Chelsea Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2014/15

GavRedKing

rottie 11 wrote: »

I take it as it was a decent enough performance so today?

We deserved the win but if our finishing was better it could have been more.

Liverpool played ok and should have had a peno too when cahill blocked a gerrard shot.

In truth we had more quality and were never really troubled.

grumpymunster

Sadly saw nowt of the game today or even have the chance to follows it on line but do tell after Liverpool went a goal up on the match thread (can't be bothered reading it) did they "dare to dream" ha ha ha ha

phobia2011

I just luv it when we beat the poo!

Get in!

Now if we stick it to Scotland our season is in good shape

kev1.3s

QPR 2-1 up

kev1.3s

2-2 now, I'd be very happy if it stayed like this.

Johner

4 points clear at the top, 8 points clear of City our nearest title rival, played Everton, City, United and Liverpool away already, it's going to take something special to stop us.

DazMarz

What is the greatest margin that the league has ever been won by? No reason for asking, I'm just a bit curious...

Montroseee

Come on guys, the season isn't even a third of the way through yet.

Sheepy99

As nice as it is and all to have 4 of the 6 hardest away fixtures out of the way, less of that complacency

MaroonAndGreen

Also its now the longest unbeaten run from the start of a season in Chelsea's history.

17 games

I missed the second half today, had to work.. how did we play second half? Did we control it and create chances like we did from minutes 30-45? Did we let them through the centre of our midfield easily again? (was very concerning in the first half)...

Delighted Costa scored, his first in a month and sweet that it came after his duel with Skrtel

Essien

I wouldn't be one to complain about Liverpool fans, some of them get a bit excited but for the most part I'd say they're fairly decent.

However, why is it that whenever we beat them you'll inevitably see a post or picture circulating on social media about how we're a despicable club with despicable fans.

In the past it's been singing songs about the 96, last year it was the lad spitting on the memorial this year it's the players leaving the dressing room in a mess.

I've long since accepted that a lot of Liverpool fans have a big blue chip on their shoulder, but is it just us or do I only notice it because it's the team I support?

peteeeed

Essien wrote: »

I wouldn't be one to complain about Liverpool fans, some of them get a bit excited but for the most part I'd say they're fairly decent.

However, why is it that whenever we beat them you'll inevitably see a post or picture circulating on social media about how we're a despicable club with despicable fans.

In the past it's been singing songs about the 96, last year it was the lad spitting on the memorial this year it's the players leaving the dressing room in a mess.

I've long since accepted that a lot of Liverpool fans have a big blue chip on their shoulder, but is it just us or do I only notice it because it's the team I support?

They had to get the black and white photos out and remember the good times

The Davestator

I love beating Liverpool more than any other team. Their fans just keep on giving!

DazMarz

DazMarz wrote: »

What is the greatest margin that the league has ever been won by? No reason for asking, I'm just a bit curious...

Didn't realise how big it was... 18 points between 1st and 2nd when United won it in 1999/2000. Jesus... Don't think that'll happen again!!!

GavRedKing

DazMarz wrote: »

Didn't realise how big it was... 18 points between 1st and 2nd when United won it in 1999/2000. Jesus... Don't think that'll happen again!!!

Id take a 1 point win at this stage TBH.

Anything to get the league wrapped up. :pac:

MaroonAndGreen

DazMarz wrote: »

Didn't realise how big it was... 18 points between 1st and 2nd when United won it in 1999/2000. Jesus... Don't think that'll happen again!!!

Yeah second place only had 73 points that season... doubt itl be as low this season.. City can still mathematically reach 104.

GavRedKing

MaroonAndGreen wrote: »

Yeah second place only had 73 points that season... doubt itl be as low this season.. City can still mathematically reach 104.

City will be lucky to reach 84 the way theyre playing.

I couldnt give a toss about going unbeaten, as long as we win the league.

In 04/05 we only lost 1 game and won more games than the invincibles and won the league from them so im not pushed about that record. As long as we win the league, thats all i want right now.

