Chelsea Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2012/2013

Sgt Pepper 64

GavRedKing wrote: »

I'm willing to bet we'll acheive at least one of those by the end of May.

If we dont finish top 4, with the current team even, then Rafa deserves to go, because we have a very good team indeed.
I just cant see us not finishing top 4. Under AVB - then yes, maybe,but Rafa seems more defensive minded and i think teams like WBA will fall away plus we will be signing someone in Jan and the team will soon get over the shock of losing RDM

GavRedKing

Sgt Pepper 64 wrote: »

If we dont finish top 4, with the current team even, then Rafa deserves to go, because we have a very good team indeed.
I just cant see us not finishing top 4. Under AVB - then yes, maybe,but Rafa seems more defensive minded and i think teams like WBA will fall away plus we will be signing someone in Jan and the team will soon get over the shock of losing RDM

Yup, ultimately teams that have a good spell rarely keep it up for the season due to injuries or a little blip.

Newcastle last year loked like making 4th but couldnt keep it up and WBA look like this years Newcastle, good starting XI but looking past them the squad isnt that deep.

Again its between us Spurs and Arsenal for 3rd & 4th and I reckon the rest arent good enough for a sustained push.

A good run of victories will see us consolidate our position and hopefully push on towards the top 2 if they drop points in the next couple of weeks.

Sgt Pepper 64

GavRedKing wrote: »

Yup, ultimately teams that have a good spell rarely keep it up for the season due to injuries or a little blip.

Newcastle last year loked like making 4th but couldnt keep it up and WBA look like this years Newcastle, good starting XI but looking past them the squad isnt that deep.

Again its between us Spurs and Arsenal for 3rd & 4th and I reckon the rest arent good enough for a sustained push.

A good run of victories will see us consolidate our position and hopefully push on towards the top 2 if they drop points in the next couple of weeks.

Spurs is my bet at the expense of Arsenal. Spurs will spend, Arsenal wont

GavRedKing

Sgt Pepper 64 wrote: »

Spurs is my bet at the expense of Arsenal. Spurs will spend, Arsenal wont

Dunno, I fancy Arsenal to put together a run of wins soon.

The EPL is broke into so many sub-sections its crazy, at the moment the top 2 are well ahead of the rest, then you've us, Spurs and Arsenal and below them you've about 7 teams that can easily finsih top 10 and then you've the relegation battle that could suck in Villa and Sunderland.

Watch Sunderland decide to pick it up and take points off us Saturday.

DazMarz

In 40-odd years, this could be the basis for a new Damned United...

A manager of a fairly successful team takes over another fairly successful (if not slightly more successful team at the time). This is a team that he has had a poor and hostile history with. He now has to try and get them to play a different way, win the dressing room, win the fans, etc. And especially hard when all the fans and players loved and respected some of his predecessors.

Might start working on the screenplay/novel now... :P

Sgt Pepper 64

DazMarz wrote: »

In 40-odd years, this could be the basis for a new Damned United...

A manager of a fairly successful team takes over another fairly successful (if not slightly more successful team at the time). This is a team that he has had a poor and hostile history with. He now has to try and get them to play a different way, win the dressing room, win the fans, etc. And especially hard when all the fans and players loved and respected some of his predecessors.

Might start working on the screenplay/novel now... :P

Rafa's already been there, done that, at Inter.
The similarities are both striking and alarming!

At Inter, he replaced Jose Mourinho, a hero who had just won the Champions League, and tried to dismantle the team, hitting problems at every turn.
At Chelsea, he replaced Roberto Di Matteo, a club legend as a player and the first manager to take the Champions League trophy to Stamford Bridge, and the fans are protesting at his appointment.
If, at Inter, he was the ‘Anti-Jose’, then at Chelsea he is the ‘Anti-Robbie’. If he was sacked tomorrow, the fans would celebrate so that could make dismissing him easier for Roman Abramovich. Not that the owner cares about that.
Those who watched closely as Benitez struggled in Italy recall some key problems, the main one being his relationship with a team still loyal to Mourinho. In hindsight, it seemed doomed before it began.
There is an element of this at Stamford Bridge too. There has been a turnover in the dressing room but some influential players remain from the days when Benitez was the enemy.
His training methods at Inter were blamed for a glut of muscular injuries at the start of the season and there were clashes with the medical team and doctor Franco Combi, who was close to Moratti.
He failed to convince the president to back him in the transfer market at a time when Inter were trying to spend less and he stirred up trouble with his barbed public comments on the matter.

