Chelsea Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2014/15

GavRedKing

Spurs playing pretty well today. Wont be easy mid week.

GavRedKing

City playing Sunderland away midweek we'll see how they do but id imagine theyll win.

Killinator

GavRedKing wrote: »

Cesc or Matic for Lamps? The answer is neither would be dropped for him.

He did the job today coming off the bench, and he could've done that yesterday as Cesc wasn't really at the races(not that many of them were).

Sanity_Saviour

Can see our usual slump happening now unfortunately. No matter how well set up we are the mentality won't change. Mentality and tempo were all wrong yesterday, there was far too many times where Hazard looked to pick up the ball deep instead of having a go at that defence, or Oscar looked clueless with a counter-attack beckoning, especially since the Sunderland defence were content to stalk Costa all day long.

We should beat Spurs, Newcastle and Hull but I fear complacency may have come in at just the wrong moment. With Costa out and Drogba offering so little, Spurs may hit us at the right time. If we get an early goal we'll win but after last night, a serious change in gameplan is needed. If not, what papers and friends are dubbing "the league wrapped up by Christmas" will be blown right back open.

This is where Mourinho can show us why he will always be the Special One.

Prediction: 5-0 Chelsea

GavRedKing

Spurs were good today. They can be like Brazil 1970 or Brazil 2014 it depends on the day.

Costa is a huge loss of course but id play Remy over drogba but im 100% sure Jose wont.

I still think we'll lose to newcastle at the weekend.

TimRiggins

GavRedKing wrote: »

Spurs were good today. They can be like Brazil 1970 or Brazil 2014 it depends on the day.

Costa is a huge loss of course but id play Remy over drogba but im 100% sure Jose wont.

I still think we'll lose to newcastle at the weekend.

If we're going to be beaten all season it will be in the next two games.

Going into Spurs and Newcastle I'm worried about the performance level, and its something that hasn't worried me all season.

We should be beating Spurs. I despise them as a club, and losing to them would give me an emptiness inside that I haven't got since Lampard scored against us.

I'd play Remy aswell, But Drogba is always good for one I think. He's got his sharpness back, his recent apperances have been alot better then his start of the season ones.

Costa will be fully rested for Newcastle which is one positive.

pistolpetes11

Sanity_Saviour wrote: »

Can see our usual slump happening now unfortunately. No matter how well set up we are the mentality won't change. Mentality and tempo were all wrong yesterday, there was far too many times where Hazard looked to pick up the ball deep instead of having a go at that defence, or Oscar looked clueless with a counter-attack beckoning, especially since the Sunderland defence were content to stalk Costa all day long.

We should beat Spurs, Newcastle and Hull but I fear complacency may have come in at just the wrong moment. With Costa out and Drogba offering so little, Spurs may hit us at the right time. If we get an early goal we'll win but after last night, a serious change in gameplan is needed. If not, what papers and friends are dubbing "the league wrapped up by Christmas" will be blown right back open.

This is where Mourinho can show us why he will always be the Special One.

Prediction: 5-0 Chelsea

Steady on ,

Yesterday was just one of them things Chelsea will come up against in the season ,

Actually Im watching the exact same game now in Spain , Valencia V Barca , nothing doing for Barca with 84 gone , Valencia playing on the counter , a tactic Chelsea are well used to using .

Not every team we play will flash there skirt and give us a free ride.

Hazard was quite correct not having a go cause he aint going to beat 6 /7 defenders , we kept working the ball , Sunderland were excellent defensively

GavRedKing

I think its time for 2 natural FBs too.

Luis and Azp at LB and RB would provide width when Sunderland or another team that tries to stiffle the supporting players and Costa.

It wont happen in the nect two games but its something weve to consider.

Same with dropping willian, his end product is shocking. He was one of the better players yestrday which makes it even worse.

DazMarz

pistolpetes11 wrote: »

Not every team we play will flash there skirt and give us a free ride.

Absolutely. Not every team plays in fear of the mighty big boys coming to town. Teams raise their games for big games against big teams. It's only natural.

Sunderland managed it yesterday. Will a soufflé rise twice and will they do anything against City? Unlikely. Had City been playing Sunderland yesterday and the result was the same, Chelsea would have hammered Sunderland. The same as City will do to them.

