Chelsea v Napoli – In Depth Preview/Tactical Analysis
Introduction
Chelsea land in the Italian port city of Naples hoping to steady a rocking ship, as they take on Napoli in the first leg of the first knockout round of the Champions League on Tuesday night. With the Manchester giants gracing the hallowed pixels of Channel 5 and Arsenal succumbing to an Italian job of their own at the hands of AC Milan, the Blues will hope to be the sole English torchbearers at the quarterfinal stage of Europe’s premier club competition.
Manager Andre Villas-Boas will go into this match with question marks over his future at the club following another inept performance against Birmingham City in the FA Cup on Saturday. Chelsea’s last game in the Champions League (a 3-0 win over Valencia) came during our best period of the season, which also involved wins over Manchester City and Newcastle. However, the team has failed to live up to those standards with no wins in our last 5 games. Incidentally, City were pipped to the knockout stage by Napoli, who secured a home win and away draw against the English league leaders.
The storywriters of Fleet Street have already been putting forward names to replace the 34-year old Portuguese manager. However, he has reiterated this week the support he enjoys from Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich for his long-term project.
Injuries/Suspensions
Captain John Terry and left-back Ashley Cole remain injury doubts for this game with the latter being a more likely starter. The manager was able to rest Michael Essien at the weekend, and he will also have been pleased to have Ramires and Mikel back from injury, and forwards Drogba and Salomon Kalou from the African Cup of Nations. This certainly gives AvB more options in midfield and attack than he has had in the past month or so.
If Terry and Cole are not able to return for this match, we can expect a similar back four as against Birmingham, with the possibility of AvB throwing in Jose Bosingwa as left-back. He has played in that position before, with a decent level of success.
Napoli Tactics
Napoli usually line up in a 3-4-3 formation, with a counter-attacking approach well drilled into their system by coach Walter Mazzarri. They will however be without their boss for both the legs, as he is serving a ban for pushing Villareal forward Nilmar during a group stage game.
The Italians like to get men behind the ball while defending, with the wing-backs closing in to congest midfield. They look to counter-attack quickly with their front three of Marek Hamsik, Ezequiel Lavezzi and Edinson Cavani, who are all sought after by the best clubs in Europe. Chelsea have, at some point in the recent past, been linked with each of these players. They form a highly fluid and potent trio, with Hamsik and Lavezzi tending to support the prolific Cavani, who has 15 goals in Serie A and 4 in the Champions League this season.
Chelsea Tactics
Villas-Boas could go with the uncharacteristic approach of sitting back and counter-attacking which served us so well in the must-win game against Valencia in December. In recent years, teams in the Champions League have found success with keeping a clean sheet at home and applying pressure through the threat of away goals in the second leg. This could lead to a cagey encounter with both sides looking not to concede an advantage in the first half of this two-legged tie.
Expectations
Chelsea would be very happy to nick an away goal, and Napoli’s back three would be well suited for Fernando Torres to play against. On a fairly big San Paolo pitch, his running in the channels could provide opportunities for the Blues if the wide players are able to stretch the three-man defence. Napoli’s weak link is their defence, which includes Paolo Cannavaro, younger brother of Italian World Cup winning captain Fabio.
Torres or Drogba
However, Villas-Boas will probably opt to leave out the confidence-shot striker and go with Drogba up front instead. The advantage of Drogba is that he can create chances for himself out of nothing, while Torres tends to rely on service from teammates, which has been hard to come by since his arrival from Liverpool. It might be worth remembering, though, that the Spanish striker has 2 goals and a few assists in this competition this season, and his best games for Chelsea, by far, came against Bayer Leverkusen and Genk.
Fimal Thoughts
In the past few months, Chelsea have been guilty of not being able to convert possession into genuine goalscoring opportunities. AvB will look for a creative spark from playmaker Juan Mata in the city that was the stomping ground of two other greats of similar physical stature – Diego Maradona and Gianfranco Zola. Stamford Bridge is no longer the threatening fortress it once was, and it would be a Herculean task to overturn a first leg deficit, especially with the danger of away goals. All signs point towards a boring 0-0 draw but as we have seen this season, sensible predictions have come to nought in a bizarrely random fashion.
Come on you Blues!
Probable line-ups:
Chelsea (4-3-3) -
Cech; Ivanovic, Cahill, Luiz, Cole; Essien, Ramires, Lampard; Mata, Sturridge, Drogba.
Napoli (3-4-3) –
De Sanctis; Britos, Cannavaro, Aronica; Maggio, Inler, Dzemaili, Zuniga; Hamsik, Lavezzi, Cavani.
