can chelsea be caught?

Headshot

PHB wrote:

Terry taking drugs? Sound a lot like bull****, and if it was true I'd say we'd hear about it instantly.

total bull **** i say terry is not like that hes a great player who plays fair and a good sport, good role model for youngsters i say

great defender

Chucky the tree

it cant be drugs. The "scandle" wouldnt be realised in the paper then unless they had concrete proof. and if they did it would be out already.

Can someone post up the story or a link to it? telling us there potential and big scandle but not telling us what excactly it is is just cruel.

PHB

A while ago he was involved in a fight in a bar if I remember, like 3 years ago, maybe thats it

Chucky the tree

It would have to be something massive to dent his form, maybe hes gay?

he and ljunberg might be dating?

Headshot

Chucky the tree wrote:

It would have to be something massive to dent his form, maybe hes gay?

he and ljunberg might be dating?

i knew it thats why hes alway hunging his manager after the match

Jivin Turkey

The Muppet wrote:

If I was a "sun journalist" I could repeat them and link to the allegations from the original source with impunity. However I am not and the allegations may be totally untrue and therfore I will neither repeat them or link to them in fairness to the parties involved and the owners of this site.

The details of the allegations are irrelevant to my point. I only mentioned them in the context of problems that could affect Chelsea's run in to the title. John Terry is the lynch pin of the chelsea defence and if her were to miss games for whatever reason it would affect their chances.

If I did the same you would accuse me of trolling.

All you have done is opened an unecessary can of worms which has sparked mass (and ridiculous) speculation (similar to the original post itself).

The Muppet

Robben is out for up to two months with two briken bones is his foot. Just watching sky sport the showed stats on Chelsea showing that with Robben they scored nearly 3 goals a game but witout him it was only 0.8. He is going to be a hugh loss.

Will they have to change the formation and tactics that has been so successful for them of late?

p.pete

The Muppet wrote:

Robben is out for up to two months with two briken bones is his foot. Just watching sky sport the showed stats on Chelsea showing that with Robben they scored nearly 3 goals a game but witout him it was only 0.8. He is going to be a hugh loss.

Will they have to change the formation and tactics that has been so successful for them of late?

They can try using Joe Cole in that role. Definitely he won't be as effective as Robben but I don't see it as a critical blow. Already without Robben they've dropped points to Man City but when the goalkeeper plays a blinder there's often very little you can do, regardless of who's on the pitch.

As for that stat - it's well known that stats are lies. A large portion of that time without Robben they were also playing without Duff or Cole also. It was the start of the season and they were being unadventurous (yet still effective) full stop.

PHB

Eveton (PREM) - Loss
Newcastle (F.A.) - Loss
Barcelona (U.C.L.) - Loss
Liverpool (C.C.) - Win
Norwich (PREM.) - Draw
Barcelona (U.C.L.) - Draw(to go out of the CL)

These are the games he will be missing for.
This is the biggest month of the year so far in terms of all four competitions, the hardest too.
Every single one of those games is going to be a tight game, with every one of those teams doing everything possible to beat Chelsea.
Unfortuantely there are only 2 premiership games in this period when Robben is out, but both those two could be points dropped.

btw those predictions are what I rwant to happen, with a reasonably good possibility that they will.
----

Theres a famous saying that "The hardest thing to do in sports, is to go into the superbowl dressing room at half time behind, and change the strategy that got you there"
This is now what Chelsea appear to need to do, lets see how good Mourinho really is

SCULLY

The Muppet wrote:

Robben is out for up to two months with two briken bones is his foot. Just watching sky sport the showed stats on Chelsea showing that with Robben they scored nearly 3 goals a game but witout him it was only 0.8. He is going to be a hugh loss.

Will they have to change the formation and tactics that has been so successful for them of late?

A lot has been written about the stats mentioned above but you have to take into consideration that at the start of the season , you had half of the CFC players who hardly knew each other, let alone played as a team together, which could also be a factor to their lack of early season goals. (btw I think that Robben came on first against Blackburn when CFC were already 3-0 up!)

