Chelsea Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2016

grumpymunster

hullaballoo wrote: »

Any chance we could bring Lamps back?

Chopper Harris would still be better than Cahill

Whoever (if anyone) is in charge of our transfer policy they should be given their cards tonight. Anyone who thought perhaps the worst defence in the premier league should not be strengthened before the start of the season should be sacked.

For all his so called faults Sideshow at least tried.

We have zero chance of top 4 absolutely none.

Suryavarman

cowboyBuilder wrote: »

Cheer up lads, accept that there are 4 big teams in Europe right now.

Real Madrid
Barcelona
Bayern
Man City

UCL will be contested between these teams and they will win their respective leagues (take your pick for Spain)

We are a small club again, it's all relative.

LOL at thinking Man City are in the same league as those three teams and leaving out Athletico Madrid.

justshane

cowboyBuilder wrote: »

Cheer up lads, accept that there are 4 big teams in Europe right now.

Real Madrid
Barcelona
Bayern
Man City

UCL will be contested between these teams and they will win their respective leagues (take your pick for Spain)

We are a small club again, it's all relative.

juve?

TimRiggins

I think we were caught cold in a way today. We haven't started any games well under Conte really and were 2 down before we knew it. In that case, it's torture to see Ivanovic and Matic out there. Fabregas showed when he came on why he simply has too start as he's the only player in our squad with an excellent passing range. He's able to put quick ball to the wingers and the fullbacks for them to create a scoring opportunity.

Cahill had a decent game outside of his glaring error but unfortunately these errors are far too common now a days. David Luiz was very solid and I actually wished he drove forward more when we were chasing the game. Seems to understand the right time to clear a ball and the right time to play it which is encouraging.

On a positive note, Diego Costa has 5 in 5 and is looking at his best.

justshane

Tbo 7 great save, good catch , good distribution

Ivan 2 couldn't tackle and couldn't cross despite numerous opportunities to get it in the box, poor Diego

Cahill 2 looked nervous with the ball, tried long range diagonal passes as it he was JT or luiz and doesn't have that in his locker. Poor for both goals.

Luiz 6 solid enough and a few dangerous balls over the top, nothing stupid either.

Dave 5 offered like going forward, let Mane get a few dangerous crosses in, before tightening up as the game went on

Kante 6 covered a lot of ground and got a few good interceptions in

Matic 5 great for the assist, otherwise did nothing

Oscar 3 the same as Matic minus the assist

Haz 6 got on the ball and tried to make things happen, the rest of the team were too slow for him to be effective

Diego 7 worked hard, tried in vain to get close to the pool defence but it was tough on his own, few decent runs, good movement and finish for the goal

Conte 3 we started to deep, gave them confidence. Subs too late and surely Bats had to be one of the 3?


How I saw the game.

Garzorico

Courtois, Cahill, Ivanovic, Matic. The usual suspects. Willian can go for a walk too - contributes very little going forward.
Gonna be a long season.

hots

Garzorico wrote: »

Courtois, Cahill, Ivanovic, Matic. The usual suspects. Willian can go for a walk too - contributes very little going forward.
Gonna be a long season.

It's definitely the usual frustrations from Willian lots of hustle but the end product is lacking... to be honest he was better than Hazard though who was very poor.

Courtois couldn't have done much imo. Ivan was horrendous goig forward last night, clearly needs time on the ball to do anything even close to average. Cahill was horrendous, genuinely relegation type of defending for the first goal, no idea how a pro (who knows he has a man and there are others behind) makes a dart forward to mark a man already being marked by Luiz. Actually abysmal and he was like that all night.

Saying that Liverpool were strong last night and were always going to cause trouble and still needed a career goal from Henderson to get the 3.

It really showed last night how little game time we've had under conte, especially in this system. He has to take responsibility for the poor subs though, no way Bats and Fab couldn't come on ~60, we needed to at least keep them honest at the back and you can cut out the pressing entirely with a couple of Luiz/Fab big balls into him...

shamrock55

Always nice to get one over on the rent boys😁

Tubbs4

You missed rating Willian. Give him 2 as well as his corners hit the first person most of the time and passin was all over the place.
Hope next game at least 3 changes are made if not more for the league.
Ivan, Cahill and Willian should not play again from the start. Could also throw Matic and Oscar on the list.

duploelabs

MaroonAndGreen

Jeez I don't remember him having three shots???

