Peace.

From the "Top five young players" thread : It would be time to put an end to the myth "Lukaku is the next Drogba". No, he is not. This affirmation comes out of ignorance and delusion toward the physical resemblance shared, at some extend, by both players. The only things the belgian and the Frenchman share are : the colour of their skin ; more or less their body building. And that's about that. On top of things, they don't play the same football. Drogba is a target man, he plays back to the goal, has a big presence in the box, he will receive long balls from his defender team mates, and, with those balls, he will either create something out of nothing or hold on till his team moves to an attacking position. While Lukaku's game is more similar to Torres', in the sense that he is more suited to through balls, and to play with the ball on the ground. Another big differene of style is that Drogba has a great header game. Lukaku header game is pratically non-existant (which is really surprising from a guy of his height). Furthermore, Drogba has a very good technic, while Lukaku seems to let his strength speak. And finally, The Ivorian captain is extremely agile considering his body. Lukaku isn't at all, and seems to make heavy steps. All in all, even if he improves his technic, headers and agility (which I really hope he does), he won't be the next Drogba (unless he changes his game style).

Well, I want to begin a debate over the balance of our squad, or rather its off-balance. My view on the subject isn't out of panic, and I neither mean we should fix all of our problems in this transfer window. No, I know that to rebuilt a team basically from A to Z (yes, from the squad whom we had last year, there's a lot more to change than to keep) can't be done in one year. On the one hand because economically speaking, we cannot buy ten players, and on the second hand, we cannot throw ten new players in the mix and hope it will work like on FIFA. I merely want us to discuss over what we could do in the near future, i.e. this summer (I believe we can sign one more player) and the next one. And, on the same account as the squad balance, the complementarity of the squad is an important thing, into my eyes. Indeed, it allows us to adopt our tactics on how is our opponent's philosophy (whether they'll go full attack or park the bus), and change our tactics during the game (whether we'll need to run after the score, or to maintain our lead). Furthermore, I find we only talk about individuals, and make fanciful starting line-ups. Thus, I thought it would be interesting to see the bigger picture, to talk about the squad as a whole, and to talk on both short/long term. Since we are in the middle of the summer mercato, I thought it was the good moment to talk about it... -------------------------------------------------------- To start off, I'll treat our squad according the four following categories : back-five ; central/defensive midfield ; attacking midfield (CAM + wingers) ; strikers. • First things come first : the Back-Five. We currently have : Peter Cech ; David Luiz ; Branislav Ivanovic ; John Terry ; Garry Cahill ; Ashley Cole ; Ryan Bertrand. If we buy a Righ-Back - which is likely the case with Azpilicueta - we will have a pretty good Back-Five, both in term of quality and quantity. Well, if Terry gets suspended, we might be a tad lightweighted, but, minus a serious injury from one of the other defenders, we should be fine. And, even if Terry and Cole are on the decline, I believe we won't need to look far away for replacements (Kalas, Bruma). Therefore, we are more or less fine with our defense, we will likely not having problems in the forth coming years, and thus, the defense shouldn't be a worry. As for the complementarity/variety. I see both Cole and Bertrand as complete players (good at attacking and defending), at some extend. Plus, with the likely to come Azpilicueta, we will have a defensive Right Back in Ivanovic, and an offensive in the spaniard. • Secondly, our Central-Midfield. That's where the worries begin, into my eyes. We currently have : John Obi Mikel ; Frank Lampard ; Portuguesh Hipster ; Micheal Essien ; Oriol Romeu ; Ramires. If you only look at how many they are, it would seem to be fine, not the most over-crowded midfield, but fine. Although, when you start to look at the level... Ahem. When I look at it, I cannot help but think we are very much "ManUtd lool-a-like", i.e. a non-existant midfield and good wingers, to oversimplify. In my honest opinion, our central midfield is simply not good enough, quality-wise. But let's analyse each individual case : • Essien : I won't spend to much time on him, since I think I have well enough explained my point of view in his thread. But to put it shortly, I don't se how his presence could improve the squad, and how he could be useful. • Bad-boy-wanna-be Meireles : his tackling ability his just horrendous, he is so careless in his passing and he is neither build like a tank. The only quality I can see in him, it's is agressiveness, and a matter of fact, he is only useful when we need someone to chase after the ball like a wild dog. • Romeu : I like his abilities. But, he is a big question mark, I believe. There's Barça's shadow lurking around him, and I deeply believe he will be back to Catalognia sooner than later. So, while he could be a good option for us this year, I think we shouldn't count on him for next seasons. And still, for some mysterious reason, all of a sudden he didn't play anymore last year. In my mind he will be overlooked this year again. But this is really a shame, because I strongly believe he is the best option for the DM spot ! • Lampard : For the past two seasons I kept saying