BLionheart

well why did we lose ????? the answer is just in two words "Frank Lampard" . before the match even started i was expecting a similar scenario , i knew Man City can play some damn counterattacks but i hoped we can close them down and actually we were very unlucky to concede , teves did a very good job but still a.cole was there to block the shot and if he moved half a second early or a half a second late the ball wouldn't have passed within between his legs !!!!! another reason is Drogba , he imo was our worst player in the game , i think both malouda and anelka had their moments but Drogba ruined a lot of our attack-plays . also ramires provided great pace from midfield at times but his passing was very poor but i think if he improves his passing he can be one hell of a player with the speed at his feet. anyway i think if lampard was there the whole 90 minutes would have been very different because lampard is a player who always makes a difference . i hope now those fans who thought we would be better off without him will get what does he actually contributes to the team in terms of creativity and ball distribution . i think they only thought we won't miss him because they have only seen today's trio playing against westham and blackpool . now everyone knows lamps worth . and i guess man city couldn't have asked for more from the referee

i am very worried about those next three matches as much vital as they are , ATM we have very limited options that if we are looking for a win in the 3 matches we will have to start the same 11 players in three matches over one week !!!!!! that's gonna be exhausting .... we have no other options in the subs except may be ferrera ( who i don't think should start in any important game ) and zhirkov (who seems to be way not in form and having some difficulties on his own) also we have sturridge ( well , not the best of options as he has proved recently he still needs to improve a lot ). and then there are my favourites kakuta and Mceahcran who happens to be two very promising youngsters with a lo of potential to become world class footballers . and i think Mceahcran can have a better chance because he has the creativity that we might lack in midfield and due to our very slim options in his place . also personally i would prefer him to zhirkov in the LCM position . hope those two can get their chances against Marsiella because that's not a must win game we can afford to draw or lose this one but not he city or arsenal games . anyway today is not only vital because it's our first test but more importantly because you can only imagine the spirit and morale of the team if we win this game . and only by this morale we can get over our injury problems and our thin squad options .

i hope we will get to see a different side of chelsea's game today , a more defensive , direct play . with Lamps missing out we have a big problem in our hands because as good as the trio of ramires , mikel and essien are , i don't know if they will be able to flick passes and move the ball the same way they did but against much more pressure ... ramires and mikel takes too much time to produce a good long ball or good through ball , essien off course is better but we will have to admit when it comes to his passing game he is nowhere near lamps . i don't mean to offend any of them cause i love them all . each one of them is a very special midfielder but when it comes to passing and attacking display specially under pressure they are not even close to Lampard . but i hope city's defense problems will help us get an early goal and then we can close down the field and catch them on the counter attack for a second .

couldn't care less , as long as McEachran is going to be like frank lampard .

i didn't say i don' rate alex !!!!! i said that him and terry is not the perfect partnership and that i think that a fast mobile defender will make a better couple with terry .... and i am only comparing kakuta's , PVA's , McCehran's and bruma's progress . i know you ccan't compae players who play at different positions but i am only comparing which one of them is more close of being 1st team quality and i think bruma is the last one

i mentioned kakuta , mcecheran , PVA because they are the other youngsters that i compare bruma's progress with and i think all of them has shown much more than bruma .

i have no problem with the other youngsters , my only concern is Jeffrey Bruma , i don't think he is a top defender . i have watched him a lot mostly with the reserves and his positioning is poor and his tackle timing is even poorer and i have never seen any thing very encouraging from him to be our 4th choice CB .

:goodpost:but the only point that i will have to disagree about is frank lampard , i have read more than just one member mentioning something like that and i am sure that is only because he is injured and isn't available . but when he is back then you will remember the difference between lamps and anyother midfielder in the world .

i have watched a lot of games for him in our reserves in our u -17 and with Netherlands and he only impressed me when playing against other youngsters but whenever he is up against a real challenge with a decent striker he flops . and whenever he plays with the 1st team he flops .. i mean even sturridge who was completely useless yesterday had his good days with the 1st team like the community shield mach , PVA impressed many times playing with 1st team , kakuta has always impressed since his first cameo against wolves and mccehran had his days as well like yesterday ... so my point is if a youngster flops in a match it's not a problem because i know he is going to improve but at least you have to show some potential in any of the games like what (kakuta and the others did ) but the problem with bruma is that i haven't seen any glimpes of a solid defender from him in a 1st team shirt .