His reign at Inter effectively ended after he won the FIFA Club World Cup in Japan then straightaway suggested the club might as well sack him if he could not sign the players he wanted.
Moratti did just that. Benitez was dismissed two days before Christmas in 2010 and spent almost two years out of work.
Monday is Day 12 of his role as Chelsea’s interim manager. Next weekend he will fly back to Japan. The parallels are striking. Whether he returns with his job remains to be seen.
If he does not find the winning formula, it could yet be another blue Christmas for Benitez.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2241961/Rafael-Benitezs-Chelsea-failure-similar-Inter-Milan-experience.html#ixzz2EHfH3jLr

MaroonAndGreen

We are out of the UCL, but not humiliated.. its not a disaster of a performance over the 6 games.. 10 points and out on away goals.. if it was done on goal difference we would be through!

Nice to see Torres score, and Mata and Oscar too.

Also, Torres has 9 goals this season.. not bad at all despite all the criticism of him on here! Hes well on track for over 20 goals this season, as is Mata (also on 9)

Sgt Pepper 64

MaroonAndGreen wrote: »

We are out of the UCL, but not humiliated.. its not a disaster of a performance over the 6 games.. 10 points and out on away goals.. if it was done on goal difference we would be through!

Nice to see Torres score, and Mata and Oscar too.

Also, Torres has 9 goals this season.. not bad at all despite all the criticism of him on here! Hes well on track for over 20 goals this season, as is Mata (also on 9)

20 LEAGUE goals would be nice. Are we really counting last nights minnows goals?

GavRedKing

Sgt Pepper 64 wrote: »

20 LEAGUE goals would be nice. Are we really counting last nights minnows goals?

I dont think he is himself, he barely celebrated when the first went in.

Blue Shamrock

Must be a first for a team to be the top scorers in group stage and still not make knockout round

Soby

Blue Shamrock wrote: »

Must be a first for a team to be the top scorers in group stage and still not make knockout round

First holders not to make it past the group stage too afaik

blue-army

MaroonAndGreen wrote: »

Also, Torres has 9 goals this season.. not bad at all despite all the criticism of him on here!

That's a serious case of clutching at straws! The man's a £50m pound player, he should be aiming for 20 league goals minimum.

dfx-

blue-army wrote: »

That's a serious case of clutching at straws! The man's a £50m pound player, he should be aiming for 20 league goals minimum.

By the first week in December?:eek:

GavRedKing

dfx- wrote: »

By the first week in December?:eek:

Welcome to the Chelsea thread, expectations are like Roman's. :pac:

MaroonAndGreen

blue-army wrote: »

That's a serious case of clutching at straws! The man's a £50m pound player, he should be aiming for 20 league goals minimum.

I'll stand by him 'til hes gone, we have no other choice really..

MaroonAndGreen

You might say its more clutching at straws, buutt...

Fernando has scored more goals this season than Rooney, Balotelli, Aguero, Tevez, Welbeck, Adebayor, Cisse, Dzeko, Podolski etc....

Just sayin.

Caveman1

Incase anybody hasn't seen it, the Mourinho documentary is on again tonight on ITV4 @ 22:35
Its a must see

blue-army

dfx- wrote: »

By the first week in December?:eek:

He's scored 4 so he's not exactly on track, is he? Torres is the first name on the teamsheet every week. He doesn't have to compete for game time like Aguero/Tevez/Rooney/Welbeck etc have to.

Obviously I'm going to stand by him, and hope the 2 goals last night are the first of many, but if this wasn't Fernando Torres, and £50m wasn't spent on him, he would've been shipped out by now. Simply not good enough anymore.


oh, and I'm currently watching the Spurs europa league game, and they're singing "you're not anymore, Champions of Europe, you're not anymore."
We better win the Europa and shut them up.

