SeB

Someone did remind that Rambo is suspended in Champions League, so I wouldn't be surprised if Romeu replaces him numerically

It was with Kevin Davies, Elmander was on a flank. But I do agree, he can organize the play behind the striker and he likes to have free license. Anyway I think he can do like Anelka and have a large license to cover the entire width of the pitch behind Torres. In 2010 by example, Drogba was excellent upfront but he was even better with such a great provider than Anelka is so I think the plan to play Sturridge behind a forward such as Torres is not a bad idea. The only problem is to wonder if Sturridge and Mata can play together, against Norwich, Mata used to play on the entire width and at Bolton, Sturridge did also so... It's not a matter of level or confidence, if we play the same lineup than against WBA, no support for Torres, you can give a lot of games to Torres and you can also wait long to have a decent performance for him. The only matter about him is to provide him direct support like he did always had at Liverpool when he was on fire. Mata or Sturridge can be this support. Torres seems to be fit now, the only problem is that if he wants the ball he has to leave his position and to come on the wings or lower on the pitch to play relays with Lampard and Bosingwa... After that he replaces himself straight into the box but what do you want to do with no player able to give a decent cross, who is tempted to give the ball to Mikel to switch the play ? In front of a wall and standing at the top of a static team, he could have be bought for £150m and having won 3 times the lottery in a row, he can't do miracles... And even if he has a decent crosser, he is not likely to repeat the header he managed to do against Norwich because he has never been a player who has the impact to play a duel in the air and win it between 2 Premier League level CBs (meaning that all Prem CBs are necessarly good in the air). Drogba or Lukaku seems more likely to be able to do so He needs direct support very near around the box, nothing less or more... You speak about the old Torres, but he wasn't made of nothing, he had some support. The fact he hasn't any now implies the consequence that he irretrievably looks far from his best level

You will find everything there: http://livetv.ru/fr/allupcomingsports/1/

At the tennis club, I was 8 and I waited my older brother's end of lesson in the club house and I saw on the TV

I do agree, Ramires deserves to be in the lineup whatever happens. But I can't really see Bosingwa without Ramires, but at the point that we are sure of Rambo's presence there's no worry to have And I also do agree with the width, its very clear that AVB wants to break with Carlo's instructions to give free license and allowing the players (who said Malouda ? ) to cut inside everytime and not using the wings. I think it was very clear against Thailand, we could see Anelka's positionning with the real impression that Villas Boas wanted him to behave like a true wing player, thing he did pretty well that day

Maybe Villas Boas did think that Yossi is not that useful on a wing because he cuts inside everytime, and because he is not as versatile than Meireles in the midfield... AVB's decision was certainly driven by the ability of Meireles to play deeper in the midfield. It's a pity that it was mainly a matter of spots available, on the contrary it would have been possible to keep the 2

Because the main reason of Bosingwa's revival (among the better relashionship with AVB than with Ancelotti) is the presence of a player who can cover him when he gors forward. Without cover, Bosingwa is a headless chicken who leaves the St Mark's Square behind him. Look at Ramires's heatmap against Norwich: http://www.guardian....1f0tjGM89BA0243 And Mikel is needed because of his tactical understanding that makes him switching between the CB or filling the spot left by a defender who goes forward. He is not at the top of his form, but it's understandable, his personal matters and the new role that Villas Boas wants to give him plays big part in that. However he is our only defensive minded player (considering that Romeu is not ready yet) so we need him, especially with Luiz who likes to go forward

If there is Bosingwa, then it means Rambo on the pitch If there is Luiz, it's Mikel's services who are needed. All that for the good balance of the team Anyway Meireles just arrived, he trained whith a part of the squad (you can tell me than neither Anelka nor Torres did trained with the full squad) so I would be surprised if he starts the game

You remember the success at Chelsea of the last man who did kick Kalou out at half an hour ? In the absolute your lineup is not insane, but right now it's really rushing choices that are not necessarily appropriate

