.
David Luiz – He’s been reintroduced back into the Chelsea side since Sarri took over. A talented footballer but a centre-back who always has an error in him. Rondon could cause him problems if he’s given the nod.
Predicted Chelsea XI – (4-1-2-3) – Kepa – Azpilicueta, Luiz, Rudiger, Alonso – Jorginho – Kante, Barkley – Pedro, Morata, Hazard.
Team news
DeAndre Yedlin has been passed fit by Rafa after missing the Cardiff game, but Kenedy will miss out – being ineligible to play his parent club following a loan move (meaning Murphy or Atsu will come in for him).
Lejeune is ruled out as he continues to recover from his ACL injury. Rondon could make his first start
Cesc Fabregas and Michy Batshuayi have been ruled out for Chelsea, but Eden Hazard looks set to make his first start of the season after cameo roles in their opening two games.
Match Prediction
As explained earlier, this will be a MUCH tougher test then we faced last time we met Chelsea a few months ago in May.
If we turn up, show the energy, intensity and discipline required and win out battles from the off then anything can happen, but we must be more clinical than we were against Spurs to get all three points here.
If we can stay solid at the back then I don’t see why we can’t knick a point (their defence does not look too handy), but much will depend on the performances of our front two and Mo Diame in the middle – with Yedlin and Ritchie’s battle with Alonso and Hazard also being one we must keep under control if we’re to nullify their threats.
I think we’ll be much better and expect us to make a game of it, but with Kenedy missing and this new-look Chelsea side welcoming Hazard back, I worry they’ll have too much for us.
Prediction: Newcastle 1-2 Chelsea
Howay the lads!
In this day of Pep wearing $500 sweaters, Rafa with his 3 piece suits and Southgate and his waistcoat you have to admire Sarri. He looks like your uncle who went to sleep in his TK Maxx sweatshirt on a particularly late New Years Eve and staggered down the boozer the next day still wearing it.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Some facts from the US commentators: Average NUFC player cost = 4.7 million, Chelsea 35 million, or 8 times as much.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Rondon looks spent
kimtoon(Quote)
It is boring though and it will be more of the same next week.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Rondon goes off and Joselu on
kimtoon(Quote)
you bet it will, no choice really. And before anyone mentions Wolves, they spent shed loads on forward players.
kimtoon(Quote)
That substitution also says everything about our transfer window.
Stuart79(Quote)
yep, sucks mate
kimtoon(Quote)
two defenders on yellows now then
kimtoon(Quote)
chances one of them gets another yellow and off
kimtoon(Quote)
More facts: Chelsea on 69 mins are equaling the all time PL record for possession with 83%.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
not quite sure how Luiz escaped a yellow for raking back of Ritchie yet Scher gets a yellow for first foul.
kimtoon(Quote)
now Ritchie in the book
kimtoon(Quote)
Great save dubs
nervy stuff now
kimtoon(Quote)
God this is stressful
kimtoon(Quote)
Murphy off perez on
kimtoon(Quote)
pen, ffs
kimtoon(Quote)
not a pen, got the ball
kimtoon(Quote)
We’d of never got that
kimtoon(Quote)
Well, have to attack now.
kimtoon(Quote)
I’m unsure how you can avoid contact with the player whilst tackling and getting the ball. Nonsense of a decision.
What we deserve though.
Stuart79(Quote)
Where’s var when you need it
kimtoon(Quote)
Shar off Muto on
kimtoon(Quote)
WTF
Eric Sykes(Quote)
getinnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn
Joselu
kimtoon(Quote)
The linesman was 4 yards away.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
that’s woke the crowd up
kimtoon(Quote)
oh for gods sake
kimtoon(Quote)
feel for yeddy, has had a good game to be fair
kimtoon(Quote)
the football gods hate us
kimtoon(Quote)
waste of a free kick 👿
kimtoon(Quote)
5 mins added time
kimtoon(Quote)
Horrible to loose to an og.
AND that was not a pen, can’t wait for VAR to come in and see these top 4 sides not have it all their own way.
kimtoon(Quote)
Well I’m sorry but I didn’t enjoy that one bit. It was horrible and I just can’t buy into that approach at all.