We won't lose to Newcastle (no matter how good their form is), and we will not lose to Spurs either. Both are very average sides and providing José can get even 75% out of the best players, that should be enough to ensure at least a draw and possibly a scrappy win (which I would gladly take).

DazMarz

Also, on Southampton, this sums it up pretty well:

rottie 11

Its not the end of the world lads, we drew with sunderland. Big deal? It was one bad game, we'll have to wait and see if we can bounce back with 3 points when we play spurs. Im confident we will

the_monkey

rottie 11 wrote: »

Its not the end of the world lads, we drew with sunderland. Big deal? It was one bad game, we'll have to wait and see if we can bounce back with 3 points when we play spurs. Im confident we will

Problem is next two games it's 3 points maximum ...

maybe 1 point, City right back in it now - gotta be favourites, momentum is with them now.

Professional Griefer

the_monkey wrote: »

Problem is next two games it's 3 points maximum ...

maybe 1 point, City right back in it now - gotta be favourites, momentum is with them now.

Mourinho is on boards? :pac:

GavRedKing

the_monkey wrote: »

Problem is next two games it's 3 points maximum ...

maybe 1 point, City right back in it now - gotta be favourites, momentum is with them now.

City were never out of it

Only deluded bookies thought as much.

With 25 games left to go anyone can still win the league.

rottie 11

the_monkey wrote: »

Problem is next two games it's 3 points maximum ...

maybe 1 point, City right back in it now - gotta be favourites, momentum is with them now.

3 points max against spurs and newcastle?? I duno about the rest of ye but im expecting 4 points at the very least?

GavRedKing

rottie 11 wrote: »

3 points max against spurs and newcastle?? I duno about the rest of ye but im expecting 4 points at the very least?

In the next 2 games City have Sunderland A & Everton H.

I reckon City will take maximum points from those games so its important to take at least 4 points.

1 game at time though, so if we can start by beating Spurs I'll be happy, still think Newcastle will be a huge test, even more so than the Sunderland game.

The only thing that will save us is City have Roma away next week, we;ve got a dead rubber against Sporting, maybe City will rotate over the next 2 league games more than we will but in truth their squad is good enough to deal with 3 games in 7 days.

rottie 11

I think if we beat spurs then we will beat newcastle aswel cos the confidence will be back up

City could easily slip up v everton imo. Everton are capable of upsetting them

GavRedKing

rottie 11 wrote: »

I think if we beat spurs then we will beat newcastle aswel cos the confidence will be back up

City could easily slip up v everton imo. Everton are capable of upsetting them

They could, I wouldnt imagine they will, Everton were very poor against Spurs and a better team would have punished them more, that being said, Spurs werent great at the back either and Lloris made 2 or 3 smart saves. Spurs played a pretty high line yesterday, if they come to Stamford Bridge so gung ho, they could be picked off on the counter.

As long as we do the business ourselves I wouldnt worry about anyone else but I'm fully expecting us to be knocked off top spot in the coming weeks and the fight for the title will continue for the rest of the season.

No way we'll keep up this pace and stay top from about September until May.

grumpymunster

I would have brought Luis on against Sunderland we were very narrow but they worked their behinds off for the full 90 so fair play to them, if they play like that every week would hate to be a season ticket holder there but an important point for them. Like some fans we could complain about parked buses or how easy it is to defend like that but they did very well.

Spurs will be different I don't think they can play like Sunderland so I would start Luis for Ivan and Remy up front. Undecided between Schurrle and Willian. Would expect us to win the next three league matches with a bit of ease to be honest.

GavRedKing

grumpymunster wrote: »

I would have brought Luis on against Sunderland we were very narrow but they worked their behinds off for the full 90 so fair play to them, if they play like that every week would hate to be a season ticket holder there but an important point for them. Like some fans we could complain about parked buses or how easy it is to defend like that but they did very well.

Spurs will be different I don't think they can play like Sunderland so I would start Luis for Ivan and Remy up front. Undecided between Schurrle and Willian. Would expect us to win the next three league matches with a bit of ease to be honest.

Poch has a an issue now, he'll probably start with Kane, a big, quick CF whos a decent player instead of Soldado, if they start Kane I'd play Ivan to have at least 3 physical presences in the back line.