MUSEIST

blue-army wrote: »

He's scored 4 so he's not exactly on track, is he? Torres is the first name on the teamsheet every week. He doesn't have to compete for game time like Aguero/Tevez/Rooney/Welbeck etc have to.

Obviously I'm going to stand by him, and hope the 2 goals last night are the first of many, but if this wasn't Fernando Torres, and £50m wasn't spent on him, he would've been shipped out by now. Simply not good enough anymore.


oh, and I'm currently watching the Spurs europa league game, and they're singing "you're not anymore, Champions of Europe, you're not anymore."
We better win the Europa and shut them up.

That makes no sense, we are the champions until someone else wins it, unfortunately we can't retain it. So yes we are the champions of europe, weyhey

Sgt Pepper 64

MUSEIST wrote: »

That makes no sense, we are the champions until someone else wins it, unfortunately we can't retain it. So yes we are the champions of europe, weyhey

Who are they singing it to? Themselves! Says it all really!

GavRedKing

Watched the Jose documentary, brillant viewing.

Id be disgusted if he ended up at Utd ot City next year.

Oregano_State

GavRedKing wrote: »

Watched the Jose documentary, brillant viewing.

Id be disgusted if he ended up at Utd ot City next year.

Just saw it now as well. I would love to see him come to United though...;)

Kirby

GavRedKing wrote: »

Dunno, I fancy Arsenal to put together a run of wins soon.

The EPL is broke into so many sub-sections its crazy, at the moment the top 2 are well ahead of the rest, then you've us, Spurs and Arsenal and below them you've about 7 teams that can easily finsih top 10 and then you've the relegation battle that could suck in Villa and Sunderland.

Watch Sunderland decide to pick it up and take points off us Saturday.

I strongly disagree with this idea. Chelsea are a couple of transfer mistakes and bad tactical decisions away from being the best team in the league. Chelsea are one player off being better than both City and United, man for man. If you had RvP or Ageuro up front for you, you would still be top and if you had Rafa from the start of the european campaign, you would still be in it.

If you examine Chelsea's attacking flair three in Hazard, Oscar and Mata....Chelsea have something that United don't. It's true that United play with wingers so it's difficult to compare like for like but both Nani and Valencia have been very patchy this season. They only have Kagawa that slots into that mold of young, quick, creative players.

City are in the same boat where they have Silva but not much else of that ilk. I'm of the opinion that while Nasri is a decent player, but he is definitely a cut below that players discussed so far. He is a mercurial chap in that he will completely disappear for weeks on end. Arsenal fans would have told people the same before and he is showing it at City.

In the slightly deeper role, Yaya Toure is an excellent midfielder. He is clearly far superior to anything Chelsea and United have in regards to Mikel, Romeu, Fletcher, Giggs, etc but Toure is through his purple patch and hasn't scored or created anything in a good few months. And you do have Ramires who may be much smaller than Toure, but gives you the same drive. The closest thing United have to that is Anderson who is finally showing flashes of excellence and glimpses that he could become that type of player but is still a long way off of their ability.

Moving further back in defense, all three defenses have looked very leaky this season. City look like conceding every time they lose the ball, United have had to come from behind nearly a dozen times alreay this season. David Luis is a problem but he is no bigger a problem than Kompany playing poorly, or a rapidly declining Rio. All three teams have defensive problems which has been highlighted this season so the idea that Chelsea's back four is weaker just "because" is silly.

As I said, the teams are fairly evenly matched. It's just the striking department where you are getting crushed. RvP, Hernandez and Rooney are far superior to anything you have. Ditto Aguero and Tevez. It's that one position that has killed you this season. Torres may have finally scores after 12 barren hours, but it's clear to anybody who watches football that he is done at the highest level. A mid-table team in one of the better european leagues is where he will be shipped off to and he will likely bag 10 or 15 goals a season for them. But he wont at chelsea. Atleast not in this league.

So to sum up my longwinded and pontificated post, your squad is just as good. Don't sell them short. Your squad is much, much better than Spurs and Arsenal. They aren't in your "bracket", as you put it.

