Pep's Arrival

[The Big Drog 1,110]

Not just Terry and Lampard but Ivanovic, Luiz and Cahill. None of them are really that quick.

Im not sure what spped has to do with it, Puyol and Busquets are hardly a threat to Usain Bolt.

[capriccioso 2,545]

Pep will adapt his philsophy to win ugly when needed. He's not an idiot, he knows the EPL is a different animal.

No, he won't. If he was incapable of changing the slightest at Barcelona and it brought him so much success, why would he bother with it here?

He's the classic ideologue. Wonderful in perhaps the business world or ethical involvements but stick him in politics or sport and he'll be out of favour faster than you can say "Leon Davidovich Trotsky".

[calculatingInfinity 1,472]

Typical Chelsea, casting longing glances elsewhere while we have a winner locked up inside the house.

Di Matteo has done incredible well and I praise him for it, but is he the right man to rebuild a Chelsea side? I have my doubts.

[capriccioso 2,545]

Im not sure what spped has to do with it, Puyol and Busquets are hardly a threat to Usain Bolt.

Surely a high line necessitates quick players. Ramires showed their weakness in pace (they may have stopped that goal had Puyol been about 5 years younger/Pique still been on the pitch). There are faster players than Ramires in the Premiership.

[KonohasOrangeFlash 2,607]

I don't see the so called 'sexy football' Pep plays. He had no Plan B when it mattered the most at Barca.

I'm just not confident about him succeeding here, which is why i don't want him.

That's because alot of Barca's players grow up with this attacking philosophy. They simply do not know a second way. Our players however do know how to play ugly. Lampard, Mikel, Meireles, Essien, Our backline, Ramires and even Mata to a lesser extent now how to get it done. We won't have the same problem as Barca, that is for sure.

[calculatingInfinity 1,472]

He's the classic ideologue. Wonderful in perhaps the business world or ethical involvements but stick him in politics or sport and he'll be out of favour faster than you can say "Leon Davidovich Trotsky".

That's a very premature statement. He hasn't managed anyone but barcelona yet, lets face it : Their tactic worked for the 3 first seasons and it's the style the whole club is based around. Of course they should have a plan b, but problem is they just haven't had the player for it this season, with Zlatan they did (and that showed he isn't completely Bielsa crazy and set in stones with his tactics) but we all know how that ended up...

[Fulham Broadway 17,333]

I don't see the so called 'sexy football' Pep plays. He had no Plan B when it mattered the most at Barca.

I'm just not confident about him succeeding here, which is why i don't want him.

100% agree.

[Madmax 9,219]

Di Matteo has done incredible well and I praise him for it, but is he the right man to rebuild a Chelsea side? I have my doubts.

As things stand, I'm hard pressed to see how Robbie is more of a gamble than Pep.

[Thor 2,722]

Surely a high line necessitates quick players. Ramires showed their weakness in pace (they may have stopped that goal had Puyol been about 5 years younger/Pique still been on the pitch). There are faster players than Ramires in the Premiership.

That is incorrect. There are no players faster than Ramires in the league. Kyle Walker is about equal, Sturridge too, and maybe Lennon.

[capriccioso 2,545]

59 guests viewing. WHS, where are you?

Winning ugly is extremely subjective. I for one thoroughly enjoyed the second leg in Barcelona, it was enthralling stuff; perhaps more heart racing than any other match we've played all season excluding Munich.

[Ollie 4,400]

Can you just imagine tho, Chelsea's defence and Barcelona's attack for the same team. Ok i'm getting waaaay ahead of myself but you gotta think about it We already have the beastly defence. Pep always gives the youngsters a chance too, always. Played some guy against us i'd barely even heard of. We need our youth promoted, especially Piazon. Pep would do wonders here i'm sure. I just hope that if he comes, Robbie and Eddie stay in some capacity.

[The Big Drog 1,110]

I don't see the so called 'sexy football' Pep plays. He had no Plan B when it mattered the most at Barca.

I'm just not confident about him succeeding here, which is why i don't want him.

Really? You missed the whole Barcelona domination thing? Cos the Barcelona team under Guardiola will go down as one of the greatest teams ever, not only because they won trophies (lots of them) but because of the brand of football they played, Guardiola created a style of football that revolutionised football, the way it is played and has set the standard for all clubs to match.

No plan B? Well they more than often didn't need a plan B, also they did sign Ibrahimovic but he didn't work out as well as Barcelona had hoped he would. Guardiola was smart enough to keep changing it up, to keep the players on their toes with fresh tactics, new ideas, if you watch their first year under Guardiola, you will see in the second year it has been slightly modified to that of the first, in the third year it has again been slightly modified to the second, ect.

Id love Guardiola at Chelsea, a football revolutionary with a beautiful football philosophy, a driven winner and, undoubtedly, one of, if not the very, best managers in the world.

