steve5221

I'll be very surprised if plays Drogba unless we are gonna adopt a change in style....Drogba is totally ineffective in the quick moving pass to feet style that AVB plays....plus if you play them both it is back to the diamond midfield as we have no natural wingers....Liverpool will play 5 in midifield so it will get to cramped, which will kill the game.. I'm sure AVB will play this side if all fit.... Cech, Ivanovic, Terry, Luiz, Cole, Mikel, Ramires, Lampard, Mata, Torres, Sturridge...

Interesting opinion, I guess we will never know as we won't sign him now.....I do feel that Mierlies is underated, look at his time on the ball - always looking for the quick pass and rarely has more than two touches. That said we need a holding mid, so either Mikel or Romeu has to play, Ramires covers so much ground that he needs to be in the team and Lampard can't be dropped due to his current form.....

So glad we did not sign him for £40m, Ramires has better attacking stats this season and 12m for Mierlies was much better business..

This is a massive game for AVB. He needs to win to get the media off his back having not beaten a "big" side yet. This game is also taylor made for Torres to justify his big fee, a good game here will give him alot of confidence. I think we will win this due to Dalgleish's negativity, he would happily take 0-0 and that will be reflected in his lineup IMO. The danger for us is if Kuyt and Bellamy play in thier inevitable 4-5-1, thier pace will trouble our defence so it is important to play Iva-Terry-Luiz-Cole for this. If its Carroll Terry will have him for breakfast.. With the form Lamps is in and Mata pulling the strings we should have to much for Liverpool, but only if we take the chances we create... At least they do not have Mierlies this season!!!

I'm really looking forward to seeing the team AVB puts out v Liverpool. It will answer a few questions on him for me, will he stick with Ivanovic and Alex in defense or revert to Bos and Luiz??. How will he approach the game knowing Liverpool will go 4-5-1 with Suarez pulling the strings??. We will go open like against Arsenal or more conservative like Blackburn?? I hate these international breaks - what a waste of time....

Of course Torres is to blame, espcially the last couple of games he does not seem interested at all. Handling a £50 million star striker is what seperates a good manager from an average one though. AVB is more intelligent than me, so I am sure he is thinking of the best way to handle him, hopefully he can really get Torres fired up for the Liverpool game and he can stick it to both the media and to them giving him abuse in the stands. It is the perfect opportunity for him.

He has certainly done better than Carlo did, but this is Torres, the once world feared striker. Surely there is more than can be done? I thought the way AVB handled what Torres supposedly said in an interview done him no favours. Also praise him alot more in the media when he scores, he has taken terrible stick. Is Torres a prima donna?, absolutely so play to his ego to get the most out of him...he is only 27 he must still have it, he is potentially a match winner...

I would also like to see some better man management skills with Torres personally....

I would like to see better man management skills with Torres personally..

Bit on the optimistic side, but I agree that he has done well and certainly makes us alot more watchable. For me the key is how he reacts to our negative results and rectifies them in future games. It will be interesting to see if he keeps Alex and Ivanovic in the side long term, or reverts back to Bos and Luiz/Ivan in the centre. I am really looking forward to see what team he puts out against Liverpool in our next game, as we have lost to both of the bigger sides we have faced in the league this year(Man U and Arsenal). The one that really puzzles me though is the Lakuka signing. He can't be judged on the amount of games he has played so far, but he looks so out of place in an AVB team....unless he has a change in style in mind for when Lakuka plays future games. Can't help but think that £18mill could have been spent on a more shrewd signing. Given that he got Mata for £20 odd mill and Mierlies for £12million...

How about Ashley just changing St James Park to the Sports direct Stadium for no extra revenue for the club, in the "hope" of attracting bidders in the future.... Talk about totally shitting on your fans....he really knows how to piss those Geordie's off, does Hertfordshire born Newcastle fan Ashley....