he wasn't that good anymore, and that he was rather average than class. I don't see how could I change my mind, and I still stand by this. In my point of view, he doesn't have the attributes to be good in the double-pivot role. Indeed, I don't believe he has the pace and the speed it takes to play there. Plus, he isn't a very good playmaker. And finally, I do think that his will to go high on the pitch, in order to play more or less like he was playing some years ago, is dangerous : he leaves spaces and thus we are in jeopardy in counter attacks (he doesn't have the speed/pace to track back soon enough). If he can inhibit his willingness to do so, then he could perfectly be a utility player for this position. I only see him be good enough in his old role in a 4-3-3. • Ramires : To be clear, in my pupils, the only position which fits him is the right midfield in a 4-3-3, when there's two other players to help him in defensive duty. As for a role in the double pivot, I do not think it will work. If my memory serves my right, he was really bad for Brazil, when playing this position. And, in the double pivot you need a player who defends, and the other who takes care of the passing. Firstly, he can't be the second type, for obvious reasons. Secondly, he can't be the one who does the defensive duties. Indeed, I don't see him as enough aware in term of tactics : he will leave his position, due to his willingness to make long runs up to the box, among other things. • Mikel : As Spike a few days ago, somewhere where I don't know, he is a really good option to have when it comes to play the catenaccio or park the bus. But I'll be honest here : I do not think he is good enough when we have to play teams who park the bus, and thus when we have the ball possession (and for the vaste majority of the season, it will be the case...) He doesn't deliver the ball quick enough, which slows down the attack. Furthermore, he isn't agressive enough ! It doesn't really matter when we sit back, but, when we have the game domination, it makes us lose time (a time which can be precious). So, to summarize. Out of six "denfensive minded" midfielders, three of them are either not good enough, or/and too old (-> short-term). For the DM spot, we have the complementarity in Romeu/Mikel. Although, we have to meditate over the Romeu situtation, to work out whether we can count on him in the forth coming seasons. That being said, I think we need a big lad who can impose his physical strength and his agressiveness. And finally, we lack a guy who can organize the play from deep. In my opinion, a big reconstruction process awaits us for next year in this department. • Then, the offensive midfield / wings. We currently have : Eden Hazard ; Marko Marin ; Juan Mata ; Oscar ; Florent Malouda ; Yossi Benayoun. In case Malouda and Benayoun : we are pretty much okay, both in quality and quantity. It makes six players for - at most - three positions, and Sturridge can also play there. The French and israeli won't last long, but KDB will surely be a part of the fun in a few years, along with some of our youngsters (Piazon maybe ?). If you look at the complementarity, we have it (to oversimplify ->) : the playmaker ; the pacy out-and-out winger ; the dribbler ; and Mata (don't know how to label him...). Furthermore, we have three experienced players : Juan ; Yossi ; Florent. And, even if they are yet to be used at the biggest stage, Oscar, Marin and Hazard have already a preview of the highest level. I cannot see this department of the squad reach their potential this year. They'll need time to gel together, and to mature. Nonetheless, they'll surely do a good job this year, and, unless we make up too high expectations, they won't disappoint us. As for the long term, I believe we won't have any worries ! We just have to make sure of their succes, and react quickly if one of them - unfortunately - doesn't make it. In case both Malouda and Benayoun are sold, I gotta admit I'll be a bit worried. Not only it will leave us short in number, but also it will leave us only with young players. One or two oldies are always good to have in the team... That's why I hope we at least keep one out of the two. I believe a powerful player, à la Antonio Valencia, wouldn't be a luxury, but, I do not think it is the most urgent of our need, not at all. The offensive midfield / wings are pretty ok, and we should concentrate ourselves on the central midfield and on forwards (case which I'll tackle below, without transition) which are, into my eyes, a genuine concern. • Finally, let's talk about the strikers. We curently have : Romelu Lukaku ; Daniel Sturridge ; Fernando Torres. • Well, Ima start by the most expensive of them. To make things clear, I do not trust him at all. He has been below each and every expectation over this one and a half past year. The probablity he will continue this way is much more likely than him being, all of a sudden, word-class. And, as a top club, we cannot fancy to build castles in the air over a striker who has more chances to go through a goal drought than to lead the goal-scoring chart. • Lukaku : I'll be concise : he definitely needs to go on loan for one year (at the very least !). • Danni : He is the better striker we have at the moment. The position which suits him to most is the second striker role. I see him a bit like Rooney. He gravitates around an anchor, and comes deep to take the ball and involves himself in the play. I question his ability to play has the target man. I don't think he will be good at it. He also can play as a right winger when we play with an attacking philosophy. He isn't good in the air, we should work around his speed/pace and agility (which means, balls in the