PRE-MATCH BRIEFING: CHELSEA V GALATASARAY TACTICAL BRIEF Roberto Mancinis team have only won 3 times on the road in the Süper Lig this season&have not recorded an away victory in the Champions League for a year. Yet they beat Schalke 3-2 this time last season for a 4-3 aggregate win having been held 1-1 by the Germans at the Türk Telekom Arena - just like as Chelsea managed a fortnight ago. That is a warning not lost on Jose Mourinho as he assesses the fallout from the defeat at Aston Villa&with Arsenal to come at the weekend. Willian&Ramires are suspended from the London derby&may play a full part tonight. The 1-1 draw in Istanbul was interesting from the tactical perspective,principally because Mancini made clever changes after an initial strategy that caused his team big difficulties. One was the decision to play with a high defensive line,which Chelsea regularly breached. The crucial early goal came from Andre Schurrle&Cesar Azpilicueta exploiting space behind LB Emmanuel Eboue to set up Fernando Torres. That was the 6th goal in 5 Champions League starts for the Spaniard. With a midfield comprising Felipe Melo&Selçuk Inan between 2 orthodox wingers,Mancini also ceded control of CM to Chelseas superior numbers&quality (even without Nemanja Matic,ineligible in this competition). The home side rarely enforced a press on the Blues,who should have added to the score given such relative freedom in the opposing half. Then after half an hour came the 1st switch by Mancini: ineffectual young winger Izet Hajrovic,signed from Swiss side Grasshoppers,made way for central midfielder Yekta Kurtuluş in a change to a more obdurate 4-1-4-1 formation that exerted more control. Several of the Turks middlemen were fortunate not to see cards for poor fouls; instead,there was a flurry of yellow for Blues players despite fewer transgressions. The hosts important equaliser came midway through the 2nd half - a weakly defended goal from the Chelsea perspective - &minutes later Mourinho decided to put more steel in the centre. Exchanging Schurrle for the more defensive John Mikel Obi&matching Galatasarays formation effectively nullified their threat. Still,substitute Umut Bulut looked a danger when he came on for Didier Drogba,who has scored 14goals from 34 appearances this season in all competitions. There is a fitness doubt over Fernando Muslera but with fellow GK Eray Iscan ruled out the Uruguayan is expected to play. Wingers Aydin Yilmaz&Emre Colak will also miss this match through injury but have not been key figures in recent weeks. Doubts also remain over the availability of Semih Kaya,who was taken off at half-time in last weekends 0-0 draw at Karabükspor,&another regular CB,Gökhan Zan,who has had hamstring problems. Mohamed Salah is cup-tied¬ in the Chelsea squad. David Luiz,who is back in full training,may well step straight back into midfield this evening.
Posted on: Tue, 18 Mar 2014 18:07:38 +0000
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