Chelsea FC Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 10/11 (mod warning in post #7124)

Le King

Heads up and all that. Coming back from 15 points down is remarkable in itself. It would of been a remarkable achievement tbh.

MUSEIST

abelard wrote: »

Maybe I'm wrong, but I feel it's kind of been fashionable to bash our forwards recently, but tbh I think our collapse this season and sometimes inability to break down teams is more a fault of our midfield.

We need some width further up the pitch, but that requires a change of system. We need people who are willing to play the ball and to run at defences. Our attacks from midfield this year have just looked so pedestrian. When we get in to trouble, we haven't seemed to be able to come up with new ideas to outfox a team who's adapting their own strategy to counter ours. Even when we were playing well, I didn't enjoy it as much as I've enjoyed watching Chelsea in previous seasons.

Where do we go from here? What and who do we realistically change for next season? Will we play a new system?

Sorry if that's all a bit melodramatic.

I think we lack wingers, proper tricky wingers that spread the play and open spaces inside for torres/drogba and lamps.
The problem is that I am not sure we will get that with carlo in charge, he seems to want the fullbacks to provide the width, we only have malouda in our entire squad who is a winger.
For me if we sign a couple of wingers we are sorted. The defence is solid and maybe some creativity in midfield is needed too.

abelard

MUSEIST wrote: »

I think we lack wingers, proper tricky wingers that spread the play and open spaces inside for torres/drogba and lamps.
The problem is that I am not sure we will get that with carlo in charge, he seems to want the fullbacks to provide the width, we only have malouda in our entire squad who is a winger.
For me if we sign a couple of wingers we are sorted. The defence is solid and maybe some creativity in midfield is needed too.

Are we too over reliant on full backs? Even particularly Cole? This season has been his first prolonged run of average to poor form in years IMO, and it coincides with poor form for the whole team. On top of that, we haven't had a particularly in form RB (Ivanovic has been decent when he played there but not brilliant). Is that just correlation without causation?

MUSEIST

abelard wrote: »

Are we too over reliant on full backs? Even particularly Cole? This season has been his first prolonged run of average to poor form in years IMO, and it coincides with poor form for the whole team. On top of that, we haven't had a particularly in form RB (Ivanovic has been decent when he played there but not brilliant). Is that just correlation without causation?

I agree, I feel chelsea we are a bit lobsided, ivanovic is a good cb but dodgy at rb imo. I hear we are selling bosingwa this summer and bringing in van der wiel which would give us 2 good attacking fullbacks hopefully.

MUSEIST

I got slated earlier today for saying, bring back hiddink in the match thread??
Is that such a bad thing I personally would love that

flahavaj

I think the most striking difference between the teams was the width United had all game, mainly from Valencia hugging the right touchline all game.

Ye don't really have any true wingers at the club and haven't had since the days of Robben and Duff when I feel ye were at your most devestating as an attacking force.

If ye had the same central midfield and back four next year and alternated Drogba with Torres as the lone striker and bought two genuine wingers ye would have a hell of a team. The major problem is theres a big shortage of quality wide men out there.

MUSEIST

flahavaj wrote: »

I think the most striking difference between the teams was the width United had all game, mainly from Valencia hugging the right touchline all game.

Ye don't really have any true wingers at the club and haven't had since the days of Robben and Duff when I feel ye were at your most devestating as an attacking force.

If ye had the same central midfield and back four next year and alternated Drogba with Torres as the lone striker and bought two genuine wingers ye would have a hell of a team. The major problem is theres a big shortage of quality wide men out there.

Exactly this,

but knowing chelsea and roman we will probably sign a few more centre forwards, hopefully whoever signs the players for us can see whats blatently missing from this team.

abelard

flahavaj wrote: »

I think the most striking difference between the teams was the width United had all game, mainly from Valencia hugging the right touchline all game.

Ye don't really have any true wingers at the club and haven't had since the days of Robben and Duff when I feel ye were at your most devestating as an attacking force.

