Chelsea Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2014/15

DazMarz

Is it true that Aguero is out for a long stretch?

GavRedKing

Nothing has changed, its a very long season for us and City and the chasing pack.

We're not even half way through it and only silly rags were and PR bookies were saying we're champions.

Anyone with half a brain knows its going go all the way, at the best youd hope to win it with a game to spare but its not that easy

BarcodeMuncher

Zouma and Luis need a chance I reckon, and as much as I love Drogba, Remy needs to be coming on as first sub up front to scare the defence with pace, fair enough Drogba was the ram to get through the packed defence but Remy is a steal. Cahill has been so poor recently, would even consider shifting Ivanovic inside with Dave at right full and if that is not an indication of his form I don't know what is, Zouma scares me, not sure if its good or bad. Hazard looked asleep today and Fabregas a bit lethargic aswell but my god is Matic important, a lot of them need to be rested up till Hull, still top and capable of improvement, not too bad at all.

GavRedKing

Id drop cahill anyway. TBH apart playing with JT i dont think hes not good enough long term.

id give zouma a chance and if hes not good enough weve an issue.

Mikel needs to go regardless.

doc_17

Disappointing to see Jose complain about some time wasting.

rottie 11

We should try

Dave jt zouma luis

As our back 4

Or ivan for zouma even

GavRedKing

Id like ivan and zouma at cb for sporting.

Cech
Azp ivan zouma luis
Matic Ramores
schurrle oscar remy
Drogba

SureYWouldntYa

GavRedKing wrote: »

Id like ivan and zouma at cb for sporting.

Cech
Azp ivan zouma luis
Matic Ramores
schurrle oscar remy
Drogba

Is there really any need to go that strong ? Give the youths and those not usually starting this game, playing Matic, Oscar etc who are regulars is pretty pointless

GavRedKing

SureYWouldntYa wrote: »

Is there really any need to go that strong ? Give the youths and those not usually starting this game, playing Matic, Oscar etc who are regulars is pretty pointless

Get back some performance levels for a big game v hull.

GavRedKing

Also someone needs to step up and take the rw slot.

William doesnt do enough
Schurrle is inconsistent
Salah isnt good enough.

peteeeed

I'm going to be at the Lisbon and hull games , hope to see some fellas get a chance to prove ther worth on weds and then first team hammer hull

grumpymunster

GavRedKing wrote: »

Id drop cahill anyway. TBH apart playing with JT i dont think hes not good enough long term.

id give zouma a chance and if hes not good enough weve an issue.

Mikel needs to go regardless.

We do need to give Zouma his chance as you are quite right if he is not up to it we have an issue, and a very serious one. I think he is good enough by the way.

We also need to have Dave & Luis in tandem at some stage even if we play Ivan at CB. Barcodes was just one of those days for me on another day we would have won handy enough but it was not to be, better than Munster managed later on Saturday at least now that was a woeful performance only made slightly better by the addition of copious quantities of Guinness.

grumpymunster

So what team Wednesday for me

Petr, Luis, Zouma, Christensen, Dave, Ram, Ake, Schurrle, Salah, Baker, Remy

GavRedKing

Remy on the wing and drogba up top for me, bench baker.

Bring on solanke , brown and baker for mins later on.

MaroonAndGreen

GavRedKing wrote: »

Remy on the wing and drogba up top for me, bench baker.

Bring on solanke , brown and baker for mins later on.

Lads, we have a very tough few Premier League games coming up, these are our next 5 which will take us to New Years Day....

Hull - (H)
Stoke - (A)
West Ham - (H)
Southampton - (A)
Spurs - (A)

Stoke, Southampton and Spurs away with Hull and a high-flying West Ham at home in a London Derby.

In the same period City have....

Leicester - (A)
Palace - (H)
West Brom - (A)
Burnley - (H)
Sunderland - (H)

Even without Aguero, City will be getting at least 12-13 points from them 5 games. Meaning we cant afford to drop points in more than one of them games if we wish to be top after we play Spurs. And whatever about drawing,we cant be losing them games. We'l need to beat Hull and West Ham at home (as always expected) and to get 5-6 points in the away games with Stoke, Southampton and Spurs.

We could be off the top in a months time. Massive 5 games. Time for this team to show its true worth.

GavRedKing

Cesc missing the Hull game is big too. Matic was a hige loss against Newcastle but Cesc could be equally as important.

Id be trying oscar next to matic to do the Cesc role and throw schurrle in the support role.

peteeeed

FA cup draw 3rd round

Chelsea v Watford

GavRedKing

peteeeed wrote: »

FA cup draw 3rd round

Chelsea v Watford

Decent draw

GavRedKing

Think weve found 3 of our top 4 in us and both manchester teams.