Queen’s Park Rangers Vs Chelsea F.C FA Cup 4th Round – LINE UPS
This is set to be a highly contested derby. With matters of alleged racist abuse gaining all the attention, the focus will be fully on John Terry and Anton Ferdinand.
Chelsea lost on their last visit to Loftus Road, with the Blues having two men sent off in the first half; by a ref who has came under question all season.
Both chairmen have issued statements warning fans not to engage in behaviour that will be deemed as unacceptable. The fans will be hyped up all throughout the match and both clubs are hoping to avoid any confrontation outside the stadium.
Chelsea will be touted as favourites for this match, but this does not mean QPR will not threaten throughout. Joey Barton will look to dominate the midfield and possibly try to wind up our players. It is our players job not to react to his mind games.
Gary Cahill looks likely to make his début in this game and with Salomon Kalou and Didier Drogba still on Africa Cup of Nations duty, it again leaves Romelu Lukaku and Fernando Torres in a battle for the centre forward position with Juan Mata and Daniel Sturridge set to provide support on the wings.
Confirmed Chelsea XI-
Cech, Ivanovic, Luiz, Terry, Cole, Ramires, Meireles, Malouda, Sturridge, Torres, Mata.
Categories: Matches Tags: Anton Ferdinand, Cahill, Cech, Cole, Essien, Ivanovic, John Terry, lampard, Mata, Racism, Ramires, sturridge, Terry, Torres
The Chelsea v Liverpool Rivalry Flashpoints
Over time club rivalries change and over the last decade a rivalry with Liverpool has gone from minor disdain and distrust to an all out feud.
With our improved fortunes on the field we have been competing directly with Liverpool across four competitions on a regular basis with events on and off the field making this more than a run of the mill home game.
Our success has not been popular with the Liverpool faithful who starved of League success for over twenty years have turned green with envy, stuck in a 80’s timewarp with more belief in the principal of divine right than a medieval king.
With the game on Sunday here are the flashpoints of our rivalry and why we must win on Sunday!
1) Mourinho celebrating the 2005 Carling Cup final
The special one and his players were on their way to being crowned champions, but it was this Carling Cup final celebrations that saw Mourinho endear himself with Liverpool fans for the first time.
2) Steven Gerrard
Our chase of Gerrard in 2005 led to rumours that the ‘Scouse Mafia’ had threatened him to stop him leaving for Stamford Bridge. Then there is the perennial Gerrard and Lampard England debate, the midfielder has caused huge debates between both sets of fans.
On the field there is his own goal in the 2005 Carling Cup Final and his backpass to set up Drogba in the penultimate game of the 2010 season and final.
Gerrard has certainly played a key part in this rivalry
3) Champions League Ghost Goal – 2005
Luis Garcia scored a decisive goal that never crossed the line. Would a penalty have been awarded and Petr Cech sent off for the previous foul?
Possibly………………
It was here that the Champions League feud began with the bad blood only really expunged by Frank Lampard in 2008.
4) Champions League Penalty Shootout – 2007
We had our chance for revenge two seasons later but two 1-0 home wins meant that the result was decided by penalties and Arjen Robben and Geremi missed to start the Chelsea penalty hoodoo.
5) “That’s why we love Soloman Kalou”
In the final minute of extra time during the Anfield leg of our 2008 Champions League Semi-Final we trailed 1-0 but Soloman Kalou chased a long ball on the left and found a cross into an empty penalty area that John Arne Riise turned into his own net.
A song was born stolen from the Liverpool fans themselves and we won the tie, in a special night at Stamford Bridge.
6) Fernando Torres
A Liverpool hero moves to Chelsea for £50m you can fill in the rest!
Chelsea Torres Song Stutters After Poor Performance
Let’s be honest, we were simply not good enough yesterday and now we will have to endure the taunts of Liverpool fans who will feel vindicated and boastful following yesterday’s result and the ineffectual performance of Fernando Torres.
Yesterday was very frustrating we seemed to forget that despite the hype you still have to turn up and play football to win matches, something that we simply did not do. It was clear to see yesterday that we were totally ineffective going forward despite having Nicholas Anelka, Didier Drogba and Torres on the field at the same time.
Needless to say Carlo Ancellotti will have to address before we will see dividends from the signing of Torres.
Liverpool fans and the media will tell you that we deserved the result yesterday and on a performance level they are probably right, we were however in a poor run of form just before the window closed and there is no such thing as a quick fix in sport and it will take time for Torres and Luiz to bed down into the side and have a positive impact.
The boastful Torres songs of the midweek may look foolish now, but ask me again in 12 months and I am confident that we will have something to sing about and that both players can make a huge impact at the club.
Categories: Uncategorized Tags: Torres
