New Season

[lecter 84]

This is my view of how the team should be built up for the next season.

First of all, the formation. I think we should be going with the 4-2-3-1 (the DM 2 should be a combination of an attack minded player and a specialist DM; for example: Mikel/Romeu and Lamps/Rami/Raul) or the 4-4-1-1 formation as has been pointed out by quite a few people.

The OUTS:

RB: Bosingwa, Ferreira

MF: Essien, Malouda, Benayoun

FW: Drogs (I am feeling sad even typing this! But this needs to be done for the good of either parties)

Now, regarding the squad already present. I, personally, feel that a strong squad is one with enough replacements for each position so that we don't wobble under circumstances similar to the recent ones in the CL.

The ones that are italicized are rare options that can be exercised in special circumstances. The bold ones are the ins that I desire/speculate and are feasible. The ones in the bracket are hopeful youth inductees.

GK (3): Not an issue until we have Big Pete with us.

CB (4): JT, Gary, Luiz, Brana (Bruma/Kalas)

RB (2): Brana, Cesar/Van der Wiel (Hutch)

LB (2): Ashley, Bertrand (PVA)

DM (4): Mikel, Romeu (age 20), Lamps, Meireles, Ramires (Conor Clifford, Chalobah (over optimistic!))

CAM/SS (3): Mata, Marin, Belhanda/Jovetic (McEachran, Piazon (over optimistic again!))

LW (2): KDB (age 20), Sturridge, Hazard/Muniain (Kakuta)

RW (2): Kalou, Marin, Ramires, Hulk (Lalkovic)

ST (3): Torres, Sturridge, Lukaku (age 19)

Its obvious that we need to strengthen (by buying AND trusting some of our youngsters) our wing play.

I'd be very happy if we buy the ones in bold. I would like to know more options in that particular position, if we lose out on those.

One interesting issue we might encounter is we are restricted to a squad of 25! And the homegrown players will also be a bother. If my scheme is okay, we'd have 7 HG, 16 foreign and 3 U21 players (excluding of course the youth inductees). We'll be fine as far as the PL is concerned. We can actually add an extra foreign player But CL demands 4 "locally trained players". Out of the 7 HG players, only JT qualifies for that. So, we might have to sacrifice one of the other 6 (considering we don;t fill in that foreign player slot; otherwise we might have to cut 2 players off of the remaining 6!) So, another important note for future is that we should be wary to keep prospective "homegrown" talent for at least 3 years in the club! Stupid UEFA! Always pro-Barcelona!

/rant-over

[Santiago. 1,500]

Next season's starting 11 will be difficult.

[Jusek 2,031]

Dat money... Get it done, Roman!

[NattyBlue 44]

It's time to rebuild right. We've been given a gift to play in the CL next season though. It's time for the next generation. We'll see more of Betrand too which is great news. I would love a midfield of Josh, Romeu and Ramires against lower ranked teams in the league.

[communicate 2,703]

But I still think Mata played better on wing, under AVB. He scored more goals and assists, also was key in almost every match, along Danny. Now, against Barca and Bayern, he played but was barely visible, except that cross to Drogba. After all he played as winger all time at Valencia.

But it could be he is tired or has not enough good wingers to support him.

The reason he played better under AVB is because AVB system is about bossing the game and possesion football which is what Mata good at.

Under RDM on the other hand, we played a very direct game. Cech -> drogba. So he is not involved in most of our play.

Btw he is much better playing in the center because mata is not really fast and it's so much easier for us to find him when he play central.

[Sheva. 5,373]

Now Drogba is leaving, we need to sign a new striker.

Falcao or Higuain for me.

[Jype 6,398]

Now Drogba is leaving, we need to sign a new striker.

Falcao or Higuain for me.

Higuain is like the complete opposite of Drogba. Always scores against the lesser teams and gets a shit load of goals to his name but rarely shows up for the big games.

Not saying it's a bad thing because our problem this season was that we couldn't score enough goals against the weaker sides which resulted in frustrating draws and losses but we'd need a big game striker too. If Drogba stays then Higuain would be perfect but otherwise no thanks and someone like Falcao would do better. And no,Torres is not the man for the big occasions if someone thought about suggesting him.

[Liquidator 5,176]

Anyone know the date in June when the fixtures are released?

I'll guess we will get Southampton away or Arsenal home the first day of the season. Now looking forward to a nice long rest from trips to Stamford Bridge and other parts of England over the Summer, sit back and enjoy the Euros and the Olympics and come back ready to destroy my throat again for the blues

[We Hate Scouse 10,286]

Anyone know the date in June when the fixtures are released?