MaroonAndGreen

I think its important we beat Lisbon too... just to quash talk of a blip as much as possible.

GavRedKing

MaroonAndGreen wrote: »

I think its important we beat Lisbon too... just to quash talk of a blip as much as possible.

A loss wouldnt be huge as we're through and will make changes but surely guys looking in can see if they perform theyll start at the weekend.

Salah schurrle in particular. Maybe zouma and luis too.

Ramires will wanna play with cesc out.

Theres spots up for grabs as the guys that will drop out for the sporting game havent preformed well in our last 2 away games

MaroonAndGreen

GavRedKing wrote: »

A loss wouldnt be huge as we're through and will make changes but surely guys looking in can see if they perform theyll start at the weekend.

Salah schurrle in particular. Maybe zouma and luis too.

Ramires will wanna play with cesc out.

Theres spots up for grabs as the guys that will drop out for the sporting game havent preformed well in our last 2 away games

For Hull hopefully we will line out like this:

Matic - Oscar
Schurrle - Willian - Hazard
Costa

MaroonAndGreen

Got thinking about an interesting topic after reading an article comparing our 2005 team to our team now. It got me wondering, what is our best 11 since the beginning of the Abramovich era in 2003-04? So, anyway I decided on what is my best team. Lined it up in a 4-3-3 with two central midfielders and an attacking minded midfielder, with two wingers and a centre-forward. To be eligible, the player must have played for Chelsea anytime between the 2003-04 season and the end of the 2013-14 season (dont think its right to be adding Courtois, Fabregas and Costa as contenders as they've only been here 3 months but thats my opinion, feel free to disagree). I also picked an alternative team (the next best player in each position). So here goes:

Goalkeepers
Nominees: (Petr Cech, Carlo Cudicini) Considering Cech started almost every game since Jose joined the club in 2004, it has to go to him, with Carlo making the bench.

A Team: Cech.
B Team. Cudicini.

Right-Back
Nominees: (Ferreira, Ivanovic) Again only had two real stand-out right backs, couldn't bring myself to include Glen Johnson :pac:. Given Ivanovic's part in the Champions League and Europa League wins, i'm giving him the nod. Paulo = legend though.

A Team: Ivanovic.
B Team: Ferreira.

Left-Back
Nominees: (Cole, Azpilicueta) Just the two again, could have included Wayne Bridge but I have a tinge of dislike for him out of loyalty for John Terry . It has to go to Cole, absolute club legend and arguably the best left-back in the Premier League for the past decade.

A Team: Cole.
B Team: Azpilicueta.

Centre-Halves
Nominees: (Gallas, Terry, Carvalho, Luiz, Cahill) Where the debate gets more interesting. Obviously JT is in the team, no explanation needed. But who joins him? Cahill and Luiz were the heroes who played in Munich, and also had big parts in winning the Europa League... how do you leave out Carvalho though? Gallas too was brilliant for as long as he was here. Im giving it to Carvalho, as in my opinion, we still havent really replaced him have we? And just for Gallas leaving joining Arsenal, he misses out on the B Team too.

A Team: Terry, Carvalho.
B Team: Cahill, Luiz.

Centre-Midfield
Nominees: (Makelele, Lampard, Essien, Ballack, Ramires) Again, like JT, Frank is in automatically. Who joins him, im not sure... torn between Makelele and Essien... included Ballack and Ramires as honorable mentions more than anything as they did some great things for us too. Im giving it to Makelele though, we were damn solid with him holding midfield from 2003-2007. Ramires gets in the B Team ahead of Ballack, mainly for the chip in the Nou Camp.

A Team: Lampard, Makelele.
B Team: Essien, Ramires.

Attacking Midfielder
Nominees: (Joe Cole, Mata, Oscar) For the creative midfield role, im giving it to Mata (was tempted to go for Joe because of Mata's move to United). Despite Mata leaving for United, he deserves to go down as a club hero after the Champions League winning season.

A Team: Mata.
B Team. Cole.

Wingers
Nominees: (Duff, Robben, Malouda, Hazard) Duff, Robben and Hazard are obviously disputing the two spots, but I thought Florent deserves his nomination. He was a key player in the double winning season under Carlo and played 5-6 seasons with us. Im going to give the two wingers spots to Duff and Robben, because they won silverware with us and Hazard hasnt quite managed that yet.

Centre-Forward
Nominees: (Gudjohnsen, Drogba, Anelka) No contest. Didier gets it. The hero of Munich. Our main man for years. Gudjohnsen to pip Anelka, he was a really likeable player and was brilliant for us during Jose's first tenure in charge.