Sharpy17(Quote)
So the referee is a Chelsea supporter then… never a penalty ??????
Dubai Toon(Quote)
There’s no way they can look again at that obvious elbow from Yedlin is there? As I said, the linesman was literally 4 yards away and looking straight at it.
This is about where I thought we would be. Should probably save Shelvey against City and see if Lacselles and Rafa can kiss and make up.
I am not even sure if I will watch the City game if its going to be a repeat of that. I agree with Sharpy that we were too timid. Chelsea are a good team but we gave them too much respect and they were playing 3 defensive mids for Gods sake.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Horrible horrible game… breaks my heart to see my team forced to play like that and even more so to listen to Keys and Grey spout off about how negative it is. Had to switch the bastards off. Gutted by that …to lose on an own goal after the ref gifting them a pen…
It won’t change anytime soon either with our next few matches…
Pleased for the hoss though, excellent goal…
Dubai Toon(Quote)
Iwill probs miss next weeks second half as busy, got a feeling i won’t be missing much.
kimtoon(Quote)
Rafa said we had 5 or 6 players missing. I count 2 who would have started – Shelvey and Lascelles. Is he having a dig at Ashley and suggesting they are the players he would have bought if he was given a real budget?
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I’m sure I’m on my own here but I don’t feel like we are being forced to play that way and I’m tired of the excuses for Rafa. He set the team up that way – and yes he was without Shelvey though injury and Kenedy coz of the loan restriction – he still opted to go that defensive (I was going to say negative).
He still had Perez, Muto, Atsu and Joselu in the bench – so he could have still played his 4-2-3-1 formation.
By doing what he did today showed no faith in the players he has, and with this Lascelles carry on – it’s the start of loosing the dressing room imo.
Sorry but I want to see my team trying to wins games – if that results in defeat, well as long as they have tried to win I can live with that. I don’t want to see what I saw today.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Perez, Atsu, Muto and Joselu! You say it like they’re really good players who could cause Chelsea problems!!! ? Seriously, it’s one of the worst squads I’ve seen in the PL era for us.
If you think we’d be better off having a go at teams like Chelsea with our players, I’m not really sure why you think we’d be any better allowing the likes of Hazard, Kante, Morata, Pedro, Kovacic and Jorginho more space than we allowed them with this approach. List the players we had today, Sharpy. Are you impressed in the cold light of day?
Rondon looked about as good as me too. Cheap loans players – who’d have thought they’d be average…
Stuart79(Quote)
Even Richard Keys has caught the bizarre bug. He’s trying to claim that Rafa has a better squad than Sam’s which included Owen, Martins, ****, Smith, Geremi, Barton, Beye, Capaca (he’s right about him), Milner, Enrique and Given.
I give up!
Stuart79(Quote)
Stu – I’m not saying give them more space, quite the opposite. I’m saying rather than sitting back and allowing them to come at us, we get in there faces, we chase them down and give them no time on the ball.
Wolves done it with City yesterday and Brighton done it with Lpool and Utd.
People are saying we are being forced to play defensive, but he had attacking options available to him in Perez, Atsu, Muto and Joselu (Joselu who came on and scored). You say they aren’t good players – other than Perez, Rafa brought them in. Add his players with the £12m he spent on Murphy, and £2m he spent on loaning Rondon – that’s a total of £36m he spent on those players. Whilst at the same time, getting rid of Gayle and Mitrovic who were already with us so cost nowt.
So you tell me, has Rafa strengthened the squad?.
But then he doesn’t want attackers to be attackers, he wants them to defend first.
I don’t agree with Rafas tactics, I don’t enjoy watching us play this way and I don’t get his subs most of the time. We get it back to 1-1 and having defended the whole game, he then takes a defender off and puts Muto on – so we can try and win the game in the last 10mins, but not the 90 – is that what the 52k can look forward to is it?!.
Sharpy17(Quote)
I don’t care about Keys, or Gray or any of that argument. I don’t care about Fat Sam or Dennis Wise or any of the players Sam had at his disposal compared to now.
I’m only bothered about the players we have and how Rafa sets them up to play.