I don't really mind about Lukaku's presence, he will have the opportunity to shine the next years (and even in the second part of the tournament). The fact Kalou can play is a really good sign that the club want to increase his worth, with all my respect to the corrupted UEFA Champions League, for the standing Chelsea gain for the recent years ; the group stage became like a health walk for us. I don't mind if Kalou scores goals against Genk if we can kick him out to a Bundesliga club for £8m instead of £5m

You are very harsh Justin... It's nothing new to say that Lampard is a diesel and needs games to perform... Put David Luiz is enough to negociate with the high line and the through balls, to be honest it's not with that Gyan or Bendtner (the guy that was slower to the injured Roger Johnson in the LC Final) that Terry even bell walk will struggle on Saturday. And to be honest I do find sometimes Bran lost when he plays CB and I can't imagine him playing left CB with a player he hasn't played with in central defence, having to ensure covering Cole when he goes forward in the same time than Luiz is also tempted to go forward... Too much unknown in the same time, Villas Boas will make the right choices but right doesn't mean radical, he showed he could be different to Carlo who always waited Kalou to do his shit during 60mn before replacing him. We did always blame the club because it didn't allowed time to managers in the recent past, it's not now that we have to moan because the team is growing increasingly. I do prefer a regular growing than a marvelous start and a breakdown after that. Otherwise I do agree with you about Bertrand

He was/is a decent crosser, otherwise he should have played instead of Belletti at White Hart Lane

He played very well these 3 first games, even with the Ramadan.

I think the look of the forum plays a big part of it's success

Hopefully you kept Rambo , I can't imagine a lineup featuring players such as Bosingwa and Luiz without player who use to cover them when they go forward. Bosingwa's form is mainly due to Ramires' presence and the stability of the team is allowed by Mikel when he switches to CB when Luiz goes forward. But I hope that will become less interdependent ; one of the things I expect from Luiz this season is to be more careful when he goes forward.

Maybe you have forgotten Bonaventure Kalou, he is also a great footballer

He will have the opportunity to learn a lot beside Caldwell and Ronnie Stam it's for sure. Enough kidding, Martinez is a very clever manager and tactically he is also very very good. Several times I noticed he wanted his players to apply elaborated tactics in the game, no doubt that with huge potential materiel and even with a team which could be at his level he can do great things. I can't help to draw a parallel between Moses and Van Aanholt, they are players with huge potential but who has to gain rigor in their play, consistency in a game etc... Martinez used to play Moses parsimoniously before allowing him a bigger time of play this season, it may be the same with PvA who would play increasingly for the first games before he would be near to be indisputable. I see a lot of improvement in the play of Moses, I don't know why Van Aanholt could not have the same success For me, all depends to this season ; it's make-or-break for Bertrand. I hope he will play a significant amount of games in order to convince him to stay. If he stays, I think that the best way not to impeding the progression of Bertrand or PvA is to play one at the LB spot, and the second at the LM spot. And I do agree, PvA should play on the wing because he has an enormous attacking potential but no defensive rigor whereas Bertrand is well experienced, is in perfect running tactically and is very well balanced between the attack and the defense

Martinez has done well with McCarthy and Moses too, Sinclair was restricted to a super-sub role so it's not the best to judge... especially because it was his last loan and he was fed up with these loans. Wigan are really great contenders this season, like Wolves so it will be a great experience for Van Aanholt, he won't have many difficulties to put on the bench Maynor Figueroa

The abduction* my mistake

I like Barton, but the where he was the best was right midfield. Meireles is really incredibly complete and has a better way of regulate the play, a better short pass ability and a better occupation of space, best moves etc... Meireles really allows this alternation between short and long play, and he defends like he goes forward and he is better in a central position than Barton