feet, and through balls). Well, well, well... This department is abysmally not good enough. We do not have a target man now Didier is gone. We neither have someone who is good in the air. And, we lack a poacher. Adding to this the fact we will only have two strikers for the upcoming season (I don't considere keeping Lukaku as an option) and the fact the two of them won't carry us : the first one because he has been poor for the two last years ; and the second because he his yet to be world-class, and is young, thus he will have downfall periods. Finally, it leaves us with only strikers for the long-term. -------------------------------------------------------- To put things together and conclude. Our squad as a bad balance. There's is a too big difference of level between the four departments I mentionned higher in my post. It will cost us a lot, I believe, because our team will be jerky ; it will lacks coherence, cohesion and articulation between the different sectors of the team ; it will lead to a dysfunction. The defense will suffer from the lack a quality of the central and defensive midfield. The attacking midfield will suffer from the lack of solution they have in front of them ; they'll suffer as well from the fact the ball won't come quickly enough into their feet because of the central midfield. The lack of balance put the team's harmony, the flow of the team in jeopardy. I neither consider the diversity and complementarity of the squad is good enough, especially up front. We need a squad more complete. The back five should be the least of our concerns. The same thing does apply, more or less, to the offensive midfield / wings department. We lack a powerfull player there, but considering the general state of this sector, this isn't the most urgent of our needs. In my point of view, the two zones on which we will seriously have to work are the following : defensive/central midfield and strikers. In the central midfield, we desperatly lack, in my mind, a powerfull midfielder. A guy who lets speak his physical strength. A guy who isn't afraid to go to the clash. A guy who harasses the ball holder, and who only stops to run once he recovers the ball. We will suffer from this lack. It allows the opponent's midfield to run over ours, and we don't have what it takes to recover the ball quickly enough. This is the reason why I want us to buy someone of the likes of Tioté or Fellaini. I would love us to fix this point now, but, I would wait next year since I prioritize the fixing of the attacking sector. I also said we were lacking of someone able to organize the game from deep. But, for now, we can wait. Indeed, the quality we have in more advanced roles can compensate this flaw, and, if everything goes well, we could introduce McEachran there... We'll have to radically recycle this part of the team starting from next year ! But, my biggest concern is up-front. And I'd like to put the emphase on it. We simply can't enter the season with our strikers department in this state. They aren't many enough, nor good enough. I am a deep believer of the importance of having a striker who scores on a regular basis. If your forwards fail to score, then you'll struggle to win games. Take a look at all successful teams in the short past : they all have prolific strikers. When ManUtd won three Premier Leagues in a row, plus the Champions League, Rooney and Ronaldo were on fire. During the first year of Guardiola reign at the helm of Barcelona, Samuel Eto'o was instrimental in their succes : if my memory serves me well, circa 35% of Barça openers were scored by the cameroonian, and the last man scored their first goal against Manchester United in the CL final. During the three brillant other years of Pep era, Messi was scoring for fun. When Inter won their triple, Diego Milito was instrumental. Last year, Madrid won La Liga with Cristiano, Benzema and Higuain scoring a lot of goals. Finally, did I need to remind any of us you where Didier brought us ? This is why I deeply want us to sign a striker on form, a very good one. To hear Gourlay and rumours pointing to the fact we are working on signing a new striker appeases me. I really hope this is someone of the caliber of Cavani or Falcao. If that the case, we will have a good goal scorer in our hands, and a player who will put in the back of the net the products he will recieve from the Hazards, Oscars, Matas, etc... Furthermore it will add a new dimention to our set of strker : good quality in the air and a goalscoring machine (and poacher ?). I know we have made a brillant step towards recycling of our squad (and I am grateful for this), with the purchase of Marin, Hazard and Oscar, and that it may appears to be rich to seek for another expensive/worl-class signing. However, I dread the fact we enter a nasty vicious circle, both on and off the pitch, if we struggle to find the back of the net. And, we gotta keep in mind that our creative department can go through a Bad Moment© : in this time, we will need someone upfront who can carry us. Finally, it will rebalance our squad. Thank you if you have read til the end... -------------------------------------------------------- Your thoughts on the matter ? -------------------------------------------------------- P.S. To make a few things clear : Since it's the new trend to counter balance an argument by saying that X is basing his opinion on pre-season games, I want to make clear it isn't the case here, and I don't give a flying fuck about the pre-season tour ; If you're only there to make fun of people who don't share the same point of view as yours, and your only counter argument is "you are an idiot" or "you are pathetic", I invite you to look to post elsewhere. Thanks.

