Strike

yes. ramires is probably better suited to the yaya toure role but i don't think robbie will play him there given the lack of wide players and the number of CM's available

cech again

the result has not caused this reaction. i thought it was a good performance today, especially in the second half. the reaction is based on the fact that the pre-season tour has come and gone by with no real indication as to where the club is heading towards in terms of formations and tactics. the 4-2-3-1 has its limitations and di matteo has stuck by the 4-2-3-1 even though it doesn't suit our new players. the lack of a plan B is another factor for the "overreaction" there are a lot of issues yet to be sorted and the club hasn't used pre-season to sort it out. the result is not as worrying as the performance (second half especially)

yep. thank god for that. although i wouldn't mind Hilario or Turnbull with a broken leg

Chelsea ended an unconvincing pre-season tour of the United States with a 1-0 to AC Milan, further reiterating the work needed to be done to challenge for the Premier League title next season. The defeat in Miami was preceded by a loss to the MLS All-Stars and a draw against Paris St Germain with our only win on the tour coming in the first game against the Seattle Sounders. di Matteo will take heart from the improved fitness levels and better team chemistry but Chelsea are far from ready for the new season with only 1 pre-season game left. Defence The backbone of our Champions League triumph, the defence, was shaky throughout the tour as players eased their way back to match fitness. Branislav Ivanovic was generally solid at right back although he will be regretting his decision to close down Emanuelson in the Milan game as it ultimately lead to the goal that separated the two sides. Gary Cahill, John Terry and David Luiz rotated at centre-back and all 3 got sufficient game time to shake off their pre-season rustiness. Paulo Fereira, used at Left-Back proved to be dead weight as he was constantly exposed by the opposition. Ashley Cole added a sense of solidity to the defence mid-way through the tour but overall, di Matteo will be worried by the mistakes committed through-out the tour. The MLS All Stars and AC Milan looked dangerous whenever they counter-attacked as the back-four struggled to hold shape. The centre-backs were stretched wide far too easily and the defensively reliable double-pivot was often caught napping. Unless the defence is sorted out, I think we will be run over by Man City in the Community Shield. Midfield The midfield was chopped and changed throughout the tour but the formation was left untouched. Usually 2 players sat deep in the double pivot supplementing the 3 attacking players ahead of them. Frank Lampard had a good pre-season, especially when he drove forward, although his movement and stamina is showing rapid signs of decline. John Obi Mikel, playing alongside Lampard in midfield, had a comparetively poor pre-season riddled with sloppy mistakes. He looked lethargic through all the 4 games and usually put the defence under pressure. With a plethora of talent available for the CM position, Mikel has to step up his game for the new season. Michael Essien was pleasantly better in pre-season and I think he will be a good back-up provided he can stay injury-free. Marko Marin, who scored in the game against Seattle, showed off his silky dribbling skills throughout pre-season and was a constant threat down the left side but his over-reliance on cutting inside made him look like a right footed Daniel Sturridge. I don’t think it’s anything to worry about though as he showed that he can get to the by-line and cut back as well in the game against Milan. Eden Hazard, with the weight of the world bearing down on him, showed just why Chelsea shelled out 32 million to sign him with his clever turns and darting runs. Probably the most fouled player in pre-season, Hazard just about convinced doubters that he is the real deal although claims that he is Chelsea’s answer to Messi remains to be seen. He looked comfortable anywhere in the 3 attacking midfield position, especially at CAM, but once Mata’s back I expect him to shift to the wings. Ramires had a subdued pre-season playing on the right side of midfield. His control of the ball let him down against PSG (although he did assist Piazon’s goal) but he bounced back by putting a good shift at right mid in the game against the MLS AS, where he clipped the cross that was tapped in by Lampard. Despite the assists, very few attacks passed through the right wing and Ramires was barely visible in the game against Milan. Florent Malouda, Raul Meireles and Yossi Benayoun were used sporadically to rotate the squad. Josh McEachran and Kevin de Bruyne showed encouraging signs for the future but di Matteo’s decision to leave them out of the Milan game seems to suggest that they are on their way out on loan. Attack Romelu Lukaku started all 4 pre-season games as the lone man up-front. He started well in the first game against Seattle with a powerful 2-goal performance but faded away as Chelsea faced stiffer opposition. His first-touch and control of the ball let him down as he failed to link up with the midfielders. He was usually isolated up-front and did not make nearly enough runs behind the opposition defence to cause problems. Maybe a loan deal is best