Good post I noticed something about Mikel, it seems like if he was given new instructions by Villas Boas: he doesn't stop his runs when he arrives on the midfield line and he doesn't hesitate to make himself available higher on the pitch, I noticed that in pre-season and during the first 3 matchs. In the absolute it's not bad because this player is really full of quality (contrary as that people would say or think) and he has a problem that face several modern players, we don't really know where they are the best. In front of the defence, he used to be excellent but when we see his ball protection we wonder if he could not make damages higher on the pitch. Under King Carlo, he was absolutely capital in front of the defense when we played in 4-3-3... but when Carlo switched to 4-4-2, Mikel then was not any indisputable then. What implies that he has to enlarge his palette, he is tactically excellent so it won't be a problem to consider playing him to another roles. Now, it's evident that he is not at his best, you mentioned what happened to his father, this apparent new instructions added to a lack of fitness (he does not feel/like very sharp). But he is actually our only defensive minded player (I mean Romeu is not yet ready) so he has to play tomorrow. But now I don't think it's a good thing to allow Mikel a wider license than he had on the past right now, or midfield is under reconstruction. I don't know if the what Lampard does is a consequence of Mikel way of playing (taking into consideration the abduction, the new instructions and his fitness) or if it's the opposite ; but Lampard is wise and has already started to change a little his way of playing, he is lower his former position on the pitch because he hasn't the energy to make 20 runs in a single game to find himself in a shooting position. But in my opinion it's in part because he hasn't the permanent guaranty to have his sentinel Mikel behind him and he does not want to unbalance the midfield. We have to include Meireles in that implementation (I don't mean it's a problem, I just want to say that because of Mikel and Lampard evolution, it's another parameter to take into consideration). Right now, only Ramires seems to have find his better position, the central right midfielder who do percuss, punch and perforate the adverse first line.

First of all, welcome to you. I pass on the fact that neither Essien (who is a box-to-box) nor Lassana Diarra (if somebody can say to me where plays on the field) are defensive midfielders. I think you do dangerously misunderstood Mikel’s role, especially last season. In fact he did have 3 roles in that season. When we were walking on the water at the start of the season, the team was very high on the pitch; Mikel covered the axis when Cole was forward on the pitch while Terry slipped to his left to cover the flank. Mikel allowed, then, to fluidify the passing game from the left to right in the same time that he did allow the players around him to shine because thanks to his high tactical understanding of the game he was able to compensate the imbalance generated by the tentacular way of domination of the team. At this moment Chelsea did play 3 or 2 behind with the 2 CBs discarded on the two flanks and the lone Mikel covering the axis. I don’t know if you remember how Wigan (rather Martinez) beat us nearly 2 years ago, he gave instructions to lock the wings to prevent the LB and RB to go forward and he gave also the instruction to press the axis. And tactically we were beaten by far that day. Last season, since the Wolves game at home, every team did use this strategy against us, enjoying the tactical failure of Ancelotti (though I’m a big fan of Ancelotti, this tactical aspect has to be underlined) who did change nothing. Cole and Bosingwa were far too up on the pitch at the same time and Mikel did have often to negotiate with one or two players pressing him when he had the ball. And he was just excellent and he limited the damages several times because he was/is able to contain that pressing because his ball protection is very good. The fact is that the two CBs were not bad and responsible for the defeats we did have, Terry and Ivanovic were excellent but where the shoe did pinch was that the axis was exposed and above a certain intensity of pressing that Mikel couldn’t handle anymore, we conceded a lot of goals resulting of a weakness of the axis. The best example is how could Onuoha score his goal at SB ? In a 3 midfield that allows the 4-3-3, Mikel is very important because of his tactical science and his ability to switch between the 2 CBs, his passing even if most of his passes are not the riskiest. On the other hand, in the 2 midfield of the 4-4-2, he was less usefull because he hasn’t enough pace and speed in his game, that’s why Ancelotti dropped him. But in no way Mikel was responsible of such a huge part of the goals we did concede last season, on the contrary he was the man allowing not to concede more goals than we already did. Without him in the first part of the season, we would have been in big big trouble at the winter.

My keyboard has abused me, this is Cole

For me he is good but not yet ready for the top level. One of the things I expect from him this year is to pass a step, in self confidence and consistency on a game... But now IMO he is not (yet ?) worth all we can read everywhere on him, he is not that good. I was far better impressed by Roger Johnson, Ridgewell, Dann this season and even sometimes Wheater gave me a better impression in terms of commitment

But he would be 26 or 27 when we would buy him, I know that defenders can play older than wing players but for me there's no reason to insist on Cahill. Maybe he will improve several things this season to gain his place in the Euro Squad but after all the Bolton games I saw last season, I need to be convinced more than that