I think this squad is as good as the one he had last season, and certainly good enough to finish well outside of the relegation zone.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Sharpy – The players did chase, get in their faces and give them little time on the ball. Effort wasn’t in question. We had Diame and Ki in midfield. What creativity do you see there?
As for the players Rafa has brought in. Do you think he wanted them? Or do you think he realises they were about as good as he could get considering he had no money to spend? I saw Brighton brought on a substitute yesterday who cost £15m. Does Rafa have that luxury?
You question his tactics but them tactics kept us up last season. The squad or team is no better now so why should he change tactics? Every other team has got better so why should we have a go at teams who are clearly a million times better than us? When you have a go at teams like them with average players you automatically give them more time and space. It’s impossible to be in two places at once.
We could do a Blackpool and try and attack every team we play and get relegated of course.
Stuart79(Quote)
I’m interested in who could do better with this squad, Sharpy? Let’s not forget our best three players were missing too. Our two most creative and our captain. Although it’s clear we missed Shelvey more than anyone. Do you think it was wise not to buy a creative centre midfielder or Shelveys quality?
Stuart79(Quote)
i agree with STU on this one,why play a good attacking football in a game against them and get played off the park,we havent got the class of player they have plus the players moral would have nose dived,you have to try another way to try and beat them,we could have nicked draw but for a bad ref,Rafa has a better football brain than we will ever have just accept it and move on
icedog(Quote)
Stu – he had Mitrovic, Gayle, Ritchie and Perez and up until a month ago all of those players were still there.
He loaned Atsu and could have sent him back – but decided to spend £8m on him. He also decided to spend £12m on Murphy, £5m on Joselu, £9m on Muto and £2m on loaning Rondon … money well spent?. I don’t think so myself.
The tactics did keep us up last season, and I’m sure Rafa will keep us up using the same tactics this season. I just don’t enjoy watching us playing this way, and I think he could still keep us up playing more offensively – and it would be more enjoyable to watch.
Sharpy17(Quote)
They had a dodgy pen and a lucky og for the win, we scored a beauty. We nearly pulled it off. Yes it isn’t pretty but we don’t have the players to go at top 4 teams, for gods sake we struggled against bloody Cardiff. Why would we be better v Chelsea, a team where one player cost as much as our entire squad, time to get real and get rid of the real reason we are so behind many pl teams, Ashley.
kimtoon(Quote)
Jabba mate gone bust Wonga are broke how happy I am robbing swines
Icedog(Quote)
Had to borrow 10 mil to no avail,great
Icedog(Quote)
oh the irony 😆 😆
kimtoon(Quote)
Sharpy – who could he have bought better for the same amount of money?
Let’s also be honest, Brighton had 30% possession yesterday which is not a million miles off from us today. Wolves also had similar possession. It’s what you do with the ball when you have it.
But you are right about the money we have spent. Can you tell me a better striker we could have got for £5m we spent on Joselu or £9.5m we paid for Muto? What about a better striker than Rondon for £2m? I’m also struggling to think of a better winger than Murphy for £12m these days?
What about a player to replace Shelvey? Where could we have got that player from with no money?
Stuart79(Quote)
Kim – I’m being very real. We twist we don’t have quality up front – Mitrovic was and is quality and our World Class manager has favoured Joselu, Slimani and Rondon ahead of him – let’s stop making excuses for Rafa here, coz when he could have picked him, he didn’t.
Are you telling me that our World Class manager could not get the best out of him – yet the Fulham and Serbian manager can.
We’ve played a top 4 side at home already this season – what about Spurs?. Against them we played 4-2-3-1 and went at them. We had more possession than today and had more and better chances – it was a far better performance than today. I accept that we had Lascelles, Shelvey and Kenedy that day and not today. The Lascelles thing was daft, but let’s take Rafas word and he has an ankle injury – he puts Fernandez in – a player he had a Napoli and trusts. He puts Ki in and he picks either Atsu or Murphy on the left – 2 players HE brought in.
Didn’t forget – those 3 players played by the way.
If we go away to City, Lpool, Chelsea or Spurs – I fully accept and expect us to be more compact. But have a go at home!! – give the fans something to get excited about.
Sharpy17(Quote)
We had one – Mitrovic.
