Wrong priorities

[Peace. 4,352]

Some weeks ago, I desperately wanted us to buy a world-class striker. But I've come to reason : our midfield is crying out for a deep-lying playmaker.

The midfield battle is the most important thing in football, into my eyes. Whatever the quality of your strikers, whatever the quality of your defenders, if you don't win the midfield battle, you will struggle to score goals and to have a rock solid defense. If your midfield isn't good enough : your defenders will be exposed and thus the back-four will be vulnerable ; your forwards won't be feeded efficiently and thus your attack will be toothless.

At the moment, considering the setup we play in (i.e. the 4-2-3-1), we don't have what is required to have a double-pivot good enough. Therefore, if we plan to continue to play in this formation, we have to buy a deep-lying playmaker. If we don't, I can picture the season to be very, very long.

And if we don't buy this kind of player, the only solution to have a good midfield is to ditch the 4-2-3-1 in order to play in a setup allowing us to play a playmaker (that we already have into our squad) in the midfield (4-3-3 springs to mind).

[YouNameIt 1,511]

Fulham scores 5.

Swansea scored 5.

WBA scored 3.

We scored 0 against BRIGHTON. Yeah, we've made awesome signings but we still got serious issues. I mean, did the board forget why they were after Modric?

[warnie_666 1,081]

Mourinho bought some of the best players in Europe but still played on the counter for three years. I guess only time will tell what RDM's approach will be.

He did and thats exactly why Mikel was good back then although a bit raw. And Mourinho bought players for physical football RDM has bought tiny technical players for fluid football. You cant play fluid football with players like Drogba, Ballack, Essien and the likes. Robben and Duff were there but they were precisely for the counter attacks

[Santiago. 1,500]

Cahill is easily our best defender

[nono 791]

I was so excited to get the new season started after all of our signings. Then I saw that Mikel and Lampard are both starting in midfield again. Same old shit.

[SeB 1,281]

Pretty self explanatory...

He would be a great 'option' in a title challenging side, i.e.. not as the first name on the teamsheet, the new look Chelsea needs technical players.

No it's not for me, that's why I ask you to explain a little bit. I wouldn't be surprised to see your point is based on the "cannot make a single pass" myth, two years after he signed for the club

I don't get the "Ramires' not a technical player" as well. I though vertical runs with the ball included ball control ability etc...

According to figures he's our best dribbler last season and he's a key player in a side who aims to win trophies because he's typically a player who'll gets his playing level as high as the games gets importance.

[Term-X 7,891]

^ Right, so.. just to cut to the chase here, you'd prefer him over Modric, Sahin etc?

[Badboy 1,526]

^ Right, so.. just to cut to the chase here, you'd prefer him over Modric, Sahin etc?

We can't have a team full of technical players, we need runners in the side too !

[Justin_3d 1,140]

For this transfer window?

I would say we already did enough to freshen the squad.

It's very hard to buy a whole new team overnight, which we would be doing after spending money on these last 3 players and maybe a RW/RB like Azpi and Moses.

While I agree with Semia-7 that we won't change much with Mikel and Lampard, it will continue till at least next season.

If we learn anything from AVB and Bielsa at Bilbao, is that drastic change is not good for the development of the team.

That change must come gradual.

So I am happy with what the club has done, is doing and what RDM is voicing out.

[Sheva. 5,373]

For this transfer window?

I would say we already did enough to freshen the squad.

It's very hard to buy a whole new team overnight, which we would be doing after spending money on these last 3 players and maybe a RW/RB like Azpi and Moses.

While I agree with Semia-7 that we won't change much with Mikel and Lampard, it will continue till at least next season.

If we learn anything from AVB and Bielsa at Bilbao, is that drastic change is not good for the development of the team.

That change must come gradual.

So I am happy with what the club has done, is doing and what RDM is voicing out.

Brilliant post mate.

[Manuf 1,448]

We've made so many brilliant signings that so far have showed nothing, but of course it's Mikel's fault

When our "wonderboy" Hazard bought for a huge amount of cash is playing shite "he needs time to adapt" and don't even get me started on Torres, but of course it's Mikel who destroys our whole game. Why don't we put Cech on the bench as well and get that Belgium keeper back because he should also help in attack, not only defend and kick the ball up.

