Chelsea Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2012/2013

GavRedKing

Here ya go what a day , I've cut out the Youtube videos but there online for all to see.

This is the first part in a series I want to do profiling each potential playmaker Brazil has for the 2014 World Cup: Oscar, Ganso, Hernanes, Diego, and Kaka. (I’m discounting Ronaldinho because I refuse to consider him a viable option.)

We’ll start off with everyone’s darling of the moment, Oscar.

Oscar is the most fundamentally sound player in the Brazilian national team.

Quick qualification on that statement – I’m not counting players who Mano hasn’t called up yet. But of all the many players who’ve donned the yellow jersey in the last 3 years, Oscar is more versatile and more well-rounded than any of them. Different players can do individual things better, and he’s not the first I’d pick to build a team around, but after re-watching the USA and Argentina matches, and parts of Denmark and Mexico, I’m going to make a prediction.

Oscar will be the team’s starting number 10 for the 2014 World Cup.
Now, granted, I’m not saying anything revolutionary. And I’m not saying that, if the World Cup were tomorrow, Oscar would be the one I would pick. (I’d still pick Hernanes or Diego; maybe even Kaka.) But after re-watching those matches, I was curious to see if his level of play would hold up on second inspection.
It did.

I wasn’t sure if I would do this article because it’s hard to talk about what makes a player play so well on pictures alone, but then I discovered that videos of every single one of Oscar’s touches in the Denmark, USA and Argentina matches were posted to YouTube.

Let’s discuss some of the things that make Oscar such an effective player:

Ball control/body control

One of the things that make Oscar so fantastic is that he has immense control over both his body and his feet. When watching the videos, watch the Denmark match at the 0:38 mark and 3:14 mark, or against Argentina at the 1:48 and 2:11 marks. Not only does he usually display a good first touch on the ball, but watch his body. It’s almost always completely vertical. He has great balance when he moves, rarely learning one way or another. It’s this quality that allows him to get by his man without having to perform a complicated trick or rely on sheer pace; it’s also this quality that allows him to pull off some spectacular one-touch passes, like the one to Hulk starting at 2:11.

When a player is off balance in any sport, it makes it much harder for them to control themselves. Off-balance shots are much harder shots in basketball, make for harder strokes in tennis, and make for more inaccurate passes and shots in football. But Oscar’s balance – in part – is what allows him to be so effective. It was a factor in his absurdly high pass-completion rate in the four friendlies, and it prevents defenders from knowing what he’s going to do. The balance gives him the time to wait until the last possible second before passing or dribbling past his man. The 2nd clip against Denmark is the perfect example of this.
During the U20 World Cup, I also wrote that Oscar has superb turning ability. He was able to use his ability to turn on the ball to great advantage in that tournament, even against much more athletic players. In addition, while Oscar is not a very fast runner, he has an excellent first step. Johan Cruyff always used to say that it wasn’t about who was the fastest, but rather who moved first. Oscar’s quick first step allows him run with the ball at speed for a longer period of time than you’d expect. You won’t see him go on any long solo runs, but it adds an extra dimension to his game so that he’s not always just making passes at a standstill (like Ganso often seems to do.) Contrast this with Kaka, who was one of the fastest players I’ve ever seen, once upon a time. Now that Kaka’s pace has deserted him, his ability to run with the ball is greatly diminished – and he doesn’t have a particularly quick first step to rely on. (His pace always was built around the fact that he could pick up speed the longer he ran, not how quick he was out of the gate. Lucky for Kaka, though, that he is also possesses excellent balance.)

Comfort in every area of the pitch

I said after the U20 World Cup that one of the things I loved about Oscar was his ability to range all over the pitch and contribute no matter where he was. He demonstrated the same ability in spades in the last four friendlies. For example, look at 1:04 against Denmark. A lot of players, when on the ball that deep in their own territory, will panic and just boot the ball down field, or try to win a throw-in. But Oscar keeps his composure and sends a perfect long ball up to Leandro Damiao. In addition, in all four friendlies he consistently would drop deep to either help defend, or, in possession, would drop deep to help the build-up. Watch in the videos how often he will fall back, collect the ball, and then quickly pass and move.

Of course, we know how comfortable he is in the center of the pitch, as that’s his primary home. But check out 0:33 against the USA to see how good he is in congested positions (keeping the ball even in traffic, before slipping a perfect, casual through-ball to the marginally-offside Hulk.) He showed how comfortable he can be on the wing, popping up on the right wing, easily evading the Argentine leftback, before firing in a very dangerous cross that could have resulted in a goal for either Damiao or Neymar. (2:00 in the Argentina video.)
And of course, he’s also got no problem playing in the box itself. (2:59 in the Argentina video.)

Passing skills

There’s a bit of ’82 legend Falcao in Oscar, due to the things I mentioned above, like his comfort in all areas of the pitch. Another similarity is his underrated passing. To put it short, it’s very accurate. More importantly, it’s very intelligent: you always see Oscar playing the percentages when he has the ball. He’ll usually choose the more conservative option when given the choice, hoping to develop a more clear-cut scoring chance rather than try to make something out of nothing. But there seems to be a myth in some places that Oscar doesn’t really ever play killer passes, or attempt defense splitting through balls.

Well, witness 1:00 against Argentina (gorgeous long-ball to Hulk, who should have scored) or 1:18 against Argentina (diagonal lofted-ball over the top of the defense to Neymar, who should have been awarded a penalty) 1:54 against Argentina (perfectly lofted through-ball to Hulk) or 1:08 against the USA (another lovely lofted through-ball to Damiao who should have scored, or 3:19 against the USA (through-ball to Neymar, who crossed to Pato who hit the post.)

A little while back, I wrote a long post to Zetona about the fact that playmakers, despite their reputation, aren’t really creators. You can’t really create a chance to score with a pass – you can only exploit chances. It’s the movement and positioning of your teammates, a long with the defenders, that create chances. A good playmaker is one who recognizes a chance and then tries to seize it. (To this day, Zidane is the best I’ve ever seen at this.)

Oscar seems to understand this basic principle well. He rarely tries overambitious things that can’t be pulled off. But he’s also excellent at recognizing a chance, and then attempting to seize it. Watching the replays of these friendlies, I didn’t I see a single time when there was an obvious scoring chance created by his teammates that he failed to recognize and exploit. There were a few times where Oscar should have attempted to swing the ball to the opposite flank, instead of a more conservative layoff to a teammate close to him, but this is a minor issue.
Another aspect of Oscar’s passing skills is that he can basically complete every type of pass there is. What I mean by that is:
- He’s two-footed, so he can pass with both feet
- He’s adept at both the long-ball, the through-ball, the lofted-ball, and simple diagonal passes along the ground
- He can pass while on the run
- He can pass with every part of his foot. This one cannot be overstated. A lot of players can only pass with the inside of their foot, but Oscar can pass with his toe, with his backheel, and, most importantly of all, with the outside of his foot. This actually is not very common. Have you ever watched a match on TV where you see passing angles open to the dribbler, who makes no attempt to exploit them? It’s often because it would require passing with the outside of your foot, a skill many players don’t possess. But Oscar does it on a routine basis. The reason why the outside of your foot is difficult is because you get less feel for the ball, and it’s harder to generate power. Just as a backhand is a harder shot in tennis or hockey, passing with the outside of your foot means moving your leg away from your body rather than across. It’s a more awkward – and thus, more difficult – movement.

Other fundamentals

I’m running out of time on this article (I can hear my kids waking up) so I’ll be brief. While watching the videos above, pay attention to the following:
- Oscar’s work rate. He is constantly moving around the pitch, pressing the centerbacks, dropping back to defend, or harrying the dribbler in the midfield. It’s this quality that led to Hulk’s 2nd goal against Denmark.
- Oscar’s grasp of the pass and move idea. After every pass he makes, especially in the center of the park, you’ll see him immediately run forward-and-diagonally off the ball, to create a passing angle and catch the defenders napping. Pass and move is so simple and so fundamental, it always drives me nuts when players don’t do it. This was one of the single biggest flaws with Mano’s team in the Copa America. No one was doing it. (In retrospect, isn’t it incredible that Oscar wasn’t called up for that tournament? I mean, we knew Mano wasn’t going to call Hernanes or Kaka, and Diego hadn’t yet found his game in Madrid yet. But Oscar was a domestic player playing for a huge club. You’d have expected Mano to at least give him a look.)

- Oscar always plays with his head up. 1:04 against Denmark is a perfect example of this. He wins the ball off a Dane, drops deeper to evade any challenges, and then fires a perfect ball up the touchline to Damiao. He could have only done this if his head was up the whole time, and it was.
So, in short, while Oscar may not be quite as obviously dynamic as some of the other potential #10’s in the Selecão, he’s the most fundamentally sound. A lot of players are heavily weighted in one or two areas, meaning they suffer in others. So just as they can help the team with the skills, they can hurt the team with their flaws. That really isn’t the case with Oscar.

Now, the one thing to watch out for though is that Oscar came into these friendlies as a relative unknown. Of all the young phenoms playing in Brazil today (Neymar, Lucas, Damiao, Ganso, even Dede) Oscar is easily the least heralded. So it’s probable that all four teams didn’t know much about him, choosing to focus their attention on the more famous names.

I expect that, very soon, Oscar will start receiving a lot more attention from defenders, so I don’t expect him to play this well all the time.

In fact, I expect we’ll see him struggle a bit in the next round of friendlies. But given the fact that Oscar is a domestic player, an extremely skilled player, a fearless player (look how comfortable he was playing against a senior European side in his first start for the Selecão!) and a young player (he’s only going to get better and better), I’m going to hold to my prediction:

Oscar will be the starting #10 for Brazil in the 2014 World Cup. Whether he’ll be the most deserving remains to be seen. But it’s heartening to see a young player perform so intelligently and maturely. All you can ask of a player is that they seize the chances given to them, and Oscar has definitely done that.

what a day

We are starting to turn into a movie!!










........................................

what a day

Thanks lads, excellent read, sign him up!!

Sounds just like what we need in midfield, love the first touch, pass and move and passing ability. These IMO are a must have for all midfielders and its great to see its top off with some good vision and hard work.
Sounds like my perfect midfielder....Mata might have some compitition for my favourite player next season!!

GavRedKing

what a day wrote: »

Thanks lads, excellent read, sign him up!!

Sounds just like what we need in midfield, love the first touch, pass and move and passing ability. These IMO are a must have for all midfielders and its great to see its top off with some good vision and hard work.
Sounds like my perfect midfielder....Mata might have some compitition for my favourite player next season!!

Arrogance and ability, a deadly yet brillant mix.

Sgt Pepper 64

gavredking wrote: »

Arrogance and ability, a deadly yet brillant mix.

What a smartly dressed and well turned out young man. He could work in insurance he could

Crann na Beatha

This post has been deleted.

GavRedKing

Sgt Pepper 64 wrote: »

What a smartly dressed and well turned out young man. He could work in insurance he could

If he ensures we win the league I'll take that.

GavRedKing

Aquila wrote: »

But is he better than Modric:pac:

Not at the moment but give him a few more years and you never know how he'll develop.

what a day

Aquila wrote: »

But is he better than Modric:pac:

Spot on Gav, we can compare him to Modric in 5 years time

Any way its not Modric is better than Hazard its Kagawa is better than Hazard

Gerard is better than Lampard, McEachran is better than Wilshire and my dad could kill your dad :P

Crann na Beatha

This post has been deleted.

MUSEIST

SO how about

cech

ivanovich luiz terry cole

mikel ramires

hazard oscar mata

torres

or
cech

ivanovich luiz terry cole

mikel ramires

oscar mata hazard

Torres

Interchange cahill and terry, mikel/ramires/lampard/mereiles/romeu/essien

Marin/hazard/mata/oscar/sturridge/piazon/kakuta can play anywhere across the attacking 3 and of course torres banging in the goals.

MUSEIST likes this

Techless

MUSEIST wrote: »

SO how about

cech

ivanovich luiz terry cole

mikel ramires

hazard oscar mata

torres

or
cech

ivanovich luiz terry cole

mikel ramires

oscar mata hazard

Torres

Interchange cahill and terry, mikel/ramires/lampard/mereiles/romeu/essien

Marin/hazard/mata/oscar/sturridge/piazon/kakuta can play anywhere across the attacking 3 and of course torres banging in the goals.

MUSEIST likes this

Looks good but would still think we are light at right back and centre forward.

GavRedKing

Techless wrote: »

Looks good but would still think we are light at right back and centre forward.

Lukaku amd Hutchinson. No need to spend money at all.

Caveman1

Havnt posted here in a while,

Just thinking about some of our younger players, is it best we cut our losses with Kakuta ? He's been on loan with 3 clubs or so and hasn't impressed with any, I can't see him making any sort of impact with us especially if we sign some of the players we are supposedly in for.

I reckon Josh should be sent out on loan again next season and if he doesn't shine move him on also, with the type of players we already having in centre midfield he doesn't really stand a chance IMO

Sgt Pepper 64

NOT being funny, but even Chelsea know that Torres will NOT be banging in the goals and thats why they are looking for insurance.
All the creative\attacking talent in the world isnt going to set him on fire.
We need a Rooney\Aquergo\Van Persie type.
Look at the size of the task ahead of us.
Last season the 3 top scorers were
RVP 30
Rooney 27
Aquergo 23

Do you really believe that Torres is going to score over 20 goals again?

