The Big Drog

Hey guys , Im far from a computer whizz so Im not even sure if this is possible but Im going to throw it out there. If possible , I think maybe a better homepage might help , the layout of the current one is a bit messy and maybe a revamped one would really spruce ( weird word to use ) up the forum. Other than that though , top class forum.

From two in a row to three in a row , the two teams that have dominated English football in recent times lock horns on Sunday. Chelsea have been the undisputed best side in the league so far. With key players firing and playing with a champion’s swagger , they have brushed aside almost every team that has stood in their way , the exceptions being Wigan and Villa. Man Utd on the other hand have thus far been under par and at times look rather lacklustre , however they have managed to pick up points and are only two points off Chelsea at the top of the table. In these type of games , the way these teams line up on Sunday should be quite interesting and will likely give an indication of each managers beliefs in what they can get out of the game. I expect Chelsea to line up like this Cech Ivanovic , Carvalho , Terry , A. Cole Essien Ballack , Lampard Deco Drogba , Anelka 　 Perhaps Joe Cole and Belletti are in with a shout of starting but with both playing the champions league mid week tie against Athletico , it would seem Ancelotti will favour Deco and Ivanovic respectively. The Man Utd line up is far tougher to predict. Playing at home , nobody expects Ancelotti to change his system or his personnel. Ferguson on the other hand has been known to tweak his side. Considering the magnitude of the game , taking into account that Man Utd are playing away from home and with the strenght of the Chelsea midfield in mind , I expect Man Utd to start like this. Van Der Sar O Shea , Brown , Evans , Evra Anderson , Fletcher , Carrick Valencia , Giggs Rooney 　 Of course that could change. Vidic could be fit , Scholes could start , Giggs might play in the centre , Rooney may play out left with Berbatov starting up front however that is unlikely. So if those are the teams , where are the weaknesses ? With Chelsea there is still some concern about defending set plays. Ivanovic at right back may be a weakness , as we have seen him exposed by speedy wingers before , Nani in the Community Shield being an example of that. Deco must get into the game , he simply cannot allow himself to be marked out of the it. Then there is the Achilles heel of the diamond formation. Man Utd will know they if they can keep the width on either wing then they will create chances , its absolutely pivotal that Lampard and Ballack chase O Shea and Evra up and down the line. Where do the fundamental flaws in the Man Utd side lay ? Their midfield has long been a problem , exposed by Barcelona and Liverpool in recent times. If Chelsea move the ball about quickly quickly and push high up on the Man Utd midfield when they’re in possession ( ala Lucas and Mastering ) that is a platform that Chelsea can build upon to win the game. A key weakness for Man Utd this season has been their central defence. With the out of sorts Rio Ferdinand likely to miss the game and the out of form Nemanja Vidic a doubt for the game , it could well be left up to Johnny Evans and Wes Brown to deal with the most dangerous strike force in the league , these are the same centre backs that conceded three at home against CSKA Moscow. A remarkable change has occurred this season , it is as if the universe has swallowed itself into a vortex and spat itself back out on the other side. The clouds of change have descended upon English football. For so long now the build up to these games centred around one man. Gone are the days of the pre match hype revolving around Cristiano Ronaldo , away with the days of arrogant Man Utd fans saying if Ronaldo starts to fire , Chelsea are done for. Welcome to a new era in the Premier League , greet the new best attacking force in the English game , long live the days where the hype around the game all falls on the shoulders of Didier Drogba. Whether Man Utd fans admit it or not , they know that if Drogba fires , Chelsea may well open up a 5 point lead at the top of the table. It’s a huge game , it’s the two sides that are likely to contest the Premier League this season , its two sides that have gone through substantial changes during the Summer. Its two sides who have something to prove on Sunday. Man Utd look to prove that they can win against the big boys sans Ronaldo and Chelsea look to prove their title credentials and there is no better way to do that than beating the champions. From a two point lead to a five point lead , victory over the champions may well put Chelsea in champions elect position.

