Dressed as seats? Chelsea v Copenhagen Preview
By dixon9
March 16 2011
Chelsea are just 90 minutes away from yet another Champions League quarter final. Despite the competitions tainted reputation (at least from many Chelsea supporters point of view) the chance to face one of the other big fish and be in touching distance of ol Big Ears does get the pulse racing.
That said, there are still many quarters of the Stamford Bridge faithful that refuse to attend CL matches, and this, coupled with the clubs decision to increase the prices of tickets for this match, may mean a few supporters “dressed as seats” tonight (the likes of Talk Sport and Five Live will have a field day).
Anyway… on to the matter of the players…
It looks as if Torres will start on the bench tonight and Ancelotti has indicated that he will continue his player rotation to maintain as many of the squad as fresh as possible. I would imagine if Torres does appear on the pitch it will be on or around 65 minutes. This almost certainly means the young Madridleño will start against City this weekend.
Torres probable exclusion is a shame in my view as the Copenhagen coach has already stated they will go on the offensive from the off – so plenty of space at the back to be exploited by our strikers.
"It is stupid to go into it defensive when you're behind 2-0," said Solbakken.
"If we score they will be nervous. I can guarantee that. The key to the game is who scores the first goal.
"If we do, it will be the inverted psychology no matter how Chelsea has prepared for the game."
Given our tendency to underperform in the first half we will have to concentrate.
Copenhagen will also be without suspended defender Pospech whilst we will be missing cup-tied Luiz.
Other good news is that Alex is back in training although he is nowhere near match fitness for tonight’s game and Benayoun will start training towards the end of this week.
I’ve a feeling if we can keep any initial Copenhagen onslaught at bay, we could end up scoring a hatful – to the contrary we could end up getting wooden and cautious again. I’m optimistic though!
Oh! And almost forgot! “Quick as a flash but can’t cross a ball Gronkjaer” returns to the Stamford Bridge turf for the first time since his outgoing transfer. I hope he gets a warm welcome.
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Good news that Alex is returning to fitness. I did hear that he may start tonite but we will see.
UP THE CHELS
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