Chelsea Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2012/2013

Garzorico

shocking performance/result. QPR ffs. Shaun Derry, Ryan Nelsen....Clint jaysis Hill.

Unbelievable Jeff. Thank God Ba (or anyone) has signed. Poor Torres is finito, he clearly hasn't got whatever it was he did have back in the day. I feel sorry for him at this stage but more frustrated when it comes to results like tonight and he missed 1 or 2 decent chances....


I wonder when the last time Utd or Citeh lost at home to the bottom (and one of the worst sides the top league has ever seen) team.

McDave

Phoenix wrote: »

How the fcuk can we justify that ****e witnessed today?
WTF was Rafa playing at?

Parts of the squad still need to be refitted. Nothing has changed in that regard.

On balance, Chelsea are carrying Torres. Even if he has the odd good game, it means that over the course of a season the other players on the pitch have to up their performance significantly to compensate. It must contribute in some way to fatigue in a squad that's still short.

We're also not sorted in defence. There's a lack of stability and leadership. With so many obvious flaws, we're still doing quite OK though. After the recent good run, it was reasonable to expect us to get back into contention for the EPL. But the worst of losing games like this is that we get dragged back down into the quagmire for fourth, giving hope to the likes of Spurs, Arsenal and Everton.

the_monkey

what a day wrote: »

I dont normally post when im not in work and i never said before i wanted a manager sacked but please Roman get that spanish twat out of here!!! Sick when we signed him and still sick today. Getting beaten by QPR at the bridge is unforgiveable.

Maybe its Roman who should f*ck off, no pleasing him, he sacks a guy who won the holy grail of club football trophies 6 months after.

Sgt Pepper 64

the_monkey wrote: »

Maybe its Roman who should f*ck off, no pleasing him, he sacks a guy who won the holy grail of club football trophies 6 months after.

Thats just madness.

But he should pick a manager and stick with him and let him spend some money.
leaving a squad short of strikers, midfielders and a quality back up keeper whilst wasting 50 million on a striker that everyone knew was a waste of money is just criminal

Andersonisgod

Its a credit to the Chelsea fans loyalty that they haven't turned against Torres and begun booing him at the Bridge. He has more than tested our patience, he has let us down time and time again and his performances have been so wildly inadequate while he earns massive wages. His frail ego couldn't handle competition so he was the only recognised striker available for the vast majority of the season as we refused to sign anyone just in case it upset Fernando. Look at what Suarez did against QPR or Van Persie does on a regular basis, they cost less than half the bloody price of Torres.

We could have signed Jay Bothroyd and I'd still be excited if it means that Torres has some actual competition.

Sgt Pepper 64

I hope Ba like playing cos, unless we get someone else, he'll be the first name on the team sheet from now on!

Iago

Garzorico wrote: »

I wonder when the last time Utd or Citeh lost at home to the bottom (and one of the worst sides the top league has ever seen) team.

last xmas. united lost 3-2 to Blackburn at old trafford when Blackburn were bottom of the league.

These results happen, they shouldn't but they do.

Garzorico

Andersonisgod wrote: »

Its a credit to the Chelsea fans loyalty that they haven't turned against Torres and begun booing him at the Bridge. He has more than tested our patience, he has let us down time and time again and his performances have been so wildly inadequate while he earns massive wages. His frail ego couldn't handle competition so he was the only recognised striker available for the vast majority of the season as we refused to sign anyone just in case it upset Fernando. Look at what Suarez did against QPR or Van Persie does on a regular basis, they cost less than half the bloody price of Torres.

We could have signed Jay Bothroyd and I'd still be excited if it means that Torres has some actual competition.

In fairness to him he ain't doing it on purpose and the schillings we paid for him has nothing to do with him. The manager/owner or whomever it is picks him should shoulder the blame. He needs to be moved on fast.

MaroonAndGreen

Still in 4th now too..

Disaster of a night

Andersonisgod

Garzorico wrote: »

In fairness to him he ain't doing it on purpose and the schillings we paid for him has nothing to do with him. The manager/owner or whomever it is picks him should shoulder the blame. He needs to be moved on fast.

They are forced to pick him because there are no other options. I'm not saying we should blame him, he is past his best it's that simple, but the fans could have ended up resenting him and that might have manifested itself in the stands.

MaroonAndGreen

Ive supported Torres alot and on here too.. but now im losing faith fast.

