Date: 6th December 2011 at 3:00pm
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Andre Villas-Boas is keen to do things his way tonights as Chelsea go into their make-or-break Champions League game against Valencia.

The former Porto boss says that he will not change his tactics going into the game:

“We won’t change our strategy. We don’t play counter-attack or long balls, we want good quality possession.”

I reckon we’ll need to go for it in this one as we’re asking for trouble if we aim for a goalless draw, which is the bare minimum, but I don’t see us keeping a clean-sheet and reckon we’ll have to score more than one goal to go through.

The team I’d start would be…

P. Cech

B. Ivanovic – D. Luiz – J. Terry – A. Cole

Ramires – O. Romeu – R. Meireles

D. Sturridge – F. Torres – J. Mata

For the sake of consistency I wouldn’t make many changes to the team that started against Newcastle on Saturday, so I wouldn’t wholly object if Villas-Boas decided to start exactly the same XI.

However, I thought Frank Lampard looked way off the pace during the game at the weekend and his style isn’t in keeping with the quick passing game that the manager wants us to play, so I’d leave him out in favour of Meireles, who is a better passer of the ball for my money and does a lot more work defensively.

Didier Drogba took his goal well against the Magpies and always defends the box well with his aerial ability, but does little else these days. The Ivorian has lost a lot of his drive in my opinion and doesn’t seek to create chances for himself as he used to, which is why I’d play Fernando Torres as he’s a little better at linking up with the likes of Daniel Sturridge and Juan Mata perhaps. But you could toss a coin between the two as neither are playing well.

Who would be in your Chelsea XI for tonight’s crunch game against Valencia?

 

8 responses to “Who’d be in your Chelsea XI for tonight’s make-or-break game?”

  1. MataOfFact says:

    I’d go for the same selections but think it may be worth trying Luiz at right-back and playing Ivanovic in the middle.

    …Perhaps we shouldn’t experiment in this game, it is something to ponder over for future matches in my opinion.

  2. WILkingSon says:

    I will go for.ivanovic. JT D.Luiz. Cole.
    Lampard Ramires MATA.merieles.
    Drogba D. Sturidge

  3. Jeff says:

    I think we are asking for trouble if we keep playing Luiz at CB, especially in a game where we need to keep a clean sheet. I think he will be better at RB with Ivanovic at CB. It makes sense since he is better going forward and Ivano is better at defending

  4. fa says:

    cech
    Ivanovic luiz terry cole
    Ramires romeu meirreles
    Sturridge torres mata
    The best XI

  5. mr chelsea says:

    ivanovic,luiz,terry,cole,ramirez,romeu,lampard,sturridge,torrea,mata. These players wud bring us d needed 3 points

  6. In my own perspective ivanovic luiz jt A cole, ramirez lampard romeu, sturrige torres mata dat can give us d 3 point needed.

  7. Nic says:

    Luiz needs to play RB. He is a much bigger threat than Ivanovic attacking the wing. As much as we love Lampard, he looks useless already, from possession to lousy PK’s. Meireles needs to pull the trigger more, Torres needs to play his game. Oriol is making CDM look simple. Ramires needs to finish. AVB needs to show more, talk less.

    Cech
    Luiz-Ivanovic-Terry-Cole
    Ramires-Romeu-Meireles
    Sturridge-Drogba-Mata
    Sub
    Torres, Lampard, Mikel, McEachran, Neymar, Hazard, De Bruyne, Markovic, Etc…

  8. Richmond says:

    I think luis will play blocking 4 better than central or right back..And Mata will do far more better in the midfield than wing..AVB should do something about this conversion…With these two players we ought not to loose.