GavRedKing

Kirby wrote: »

I strongly disagree with this idea. Chelsea are a couple of transfer mistakes and bad tactical decisions away from being the best team in the league. Chelsea are one player off being better than both City and United, man for man. If you had RvP or Ageuro up front for you, you would still be top and if you had Rafa from the start of the european campaign, you would still be in it.

If you examine Chelsea's attacking flair three in Hazard, Oscar and Mata....Chelsea have something that United don't. It's true that United play with wingers so it's difficult to compare like for like but both Nani and Valencia have been very patchy this season. They only have Kagawa that slots into that mold of young, quick, creative players.

City are in the same boat where they have Silva but not much else of that ilk. I'm of the opinion that while Nasri is a decent player, but he is definitely a cut below that players discussed so far. He is a mercurial chap in that he will completely disappear for weeks on end. Arsenal fans would have told people the same before and he is showing it at City.

In the slightly deeper role, Yaya Toure is an excellent midfielder. He is clearly far superior to anything Chelsea and United have in regards to Mikel, Romeu, Fletcher, Giggs, etc but Toure is through his purple patch and hasn't scored or created anything in a good few months. And you do have Ramires who may be much smaller than Toure, but gives you the same drive. The closest thing United have to that is Anderson who is finally showing flashes of excellence and glimpses that he could become that type of player but is still a long way off of their ability.

Moving further back in defense, all three defenses have looked very leaky this season. City look like conceding every time they lose the ball, United have had to come from behind nearly a dozen times alreay this season. David Luis is a problem but he is no bigger a problem than Kompany playing poorly, or a rapidly declining Rio. All three teams have defensive problems which has been highlighted this season so the idea that Chelsea's back four is weaker just "because" is silly.

As I said, the teams are fairly evenly matched. It's just the striking department where you are getting crushed. RvP, Hernandez and Rooney are far superior to anything you have. Ditto Aguero and Tevez. It's that one position that has killed you this season. Torres may have finally scores after 12 barren hours, but it's clear to anybody who watches football that he is done at the highest level. A mid-table team in one of the better european leagues is where he will be shipped off to and he will likely bag 10 or 15 goals a season for them. But he wont at chelsea. Atleast not in this league.

So to sum up my longwinded and pontificated post, your squad is just as good. Don't sell them short. Your squad is much, much better than Spurs and Arsenal. They aren't in your "bracket", as you put it.

I do agree that Rafa would have been a better bet starting the season but the fans would have been even more annoyed if RDM was sacked after winning the UCL straight away and replaced by Rafa, the hate around the ground would have been out of this world.

The problem with our current squad is the older player are geting some what of a free ride at the moment but the young guys we have on loan should come back and replace the out going deadwood and hanger oners.

With Lukaku, De Bruyne to come back we'll be better served with those options in the squad then what we currently have on the bench.

GavRedKing

Oregano_State wrote: »

Just saw it now as well. I would love to see him come to United though...;)

He'll have his pick of jobs when he decides he wants out at Real Madrid.

what a day

Kirby wrote: »

I strongly disagree with this idea. Chelsea are a couple of transfer mistakes and bad tactical decisions away from being the best team in the league. Chelsea are one player off being better than both City and United, man for man. If you had RvP or Ageuro up front for you, you would still be top and if you had Rafa from the start of the european campaign, you would still be in it.

If you examine Chelsea's attacking flair three in Hazard, Oscar and Mata....Chelsea have something that United don't. It's true that United play with wingers so it's difficult to compare like for like but both Nani and Valencia have been very patchy this season. They only have Kagawa that slots into that mold of young, quick, creative players.

City are in the same boat where they have Silva but not much else of that ilk. I'm of the opinion that while Nasri is a decent player, but he is definitely a cut below that players discussed so far. He is a mercurial chap in that he will completely disappear for weeks on end. Arsenal fans would have told people the same before and he is showing it at City.

In the slightly deeper role, Yaya Toure is an excellent midfielder. He is clearly far superior to anything Chelsea and United have in regards to Mikel, Romeu, Fletcher, Giggs, etc but Toure is through his purple patch and hasn't scored or created anything in a good few months. And you do have Ramires who may be much smaller than Toure, but gives you the same drive. The closest thing United have to that is Anderson who is finally showing flashes of excellence and glimpses that he could become that type of player but is still a long way off of their ability.