That was Chelsea playing at like 60% of their powers. Even at that they have still done enough to qualify for the next stage of the champions league. Call me a bit biased , but there is no striker in the world better than Didier Drogba , the man is on fire , so far this season he has been thee outstanding player in the premier league. Was very impressed by Aguero also , Id love it if the rumours are true , though some people dont seem to be that impressed by him , he is a potentially world class striker and someone who can change a game in a second , him up top with Drogba would be simply lethal. Now onto Man Utd , with Drogba firing lets kick some ass !

Thanks Sam and Milan Cech for the call on Veetle , I downloaded the software and cant remember ever seeing a better stream. Great result , very good performance , 13 goals in 3 games with 0 conceded ? Not bad at all Id say. Loved the third goal , Id love to know just how fast it took for the ball to go from Ivanovic getting the ball away in our box to Deco putting it in at the other end , Id guess it couldnt be more than 13 seconds , stunning counter attacking football. Great cross from Cole for the 4th goal , Drogba just keeps on scoring !

Thanks Sam and Milan Cech for the call on Veetle , I downloaded the software and cant remember ever seeing a better stream. Great result , very good performance , 13 goals in 3 games with 0 conceded ? Not bad at all Id say. Loved the third goal , Id love to know just how fast it took for the ball to go from Ivanovic getting the ball away in our box to Deco putting it in at the other end , Id guess it couldnt be more than 13 seconds , stunning counter attacking football. Great cross from Cole for the 4th goal , Drogba just keeps on scoring !

Kick in the teeth that the match aint on tv. If anyone finds any good streams could you please post the links up here.

Opposition fans hate Drogba and that guy is clearly an opposition fan. There isnt a striker in the world I would rather over Drogba when he is in this sort of form. The big man has taken over the mantle as the best player in the premier league , he is destroying teams this season and he looks better than he has in quite some time in the Ancelotti diamond.

I never get the fat Lampard thing , the guy is one of the fittest players in the entire league , he never misses a game !

Briliant , comprehensive. There was so many things that were good and right about Chelsea today , Lampard and Ballacks performances being two of the key ones. Carvalho was excellent and did a great job after the stick he got this week in the media. Drogba anad Anelka were once again excellent up front , I dont theink there is a better attacking duo than these two in the premier league. Last and far from least was Joe Cole. He clearly gives soemthing extra to our attack , he gives pace , the ability to go past people and creativity. He was superb today and long may it continue.

Finally we have a player who can go past opposition players , its absolutely brilliant to see Joe Cole back. Good first half , well done to Carvalho , after all the criticism he got the past week he looks as solid as ever back there. Lampard looks good creating the attacks , Drogba get into the game more and more in the last 10-15 minutes. So far so good , hopefully we get the 2nd goal early in the second half and wrap up this game.

Delighted Joe Cole is starting. Please guys if you find any decent links could you please post them up here.

Ye this is one of the few times Id disagree with the panel. Ok , maybe they arent far off with their point on Deco , I dont think he would be the right man to start with against the really top clubs in Europe , however Ballack has completely won me over , I think he does a very good job in the diamond both with and without the ball. I also thought he was excellent last year against the slick passing of Barca which the panel said would be his downfall as he doesnt have the legs to keep up.

I think he brings a bit more power and authority into the diamond when he plays , I thought he played some clever passes tonight , he worked hard and was , for the most part , efficient on the ball. Granted maybe at times he could have gotten a bit more involved with some of the moves but overall I wouldnt have many faults against tonights performance. Deco played some sublime passes at times , but then he sort of drifted out of the game , so its a sort of half and half performance. I think he is a valuable member of the squad to have as you can bring him on as an impact sub or start him in certain games and he will produce , however I dont think he should be a starter , I think Joe Cole would be better in that role.

Just to add to that , I thought Ballack was excellent tonight , its pretty obvious that we seem to play better with him in our diamond than when he doesnt play. Frank was superb , the best player on the pitch. Great to see his name back on the scoresheet again.

After this disappointing loss to Villa , Id love to see us start either Joe Cole or Yuri Zhirkov to give them some first team match time against a good side and to give us something different to smile about.

