Real concerns

[Strike 7,490]

Did we just drop into the relegation zone after last night's draw? Honestly, judging from some of the responses, you would think we are in the bottom 3 and not in the top 3. All this reaction is just needless. We just had an off day in front of goal yesterday. It happens and on another day, those chances could have easily gone in and we would have won the game comfortably.

true. the season is going just about according to plan. no real concerns yet.

[nachikethas 1,154]

only 2 changes i need..

1 get torres out

2 sombody please install a substitute brain for rdm..(but if the first one is solved 2nd one will get done eventually)

i didnt expected this good run at the starting of the season,but now letting points is obviously disappointing..but RDM is still the man..

[Peppen 934]

To see so many people overreacting is getting old now. To keep pointing to the fact that we are in transition is getting old.

RDM should not be sacked. People seem to have such short memory. Anybody remember a certain night back in May? I sure as hell do.

He is doing wonderful things to this team. It is now he has to prove himself as a manager. He has brought in the likes of Hazard and Oscar, both hugely talented players with the ability of BECOMING worldclass players. Pay extra notice to the word becoming. They aren't yet, and won't be for a while, and yet we expect them to deliver every single game, which is ridiculous really. We need consistency on the manager position, and the last thing we should do is go out and hire Pep Guardiola as a replacement for RDM.

Tell me what he would do so differently, and better than RDM is doing? How is he going to get Torres up and running? How is he going to gel the Trinity faster than RDM has already done? How is he going to transform our defense into what it was back in the Mourinho seasons?

He can't. Mata, Oscar and Hazard have gelled exceptionally fast this season, and to think Pep would somehow speed up that process is pathetic. Torres won't score, and to simply brush it off and say: "Yeah, but Pep is going to buy a decent striker come January!." Yes, he might. But who says RDM won't do the same? Defensively we have been sloppy at the back, but that's an effect caused by us being in between styles. We will let in more goals due to this, and Pep wouldn't be able to change that either.

So, please be patient and stop overreacting. Yes, we have issues, but so does everyone else. We all love the same club and will do no matter what, so quit moaning every single game. It isn't helping. Constructive criticism, but nonsense like "SACK RDM NOWS!!!!!" is just beyond normal behavior. Barcelona didn't turn into the superior team they are overnight, and certainly not due to Pep's management skills. Sure, he took part in the Spanish revolution of Barcelona, but to give him all the credit is outright wrong. The point being we are blessed to finally experience the shift from the Old Guard to a new, younger squad, while still maintaining a rather healthy economy with the latest profit announced. Just think about the minor role, compared to the last 5 seasons, the likes of John Terry, Ashley Cole, Lampard and Drogba have all played? The last not even being in the team! To take such personalties and professionals away from our team leaves a tad exposed experience wise, but it was needed. And it was the right thing to do. Thanks.

[Buffalo talks Blue 85]

RDM is aware of what he is doing and what the team needs. He loves Chelsea and we trust him. I don't think he'll ever let us down. He will be getting the right player/s for the team this Jan.

A striker is definitely the first concern, and RDM shall get it fixed

[Belgiannutt 3,201]

I agree about the lack of an offensive system. Our players seem to have no instructions what so ever of where to run or what to do. Our offensive plan seems to be "give the ball to 1 off the 3 maestro's and pray to god they do something brilliant with it."

About our defensive woefullness. 1 of the reasons is because we're not pressing the opponent. We can't play possesion based football and not press the opposition when we've lost the ball. We leave ourselves far to exposed that way. With the likes of Oscar, Hazard and Mata we can't camp in front of our goal and hope we can get away with it. There's a considerable gap between their capabilities when in possesion and when not. We need to try and get as much possesion as we can.We need to use our possesion as a defensive weapon.

Also if we want to take a step further we need to play Oscar in the pivot. We need a deep lying playmaker. Without 1 we're far too easy to press and far too erratic in our distribution from the back.

About Pep Guardiola, (to be clear i'm not saying he's going to snap his fingers and make us a great team just like that. If he comes here (and that's a big if) it will also be with failures and successes.)

But 1 thing that plays to his advantage is the fact that he's seen how a possesion team is supposed to look like, up close. He knows what's required to make the system work.

I get why people defend RDM but winning the CL and the FA cup, being an ex player, having a history of sacking managers. It all doesn't matter. What matters is whether or not he's capable of handling the transision from counter football to possesion football.

To be frank i'm starting to have serious doubts about that.

To be clear i'm not saying we should sack RDM i'm just saying that i find it worrying that there's seems to be so little planning in our attacks and i hope that that will be improving.

[gary gordon 1,777]

I just don't understand why Di Matteo takes Oscar off when we need to score. Why not take off Mikel, put Sturridge up front with torres and play 4-4-2?

[CFCRazor 49]

I just don't understand why Di Matteo takes Oscar off when we need to score. Why not take off Mikel, put Sturridge up front with torres and play 4-4-2?

Sorry but, Mikel is doing an awesome Job, and would be stupid to take him out of the team...

[YouNameIt 1,511]

The thing about your post's, is that like many things, politicians, religion, advertisement they sound good, but in reality they dont mean anything.