Moving further back in defense, all three defenses have looked very leaky this season. City look like conceding every time they lose the ball, United have had to come from behind nearly a dozen times alreay this season. David Luis is a problem but he is no bigger a problem than Kompany playing poorly, or a rapidly declining Rio. All three teams have defensive problems which has been highlighted this season so the idea that Chelsea's back four is weaker just "because" is silly.

As I said, the teams are fairly evenly matched. It's just the striking department where you are getting crushed. RvP, Hernandez and Rooney are far superior to anything you have. Ditto Aguero and Tevez. It's that one position that has killed you this season. Torres may have finally scores after 12 barren hours, but it's clear to anybody who watches football that he is done at the highest level. A mid-table team in one of the better european leagues is where he will be shipped off to and he will likely bag 10 or 15 goals a season for them. But he wont at chelsea. Atleast not in this league.

So to sum up my longwinded and pontificated post, your squad is just as good. Don't sell them short. Your squad is much, much better than Spurs and Arsenal. They aren't in your "bracket", as you put it.

Completly agree with this view on our squad. We are totally out done in our attacking options. Toure is the best DM in the country and if we could get the right click with a manager and a better striker we could be pushing for the title.

We have a different type of squad to Man City and Man Utd but man for man we have a seriously quality side. If we had a player like Yaya to partner Mikel in DM and a striker like Aguero or RVP we would be an awsome squad IMO.

So far Azpilicueta has done really well and complaments Cole on the other flank. I think we should look to partner Cahill with Luiz in defense and use Ivan as our utility defender and faze out JT. With Wallace to come in and PVA next season our defence should be solid and have plenty of depth. Id also like to see Courtios come back next season and play every other game the way Barca play with Pinto and Valdez like wish Utd with DeGea and Lindinguard. Our Defense would then be complete.

As for DM i thin Mikel has come on really well, very strong player with huge expierience for his age. Good player to retain possession and build from the back. I we can get Oriol up to Mikels standard we should be ok but i dont think Ramires does well in a deep role. ramires tends to get lost and is too often found lost without a marker. Having said all that id like us to return to the 4-3-3 formation and play with one holding midfielder "Mikel/Oriol".

Now our attacking options starting with midfield. Mata we all know is a genius and should keep his role on our right hand side attacking midifield role. He can work the flank but also play in side and release through balls and take shots on goal on his good left foot.
Oscar is another brilliant option and is better at controling the tempo in midfield but also very creative and has a dangerours right foot, simular to Mata he can come in central and spread the play all over the park simular to Xavi.
Hazard has played really well in the last few games but this is because he is pushing further forward and has more freedom to attack defenders one on one while he is not shy from tracking back he loves to keep the ball and attack with the ball at his feet. This would be better suited pushing him forward as our inverted LW.

As already mentioned our striking options are really poor and im sure we will be in the hunt for another striker in January but if rumours are to be belived Sturridge will be sold to Liverpool and this will leave us with no one for our RW. Il leave it up you guys to fill in the blanks as who you would like as a striker and RW but just think of the players we have to move on and saving we will make from Player wages i.e Malouda Essien Yossi Lampard Sturridge Torres Ferraira Hilario and possibly Cole all to move in the summer.

---

Cech

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Azpilicueta----Cahill

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Luiz

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Cole

---

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Mikel

---

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Mata

---

Oscar

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---WALCOTT

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Hazard

---

??????

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B Team

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Courtios

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Wallace

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Ivan

---

JT----Bertrand

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Oriol

---

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Ramires

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Piazon/DeBruyne
----Moses

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Marin--

---

Lukaku

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Big Pussy Bonpensiero

Dunno if ye've seen this yet;

GavRedKing

Sure thats only a months wages to Drogba. :pac:

Nice gesture though to go along with your medals, wonder did he give Torres one.

Tubbs4

GavRedKing wrote: »

Sure thats only a months wages to Drogba. :pac:

Nice gesture though to go along with your medals, wonder did he give Torres one.

He didn't turn up according to sky news site.
Maybe in the post

DazMarz

More class from Drogs. Torres would want to have a good excuse for not turning up to a night like that. Very poor form from him (on and off the pitch now...)

