BlueLyon

So Oscar wont play in cm. Switch to 4:3:3 is also need. Mikel has tons of potential, he could be great long shot taker, and expand his passing as well with proper coach to teach him. We need someone more creative alonside him, but also that same player must be decent defender and hard worker because Mikel natural work is weak (at least now). I saw Mikel in afcon and he had brilliant passing, also making two assists in single game. Here, Rafa probably orders him to not play offensive but always make side passes etc. Kills his game basicaly. DM is essential in control of midfield, but Rafa has Mikel only as side player. Mikel should get major role in midfield and with proper motivation and training (given by new coach obv) he would be great. About his partner, I believe that it could be either someone like Moutinho, someone like Song or someone like Kdb. But probably we will go and buy new Dm and CM in summer, limiting Kdb as well Oscar. Song and Modric/Moutinho would be awesome in summer, but that will mean one thing. Either Oscar or Kdb will be forever only bench player. Is something like this realy possible in near future; Kdb-Mikel-Oscar Mata-Lukaku-Hazard ? 4:3:3 is necessary, but Lukaku will never be tiki taka player. Midfield also looks fragile. Also if we signed Song, what will happen to Rambo? First thing is new coach and then the board should think twice before buying someone just because they can. We cant afford any new players that will not fit the plan. Buying Isco would be waste of money now. So getting proper coach is the most important thing now, he will need to motivate team, make players play better and buy only players we need.

Well I would love to see him pair with Mikel but I dont know if that will work... However getting someone like Modric will cut chances of kdb play in Cm. Perhaps we should try Hazard-Mata-Kdb with Mata and Kdb changing position. But then where will Oscar play? I dont understand why did we sign Oscar. We were looking for Modric alternative and bought Oscar who cant play CM yet. That means we will go buy another CM in summer and sell Oscar or he will share bench with Kdb...board what were you thinking? In all honesty we need: all-round deep playmaker, powerful DM, top class cb, strong fast winger (ala Bale), striker We have most of them in youth departments or on loan, but they are not experienced. And it will take time for them to become world class. IM sure that Roman wont be that patient...

The worst thing when we had the ball there were boooes all around, when they were attacking cheering everywhere...spoiled or not, you have to shut opponent fans. It felt difficult for Chelsea players when playing at Sb with no support.

We had problems with Slavia and Steaua and you expect easy win over Kazan? Werent they the last team that won against barca at home in CL? Sixth or not, they have Rondon, Mvila,...those are well known players. Not saying we wont beat them, but its unpredictable.

Well we will play strongest team against any opponent anyway. And dont expect that Rubin wont be a difficult opponent. And the trip to russia...geting spurs would mean shorter travel and well known opponent. Rubin is not. I realy hope we play Ake, Bertrand, Marin,...because its fucking europa league. But Rafa probably thinks its equal to CL and he wants to win it to 'prove' something.

Well Kdb is best at playing in Mata's position. Free roam around penalty box. He doesnt have qualties to defend yet, but I think he could eventualy make CM postion his own if given enough time.

Witsel is certainly not DM as he goes forward oftenly. He is CM with qualities of tackling and passing, dribbling. Also Oscar and Kdb are NOT CMs. At least they are not good enough at tackling.

Well its either we lose as soon as possible or we win it. No point of making it to the final with all extra games and then lose...getting hardest opponent now is less painful than getting pass some easy team (or be humiliated by it) and then play in next round vs Spurs. A good opponent will tell us where we are at the moment. If players will be so tired after it, then it will be experience for the future that we must never play strongest team in 'smaller' competitions...u know we can always play youth players...

Thanks for the explanation man. I really care.

And thats why Mikel is in Chelsea since 2006 and that guy is in Steaua right? Mikel is worse than many european DMs, but not that bad.

After reading...Oscar should start another sport...I lost my hope on you...

Rubin is nothing special...but have you even seen Lazio play? They are better than us right now. Might be six in serie a, but are playing best football in EL, mate.