for both parties concerned Lucas Piazon scored a neat goal in the PSG game and looked lively in his cameo appearances but I don’t think he is fit for the central striker role. Torres played a cameo of his own in the Milan game and looked fresh as he linked up with Hazard and Marin for the first time. He bullied his way through the Milan defence at one stage but he couldn’t get a shot away. What we learnt in pre-season - The MLS has come a long way - There are a lot of Chelsea fans in USA - Cech is taking short goal-kicks - The defence often play their way out of trouble - We have way too many central midfielders - McEachran and de Bruyne would improve with loan deals - A back-up striker is a Must for Chelsea - Paulo Fereira should be nothing more than a translator - Sam Hutchinson is combative but not worth 1 slot in the 25-man squad Overall Impressions It was frustrating pre-season tour for Chelsea although there were numerous positives to make me overlook the disappointing results. The squad is close to match fitness and the team chemistry is getting better all the time. The new signings settled well and were probably the best players on the tour while the senior players know that with the influx of young players at the club, their place in the team is not a given. And thankfully, there were no injury problems to any of the players But even though it’s pre-season, the lack of a plan B to break down stubborn teams is worrying. The 4-2-3-1 formation itself comes with attacking limitations and although di Matteo urged the midfield to drive forward in the second half of the Milan game, I am not entirely convinced that the formation is suited for the players we have right now. There was a lack of any real penetration from Chelsea and attacks usually fizzled away before we entered the opposition’s final third. A secondary formation of a 4-3-3 or even the 4-4-2 (if we sign another striker) would be welcome given the long season we face. New Signings Chelsea are expected to make 2 more signings by the end of the transfer window after having already acquired Marin, Hazard and Oscar – all 3 being midfielders. A right back and a striker are needed to complete the squad. Right Back – With Jose Bosingwa’s departure Chelsea are short of a (quality) back-up to the right back slot. Cesar Azpilicueta is rumoured to be in negotiations with Chelsea after the club’s failure in the pursuit of Inter ‘s Maicon and Lille’s Mathieu Debuchy. Among the 3, Maicon is a stop-gap option presumably to judge the progress of Billy Clifford and Todd Kane in a few years time while Debuchy and Azpilicueta would add depth to the right back slot for years to come. Debuchy is a reliable Right back who plays for Lille in the French League and was probably France’s best player in the Euros. Cesar Az is a younger version of Debuchy who recovered from a cruciate ligament rupture and got his career back on track last season with solid performances at right back for Marseille. Either of them would add much needed cover for Ivanovic in the full-back position. Striker – Earlier in the summer, there were strong rumours of Chelsea looking to buy Hulk although it has cooled down now. Also, Olivier Giroud (Arsenal’s new signing) claimed that Chelsea made a bid for him evidencing the board’s eagerness to add a striker. The lack of cutting edge to our attack was apparent in the pre-season friendlies and with only 3 senior strikers in the squad, Chelsea are badly in need of a proven striker. Lukaku struggled through pre-season and seems destined for a loan move while banking on Torres to fire is not exactly advisable, statistically speaking atleast. Edinson Cavani, a beast from Napoli, was part of the attack that tore us to shreds in Naples. Powerful and strong, he is a commanding presence up-front and is more than capable of leading the attack on his own. A natural finisher, he scored 29 goals for Napoli last season as he won the Copa America with Uruguay and then led Napoli to the Champions League knock-out stages and a 5th place finish in the Serie A missing out on Champions League football by 3 points. He ticks all the right boxes to cement the centre-forward role at Chelsea. Polish striker Robert Lewandowski is another name on di Matteo’s radar after a sensational double-winning season with Borussia Dortmund. He scored 30 goals in all competitions, including 22 in the league, (none from the penalty spot) as Dortmund swept the Bundesliga 8 points clear of Bayern Munich. He was named the Bundesliga player of the season and went onto impress in the Euros despite Poland’s group-stage exit. Lewandowski on the temptation to play in the Premier League Victor Moses joined Wigan Athletic from Crystal Palace around the time Palace went into administration for a meager fee of 2.5 million. Undoubtedly the best player at Wigan in the last two seasons, Moses built a reputation of a pacy dribbler as Wigan charmed the Premier League with their free-flowing football. His critics will be quick to point out the lack of goals but to be fair to him, he is not an out and out striker. His pace and acceleration means he can play on the wings or as a striker. He is the perfect option to look to if the club fails in their bid to sign higher profile targets although we have to move quickly seeing as a lot of clubs including Liverpool are interested in him. Click here to view the article

