kellzfresh

Finally that's an offer with a statement of intent. If this is true, I now have confidence that we could get Koulibaly

I'm not complaining about his passing like that, what bugs me is with all his speed and technique, he finds it hard to beat his man easily. And he has anelka moments where he slows down the speed of our game and passes back to ivanovic. I think we should try him in a 3 man midfield, instead of being on the wing, at least his ability to protect the ball under pressure will help us in possession. Because wingers should be more daring and attempt to dribble past his marker or be able to put in good crosses and for all willian's speed and technique he does none of the above. Maybe if he was on the left wing he'll be able to cut in and shoot with his right more. But he's the least of our problems for now. When we fix our defense, we can look into this matter.

Remember when we signed costa and fabregas and even if we were conceding goals, we were attacking with a high line, scoring for fun and winning with good football. Then suddenly costa had some injury/suspension/form issues and the goals dried up. We started drawing games, losing some (5-3 to tottenham), the goals we were conceding became costly and mancity eventually caught up with us. Mourinho then tailored our tactics to accommodate for the loss of form for our attackers since the defence could not do without conceding. They needed protection, they needed the bus back so we gave it to the defence and lost our attacking play till this day. This season the defenders are slower, older, and still can't mark one on one's or play a high line without getting burned(since AVB). Everyone in the EPL has money to buy attacking players, so we will face more dangerous attacking teams than before and we will concede. If our goals scored cannot makeup for the goals conceded at the back, Conte will tailor our tactics to accommodate the flaw at the back. He said it himself, he tailors his tactics to how it best suits the team so I wouldn't be surprised to see any high pressing goalscoring tactics we have practiced this pre-season scrapped for a defensive 3-5-2 to accommodate the defence. Hopefully we get a fast, ballplaying defender good in one on one situations so that Conte won't have to tailor his attacking tactics to cope with the slowest back four among top teams in Europe.

Ok so their leftback is injured and they'll pull an ivanovic to accommodate having five center-backs, I understand. I don't know how long the leftback will be out for that will require adding two new centerbacks. If they line up like this Jesus-Manolas-Vermalen-RB Fazio and Gyomber will be on the bench. Then Rudiger will be back in January on the bench too. I haven't seen their fullback options, but If they really don't have any other leftback then the situation of having six center-backs is not as bad as I first thought. But it'll still happen when Rudiger comes back in January.

We're scoring goals with his system, but what about the defence? Will this slow back four allow him to play the high line we saw in the first 20mins ?? Will they force him to make hazard defend and cover for their inability to defend one on one for themselves?? Very annoying the potential we could achieve but are held back

Our defenders don't know what to do in one on one situations except to back off. They want us to park the bus for them to shine. Matic is having an in between game. Willian is a mystery to me. I thought he's one of the fastest players in our team, he doesn't know how to use his speed to create chances or beat his man. We thought it was Mourinho restricting him but I'm beginning to think this is how he is normally. Hazard is now shooting more, I cried out for this so much Costa and Oscar are up for it... Kantelele beast on the pitch so far....

How have we survived with the slowest back four in football history.... Not one player can defend on his own one on one against an opponent. Damn it, it's frustrating me...... Breathe......Breathe.......

Maybe they will try to sell paredes instead. But I hope we make them lose Manolas instead. @FCBarcelona With the Club's permission, Thomas Vermaelen has travelled to Rome to undergo a medical with AS Roma #FCBLive 11:20 AM - 7 Aug 2016 If they get Vermaelen, they would have six center-backs (Manolas, Rüdiger, Juan Jesus, Fazio, Gyömber & Vermaelen) in the squad.

If they go out of champions League against Porto, they won't get the 30mil they expected to balance the books too. Something has to give, if we offer them something after they are knocked out, they could take it.

It's like we're not really serious about it at this point. We badly need a centerback who is good at defending in one on one situations. So far only Azpi and pre-injury zouma as defenders can defend in one on one situations in a whole Chelsea FC. It's a catastrophe, we need to prioritize a defender at all cost, and if Koulibaly is delaying and arsenal is competing for mustafi the chances of getting an instant improvement on someone comfortable on the ball with one on one defending is low. Hopefully we're trying behind the scenes because this defense will pull the whole team down if it's not addressed.

When he was with us I thought he criticized city for buying Bony, saying some teams respect the Ffp while others don't?? http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/chelsea/11350844/Jose-Mourinho-FFP-rules-are-different-for-Manchester-City-than-Chelsea.html

Ruben will be a huge potential in the future. I can trade Oscar for him without blinking. But I'm not sure our board will get a centerback if they get another player in another position. So I hope our next signing is a centerback who is good at defending in one on one situations. So far only Azpi and pre-injury zouma as defenders can defend in one on one situations in a whole Chelsea FC. It's a catastrophe, we need to prioritize a defender at all cost, and if Koulibaly is delaying and arsenal is competing for mustafi the chances of getting an instant improvement on someone comfortable on the ball with one on one tackling is looking slim

Roma just drew against Porto to qualify for the Champions League. I'm rooting for them to lose, so that they don't get champions League money. Then we could bid for Manolas since they'll be short on cash. Or I'm I just too cruel?