Mata had the second highest assists (13) and that still didnt help him outscore a rookie Danny played out of position

In total, City scored 93 goals, Utd 89 and Arsenal 74.
It was an exceptional year, as normally around 75 is enough to win it.

We scored 65. Thats the size of the task ahead. You need the team chipping in with goals and I certainly expect Hazard, Mata, Danny (if he stays) and others to chip in, but stats have shown you need your main man firing and I just dont believe Torres has it in him.

I know I should be positive etc etc , but I really fear for our challenge unless we get a decent striker in.
RDM and Torres will get their chance, I just dont fully believe that Torres deserves his

Meglamonia

Sgt Pepper 64 wrote: »

NOT being funny, but even Chelsea know that Torres will NOT be banging in the goals and thats why they are looking for insurance.
All the creative\attacking talent in the world isnt going to set him on fire.
We need a Rooney\Aquergo\Van Persie type.
Look at the size of the task ahead of us.
Last season the 3 top scorers were
RVP 30
Rooney 27
Aquergo 23

Do you really believe that Torres is going to score over 20 goals again?

Mata had the second highest assists (13) and that still didnt help him outscore a rookie Danny played out of position

In total, City scored 93 goals, Utd 89 and Arsenal 74.
It was an exceptional year, as normally around 75 is enough to win it.

We scored 65. Thats the size of the task ahead. You need the team chipping in with goals and I certainly expect Hazard, Mata, Danny (if he stays) and others to chip in, but stats have shown you need your main man firing and I just dont believe Torres has it in him.

I know I should be positive etc etc , but I really fear for our challenge unless we get a decent striker in.
RDM and Torres will get their chance, I just dont fully believe that Torres deserves his

Aquergo :pac: :pac: .... Sorry

On a serious note you're right we seriously need another centre forward whatever about the right back position.Could even get a cheap experienced player who could do a good job!

Gonzovision

Fernando Duarte@Fernando_Duarte
Reports in Brazil that Internacional will shortly announce Oscar has been sold to Chelsea.

Sgt Pepper 64

gonzovision wrote: »

Fernando Duarte@Fernando_Duarte
Reports in Brazil that Internacional will shortly announce Oscar has been sold to Chelsea.

Yep,
Telegraph reckons he could be our Ozil!

http://www.telegraph...Mesut-Ozil.html

I still think he is pricey, a luxury we dont really need and a quite a big gamble, but hey, bring on the Brazillions!

I also think its the end of Katuta and maybe 1 or 2 others

McDave

Sgt Pepper 64 wrote: »

NOT being funny, but even Chelsea know that Torres will NOT be banging in the goals and thats why they are looking for insurance.
All the creative\attacking talent in the world isnt going to set him on fire.
We need a Rooney\Aquergo\Van Persie type.
Look at the size of the task ahead of us.
Last season the 3 top scorers were
RVP 30
Rooney 27
Aquergo 23

Do you really believe that Torres is going to score over 20 goals again?

Mata had the second highest assists (13) and that still didnt help him outscore a rookie Danny played out of position

In total, City scored 93 goals, Utd 89 and Arsenal 74.
It was an exceptional year, as normally around 75 is enough to win it.

We scored 65. Thats the size of the task ahead. You need the team chipping in with goals and I certainly expect Hazard, Mata, Danny (if he stays) and others to chip in, but stats have shown you need your main man firing and I just dont believe Torres has it in him.

I know I should be positive etc etc , but I really fear for our challenge unless we get a decent striker in.
RDM and Torres will get their chance, I just dont fully believe that Torres deserves his

You make a convincing enough case. If we're going to need around 80 goals next season, it's not unreasonable to expect our main goalscorer to bag at least 20 and help out with a few assists too. I think with the right support, Torres does have 20 in him. He'll put people at ease if he bangs a few in early in the season, and a couple in big matches. But if he's only one up after 10 matches, the knives will be out.

Personally, I think he needs a clean run and a bit of luck. He's less likely to get either if we sign a big-name goalscorer in the coming weeks.

Sgt Pepper 64

McDave wrote: »

You make a convincing enough case. If we're going to need around 80 goals next season, it's not unreasonable to expect our main goalscorer to bag at least 20 and help out with a few assists too. I think with the right support, Torres does have 20 in him. He'll put people at ease if he bangs a few in early in the season, and a couple in big matches. But if he's only one up after 10 matches, the knives will be out.

Personally, I think he needs a clean run and a bit of luck. He's less likely to get either if we sign a big-name goalscorer in the coming weeks.

