Chelsea Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2012/2013

Dozen Wicked Words

Duck Soup wrote: »

The majority of Chelsea games I saw were in the late 70s and early 80s. Dixon was the most natural goalscorer I've ever seen - didn't do much else, but you got the ball to him and it tended to go into the back of the net. Speedie was good, but a hot-tempered little git who was prone to the opposition winding him up.

To be honest, none of the old players would match up in terms of skill with the current big names, although Charlie Cooke and Pat Nevin both deserve honorable mentions. Peter Osgood and Ian Hutchinson ended up running a pub together in Windsor, which used to attract a fair contingent from nearby Slough.

I can't even begin to explain how bad that Division 2 Chelsea side was. Before Dixon arrived, we used to sing "Walker, Walker, Clive is the king of Stamford Bridge". Let me be blunt. Clive Walker was a fat, lazy turd who was only able to continue playing non-league football into his forties because he never broke sweat in the second division. The two main goalkeepers were Blunder Beasant and Petar Borota. Beasant had good and bad days, Borota had a screw loose.

The only reason we didn't drop into the third division was the centre back Micky Droy, bought from Slough Town for £5,000. When he played, we could squeeze out a draw or a win. When he didn't, we lost.

If nothing else, all the years of standing in a half-empty Shed watching the boys struggling to string two passes together makes you appreciate the current team all the more.

Beasant was significantly later than the rest of the players you mention, certainly not in the same time frame as Borota. Porterfield hung Beasant out to dry, man management at its worst. He was poor at times, against Norwich in the league was when Portaloo dumped all over him, he was horrific at Bristol City in the FA Cup prior to that but it was the di canio school of management, blame anyone but me.

Caveman1

Have to say I've been really impressed with how RDM conducts himself when being interviewed by the media, so far he hasn't really done much wrong, if we win 1 or 2 cups this season it will be very hard for Roman to get rid of him.

Crann na Beatha

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Crann na Beatha

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smuckers

Torres is shot, he was shockingly poor!:mad:

Crann na Beatha

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MaroonAndGreen

So so disheartening to only get a point..

We need at least 7 points from the Liverpool, WBA and City games now!

And then the crucial Shahktar and Juventus games in between them..

Between October 20 and November 25th we had a really tough and important run of games. We've started them badly, it has to pick up now.

Meglamonia

Fuming.What a joke of a performance,toothless in attack and let Swansea walk all over us the last 20 minutes.I won't even start on Torres get rid of him,****ing useless.

Also,Romeu starting another useless performance.This is the start of our bad run of form,which is customary in the winter.The greed of sturridge is sickening as well.This post is lacking coherence cause I have so much to say and my head is wrecked from that muck.

MaroonAndGreen

We were bound to drop points in this sequence of games, and Swansea away is a tough fixture.

If you look at the fixtures then you'll see we dont have anywhere near as tough a run as this for the rest of the season, so get out of this alright and all looks well for the rest of the season, although I know today was a sickener.

Tubbs4

The sooner we get a goal scoring striker we should not drop as many points and be able to rest some midfield players. Unsure on the right back at the minute but he may need a few more games.
Torres I can not see becoming a free scoring striker that put fear in the defence.
Hope we don't drop more points until January when lucaku cones back or a new striker comes in.
Still in a good position to win the league but lack of a goals upfront may cost the league.
Agree with most that Torres had enough time and support and enough should be enough. Be brave if RDM drops him for the next 2 games and see how we get on.

MaroonAndGreen

As you will see from this post, I like analysing stats.

On this I have our League games from this season. In the middle is how we fared last year in that game and on the right (in bold) is what I'd personally see as an ''acceptable'' result in that fixture!


Wigan (A) - DREW - 3 POINTS
Reading (H) - N/A - 3 POINTS
Newcastle (H) - LOST - 3 POINTS
QPR (A) - WON - 1 POINT
Stoke (H) - WON - 3 POINTS
Arsenal (A) - DREW - 1 POINT
Norwich (H) - WON - 3 POINTS
Spurs (A) - DREW - 1 POINT
Man Utd (H) - DREW - 1 POINT
Swansea (A) - DREW - 3 POINTS

Last season we took 14 points from these fixtures, we have improved this season, as we have taken 20 points from these fixtures. (Cant compare Reading so left them out)

This season, before a ball was kicked, I would have been happy with 22 points so far, we have 23.