I dont think anyone ever really believed he'd get back to his best but we need him to do a job for us, and too often he just cant do it.

Tonight he just wasnt active for us at all. By active I mean he wasnt a threat or didnt look like providing a threat..

Hes not the answer, Demba save us.

applehunter

smuckers wrote: »

Torres may score now and again but tonight was the final straw he was playing against hill and nelson ffs:mad:

Watched the 2nd half and he was very disappointing.

No aggression, poor link up play.

Looking like he will be playing 2nd fiddle to Ba

Caveman1

Hopefully the Ba deal is wrapped up tomorrow so he'll be available for the Southampton game.

djPSB

Stoke Away and Arsenal at home.

Mr. Rafa is under pressure.

MaroonAndGreen

With the way the league is going now.. it might sound crazy but I think the League Cup is a must win.

Your Airbag

I'm not sure if you guys have seen this video yet and tbh I'm too lazy to check the thread for it but here is Arry Redknapp defending Frank Lampard at a fans/club conference during their West Ham days after his selection is questioned due to family ties. Some great foresight from Arry.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctWS52IA_JY

Sgt Pepper 64

Its funny, but more than any other single event since Roman bought us, the Torres signing has had the most negative affect, and not just on us, you could even argue on Liverpool as well.
During that time, he's seen off, what, 3 managers?
Amazing really what a record signing who fails to live upto the hype can do to a club, even Sheva wasnt that bad.
We've been nowhere near winning the league since he arrived, and only won the CL by not playing him

MUSEIST

Sgt Pepper 64 wrote: »

Its funny, but more than any other single event since Roman bought us, the Torres signing has had the most negative affect, and not just on us, you could even argue on Liverpool as well.
During that time, he's seen off, what, 3 managers?
Amazing really what a record signing who fails to live upto the hype can do to a club, even Sheva wasnt that bad.
We've been nowhere near winning the league since he arrived, and only won the CL by not playing him

but we still had drogba then:(. Now it's just torres and nobody else, tis fairly shambolic.

Sgt Pepper 64

Sad to say, but we wont solve our problems by buying Ba or even Falcao or Fellaini.
The problems with Chelsea run deeper than buying or bringing in new players.
One thing you can't buy is team spirit and we don't have that at the moment and with this managerial merry go round, we might not have that for a while too. Team spirit is what wins games and is what drives players to exceed their limits. We have a lot of new players who must find motivation somewhere, we are failling build an identity amid the constant changes.

The club isn't well managed from the top and the buck stops with Roman. Our on field problems are symptoms of our well meaning but misguided leader. Winning the champions league was a superhuman effort by experienced players but Roman mistook that for his ability to hire and fire managers.

There is no substitute for orderly and patient development a team and a style of play. Roman seems to think money and change can fix everything but he is wrong. Look how long it took Man City, we were lucky in that we just happened to hire one, if not, the best manager of the modern era, and all was well until Roman started to think he should get more involved himself.

I dont think Roman can every cure himself of this eagerness to interfere now, I guess we would be the same if it was our large sums of money, but until he does, we will win only cups and not the league, because the league is a marathon and not a sprint, like the cups

Essien

While my main concern (maybe my only one) about Rafa is his tendency to rotate the squad, he fielded a team tonight that was more than capable of beating QPR. OK, we'd have done better with Mata on from the start but that's no excuse.

That's the worst I've seen Chelsea play all season and the blame lies much more with the players than manager.

I've backed him pretty much all the way up until now but Torres just has to go. You can say what you want about pace and hamstrings but the reality is he hasn't got it in his head (or maybe heart) anymore. He has absolutely no interest in scoring goals, I've never seen a player make such an effort to NOT receive possession. Every time the play opens up, he hides, he's making life difficult for the supporting players and they must surely be sick of it at this stage.

I always though I'd feel sorry for him if the likes of Falcao came in and forced him to sit on the bench but I really wouldn't anymore, he has no interest in providing for the club so why should they put up with it.

The best contrast I can think of for Torres is Chicharito - It's fair to say that early in his career, Torres showed the physical and technical attributes to potentially be the absolute best centre forward in the world. Hernandez has never shown that level of ability, or anywhere near it imo, but his attitude and mentality have compensated for that. He attacks everything, he always finds the best position to get on the end of a ball and he works his socks off to get there. He's inventive and always makes the best of a bad lot.

If Torres had half the fight this guy has he'd be the best in the world, but he doesn't, and it's rendered him not only useless but actually a burden on the rest of the team.