Ouch

Hazard was lively towards the end of the game from the CAM position. but i think he's consigned to the wings as soon as Mata is back. His darting runs from midfield will suit better for the wings when he can take the full-back on and beat him

he certainly seems confident in playing in different positions but i think di matteo should tie him down to one primary position and use him in other positions only if needed. preferably CM.

Nah, Oscar is best suited at CM. Marko Marin on the right would be better seeing as he relies solely on his right-foot

this coming from the man who said that the 4-2-3-1 will work with better/faster players. Torres for Lukaku and Mata for Meireles wont change a thing. the limitations of the 4-2-3-1 system will still be there. Attacks will fizzle out in the final third and we will struggle to break down stubborn defences. its time to change the system

the 4-2-3-1 is a poor tactic on the offense. What makes it tick is the double pivot and to be fair Chelsea were extremely poor in the first half of the Milan game as the double pivot sat deep. The second half was much better mainly because the midfield started to drive forward. I hope we try other systems in the game against Brighton at the very least.

so u say that playing lampard deep with no attacking intent will make us better? were you watching the first half because that's what happened then. now with marin on for meireles and a general epiphany that we should attack more, the play has been better because Lampard and co are driving forward from mid. Mikel is staying back and top teams don't play more than 1 CDM

Paulo Fereira , why you no defend??

good start to the second half. marin for meireles has made all the difference. midfield drivin forward to attack now good stuff. hopefully, it continues

Nando coming on. let's blitz them now

whatever the line-up, we wont be fluid in the 4-2-3-1.

really pissed off that we have wasted literally the whole pre-season with no variety to our system. RDM has had to build fitness from Euros and contend with absentees but i was hoping for a new system other than the 4-2-3-1 to be tried and see Hazard on the wings. We have only 2 more games in pre-season and a lot of issues to be settled. #worried

Why not try out Hazard on the wing? Juan Mata, on his return will assume the CAM role, so i think we should play someone else at CAM and shift Hazard to the wing. His pace and flair will be more effectively used while his creativity may go unused but given that Mata will come back and that Mata plays better at CAM, i think Hazard should shift to the wing sooner rather than later