If ye had the same central midfield and back four next year and alternated Drogba with Torres as the lone striker and bought two genuine wingers ye would have a hell of a team. The major problem is theres a big shortage of quality wide men out there.

Agreed too. We've been playing through the centre for years now, and either people have learned to play effectively against it or the game has evolved so it's not as effective strategy any more. Even when winning, I think we've looked stale this year...

Would there be any merit to trying a 4-2-3-1, or, dare I say, a 4-4-2?

ShamoBuc

MUSEIST wrote: »

Exactly this,

but knowing chelsea and roman we will probably sign a few more centre forwards, hopefully whoever signs the players for us can see whats blatently missing from this team.

What Roman should do is let the manager buy who he wants and let them play who and how he wants - i.e. let the manager manage.

Johner

Carlo wanted Torres.

superfrank

ShamoBuc wrote: »

What Roman should do is let the manager buy who he wants and let them play who and how he wants - i.e. let the manager manage.

I don't get this.. ancelotti decides who plays and who we buy..even wilkins said carlo always wanted torres..

flahavaj

abelard wrote: »

Agreed too. We've been playing through the centre for years now, and either people have learned to play effectively against it or the game has evolved so it's not as effective strategy any more. Even when winning, I think we've looked stale this year...

Would there be any merit to trying a 4-2-3-1, or, dare I say, a 4-4-2?

---

Essien

---

Mikel/Ramires

---

New RW

---

Lampard

---

New LW

---

Drogba/Torres

---

This could work. One of the things that ye have to bear in mind as well is that if/when the goals start to dry up from Lampard its hard to see how he can be kept in the side. For me his goals are his best asset, after that he doesn't contribute enough all round to the team. If ye got the wings sorted this Summer, next Summer ye should be on the look out for someone like Hamsik to take over that AMC role.

mike65

http://www.donedeal.ie/for-sale/othersports/2139715

Blatter

mike65 wrote: »

http://www.donedeal.ie/for-sale/othersports/2139715

Shamelessly stolen from after hours:pac:

mike65

Indeed! 10 million taking the piss though.

Sgt Pepper 64

Our new squad

---

Cech/Other goalie on loan cant remember!

VDW/IVA----Terry/Alex/Luiz----Cole/Bertand/PVA

---

Essien/Mikel/Ramires/Josh/Sahin

---

Hazard

---

Lampard

---

Sanchez

---

Drogba/Torres/Neymar/Danny

---

flahavaj

Sgt Pepper 64 wrote: »

Our new squad

---

Cech/Other goalie on loan cant remember!

VDW/IVA----Terry/Alex/Luiz----Cole/Bertand/PVA

---

Essien/Mikel/Ramires/Josh/Sahin

---

Hazard

---

Lampard

---

Sanchez

---

Drogba/Torres/Neymar/Danny

---

Looking at over £100m there! Sahin is almost certainly Madrid bound btw.

Panthro

new squad:

---

Cech

---

Ivanovic----Alex--Terry----Cole/Bert

---

Mikel/Luiz

---

(I boldly suggest it)
Essien/Rameries----Josh/Lampard----

---

Malouda/Problem area
Sturridge/Anelka

---

---

Drogba/Torres

---

Super Sub: Kalou

jcf

Again congrats to united, you will know I have no bad blood towards them, but anyone else feel OFFENDED by Hernandez praying on his knees like that just before KO ???

Sick really, if there is a God why would he look down and favour him over any of the other players ?? - What he is more worthy of the strikers who happened to be wearing blue today ??

Sgt Pepper 64

Is the Dr in?

That didnt hurt as much as the CL debacle, but just before the match started, I was thinking - if it was Mourinho, then I would be feeling a lot more confident.
And yet, when Carlo won the double, it was like - yes - the ghost is finally exorcised, no drama, exciting footie, cups here we come.

Since Mourhino went, we have seen a no of managers come and go, taking our various records with them - euro home record, THE home record, man u home record etc etc, and even replace them with ones we just dont want

So what is the answer? Mourinho - all the drama, the ceaseless media attention and being universally hated and mostly dull (but winning) football?