My favourite player of all time , an absolute monster , the perfect modern striker. Fast , strong , an eye for goal , great touch and a powerful dribbler. Call me biased but at the moment I would not take another strker in the world game at the moment over the big Drog.

Thanks mate.

Thanks mate I cant see Ancelotti changing his sytem even when the Africans leave , though I think it will take some adjusting , in particular we wont have Drogba up front to terrorise defenders in a physical sense. With Di Santo returning from his loan I wouldnt be too surprised if he got a few run outs in the side , if not then I hope it will be Sturridge and not Kalou who plays up top with Anelka. I think Ballack or Matic or even Belletti can handle the holding role for a few weeks , when you look at the sides we are playing during the absense of the Africans , I cant imagine there being too many problems for the defenders or the holding midfield player.

Last Summer Carlo Ancelotti traded Milan for West London , he brought with him his legendary diamond formation which he had perfected at Milan , winning two champions league’s and a Serie A title. Chelsea had employed the 4-3-3 to great success since Mourinho dazzled the world with his arrival at Chelsea , what kind of impact would this change in system have of , what is essentially , the same group of players that have been at Chelsea for a number of years now. Critics and doomsday predictors had the knives out , comparing Ancelotti to Scolari. However the two men are nothing of the sort , neither is their approach to the game. With Scolari , style came first , the result came second. For Ancelotti , the result is the most important thing. The best way to describe Scolari’s system was one dimensional , he added attacking full backs to the Chelsea play which is something we had not seen under Mourinho , however the samba style he wanted to introduce simply was not possible with the group of players he had. This was all made worse when he dropped Didier Drogba and Joe Cole went down injured. The side never recovered from the loss against Liverpool. Fast forward a year and you have Carlo Ancelotti at the helm against Liverpool. Chelsea enter an excellent , professional performance , Ancelotti gets his tactics absolutely right and Drogba is the man who ends up shining. Its just all so different. A key difference from the 4-3-3 to the diamond system is that rather than using one striker up front ( often Drogba ) , the diamond means that both Drogba and Anelka play up front. Its quite a deadly duo , thus far this season they have directly linked up for 6 goals , an excellent return thus far when you consider that last season Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov only linked up for 2 goals for Man Utd. Anelka is a lethal finisher , he also adds pace to the Chelsea attack and he has the ability to lure defenders in and go past. Drogba is the best centre forward in the world , big , strong , powerful , fast and with an eye for goal , he is the perfect front man for Anelka and the Chelsea midfielders to play off. In his short term in charge , Guus Hiddink experimented with playing Anelka and Drogba together and it worked , however his method was slightly different as he played Anelka from the left with a free role to drift inside. Under the Anecelotti system Anelka is in the centre but is still allowed a freedom to float around Drogba. At the moment its arguably the most lethal striking partnership in the Premier League. One area of the diamond that has come under some criticism is the tip of the diamond. Frank Lampard was earmarked to play the “ Kaka “ role in the diamond when Ancelotti took over. However at this stage of the season , with only a single goal under his belt , doubts are beginning to rise. Ordinarily a 20 goal a season player , Lampard has really struggled for goals. To be fair to Frank , some of the criticism is unwarranted , he has played quite well in some games , most noticeably the 2-0 away victory against Fulham. Ancelotti has spotted problems though in this position too , as he has switched it around a bit , he has tried the likes of Deco and Malouda in the role to different degrees of success , while playing Lampard on either side of the diamond ( the majority of which has been on the left ). With Frank being such an important player to Chelsea for quite some time now , Ancelotti is right to be concerned about his lack of form at the moment , though Franks disciplined performance on the left of the diamond against Liverpool will likely lift his spirit on this situation somewhat. The position in the diamond that is up for grabs is on the left hand side. Malouda , Lampard and Deco have all played in this role at different stages of the season thus far. There is also new 18 million pound signing , Yuri Zhirkov , to take into account , his natural position in the diamond would be the left hand side of it. A huge benefit of the diamond is that by the very nature of the formation , its tight and thus a team mate is never too hard to find. I think this is a great help to Florent Malouda. Malouda has proven himself a reliable player in a defensive sense , as his two excellent performances against Barcelona last season prove. I always thought though that in the 4-3-3 system , where there was so much of a reliance on him to produce from the left wing , with him so high up the pitch , the pressure and the nature of the position was simply too much for him. In this diamond , with Ashley Cole supporting , Anelka drifting out from time to time to help him and Lampard close by , it really has benefited his game and as a result it has benefited Chelsea. A massive factor in the success of the diamond formation so far at Chelsea has been the return to form of Ricardo Carvalho , Deco and Michael Ballack. Ricardo Carvalho has been immense this season , playing like a man with a point to prove , Carvalho has arguably been the star of Chelsea’s season so far. The crown jewel of these performances came last week when he marked a red hot Fernando Torres out of the game last week at Stamford Bridge. Suck class and certainty really does aid the entire Ancelotti system as it gives the wing backs confidence to get forward as they know they have two genuinely world class centre backs holding down the fort at the back. I must say I have been a critic of Deco and Ballack in the past , however credit to both men , rather than treating Chelsea like a retirement home with big benefits , these two have shone in the diamond system so far , in particular Michael Ballack who’s physical presence and intelligent football brain have been a big asset to Chelsea. His absence in the 3-1 loss to Wigan was noticeable. Phil Scolari’s main concern was beautiful football rather than results. Carlo Ancelotti has delivered some beautiful football this season , in particular in the games against Sunderland , Fulham and Spurs. What Ancelotti has delivered that Scolari could not was results , he has managed to grind out results , most significantly against the side who started Scolari’s downfall , Liverpool. Apart from the freak loss to Wigan ( which Ancelotti seems to have addressed ) , everything looks good , green and rosy in the Stamford Bridge garden. With players the quality of Joe Cole , Alex and Yuri Zhirkov yet to start in the premier league this season , with two quality holding players to choose from in the form of Michael Essien and John Obi Mikel , and with players really hitting their stride this early in the season , full credit must go to the Italian tactician who has revitalised a football superpower named Chelsea.

