Everton v Chelsea

Mr.Nice Guy

I'm really looking forward to this match tonight. Could be an upset on the cards me thinks. When the two teams met in the league in November it finished 1-1 and that result would be a disaster for Avram Grant. Neither side can afford anything but a win though.

I expect it to be a real physical encounter and I think it will end in a draw.

What are everyone's thoughts? Kick-off is at 8 o'clock.

BossArky

Everton 3-1 Chelsea.

Rooney to make a guest appearance and get a hat trick in the final 20 minutes after Packie Bonner long punt gets Chelsea into the lead in the 7th minute. Cech is out for the rest of the season following incident with fork and tomatoe during pre-game meal. Packie induced out of retirement for a one game special for €1.2m 10 mins before kick off.

OPENROAD

Any team news yet?

selpher

Chelsea team:
Cech
Ferreira
Riccy
JT
Cole

Mikel
Essien
SWP

Joe
Anelka
Kalou

Subs: Hilario, Alex, Maka, Malouda, Sheva

Guy:Incognito

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

I'm really looking forward to this match tonight. Could be an upset on the cards me thinks. When the two teams met in the league in November it finished 1-1 and that result would be a disaster for Avram Grant. Neither side can afford anything but a win though.

I expect it to be a real physical encounter and I think it will end in a draw.

What are everyone's thoughts? Kick-off is at 8 o'clock.

Result is pretty pointless as far as Chelsea are concerned. The league is gone and they know it.

MrPillowTalk

BossArky wrote: »

Everton 3-1 Chelsea.

Rooney to make a guest appearance and get a hat trick in the final 20 minutes after Packie Bonner long punt gets Chelsea into the lead in the 7th minute. Cech is out for the rest of the season following incident with fork and tomatoe during pre-game meal. Packie induced out of retirement for a one game special for €1.2m 10 mins before kick off.

As far as predictions go thats pretty formidable.

dsmythy

1-0 to Chelsea. Standard game. Wouldn't be that big of a shock if they didn't win. Bookies have them as a 50/50 chance to win or not.

CHD

Stekelly wrote: »

Result is pretty pointless as far as Chelsea are concerned. The league is gone and they know it.

How is it?!?!

Chelsea beat Utd then the gaps two points.

United are big favourites but its not over

Guy:Incognito

chdpoker wrote: »

How is it?!?!

Chelsea beat Utd then the gaps two points.

United are big favourites but its not over

Because Chelsea wont beat Utd. Utd will grind out a draw knowing that will put a proper end to it. heres absolutely no need for Utd to be going there looking to win and riskign getting beaten.

The draw on Monday killed Chelsea off. Utd wont slip up enough to let them back in. Chelsea had to be goign into the game at Stamford Bridge being able to level it with a win, then hoping Utd drop at least another 2 points while they dont. As it is, Utd will win this weekend and even if they do lose to Chelsea, will still be 2 points clear, which means a win and a draw will do in the last 2 games.

Thanx 4 The Fish

Well Chelsea are 1-0 up, still all to play for in some respects, if United have to concentrate for what they will see as a tougher game against Barca than chelsea see that they have v Liverpool then it could be an interesting encounter.

League is not over yet I suppose.

besty

Dangerous free kick here to Everton. Come on, lets have another favour from an ex-United player - cue Phil Neville!

Edit: Just wide from Manuel Fernandes

A Dub in Glasgo

2146: Make no mistake, this is a terrible game of football

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/7353344.stm

Tusky

Stekelly wrote: »

Result is pretty pointless as far as Chelsea are concerned. The league is gone and they know it.

Pointless my arse. Utd are favorites to win. They most likely will win.

Its also possible for Utd to slip up and lose one of their remaining games. That would mean that if Chelsea beat utd, they would be a point ahead.

Unearthly

Chelsea win 1-0

Chelsea fans won't be on boards.ie tonight then......

A Dub in Glasgo

2159: It was almost enough to make you fall out of love with football, but after 90 turgid minutes at Goodison Park, Chelsea have moved to within two points of Manchester United.

CHD

Unearthly wrote: »

Chelsea win 1-0

Chelsea fans won't be on boards.ie tonight then......

whys that?

JPA

Tusky wrote: »

Pointless my arse. Utd are favorites to win. They most likely will win.

Its also possible for Utd to slip up and lose one of their remaining games. That would mean that if Chelsea beat utd, they would be a point ahead.

I wonder will they slip up against Mark Hughes Blackburn or Steve Bruces Wigan?

lordgoat

Good result for chelsea, league is far from over yet, a draw or loss against blackburn means it's wide open again, having watched the 91-92 season the league is never over til the trophy is raised...

Tusky

JPA wrote: »

I wonder will they slip up against Mark Hughes Blackburn or Steve Bruces Wigan?

Could well slip up against Blackburn. Unlikely but it could happen.

Mr.Nice Guy

Well that was a disappointment. Everton looked really off the boil tonight. Phil Neville's messed up cross at the end about summed it up. At least Wigan put up a fight on Monday.

Still a bit of work to be done then...

Guy:Incognito

lordgoat wrote: »

Good result for chelsea, league is far from over yet, a draw or loss against blackburn means it's wide open again, having watched the 91-92 season the league is never over til the trophy is raised...

Even if Utd drew with Blackburn and lost to Chelsea, they'd only have to match Chelsea's results in the last 2 games to win the league.

Unearthly

chdpoker wrote: »

whys that?

Most of them come across as moaners who seem desperate for Grant to mess up

grames_bond

i believe some of the bookes have already paid out on utd winning.......sound familiar?!

PHB

League is far from over. Those bookies do it every year, it's all calculated risk for free advertising.

Either way, jesus christ, Chelsea play the more turgid football I've ever seen for such quality players. Shocking stuff. It would be a crime against football for them to win the double.

