Chelsea (N) - EFL Cup Final, Sun 25th Feb 2024 (3:00pm)

[Trumo]

Work-rate. Incisiveness. Nous.

 

I don't ask for much.

 

This is how it's gonna be. Build from the ground up.

 

And so the first cup final of the season, and it's up against a familiar foe. Despite the league disparity between the 2 sides, I'd imagine the bookies have Chelsea as slight favourites purely down to our crippling injury list. When our players and coaches talk about the togetherness of our squad, I don't think they mean the togetherness in the physio's room! Chelsea have struggled for consistency ever since the Russian gangster was booted out in the aftermath of his country's invasion of Ukraine, and that is despite the ridiculous money they've been allowed to spend on transfers and contracts under their new owners. They'd taken advantage of a loophole (since closed) that enabled them to amortise transfer fees over the length of longer-than-usual contracts, while still booking player sales as straight profit. Any fees they agree for new signings going forward would have to be spread over a maximum of 5 years, even if the contract offered to the player is longer than that. Such an approach needs all the players signed to hit the ground running, as there is a huge risk of players doing a Bogarde and sitting on a lucrative contract if things aren't going well. Going back to the pre-game build-up, Chelsea currently have more options than us available to change things up. Given the possibility of another stalemate followed by penalties, it's easy to see why that gives them an advantage over us.

 

The two sides met in this fixture 2 years ago, and it was the strangest of 0-0s as both goals led a charmed life. Mendy and Queef were making saves that they shouldn't have been, and both sides were spurning chances aplenty. For us, Joel thought he'd broken the deadlock in normal time when a free-kick into the box was headed across goal by an unmarked Sadio at the back post. Big Bird rose inside the six yard box to plant a header into the net. Our celebrations were curtailed when referee Attwell was summoned to the VAR monitor. The most minor of infringements by Virg on Reece James, preventing the Chelsea man from getting back to challenge Sadio, was deemed sufficiently bad enough to rule the goal out. It's exactly the kind of infringement on our players that goes unpunished time and time again, and our players generally do not make a meal of any contact (unlike some who repeatedly cheat and get the rewards). Chelsea had the ball in the net twice in extra time, through Lukaku and Havertz, but both were flagged offside by the alert linesmen.

 

Penalties it was, then, and Tuchel decided Kepa was a better bet than Mendy to come out on top in the shootout. Bear in mind that Mendy was in goal earlier that month when Sadio's Senegal beat Mo's Egypt in a shootout at the AFCON final. Also bear in mind that Kepa was in goal 3 years earlier against City in the final, and was going to be replaced by Caballero for the same reason. Kepa insisted on staying on, leading to some comical scenes as his coach Sarri had a meltdown on the sidelines. In the 2022 shootout, each side's 10 outfield players found the net. Some very comfortably, others with inches to spare, and one or two where the keepers might have felt they could have done better having got a hand to it. So it was now the turn of the keepers. Both converted. Queef confidently dispatched his by sending Kepa the wrong way. Kepa's went between the posts but over the crossbar. Which would be OK if he was Jonny Wilkinson, but he wasn't. We'd won the cup, and it was the first leg of an unprecedented quadruple attempt.

 

As I mentioned before, Jurgen goes into this one short of options. Thiago, Baj and Big Bird were already long-term absentees. Diogo will be missing for the next couple of months. Curtis is out. Trent and Dom are supposedly close but neither has yet re-joined training yet so are unlikely to be available. Mo and Darwin are the big question marks having missed the Luton game. Jurgen has been pretty evasive other than saying it's an unwelcome problem. What with Trent and Dom having suffered relapses of the injuries that previously kept them out, is Mo's hamstring still an issue? What exactly is up with Darwin? These are problems I'd rather we did not have, but I believe Jurgen when he says that as long as we have an eleven to put out there, we will do our utmost to win. The stand-ins this season have done a remarkable job which is a big reason why we again find ourselves in the mix for another quadruple attempt. We still have the tools to hurt Chelsea. We definitely need to make sure motivation, concentration, attitude and application are absolutely bang-on from first minute to last. Motivation is never an issue leading up to cup finals. Thinking clearly and applying yourselves correctly to both maintain ascendancy and withstand pressure are what counts. Let's go for that trophy please, and put a 10 under it on the Champion's Wall. Get it done!

[Pete]

Play the kids (and win). 

[Creator Supreme]

1 match too far, 4-0 to Chelsea.

