Chelski build up...

[Nick77]

Well let's forget about the ****e we saw last night & look to this weekend's clash in London.
Hopefully the defeat will give a lot of the players (especially the defenders!) a good kick up the arse which is definitely what's needed before Sunday.

I would go with the following team:
Reina
Johnson
Skrtel
Carra
Fabio or Insua
Riera
Gerrard
Masch
Dirk
Yossi
Torres

Subs:
Cavalieri
Fabio or Insua
Babel (must DEFINITELY be brought on though)
Agger (if fit or Kyrgiakos if not)
Ngog
Degen
Lucas

[Craig_H]

I wouldnt even let Skrtel near the team bus at the moment, let alone the pitch.

Kyrgiakos and Carra for me, Drogba will murder Skrtel the way he's playing at the moment.

[Shaggy]

I’m worried. We look extremely vulnerable away from home if you ask me. Okay we won at Bolton and West Ham but they’re two poor sides and we made bloody hard work of both. Then there was Spurs, a poor display at Leeds and last night. We are not convincing at all – unlike last year when we played away from home with the authority of champions – and I worry about what Drogba could do to a woefully out of form Skrtel and Carra.

Kyrgiakos might be a good shout. He's awesome in the air and might be better equipped to handle Drogba. Skrtel, for a man of his size, is inexplicably crap in the air.

[RedReet]

Riera has to be a starter for me. That’s three defeats and our three worst performances when he wasn’t playing. Even when he doesn’t play well personally, the team generally perform better. I think it was Tompkin’s who wrote an article last season, illustrating that he was used in nearly all our important games, which mainly we won.

After last nights game, attack definitely has to be our best form of defence. We just don’t look comfortable defending at the minute, so we need to keep Chelsea in their own half as best we can.

[the rev leeroy brown]

I wouldnt even let Skrtel near the team bus at the moment, let alone the pitch.

Kyrgiakos and Carra for me, Drogba will murder Skrtel the way he's playing at the moment.

i wouldn't drop skrtel over carra at the moment. skrtel had one moment of madness last night but if i was the lfc keeper i'd be terrified to see carra playing in front of me at the moment. last night he seemed like the carra of old.....nervous and average.

FOR ME:

reina

johnson
skrtel
carra
aurelio

mash
ste

kyut
benni
babel

torres

[SB]

The commentator seemed to think skittles was carrying an injury. Anyone know for sure ?

[kev776]

Now is the time to stand firm and trust the guys we have, wholesale changes in the defence will undermind morale

[FatTony]

I think Chelsea will be rubbing their hands at the moment with the state of our defence. Its quite calamitous at the moment and with an inform bruiser like Drogba up front alongside the pace and technical quality of Anelka, I think our back four will be forced into quite a few errors. On Carra's recent form I can see a penalty coming and or plenty of free kicks around the box.

Joe Cole has just returned, but luckily I think its way too early for him to start.

Glen will be up for it, so I think he may have a returning goal in him (definitely worth a punt), though Gerrard needs to find form and quick as if he has another anonymous game we'll be leaving with nothing definitely.

Gerrard will be back in the middle, we'll be ultra defensive. I can see Lucas being dropped.

[Tee]

I think the team will be:

----------------------------Reina

Johnson-----------Carra--------------Kyriagos-----------Aurelio

Kuyt-------------Lucas---------------Mascher----------Benni

-----------------------Gerrard

-----------------------------Torres

[Shaggy]

The good thing of course is they look almost as shambolic at the back as we do.

[Kenneth]

And big Pete is suspended, which is nice.

[Chris]

I'll be amazed if Hilario or the other clown dont give the performance of their lives. Like when we went there, absolutely battered them, Cudicini got MOTM and we lost 4-0!

[Shaggy]

I'll be amazed if Hilario or the other clown dont give the performance of their lives. Like when we went there, absolutely battered them, Cudicini got MOTM and we lost 4-0!

I'd almost forgotten about that game. Dark times

[Fierce]

I think the team will be:

----------------------------Reina

Johnson-----------Carra--------------Kyriagos-----------Insua

Kuyt-------------Lucas---------------Mascher----------Riera

-----------------------Gerrard

-----------------------------Torres

One of the commentators made the point yesterday about Benni in front of Insua, that neither seemed to support each other well at all. Which was why Kuyt swapped wings for a bit

Not that Riera is Kuyt in terms of tracking back, but at least if he stays in the LW position (which Benni doesn't) then there is a semblance of cover for whomever is getting up there

Also then got the option of bringing either Yossi or Babel on for Lucas/Masher respectively, should we need it

[ronanm]

Bit worred about this game. Could be a solid beating dished out. I expect their midfield to have the upper hand and if our defence doesn't play well (Aurelio must start at lb, the Greek I have not seen but haven't heard too many encouraging words about him) then we could get well beaten.