steve5221

But the problem is our stupid board gave these 2 players that we are now trying to get rid of(malouda and Anelka) scandalous contracts and they are aware they wont earn anywhere near that money elsewhere. As a result they will sit tight and see out thier contracts, in the process costing us £200k a week....lovely

Remember the player has to agree to the move though or it wont happen. Malouda refused to leave on the last day of the window and the same with Anelka....

The ONLY player worth 90k a week in our squad is Mata......it never used to matter as Roman would always write off our debt but now because of the new rules we can't do that anymore...that self righteous prick Platini has ruined our plans....

For me that is the main thing that needs to be addressed this year - getting our house in order......the contracts that we dished out for alot of our existing squad is disgraceful - Malouda and Anelka on 100k a week longterm deals, off the back of 1 good season...JT and Lamps 150k a week on 4/5 year contracts...if reports are true then Ferraira and Kalou are on more money than Mata!!. We have the second highest wage bill in the league and we definately do not have the second best squad in the league... I also read with dismay and pray that it can't be right that Kalou has been offered 90k a week for a new deal????

Exactly give the guy a bit of time and a break, plus think logically - how much would sacking him and his staff cost us??....a shit load of money...people need to remember our history, we are not a massive club and have been punching above our weight for a while....I can remember us getting relegated to he 2nd tier of english football when I was a kid....we need patience....even if we dont get top 4 this year, aslong as AVB can get old big earners off our wage bill that now contribute little (Malouda, Anelka, Drogba maybe even Lampard) and buy exciting technically gifted players(Mata, Romeu, Mierlies) at a fair cost i will be happy... Sure he is making mistakes and not everyone will agree with all his decisions but we are heading in the right direction longterm

I know, Scolari inherited at much better squad at thier peak. What I'm trying to say is that AVB has a similar record already and a much more difficult job....

As the press keep banging on about what we sacked Scolari for I thought I would do some analysis (courtesy of wikipedia). Scolari AVB First 18 games win % = 67 First 18 games win % = 61 Next 13 games win % = 31 Next 13 games win % =???? Basically to compare them both over the same period, Avb needs another 13 games, he also needs to gain a win % of 38 in this period to have a better record than Scolari....If he does not hit around 50%, only then do I think we can have serious complaints against his Chelsea work....KTBFFH

How about Romeu, Luiz and Mierlies as the midfield 3??....quick, short, decisive passes of the ball, all with good engines and body strength in the tackle....

I don't see Luiz as a centre half(wrong thread I know and has been discussed many times) and I think he should be in Midfield...Alex is still 29 and JT 30 (peak ages for centre backs), also Alex is tailor made for the PL and is to much of an asset to leave on the bench...

Alex HAS to come in at centre half on a regular basis to partner JT, that will rectify alot of the mistakes in defence, a settled back 4 is desperately needed..

He is still good enough to be one of our centre backs,but it has to be with Alex.......Luiz is a total liability and makes JT look worse than he is...for what it's worth, I don't think Lampard should be in the team

What the fuck was AVB doing starting the game with a high line defence for the purpose of hitting long balls to Drogba??. Completely defies logic, high line defences are for short, sharp, quick football....

The big point here, and to a lesser extent Lampard is that we are now paying £150k a week for an average CB.

Tranistion, lack of luck, bad referee decisions call it what you like....the fact remains that EVERY time a team attacks us at stamford bridge, they look like scoring a goal.....we had the best defence last year, so this is not acceptable and is due to AVB's style of football..... AVB needs to implement his plan SLOWLY over time and use the strengths of the players he has at his disposal until he can get rid of them and bring in his own players... what the hell was he doing yesterday at the start of the game, implementing a high line defence with the aim of hitting long balls to Drogba??..if your gonna play long ball then keep the defence tight and stable.. As for big new players in January forget it, we dont have the dough to splash and keep within the new rules without selling first. There is also the little problem of already having the maximum number of foreign players in the squad over 21 .... I really do fear for us this year, Liverpool are not a good side but they have shown all you have to do to win against us, is to be phyiscal in the centre of the park, play some pace up front and wait for your chances on the counter..It is only a matter of time before the lesser clubs adopt this gameplan. All is not lost as the season still has a long way to go, but the pressure on us now is huge and we have no more margin for error, AVB has had his chances experimenting and now needs to concentrate on WINNING football..