GavRedKing

He could have been off doing he Christmas shopping with the missus, its not every day he has a goal bonus to spend.

GavRedKing

AVB still loves us and everything about the club.

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/news/football-avb-blues-dont-deserve-europa-league-071706607.html

Andre Villas-Boas thinks destiny could pair Tottenham with Chelsea in the knockout stages of the Europa League, but he insists the Blues do not deserve to be in the competition in the first place.

Villas-Boas, who won the competition with FC Porto in 2010, said: "I think it's extremely unfair. It would be much fairer if the clubs came in to the Europa League when they are knocked out of the last 16 of the Champions League."

He went on: "You can't give a bonus to teams who have failed, and in the situation as it stands, teams fail in the Champions League and are promoted to the Europa League, which, in my opinion, is a massive bonus. I've not made this up today. I have said this in UEFA meetings before. It's up to them to decide but I think it's not fair."

So his take is that the clubs elimanted in the group stage shouldnt come into the Europa League until the last 16 instead of the last 32?

Big Pussy Bonpensiero

DazMarz wrote: »

More class from Drogs. Torres would want to have a good excuse for not turning up to a night like that. Very poor form from him (on and off the pitch now...)

From The Guardian;

The Guardian wrote:

The event was attended by John Terry, David Luiz, Ryan Bertrand, Branislav Ivanovic, Paulo Ferreira, Daniel Sturridge and Ashley Cole, with invites having been extended to all members of the squad who had claimed the trophy under Roberto Di Matteo's management.
The Italian, who was sacked last month and replaced by Rafael Benítez, was unable to attend and Frank Lampard, too, was absent with a long-standing charity commitment. Neither Juan Mata nor Petr Cech was available and, although Fernando Torres had been expected, he was not at the dinner. However, Thursday was his son Leo's second birthday and the striker is understood to have spent the evening with family.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/dec/06/didier-drogba-dinner-chelsea-champions-league

Sugarlumps

They’ve got to be the tackiest looking rings ever? It’ll go well with Terry’s sovereign rings so.

GavRedKing

Sugarlumps wrote: »

They’ve got to be the tackiest looking rings ever? It’ll go well with Terry’s sovereign rings so.

He should get rings made of his other trophies, no room for sovereign's then.

DazMarz

Didn't realise all that, and that Torres wasn't the only one not there!

And here, I still wouldn't mind having one of them rings!!! Tacky or no... Very nice bauble to have and something to show the grandkids in years to come!

Crann na Beatha

This post has been deleted.

Big Pussy Bonpensiero

Sugarlumps wrote: »

They’ve got to be the tackiest looking rings ever? It’ll go well with Terry’s sovereign rings so.

Don't think they were bought as a fashion statement tbh:p

GavRedKing

THFC wrote: »

Don't think they were bought as a fashion statement tbh:p

Footballers and taste rarely go in the same sentence.

More money then sense really.

Sgt Pepper 64

GavRedKing wrote: »

AVB still loves us and everything about the club.

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/news/football-avb-blues-dont-deserve-europa-league-071706607.html



So his take is that the clubs elimanted in the group stage shouldnt come into the Europa League until the last 16 instead of the last 32?

You do wonder about AVB. Obviously he made mistakes, but he could yet prove to be the manager Roman thought he was.

GavRedKing

Sgt Pepper 64 wrote: »

You do wonder about AVB. Obviously he made mistakes, but he could yet prove to be the manager Roman thought he was.

I think he will, but it will take some time.

Hes still a bit green, but I think he'll come good if hes given 2, 3 seasons to influence the squad his way.

Caveman1

John Terry won't be travelling to Japan for the World Club Champoinship.

Lamps back in the squad for tomorrow & Sturridge back training.

bullpost

Great to see Lamps back - hopefully he can help steady the ship now.
Obviously not the player he was but still has a big contribution to make , with leaders thin on the ground right now. We need a result badly this weekend .

Caveman1 wrote: »

John Terry won't be travelling to Japan for the World Club Champoinship.

Lamps back in the squad for tomorrow & Sturridge back training.