[SeB 1,281]

^ Right, so.. just to cut to the chase here, you'd prefer him over Modric, Sahin etc?

Every player has his role and his utility. Modric defends a lot and can accelerate the play with his passing but Ramires has the ability to lead the counter attack just taken from Lampard. He handles this role perfectly from a central position, and no I wouldn't swap him for anyone at the moment. He maintains a high level of play for more than one year, he's always present in big games, scores important goals (great players' trademark).

Not meaning Sahin or Modric are bad players or aren't needed at Chelsea.

I don't think that we have to fantasm about technical players at the moment. We need density and link between the lines, players able to produce something out of closed games or situations. For me that's Ramires.

We have another worries than questionning Ramires' starter role. Questionning his wing role yes but never ever his place in the squad at the moment

[sleazyB 58]

I agree. A DPL is terribly needed. Imagine I'd we could get the ball to Torres when he has beaten the defense. Imagine if we could get the ball to Hazard or Mata while they are in dangerous positions. Inagine if we could just recycle possesion. Signing a "Modric" will help every single one of our players on the field. Lampard just isn't cutting it. Great player, just not his role.

[ulvhedin 508]

what are the chances that Oscar will become our 'Modric'?

[Naked Mole Rat 437]

I agree we were too caught up with acquiring new attacking midfielders when we needed a new player in the pivot, but it really has been a wonderful transfer window for us so far, and I expect to see a huge improvement from last season. And although it seems like our midfield hasn't improved much, but at least we now have many more options there given by Lampard, Mikel, Ramires (as he probably won't spend much more time on the wing), Meireles, Essien (looking fit), Oscar, Romeu (possibly a better player from last year) and maybe even McEachran. I'm pretty sure we'll find a working combination with the players we have right now.

[Shane 2,275]

Fulham scores 5.

Swansea scored 5.

WBA scored 3.

We scored 0 against BRIGHTON. Yeah, we've made awesome signings but we still got serious issues. I mean, did the board forget why they were after Modric?

Without a doubt the worst post I have ever seen on TalkChelsea, how can you compare midtable/lowertable teams playing in the first game of the season to us not scoring in a preseason friendly? Crazy.

Last season we lacked wingers. Our attack was stale, predictable and found out. People say that Van Persie carried Arsenal, but for the first half of ours, Juan Mata carried our attack. We brought Hazard and Oscar, who will solve our creativity problems. You can't ignore the fact that this was our weakness last year, and now its our strength.

Alex Song would have been a perfect player for us to buy in fairness, but we've got to give the lads there a chance at the minute. Mikel isn't that bad, someone said in the thread he was poor under Scolari, When Essien got injured and we were under Scolari/Hiddink, Mikel was one of our best players. I'd like to see Oriol Romeu been given more of a chance aswell, as when he got a run of games last season he looked very decent.

We can't just go out and buy a whole new team lads.

[Sheva. 5,373]

Mikel isn't that bad, someone said in the thread he was poor under Scolari, When Essien got injured and we were under Scolari/Hiddink, Mikel was one of our best players.

Very true, when Essien was out for like 5 months under Carlo in our double winning season, Mikel was also excellent in that period.

And we played good football then, not parking the bus

[YouNameIt 1,511]

Without a doubt the worst post I have ever seen on TalkChelsea, how can you compare midtable/lowertable teams playing in the first game of the season to us not scoring in a preseason friendly? Crazy.

Last season we lacked wingers. Our attack was stale, predictable and found out. People say that Van Persie carried Arsenal, but for the first half of ours, Juan Mata carried our attack. We brought Hazard and Oscar, who will solve our creativity problems. You can't ignore the fact that this was our weakness last year, and now its our strength.

Alex Song would have been a perfect player for us to buy in fairness, but we've got to give the lads there a chance at the minute. Mikel isn't that bad, someone said in the thread he was poor under Scolari, When Essien got injured and we were under Scolari/Hiddink, Mikel was one of our best players. I'd like to see Oriol Romeu been given more of a chance aswell, as when he got a run of games last season he looked very decent.

We can't just go out and buy a whole new team lads.

Oviousley you missed the point of my post. It's that I think we will still struggle alot because we havent solved the double pivot issue/deep lying playmaker one. We were crazy to sign Modric and now we just seem to ignore that position.