I have been on the official Premier League website and have looked at our players goals and assists ratio combined for the season so far. Lampard - 100%!!!!!!! Sturridge - 71% Mata - 66% Ramires - 40% Anelka - 33% Mierlies - 33% Drogba - 29% Bos - 27% Terry - 27% Torres - 25% Malouda - 22% Cole - 18% I am not a huge fan of lampard, but with those stats he has to be in the team. From that if you say that either mikel or Romeu play as the holding mid, then our front 5 should be: Ramires, Lampard, Mata, Anelka and Sturridge. What is dissapointing is that Terry is ahead of Torres and by that he should be 3rd striker behind Anelka and Drogba. I will do this again at the end of the season to see how they have changed...

Anyone got any info on figures for the naming rights - how much could we realistically get????

I knew there was a joke in thier somewhere!!!

Interesting stuff indeed FB, lets hope you don't wake up tomorrow with a horses head in your bed!!

Interesting view and i am starting to come round to this way of thinking...I love Ramires because he runs his bollocks off and does the job of 2 men...however technically he is poor and you do not feel comfortable when he has the ball at his feet. Mierlies is my favourite Chelsea player due to his technical ability, he is a joy to watch and I feel a place for him should be found in our midfield 3. Although Lampard is now popping up with important goals like he used to, were we not a better looking side without him in the team???. From memory the games he was left out we won comfortably and when he went off v Manure we looked a much better side....

The financial fair play has burst our bubble and it is a serious problem, of all of the other contenders for the top 6, we are historically the smallest club with the lowest average league attendance (expect for Spurs but they are moving shortly to a new stadium and have a waiting list for season tickets). The only way round it is naming rights or to increase our revenue in a larger stadium but obviously this was rejected by the CPO. I do not think we are in a position to spend big money in January unless we get rid of some big earners. We are paying the price for giving players silly contracts and now we are buggered. Torres 175K a week, Lampard and Terry £150k a week, Drogba, Malouda, Anelka 100k a week. Of those players only Lampard is potentially a match winner now. Terry is arguably not better then Luiz, Ivanovic or Alex now. I dont think they will sack AVB unless we come outside of the top 4, remember we would have to also pay off all his staff aswell as himself and Roman knows this....

But then who takes the right berth?? only options are Kalou or Anelka...or Mata on the right with Malouda on the left....I think we have to stick with the front 3 of Mata Torres and Sturridge but something needs to be done with Torres to get his confidence back.....if I was AVB I would contact Benitez or Del Bosque asking for tips to get the best out of him..

He will certainly get more time than the other managers we have had, but if top 4 is looking unachievable than Roman will sack him, regardless of the cash issue... I dont think that will happen though, with the competivness of the league Arsenal will drop points and Liverpool are too negative.....Spurs are a danger though, they can be top London club this year if we don't pull our finger out...

In my original post I never said sell him or I never said he aint good enough full stop. I said he aint good enough IMO to play the pass to feet quick passing game that AVB plays. I also said that you can't fault his effort or commitment. He could be effective in a more direct style and he could flourish. I hope I am wrong about him as I will always back a Chelsea player that gives 100%. I just do not think he has a good enough touch and footwork at the moment. The best thing for him would be a loan to a premier league club in January, but I am unsure if that will be possible this season...

He wont drop Cole for this match - way to much pressure on AVB.

Bet Josh is well pleased about this news.....

This is how the mighty British society works....police spend over a week on investigating this bollocks at the tax payers expense, while they do fuck all to protect law abiding citizens or little kids who are being abused....

Exactly, Torres still has it but is not producing the required effort consistantly enough. I think the media have destroyed him confidence wise...he is scared to do the things that he used to do incase it does not come off... AVB should pull him aside and play to his ego....keep telling him he is still a world class striker and the best we have...fact is we need him firing desperately at the moment. If AVB does not fancy Sturridge in the middle then he is our only option...

Can't find the AVB thread so gonna put it here as it mentions statistics. Interesting stat in the telegraph today saying Ferguson's win percentage at Man U over his entire career is 59%. AVB's is currently 61%, keep the faith......