ZolaI guess this one will be a bit harder than Arsenal game. Al City hasn't been winning for a while and there's the talk of Hidding replacing Hughes. A win against the leaders would steady the ship, so they'd try to get that.
02.12.2009
RicardoCity's lead up form is a string of 6 or 7 draws, some of them should have been won, so they'll be keen do bring it to this game. Chelski looking unstoppable though, 1-2 Chelski is my tip.
Joe Cole at the pointy end of the diamond, bring Lampard back to the right and Ballack to the left and it's a winner. Anelka to start left of Drogs too ...
02.12.2009
FeriAtsHughes fielded a full strength team against Arsenal for a League Cup game. This, in my opinion smells desperation. City will pay the price on Saturday.
02.12.2009
Robert O'Carlos@ FeriAts - I would look at it the other way round. With Wenger's promise that Arsenal would definitely win a trophy this year, it would have made more sense for Arsenal to have gone with a stronger team. I don't see that the Gunners have any realistic chance at the EPL or the CL so it's either the FA Cup or the Carling Cup that would be within their reach.
:-)
As for the Chelsea match, a 2-1 home win was the right result. Chelsea were severely rattled and displaying the awful attitude they probably hoped they'd seen the last of. It all stemmed from City's first goal which Chelsea argued involved a handball. No foul in there imho but Chelsea didn't seem able to let it go afterwards.
05.12.2009
ZolaOn the contrary, the result did not do justice to game Chelsea played.We had a number of chances but couldn't convert, and then there's the penalty...
Anyway, these things happen, you sometimes lose when you don't deserve...
06.12.2009
Robert O'CarlosSadly, not converting chances or penalties all go towards how your team plays.
:-)
Chelsea probably shaded the 1st half but then allowed City to cane the 2nd half by letting themselves get rattled. From a neutral point of view (I was secretly hoping for a Chelsea win), I'd still say City deserved the points.
06.12.2009
ZolaSo, in your world, there's no such thing as lucky win, is there? Can't argue with how you see things.
We had our clear cut chances and couldn't convert, they had 2.5 chances and scored twice. They won. We were the better side, but it didn't matter in the end.
07.12.2009
Robert O'CarlosLuck plays a big part in football, of course. Tevez scoring with a free kick Cech would have saved 9 times out of 10. Chelsea getting a goal because Adebayor has no concept that a defending player shouldn't be standing right in front of the keeper.
:-)
But I'd be prepared to concede I'm perhaps being too harsh on Chelsea. They certainly put some good moves together early on. I was just disappointed at how undisciplined they became second half, and I thought City deserved a lot of credit for their performance after their recent run of results.
:-)
07.12.2009
