SeB

Fuck meee !!

We already knew that before the game, though some people seems to forget that right after the kick off... It's a good idea to replace Lampard <=> Meireles and Malouda <=> Anelka, yes we would have more opportunities to score a goal... but a bigger probability to conceide a goal ! The less we can say that they are not clumsy in counter attack, it's a very explosive team with always a different player calling the ball between the lines making it even more difficult to cope. Mikel does rather well even if it's not the safety box we all know

Not that strange, speaking his native language is a reflex and remind to use english may make you loose a fraction of second. Cech is fluent in English, but it's better to communicate by instincts rather than bother with a futile detail. He just has to be heard, so it can be Urdu or Magyar, the defense does not care

Same conclusions than some games of last season or the Norwich or WBA game... With the difference that Torres does not leave his position too often

I did wonder that, I did really not understand I've !

But we are not conceiding, yes they are not very sharp in the finale gesture ; but we did contain well their pressire. Kepping the draw longer and try to make the difference in the last 20mn is not a bad plan for me, a draw would be a good result anyway Maybe we should have played Ramires alone in front of the defense ? See Valencia with a 3 goal lead would be funny and least frustrating... I don't really give a fuck if they are as sharp as ever, the fact is that they help to defend and that we keep the draw

I really fear the Valencia players between the lines, they have too much space and freedom IMO....

Mikel has to be careful of players leaving their position and playing between the lines, he has to play in a completely opposite way than against Swansea tonight

Shit, I did read a goal down

Yes, Mata is probably expected to cut inside then

Are you sure of that ? Where was it from ? I don't see where is the matter, we don't play the best team of the group without 1. Tactical and phisical strength 2. Player who can proceed in counter attack to perforate the first adverse line 3. Experience and self control of play If it's a 4-3-3, this midfield is logical ; I don't expect the team to play like a poor organized team like Blackpool or Swansea. This trio allows to mix solidity and speed. Meireles is an excellent player, his contribution for the team will be a massive one this season. But Lampard is predisposed to that kind of tactical game. If Tortilla9's info is right and that we play in 4-2-3-1, Meireles is too much tempted to go forward than Lampard in my opinion. And the presence of Malouda and Ramires is evident, they are the 2 players with the most important volume of play above Anelka or Mata. Mata in trequarista would mean that he is needed to play the link (like Ramires does when he has a central position) and stay in his position on the paper so the center. Playing him on the left wing would mean a misbalancing of the team

I'm completely tired by my first month, almost 4 hours per day and no lessons before 10:00 and after 17:00. It's about subjects I'm fond of so it's quite horrible There's a massive difference between my scientific section of high school last year with it's 15 hours of math/chemistry and my first year of university !

I play to my greatest shame like Salomon Kalou on both wings, otherwise I can play a good game out of 5 in CM/Box-to-Box The touchline is also a good place to be, in 3 years I'm going to get Villas Boas to a corny old.

Allowing players to purge their suspensions in League Cup really is the only interest to maintain that format of Carling Cup to whom nobody cares Even McLeish who won the tournament last year did let Bolton win at Villa Park

Yes, both are under the aegis of the FA. Leon Barnett was red carded for a last-man challenge against Stoke (although there was neither any foul or penalty because it was outside the box), purged his suspension (who was reduced to 1 game) in Carling Cup against MK Dons (was the only one Premier League player in the lineup because Lambert did not gave a fuck about the CC) and did play 3 days later against us

Ramires, like I said in the game's topic his high positionning and his pressing on the Swansea's midfield was a key of the win. Two goals, a huge activity and some clever deliveries. Road to the Player of the Season award

