Chelsea fans’ preferred lineup against Dinamo Zagreb: No Academy Day here either

As an avid Championship Manager player in my younger days, whenever my team would wrap up the Champions League group stage with a game or two to spare, I’d sort my team by minutes and give those with the fewest some game time in those meaningless games. Obviously, real life isn’t a video game, so Graham Potter appears to have different priorities in mind.

But how about the people? Given the choice of eight (8) youth players and any others via the write-in option, did the people choose any of them to start in today’s sixth and final group stage game?

Nope!

Well, boo. Cue the Kevin Sorbo “DISAPPOINTED!” gif.

Lewis Hall collected the most votes of the younglings at 35%, while all three center back prospects got at least 20% — Bashir Humphreys (29%), Alfie Gilchrist (23%), Josh Brooking (20%) — perhaps splitting the vote a bit. Still, with the voting spread far and wide, Hall almost factors in ... but loses out by a few percentage points to Marc Cucurella (41%) and Conor Gallagher (39%).

We do get seven, mostly fringe players with over two-thirds of the vote, so they’re clear starters. Armando Broja leads all non-goalkeepers with 86%, and is supported by the trio of Christian Pulisic, Carney Chukwuemeka (who may or may not be available), and Hakim Ziyech. Denis Zakaria, Trevoh Chalobah, and César Azpilicueta are all over 70%, and are joined by the aforementioned Gallagher and Cucurella. With the community opting clearly for a four-man defense (either 4-2-3-1 at 34% or 4-3-3 at 29%) over a three-man look (3-4-3 at 27%), let’s put Cucurella at right back. Can’t be much worse than he has been elsewhere, right?

THE PEOPLE’S CHOICE:

4-2-3-1 (34%)
Mendy (89%) | Chilwell (56%), Chalobah (78%), Azpilicueta (76%), Cucurella (41%) | Zakaria (72%), Gallagher (39%) | Pulisic (68%), Chukwuemeka (77%), Ziyech (65%) | Broja (86%)