I am failing to understand why everyone is so suprised that we are playing an awful football, and why you all are going berserk about it. People, did you thought we would playing in a Barça-esq fashion, because we won the Champions League and because we signed few exciting prospects (Hazard, Oscar, Marin) ? I believe we are being decieved by those facts. Actually, we won the Champions League, but it wasn't because we played well, it was because of our mental strength. And as of today, we have the same core of players ! The only new players are young talents, and are yet to be world class. It will take time for them to be important for the team. Which means the team isn't that good at all. It's time to lower your expectations, people, and get used to the fact we will still see boring football for some time. Rome hasn't been build in one day.

Well. That's the first time I see him since last season : his technic hasn't been improved by any means. He will have to work on it, because if he doesn't improve his technic, especially his first touch, he will end up being a pretty expensive Kenwyne Jones.

I deeply hope we look for and sign another Defensive Midfielder. I am a fervent believer of the need to have two different players by position. And thus, not only for having a good squad depth, but also for having the possibility to change our tactics during games, and to adapt our tactical approach considering our opposition. Yeah, we can't afford ourselves to be a one-track-tactical team, because there's only one club in the world who can afford this, and this is Barcelona (and still, due to their poor squad depth, they are sometimes suffering from their one-dimensional set of tactics). Well, for the Defensive Midfielder, we are currently lacking of covering, and we neither have a DM with different attributes than John Obi Mikel. Essien has neither the tactical awareness, nor the strength/pace to play there and be good anymore. Hypster Meireles is only a good squad player, he should only be playing when we need someone to chase like a pitbull ball-holders, and doesn't have the abilities to play there (as he proved us this under AVB spell). As for Romeu, he is a big question mark. We shouldn't count on him, since he will definitely for sure go back sooner than later to Barça. He can be a one-year stop gap, but considering the stat our defensive midfield is in, I believe this is very important for us to search for a mddle/long-term. ABout Ramires, the brazilian did show us, when playing for his national team that he wasn't good at all in the double pivot role, and I believe he would be kinda dreadful in the DM role while playing in 4-3-3. To first off, his ball control / first touch is really awful. I ain't mean we should have a Messi-esq player to play the DM role, but this player should at least be decent and confortable in his first touch, so he doesn't lose the ball as soon as he recovers it. Plus I find he does lost the ball a tad too much, which is dangerous when playing in front of the defense. And his willingness to make long runs from the midfield to the box could be a down side. And I gotta admit I am not convinced by the nigerian. My main worry is that I question his mobility. If he was awfully bad under AVB, it wasn't a conincidence. Indeed, that was because the portuguesh was making us playing a high tempo game, with the will to build the game in a quick way. Because of his slow mobility and ball retention, it did not quite work out, and it led to bad defensive errors : at White Hart Lane, on Adebayor's goal, for instance. While I think he is really a fine player when we adpote a slow tempo and/or park the bus (if he was good under RDM and Ancelotti, this neither is a coincidence - I think he would be a great player if he was playing in Serie A), into my eyes, he is a surplus to requirement when we are playing teams which park the bus against us (and thus play mainly a counter-attack game). I would like us to buy a player who harasses the opposition, who is a warrior and doesn't stop running. A player who will immediatly be searching to recover the ball, when he'll lost it. A player who, as soon as he recovers the ball, gives it to the nearest of his team mates, à la Maka. A player with dynamism and pace. In short, someone similar to the old Essien, to Tiote, Witsell (I guess) or Fellaini. I am not seeking for a world-class player. No, an above average would fit the bill, since it is only in order to have a good squad depth, and the ability to change our tactics.

