TorontoChelsea

Yes, if we keep with the 4-2-3-1, I think that is perhaps our best bet going forward. In that case,next year, we would only need to add a striker. We could nee other players depending if Cole stays or not, a LB and depending if Marin shows anything or not and if Lampard takes a one year deal or not, another attacking midfielder/winger and if Sturridge leaves and if Torres got sold, possibly a second or third striker. If we decide to keep Oscar as an attacking midfielder which is absolutely a fine decision, we will need to buy a central midfielder as well. (The 4-3-3 would be appealing to our central midfield because a rotation of Mikel, Ramires, Oscar, De Bruyne, and Lampard could be very good but it doesn't work for our attack because if you play the 4-3-3, you need to have real wingers which means that Mata and Hazard would have their games curtailed.)

They don't cross because crossing means you have to play on the wing and our midfielder play much more centrally.

It depends what Chelsea are going to do with Oscar. If they're going to move him into the centre, then we don't need another central midfielder. if they want to keep him up front, then we do. Lampard probably won't be here next year and Chelsea don't just hand jobs to players coming back from loan. I know you and I disagree about this, but I think Ramires is also a far from ideal fit in that spot. He just doesn't have the ability to control the tempo of the game and to distribute for his teammates. He's OK there as a stop-gap, but not long-term. We don't need a defensive midfielder though.

I actually don't really want either of them right now.Chelsea have to sort out a system and then find a striker who fits that system. Right now, we are still finding our way and are having trouble creating opportunities against decent squads. We have to figure out-are we a team that plays through balls to our striker? Are we a team that crosses into the box? Are we a team that uses our striker to hold the ball up for the midfield? Do we want a powerful striker to win headers? Right now, we're playing in a system that no striker would flourish in. Eventually, RDM will figure it out and then we should buy a big-name striker but to spend 40-50M on a striker that might not be right for our system is insane. However, if we were to buy a striker, Cavani would be a much better bet than Falcao. Falcao is a top-class finisher, but he's never going to be a fit for whatever style Chelsea are building. The entire Athletico Madrid attack is geared towards setting up Falcao. Falcao has double the shots that any other teammate has. On the other hand, Cavani doesn't even have the most shots on his team. Whoscored.com analyses how teams play. Here are their descriptions of how Chelsea play: Attack through the middle Take long shots Control the game in the opposition's half Short passes Very accurate. And their description of how Atletico Madrid play Attacking down the left Atempt crosses often Take a lot of shots Control the game in the opposition's half A very different style. They use width and they cross the ball all the time into Falcao. It's the perfect system for him. The way we play is just not suited to him. We tend to get the ball to our striker is fairly static positions in the middle or on the wing. Falcao is not someone who is going to create their own chance very often and his crossing is extremely limited. Napoli play a through-ball sort of game which is very likely the direction we are going in but as I said earlier, I don't see a system that Cavani wouldn't excel in.

I'd say the exact opposite. Cavani is a well-rounded player who would, I think, succeed in any system. Falcao is a system #9. He's a fantastic finisher, but that's all he does. He doesn't contribute defensively, he doesn't pass well, he doesn't dribble past players. He has a nose for the net and he gets service and he finishes well with his head and his feet. Cavani can pass the ball long, he is very good defensively, he's great at holding the ball up, he can beat his man 1 on 1, and he has a very flexible game. And it's not like he's not a fantastic finisher either. He'd be a much better fit for Chelsea than Falcao.

He had a good game, but his defensive positioning isn't great overall and that is usually even a bigger problem at CB than RB. Still, it's fabulous to have someone who can step in and start at RB or CB and play at a high level at both It gives the squad real flexibility and gives RDM options.. .

He was also asked to play in the Ramires/Lampard role in the midfield which he is simply not cut out for. Can't blame him for that.

Welcome!

He was their best player. Unlucky not to score. Would really have done us a favour there too. Still, great result for West Ham and for us.