1. Rubin Kazan - no russia please, but i would be nice game to see. 2. Basel - ok, good team, we would probably lost because we would underestating them 3. Tottenham - yeah just to beat them 4. Benfica - ok, we beated them last year, could be nasty as they want revenge 5. Fenerbahce - no Turkey please. I feel someone will get injured if we draw them 6. Lazio - hoping for them, best team among top 8. They would be nice challenge and I want to see Hernanes play vs us. 7. Newcastle - I want international opponent... --- LAZIO OR SPURS

Lazio and Rubin, Benfica shouldnt be underestimated mate. They are not big name clubs, but are doing well in EL. Rubin defeated Atletico, same team we lost 4:0. But yeah, Atletico, Ajax and Napoli are all out, they are teams I would love us to face. I want Lazio or Spurs in next round, we will play against them sooner or later. And sure it will be nice clash to beat Spurs or to see how good would we play vs Lazio...

So...replace Mata with new AM? Sell Oscar cuz he aint Chelsea material, but keep Marin? Torres to return? Mikel worse than steaua DM? Lol You are a very weird cfc fan or just another troll trolling around. I mean we realise that Mata and Oscar are not Messi, but they will sure lead this team in future. Oscar is fuckin 21 ffs. Thank you for opinion, good bye. And btw Chiriches (or whateva) is not worth more than 10mio. Overrated by his agent to make some money and spreading 'news' about Real, CitY, Chelsea to be interested in him...30mio? LOL.

I agree about inexperience, but this Chelsea team is made to keep the ball, not to let opponent to control it. If thats the case, why did we fire rdm then? Luiz is still mistake prone, so is Mikel...inconsistency comes from youth of players, but motivation and tactics come from coach. After loosing 1:0 away we should go out with all cannons leading at break with 3:0. Steaua isnt Barca or Manu...and we do have such quality and talent. Look at Inter or Arsenal when they lost first match. Then despite impossible mission, they still had motivation to bounce back. We looked no motivated without will and plan thanks to Rafa. If we lost first match 4:0, rafa would stil only want not to concede goal at home lol. Guy is some kind of tactician but he is idiot whe comes to motivating this team, when we realy need to destroy opponent. Rafa just says play counter attack with shit defence, no deep playmaker, tired Mata and shit striker. Obviously this team is created to keep the ball, play around opponent and score with quick passing and pressing. But Rafa only wants a fucking clean sheet.

Well United doesnt have brilliant midfield but they wont buy 3 players just because Cleverly is bad or something... I agree it would be great to see pair of Gonalons/Capoue/Xxx-Moutinho/Benat/Xxx but that is just highly unlikely. Or do you realy believe Roman will buy two such players + striker and possibly CB?

Mikel is very uncomplete but apart from work ethic you cant say he doesnt love the club. You cant just dump such players...he is better than Tiote,...also his position requires experience and guy is only 25. At age 28 he will be realy on top and since he never used pace, he could stay on top for long time (28-32+).Also if you think we lost all competitions because of small team, you are wrong. Its not about quantity but quality. The more team work, the better results. There are 11 players vital to win you biggest tournaments, not 30. Take barca as example. The reason why we are so shit in competitions its not that we have small bench, but we dont have team work. Sure a player or two are required in summer, but you need team chemistry, hard work to win games, not just wide bench.

Lots of choices, but let mind that all the players from Moutinho, Modric, Witsel, Strootman, Benat,...are less good defensively than Rambo and perhaps then a new DM or CB would be necessary too. Modric-Mikel sounds good, but Capoue, De Rossi, Wanyama would be more solid in defence. Also Moutinho plays 4:3:3 in Portugal and Porto (along Fernandinho-Lucho and Veloso-Meireles) Also it depends on manager. If we will play possesion football, Moutinho would be good, but for counter attacking football with letting ball and controll to opponent, we are screwed... Besided Moutinho might get exhausted in PL, this isnt Portugal league afterall. No matter his run engine, PL will defo kill him a bit. Modric lacks tacking ability while Benat isnt experienced in european competition and you need very calm and experienced midfield general to lead you through CL. Strootman is most complete as he is stronger and has both attacking/defensive skills, but he is relatively unexperienced. I hope next coach will have good plan and will get proper players, cuz its quite a gamble between all those players. CM, DM, CB, striker,...

NO! The money award seems nice and all, but this would take time in summer right? That means no rest for players. Also getting 200mio would put big clubs even more ahead smaller clubs. Thats just shit. Whatever those arabs think but money is not all. Ever since money came to PL, the quality decreased, english players prices went sky high (actualy all players prices went sky high). There are huge minuses amongst european clubs and and this competitio would only make things worse for smaller clubs and prices for players would even increase. 20 years ago, Ronaldo would cost 10 mio. Now he costs 100 and in 2020 he would be 200. Someone like Bosingwa or Kalou would then cost 40mio+. Ridiculous but it will happen if the money will rule football like that. Keep that dream league for your dreams qatar!