This is a more optimistic look on whats happened so far. Dont think we have much to complain about, especially compared to last season.

TheStook

Wait, my bad. Just realized the bold part is what you expected, not what the actual result was.

S28382

Suarez for Chelsea anyone? He just scored a cracker for Liverpool and he works his socks off in games.

RichT

He's definitely put in a shift this afternoon. I'm just hoping he can get himself a yellow,which would be his 5th of the season, which would put him out of next weeks game at The Bridge

S28382

He is a cracker of a player and sure we can swap Torres for him im sure the Liverpool fans would love Nando playing for them again.

SureYWouldntYa

The new Football Manager is too realistic.

Already had to sell Torres and bring in Falcao, much like they should do in real life :pac:

the_monkey

and thats where united will stay this season, league challenge over.

ALL IN FOR DEFENCE OF CL

MaroonAndGreen

It would be typical if we brought in Falcao and then he didnt score for the rest of the season

GavRedKing

the_monkey wrote: »

and thats where united will stay this season, league challenge over.

ALL IN FOR DEFENCE OF CL

Really? Ok so, might aswell pack it in and fight relegation and hope to get out of our group.

Also, sack the board, sack Roman, sack RDM, appoint JT manager.

MUSEIST

GavRedKing wrote: »

Really? Ok so, might aswell pack it in and fight relegation and hope to get out of our group.

Also, sack the board, sack Roman, sack RDM, appoint JT manager.

LOL, the monkey with the usual reactions.:D

I don't think we have a chance of winning the league this season, we just don't have the firepower up front like utd and city and we have a few players just bedding in. Remember the goal this season has to be top 4 after 6th last year, so far we are well on course for that and I do think we will be in the title race for a good chunk of the season.

I think our good start to the season has led people to lose sight of our realistic goals this season.

GavRedKing

I'd happily take 3rd right now, TBH I think we're the 3rd best in the league and we're just behind City/Utd who are practically neck and neck.

One or two mroe singings and we'll be sorted.

GavRedKing

If the Daily Mail are to be believed, then Pep WANTS to be our neew manager.

Excuse me a second and I'll just post a few of these............:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

Anyway heres the article : http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2227857/Chelsea-dream-job-Pep-Guardiola.html

Pep Guardiola wants to be the next manager of Chelsea.
The former Barcelona boss plans to return to the game next summer and has made it clear to friends he sees his future at Stamford Bridge.
After winning three La Liga titles and two European Cups in four seasons at the Nou Camp, Guardiola, 41, quit this year and is in New York on a sabbatical with his family.

Duck Soup

I may be alone in this, but I'm not totally sold on Guardiola. Amazing record at Barcelona, but then there's an argument to be made that you could stick most reasonably good managers in charge of Barcelona and they'd win trophies. It was the same type of reservation I felt when AVB was appointed. Yes, he'd won everything there was to win in Portugal, but then Porto often operate in a league of one there.

Barcelona obviously have their footballing philosophy, their academy and all the rest of it. Pep is going to have to come into Chelsea and re-fashion the club from the ground up. The new look midfield is looking great, but the rest of the squad is more Mourinho-era effectiveness rather than style. I don't think the possession stats for this season's Chelsea are any different to last year's.

Point is, if Guardiola is to make Chelsea Barcelona-In-Blue, that would require re-imagining the club from the ground up, from training sessions to scouting to a complete squad overhaul. I'm not saying I wouldn't like to see it happen, but it could make for at least of couple of years of transition where the results aren't so good. And Roman didn't show much patience with AVB and his 'three year project'.

amiable

Guardiola took over Barca when they were 18 points behind Real Madrid in the league and behind Villarreal by 10 points I think it was(on the phone now so can't verify).

He turned that team in to possibly the best club team ever.

GavRedKing

Pep had a combination of factors on his side, some of Barca's best produced talents coming in to their own, some excellent players at the club and the knowledge of how to use the young guys and in what system.