A Team: Drogba.
B Team Gudjohnsen.

Chelsea's Best 11 in Abramovich Era
GK CECH
RB IVANOVIC
CB CARVALHO
CB TERRY
LB COLE
CM MAKELELE
CM LAMPARD
CAM MATA
LW DUFF
RW ROBBEN
CF DROGBA

Alternative 11
GK CUDICINI
RB FERREIRA
CB CAHILL
CB LUIZ
LB AZPILICUETA
CM ESSIEN
CM RAMIRES
CAM COLE
LW HAZARD
RW MALOUDA
CF GUDJOHNSEN

So, what ye think lads? Have I missed anyone?

Quite enjoyed making that if im honest.

GavRedKing

Best XI?

Id go

Cech
Ivan Carvalho JT Cole
Makelele
Lamps Essien
Robben Drogba Hazard

peteeeed

MaroonAndGreen wrote: »

Got thinking about an interesting topic after reading an article comparing our 2005 team to our team now. It got me wondering, what is our best 11 since the beginning of the Abramovich era in 2003-04? So, anyway I decided on what is my best team. Lined it up in a 4-3-3 with two central midfielders and an attacking minded midfielder, with two wingers and a centre-forward. To be eligible, the player must have played for Chelsea anytime between the 2003-04 season and the end of the 2013-14 season (dont think its right to be adding Courtois, Fabregas and Costa as contenders as they've only been here 3 months but thats my opinion, feel free to disagree). I also picked an alternative team (the next best player in each position). So here goes:

Goalkeepers
Nominees: (Petr Cech, Carlo Cudicini) Considering Cech started almost every game since Jose joined the club in 2004, it has to go to him, with Carlo making the bench.

A Team: Cech.
B Team. Cudicini.

Right-Back
Nominees: (Ferreira, Ivanovic) Again only had two real stand-out right backs, couldn't bring myself to include Glen Johnson :pac:. Given Ivanovic's part in the Champions League and Europa League wins, i'm giving him the nod. Paulo = legend though.

A Team: Ivanovic.
B Team: Ferreira.

Left-Back
Nominees: (Cole, Azpilicueta) Just the two again, could have included Wayne Bridge but I have a tinge of dislike for him out of loyalty for John Terry . It has to go to Cole, absolute club legend and arguably the best left-back in the Premier League for the past decade.

A Team: Cole.
B Team: Azpilicueta.

Centre-Halves
Nominees: (Gallas, Terry, Carvalho, Luiz, Cahill) Where the debate gets more interesting. Obviously JT is in the team, no explanation needed. But who joins him? Cahill and Luiz were the heroes who played in Munich, and also had big parts in winning the Europa League... how do you leave out Carvalho though? Gallas too was brilliant for as long as he was here. Im giving it to Carvalho, as in my opinion, we still havent really replaced him have we? And just for Gallas leaving joining Arsenal, he misses out on the B Team too.

A Team: Terry, Carvalho.
B Team: Cahill, Luiz.

Centre-Midfield
Nominees: (Makelele, Lampard, Essien, Ballack, Ramires) Again, like JT, Frank is in automatically. Who joins him, im not sure... torn between Makelele and Essien... included Ballack and Ramires as honorable mentions more than anything as they did some great things for us too. Im giving it to Makelele though, we were damn solid with him holding midfield from 2003-2007. Ramires gets in the B Team ahead of Ballack, mainly for the chip in the Nou Camp.

A Team: Lampard, Makelele.
B Team: Essien, Ramires.

Attacking Midfielder
Nominees: (Joe Cole, Mata, Oscar) For the creative midfield role, im giving it to Mata (was tempted to go for Joe because of Mata's move to United). Despite Mata leaving for United, he deserves to go down as a club hero after the Champions League winning season.

A Team: Mata.
B Team. Cole.

Wingers
Nominees: (Duff, Robben, Malouda, Hazard) Duff, Robben and Hazard are obviously disputing the two spots, but I thought Florent deserves his nomination. He was a key player in the double winning season under Carlo and played 5-6 seasons with us. Im going to give the two wingers spots to Duff and Robben, because they won silverware with us and Hazard hasnt quite managed that yet.

Centre-Forward
Nominees: (Gudjohnsen, Drogba, Anelka) No contest. Didier gets it. The hero of Munich. Our main man for years. Gudjohnsen to pip Anelka, he was a really likeable player and was brilliant for us during Jose's first tenure in charge.

A Team: Drogba.
B Team Gudjohnsen.

