Our 'team'

[Kojo 4,676]

Okay i am sorry for any of my stupid comments lately, i am angry and i think we could agree it's understandable.

Now AVB, Grame Souness has just said it, that AVB hasn't got the players for the football he wants to play, but i think we all knew that. But lets have a look at the team...

Cech-Hasn't had the best of games in my opinion, but i don't blame him, because he must have lost some confidence with his defence at the moment, however i don't think he needs a change.

Ivanovic/Bosingwa-Ivanovic is a good defender and one we should keep definitely i have no problems about him, Bosingwa isn't as bad as people go on about, he's a good player, with good pace, and his crossing is fifty fifty, they can be great or terrible, but at least he adds something. My only concern with him is the fact he's stupid, i think he's very unintelligent, he runs offside a lot, not the best at marking or keeping onside, he has some games where he's good at jockeying but to inconsistent at it, he's a good tackler. But i think we need a replacement for him and get ourself a fresh new rightwing back and add a bit more option and a reliable option.

David Luiz/Alex-Alex is a brilliant defender when he's in form, this season he's been very bad, great in stoke game, good in blackburn game besides the exposure by Yakubu, however he's meant to be our strong defender and he's doing a mertesacker, acting like hes a yorkshire terrior, he got too easily pushed over by Shane Long, when he was chasing him on the ball, and the Yakubu thing was very poor when he was going to win the ball. As for David Luiz, forget about what people said in that game, i thought he was very good, i don't know what Neville was on about when he was stupid dribbling through them players, he had no options and could barely clear the ball. Still i thought he was solid.

Terry-For me i might get slated here but i think he's becoming a huge worry in our back 4, i don't think he's put a solid game in since the Bolton match, it could be that he's off form, because he's showing it with his terrible passing, but also his decision making has been awful. He's been going into tackles and not winning one of them, he made a vital interception just before Johnson scored that goal, but that's the only moment what impressed me.

Cole-Ashley Cole for me has always been overrated, i think he's a good player, but i've always seen him as overrated. And even now he has been pretty poor this season, his passing was good in todays game, but his defending has been quite worrying if you ask me, however he definitely needs a rest and we should start playing Bertrand more!.

Mikel/Romeu-Mikel is a good player, but i really don't know what to do with him... he's slowing our team down and it's evident, he maybe too safe but i think we have to take risks now, i take back what i said about Mikel's safety is for the best, because it isn't. He also lacks pace, i think Romeu should start playing because he has pace, unfortunately, Romeu is young and we should be careful with his developement. So yes i don't think Mikel will ever work in that 4-3-3 formation.

Ramires/Meireles-Good squad players, but neither are world class, could Ramires end up world class?, who knows, i think Ramires needs to play in a better team, i think that will help him get better and show signs.

Lampard-He's a legend, and please don't think i'm disrepsectful, but he's holding the team back, he had a good game yes, but we need a better player, we need more confidence, Lampard isn't consistent enough or good enough for us to be considered world class in midfield, perhaps if we got a world class DM with a lot of drive and vision Lampard could go back to making a lot of runs and his sneaky movement outside the box, but as for now Lampard needs to be replaced with a creative player.

Mata/Malouda-Malouda is deadwood, he needs to go, the sooner the better, we should replace him with a fresh new player, someone like De Bruyne, yes he had a decent game today but don't let it fool you, he is very inconsistent and he isn't back to his form. Good game or not i think he has to go. As for Mata, probably the only world class player in our squad, or who can be considered world class. I don't think i need to go on about Mata, we've all seen him.

Drogba/Torres-Torres, i don't know, i really don't. Will he play good if we get a better team?, or is he finished?. It's our gamble, as for now i don't want him playing anymore games till we get a better team, Drogba is a great technical player who comes and helps out, good work rate, really impressed today he came back and helped, glad he got chosen over Torres, but Drogba is another one who has to go, i would keep him, but i can't see him sitting on the bench and playing the odd game a season, he will want football elsewere, and it's understandable.

Anelka/Sturridge-This side is lacking options, i personally think we should buy a new player for this position, Anelka is a great squad player, i hope he stays, he's a good benchman and can offer a lot, Sturridge i really don't get, he's got a lot of determination but i don't think he can stick to that position, i think a new player is needed there.

