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Ironic enough we are desperate in need of Mata. We lack his ball control, passing and creativity!

He is not playing bad, but he seems to be doubting his abilities ever since he returned fron International Break...

Hazard seems to have lost some of his confidence, is he hurt?

Come on Chelsea! KTBFFH!

Stop being such a rebel cat, behave!

You do know he will understand everything, dont you?

The funny thing is that Mata is definitely one of our best 5 players, yet he is indeed outside my starting 11!

Great lineup, two players alway from our best possible starting eleven (Terry instead of acahill and Ramires instead of Lampard)...

That depends a lot on how and with what you are making your comparisson. Not all 4-3-3s look the same and not all 4-2-3-1s look the same as well... For instance, Bayern's variation of 4-2-3-1 is very similar to what Wenger does at Arsenal (not comparing the quality here), but at the same time it is very different than our 04-07 team with Mourinho. It is not only about the disposition of the player on the pitch, it is also about their roles and how the team plays collectively. There is also Barcelona's 4-3-3, which is different than any other 4-3-3 aproached we had ever seen and it actually looks more a 3-4-3 to me. Which is something that is clearly in a very opposite direction than our aimed 4-2-3-1. The whole idea and plan of game is different. I could give more examples and really develop in the subject, but that is not what the thread is for. I only wanted to show that formations have a lot more to it than numbers and schemes, it has a whole mentality attached to it and that is what makes one very different from the other. Playing 4-3-3 and 4-2-3-1 indeed impacts on one' performance, so I dont think it is as easy as you are making... Chelsea and Mourinho are trying to implement a new mentality and style of play and it will obviously have its ups and downs as things take time to adjust. However, if we keep changing formations and aproaches after every loss, things will get stagnated and we will not get sny better! EDIT: However, there are some formations that are just stupid and in the end are the same bullshit as the classics though (4-2-2 is just a 'modern' 4-4-2, 4-5-1 is a defensive 4-2-3-1, etc). I think I had a conversation with Strike about this a couple of months ago.

The games are booked already, the kick-offs will go from 12pm-5pm Brazilian time. However, FIFA might change it to 2pm-7pm because of the Sun and humidity...Here it is (with the updated hours): http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/matches/index.html

I think so too! I always love the World Cup, it has such a nicd spirit to it, especially here in South America. Nevertheless, it is often very boring in the Group Stages and people only start paying attention after the Second Round or so. But with the possibility of teams like Belgium and Colombia finishing inside rhe top8 in the Fifa rankings, it can lead to some very exciting groups...

I dont believe José will give up on 4-2-3-1 that easily... Cech Azi-Luiz-Terry-Bertrand Lampard-MVG Willian-Oscar-Hazard Eto'o

Next year's World Cup will be pretty interesting, many traditional teams will be getting second seeded...

Nobody applies for it though, it is not a job offer! It is like a Republic, Alex is the president and he (along with te staff) nominates his ministers. It is not through application...

I bet 1000 dollars that it will not only not happen, but Stingay will end up a Mod!

But what does it have to do with the debate here? I mean, he can do whatever he wants, no doubt. But we are discussing with he invested it right or not and not if he can use the money as he wishes.... Kojo does have a point (unfortunatelly) when he questions why we bought Willian and Schurrle and loaned Moses, yet didnt improve other areas!

I think Rambo is a good player (maybe not the dream starter, but he sure is helpful and he also gives the team more options) who was overpriced. Chelsea have the money to do those luxuries sometimes though... So, I view it as an average signing. Not a wolrd beater but not a flop as well!

Neymar = 4 games, 1 very important Supercup goal, 3 assists and best Barça player of the season so far (according to Tata). Do you guys even watch hin before you criticize? Or you just think he is bad because he doesnt play for Chelsea? It is one thing to not like him, but it is a bit stupid to say he is bad! You only need to watch the Confederations Cup...

