dodojojo

Bosingwa will never, ever not be Chelsea's RB will he?

There are games week in and week out. They'll always have ARSE in their name though....

This game made you smile?

Term X, mountains out of molehills. They can google it. Doesn't defeat good image purposes for the immediate and short terms.

I'm sure there are multiple reasons behind the gesture ranging from old fashion goodwill to club image polishing. I work for a big international non-profit. It's a part of the game/business.

I think it would be tacky if it was plastered across the players' foreheads. It would get more publicity though.

Luiz hasn't played in the tougher games this season, like United and Arsenal. So those numbers are against weaker competition. Either way I don't have a strong stance on whether or not to start Luiz. I would based on his athleticism. I wouldn't based on his brain freezes. But Chelsea's defensive issues go beyond starting Luiz or not.

What a bizarre reaction to a charitable act AND winning the CL. Perspective.

Yesh, that sounds barbaric (though of course, it's not). So Anelka or Torres for CF then?

No, BL has 6 points, Chelsea 7.

Drogba is available and with Torres needed for Blackburn, I seriously doubt AVB will start Fernando 3 times in a week

Tweets Favorites Following Followers Lists » juanmata10 Juan Mata García Por cierto la cuenta @Torres no es de Fernando, él no tiene twitter.../ by the way, @Torres is not him, he has no twitter account..sorry! WTF? Is this a comedy or something. How difficult can it be to confirm if it's Torres' twitter account. Why doesn't he address this on his website? Just a yes or no. Anyhow, reading some of the tweets to Mata, why would anyone want to be on Twitter? Most are nice and obviously Chelsea/Mata fans. But there are some idiots. Why do they bother to follow someone's Twitter and then be rude and snidey? Call me old fashioned but would you chat shit to someone's face? Probably not. Why do it on Twitter?

I have no problems with anyone who points out Torres was poor yesterday. He was poor, his team was poor. But your 'he had a shocker, a shocker!' posts really shade his performance in an unfair light. More importantly, you miss the issues of why Chelsea struggle and will continue to struggle. I brought up the Modric and Perreria failed transfers to show that this squad has FUNDAMENTAL deficiencies that will be exploited any time we play halfway decent teams. And with Liverpool, City, Newcastle and Tottenham yet to come, we may be in a world of hurt. The deficiencies are accentuated by a coach who is intent on adhering to a system rather than being pragmatic and focusing on accentuating the current squad's strengths and hiding its weaknesses. Fair enough, he's decided to live and die by his philosophy. Chelsea will suffer in the short term but it may be worth it in the long term. Torres as the CF is a speck when compared to the REAL issues I've mentioned. You keep highlighting how Sturridge got a lot of opportunities to mess up--that it showed he was involved and trying. Maybe. Or maybe Arsenal figured out he wasn't having a good day, backed off on him and allowed him to be his own worst enemy. The guy who was supposed to defending Sturridge, was running up the pitch and scoring. Did the two Arsenal CB's stop marking Torres and charge up the field to help Arsenal to attack? What if Sturridge had managed to square the ball in the first few minutes? Torres was in good positions early in the game. He didn't get one single opportunity to even miss. Van Persie missed a golden opportunity in the first 15 minutes. Did Torres even have that? As the game went on and service was not forthcoming, Torres tried to drop deeper for the ball. He was guilty of executing badly and didn't help his team. Couldn't dribble past anyone and his passes were going nowhere. It's easy to say Torres didn't even try but he plays a certain way, a lot of time off the ball, trying to find space...that's not the type of game where you look "busy" so it's easy to think "oh he's done nothing." When it works, he's brilliant. When it doesn't, he looks like he did yesterday. But as CF, that's what he should be doing upfront and he can't be 100% responsible if he doesn't receive a decent amount of service. Put it simply, pass him the ball and since he's the CF, pass it to him when he's in scoring positions. That didn't happen yesterday. Yesterday was immensely frustrating. I'm at a point where I don't even want to post anymore because it's just too frustrating because I had suspected since the summer that Chelsea had some serious problems that weren't addressed. And that instead of being bracketed with the Manchester teams, Chelsea belongs in the 2nd group with Liverpool, Tottenham and Arsenal. Funny thing is in either group, Chelsea would probably finish 3rd anyway. The difference is that in the first group, I could see Chelsea challenging for the title but coming up short and finishing 3rd. But 10 league games in the season where Chelsea have yet to beat any of the tougher teams played so far, it's likely we won't be bothering City too much and in a tough fight for 3rd.

Right. His previous performance he scored a brace. Before that he played well against Valencia. Before that he scored. Before that he was best Chelsea player against Man U and scored. Before that he assisted both goals against Bayer Leverkusen. So basically he's had his first bad game since his sub appearance against Sunderland in early September. He was bad today. Today. And please spare me about last season. He had a terrible half season for Chelsea. There's nothing he or we can undo that season. But do you want to concentrate on this season or not? This goes beyond just picking on Torres today. Chelsea has some fundamental problems. They need to be addressed. And I would rather read posts that discuss these issues rather than fuck off him, sell that tosser, etc. Want to get rid of Torres? Fine. That's fair to discuss but at least present a halfway decent argument. AVB wanted Modric and Perreria this summer. Ever wondered why? Think they would help with some of the fundamental problems Chelsea are experiencing?