The mere presence of Didier Drogba's name on a team sheet seems to scare Arsenal stiff. Man Utd have had defensive problems this season as neither Ferdinand or Vidic look anything like the players they were last year , they also still have the central midfield problem. I think Man City will be the toughest test in head to head games. Good defence , good midfield and in Adebayor they have an incredible match winner. The two games against them should be crackers.

Anyone want to play the Drogba vs Torres game ? lol Didier Drogba you legend ! Carvalho world class , Terry world class , Essien top class , Hilario did very well with everything asked of him , Anelka did well , Ballack did wel. Well done Chelsea , top of the freakin table !

Thats a good point and I think Ballack has done really well in the diamond system , however I just think that with Insua's faults that I think can be exposed , I think the pace and skill of Joe Cole would be more likely to do it than Ballack , however if Ballack does start I wotn be complaining , it sgood to have him back in contention.

Thanks you so much mate , I'll keep chipping in with articles for the site man.

I can see us starting like this. Hilario Bosingwa , Carvalho , Terry , Cole Essien Ballack , Malouda Lampard Drogba , Anelka In a perfect world though I would rather see Joe Cole start in place of Michael Ballack , against Insua ( who thus far has looked out of sorts in a starting role at Liverpool ) I think he and Bosingwa could have some real joy down that flank.

I cant believe that some people are already doubting Ancelotti. Simply put , if you cant get behind Carlo Ancelotti then chances are you will never get behind any manager we ever have again. Ancelotti has been there and done it as a player and he has been there and done it as a coach of one of the greatest AC Milan sides of all time. The man is one of the greatest managers in the world game , tactically superb with an eye for talent and very intelligent and apparently quite a nice guy too. Obviously it will take time for him to fully put his stamp on the side but I am more than happy with the season thus far under him and I do think that Ancelotti could be our manager for 5 , 6 , 7 or even however long he wants to be , thats how good a coach he is.