didierforever

under jose, i really doubt it. lamps was deeper. anyways, what i remember of that pivot was that a lot of the match simply passed through that pivot. they seemed incompetent defensively, also (as you already know), i have my problems with cesc's defensive contribution. if what happened that fateful day against spurs is any indication, i would only be watching the match on blind faith but not much hope. if ever there was a match that called for a 3 man midfield (and i dont mean playing oscar in an even more deeper role than he already does), then this is the match. ake/luis/azpi... i dont know who (also i dont doubt for one second that jose will be castrated if we play any of those 3 in mid and lose the match), but it would still be the right thing to play one of those 3 as a DM in my opinion.

i have always defended GC, and i still feel that he form had a lot to do with the amount of football he had had to play since last season. but i have got to say that playing GC in mid is one of the poorest ideas i have heard. he does not have the pace to play the way we want to play, i dont think he has the technique to play that role. i mean GC on the ball trying to spread the play will be SHIT (its a foregone conclusion), slow, ponderous with no penetration. hope jose does not make this mistake.

Lamps-rambo pivot was a disaster. It got overrun by the shittiest of the teams. Also, under jose, lamps was the DM while rambo as the B2B. Rambo as a DM is a disaster waiting to happen

Not a DM. Definitely no luiz in mid. His passing range is poor, and this is definitely not the match to be playing an out of form CB as a DM. LUIS/azpi seem a way better option to me. Specially luis.

At this moment, jose is as close to perfect as they come. He is playing "conservatively" in "big" matches cos we still don't have the perfect squad for the type of play. Players like oscar and willian (as good as he has been for the last couple of months) are no where near the likes of etoo and henry of barca. Along with that barca had messi with midfield geniuses like iniesta, xavi, yaya/biscuits. There is a nassive difference in class between that barca and today's chelsea. To even compare the 2 teans is idiotic. This squad is still a work in progress.

Luis/azpi in mid. Only way out for us

of all the players to be bought, i think buying a RB would be dead last in jose's list.

exactly. there are still a lot of passengers in the team.

replacement was probably the wrong word to use. i meant back up itself. our over reliance on matic has been exposed a couple of times this season and without him, we look really poor. as for expensive, i doubt it. we need another DM/CM. pogba would be the ideal player in that respect and he would cost a fortune. so as a plan B, imbula looks good. i have watched marseille abput 4/5 times this season and imbula has looked brilliant.

what about imbula as a replacement?

willian was already a chelsea player if you were in any doubt of that. cuadrado was schurrle's replacement. we got none for salah. remy and ramires have a very very high probablity of being here next season. and thus the 5th AM spot could have easily be given to someone like thorgan to give him a state of PL football.

So now atsu, piazon and traore are good enough but thorgan was not? Also jose sold schurlle and loaned out hazard and DID NOT go to south America and get a new AM. he gave the spot to brown.

Pelegrini is probably the most inapt manager of a "big" club.

thats got to be the weirdest extrapolation. the 5th and 6th AM is brown and boga currently. thorgan would have been a massive upgrade.

why did not we loan him again as per your thinking for 5 more seasons. who are our 5th and 6th AMs currently?

As much as people would like to ridicule him, he is still a decent understudy for matic. Would be a big miss since matic is unavailable. Need him.

The same willian who has been our best player for a month? Now forget about month, tell me a couple of matches this season when oscar was our best player. A simple question- what is oscar's role in this team? What was oscar's role against burnley? And please don't say "providing balance and defensive stability". The same oscar who supposedly does all the hard work behind the scenes and is so unimaginably critical to our system of play is dropped like a sack of potatoes in most big matches when we actually need defensive stability and balance. You go on to ask how many goals and assists willian has provided? Fair enough, not many. But when you actually look at our matches and the performances, you can easily see how much more influential willian has been than oscar. Also stats can be very misleading. For eg- the first goal against newcastle. The goal was scored by oscar (a tap in) and assisted by iva but it was courtesy of willian's quick thinking. That is not reflected in your stats. To summarise, what does Oscar provide us? Creativity? Hell no. Improves our general play? LOL. some of his first touches and passes embarass ramires. He probably loses the ball more than any other player in the team despite not even teying dribbles past players like hazard or trying for that perfect ball like cesc. Workrate? Yes he does provide us with that in abundance but if he is in the team solely for that purpose, I would rather have rambo give us that. So you see, he is a proper passenger.

hahaha... he is getting banned so hard. we are essentially going to be without our manager and our best player for a cup final. great!!

this is real? any link? please.

seems legit except against whu

Passenger. One word to describe him.

Actually, its not them, its us. We look poor at the moment.

at this moment, I honestly can't see how he wipl be any worse than costa

Can't see us winning this. Our midfield is gonna get owned. Courtois Iva zouma jt azpi Rambo mikel/ake cesc Willian remy hazard. Only hope.. eden fucking hazard. Need him to have the game of his life!!!

So jose should bring on willian when defending a 1-0 lead or should he substitute cech for courtois when chasing a game to be "unpredictable". The amount of nonsensical dribble that is written on this forum after a poor day is just @#$@@$ I mean we were a goal up. We were denied 2 fucking stone wall penalties. Barnes should have atleast been red carded too for once his tackle on zouma and then iva. We were a man down, defending a 1-0 lead with our only recongnised DM in the natch day squad red carded. What , in the name of lucifer, was jose supposed to do? Keep cesc on the pitch as a DM? Play oscar as a DM? what difference would bringing remy on have made when we hardly had the ball. Our only hope was to bisect the mid and go long. Dont people remember the newcastle game. This blame game on jose is getting beyond ridiculous now. That too from the fans of the club that he manages, the club which is atleast 5 points top of the table, final of league cup and with in an awesome position in CL. Un fucking believable.