BLionheart

Thanks for pointing those facts out , i don't know what i was thinking !! this is Chelsea FC so their manager must be faultless so does their board , who are we to doubt any single decision of a CFC manager or board , madness right , i mean what's next ..... there may actually come the day where people start criticizing one of the 3 maestros !!!! Pathetic

Exactly , if you have noticed it started since the trio of maestros have started together , because now he has to get back and help defensively much more , he doesn't have the same energy as before when he was used just behind torres in the start of the season , also now i think he is instructed to pass more , dribble less based on the last 2 months.

Some posters are just unbelievable , i have always chosen to ignore some posts but the amount of posters who are plain ignorant , reliant on the fact that Di Matteo has more experience so he must have more football knowledge than you all combined is ridiculous. Why don't we just admit the fact that the only players who we are seeing the best of are Mata & Ramires , Hazard can be miles better than that if he was given encouragement & guidance on when to dribble , to improve his finishing. Oscar should be encouraged to shoot more and instructed to take places right in-front of the box waiting for a rebound (you always find Mata doing that but he is very wasteful from that position). The team's off-the ball movement is purely instinctive and obviously based on no specific instructions , which is why we have rarely scored from the impressive link-up play as in most cases players get to the question of what's next , their instincts can't answer all of the questions on field. Those are just examples , i don't know how a manager should handle and develop them into world-class substance because it's his job , and as a fan when i watch games i want to see this improvement on field. My biggest concern is that a player like Hazard for instance is not half the player he was last year for Lille or at this season's beginning , to say he is slowly improving is the real non-sense.

Nani was never a world-class material , he was more of a Quaresma than Ronaldo , the 3 of them have a very similar set of skills but very different character and dedication , No man will ever be able to turn and develop every talented player to a world-class one , the likes of Nani , Kleberson, Bebe, Anderson were never gonna be world-class players whether that's under SAF or any other manager .... Hazard on the other hand has the skill-set , dedication and character to become a world-class player , he just needs more guidance to get their faster and further , that's what SAF would have done.

Again , this is not a Torres bashing thread nor a Knee jerk reaction post . In fact it's the exact opposite , i started this thread because i think Torres is not the biggest of our problems , and to point that results shouldn't be our biggest worry as i will take the same results if i had seen some improvement. The truth is since the Stoke game , which was the 1st to unleash the 3 maestros together we haven't had any serious development in terms of team inter-play , defensive organization , or players' development .... I even think players let themselves exposed by rushing forward a lot compared to the start of the season.

Recent results and points dropped are not the real concern , it's the rather lack of development in our team , we have one of the best starting 11 in the world and definitely the best in the league but they are left to develop on their own. The likes of Hazard , Oscar , Moses , Bertrand etc. are exactly as good as they were before coming here , players at such age coming into one of the biggest clubs in England should have huge development in their first six month but that's not what's happening. We attack based on the trio's instincts without any clear instruction or offensive gameplan , it's like we just pass the ball to one of the maestros and see what they will do , Not once we had what looked like a move practiced in training or based on instructions. Our defensive organization is really really woeful now , not just because of the trio behind Torres but because suddenly Mikel thinks he is Yaya Toure and instead of staying infront of the defense he is in the opponents box wasting position , same goes for full backs who were all caught out of position numerous times this season, i am not against possession game and i know it's gonne require full backs and midfield to come forward a lot but if you are advanced and you know that there is no one to cover for you then make sure you fuckin keep possession. Di Matteo is a great manager and Motivator but i am afraid we need someone who can develop promising youngsters into world-class players , i can assure you if Hazard was at United , SAF would have made him the best player in the EPL by some distance , that's what we need someone who can get Hazard , Oscar , Moses to places we dreamed of , i am telling you under the right guidance Hazard and Oscar can achieve the greatness of the likes of Xavi , Iniesta , Ronaldo , Lampard , etc... This is not a Knee jerk reaction , i have had my doubts since the beginning of the season but i had to wait a while before i judge and i still have hope that Di Matteo can turn this around. Believe me Torres is not the biggest of our problems as many claim , he is just not a solution.

Always found excuses for him , hope that we will have that Torres that embarrassed our defenders in their best days !! But i just realized every game i go in waiting for Oscar or Mata or Hazard to pop up with a goal or an assist , not once this season have i watched a game expecting Torres to have a say in it. We as fans expect nothing from our only striker and that just highlights how much of a liability he has become.

Not once during my time here everyone expected a win for us in a such big game like today and we won !! definitely not optimistic !!

Not very optimistic heading into this game , we are definitely the better team but their style is exactly the one that should have us beat , if they play like they did in the 1st half against united .... You can expect 11 spurs men defending , quick counters , targeting and doubling up on Ivanovic ... that is why Oscar should be RW if he is to play alongside Mata , Hazard . Also Dembele , Dempsey and Sandro make one very capable midfield defensively.