The Davestator

GavRedKing wrote: »

City will be lucky to reach 84 the way theyre playing.

I couldnt give a toss about going unbeaten, as long as we win the league.

In 04/05 we only lost 1 game and won more games than the invincibles and won the league from them so im not pushed about that record. As long as we win the league, thats all i want right now.

I agree BUT.. If we're going to lose a game, I'd rather do it sooner than later. Be horrible to lose the last game of the season!

Lukker-

All this talk of unbeaten seasons and us walking the league is so premature, really annoys me that's all that commentators seem to be talking about now like the league is a foregone conclusion. It's November ffs. Loads of teams in recent years have gone unbeaten for 11 games without any talk about it, yet it seemed to be talked about after we went 5 games unbeaten. I personally don't think it's possible with the current team, I think Matic and Fabregas is a bit light as a defensive pairing in the middle of the park. I'd be delighted if we got close to 90 points. I certainly don't think we'll beat our 04/05 season, we got 95 points and only lost once, that team in my opinion was the most efficient unit that Premier League will ever see.

kev1.3s

I agree, I was watching the analysis on motd last night and it was highlighted where fabregas tended to drift into a more attacking position leaving a hole for Liverpool to exploit, I think I would swap fab with oscar because oscar is a bit more combatative and maybe disciplined too.

Johner

you can always count on Spurs to put a smile on your face. :pac:

Lukker-

kev1.3s wrote: »

I agree, I was watching the analysis on motd last night and it was highlighted where fabregas tended to drift into a more attacking position leaving a hole for Liverpool to exploit, I think I would swap fab with oscar because oscar is a bit more combatative and maybe disciplined too.

The system now has Oscar and Fabregas interchanging a good bit, when Fab pushes forward Oscar drops to cover him.

I actually think the current system works, because if Oscar was deeper we'd lose his pressing high up the pitch which worked wonders for us yesterday, Mignolet couldn't play the ball short at all because we had the Pool defence pushed back so much which resulted in them losing the ball in their own half.

We gain more than we lose with Fabregas deep, his range of passing from the middle of the park is IMO the key difference from last season, when we lacked someone who could split a defence from deep, which is one of the main reasons we are winning games we would have drawn last season.

José is a manager who usually prefers discipline and defense, but if he feels Fabregas should play alongside Matic than I definitely trust his judgement.

rottie 11

Arsenal down 2-1

kev1.3s

Not a bad week for us with all of our rivals slipping up.

GavRedKing

Ya, city arsenal liverpool all lost points. Utd won and will get at least 4th it seems.

Weve been excellent and poor this season but when we're consistent, we're the best team in the league by a long way.

We wont go unbeaten, no hope.

kev1.3s

There's a sense that the big guns haven't started fireing on all cylinders yet and there is a danger complacency will set in.
It's great to see Southampton holding there own too.

Utd seem to be the only one of our traditional rivals to be starting to gel with city looking more and more fragile as the weeks roll on, I think pelligrino has lost at least some of the dressing room.
I wonder if he'll keep his job until the end of the season?

RichT

If a Soothsayer had said at the start of the season we would be only 4 points ahead of Southampton after 11 games.....



.....but had that same Soothsayer went on to say we would be 8 points ahead of Man City......

GavRedKing

The best thing for city is the break. The players will get away from the club and they can build again in 2 weeks.

Its slowing down our momentum on the other hand but weve enough players here to get fully fit, Cesc and Costa.

I think JT was excellent yesterday too. Shows no signs of being past it yet

McDave

With only 11 games played, it's still early days for predictions. But with 8 points on our nearest serious rival, and points taken off all of them, we're in a strong position to heap the pressure on. Focussing on City, their season could fall apart sooner rather than later, especially if they exit the UCL into Thursday night EL fixtures. Any more dropped points before Christmas, and they'll slip back into the pack with Arsenal and MU. If we're at least 12 points ahead of them by then, I can't see Jose letting the Premiership slip. He'll keep digging out EPL points until March, and by then we'll be at the serious end of the business. Looking very good indeed.