[Lee909]

Who's fit

[Anubis]

Just win.

[Bruce Spanner]

As if we're losing to these gimps.

 

3-0.

[AngryOfTuebrook]

A lot depends on whether Nuñez and Salah were properly injured last night or whether they were just in bubble-wrap for Sunday.

 

As tricky as our injury list is, our response has shown, time and again, that we've got the ability and the strength of character to deal with shit. Let's keep that going and pick up a well-earned trophy for the boss.

 

Just get these beat, Reds.

[goose]

As a long time lurker and only occasional poster I wanted to give a shout out to Trumo for his match threads, they’ve been really good this season. 
 

2-1 to the mighty reds, from 1 nil down obviously. 

[Lee909]

Hopefully we can get a hour each out of Salah and Diaz. If not at least one. Then thr question is do you start them or bring them on

[Mook]

18 minutes ago, Lee909 said:

Hopefully we can get a hour each out of Salah and Diaz. If not at least one. Then thr question is do you start them or bring them on

 

Is Diaz fucking injured now too?

[Carra_is_legend]

18 minutes ago, Lee909 said:

Hopefully we can get a hour each out of Salah and Diaz. If not at least one. Then thr question is do you start them or bring them on

 

You mean Nunez ?

 

Yeah I hope so too.

[Lee909]

Yeah sorry Nunez

[an tha]

I fucking hate Chelsea....absolutely despise them, their support and everything about them and what they represent.

 

Going to this - just fucking win, Redmen.

 

Just.Fucking.Win.

[Rushies tash]

On the big pitch at Wembley, I don't know - I just think it's set up for Bradley to have a performance we'll talk about for years.

[AngryOfTuebrook]

Same again, please, Reds.

[Creator Supreme]

There's a pop up shop by the old Greyhound Pub in Knotty Ash selling scarves and flags for the final.

 

They've called it "Cup Winners Store".

 

Jinxing bastards, our 4-0 defeat is entirely on them.

[Bjornebye]

2 hours ago, Lee909 said:

Who's fit

 

Kelly Brook

 

5 minutes ago, Creator Supreme said:

There's a pop up shop by the old Greyhound Pub in Knotty Ash selling scarves and flags for the final.

 

They've called it "Cup Winners Store".

 

Jinxing bastards, our 4-0 defeat is entirely on them.

 

Drove past it earlier. Idiots. Them fuckers sell big rocket fireworks to kids

[Jairzinho]

We'll win 2-1. It'll be 1-1 at half time and Nunez will get the winner in the last 10 minutes.

[Lee909]

 

 

 

 

 

[VladimirIlyich]

10 hours ago, Lee909 said:

Who's fit

I'm quite dishy,sweetcheeks.

[JohnnyH]

The laws of numerical statistical football probabilities states that Chelsea have to win a Final at some point. They’ve lost their last 2 recent League Cup finals, including one to us. They’ve lost their last 3 FA Cup Finals in a row, one of them to us. 
 

I think the footballing Gods will give this one to Chelsea. 
 

That, and they’re also playing better now and we’ve no players left and may have to play Dalglish and Rush up top who, while great, are getting on a bit. 

[Pete]

27 minutes ago, JohnnyH said:

The laws of numerical statistical football probabilities states that Chelsea have to win a Final at some point. They’ve lost their last 2 recent League Cup finals, including one to us. They’ve lost their last 3 FA Cup Finals in a row, one of them to us. 
 

I think the footballing Gods will give this one to Chelsea. 
 

That, and they’re also playing better now and we’ve no players left and may have to play Dalglish and Rush up top who, while great, are getting on a bit. 

Yes but we'll bring Barnes on at 70 minutes and he'll glide through and score the winner. 

[El Rojo]

1 hour ago, JohnnyH said:

The laws of numerical statistical football probabilities states that Chelsea have to win a Final at some point. They’ve lost their last 2 recent League Cup finals, including one to us. They’ve lost their last 3 FA Cup Finals in a row, one of them to us. 
 

I think the footballing Gods will give this one to Chelsea. 
 

That, and they’re also playing better now and we’ve no players left and may have to play Dalglish and Rush up top who, while great, are getting on a bit. 

That’s the spirit.

[Arnaud]

Does anyone know why Chelsea did not play his PL game Wednesday like we did ?

 

I do not understand how come they could rest when we had to play three days before the biggest match ever !

[Bobby Hundreds]

Did we request the Luton game to be sooner rather than later.