Missing a 1000 but scoring 20 could be as useless to your team as scoring 5 in 100 misses, good example, drogba 6 goals in 36 games last year, a terrible stat, but he scored when it mattered and at the end of the day, that ALL that mattered.

You are missing the point here... The point is, would you rather have a player who actually shoots and tries, misses alot but scores alot, or a player who does less of both.

I'd take option 2, cause the player's conversion rate is 5% compared to option 1 which is only 2%..

Option 2 has the better ratio...after 1000 sitters 50 goals are scored.

Weird choices.

Reddish-Blue & Spiegel:

Ratio isnt interesting. If they were, then you guys would chose a guy who misses 1 sitter and scores 1 goal only. It just doesnt make sense.

Taking more chances will make you miss more, but also score more.

[Peppen 934]

You are missing the point here... The point is, would you rather have a player who actually shoots and tries, misses alot but scores alot, or a player who does less of both.

Reddish-Blue & Spiegel:

Ratio isnt interesting. If they were, then you guys would chose a guy who misses 1 sitter and scores 1 goal only. It just doesnt make sense.

Taking more chances will make you miss more, but also score more.

Not necessarily. If I buy 1000 Lotto coupons compared to 1, my chances of actually winning are still very slim.

Sturridge has been awful so far in my opinion, but so has Torres. But Torres offers more in buildup play, where as Sturridge offers nothing. It's an endless discussion, but Di Matteo will always choose Torres over Sturridge. End of story, sadly.

[YouNameIt 1,511]

Not necessarily. If I buy 1000 Lotto coupons compared to 1, my chances of actually winning are still very slim.

Sturridge has been awful so far in my opinion, but so has Torres. But Torres offers more in buildup play, where as Sturridge offers nothing. It's an endless discussion, but Di Matteo will always choose Torres over Sturridge. End of story, sadly.

You are still missing the point. The ratio is totally not interesting. Why?

Because if you have those choices (on paper) and you dont know who the player is (meaning; you dont know if its Drogba how usually scores in big games) you WILL chose the one that scores the most goals. That is what its all about at the end of the day.

[TorontoChelsea 4,064]

One thing that has been a surprising disappointment so far this season, and I think points to a lot of our problems, is our lack of through balls. We don't cross the ball into the area much, we don't play long ball, and we are seemingly moving away from counter-attack football. If we want to play skilled, possession football, we need the through-ball to be a major source of goals. We have only 8 successful through balls this season from only 3 players. We've only even attempted 12. Compare that to a couple other passing Premier League teams-Man City have 16 successful through balls on 42 attempts and Arsenal have 19 through balls on 40 attempts. You watch us play and it's obvious to see this issue at play. Our pivot gets the ball and hands the ball off to Mata or Oscar who have to collect the ball way too deep. Then, they run at the defence and try to create something. Torres right now is playing more like a second striker, he drops deep to collect the ball. He should be positioned on the shoulder of the defence and Mata should be getting the ball in more attacking positions instead of having to set up the attack himself.

We do have real issues. I do think there is a lack of offensive game-plan right now and too much of a reliance on skill to save us, we lack width which makes it too easy to defend us, but this will take time to figure out. We have some new players and a new system. Change doesn't happen overnight and making a coaching change now would do nothing except delay the change..

[CIX 0]

Sorry but, Mikel is doing an awesome Job, and would be stupid to take him out of the team...

LMAO

[Henrique 9,133]

some of you people are fucking unbelievable... honestly, we have Oscar and Hazard, Azpilicueta in there today and Bertrand who has had but a handful of starts. As well as Torres upfront. We get a loss against Man Utd and a draw against Liverpool and you are all saying that RDM needs to be sacked. What the fuck is wrong with you..? Some of you really do make it difficult to think that you are anything but plastic fans. Though, we have kind of brought it on ourselves what with the constant sacking and hiring of managers over the past 8 years- all of which have a different philosophy and play style.

Stop the bullshit. Nobody is saying RDM needs to be sacked. The topic is about real concerns, and well, Liverpool, great history, very competitive in the past, but the way we conceded the draw yesterday was really worrying.

[TheCount 146]

You are still missing the point. The ratio is totally not interesting. Why?

Because if you have those choices (on paper) and you dont know who the player is (meaning; you dont know if its Drogba how usually scores in big games) you WILL chose the one that scores the most goals. That is what its all about at the end of the day.

So your saying you'd rather have sturridge then drogba for a final in wembley because on paper Sturridge scored more that season? This is all such wank and semantics, the only way any of this would apply is if you didnt know any of the players and just took it on statistics rather then your opinion and logical conclusion from what you've seen. The fact of the matter is that you think Sturridge is better then Torres and other thinks Torres is better then Sturridge or you have my camp that thinks well their both really bad atm but at least we know what torres COULD do and we also know what sturridge COULD do and if you take that into account, ATM, torres is the choice. You might not agree with that, but its irrelevant since RDM seems to at least share this opinion.

