Strike

yeah. don't see mikel givin us that box to box option. maybe ramires alongside lampard where ramires becomes a "yaya toure" would give us dynamism in midfield. a bit more going forward and another player for mata to pick out

yep. with Hulk on the right and Hazard on the left we have to push forward more. something like Germany's system although it will be hard to emulate

i would go as far as giving them raul meireles or essien + 30 mil for Hulk

my problem with the current 4-2-3-1 is that we are sitting too deep even against the likes of wigan. otherwise this could be a good attacking tactic but the double pivot should be further up the field, not in front of the back four

Cheers Mate. Welcome Aboard

The kettle calls the Pot Black anyway, Back to Hulk, at one stage, newspapers like the guardian were reporting that it was close to being sealed but now even the Daily Fail is not touching the Hulk story.

di matteo was spot on in using the Deep 4-2-3-1 tactics last season but I really hope he changes it for this campaign. other wise we will be drawing way too many games just like liverpoop last year

Well done mate. Hiding behind a single stat to press your argument. You should be proud. I thought i was in a rational debate here. well, here's some stat for you. Under di matteo we had only 1 game(CL) where we had more possession (4-1 napoli) AND we had lesser possession in the 5-1 win over Spurs as well (according to BBC). Your argument doesn't really hold when our possession stat is helped by home games against Genk and Leverkusen back in September/October edit: Breakdown -All we did in the first half was sit deep and block the Spurs attacks until that Drogba special. -vs Wigan - invited pressure by sitting deep - vs Fulham - likewise vs Benfica - sat deep and got the away goal and then Sat deep at home letting Benfica play around us. vs Spurs - Premier League - in a must win game in the Premier League, back when we were in contention for the top 4 AND AT HOME - we had only 45% possession in that drab game and our attacking threat - Zip, Zilch, Nada.

yeah but Mikel and Lampard are too deep atm. Gettin modric or moutinho in will freshen up our team and use Ramires, Hazard's pace effectively

Even in the 5-1 demolition of Spurs, we had lesser Possession. So, NO, i am not basing this on just 2-3 games. i am basing this on 1. Wigan - home 2. Fulham - away 3. Spurs - home 4. Spurs - neutral 5. Benfica Home 7. Benfica Away in addition to the Big games - i.e Barca x 2, Bayern, Arsenal, Newcastle etc. that's more than 10 But yeah, i am optimistic now after reading some of kof's posts but not entirely convinced

Are u blind mate? we played deep against Tottenham, Arsenal, Wigan Athletic(look at the way Diame scored), Fulham, Benfica - both HOME and AWAY - plus ALL THE BIG GAMES (Barca, Bayern, City). i wonder what YOU were watching last season when we were actually toiling against all the teams i mentioned above - Under di matteo. Apart from the Napoli and QPR games we barely came in with attacking intent mate. I don't know what u have been watching . And here's a Stat for you - AT HOME to Benfica we had only 40% possession. that's not attacking mate. we maybe better than England but not MUCH better. i only took England as a rough example because of the pace they have on the wings.

disagree. the hallmark of an excellent midfielder is making defence-splitting passes not delaying an attack by passing to his own defenders. mikel does well in his CDM role but hailing his passing ability is like saying that Kalou dribbles well (couldn't resist )

that's mainly because he passes the ball straight back to the defenders

but in that system they do the same thing. mikel does the dirty business and so does parker. lampard and gerrard are almost equal. gerrard was pretty good in the euros tbh. agree with ramires and hazard better than young and walcott but i was just doin a rough comparison of pacy players

agree on the better possession players but i think we played the same way as england. really deep and counter. whatever the case, the best option is to change the strategy and opt for a more attacking one

you seem confident that our overall play will be very effective next season. well, even i was until i saw england at the euros. they played the same system as Chelsea but with pacy players in attack but still got owned by pretty much all the teams they played. Welbeck Young Rooney Walcott/Milner Gerrard Parker is comparable to Torres Hazard Mata Marin/Ramires Lampard Mikel if we continue with the same system, i fear we will be chasing the ball even against swansea, everton etc...

sweet article. i think bertrand, lukaku and de bruyne will have big roles this season. don't really see many opportunities for the others. and btw, you have left out Todd Kane.... On the off chance that we fail to sign a Rightback, todd kane may get a few Captial Cup games atleast

the new additions look neat. the site looks snappier

players groomed into the same system will see us do the same thing as last season. the thing is we tried to move the ball along quickly - too quickly actually as many of the attacks tethered out early and put us under pressure. basically what i am saying is that we need a "Pirlo" or someone who directs the attacks precisely. havin hulk and hazard on the wings is of little use without the proper passes there and the only genuine passers we have got are Mata and Lampard(sometimes). we basically need a schemer in the middle. priority number one

3rd kit. seriously? that's rich because the Home and Away kits are far far better than the third

i'll tell you what will improve and what wont Pace - yes Attacking threat - yes Goals - naturally but we will still be last season's team that was chasing the ball against big teams except that we will be better when we attack. there should be a radical shift in the tactics to make us a devastating attacking force. maybe a bold 4-3-3 or a 4-4-2 with torres and hulk/sturridge. July 18 will make things clear when we face Seattle Sounders but until then I am only optimistic, not assuming that we are brilliant overnight

yeah. getting into it is a bitch and thats why winning it even once is a unique achievement. would be disappointed if we win CL and dont win CWC.

u got me wrong there. i am Pro Hulk as well (decent price) but unlike you i am not against Moses.

our build up play HAS to improve. its something like england. we need to retain the ball better. the direct attacking is there but the ball retention in key phases is missing, with a team like that (hazard, hulk, torres etc) our direct attacking will improve but we will still go into that backs to the wall mode if we don't change the system and don't retain the ball better. football is not played on paper. even with hulk, hazard, torres we can't expect chelsea to knock every team out of the park. to be fair, torres has done shit in a Blue shirt. but as Chelsea fans we are overlooking it in the hope of a better future and the Hulk deal has gone cold but assuming he does come, we will still have the same old problems of our build up

. we are improving our bench strength. any good team should have direct pacy attackers on the bench to add that bit of flair to the team and moses is very direct with his play. moreover, we have an extremely long season and we can't fill the squad with Hulks