Martinez is a DM, he's nothing like Iniesta. Mata is closer to Iniesta than Martinez is.

Torres had a bad day. But for someone to say he had a shocker? How? Because he was offsides on 1 of the 3 opportunities to get clear? Give me a break. Again, he was very poor. But I'm trying to think of one pass or feed to him that was actually a goal scoring opportunity? He was marked out today. His fault? Sure. His teammates not helping with space or service? Do those things mean anything? This team has fundamental issues and Torres as a tip of the spear striker can't influence too much of what's happening behind him. His most important contribution is his movement upfront to give his teammates options. He was very poor doing that today. The fundamental issues go beyond Torres. It's not tweaking a defensive line that better suits the reality of this squad. Individually we have good midfielders. Collectively, they can't control a game. What does it tell you that Arsenal 2-1 down, came back in the 2nd half by tightening and lowering its defensive line and counterattacking Chelsea? That's what the WINNING team is supposed to be doing. But we don't have a midfield that can really dictate play, retain possession against decent teams, etc. I said early in the season I never wanted to see a MF of Lampard, Ramires and Mikel again. They're fine players but this trio isn't a MF that dictates play at all. And a MF that cedes control only hurts the defense even more.

Funny in a tear soaked way...all of Arsenal's goals were scored in a way I thought Chelsea were going to against Arsenal's defense. Exploit spaces and lots of fast attacks leaving their defenders on their butts. Funny. Chelsea's defense was much worse than Arsenal's. Think about it.

Problem with David is his head, not his feet. I think AVB had hopes (or I did at least...) Luiz would be leading the charge and allow for the high defensive line. But he started the season injured and has proved to be incapable so far of being a disciplined CB. Think some of the issues in the summer are now rearing their heads as we have to face the good teams. Problems all over the defense. Cole is still game, love his heart but his powers and pace are waning. And it's scary to think he's still the best thing Chelsea have in defense. And yes, Chelsea needed Modric. If anything, a deep MF to retain possession and keep the fucking ball away from the defense. Very frustrating because we had a peak at these issues but tried to paper over them. It's best to admit that there are no quick fixes and some serious rebuilding is in order. 2009-10 was brilliant for Chelsea but really rebuilding should have started then. Chelsea are now paying the piper.

You can't learn and adapt pace though. The current team has and will struggle with the game AVB wants to play. He has swallow his pride and principles and tweak his game plan to accommodate his current squad's strengths. I'm not saying Chelsea becomes Stoke but the team cannot afford to go out every half with the barn doors flung wide open. I have faith AVB has the brains to address the issues. I haven't yet seen if his ego will allow him to take some U turns.

Meireles is quality but he's not a DM. He can do it every now and then but he's not the answer on substantive basis.

I think Mata had a very uneven game today. It's probably because he's so good that when he's just merely good, we're disappointed. His goal was tremendous but he went in and out of the game. Part of the problem is that he has to drop deep to get the ball and I'm afraid it's still a sign that our midfield cannot quite move the ball fast enough up the pitch. It contributed to Torres being marked out. Was he man-marked? Or was he just very poor? I can't believe he couldn't find any space in Arsenal's defense. Back to Mata, yes, he's talented enough to drop back to play MF but to truly to get the best out of him is to play him further up. Early in his career, there were thoughts he would a 2nd striker. Del Bosque, with Spain's amazing MF of course, plays Mata very much upfront. He's a fantastic finisher and he should be much closer to Torres. It's hard to swallow (because Rafa Benetiz used it to good effect with Gerrard/Torres) but I would consider going with a 4-4-1-1 for certain games and playing Mata just behind Torres. That way we can get Meireles on the pitch with Ramires along with Lampard and Mikel/Romeu. We would lose Sturridge but Meireles and Lampard are good finishers. We can play 4-3-3 with Sturridge against the lesser teams. I'm afraid as much excitement as DS brings, his shortcomings really hurt the team too. Disappears in big games, very poor and hesitant decision-making and he offers no help for already defensively fragile Bosingwa. He's young and he overcome these issues but for now, Chelsea are fighting for 3rd and he may need to sit out certain games. AVB, brilliant as he can be, has to show he can roll with the punches and that may mean being flexible. About the 4-3-3, about Bosingwa as RB and about the high defensive line. Even Mourinho has shown flexibility by backing off the mad intensity after his players told him it was too much and look at Real Madrid now. Scoring 4-6 goals every game.

Arsenal's defense tighten up in the 2nd half and recovered decently. I will ask AVB why adjustments weren't made at half time. It seems like instructions were to just go on ahead and do what was done in the 1st half. Bad decision-making at the very beginning set the tone.

Extremely disappointing performance, don't even look like a top 4 team right now. But what is it with the posts disparaging players after one play, one mistake? Pointing out a mistake, criticizing play, even being angry--I understand. But the "he is shit", "fuck off" and crap each time. The team is embarrassing but so are some of us here.

Terry hung out to dry by Malouda. AVB has gotten the plaudits but what is he going to do about the defense? Chelsea's game plan has to be about keeping that ball away from the defense as much as possible. If Roy Hodgson was in charge, he would order everyone to hoof the ball up. Chelsea can't do that, but this defense cannot carry on as is. No good team loses scoring 2 at home.

Torres has been poor when he's gotten the ball but where are the passes to him? Each one has been terrible. Even Mata hasn't done the job.