Stu – if you’re happy with what you’re seeing then that’s absolutely your right, and I’m not trying to change your mind. I’m really not, and I’m also not prepared to accept everything Rafa does as being right – coz it’s not.
He decided he didn’t want to keep Mitro, Mbemba. He loaned Atsu and decided to keep him. Rafa hasn’t had the resources he should have got – but most of these players are there coz he brought them in – who else could he have is a hugely hypocritical question and impossible to answer as you well know – but he did choose to bring these players in, and that being the case he should have more faith in them at home.
Sharpy17(Quote)
I think the defensive tactic is probably the right way to go against the “big 6”. We just can’t compete with those guys – or the only way we can compete with them is by keeping it tight at the back.
I’m quite sure that if Rafa tried to play expansive football against these guys and we lost 6-1, there’d be an outcry about how he’s lost the plot and is being very naive.
Brisvegas(Quote)
You haven’t answered any of my questions, Sharpy.
Mitrovic is still unproven. Let’s see how he ends up this season. I’d prefer to trust Rafa than Mitro. What has Mitro done for you to take his side over Rafa’s?
Essentially I’m not happy with what I see. But I’m not surprised. I’ve been saying all summer we haven’t improved and I stand by that and I also hold Mike Ashley 100% responsible for this – not Rafa Benitez. You keep talking about his signings but you don’t tell me who he should have bought with the same restrictions he faced. We are essentially now a club like Cardiff, WBA, Huddersfield, Norwich and Middlesbrough ect… Little budgets, average players and teams that have to scrap for results.
Ultimately I’m still surprised you think Rafa could have done better in the transfer market with limited money and zero backing of his owner. Is he Harry Potter?
Stuart79(Quote)
Generally I agree that Rafas hands are ties. But I think it is not a one size fits all. We were too negative against Cardiff and that is why we struggled. Going negative against the top 10? Fine, do what needs ti be done but againat the bottom half sides we should not fear them.
Shamrock(Quote)
I think Rafa made mistakes today by going too conservative but I am sure this was because our 4 best players were unavailable – Lejeune, Kenedy, Lascelles and Shelvey. Rafa says as much after the match but did seem to exaggerate by saying we were missing 5 or 6.
I don’t know why he dropped Perez who hasn’t been great but at least knows the role of playing behind a striker. You had Murphy switching from the wing sometimes to support Rondon and it didn’t work. And the fullbacks didn’t play as wingbacks. We played a 5-4-1 formation.
I don’t know what to do with Man City but not this.
And the Ref didn’t help.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Bris – expansive football would be great mate, but we don’t play that against any opponent. So sticking to the top 6 teams – did you see a difference to how we approached yesterday and how we went at Spurs – also a top 6 team playing at SJP?. We had a go at then, without being risky about it, but we compete with them. Yesterday we didn’t go at Chelsea until we were 1-0 down.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Stu – whereas Joselu, Slimani and Rondon are all proven – to be very average PL players. Yes Mitrovic is raw, but Rafa is this world class manager and should be able to develop young players like that – especially knowing he’s got little to spend.
I’m not really looking to debate the point though, coz I get the impression some don’t see Rafa can do wrong. I’m also not saying I want rid of him either by the way – I just want him to allow his players to compete with the best team – as he did against Spurs.
I don’t like watching what I saw yesterday and can’t pretend I do.
Sharpy17(Quote)
For what it’s worth, Joselu is our top scorer, so i understand Rafa’s faith in him, maybe this is going to be his season. Rondon was isolated for most of the match whilst we dealt with the constant waves of Chelsea attacks and he looked really unfit, by the time he went off for Joselu he looked spent.
We did attack after they scored and we did compete but i do not think we could of kept that up for the entire game and it would of left us open to conceding a boat load. Moreover you see many more defensive errors when you ‘go at ‘ the top sides, it’s inevitable really when you have a limited squad as we do. We also had our most creative player in jon jo missing along with Lejeune and Lascelles, all players who were playing when we beat Chelsea last time out.
As i said previously, it isn’t pretty and yeah i would love us to be more entertaining but with so many teams having strengthened more than us, then this is where we are at and there is really only one person responsible -Ashley. We all know Rafa will have had to settle for 3rd or 4th choice on the list.
