Branislav Ivanovic

[TorontoChelsea 4,064]

Well most teams don't face teams who play with 10 behind the ball ,on their own half. When i mean support i mean efficiently support the attack. Ivanovic was making runs forward but can you honestly tell me that you were happy with the way he attacked ?

He was constantly checking his runs waiting for the ball to come to then cross it but he's crossing the ball from 25-30 yards out but he needs to make runs and continue his run untill he reaches the goalline. He needs to try and get in behind the defence.

Bolded part: Think you got that backwards, Ivanovic is supposed to overlap. When the AMR has the ball and moves inside that's when Ivanovic needs to make his run, that's when he needs to overlap. Then either 1 of the 2 players covering our AMR needs to pick up the run from Ivanovic which leaves our AMR 1 on 1 or if they don't pick up Ivanovic in time then Ivanovic can get the ball reach the goal line cross the ball in and actually cause some trouble.

About Lampard and Ramires well neither of them is very usefull against teams that park the bus. Both aren't really good at finding people in space. I'm really wondering what you think they are doing to support the attack ?

Only thing i see them doing is just sit back and pass the balls sideways.

I do expect more from our AM's but i also expect more from our LB, RB and CM's.

Ivanovic is supposed to overlap which he does very well but so is whoever is on the right. There should be constant movement to create space. What's he supposed to do when he gets the ball in a dangerous crossing position on the right? Pass it back to the central midfield? No, I'm not happy with his crossing, but overall, I am pretty happy with his play this year. He's actually having a pretty good season and if he were 22 people would be calling him the best RB in the Premier League. Lampard and Ramires are always involved in the offense. They are often more dangerous offensively than our attacking midfielders. With Mata on the bench, they are probably our two best finishers. Lampard leads the team in assists. etc... Lampard still has very good attacking vision, Ramires' runs into the box open up space for the entire attack, And Lampard is actually pretty decent in finding people in space except our attackers generally have no space and don't make any runs. Asking your central midfielders to regularly deliver perfect passes into traffic is absurd. Nobody is going to ever do that. Attackers have to create their own space for others to find them and they aren't. Ramires and Lampard have been doing more than their fair share lifting the offensive load.

[Belgiannutt 3,201]

Ivanovic is supposed to overlap which he does very well but so is whoever is on the right. There should be constant movement to create space. What's he supposed to do when he gets the ball in a dangerous crossing position on the right? Pass it back to the central midfield? No, I'm not happy with his crossing, but overall, I am pretty happy with his play this year. He's actually having a pretty good season and if he were 22 people would be calling him the best RB in the Premier League. Lampard and Ramires are always involved in the offense. They are often more dangerous offensively than our attacking midfielders. With Mata on the bench, they are probably our two best finishers. Lampard leads the team in assists. etc... Lampard still has very good attacking vision, Ramires' runs into the box open up space for the entire attack, And Lampard is actually pretty decent in finding people in space except our attackers generally have no space and don't make any runs. Asking your central midfielders to regularly deliver perfect passes into traffic is absurd. Nobody is going to ever do that. Attackers have to create their own space for others to find them and they aren't. Ramires and Lampard have been doing more than their fair share lifting the offensive load.

Really don't agree with a lot of what your saying. Best to just agree to disagree cause i don't think we're gonna settle this.

[Bosnian Blue 2,471]

absolutely no one to cross to ? in recent times, all i've seen is Ivanovic try to run forward, lose the ball under little pressure..and then suddenly the opposition counter with Ramires, Willian tracking back

You probably expect Hazard or Oscar to win aerial balls against Olsson and McCauley.

Its actually sad to see Chelsea play with two wingers, but none of them except maybe Schürrle when he is on the pitch, plays wide. All I've seen is us trying to break the opponent through the midfield in an area of 20-30 meters congested with half of our team and 8-9 their players, so that makes it maybe 15 players in the space of 30 meters. There is no way to pass the ball through all these legs. We tend to overcomplicate things, especially Hazard does that.

And in all this mess the only Chelsea player that stays wide and gives an option is Ivanovic. Then again, when he receives the ball, even David Beckam's crosses wouldn't be enough for a goal.

I'm not saying he's great in doing it, but he is decent and if he had Drogba and ANelka on the pitch he'd be on around 10 assists per season.

[Gilvorak 3,734]

How does he still start? It's beyond ridiculous at this point.

[yuvala 2,167]

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz......................

[Severinb 309]

He has been doing such mistakes for the past two seasons has to work on his fokus!

[didierforever 7,349]

if he starts against southampton and against the likes of lallana, he will get murdered... not kidding.

[Phil Driver 503]

Caught to high up the pitch for the goal ,what a brilliant cross for Eto'o though another tired effort from a reliable player .

[The only place to be 11,313]

Frustratingly he has started to put in better crosses but then lets himself down with that simple ball over the top for Salah's goal. Maybe he should've been deeper but unfortunately when you've got someone with Salah's pace it's going to be tough to make up that ground.

Could definitely see him dropped for Southampton, but that leaves us with a couple of other issues.

[bushman 2,043]

Hoofball is soccer on horseback and like any other soccer game, the objective is to get the ball between your opposition's goal posts more often than your opponent. It is slower than traditional mounted games with the optimum speed being a trot as this is the pace best suited for horses kicking the balls. The emphasis of the game is fun and communication with the horse.

Highly recommended for Ivan to study.

[Sidzeret 2,257]

Frustratingly he has started to put in better crosses but then lets himself down with that simple ball over the top for Salah's goal. Maybe he should've been deeper but unfortunately when you've got someone with Salah's pace it's going to be tough to make up that ground.

Could definitely see him dropped for Southampton, but that leaves us with a couple of other issues.

I remember Cech in mentioning the post-match interview that they were waiting for De Bruyne to come on and take his position but Basel was quick to play on. Not an excuse, though. We do expect a great deal more of awareness from our first choice RB.

[Mufassir08 2,400]

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Perfect today. Just perfect.

He really needed that with his recent form.

[lucio 5,418]

Perfect today. Just perfect.

He really needed that with his recent form.

the halftime analysis showed he was partly at fault for their goal though.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

the halftime analysis showed he was partly at fault for their goal though.

No offense, but most pundits are just idiots.

You can't look beyond Essien for the first goal. The back four is blameless, imo because they were caught flat-footed by the ball that came in the opposite direction to their movement.