This summer, I am still preaching what I was preaching last year at the same date. We have to sell him. Actually, we should have sell him last year, when Milan reportedly made us an offer for him. It was before he picked up his third big injury, and they were offering us a large amount of money. In my honest opinion, it was a huge mistake to not felt agree with them, if this was true. Because he had already had two serious knee injuries, and in the last year of Ancelotti era, he was pretty average. The board should have been more visionary back then. After some quick researches, it does appear he is on a £110k a week wage, or something along those lines. It does represent an huge amount of money for someone who is now average and who will only have the odd appearances here and there. Furthermore, you got to take into account that for the last three year, or so, he has spent the half on the time on the side line because of three similar injuries. Not only these injuries have taken out of him the abilities which have made his strength in the past, but their reiteration means he can also hurt his knee once again this year, and be out for six other months. Micheal Essien isn't a player known for his tactical awareness, for his passing ability nor for game-building capacity. What made him his strength were his pace, his dynamism and his physical power. Unfortunatly, he lost those capacity through injuries. Now, I fail to see how he could be usefull for us, and how his presence could improve the team. And I got to admit that I question his ability to be a professional athlete, at least at the highest level. Indeed, you could have seen last year after his comeback, whenever he was doing some runs on the pitch, he was stopping to run suddenly. You could felt he was afraid to hurt himself again. Granted it is a legitimate reaction after what he has suffered from, but it doesn't fit well with the team's sack. Despite the fact he was arguably the best midfielder back then when we bought him, the injuries have ruined him. We have continued to believe in him all this time. We have remunerated him during 18 months where he was on the side line. Into my beautiful eyes, we gave him enough chances. It's time to move on. Therefore, we should either put him on the transfer list, or impose him a wage cut. He can't take away £110k-a-week and a foreign-spot with being not so useful for us.

This is them :

Malouda is still a "good", at least an above average player. And, while he gets abuses from every direction, as a player he still has some good things to offer us. Despite the fact he was, last year, the shadow of himself, he had good time and was good almost every time he came on. He has a big volume of play, runs a lot and is willing to put pressure on the ball holder. Plus he can be usefull considering he can play in midfield, and on the wings. I would gladly keep him - but his attitude bothers me a lot. Indeed, I believe by acting like this (i.e. he wants to see his contract to run down, for what it seems to be money motivation), his bad mood/behaviour can tarnish the dressing room atmosphere. But putting that aside, with all the young players coming in, it wouldn't be that bad if he stays here. Well, at least on a football view. I can't deny that if you take into account his wage (£80k a-week) and the fact he takes a foreigner spot, it would be the best solution if he leaves... But we have already ofloaded three out four of the frustrating players, it is already a good thing.

You hit the nail on the head, mate, you truly did. Carlo has killed him right in the egg.




It is incredible, isn't it ? He is the only player in this team for who we search automatically some extravagant reasons in order to excuse him for his aweful performances. Every one of our players have been fairly (and even overly) criticized when they had bad performances, even our "legends" didn't escape to this treatment. Jésus, it's like he is faultless...


