Styles

More specifically are our group of central midfield players good enough? We have an awful lot of athletic, robust and powerful runners but we are very low on midfielders with ability to play a quick and precise passing game. We need players that create gaps and angles for passes and that know how to move into space. We have no combinations in midfield, that open up space drawing opposition players out of position. Our midfield needs a major overhaul. We need to start getting technical ball players instead of runners like Essien, Ramires etc. Even Lampard for all his quality is very average as CM knitting play together. We need thinking footballers capable of creating chances for their forwards. Drogba, Torres etc are getting absolutely no service which is shameful.

Maybe we should try a bit more long ball and gamble on the second ball.

No it's not. We need CENTRAL MIDFIELDERS with technical ability. An attacking midfielder is a player like VdV who will get into goal scoring positions and run onto things. We do not need that. We need players who can pass and move. This is our biggest problem. We need thinking footballers with technical ability. Essien and co need 4 touches to get the ball under control and make a pass. In that time the opposition defence has had enough time to get themselves back into position

Watching Lampard fail to play even the most simplest of passes is incredibly frustrating. Even worse when you realise he is supposedly the best passing midfielder at the club. If our MIDFIELDERS had the technical quality of our CENTRE BACK David Luiz we would probably be top of the table. Lampard, Essien and Ramires couldn't pass their way out of a paper bag. They're perfectly capable of playing the sideways pass but anything even remotely adventurous as a pass to a forwards feet and they get it wrong. You really appreciate players like Xavi and Iniesta 10x more when you watch a Chelsea midfield with players who have such low football IQ and technical ability. The highest wage bill in English football and we don't have midfielders capable of creating chances for teammates. Embarrassing to be honest.

Well before Roman we use to lose our fair share of games so it was easy to accept. But after Roman and more specifically Jose we rarely ever lost and when we did lose it was almost always under dubious circumstances so I was pretty pissed off for hours after a game lol. But recently I'm coping with defeat well under Ancelotti because it happens so often. Thanks Carlo, for reminding me what it was like to be a Chelsea fan before Abramovich.

Or Scholes' attempted forearm smash on Makelele which resulted in a free kick for them! - Or Rio Ferdinand's flying kung-fu kick on Joe Cole which didn't even get a freekick and deserved yellow - Some strange officiating but you come to expect that in the Champions League as a Chelsea supporter.

Fabregas is easily better than both Hamsik and Kaka. He is an incredible young player, one of the best midfielders in the World already. Hopefully we will find our own Cesc because he is exactly the sort of midfielder we need.

I take it all those who hate the idea of sacking managers wanted Scolari to remain at Chelsea? We had a poor run under him but it was nowhere near as bad as the recent run under Ancelotti.

:huh: Crazy thing to say really, I don't think you've thought that one through.

He comes across as weak with a very low pain threshold. I don't even know what the purpose of signing him was. £18M for a left sided player who is nowhere near as good as Ashley or Malouda. You don't spend that much on what is essentially a back-up. The term abject failure was created for transfers like this.

The league was lost a few months ago. We're not even guaranteed 4th place because of all the tough games we have left. We're in a scrap for 4th with Tottenham and potentially Liverpool.

What a waste of space and money. I'd terminate his contract in the summer if only to have a free slot avialble for a foreign player. You can forget about trying to recoup some money, who on earth would want this waste of space? £18M was it? What a joke.

I was as happy as any Chelsea fan. That doesn't mean I can't look at the season objectively.

You gave me a point because you agree! :tophat:

:goodpost: :goodpost: :goodpost: :goodpost: :goodpost: :goodpost: :goodpost:

You can try and dress it up but the the bottom line is we only won the league because Man Utd lost their two best players.

If Man Utd had kept just ONE of the TWO SUPERSTAR GOALSCORERS they let go then they would have won the league easily. What is so hard to understand about that? The league last year was a joke, the only serious contenders lost arguably two of their best players and we beat them by a single point. Imagine we lost Drogba and Lampard last season? We wouldn't even finish in the top 6.

I would love it if Hddink came back. We went on a great run in the league when he was manager dropping just 3-4 points the whole time? He is so much better than Ancelotti it isn't even worth comparing.

We will beat the two rubbish teams and lose to the two good teams. The same pattern all season.

So you want a glorified cup manager to remain at the helm because we'll lose a few million in compensation? :huh:

Interesting comments from Torres regarding the game yesterday: Not expecting that? Liverpool have played the same formation 2 games in a row and the team-sheet before the game suggested they would again. This is just further proof of how clueless Ancelotti is. He doesn't care how the opposition set-up and he clearly doesn't do his homework. Please get this guy out before we're embarrassed more this season.

Essien at peak physical form is arguably one of the best midfielders in the world. Before his knee injuries he was incredible and I never said a bad word about him. Now that he has two bad knees he just doesn't look like the same player anymore. His speed is nowhere near what it used to be and he relied on it a lot as it was one of his key attributes. We lack quality in midfield, players who can work themselves out of tight situations, keep the ball and pass and move. Any time Liverpool pressured our players yesterday they passed it backwards or lost the ball. You can have Drogba, Torres, Anelka or even Messi but it won't matter if you have midfielders that can't play and pass to create gaps and assist strikers.

Essien might know what to do with the ball, hell most people know what to do with the ball. The difference is how quick and accurate they are with what they want to do and it's what separates the good from the not so good. Essien has never been good with the ball technically it's just he had incredible speed and strength which masked other deficiencies. I think a lot of our problems is stemming from the midfield. We have little creativity and fluid passing between the midfielders and Essien in my opinion cannot play short, sharp precise passing game. He is a runner, average passer and a shooter. His crossing is excellent however but it is rarely utilized in the position he plays. McEachran isn’t ready and probably won’t be for another 2-3 years because of age and a lack of senior games. But he is already better technically with the ball than Essien, if you disagree and laugh that’s fine but it’s as clear as day.

This is the heart of the matter. His weaknesses overshadow his strengths as a manager and his reputation as a cup manager points to that fact.