Chelsea Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2013/14

MaroonAndGreen

Lads, just watched ''Kings Of Europe: The Chelsea Story'' again...

Never fails to bring tears to my eyes

pistolpetes11

LanceStorm wrote: »

Torres plays on the shoulder of the last defender, 2 big problems with that, the team DONT play him balls to suit that style of play, secondly, even if we did he dosent have the pace to put them away! So he's reduced to playing out on the wings or coming into midfield to pick up the ball, he cannot hold up the ball or make even the simplest of passes.

Lukaku plays a style that 100% more suits this current team, balls played to him with his back to goal, he's able to hold up play and bring the more skillfull players into the game! He's got pace to burn and everything in the world to prove, so he uses all of his energy chasing down balls, powering defenders off the ball and making people **** themselves when they see him running at them!

Lukaku and Ba will lead Chelsea next year, Fernando should be sold and a third Striker brought in.

A 50 million pound player that can only play to one type of style ,that just cant be the case , if you went up playing for your local team and told them " lads no high balls just balls to feet " you would be laughed off the stage

He needs to adapt , work hard , make a massive effort with the fans who have supported him for long enough , needs to come out and say I apologise for how poor I am or have been , stop letting RB take all his slack , cause that slack has just about hung RB, the whole situation is an embarrassment ,


There is plenty of balls going its just he is never there to get to them because he is not prepared to bust his guts , to stick his head in for a nasty challenge.

As for Falco , I hope we dont buy him , If were going to spend stupid money again I would rather see us buy Fellani and Baines and still have change left over to buy a youngster to make the step up and bring Lukaku back , Id sooner go for Suarez than Falco.

Trying to think here of a good striker in the EPL , that would not be stupid money

Long , Benteke, Hernandez, or is it time to step one of youth lads up ,

Bamford , Furez ?

Blatter

pistolpetes11 wrote: »

A 50 million pound player that can only play to one type of style ,that just cant be the case , if you went up playing for your local team and told them " lads no high balls just balls to feet " you would be laughed off the stage

He needs to adapt , work hard , make a massive effort with the fans who have supported him for long enough , needs to come out and say I apologise for how poor I am or have been , stop letting RB take all his slack , cause that slack has just about hung RB, the whole situation is an embarrassment ,


There is plenty of balls going its just he is never there to get to them because he is not prepared to bust his guts , to stick his head in for a nasty challenge.

As for Falco , I hope we dont buy him , If were going to spend stupid money again I would rather see us buy Fellani and Baines and still have change left over to buy a youngster to make the step up and bring Lukaku back , Id sooner go for Suarez than Falco.

Trying to think here of a good striker in the EPL , that would not be stupid money

Long , Benteke, Hernandez, or is it time to step one of youth lads up ,

Bamford , Furez ?

How could you not want Falcao!?

He would make a serious difference.

Paul Tergat

pistolpetes11 wrote: »

Trying to think here of a good striker in the EPL , that would not be stupid money

Long , Benteke, Hernandez, or is it time to step one of youth lads up ,

you referring to chicharito here?

Lord TSC

Blatter wrote: »

How could you not want Falcao!?

He would make a serious difference.

I say this as a United fan, but would he? And would he make a 50m+ difference?

Chelsea have such a great strike force on paper. Torres and Ba, with Lukaku coming back in, should be a potent strike force, and the ACM trio of Mata, Hazard and Oscar is probably one of the strongest in Europe. Chelsea's strike force makes my mouth water.

Don't get me wrong, I get adding Falcao to it would also make it even better, but I don't know if it would be significantly better, especially when you consider you have no clue how a player like Falcao will even do in the premier league.

Regardless, I personally think Pistolpete is right; Chelsea's problems (imo) right now is not it's attack force but it's defence force, and spending the big money on defence and midfield would make far more sense. For the same price as Falcao, you could make far more significant improvements to the overall team accross other areas of the field.

And I'll stress again, although I'm a United fan, I say that with a fair bit of jealousy at some of the attacking options you guys already have

LanceStorm

Torres needs to be sold in the summer, we need to cut our losses, he's finished.

That leaves us with Ba and Lukaku, so we need a third striker, totally different from the two we have to fight for the single striker position we play with and offer us something different. Im not 100% sure who that is.

