The Big Drog

Alonso and Pirlo probably are allowed to get forward more than Mikel but they are deep lying playmakers and I continously see Mikel mentioned as a deep lying playmaker on here. If you were going for direct comparisons then Busquets and Javi Martinez are two that play the Mikel role but both play is significantly better than he does. To me an out and out holding midfielder is a tackler, a ball winner and someone who then starts attacks ala Makelele, De Jong, Yaya Toure (when he plays there). As I've said Im not having a go at the shielding defensive midfielder position, when done well it is hugely effective (Busquets, Marcos Senna, Javi Martinez) I am saying though that Mikel isn't in the same league as those players and that is the problem.

Im not saying Romeu has, I am saying that Im amazed that a club our size has relied on Mikel as the main holding midfielder for such a long time and it is one of the great examples of the problems our club has encountered with the constant changes in management that no manager has had long enough to put their mark on the team long enough to buy a better holding midfielder than Mikel. That or they all have a hell of a lot more faith in Michael Essien's knees than they should.

I don't want to sound like Im making Mikel some kind of devil figure, he isn't. He has a good attitude, he does his best and he has made improvements in his game the last few years, however all of the tribute videos in the world wont change what we already know. We see Mikel play week in, week out, we know what kind of player he is and we know what standard of player he is. He is a decent squad option, handy if we ever have an injury crisis in midfield but he should not be the first choice holding midfield player for the reasons I've previously outlined in the thread and no amount of tribute videos will convince me otherwise.

Hmm some of my favourite players in the world : Busquets, Alonso, Pirlo. Those are 3 deep lying playmakers, the position Mikel plays, and those are 3 players who play the position a hell of a lot better than Mikel. Yes Ramires was running, that's what he does, he is a box to box midfielder, do you want a box to box midfielder that doesn't run because that would defeat the purpose. I am fully aware of Mikel's position, what his role in the side is and what the requirements of that position are, what I question is his execution of those requirements. Im sorry but in any of my close to 300 posts on this forum can you quote a single one where I say I only like players are "flailing, doing fancy skill, scoring" because I would truly love to see such a quote. If on the otherhand you don't have such a quote (perhaps because it doesn't exist) then Id like you to stop making such assumptions about me. A shielding midfield player is important in a team, particularly a team that plays with attacking full backs, Barcelona and Real Madrid (the two greatest club sides in the world) play with a deep lying playmaker as do reigning European and World Champions Spain, I am not questioning the usefulness of the position what I am saying is that Mikel isn't Sergio Busquets, he isn't Xabi Alonso and he isn't Andrea Pirlo. For a club as big as we are and with the aspirations we have I think we can do better than Mikel, not that we should scrap the deep lying playmaker idea, rather we require a better deep lying playmaker.

I'm not a fan of Mikel in the DM role. Too many times midfielders find their way into our box without Mikel tracking them, too many times he looks slow and lumbering in midfield, too many times he slows down our play when he is on the ball, too many times games just pass him by ala Michael Carrick. imo he is a poor replacement for the man who used to play in holding midfield for us, Claude Makelele, and I also think Essien is far better in that position than Mikel also. Id much rather see Romeu given starts in the Premier League than Mikel.

I literally haven't got a clue how anything you said relates to my comment. I talked about the ability of Ramires and Mikel and fleetingly mentioned that Ramires, Lampard and Mata were our 3 best players against Blackburn. At no stage did I say we didn;t boss possession, move the ball around, create chances at the pace we chose or say Blackburn threatened anymore than a few counter attacks, meaning Im assuming that you simply quoted the wrong post or failed to actually read my post.

Anyone but Anelka, I like Anelka but his penalties are the shits.

I've been away for the forum for a while, have I missed something? last time I checked Ramires has easily been our best midfielder thus far this season and had a very good debut season for Chelsea. He is an excellent box to box midfielder, offers a lot going forward and defensively. Is he a creative force? No. But he runs and his running actually does create chances and he is very important in terms of our defensive setup. Personally I thought him and Lampard and Mata were easily our 3 best players yesterday. On the other hand, Mikel once again was distinctly average, I dont really understand what it is that he does. Don't get me wrong, I understand the idea of a passive holding midfielder, as in not someone in the Makele/De Jong mould who will tackle but a player who slots into the defence when required, who shields the back four, who tries to start the attacks from deep, eg. Busquets, I understand the role but the problem is Mikel doesn't do it very well.

The problem with Sturridge as the striker is that it means Malouda or Anelka have to start on one of the wings and both are wildly inconsistent.

That's thinking way too far outside the box.

I wonder if instead of Torres it will be Anelka through the middle with Sturridge and Malouda either side of him. Personally Id rather Torres starts with Sturridge and Anelka either side.

