London vs. Manchester

A little bit of a fun article, put together two teams, one based from clubs in London, one based from clubs in Manchester and speculate who would win.

Hopefully can spark some debate on who would make each side.


London

-----------------Cech-------

Sagna--Vermaelen--Vertonghen---Cole


--------Carzorla-----Wilshere-----------

Mata----------Hazard--------Bale

-------------Adebayor-------------



Manchester


---------------Hart-----------------

Richards---Vidic----Kompany----Clichy


----------Toure----Scholes--------


Valencia---------Aguero---------Silva

---------------Van Persie--------------


I think of those two sides the Manchester one would probably beat the London one. Both clearly have strong attacks, I think that Manchester has full back problems as I am totally convinced with Richards or Clichy. I think Manchester probably has better players to call up on with players like Tevez, Rooney, Nani, Young. While the London side despite Arsenal, Tottenham and Chelsea all making strong reinforcements in the summer not having much to call on after that first XI. Van Persie moving also means that Adebayor is probably the strongest forward which isn't great for London.

Over to you guys....

Tbh I'd probably take any of Chelsea's 3 of Vertonghen

I don't really rate any of Terry, Cahill or Luiz. Of them all Luiz is probably the best, but I think he's more suited to being a midfielder like Yaya Toure than a centre back.

That London side is awful crimey!

Cech
Ivanovic - Terry - Cahill - Cole

There is your defence sorted!

I just said that I don't really rate Terry and Cahill, and I think Sagna, recovery permitted, is a much better right back than Ivanovic is or ever has been. Ivanovic is a decent defender but offers very little going forward.

Very little going forward? He's our joint top scorer this season! If you don't want ivanovic then realistically it has to be Walker for me. Sagna will never be the same player again after his two breaks.

How you can't rate terry is beyond me, yes he's a gentlemens sausage but he's still arguably the best cb in London. Cahill is growing week in week as well. How you can have vertoghan (sp?) is beyond me. He has looked woeful so far this season.

Going to your London midfield, cazorla is a wide midfield sort of of guy and Wilshere has been injured forever. In many ways i cant see how you came to the conclusion that these two would be the best holding players for a 4-3-2-1 formation. Especially wilshere who hasnt played in around a year. Ramires would be a shoe in for me there with modric before he left spurs. Maybe Parker or Arteta now. I'd like to see cazorla - hazard - mata but if you want bale in there then I can't argue with that either.
I'd also have Torres above adebayor based on current form and for the link with mata and more importantly hazard.

Now onto the Manchester team.

Hart over de Gea but both arguably deserve to be in the team
Richards over Rafael as Rafael is awful
Vidic and Kompany pick themselves, although mention to Evans.

Left back is much harder for the Manchester team as Evra is awful (IMO I just cannot stand him) and Clichy isn't great. Probably Clichy just for me.

Midfield, has to include toure but the other spot in a 4-2-3-1 is much harder. On recent performances it could arguably by cleverley but like you I'd probably go for scholes just.

Valencia - Rooney - Silva for me has a better look to it as I don't like aguero playing anywhere but upfront as he's better there. Id be tempted to play just silva at cam in front of yaya/other as this would allow a front three of

Tevez - Aguero - Rooney with the three interchanging. This however doesn't leave a place for RVP but the fact of the matter is that RVP has had one stunning season but is ageing and injury prone and wouldn't work in this formation. You could therefore go with aguero and RVP up front with kagawa alongside silva in the cam role although this would leave the Manchester team massively open to counter attack down the flanks.

So id go

Cech
Ivanovic/walker - terry - Cahill/vermaelen - cole
Ramirez - Arteta/Parker
3 from Hazard, Mata, Bale, Cazorla
Torres (on current form and link up it's hazard in particular)/Adebayor

Vs

Hart/de Gea
Richards - Kompany - Vidic/Evans - Clichy
Yaya - Scholes/Cleverley
Valencia - Rooney/Kagawa - Silva
Aguero

With RVP and Tevez just missing out

London

Cech

Ivanovic---Terry---Luiz---Cole

Parker---Arteta

Carzorla---Hazard---Mata

Torres

Manchester

Hart

Rafael---Kompany---Vidic---Clichy

Valencia---Toure---Kagawa

Tevez---Van Persie---Aguero

Cech
Walker-Dawson-Vermaelen-Cole
Arteta-Ramires
Dembele-Cazorla-Bale
Adebayor


Hart
Richards-Kompany-Lescott-Clichy
Valencia-Yaya-Silva-Young
Aguero-RVP

Tried to be a bit different

Crimey wrote:I just said that I don't really rate Terry and Cahill, and I think Sagna, recovery permitted, is a much better right back than Ivanovic is or ever has been. Ivanovic is a decent defender but offers very little going forward.

I don't see how you can't rate any of them, they showed just how good they are last season when Chelsea were so reliant on their defence and Ivanovic is one of if not the best right back in the league and just looking at the goals he got for us last and this season shows how much he offers going forward. To be honest Sagna, Vermalen and Vertonghen wouldn't get into the Chelsea team.

Cazorla is definitely a central midfielder, he might have played wide in his earlier years but I think he's a central midfielder now. I also picked the team assuming that players like Sagna and Wilshere are at the level we saw before their injuries, as it's not clear how they will be when they return.