Now its not that simple, he also sold Deco, Ronaldihno, Eto'o and still managed to reign supreme while introducing Busquets and giving Xavi & Iniesta more staring roles, he also played Messi centrally and played everything through him.

Yes he had thigns on his side but he still steered the ship towards success that might not be seen in a long time, I'd love to see how he does if given a different challenge and I think he'd shine.

amiable

Would Roman have the patience for a Guardiola project?

GavRedKing

amiable wrote: »

Would Roman have the patience for a Guardiola project?

roman would cream his pants if Pep signed and TBH I think the club is working towards a more project type basis, were not producing any great young talent but it looks like the days of spending silly money on 5, 6 players over 27years old are gone.

If Pep was to sign hes well aware of the Roman factor so I'd imagine he only manage the club on his terms, full control for him and his coaching team and that he'd be backed in doing so.

Although the days of managers getting 3 years to turn a club around are gone I think Roman would give Pep time once we finished top 4 and were in Europe season on season.

Crann na Beatha

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what a day

I think its a huge risk for which ever club do sign Guardiola. No one can argue what he has done with Barca but when you look at what he had to manage with and he is born and bread the Barca/Cryff styel of play he did not need time to adapt and teach his players like he would need at any other club.And Time is not what he will get at CFC. I for one would love to see us sign Pep but im not sure he would be able to take us to another level. And as for DiMatteo i think he is doing a fantastic job so far and as every can see we have rubish strikers at the moment.Its a really tough call and im glad i dont have to make it. Wonder would DiMatteo work with Pep or would that have an ill affect on things too. Maybe we could release DiMatteo and give him the offer to return for good should Pep fail?? Tough one Roman!!!

Blue Shamrock

Anyone read Saw Wallace's article on the Clattenburg affair? The best and fairest piece on Chelsea I have seen in a long time

what a day

Blue Shamrock wrote: »

Anyone read Saw Wallace's article on the Clattenburg affair? The best and fairest piece on Chelsea I have seen in a long time

I read it but none CFC fans dont want to hear it, we are a crime against football and that is all people can see. I dont give a tos either way as long as we keep racking up trophys.

what a day

Iv an idea....flog Malouda and Torres and bring in Neymar.

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Neymar

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Hazard

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Oscar

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Mata

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Ramires

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Mikel

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Cole

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Cahill

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Luiz

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Ivanovic

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Cech

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Imagine the movement and skill in front of goal with a lethal finisher like Neymar and Oscar Hazard and Mata behind him.Oooooooooohhhhhh baby!!!

Caveman1

A lot of people seem to be panicking over our recent form, If we can stay within a couple of points of both Manchester clubs by January then bring in a striker (even bring Lukaku back) then IMO we can mount a serious title challenge. Not saying we will win the league but we'll give it a go. Without a goal scoring striker we're always going to come up short.

If Sturridge got a bit of form together I could easily see him replace Torres. If only he was more composed on the ball then he'd be class.

Anyway, we're going through a little blip at the moment, I think people are way to quick to discount us. This is the most exciting football ive ever seen Chelsea play, we've been the most entertaining team this season, we've also been hit with a couple of injurys & qustionable refereeing decions yet we're still right up there.

Against Swansea the team just looked tired, understandable when you consider the week we had. 2 huge games this week though 6 points is a must, hopefully the team get it together.

Its going to be a nail biting week

MUSEIST

what a day wrote: »

Iv an idea....flog Malouda and Torres and bring in Neymar.

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Neymar

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Hazard

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Oscar

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Mata

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Ramires

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Mikel

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Cole

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Cahill

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Luiz

---

Ivanovic

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Cech

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Imagine the movement and skill in front of goal with a lethal finisher like Neymar and Oscar Hazard and Mata behind him.Oooooooooohhhhhh baby!!!

Interesting formation

Duck Soup

Listen, I'm not saying that Guardiola couldn't be a success at Chelsea, just that it's a much bigger job of work. Here's one way of thinking about it - if you're Pep and with complete control [and unlimited funds] over who to keep and sell, who from the current set-up do you keep?

Hazard, Mata and Oscar. Maybe some up and comers in the same style - Piazon? McEachran?