I watched the game yesterday evening because of my coaching duties First of all I’m happy with the lineup, it’s well known that Swansea is a team which struggles in counter attack situations and the advantage on the scoreboard was concretized by two great counter-attacks of our best player in that domain. The second goal of Ramires a great example of Swansea’s weakness, even if Cole then Torres’ accuracy to pass the ball in a mouse hole was impressive. During the first half it was clear that the team featured a 4-man line Mata-Meireles-Ramires-Anelka above Mikel in a 4-1-4-1 shape and with the full backs at level of Mikel and not higher like it was the habit in the recent past. Later, it was Anelka-Ramires-Mata with Torres leaving his position upfront and gives a ball above the defense for Mata (Ramires’ chance in the first half). I liked the performance of that 4 players, Mata was impressive with his utilization of the ball ; Meireles with his activity in center/left area ; Anelka with his accuracy and sharpness. I did find Ramires excellent in the role he had yesterday, he wasn’t too low on the pitch and this high position did free him of the distribution he is constrained to do even a little. Higher like that, it allowed him to be even faster in the last tier. Like at Old Trafford last week-end, his high positioning allowed him to press the adverse midfield, thing that was capital in the success over Swansea. I watched Swansea-West Bromwich Albion last week and the fact is that WBA did only run after the ball because neither Mulumbu neither Scharner had the idea or reflex to press Allen/Gower and especially Britton who did, then, shine in front of the defense with his fluid distribution. The high positioning of the team and especially Ramires’ allowed to counter Swansea’s tactics and prevent them to deploy their ball circulation. Except on a few phases, Swansea could not build correctly their play on the ground. I was happy with Mikel’s performance, like since the start of the pre-season he gives the impression to have clear instructions not stopping his runs at the midway line, he made runs with the balls and made himself available higher. And it’s a great opportunity for him to enlarge his palette. One that disappointed me is clearly Bosingwa, has no shortage of balls and has not been left out but there's not had much of interest in his choices, I pass on centers in the Shed and his perfect marking between the player and the goal of Williams ... but the rest was not so exciting. Certainly it has more juice than last season but Bosingwa stone-pusher was not too far. Defensively he was not facing catastrophic Sinclair, though he was aspired a little too easily on some actions. Decent defensive performance was mainly because Ivanovic or Mikel/Ramires were not too far knowing that the game of Sinclair (as Dyer’s) is essentially cut inside and play relays. Mikel, Ivanovic Ramires and also were able to cut transmissions between the wingers and then attack ; again a Swansea’s strong point which was well managed and contained by Chelsea. The composition and this last point shows the ability to adapt to the opponent in order to win more without endangering (let's be honest Cech was strongly bored) See Lampard with his bib, it made me sad, see him leaving the bench before the end of the game, even more (but it does not worry me when I see the upcoming games). But it is clear that if we put Luiz instead of Ivanovic and if we drop Bosingwa for Bran, it looks like the pretty ideal lineup at the moment. Meireles by the speed of his one-touch play is the perfect partner for Ramires which speed with ball is well established. We have Mikel who is trying to play faster and continue to be a hub at the same time that he does not stop his run upfront anymore. Forward, we can associate with Torres, Mata, whose role is not needed to expand on, while the presence of Anelka can be the best offensive pair including Torres at the moment. And of course Welcome Back the Drog, superb goal without looking to see if the ball goes directly in the back of the net !

I do agree with the pace, but saying that Cahill can cope better than Johnson does not make it more impressive for Cahill. Bolton used to play with a high defensive line last season and they were quite often beaten by quick strikers, to be honest I was not very convinced. I saw Bolton-Villa and without the clumsiness of Darren Thierry Henry Djibril Cissé Bent who was naturally offside quite often, Villa would have won that game. What I noticed in Cahill's play is that his positionning is poor, especially when his team plays with such a high defensive line, Robinson, Steinnson and of course Knight are not any kind of reliable either and they were often with an awfull alignment that caused them to conceide stupoid or sloppy goals. When I did mention the concentration swings of Cahill, his positionning is one of the points that has to be underlined. Otherwise, Bolton's system is not a system who uses massively the full backs, it means that the 2 CBs are not forced to cover the runs upfront and leave a big space between them. Holden and Muamba's complementarity resulted in a dense midfield which allowed not exposing the defense. In our system, and even if the tactics about the full backs did change this season (not the 2 at the opposite corner flag in the same time, favor the runs upfront rather than high static positionning), I doubt that Cahill would suit to that system. Alex's tactical issues, his incapacity to cover properly the full back... were often problematic whereas in many other teams in europe it would not be such an issue. I can't imagine with Cahill. About the fact that Cahill has an attitude because of his importance in the team, he was by far more highlighted (for me) under Megson/Coyle in 2009/2010 when he was the only proper/decent (with Jussi, Davies and Cohen) and promising player. Last season he had a huge media attention wheras he had not a capital importance in the team, unlike to Holden (whose injury is a reason to Bolton's terrible end of the season). It wasn't fully justified and live up to his real importance at Bolton. And I seriously think that it is gone to his head. And to be honest, we need a 3rd or 4th defender, no need to put 20m now whereas in one year there would be a better opportunity, younger, cheaper, better mentality I don't know...

