lionsden

ramires is important to his tactics and philosophy which is the point I was making that Jose won't buy another technical midfielder alongside matic (if we get him) to demote Ramires to the bench as that's what will be required if we are to significantly improve the quality our CM and play. moreover makelele was 10x more tehnical than ramires and it's not even close. How many top midfield in the world would Ramires walk into? All the top team that play quality football all have top technicians in central midfield and it's no coincidence. The difference between these teams and us is that their "donkeys" are very intelligent technicians as well (Gundogan, Bastian, javi Martinez,Busquets, Xavi et al) unlike Ramires. Make no mistake about it, I have no problem with donkeys as long as they combine technicality with physical prowess like those players I mentioned. donkeys that can play football if you will.

Capello managed the likes of Totti,Robinho,Gutti, Ramos,Rooney et al. doesn't mean he, like jose, are managers who favor technical players over gritty hard workers like pep,Wenger et al.

Absolutely spot on but that will never happen with a mechanical manager like Mourinho in charge. he loves his donkeys. players in the ilk of Ramires are his bread and butter

Are you comparing a certified champions league team to West brom? And porto are still able to challenge for the portuguese league despite losing there best players each year because they have, by far, the best scouting team in world football and can cherry pick on the best talents in south America due to zero legal restrictions on foreign players in the portuguese league. they replaced falcao with jackson martinez and James Rodriguez filled into Hulk's boot after he was sold and the cycle will always continue as it's being the case since forever. their circumstance is different to most clubs in Europe. so your point is mute in that sense.

tbf a 25kg bag of cement turns quicker than Huddlestone. my refrigerator probably does too.

Who are also known to consistently sell top quality players every year to top teams around Europe. The popular opinion amongst benfica fans is matic hasn't made the loss of Witsel noticeable. Do you think they would be expressing such strong opinion about a decent, run on the mill midfielder?

No I just wanted to show that managers are not flawless immortals that never make questionable decisions. fergie, who's arguably the greatest manager of all time, decided Pogba wasn't good enough when he played a defender, Rapheal, ahead of him in midfield in a game where they were short of options in midfield which eventually proved to be a terrible decision. so even the best managers get it wrong sometimes is the point I'm trying to make.

mere "decent mids" don't win the portuguese player of the year award ahead of the likes of Moutinho,Jackson martinez,rodriguez,Mangala et al and he's valued accordingly at £37 million by benfica,who have more information and knowledge to make accurate judgement regarding his value and how good he is. You make it seem like we are signing freaking gareth barry here.

I will argue that we need two not one technically sound midfielders if we are to significantly improve the quality of our football. Ramires simply isn't gonna cut it as a first option in midfield against packed defences which accounts for roughly 80 percent of the teams we face. Lampard isn't a CM and he's old, Jose doesn't rate mikel highly enough to be a first option and Essien is well not good enough anymore.

And Capello, one of the greatest managers of all time, begs to differ on Heskey's worth as a striker to the England national team. . . . . . see where I'm going with this?

They also have RVP and Rooney and statistically, they have only lost one game with those two this season. that also have something of an effect on results and they will both be fit to play against us.

Rami and Luiz form the greatest midfield partnership of all time potentially and we are set to dominate Europe for the next 8 years with them so no need to buy any midfielders for the foreseeable future. The way they controlled the tempo of the game, linked defense and attack seamlessly and distributed the ball expertly against Hull is stuff of legends. even Xavi and iniesta would be proud.

He doesn't have ze pedigree and hasn't passed or completed the 5 stage program of chelsea youth development stage 1- Go out on loan for atleast 3 seasons stage 2- Finish each loan spells as one of the top players in that league stage 3- prove your readiness by walking on water and turning water into wine stage 4- perform every houdini tricks to the managers satisfaction. stage 5- Don't bring air riffle to cobham.

We manage to grind out result and win a couple of games and all of a sudden we are "so much better" than the defending champions and winners of 5 of the last 7 league titles smh.

And there in lies the problem. Luiz isn't a midfielder and is terrible playing that position. a couple of long range goals and 1 successful forward/hollywood passes out of 10 attempted per game doesn't change a thing. And I won't even get into his positioning and discipline in that role. recruiting a top class CM or two is a MUST.

Pairing luiz and ramires in midfield needs to stop, it's painful to watch. actually the whole Luiz in midfield idea should be scrapped.

So 1 good pass out of the many unsuccessful ones he attempted somehow constitutes a good passing game or strengthens Luiz case in midfield? some logic that.

It wouldn't be typical Chelsea if we don't spend unwisely in the transfer window and neglect our own youngsters.

As per usual then. story of his time at AM.

I have said it before but Courtois defensive record is mighily overrated as he's benefitting from having arguably the most resilient defensive unit protecting him which greatly limits his the amount of saves per game he has to make. the pressure he faced against valencia which led to the performance people are creaming themselves over is a rarity as he normally never as much to do at all unlike cech who has shown remarkable consistency and reliability over the years. I'm not convinced I can rely on Courtois to consistently bail us out when Luiz has his trademark brainfarts, cahill stands off opposing players, giving them room to strike on goal, when Mikel is his slow to track his man, when ramires loses possession in a dangerous area and so on.

new and younger is always better and "more exciting" haven't you heard.

That's because some people are not only fixated on results but also analyse performance. I'm not seeing anything at the moment apart from high pressing off the ball, which isn't sufficient to garner praise, to suggests we are progressing and moving in the right direction.

Still. . . . Essien is still a better midfielder and midfield option.

Lahm is one the most versatile players of all time and Pep played him in midfield in one game where they were short of options due to injuries to their midfielders which also coincided with the sale of Gustavo to wolfsburg. Luiz is no where near as versatile or as technically and tactically gifted as lahm. Atleast pep had a genuine excuse for playing a defender in midfield. what was jose's when we had a fully fit mikel (coming off the back of a solid game against derby) and Essien at his disposal.