Magic Lamps

haha. eight players could actually be what we need all in all. We only got 2 proper fullbacks, so we'd need another one or two there, same goes for CB, where Zouma is our only long-term option. In midfield we need one each of DM/CM/CAMs as ramires, Mikel, Fabregas, Oscar are all below Chelsea quality and should not start. Another striker would come in handy too. However of those 8 players, many could be injected in the form of returnign loanees and academy graduates So my dream formation for next season would be Courtois Begovic Azpilicueta Zouma Höwedes/Hummels Baba Fabinho Christensen Cahill Azpi Krychowiak Matic Pogba Pasalic Fabregas/RLC Ramires/Oscar Willian Costa Hazard Traore/Pedro Lacazette Kenedy Not necessarily in this first/second XI. Would cost a bit but worth it. One can dream. Apart from Pogba who is not a must, all are realistic.

And I always thought PVC was short for Polyvinyl chloride whilst Luxemburgo is a small European country^^ I don't know shit about what is said in Brazlian media by some whatsoever idk commentators. Whilst I don't like most of them anyway, I appreciate German commentators for not saying anything they are not sure about + they don't try to influence clubs they dislike by spreading rumours. So whatever your Polyvinyl chloride guy said about bad training and players leaking about it, as a Chelsea supporter I don't give a shit and I don't believe it will affect the club what Filipe Luis, an understandably bitter Chelsea outcast, passes onto the media. And last - only because s.o. likes a post does not mean they are blind in their opinions. I have seen people mockingly like posts completely slagging them off. Liking does not equal supporting every syllable in it. Back on topic. Credit where it is due. Mourinho made some tactical and motivational tweaks and they worked out. The players interchanged positions like mad, Norwich had trouble marking them so we found openings every few minutes. Kenedy at left back is unconventional but it gave us another skilfull passing outlet. He also created some chances on his own, sadly there was no one in the middle finishing them off. I still don't get why he played Iva on the right instead of Azpi. Norwich are not particularly tall and Azpi does still contribute more offensively than Iva. Fabregas also improved, the time on the bench really did him a favour. He was more determined and focused, not suffering a single turnover, holding onto the ball amidst physical challenges. One thing that has been lacking for years now is finishing. Since the beginning of Mou's second coming, our finishing has been poor. Mou really should hire a psychologist or an attacking coach to work that out for once. I know confidence is low, but you really should not go down under a challenge until the opportunity to score is gone. If you stay on your feet even if you can't score, the defender has to intensify the contact and eventually foul you. Then you can still dive more convincingly. Also when defending we are still very nervous. Understandably but with the experience we have, there should be a time when the corner gets turned and stays turned. All in all, still a lot of hard work to accomplish until we click again but I am confident, with some reinforcements in January we can string an ok season together.

they really should given our lack of quality cover in their positions anyway. If they turnout just as they should, we might not even have to buy more hyped and expensive youngsters like Stones or Pogba in their positions. What impresses me most about Pasalic is his consistency. Apart from a a handful odd games, he racks up a 7/10 performance every week with a goal every 3 or 4 games. He could still improve on his tackling and passing but his confidence and ability on the ball is excellent for that age. IMO there should be much space in midfield for him next season. We should revert to 4-3-3 as it suits us best whilst Fabregas, Mikel, Ramires, Oscar all should not be starters at a club like Chelsea so there should be chances for him even if we sign some other mids.

Why does everyone tell me he is not a LB? I fucking know he is an inverted right winger/second striker which is why i wrote he should be tried higher up the field. Having been perfectly aware of his true position, being funny was exactly my intention when I made that 'skilfull LB' joke. On a different note, I can see where Mou is coming from. Azpi's defensive prowess was not really be needed on the left vs NOrwich and as much as I like him, he is not that good offensively. Kenedy offered much more in that regard. However I also can not really retrace why he picked Ivanovic who was a liability as always but it did no harm yesterday. Probably some height + element of surprise reason.

wut? of course he does. every sane human being would give the media less, less reliable and less accurate information than he would give to his players.

He is like the most skilfull LB I have ever seen. The number of times he beat a player with a neat trick I have lost counting. Amazing ball control. Also did ok defensively. He really should be used higher up the pitch whilst Pedro should take more of an impact sub role.

that goal looked much more like the real Costa. now we have to continue pressing them instead of going back to square one

costa really is afraid to score. goes down rather than shooting and nowhere to be found in the middle when the crosses come in. however the question is, if we don't score, who will get tired first? tbf the tactical tweaks MOu applied are obvious. players constantly changing position, kenedy the most technically gifted fullback i have ever seen, roberto carlos who?

what a game by hazard. why is this the first time he is tried in the centre? that is just his place

decent game from us so far energetic display but the old problem is still the cleverness and finishing

I do not even doubt that he does not regret moving here. We are in relegation battle, but why should he consider this a negative? he has won shitloads of titles at Barcelona, for sure he will not be that disappointed if he can't win the league here in his first season? He gets good money, lives in London, learns a new language and culture as well as a new footballing challenge. Give him time, he will come good, he is still in a decent age and has always been a class player.