No doubt that he will be a huge loss but anyone who watched the game on Sunday saw that Chelsea had some excellent chances against City and apart from several brilliant saves from James (never thought that I'd type that!), they would have won - but before anyone jumps down my throat, CFC have won games before where they had a huge slice of good luck and I believe that over the course of the season luck averages out and the best team does win. Ask most CFC supporters and they will tell you that the priority this season is the league anything else is a bonus (even the Champions league). In this regard , if Robben has to be out for cira 7 weeks I would prefer him to be out now, (out of our next 7 games only 3 are in the league and 2 cl, 1fa and the league cup final).All things been equal he should (hopefully) be back for the run-in, including those against Manu Utd and Arsenal.

I don't think he will change the tactics too much as they are very comfortable with it (though Cole is no replacement for Robben) and 3 out of the next four leagu games are very winnable (a bit uneasy about the game on Saturday though!)

p.pete

PHB wrote:

Eveton (PREM) - Loss
Newcastle (F.A.) - Loss
Barcelona (U.C.L.) - Loss
Liverpool (C.C.) - Win
Norwich (PREM.) - Draw
Barcelona (U.C.L.) - Draw(to go out of the CL)

btw those predictions are what I rwant to happen, with a reasonably good possibility that they will.
----

Theres a famous saying that "The hardest thing to do in sports, is to go into the superbowl dressing room at half time behind, and change the strategy that got you there"
This is now what Chelsea appear to need to do, lets see how good Mourinho really is

Lol - I like the way the only team you want to beat is Liverpool good luck with that

As for the quote - they aren't going into the dressing-room behind. I do believe they are in front, and as I've said in my previous post they've already spent a portion of this season playing different, less adventurous tactics. They scored less but they still defended brilliantly and won most games:D

growler

no doub Robben is a big loss , having him and Duff on the pitch creates lots of possible lines of attack and good service to the striker(s), with only Duff it's relatively easy to mark him and isolate him. However Mourinho has to prove his managerial and tactical skills in the coming weeks to make sure that the team can function without Robben , personally I hope that doesn't include Cole but his choices are limited if he wants to continue with the current style of play.

More, or at least, as worrying I think is Drogba's absence, Kezman is a waste of space and Gudjohnsen continues to be occassionally brilliant but mostly not.

Regardless of injuries though the Chelsea squad is probably as good, overall, as any other in the Premiership.

PHB

The thing about Robben isn't the player specifically, its the formation that he allows them to play.

Cole doesnt work in that role, we saw it against Blackburn and we saw it against, he can';t play in that role because he isn't a winger.

The 4-3-3 isn't an option without Duff and Robben, so he needs a different system, and its gona be a 4-4-2 without two wingers.
Eseentaily Chelsea are minus a winger now, and the squad they got doesnt seem to be able to find a replacement, so now they have to play someone out of position, and thats a tough task when you've to do with vs Barca Newcastle Liverpool and everton

Memnoch

yea, I agree that Kezman is absolutely rubbish. And Gudjohnson isn't very consistant.

I think chelsea could really do with a QUALITY striker, and they will have to get one if they hope to be able to compete seriously at champion's league level.

As much as I despise Rud van cheateroy, at the end of the day he puts the ball in the back of the net. As do players like Henry. Chelsea atm are lacking someone like that who puts the ball in the back of net on a consistant basis, from half chances, tap in whatever. Drogba is decent off course.

The Muppet

Memnoch wrote:

As much as I despise Rud van cheateroy, .

Well it took you long enought to admit it , but at last you have confirmed what us united supporters here have always known . That you are not the impartial football fan that you claimed to be. Pity you tried to hide your anti united bias when posting some of the rubbish you have in the past . You would have more credibility if you had come clean from the outset but as least you've shown your true colours now for future reference.


Link

p.pete

The Muppet wrote:

Well it took you long enought to admit it , but at last you have confirmed what us united supporters here have always known . That you are not the impartial football fan that you claimed to be. Pity you tried to hide your anti united bias when posting some of the rubbish you have in the past . You would have more credibility if you had come clean from the outset but as least you've shown your true colours now for future reference.

Cries of "This Guys a Phoney!!!, hey look everybody - he's a Big Phoney!" ala family guy.

PHB

That so freaky, I was thinkign that exact thing, thats weird pete

p.pete

PHB wrote:

That so freaky, I was thinkign that exact thing, thats weird pete

Clear proof that you can have a great mind and still be able to support Man United

SteM

p.pete wrote:

As for that stat - it's well known that stats are lies.

89% of staticians would agree with you.

The Muppet

p.pete wrote:

Cries of "This Guys a Phoney!!!, hey look everybody - he's a Big Phoney!" ala family guy.

I thought you were on detention P Pete, that Pm must have been good.

I don't watch cartoons so I'm afraid the reference to family guy is lost on me .

Memnoch

The Muppet wrote:

Well it took you long enought to admit it , but at last you have confirmed what us united supporters here have always known . That you are not the impartial football fan that you claimed to be. Pity you tried to hide your anti united bias when posting some of the rubbish you have in the past . You would have more credibility if you had come clean from the outset but as least you've shown your true colours now for future reference.


Link

anti-united bias? what the hell are you talking about? I dislike Ruud because of the way he acts, not because he plays for United. because of the way he tried to break ashley cole's leg in the game and the way he constantly falls to the ground.

I felt united didn't deserve to win that match, and although I don't have much love for arsenal I think they were hard done by in that game. You and the other United supporters need to take of your red-tinted glasses.

Despite all that he manages to put the ball in the back of the net, but its not his ability to score goals that I question.

I think its just a problem with united supporters that can't take any sort of criticism of "their team". I judge teams by how they perform on the pitch, if i see a player diving or intentionally hurting another player i'm going to speak out against it.

The Muppet

Dislike I though you said dispise, Thats hardly the language of a neutral as you claim to be. If the link was the only instance of you having a go at united I would be more inclined to give you the benefit of the doubt but a quick search of your contributions to the soccer forum only confims my suispicions.

Don't get me worng there is nothing wrong with criticising United, lots of people here do it, but when you do it claiming to be unbiased, when by your own admission you clearly are not I think that hypocracy should be highlighted.

Zero points for originality on the old red tinted glasses comment. I find its usually used by people who can not back up their point with intelligent rationale or fact. Every one can read my post the link for themselves and make up their own mind as to wheather I have a valid point or not.

I'll leave it at that as I feel I have effectively made my point and I have no interest in getting into an argumnent with you.

Headshot

The Muppet wrote:

Dislike I though you said dispise, Thats hardly the language of a neutral as you claim to be. If the link was the only instance of you having a go at united I would be more inclined to give you the benefit of the doubt but a quick search of your contributions to the soccer forum only confims my suispicions.

Don't get me worng there is nothing wrong with criticising United, lots of people here do it, but when you do it claiming to be unbiased, when by your own admission you clearly are not I think that hypocracy should be highlighted.

Zero points for originality on the old red tinted glasses comment. I find its usually used by people who can not back up their point with intelligent rationale or fact. Every one can read my post the link for themselves and make up their own mind as to wheather I have a valid point or not.

I'll leave it at that as I feel I have effectively made my point and I have no interest in getting into an argumnent with you.

well said muppet

Memnoch

The Muppet wrote:

Dislike I though you said dispise, Thats hardly the language of a neutral as you claim to be. If the link was the only instance of you having a go at united I would be more inclined to give you the benefit of the doubt but a quick search of your contributions to the soccer forum only confims my suispicions.

oh so its an issue of language now? Ya, I despise people that callously could end the career of other players over a game. Confirms your suspicion of what? Its completely ironic that you accuse me of being biased when you actually come from an extremely biased viewpoint of a united supporter.

Don't get me worng there is nothing wrong with criticising United, lots of people here do it, but when you do it claiming to be unbiased, when by your own admission you clearly are not I think that hypocracy should be highlighted.

I'm sorry but where did I admit I clearly am not? You can state your opinion that you think I'm not, and get the rest of the united supporters to agree with you, but don't put words in my mouth. I think your hypocracy and poor attempt to put words in my mouth should be highlighted, not to mention YOUR OBVIOUS bias.

Zero points for originality on the old red tinted glasses comment. I find its usually used by people who can not back up their point with intelligent rationale or fact. Every one can read my post the link for themselves and make up their own mind as to wheather I have a valid point or not.

I wasn't trying to be original, simply stating my opinion. I usually find that people who can't deal with being confronted that their view is monochromatic tend to respond by making such accusations, without intelligent rationale or fact. And yes everyone CAN make up their mind. Either way it doesn't affect me. I consider myself a neutral football supporter, weather or not disgruntled united supporters agree or not.

I'll leave it at that as I feel I have effectively made my point and I have no interest in getting into an argumnent with you.

you don't need to make a point, you have countless united supporters that will agree with you simply because thats the way United supporters seem to act. But enjoy agreeing with yourselves and congratulating yourselves on it. Hell I've even seen United supporters calling other united supporters "fake" or saying "if you don't agree w/ xxxx you can't be a real supporter". This anti-unitedism must stop, after all, Man U are trying to restore freedom and democracy to the footballing world, and that's no easy task!

SteM

Memnoch, the more you post the more you show your dislike for the club and it's supporters. That's fine but I hope you don't post any view on United in the future claiming to be impartial.

This thread wasn't even about United and you still managed to drag your hatred of one of their players into it :rolleyes:

Now, where did I leave those red tinted glasses......

Jivin Turkey

SteM wrote:

Memnoch, the more you post the more you show your dislike for the club and it's supporters. That's fine but I hope you don't post any view on United in the future claiming to be impartial.

This thread wasn't even about United and you still managed to drag your hatred of one of their players into it :rolleyes:

Now, where did I leave those red tinted glasses......

To be honest he used Van Nistelrooy/Henry as an example of what Chelsea are lacking if the want to compete in the CL. A very valid point to be honest. The Muppet brought in down a peg.

The fact that he dislikes Van Nistelrooy as a player but can still recognise the vital role he plays for United as Henry plays for Arsenal is used to support his argument, as in, "as much as I hate to say it Chelsea need a RvN type player".

And he is right on another thing, the United supporters are all coming to back each other.

Personally, I think in Drogba, a player who I am beginning to dislike, they have that goalscorer. He hasnt been given a long enough run in the team to show how much he can do. He has also been injured. From what I have seen of him, he has everything. Power, pace, cool finishing, awareness etc. I think his form will be a very important piece of whatever Chelsea achieve this year, particularly in the absence of Robben.

dirkey_wynne

Memnoch wrote:

As much as I despise Rud van cheateroy

Wow, I remember a time not so long ago when calling somebody Scouse was seen as an insult. Perhaps this is flame baiting?

SCULLY

Jivin Turkey wrote:

To be honest he used Van Nistelrooy/Henry as an example of what Chelsea are lacking if the want to compete in the CL. A very valid point to be honest. The Muppet brought in down a peg.

The fact that he dislikes Van Nistelrooy as a player but can still recognise the vital role he plays for United as Henry plays for Arsenal is used to support his argument, as in, "as much as I hate to say it Chelsea need a RvN type player".

And he is right on another thing, the United supporters are all coming to back each other.

Personally, I think in Drogba, a player who I am beginning to dislike, they have that goalscorer. He hasnt been given a long enough run in the team to show how much he can do. He has also been injured. From what I have seen of him, he has everything. Power, pace, cool finishing, awareness etc. I think his form will be a very important piece of whatever Chelsea achieve this year, particularly in the absence of Robben.

I agree - not quite sure when Drogba is back but as Cheslea's top league goal scorer this year his from in the run-in will be a vital factor in the race for the league (he is currently on 8 goals from 17 games - not a great ratio imho).

kida

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/c/chelsea/4237239.stm

Apparently Robben has said his injury will heal in 6 weeks but will need longer than that to get back to full fitness so given Mourinhos caution with Duff earier it could well be at least 8 weeks out.

Another draw this weekend could plant the seeds of doubt. At this stage of the season it becomes a mental as much as a phyical game.

United have been there done that. Chelsea as a team haven't- there are some players that have won cups but how many have actually won a tough run in to a league? Oh for the Landsdowne road pitch to take its toll on Duff, he must be due an injury now.

SteM

Jivin Turkey wrote:

To be honest he used Van Nistelrooy/Henry as an example of what Chelsea are lacking if the want to compete in the CL. A very valid point to be honest. The Muppet brought in down a peg.

The fact that he dislikes Van Nistelrooy as a player but can still recognise the vital role he plays for United as Henry plays for Arsenal is used to support his argument, as in, "as much as I hate to say it Chelsea need a RvN type player".

So can he not make a point without having a dig at RVN? It's getting tired to be honest.

Big Ears

dirkey_wynne wrote:

Perhaps this is flame baiting?

Its not flame baiting its this: Outbursts of personal abuse/racism etc, be it directed at other board members or at Sports people will not be tolerated.

Is calling Nistelrooy a cheat personal abuse is the real question .(one which should be left to the mods)

But I suppose calling someone a cheat if they have cheated in the past can't really be called personal abuse .(looks like I didn't leave it to the mods)

smuckers

kida wrote:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/c/chelsea/4237239.stm

Apparently Robben has said his injury will heal in 6 weeks but will need longer than that to get back to full fitness so given Mourinhos caution with Duff earier it could well be at least 8 weeks out.

Another draw this weekend could plant the seeds of doubt. At this stage of the season it becomes a mental as much as a phyical game.

United have been there done that. Chelsea as a team haven't- there are some players that have won cups but how many have actually won a tough run in to a league? Oh for the Landsdowne road pitch to take its toll on Duff, he must be due an injury now.

Eidur and Kez aren't suited to play on the right hand side and its a prob, but I can see Barca taking us to the cleaners. Re Duff, you should never wish an injury on a player, its like something a 10 yr old would say.

eirebhoy

Jesus Kida, I hope your not Irish if your last comment was actually serious. Certainly wouldn't hear a Dutch Man Utd supporter say he's happy that Robben is injured.

Harry2001

smuckers wrote:

but I can see Barca taking us to the cleaners.

Barcelona are not playing great since the Spanish league returned from the winter break

smuckers wrote:

you should never wish an injury on a player

Unless it's Robbie Savage

Big Ears

eirebhoy wrote:

Jesus Kida, I hope your not Irish if your last comment was actually serious. Certainly wouldn't hear a Dutch Man Utd supporter say he's happy that Robben is injured.

I presume he's one of the people that voted club , in the would you rather your club win the Champions League or your country win the World Cup .

kida

Once hes fit again for the next Ireland match of course .

It was a tongue in cheek comment. By his history though he is proabbly due one . This must be his longest period without an injury

eirebhoy

kida wrote:

It was a tongue in cheek comment. By his history though he is proabbly due one . This must be his longest period without an injury

hehe, you'd think he actually is as injury prone as the media like to make out. He's no more prone than any other player, tell another player to play on the wing and run by players every time you get the ball and they'd also get a load of injuries. He's only had 2 long term injuries I think.

PHB

Well, after that tackle on Ronaldo, I wanted him to get injured, but I'm just vendictive

eirebhoy

PHB wrote:

Well, after that tackle on Ronaldo, I wanted him to get injured, but I'm just vendictive

Ireland, probably the only country in the world with people that support a foreign club team over their own national team...

The Muppet

eirebhoy wrote:

Ireland, probably the only country in the world with people that support a foreign club team over their own national team...

There must be others.

_blank_

Northern Ireland

PHB

very clever, see what you did theer was point out the fact that Irish people tend to support foreign clubs.
You smart a very smart point there, but its somewhat misleading now isn't it
I'd imagine if I lived in England, and was english, I'd have the same opinion of say John Terry fouling RVN, but if you say it that way you sound like its worse.

p.s. I'm not quite as hung up on nationality as you seem to be

d22ontour

eirebhoy wrote:

Ireland, probably the only country in the world with people that support a foreign club team over their own national team...

i support united and didn't mind duffs tackle maybe its my green tinted glasses

smemon

couldnt care less about duff or ronaldo's tackle, there was nothing in it, handbags and girls fighting amongst each other. its not like duff went in 2 footed and ronaldo threw a punch at him. get on with it. this is football not basketball.