Well i bet you lead a happy life with your "positive" choice of words there , so why don't you just not bother commenting on my posts cause i will be ignoring your comments anyway .

Spurs might win , AVB might not celebrate at all , some might look ridiculous !!

His best and most crucial save was actually Giroud's miss .

Hazard should be able to thrive regardless who plays alongside him , but not all systems will get the best out of him .

Messi as great as he is can't meet his own standards when playing with Argentine , that's because the system in Barca whether people admit it or not is designed to get the best out of him , was he a great player before using that system ? of-course , was he that great ? that's another question

My words were certainly misunderstood by some , I never said that we must change our system right now to suit Hazard , in fact i am just opening this debate of whether great teams in history have deployed a system to get the best of a certain superstar and whether we should follow a similar path or not , also if we are to do that is Hazard the suitable player ?

It will always be a myth whether a great superstar is what makes a great team that great or vice versa , case in point will be Messi and Barcelone , there is always this argument of whether he is that good because of having the likes of Xavi , Iniesta , Alves , etc. playing around him in a system designed to get the best out of him or Messi is really what's setting this team apart and giving them the edge over other teams. That has always been the case with great teams with superstars , there was/will always be that one superstar that the greatest football teams are built around and systems are developed for his goods , United designed a system to get the best of Ronaldo , Arsenal did the same before with Henry , Madrid with Zidane , Barca with Ronaldinho and then Messi , Milan with Kaka , etc. All of those teams has superb players in their squads with those superstars like Deco , Ronaldinho , Rooney , Tevez , Pirlo , Xavi , Iniesta , etc.... but the system was always designed to get the best of the likes of Messi , Ronaldo , Zidane ,etc... and those teams has always got the benefits of it. Like much of those teams that went to history as one of the greatest teams , we now have many great players (potentially) , but which player does have the mental strength + footballing ability top be our X-factor might be the question right not ? or are we planning on having a system that doesn't serve a special player more than another ? IMO this player should be Eden Hazard , the new system should be designed to get the best out of Hazard , we definitely have some other amazing talents like Oscar , Mata but i think Hazard at his best will be the only one capable of making the difference day in day out consistently . While the three are all smart technicians , they have many similar attributes but each has his own different skill-set , and Hazard's set is a one of a future Ballon D'or . While i am very excited by the trio of Hazard - Oscar - Mata , i think that Hazard's best games came next to Mata and another winger providing width , stretching oppositions and doing much of the defensive work for him and Mata . If that's gonna be the case then Hazard - Mata - Moses for me will be much better for the good of the team , i know oscar is one hell of player to be on the bench but that's what's best for the team if we are planning on having a system to get the best out of our best player. Thoughts ? I do really hope you would understand that i am not implying that we should build a system around Hazard , i am just opening a general debate of whether great teams are buillt around ballon D'ors ... or ... Ballon D'ors are made by their great teams

That is one very important win , we deserved to win the game although there is still a lot to work on . Oscar,Hazard and Mata are all great players but they lack width,strength,directness and defensive contribution. Moses is almost as good defensively as any of our defensive wingers. Ramires in the pivot is superb and disastrous , the number of times he stole/forced the ball and got possession is exactly the same as the amount of horror we feel when he is trying to control a lost ball , his runs in counter-attacks will certainly result in goals but he rushes forward and into tackles sometimes leaving the defense exposed e.g. the giroud last chance. Hazard is a real gem but his performances were much better when exchanging positions with mata while a winger provide width(before Oscar's inclusion) Mata is back to his best but he has to work on his defending , he is our worst defender. Oscar has a lot to learn.

Exciting line-up but IMO Moses should ve started !

Most probably there will be no live streams , i have found no channels anywhere around the world covering this game , there has to be a TV channel viewing the match for a stream to exist. Hugely disappointed , was really looking forward to this game and the debut of ( Marin , Moses , Azpilicueta , Piazon).

Error !!

