robsblubot

We need a coach who is unflushable (Jeff...), or at the very least difficult to flush. Otherwise, it may take a few more years for Roman to learn the trade and finally realize football is not kind to knee-jerk, short-term decisions. A second-term Mourinho might just do the trick; his wages and contractual fees would make firing him simply a very bad deal.

Not sure I'd qualify Stoke, Wigan, Reading, and many others as difficult. Perhaps under certain circumstances, Stoke can pose physical problems esp away, but certainly not what I'd consider quality--most of their players are so poor on the ball. Champions League record is a much fairer way to assess league quality IMO. However, BPL is, obviously, one of the top leagues in the world and the fact that Hazard has been playing so well and in his first season in England is really incredible. Now, potential is a funny thing; we have no clue what Neymar is going to do once he moves to Europe. Will he become more of a Messi or a Robinho?! At this point, I'd go for something in between, but it's just way too soon. Same goes for Hazard: is this it?! He's a great attacking player right now, but just imagine what he'd be capable of if he develops further... Neymar showed some glimpses of quality against italy (friendly), but his development is certainly behind because of his very comfortable situation in Brazil.

Isn't Fellaini too slow to play box-to-box? I'm a big fan of B2B players, and these types need to be always running, making quick transitions from defense to attack; Fellaini does not strike me as capable of doing that. Interesting player and young enough to develop/adapt to a new position. Yaya is a fantastic player, but he's 29, turning 30 in may. I wonder whether City have gotten the best of him already.

I just cannot imagine Mourinho playing with 3 CAM plus a striker.... regardless of how good markers the CMs/DMs are. In fact I can't imagine winning anything playing the way we've been playing ^^. Certainly entertaining, for bystanders, but not supporters. I even think some players like (for me) Gary need to reassessed once we get a proper manager with tactics that don't expose our defenders to 1x1 disputes every other minute. I honestly think that all good things of Champions League winner Chelsea are gone.

granted on Giroud. Disagree with everything else you wrote though. Dzeko is twice the player in my book and there are at least 20 strikers better than Ba. IMO strikers need more than just tap in goals, which Ba can certainly do. Especially when we are talking world class and I just don't see enough skill there to even consider him close to being world class. Good tap in striker, nothing more for me. BTW, not talking about last match alone... and a lot of championship players have a lot of passion too, and yet I don't see them playing for Chelsea. Can we all agree that Ba is, at this time, a lot better than Torres? But Is being better than Torres the only requirement to play for Chelsea these days?

We are making life for Ba way too easy by comparing him to Torres. So let's forget Torres for a second here. Honestly, I think Ba is very far from the world class striker Chelsea need to compete at the highest level. Can you really compare Ba to RVP, Dzeko, Aguero, Suzrez, even Giroud (consider potential there as he is very young). I like having a towering striker like Ba as an option, but I'd rather not have him start against Real Madrid next year when we play for the CL... straight from my crystal ball.

I don't deny the occasional mistakes--all players make them. It's just so strange to hear our defense this, or our defense that... when Luiz is carrying the ball and makes a good pass, was that defense or build up? When we keep possession we are not attacked... Did he make a good pass because he has the quality or because other players moved enough to receive the pass--perhaps both? When he loses possession, is it entirely his fault then? Was it an easy pass he missed, or no such option was available? It's difficult to know without knowing what they are told by their managers and coaches. Have you guys seen him playing for Brazil? Never seen him lose possession... even against England when Brazil were mostly dominated. We don't have defense and offense; we have a defensive system which involves all players. And when we win a game, all players on the pitch were successful, because their collective contribution was enough to win the match. It may sound cheesy, but unlike Tennis or any other individual sport, that's really the only way to see football.

Torres said, "Look, I have ONE job on this lousy ship. It's STUPID, but I'm gonna do it, OKAY?" Torres to take every PK until his contract runs out...

hmm... his form is dipping, losing pace and mobility... not that clinical in front of the goal... would cost a fortune.... yup he'll be joining Chelsea in the summer!

David could not make contact, but the keeper is facing the play while the defenders had to start from the same (offside) line as United players. It's a terribly difficult cross to defend against, but less so for the keeper because he is facing the play. Keepers should not guess, or be proactive. They must be reactive and be very quick at that. Stop the shot, if an attacker (or Luiz ) heads it home, so be it. Mistake by Cech for me. Of course, I'm only saying this because it is Cech, and I expect world class performances from him.

If you are not excited about Hazard, Mata, and Oscar playing together... well, there are always other sports like tennis, basketball, etc. And Mata is "the old one" at 24!?!

Lets agree to disagree then. The keeper cannot ever be sure; like you said so yourself, anyone can get a touch, so why not handle the one case which he'd have known for sure? I've seen this very same cross/shot way too many times and for me the keeper must stop the shot. Hopefully we will hear from him (Cech) whether he'd have done something different or not.