Sgt Pepper 64

Before Benitez was appointed, Chelsea were 3rd and 4 points off top spot. They are now 4th and 14 points off the top. #rafalution

We've also failed to score in three of our four home games in the League since he came

FutureGuy

Utter arogance from Benitez lost ye that game. Resting Mata AND Hazard was a ludicrous decision, especially given the fact that Hazard had been rested so often over the last few weeks and there was no PL game for another 2 weeks. Could have easily started the best team possible and rested the likes of Mata if (and I would have expected) Cheslea went 2 or 3-0 up with 30 mins remaining. It was clear that QPR changed things for the second half vs Liverpool and would come to the Bridge with the same playstyle in mind. That's the game where you NEED the likes of Mata to create things.

Will be interesting to see where Ba fits in now (should he arrive as expected). Ye think he will play alongside Torres or alternate?

MUSEIST

FutureGuy wrote: »

Utter arogance from Benitez lost ye that game. Resting Mata AND Hazard was a ludicrous decision, especially given the fact that Hazard had been rested so often over the last few weeks and there was no PL game for another 2 weeks. Could have easily started the best team possible and rested the likes of Mata if (and I would have expected) Cheslea went 2 or 3-0 up with 30 mins remaining. It was clear that QPR changed things for the second half vs Liverpool and would come to the Bridge with the same playstyle in mind. That's the game where you NEED the likes of Mata to create things.

Will be interesting to see where Ba fits in now (should he arrive as expected). Ye think he will play alongside Torres or alternate?

No chance he will play along side torres. He will start ahead of torres in a 4-2-3-1. It's crazy that chelsea have only 1 striker at the moment, no option on the bench to change things when torres is struggling. Need a new striker ASAP.

blue-army

Have a funny feeling that after all the massive spending in looking for a top class striker, that Ba will turn out being an absolute bargain at £7m.
To score 13 league goals in a Newcastle team that is now in a real relegation battle is a fair achievement, especially when he was sharing the goalscoring opportunities with Cissé.

I've no doubt that Ba would've buried that chance that Torres had tonight at 0-0, and that moment just about summed up his Chelsea career.

I honestly don't think this season has been as big a disaster on the pitch as it's has been made out to be. I think most Chelsea fans accepted at the beginning of this season that we were in a transition period, despite being European Champions, and that this season was going to be one where the likes of Oscar, Luiz, Hazard and Mata would mature into the top class players they have the potential to become.

I still think we should've done better in the CL, but in the end we ran out of luck, and we were bound to crash out in the group stages at some point having had a good run in the last 10 years - it happens to everyone!

I still think we'll finish top 3, but I'd be surprised to see Rafa stick around after May. Here's hoping Roman finally convinces Pep to come in, or miraciously patches things up with the Special One... We can dream!

solarith

We're still missing a central midfielder of the calibre we need.

Duck Soup

I've got perhaps a slightly different perspective on Torres than most fans. I think that when his head's in the game, he's a 20+ goals a season striker - one every other game.

When Benitez turned up, as the man himself said, he tweaked a few things and Torres got a run of goals. But one thing has always gotten to me about Torres - even when he scores, he's not that fussed. And even when the team is on top of the world - for example the Champion's League final - he doesn't seem to share that unalloyed joy every other player does. Torres seemed more pissed off that he wasn't the centre of attention (and of course, we know who was) than happy that his team had achieved the greatest triumph in the history of the club.

Maybe he was like that at Liverpool (but I don't think so). But he gives the impression of his heart not being really in it. Perhaps Liverpool suited him, where the whole thing was built around him and serving his ego. What I see now too often is a player picking up a wage and shrugging his shoulders when it doesn't go right for him. Even after a handful of weeks under Rafa, he's stopped bursting a gut to make space and receive the ball.

I've always been a big fan of Torres, but he really, really needs to get his head out of árse and put in the graft. For me, the problem isn't his form or a yard of pace; it's his attitude. If his heart isn't really in the club, he should go elsewhere.

MUSEIST

What angers me the more about last nights game was the fact that we had just come off the back of a really good win against everton and then we throw in that pile of sh!te for good measure. Consistency is a real problem for this team atm.

A striker who is a real goal threat will make a massive difference to this side. Torres offers very little of anything and tbh I am sick of him moaping around feeling sorry for himself. Man up or fu*k off tbh. I am well aware that the striker position is not our only problem area but it still should be no. 1 priority at the moment and then midfield.