Now what i think of it, we need to stop playing highline defending, and as Graeme Souness said, AVB should ask the players if he's asking them for too much, because i think he is. We should start over again and hold out till we can buy new players, i think we need two wingers, not starting wingers, a new fresh player like De Bruyne who offers options and pace and some magic in the game, and a very good rightwinger a starting one, i don't know who. A playmaker surely, in Lampards position, a DM might be needed if we are playing this new system, if Romeu can fit in it and play well, then fair enough. And i might get blasted here, but if were to play this new AVB's method, we need a new centre back in replacement for Terry, Terry will never be able to play in that formation, it wont work. I think we lack world class players, and because we've just left the same old squad for too long, we are going to have to rush developement and chemistry by having an overhaul, however it's going to have to be done, the sooner the better.

But this is my opinion of what's going on now and what we should do, please feel free to share your opinion.

[Madmax 9,219]

Terry and Cole are a big problem in defence for me. Cole can be excused a little because he's hardly had a minute off all season.

[warnie_666 1,081]

I saw some IDIOTS making comments that Chelsea aint a Big Club anymore.

Well......

FUCK OFF TO MANCHESTER CITY

[warnie_666 1,081]

Terry and Cole are a big problem in defence for me. Cole can be excused a little because he's hardly had a minute off all season.

Mikel is the problem. Not because he made the mistake but because with him in the side, passing is labored. He takes too many touches which slows the play down, allows the opposition to get into position, and like you saw it today, causes fuck ups. Without him in the side, there was alot more intent to go ahead.

[Kojo 4,676]

Terry and Cole are a big problem in defence for me. Cole can be excused a little because he's hardly had a minute off all season.

Bertrand has experience, i don't know why we arent playing him, AVB acts like we have no other left backs, playing cole for 90 minutes 2 times a week.

[Kojo 4,676]

Mikel is the problem. Not because he made the mistake but because with him in the side, passing is labored. He takes too many touches which slows the play down, allows the opposition to get into position, and like you saw it today, causes fuck ups. Without him in the side, there was alot more intent to go ahead.

I agree, i also think he's unfit for a 4-3-3 formation, i would play meireles there for now.

[francozola 2,040]

Agree about Terry. He was awful today.

Thought Drogs was really good today. Apologize for having doubts about his selection, and even though he's not the Drogba of old, he still made a good impact today. And of course we'll never know, but I think he did more today than Torres would have done had he started

Ideally Bertrand should have started getting games two seasons ago. Maybe 5 PL starts two seasons ago, and up to 10 starts last season. And definitely played in CL group stages, carling cup, etc.

At this point, it's a very complicated situation because you can't throw him in now because he has no experience at our "level" which isn't his fault, but Ashley has been very poor this season. So it's hard to resolve this situation

[laura90 556]

We don't have players who are able to perform style and type of a play that is asked from them. Who posses skill, tehnique and football brain required for succesfull attractive attacking football in the Premier League. That might seem like a little, but that's EVERYTHING.

Not as many as we need, anyway.

[LDN Blue 7,903]

Good analysis Sloth. I think you're right and reflecting what we've said before, we need wingers. It's not like we're not trying though. Hazard, De Bruyne, Mata <- All wingers. I'm sure this isn't the end of our chases for such players.

I saw some IDIOTS making comments that Chelsea aint a Big Club anymore.

Well......

FUCK OFF TO MANCHESTER CITY

Good, if we're not. Bring back our voice at Stamford Bridge, all I kept hearing today was the 'You'll Never Walk Alone' anthem.

[Kojo 4,676]

We don't have players who are able to perform style and type of a play that is asked from them. Who posses skill, tehnique and football brain required for succesfull attractive attacking football in the Premier League. That might seem like a little, but that's EVERYTHING.

Not as many as we need, anyway.

People may think i'm very selfish asking for all these players, but you need to be realistic, it's evident we need these new players. But it's also evident we should of had them seasons ago when we were building a team so we can still apply them to teh same 'chemistry' (jesus im overusing this world lately). I think a overhaul will have to happen, we can't keep going on liket his and expect us to win trophies and be title contenders.