Blaming the goal on Sturridge is extremely unfair to him. Hernandez is not really Sturridge's man. Sturridge is marking Hernandez when Hernandez starts to move to the centre, Hazard meets him and makes a very poor challenge which Hernandez easily slips. Then, Ramires picks him up. At this point, there are 5 Swansea players and 9 Chelsea players in the area and the ball still outside of the box and to the side. The play still should have been contained easily. Cole and Cahill are marking their men and Bertrand is roaming on the left side. Mikel ,Azpilicueta and Ivanovic all converge around one Swansea player who then kicks it back out to Hernandez who is unmarked while Ramires sort of just stands there..At this point, Hernandez is his man, and he let him get into a wide open area without tracking him. There were a bunch of small mistakes, and a big one by Ramires. (Besides, the two options you name are Marin and Hazard who are both poor defensive players as well.)

Moses was taken off because he hasn't played much this season and he played 120+ minutes a few days ago. Remember all the discussions people had about playing starters in the league cup game? This is the price we paid for playing so many starters heavy minutes against United. Was it worth it? Maybe. Maybe not. Give us a full squad and we almost certainly win today. Oscar was having a bad game and although I've never liked Bertrand in the midfield, RDM had very limited options with such a weak bench.

Fair result. Hoping we would have been able to hang on. Same problems we've been having all season really. Can't create enough opportunities and we rely on set pieces or a stroke of Mata or Hazard genius to score. It's not a good sign when our most dangerous offensive player is Gary Cahill. Our midfield was poor. Mikel was asked to play too forward in the first half and he's not good at that. Romeu just doesn't seem like he should be playing at this level right now. I thought Ramires coming on would change things, but Ramires was fairly lackluster himself and was even caught standing around on the goal. Our central midfield should be moving the ball, but it's so slow once it gets it and the attack just stops. Moses was very good, looked dangerous but seemed to play fairly centrally which I find confusing. Hazard had a mixed game. Was very dangerous but didn't defend at other times and gave up the ball a little too easily. Oscar had a couple of nice passes, but it was a day to forget for him. I think Swansea just took the ball off him 4 times and a lot of his passes were very poor. Torres was OK, created a couple of good chances. He'll get most of the blame, but he definitely does not deserve it today. Simply no service, no ball movement, static offense. Hopefully, Mata will be well rested for Shakhtar and we'll get to winning again.

To be fair, an equalizer was deserved. Let's nick a late one here.

Crap

Hail? It's almost biblical. "When Moses departed, hail fell from the heavens" or something like that.

Set piece goal...Moses!

It was the right substitution. Well done RDM!

Over the course of a year and a half, I agree with you, but over the course of half a game? He's been fine. It was the same with Lampard earlier or Kalou or Malouda last year. Whatever the actual problems, they get blamed. Our midfield is way too stagnant and Hazard and even moreso Oscar have not been precise enough.

Not sure why anyone is blaming Torres for this half. The problems are clearly in the midfield. Torres had a couple of good chances and his movement has been good. You can't create goals out of thin air.

I'd keep the same lineup for about 10-15 more minutes. If we don't score, I'd put Ramires in for Romeu. It's difficult to have no offensive players in the pivot. The link-up play is just so slow right now.

Weird game so far. Lots and lots of passing. Both sides have had good chances but both sides also look tentative. Swansea seem to want to pass the ball into the net. We're really missing an offensive player in the pivot. Oscar has to come too deep to collect the ball. And when Mikel does get forward, he stops and looks around before making a decision which causes our attack to become static. Would love to see Oscar put on a few pounds. He's knocked off the ball too easily. Torres is playing well so far. We have the quality where we should still win this but without Mata, it's a lot tougher.

We had Essien, Meireles, Benayoun, De Bruyne, and McEchran still on our squad when we brought in Marin.

That was some strike. 2-1 really really flatters Arsenal.

Especially since Sturridge played 120 minutes a few days ago and Torres didn't play at all. Makes sense to start Torres today. We really have a thin squad right now.

I'll be looking for Oscar and Hazard to take over the Mata role today and run the offense. Hazard did it fantastically before Mata was back to himself, so maybe we'll see another dominant Hazard performance.