We havent lost to Spurs n the league at the Bridge since 1990, I cant see that changing tomorrow night but if we only manage a draw and City win, its back down to 4 points between the both of us, a win is pretty important after a terrible game that we've just played at the weekend.

hots

I'd love to see Luis get some time with Ivan rested for a bit, not because Ivan has been poor (in fact I think he's probably playing at close to his peak atm) but just to give 2 natural, world class, full backs a chance at some width... Saying that I'd like to see it tried against some 'softer' teams, not spurs.

peteeeed

seems to be quite a lot of talk that jose has been offered a new deal , the press conf today should be interesting

GavRedKing

peteeeed wrote: »

seems to be quite a lot of talk that jose has been offered a new deal , the press conf today should be interesting

He signed a 4 year deal when he signed, I imagine it'll only be an extension and not a pay rise but its surprising to see it being done during the season and not waiting until May to see how the team have done.

GavRedKing

Match thread here for Spurs : http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057337349

peteeeed

press conf spurs

Jose Mourinho says playing Spurs is a big game against one of the top teams and it is derby he likes.

past records against Spurs are not important now and he doesn't talk to the players about it.

there have been no offers from other clubs for Petr Cech.

the easiest way for people in football to deal with the Christmas fixtures is think what they are giving to the people.

no fresh injuries going in to the Spurs game.

Diego Costa suspended, he trusts Didier Drogba and Loic Remy in the same way he trusts Diego Costa


also good coverage of the press conf here http://www.getwestlondon.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/recap-chelsea-v-tottenham-hotspur-8210900

duploelabs

Re the Sunderland game. I can't find it now but the average player positions for the game made for serious concern considering our lack of width

TimRiggins

Would be a great oul time to batter these ***** 5-0.

GavRedKing

duploelabs wrote: »

Re the Sunderland game. I can't find it now but the average player positions for the game made for serious concern considering our lack of width

I seen it on TV that night.

The average positions were basically nearly everyone taking up a position within the lines of the Sunderland penalty area, Azp and ivan were our widest players but neither got forward enough, Ivan had a guillt edge chance but the keeper made a good save.

peteeeed

Youth team one up away to Leeds in the FA youth cup

Crann na Beatha

This post has been deleted.

peteeeed

Youth team 2-0 up and only have 10 men

MaroonAndGreen

Don't know what to expect tomorrow re team selection... id hope that our 11 that played against Sunderland will start (minus Costa obviously) but I dont know if thats sustainable considering we go away to Newcastle at the weekend.

Id expect Ramires to play one of the games, and probably Schurrle, maybe Filipe Luis too.

Our next 2 weeks have midweek games against Lisbon in the UCL and Derby in the League Cup.. so I hope the usual 11 are in good enough shape to play every other game.

I suspect we could have a really tough time in the next games versus Spurs and Newcastle, possibly our invincible run may end.... but if we get 6 points then id have HUGE confidence in this Chelsea team for the remainder of the season!

MaroonAndGreen

Just found this epic photo.

MaroonAndGreen

Wow. When you think of it, the Champions League win in 2012 was massive for the club. Absolutely huge.

We were in a bad place. Seriously underperformed in 2010/11 as reigning champions in the Premier League. Had more or less blown £50 million on a failed transfer. Sacked Carlo Ancelotti wrongly and unfairly. Made a poor decision by hiring an inexperienced Andre Villas Boas and again performed abysmally in the league in 2011/12, finishing 6th.

The hiring of Roberto Di Matteo, and the heroics of the nights at home to Napoli, home and away to Barcelona and the beautiful night in Munich gave this club the lift it really badly needed. It was a miraculous Champions League win which secured Cech, Terry, Lampard & Drogba's hero status forever. It even gave Fernando Torres his greatest club career moment in the Nou Camp and for a while made him worth every bit of his £50 million fee.

But most importantly of all, it glossed over a dismal couple of seasons. It gave us the platform to sign Eden Hazard and Oscar. It stopped the downward spiral. Who knows, maybe Jose would never have returned if we had continued to fall...

We may well win the league this season and in the coming years. We might win everything. We might not win anything at all.

But when you really stop and think about it, we owe our current strength and our forseeable future successes to the heroes of Barcelona and Munich in 2012.

GavRedKing

Another big round of games tonight, Utd and Liverpool won last night and even if theyre not direct rivals right now, a few wins and a few losses could easily swing any points gap.

