Closed Brighton Vs Chelsea

[capriccioso 2,545]

Yes but we shouldn't really be aiming for 0-0 draws should we? But perhaps until our team develops further we might not have much choice. It's laughable that we're suggesting to play defensive football against teams like Brighton and pray for a goal on the break or whatever.

And (re: your post [i believe it was you who posted that, forgive me if it wasn't] a few pages back saying that you'd prefer seeing ugly football as long as we got wins) our current team is completely different from Jose's team when we were able to sneak 1-0s with not very attractive football. We had Makelele the rock back then, along with Lamps and Essien in their prime. We're now stuck with Meireles, a past-it Essien, a much older and less capable Lampard. We had Drogba and we now have Torres.

There's still a lot of work to be done especially in midfield. Our pathetic midfield affects the whole team. The defense doesn't have as much protection that it should and our attack doesn't have as much creativity and opportunities that it should because of the midfield's complete inability to dictate tempo and possession.

We're paying for Roman/the board's refusal to sign replacements for our core group of players and start the rebuilding process in 2008.

We're caught in no man's land. We don't have the attacking firepower to beat teams 4-3, or break down buses. We don't have the defensive stability or 11 players that can bus it, either. Drogba was vital to the bus, and now he's gone. To a lesser extent big game men like Bosingwa were as well but they're hardly irreplaceable. In a defensive context replacing Kalou or Drogba or Ramires with Hazard/Marin/Torres is suicidal.

Can we coax Makelele out of retirement?

[francozola 2,040]

@francozola, Spot on about 2008, ive said it so many times, key example is Modric was available for a mere £16m back then, why we let him go to Spurs without even competing for his signature ill never know.

Sigh. Our transfer policy has been ridiculous. Instead of going after someone like Modric that summer we signed the has-been Deco

[francozola 2,040]

Luiz: He was rated highly with his discipline on the later part of the season. I'm not sure why he keeps on attacking, maybe because he see lack of movements from the midfield but please! stop (or minmize) those runs and concentrate on defending!

Last season we were going for the park-the-bus option and hence it was probably drilled into his head a million times to reduce his forward-runs and keep it simple.

We're trying to play some 'proper' football now so your point about him seeing lack of movement upfront is probably correct. I tried to visualize the game from his perspective and it must be hilarious. Most of the players are static. When they get the ball they have 0 ideas on what to do with it. He's just trying to help the team and he has done it successfully before which led to a couple of goals last season like the Leverkusen one, etc.

He does have the tendency to make mistakes which irritate me too but to be honest, David Luiz should be the least of our worries. If there was some proper possession play going on infront of him and evidence of creativity he wouldn't see the need to try and make something happen as often as he does

[capriccioso 2,545]

David Luiz is far too complex a defender. What happened to the 6 ft 3, shit kicking, hoofball archetype?

Bring him back!

[royg 96]

Last season we were going for the park-the-bus option and hence it was probably drilled into his head a million times to reduce his forward-runs and keep it simple.

We're trying to play some 'proper' football now so your point about him seeing lack of movement upfront is probably correct. I tried to visualize the game from his perspective and it must be hilarious. Most of the players are static. When they get the ball they have 0 ideas on what to do with it. He's just trying to help the team and he has done it successfully before which led to a couple of goals last season like the Leverkusen one, etc.

He does have the tendency to make mistakes which irritate me too but to be honest, David Luiz should be the least of our worries. If there was some proper possession play going on infront of him and evidence of creativity he wouldn't see the need to try and make something happen as often as he does

Hopefully with Marin, Hazard, Oscar and Mata our problem with movement and creativity will be solved. Watching last nights game I see a lot of players strolling around and after they pass no movements at all.

[Tomo 21,684]

Franco is spot on about David Luiz, i remember his debut away to Fulham where he was trying to win it at both ends for us by himself, it was embarrassing (on the other players not David).

[Hutcho 8,443]

We are definately lacking creativity, though our most creative player (Mata) has been missing, what appears to be a great player (Oscar) also hasn't arrived, and Hazard and Marin have only once played together... Marin has always provided something when he plays, and if he can be fit then i really hope he will start alongside Hazard and hopefully Mata and then that will be the most creative (ON PAPER), we will have been for a long time... If we play those 3 and struggle to show something against City then i will be worried... I am not expecting them to smash city or any other nonsense, as the season hasn't started yet, and the Wigan game is far more important imo, but if we can show, quicker build up play, people actually performing thier assignments and some supply getting to torres then that would be good enough for the moment. Imo the preparation for the season is more important than the actual game, so i don't want to see us going completely negative in a trying to hold on to win strategy, because A. it might not work, and B. because this is the last game of which to prepare for the season. So trying to remain solid at the back without being too defensive is key... If we lose we lose, its community shield it won't bother me too much, but if we struggle to compete then i will be bothered.... I personally don't think we will struggle and will be plesently surprised with our performance, and the difference between yesterdays game and a harder game vs city... Though only time will tell...

