How are we going to cope with our injury crisis?

[Blueboy 14]

Earlier this month we received the news that Bosingwa is out for 3 months.

After that, Ashley Cole(unknown?) & Frank Lampard (3 weeks out) followed.

Potentially JT is out also.

I thinks it's a pretty bad time to lose our players, with the games against Porto and especially Arsenal coming up.

I think our 'back'-problem is solvable, despite we'll hand in a decent amount of quality if we look at the replacements that have been mentioned.

Lampard could be replaced with Deco and JT with Alex.

But who would be our captain then (assuming JT AND Lamps are out)?

And what you guys think the best line-up would be for the forthcoming games?

This is mine:

Goal:

Cech(let's hope he does better at corners this time :/ )

Defence; (from right to left)

Ivanovic (despite his lack of speed :/, the other option is Beletti; isn't much better in that aspect)

Alex (No problems with this at all! But only if Terry is out ofcourse!)

Riccy (As always in the starting line-up)

Zhirkov (don't know if this is a good idea, he'll have an instant amount of pressure on him! But at least he's got enough pace to keep up with arshavin on the right)

Midfield (from bottom to right to left to top of the diamond);

Essien (Speaks for itself. Will help Zhirkov to stop off Arshavina and Fabregas)

Ballack (one way or another he seems unmissable this season!)

Deco (I'm a bit afraid that he can't handle the tempo against Arsenal, but we don't have any other options left really, or you should use Matic, but that's a really really big gamble).

J. Cole (We could use his creativity well behind the strikers)

Attack:

Anelka

Drogba

(who else?)

This is ofcourse only if we don't get any more injuries ....

Eager to know what you guys think of it!

Edited November 13, 2009 by Blueboy

[EskWeston 696]

Not too much of a crisis at the moment. Losing Lamps is a blow though, Ashley Cole should be back for the Arse game fingers crossed. And to have to pick from our midfield from the following: Mikel, Essien, Ballack, Deco, Malouda, Cole, Zhirkov... i think we should be able to cope just fine.

Would have liked our strongest 11 out against the Arse but we have to work with what we have and i think we can still win it...

[Blueboy 14]

Didn't Cole broke something? Looks pretty unlogical to me that he would play within 3 weeks then.... ?

And who would be the captain IF Terry would be out? If Capello decides to play him i can see him coming back with an injury after all :/.

Edited November 13, 2009 by Blueboy

[Blueboy 14]

Zhirkov and Mikel don't have had much playingtime so i wonder how they would perform against Arsenal, not too sure about that. We should play Cole at the top of the diamond i think, got more skill in small spaces than Deco i think.

Ofcourse we can still win it! KTBFFH!

PS; Can you guys see my avatar? I can't, so thought i would better ask you .

Edited November 13, 2009 by Blueboy

[.Cee 50]

PS; Can you guys see my avatar? I can't, so thought i would better ask you .

No, I can't see your ava.

Edited November 13, 2009 by .Citraningsih

[Blueboy 14]

No, I can't see your ava.

Too bad, will have a look at it later then!

[Gianfranco_Z 202]

I think Ballack is obvious choice for stand in captain if Lampard and JT arent playing?

[Rubber bullets 1,183]

Why sue the FA of course.

Crocked England star Frank Lampard ruled out until Christmas as FA face huge bill over flight farce

By Sportsmail Reporter Last updated at 11:41 AM on 13th November 2009

• Comments (13)
• Add to My Stories

The FA have may to cough up almost £1million in compensation asFrank Lampard was ruled out until Christmas after their budget flightto Qatar.

The Chelseamidfielder spent seven hours on the cramped flight to the Middle Eastfor Saturday's friendly with Brazil and is now out for around sevenweeks with a thigh injury.

Plane stupid: Frank Lampard arrives in Doha with England yesterday

Lampard later pulled up during a training session at Doha'sAl Saad ground on Thursday and has been sent home to be assessed byChelsea's medical staff.

Pain: Lampard faces seven weeks out

The Blues are reported to be furious and will now claim for the star's£151,000-a-week wages, according to The Sun. This could cost themaround £900,000.