Hiddink? I wasnt that convinced tbh, and if he's so good, why arent many other top clubs beating a path to his door.

Give Carlo 100 mill and one more season?

We have to stop the manager merry go round and instant graitification at some point.
Man U 19 wasnt built in a day

abelard

papagormo wrote: »

new squad:

---

Cech

---

Ivanovic----Alex--Terry----Cole/Bert

---

Mikel/Luiz

---

(I boldly suggest it)
Essien/Rameries----Josh/Lampard----

---

Malouda/Problem area
Sturridge/Anelka

---

---

Drogba/Torres

---

Super Sub: Kalou

Are you happy to continue to play such a narrow game though?

flahavaj

papagormo wrote: »

new squad:

---

Cech

---

Ivanovic----Alex--Terry----Cole/Bert

---

Mikel/Luiz

---

(I boldly suggest it)
Essien/Rameries----Josh/Lampard----

---

Malouda/Problem area
Sturridge/Anelka

---

---

Drogba/Torres

---

Super Sub: Kalou

The same thought crossed my mind about Luiz as well - I'm not sure he has the discipline to play at the highest level as a CB, he has so much energy and he wants to charge into tackles, I reckon he could be a beast as a deep lying midfielder.

DM_7

jcf wrote: »

Again congrats to united, you will know I have no bad blood towards them, but anyone else feel OFFENDED by Hernandez praying on his knees like that just before KO ???

Sick really, if there is a God why would he look down and favour him over any of the other players ?? - What he is more worthy of the strikers who happened to be wearing blue today ??

What makes you think he prays for personal success?

Link

“I like to pray. I talk to God and I tell him to take care of the health of both teams because the worse thing for a sportsman are injuries and there are a lot of accidents on the pitch that nobody wants.
“I like to ask God to take care of me, because he gave me the opportunity to play.”

Josey Wales

jcf wrote: »

Again congrats to united, you will know I have no bad blood towards them, but anyone else feel OFFENDED by Hernandez praying on his knees like that just before KO ???

Sick really, if there is a God why would he look down and favour him over any of the other players ?? - What he is more worthy of the strikers who happened to be wearing blue today ??

I wasn't offended in the slightest but then again I don't consider myself to have any religion.

But what is to say he was asking for Gods help to win the game? He could well have been asking for God to look over all players on the pitch to protect them from injury. Also there was nothing stopping the other players from saying a prayer. Many of them could but not in such a dramatic manner.

--
Edit - Beaten to it I see.

Iago

jcf wrote: »

Again congrats to united, you will know I have no bad blood towards them, but anyone else feel OFFENDED by Hernandez praying on his knees like that just before KO ???

Sick really, if there is a God why would he look down and favour him over any of the other players ?? - What he is more worthy of the strikers who happened to be wearing blue today ??

Wildly off-topic for here, and I really don't want to get into a religious debate but generally when people are truly religious and praying it's to give thanks rather than ask for favour.

Of course all 22 of the players could have done the same thing if they so chose, so no I wasn't offended.

flahavaj

jcf wrote: »

Again congrats to united, you will know I have no bad blood towards them, but anyone else feel OFFENDED by Hernandez praying on his knees like that just before KO ???

Sick really, if there is a God why would he look down and favour him over any of the other players ?? - What he is more worthy of the strikers who happened to be wearing blue today ??

Ridiculous post. You could use your argument as a reason for nobody to pray ever.

Panthro

He could roll out a carpet and pray to Allah before kick off, he can do what he wants. Its when the whistle is blown for the start of game that the team he is playing against should be taking note of what his actions are.
He seems like a fierce humble and refreshingly honest type of guy, the Premiership could definitely have a few more like him around.

davyjose

Lads, just came on to say hard luck. Great comeback, and had it been a 40/42 game season you's may well have won it. At 4 o'clock today, you's had more points in the last 9 weeks than united and Arsenal combined.