Forgot to add - with attacking football, you need a bloody good defence as well! You need players who will track back and not concede possession easily. We'll probably play some sort of fluid 4-3-2-1
Utd and City both scored plenty of goals, but they also conceded the fewest
City 29
Utd 33

Everyone else conceded in the 40's
Fortunately the high line will be gone, but we still need to be tight at the back

Looking at previous years, our strikers havent been very proflic and actually rarely scored 20 league goals.
But its Super Frank who has done it for us. Somehow we need his goals shared around or find the new Frank!
So, maybe Torres could get away with scoring at least double figures

GavRedKing

Im willing to bank on Torres been our top scorer. If hes started he'll score plenty of goals next year. He at least deserves the chance now that Drogba is gone.

kev1.3s

Personall Im glad dogmas gone how many world class strikers have we seen come and go from Stanford bridge unable to live in his shadow ? Truth is we would never be able to make a transition in style if we were to hold on to him.

Panthro

Sgt Pepper 64 wrote: »

Looking at previous years, our strikers havent been very proflic and actually rarely scored 20 league goals.
But its Super Frank who has done it for us. Somehow we need his goals shared around or find the new Frank!
So, maybe Torres could get away with scoring at least double figures

This is exactly my thoughts upon reading your earlier post.
Lampard has been a prolific goalscorer for Chelsea over the past number of years. He hit 20 a season a few times running, I don't see us stumbling upon a new Frank to be honest, so we need the goals coming from a few different threats as well as Torres. (Who I think will come good this season, g'wan Torres!)

GavRedKing

If Hazard, Mata, Lampard, Torres, Sturridge can reach double figures as well as Ramires, Marin and a few others chipping in with goals we'll be ok with goals.

Our main problem was creating goals, which we dealt with by signing Mata, Mata will be better next year and with Torres starting he'll get more chances from our more creative players which should see him score plenty more, if not then he can be sold in the summer.

Panthro

I think Mata will be rotated a bit to be honest, once the 60-70 mins hits, he is usually very tired. Luckily we have a few youthful creative players brought in I suppose!

grumpymunster

I dont know if it is just plain blind optimisim but I do fancy Torres to score a lot this season. Good and all that the Drog was last season in cups he didnt fare too well in the league.
The team appears to have a more attacking aspect to it, lets face it the only bit of guile we had last season was Mata. This season hopefully we will have a bit more and with Nandos ability to find a gap I have faith. It will be interesting to see the line up at Villa Park on the glorious 12th. Methinks there is a twist or two yet before we kick off there.

GavRedKing

Seem to be a rumour or two saying were interested in taking stephen Nzonzi from Blackburn as cover/back up.

A decent player, he'd only be cover IMO.

Panthro

Chelsea boss swoops for versatile pair of Lucic and Sapunaru

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2171731/Chelsea-want-Portos-Cristian-Sapunaru-Senad-Lucic-Lazio.html#ixzz20IaxIyiH

GavRedKing

If its an out and out winger we want we should go after Andriy Yarmolenko, think he'd be an excellent signing but fairly costly if we were to go after him.

what a day

I have to agree with Torres scoring more goals this season. We all saw some form return to him the end of last season and he has played well for spain. But with Drogba gone he will be starting every game and Mata will be settled in better and will link up better.

Add to that we will have Hazard and possible more creative players to play Torres in he will get back into scoring mode. If he cant produce next season he is finished, but i really do have faith in him this year.

As for scoring 20 goals a season i dont believe in it, all we have to do is score one more than our opponent. As mentioned above we do need a good defense to do this and we will have one of the best in the world if we get a good RB. With Hazard Mata Lampard Torres Ramires and possibly Sturridge amongst the goals we have enough fire power but no doubt we will add to that with another striker and possibly Oscar.

Id love us to hold on to Sturridge and play him central, i know if we let him go he will come back to haunt us! Rotate him with Torres for Cup games and let Lukaku go on loan. McEachran is quality and there is no way we will sell him!! He too could play our cup games this season. Kakuta maybe it is time to cash in on him, he star is fading fast. Good to see Chalobha possibly going on loan this season too, he is going to be quality!!

Have faith lads

GavRedKing

Yossi back, will he stay?

http://www.chelseafc.com/page/LatestNews/0,,10268~2838928,00.html

After a season spent across London on loan at Arsenal, Yossi Benayoun has returned to a very different Chelsea to the one he left behind.

