Strike

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

final of UCL is not an expectation for any team. Real Madrid and Barca even. Look at what happened last season. Real Madrid had a perfectly good team and did little wrong but were dumped out in a shootout. any team needs a huge slice of luck to reach the CL final and u can't just expect luck to go your way

do not be under the impression that by adding Hazard, we will play expansive attacking football overnight and start gettin bucketloads of goals. We still need 2-3 more players to reach even top 4 level. let's face it, our build up play was beyond shit last season and all we did was dump it long to Drogba - eg - Spurs semifinal where we couldn't exert pressure and then Lampard dumped long to Drogba for the first goal. Our best football was played on the counter but you can't expect us to set up a counter attacking game against majority of the premier league teams. it all depends on the pre-season. still optimistic that our ground passing, build up play will improve but to assume that it will improve is irrational

yeah. that's all true but when we face a team like wigan or qpr for example, 4-4-2 may well be useful. i am totally against di matteo's current policy where he plays only 1 striker even when we are chasing the game. example - fulham away, spurs home, wigan home, CL final...he brought on torres and played him Wide where he couldn't influence the game much. he would have been better of at CF as we were just dumping the ball in anyway

i have no idea how it happened. (or i am subconsciously trying to catch up with your post count )

Newcastle United?

Newcastle United?

Newcastle United?

yeah. tour de france, wimbledon and the British GP this weekend to keep me contented. what's our pre-season like this time? only 3 games?

Yep. 4-3-3 on the attack and 4-5-1 on the back foot. di matteo needs to get the formation right

this is boring. a month without football

we open the season with the 3rd kit :|

pre-season is de bruyne's chance because mata wont be there. he should convince di matteo that he is more than an able back up to Mata for the creative midfielder role.

yeah. i am in favour of either the 4-4-2 with sturridge and torres or even an attacking variation of 4-5-1. out with the double pivot. its time we play dynamic midfielders who influence the attack as well. i don't know how much you can look into preseason because of the unavailability of the players selected for the Olympics. di matteo may start playing a new system but things will become clear only after sturridge, mata, luiz etc come back from the Olympics

i would prefer to see us sign a player whose secondary position is Centre forward - just to give us depth - and make torres and sturridge our first choice strikers with Lukaku third choice. signing another striker - falcao, cavani etc seems a luxury

yeah. optimistic about bertrand playing a bigger role next season and todd kane getting a few games at right back as well