Arsenal v Southampton
Sunderland v City

Spurs have only lost once away in the league so far this year, to Man City 4-1, rest of their defeats have come at home.

Because we've home advantage I'm a lot more comfortable with this game than the Sunderland game just gone or the approaching Newcazstle game for that matter.

rottie 11

I feel like 3 points is a must tonite , a draw wont be good enough if city win tbh

GavRedKing

rottie 11 wrote: »

I feel like 3 points is a must tonite , a draw wont be good enough if city win tbh

Ya, 3 points would be very welcome, we've many levels to up it from the Sunderland game and we're going to need it to beat Spurs who are a constant enigma, they look brilliant and terrible, just depends what you're going to get on the night.

It'll be a difficult game regardless of who plays well but they havent beat us at the Bridge sincxe 1990 in the league so hopeully that record is kept.

Also, as you mentioned the points, if we diont get 3, City are likely to take 3, meaning theyve got 6 from 2 games and we've got 1 or 2 depedning if we drop points tonight, thats a big chunk of the lead gone already, hardly a meltdown but going into a huge christmas period, I'd love to keep up some sort of lead to make it a tad more comfortable.

DazMarz

MaroonAndGreen wrote: »

Wow. When you think of it, the Champions League win in 2012 was massive for the club. Absolutely huge.

We were in a bad place. Seriously underperformed in 2010/11 as reigning champions in the Premier League. Had more or less blown £50 million on a failed transfer. Sacked Carlo Ancelotti wrongly and unfairly. Made a poor decision by hiring an inexperienced Andre Villas Boas and again performed abysmally in the league in 2011/12, finishing 6th.

The hiring of Roberto Di Matteo, and the heroics of the nights at home to Napoli, home and away to Barcelona and the beautiful night in Munich gave this club the lift it really badly needed. It was a miraculous Champions League win which secured Cech, Terry, Lampard & Drogba's hero status forever. It even gave Fernando Torres his greatest club career moment in the Nou Camp and for a while made him worth every bit of his £50 million fee.

But most importantly of all, it glossed over a dismal couple of seasons. It gave us the platform to sign Eden Hazard and Oscar. It stopped the downward spiral. Who knows, maybe Jose would never have returned if we had continued to fall...

We may well win the league this season and in the coming years. We might win everything. We might not win anything at all.

But when you really stop and think about it, we owe our current strength and our forseeable future successes to the heroes of Barcelona and Munich in 2012.

This times a million.

Without that Champions League win, Chelsea would have been entered into the Europa League and would have lost out on millions and millions of Champions League money. The prestige of the club would have paled in comparison to other English clubs at the time (notably United and City). Eden Hazard would have almost certainly joined United instead of Chelsea. Who knows where the club would have ended up.

For sure, I doubt the club would have fallen from grace completely, but it would have been very hard for a couple of years to repair the damage of one poor season.

It was also, as mentioned, a huge lift to the club at a time when it was just mired in totally abysmal form and coming off the back of two very poor domestic seasons.

I've heard arguments that Chelsea were the worst team to ever win the Champions League. Form being temporary and class being permanent, look at some of the players who played for Chelsea in the Final, and look at the players missing (who would have otherwise played). The Liverpool team of 2005 was far inferior. For sure, finishing 6th in the League was poor, but that was more down to AVB's poor management than the team being poor. Some absolute world-class players in that squad.

But for sure, that Final win was far more important than just a trophy and just our first Champions League win. It most positively had huge knock-on effects that are still felt to this very day. There is no doubt that the club has improved so much since then and will continue to do so.

GavRedKing

DazMarz wrote: »

This times a million.

Without that Champions League win, Chelsea would have been entered into the Europa League and would have lost out on millions and millions of Champions League money. The prestige of the club would have paled in comparison to other English clubs at the time (notably United and City). Eden Hazard would have almost certainly joined United instead of Chelsea. Who knows where the club would have ended up.

For sure, I doubt the club would have fallen from grace completely, but it would have been very hard for a couple of years to repair the damage of one poor season.

It was also, as mentioned, a huge lift to the club at a time when it was just mired in totally abysmal form and coming off the back of two very poor domestic seasons.