I just wonder why our board can't prioritize technically gifted players who are mobile. So damn annoying, all the top teams in the world get technical footballers in every position, I mean look at marcelo against us the other day. The greatest football teams nationally and club (Barcelona 09-12, Brazil 94-02, Spain 08-12) had the most technically gifted teams ever but we seem to think differently for some reason. Technique mixed with mobility should be the way we should go.

The RLC experiment so far

What a sight seeing a winger for Chelsea not named hazard beating his man constantly and not being shy about his own abilities. Hope Willian is watching

3-0 down while passing like babies isn't inspiring so far

He's too slow to react now unfortunately Why are all our players so bad at holding the ball under pressure. At the slightest pressing all Conte's training goes out the window because they can't even hold unto the ball or pass under pressure

Instead of us getting centerbacks we're playing around with managing a 37year old and cahill. See why kantes speed is necessary in the middle, these players in midfield we have are too slow to bypass pressing

In an ideal world, I'll want us to have kante and Verratti in the middle but it's not possible. We couldn't even get nainggolan who would have been very good too beside kante, but we have to make do with what we have for now. Unless we are willing to sell mikel and go for a more mobile matuidi who would be okay if he puts those performances which he delivered against us in the Champions League for 3 straight seasons now. But a ball playing centreback will ease the stress on the transition play by the midfield by passing from the defense directly to runners.

I found this summary of the match for those who couldn't watch the game. Good performance overall albeit poor transition: Defensive organisation This is probably the best I have seen Chelsea play defensively in a long time. In defence, we lined up in a 5-4-1 formation with one of the wingers joining the last defence line depending on the flow of attack. One of the center forward (Traore) dropping deep to join Fabregas and Matic. in midfield As already stated in the comment thread, this is very similar to Conte’s defensive setup at the Euros. Terry and Cahill look comfortable in this setup and very solid overall apart from a shocking Terry give away and pathetic attempt at slide tackle which led to Mane get away. Begovic was not really tested all match, I can only recall a fantastic save from Coutinho free kick. If we could limit the number of shots at our goal like this all season, I believe we can have a fantastic season. In midfield, Fabragas covered a lot of ground and won some tackles and always creative in possession with some notable quick switch of play to the wingers and Matic looks solid defensively but wasteful in possession. He needs to learn to keep it simple and moving fast. Ola Aina looks very solid all match even better than the very reliable Apzi, I can only remember one notable give away from him in 90 minutes. This could be our own Alaba clone. I think he will have a very significant role to play this season. In Attack, We lined up in Conte’s preferred 4-2-4 when in possession. I personally love this setup because we will always have enough bodies in the attacking third. Today in practice, our transition play was very poor, Matic was particularly wasteful in possession but solid defensively. Moses added the desired width but with the familiar poor end product. Willian very good taking on players but often deliver poor passes. RLC (Conte’s anointed striker) links well with Traore and the midfield, but lacks the killer instinct required for the role. Though Traore showed flashes of brilliance but he was limited by dropping deep to join the second line of defence. Mitshy came on shortly before Fabragas red, so he had limited opportunity on the ball. I believe our transition and attack play will improve with the likes of Hazard, Pedro and Kante coming into the team. Most especially, Kante’s quick passes and ability to drive forward from midfield will be immense for our transition. Conclusion I am excited with our defensive setup, each player seems to know what is required of him defensively, and the emphasized quick transition play will improve with time and personnel. Also I think Kante-Fabregas should be the way to go in most matches against low to mid table teams. However, Chalobah/Matic may be required to pair Kante in top matches. I am a Mikel fan, and also a Nigerian, but I think the time is right to let Mikel go and promote Chalobah. He looks ready to take Mikel’s role. Exciting season ahead for Chelsea. UP CHELSEA.

I think the defensive winger mainly drops deep when we are defending but stays higher when we are attacking. In this scenario, one of the two strikers can easily go wide to provide width on that flank where the defensive right winger is positioned to provide width in preparation for the counter. While the left winger tucks into the midfield, we would be difficult to breakdown and could easily spread passes to the striker who is positioned a little wider. Somewhat of 5-3-2 or 5-4-1 when Defending/Counter-attacking and 4-2-4 or 4-4-2 when in possession. The only problem becomes when our midfielder is giving away passes like matic today or we have no single defender who is comfortable on the ball to pass out to the wingers when they spread wide. We will be hard to beat against the big teams which is what we needed after an awful defensive performance last season but once a mobile striker like costa plays instead of RLC(who was not manking runs like costa does, which impedes counterattacking) we'll have runners up front to pass the ball to and counter at speed. The formation is a very fluid one, which changes based on defending or attacking and once everyone masters it, you'll like it. Besides Liverpool have played much more preseason matches than us and are fitter.

Give the midfield some more time to see if we'll be dominated as much in other matches especially with fabregas out of the midfield two. I liked Willian as the defensive winger so that Hazard can be higher up. But this formation is not used efficiently without good passers in midfield and defence, we missed so many counter-attacking opportunities.

Matic has been awful in passing. Whats up with him?