V9

Unearthly wrote: »

Most of them come across as moaners who seem desperate for Grant to mess up

As a Chelsea fan I completely disagree with that statement, I want the man to do well for us, if ye cant, fair enough but I'm more than willing to give him a fair go.

Thanx 4 The Fish

Why so, they play the football that suits them and it seems to be working for them ala Greece when they won the euros. Man United have not always played the most expansive footy but hey, history will not say that they played brilliant footy to win a double, just that they did it.

PHB

The records will say it, but who really remembers when Italy beat West Germany in 1982, but everyone remebers the Brazil of 1970. Everyone remembers the Dutch team that played total football.

Winning is great and all, but if you win playing boring football, it's only a partial victory. I want both.
Greece can only have one, that's understandbale, they just don't have the talent, like say Ireland. But Chelsea can spend all the money in the world, and they put together a team that plays like that. Turgid is a nice word for how they play football.

Guy:Incognito

PHB wrote: »

Winning is great and all, but if you win playing boring football, it's only a partial victory.

Bull ****. Assumign no cheating was involved a win is a win. Theres no rule that says you only get the full victory if you put on a show. You play to your strenghts and do whats needed to win.

Mr.Nice Guy

Stekelly wrote: »

Bull ****. Assumign no cheating was involved a win is a win. Theres no rule that says you only get the full victory if you put on a show. You play to your strenghts and do whats needed to win.

Huh? Are you saying the Brazil 1970 team, the United team of the nineties, Arsenal's Invincibles etc. will not also be remembered for their attractive style of football? THAT is bull****.

Guy:Incognito

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

Huh? Are you saying the Brazil 1970 team, the United team of the nineties, Arsenal's Invincibles etc. will not also be remembered for their attractive style of football? THAT is bull****.

Did you read what I was replying to at all? Where did I say certain teams will not be remembered for playign attractive football?

PHB was implying the win is devalued unless you play so sort of attractive , free flowing flawless football.

mike65

The league is not over until West Ham have not mugged Utd.

Mike.

LuckyLloyd

I seem to remember that Spurs played some nice football under Ardilles.

PHB

PHB was implying the win is devalued unless you play so sort of attractive , free flowing flawless football.

No, but I do think a win is devalued if you have to defend for the majority of the match to do it. The game is about balance.
Teams that attack too much are a joke, Newcastle and Spurs come to mind, 4-4's all the time.
Teams that defend too much are a travesty to me aswell, it's even worse because its more effective than attacking.

Teams that perfect that balance deserve to be remembered, and in my mind, this year, United winning the title the way they play, compared to Chelsea winning the title the way they play, I know which one I'd prefer.

A Dub in Glasgo

PHB wrote: »

No, but I do think a win is devalued if you have to defend for the majority of the match to do it. The game is about balance.
Teams that attack too much are a joke, Newcastle and Spurs come to mind, 4-4's all the time.
Teams that defend too much are a travesty to me aswell, it's even worse because its more effective than attacking.

Teams that perfect that balance deserve to be remembered, and in my mind, this year, United winning the title the way they play, compared to Chelsea winning the title the way they play, I know which one I'd prefer.

From a neutrals POV, give me a Newcastle or Spurs way of playing anyday of the week instead of a Chelsea way of playing

IrishMike

PHB wrote: »

The records will say it, but who really remembers when Italy beat West Germany in 1982, but everyone remebers the Brazil of 1970. Everyone remembers the Dutch team that played total football.

Winning is great and all, but if you win playing boring football, it's only a partial victory.

Stekelly wrote: »

PHB was implying the win is devalued unless you play so sort of attractive , free flowing flawless football.

PHB that is just downright stupid.
Since when is a win with free flowing football worth 3 points and a win
with boring defensive football worth 2?
Will people devalue Ireland beating Italy in the World Cup in the USA because
we played long ball brutal horrible football?
My arse they will, Ray Houghton is forever immortalised because of that game.

CHD

A Dub in Glasgo wrote: »

From a neutrals POV, give me a Newcastle or Spurs way of playing anyday of the week instead of a Chelsea way of playing

As a supporter give me Chelseas success anyday

PHB

Will people devalue Ireland beating Italy in the World Cup in the USA because we played long ball brutal horrible football?

No, but that's all we had. We can't play proper attacking football, so we resorted to long ball etc. We ended up winning, and that's great and all for us, but if I was an Italian fan and we won that way, I'd be sickened.

IrishMike

PHB wrote: »

No, but that's all we had. We can't play proper attacking football, so we resorted to long ball etc. We ended up winning, and that's great and all for us, but if I was an Italian fan and we won that way, I'd be sickened.

Italy for years played some of the most boring defensive football ever.
So what?

SantryRed

It's all about winning in a fair way. Fair enough, Chelsea are crap to watch, they still win and fair play to them.

Think they have too much to do and their season will finish from the time they play Liverpool in the Champions League in the first leg to the second leg.

I reckon they'll blow everything that week with United getting a draw at The Bridge and Pool knocking them out of the cup.

Anam

Chelsea played good entertaining football in the first half last night, and were decent enough in the second half.If the crosses in had been of better quality Everton could have been embarressed.I think when Drogba plays there is a temptation to launch the long ball, because its so quick and effective, typically without him we play it on the ground a lot more.If Malouda or SWP were in the form they are capable of we'd be a lot more attractive I think.I think we'll see what Grant is made of in the two matches against Liverpool,looks like Drogba,Ballack and Lampard will be out and so too will Essien,who is in superb form,for the first leg at least.

grames_bond

SantryRed wrote: »

I reckon they'll blow everything that week with United getting a draw at The Bridge and Pool knocking them out of the cup.

then stright away grant will be gone!