He wants us to survive by what ever means, he won’t want another relegation on his cv and i don’t blame the guy. Ashley has seen fit to try and trash so many of our legends and **** on all of us from on high. Reputations mean zilch to him, so long as it’s done his way on a shoe string he doesn’t give a toss, so why should Rafa ruin his long and illustrious career for that muppet.
Do what you have to do Rafa and maybe sky will choose less of our games to televise and starve the pig of food. There’s more than one way to skin a cat .
kimtoon(Quote)
You’re not looking to debate the point because? You have no answers? You can’t argue one thing and then not have answers to a response and then just say oh well I’m not looking to debate this. The fact is that Rafa doesn’t play like that against every team. In my memory he set us up to play like that against City last season and Chelsea this season. We played teams like Leicester, Bournemouth, West Ham, Spurs, Southampton and Swansea all away from home last season and won and we weren’t negative so he doesn’t do it against all clubs.
How do you expect him to play the same way as against Spurs when his two most creative players were put injured?
Of course nobody thinks Rafa can do no wrong – that’s no possible. But I’m not sure what you’re asking him to do without his best 4 players against a top 4 club? Their keeper cost more than our whole team FFS!
If we’d have been beaten 4-0 but was more adventurous would you have been happier?
Stuart79(Quote)
Let’s not kid ourselves here. His club has the lowest transfer budget in the league and performances will have to reflect that.
Stuart79(Quote)
As I say, if you are happy with what you saw that’s your prerogative.
I’m not, and numerous people who I’ve spoken to who were at the game yesterday didn’t enjoy it either.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Interesting points from all! I’m with Sharpy in that I don’t like the ultra defensive approach but can see Stuart’s points too. If we’d gone at Chelsea they would have destroyed us as would City. So Rafa can’t win but he may scrape a point or two or at least preserve the goal difference.
Fernandez looked good to me and should replace Clark for the next one unless he goes with 3 again. Who to believe about the Lascelles situation. Ankle knock or row?
georgio(Quote)
I certainly didn’t enjoy it, Sharpy. I was bored out of my mind. But I understand why we played like that and I would rather see that game than see us get completely destroyed by leaving gaps all over place while attacking with average players. Even when we got in to attacking areas the quality was ***** and we created almost nothing.
So again, would you prefer we attacked them and got beat 4-0?
Stuart79(Quote)
Btw if it had been Cardiff who played like that yesterday the pundits and supporters would be using words like “plucky”, “unlucky” and “Organised”. Why are we different? Cardiff have a bigger budget than us.
Stuart79(Quote)
Andrew Musgrove Retweeted
Swiss Ramble @SwissRamble · 2h2 hours ago
More
#NUFC commercial income almost halved from £28m pre-Ashley to £15m in 2017. Partly due to outsourcing catering in 2009, though other revenue streams are basically flat, put off by the Sports Direct brand. In same period #THFC have more than doubled commercials from £34m to £73m.
kimtoon(Quote)
you hit nail on the head,spot on
icedog(Quote)
Ice, other companies can’t get room to see their company advertised around the ground. Noticed Flanels gets a lot though. Ashley owns them and it’s more free advertising. HoF next.
Stuart79(Quote)
STU we both know everything about jabba stinks,its me me me all the way
icedog(Quote)
Main relevant point from Stu is the killer. Smallest budget in the league means we will indeed play **** football. Cant get away from it.
Shamrock(Quote)
Mark DouglasVerified account @MsiDouglas
Follow Follow @MsiDouglas
More
Real shame #nufc fans forum meant for this week has been postponed. Was a good opportunity for club hierarchy to answer questions from the summer
this was always gonna happen.
cowards waiting on approved answers they can give no doubt.
kimtoon(Quote)
NUFC Index @NUFC_Index · 21h21 hours ago
More
Rafa was appointed in March 2016.
That season, prior to his arrival, #NUFC were smashed…
5-1 away CFC
3-0 away EFC
5-1 away CPFC
0-3 home LEIC
3-0 away SAFC
6-1 away MCFC
Since his arrival; we’ve lost a league game by 3 or more goals twice.
TWICE IN 2.5 YEARS!
Rafa knows
Well I for one do not miss them maulings .
kimtoon(Quote)