Corner

I agree with the switch to 4-3-3. Everyone knows 4-2-3-1 is a counter-attacking formation, and that's good and all but only when you have players like to play on the counter. What we have right nows is a bunch of midfielders that play much better when in possession. 4-3-3 is the way forward for Chelsea if we're going to persist with possession football, in my opinion.

If we're going to sign another attacking midfielder, I would prefer Isco as he would cost only €17M.

He been involved in more goals than any other playmaker in the league this season, and has been the most consistent. David Silva and Santi Cazorla aren't exactly going to be players that can battle physically with Premier League defenders.

Calm down mate. Incessant pessimism isn't going to get us anywhere. There are so many issues with our team right now that are affecting many things. I actually think we're doing pretty well considering everything that has happened this season. If it's not easy for the fans, can you imagine how difficult is must be for some of the players?

True, but we did have Oscar, Mata, Hazard and Lampard all on the pitch at the same time. EDIT: And David Luiz, of course.

I can understand where both of you are coming from, and I agree with you Toronto when you say Luiz has to be more cautious with his forward runs. I do believe that managers are instructing Luiz to bring the ball out of defence. He has the technical ability and vision to do so which is why it makes sense for him to do it, and it's also why I believe he is being instructed to do so. It makes us less predictable when on the attack too. But like you said, he HAS to be more cautious. It's his decision making that can be questionable at times, and that's putting it generously. He has the technical ability to bring the ball out of defence and try to find a killer pass, but he needs to know when and when not to do this. That's where he goes wrong a lot of the time. And sometimes he bring the ball upfield, and tries a little dink when a through ball was on. If you watch Barcelona play for 90 minutes, you will see Pique bomb forward up the pitch, sometimes from his own box to well within the opposition's half. He will look for a killer pass or it can be used to just get the team up the field and build the attack from there. But Barcelona are so comfortable in possession that the whole team changes shape to cover for him. Sometimes you will see Busquets cover for him, but a lot of the time Barca will change formation completely. Another thing is that Pique's decision making is a lot better than Luiz's. I think most of the blame can go to Luiz for when we concede a goal as a result of him bombing forward. But there are other reasons. Chelsea are not Barcelona, let's face it. Our players haven't been at the club since they were 10 years old, they haven't been playing with each other for the last 15 years and they haven't been playing the same style of football with each other for the last 15 years. A great point that you touched on was how the responsibilities of defenders differ between leagues. Luiz is the perfect defender for Barcelona or most other La Liga teams (I actually expect Barcelona to come knocking on our door for Luiz when Puyol starts mentioning retirement). What annoys me is when people say 'Luiz would only be good in La Liga', suggesting that defending in the Premier League is much more difficult than in La Liga. Can you imagine Cahill, Terry, Ferdinand, Vidic or Lescott playing in La Liga? They would probably do a good job of it and learn to adapt, just like Luiz has done here. But they would have a lot of problems, just like Luiz here. Basically, unless Chelsea are planning on completely revamping our defence and buying defenders who are a lot more comfortable on the ball and understand possession football much more, then Luiz we are going to continue to concede goals from time to time because of Luiz's forward runs and his questionable decision making. The Chelsea board baffle me sometimes. A lot of people saw this coming: they bought a lot of tiny midfielders comfortable on the ball, and completely failed to consider how the defence would deal with this new style of play. If Guardiola does come here, I can't imagine him playing Ivanovic and Cahill much and I'd expect to see them sold and replaced (assuming Guardiola would persist with possession football). I can't imagine him selling Terry however. Ignoring the obvious reasons why Terry, a Chelsea legend, shouldn't be sold... I could see Guardiola using Terry in a 'Puyol role.' Puyol has no pace but has a lot of intelligence and great anticipation on the field, just like Terry. His ability to anticipate situations is unbelievable, I've never seen anything like it.

When I saw the draw today, that was my first thought.

He still has a few years left on his contract, and that contract has a release fee clause of €60M. It can't go up unless he signs a new contract. EDIT: Nevermind. Just saw you were talking about wages.

I don't believe we will try to buy Coentrao in January, but don't you think calling him a shit defender is bit too far? He's a great defender, a team as big as Real Madrid would not regularly play a left-back who is shit at defending. I think this is some misconception that a lot of people have about Spanish/Portuguese full-backs. They may be great going forward, but that does not mean they are shit at defending. To be honest, if we're going to persist with possession football then I would glady have a left-back like Coentrao. Right now half of our team is comfortable in possession but the defence are not, which results in a lot of lobbed balls up to Torres and us losing possession. The only defender that we have that are comfortable in possession is David Luiz, and maybe Azpilicueta.

I doubt that has even crossed Pep's or Barca's mind, I'm sure they're both just worried about Tito's health. Jordi Roura, Barca assistant manager, is in charge until Tito recovers.

Hopefully. Too much pessimism can be very tiring.

I think he is expected to make a full recovery, so I doubt it. In the meantime Jordi Roura, the assistant manager, is going to take charge.

Ah, my apologies!

It's my honest opinion though. It's David Luiz, he is always going to cause contrasting opinions between people. Similar to Mikel in that way.

Taking Mata out of the No.10 position to accommodate Fellaini, doesn't make much sense to me. Fellaini may be good, but he's not that good. I also don't think Mikel should be dropped for him either, that seems like madness to me. Especially after handing Mikel a five-year contract.

You watched him once and you're willing to recommend him?

Not everyone thinks he should be sold. I think he's one of the best CBs in the world right now to be honest. And let's says Guardiola does come next season, Luiz will flourish under him. He's the perfect type of CB for Guardiola. Hm, I've said Luiz is one of the best CBs in the world and mentioned Guardiola... all in the same post. (*prepares for the bashing to come*)

Luiz has been by far one of our players lately. Let's hope Barca don't come knocking on our door when Puyol starts to think of retirement in a few years. Hey! That's not fair to me! I have my rights!

Looks like your pre-match optimism paid off tonight mate.

Good point. But neither Lampard or Oscar are proper DMs so you can only put so much blame on them. I'm also not sure what Ivanovic was doing when Leeds were on the counter for their goal. He got caught ball watching and gave Becchio (spelling?) too much space. Ivanovic baffles me sometimes.

Cech Azpi-Ivan-Luiz-Bertrand Oscar-Saville-Lamps Moses-Torres-Marin I would have liked to see this.

Yep. Oh well, I wasn't exactly expecting Benitez to stray from using 4-2-3-1.

Fuck. Lampard and Oscar in the pivot.

Nothing makes me think that. I was just replying to when you said we don't need depth, that's all.

Yes, I know. I never said we shouldn't sign a striker. I just said that buying only a striker won't solve our problems.