Well financially this can still be a very good signing. We paid like 2.5m for him and he is worth at least 5, so we can make a handsome profit of him by selling him. Loaning him out however does not make as much sense since he was brought to provide cover. Luckily only one of our 3 main cbs has ever been out so no wonder he has not played so far.

we loan out 30 players per season. ofc there will be some who don't play. i could list you at least as many examples of the opposite. but as far as i know about our germany loans (piazon, kalas) we do have those clauses that we get more money when the players play less. most clubs just don't care about those few quids. loan fees are just some hundred thousands of pounds and they money we get back would only be some 10 000s so most clus don't care about that really.

This. Neymar has imposed himself on the game by standing up as the leading man. AS for talent, Hazard should do the same for club and country but instead he is hiding behind others atm. Physically and technically they are equal IMO, maybe Hazard has a tiny bit better close control and better agility due to lower centre of gravity but Neymar has the ambition, the drive, the committment and is not afraid to fail. Hazard's inferiority in this regard does not only affect goals but his overall impact on the game. I got this feeling Hazard will never win anything big such as ballon d'or or CL, neither here nor at Real.

Our loan players excelling is nothing new. We have always had excellent prospects and youth products everyhwere showing what they got. We just tend to give them not remotedly as much time and chances as some regular first team members get...

Considering the quality of coaching there is about as much possibility for Northern ireland to win it as for belgium. But it is true. In the past few years, Belgium have produced the best footballing talent in the world.

Opinions are never wrong.

Have to disagree. Beckham had always been an average player with a decent cross or freekick in him but without the athleticism and ball control to be up there. And yes it has become a kind of fashion to praise Scholes for what he has achieved but the truth is he was into decline for most of his career becoming more of a mascot to Manchester United after turning 30. Both are perfect examples of the English completely misjudging their players.

Does the Brazilian national team still participate in the Gold Cup? Never seen them there since 2003

who else? Mourinho said he did not know the players but a person he trusts and who is in charge of transfers acquired them aka the technical director.

apart from the abyss in quality to those teams (in 2010/11 we once played bosingwa at centre back and zhirkov, ramires, mikel in midfield when getting spanked by Sunderland, , Drogba was least at fault for our slump. In both seasons we still relied on Lamps+Drogs for goals. In 2010/11 Drogs had malaria FFS and still got us over the line more often than not. Ofc we could not be perfect under these conditions with Lampard injured but iirc we fell back to 4th at worst. In 2010/11, we got into these position as AVB mostly dropped Drogs completely and while playing shit football, Lamps bailed him out about half a dozen times. In both cases, the quality in the squad was poorer than it is today and the form was impeded by illness/injury and bad man-management. But the mere presence of our big character back then prevented us from getting anywhere close to as clueless as we are today. 2010/11 and 2011/12 were blips, but what has happened this season is a huge mess and there is no one to light us the way out.

Everyone was having him as Lampard successor but due to his many limitations he is just an utility player. Even when on form, he is useless against half of the league aka every team that presses in midfield. Off he still can play a brilliant pass at times. It is not even his fault that he is such a choker. Mind he earned his shoes at arse. Now he is 28. And won't change anymore. It is the job of the manager to utilise him correctly and Mourinho does so, finally. He was an impact sub vs stoke. Against Norwich who are not as dangerous he should start IMO.

He will never be the best in the world, I think that is clear already. But true, Willian, Ramirez, Costa could use a bit better coaching in off the ball movement to make things easier for him. His shot that was deflected off target would have been a goal in 9 out of 10 cases anyway. He really must feel cursed this season still has not scored.

Despite Stoke defending great, we worked out like 4,5 100% chances and a couple of half-chances which should be enough to win a tight game. On the other end, we restricted them to 1 chance from which they scored due to a lucky ricochet. We were unlucky but that is mainly because of lack of confidence and the bad momentum we are in. you tend to get further unlucky in this kind of situations. But sometimes thing just look unlucky but in truth we are just not clinical enough. Can't blame it on tactics when the players don't get their heads right to finish. The players are still young and immature and don't know better. Maybe a psychologist could help idk. First and foremost our mentality has to change.

I don't know how good of an attacking coach Mourinho is. And it actually doesn't matter. A good manager knows his weaknesses and acts accordingly. Jürgen Klinsmann is completely clueless when it comes to tactics but is a great motivational speaker and fitness coach. So he hired Löw who is excellent tactically and transformed Germany from a team that exited the Euros in the group stage (they were actually playing like us are today back then) to an unlucky 3rd in the world.