GavRedKing

McDave wrote: »

With only 11 games played, it's still early days for predictions. But with 8 points on our nearest serious rival, and points taken off all of them, we're in a strong position to heap the pressure on. Focussing on City, their season could fall apart sooner rather than later, especially if they exit the UCL into Thursday night EL fixtures. Any more dropped points before Christmas, and they'll slip back into the pack with Arsenal and MU. If we're at least 12 points ahead of them by then, I can't see Jose letting the Premiership slip. He'll keep digging out EPL points until March, and by then we'll be at the serious end of the business. Looking very good indeed.

If city go to the EL theyll not take it seriously.

Itll push all there games back to Sunday or Saturday afternoon too.

We'll lose before xmas imo but we'll be ok for the league if we manage to keep costa fit.

Sheepy99

GavRedKing wrote: »

The best thing for city is the break. The players will get away from the club and they can build again in 2 weeks.

Its slowing down our momentum on the other hand but weve enough players here to get fully fit, Cesc and Costa.

I think JT was excellent yesterday too. Shows no signs of being past it yet

On the other hand it can work against City because Pellegrini really needs to change his tactics a bit. They're awful open. With his players being away it gives less time to build up a bit of cohesion between them. If Costa and Fabregas wern't in need of a rest then i'd be inclined to say that this break is a bad thing. However, it seems to have come at the right time, it's a marathon not a sprint after all.

Lukker-

This international break came at a perfect time IMO, we haven't been setting the world a light anyways and Costa, Fabregas and Terry can all use the time to get fully fit. Hopefully Remy get's some time with France too to get his match fitness back.

cadaliac

GavRedKing wrote: »

If city go to the EL theyll not take it seriously.

Itll push all there games back to Sunday or Saturday afternoon too.

We'll lose before xmas imo but we'll be ok for the league if we manage to keep costa fit.

Yip, Cota is key.

In fact all this talk of walking the league and going unbeaten worries me to be honest. All perfect ingredients for complacency to creep back into the team.
Anyway, all it takes is two serious injuries to hit Chelsea in key areas, (Costa and / or Hazard et al) and we could be right back to where we were last year. I know thats a very pessimistic view on what "could" happen but there you go.

On a more serious note, as jose said, we have won nothing yet. Don't get me wrong, I have confidence in this team. I have confidence in Jose too. We played up to a high standard yesterday, that the team is very capable of. We all want to see more of this - but, that simply is not going to happen over the course of a league - theres just too many games with other tough premiership teams.
We are in a great place for the premiership and I would like to see Jose steer us to victory. The journey however, mightn't be as smooth as people think - at this early(ish) stage of the competition.

Sheepy99

GavRedKing wrote: »

If city go to the EL theyll not take it seriously.

Itll push all there games back to Sunday or Saturday afternoon too.

We'll lose before xmas imo but we'll be ok for the league if we manage to keep costa fit.

I think they might put in a good attempt. European trophy is a trophy. Only concern would be them not even getting EL football, which it's looking like at the moment. In which case they'd be pulling a United at the minute, having a full week of recovery between games. If they didn't get a good run of victories going at that stage then they wouldn't even deserve to finish second, given the squad.

McDave

GavRedKing wrote: »

If city go to the EL theyll not take it seriously.

Itll push all there games back to Sunday or Saturday afternoon too.

We'll lose before xmas imo but we'll be ok for the league if we manage to keep costa fit.

I can't help thinking that City's cosmopolitan squad needs to be in the UCL. I don't think the premiership cuts it for many of them. I suspect many will head for the exit if this season peters out.