Falcao and Cavani are the two big options out there that I think will move in the summer, both are at the age where we can spread the cost (50m) over 4-5 year contract, but there'll be no re-sell value by that time. I dont know if either is the right move, 1-2 years ago yes.

applehunter

MaroonAndGreen wrote: »

Lads, just watched ''Kings Of Europe: The Chelsea Story'' again...

Never fails to bring tears to my eyes

Sounds like a real David and Goliath story.

Against all the odds.

Little Chelsea.........:P

Crann na Beatha

This post has been deleted.

Blatter

Teamshadowclan wrote: »

I say this as a United fan, but would he? And would he make a 50m+ difference?

Chelsea have such a great strike force on paper. Torres and Ba, with Lukaku coming back in, should be a potent strike force, and the ACM trio of Mata, Hazard and Oscar is probably one of the strongest in Europe. Chelsea's strike force makes my mouth water.

Don't get me wrong, I get adding Falcao to it would also make it even better, but I don't know if it would be significantly better, especially when you consider you have no clue how a player like Falcao will even do in the premier league.

Regardless, I personally think Pistolpete is right; Chelsea's problems (imo) right now is not it's attack force but it's defence force, and spending the big money on defence and midfield would make far more sense. For the same price as Falcao, you could make far more significant improvements to the overall team accross other areas of the field.

And I'll stress again, although I'm a United fan, I say that with a fair bit of jealousy at some of the attacking options you guys already have

Well Torres is finished as a top class striker, that's there for all to see. His name means nothing now, his previous ability is well in the past. He's probably a £10m player now.

Ba is good and will do for the moment, but he'll never be top tier. I think for a club with Chelsea's ambitions, Ba would be the perfect backup striker.

Lukaku again, will probably become world class but I'm not sure how far he's off. Maybe 1-2 more years if things go well. More than good enough for backup along with Ba next season but rely on him to score goals consistently to help win the league/CL? Not yet I don't think.

Falcao has the physical attributes to make it in the PL without doubt imo. He'd suit it down to the ground and would score shed loads with Mata/Oscar/Hazard supporting him.

LanceStorm

Barclays Premier League Top Scorers


Van Persie Man Utd 19
Suarez Liverpool 18
Michu Swansea 15
Ba Chelsea 14
Bale Tottenham 13
Dzeko Man City 12
Lukaku West Brom 12
Benteke Aston Villa 11
Cazorla Arsenal 11
Lambert Southampton 11
Lampard Chelsea 11
Walcott Arsenal 11
Defoe Tottenham 10
Fellaini Everton 10
Fletcher Sunderland 10
Le Fondre Reading 10
Mata Chelsea 10
Rooney Man Utd 10


Looking at the above, who would you like us to realistically target in the summer?

Michu would cost less than 20m surely?
Benteke similar but is also Belgian and would help him settling in? Maybe too similar to Lukaku?
Fellaini would cost us 30m or upwards I would have thought, but its goals from central midfield that Lamps would normally provide!

djPSB

4 points off the top when Rafa took over.

19 now.

Oh dear.

Crann na Beatha

This post has been deleted.

homer simpson

Ah seriously is it the end of May yet, I just want this season to be over

Andersonisgod

Phoenix wrote: »

I expect alot of departures come summer.
And I hope an actual "manager" in place,piss poor for a team "talented" on paper,no heart,no guts or fight,total cluelessness out there

I agree. The whole thing is just so directionless right now. The second goal comes from us trying to play out from the back, messing it up, getting a throw in inside our own half and losing the ball from it, dreadful playground type stuff.

Other times the ball is being played long to small players. Mikel and Lampard haven't got the ability to get on the ball and play out from the back under pressure, I'm not sold on Ivanovic having that ability either.

Worse still he created little, or practically nothing up front. Sometimes I think you could nearly divide our team into two separate groups, those who belong in the old physical Chelsea side and those who are their to play a passing game, it's such an odd contrast to have in one team.

Look at what Ajax or Dortmund did to City, both completely outplayed them but thats because both clubs have a set philosophy and a squad of players all at the club because they fit into that philosophy.

Changes definitely need to be made and a decision has to be taken by Roman Abramovich as to which direction he wants the club to go and that should reflect in the next managerial appointment.

Barr

Depressing stuff watching Chelsea against City. The players look like they couldn’t care less. The sooner Rafa is out the door the better.