The European champions had the most impressive transfer season , Roman Abrahimovic switched from picking world-class peaked players like Ballack , Shevechenko , Torres Etc. , to potential world class players like Hazard , Marin and Oscar . Given a look at chelsea's squad this season and you have a lot of new quality additions in the past 2 years , it started with Ramires , Luiz , Torres , Miereles , Mata , Cahill , Romeu and ended with Hazard , Marin , Oscar , Moses , Azpiculatalektawaa , also don't forget about the rising talents of Sturridge and Bertrand. Those are 14 players , 8 of them has been superbly integrated to the team (Hazard - Mata - Torres - Ramires - Cahill - Miereles - Bertrand ) while others are still struggling to know their role (Sturridge - Romeu ) , new additions might have no idea how they will fit in (Marin - Oscar - Moses ). Di Matteo has made it 100% clear during the impressive start to the league that he will be using 4-2-3-1 more often than not , and it's a great formation to utilize the quantity and quality of attacking midfielders we have but there are still questions to be answered regarding every line in that formation with two exceptions : GK and CF . Di Matteo IMO is blessed with the best back line in the EPl his starting back 4 are all world-class players and their understudies are just as impressive , but the real question in the back 4 currently is whether Terry still deserves to start ahead of Luiz and Cahill or not Terry was never known for his pace but his lack of it is making him and us some problems right now and while his experience and commitment helps him to avoid making errors , his lack of pace makes it very difficult for him to recover from his occasional mistakes , so for me , i would like to try the Cahill - Luiz partner ship for a while specially against low table teams , Also Ivanovic can now expect some competition on the right side of the back 4 . Then we have our most average line which is midfield , where we have a lot of quantity with mediocre quality , Mikel - Lamps are Di Matteo's 1st option but Miereles if not the answer has proved how great it would be to have a disciplined DM next to Mikel , Lamps is a very good player and i don't think age is really catching up with him as he still runs his ass off every game but his senses are always to go forward making his legendary late runs , Mikel is decent but still miles away from being classified world-class , the bench is full of other midfielders like Essien who is past it , Romeu who disappeared after his impressive cameos , Ramires who isn't a DM , Inconsistent Miereles , no mentions for Malouda and Benayoun . The forward line is lead by Torres and he will have 3 players supporting him Mata and Hazard are definite starters so we have Moses , Marin , Oscar fighting for the 3rd spot , except that Di Matteo prefers to use either Ramires or Bertrand to keep the team balanced , this has proved it's worth time and time again but then why do we need three top notch players on the bench with the potential of Oscar , Marin and Moses !! Is this a gradual transition before we play a fully attacking line-up with 3 attacking midfielders behind Torres ?? Will Oscar be deployed next to Mikel as a deep lying play-maker ?? If we use an attacking line-up with Oscar next to Mikel and Marin/Moses next to Mata and Hazard , Can Terry withhold his place when we play a high defensive line ?? Di Matteo has a lot of options to choose from , those are not problems , they are solutions but Di Matteo will regularly need to get the optimal solution . YOUR THOUGHTS ?

OMG !! There is a 20% chance of both teams losing !!

OH !! GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER RDM !! YOU DON'T PLAY WITH ONLY 3 ATTACKING PLAYERS AGAINST THE LIKES OF WIGAN !!!!!! Sturridge should ve started instead of bertrand , for all i care even Piazon would have been a better option than Bertrand !!!

Before we even kick a ball in our 1st official game of the season , i think we have the rights to display our views on the success rate of our transfer window , preparations for the new season and overall team competiveness . Signing amazing talents like Hazard , Oscar and Marin is very promising , the possible addition of Hulk and a back-up RB is mouth watering , Do that and you have the ultimate combination of pace , trickery , creativity , goal threat and power upfront , sign a decent RB and IMO we have the best defense in the league , but all of this will be hugely wasted because we got our priorities wrong. Even with this lethal attack and steel defense we will struggle to win games , simply as many have said and as many have heard before football battles are won in midfield , and our midfield is abysmal !! This lethal attack will not be utilised if they struggle to get the ball in the final third ! This solid defense needs protection and will break when facing opponents strikes single handedly. A RW and a RB shouldn't be our current priority , it should have been a deep-lying playmaker preferrably someone like Modric , Sahin or Moutinho , sign one of those and you have the ultimate formula for success , our double pivot has been exposed and looked clueless numurous times !! Please don't give me they were great in the UCL shit because in the UCL against Barca and Munich our midfield was actually made of 5 players not just a doube pivot . In January we will certainly be looking to add in that area after being exposed during the 1st half of the season.

So basiclly you admitted that all of those are better midfielders than Mikel and you added another better player yourself to the list , you classified only 2 players (Song - Vidal) out of 14 as B2B players , and now i don't know the difference between a B2B and a holding midfielder !!! BTW Vidal , Toure and Song can all be great B2B players but they are still way better holding midfielders than Mikel . You can name them whatever you need to , at the end of the day the best double pivot is a combination of two players : A tireless , agressive , mobile and energetic ball chaser and winner (Like most of those mentioned above) A creative , technical , smart deep-lying playmaker. Case in point : (Alonso - Khediera/Diarra), (Parker/Sandro - Modric) , (Mascherano - Alonso) , (Gustavo - Shweinstiger),(Khediera - Shweinstiger) ,etc... The biggest problem in Mikel's game is that he's none of those and tries to be both , Is he a great ball winner ? no he is an average one , can he be used next to a ball winner as a deep lying playmaker ? No , he lacks the technical aspects and creativity for it.