1) Best Line-up: I don’t think there is only one best line-up. The nature of the opponent forces some tactics on you. - A Back five of Cech, Iva, Luiz, JT and Cole is pretty much the only constant in our best line-ups -Mikel has, imo, one of the best and our most consistent player since March, I don’t think anyone is taking his place anytime soon. Who will partner him is probably our biggest problem now. Lamps can do a good job there, we’ve seen so last season in all the big matches; but in the end he is still playing in unfamiliar territory, and if his concentrations levels are not 100% we’ve seen that he can end up out of position quite a lot during the match. Ramires, despite having two good matches in the double pivot, is yet to convince me there. What he showed in those two matches is what I already know: He has pace & stamina and can defend. However, what is yet to be put to the test is his ability to play in the pivot under pressure; that is to keep the ball under pressure and make passes in tight spaces. I honestly to think he has the attributes to do so. What I think is the best player to pair Mikel in the double pivot is Romeu, however, RDM will probably rotate Lamps and Rambo. -Oscar, Mata, Hazard (or the three maestros as I like to call them) have been brilliant together, but they are not for every game imo. They make our build-up play faster and are hard to defend against; but the trio give us no width at all especially with Cole getting older and having to pick his runs while Iva never effective offensively to begin with. There is also the issue of the defensive work-rate of the trio, but I will not go into it now. I think the three maestros are best played against teams that play open football like Arsenal, while against teams that park the bus we are better off with Ryan or Moses instead of Oscar. -This leaves the conundrum that won’t go away: Torres. He’s thankfully getting goals this season but, bar the Arsenal game, I don’t think his performances have been anywhere near astounding especially the matches against QPR and Juve. In all honesty I am not convinced yet that he will not go on another 3-4months goal drought again. But, at the time at least, Danny doesn’t seem to be in Robbie’s calculations so I guess Torres gets the starting spot. Cech Ivanovic-Luiz-Terry-Cole Lamps/Rambo-Mikel Oscar/Moses-Hazard-Mata/Bertrand Torres 2) Priorities: - Naturally our number one priority is a top four finish in the league. Anything less would be an absolute disaster. - Our second priority I would say is the CL. Despite winning it last season you get the feeling that there is a desire around the camp to be the first team in history to retain it. Several players have already said so to the media. It is a very long shot, but you never know. - Winning the PL: Nearly impossible for a team in the PL to go from 6th to 1st in one season, but we are already exceeding expectations in the league. I think the next few matches which include some really tough tests will be crucial. If we are still top of the league by December, then and only then, can we say that we are genuine title contenders. - World cup: It’s a chance that doesn’t come twice for most players, if we win that we can say that we have won everything there is to win. -FA cup: It has become our competition in the last few years. It is always a great feeling winning it. Though can’t see us winning at Wembley without DD -Carling cup: Always worth it to have a good run in the Carling because it gives us a chance to play our youngsters. 3) Changes: - As I alluded to above, I would very much like Romeu to at least be tried next to Mikel in the double pivot. I have no idea if he killed Robbie’s dog or slept with his wife or something. I mean what does he have to do? Despite playing extremely well every time he’s on the pitch, the man just seems to disappear for months. - Another thing that is well overdue is giving Danny a proper chance at the lone striker role. Granted that he has been very unlucky to get injured in before the matches he is most likely to have started in. But the one time he played there (for 10 mins vs QPR) he looked very lively and dangerous. He was our top scorer last season from out wide, he deserves a chance. Besides, it’s not like our current option up top is firing on all cylinders. - I would also like to see us play 4-3-3 every now and then. I think we have the players for it and it might speed up our passing and provide a bit more width. I’m not saying we should drop the 4-2-3-1, but we should mix it up a bit in order to become a little less predictable to the opponents. 4) Ins and Outs: I think this needs a thread a lone to discuss the effects of all the players who arrived and left in the summer, but I will go over a few major points: - Drogba: The only player that we will truly miss from those who left in the summer, I’d even argue that we missed him already in games like Juve and QPR. There will never be another Didier Drogba, we all know that. His departure did not only affect the striker position but the whole team. Our playing style without Drogba can never be the same without him. - I think it is fair to say that we won’t miss ex-players except maybe in squad depth. - Hazrd: Already being called the signing of the season which really says it all. His presence has encouraged RDM to change our style of playing and play a passing game. - Oscar: Has great potential and has started the season extremely well. I still think he is getting over-hyped by most of us Chelsea fans. That could be very dangerous to his development. - Marin and Cesar are yet to really get involved to affect the team. Loanees: Still early days but I think this will be the best set of loans we managed to find for our players. (I hope I didn’t jinx it) The most notable loans imo are: -De Bruyne: Definitely our best export so far. He has done extremely well in a tough Bundes Liga and is becoming Bremen’s best player. His loan there is proving two things I was already certain of. The first is that he has what it takes to make it here at Chelsea and the second is that his best position in at Central Midfielder. -McEachran: Doing consistently well in an inconsistent Boro team; this says a lot about Josh’s character btw. I’m just glad he is getting the minutes at last. -Hutch: Started very well with Forest and made the starting position his. A worrying knee injury is keeping out of the side currently, though. I just hope it is nothing too serious. 5) Predictions: -PL: 2nd or 3rd place. We still need a bit more chemistry to win the title imo. -CL: Quarter Finals. Although it would be legendry to win it. -World cup: Win, hopefully. -FA cup: Quarter finals. - Carling (or whatever its name now is): Semi final 6) Marin: A really tough one. He was brilliant in preseason, but his injury record is worrying. He has the abilities and mentality but I don’t see him as a starter imho. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see how he fares when he’s fit for a couple of months in a row. Sturidge: He’s been excellent every time he was on the pitch this season but was very unfortunate to get injured when he did; he could have gotten at least a couple of starts against Wolves and Norsjelland if he was fit. But I believe he has the determination and skills to make it here and I still think that when he is given the chance he will make that striker position his own.
