Closed Spurs vs Chelsea

[Strike 7,478]

And Lampard a doubt due to the knee thing. If those guys are out, I think RDM would move Oscar back into the middle of the pitch but it really underlines the lack of depth we have in central midfield (and striker and how much insane depth we have at attacking midfield.)

if Ramires is ruled out i would prefer Oriol Romeu coming in for a straight swap as it wouldn't change the complexion of the side much. Bringing Oscar to the middle is not a bad option given how hardworking he is on the pitch but then we have to go for either Moses, Sturridge or Marin in the attacking midfield slot and none of them have had enough game time and 2 of them are only returning from injury.

plus they are all essentially wide players, bringing any one of them in will see Sturridge/Moses/Marin hugging the touchline while Eden and Mata try to cut inside often. the current narrow system is working well for us with the triangular passing in and around the box. Oscar Mata Hazard in the attacking midfield role would be better in that sense

[TorontoChelsea 4,064]

if Ramires is ruled out i would prefer Oriol Romeu coming in for a straight swap as it wouldn't change the complexion of the side much. Bringing Oscar to the middle is not a bad option given how hardworking he is on the pitch but then we have to go for either Moses, Sturridge or Marin in the attacking midfield slot and none of them have had enough game time and 2 of them are only returning from injury.

plus they are all essentially wide players, bringing any one of them in will see Sturridge/Moses/Marin hugging the touchline while Eden and Mata try to cut inside often. the current narrow system is working well for us with the triangular passing in and around the box. Oscar Mata Hazard in the attacking midfield role would be better in that sense

I disagree that the narrow system is working. We're winning, but we aren't creating scoring chances. You look at the four games we've used the narrow front three. Juventus, Stoke, Arsenal, and Norwich. Apart from the Norwich game which we would have won easily in any system, we've been very poor at creating chances. In those three games, we scored 5 goals. The two Oscar goals against Juve were both solo efforts and one took a lucky deflection or it wouldn't have gone in. The two goals against Arsenal were both from set piecesm and the goal against Stoke was scored only once we had brought on Moses and Lampard. What was our second best chance against Stoke? Apart from the Torres penalty shout, what was the next best scoring opportunity against Arsenal? We're winning and we're fantastic to watch, but the narrow system has not been able to break down half-decent defences at all so far. Even if you look at the goals we scored against Norwich. Torres scored on a long ball, great touch, and then a cross, Lampard and Ivanovic from volleys off of scrambles, and Hazard on a beautiful counter-attacking pass by Mata. As of right now, the narrow game is not really working for creating opportunities. Now, this could easily change as players get more familiar with one another, but I am skeptical that a team with no width will ever be able to have prolonged success (Nobody ever has as far as I'm aware of.).

Which is exactly why I'd bring in Moses. My biggest concern going forward is lack of width and someone like Moses would at least keep Vertonghen busy so he and Bale wouldn't have the free reign on the wing. Also, absolutely don't see Romeu for Ramires as a straight swap. Ramires, for all his flaws, is a box to box midfielder and Romeu is a defensive midfielder, and the personality and history that is closer to a defender than an attacker. It's possible some teams play the 4-2-3-1 with two purely defensive midifelders, but I can't remember it happening. Oscar actually does seem to have the perfect abilities needed for that position (good passing sense, good defensive awareness, excellent vision, etc...)

[Strike 7,478]

I disagree that the narrow system is working. We're winning, but we aren't creating scoring chances. You look at the four games we've used the narrow front three. Juventus, Stoke, Arsenal, and Norwich. Apart from the Norwich game which we would have won easily in any system, we've been very poor at creating chances. In those three games, we scored 5 goals. The two Oscar goals against Juve were both solo efforts and one took a lucky deflection or it wouldn't have gone in. The two goals against Arsenal were both from set piecesm and the goal against Stoke was scored only once we had brought on Moses and Lampard. What was our second best chance against Stoke? Apart from the Torres penalty shout, what was the next best scoring opportunity against Arsenal? We're winning and we're fantastic to watch, but the narrow system has not been able to break down half-decent defences at all so far. Even if you look at the goals we scored against Norwich. Torres scored on a long ball, great touch, and then a cross, Lampard and Ivanovic from volleys off of scrambles, and Hazard on a beautiful counter-attacking pass by Mata. As of right now, the narrow game is not really working for creating opportunities. Now, this could easily change as players get more familiar with one another, but I am skeptical that a team with no width will ever be able to have prolonged success (Nobody ever has as far as I'm aware of.).