MaroonAndGreen

Was extremely frustrated at the amount of low crosses played last night, they were beyond poor

Suryavarman

I personally thought Oscar played well last night, I don't understand why he's being criticised by some. He had a great work rate, put in plenty of good challenges and made good passes. I definitely thought he was one of the better Chelsea players last night. He didn't set the world alight but then again, nobody did last night.

MaroonAndGreen

Suryavarman wrote:

I personally thought Oscar played well last night, I don't understand why he's being criticised by some. He had a great work rate, put in plenty of good challenges and made good passes. I definitely thought he was one of the better Chelsea players last night. He didn't set the world alight but then again, nobody did last night.

I think a lot has to do with the fact he's playing at Fabregas' expense

LightningBlue

Suryavarman wrote: »

I personally thought Oscar played well last night, I don't understand why he's being criticised by some. He had a great work rate, put in plenty of good challenges and made good passes. I definitely thought he was one of the better Chelsea players last night. He didn't set the world alight but then again, nobody did last night.

Willian, Hazard, Oscar and Matic (bar one dribble for the goal) were total non-entities for the most of the game. We got annihilated in midfield in terms of possession and territory for the whole of the first half and Kante couldn't cover the whole pitch when there's 4 or 5 Liverpool players swarming forward.
When Luiz or Azpi looked to play out from the back there were no options so we ended up hoofing it away.

Oscar played ok but in that advanced position he needs to dictate the play and play early balls into Costa and Hazard when up against a high line.
Instead he's developed into a Ramires-lite runner rather than a KDB/Mata style player who carries a constant goal/assist threat we hoped he'd be.
He'll score a wonder goal now and then but we need a 10+ goal and 10+ assist a season player in that position.

A lot of the frustration with him boils down to the fact we don't need 4 out of our midfield 5 to be work-horses if we are trying to get Top 4. That's more on the manager/board than him.
There has to be an alternative creative spark apart from Hazard (who was awful again).

That's the main reason why Oscar (probably unfairly) is getting stick. If he played as a box-to-box midfielder or winger instead of Matic or Willian and then Cesc played in the more advanced central role I'd be happy enough.

The only possible positive from the game is it will make Conte reassess the first team he's used to date.

Ideally we'd line out like this in future but it looks unlikely given the lack of changes to date and put Cesc on all free-kicks and set-pieces. His understanding with Costa is vital to getting us Top 4.

---

Courtois
Dave

---

Luiz

---

Terry ---- Moreno

---

Kante

---

Moses/Pedro---Oscar----Cesc

---

Hazard

---

Costa

---

cowboyBuilder

Suryavarman wrote: »

LOL at thinking Man City are in the same league as those three teams and leaving out Athletico Madrid.

Oops .. forgot about Athletico !

OK 5 teams then !!

Don't get me wrong, I think Chelsea can beat anyone in the EPL on their day - except Man City ... so in theory anyway we have a shot at 2nd...

hots

Anyone else get annoyed with Matic's lack of effort too? At times Kante was running around Matic to try and make a challenge. For a guy fighting for a spot he doesn't exactly put a shift in!

TimRiggins

I got hammered for saying Matic played poor against West Ham in our first game but the man hasn't played a decent game for us in a long time he doesn't win the ball back anymore and along with Ivanovic completly breaks down our moves when the ball comes to him. Fabregas has to play there even if Conte doesn't trust the back 4.

MaroonAndGreen

Why all of a sudden are West Brom playing the liquidator at the Hawthorns? Embarrassing enough on their behalf and slightly frustrating to see it copied..

super_furry

MaroonAndGreen wrote: »

Why all of a sudden are West Brom playing the liquidator at the Hawthorns? Embarrassing enough on their behalf and slightly frustrating to see it copied..

They've been using it since the 70s. Got dropped for a few years recently because of derogatory chanting about Wolves during it.

MaroonAndGreen

super_furry wrote:

They've been using it since the 70s. Got dropped for a few years recently because of derogatory chanting about Wolves during it.

I still don't like it haha

grumpymunster

Well the dust has settled what an abjectly miserable performance that was on Friday you can only hope that Roman sitting in the stands has a thought pattern along the lines of "well I have had 3 managers try and get something out of this group of players over the past year or so and they have all come up short. Therefore it must be the players and those in charge of our transfer policy at fault".