Killinator

And Torres didnt play for most of today, so we cant scapegoat him.
I dare say he could have started instead of Ba and it would have made no difference.
I'm really starting to believe that part of me which believes Torres is shouldering a hell of alot more blame than he should,
How did Ramy stay on for 90 minutes, horrible touch and just consistently ran head long into city players, and if he wasn't doing that he was giving away cheap fouls!
Depressing performance......again.

Crann na Beatha

This post has been deleted.

homer simpson

Killinator wrote: »

And Torres didnt play for most of today, so we cant scapegoat him.
I dare say he could have started instead of Ba and it would have made no difference.
I'm really starting to believe that part of me which believes Torres is shouldering a hell of alot more blame than he should,
How did Ramy stay on for 90 minutes, horrible touch and just consistently ran head long into city players, and if he wasn't doing that he was giving away cheap fouls!
Depressing performance......again.

I disagree, I though Ba played quite well. Held up the ball a lot when it was him and 6 City players with no other Chelsea player within 20 yards. Won lots of headers and won a penalty.

Torres would have done none of that.

Killinator

homer simpson wrote: »

I disagree, I though Ba played quite well. Held up the ball a lot when it was him and 6 City players with no other Chelsea player within 20 yards. Won lots of headers and won a penalty.

Torres would have done none of that.

Fine if you rate strikers like that, but
How many shots on target did he have, hell how many shots in general, hovering around 0 id say.
How many games before holding play up isn't good enough anymore.
Not too long ago Benny defended one of Torres's performances by claiming he held up the ball and made runs to free up space, the response was that that was rubbish, hes a striker therefore he's there to score!
It really doesn't matter what Torres does unless he scores, how long before a 'hasbascoredyet.com' pops up!

I'm not saying Torres has played great, he obviously, painfully hasn't lived up to anywhere near his price, but Chelsea as a whole have not played any better with Ba up front then with Torres, which surely anybody would agree is s far more serious problem than a misfiring striker, whoever he happens to be.

DazMarz

No disrespect intended, but come May... fúcking Bradford could have more silverware in the cabinet than Chelsea do.

This team is just clueless. Headless chickens. JT was needed today, let Luiz play in the holding midfield. Ramires was useless, needed to come off quicker. Was depressing to watch.

pistolpetes11

DazMarz wrote: »

No disrespect intended, but come May... fúcking Bradford could have more silverware in the cabinet than Chelsea do.

This team is just clueless. Headless chickens. JT was needed today, let Luiz play in the holding midfield. Ramires was useless, needed to come off quicker. Was depressing to watch.

In agreement with all the above ,

Rambo is a shadow of the player he was last season ,

It was painfully clear from the off today our formation was all wrong , the midfield could not get out fast enough to support Ba and we were swamped and out classed throughout the game ,

Torres would of been slated for the performance Ba put in , but its somewhat down to the way RB set the team up , we looked at lot better with 2 up top

Never looked like getting something out of the game , very depressing and were now back in a dog fight for 3rd/4th

Killinator

Also what's happened to our crossing, every corner or wide free kick is straight to the first defender, and it's Mata and Hazard who are the culprits, how did they become really bad at crossing all of a sudden:/

Johner

We were very poor today, 2-0 was a fair reflection. Didn't seem to be any fight from the players.

DazMarz

The frightening part of it today was Chelsea could easily have gone 0-1 up, and who knows what could have happened then. City got a wake up call thanks to the penalty incident. Their players were in 3rd gear for most of the game, but quickly threw it up a couple of notches when they needed to. Our crowd were in neutral the whole game.

It is now looking so horrendous for Chelsea coming into the final stretch. Put out a team of kids in the Europa League, keep the main players for the final league games, try to cling on to a Top 4 finish and beat inferior teams. It's no shame to lose to Man City; the shame was more in the manner of the loss more than anything. But there is no point in winning the EL and finishing 5th or lower in the league again. That will spell a very bleak season for Chelsea for 13/14 if there's no CL football.

Panthro

Chelsea have a squad but fcuk me, the steel is well and truely gone.

GavRedKing

Well that was.......depresaing to say the least. City deserved the win really and for large parts were in control.

We've too many average performers out there again today, if it wasnt for Citys lack of finishing and a combo of decent performance from Cech it could have been 4 or 5 easily.

I think even if we took the lead we could have been pegged back.