[termninja 5,290]

Damn you Sloth, I was about to write an almost identical thread

Great analysis.

Some people need to understand that our main key players have been badly underperforming since the last season, and even when they did put a good performances, that was basically the performance they should've been putting from week to week.

Let's take a closer look at our squad and compare to other strong teams.

Malouda. Anelka. Kalou.

Would anyone of you pick those 3 out of the pool of players like Nani, Young, Aguero, Silva, Suarez, Di Maria, Villa, Nasri, Hazard, Neymar, Johnson, Sanchez, Gervinho.

I doubt it.

Torres. Drogba.

Both great players, but both struggle to find a lethal form that will carry our team throughout the season. The league's top goalscorer was Drogba when we won it. Arsenal are playing shite yet RVP is carrying them and lifting them up. He makes the whole team play well. City wouldn't be in CL this season if Tevez wasn't on fire last season. Ronaldo scored 40 goals in Primera, Messi score loads of them also. Look at Aguero and Dzeko, they are bombarding the opposition.

Don't give me that crap play for the squad and create, they are fucking strikers, and fucking strikers score fucking goals!

Imho we should get rid of them both and bring a younger on form striker like Cavanni.

Ramires. Mikel. Meireles.

Good players, but not key players like Lampard and Essien were in the past seasons. We need more reinforcement there.

Lampard. He's been doing well in the last couple of matches, but he's 33. We can't expect more from him.

Terry. Great captain and leader, but his performances haven't been impressive for some time now.

Our club seems like a car to me now. We have a good driver and great car components, but the car won't work if the engine is broken.

[Kojo 4,676]

Damn you Sloth, I was about to write an almost identical thread

Great analysis.

Some people need to understand that our main key players have been badly underperforming since the last season, and even when they did put a good performances, that was basically the performance they should've been putting from week to week.

Let's take a closer look at our squad and compare to other strong teams.

Malouda. Anelka. Kalou.

Would anyone of you pick those 3 out of the pool of players like Nani, Young, Aguero, Silva, Suarez, Di Maria, Villa, Nasri, Hazard, Neymar, Johnson, Sanchez, Gervinho.

I doubt it.

Torres. Drogba.

Both great players, but both struggle to find a lethal form that will carry our team throughout the season. The league's top goalscorer was Drogba when we won it. Arsenal are playing shite yet RVP is carrying them and lifting them up. He makes the whole team play well. City wouldn't be in CL this season if Tevez wasn't on fire last season. Ronaldo scored 40 goals in Primera, Messi score loads of them also. Look at Aguero and Dzeko, they are bombarding the opposition.

Don't give me that crap play for the squad and create, they are fucking strikers, and fucking strikers score fucking goals!

Imho we should get rid of them both and bring a younger on form striker like Cavanni.

Ramires. Mikel. Meireles.

Good players, but not key players like Lampard and Essien were in the past seasons. We need more reinforcement there.

Lampard. He's been doing well in the last couple of matches, but he's 33. We can't expect more from him.

Terry. Great captain and leader, but his performances haven't been impressive for some time now.

Our club seems like a car to me now. We have a good driver and great car components, but the car won't work if the engine is broken.

Brilliant post!, infact i wish you did create the thread instead of me, because that was a much better explanation. I agree we lack keyplayers, but we lack keyplayers that create, for example wingers and midfielders who create, we might just have the strikers, such as in Torres but i'm not sure. and of course if we are to play the new system John Terry must be replaced, he cannot play there. But yes brilliant post, i'm happy people have took a liking to my thread, i thought i would be getting slated for my words against the squad.

[Kez 2,727]

I think we're all ready to admit now that massive changes are needed. The Jose spine worked great when Jose was here but those players are getting on & are not the class they once were. Players like Drogba, Malouda, Anelka should be sold. Lamps should play a lesser role as should JT, they shouldn't get in the team because they are captain & vice captain. Terry's antics are always keeping us in the media spotlight in a negative way. The younger players are coming through but there's still too much deadwood in the squad. Tbh I'm looking forward to major changes in the team in the future. We need to go back to the team that had 2 world class players for every position. Younger players need to be given the chance when the older players are just not good enough anymore. We can't keep living on past glories, Jose has been & gone, time for AVB to make his own spine.