Yes and no, to answer the thread's question... I dont believe the spending is wrong overall. In the past 3-4 seasons, we made some smart moves like Mata, Courtois, Oscar, Hazard, Azi, Eto'o, etc. Then we had average signings like Ba, Cahill and Ramires. But we have also made some bad transfers like that January of 2011 when we bought two players (Luiz and Torres) for £74mi in a desperate attempt to win UCL and EPL. So, if you ask me, we have performed alright, because one cant always get everything right! Now...We clearly need improvement in the double pivot and at the back and that is not from yesterday, but there werent many options availables and Mourinho decided to trust old midfield players at least for one last season (Lampard and Essien). I believe he knows we need to add quality to some key positions, but he decided it was best to wait! I honestly believes he wanted to see what is left of the old guard (Cech, Terry, Cole, Essien, Lampard, etc) before he went spending €150mi in his first transfer window. But that is for another day anyways... To be fair, I only question two decisions in the last three years. The first is the stupidly of allowing us start last season without a single proper striker. And the second is this year's Willian/Schurrle/Moses saga. 1) We had big problems last year, yeah, but we all knew it was going to be a painful transition, so I dont think we should be really hard on Emenalo or whomever. But to go with girly Torres and injured Sturridge was a kids mistake, everyone could see how it would kill the entire season (and it almost did). A club with the stature of Chelsea cant allow these silly errors (which are of pure incompetence) fuck with an entire project. And even though we underperformed as a whole; signings like Hazard, Oscar, Moses and Azi were great aditions to the squad. 2) This year, Mourinho clearly took a cautions approach and he didnt want to be agressive. He prefered to invest in youth (with the return of Lukaku and KDB and the transfer of MVG) and compensate it with the experience of the old guard. He thought/still thinks it will work, so I believe he deseves our inital support that he will make it work. However, the Willian/Schurrle deals pissed me off! Not that they are bad player, not that they wont be helpful, not that we didnt need a true winger, etc, etc, etc. However, to spend £50mi on depth and variety when you still have gaps in your squad is a bit dumb, imo. If we wanted Willian for 30mi, fine, but why did we buy Schurrle for 20mi and loaned Moses to a rival then? Couldnt have we invested in someone similar to Luiz Gustavo, Witsel, De Rossi, Vidal, etc? Maybe even a future replacement for Terry and/or Cole, like Mangala and Shaw! But no, we added two new attacking players so we can say we have amazing depth in one area of the pitch. But whatever! In resume, we have made good choices and a few bad choices. It still an overall positive balance if you look at how bad we looked in 2011 and how promissing we are in 2013. But there was also those two grotescus mistakes made in the last two season and that might cost us a possible UCL Final/Semi-final or even the League. Nevertheless, if Mourinho is able to replace the soon retirering Terry, Cole, Essien, Lampard and Eto'o with great players, we will be looking deadly for quite some years. So...I will still hold on to give my final statement after the next summer, when we will have a better idea what José wants and what news replacements he bought to be the future of Chelsea. Just be patient and we will have a better chance to analyse if we are doing things the right way or not!

And that is why there is a blocking system...

LOL, of course they havent foind a problem, I did nothing wrong! Caps lock doesnt make your point any more valid, but lets go... 1) Hazard and Totti are anything but False 9s or False 9s look alike. That is factually wrong! 2) Droping deep or whatever is not having False 9 attributes, it just isnt. Jo compensated the absence of Oscar, but since when does it make him a have False 9 attributes? 3) Not one single argument you used categorize a False 9, the problem lies in your definition of it. Can you please explain it to me? 4) Scolari's ability to adapt? JESUS, something that Big Phill definitely is afraid of is change. He never ever changes the way he buolds his teams. I have closely followed him for more than a decade, and all the abilities you credit to him, he does not have. He always uses the full baks as attacker, he always has a DM and he awlays has a proper striker (proper). 5) I think you are giving way too much read to a simple game (one that couldnt even fill a 70k stadium). It does not give you that much material for an in depth analyses as you are giving it. Just wait for bigger games and more important sotuations so you can jump to conclusions.

But that was not what Jo did dude! Not in the slightest!!!! Just because he was outside of the box, it doesnt mean he has False 9 like attributes, IT DOESNT! Watch him playing for Atletico Mineiro and you will see that he is just like any other striker in the world who is mobile. It doesnt mean it has any type of relationship with a False 9 like attributes. Diego Tardelli is actually a much more False 9 alike than Jo... You are reading way too much on a meaningless game against fucking Australia (I love you Spike), it is like me doing a super review on Chelsea's 8-0 win against Villa last year and make it as an important game that defines players. It has no overall importance! Besides, this is in the wrong thread. MHS is for Chelsea threads, Football Banter is for everything else....

OMG, BUT THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH FALSE NINE, GOOOOOSSSHH! You cant use a wrong terminology just because it is easier. False 9 means not a typical striker who stays inside the penalty box, is has absolutely nothing to wih link-up plays, NOTHING. Jo played very much like Torres is doing with Mourinho, is he a False nine? NOOO! The two goals he scored makes your theory completely fall apart. A False nine would never be where he was, because that is a typical striker kind of movement/positioning. And above all of that, Felipao would be the last person on Earth to use a strike-less like team, he would be literally screaming at you right now. Aguero, Pato, Cavani and Falcao do that a lot, unbelievable. Do you actually watch football? I mean.... 1) Aguero does that more than anyother thing in the world, it is hillarious. 2) Pato is the same thing, he is often outside the box due to Guerrero being there. 3) Cavani is Pato with Ibra instead of Guerrero. 4) Falcao had to pretty much do the link-up by himself in Atletico (just watch his Copa Del Rey goal va Real). It is an avsolute joke to say they dont participate in te link-up as Jo does, because they actually do it more often than him!!! However, I am not saying Jo didnt do what you wrote nor that your reading of the gane was bad (it was actually quite good). But to use False 9 is insulting Big Phill's basic principles!!! Also, this is my way, if you hae a problem with that, you can always click the report button. It is not like I give a damn about it...

That is participating in the link-up play, which has nothing to do with False 9! Every fucking striker is False 9 according to your logic. Rooney, Aguero, Lewandowski, Pato, Cavani, Falcao, etc... The terminology you are using is completely and absurdingly wrong, but I agree he did all of that.

Not true, when I was gettig voted, I was clearly one of the best posters in the forum. I had a voice in every thread and I embraced many intelligent debates more than anyone at that time. As you say, 90% of my current posts are outside the football forums nowadays. Hence I never get nominated anymore. That is just your point of view, which is clearly not what the majority thinks, hence we always win the award! You and 7 more (according to you) believe those winning are not worth it. Sorry, but no one will fucking care, because there are many more who think otherwise. And since this is a democracy, what the bigger percentage of the active members think will have the final decision, whether you like it or not...