Lamps was below par when it mattered and the one time he doesnt smash down the middle then Hart makes a good save. Ramires getting 90 mins was comical he had a shocker really, hazard was whipped whem he was the more effective between all the support 3, made no sense.

Ba while doing the hold play might aswell been sitting with Torres he offered no threat where it mattered so all tje blame doesnt lie with Torres, when the team is off we're very average.

I was hoping Moses would start wide right and I hope he does for the rest of the season, also drop Ivanovic and Cahill, apart from the odd blovk he was turned and caught out way to many times.

Its up to spurs now to leap frog us Monday night.

the_monkey

I speak for most :

Hank Scorpio

Chant should be F*ck off Abramovich tbh

DazMarz

And if Abramovich leaves us, where will that leave Chelsea Football Club? We might struggle on for a few years without the debt, but we will most certainly do a Leeds on it. People can bang on about the club being debt free and all that, but it is not self-sustaining. Not with a gate of just about 42,000. To be self-sustaining with the wage bill we have, we need guaranteed CL football every single season, a strong squad (to challenge for and win major honours) and a gate of at least 55,000. And that's not going to happen.

If Abramovich walks, and no other sugar daddy comes in to replace him, the club is sunk. No question. Absolutely none, in my mind. Maybe I'm wrong, but I fail to see how we could continue in any way, shape or form if the money man walks away.

Sgt Pepper 64

Even if Rafa gets sacked, thats only one problem. We just hire another manager with little or no say in transfers and team building, and then merry go round starts again.
One big problem is Michael E, he has far too much influence in the first team.
Even Rafa was shocked at how poor our midfield is.
I posted at the start of the season how poor our squad was, buying too many No10's in the hope they would ignite Torres.

Midfield is weak and lacks any competition for places.
Yes Rambo and Mikel can be good on their day, but they are not consistant enough for a title winning team

Attack, Amazed at how we basically have only 2 strikers (and let 2 goal scoring strikers go)

Defence is weak, Cahill and Luiz are squad players, JT injury prone
Luiz is probably better in midfield

Tactics - would it hurt to try 4-3-3 or even 4-4-2?
Torres might benefit from having another striker to distract defenders

Goalkeeping - Cech is it and our backup is ****! (yet again we have players out on loan)

I honestly start to wonder if I've had enough of my club being a rich and vain mans plaything and its time for Roman to feck off.
Lets have a manager who gets time and ability to form a team he can belieive in instead of always inheriting odds and sods and trying to mould them into a team.
Winning the league is about consistant, something we have lacked since TSO and a superb double effort by Carlo (wrongly and shamefully sacked)
Once Roman started to think he could do better it all fell apart.
Yes, weve won cups, but cups are mainly luck whereas the league is consistant.
I couldnt give a feck about the Champ cup or even the FA cup, I want us to win the league again or at least take it to the wire.

The subs today were a joke and I couldnt work out what formation we had in the end

Either dump Michael E and back a manager or feck off Roman

niallo27

DazMarz wrote: »

And if Abramovich leaves us, where will that leave Chelsea Football Club? We might struggle on for a few years without the debt, but we will most certainly do a Leeds on it. People can bang on about the club being debt free and all that, but it is not self-sustaining. Not with a gate of just about 42,000. To be self-sustaining with the wage bill we have, we need guaranteed CL football every single season, a strong squad (to challenge for and win major honours) and a gate of at least 55,000. And that's not going to happen.

If Abramovich walks, and no other sugar daddy comes in to replace him, the club is sunk. No question. Absolutely none, in my mind. Maybe I'm wrong, but I fail to see how we could continue in any way, shape or form if the money man walks away.

It might stop Chelsea from turning into to the joke of a club opposition fans think they are.

Leiva

Yes it obvious Rafa is not getting the most out of the players, or the players are it giving thei all to Rafa, but will sacking him really be the answer?

Look lads there has been a bunch of different managers through your club, surely you can see the common dominator by now?

and if you think it's Rafa or the next manager, or the next manger after that then you're wrong.

Sgt Pepper 64

DazMarz wrote: »

And if Abramovich leaves us, where will that leave Chelsea Football Club? We might struggle on for a few years without the debt, but we will most certainly do a Leeds on it. People can bang on about the club being debt free and all that, but it is not self-sustaining. Not with a gate of just about 42,000. To be self-sustaining with the wage bill we have, we need guaranteed CL football every single season, a strong squad (to challenge for and win major honours) and a gate of at least 55,000. And that's not going to happen.