Barca look for people with the ball glued to their feet from one end of the pitch to the other. That's a huge ask for Chelsea with this current squad.

I'd also say let's not undervalue what RDM has done and is doing [not that anyone here does]. He took a side on its knees to the biggest prize in club football and now he's re-styling a team radically and winning a lot into the bargain. To paraphrase Joni Mitchell, sometimes you don't know what you got till it's gone.

GavRedKing

If Pep comes into at the end of the season there wont be wide spread reform.

What I could see happening though :

Start with a 4-1-2-2-1

In essence something like :

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X

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X

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X

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X

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X

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X

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X

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X

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---X

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X----

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X

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Its his tried and tested Barca formation, although sometimes they've also gone 2-5-2-1 with wingbacks.

If we were to try 4-1-2-2-1 and he came at the end of the season it would probably read :

Courtois
Azp Cahill Luiz Bertrand
MacEchran
Ramires Oscar
Mata Hazard
Torres

Ball playing players with energy and creativity and closing down but you could easily replace Torres in there with Falcao.

He could raid Barca for one or two young guys, Deulofeu been the one that I want most.

what a day

I think your right gav about not much to change re players and formation but i do think Torres would be one of the first out the door. The lad has no first touch and Pep did not play with a striker at Barca. He used technical players to work the ball into the goal. I know he had Messi and Villa in the squad but both played a passing game with Messi as their most futher forward.I think Pep would do the same with us but Torres IMO is not a Barca type player. Either is Falcao for that matter!

I think Pep would prefare a different line up but at the end of the day we are all guessing.
Cech
Azp Cahill Luiz Bertrand
Mikel
Ramires Oscar
Mata Neymar Hazard

I think Ramires might even hit the subs bench and Mata move back and bring in another forward/inverted winger for our right hand side

GavRedKing

We've a more realistic chance of getting Falcao then Neymar IMO.

I'd be very surprsied if he doesnt end up in Spain in the Summer of 2014 after the WC.

Happy days if he doesnt join us but I cant see it happening and certainly not before the WC.

If Pep wanted to play a Barca type formation then none of our strikers are up to it really.

He shipped Eto'o and Ibra at the drop of hat so our current 3 Lukaku/Danny/Torres would probably suffer too although I'm sure Roman would push for Lukaku to get games due to his price tag.

De Bruyne coming back could be a good prospect too for us but hes going to possibliy coming back to a team when Oscar/Hazard/Mata all having good seasons.

We could easily do a Barca and accomdate one of the above upfront and throw De Bruyne into the place vacated or even Moses upfront.

Hell we have loads of options whne the players come back.

Main one for me is Courtois, I'd relecutantly sell or bench Cech with a sad face but I think its time to bring Courtois in and give him game time.

what a day

Id love to give Courtois our Cup games and at the end of the season compair him to Cech and may be swap the role the following season and let Cech play the cup games and Courtios play the league games then evenually faze Cech to the bench.

I was gonna post that in my previous post about playing Moses up front, i think we could score more goals with Moses up front almost like a fake number nine. Moses could revolve with Mata, Hazard and Oscar leaving it a nightmare for defenders to pick up on.

Moses shows a lot of atributes to play up front IMO, he uses both feet, he is quick powerfull, full of energy and loves taking on defenders.

GavRedKing

Part of the reason I'd have no problem leaving Sturridge leave is that we have Moses.

Moses if played upfront could be a handful too but if Sturridge is struggling to get games at CF then Moses has very little chance.

amiable

what a day wrote: »

Id love to give Courtois our Cup games and at the end of the season compair him to Cech and may be swap the role the following season and let Cech play the cup games and Courtios play the league games then evenually faze Cech to the bench.

I was gonna post that in my previous post about playing Moses up front, i think we could score more goals with Moses up front almost like a fake number nine. Moses could revolve with Mata, Hazard and Oscar leaving it a nightmare for defenders to pick up on.

Moses shows a lot of atributes to play up front IMO, he uses both feet, he is quick powerfull, full of energy and loves taking on defenders.

Courtois is playing for the team placed second in La Liga at the moment.
It's pretty easy for the Chelsea staff to keep an eye on his progress playing at such a high level.