I hate the way Chelsea got their break. But since it happened, the rivalry has been phenomenal. The respect between the two clubs is wonderful. Never a dull moment. See you's next season.... hope yous have the same manager. He deserves it, and yous deserve a guy like him.

Cheers lads!

davyjose

jcf wrote: »

Again congrats to united, you will know I have no bad blood towards them, but anyone else feel OFFENDED by Hernandez praying on his knees like that just before KO ???

Sick really, if there is a God why would he look down and favour him over any of the other players ?? - What he is more worthy of the strikers who happened to be wearing blue today ??

I always wondered why players were arrogant enough to do this. Then i heard ... it wasn't a plea to God to win, or play well: it was a Thank You.

Beats being Balotelli anyway.

davyjose

Sgt Pepper 64 wrote: »

Is the Dr in?

That didnt hurt as much as the CL debacle, but just before the match started, I was thinking - if it was Mourinho, then I would be feeling a lot more confident.
And yet, when Carlo won the double, it was like - yes - the ghost is finally exorcised, no drama, exciting footie, cups here we come.

Since Mourhino went, we have seen a no of managers come and go, taking our various records with them - euro home record, THE home record, man u home record etc etc, and even replace them with ones we just dont want

So what is the answer? Mourinho - all the drama, the ceaseless media attention and being universally hated and mostly dull (but winning) football?

Hiddink? I wasnt that convinced tbh, and if he's so good, why arent many other top clubs beating a path to his door.

Give Carlo 100 mill and one more season?

We have to stop the manager merry go round and instant graitification at some point.
Man U 19 wasnt built in a day

Stick with Carlo. the home record? Mourinho is just a freak -- 9 years without a home loss. You's would have won the CL by now with him. But no reason why Carlo can't do the same. He dominated europe in '07 with an average team, and one star (a player Jose has failed with).

Firing Carlo would be a risk, and Chelsea are a big club now. No need to be impetuous. Yous are here to stay: patience is the key.

blue-army

Le King wrote: »

Heads up and all that. Coming back from 15 points down is remarkable in itself. It would of been a remarkable achievement tbh.

Exactly. We did brilliantly to bring it this far! No one gave Chelsea a hope about 6 weeks ago.
I don't think even Arsenal could've thrown away the lead United build up.


As for next season, I for one hope that Ancelotti stays. It's time we had a bit of stability, and Carlo has brought decent attacking football to the Bridge.

There's a bit of rebuilding to be done with older players like Lampard coming to the end of their time at the very top of the game.
The main change I would make would be to bring in more wide players. The likes of Robben and Duff back in 05/06 which tore defences apart are just what Torres/Drogba/Sturridge need!

Johner

We needs wingers, a creative midfielder and possibly a right back as I can see Bosingwa leaving in the summer. Really hope Carlo stays, he is a great manager and sacking him will get us no where.

I thought Alex was our best player yesterday he was brilliant when he came on.

bullpost

Agree and I'd say I'd like to see RA come out and back Carlo more vocally. This should help get rid of a lot of the endless media speculation we saw this season. Ideally I'd like Carlo to be given a contract extension of maybe one year and a ringing endorsement from RA but I know this is unlikely to happen.

Johner wrote: »

We needs wingers, a creative midfielder and possibly a right back as I can see Bosingwa leaving in the summer. Really hope Carlo stays, he is a great manager and sacking him will get us no where.

I thought Alex was our best player yesterday he was brilliant when he came on.

Johner

Reserves are on tonight on Chelsea TV against Wolves at the bridge, if they win then they win the league and then face Blackburn or Man United in the final.

LanceStorm

well we deserved to be beaten by United in both the champions league and the premier league this year, no excuses, they were just better than us.

our long 'period' of bad form cost us when at the start of the season I was so confident of walking away with it as I thought we had continued our good form over from last season!

I recently loaded up a new football manager game with the new January signings to see if I could combat the dilemma Ancelotti is in this summer(assuming he stays on):

Out : Benayoun
Ferreira
Kalou
Anelka
Zhirkov


In : Neymar
Sanchez
Hazard
Ganso
Lukaku

See simples!