 • At first, it was because of the selfish-greedy-moronic-ugly-criminal Malouda : he hates Torres, has an agenda against him and doesn't make any pass to him so he can't disturb the Old Guard. 
• Then, when this excuse was getting out of fashion, it was because of our uncreative midfield - and strangely enough, it didn't prevent our other players to score.
 • After this, we were saying it was because of the system we were playing with. While it could have been a legitimate excuse, it wasn't the reason why he had an extremly poor touch on the ball, looked so febrile and made some out-of-this-world fails like he did against ManUtd. 
• And we also said it was because he didn't have a proper rest for the four last years or so. Even though, it didn't stop Xaxi and Iniesta (to name few) to be at the pinnacle of their art. 
• His bad form (according to his fans) was, also, seemingly due to the amount of money we paid for him and the media bashing towards him. To hear some, he didn't choose to be the english record transfer. Seriously, is he dumb or what ?! It was obvious he would cost a lot of money, and it was obvious he was going to have a huge pressure on him to success because of it. And it was even more obvious that the world was going to wait for him to slip up, after leaving a club like Liverpool ! Roman Abramovitch didn't hire mobsters in order to force him to sign for Chelsea ! He must have been well aware of the pressure he would have on his back - and if he wasn't aware of it, one can challenge his common sense.
 • Finally, the last fashion to find him excuses was, and still is, to bad-mouth on Sturridge. Yeah you know, this "selfish cunt" who is the cause of all Torres' ills.

 • And I kept my favourite excuse for the end : it was because of Drogba. LOL ! Is he a pre-pubescent girl who dreams about marrying some prince charming and living in beautiful castles ? Seriously, can't perform because of Drogba's presence... Oh well, I am being harsh there, because actually, I can understand where he comes from. To tell the truth, I would be also shitting myself knowing I cannot play because there's an head-and-shoulders better player ahead of me. The bottom line is : if he is afraid of facing competition, then he shouldn't be at a top club like Chelsea.

 Excuses, excuses and more excuses. This has lasted long enough. What's next ? He doesn't perform because we didn't make a human sacrifice to Zeus ? Despite having done A LOT more than him for this club, Florent Malouda, Salomon Kalou, José Bosingwa and Nicolas Anelka didn't have the chance Torres has, and were (and still are) getting abuse from all Chelsea fans. Why nobody has tried to search excuse for them ? Why nobody is trying to analyse why Sturridge had a dip in form at the end of the season, instead of slating him and abuse him for something he isn't culprit of (i.e. laydboy's bad form) ? We should stop to try and concoct him all kinds of exotic excuses in a desperate attempt to make him look good.

Come on. Sure the violence has increased last year, and at French scale it is a "dangerous" city. But it isn't Mogadishu, far from it.

Well, I have actually seen more Kagawa playing than Hazard, but I've been more impressed by the first man. For instance, I found him very good against Bayern, toward the end of the season last year (against them when Borussia sealed the Bundesliga and in the final of their national cup) - I do not expect Eden to do as good as him (well if he does, I'll be happy), against Man Utd or City (for example) this season. I believe Kagawa is a more accomplished/complete player, and - how to put it in words... - has more weight/influence on the game. In my opinion, Kagawa is also more sharp, has a better timing to be in the right position to score goals, make assists or recover the ball.

Shinji Kagawa is a very good player. And in the short term, I believe that signing Kagawa, isn't a loss in quality for Man Utd. In my opinion, the nippon is, at this moment, a better player.

If he is truly valued at £35m then I say we should bite Napoli board's hand off. If we want to compete with the top clubs next year, we will need to have someone who genuinely can score goals on a regular basis and who has a big presence up front. And we, currently, do not have that kind of player. Didier isn't here anymore to save our ass. Lukaku is as raw as the Pacific ocean is vast. He has a long way in front of him to be important to this club. He first needs to dramatically improve his technic, for instance. He should be sent out on loan, he is not good enough at the moment, nor he should be wasted on the bench. Sturridge, as a lone striker will only work depending on the playing style we would adopt. And even then, he won't single handed carry us. And as for Torres... Don't even get me started. I'll only say this : he is average and we shouldn't build castle in the air such as "this year is his year, he will recapture his Caveland form". Edison Cavani is a player who will significantly improve the level of our squad, and we will be endowed with a top striker in our ranks. Therefore, into my eyes, if his selling price is circa £35m, we should go all out to sign him.

Happy birthday mate !

If it's true, we should answer them : "Ever since our tradition has dramatically changed in 2003, we don't make deals with top-class cunts".