I'll guess we will get Southampton away or Arsenal home the first day of the season. Now looking forward to a nice long rest from trips to Stamford Bridge and other parts of England over the Summer, sit back and enjoy the Euros and the Olympics and come back ready to destroy my throat again for the blues

http://www.premierle...ason-start.html

The 2012/13 Premier League season will kick off on Saturday the 18th August 2012. Fixtures will be announced around the middle of June, with the first set of television picks selected approximately 2-3 weeks later.

Seen one website saying 18th June at 9am they will be released.

[Sheva. 5,373]

Higuain is like the complete opposite of Drogba. Always scores against the lesser teams and gets a shit load of goals to his name but rarely shows up for the big games.

Not saying it's a bad thing because our problem this season was that we couldn't score enough goals against the weaker sides which resulted in frustrating draws and losses but we'd need a big game striker too. If Drogba stays then Higuain would be perfect but otherwise no thanks and someone like Falcao would do better. And no,Torres is not the man for the big occasions if someone thought about suggesting him.

Falcao is my preferred option, but just in case we can't get him, i would not mind Higuain - he scores goals.

[Blue-in-me-Veins 4,067]

Man this new season will really test everybody's patience! Haha it suck being that we pretty much will have to gain "experience". Soon will be gone the days where our experience won us games, but hey that'll take time. I really wish mourinho was run out of real Madrid because I wouldn't mind him leading the way of building new guard of players. JT lamps Cech Cole I feel kinda sad honestly being what happened wit DDA today that they all must leave eventually. If this new type of football which by the way is totally of no need, scares me! What if we become an arsenal? Great football but a lack of leadership, and costly individual mistakes and leaky defense? I know being really skeptical but it is a chance eh? Though when I look at city they play semi attractive but being that they have Italian minded coach kind of evens it out and gets me hopefull though that it can work this sexy football. I love the grit of our current team for they keep themselves in it game in game out. And it will be truly missed.

This new squad (predicting) of hulk Marin Mata Studge Torres new cm mikel Luiz Cahill Bertrand azilputea will all need to go through those stages of winning losing at last second, being able to grind out results, changing manager mid season and so on and so forth will all need to be repeated as they gain experience.

I know most of oldguard is still here and that I left out some key older players in predicted squad but in future they will be leading the charge and it's my fear that they we may have lots of heartache before they replicate this past generation of players. Not that they have to be perfect For this ain't no video game but gets me thinking and maybe suggests that we MAY JUST MAY have to go through this all over again before we experience the glowing joy and sheer happiness we felt on MAY 19.

[KonohasOrangeFlash 2,607]

If we get a big name striker such as Falcao or Cavani than that's the end of Torres. He's not going to stick around and hopefully we realise if he's not the main man it will never work. Falcao is the perfect replacement for Drogba. He can make goals himself and make them out of nothing.

[BleedsBlue 1,549]

Okay,I am in the mood for writing a long post so here goes.

2012/13 will be a season of new opportunities as we will be in contention for 7 trophies.This means yet again we will be playing many games(that is if we go through the later stages of the competition) but nevertheless there is scope for experimenting.Importantly,the youth players will get their chances unless some new manager comes in and decides to go crazy in the transfer window.The greatest advantage of keeping RDM as our manager is that I'll know that the man will give the youth prospects major opportunities and will show some faith in them.RDM may not be experienced as other potential managerial candidates for this job but the man has the common sense to know the low self-esteem of youth prospects at Chelsea.

Being a player himself,he knows what they go through and how difficult it is to feature in the first team squad.He could have easily dropped Turnbull after the Liverpool game for his howler mistakes but he didn't.

He still played him against Blackburn and kept his faith in him.He knows that every player is human and mistakes will be made,especially from the young talents.RDM has managed to balance the right mixture of experience and youth at Chelsea.He knows the importance of both and is not afraid to experiment.Bertrand playing LW was one of his experiment and look how that turned out.

We all crave for managerial longevity at this club and I think we've finally found the man for the job.Although I'll be naive to think that he'll stay here for 20 years as Roman is just an unpredictable man but still if I'd want anyone manager to be here for that long.it'll definitely be RDM.

