The Rotation

[CHOULO19 24,332]

I think, you're too early to see someone will going, sir.

Wait for Mata to perform at his level again. We're back with Mazacar again. KDB, Willian, Schurrle will mostly be used as a subs.

I think KDB and Schurrle will be content with squad player roles (with at least 10 starts this season) for now. But there is now way that any of the other four would be content with that. Mata is the most established out of the bunch and has been our best player for the last two seasons. Hazard is one of the hottest prospects in the world and is arguably our best player. Oscar is another top talent and a starter in the Brazil NT. Willian has just made a huge money move to us and you just don't pay 32m for a player to have him start 10 or less games in a season.

That's why I think one of them will inevitably leave. You simply can't keep them all happy as there are not enough matches to give everyone the playing time they want. Tbh, they all deserve to be starters at a top club.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

People need to get the fact that Oscar is key to Jose's system and is probably our most important player at the minute. A creative number 10 that will work tirelessly for the team. Everything good we did this season went through him, and that will be the way it continues.

Oscar is vital to our future, If he gets injured we'd miss him more then any other player, even with our wealth of options in his department.

Brazil haven't made him their number 10 for the world cup for nothing, and Jose clearly see's it too.

I agree with you to a certain degree, but that's not a fact, it's just an opinion.

[Stingray 9,441]

I agree with you to a certain degree, but that's not a fact, it's just an opinion.

True ... but ow so hard to distinguish in the spur of the moment

[BluesChick 1,260]

I worry that we will see injuries all the international games leading up to the WC and honestly that makes me nervous. I would rather have a larger squad then face the uncertainties we did in that injury riddled season. I am certainly content to wait until January because most of those injuries happened in November/December that year and yes I am superstitious as all hell ....those two months make me nervous!

[Barbara 15,149]

I worry that we will see injuries all the international games leading up to the WC and honestly that makes me nervous. I would rather have a larger squad then face the uncertainties we did in that injury riddled season. I am certainly content to wait until January because most of those injuries happened in November/December that year and yes I am superstitious as all hell ....those two months make me nervous!

well it already started with Oscar and Eden picking up minor injuries... squad depth is never a problem in my book. Never. Whoever (in the squad) is unhappy in the bench will leave... I mean, if others are better suited or just plain better, there's nothing the manager can do...

[zolayes 14,489]

I think KDB and Schurrle will be content with squad player roles (with at least 10 starts this season) for now. But there is now way that any of the other four would be content with that. Mata is the most established out of the bunch and has been our best player for the last two seasons. Hazard is one of the hottest prospects in the world and is arguably our best player. Oscar is another top talent and a starter in the Brazil NT. Willian has just made a huge money move to us and you just don't pay 32m for a player to have him start 10 or less games in a season.

That's why I think one of them will inevitably leave. You simply can't keep them all happy as there are not enough matches to give everyone the playing time they want. Tbh, they all deserve to be starters at a top club.

ignoring internationals lets do some basic arithmetic... you are talking about filling 3 positions.. assuming 60 club games in a season..that

gives 180 playing positions ..you state KDB and Schurrle will take 10 each that leaves 160 to be shared by the 4 ..works out at 45 games a season. That seems plenty to me ,,but that is only my opinion ,,,,but I think the Maths is correct.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

I worry that we will see injuries all the international games leading up to the WC and honestly that makes me nervous. I would rather have a larger squad then face the uncertainties we did in that injury riddled season. I am certainly content to wait until January because most of those injuries happened in November/December that year and yes I am superstitious as all hell ....those two months make me nervous!

I think it's hard to be a Chelsea fan and not hate those two months!

The amount of times our whole season gets screwed in those two months is scary. Over the last few seasons it's become a rule that if we can avoid the infamous "winter slump" we'll be very close to achieving our season goals.

[kellzfresh 7,229]

Add Hazard to the list. Also the NT games are still to be played - xtra injuries can still come up. So, I for one am glad with the depth.

I even forgot about hazard, which is even more important. I hope belgium wont use him(dont kill me) till he comes back to chelsea

[Stingray 9,441]

I even forgot about hazard, which is even more important. I hope belgium wont use him(dont kill me) till he comes back to chelsea

Nah man ... he shuld NOT be playing. This injury has been there for too long. Rest is key! KDB can play :-)

[CHOULO19 24,332]

ignoring internationals lets do some basic arithmetic... you are talking about filling 3 positions.. assuming 60 club games in a season..that

gives 180 playing positions ..you state KDB and Schurrle will take 10 each that leaves 160 to be shared by the 4 ..works out at 45 games a season. That seems plenty to me ,,but that is only my opinion ,,,,but I think the Maths is correct.