Le King

I wouldn't sell Anelka, Kalou or Benayoun. They would be great players to bring on.

I have a funny feeling Chelsea will be after a couple of wingers this year. If Sanchez leaves and decides to come to the PL I can see Chelsea being the best fit.

What's happening with Drogba? Is he leaving at the end of the year?

Killinator

Can't really say anything other than that as usual the better team over the season(so far:D) is on top,
I didn't think we played all that bad yesterday, but that early goal immediately changed any plan the team had as they walked out of the tunnel just minutes earlier.
It was frustrating at times to watch the attack which at times was like a child's safety scissors cutting through concrete,
Even the usual upped tempo and determination when we've gone behind in other games seemed a bit lacking, maybe the team collectively knew subconsciously that this would be the year of 19 despite a monumental comeback and a run of form that had even Fergie worried.

At the end of the day I've no grudges because United were/are the better team, and I'm happy for the likes of Edwin VDS who's been a robot this season and will almost certainly go out with a league winners medal and very possibly a CL winners medal too,
Him and Giggs, neither of whom I would begrudge such accolades,
And that Mexican, bloody hell!

Next year, Carlo stays and we move on, not regress and start over with yet a new manager, its not what we need.

RasTa

Does any Chelsea fan on here want Carlo sacked and if he does get the boot, will there be any protests?

smuckers

Chelsea want Zola as coach (not manager)- Sky news

MUSEIST

RasTa wrote: »

Does any Chelsea fan on here want Carlo sacked and if he does get the boot, will there be any protests?

No, I don't think you will find any chelsea fans that want carlo sacked but if he is there will be no protests, its part of life as a chelsea fan that the manager goes if roman is not happy.

smuckers wrote: »

Chelsea want Zola as coach (not manager)- Sky news

Interesting, I would love to see zola and carlo work toghether.

Gonzovision

Some of his substitutions can be a bit "wtf" but other than that, I don't think there are many better out there. Stability is what we need.

Panthro

I'd like to see Wilkins and Clarke make their ways back to the club, but thats highly unlikely.
The Zola inclusion, would be interesting to see what difference he would make.

amiable

papagormo wrote: »

I'd like to see Wilkins and Clarke make their ways back to the club, but thats highly unlikely.
The Zola inclusion, would be interesting to see what difference he would make.

Hands off Clarke:D
He's quite happy where he is.
Still you won't see this reply

Gonzovision

Tonights team to face Wolves

Turnbull, Kane, Kalas, Magnay, Bertrand, Saville, C.Clifford, McEachran, Tore, Phillip, Lalkovic

Blackman, Woods, Devyne, Nkumu, Deen-Conteh


Hopefully we will see more of some of them in the 1st team in the coming weeks.

Gonzovision

2-0

Saville and Phillips

nullzero

MUSEIST wrote: »

No, I don't think you will find any chelsea fans that want carlo sacked but if he is there will be no protests, its part of life as a chelsea fan that the manager goes if roman is not happy.

Interesting, I would love to see zola and carlo work toghether.

Really? What was this about yesterday then?
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=72098433&postcount=374

Originally Posted by MUSEIST
Vidic should not be playing this game, should be suspended. Its like rooney scoring the last time when he should have been suspended. Luck for utd but chelsea have been awful. Bring back hiddink please

Panthro

nullzero wrote: »

Really? What was this about yesterday then?
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=72098433&postcount=374

Ara as the mans says, heat of the moment boss, calm the jets!:pac:
(well spotted by the way though)

abelard

I don't think Carlo is going to change our system much and bring in much width. Having said that, that is just one negative, which I think is far outweighed by the positives of keeping Carlo on for at least another year (preferably more).

Gonzovision

3-0 Tore

MUSEIST

nullzero wrote: »

Really? What was this about yesterday then?
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=72098433&postcount=374

I don't want carlo to go but I do like the idea of hiddink coming back, if that makes any sense????:cool:


I did not realise that people paid so much attention to what I said on here:pac: