Toft

Source: OS

Malouda. To me he is the best winger in Premier League at his best ..

Arsenal - The easiest six points of the season!

I honestly don't think what he does off the field should matter in a case like this one.

I will go for the diamond in this game. So that the duo on top can be at its best. I prefer something similar to this: ----------------Cech---------------- Ivanovic--Carvalho-Terry--A. Cole ----------------Mikel---------------- --Deco--------------------ampard-- ---------------J. Cole--------------- ---Drogba----------------Anelka--- One thing is for sure, we need to improve from the Hull game. If we play like we did on Tuesday, we'll probably loose 3/4-0. Hopefully Didier is back in the sparkling shape he was at the Emirates. Does anybody know if Mikel is fit to play? We'll need him to take out Cesc Fabregas in the absence of Essien. We are all aware of how important he is for their game, and he's the man we need stop if we want three points.

It is to early to call him a good signing or not. He's been in the club for aproxomately six months now, and adapting to the English football and life in no-time isn't the easiest thing to do. Injuries got to take some of the blame. He wasn't able to play two consecutive (Chelsea-)games at the start of the season. Have in mind that the Russian league doesn't start and end at the same time in the year as in England. Plus the system we've played in large periods of this season doesn't suite him as a player. The only natural position for him in the Diamond is at the left-back, and the way Ash started the season it is impossible to exclude him from the line-up. In my opinion, it looks like he is improving every game. Playing better and better. And it seems like he is getting more used to the way of playing in England. Step by step, he is slowly becoming the player I imagined he would be for us. Though I don't think we can defend his £18 million price-tag just yet. Stiff price for what looks like a back-up for A. Cole.

Great news, though I didn't expect anything else .. It is the only fair solution. A mention to Carlo Ancelotti. What a true professional we got. As far as I know he never spoke to media about it, and defenitely didn't critisise anybody. I got a feeling that Sir Alex and Arsene wouldn't handle the situation in the same way. He didn't panic either. Many fans wanted us to by a bunch of players in January because of the ban. But Carlo kept calm, didn't strengthen our squad with a single player and showed his faith in the players he have in his team. And we all know this isn't the first time he has handled a situacion perfect in his short period at Chelsea.

Feels like a defeat ... People announced January as the month where we guaranteed would miss some points. But we proved them wrong by improving our form, playing better than with our africans. Now in the first game with the africans back, we loose points and put on an uninspiring display. Kudos to Hull, they were good and way looked more willing to play football than us. They deserved the point they got, even though we were better. But over to the non-african Chelsea team; I knew we weren't going to miss them too much. We've a wide squad of quality players, and when they traveled to Africa, other players would step up to the task and maybe play even better. Because they want to prove themselves. They know this is their chance to shine, and therefore they will be more up for it. We witnessed what was maybe our worst game this season. Suddenly we didn't look as eager to win the game as before. I think we need to vary our line-up more. Give the ones who don't usually play that much some playing time. If we use the same players all the time, they, one, get tired and, two, have nothing to prove and isn't as eager to give as much. Give Sturridge some more time, he's looked fresh everytime he has been given the chance. Wouldn't hurt giving those who are not playing as much more chances to prove themselves, would it? Deco, Cech and our defence were ok - the rest have to improve their game if we want to win the premiership. Arsenal is the next game, and I'm sure we will bounce back and be up for it. If not, we will have a new team at the top of the league..

OK. We need to win this. Why? Because this is probably one of the few chances we get to get further three points on Man Utd and Arsenal. We've been bad at taking the chances we get when Man Utd have lost points. We don't usually look like we're up for it. This might be a defining match of the season. Hopefully we can look back at this game in the end of the season, and say that this, this was were we got the lead that the others was not able to catch up. If we want to win the premiership, there are these types of games we have to win. So if we're not up for this game, we don't deserve to win the league. It is that easy. Given that we got a hard task already at Sunday, we shouldn't risk anything. If the africans are under doubt, then don't play them. Ash was limping off against Burnley, give the LB-role to Zhirkov. And for Christ's sake, use the 4-3-3! Push Nico out on the right wing, and play Drogba in the CF. Up The Chels!

Once again the tabloids are full of negativity about our captain, John Terry. The story is repeating itself every time, something's happened involving Terry and the media makes him look like the bad guy every time (not saying he isn't). It's been so much negativity about Terry the latest years, it is hard to imagine a positive article about him. But what do you know. Here is an article written by Martin Samuel for Daily Mail. It was written after the match against Man Utd, so it might've been posted before. I recomend everyone to read it. Enjoy: http://www.dailymail...rs-Chelsea.html Thought it would be nice to read an article honouring our captain. Note: This is not to push the focus away from what John Terry has done.

Whether this is true or not, I got to say; The media is after John Terry, trying to put him in a negative light all the time. I am getting tired of it.

Snatched up this information from Carlo's Pre-Match press conferance: - No Drogba or Kalou. They won't join the squad traveling to Burnley. - Deco and Carvalho are under doubt. Carlo is monitoring their condition, obviously they are tired after last match. Carlo didn't reveal the line-up at the Pre-Match press conferance this time. I reckon we wil start with something similar to this: ------------Cech-------------- Ivanovic--Alex-Terry--A. Cole Lampard---Ballack---Zhirkov J. Cole----Anelka----Malouda With Deco too tired to play, our midfield looks really thin. I would like to see Matic take the defensive role at midfield, since we don't really have any sentral midfielders except from Ballack and Lampard. He's been showing great form when given the chance. Zhirkov's maybe the other choice. But he might be too offensive to play at the midfield.

Glad to have Drogba back! Excited to see if Carlo is going back to the diamond, or pushing Anelka out on the right. I fear the former. I think we loose two big resources with the diamond. That is Malouda and Lampard. We've seen how the two responded, when we switched from the diamond to 4-3-3. Both have been great - scoring lots and playing generally brilliant. Malouda has actually been a fresh sight all season, but not playing at his highest level because of the diamond forcing him to play a role that doesn't fit his game. Lampard hasn't been as outstanding as usual this season. There are a lot of people talking about a decline, but I think he have proven them wrong. I think his play the last game is due to the formation switch, not that he's back in shape. If we switch back to the diamond, I bet he won't be as outstanding as the last couple of games. Our players fits a 4-3-3 formation. This way we can use our squad to the full. We need width and speed. It's Carlo's choice, and I hope he pushes Anelka out on the wing. So that we can continue in the same way we have been playing lately. Is it just me who is feeling a bit sad to get back the africans? Malouda-Anelka-Cole make a good combination, and it's not funny breaking them apart. Oh well, welcome back!

Great display! We never had a weak moment in this game I think. We looked to be in total control and focused every minute. Not a moment where we slowed down too much, letting Brums get in the match. More of the same please! No stand out performance for me, but Lampard was my man of the match. Top Of The League!

As perfect as a half can be! We have total control - Birmingham barely touched the ball at times. Go out and put it to bed early in the second half.

Yeah, I just read the same thing. I think it'll be a serious mistake sending Sturridge on a loan. He is our third best striker, and loaning him out will weaken our squad. The only scenario possible for me to loan him out, is if we're going to buy another striker like for example Agüero. But I doubt that will happen the next days. If you need a striker, take Kalou. Though I doubt anyone is dumb enough to consider him as a rescuer!

Don't mind about him mate. I never do. If I talk to someone who claims Chelsea for being a team who only buys a load of world class players and sell them when they're getting tired of them, that proves that they are really blind when it comes to football nowadays. The fact is that most clubs have a lot of money and spend them on great players, not just us. And I've heard this from fans of multiple teams like Man Utd, Liverpool, Real Madrid, Leeds etc. As a Chelseasupporter, for me it is hard to have a real conversation about Chelsea without hearing stuff like "You got no history". You know, those mighty creative lines. Which was the main reason I joined TalkChelsea. I am a pre-Roman Chelsea-fan, but I also get that I am a gloryhunter, which is incredibly funny. Mainly because it is wrong and the teams they support, had more success and were doing better than Chelsea, when they starting supporting their team than when I started supporting Chelsea. But also because a big share of the Man Utd-supporters started supporting them because of the success and Solskjær. Also I must say that as long as you are dedicated to the team you support and really, really love them. To me, it doesn't matter when you became a fan. Keep supporting the most awesome club in the world, and don't mind about the fools from other clubs claiming tou're something you're not.

I think the present team contains better players, if you just look at what they have done earlier in their careers. But the 2004 edition worked better as a unit in my opinion. Which was good. To me, it's not about having the worlds-best player in it's position (though that would be nice to watch), but the players who work well together as a team. Manchester United is a good example. The last three years we've had a better team when it comes to big names, but still they have won the league every year. Because they've got players who work better together.

Once again, Carlo has announced the starting line-up many hours before the game. I'm happy with the line-up except from Alex's absence. And I wonder who will be the defensive midfield? Deco had a great game in that role against Preston, but don't have the speed or muscles to prevent counter-attacks from Birmingham. Ballack is not fast either but he is strong enough. He featured as a defensive midfield under Hiddink with great success, and might be the best option. Oh, and: This is the second time in a row Ancelotti announces the team on the pre-match press-conferance. Is this a new trend from Carlo's side? And does this have any effect on how Birmingham will prepare tacticly for the game?

Drogba and Kalou will be back for Burnley!

Birmingham have an impressive unbeaten run, but it got to end sometime. We were lucky not losing against them on Boxing day, but I thought we played really well. We had more than enough chances to win the game. Also, we're in better shape than we were back then, and we're playing at Stamford Bridge and not St. Andrews. We're aware of the threat they are, so we won't underestimate them. I think we will win 2-0. I would like to something similar to the line-up against Sunderland, only Alex in for Riccy. Any updates on Belletti and Lampards injuries?

Great!

Nice getting a solid victory away. You could certainly see in the way we played that we got an important game coming up in the midweek. Playing on half machine much of the time, and when we dobled our lead the cruise-control striked in. Some positives: - We won without using too much energy. - Deco played quite well after he switched to the defensive role at midfield. - Once again Anelka steps up in the absence of Didier Drogba. - Clean-sheet. We've been struggling not to concede goals. Negatives: - Belletti and Lampard was limping around before they were substituted. Didn't look too serious though, I hope it's not. - We were leading 2-0 and had good control for a while. A bit dissapointed that neither Matic, van Aanholt or Borini got some valuable minutes. Not much to be sad about today. Good game.

Subs: 22 Ross Turnbull, 2 Branislav Ivanovic, 52 Patrick van Aanholt, 24 Nemanja Matic, 15 Florent Malouda, 10 Joe Cole, 45 Fabio Borini. ---- Preston are expected to line up in a 4-3-3 formation: Lonergan; Hart, Mawene, St Ledger, Davidson ©; Chaplow, Jones, Carter; Sedgewick, Brown, Wallace. Subs: Collins, Chilvers, Henderson, Barton, Mayor, Parkin, Mellor. The referee for today's match is Mike Dean.

http://soccerlens.com/jose-mourinho/ So many classics..