Closed Brighton Vs Chelsea

[Henrique 9,133]

Lets move on. Pre season game. Season really begins when the PL starts.

Time to stop the bullshit about FIFA 12 formations, or the talk about Hazard being one of the best players in the world. We have to build another team this season, and we will struggle in the first games of the season.

Our squads have young players, but some stupid guys were thinking we already had the best Chelsea's team ever.

[Justin_3d 1,140]

Well a very meaningless game.

We lost, bad pre-season, and I don't care!

Reminds me when we lost to Liverpool in the PL, after beating them in the FA Cup. A nothing meaningless result of a game!

The only thing to take notice is weather Hazard plays as a LW or behind the striker.

And that Ramires is not a good winger. He is far better when we counter attack.

But for creativity and trickery i take someone like Marin....and then that's the problem. Right now Marin is the only true winger that we got....or at least the only one that want's to play as a winger!

So we still need to solve the winger situation before the transfer window close.

[Sheva. 5,373]

Still no excuse for the performance today. Our lineup was pretty close to the full one bar Mata and maybe Marin. Also, it's funny how people have praised Marin for providing us something different attacking wise and yet, they don't have him in their starting XI...

In addition, it's a bit concern that even when we were struggling in this game, RDM has hardly looked to change things around and only sticking to the original formation and plan. Even the changes were like for like.

Actually it is an excuse, you saw how we played today, that is exactly how we played quite a lot of times last season.

Keep possession, fail to break down opposition, then concede on the counter. You can almost tell everything that is going to happen before the game even starts.

And when i saw the line up today i just had a bad feeling about the game.

As for Marin, he will/should surely play a lot, he gives us genuine pace and width. Just needs to be better in his decision making.

[Jase 43,479]

Actually it is an excuse, you saw how we played today, that is exactly how we played quite a lot of times last season.

Keep possession, fail to break down opposition, then concede on the counter. You can almost tell everything that is going to happen before the game even starts.

And when i saw the line up today i just had a bad feeling about the game.

As for Marin, he will/should surely play a lot, he gives us genuine pace and width. Just needs to be better in his decision making.

Then that makes you wonder, why didn't RDM look to change things? Everything was just so narrow going forward and even Hazard kept on coming inside and not even providing us some width!

[Sheva. 5,373]

Then that makes you wonder, why didn't RDM look to change things? Everything was just so narrow going forward and even Hazard kept on coming inside and not even providing us some width!

Exactly, my main problem this preseason has been team selection. First 2-3 games doesn't matter, but after that i expected to see better selections than what RDM provided.

[dan12393 0]

I don't understand why we are playing the high line again. We always look shaky in defence when we play so high up.

[themightyblue 443]

The way this place is, i won't be surprised if we win the Community Shield and people will start saying that we're gonna win the league.

I'll only start getting worried about next season and Rdm if we get a humbling from City next week. To claim Rdm is tactically incapble or whatever after some pre season fixtures is ridiculous. If you were to ask the players how many of them really cared or were worried about losing today, i guarantee they'd probably say know. As fans we may not realise, but the most important thing for them is getting there fitness up to scratch and avoiding any injuries. Not the result

[Slam Dunk 1,442]

There wont be a knee-jerk reaction from me concerning RDM's management abilities, but that was fucking embarrassing.

[themightyblue 443]

Exactly, my main problem this preseason has been team selection. First 2-3 games doesn't matter, but after that i expected to see better selections than what RDM provided.

As i just said, its not about better selections, its about your WHOLE squad having full match fitness and being ready to go for the season

[Bir_CFC 3,455]

@Bir_CFC you seem to have forgotten Piazon, he played on the left of 4-3-3 for the youth team, we could have easily played him on the left, Hazard on the right and Ramires his natural position...We have the personnel they were just played in wrong positions or not all...Well i am off to watch Oscar

He could have but really no point when he isn't going to be part of the squad. Players who actually have a chance of playing the season always take precedence in preseason.

[Superblue 6,372]

People are right, the fact it's just pre season shouldn't take anything away from such poor performances. However, to put things in perspective Man City have lost a couple of games this pre season including against Oldham.