GavRedKing

Caveman1 wrote: »

John Terry won't be travelling to Japan for the World Club Champoinship.

Lamps back in the squad for tomorrow & Sturridge back training.

Mikel's suspension could see Romeu putting his ring into the hat for a starting place.

Alternatively we could play Oscar in there as a deep playmaker and leave Ramries do the donkey work.

Sunderland have been average to poor this season so we should in theory stuff them but I can see a tricky game been played out.

MUSEIST

IMO romeu and ramires works better than mikel/ramires. I think because romeu is a better passer than mikel even though he is not very mobile.

McDave

GavRedKing wrote: »

Watched the Jose documentary, brillant viewing.

Id be disgusted if he ended up at Utd ot City next year.

Unless Guardiola ends up at the Bridge.

I can't help feeling RA's first choice is a new experience with a fresh manager who is likely to deliver the kind of football he wants. Going back to Mourinho is like going back to an old lover after an acrimonious break-up.

As for Mourinho, he'd be motivated by the prospect of another scrap with Guardiola. The question though is will he sign up for CFC if he is seen to be a fall-back for a failed bid for Pep. In that light, Jose might go directly for either Manchesters and string CFC along in the meantime.

IMO RA has to be making an exclusive bid for either manager. If it leaks out that he has either as a fall-back, CFC might well end up with neither.

Sgt Pepper 64

MUSEIST wrote: »

IMO romeu and ramires works better than mikel/ramires. I think because romeu is a better passer than mikel even though he is not very mobile.

Rafa likes Romeu, because as you say, he sees him as a better passer, so he will get a run and Mikel gets a nice rest.

Sgt Pepper 64

Mata on Torres

Juan Mata believes under-fire striker Fernando Torres is struggling to fill the boots of Blues legend Didier Drogba.


Mata said, “Drogba’s departure was like an electric shock for us. He was a warrior. We’ve had to learn to cope without him because for many long years he was Chelsea’s lightning conductor.

“With Drogba we were conditioned to play in a certain way. You gave him the ball and you knew that he would at least force the opponent into a foul.

“In a way we had a tendency to rely on him too much but it was a natural mechanism. All the great players like getting the ball, Didier even more so.

“With Fernando it’s different. His runs aren’t the same. He’s not a funnel for our play like Drogba could be. He doesn’t like the holding-it-up role. He prefers finding space and facing the goal."

Drogba moved to China to play for Shanghai Shenhua last summer, allowing Torres to take centre stage following his highly publicised £50m move from Liverpool to Chelsea.

"When someone pays that much for you and you become the most expensive player in the Premier League, you are eager to please. Too eager, maybe,” said Mata.

“Especially Fernando, because he’s a very humble guy who knows where he comes from and understands the value of money. For me, he is still one of the best strikers in the world.”

Sgt Pepper 64

McDave wrote: »

Unless Guardiola ends up at the Bridge.

I can't help feeling RA's first choice is a new experience with a fresh manager who is likely to deliver the kind of football he wants. Going back to Mourinho is like going back to an old lover after an acrimonious break-up.

As for Mourinho, he'd be motivated by the prospect of another scrap with Guardiola. The question though is will he sign up for CFC if he is seen to be a fall-back for a failed bid for Pep. In that light, Jose might go directly for either Manchesters and string CFC along in the meantime.

IMO RA has to be making an exclusive bid for either manager. If it leaks out that he has either as a fall-back, CFC might well end up with neither.

Ive also seen a link to Luciano Spalletti (zenit st petersburg's manager)

McDave

Sgt Pepper 64 wrote: »

Ive also seen a link to Luciano Spalletti (zenit st petersburg's manager)

As I see it, RA's only salvation at this point is a manager bigger than himself that he's prepared to hand the reins over to for a long time.

If RA CFC Mk I is to end productively, it will be by getting rid of Emanalo-style kitchen cabinets second-guessing actual football professionals, and trusting in big personalities like either Guardiola or Mourinho.

Anything else is just a continuation of the status quo merry-go-round. Which IMO will be the worst possible outcome.

Better by far for RA to 'retire' and leave it to Pep or Jose. IMHO no-one else out there has the personality or track record for now.