At the end of the day, bitching like a girl because you didnt get your way isnt going to solve the real problem here, that is both are fucking useless atm and we need someone entirely better or just on form. By all means express your opinion but do we really need your nonsensical wank thrown at us every time sturridge dosent start, Torres is still our player and until he isnt our player he needs our support as fans, i dont care if he never scores again we as chelsea fans should have a certain degree of respect for the player until he's dropped or left. And like i always said at least he makes a fucking effort, something ive never seen sturridge do.

[Henrique 9,133]

Yeah, but these reactionary posts are ridiculous and frustrating. People overreact when we win and overreact when we drop points. How can anyone be complaining about RDM at this point?

Its very simple, RDM is developing as manager, this team is still developing as one. When you have a child, perhaps he will do a lot of mistakes because he/she is inexeperienced in a lot of subjects, and as father you should say whats is wrong, but this child still could learn with his/her mistakes.

Its same with RDM, only fans that thinks everything is fine (we have a lot of these guys in this forum), would be blind to not see some of the weak points the team have.

Asking for a a PL trophy in this season perhaps is too much for RDM and his team, but a top 4 finish is an obligation, but I'm sure if we went down to 5th, 6th position, people would say RDM is still the right man, just like we had a lot of this mad thing last season with AVB, even when it was clear that there was no way we would end up in the top 4.

At this point RDM is doing a decent job, but nobody knows how his story will end up. I have to remember that some years ago, Arsenal started a rebuilding process, buying a lot of young players with a lot of potential, and they had players like RVB and Fabregas. In the beginning they were really good, but in the big matches they just failed, and many people thought it was because they lacked the experience, and in the coming seasons they would win some big trophies.

Years passed, and they stayed as a team for the future, so its got to the point that both Fabregas and RVP decided that they had to move to win.

Right now RDM's team is far from a winning side. A lot of young and inexperienced players, and a squad that lacks depth. yesterday it was like Juventus' game. We were the better side for the most part of the game, but in the end the opponent scored goals despite having few chances to do so.

[Henrique 9,133]

The problem with this squad is the lack of experience and strong characters. I was really worried went Terry got injured. Even players like Mata are not the kind of players to lead a team, we had many players like that in the past, with the likes of Ballack, Lampard, Terry, Ricardo Carvalho, Essien, Drogba.

In my opnion the board is not doing a smart job when they are only buying players with 19, 20 years old. This team need a little bit of experience, otherwise it will become the new Arsenal. Good players, attacking football and lack of trophies.

[Laylabelle 9,535]

Yeah Arsenal's issue like you say they think about whats going to happen rather then what is.The team we played in the Carling Cup was on to watch out for and expect things off...they all pretty much have buggered off.Must be just Theo left

Agree with what said.We fell apart when JT left really.And with Ashley Cole and Lampard contract running out need to get that sorted.Man U have done well mixing old and young

Think we can win something this season.Probably not the Champions League or League League but FA or Carling Cup at least hopfully.

[LayZ 201]

I wholeheartedly agree with the OP,couldn't have said it any better myself...Sometimes I feel a little guilty as a Chelsea supporter when young players don't make it at the club...more for the ones we buy than for the ones who come through the ranks of our academy...

Just consider the case of Gael Kakuta..he came to us in 2007,apparently after his 1st appearance for the reserves alongside Michael Ballack,the German legend said of him - "Go see the French lad, he is the star"...and since then he has played under 6 or 7 different managers...Carlo was quite impressed with Kakuta and the lad could probably have flourished under him...uncertailnty and instability is the last thing young players need to harness their fledgling potentials...

It would be a crying shame if at least one of Mata,Oscar or Hazard don't win the Ballon d'or one day,we would have done a great disservice to world football...

[LDN Blue 7,903]

tbh, we are riding on individual brilliance. you saw how shakhtar played. well drilled and clever off the ball running to create space and shoot. we are exactly the opposite of that. static on the attack. playing the ball to feet. lack of off-the-ball movement. we are nowhere near full capacity but 1/3rds into the season, I worry if we'll ever reach the full capacity this season

I still think it's the whole gelling process. They've done it very well on individual merits, especially Oscar. I have optimism that continuing into a season we'll see more tactically attacking movements - Things that seem as if they have been practiced off the pitch. What we're doing now is working, we are keeping the pace in the race to the title but there has to be an emergence of some structure.

Did we just drop into the relegation zone after last night's draw? Honestly, judging from some of the responses, you would think we are in the bottom 3 and not in the top 3. All this reaction is just needless. We just had an off day in front of goal yesterday. It happens and on another day, those chances could have easily gone in and we would have won the game comfortably.

There's actually some valid points within the post though. It doesn't look like a knee-jerk to me because it's an issue even when we win.. I see no wrong in openly discussing the faults the squad presents. It's not fair to be so dismissive of most of the posts.

[Jase 43,479]

There's actually some valid points within the post though. It doesn't look like a knee-jerk to me because it's an issue even when we win.. I see no wrong in openly discussing the faults the squad presents. It's not fair to be so dismissive of most of the posts.

I never said all the responses. Only mentioned some. And another thing, I agree we do have some issues that need to be sorted out but why no one brought it up when we were winning games? I mean it's not like the problems just suddenly appeared in the last week or so. Some of them were already evident for weeks or even months now!