manpe

word up Ollie, I just hope we've not been given false hope

Our targets make me optimistic... haven't had a DMF linked with us for ages now The last time I saw wingers seriously linked with us was pre-Kalouda

Build up is slow because we have no focal point in attack. A player gets the ball, gets closed down, opposition reorganizes and we pass back or side-to-side in hope that the next player has space and creativity to do something. It doesn't work very often because the players around the action of play usually just try to make themselves open for a pass in order not to give away possession, but rarely does anybody try something ambitious a la run behind the line and an appropriate pass. Crosses don't work because we simply don't have good crossers in our team and with Drogba out, we don't have the players to head em in... our best chance is hitting them low and hope that somebody gets a foot in. We do attempt low crosses more often and with greater effect too, as it was earlier pointed out by CareFreeChronic. We've just hit a creative stalemate at the moment... it will be interesting to see how we tackle that problem with the current crop of player. This is the problem we face while not having a playmaker.

It's pretty well documented that City have bypassed the FFP rule somehow (don't know how exactly, something to do with Etihad), so they will have an edge, because we can't bid over a certain edge, they can.

City probably feel that they need that extra something to compete in CL, whatever people say, Johnson and Nasri are fairly average players and I feel one of them they would gladly sacrifice... Hazard could be the last piece of their attacking puzzle. I'm worried about them, because even if they don't need him, they could be ready to push the price higher in order to fuck with us.

Whatever he says, it's obviously mind games to influence the ref. Their luck at their turf is unbelievable, so he shouldn't moan if others get home advantage as well... fucking red nosed drunk hypocrite I FUCKING HATE MANURE

Actually yeah, they don't have very many wingers. They have Silva and Nasri who are able to play there, but prefer to be central... Johnson is the only pure winger they got.

Lmao, as if England are favourites for this.. they won't win anything. And no doubt part of the blame will be put on Terry for that.

Yeah but what he said was that they are unlucky at SB not in OT

hardly a surprise, it will go into a bidding war which obviously gives City the edge

You got ALL 14 answers correct... that proves my knowledge is very in-depth

yeah well, all other managers were expected success straight away (prime example being Mourinho, who played his first team in every competition including CC)... maybe if AVB gets reassurance that he's safe, we might see change in that. We already saw change in our CC policy, that's a step forward. Oh, and AVB said it was a request made by Roman himself, so our emperor himself wants to change our youth policy to be more positive.

That's my point.. not a good sign for Ryan

When AVB commented about Pereira, he said that it's not big disaster not getting him, because Bertrand is a good backup. So he intended signing him as a LB. And Zhirkov would've been preferred over Bertrand nevertheless, as would Pereira.

Speaking about Bertrand, he has reasons to worry... not only is he constantly overlooked, but we tried to sign a replacement (Pereira). There are signs that AVB isn't confident enough in him.

Simple really. Things haven't gone according to plan, so he plays it safe with experience rather than inexperience. If we were in a better position, no doubt we'd see more risky choices by him.

And they thought all sun is shining behind Mubarak's back.... reality is hitting them hard now.

And also his work has been made somewhat more difficult with all those issues that he inherited, like the Torres situation and the Terry situation. Whether we like it or not, those things do affect the team.

I don't think AVB will be sacked. He's the most expensive manager we've had and if we are going to splash in summer, then we can't afford to lose anymore money firing and hiring managers. He has probably long time ago handed in his targets and the club is working towards signing them as we speak (not negotiating, but scouting and evaluating etc.), a new manager would scratch all that progress. Looking at last year's financial report, signing of Torres, Luiz and firing Carlo and hiring AVB make up a big chunk of our losses.. we simply can't afford to do these kind of deals anymore. I believe AVB has been brought in with not very high expectations this season, and I believe he will be allowed to go through with his project (this is the first time we hear the club admitting it needs changes). Of course, I don't know how the board really feels, maybe they are deluded and think we should be winning something this year.

You got 26 out of 35 answers correct

Missed 6.. But I actually missed 5 because I spelt one of their names wrong And when I wrote 'Bogarde' it said "Don't Be Stupid..." :D

That's exactly why we can't get rid of AVB. This all will start from scratch with another manager and he will struggle, his head will be called yet again. What AVB needs is a full season behind him, that is the real assessment, not the pre-season when they had low-pressure games against nobody sides. Sure, he had real assessment for 6 months, but January isn't the right window to start doing radical changes... Our transfer targets were all spot on, we just couldn't get their signatures (hardly AVB's fault, he isn't the negotiator). If you look at the January window in general, hardly any teams made big marquee signings.. January is inflated and because of FFP teams are more cautious in spending above someone's value. Of course, it could have gone better, but for one reason or another it didn't... I realize AVB is talking all this he's happy with his squad bullshit, but you can see from his face when he's on the sideline that he isn't satisfied not one bit. He's mentioned the word "project" for next season, that means we can expect big changes in summer and the summer after. This season has been bollocks up to this point and I don't think even AVB realized that it can get so bad in terms of creative and defensive issues. Despite all we're hanging on to 4th place and it all depends whether we can grind out a top 4 place or not. If yes, then this season will have been a success nevertheless, it will provide a good platform to move forward and never look back.. If not, then it will be interesting to see how this situation will be dealt with (taking into consideration that CL money is important in terms of FFP as Gourlay said).

Let's paraphrase is to "pick your 5 favourite goals of your Chelsea career"

Malouda and high workrate? naah.. And mobile? He's rather static imo

73 confirmed dead. This has nothing to do with football just as hooligan firms have nothing to do with football.. it's all about finding excuse for violence.