Chelsea's Best 11 in Abramovich Era
GK CECH
RB IVANOVIC
CB CARVALHO
CB TERRY
LB COLE
CM MAKELELE
CM LAMPARD
CAM MATA
LW DUFF
RW ROBBEN
CF DROGBA

Alternative 11
GK CUDICINI
RB FERREIRA
CB CAHILL
CB LUIZ
LB AZPILICUETA
CM ESSIEN
CM RAMIRES
CAM COLE
LW HAZARD
RW MALOUDA
CF GUDJOHNSEN

So, what ye think lads? Have I missed anyone?

Quite enjoyed making that if im honest.

godamn thats a tough one, i would have gallas ahead of luiz although i hate the guy now .
duff would not make either 11 , oscar , robben and hazard for me
upfront i think Hernan Crespo is worth a shout as he scored some important goals but his wife never moved to england so he could not settle

GavRedKing

Press conference due for 12.30

GavRedKing

MaroonAndGreen wrote: »

Got thinking about an interesting topic after reading an article comparing our 2005 team to our team now. It got me wondering, what is our best 11 since the beginning of the Abramovich era in 2003-04?

As an alternative, your worst Chelsea XI since Roman has taken over?

Criteria, been park of any squad since 2003, past or future performance since leaving Chelsea doesnt count, its what they did or didnt do during their stay is all that matters.

Sullivan
Bogarde Ben Haim Boulaharouz Del Horno
Sidwell Morais Minerio
Kezman Pizaroo Shevchenko

HalloweenJack

I still have nightmares about Boulahrouz.

hots

GavRedKing wrote: »

As an alternative, your worst Chelsea XI since Roman has taken over?

Criteria, been park of any squad since 2003, past or future performance since leaving Chelsea doesnt count, its what they did or didnt do during their stay is all that matters.

Sullivan
Bogarde Ben Haim Boulaharouz Del Horno
Sidwell Morais Minerio
Kezman Pizaroo Shevchenko

Always liked del horno for some reason... Quaresma ahead of Shevchenko for me too

Dayum

GavRedKing wrote: »

Think weve found 3 of our top 4 in us and both manchester teams.

We knew that before a ball was kicked this season.

GavRedKing

Dayum wrote: »

We knew that before a ball was kicked this season.

It was never a sure thing but the way Liverpool, Spurs and Arsenal are faltering and Utd are winning without playing well, its not a good sign for thsoe chasing them.

HalloweenJack wrote: »

I still have nightmares about Boulahrouz.

Ya, he was a proper liability didnt he wear number 9 for that season too :pac:

hobbit of the shire wrote: »

Always liked del horno for some reason... Quaresma ahead of Shevchenko for me too

We've not had terrible LBs in the squad, Babayaro was good, Gallas was very good for us, Bridge was good too and then you've got Cole, leaves Del Horno as probably the worse LB to play for us.

good call on quaresma, promised so much, but never delivered.

Pretty much like his career although hes still cut a decent career out for himself but it could and should have been more.

CM was tough to pick too, I had Parker in and Veron too.

HalloweenJack

Maniche anyone? Didn't he get sent off twice in a half-season loan spell?

Also, the Abramovich signings: Jarosik and Smertin. They gave it a go but just weren't up to it.

GavRedKing

HalloweenJack wrote: »

Maniche anyone? Didn't he get sent off twice in a half-season loan spell?

Also, the Abramovich signings: Jarosik and Smertin. They gave it a go but just weren't up to it.

Ah Maniche, another fairly poor signing :pac:

We've had plenty of misses in the market, not so many now a days though.

TimRiggins

GavRedKing wrote: »

Ah Maniche, another fairly poor signing :pac:

We've had plenty of misses in the market, not so many now a days though.

Our expectations we're so low after Torres anything is decent!!

On another note, anyone getting slightly worried by Costa's form? Didn't look himself against Sunderland or Newcastle.

Remy will probably start tomorrow night, If he bangs in a couple it would do no harm, With Drogba and Remy breathing down his neck he'll get his arse into gear hopefully.

peteeeed

GavRedKing wrote: »

Press conference due for 12.30

jose and rubuen loftus cheek are giving the press conf . strange but i guess that means he will be playing some part in the game which is good

GavRedKing

TimRiggins wrote: »

Our expectations we're so low after Torres anything is decent!!

On another note, anyone getting slightly worried by Costa's form? Didn't look himself against Sunderland or Newcastle.

Remy will probably start tomorrow night, If he bangs in a couple it would do no harm, With Drogba and Remy breathing down his neck he'll get his arse into gear hopefully.

Mourinho said his condition isnt right at the moment and he has to improve it.