AVB at todays press conference 'he has picked up from last season not only with his form physically but his availability in terms of movement for the team. 'He is back to his old sharpness and back to goal scoring so we are pretty happy with him the way he is performing. So we just have to make a decision in terms of what we want in behaviour from our front line. Fernando will always be in contention for that.' Interesting, we don't usually see Torres singled out for praise before a game...AVB thinking along my lines???

True, but he would have to want the move or he could reject it....I think Malaga would be the best option - realistically they are the only side in Spain who would pay his wages and country I think Torres would go to...Lets not forget also how much revenue his shirt sales have made us, espcially in Asia....lets stick with him till the end of the season, but if we are having the same conversations then, than even the most diehard Torres fans must realise he has to go..

That will be a part of how AVB will be judged. Carlo could not do it, so it won't be easy....

Police did not recieve a complaint about Suarez, so did not have to investigate...Someone complained to the police after watching the footage on tv of Terry, Wayne Bridge???

Agreed, consistancy is the problem with Torres and it's up for AVB to get this out of him...He is not another Sheva, still only 27, which should be the prime of his career...I have doubts about wether Sturridge could be the main CF at Chelsea longterm. I know he is only young and inexperienced but his tendancy to use that left foot every time hinders him. I hope i'm wrong but time will tell.. As for Torres, I going to stay positive that this is the game he will give us his all and be a matchwinner

But this is the problem, with these new financial rules we do not have the choice of another expensive option.....Torres is on 175k a week, even if we get someone interested they wont pay even half of that and would probably want him on loan, so we would have to front up the rest. The replacement would want at least 100k a week and with the transfer fee I dont think think we could afford it, as we already have huge debt. Unless we can get Anelka, Kalou, Drogba and Malouda of the wage bill I think we are stuck with him. That is why AVB needs to man manage him better. Torres said yesterday that he loves Benitez and gave everything for him, why not approach Rafa and ask how to manage him?????

Not so sure about that....in my Chelsea life, Robert Fleck, Paul Furlong and Chris Sutton come to mind..

What frustrates me with him is that he has showed he can still do it in a Chelsea shirt but only very rarely. The only games where I have thought "wow, that is the old Torres" are the games against Stoke, Man U and 1st half v Genk at home.... Why can't he give that level of effort in all games??. If it does not happen for him then fine, but at least try your best... We have to stay positive with him and at least his performances this year have not been as bad as when we first signed him when some of the performances were embarrasing...his allround play is ok now and he does have a few assists, but obviously for £50m we expect more.

He did well against Man Ure and that was at OT, where he got untold stick....you know if Torres is up for a game, as when he recieves the ball he looks to go on a bit of a run down either flank. When he is hiding he will look for the simple pass. Also his movement off the ball is important, when he is sprinting to find the space you know he is game, if he is just jogging about he is not interested. He did well against Man Ure and that was at OT, where he got untold stick....you know if Torres is up for a game, as when he recieves the ball he looks to go on a bit of a run down either flank. When he is hiding he will look for the simple pass. Also his movement off the ball is important, when he is sprinting to find the space you know he is game, if he is just jogging about he is not interested.

Well I don't think he has been trying hard enough in the last couple of games. It is obvious he has not been giving 100% lately..

Plus the FA and the football club will be under huge pressure to dish out thier own punishments to please the said media(I can just imagine what that wanker Ian Wright would say in the current bun). I would imagine it will be the end of his international career if found guilty in court - given his age. I wonder though what the club would do??