francozola

I've ranted too much about Lamps. Lets focus on the positives! Luiz - class today. Took the initiative many times to create something in the first half. A couple of sublime passes to Drogba. Didn't have much to do defensively but I just love this guy. I can't help it. He plays with such exuberance and passion for the game and desire to help us win. Absolutely fitting that he scored the opener. Cahill - another solid game. Dealt with mostly everything he had to deal with with ease. I'm very happy with this signing. Essien - good performance as well. I don't know how he'd fare against a better midfield though. But still an improvement on Meireles in that role. Drogba - was very good as well! very impressed by his energy and work-rate. Hope the injury isn't serious.

Has he played with the same duties that Lampard has? Because I always felt that Meireles had much more defensive duties. I don't claim to be a tactical mind so I won't even try to confirm my opinions with analysis but my point is this: The difference between Lampard and Meireles isn't that great. Meireles is horrible - when played at DM. When he's played further forward, he is better. Lampard scores goals, which has value. In terms of what he actually gives to the team, he provides nothing. In my opinion.

I thought drogba was rather good! His link-up play was intelligent and slick. A million times better than how he fared against Napoli - or any of his recent games come to think about it. He's clearly lost some muscle and a hell of a lot of pace but he gave a spirited performance today He's not going to drag us to 4th place by himself but it's better than our useless #9

That was earlier on in the season right? I don't think Raul was actually that bad up until 2 or 3 months ago.. He started off playing quite well! then he became average and finally he became atrocious.

LOL

Lampard and Raul play in different roles though. Raul is played as a DM which he is horrible at. If he was played further forward then a better comparison could be made.

Like I said, not getting carried away at all. This Bolton side were unbelievably bad. Practically gifting the ball to us with a ribbon on top. We couldn't break them down until the Luiz goal. A few good moments which Luiz and Drogba were instrumental in - but it was kind of the same "Chelsea" display we've been seeing for a while now. I hope this win brings a lot of confidence to this side. Would love for us to go on a 3-4 winning streak and it IS possible. Our next fixtures: WBA away, Birmingham away in the cup and Stoke at home Then we've got Napoli and City!!! We need some confidence to go into those two games!

Like LDN_Blue said earlier I really don't mean to sound like a Lampard hater but how has he got 6 votes?! He was extremely average and had a couple of really bad moments where he gave the ball away or disrupted our momentum Scored a good goal with typical Frank Lampard timing but very very average performance and I think the hate that Meireles gets after a bad performance compared to this reverence that Frank gets is ridiculous. Lampard is a Chels legend and in certain games he's definitely more suited to our team than Meireles but I don't see the difference between them at all in terms of contributing to our attack apart from Lampard's runs into the box (which are valuable, I'm not saying they aren't) I feel like the media really influence some people and I hate it when that happens. Can't wait for the newspaper headlines tomorrow where they'll all be sucking up to him just to find something to criticize AVB over. Rant over.

Better performance. Let's not forget that Bolton were shambolic at times. But a more spirited display for sure I take back what i said about Drogba before the match. He was really good and played with a lot of energy. Great goal by Luiz. Love the guy. Good header by Drogs as well. Lamps with a good finish. Can't wait for the newspaper headlines tomorrow: "LAMPARD SAVES AVB'S JOB" blah blah lol he was completely average and yet despite scoring a goal - a good one - he will somehow be viewed as a saviour of this team. An improved performance but not getting carried away.

um has he been given a proper chance?? also, would he honestly be worse than how Cole has performed lately? and lets not kid ourselves, Cole has been abysmal. Just as bad as Bosingwa but it gets overlooked.

No, I agree. I would have liked us to try different things though. Sturridge at CF maybe, but especially giving Bertrand a run-out in a relatively easy game. I mean jesus - ashley has been awful for such a long time now, and Bertrand doesn't even get a start at home against Bolton?!?! The Sturridge one I can understand. I'm mainly irritated about Cole over Bertrand.

Drogba over Torres was a given. A real change would be to play Sturridge there. Drogba is just as bad as Torres (watch as he scores a hattrick now!) Bosingwa is out because he's injured. lol I agree my post was harsh, calling it "shit" but I'm pissed that Cole starts again and it's the 4-3-3 again that lineup is still rubbish but we'll probably win because Bolton are in a terrible state

Team v #BWFC: Cech, Ivanovic, David Luiz, Cahill, Cole; Ramires, Essien, Lamps ©; Sturridge, Drogba, Mata. Same ol' shit

Yeah I guess Meireles does make sense for this game. Bolton are rubbish I don't think they'll attack us the way teams like Sunderland i.e. teams with confidence would do. I just want to see AVB try something different FFS!!!! Whether it be any of the following: 1) Sturridge as CF and Ramires at RW 2) Lukaku starting 3) Bertrand at LB I would be delighted if even one of those actually happens. What's the point in doing the same thing over and over again?!?! I think we've established by now that Torres & Drogba are both shit and that Cole has also played very poorly indeed in the last few months. If he was genuinely played further forward (not having defensive duties) he would be good. He was excellent for Liverpool when played in an attacking role. And he would provide more than Lampard or Essien imo (if and only if played further forward)

I wonder whether it is only at Chelsea or all across the youth/reserves level in England???

Hope your exam goes well!

To show my support for AVB! Don't worry I will change it back in a while. I don't really like this one that much anyway!

Gotcha thanks. The team/player form that we get from these friendlies will help when the new season begins, right? I mean... the form won't be erased when the new season "starts"?

alright. Should I start doing it now or wait for the new season to be given an official date?

Do we have to schedule friendlies or will the system schedule them for us?

That's a very good point - but I wouldn't mind keeping him for one year at 80k provided that most of the following: Drogba, Torres, Malouda, Ferriera, Hilario, Benayoun leave. He is decent & experienced backup and if we really are going to have this overhaul in the summer, it would be good to save the money on a 'backup' player for a year since we'll be spending loads on players for the more important positions. We've got ourselves into this pay-every-single-player-atleast-70k-and-deal-with-the-consequences-later hole so it'll take a new cycle of players to get that wage level down because none of the current players from the 2004-2010 seasons would accept a lower deal. Of course, these contract negotiations have been going on for quite some time. His agent made a comment a few months back that Kalou was looking for the promise of more playing time by AVB which I guess is what has stalled the talks.

That's not why he was dropped. He really was dropped. He's sick but he's still in contention to play a part tomorrow so it wasn't serious.

Well hopefully it will spur him on to prove people wrong but we've all been saying that for 12 months now and it hasn't worked

He was good in the FAYC match a couple of days ago but it's obvious he still needs A LOT of refinement. The reserves league is very poor and due to the irregular scheduling of matches, I don't think players can develop at the very best of their abilities. We should try and send him on loan next season to a Championship side or a "small" European team where he would get some consistent playing time. Or do people think he needs another season of development at the youth/reserves level before getting that loan move? I'm curious to know what regular youth football watchers like Esk think would be the best move for him.

If Anzhi offer 15m we should bite their hand off.