[Sheva. 5,373]

That's because alot of Barca's players grow up with this attacking philosophy. They simply do not know a second way. Our players however do know how to play ugly. Lampard, Mikel, Meireles, Essien, Our backline, Ramires and even Mata to a lesser extent now how to get it done. We won't have the same problem as Barca, that is for sure.

Do you think Pep will set-up to play ugly if we run into Barca next season? i doubt it. And he'll end our good run against them in the process

[capriccioso 2,545]

That's a very premature statement. He hasn't managed anyone but barcelona yet, lets face it : Their tactic worked for the 3 first seasons and it's the style the whole club is based around. Of course they should have a plan b, but problem is they just haven't had the player for it this season, with Zlatan they did (and that showed he isn't completely Bielsa crazy and set in stones with his tactics) but we all know how that ended up...

But what did Pep even do to earn all this praise? It's not like he converted an 'ugly' side to play like that. He took a side that had always been playing with that ethos and tweaked a couple of things around, and hey presto, you've got 6 trophies in a season. I don't think he's the right man for a complete philosophical restructuring, because he didn't prove that at Barcelona. We need to play somewhat similar to Barcelona first before Pep can come in and make those famous tweaks.

[Swedish House Mafia 508]

Not quite sure how you can hate one of our own players. For example, Suarez is an enormous cunt and Liverpool fans would defend him even if he was convicted of raping their mothers.

JT is a disgrace of a human being. His got no morals or values in life at all - and he tries to run the club with his mate Lampard, which irritates me to no end.

Inb4shitstorm

[Joshyboy 36]

I think Pep would need a season or two to set the team and adapt to England, I mean he's beat Man united a couple of times, he's beat us (Although shouldn't have.) So he knows what he's doing, but with our flock of new attacking players and the defenders who pretty much won the champions league (in the semi's and final) I think we've got a good mix, I think he'd know he can't do an AVB, come in, kick out the veterans and play a highline hoping for the best.

I do think we need a new philosiphy though we're still playing our Mourhino-esk way which is starting to get outdated, I mean even Mourhinio himself is playing attacking counterattacking football, but you do what you can with who you've got.

[Madmax 9,219]

@SHM : Take your Terry hate elsewhere, maybe in the 'Terry's past it' thread.

[KonohasOrangeFlash 2,607]

Some people are also deluded and fail to see that we were INCREDIBLY lucky to beat Barca. Even if you park the bus they can tear you apart most times.He didn't have a Plan b because he didn't need it. He would have learnt from that and adapted his style.

[capriccioso 2,545]

Really? You missed the whole Barcelona domination thing? Cos the Barcelona team under Guardiola will go down as one of the greatest teams ever, not only because they won trophies (lots of them) but because of the brand of football they played, Guardiola created a style of football that revolutionised football, the way it is played and has set the standard for all clubs to match.

No plan B? Well they more than often didn't need a plan B, also they did sign Ibrahimovic but he didn't work out as well as Barcelona had hoped he would. Guardiola was smart enough to keep changing it up, to keep the players on their toes with fresh tactics, new ideas, if you watch their first year under Guardiola, you will see in the second year it has been slightly modified to that of the first, in the third year it has again been slightly modified to the second, ect.

Id love Guardiola at Chelsea, a football revolutionary with a beautiful football philosophy, a driven winner and, undoubtedly, one of, if not the very, best managers in the world.

He's far from a revolutionary! All credit due, he's a fine manager, and Barcelona wouldn't have had this success had they retained Rijkaard. A revolution by definition is a complete overthrow of the previous system in place. The 'Ancien Regime' of Barcelona was remarkably similar to what he did. It's not like Barcelona played like Stoke City before he took over. Yes, there were differences between him and Rijkaard but in my opinion there weren't enough of them to warrant him being labelled a revolutionary.

[The Big Drog 1,110]

Surely a high line necessitates quick players. Ramires showed their weakness in pace (they may have stopped that goal had Puyol been about 5 years younger/Pique still been on the pitch). There are faster players than Ramires in the Premiership.

Why would we have to automatically play a high line? I think Guardiola is clever enough to learn from the mistakes of AVB, a high line in the Premier League is less effective than it is in Spain because teams in England are more direct and thus can catch the high line defence out, their phases are often much quicker than those of mid tier sides in Spain or Italy. Why couldn't Guardiola's team play with a medium block? There could still be an emphasis on the press, it just wouldn;t be as aggressive as Barcelona's pressing game.

In a medium block, Terry, Luiz and Cahill should all be fine given that that is what Chelsea generally play with (except against Barcelona and Bayern Munich). There might be faster players than Ramires in the Premier League but there isn't many of them. Anyway Im still not entirely sure what speed would have to do with the set up of the side, it only comes into play if you automatically assume that Guardiola would play with a high line.