BLionheart

As one of AVBs fans , i was really disappointed in him today and it shouldn't be that hard to admit it . I know the players didn't work hard enough but once you give a look at the team sheet you should notice that those starting 11 have just won 3 very decisive games against tough oppositions , you can only expect them to get complacent and let their tiredness get the best of them against such opposition. Replacing 3 or 4 players from the starting line up would have given you a much more refreshed and motivated team who is still more than good enough to beat Wigan , i mean IF (Torres - Bertrand - McEacheran ) started this game they would all have been very motivated and would have had a point to prove , they would have added much needed freshness and energy to our game . And about the subs , Kalou was the right thing to do but should ve been instead of Miereles or Lamps , McEacheran and Mikel should have been the next subs if we were planning on defending our 1 goal lead as the best way to do it was to control the game and play possession game defensively . One thing i hope AVB has learned is never put Malouda and Kalou on the same field otherwise you lose points that's like a known rule . I know most would blame Cech for the draw but really our approach during the game was embarrassing , we should be winning such games comfortably by dominating play not defending deep and depending on our players not making any individual errors .

Even though i love the idea of AVB , but we have to admit that this game was lost by AVB and not the players ... Most of the players were really poor because they needed some refreshments in the team , after winning 3 big games in the space of 9 days they have every right to get complacent against such opposition , while on the other hand starting with Torres - Bertrand - McEacheran would have given you a much more motivated team . Really disappointed in AVB today , i mean even his reading for the game was poor , he should have subbed Meireles or Lamps instead of romeu , also Drogba should have been replaced .... and what were he thinking combining the Kalouda and Mikel on the same pitch , everybody knows that is suicidal. I hope we will never see Kalou , Malouda and to some extent Mikel and Bosingwa wearing the blue shirt again , they are really poor players who don't deserve to be here .

Why is Luiz not there ? Also can't find any good reason to not give bertrand or McEacheran or even Torres a start , anyway let's hope we finish them of in the 1st half so that some players get some rest .

Watch more games for Napoli and you will be worried .

If we are considered one of the top European giants , then we should only fear facing the likes of Barca - Bayern - Real but not Napoli , as much impressive as they are now but we are still a much better team on paper . This hopefully can be a game that gives us a much needed mental advantage that we still have what it takes to beat one of the most impressive sides in Europe while still not being the most difficult task , and might give us a huge boost later in the competition if we win .

Are Napoli beatable ? off-course ...... but their game play is perfectly designed to beat teams like Chelsea who has problems with direct pacy forwards like Lavezzi - Hamsik - Cavani and we will definitely find it hard to break their defensive unit . As much as i am worried about their forward line but i am more concerned about how we will cope with such a strong defensive unit , we have improved a lot in terms of creativity this season but i still think we lack the spark that will help us break such teams down . However if we can't overcome Napoli then how will we cope with the likes of Barca - Real - Bayern ? A very tough draw that we should pass , but the high defensive line if applied might destroy us completely .

Torres is neither as bad nor as good as people claim him to be !! He had great 3 seasons with Liverpool and showed what he is capable of , he had a bad spell during his start with CFC but he started to improve and had a very good run before his red card against Swansea city , i remember everyone (including me) back then claiming that it was only a matter of time before El nino is back but then Drogba took his chance and placed Torres on the bench. i will still wait for January when Torres gets 2 or 3 full games ,before i judge him but i still think that there is still life in our number 9.

Although i am not gonna buy that torres is for sale shit but if that's the case , then a swap deal with Atletico for Falcao might be perfect .

This is just our 2nd game with this new philosophy under AVB , so the players will definitely get more used to it ... in fact my main concern is that they might get too used to it that it won't be comfortable for them when the time comes to switch back to AVB's more fluid , attacking approach .

After our win against Newcastle i have wrote on article , clarifying how reverting to counter attacking football and abandoning the high defensive line has helped our team , the team is best suited for this kind of football and certainly not the possession game AVB was trying so hard to implement . Another very impressive win , another clean sheet and another 3-0 score-line , but this time it was against Valencia in a game by the description of their manager that was like the final of the UCL for them , this team was a real challenge for the mighty Madrid a week or so ago but wasn't able to cope with the speed , unity , tactical excellence and experience chelsea showed yesterday. Those tactics will surely help us get back on track and will certainly save our season , only now the fans think we stand a good chance against the likes of city but with our old tactics this season we knew we would have been thrashed against city , BUT didn't AVB stress more than once that he won't abandon his attacking philosophy ? Is this plan just temporary till we get the players that suit the more fluid , attacking game AVB and Roman are looking for ? if so then why is 33 years old Drogba starting instead of 7 years younger Torres while we all know he is more likely to leave in 2012 shouldn't we be building for the future ? We know anelka and alex are leaving but are Obi Mikel , Kalou and Malouda who are mostly unused leaving as well ? I fear that it's not gonna be easy to revert back to the high defensive line and possession game even if we add 2 or 3 more players , a bigger problem will be to get this very comfortable defense of DL , JT , Iva and Ash to play with a high line while they are getting the job done perfectly using a deep one , it won't be easy getting Sturridge to adjust his game to receive the ball in the final third while he thrives on the space he has when receiving the ball earlier , Ramires is definitely not gonna be comfortable playing the possession game while his biggest weakness is his 1st touch and passing game , my point is a winning team might be so comfortable using their winning tactics that they won't welcome a change of those tactics . There are a lot of questions still to be answered about the future of this team , but AVB is certainly building a great team and even if he is using Drogba right now instead of Torres but he is certainly trying to get the best results while keeping an eye on the future as we have seen Romeu , Luiz , Sturridge , Mata and Ramires all being very important players in AVB plans.