If Abramovich walks, and no other sugar daddy comes in to replace him, the club is sunk. No question. Absolutely none, in my mind. Maybe I'm wrong, but I fail to see how we could continue in any way, shape or form if the money man walks away.

I dont think that would be allowed to happen. I read somewhere that Chelsea would be protected from the leeds scenario

Sgt Pepper 64

Leiva wrote: »

Yes it obvious Rafa is not getting the most out of the players, or the players are it giving thei all to Rafa, but will sacking him really be the answer?

Look lads there has been a bunch of different managers through your club, surely you can see the common dominator by now?

and if you think it's Rafa or the next manager, or the next manger after that then you're wrong.

Yes and No. Problem is we have actually won stuff, pretty much every year and still finished in the top 4.
But as I pointed out, its been a long time since we mounted a serious title challenge and the chaning of managers has to have something to do with that as much as our transfer policy

Leiva

Sgt Pepper 64 wrote: »

Yes and No. Problem is we have actually won stuff, pretty much every year and still finished in the top 4.
But as I pointed out, its been a long time since we mounted a serious title challenge and the chaning of managers has to have something to do with that as much as our transfer policy

OK then what is the owner chasing?

More CL titles?
More PL titles?
More domestic cups?

Cause from an outsider looking in its pretty confusing cause to get any of the above on a regular basis then it's consistency you need, and consistency across the board from board to manager to players.
The only thing consistent coming from CFC is the sacking of managers, and tbh it's become a running joke.
The only alternative is to keep trying to buy wins and is that sustainable when it's even annoying the fan base at some level.

Sgt Pepper 64

Leiva wrote: »

OK then what is the owner chasing?

More CL titles?
More PL titles?
More domestic cups?

Cause from an outsider looking in its pretty confusing cause to get any of the above on a regular basis then it's consistency you need, and consistency across the board from board to manager to players.
The only thing consistent coming from CFC is the sacking of managers, and tbh it's become a running joke.
The only alternative is to keep trying to buy wins and is that sustainable when it's even annoying the fan base at some level.

Oh its quite simple what Roman wants.

He wants us to be the "English Barca"

Play entertaining, attractive and winning football and win everything in sight, easy huh?

Trouble is, he panics the min we look off the boil and we are back to square one

Sgt Pepper 64

At least the board are sticking by a manager through a bad patch


"The team's recent performances and results have not been good enough and the owner and the Board felt that a change was necessary now to keep the club moving in the right direction as we head into a vitally important part of the season."

8 points from the last 18, no plan A, let alone plan B

Just go rafa, now please

DazMarz

Sgt Pepper 64 wrote: »

I dont think that would be allowed to happen. I read somewhere that Chelsea would be protected from the leeds scenario

How??? I've been told this numerous times, but I fail to see how if the cash flow stops, we sell players to make up shortfalls, squad weakens, slip down table, no European Football, no more money, players leave, etc.

How can we be protected from that if Roman Abramovich just decided in the morning to pack up his tent and get the fúck out with a merry "Fúck you" to the Chelsea supporters? What is in place to prevent a meltdown akin to what happened at Leeds United? This is a serious question that I'm asking.

I've been told and told that it would never happen, and I'm sure if you asked a Leeds United fan in 2001 where they thought they'd find themselves in 5 years, "At the foot of the fúcking 2nd Division" would not have been the answer.

Where will Chelsea be in 5 years' time? Without Abramovich, I would have a real fear that we WOULD do a Leeds on it. With Abramovich, we'll have gone through another half-dozen managers, Torres will be director of football and god knows what else... It's a Lose-Lose situation, IMO.

But we're a damn sight better off with Abramovich than without him. Without his pretty chequebook, we have no lifeblood and are pretty fúcked.

Sgt Pepper 64

DazMarz wrote: »

How??? I've been told this numerous times, but I fail to see how if the cash flow stops, we sell players to make up shortfalls, squad weakens, slip down table, no European Football, no more money, players leave, etc.

How can we be protected from that if Roman Abramovich just decided in the morning to pack up his tent and get the fúck out with a merry "Fúck you" to the Chelsea supporters? What is in place to prevent a meltdown akin to what happened at Leeds United? This is a serious question that I'm asking.