only three quality youngsters (Kakuta - mccheran - PVA) bruma is not in the same level with those guys . i don't want to be hard on the kid but he has never raised to the occasion on the 1st team level he was our worst defender in the preseason , in the community shield and there you go again . i have never found him that solid defender everyone was talking about . he still has a lot to learn before being our 4th choice CB . the MOTM for me was mcceheran what a 17 years old player !!!!! he reminded me of iniesta in a lot of ways , i have never seen such a youngster this clever with the ball at his feet .... kakuta also offered a big threat from the left side before getting injured and PVA scored one and assisted one he was great going forward but still has got to focus on his positioning defensively . but what i am most worried about are anelka , alex and ramires they seemed to put in a lot of effort specially anelka and ramires who played the whole 90 minutes ..... are they gonna be fresh for our first real test ??? i hope so because we are gonna need the 3 of them

well to be honest i don't think all of the youngsters blew their chances , i mean you can see how kakuta and josh were absolutely brilliant also PVA showed he has a lot to offer to the team although he is still learning ... but i think sturridge was a very big disappointment today , i was expecting a lot more from him . the biggest disappointment was bruma , to be honest i have never seen any thing very promising while watching him . he have always looked average except against other youngsters and i think that was only because of his better physique , i have always said that i doubted bruma as our 4th choice CB and now i am sure he doesn't have what it takes to be like terry or carvahlo like he said . i know that he is still learning but he should have shown any glimpse of promise in this match or in the preseason he seems to get owned by any professional forward . i think that was a great experience not only for the youngsters but also for us and carlo to know the abilities of our players and the depth of our squad . so some youngsters proved they should be used more ( kakuta - mccerhan - PVA) while others should work their asses off (bruma - sturridge)

http://www.limev.com/media/embedc.php?personID=1414&width=550&height=450 this one is good

could anyone find a link ???

loooooooooool the best right back in the EPL can't deal with quick players

absolutely not , Essien is a monster he is our powerhorse and IMO he is without a doubt the best all-round midfielder in the world right now , but does he posses the creativity that lampard has ??? does he offer the alternatives that lampard provides ??? certainly not .... so again my point is overall yes essien may be the best box to box midfielder but in terms of creativity and attack lampard will be ahead of essien and ahead of any other midfielder and no one can deny it ... to score 20+ every season for seven seasons that is something i have never seen from a CM but not only that in terms of linking play and ball distribution as well he is the best , his passing is superb , correct me if i am wrong but he made more than 20 assists last season . so my point is we have 4 amazing midfielders to choose from : mikel and ramires are defensive minded essien is very balanced lampard is more attack minded so why should we play with two defensive minded players and one balanced when we are looking for a win ???? i think it makes more since to play with one defensive minded player (mikel) , a balanced one (essien) and a more attacking creative one (Lamps). in that case we are gonna have more balance in our gameplay

i think i have heard that sentence before ... ohh right that was last year when people said he started the season slowly only to end up with 29 goals and 20 assists !!!!!! no , it's the ideal game to be back and i have no doubt if he is fit that he will start , i am only annoyed by the fact that people are already starting to get on his back just because he had a bad game against stoke city while he was injured !!!!

yes , everyone has to play the same fixtures but we just started with the easy ones and i think it's not a good thing , it will be very hard to play man city then arsenal then astonvilla . because simply if we lose against man city it won't be very easy to come back against arsenal specially with a midweek match against marseille .. that's why i am saying that those three games are crucial , mentally more than anything else you can only imagine our morale if get the 9 points out of those matches or if we only get 4 points !!!!!

yes , essien was great in the last couple of matches but he is no lamps ..... not because he scored a couple of goals and made a couple of good passes then he can replace lamps and be better !!!!!! he will never be able to link up play like lamps also the greatest thing about lampard is his consistency , every season 20 or more goals and about 20 assists do you think essien can do that ??????? i don't think so ... i agree with you that essien is better defensively but if you have two players like mikel and essien in midfield why would you be looking for a third midfielder with super defensive powers ???? i think you should be looking for some creativity and lampard provides that and still keep his defensive duties .. Lampard is Irreplaceable in the LCM !!!!! specially in the way we play and also essien is Irreplaceable because no one can come in in the RCM and be the powerhorse essein is .