At the end of August 2011, when the Israeli international captain signed a temporary deal with the Gunners, we had Andre Villas-Boas as our new manager and had just endured the frustration of a trophy-less campaign.
Fast forward to this summer and Benayoun has re-joined the European champions led by Roberto Di Matteo, albeit without some familiar faces of the 32-year-old's first season at Stamford Bridge. Among the first wave of players back training at Cobham, the midfielder has been working alongside new players like Eden Hazard, Marko Marin and Kevin De Bruyne, rather than some of the more established players who are either still on holiday or departed.

'Now I am back at Chelsea for pre-season, the hard part of football, and I'm trying to do my best in front of Robbie, so we will just have to see what happens in the future,' Benayoun said.

'A lot has happened since I was last here. Unfortunately it didn't work out with Andre Villas-Boas, results weren't good enough but Robbie took the team, and we won the FA Cup and Champions League. I kept in touch and it was just great to see the club winning these trophies.

'I was at home for the Champions League Final, as the next day I was joining up with the national team. It was amazing to watch and enjoy. When you thought Bayern would win it, suddenly Didier Drogba was there like always to score an important goal and of course I was so happy for the club, the players and the owner. Hopefully this season the club will win a few trophies again.'

During his time in north London, Benayoun scored six times in 25 appearances, helping Arsenal qualify for the Champions League by finishing above rivals Tottenham.

'First of all the most important thing was that I enjoyed my time with Arsenal, and football-wise, I can separate the season into two parts,' he explained.

'When you play more you enjoy it more and in the last few months of the season I played more and in important games, and I scored a few important goals so I finished on a high, and we had a strong finish. It was a good feeling, I was happy at the end of my time there, and the fans were very supportive of me.

'The club was happy to finish third. At the beginning of the season people were saying Arsenal would never be in the top four because we were 16th, 17th in the table, but there was a lot of quality in the team and we had a very good run. We did it in the end and it was important to finish above Spurs, because we all saw what happened after with the Champions League!'

The social media savvy may have noticed Benayoun in the news this week, when former Arsenal team-mate Andre Santos tweeted the 32-year-old saying he would see him at Gunners training on Monday, only for our man to respond the only way that would happen was if the Brazilian was carrying a picture of him. Santos, it seems, had forgotten Benayoun was only on loan.

'Andre Santos is one of my good friends, but didn't know I wasn't coming back!' he laughed. 'I think it took him a day or two to compute what was happening, he had been told before though, but I think he had just come home from Dubai and his head was still in the clouds!'

Just like us at Chelsea, you can keep up with Yossi by following him on Twitter - his username is @YossiBenayoun15.

Techless

Yossi would be a great squad player to have, plenty of skill and experience to compliment and help some of our new signings.

GavRedKing

Agreed, think Yossi will be good back up to Hazard/Mata.

what a day

Could be an excellent squad player alright but id prefere to move him on and leave the squad space for one of the youngsters.

GavRedKing

Well if we can integrate Piazon or Kakuta then I'd be for selling on Yossi as it would free up a few K's aswell.

Techless

Has he much left to run on his contract ?

GavRedKing

Techless wrote: »

Has he much left to run on his contract ?

Runs out next Summer 2013.

what a day

Well we have been chasing Oscar/Modric/Mountinho etc so we are defo after another midfielder. We already have Lampard, Mata, Ramires, Meireles, Essien, Mikel, Malouda, Oriel, Hazard and Marin all can play in midfield i dont think we should keep Yossi, id prefer McEachran got more games TBH.

I still think we will shed 2 or 3 more players before the summer is out and that will slim our squad down nicely. With Di Matteo i think we will play a 4-2-3-1 formation and a 4-3-3 formation so we could have a midfield of

---

Torres

---

---

Hazard-Mata-Oscar

---

--Lampard-Mikel---

---

Cole-Terry-Luiz-????

Or

Hazard--Torres-????

---

--Mata

---

Oscar--

---

Mikel

---

---

Cole-Terry-Luiz-?????

With midfield Subs: Marin, Lampard, Oriel, McEachran, Meireles, Ramires we should have enough in midfield

Once we sign Lucas/Hulk and Debuchy/Pizceck we will be sorted

Techless

what a day wrote: »

Well we have been chasing Oscar/Modric/Mountinho etc so we are defo after another midfielder. We already have Lampard, Mata, Ramires, Meireles, Essien, Mikel, Malouda, Oriel, Hazard and Marin all can play in midfield i dont think we should keep Yossi, id prefer McEachran got more games TBH.

I still think we will shed 2 or 3 more players before the summer is out and that will slim our squad down nicely. With Di Matteo i think we will play a 4-2-3-1 formation and a 4-3-3 formation so we could have a midfield of

---

Torres

---

---

Hazard-Mata-Oscar

---

--Lampard-Mikel---

---

Cole-Terry-Luiz-????