So CB, DM and CM? What happens to Mikel, Rambo, Luiz then? We know that as much whole midfield/defense needs change, two players are max we will buy in that area this summer. Third one is striker for sure. Besides, buying three players as you mentioned and dumping MIkel, Rambo,...will completely destroy harmony and chemistry of team. This is not fifa...also think about young players like Chalobah, Ake,...even Kdb...they wont have any chance to get into starting team if we buy all top class players in summer...

Ake, Chalobah, Kalas are obviously not ready next season, but buyin top midfielder or CB would limit their chances in future...that is what i meant... Therefore should we either buy new players or patiently wait for youth to mature?

So guys, I think its pretty much clear that our pivot is one fucking huge mystery and issue. Currently we have Mikel-Rambo pivot with Lamps as sub. BUT there are also Romeu, Ake, possibly Kdb, Oscar and Josh who can play there. But the current pair of Rambo-Mikel makes our team very slow, there is no connection, no control and no long ball passes. Both players have very restricted play, Mikel has no working identity, while Rambo lacks tehnique. So who to be replaced? Or should we stick with this pair to gel and gain some experience? OR maybe change formation to 4:3:3 with Rambo-Mikel-Kdb/Oscar/new guy* line-up? There was interest in Modric, Song, Witsel, Moutinho, Capoue, Benat,...should we sign one or two and get perfect midfield? Or give chance to Kdb, Ake, Chalobah, Mikel to prove? Obviously there are two problems because of pivot; 1.) pass movement is not fast, no control. Hazard is oftenly alone and Mata needs to run back for ball, geting tired. 2.) Luiz nature is to roam forward when he gets the ball. Teams who have such CBs often have a DM wh replaces CB at the time of his position departure. Mikel never covers Luiz, leaving huge open space/gap for opponent. Luiz loses the ball (or team-mate while Luiz still hasnt returned to his position). Such action ends up with opponent scores goal or creates very good chance. So should we replace Mikel with someone who can cover better? Capoue or De Rossi perhaps? And should we buy a CB who wont roam forward to replace Luiz? On other hand, deep playmaker issue still remains. --- Personaly I would keep Mikel and get hard working all round playmaker, Xabi Alonso esque. Secondly, we should buy either another CB or restrict Luiz role. Or buy a CB to work along with Luiz, Terry is not the youngest anymore... Your thoughts?

Happy with win, but 1.) terrible fans. I mean wtf?! 2.) team inconsistency 3.) Mikel...needs to put more fighting spirit and maybe train long shotting; he could be very good from distance. As I said, could be. 4.) shooting from distance. We need that, and on regular basis. Hazard or Mata can shot from distance, but we need someone who can take long shots every game. 5.) Luiz needs to step up. He needs proper coach who will give him exact role. Either more restricted role for him, or new DM who will stick back when Luiz runs with ball on other half. Mikel cant do that...Capoue maybe. 6.) Rambo was good today, but eventualy he will be sacrificed in starting spot with someone who can dictate from deep. There was no connection between midfield and attack again... 7.) we need hard worker in midfield. Someone who will sprint, tackle, mark whole game, even when others will get tired. Someone who will motivate team and push them on. 8.) Cole and Hazard were brilliant. 9.) Mata and Oscar need to strenghten in summer. At least Mata needs to start playing every game on top like Xavi, other way he will be like Silva. Good for half season only... I hope he can develop run engine, because we need him perform constantly. Same goes for Oscar. 8.) Terry was leader again, should play more... 9.) Torres was better, but I still dont trust him... 10.) lol at Rafa tactics...No goal, no motivation in first half. Fucking steaua played more attractive than us in 1st half. 11.) fans. Should be ashamed for their 'cheering'...i thought we played in London, not Romunia... Thats it.

Seriously we need some order in team, we play like headless chicken with no motivation, goal, will, power,...Mikel again with no real effort, Oscar too weak, Mata too tired, Rambo with bad passing, Luiz mistake prone and Torres...oh well. I want new pivot pair of Capoue, Benat.