We used to have world class players we might have 1 now thats it, outside of Hazard we have some good players (Costa, Cesc, Dave, Kante, and aging JT, Luiz) a handful of young hopefuls and after that dross.

I honestly hope I never again see Cahill or Ivan in a Chelsea shirt (I would love to know what idiot at Chelsea reckoned that Cahill and Ivan are better players than Kalas), Willian flatters to deceive, Oscar frustrates the hell out of me he has talent to burn that lad, Matic I don't know whats going on in his head, Pedro is nowhere near good enough. I would reserve decision on TBo gave away a stupid penalty against Swansea but he does need some help and made at least one fantastic save on Friday, grates that we let Petr go for his chance though.

We can only hope that Alonso is half decent so when Zouma is fit we have a back four rotating around Dave, JT, Alonso, Zouma, Luiz and Aina. It is hard to judge Conte with such a bad back four he must feel he needs Matic and Kante in the mix to shore it up, which is messed up with the Matic factor really lets face it Obi would be better at this minute than Matic.

On Friday's showing Moses deserves a chance before Willian and Pedro but we have to find room for Batman and Cesc to have any chance of top 4. I was confident enough at the start of the season but we were taken to the cleaners on Friday and were blessed to get away with only a 1-2 defeat but that formation and back 4 is not going to get close to top 4.

Sgt Pepper 64

at least we can see that Jose is indeed a busted flush

cowboyBuilder

Yeah, feel sorry for Jose, he has been found out it seems.

GavRedKing

I said it before about Willian, hes a very limited player. Even his goals last year, the free kicks, glossed over some terrible performances from him.

The less I say about OScar, the less I'm likely to get banned but whoever turned down the Chinese money for him in January should be sacked.

Ivan is one of the easiest targets in this team, hes too slow and he doesnt have a brain to play a more reserved FB role and we cant have Azp bombing down the left because hes right footed so we're stuck with a FB who gets forward on the right and cant get back and a FB whos mobile but wont go forward too much. Ivan, Willian and Cahill at right CB combined are easily the biggest cluster f**k combination of this team.

Cahill :rolleyes: enough said, he was left with 5 Liverpool players back post for the opener and never gets help, not all his problem of course but he should be roaring at those around him to get into shape. Ditto for the 2nd goal, a pusst clearance lands 25/30 yards outside the box, it either has to be blasted up the field or cleared to touch, now, 99/100 Hendersons effort ends up not finding the absolute sweetest spot in the goal but the clearance and the attempt by Matic to close him down were slack.

Matic, still a shadow of hi former self, Kante does his work and Matics for most of the game, hell he done Oscars work too, I literally cant understand why Cesc isnt in there instead of him, we're going to find a situation where we lose Cesc and keep Matic in January if Cesc isnt played.

Theres only 1 positives about that game and its that its only the 5th game of the year and apart from Man City who look to be walking this title, nobody else really stands out and most of the contenders are in and around 12-9 points. If in 5 games time we're still in a chasing pack only a fe points behind City, I'll be delighted but theres no way this squad will challenge, let alone win a title, a top 4 battle is the best we can hope for, IMO.

GavRedKing

Sgt Pepper 64 wrote: »

at least we can see that Jose is indeed a busted flush

cowboyBuilder wrote: »

Yeah, feel sorry for Jose, he has been found out it seems.

Wouldnt write him off just yet. Wait until about December and January and if theyre still losing 1 in every 3 or games, then it might be true.

grumpymunster

Yea I would expect Jose to come good, United like Chelsea were a long way off the pace last season so there is a bit for him to do.

GavRedKing

grumpymunster wrote: »

Yea I would expect Jose to come good, United like Chelsea were a long way off the pace last season so there is a bit for him to do.

They did spend an absolute fortune to try and turn it around though.

I'm glad the form he carried at his end with us has transformed over to Utd, means theres only one stand out contender for the title at this moment and leaves the rest of us in with a hint of hope, especially us as we'll be aiming for the top 4 and anything over that would be bonuse territory.

GavRedKing

I wonder, with UCL on the horizon, will Leicester make changes for the game against us tomorrow night?

I know we dont really have to change many of our players, but I hope we do.

Batshauyi and Cesc have to start, although I do want Costa to keep scoring so it would be hard to take him out.

4-4-2 would be ideal for Costa and Batman to put in a shift.