No complains about the starting line-up , a decisive factor of this game will be AVB using the high defensive line or NOT .

All i can see is the potential to be the next zhirkov but nothing special , good crosses and half decent technique shouldn't be enough for him to join CFC .

that is exactly my point , i have watched him during all of his games in the UCL , and i can tell you that Kakuta would be a better bet , not because kakuta is superb but because KVB is actually poor .

TBH can't see how he is better than Malouda or even Kakuta .

I have to agree with Joker10 , Mata is incredible on the left wing because he has more freedom , less defending duties and a lot of spaces between the lines to drop into . he will be restricted from all that if moved to CAM , if you have read the last superb analysis of carefree-chronic you will see that Mata gave us an advantage when dropping into midfield because we already had three midfielders , I know it worked wonders with valencia last season but let's face it this is not the Spanish league. But i still think we need a winger in January but with different qualities like pace and trickery , rotating sturridge , Mata and the new winger will keep our wingers (the only spark we have now) always fresh , and it will give us more options and will add more unpredictability to our game , Remember Joe Cole , Duff and Robben ....

I can't help but feel sorry for his future team fans , but better them than us , right !! Come on AVB ...... MALOUDA , MALOUDA , MALOUDA , MALOUDA

I will be expecting us to play more direct football and take less risks against valencia hence the counter-attacking philosophy , and BTW valencia will try to attack and won't just park the bus so we can easily pull them forward and punish them with the counter-attack , specially if we score an early goal .. that can be our best option .

1- Our team is much more suited to counter-attacking football , making full use of the likes of sturridge , ramires and mata . 2- AVB finally dropped the high defensive line , and Terry was back to his heroics , also we kept a rare clean sheet . 3- Sturridge adds a lot to the team , and he is a great threat to have but him working on his finishing and passing game is a MUST. 4- Oriol Romue has established himself as a starter in the team , and he fully deserves it . 5- Drogba or Torres was always gonna be a hard choice for any manager , specially with both trying to make a point of how shitty they both are ... However i think if we are to play counter-attacking football may be Torres would benefit from more space and channels to run to as he has thrice the pace and movement of drogba . I have no doubt that AVB will keep the same tactics for the next couple of games but the BIG question is , will AVB change his philosophy to counter-attacking one OR this is just something temporary till we get out of our bad "moment" and to save our season .

Can't really see how any of you can defend either Torres or Drogba !!! the fact is they are both shit atm that you can't really decide who has been shittier as each of them had his fair share of shitty moments .

:doh: Blaming Luiz again !!!! You know what , whether you like it or not he is our best defender atm , better than alex,Iva and even JT , specially with this high defensive line and i think AVB has noticed that as well. And btw Luiz yesterday was our best player after Romue , and for those who claimed he could have been sent off , he had only one yellow card due to simulation not because of rush tackles , i didn't check the game's stats but i am sure he had the most tackles and interceptions in both teams , not good at defending , ehh !

I don't know whether to hope for more starts from him or less . As much better he is than Mikel , but the buy-back clause will be a serious problem if romue grows into such a gem within these 2 years .. Don't you think Barca would want to buy chelsea's best holding midfielder for 10 M , I mean even boring Mikel will cost more !!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2066350/Michael-Essien-Chelsea-fit-play-Manchester-United.html the bison is back to training !!!! Get mikel out of the fuckin team

Cole had to be dropped , good move by AVB but Drogba showed nothing more than torres in his last games ... Torres should have started. IMO One of Bosingwa's best games in a blue shirt was in the LB position and against Messi.

Won't make a big difference for us , he will be with Ghana for the African cup of nations till February. We should be happy for him but i can't see this as a boost for us as we will still have him back by End of February.

You can't blame AVB for that squad , you didn't really expect him to come in and ship out 7 or 8 players and buy 7 or 8 replacements before playing one official game with this team ... and for all i know no sane club will be looking to buy the likes of Malouda , Kalou , Anelka , Ferrera so what could he have done ? terminate their contracts and release them !! And DL kinda made that choice very hard for AVB after his last couple of games , i always thought him , Mata and Cech should always be the 1st ones on the team sheet but i can understand why AVB didn't start him with his last displays . Admitting that AVB got something wrong is one thing and saying he is poor and no better than carlo shit is another one .