Smallest squad we've had?

[TorontoChelsea 4,064]

Why does everyone love Romeu so much? He looked OK last season, but people are acting as if he's going to be Ya Ya Toure or something. I'm not even sure he's a Premiership caliber player yet.

[zolayes 14,489]

looks like we are going to say "fuck bothering with defending" :fainthv9:

[JDY 1,290]

People aren't acting like he's anything. He's a player with good potential who's been given very little playing time under RDM (one sub appearance IIRC). He looked promising when he did play under AVB, and now with two players leaving, he should be given more of a chance.

How is he going to become 'Premiership quality' if he doesn't play.

[Leif 6,006]

Just watch how Romeu played against Manchester City last season at Stamford Bridge. I've literally never seen a defensive midfielder play that well against them since their rise to power in the Premier League.

[BleedsBlue 1,549]

Why does everyone love Romeu so much? He looked OK last season, but people are acting as if he's going to be Ya Ya Toure or something. I'm not even sure he's a Premiership caliber player yet.

Romeu is strong both defensively and offensively.He's much calmer than our other defensive midfielders and has the ability to make those quick passes when really required,which in turn speeds up the whole tempo of the game.

What takes Mikel 5 passes to do, is done in maybe 1 or 2 by Romeu.

[madalista 30]

Romeu is strong both defensively and offensively.He's much calmer than our other defensive midfielders and has the ability to make those quick passes when really required,which in turn speeds up the whole tempo of the game.

What takes Mikel 5 passes to do, could be the same in maybe 1 or 2 by Romeu.

Oriol is good defensively and a great tackler but offensively offers nothing. He isnt sergi bus quest. Don't know where people got the notion he is an amazing passer. At the moment he is our best tackler in midfield but that's about it, he is a good or adventurous passer and he doesn't move the ball faster than mikel. He like to keep it simple like mikel.

[TorontoChelsea 4,064]

Certainly not the impression I got from watching him. He's a good tackler, and he had some really good games, but he also looked lost a number of times, he plays too deep, and his ball movement is nothing special. It's not that I think he's a bad player or anything, he's fine and maybe he could develop into something more, I just don't get the fuss,

[Land 331]

Just watch how Romeu played against Manchester City last season at Stamford Bridge. I've literally never seen a defensive midfielder play that well against them since their rise to power in the Premier League.

Lucas Leiva destroyed them prior to his injury last season.The guy had Toure on his pocket

[Magic Lamps 11,655]

Romeu offers something, no one else in our squad does. As a graduate of La Masia he's comfortable in narrow spaces and takes his decisions right away. hence he is able to accelerate play. Additionally he has this bloodhound attitude adn chases opponents when play goes backwords, he is glad to slide tackle and has this aggressiveness we miss with Mikel. He might not be a brillant player yet but he complements Mikel better than Lamps does.

[Magic Lamps 11,655]

Now that mierles seems to be headed out, it cant be any more clearer that the 433 is the way to go. stick rambo in midfield, actually use romeu, i hope we see it soon

yeah i hope so, but I just don't get why Meireles departure means a 4-3-3?

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

yeah i hope so, but I just don't get why Meireles departure means a 4-3-3?

without mierles, we have lamps, mikel as only players that can and have played in the double pivot under RDM. and because Mikel and Lamps cant play every game we need to switch to 3 man midfield with lamps being b2b and rambo as a replacement. mikel as dm with romeu the replacement. and then oscar/mata in cam. that way we have 6 total players in midfield 2-dm 2-b2b 2-cam.

[Magic Lamps 11,655]

that way we have 6 total players in midfield 2-dm 2-b2b 2-cam.

sounds rather offensive and even asymetric... why not

ramy-lamps

---Mikel--

??

A midfield of

---Mikel/romeu

rami---Mata/Oscar

simply would get overrun due to its physical weakness

[Tomo 21,733]

So i come back from one of the best weekend's of my life to find out that we have let Essien go, sold/selling Meireles, lost 4-1, United got another last minute goal and Drogba got released from his new club and is wanted by Liverpool.

Thank fuck i had no signal where i was.

[Blue Armour 4,289]

Romeu is strong both defensively and offensively.He's much calmer than our other defensive midfielders and has the ability to make those quick passes when really required,which in turn speeds up the whole tempo of the game.

What takes Mikel 5 passes to do, is done in maybe 1 or 2 by Romeu.

I'm not sure...As far as I know, contrary to what most people think, Romeu is much more of a sideways passer than Mikel.

[Blue Armour 4,289]

So i come back from one of the best weekend's of my life to find out that we have let Essien go, sold/selling Meireles, lost 4-1, United got another last minute goal and Drogba got released from his new club and is wanted by Liverpool.

Thank fuck i had no signal where i was.

What did you expect, everything was going right for the club over the past few months...it was time for things to go downhill,,and when things go to heck it all tends to happen at once.

[Magic Lamps 11,655]

btw.

Giorgios Karagounis, Jason Culina, Dudu, Royston Drenthe, Juan Roman Riquelme, Owen Hargreaves, Thomas The Hammer Hitzelsperger, Tim Borowski, Mehmet Aurelio, nIgel Reo-cocker and Owen Hargreaves are all free. There is experience and well "quality" in abundance in the free agent market these times. Would be fun to have some Riquelme magic, hammers or Dudu tackles in the Capital One Cup

[dumps 284]

btw.

Giorgios Karagounis, Jason Culina, Dudu, Royston Drenthe, Juan Roman Riquelme, Owen Hargreaves, Thomas The Hammer Hitzelsperger, Tim Borowski, Mehmet Aurelio, nIgel Reo-cocker and Owen Hargreaves are all free. There is experience and well "quality" in abundance in the free agent market these times. Would be fun to have some Riquelme magic, hammers or Dudu tackles in the Capital One Cup

is this true? im suprised nobody snapped up Drenthe. i'd have thought Everton would have taken Drenthe on straight away. he was fairly decent for them whilst on loan there.

to stay on topic: i agree that we may have a smallish squad, but in terms of players who want to play every game, its quite a large squad. I don't think we should be afraid of lacking depth in terms of quality. also, we have some pretty good youngsters we could call upon, and if we needed im sure we could call on Sam, Essien and Josh to come back if needed. I'm happy with the squad size and depth and unless we have terrible luck with injuries, we should be more than fine.

[Bambiny14 25]

na I think we're solid and in a much much better position than last season , I just dont like mikel and lampard being played together.

Well I do realize they maybe are not the best double-pivot pairing but we have to remember that when we were defending to win the Champions League, they were phenomenal and deserve some credit. Yes, we definitely should try some different composition in the central midfield but also let's give them few more chances and see if they don't start to perform better.