The FA flew the England squad on a charter plane designed for shorterflights, with seats that barely reclined and no sign of the flat bedsusually reserved for such long journeys.

It is reported that several members of the squad complained of cramps and muscle pains after stepping of the plane.

Lampard did train in Doha but after warming up, he strained his left thigh during sprint runs.

AFA statement read: 'We can confirm Frank Lampard picked up an injurywhile training and will be returning home. There will be no furthercall-ups.'

Top man: Chelsea will badly miss Lampard's influence on the pitch

He is now set to be sidelined until the festive period and is expectedto miss a string of Barclays Premier League matches, including crunchclashes with Arsenal and Manchester City.

The move is a further blow for Chelsea, who have lost Jose Bosingwafor three months, while Ashley Cole and Didier Drogba are alsostruggling with injuries.

Meanwhile, Michael Essien, John MikelObi, Salomon Kalou and Drogba are all set to play in the Africa Cup ofNations during January.

Source: Daily Mail.

[Cameron 30]

Injury crisis? Get out!

Lampard and Ashley Cole out for 3 weeks or so and Bosingwa out for three months does NOT equate to an injury crisis.

[Rambo 1,729]

Lampard, Ashley, Bosingwa, Drogba all out and possibly John Terry with sore ankle. If that's not an injury crisis I don't know what is.

[Rambo 1,729]

You forgot Paulo, Kalou, Mikel, Sturridge.

[NattyBlue 44]

Paolo's not injured, neither is Mikel. Sturridge isn't injured either

Haven't heard about Kalou

we don't have an injury crisis, Arsenal always have about 5 - 7 players out and they don't talk about crisis' as much do they bloody hell.

We will be fine, we don't have all these players on laughable wages in the squad for nothing.

[Blueboy 14]

Heard from a mate of me that Drogba (aka The man who always wins the game for us against Arsenal), is also out :/, anny confirmation?

The list is still growing;

Bosingwa,

Cole,

Lampard,

(Possibly Terry and Drogba?)

I wonder how our attacking game is going to look like (looking at the fact that much of our attacks depend on the backs).

Let's hope we don't get anymore injuries during those F*cked up friendlies:fainthv9:

[NattyBlue 44]

Drogba news so far is speculation, but believeable that he'll be out for weeks as will Lampard, I don't know how long Ash is out for.

JT had a swollen ankle, should be back for wolves imo.

Belleti is fine at RB it's LB which is the concern atm and 18m Zhirkov should show his worth now, Carlo hasn't been giving him a run out it's annoying.

[Blueboy 14]

Yep, it's indeed speculation, but the international round of friendlies has yet to begin, and we already have a few absents. The games that i'm worrying about most are City and Arsenal.

It won't be bad to see Zhirkov play . Still, he just recovered from an injury and immediately got a call-up for the russia squad, wich is a risk imo.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Its fair to say we're not exactly going to miss either Drogba or Lampard in an attacking sense against Wolves when you still have the likes of Essien, Anelka, Joe Cole and Ballack in the squad. Defensively we're also fine; true Cole and Bosingwa are first choice but Ivanovic has been solid in recent weeks and Paulo rarely lets anyone down. Terry has pulled out as a precaution to a slight niggle, but he will play through the pain because that's the sort of player he is. Its no injury crisis at all. Worst case scenario is we have to play the following team against Wolves, Porto and Arsenal:

Cech

Ivanovic, Alex, Carvalho, Ferreira

Ballack, Essien, Malouda

Joe Cole, Deco

Anelka

I'm not particularly worried.

[Rambo 1,729]

Paolo's not injured, neither is Mikel. Sturridge isn't injured either

Haven't heard about Kalou

wedon't have an injury crisis, Arsenal always have about 5 - 7 playersout and they don't talk about crisis' as much do they bloody hell.

We will be fine, we don't have all these players on laughable wages in the squad for nothing.

Paulo, Mikel, Kalou, Sturridge are players he left out on his list of substitutes.

[Ray. 217]

What about Hutchinson from the first team, and also Borini and Bruma from the Reserves? I think Ancelotti needs to keep all his options open, particularly against Arsenal.

Paulo, Mikel, Kalou, Sturridge are players he left out on his list of substitutes.

You've posted this 3 times already.