Have we turned the corner?

[LDN Blue 7,903]

No doubt, we had a good game yesterday and we won well with a 2-0 score. But it will take some time for us to turn everything around. Right now, we have a group of players who just... "don't really care" ... at the moment. Players like Essien for instance. In previous years, bar injuries, he was the battering ram of our team, getting play going, creating space, and giving Lampard the freedom to roam and pass to attacking players. Nowadays he just gets crowded out by everyone, and he makes sloppy passes in the middle, as if he doesn't give a shit. The understanding of all this, is the fact that, although Essien is built to be a fast, individual, he's not a playmaker at all. It's no wonder that Carlo is threatening him of his place with McEachran because the way players like him are built, he is just like a playmaker. And that's what we need, players who can create, not players who can get immediate bookings and suspensions.

Another thing about Essien I hate nowadays is the way he dives into challenges when he doesn't even need to. He got sent off for a two-footed tackle against Fulham (causing him to get two yellows), and when he gave Aston Villa a penalty for a horrific challenge (don't remember who it was he brought down) but yeah, nowadays, rather than just get on with the game, he's grown to be a more agressive player than a creative one.

I understand where you're coming from, but I don't really believe the whole "don't care" thing. I put it more down to lack of confidence rather than not caring. One of the main things that has cost us games is poor defending, so players like Essien don't go as forward much, we've seen he is the same Bison when he goes on his emphatic runs to try and create something. He does this usually in the last 10minutes when worrying about conceding is less important than scoring. We all said he was wasted in the defensive midfield role when Mourinho deployed him there, but I think that's wrong now. I think he's better there, and making those surging runs when there's enough cover at the back.. I think that's the only way we'll see Bison return.

Drogba and Malouda are exactly the same as Essien. They play like they don't give a shit. Malouda tends to find no space at all, and he either just hoofs it in the penalty box and no-one is there, or he just gives it away while we're attacking. Drogba isn't as quick on the ball as he was before. There were times in the Blackburn game, where he could have easily slotted the ball past Paul Robinson. It feels nowadays, as though he plays like he doesn't have anything left in the tank. However, If we gave Sturridge a chance (give him more minutes on the pitch. More than 4 minutes at least) Maybe replace Drogba for some games and see how he gets on. If results are not going our way, then bring Drogba on early or something.

Again, I make the same point about lack of confidence being masked as not caring. Trouble with Malouda is, before he used to have a free role on that left wing. Ashley Cole used to over lap his runs so the defence found it a nightmare to deal with both. Unfortunately Cole's decline is beginning, and so it leaves more for him to do. I think he is trying, but because he knows he's not performing, it's contributing to his poor technique. Defenders are getting the better of him and he's getting more and more frustrated. This is when Carlo needs to talk to Malouda, assure him of his ability and just encourage him to work harder.

Drogba is really have a troubled time lately. You can see he knows he's not performing as well, and it's bitter for him considering last seasons form. Carlo says he's on his way to recapturing that but I'm not seeing it to be honest. I think if he'd scored yesterday it would've helped him, he was just unlucky Givet was able to get that last ditch tackle yesterday - And that Salgado was having a very good game. I don't think dropping him is the answer though (as controversial as that may sound )

On the positive side however, I think Ramires had a fantastic game yesterday, and we got to see some of his excelling runs in the middle of the park, which is his speciality. As long as he does more of this on a regular basis, we might have a chance of turning games in our favour. It takes time for players like him to adjust in the squad.

Yeah, can't argue with that - It's good because it keeps Mikel & Ramires on top of their game!

The morale to all of this, is the fact that we just don't have enough depth. We don't have enough players to fill every position, therefore competition for places is very low. Remember when Mourinho first came to Chelsea. He felt that having at least 2 players to fill every position on the pitch was imperative, and he won us the league that year. Before this season however, we got rid of 4 heavy players; Ballack, Joe Cole, Deco (yes I will include him) and Carvalho, and we failed to replace any of them. Benayoun has been injured for most of this season, and Ramires (bar yesterday) is still learning the Premier League. Also, I hate to say it, but I think we've relied on youngsters a bit too much and we're trying to raise them too quickly. That's why I believe that signing a defencer (Cahill/David Luiz) and a striker (Neymar/Aguero) and a winger (Schweinsteiger/Alexis) is important this January. That's only if we can tempt Abramovich to inject some more cash. But that's hard to call if we're trying to contemplate to UEFA's new rules for next season and try to break even!

Your last point is very true as well. It's not the fact we sold Ballack and all them, it's rather the fact we didn't replace them. I think we were all deluded, for the right reasons, at the beginning of the season when we were winning 6-0 all the time and that's all down to confidence. Unfortunately I don't think we'll capture that raging confidence again, the 7-0 against Ipswich was probably a 1-off (hopefully not) - Considering they were managerless.

[zolayes 14,489]

my main criticism of Essien is that his passing even when not under pressure has been so poor recently

[spuz 143]

Until Carlo relises his failings we'll never get out of this 'bad moment'.

[Joe Cool 388]

Like someone said, we haven't completely turned it around, but we're finally heading in the right direction after countless weeks of being utter shite.

Gotta start somewhere.

[Ray. 217]

I think the last 2 matches there has been an improvement, but somehow we still haven't got the magic spark that we had during the last season and the beginning of this season. We need to keep the momentum going and can't afford anymore poor results, particularly if we want to stay in the top 4. Interesting to see what happens in the FA Cup and the CL as well.

[Kostas 1,468]

we had something like 27 shots they had 3, the score-line flattered them.

It didn't.

Shots vs Clear-cut chances.

[strong centreback 157]

We are heading into the corner but need a run of wins to get round it, if we can win all of our games leading into the champions league first leg then id say our season is back on track, at the moment we are merely getting back on our feet.

[True_Blue 469]

The next few games will show us if we are back on form.Since you can't really rate it against a team from the Championship or with a team that struggles away from home and is shit in general.If we get 5 good results in the same amount of games i will say we are back (they don't need all to be wins)