Having him play for A Madrid will be a lot more beneficial to Courtois and Chelsea in the long run than as back up to Cech at the moment.

GavRedKing

amiable wrote: »

Courtois is playing for the team placed second in La Liga at the moment.
It's pretty easy for the Chelsea staff to keep an eye on his progress playing at such a high level.

Having him play for A Madrid will be a lot more beneficial to Courtois and Chelsea in the long run than as back up to Cech at the moment.

Agreed, thats why I'd play him instead of Cech.

Courtois at the end of this year will have 3 years left on his current deal and he wont want to come back to sit on the bench to anybody, thats a good thing though, shows that he wants to improve and wants to play and not just ahppy to collect a wage.

We could loan him out again as its benfitting the young lad but I'd love to give him a chance.

Sgt Pepper 64

GavRedKing wrote: »

Agreed, thats why I'd play him instead of Cech.

Courtois at the end of this year will have 3 years left on his current deal and he wont want to come back to sit on the bench to anybody, thats a good thing though, shows that he wants to improve and wants to play and not just ahppy to collect a wage.

We could loan him out again as its benfitting the young lad but I'd love to give him a chance.

Why? Cech has been immense for the last few games and kept us in games

what a day

I have to say and i know alot you people disagree with me but im not a huge fan of Cech. As much as i love the guy he is prone to some silly mistakes, maybe im a bit critical of him since he is not the keeper he used to be but i still dont feel safe when he is in goal, not like i used to any way. I know he is a cracking shot stopper and his peno saves prove that but i just lost confidence i had in him.

Oh on a nother note, i see some peopling posting saying that we wont win the league, thats loser talk as far as im concerned. We have a quality team and stenght in dept, a top manger and we have as good a chance as any one to win tghe league

GavRedKing

Sgt Pepper 64 wrote: »

Why? Cech has been immense for the last few games and kept us in games

Cech has been an excellent servant to the club and is probably the main reason we won the UCL but the time has come to move him on IMO.

Courtois is the future, we could loan him out time after time but he'll get sick of it and eventually leave, the guy has been excellent for Atlteico since going there and he has proved hes up to a high level.

Cech is nearly exactly 10 years older then Courtois, age is never really a bad thing for keepers, ask Friedel, Schwarzer, Van Der Sar etc etc

I'd just like to see Courtois playing for us, buying the best young players in Europe and laoning them out is a risky business, of all the players we've loaned out, arguably only Courtois has prived himself good enough to play for us consistently.

PeterTwo

GavRedKing wrote: »

Cech has been an excellent servant to the club and is probably the main reason we won the UCL but the time has come to move him on IMO.

Courtois is the future, we could loan him out time after time but he'll get sick of it and eventually leave, the guy has been excellent for Atlteico since going there and he has proved hes up to a high level.

Cech is nearly exactly 10 years older then Courtois, age is never really a bad thing for keepers, ask Friedel, Schwarzer, Van Der Sar etc etc

I'd just like to see Courtois playing for us, buying the best young players in Europe and laoning them out is a risky business, of all the players we've loaned out, arguably only Courtois has prived himself good enough to play for us consistently.

Cech has been superb all season, while Courtois has been very sketchy. Why take such a big risk?

GavRedKing

PeterTwo wrote: »

Cech has been superb all season, while Courtois has been very sketchy. Why take such a big risk?

I dont think it would be that much of a gamble TBH. Sure people were up in arms when Cech came in first and replaced Carlo, it would be the same thing really.

I can see Cech taking up a coaching role within the team in a few years anyway.

Sgt Pepper 64

Shocked and Amazed at the falling out of love for Cech :eek:
If Luiz didnt go wandering so much, his record would be even better!

GavRedKing

Blaming Luiz for costing us a goal is akin to blaming Torres is we dont win a game, its silly.

Football is a team game and the XI that is sent out by RDM can all shoulder the blame, some are given more blame then others though, like it was partly down to Cole why we didnt win at the weekend although the other players didnt really perform at a high enough level either so its the teams fault.

the_monkey

Blue Shamrock wrote: »

Anyone read Saw Wallace's article on the Clattenburg affair? The best and fairest piece on Chelsea I have seen in a long time

Linkificate ?