Or

Hazard--Torres-????

---

--Mata

---

Oscar--

---

Mikel

---

---

Cole-Terry-Luiz-?????

With midfield Subs: Marin, Lampard, Oriel, McEachran, Meireles, Ramires we should have enough in midfield

Once we sign Lucas/Hulk and Debuchy/Pizceck we will be sorted

Accept above but still think Yossi would be a useful man to have around. He is able to play wide and would give options there as well as central midfield. Of course it depends on who else comes in but hopefully Malouda goes and we're not yet sure how Marin will adapt to the EPL.

GavRedKing

what a day wrote: »

Well we have been chasing Oscar/Modric/Mountinho etc so we are defo after another midfielder. We already have Lampard, Mata, Ramires, Meireles, Essien, Mikel, Malouda, Oriel, Hazard and Marin all can play in midfield i dont think we should keep Yossi, id prefer McEachran got more games TBH.

I still think we will shed 2 or 3 more players before the summer is out and that will slim our squad down nicely. With Di Matteo i think we will play a 4-2-3-1 formation and a 4-3-3 formation so we could have a midfield of

---

Torres

---

---

Hazard-Mata-Oscar

---

--Lampard-Mikel---

---

Cole-Terry-Luiz-????

Or

Hazard--Torres-????

---

--Mata

---

Oscar--

---

Mikel

---

---

Cole-Terry-Luiz-?????

With midfield Subs: Marin, Lampard, Oriel, McEachran, Meireles, Ramires we should have enough in midfield

Once we sign Lucas/Hulk and Debuchy/Pizceck we will be sorted

1st formation - Possible, we ahve players to do it, even if we dont sign Oscar we have Marin and we have a few options at RB at the club alone.

2nd formation - :eek: Oscar would be wasted that far back and we'd be battered in defence. Only JT and Mikel have defensive tendencies in that formation. Mata, Oscar, Mikel would get us over run by teams way to easy. Part of the reason RDm went with the 4-2-3-1 was to give us more stell in the middle and protect our core, it also helped that he prefered wingers that would defend and track back.

I'd be surprised if we changed from the 4-2-3-1 for next season, it gives us excellent balance and a platform to build on.

what a day

Techless wrote: »

Accept above but still think Yossi would be a useful man to have around. He is able to play wide and would give options there as well as central midfield. Of course it depends on who else comes in but hopefully Malouda goes and we're not yet sure how Marin will adapt to the EPL.

Good point regarding Marin. Id love us to get rid of Malouda Yossi and either Essien or Meireles. I just think if we sign another player like Oscar we will be fine in midfield. As mentined above i didn put Malouda or Essien in our subs as id like them to be gone and we have good strength in dept.
If we are really stuck for a wide player both Sturridge and Ramires proved they can do a job out wide and im sure we will sign a wide forward since we have been linked with bids for Hulk Lucas and Shurrle in the past week.

If you look at ever position in midfield we should have two players for every postion and if we sign Oscar our midfield would be complete IMO.

if we play a 4-2-3-1 for mation we will need 5 midfielders so i think we need 10 midfielders.

Hazard - Mata - Oscar
-- Lampard -- Mikel --

Would be first choice and players to rotate with would be

Marin - Oscar/Mata/Hazard -Ramires

---

McEachran/Luiz- Oriel

---

Thats 10 players able to play in our midfield while also allowing game time for McEachran and Oriel. Luiz can certanly play in a defensive midfield role and i for one would love to see him play in that position.

Our starting back four was excellent with Cole Terry Cahill Ivan but when we can give Luiz game time as both midfield and CB we will still sign a right back and also have Ivan as back up with hutch

Cole Terry Cahill ?????
Bertrand Luiz Ivan Hutch

what a day

gavredking wrote: »

1st formation - Possible, we ahve players to do it, even if we dont sign Oscar we have Marin and we have a few options at RB at the club alone.

2nd formation - :eek: Oscar would be wasted that far back and we'd be battered in defence. Only JT and Mikel have defensive tendencies in that formation. Mata, Oscar, Mikel would get us over run by teams way to easy. Part of the reason RDm went with the 4-2-3-1 was to give us more stell in the middle and protect our core, it also helped that he prefered wingers that would defend and track back.

I'd be surprised if we changed from the 4-2-3-1 for next season, it gives us excellent balance and a platform to build on.

I dont agree we would get over run every game Gav, fair enough agaisnt the likes of ManCity etc we would but i do think Robbie will use the 4-3-3 formation but i agree we will use mainly the 4-2-3-1 formation.