160 divided by 4 is 40 not 45

But yes, you are right that mathematically it is possible. But there are plenty of other factors involved. For example, if we play 60 games, I expect Hazard to start at least 50 of them if he remains fit and come on as a sub in 7 or 8 of the 10 games he doesn't start. Also I expect KDB to get more than 15 starts if we are to play 60 games because what he offers is tactically different than others and only he can replace Oscar and do the same job.

Realistically, Hazard is likely to be a nailed on starter in the team, imo. Oscar has been brilliant in that #10 role and I can't see him giving it up anytime soon; KDB will likely be his sub when we need to rest him. The problem is fitting all of Willian, Mata and Schurrle in the remaining position. Even if Mata can play centrally, I think his appearances there will be limited due to the presence of Oscar and KDB who seem to fit Jose's system more.

3 excellent players and only one starting spot = problems (not exactly math, but close enough )

[TorontoChelsea 4,064]

i dont understand what the problem is here. for once we have a big squad with atleast 2 players for each role and we NEED it. look at the number of matches we are going to be playing. we are not just going to be playing in 4 competitions but also will be trying to win each and every of those competitions. for that to happen you need fit players, healthy players.

i mean look at bayern munich. they have a squad exactly as big as ours.

last year they had -

strikers - gomez, mandzukic and pizzaro (ba,etoo and torres)

attacking midfielders - ribery, robben, shaqiri, muller, kroos (mazacar, kdb, willian, schurlle)

defensive midfielders - bastian, javi, luiz, tymoshchuk (lamps, essien, rambo, mvg, mikel)

defenders - lahm, dante, holger, rafinha, contento, jerome, alaba, buyten (jt, cahill, luiz, kalas, azpi, iva, cole, bert)

so its 2 midfielders more than bayern munich. now lets compare the ideal no. of games both team would be expecting to play

LEAGUE - 34 (38)

DOMESTIC - 6 (6 + 6 = 12) (this is considering that there will be no fa cup replays)

EUROPEAN - 13 (13)

TOTAL - 53 (63)

so we will be playing about 10 extra games (ATLEAST) than what munich does and you have to take into account the number of injuries simply shoots due to continous football. also exhaustion plays a big part , for eg - the bundesliga is shut down for almost a month, and at the same time the PL teams are playing 3 games in a week due to fa cup.

we need 22 outfield players to not just play but play to WIN. and at this moment that is what we have.

Exactly, even though I've shown that no team ever uses 9 attacking players or 6 regular attacking midfielders, Chelsea NEEDS them. You are using Bayern specifically because they play the fewest games (and yes, they have too many players too) but no team, not in England, not in Spain, anywhere needs a backup at every single position. Teams will use 3 backups for 4 positions and similar. Teams have players that are flexible to cover multiple positions and Chelsea are no different. You have can have 5 attacking midfielders and you'd be fine every single time. I'll do this another way.

Team's attacking midfielders starts in the league (Arsenal,Spurs, City, and United)

#1 attacking midfielder-30.75

#2 attacking midfielder-27

#3 attacking midfielder-21.25

#4 attacking midfielder-15.75

#5 attacking midfielder-11.75

#6 attacking midfielder-3.75

This is the basic Premier League distribution for attacking midfielders. 4 players who play regularly, 1 who starts once a month, and 1 who starts every 10 games.

You can't say "in case of injuries" because every team has injuries so these numbers are including injuries and the #6 attacking midfielder still never plays. That position could easily have been covered by say Ramires or even a reserve player. (4 starts a season?)

[Stingray 9,441]

160 divided by 4 is 40 not 45

Really???

[Stingray 9,441]

Even if Mata can play centrally, I think his appearances there will be limited due to the presence of Oscar and KDB who seem to fit Jose's system more. 3 excellent players and only one starting spot = problems (not exactly math, but close enough )

Interesting and I kinda agree on that. It seems our overall level combined with the quantity is a bit much. It is good now we have two injuries ... but for all we know we could have an injury free year. On the other hand , it is is WC year, which means matches with something at stake, EPL, CL, ...

I just don't know anymore. I hope José has his man management skills honed for this :-)

[The Mak 4,459]

I think people need to wait a few more weeks before complaining about rotation. Ok, maybe we'll have just 1 quality player as surplus because of the signing of Willian, but I think we really have to wait to see how it plays out. Although we do have some idea, we're not even 100% of where everyone will play yet.

Last year we were complaining about the lack of depth and the fact that we were forced to play Mata, Oscar, Hazard nearly every game. We then complained about how tired they seemed later in the season. Hazard in particular seemed burned out just a few weeks in because he was asked to start 95% of games in our busiest season ever.

An injury to any of the 6 changes everything, not to mention knocks and niggles they will undoubtedly get.

We've never been in such a privileged position before in terms of depth, so we've no experience of it: therefore, I think people should seriously wait before complaining.

[Stingray 9,441]

I think people should seriously wait before complaining.

YES!

big bump for this one!