TrippingStep

Reminds me of Chelsea the second year with Mourinho and why I was not a big fan of Mourinho. The central defense sitting so deep, not very intricate play in the build-up of play. What I don't undersand is why we play like that when excepting Schurrle, the rest are not that beasty and pacey to outrun or outmuscle the opponent. When we have the ball in possession, almost all the team seems clueless and we are playing very basic stuff.

I bet Quaresma is the first name on your list

I think that he could be loaned to Leverkusen as was said in the beginning of the mercato.

If we don't sign a very dood defensive midfielder and a forward, I will agree with you. I think Ba Mikel will be sold. And one of Mata or Luiz as well. I

No, not only that. It's just that it's very disjoincted in possession between our central defense and full backs. I would prefer that our back line against this kind of opposition would do the preparation of the build-up with there movements and passing the ball side to side, a central defender moving forward to break their midfield line when there is an opportunity.

Well off course if he lose the ball it can be dangerous. But having the back line doing nothing in possession of the ball to move the opposition is awful for me. For me our central defense is playing too deep. That's what I like the most about Benitez, we had a back 5 that could initiate our play by having the opponents having to react to what they did. Here, the opponents can leave our central defense, no one will carry the ball.

A central defender pushing forward does not mean it's not disciplined. If he continues to move forward after a passing lane has opened, I agree but if it's just a tactical move and is only used to move a player of their midfield line, it's an asset.

I must be stupid but on those images, especially in possession, for me it's just awful stuff. We were missing Luiz and Azpilicueta. Luiz for his ability to carry the ball forward. A central defender that can push is a huge asset against this kind of formation as a midfielder must move to neutralize this threat, opening passing lanes. Triangles on the side would have been good against Aston Villa as their fullbacks are weak and would open space to the other side and if not, spaces for a Ramires explosive run.

I hope we play Schurrle or Moses on the right wing to run behind Evra and limiting his move forward. I would also prefer Azpi as right back. I fear that Manchester United would release runners past and between Ivanovic and Cahill.

Under Di Matteo, he was not exceptionnal either playing at right wing, he was also playing deeper, passing the ball more like a cm against the "good" teams, dropping quite deep to escape his marker. He was very good when we could create space for him and playing more like a 9 1/2 under Benitez where the team would work to move the opposition to a side to create space to the other side where there would be runs from behind. Azpi was very good to work like right midfielder in the build-up and the back four in general was better in the beginning of the build-up, more methodical in our way of playing to exploit the holes that would come when the oppositon would not move in the right way from a side.

Mourinho is obviously better but the pilosophy until now looks alike, even in the line-up. The fullback under Benitez were like extra midfielders in the build-up of play, under Mourinho until now, they do not play like that.

Seems like the team was under Di Matteo with the same line-up. Even physically, we are alike in the fact we can only play high tempo for a short period.

Ok Benitez is shit if you want. Ok his first two months were not good. But I think he made a very good job to change many things tactically wich the last three months of the season proved. We ultra dominated Arsenal, Tottenham, Manchester United. I've see good general patterns in our play, with clever adjustments on many matchs depending the opponent. Just looking the different role, different patterns Hazard, Mata for example had on diffent maches on different opponents. It's just that I don't like the Mourinho is god and Benitez is a ultra shitty coach. We only played Hull who is an awful side and Aston Villa.

I disagree. With Rafa, we wouldn't start with Iva at right back, Terry Cahill in central defense and Ramires Lampard in the pivot. We don't know what we would have bought and we would have the automatisms of the last three four months wich were quite good if you think that we played every three days and he had not the pre-season to do optimal tactical and physical work. I think with a fresh team we would have beaten them easily.

In Pre-season, it was also often like that. The things I liked the most last year with Benitez was the fact that we were often playing a higher line of defense compared to Di Matteo, even with Ivanovic Cahill on some matches like the matches against Arsenal where Walcott was often offside. More compact between the midfield and defense. We will see what happens against Manchester United.

Didn't see the game but with Iva, Cahill, Terry in the backline and Lampard Ramires as the deepest midfielder, I've only seen bad matches. I bet there were huge spaces between the axial defense and Lampard and Ramires. I hope we will not continue with this line-up. Mourinho or not it will not work.

I hope it will happen. Perfect forward for Oscar and Eden's game.

In 2011-2012, he was sharp in the beginning of the season. And for the change of his role and the change in the game, just look at the possession stat between the first half of the season and the second one. In the first half of the season Eden was helping a lot in midfied, if they had a good inside forward in the righ side to help sow, Lille could have finished with 45 pts as they have never been in control of so many games as the first half of that season.

I think he will hit a very good form in two three weeks. It was not awful but I think he will hit good shape in two three weeks where he will gain his two three yards of pace in the first 10 meters that he lacks now that cause heavy chaos with very sharp change of direction. It's a special asset. When he is not in top form, you notice him more because of that. The other players have not their top game around this.

2011-2012, he actually started in very good shape. Lille were doing a less intense pre-season to be more sharp in the beginning of the season. As for the stats, it was just a change in his role. He played in the second part of the season as 9 1/2 behind Tulio. Lille decided to play less possession. In the first half of the season, Lille was better in midfield but with Payet not in form after an injury, Cole not very pacy and just Sow as the target man, they lacked firepower. And for me last year, he didn't started that good. It wasn't until Benitez arrived, that him and some other players had more dynamism in their play with a different physical training. When Di Matteo was fired, the team was in shambles and had very poor fitness. For 2008-2009, I don't think it's a good reference as he was 18 years old in january. What I notice, is that he has a power training, diet or whatever, he starts slowly and takes time to have the smoothness and dynamism he showed in the last 3-4 months of last year.

I didn't see the first 30 minutes. But I understand those who are worried by his lack of pace. It will surely come back but for now it seems more like how he was under Di Matteo than Benitez in his physical condition and overall play ( you can at least give that to Benitez, he did a great job with Eden last year). It just seems to me that Hazard during the first phase of preparation is more prone to add fat and takes more time to cut it, maybe just his metabolism that is like that.

And you can't forget the spanish cultural thing. It's not like the Portuguese and Italian one when they aren't bothered if they don't have too much of the ball. And besides that, Real was not that great under Mourinho in possession with the players they had, they were a counter-attack killing machine.

Well, I coudn't see the first 30 minutes, so for me it wasn't great as I miss all the action from the match. And besides that, i would have prefered a boring match with us in possession of the ball. And I'm not a big fan of Mourinho. But if we have at least 80 pts in the premier league, good.

I missed the first 30 minutes of the match. Not a good timing as what I've seen was a boring match.

It seems it's hard in this topic to have a middle ground. Either excessive praise or excessive criticism. I don't undersdand how you can say he was poor for the majority of the season while he was very good the last 3-4 months with Benitez and was one of our best players in nearly every match during this period. It's like the topic on Oscar where there are such extreme opinions. It seems like the "non engish typical player" like Oscar Luiz Hazard attracts extreme diverse reactions. I tink the problem we have in the chelsea squad it's that we half the players suited to a certain game style while the other is bad at this game style.