I'm sorry but I just don't think John Terry is that good of a player, he makes last ditch tackles to make up for all the mistakes he makes and the sheer lack of pace. I think he has been good in the past, but at this point in his career I think he's past it. Chelsea have to play deep to accommodate him. Cahill is perhaps improving, but I'm not sure what he offers, he's got a poor passing rate but he's not a particularly dominating defender, if he wasn't English he would be in the Championship. I wouldn't say Vertonghen has looked awful at all.

Top goal scorer after two games....Ivanovic is a right back/centre back and while he's in good scoring film, he doesn't have the attacking quality of Sagna and I'm sure if you weren't a Chelsea fan you wouldn't be considering him. I'm not sure Ramires is good enough to be in there, a hard working player for sure, but he's too small to play a Toure role, but not technically good enough to play a Scholes role. I like Ramires, but don't think he's the best central midfielder at all. I did consider Arteta, but thought he was too similar to Cazorla to leave in. I admit that the midfield might be slightly flimsy, but I imagine that side would play possession football with the Manchester side playing on the counter, so I don't think Parker would fit in.

I still don't believe Torres has returned, or will ever return, to his best and right now I'd prefer Adebayor to him who last year scored 18 goals and got 12 assists. I'm not going to jump to conclusions because of a good three games for Torres.

I imagine both Aguero and Van Persie would take turns in dropping deep or playing high up, similar to the Tevez, Aguero thing City have going at the moment, as both players like to drop deep. I suppose Rooney could play in place of either Van Persie or Aguero, but right now I'd rather have one of those two over Rooney.

Reaper wrote:

Crimey wrote:I just said that I don't really rate Terry and Cahill, and I think Sagna, recovery permitted, is a much better right back than Ivanovic is or ever has been. Ivanovic is a decent defender but offers very little going forward.

I don't see how you can't rate any of them, they showed just how good they are last season when Chelsea were so reliant on their defence and Ivanovic is one of if not the best right back in the league and just looking at the goals he got for us last and this season shows how much he offers going forward. To be honest Sagna, Vermalen and Vertonghen wouldn't get into the Chelsea team.

Being reliant on their defence throughout their Champions League run does not mean that they are better, it was out of necessity rather than choice. I think it's hard to say that Ivanovic offers a lot going forward because of a short, but rich, run of goalscoring form. Like Gregers, I think you're letting your Chelsea support get in the way of logic.

I would rather have Sagna, Vermaelen and Vertonghen than Ivanovic, Cahill and Terry any day.

London: Cech; Sagna, Cahill, Vermealen, Cole; Wilshere, Ramires; Cazorla, Hazard, Bale; Torres.

Manchester: Hart; Zabaleta, Kompany, Vidic, Clichy; Toure, Scholes; Tevez, Kagawa, Silva; van Persie.

Would be a great contest!

Crimey wrote:

Reaper wrote:

Crimey wrote:I just said that I don't really rate Terry and Cahill, and I think Sagna, recovery permitted, is a much better right back than Ivanovic is or ever has been. Ivanovic is a decent defender but offers very little going forward.

I don't see how you can't rate any of them, they showed just how good they are last season when Chelsea were so reliant on their defence and Ivanovic is one of if not the best right back in the league and just looking at the goals he got for us last and this season shows how much he offers going forward. To be honest Sagna, Vermalen and Vertonghen wouldn't get into the Chelsea team.

Being reliant on their defence throughout their Champions League run does not mean that they are better, it was out of necessity rather than choice. I think it's hard to say that Ivanovic offers a lot going forward because of a short, but rich, run of goalscoring form. Like Gregers, I think you're letting your Chelsea support get in the way of logic.

I would rather have Sagna, Vermaelen and Vertonghen than Ivanovic, Cahill and Terry any day.

It doesn't matter if it was out of necessity, the fact of the matter is they were brilliant defensively against Barcelona who have the best attacking force in the world and completely shutdown two world class players in Messi and Gomez. Ivanovic was the best right back in the league last year, his performances thoughout the year were quality and it isn't just the first few games of this season where he's been good going forward, he showed that plenty of times last year.

I'm sorry but I just don't think John Terry is that good of a player, he makes last ditch tackles to make up for all the mistakes he makes and the sheer lack of pace. I think he has been good in the past, but at this point in his career I think he's past it. Chelsea have to play deep to accommodate him. Cahill is perhaps improving, but I'm not sure what he offers, he's got a poor passing rate but he's not a particularly dominating defender, if he wasn't English he would be in the Championship. I wouldn't say Vertonghen has looked awful at all.

Terry has been the best centre back in the Premiership for years and while his form may have dipped slightly, he's still a very good player. He can block, tackle, he's brilliant in the air and while he may lack a bit in place that wasn't why Chelsea had to play deep last season. AVB had us pressing high up the pitch when we simply didn't have the attacking players to do that so when di Matteo came in we played deeper which suited our strengths and now from the first few games we're starting to play further up the pitch because of the players we've brought in.

To say Cahill would be in the Championship if he wasn't English is an absolutely ridiculous statement. You don't get to a club like Chelsea where a solid defence has been one of our strong points for years without being a good player and he's showed his quality in the second half of last season and offers a lot of the same as Terry does.

I don't know how you've thrown Vertonghen in the London team he hasn't proven anything yet. You are having a Larry.

I really dont understand why people like Terry so much. Think it is probably the badge kissing and the last ditch tackles he makes which look good on camera but in reality mean very little.

He wouldnt be anywhere near my team.