In terms of commitment and if we compare their tackles abilities, the quality of the blocks of Johnson and his reading of the game ; I think that Johnson is better. In my point of view I find Johnson more effective in the air in defense although if Cahill is better upfront, the quality of his runs and movements on set pieces are top quality. Cahill is maybe more confortable on the ball than Johnson and has a better offensive quality, not only he's a threat on set pieces but he also has a striker technique to shoot or on volleys. In terms of consistency in a game, I did not saw as much concentrations swings from Johnson than in Cahill's play, Cahill can miss a clear pass like if he did not gave a fuck about if his team would face a difficult situation right then. And would be the first to up arms to heaven But if I was a coach and I had to choose between them, I wouldn't take long before doing a choice, during the ~15 games I saw of Bolton last season, Cahill leaved me with signs of suffidence, moaning on his team mates etc... Johnson is a warrior, can play injured and for me, is more commited than Cahill. You may say that Kevin Davies is a monument at Bolton and that Coyle could have stripped him the captaincy in order to ask at least £5m more on Cahill that he would have made his captain. But the fact is that if we see that Coyle is not stingy with explosives choices ; he did not hesitate to put Elmander on a flank, give his chance to Sturridge, drop Jääskeläinen after a poor performance and put Bogdan on his place at Blackburn... despite all of these clear decisions, he did not gave the armband to Cahill. There may be a clear reason, Cahill has nothing of a leader, as much charisma as a slice of ham vacuum and no ability to give confidence by the simple mean of his presence in the team (thing that Johnson can do). McCarthy did gave the armband straight after Johnson's arrival, it is not completely out of sense. The difference between Wolves' heroic defense Berra/Stearman or Craddock last season and Johnson/Berra of August this season, it's day and night. Thanks to who ?

You may be an English CB and be better than Cahill, look at Roger Johnson or Scott Dann. I don't know why Cahill is so praised whereas those two are not, whereas they are better and more impressing

I was not impressed last season to be honest, even Wheater was sometimes more solid and commited after January

We should have taken Phil Jones, but maybe he would not have been convinced by the playing time we could afford him. The idea to replace Alex, even this Alex by Cahill does not inspire me. He has to prove this season that he can be more confident, more consistent, have a better concentration and maybe a deeper commitment

Last season he was usefull in another register than the pure winger's one, I do share your opinion on his role, he is not a winger anymore. But I don't agree about the fact that he was inconsistent, Grant did nerver trust in him and used to drop him from the group. For me he has still quality to bring to the team and not only in experience, in the midfield he performs well so it's not a problem if he lasts one or maybe 2 years more

I hope nobody did buy Borini's Champions League shirt for this season http://www.chelseame...92051&cid=16646 The Robinho episode was not enough obviously

In the midfield he has often very decent games. But about his work ethic I did always notice a clear difference between what we can see in his play, his volume of play, his quality in the last pass, shooting ability (it's not new, he has always had a great shooting ability)... and the critics that were made of him at Chelsea or at Lyon. A TV journalist used to call him Florent Maladroit (=clumsy), did bash him for the habit he had to play backward to Abidal, or the "apparent constatation" that he sorted his games etc. It's not new that he has a surprising important part of people who bash him whereas he is not necessarly a player who makes all to be hated I'm not saying that all the criticisms are not justified, but I'm surprised by the violence of that critics, fairly often ignoring the fact that his stamina is a kind of guarantee for a manager who can be tempted to play him every games (especially when this manager is Ancelotti) whereas although he has the intelligence to adapt his game to a situation where he has to play very often ; he has physical limits like every ofther player and logically it is felt on the long term... Against Fulham, he orchestrated the offensive animation in the same time as he helped his left back. And when he plays on the wing he is available and although he likes to shoot very often, he keeps that quality in the last pass like he did show last season. Some critics are based but not all that all the whole Malouda bashing would make us believe...