Begovic
Azp Cahill Luiz Alonso
Moses Kante Cesc Pedro
Batshuayi Costa

Duck Soup

Interesting start to the season. I agree with much that's already been said. Back line still ropey - why didn't they keep the money spent on Luiz in their pocket and wait till January and an actual real defender was up for sale?

Kante looking set fair to be the new Makelelelelelele.

Oscar scored a couple of Hollywood goals when he first played and we've spent the last 4 years waiting for him to replicate it. Tackles well, loses the ball too much when he dribbles.

Matic is driving me nuts. We've seen how good he can be and he seems to be still just farting around. T-Bo? Does he want to move or has he just turned into slightly crap goalie?

Batshuayi could be a legend in the making. We're not going to win the league this season, so why not give him as many minutes on the pitch this season as possible.

Hazard getting back to his best.

Still not enough leaders in the team there for my liking.

grumpymunster

GavRedKing wrote: »

I wonder, with UCL on the horizon, will Leicester make changes for the game against us tomorrow night?

I know we dont really have to change many of our players, but I hope we do.

Batshauyi and Cesc have to start, although I do want Costa to keep scoring so it would be hard to take him out.

4-4-2 would be ideal for Costa and Batman to put in a shift.

Begovic
Azp Cahill Luiz Alonso
Moses Kante Cesc Pedro
Batshuayi Costa

Would not even let Cahill or Ivan travel to Leicester

Begovic,
Dave, Chalobah, Luiz, Alonso
Moses, Cesc, RLC, Kante
Batman, Solanke

Eduardo, Aina, Dabo, Dasilva (or Obi if back), Hazard, Oscar, Costa

The players that were awful on Friday should just be dropped

GavRedKing

Costas form has improved no end, hes fitter and as hungry as he was when he first signed, all this on the back of Atletico trying to sign him and himself willing to go back but Conte wanted him around and hes been professional and got on with his job.

GavRedKing

grumpymunster wrote: »

Would not even let Cahill or Ivan travel to Leicester

Begovic,
Dave, Chalobah, Luiz, Alonso
Moses, Cesc, RLC, Kante
Batman, Solanke

Eduardo, Aina, Dabo, Dasilva (or Obi if back), Hazard, Oscar, Costa

The players that were awful on Friday should just be dropped

I think Solanke is injured or has a niggle.

I'd agree though with Ivan and Cahill, the sooner JT and Zouma are back, the sooner we can see the back of Ivan and Cahill.

bullpost

Duck Soup wrote: »

Interesting start to the season. I agree with much that's already been said. Back line still ropey - why didn't they keep the money spent on Luiz in their pocket and wait till January and an actual real defender was up for sale?

Kante looking set fair to be the new Makelelelelelele.

Oscar scored a couple of Hollywood goals when he first played and we've spent the last 4 years waiting for him to replicate it. Tackles well, loses the ball too much when he dribbles.

Matic is driving me nuts. We've seen how good he can be and he seems to be still just farting around. T-Bo? Does he want to move or has he just turned into slightly crap goalie?

Batshuayi could be a legend in the making. We're not going to win the league this season, so why not give him as many minutes on the pitch this season as possible.

Hazard getting back to his best.

Still not enough leaders in the team there for my liking.

Lack of leaders is a real worry - JT only one we have.

Garzorico

bullpost wrote: »

Lack of leaders is a real worry - JT only one we have.

Luiz. Natural born leader. Captain material. Fabregas. Again captain material.

Fair enough they don't always start which should be a prerequisite for captain of the team but still.

Lukker-

In fairness to Mourinho, he didn't get to spend as much money as he wanted at United and the board haven't really supported him.

GavRedKing

Garzorico wrote: »

Luiz. Natural born leader. Captain material. Fabregas. Again captain material.

Fair enough they don't always start which should be a prerequisite for captain of the team but still.

Luiz is someone most of us would have picked as vice captain after Lamps left, loved by players and fans, vocal and an organiser.

Cesc too, captained Arsenal at about 20/21, hes well capable.

duploelabs

Lukker- wrote: »

In fairness to Mourinho, he didn't get to spend as much money as he wanted at United and the board haven't really supported him.

GavRedKing

So we all agree to make Luiz captain tomorrow night and hope Ivan and Cahill miss the bus or get left behind in Cobham?

