Strike

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

It doesn't come under the British quota. nothin else

his shot stoppin is alright i guess but his decisions to chase every corner is maddening. add to that the fact that we can get someone better and someone British to sit on the bench - Stockdale, Gordon(although Scottish) or a keeper from the championship like loach or lewis. maybe someone on loan as well. can't risk it at the highest level

would work. he's very direct with his play. surely we can't inflate the midfield any more although most of the mids seem to be CDM's to me. Romeu, Meireles, Essien, Mikel fighting for the same position seems pointless. i would get rid of one of them before Benayoun or Malouda because we have lesser attacking mids

too early for this. there are problems to be sorted but the reaction to the game here is beyond nonsensical - RAWK-like as someone mentioned. di matteo knows the task at hand now and i think he will sort out a few decisions by the Milan game - eg - sell Benayoun etc, sign Moses(?) as back-up striker and Azpilicueta at RB. Also, i think he will change the system a bit. even he must have thought that we weren't creating consistent chances today

a dynamic double pivot at that. not just a defensive one and as for lampard, it can't be helped. he will get to play under di matteo. hopefully he is rotated like Scholes at ManU

http://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/chelsea-increase-victor-moses-bid-7976107.html very bold article to state the price, the manner of payment and that we are close to an agreement

I really liked Cahill. An Australian who worked his way up English football. joined everton from milwall if i remember correctly and i think over the years he built up a reputation by scoring decisive goals. his heading is unbelievable for his size. faded away these last 2 seasons but still it doesn't take away what he achieved i eternally hate him for this though

no reason not to sell ross or hilario and get in a proper backup though. hilario or turnbull is close to suicidal. hilario's decision making in the seattle game was very poor tbh. we just cant risk that kind of thing in the prem-ship or in europe. is there a loan recall option on courtois' loan deal? even if there is, i don't think we'l recall him if cech is injured for 1 or 2 weeks. i think the loan recall option is for emergencies like cech injured for longer

Comparing all 20 backup keepers to Hilario/Turnbull Guzan, Stockdale, Doni/Jones, Pantilimon, Lindergaard, Harper, Cerny/Green, Begovic/Sorensen, Westwood, Myhill, Gomes(despite few blunders, his shot stopping is good) and Stephen Henderson (formerly of Portsmouth) are all definitely better than our pair while Mucha,declan rudd, McCarthy/Andersen, Gazzaniga(New signing), tremmell have not played much to be rated The only keepers that are (maybe) worse than hilariobull (that i can think of) - Fabianski and Pollit of Wigan. so yes, we do need a new keeper. We are the champions of europe and we have to sell turnbull or hilario or both and get a good backup. we can't leave it up to chance that cech will stay healthy

well it is actually. we need to scout for it though. a lindergaard or doni level keeper is enough. i think we had a few free agents back at the start of the summer - Jaaskelainen, Green, etc. well they may have got starting roles at Qpr and Wham, i think there are good keepers willing to be our backup keeper . Stoke have Sorensen and Begovic, United have de gea and Lindergaard (and ben amos), city have pantilimon, as you can see, the second choice keepers are mostly from other countries in the top teams as they try to get a good keeper in an inferior league

i think we needed this jolt to wake the squad up. now hopefuly rdm will change the system a bit and get more bodies supplementing marin, hazard and ramires. we are way too rigid with the system and thus attacks are faltering away with no penetration. tbf hazard, marin, mata, oscar, torres would improve us greatly but the limitations of this system will stop us from becoming a beast of a team i feel

i think the "over-reaction" is based on the slow tempo we played in the game. the same old mistakes kept cropping up. we should be having more passing sequences between Marin - Lampard - Lukaku rather than Ivanovic - Cahill - JT. At one moment, the ball went from Ramires on the right wing all the way back to Hilario. i think we need a rethink on the system we are playing

i refute my claim. our attacking won't improve by just adding faster players. we need a change in the system

i think this one's headed for penalties. Luiz, Meireles, Lampard, Hazard, ACole for me

has looked good when driving forward linking up the mids and attackers but other-wise, like the rest of the squad, he has been poor