People, the position of a player on the paper doesn't matter, not at all. If a player is labeled as a n°10, that doesn't mean he will exclusively play in the midfield, and that he will be poor if he is played in another position. And it isn't because you play three players labeled as n°10 that it won't work. If you want to play with a 4-2-3-1 formation (since we're likely to play this way...), you aren't bound to play with a left winger, a CAM and a right winger. You can play with three CAM as well. It all depends on what the coach wants, and especially the players' individual abilities. It also depends on the ability of these three CAM to switch position, without hindering the others. You just have to look at Barcelona, or Netherland when they played total football. But I'll use the example of Barcelona, since they are the more recent and the best example into my eyes. Iniesta is a center midfield. Though, when he is played on the left wing, he is still the world-class player we know. Pedro can play on both wing and as a striker. Messi is played as a striker, on the paper, but during the game you'll see him a lot in midfield (often deeper than Xavi). When Piqué and Puyol are high on the pitch, after a corner, and play as strikers, this doesn't disrupt the team. And I could go on. Hence, the important thing is that the player has to be able to respond to what his coach seek out of him. If Di Matteo wants three "free electrons" behind his striker (if he wants to play in 4-2-3-1), it won't be a probleme with Hazard-Oscar-Mata as long as they can move on the pitch freely without disrupting the flow of the team, and without walking on each other's feet.

Ozil and Kagawa were on the last year of their contract.

"Leslie Davies" -> He isn't even on Wikipedia, and on google there's only one photograph of him. Furthermore, he plays in the Wales championship, which is saying a lot (no disrespect)... Yeah, he must be the rebirth of Jésus of Nazareth, he definitely must be him... Torres -> Did they mix the "best player in Europe" and the "best flop in Europe" lists ? Lampard and Raul have nothing to do on this list neither. This is definitely based on the "name". UEFA are really a laughing stock.

He is basically the cause of Wilkins lay-off, our slump of form under Ancelotti, the 2008 financial crisis, the famine around the world and the AIDS... He is the villain.

Until now, I was defending him, even after his remarks about the credits he should have be given for our CL win. But now, what he has said is over the top. If he wants to take a dig at Lampard and the other players responsible for his lay-off, it would have been comprehensible, since he has somehow a business with/them. I would even say it is his right. But, taking a dig at Chelsea, the entity, by implying that this club does have a shit tradition or whatesoever, and that it doesn't have "competent people"... It is really pitiful. He is really an arrogant prick. He wants to impersonate Mourinho, but José can be arrogant, since he is one of the best manager, and has achieved great things. But he, he didn't have achieved anything great. And he seems that he doesn't have learnt anything from last year, i.e. stopping to open his mouth. I hope his season at Birds turns out to be a fiasco. I deeply hope we smash him in a Barcelona-esque way, so he cannot bitch about us playing bad. And I even dare hoping, that Frank Lampard scores an hat-trick and comes to celebrates in front of him, in the following way (see picture below). It would be the best response.

Yes he is. But he spent three years, before his 21 years, in a team based in UK. Hence, he is homegrown.

"‘There is more of a sense of belonging at this club,’ said Villas-Boas. ‘It has a lot of tradition, which I admire. Chelsea have tradition, too, but it changed dramatically since 2003 when it was bought. That’s why the sense of belonging is bigger here." The sense of belonging to what ? To eternal mediocrity ?

"With André Villas-Boas we wouldn't have gone past Napoli and etc..." -> Had Lampard and co spent more time on trying to play well, instead of bitching like spoilt kids, we wouldn't have been in this kind of position, not at all.

Nope ! I realise that I forgot to talk about this point last night. I want to stress that my theory only applies to big clubs playing in small championships. When you're head and shoulders better than the opposition, you instinctively "sit back and relax", because you don't need do give it your all to beat them and, therefore, you only do the bare minimum in order to do so. It happens in every sports and every disciplines - bar few particularities (down to some person's will to crush everything). But in the other hand, it doesn't work the same way for the case you stated, i.e. when it's about a small team from a small league. It's two different things. Indeed, this small team needs to fight hard, more or less, each and every games to reach its aim. Hence, its players are used to fight on the pitch, to struggle and to give their heart out to win. From this, they gain sharpness and fighting mentality, and the ability to take blows as well. Thus, when they have to affront the european elites, they are somehow well prepared for the encounter since it will be the same o' same o' thing for them : an hard time.