Hopefully more passes between Hazard - Marin - Torres than Brana - Luiz - Terry

A topsy-turvy pre-season in America is set to conclude on Sunday when Chelsea face regular pre-season opposition AC Milan in Miami’s Sun Life Stadium. With a mediocre record of a win, a draw and a loss from their 3 games in the States, Chelsea will be looking to end the tour on a high with a win over a depleted Milan side. Miami Chelsea will play in Florida for the first time ever this weekend at Sun Life Stadium. Home to the world famous Miami Dolphins, it was opened in 1987 and it has gone on to host five Super Bowls and two baseball World Series, having also been home to the Florida Marlins from 1993 until 2011. Although the Miami MLS team, Miami Fusion, is now defunct, the city has a rich culture of sports with Miami Heat (current NBA Champions) the most notable franchise based in the city. Despite not having an MLS team, football is quite popular in Miami due to its Spanish-speaking community. Last summer, Chivas Gudalajara beat an under-strength Barcelona side 4-1 in front of 70,800 fans. A similar number is expected to turn out for the game this weekend. AC Milan AC Milan, similar to Chelsea, are a club in transition (decline). After losing the Serie A despite being 5 points ahead of eventual winners Juventus at one stage, Milan parted ways with club legends Gennaro Gattuso, Alessandro Nesta, Clarence Seedorf and Filippo Inzaghi (turned head coach of Milan’s U-17 team)while Mark van Bommel decided to end his career in the Netherlands. As if that wasn’t enough, the Rossoneri then decided to cash in on two of their best players – Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Thiago Silva to another of our pre-season opponents – Paris St Germain. Milan’s signings in the off-season indicate a lack of funds available to the club. Their first signing of the summer was Italian international Ricardo Montolivo on a Bosman transfer. Further, they have added Nancy midfielder Bakaye Traore and Cruzerio goalkeeper Gabriel while also acquiring Kevin Constant on loan. Stephan El Shaarawy’s co-ownership settlement was also resolved over the summer while rumours persist that Milan have made a bid to take Kaka back to the San Siro and that Montpellier centre back Mapou Yanga-M’Biwa is on his way to Milan. Over the course of the summer, Milan’s well-documented financial problems forced them to sell key players and that has left a weakened squad which is in danger of diminishing the high standards the club has set in its storied history. Pundits have already written off Milan’s scudetto hopes as rivals continue to strengthen in Italy. The Rossoneri lost to both Inter and Juventus in the Trofeo TIM last weekend to further reiterate public opinion of their decline. The tournament is an annual pre-season exercise for Juventus, AC and Inter Milan characterized by three 45-minute round robin matches between the mentioned teams. Milan lost their first game against Juve when Bakaye Traore conceded a penalty which was converted by Mirko Vucinic. They took the lead in the 2nd game against rivals Inter through Stephan El Shaarawy but Fredy Guarin and Rodrigo Palacio hit back for Inter to consign Milan to another loss. Milan then bounced back from their TIM trophy disappointment with a 1-0 win over Schalke in the Veltins Arena with Urby Emmanuelson scoring after rounding the keeper. That was a morale-boosting win for Milan against a strong Schalke team who started with the likes of Jefferson Farfan, Julian Draxler, Jurado and Lewis Holtby and then brought on Huntelaar in the second half. Probable XI: Amelia, Abate, Bonera, Mexes, Mesbah, Nocerino, Ambrosini, Montolivo, Boateng, El Shaarawy, Robinho Chelsea Chelsea are much further along in their pre-season schedule as they prepare for their final pre-season game in the US tonight. The optimism in the aftermath of the win over Seattle Sounders in the first game were all but wiped out by unconvincing performances against PSG and the MLS All Stars. di Matteo is yet to settle on a first choice line-up as he rotated his players over the 3 games but he has indicated that he will be looking to give more playing time to the senior players tonight in Miami. Sticking to the 4-2-3-1 formation used last season, Chelsea looked lost on the attack against the MLS All-Stars and PSG. The passing was poor and the runs made by the offensive players were easily picked up. Even the defence looked ill at ease on the few occasion the All-Stars countered. As good as the defence was in those heroic Champions league nights last season, it is still not air tight when caught on the counter. Firstly, the 2 centre-backs were too far from each other and were constantly exposed by an under-par All-Stars side. Although the score-line read 3-2, both Chelsea goals arised from set-pieces. First, John Terry headed in a routine corner and then, Lampard tapped in after strolling into the area unmarked, having taken a corner. We had a lot of the ball but very little penetration. A lot of the times, the strikers decided to take a touch rather than pull the trigger. The midfield rarely drove forward to support the attackers as Lukaku was left isolated in the centre-forward role although even on the odd few moments he received the ball from the midfield, his first touch let him down. Towards the end of the game, after Lukaku had been subbed off, the players started to bomb the penalty area with aerial balls but never created enough pressure to stretch the All-Stars. At the end of the day, although it was just a warm-up game I can’t help but think that we will be far from ready when we line up at Villa Park for the Community Shield in just 2 weeks time. Probable XI: Cech, Ivanovic, Luiz, Terry, Cole, Lampard, Meireles, Marin, Hazard, Ramires, Torres Players to Watch Milan – Stephan El Shaarawy – The Italy Under-21 international arrived at San Siro just over 12 months ago as part of a co-ownership agreement with Genoa but the Rossoneri bought the player outright this summer. The 19-year-old striker, who was born in Savona to an Egyptian father and Italian mother, scored two goals in 22 Serie A appearances last term as he established himself at the San Siro. He scored in the TIM trophy against Inter and was lively in the game against Schalke Chelsea – Fernando Torres – High off a Euro 2012 final victory where he scored and assisted Chelsea team-mate Juan Mata in Spain’s 4-0 win over Italy, a fresh and fit Fernando Torres is set to make his first appearance for Chelsea this pre-season. El Nino heads into the new season as the club's first choice senior striker after the departure of club legend Didier Drogba. He will be relishing the prospect of linking up with new signings Eden Hazard and Marko Marin as he intends to rewrite a horror start to his Chelsea career as the FA Cup and Champions League medal were won with Fernando on the bench. Hopefully, this is the season when his Chelsea career belatedly takes off di Matteo on Torres’ role tonight Foot-Notes This is the 5th time Chelsea are facing AC Milan in a pre-season friendly 1. Chelsea 2-3 AC Milan – 2 August 2004 – Philadelphia, USA 2. Chelsea 1-0 AC Milan – 24 July 2005 – Foxborough, Massachusetts, USA 3. Chelsea 1-1 AC Milan – 31 July 2005 – New Jersey, USA 4. Chelsea 5-0 AC Milan – 3 August 2008 – Moscow, Russia 5. Chelsea 2-1 AC Milan – 24 July 2009 – Baltimore, USA Yuri Zhirkov scored on his Chelsea debut to separate the two sides last time after Drogba’s stunning strike was cancelled out by Clarence Seedorf Chelsea have played AC Milan only twice outside friendlies. In the 99-00 season, our Champions League debut, we were drawn alongside Milan in the group stage. The Blues led by Gianfranco Zola impressed in the 0-0 draw at the Bridge before clawing back from a goal down to draw 1-1 at the San Siro. Incidently, it was Roberto di Matteo, making his Champions League debut in place of the injured Poyet, who made the assist with a high ball over the Milan back four which Wise controlled and clipped a left-foot shot under the body of the advancing Abbiati.