I've been told and told that it would never happen, and I'm sure if you asked a Leeds United fan in 2001 where they thought they'd find themselves in 5 years, "At the foot of the fúcking 2nd Division" would not have been the answer.

Where will Chelsea be in 5 years' time? Without Abramovich, I would have a real fear that we WOULD do a Leeds on it. With Abramovich, we'll have gone through another half-dozen managers, Torres will be director of football and god knows what else... It's a Lose-Lose situation, IMO.

But we're a damn sight better off with Abramovich than without him. Without his pretty chequebook, we have no lifeblood and are pretty fúcked.

I sincerely doubt it. We are nothing like Leeds.
Apart from the fact that its highly likely another investor (proably middle east) would step in, we are a world away from Leeds in many important ways

top 5 in the world richest clubs for income (322 million)
global brand income is up
assets apart from the players include cobham, the hotel, night club etc
as well as the new youth training centre
tv money is up
wages are coming down once we move on the last few of the old guard

plus the clubs debts are owed to roman so he would be doing himself by walking away

and we would save a lot of money in sacked managers and wasting it by overpaying for youth and then loaning it out!

I dont think it will be easy but it wont be a leeds

Kess73

let's look at Chelsea.

Won one out of the past three league titles.

Won four of the last six fa cups.

Won the most recent CL final.



Maybe Chelsea are underperforming, but I would not mind a bit of underperforming Chelsea style at Liverpool if it brought that haul with it.


At some point Roman is going to stumble across the right manager and then it will be back to the masses whinging about how Chelsea are buying success.

Sgt Pepper 64

Kess73 wrote: »

let's look at Chelsea.

Won one out of the past three league titles.

Won four of the last six fa cups.

Won the most recent CL final.



Maybe Chelsea are underperforming, but I would not mind a bit of underperforming Chelsea style at Liverpool if it brought that haul with it.


At some point Roman is going to stumble across the right manager and then it will be back to the masses whinging about how Chelsea are buying success.

the point with Roman and Chelsea though is that we should have won a lot more, if he hadnt meddled so much and been more patient.
Every manager goes through fallow times - look at Fergie, imagine if he had been sacked even just last year?

Kess73

Sgt Pepper 64 wrote: »

the point with Roman and Chelsea though is that we should have won a lot more, if he hadnt meddled so much and been more patient.
Every manager goes through fallow times - look at Fergie, imagine if he had been sacked even just last year?

Oh I don't doubt that Chelsea should have won more if Roman had been more patient with certain managers, but the point ( and probably in an overly simplified manner) I was making was that even with Roman's constant meddling Chelsea have been pulling in silverware at a rate that would make almost every other club in the EPL green with envy, and that at some point, imho of course, Roman will get it right managerwise (be it by accident or by design).

I really think that at some point the penny is going to drop with Roman with regards to his personal approach towards the club/managers, and when that happens you Chelsea fans could be in a hell of a ride again. Roman may possibly be a very stubborn man, but I doubt if he is a stupid man, and even the most stubborn of men can change their ways if they can find a way to do so without losing face as they perceive it.

Sgt Pepper 64

Kess73 wrote: »

Oh I don't doubt that Chelsea should have won more if Roman had been more patient with certain managers, but the point ( and probably in an overly simplified manner) I was making was that even with Roman's constant meddling Chelsea have been pulling in silverware at a rate that would make almost every other club in the EPL green with envy, and that at some point, imho of course, Roman will get it right managerwise (be it by accident or by design).

I really think that at some point the penny is going to drop with Roman with regards to his personal approach towards the club/managers, and when that happens you Chelsea fans could be in a hell of a ride again. Roman may possibly be a very stubborn man, but I doubt if he is a stupid man, and even the most stubborn of men can change their ways if they can find a way to do so without losing face as they perceive it.

I hope you are right, its getting boring seeing a team from Manchester win it all the time

GavRedKing

Its all well and good blaming the manager or the board but at the end ofthe day its the 11 on the pitch that effect everything.

The 11 we're putting out there just doesnt have the battling spirit of Utd, for example.

Talent wise we have a good squad, one that should be doing a better job then it is.

We normally blame Rafa or Torres but it isnt always down to them, if its not their faults the board or Roman gets the blame, for me its down to the 11 starting.

We've no fighters, no leaders on the pitch when we need them, to many players had an off day and are having to many of them recently and its costing the club.