Which is exactly why I'd bring in Moses. My biggest concern going forward is lack of width and someone like Moses would at least keep Vertonghen busy so he and Bale wouldn't have the free reign on the wing. Also, absolutely don't see Romeu for Ramires as a straight swap. Ramires, for all his flaws, is a box to box midfielder and Romeu is a defensive midfielder, and the personality and history that is closer to a defender than an attacker. It's possible some teams play the 4-2-3-1 with two purely defensive midifelders, but I can't remember it happening. Oscar actually does seem to have the perfect abilities needed for that position (good passing sense, good defensive awareness, excellent vision, etc...)

But remember how distorted our attack was against QPR. Moses was huggin the touchline on the right side and the rest were clustered in the middle. In the end even Moses went narrow and the dribble and cross he played (Hazard miss) was almost from inside the box. We haven't managed to integrate width into our side because of Hazard and Mata. those two continuously cut in and our width comes only from our full-backs.

But yeah, we are not fashioning nearly enough chances. The narrow system maybe at fault there as our midfield was almost standing in a straight line the other day against Norwich but it hasn't really improved by putting Moses and that's why I hope Rdm persists with Oscar Mata Hazard. their understanding is growing and given that ivanovic and cole are providing good width for the team, i want Romeu in for Ramires if he is ruled out

[Ankit 3,176]

Chelsea Stats @ChelseaStats

Only Graham Poll (52) has refereed more Chelsea games than Mike Dean (45) who officiates Spurs vs #Chelsea.

Chelsea have won 30 of Mike Dean’s 45 games at the whistle. After a run of 5 straight wins #Chelsea haven’t won any of the last two.

In our last 5 games with Mike Dean he has awarded us 2 penalties whilst awarding 1 against us. #cfc #chelsea

[Jase 43,479]

Ramires is starting along with Oscar and Luiz for Brazil in their friendly against Japan which will kick off in 10 minutes. Guess Rambo is fine from the reported illness then.

[Milan 17,955]

It is a friendly so please, no injuries!

[Jase 43,479]

It is a friendly so please, no injuries!

Both Luiz and Ramires have already been booked. So, hope Menezes takes them off sooner or later including Oscar, even though it's just a friendly.

Edited October 16, 2012 by BluesMaster

[Milan 17,955]

Both Luiz and Ramires have already been booked. So, Menezes takes them off sooner or later including Oscar, even though it's just a friendly.

Cheers for the info. I just want to see them and the rest back in London, fit as never before.

[Jase 43,479]

Cheers for the info. I just want to see them and the rest back in London, fit as never before.

Same with the rest of us as well. And apologies. Made a slight mistake in that last post.

[BOSS 372]

It is a friendly so please, no injuries!

Its Japan they are like Barcelona not physically strong at all. So no worries. Just like Spain they have Cazorla,Iniesta all players that have skill but they dont have strong physical attributes. Japan is the same they have skill but they dont have strong physical attributes.

[Milan 17,955]

Same with the rest of us as well. And apologies. Made a slight mistake in that last post.

No worries, I got it :-) Reading last Dempsey's comments regarding us, I hope our boys will come up with some performance.

[robdog 2,084]

Honestly if we lose this match, we still have scoreboard.

We KO spudz from the UCL. We prevented them from FA Cup Glory. Honestly these fools need to win this match or they will need a shrink to help them w/ their depression

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

To be honest, we could just have Ramires on the right side of the pivot to help out Ivanovic negate Tottenham's left side. That way we can afford to have an extra outlet in attack on the right. If Hazard, who is quite decent at tracking back, remains quite stationary on the right, we could have the left side pegged down. It'd be Bale tracking back to help out his left back from the onslaught of Ivanovic, Ramires and Hazard rather than us trying to negate Bale. Ergo, we'd have:

Cech

Ivanovic - Luiz - Terry - Cole

Ramires - Mikel

Hazard - Oscar - Mata

Torres

The team we started against Arsenal. Different mechanisms involved though especially regarding the double pivot covering the wide areas, which would mean whoever is playing number 10, preferably Oscar, would drop deep as a further outlet and as an extra body to limit the spaces created by the double pivot covering out wide...

Thoughts?

Sounds like defend 4-3-3 attack 4-2-3-1.

[Jase 43,479]

Brazil won 4-0 against Japan in the end. Oscar assisted 2 goals and Luiz got into the act as well with 1 assist. Luiz played the full game. Ramires and Oscar were subbed off in the 87th and 89th minute of the game respectively.

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

realy? didnt heard of those... like what?

I never hated on him until he said "it doesn't matter what the players think only what the owner thinks." He lost the dressing room right there... Oh and he found out what the owner thought!