The Big Drog

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.

Sorry guys for bumping up this thread and feel free to delete this comment , but BlueLion , this is the article I was trying to send.

Mate Ive tried that but no success either , I posted it on the " Matthew Harding Stand " part of the section. The title is " Chelsea's Youth " or something along those lines , its still on the main page. Check it out and tell me what you think.

Delighted Ashley is fit. Cech will be a miss but hopefully we dominate the ball enough so that they dont get too many opportunities to exploit that weakness. Personally I think that with Gerrard pushing up , chances are we will see Lucas on Lampard and thats where I think the base of us winning the game comes from. The main man must be Drogba. Carragher looks completely out of sorts thsi season and has struggled to contain Drogba in the past , Im expecting Drog to enter a top class performance. It would be nice of Joe Cole starts but I cant see that happening. Prediction : Chelsea 3 - 1 Liverpool

lmao when you watch the vid again , John and Bill have the sort of look of men trying to bring Dunphy in from the edge of self destruction , absolutely classic tv.

Other great memories include every time Liverpool play poorly , the panel rip them to shreds and spouth off claims of Rafa's negative football and how they lack guile and quality in their side , is it any wonder a lot of Liverpool fans dont like football on RTE ?