Now about new signings.We've already signed Marin and KDB,two young potential world class wingers.Rumored to be strongly linked with Hazard and Hulk who both already are world class wingers and are in contention of signing a lethal striker,maybe perhaps Falcao or Cavani.Who knows,its too early to tell.According to me.we just need to buy 2 more players.One has to be a right back and another needs to be an attacking midfielder.We have plenty of wingers in the squad, with Ramires and Bertrand being two great versatile players.I am not sure about signing another center forward,we already have Drogba,Torres,Danny and Lukaku as well as other youth players.Lukaku will be going out on loan next season while either Torres or Drogba will be leaving in the summer.so that leaves us with Danny and Torres/Drogba for the major candidates for the lone center forward role.I personally think Danny will be an instant success as our center forward.Having scored close to 20 goals this season playing as a winger,I can really expect him to flourish for us.He's not afraid to take the odd shots and is more than confident to try his own things and chances.Bringing in a striker will just ruin his chances of succeeding here and may possibly end his Chelsea career.

Essien,Malouda,Paulo must all leave in the summer.They have served well for the last few years but they are just surplus to requirements and their departure could help the youth prospects.I wouldn't mind if Kalou stayed because he is probably one of our best squad players but its up to him to decide whether he wants to stay or not.So,I'll leave that decision to him.

Overall I expect a great season,the idea of competing for 7 trophies is really exciting and I hope we manage to win them all!

[capriccioso 2,545]

Has the Premier League fixture list come out yet? How great would it be if we hosted Tottenham on the first matchday and decided to parade around Big Ears at half time?

[Kojo 4,676]

My line up, Hulk goes around and cuts in on his mahoosive left foot, but he also has a good right foot to square the ball in for Torres, or Mata coming in, or Marin. But i would like Marin on the touchline also, Marin has pace and very good dribbling so i would like him to be further wide.

Mata is the magic man, he is free roam he goes anywhere he wants, but i want him to have work rate and stay back at times of need, when we are getting pressured.

Tiote ball winning midfielder, Tiote goes up and wins the ball and makes tackles, he doesn't stay back all the time, he can shoot and alternativly can get into the game if allowed to by the beauty of Hulk.

Cabaye, well a player like Cabaye even i couldn't think of one so i just picked him, he stays back at all times!, Jao Moutinho would be perfect but he costs too much. He covers when Ivanovic goes up or Cole, even covers space for Tiote, but i want him over Ramires because Cabaye can pass a ball much better, a long range passer to get the ball into Hulk or Marin on the wider areas which is very useful. We need a player who has really good work rate and Cabaye has stamina and some pace to cover, he covers for Newcastle many times when i've watched him.

Ivanovic, i like when Ivanovic goes up he is like Richards can't get pushed off the ball and just barges his way in, he can even cross a ball now and then, and Cabaye can cover his runs whilest Tiote slips back and David Luiz gets his fair share going up also, but not as much in this case.

David Luiz, we know how exciting this player is, especially going forward, this player can go forward, whilest Ivanovic slots in centre back and Cabaye slots in right back, Or David Luiz runs on the wing as we know he can as him and Ivanovic trade positions now and then and the same rules apply either way.

And Torres, he will just be the goal scoring forward, simply that's it, we know what he will have to do, but he will also have to work hard and show some flair and technique on the ball rather than just sitting up, Mata has good movement so they can swap positions now and then, even Hulk comes in and Torres or Mata slot there, Triangles is very important for the front 4, it makes it less one dimensional and harder for the opposing teams to read us.

Now it's all about balancing, Tiote and Cabaye (or a player like him) will be the chemistry mainly, they are our workers, as i was saying Cabaye slots in but not just him, i prefer Tiote to go up and be the ballwinning, pretty much ballwinning attacker as you get on FM if anyones familir. But he needs to slot in aswell, it will be balanced but Cabaye stays back at all times and that's his role, he's the deep player who has technical abillity to pass a ball and has vision, that's what his game offers.

EDIT: also on a side note, ignore what it says on the icons on my line up picture, when it says MR, and AL and that, it doesn't mean they will be playing right midfield it's just what the stupid thing does when you put a player a bit out wide. Just ignore it, it means nothing in my line up at all.

[KonohasOrangeFlash 2,607]

There's still the chance of Hazard...No need for Tiote

[Styles 9,790]

Tiote? HAHAHAHAHAHA

He isn't fit to lace Mikel's boots.

[Kojo 4,676]

There's still the chance of Hazard...No need for Tiote

For my line up there is a need of Tiote, Mikel cannot do his job he lacks the pace, if it were my team i would sell him because he couldn't play in my system.