I've heard arguments that Chelsea were the worst team to ever win the Champions League. Form being temporary and class being permanent, look at some of the players who played for Chelsea in the Final, and look at the players missing (who would have otherwise played). The Liverpool team of 2005 was far inferior. For sure, finishing 6th in the League was poor, but that was more down to AVB's poor management than the team being poor. Some absolute world-class players in that squad.

But for sure, that Final win was far more important than just a trophy and just our first Champions League win. It most positively had huge knock-on effects that are still felt to this very day. There is no doubt that the club has improved so much since then and will continue to do so.

Well the main thing winning it was the revenue and prestige, neing the first club from the capital to win it was huge too, mainly for bragging rights among the locals.

The worse final I can remember was the 0-0 between Milan and Juventus.

Looking at the stats from that night, the team were very busy in blocking shots, coupled with Bayerns ability to choke during the game when they got chances.

scored11Total shots359Shots on target73Saves26Ball possession56%44%Corner kicks201Fouls committed1426Offsides12Yellow cards14Red cards00

Bayern Left, Chelsea Right.

1 Corners, its all we needed :pac:

Cech only had to make 6 saves, out off the 7 on target, the other being the goal.

Although importantly, 1 of those saves was a Robben penalty, even though Drogba won MOTM, I think Cech should have got it.

GavRedKing

Looking at the stats their and both sides only used 2 subs each.

We had Torres and Malouda come on, neither took a penalty.

Bayern brought on Olic and Van Buyen and of course Olic missed the cruical 4th penalty to allow us to draw level when Cole slotted his penalty.

MaroonAndGreen

GavRedKing wrote: »

Looking at the stats their and both sides only used 2 subs each.

We had Torres and Malouda come on, neither took a penalty.

Bayern brought on Olic and Van Buyen and of course Olic missed the cruical 4th penalty to allow us to draw level when Cole slotted his penalty.

Considering Ashley has been a non-goalscoring left back his whole career, has only taken 2-3 penalties in his career, was stepping up 4th to level the shootout knowing if he missed it was likely to be all over for us... then in my opinion his penalty in Munich is certaintly the most impressive of that night.

It was perfectly in the corner, just flew right into the side-netting. He even stopped in the run-up and all!

Hero.

GavRedKing

MaroonAndGreen wrote: »

Considering Ashley has been a non-goalscoring left back his whole career, has only taken 2-3 penalties in his career, was stepping up 4th to level the shootout knowing if he missed it was likely to be all over for us... then in my opinion his penalty in Munich is certaintly the most impressive of that night.

It was perfectly in the corner, just flew right into the side-netting. He even stopped in the run-up and all!

Hero.

Reporter : Germans dont lose penalty shoot outs Ashley?
Cole : They do now..........walks off smiling.

I think there was huge pressure on Luiz too, Bayern were 2-0 up when he stepped up and his run in started somewhere 3miles outside the stadium but he buried it right into the top corner :pac:

MaroonAndGreen

Jesus lads I have a bit of an obsession with Munich, keep looking back at it etc :P

duploelabs

Am I right in saying lamps is 2 wins in 2 games versus Bayern? As in he didn't play in city's home game against them in the champions league this season

GavRedKing

duploelabs wrote: »

Am I right in saying lamps is 2 wins in 2 games versus Bayern? As in he didn't play in city's home game against them in the champions league this season

Did he play in the super cup game where we lost on penalties?

rottie 11

GavRedKing wrote: »

Did he play in the super cup game where we lost on penalties?

Was wondering the same thing , cant remember if he played

GavRedKing

rottie 11 wrote: »

Was wondering the same thing , cant remember if he played

He was captain as JT was still suspended for kneeing Alexis up the arse.

duploelabs

Insert bishop Brennan father Ted reference here

GavRedKing

duploelabs wrote: »

Insert bishop Brennan father Ted reference here

It was so stupid it was actually funny, it quickly became a nightmare when we went 2 down, had Ramires RB, Bosingwa and Ivan at CB, Cahill limped off, JT sent off.

About an hour later was all brilliant again.

hullaballoo

Every time Munich comes up I get giddy again. It could have been last week I remember it that well. (Actually, there are lots of things from last week I don't remember as well as it.)

That day was huge. Leinster with the biggest ever European Cup winning margin too. I was so messy drunk, I tried to hail an ambulance to get me home.