[Jase 43,479]

Judging from the pre-season, it's clear that we can't go attack and take games to opponents in every game with the current players. No where solid enough defensively when we have to defend and certainly not helpful enough when we are still crap offensively. Best to revert to counter attacking football whenever necessary and City next week would be a good start!

[mickaaa7 10]

What was the composition of the previous game?

nous avons continuer en 4-1-4-1 ou 4-2-3-1 ?

[Laylabelle 9,304]

In a way its better to have a not so great pre season..realise the problems rather then have a brilliant one and when its to late..realise everything aint right. Changes are needed still and hopfully they're made before the season starts

[1chelsea 864]

error are corrected as the above said better now than when the league is on so not just we the fans have that feeling of urgency but the team management

[OneMoSalah 8,616]

Are you talking about the same Lampard who was top scorer for us last season? Are you talking about the guy who nicked the ball off Messi to give Ramires the perfect pass which led to Drogba's goal against Barcelona in Stamford Bridge? The player who assisted Ramires for his goal at the Nou Camp? Without that goal we would've never been in the CL final. Lampard was clearly our best midfielder towards the end of last season. I'm surprised he was able to take 40 touches against Barcelona before creating two of the most vital goals we've scored all season.

He wasn't our best midfielder last season mate, did you watch our games? Ramires was clearly the best player in the midfield.

[manpe 10,857]

So people who were gagging for 4-3-3, how'd that work out for you?

Not a good game to judge on. We had possibly the worst and slowest possible midfield 3 out there and no real wingers. Ramires is NOT a winger, he can't make high crosses for his dear life (yes I know about his cross to Drogba against Napoli, exceptions happen) and he can't dribble past a player. Cundy was right, he is only effective when he gets the ball in full flight, not when he's static. Hazard didn't look comfortable in that formation.

Ideally I would want 4-3-3 tested out with Mikel/Romeu, Ramires and Oscar in midfield and Marin and Mata/Hazard on wings. Playing both Mata and Hazard on wings in a 4-3-3 would be too narrow... Marin, as a natural winger, would provide us some genuine width.

The game against Brighton wasn't really an ideal game to judge the formation, it was more of a judgement on the players in that collective, which was not a surprise as it was not different from what we saw regularly last season.

[Kinol 337]

Based on what ive seen and heard, no top Premiership team have had a good pre season. We just have to keep calm and move on. If we could win CL and the FA Cup with our squad last season then I cant see why we cant win everything this season Be positive guys! But yeah, theres lots of things we have to work on

[Santiago. 1,500]

If our defensive midfielders actually Check to the ball when our defenders our passing back and forth, they we have our first step back to recovery.

We either heal as a team, or die as individuals

[Liquidator 5,176]

I am not normally worried by pre season games and was not bothered that we only won 1 of 3 games on the US tour but lets be honest we were comprehensively beaten by a team a division below us, with our strongest team out. We both start our seasons next weekend so fitness levels is not an excuse. We barely threatened their defence in the second half which is worrying with the players we have in our attack. Whether or not our players were complacent after a guard of honour and everything I don't know (Living off the glories of last season will not be acceptable, I expect 100% effort from all of them regardless of what we achieved last season) but that was an extremely poor performance.

I am not normally worried by pre season games and was not bothered that we only won 1 of 3 games on the US tour but lets be honest we were comprehensively beaten by a team a division below us, with our strongest team out. We both start our seasons next weekend so fitness levels is not an excuse. We barely threatened their defence in the second half which is worrying with the players we have in our attack. Whether or not our players were complacent after a guard of honour and everything I don't know (Living off the glories of last season will not be acceptable, I expect 100% effort from all of them regardless of what we achieved last season) but that was an extremely poor performance.

1st goal- why is Ivanovic running away from the ball so Cahill has to cover for him?

2nd goal- why did Terry not even attempt a tackle or put pressure on the striker and why to him and Cole both go on the line?

3rd goal- PLAY TO THE FUCKING WHISTLE!!!! Something I was taught in junior football

[BleedsBlue 1,549]

RDM fielded a strong starting 11 and there is no excuse for our pathetic 3-1 loss to Brighton.Yes,it was a pre-season game but the players should have contributed more and played for the win.Our goal came only because of a Brighton mistake otherwise things would have gone much worse.

[Tomo 21,684]

Im with @Liquidator, here, it was worrying signs of last two season's at its worse there but thankfully we have our best player and a fantastic young player coming in soon so hopefully that will change.

Hopefully the match was a bit of a reality check for people thinking we can jump from 6th to 1st, it just won't happen, this season is going to be about gelling these players together. Infact i expect our season to be similar to United's of 05/06, slow start, average middle but a strong end, leaving us in a great position to challenge for the title from 2013/2014 onwards.

The best we can hope this season for this season is 3rd, CWC, one of the domestic clubs and if were incredibly fortunate just maybe retain the CL, but the league title? a season to early for that.