I wouldnt worry about Costa, with Aguero out for a few weeks he should be hot on his tail for the golden boot in the coming games.

Even if he isnt scoring defenders still have to worry about him, unlike last year where if one of our CFs wasnt scoring he was basically a liability to the team.

TimRiggins

peteeeed wrote: »

jose and rubuen loftus cheek are giving the press conf . strange but i guess that means he will be playing some part in the game which is good

Jose just confirmed he'll play some part.

GavRedKing

peteeeed wrote: »

jose and rubuen loftus cheek are giving the press conf . strange but i guess that means he will be playing some part in the game which is good

Good for the youngster, get some media attention and some mins.

TimRiggins

GavRedKing wrote: »

Good for the youngster, get some media attention and some mins.

Yup. Hopefully its the first of many and in the next few years with no managerial changes we'll see Jose blood many more yet.

Been at the club since he was 8 as well so fantastic news.

grumpymunster

Hazard out tomorrow as well apparently, no surprise there then.

peteeeed

press conf

Loftus-Cheek: 'I've been at the club since I was eight so to be involved and raining with the first team means a lot to me.'

'John Terry is a great role model for all of the players at the Academy and we look up to the likes of him and Drogba.'

'We've got some good talent coming through, it won't be easy to make the breakthrough but we have to be positive.'

'All the young players are excited to be getting opportunities and we're confident in our ability to do well.'

jose Mourinho says Loftus-Cheek has been showing his quality and ambition every time he has trained with the first team.

'I am so happy to give the kids a chance. He is an English player, 18, completely made in Chelsea. If he succeeds it's good.'

his desire is always to win so if Sporting qualify with seven points he will be pleased because Chelsea will have won.

he has a desire to bring players through from the Academy, especially English players.

the best thing for Loftus-Cheek's development is to work with the first team.

he will probably bring Loftus-Cheek into the first team squad permanently from January.

'From the mental point of view the defeat at Newcastle doesn't have any effect on us. We are fine, we don't need a reaction.'

'I repeat we couldn't be in a better situation. We have nothing to change or be worried about.

'When you lose a game you want to win the next game. Tomorrow is the next game and we want a good result.'

John Terry, Willian and Eden Hazard won't feature in tomorrow's match, they are off at the moment.

he wants to give every player some time off because we have so many games in December.

Diego Costa, Nemanja Matic and Cesc Fabregas will have all had a game off for picking up five domestic yellow cards.

Diego Costa will start tomorrow's game.

the quality of the young players at Chelsea is better now than during his first spell at the club.

he has the conditions to give players from our Academy chances, like he will tomorrow.

the relationship between the first team and the Academy is changing because of the stability at the club.

grumpymunster

Willian also out Costa starts

MaroonAndGreen

grumpymunster wrote: »

Willian also out Costa starts

Hopefully Costa can bag a goal against Lisbon and hit Hull with full confidence at the weekend

peteeeed

MaroonAndGreen wrote: »

Hopefully Costa can bag a goal against Lisbon and hit Hull with full confidence at the weekend

i'm happy i'm going to both games now

TimRiggins

MaroonAndGreen wrote: »

Hopefully Costa can bag a goal against Lisbon and hit Hull with full confidence at the weekend

I know goals would be great for his confidence and that, But what does Remy need to do for a start? Is he banging Joses daughter or something?

peteeeed

TimRiggins wrote: »

I know goals would be great for his confidence and that, But what does Remy need to do for a start? Is he banging Joses daughter or something?

i would hope its 45 mins or so each

TimRiggins

peteeeed wrote: »

i would hope its 45 mins or so each

Remy needs to get a full 90 under his belt for me. If not 60-70 mins. Its a dead rubber Champions League game.

peteeeed

TimRiggins wrote: »

Remy needs to get a full 90 under his belt for me. If not 60-70 mins. Its a dead rubber Champions League game.

agreed and he looked really good against spurs

GavRedKing

Id play Remy wide. With williand and Hazard out schurrle will play, Remy should too.

MaroonAndGreen

If I had to pick my worst Chelsea 11 from the Abramovich Era it would be:

GK Turnbull
RB Johnson
CB Bouhlarouz
CB Ben Haim
LB Del Horno
CM Veron
CM Sidwell
CAM Benayoun
LW Sinclair
RW Wright-Phillips
CF Kezman

With the bench being Parker, Smertin, Maniche, Quaresma, Marin, Mutu, Pizzaro.

Didnt include the likes of Bogarde or players that didnt really play.

OMG no wait, the goalkeeper would be Ambrosio with Turnbull put on the bench.