First of all, I did not say Cech had a shocker, just that De Gea was better than him, and considering how highly I rate Cech, I personally expected better from him. OK, hope we are at least not going to debate the facts; so, Luiz could've, should've headed the ball--disagree myself because that's the most difficult piece of defending for any defender. The same way Cahill could've, should've headed the ball, or not let Hernandez get behind him. Anyway, the fact is nobody did touch the ball other than Rooney... So, what the fuck was Cech doing? Watching and hoping one of his defenders, or perhaps an United player was going to make contact?! That's not the right way to defend those balls. THe GK must defend the shot, until something else takes place; there was no action other than the free kick, and that led to the goal. It is really difficult not to blame Cech there. Good save on David's missed header, but nothing to write home about as it was just reflex (towards him). I wished he had prevented one of the United goals the same way De Gea did instead though. Who do you think played better, Cech or De Gea? We have a tendency to blame defenders for conceded goals, and strikers for the lack of goals, but thankfully football is not that simple. Funny how our defending go so much better with the very same players once Mickel got in...

United played better in the first half, and we played A HELL LOT better than them in the second half! The only reason they did not lose the game was because of Da Gea. For me Cech had a poor game, while De Gea was phenomenal. 1st United goal was more Garry's fault than Cech, but a player of his caliber should've done better. 2nd goal was 100% Cech's fault because in those types of crosses the GK has only one job which is preventing a goal from the direct kick; if someone heads it nice and scores, so be it, but the GK has to defend the direct shot. I just don't see the horror ppl see in our defense at times. We concede when we are outplayed which will always happen... It's all in the midfield though and there our problems are, or were until Mickel fixed them in the second half. Great comeback! Just imagine these young player when they mature a bit... Especially the 21yo Oscar and Hazard...

The likelihood of Rooney leaving United is the same as Torres leaving Chelsea. Both clubs want them out, so good luck trying to find a buyer considering their wages and level of play.

Finally got to watch a few videos of him... Seems to be a natural footballer, not that similar in characteristics to Lampard IMO. More of a Pivot type--reminds me of Spurs' Dembele in the way he touches and moves. Should be ready as a squad player-could be using him right now I reckon.

Just out of curiosity, who would that be? (I'm not up-to-date with the youngster atm)

No he is not worth 86M... Isn't his contract running out in a year or so?!

Completely agree, Chelsea would be perfect for him!

He's been very poor, especially his passing. needs to improve otherwise he will lose his place to... no one! Thin squad indeed!

I for one will refrain from criticizing Yaya for no other reason than his toying with both Mickel and Lampard last Sunday. Why on earth Ramires was not glued to Yaya inflicting maximum punishment at all times is beyond me (thanks Rafa!). * I do get some arrogance from him on the pitch though, but most good footballers have some degree of it.

Right, but Chelsea may want Lampard as a squad player, while Lampard may have a different idea. So, say he's offered a 90K a week as a rotation player, and he counters with his current (key player wages of) +-250K, what are Chelsea to do? Perhaps his agent has already hinted he won't accept a rotation/backup role for example. We just don't know. His performance against City was a liability; Mickel and Lampard IMO were our worst players on the pitch. Although it's really difficult to pinpoint specific players when they certainly did not (and do not) get enough support from the AMs and the wingers. In the 4-2-3-1 you don't really play with only 2 men in the center of the pitch--I guess we do.

Author of the article is really unkind to Corinthians (far bigger club than QPR in every possible way), but fair points regardless. They are not mutually exclusive: Roman can indeed be the best "thing" that has ever happen to Chelsea, and also a hinderance concerning long-term strategy, by the manner in which he mishandles managers and coaches.

We were completely dominated throughout the match, an pretty embarrassingly so at times, and here we are talking about a central defender. The midfield crumbled and the AM and wingers did not contribute enough to help win the midfield battle. Some players had shocking performances, but not the defenders. After all, we *only* lost by 2 goals....

harsh on Luiz and even Ramires considering he's played out of position for most of the match. Luiz did not have a great game, but I'd hardly call it shocking. Aside from a brain dead pass to Mickel, in which Mickel himself should've been more available, he was solid throughout the game though a bit subdued (still struggling with injury?). Cahill had a good game specially with his blocking. Now, with that out of the way, blocking is NOT the best strategy against quality players as they will put the ball in the back of the net as Toure and Tevez did, even though Cahill was, at both times, blocking in front of them. Iva was the weakest on the back IMO. Defense line was NOT the problem, aside from set pieces of course -- Rafa has always had problems with them. We were utterly dominated throughout the match, so Mickel and especially Lampard have to take much of the blame for that. Mickel must be more active in the midfield, closing down players at all times, which he did not do for Toure goal. And Lampard had a shocking performance, which made me ask whether he really deserves a new contract after today's performance. The other players, Mata and Hazard had poor games as well. We were too dominated to even talk about Ba, but he did get us a PK. We certainly need a real manager, with a long-term strategy, a plan. Football is never kind to short-term solutions.