David Luiz is terrific, absolutely terrific. Give me one David Luiz over all of the generic English centre backs you can think of. He has been a fantastic addition to the side and he has so many things going for him. I have never seen a better one on one defender in my life, he is a very high calibre athlete, his pace and aggressive pressing style are essential in AVB's high line defence, when he does play on the cover he has a terrific reading of the game and technically he is as good as any centre back around, the option of Luiz striding out of the back four with the ball is a handy one to have. He is almost a mix of Lucio and Carvalho, we should be delighted we have such a quality player at our club.

The media treatment of Terry has been shocking, its been "lock him up and throw away the keys" type stuff. Despite admitting that he didn't even hear it, Anton has strong feelings, how is that even possible? Its incredible how the Evra and Suarez incident has been completely swept under the carpet even though Evra actually outright heard what Suarez said and has actually blatantly said in the media that he made a racist remark yet there is next to nothing being said about the two players that play for the beloved northern clubs. Pathetic.

As good as Hazard is and as wonderful as Im sure he would be playing on the wing for Chelsea, our first priority should be a creative central midfield player, realistically that isn't Mata's proper position.

Ye Drogba is probably the right choice to start against Genk because of his suspension. I'd like to see this Cech Bosingwa, Luiz, Ivanovic, Cole Ramires, Romeu, McEachran Sturridge, Drogba, Mata Though by the same token I don't expect Josh to start or Mata to start.

I decided to download Google Chrome and the site is now working perfectly again so you can expect me back posting on a regular basis.

Pathetic, painfully pathetic. We were very good first half, we could have gone 2-0 up but Sturridge squandered the chance and then we let a lead slip when we shouldn't have. When we scored before half time that should have been the game but what followed in the second half was the worst display of defending I've seen from a Chelsea team since Roman's takeover. It was dismal in every sense of the word. Why we are playing a high line against Arsenal? We beat Arsenal by playing deep, soaking up pressure and hitting them on the break, we beat Arsenal by limiting the amount of space their attacking players have to run in to. Obviously AVB thinks we are good enough to outscore any team and in fairness we did score 3 but we aren't at the level yet to play an open game like that against Arsenal, that isn;t how we beat them. Yes the high line shouldn;t have been used but then thats the way AVB plays and we knew that and in his defence he can't account for shocking individual errors. Petr Cech being beaten at the near post 3 times! Cole stupidly fouling Walcott when there was no need to (the ball was going out of play for a thrown in to us) and then 4 of our players allowing Walcott to skip through even then he actually fell at one stage and Florent Malouda's lack of ability to pass the ball 10 yards. AVB's high line also didn;t account for poor performances, Sturridge was dreadful, Mikel is like the defensive midfielding opposite of Claude Makelele, whereas Makelele tracked runners and got about the pitch and tackled, Mikel finds new and interesting ways to avoid tracking any runners into the box. Torres didn't have a kick because nobody could find him and Ivanovic should not be a regular starting centre back, he is good but not great. Unfortunately AVB can't account for that. There were some good performances though, Juan Mata was excellent, Frank Lampard was excellent, Terry did everything in his power to keep a faltering defence together. Also maybe we should accept that the days of Mourinho, of the Makelele/Carvalho/Terry triangle are over. We wanted a more attacking expansive style and we have got it and I support it and AVB but for us to reach the highest level using that approach the quality of players needs to improve. Absolutely under Mourinho, with Claude Makelele, with Ricardo Carvalho we never would have conceded 5 today but by the same token you could argue we probably wouldn't have scored 3 either.

The exact performance that was required. It was controlled, it was measured and when we had to we were able to be expansive too. Last season we saw it so many times, games where we would have lots of possession, knock it around slowly but look entirely blunt in an attacking sense and either end up with a draw or getting picked off on the counter and losing the game. While we had lots of possession of the ball today and we moved it quite slowly, the huge difference under AVB is that we are able to speed it up when we need to and in Mata and Sturridge we have two explosive, creative players that we didn't have last season. You couldn't say any of our players played poorly, everyone did well. The standouts were Bosingwa, Mikel, Ramires and Sturridge. But my choice for MOTM is an easy one, Juan Mata. Sublime, the difference on the day between the two days, it was a stunning performance. The pass to Cole for the first was world class by any standard, the assist for the second was hugely impressive, to control the pass that had been a bit overhit by Drogba and play it into a dangerous area knowing the energetic Ramires is bursting into the box, it was a performance that was class, pure class. Juan Mata has fast become the star of this Chelsea team. Also I did lol at Sturridge's nickname for Mata, Juanny Cash. Vital 3 points, we are now only 1 point off Man Utd, we are going about our work quietly but we are very much making ground on the two Manchester clubs and looking impressive in the process, AVB's Chelsea continue to show their title credentials.

