Closed Chelsea v Cardiff

[AndersonBLUE 819]

Right now I hate the international break because it broke the momentum that we've built over the past couple of weeks which we could have really used going into the next few matches.

It could be said for all the other teams as well. It's interesting to see that most forum members dislike internationals though, I thoroughly enjoy them ^^

[kellzfresh 7,229]

It could be said for all the other teams as well. It's interesting to see that most forum members dislike internationals though, I thoroughly enjoy them ^^

I only like the actual competitions. I hate the schedule during club seasons.

[Magic Lamps 11,692]

All of that can be applied (in different levels) to Club Football as well!

In fact, the opposite is the case. In England, France, Spain, Germany, Italy and most european countries, we got infrastructure already. There is no event that completely levers out the economy. It is all highly commerzialized of course, but all the people can choose to participate or not. The stadiums are already there, there are no slums that have to be eradicated, no shops are forced to shut down during the game. It is all routine. The boards might be corrupted, but they have less to decide. The infrastructure is there, the competitions are already established, no need to promote them for the cost of human lives. For the WCs in Brazil and Qatar hundreds and thousands of people are made homeless, killed and enslaved. On the other hand decades of Premier League seasons have gone without anyone being harmed.

[Special Juan 28,141]

I don't get why people dislike internationals so much, it's not like the season will be any shorter or longer, and there is football during the summer every two years.

I just don't like it, period.

[Magic Lamps 11,692]

I don't get why people dislike internationals so much, it's not like the season will be any shorter or longer, and there is football during the summer every two years.

I'd rather waive football in summer when further human rights abuse is committed to provide it.

[meetdoscar 335]

Don't expect our midfield to come up with the same number of goals if we get a striker who will score 20+ league goals. We create a number of chances, and right now the vast majority fall to our midfielders. If they start to fall more to our striker, then the number of goals scored by our midfield will obviously decrease.

If you want the team to score more goals, you have to get the team to create more chances.

You are on point but this is what people don't understand with the lukaku loan, he is too young for a club like chelsea to depend on and trust constantly for goals at the highest level so he will not at the moment get as much goals as people expect in chelsea because we are not yet ready to play for lukaku despite most teams defending against us. We need strikers who can play for the team (which lukaku isn't ready to do or built for) until lukaku is ready for us to change our set up to suit him as a striker we will be able to trust hopefully. Falcao, messi, ronaldo, ibra, lewandowski are all trusted and prolific because their teams started playing to their strength. When CR7 was in manu and messi in his earlier days their teams did not play for them it was rather the opposite hence less goals for them.

Although with slight digress i agree with you. For now our strikers are not prolific so we need high scoring midfielders but when we have an experienced, trusted and prolific striker we can play for the striker to score hence less goals from midfield, hopefully that striker will be lukaku. So the need for the lukaku loan is more as a result of him needing more experience and playing time than for us having a young prolific centre forward on the bench who we are not yet ready to fully trust and play to his strength and who doesn't exactly fit into our current system hence will be less prolific and could have less confidence in himself.

[meetdoscar 335]

I'm not disagreeing with any of that (mind you I'm not agreeing with it all either), but it's kinda besides the original point which was that we are currently creating a certain amount of chances per game which won't be affected too much even if we had someone like Gomez leading our line. If you want a striker who scores every match you'll need to change the system and make most of the chances fall to him instead of falling to the AMs as is the case atm.

I agree. But even more so the chances have to be those that suit the strikers style(style of finishing) and that means playing to the strikers strength which isn't happening at chelsea because we don't have one we can trust and the one we hope to trust(lukaku) is still too young to engage pressure at the highest level e.g champions league knock-out stage.

[The only place to be 11,313]

You are on point but this is what people don't understand with the lukaku loan, he is too young

Here's where I stopped reading. We have a saying in this country, 'if you're good enough you're old enough'. Now you might mean he's not experienced enough, and you might have a point (although 150 first-team appearances and 20-odd international caps is not to be sniffed at) but age is just a number.

There are players five years older who aren't mature enough for this club to rely on, but I see no issue with his maturity. He seems an articulate, well-mannered young man who is dedicated to football. Again there are footballers who are maybe a decade older who don't exhibit the same level of dedication to their JOB that he does.

So this 'too young' thing is a load of bollocks in my opinion.

[Strike 7,489]

Absolutely, but it won't make a HUGE difference, imo. Which was one reason why I was against us spending ridiculous money like 50-60m for Falcao or even Cavani.

Last game was an exception because it was practically the first time our striker was the key man in our offensive game plan since DD left. When was the last time before that when a striker of ours got 4 clear cut chances against decent opposition? Torres had one half-chance against Spurs when Mikel played a long for him behind the defense but his control let him down. Even against Steaua who were shit, Eto'o barely had two chances.

Yes, getting better strikers will increase our overall goals because obviously they'll (hopefully) take their chances better, but it won't be a huge difference, imo.