Dya know what annoyed me more than most on Friday night, the last minute free kick and it was so close it was never going to beat the wall and come back down, it need a pile driver and Cesc stepped up and hit the wall with a tame effort, Luiz should have told him f**k off and smashed it at Mignolets side and give him something to worry about.

kev1.3s

Are we on tv tomorrow night?

GavRedKing

kev1.3s wrote: »

Are we on tv tomorrow night?

Ya, we're on one of the Sky Sports channels.

grumpymunster

GavRedKing wrote: »

So we all agree to make Luiz captain tomorrow night and hope Ivan and Cahill miss the bus or get left behind in Cobham?

Dya know what annoyed me more than most on Friday night, the last minute free kick and it was so close it was never going to beat the wall and come back down, it need a pile driver and Cesc stepped up and hit the wall with a tame effort, Luiz should have told him f**k off and smashed it at Mignolets side and give him something to worry about.

That was annoying but the lack of urgency after Liverpool left us back into the game was worrying also when he joined we read lots of how Conte changes the formation during the game when things not going right. No subs until the 84th minute ---- you really do wonder who is calling the shots down our way.

grumpymunster

So TBo making move noises again

http://metro.co.uk/2016/09/20/chelsea-star-thibaut-coutrois-admits-hes-still-pining-for-a-return-to-spain-6139019/?

He is nowhere near as good as he thinks he is if we can get decent money for him this summer get shot and maybe buy Butland instead.

duploelabs

grumpymunster wrote: »

So TBo making move noises again

http://metro.co.uk/2016/09/20/chelsea-star-thibaut-coutrois-admits-hes-still-pining-for-a-return-to-spain-6139019/?

He is nowhere near as good as he thinks he is if we can get decent money for him this summer get shot and maybe buy Butland instead.

Swap for Griezmann

grumpymunster

duploelabs wrote: »

Swap for Griezmann

Given his overall form Griezmann would be a better keeper

Would be nice but if we dont finish top 4 Griezmann not coming two years out of CL would be very bad.

grumpymunster

So JT is to be fit for the Gunners match on Saturday so who starts, for me

TBo,
Dave, JT, Luiz, Alonso
Cesc, Kante
Hazard, Oscar, Moses
Costa

Moses is showing more in cameo roles than either Pedro or Willian but it could be Obi beside Kante with Cesc pushed forward. Matic, Cahill & Ivan don't deserve a place on the bench but lack of alternatives mean they will be there.

GavRedKing

grumpymunster wrote: »

So JT is to be fit for the Gunners match on Saturday so who starts, for me

TBo,
Dave, JT, Luiz, Alonso
Cesc, Kante
Hazard, Oscar, Moses
Costa

Moses is showing more in cameo roles than either Pedro or Willian but it could be Obi beside Kante with Cesc pushed forward. Matic, Cahill & Ivan don't deserve a place on the bench but lack of alternatives mean they will be there.

Away to Arsenal we'll probably start a similar side that lost to Liverpool, JT will come back it just depends on who drops out.

I'd go

Tbo
Azp Cahill JT Alonso
Luiz Kante Cesc
Willian Costa Hazard

GavRedKing

The big question is who will we start with tonight?

I hope Conte gives the young guys a chance.

Chalobah deserves to start, I'd like to see Aina at RB too and Kante never needs to be dropped, ever.

Batshuayi needs game time but Costa is scoring goals so its hard to take him out but I want Michy to play.

GavRedKing

grumpymunster wrote: »

So TBo making move noises again

http://metro.co.uk/2016/09/20/chelsea-star-thibaut-coutrois-admits-hes-still-pining-for-a-return-to-spain-6139019/?

He is nowhere near as good as he thinks he is if we can get decent money for him this summer get shot and maybe buy Butland instead.

He wants to go to Madrid but loves Atletico so that rules Real out, if Atletico came in with 50-60million they can have him.

Johner

GavRedKing wrote: »

He wants to go to Madrid but loves Atletico so that rules Real out, if Atletico came in with 50-60million they can have him.

He's nailed on to go to Real, whenever their ban is up he'll be off to them I'm sure of it. This is a man who cheated with his best friends girlfriend. :pac: With the money and wages they will offer he'll probably forget he had a loan spell with Atletico. :pac:

He's a very good goalkeeper, but not as good as he promised to be so far anyway.