@, Nice work.

i fear that we will head into the season with only the 4-2-3-1 system we have tried. would be a real shame if its the case because this team has the ability to play a much more attacking formation now. 4-2-3-1 is way too rigid

The Avengers - Cech, Terry, Hazard

On the contrary it is possible. manu - lindergaard bolton - bogdan fulham - stockdale stoke - begovic/sorensen manc - pantilimon liverpool - jones - who had a good game in the fa cup semis btw - and doni sunderland had westwood mignolet and gordon last year - and now they have westwood and mignolet who are both good west ham have jaaskelainen and henderson aston villa - guzan spurs have gomes who was one of the best keepers in the dutch league at PSV (atleast hyped so) and has now accepted back-up role last season. as u can see, the above keepers are much better than our pair. and most of them are from other European leagues. with decent scouts it is possible to get good keepers who agree to be backups. But i have to concede one point. our situation is very strange because thibaut courtois is definitely seen as the guy to replace Cech. so any backup we try to sign will be wary of it and probably wont join us but if we sell hilario/turnbull it is possible to sign a good keeper who will accept a back--up role. with over 60 games in the season, cech doesn't have to play all the games then without jeopardising our chances

cant risk it again.. turnbull may have saved a ronaldinho free-kick in 2006 but its 6 yrs on now and we need a back-up at the level of Cudicini atleast. Cudicini was the best imo. loved the club and just sat on the bench. won't get anyone like him but any average keeper is better than hilariobull imo