The Europa League might be our best chance for success but i dont want it at the expense for top 4, I cant see us going to Old Trafford and beating Utd, not in the way both teams are playing recently.

Techless

Is the cup game with Middlesboro been televised ?

Sgt Pepper 64

GavRedKing wrote: »

Its all well and good blaming the manager or the board but at the end ofthe day its the 11 on the pitch that effect everything.

The 11 we're putting out there just doesnt have the battling spirit of Utd, for example.

Talent wise we have a good squad, one that should be doing a better job then it is.

We normally blame Rafa or Torres but it isnt always down to them, if its not their faults the board or Roman gets the blame, for me its down to the 11 starting.

We've no fighters, no leaders on the pitch when we need them, to many players had an off day and are having to many of them recently and its costing the club.

The Europa League might be our best chance for success but i dont want it at the expense for top 4, I cant see us going to Old Trafford and beating Utd, not in the way both teams are playing recently.

True, but part of the managers job, is to inspire the players and set out tactics.
We always play the same way, and putting Ramires out on the wing when we have Moses and Oscar is just criminal.
The subs were a joke and thats the manager choice
Why not try 4-3-3 or even 4-4-2. Play Ba and Torres?
The mind boggles

grumpymunster

Well what can you say about yesterday, spineless comes to mind just as well Petr had a good game it would have been a cricket score otherwise.

Cant understand a fit JT on the bench, what the hell is that about? Towards the end of the first half Lamps got the ball I have to admit at that stage I had actually forgotten he was on the pitch. At H/T I would have pulled Lamps and Ram ashore and put on JT and perhaps Moses for a bit of width, if not Oscar and pushed sideshow forward. Of course I knew that would not happen as our interim cannot make changes that early, and how did Ram last 90 minutes he was really poor yesterday.

I was up until yesterday doubtful we could make the top 4 I am super confident now, we have no chance none at all as things stand. From what I can see our only chance lays with ManU , if they beat RM it is probable Jose will be sacked if he is we should snap him up he would at least bring order to chaos.

GavRedKing

grumpymunster wrote: »

Well what can you say about yesterday, spineless comes to mind just as well Petr had a good game it would have been a cricket score otherwise.

Cant understand a fit JT on the bench, what the hell is that about? Towards the end of the first half Lamps got the ball I have to admit at that stage I had actually forgotten he was on the pitch. At H/T I would have pulled Lamps and Ram ashore and put on JT and perhaps Moses for a bit of width, if not Oscar and pushed sideshow forward. Of course I knew that would not happen as our interim cannot make changes that early, and how did Ram last 90 minutes he was really poor yesterday.

I was up until yesterday doubtful we could make the top 4 I am super confident now, we have no chance none at all as things stand. From what I can see our only chance lays with ManU , if they beat RM it is probable Jose will be sacked if he is we should snap him up he would at least bring order to chaos.

Apart from going to Old Trafford for a league and FA cup game then we've a genuine chance in every other game we've left.

Spurs at home and Liverpool away are the next trickiest games, remember Arsenal have Spurs next and by tonight Spurs could leap frog us, I cant even believe I'm saying it but I could be wishing for a Spurs win in that North-London Derby to just to keep Arsenal off our backs.

I'd be very very very very surprsied if Real Madrid sack Jose if they go out of the UCL early, it serves no purpose really.

Now, if they lose both Clasico's and the UCL game and they get trounced in thopse 3 games then maybe he will be axed but I just cant see it happening.

Caveman1

Ramires is getting a lot of stick, but in fairness to him he's being played out of position, he's a CM not a RW. Moses has been one of our best players this season yet he's left on the bench?

It should of been Mikel & Ramires in the middle. with Moses & Hazard playing wide.

I think Oscar should of started ahead of Mata too, Oscar has been coming on in leaps & bounds the past few games while Mata seems to look a bit off the pace.

Ovbiously this season is a write off, I hope Jose comes back next season as I think he's the only one capable of actually standing up to the Chelsea board, also if he does decie to take the Chelsea job you can be sure that Emenalo will be the first one out the door.

GavRedKing

If Emenalo is a close to Roman as people have reported then he could potentaily be impossible to get rid of.

Hes meant to ne Romans right hand man at the club, watching everything that goes on day to day and reporting to Roman, if it is true it most be a nearly impossible to trust him if hes got the owners ear so readily.