I also agree the 4-2-3-1 formation worked better with DiMatteo but i feel Robbie will be influenced to play a 4-3-3 as all our youth set up play a 4-3-3 the same as Barca. Iv been doing a bit or researce on Oscar and i do admit i have not seen him play other than youtube but it appears he is an intensely hard working playmaker and can certanly play from deep. Oscar like s to track back and close down players so for me he would be briliant in a midfield 3 with a defensive player to mop up and supply time for Oscar and Mata to track back.

GavRedKing

Just wanna elobrate on what I meant by using the 4-2-3-1 formation.

It gives us 2 different formations depending on the game we're trying to play.

This is how we are supposed to line out.

---

x

---

x----x

---

x

---

x

---

x---x

---

x

---

x

---

x

---

x

---

But when we have the ball and I've wathced it a few times this season it tends to end up as a modified 4-1-2-3 like this below, the 2 wingers go high up as possible while been backed up by the FB's and one of the CM's goes in support of the attacking line, usualyl Lampard or Meireles leaving Mikel to hold the rear guard with the 2 CB's :

---

x

---

x----x

---

x

---

x

---

x

---

---

x---x

---

x

---

x

---

x

Whe we defend, as we seen in the Bayern/Barca games it reverts into a 4-4-1-1 with the AM usually Mata, working with the CF to close down 20 yards either side of the centre cirlce.

Looking like this :

---

x

---

x----x

---

x

---

x

x

---

x---x

---

x

---

x

---

---

x

---

what a day

Your totally correct Gav, i see the exact same outcome and line up when we play under DiMatteo. Its a brilliant fortmation and highly adaptable.

Using your formation placing the players iv mentioned in the line up

---

Cech

---

---

???-Cahill---Terry--Cole

---

---

Mikel

---

----Oscar

---

Mata----
?????

---

Hazard

---

Torres

---

This could be our base 1st line up and if we need more steel in the starting line up against say ManCity

---

Cech

---

---

???-Cahill---Terry--Cole

---

---

Mikel--Lampard----

---

--Oscar--Mata--Hazard

---

---

Torres

---

Or as iv also mention putting Luiz into a defensive midfield postion like

---

Cech

---

---

???-Cahill---Terry--Cole

---

---

Mikel---Luiz

---

---

Ramires--Lampard--Hazard

---

---

Torres

---

GavRedKing

I still want Yarmolenko if we dont get Oscar/Jovetic/Moura.

I think he would light up the EPL and give us a great wide option we havent had since Robben or Maloudas first season.

SlipperyPeople

I was impressed with him too wouldnt mind him at all. I'd say we'll either get oscar or jovetic tbh

hopefully oscar

GavRedKing

hungoverbunny wrote: »

I was impressed with him too wouldnt mind him at all. I'd say we'll either get oscar or jovetic tbh

hopefully oscar

Rumours that AC Milan bid €20million for him but Dynamo Kyiv rejected it, maybe Seaneh can shed some light on it, I'll have to ask him.

SlipperyPeople

wiki says he was recommended by sheva to them.


wiki never lies right?

GavRedKing

Ex AC Milan and Ukraine Legend, I'd say he could very easily manipulate a move if he wanted to. :pac:

Wiki is more then liekly BS'ing but in this case there could very easily be truth with it. :pac:

Ooohhh and Wiki never lies, ever.

GavRedKing

From The Mail, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2171892/Chelsea-plot-new-Andre-Schurrle-bid-Daniel-Sturridge-leave.html#ixzz20JrwAGWw

They are aslo reporting that Sturridge could be gone and that Oscar deal is done.

Chelsea are planning a new £20million offer for Germany striker Andre Schurrle.
The European Champions had a £17m bid for the 21-year-old front-man rejected earlier this month by Bayer Leverkusen, who are adamant they want to keep their man.
But the Blues are preparing to test their resolve with another move, which if completed could see Daniel Sturridge leave Chelsea, according to The Telegraph.

Chelsea have already pulled off another transfer coup by clinching the signature of £25m Brazilian wonderkid Oscar, who can play as a forward, from under the noses of Tottenham.

The arrivals of Oscar and Schurrle would add to those of Eden Hazard and Marko Marin and put Sturridge's place under threat.
The England striker is recovering after contracting viral meningitis - typically considered a mild strain of the disease.

Schurrle joined Leverkusen from Mainz last year and has since established himself as one of the most exciting young talents in the Bundesliga.

He has won 16 caps for Germany and was a member of their Euro 2012 squad where he made two substitute appearance in the victories over Denmark and Greece.