GavRedKing

its just so frustrating to win away at Everton and lose to QPR at home, it shouldnt happen, it has and all the blame will lie with Rafa and Torres for some strange reason.

The fact that our XI last night was superior on paper should have seen us coast through the game, but it didnt, the players never really looked up for it.

QPR would have taken your arm off for a draw and they went and won the game in the end, a game they were happy enough to give up until we got into their final third.

Consistency will cost us again this year and it looks like a cup run in the League Cup, Fa cup and EL will be where the joy is to be had.

peteeeed

ivanovic and luiz seemed to be in a competition of who could hit the top tier of the stand from long range

GavRedKing

peteeeed wrote: »

ivanovic and luiz seemed to be in a competition of who could hit the top tier of the stand from long range

Ivanovic is like Mikel, he shouldnt be allowed to shot, ever.

He did get unlucky with 2 headers that went narrowly over however.

what a day

We were terrible against Everton and were lucky to get the win!!
We have been poor under Rafa for a long time now, showed some good play against a really poor Villa side. Marin was rubish Torres was rubish Apilicueta is starting to make quite a few mistakes but he is still very young. We have to bench/sell Torres and play the ball on the ground! We have short technical players and we dont use them enough and we were terrible untill Hazard came on.

McDave

Andersonisgod wrote: »

Its a credit to the Chelsea fans loyalty that they haven't turned against Torres and begun booing him at the Bridge. He has more than tested our patience, he has let us down time and time again and his performances have been so wildly inadequate while he earns massive wages. His frail ego couldn't handle competition so he was the only recognised striker available for the vast majority of the season as we refused to sign anyone just in case it upset Fernando. Look at what Suarez did against QPR or Van Persie does on a regular basis, they cost less than half the bloody price of Torres.

It seems the time has come to let RA know it's time to move on Torres at the earliest opportunity. He's turned out to be a monumental error in judgement. The rest of the squad cannot be punished any further. And the consequences of slipping out of the top four will be calamitous if we persist with cocooning him.

Keep Torres fit, rotate him and take whatever the market will offer by next summer.

MaroonAndGreen

Seen that the club are considering building statues of JT, Drogba and Lampard in the East Stand.

This would be after JT and Frank leave the club.

Them three would definetly deserve a statue.

GavRedKing

With Lukaku coming back in the summer is there any point in selling Torres?

Lukaku, Ba, Torres gives us 3 strikers with different options.

what a day

Watford have signed Chelsea midfielder Nathaniel Chalobah on loan until the end of the season.

The 18-year-old has scored twice in 18 games for the promotion-chasing Hornets already this term, after initially joining on loan in August.

"It's great news for us. He has become an important player for us since he came to the club," boss Gianfranco Zola told the club website.

"His performances have been getting better and better."

Sgt Pepper 64

GavRedKing wrote: »

With Lukaku coming back in the summer is there any point in selling Torres?

Lukaku, Ba, Torres gives us 3 strikers with different options.

Drop the dead Donkey!

We had a load of chances yesterday, and all those clever players we bought to unpick teams when they play 10 at the back failed (kinda like Barca against us)
It was a one off result, but we still need another proper striker and a proper midfielder - no more brazillian fancy dans

Sgt Pepper 64

Luiz is NOT a midfielder and not a particulary good defender either

what a day

GavRedKing wrote: »

With Lukaku coming back in the summer is there any point in selling Torres?

Lukaku, Ba, Torres gives us 3 strikers with different options.

Torres is pants, why keep hold of him??
Get rid of him as soon as possible!

GavRedKing

Sgt Pepper 64 wrote: »

Luiz is NOT a midfielder and not a particulary good defender either

Not really his fault yesterday, his job had nothing to do with the goal, hes one of the only players last night shwoing for the ball and willing to get on it.

The problem was playing Oscar in Mata's position and expecting him to do a similar job, Mata is at this time irreplacable for us, no matter how good Oscar is hes no Mata and Mata makes us tick.

Hazard and Mata made a slight difference when they came on and IMo it would have been better to start them and take them off then to bring them on and try get them to influence a game.

what a day wrote: »

Torres is pants, why keep hold of him??
Get rid of him as soon as possible!