It'll make a difference in the big games. Ofcourse, chance-creation is important but with Oscar as our main goal outlet, we won't win much. Against tough opposition, the team creates very few chances to begin with and our strikers pass them up. Maybe a world class forward was not needed but atleast someone like Mandzukic, Negredo, who can be a handful and take chances up front was enough.

[kellzfresh 7,229]

It'll make a difference in the big games. Ofcourse, chance-creation is important but with Oscar as our main goal outlet, we won't win much. Against tough opposition, the team creates very few chances to begin with and our strikers pass them up. Maybe a world class forward was not needed but atleast someone like Mandzukic, Negredo, who can be a handful and take chances up front was enough.

I wish we got negredo. For 25 million, his movement reminds me of aguero and negredo is very good in the air.

[didierforever 7,349]

I wish we got negredo. For 25 million, his movement reminds me of aguero and negredo is very good in the air.

negredo has been a real suprise. i mean specially with jovetic just bought, aguero and dzeko already in the team, i thought he would be a 25mil bench warmer mostly. but so far, amongst all the 6 "big" clubs (us, manchesters, spuds, arse and pool), he has got to be the best buy so far (ozil included).

[meetdoscar 335]

Here's where I stopped reading. We have a saying in this country, 'if you're good enough you're old enough'. Now you might mean he's not experienced enough, and you might have a point (although 150 first-team appearances and 20-odd international caps is not to be sniffed at) but age is just a number.

There are players five years older who aren't mature enough for this club to rely on, but I see no issue with his maturity. He seems an articulate, well-mannered young man who is dedicated to football. Again there are footballers who are maybe a decade older who don't exhibit the same level of dedication to their JOB that he does.

So this 'too young' thing is a load of bollocks in my opinion.

Age is just a number? Certainly not in football I laughed and stopped reading your post right there but in order to educate a little from facts i surrender to your post. Experienced coaches like mourinho, sir alex to name a few always make emphasis on the importance of age which brings about more confidence, knowledge, experience and maturity some like mourinho even believe a peak age is about 25 to 29 and i don't think you are a better coach than them. I even fail to see how any player can get more experienced without the natural sequence of age. Some players like messi/etoo/rooney/owen/torres where already incredible when they where young but became even better footballers with age except those that had serious injury problems like owen (may be) which results in a natural retardation in a players development. Lukaku isn't an exception and he will definitely get better with age - experience wise also as we are talking about football which is what the loan will provide him in a better and more competitive club than his last loan spell.

[meetdoscar 335]

It'll make a difference in the big games. Ofcourse, chance-creation is important but with Oscar as our main goal outlet, we won't win much. Against tough opposition, the team creates very few chances to begin with and our strikers pass them up. Maybe a world class forward was not needed but atleast someone like Mandzukic, Negredo, who can be a handful and take chances up front was enough.

Why do you think oscar is all of a sudden our main goal outlet. I disagree because we have new midfielders/wingers and a new striker who together with our previously existing team are being gradually embedded into a new system of playing and the system is beginning to reap benefits as seen in the last games. So NO, oscar isn't our main/only goal outlet we always play with two wide attackers and a striker and soon enough our attackers will explode with brilliance under the guidance of mourinho.

[Wimbledonblue 94]

Am I right in thinking this is the first 3pm K.O we've had this season?

[kellzfresh 7,229]

negredo has been a real suprise. i mean specially with jovetic just bought, aguero and dzeko already in the team, i thought he would be a 25mil bench warmer mostly. but so far, amongst all the 6 "big" clubs (us, manchesters, spuds, arse and pool), he has got to be the best buy so far (ozil included).

I can't say yet if he's the best, but he's definately top 4 buys of the season.

The fact that he was that good on the ball and not one of our scouts picked that up is sad.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Am I right in thinking this is the first 3pm K.O we've had this season?

Yeah, it is.

[Jase 43,479]

Slightly off topic but Carlooo!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsMjRj9hnOI

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Slightly off topic but Carlooo!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsMjRj9hnOI

I love how the vast majority of our managers, even though they all inevitably get sacked in the end, still genuinely like and support the club. Just today I was reading in the mail 'Arry complaining how Ruud Guillet went all crazy when we won the CL. Hearing Carlo saying: "I'm still a Chelsea fan" is so great. Even Butch still supports the club and has a season ticket at the Bridge.

Says quite a lot about our board and the whole Chelsea staff as whole. Maybe even a little about the fans

[Wimbledonblue 94]

Yeah, it is.

Thought so, ridiculous really as we're halfway through October.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Thought so, ridiculous really as we're halfway through October.

PL schedule has been particularly messed up this season, and not just for us. TV channels trying to fit every single match to be shown live. We've had every single one of our PL matches live so far this season which would explain why our games have either been early or late kick offs when there is no other live game happening.