Agree on Costa. I wonder though will Jose look to bring in another top striker in January, and if so how would he fund it. Or would another striker upset this season's balance the way Asprilla unbalanced Keegan's Newcastle all those years ago.

grumpymunster

This year we have a rough profit of ST£1.5m on transfers so if we desperately need players money or FFP is not an obstacle, but I dont think we will need to buy in January unless TSHO wants business done players bought and loaned back to wherever they came from. Anyone good enough to play for us in january would most likely be ECL cup tied so unless a really super CB comes to the market (and Piquet is not a super CB) then business most likely can wait till June.

kev1.3s

McDave wrote: »

I can't help thinking that City's cosmopolitan squad needs to be in the UCL. I don't think the premiership cuts it for many of them. I suspect many will head for the exit if this season peters out.

Agree on Costa. I wonder though will Jose look to bring in another top striker in January, and if so how would he fund it. Or would another striker upset this season's balance the way Asprilla unbalanced Keegan's Newcastle all those years ago.

I was thinking the same myself, I wonder if Aguero would be looking at moving on if this season crumbles?

Yaya either hasn't got the heart or legs anymore either.
For me Aguero is the best striker currently in the premier league and without him city would be in serious trouble.

GavRedKing

I dont think we need another CF. Weve Bamford to come back.

Id also say we dont need a CB either, weve Zouma who could replace Cahill easily right now IMO.

grumpymunster

Thinking next season Gav JT is getting on and Cahill not really top drawer

Lukker-

GavRedKing wrote: »

I dont think we need another CF. Weve Bamford to come back.

Id also say we dont need a CB either, weve Zouma who could replace Cahill easily right now IMO.

I think CB is main position that needs to be strengthened long term. I definitely see Zouma there, but once Terry retires I'm not sure if a partnership of Cahill and Zouma would work. Personally I think Cahill is made look a lot better playing alongside Terry. Varane is the obvious candidate, himself and Zouma could be an excellent partnership.

GavRedKing

Lukker- wrote: »

I think CB is main position that needs to be strengthened long term. I definitely see Zouma there, but once Terry retires I'm not sure if a partnership of Cahill and Zouma would work. Personally I think Cahill is made look a lot better playing alongside Terry. Varane is the obvious candidate, himself and Zouma could be an excellent partnership.

Varane and Zouma would be out of this world but Real would want mega mega mega money id say.

Panthro

Cahill hasn't been great the past few games but I'd still keep him.
Hon the Gazingga!

Lukker-

Christensen and Kalas are the top prospects to come in and do a job, but Kalas hasn't played once since moving to Koln on loan which is worrying. Many players and staff reckon Christensen will make it but the player himself and his agent seem to be getting annoyed at the lack of opportunities.

GavRedKing

Lukker- wrote: »

Christensen and Kalas are the top prospects to come in and do a job, but Kalas hasn't played once since moving to Koln on loan which is worrying. Many players and staff reckon Christensen will make it but the player himself and his agent seem to be getting annoyed at the lack of opportunities.

Zoumas better and pretty young too so Christensen can wait or feck off.

kev1.3s

Wouldn't mind getting hummels to replace terry.

GavRedKing

kev1.3s wrote: »

Wouldn't mind getting hummels to replace terry.

15th in Germany. If he decides he wants out he'll have his pick of clubs but if we could attract him then id go for it.

Dont want pique really.

Lukker-

kev1.3s wrote: »

Wouldn't mind getting hummels to replace terry.

I'm not convinced at all by Hummels. He's an excellent ball-playing centre back, but I've seen him exposed quite often. Tbh, the talent pool for world class centre halves is quite small.

kev1.3s

GavRedKing wrote: »

15th in Germany. If he decides he wants out he'll have his pick of clubs but if we could attract him then id go for it.

Dont want pique really.

Taught I read somewhere that he would be open to a move to arsenal so I would imagine if that if that's true it wouldn't be impossible to attract him. I really don't believe Cahill is good enough in Terry's absence.

Johner

Wouldn't say there is any chance of getting Varane but him and Zouma would be unreal. France are fairly set for the future with those two!

GavRedKing

The express are running a story that we'll swap schurrle for reus. That would make our options behind the cf even better as hes more of a goal threat than Hazard oscar or willian IMO.

Cant see it happening though.