Replacements arent ready made and Roman may think twice before spending big money, its all well and good saying get rid of him but until a replacement is found it wont happen and we cant be stuck with Ba and Lukaku next year, we need at least 3 CF's and ideally 4 would be perfect but we've nobody at youth level able to step up yet.

GavRedKing

Sgt Pepper 64 wrote: »

Drop the dead Donkey!

We had a load of chances yesterday, and all those clever players we bought to unpick teams when they play 10 at the back failed (kinda like Barca against us)
It was a one off result, but we still need another proper striker and a proper midfielder - no more brazillian fancy dans

Come to think of it, Torres had one chance yesterday and Cesar made a good save from him.

The best chance fell to Moses who missed form what, 5 yards out when it looked easier to miss?

Ivanovic was unlucky with 2 headers and I think Lamps was level when he scored.

It was just one of those games that happens in the EPL when one team seems in control and dominating and the other team go up and nick it, happens.

Crann na Beatha

This post has been deleted.

GavRedKing

Lets get a pool going, how long is he going to last?

http://www.hasrafabeensacked.com/

GavRedKing

Phoenix wrote: »

Would Ba and Felliani make much of a difference to the way our team currently is?

Fellaini has played much of this season as an AM and to good effect, he'd be thrown back into DM with us so its hard to say would he be as effective.

Leiva

Just read on Twitter that all you have to do is pick off the "DROG" from your jerseys and you're sorted for a BA jersey !

Sgt Pepper 64

AS reporting we want Higuain

Chelsea are considering a move for Real Madrid striker Gonzalo Higuain, according to Spanish newspaper AS.
The reports in Spain suggest Rafa Benitez is weighing up a €30m bid for the Argentina forward, but may have to wait until the summer to land the striker.
AS claim Roman Abramovich is keen to fund a move for a big-name striker this season, and the name of Higuain has emerged as a potential target.
The European champions have been strongly linked with Atletico Madrid striker Radamel Falcao, but it now seems as though the Colombian international will stay at the Vicente Calderon, at least until the end of the season.
Benitez sanctioned the sale of Danny Sturridge to Liverpool for £12m this week, leaving Fernando Torres as the club's sole recognised striker.
The Blues have been linked with a move for Newcastle forward Demba Ba, but the Senegalese frontman is relatively cheap at £7m and his injury record suggests the deal is more than likely to be a short-term measure.
That could free Chelsea up to move for a big-name in the summer. Higuain has fallen out of favour at the Bernabeu, with Real Madrid boss Jose Mourinho preferring Karim Benzema, flanked by Angel Di Maria and Cristiano Ronaldo.

weiland79

Leiva wrote: »

Just read on Twitter that all you have to do is pick off the "DROG" from your jerseys and your sorted for a BA jersey !

NEVER!!!!!!!

what a day

Im saying it since last season, Fellaini and Luiz would be an awsom duo in our midfield. Fellaini is a cracking player and has been since the day he signed for Everton, its only this season more people are starting to notice him because he is playing more of an attacking role since Arteta left. Fellaini is a superb mifielder, and simular to Yaya he is very versitile but also has a dominating ability in midifeld yet still has technical quality of a smaller player.
Im not a massive fan of playing 2 deep midfielders but IMO Fellaini would make the perfect partner for Luiz/Mikel in our midfield.

GAV i dont know what you mean ready made striker? Its plain and simple Torres is not one of the best strikers in the world any more and if we want to be the best club in the world we need one of the best strikers in the world. Im not saying Ba is our answer but he is a better striker than Torres currently is and id have him start evey game before Torres.

As for Lukaku, he is doing brilliant with Brom so leave him there and let him grow as a player rather than sit on our bench. Bring him back when he is ready to lead the line for us maybe next season or the season after. We need at least 2 top quality strikers and Torres is not counted because he is not top quality IMO, Ba is a good start but we still need some one even better than Ba!

peteeeed

i wonder will BENAYOUN get a look in now he's back

what a day

peteeeed wrote: »

i wonder will BENAYOUN get a look in now he's back

any other players due back this month?
I dont think Yossi will get much of a look in with the holy trinity being better players and Moses, Marin and Piazon next in line id imagin Yossi will struggle to get game time with us.
Move him on i say, cul the dead wood.

what a day

If we can get Ba in and line up a top quality striker for the summer im all for it, move Torres on then in the summer. But oone thing is for sure, Torres has peaked long ago. We have to move on and we showed signs we are moving in the right direction when we pulled off the Hazard and Oscar signings.