Styles

People just have their favourites and will just criticise Mikel no matter what. The movement of our players is so rubbish. Look at the goal from yesterday, look at how all of them except Mata are just standing around doing nothing - http://www.soccerclips.net/videos/chelsea-3-1-norwich-city-mata

One criticism that people always have about Mikel is that he doesn't move the ball quick enough. But what about the players who are supposed to make themselves available for a pass? Mata came on yesterday and was moving nonstop looking for space and making angles to recieve the pass. Why doesn't Lampard do that? Why doesn't Malouda? Why doesn't Ramires? They just stand there being marked and then people complain about Mikel not moving the ball quick enough. He has no options 80% of the time! What do people want him to do? Give the ball away quickly? Strangely I think that would satisfy some people.

Of course it's true. Any sane man can tell you we're not winning anything with the current squad. This is a transition period, as long as we don't drop put of the top 4 and bring through younger players AVB is doing his job as far as I'm concerned.

I agree but the sad thing is there is no player to bridge the gap between Lampard and McEachran. Lampard is just painful to watch now, he adds nothing unless there is a set-piece to take. Just wandering around slowly knocking the ball sideways. Even in todays chaos you wanted somebody to just get the ball and hold it and dictate the tempo for a bit but he was nowhere.

I had a fear that we got the right manager at the wrong time and August has more or less convinced me that belief is correct.

I have to say I feel a little sorry for the new manager. He has come to a club with far more negatives than there are positives. We have established players (Terry, Lampard, Drogba) and recent big-money recruits (Ramires, Torres) that simply do not suit what he wants to do. Terry is never going to be part of a defence that plays a high-line. He's slow and it won't work. But he's the captain and has more influence at the club than probably the manager does. Lampard is old and is arguably our biggest problem. But he's a club legend and won't tolerate being dropped. Drogba is 33 and simply incapable of producing his absolute best all the time. Torres is frankly rubbish and cost 50m. What the hell can you do with him? Ramires is a great athlete but a pretty rubbish footballer. What the hell do you do with him? AVB has one hell of a job on his hands and I wish him well but he is really going to struggle.

Good start and then tailed off badly. Just keep giving the ball away cheaply and putting us under pressure for the counter. Malouda, Lampard, Torres and Drogba should be putting this type of team to the sword but nothing. Here's the goal for anybody who hasn't seen it - http://www.soccerclips.net/videos/chelsea-1-0-norwich-city-bosingwa

AVB personally mentioned him today when talking about our opponents Genk in the group stage. Genk played Porto last year in the Europa so AVB obviously knows about this guy and must rate him. Hope we sign him before the window closes!

Enough said.

Great OP and good topic. I can't tell you just how pissed off I was with Carlo when he made those dumb decisions. The absolute worst one was starting Paulo Ferreira at left-back ahead of PVA against Marseille in what was essentially a dead rubber game as we had already qualified as group winners. If a manager is going to make stupid decisions like that then they may as well close the youth department down and stop wasting rescources on these players. Sturridge is 10x the player Kalou is, he should have been given a hell of a lot more chances in the last two years. I remember a game against Everton last season Kalou was having another nightmare game as usual (even by his very low standards this performance in particular was absolutely horrific) and Sturridge only came on in the 88th minute. What the hell was he supposed to do in 2 minutes plus stoppage time? That sort of thing is a confidence killer. It's reasons like that I am absolutely glad Ancelotti was sacked. He just didn't seem to give a f**k about Sturridge and that made my blood boil. Now AVB strikes me as more inclined to give the young players a chance. I think McEachran is clearly our best young player* and nobody else has his level of talent and potential of all the kids so it's only natural he plays the most. But I thought PVA and Bertrand would also get opportunities so this Pereira transfer has kind of surprised me because I thought we had adequate cover for Ashley. *Not including Sturridge. He is 21 now and is a adult, he should be treated like a senior squad member and not a kid that is being eased into the team.

Respect to Yossi for being a humble man and giving Mata the number 10. It's a shame but football is a ruthless business and if you are not in the managers plans then you just have to deal with it. He's a very good pro and if he does move I wish him all the best.

I would like us to get a Premier League team so the young players can be tested.

To be to Stoch he was very close to the first team. I remember a very good game he played against Stoke under Scolari and you thought he might get a few more opportunites but sadly they never came.

Sahar? Di Santo? Pfttt, they weren't good enough to lace this guys boots

Did anyone expect any different? He is a bad player playing badly. Shock, horror!

I hav a feeling we're going to get a difficult group. :mellow:

Oh definitely without doubt. Training with the first team is an important part of a young players development. I'd imagine doing well in training alongside top talent would improve their confidence no end. In fact I'm guessing Piazon did impress at Cobham when he was there recently which may have sped things up because it looked like he was going to go back home until the day he signed.

Excellent compilation of Sturridge's time at Bolton for anybody who hasn't seen it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LamXIcNTXtc Ancelotti

I remember Pato was training with Milan before he was eligible to play for them as well. I don't quite think Piazon is going to be a first team player this season though. I think he's going to be with the reserves. He hasn't even played a senior game n his career so it would be amazing for him to come in and just go straight into the first team.

My own personal opinion is that he should stay and fight for a place in the team. As we saw at the weekend he can still contribute to the team. I was amazed when people were saying they would rather keep Zhirkov and sell Malouda. He might not be the type of winger we all want ie. a Robben type and he might be very frustrating every now and again but he's a good pro and is an excellent squad player.

I'd love to see McEachran, Oriol and Lukaku all get some minutes in this game.

Some days he is good, very good even. And then some days he defends like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqiMQMVF1GY I'm sometimes genuinely scared when watching him play. He is pure entertainment but then for a central defender maybe that isn't the best thing in the world!

He actually has his own website that is updated everyday with what's been happening. http://www.juanmata10.com/index.php?seccion=noticias&id=673 Translated into English: Here's a video posted on his site yesterday and it says Chelsea player on the intro:

Sure you have. The comment is specifically relating to Park and his performance iin what was Utd's toughest and most important game of the season. Isn't he supposed to be hard-worker essential in games like that? Why was he one of the worst, if not the worst, player in that final when that is supposed to be the type of game he excels in? He is a worker but he has very little quality. There are literally hundreds of players who could offer the same as Park but also give you more going the other way.