I think it will look like this. Cech Bosingwa, Luiz, Terry, Cole Ramires, Romeu, Lampard Anelka, Torres, Mata Obviously the surprise inclusion in that would be Romeu in midfield but I think AVB might gamble on him, if not then Id say it will be Meireles in that hplding midfield role.

Lads what non Premier League games do we have during this period of this suspension? Hopefully its a couple because he is just starting to get back to form, he was excellent before the sedong off, classic Torres goal and a wonderful pass to Ashley Cole in the build up to the second.

How good is David Luiz? I wouldn't choose a single other player on the planet to play at the heart of the Chelsea defence ahead of him. I honestly think its simply a case of some people just dont appreciate his style of defending, to some people a centre back should be purely a stopper in the mould of a Vidic or Terry. To appreciate David Luiz you really have to appreciate what it is that he brings to a team. He has fantastic anticipation, the amount of times he wins the ball high up the pitch is incredible, I dont think I've ever seen a better one on one defender, he is so quick and thats really important to have in this high line defence, when he does play on the cover he is very adept at it, he is a great option to have coming out of defence with the ball and has a wonderful passing range. The guy is quality, a real high quality centre back who isn;t you typical dime a dozen English centre back, he is a lot more than that and personally Im always excited when I see his name on the team sheet, imo he is a world class talent.

young players getting a chance, winning a penalty shootout, Kalouda scoring from the spot, will wonders ever cease. Well done to the lads, very difficult to play so much of the game with only 10 men, defended very well to get into penalties and even had the chances to win it during the game. Hopefully the injuries to Sturridge and Cech aren't serious. Shame McEachran had to be sacrificed to Alex's stupidity because he was playing very well. Despite their penalty heroics, Kalouda are so bloody frustrating, it seems difficult to comprehend how they pick the wrong option for the final ball so many times. Lukaku did well up front on his own, put in a real shift and looked dangerous. Romeu was superb in midfield, he seems to be much more mobile than Mikel, has a fantastic passing range and was always looking to get the team on the front foot (with some David Luiz style interceptions), very impressed with him. My pick for MOTM though is David Luiz, ahead of Romeu by a narrow margain. People sometimes question Luiz, they say he is rash, tonight he was flawless at the heart of the Chelsea defence, his decision making was spot on, he covered well and one on one there are few finer defenders on the planet, going forward he is such a great option to have too, the fans love him and his penalty was brilliant, fantastic performance from Luiz tonight which hopefully warrants him starting against Swansea.

I think this is a good chance for AVB to try some different things and to get confidence back up amongst the players. Id like to see Cech Bosingwa, Alex, Luiz, Bertrand Romeu, Mikel Sturridge, McEachran, Malouda Lukaku Id definitely like to see the 4-2-3-1 shape we used in the second half of the Man Utd game again, maybe a few minutes for Torres too.

I don't cry often about football (Terry in Moscow and Champions League semi final second leg against Barca being the exceptions) but I was bloody close today when Torres missed it. He doesn't deserve it, he doesn't deserve the media hate campaign against him, he doesn't deserve the dissension he causes among Chelsea fans, he doesn't deserve the rotten luck. Today we saw Fernando Torres, not the broken down and battered Torres, not the disiniterested Torres that has a tendancy to shrug his shoulders, not the ineffective to the point of invisible Torres, no, today we saw Fernando Torres, Euro 2008 hero, one of the truly great talents in world football, one of the finest strikers to have graced European football in the last decade. Everything he did exuded class, the little lay offs, the neat 1-2's, the breathtaking off the ball movement and the most sublime of finishes, finally Fernando Torres took the mantle as Chelsea's great player. But heartbreakingly all we will hear about is the miss. Realistically at 3-1 with around 10 minutes to go it was improbably that we would have scored an equaliser anyway but that wont matter to the media, it will be Torres who lost us the game, not 2 poor decision from the linesman and not some shoddy defending for the 3rd, no all of that will be disregarded because Torres missed, there will be scarce mention of his goal or his superb run to set up Ramires (which imo was a bigger miss at 1-0 in the first half) no, as usual it will be Fernando Torres who has caused the downfall of Chelsea. I hope today's performance (miss aside) will bring confidence back to his game, imo he was our best player by a long way. The key now will be his reaction in the next game, if he plays with the same attitude and carries a bit of confidence out of this with him then maybe it will all have been worth it, if we as a team can keep playing in that manner then it will only help Torres.

Id like Cech Bosingwa, Luiz, Terry, Cole Ramires, Meireles, Lampard Sturridge, Torres, Mata I think that team is good enough to come away from OT with something.