i am very disappointed to hear this from a chelsea fan , i thought only us will get to really know the worth of Frank Lampard !!!! a couple of games out and you are saying you would like ramires to start ahead of him !!!!!!! if anything there is not one midfielder in the world that will be able to help his side defensively like lamps and still be the creative force lampard is , no midfielder will get a start ahead of lamps in the LCM position not ramires not iniesta not gerrard or fabregas not even the bison essien can do what lamps does please watch this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNvprWxqE_I&feature=related

hope lamps will be back for this match . he will be crucial against man city . they have some power in defensive midfield and we need lamps to be there to help the team break them down with his passes and great runs . even though ramires and benayoun did a very decent job replacing lamps but i still miss him every game . no one will ever be able to provide us with what lampard provides . he is a real special one .

Turnbull Ferreira - Bruma - Terry - Van Aanholt Ramires Benayoun -Lampard Sturridge - anelka - kakuta i am pretty sure it will look something like this with McCehran ,Borini and zhirkov coming in as subs for lamps , anelka any may be terry

yes , this is where our season starts ... you can consider those five matches we played were like a preseason or a preparation for what comes next . we have had some very easy fixtures in the start of the league and man city without a doubt will be the hardest opponent we had so far . and yes , there is something called an easy fixture and a hard one . they all count for 3 points but you can get this 3 points easily against the likes of blackpool but you will have to work your ass off to get them out of tottenham or man city . so you have to win the easy games and the hard ones as well if u wanna be the champion like what mourinho used to tell his players , if we can win all of our fixtures against the bottom ten teams home and away then we will have 60 points without even putting a foot against the top 10 . so no one can neglect the fact that we have been magnificent in our run lately but i hope we don't get over excited . because it's gonna be completely different against he likes of man city because essein and mikel might actually have a real challenge in yaya toure de jong and barry , also kalou will not get these numbers of chances so he can waste some but still get his name on the scoreline . Drogba will finally have a physical challenge from kolo toure and kompany . cech with terry and alex won't have a quite night against tevez , adebayour , milner and johnsen so they will have to be at the top of their game . the good part is we definitely can go ahead and get at least 7 points from the next 3 fixtures ( man city - arsenal - astonvilla) . we have the players that are capable of even winning the 3 matches . the bad part is i have always found the clashes against astonvilla , tottenham , everton and mancity very hard may be just as hard as the big four matches or sometimes harder and this simply because those teams has nothing to lose they might be fighting for a UCL seat or a higher ranking but they definitely don't have to be worried about the game result . also they tend to have a very formidable line up but still sometimes just park the bus and play on counterattack and this system has proved to be very dangerous if it was played with the right way . we have to be very careful , we need to win this , it will give us a great confidence boost and will have a great effect mentally on our players as well as our rivals so win these 3 matches and our chances of winning the league will be doubled

very disappointing 2nd half .!!! no goals scored , a lot of wasted chances and no show of kakuta or sturridge .... but bruma had his time and he looked very solid . anyway we got the important 3 points and we played an amazing 1st half . from now on it's not gonna be that easy , i hope we can get through the mancity -arsenal - astonvilla matches with all the 9 points or at least with 7 points .

unlike most of the people i am not very happy with this formation , it was very clear against westham that mikel essien and ramires is not a very creative midfield ..... and i don't why do we need to put 3 defensive midfielders against blackpool , benayoun should have started or sturridge .. anyway let's hope malouda Drogba and kalou are at their best .

i have always used to doubt the ability of chelsea against smaller teams , we have always seemed to be overconfident against them and our players never knew how to get a result out of those matches , even last year when we won he league we had some bad-ass results against small teams . but this season it seems to be a different case than the old one , we don't need to win 1 or 2-0 and then go back and defend like mourinho's days and we still can get the three points . and that is not only because our impressive scoreline in the last 5 games , but it's because the impressive form and gameplay we are in right now . it looks like if we had to repeat all the played matches we would win them all again . by this time last season we had the same no. of points but people weren't getting over excited as it was by wins agains the likes of hull and stoke in the injury time . i hope we can go ahead and continue playing like this , we need to win the next four fixtures against (blackpool - mancity - arsenal - astonvilla) those next couple of weeks can be very critical in our league title run . if we win all of them we will be clear of our rivals with a great margin and i think we have the ability to do so this season .