The biggest key thing is that given the players we have brought this summer, we should look to persevere with a 4-2-3-1 formation as Plan A, or some similar variant that gives us effectively four attacking options. Our defence on paper should be solid enough to give a good base for these four players to play with freedom. Man City themselves would be the best team to use as an example for this. The quartet of Nasri, Silva, Tevez and Aguero are given freedom to roam between themselves, making it difficult to pick up. When not in possession they are in position to press high up the field and have the intelligence to all revert back into a defensive position based on where they are on the pitch.

If this means we have to play a pivot then Ramires should play in it. He provides energy and drive. A player alongside him who can dictate the pace of the game and is more comfortable in possession such as Lampard or Mikel will allow us to bring the best out in Ramires. The pivot must be aware of defensive responsibilities but also too many fans are still taking a defensive mindset. We should be looking to be on the front foot. City play Toure and Barry, Madrid play Alonso and Khedira and United play Scholes and Carrick. None of the mentioned are what I would say specialist defensive midfielders.

Thirdly I worry about Terry in this new formation. We will be more susceptible to the counter, although this is expected taking a more attack minded philosophy, but it means Terry could be left exposed for his lack of pace more frequently. Without playing a high line like AVB, we cannot play too deep as it will leave too much space between the lines. I'm not for one minute saying he's not good enough and sell him, but I can see him from this season onwards transitioning from automatic first choice to a squad player. A possible suspension for the racism issue may be the start of Chelsea adapting without Terry at the back.

The 4-3-3 is far too rigid. It left us predictable by the end of it's span and it is all towards adapting to a 4-2-3-1. We showed how it can be utilised effectively in a defensive, counter attacking setup last season, and teams like Real Madrid show how devastating it can be in a more attacking mentality.

[manpe 10,861]

Awful. Where the fuck was Marin? He could have provided us some much needed width.

Oh well, on to bigger things now.

[BleedsBlue 1,549]

Brighton played well and deserved the win.As for Chelsea,its was sad to know that we scored only because of a Brighton mistake.

[Superblue 6,372]

The way this place is, i won't be surprised if we win the Community Shield and people will start saying that we're gonna win the league.

I'll only start getting worried about next season and Rdm if we get a humbling from City next week. To claim Rdm is tactically incapble or whatever after some pre season fixtures is ridiculous. If you were to ask the players how many of them really cared or were worried about losing today, i guarantee they'd probably say know. As fans we may not realise, but the most important thing for them is getting there fitness up to scratch and avoiding any injuries. Not the result

Anybody who claims RDM:

(i) is tactically incapable

(ii) lacks man management/motivation of the squad

(iii) isn't strong willed enough to make the big decisions

needs to go back to last season and watch our Champions League run. Are we saying because he unbelievable won the Champions League last season he shouldn't be given time and patience to rebuild our squad?!

[Tomo 21,733]

We need to sort out the midfield 2/3. Sahin's available on loan, lets get him. Even if we don't have an option to buy, have him for this season and sort that position out permanently next summer.

[Hutcho 8,443]

Awful. Where the fuck was Marin? He could have provided us some much needed width.

Oh well, on to bigger things now.

He was injured...

[warnie_666 1,081]

I don't think you have seen what I have posted then.

"Three games lost in a row, does this look good going into the season, NO. Remember just before beginning of 10/11 we lost three consecutive friendlies against Ajax, Frankfurt and Hamburg. Oh, the guess what, we had the community shield a week later against Man United. What was the score, 3-1 United.

Did we go on to win anything that season? No we did not, so we can't just ignore pre-season games, judging by what I have seen a lot of work needs to be done and as shown in previous years as I have mentioned, we need to look at these games and see where we went wrong. Because judging by our defence pre-season, even against the likes of Seattle was appalling and imagine against the likes of Silva, Tevez and Aguero. Hope we improve starting from next week"

Good point you made about the 10/11 season. You ignore the fact that like this pre season that pre season we had a lot of players coming back at different times because of the World Cup. It takes time for players to gel specially these players who are playing without Drogba and have new players like Hazard and Marin. We also need to see how we integrate oscar with Marin, mata and Hazard

[Hutcho 8,443]

What is clear imo, is the people saying that Oscar is new to the prem so won't be a starter for a while could be proven wrong... If there's one thing that stands out is the amount of mistakes that have occurred when we have the ball, and someone who has great control, can pick a pass and move the team forward is extremely useful... Not saying he is iniesta or something already and he may not even have an amazing 1st season, but he will be a crucial part of this midfield imo.