[Kojo 4,676]

I think we're all ready to admit now that massive changes are needed. The Jose spine worked great when Jose was here but those players are getting on & are not the class they once were. Players like Drogba, Malouda, Anelka should be sold. Lamps should play a lesser role as should JT, they shouldn't get in the team because they are captain & vice captain. Terry's antics are always keeping us in the media spotlight in a negative way. The younger players are coming through but there's still too much deadwood in the squad. Tbh I'm looking forward to major changes in the team in the future. We need to go back to the team that had 2 world class players for every position. Younger players need to be given the chance when the older players are just not good enough anymore. We can't keep living on past glories, Jose has been & gone, time for AVB to make his own spine.

We've got great additions coming in to replace players too, such as Nathaniel Chalobah for Terry might take a while but i think he can be a future Chelsea centre back, and McEachran for Lampard, McEachran is a different midfielder however.

[The Rising Sun 710]

Chelsea are slowly becoming a big club....we have been recently successful but i think you become a big club over generations...not 6-7 years....

However, 6-7 managers in as many years does not forecast any sort of stability required for a big club.

AVB is the biggest gamble our FC has made since Roman arrived, and the most risky.... because even if a player fails...the club moves on.... but if a manager fails...you;re back to square one with a new manager wanting new things and more unwanted players....

This gamble was bold, considering this is only now his 3rd season as manager. I Think it was rather stupid for a big club like us to gamble on such a young manager....

We could have let him develop and got him as our next manager....and even after more experience we would get him for less than 13 mill.

However, since we have taken this gamble....lets hope it turns out well....

Its like a father gifting his son , who has only started driving 3 days back,,,,a ferrari,

I hope AVB does not crash this ferrari.

[Melanicus 5,208]

I saw some IDIOTS making comments that Chelsea aint a Big Club anymore.

Well......

FUCK OFF TO MANCHESTER CITY

This!

[Tortilla9 390]

7 players from Jose's days started today. Think of the managers who have come and gone since Jose left to AVB today. Yet 7 players from Jose's days started today. Are they all that fantastic? Are the 7 who didn't that crap? 7!!!

[strong centreback 157]

Transition people, get used to it AVB is building something that could be great but he needs time to implement it, as defeatist as this sounds I see man city for the next two years doing what we done under jose for his first 2 years, smashing the league and leaving everyone in their wake, their squad is stupidly strong and mancini is a defensive coach who has a world class frontline in depth.

What we need to be doing is what man utd done, which is build and get to the bar that has been raised, AVB's football is more expansive and as such will leave us more open at the back, a few quality signings to strengthen our depth and we could be on the verge of something very good.

Our main problem is purely our main strikers are out of sorts, drogba is abit hit and miss currently and torres is still lacking quite abit from what we expect him to be able to do for us, kalou is kalou, anelka has a worse record in front of goal than drogba or torres in recent times. Our wingers in mata and sturridge are topdraw and good + getting better, kalou is kalou and malouda is malouda not much more to expand on that im afraid, we need better strength in depth for our attacking options, cast some of the tried tested and failing players for younger hungrier players.

Our line up for the top sector looks like this, or different variations of the below:

mata--------torres-------sturridge

malouda------drogba-------anelka/kalou

Now the first seems to be our strongest but needs a season to gel properly id say, and the second is the line up that wasnt scoring enough last season, so there in lies the problem we need next summer to have a shake up, you could even start it in january, AVB seems to be the first manager to have clocked kalou id expect him to be gone either january or the first week after the season finishes, anelka is off for definite, drogba id be surprised if he stayed to be honest, malouda may be kept on to keep the numbers up but he would only have one more year left and after that he will be gone too.

So with 3 out of our current 6 players potentially leaving (all out of contract as well dont forget) then that would allow us to say sign (from paper talk) de bruyne and hazard whilst pushing lukaku more in to the first team frame and potentially buying another striker if torres doesn't find his goal scoring form of old.

A year from now we will be clearer as to where the team is heading but for my money id say its on the right if bumpy track, have faith and be patient it might take 2-3 years to achieve but once it is achieved you will be glad it happened and the taste of victory will be sweeter.