The Tactics Thread

[blueblood22 50]

I think the best will be 4-4-2 like this

Cech

Ivan, Luiz, Terry, Cole

Kalou, Essien , Lampard Malouda

Drogba Torres

with an option to change ramirez in essien out because ramirez is in great form and maybe zhirkov in malouda out because he is playing really bad recently and i bellive in zhirkov

[spuz 143]

Malouda said; "The best shape to have good pressure all over the pitch is 4-4-2. If you play with the diamond it is more difficult to close the width of the pitch"

Malouda for manager?

[Madmax 9,219]

Emenalo said :

'As a result we've gone to 4-4-2 which gives a balanced defensive core, but we have quality players who can do different things and we are able to manipulate it a little bit, with Ramires on the right and Florent Malouda or Yury Zhirkov on the left, so we can create width on one side and a certain level of compactness from the right, meaning we don't get overrun even if we send people forward and it can become a central three in midfield when we are defending.

Explains why we've seen the narrow 4-4-2, especially on the right. There's obviously not much trust in Essien's defensive abilities.

'The 4-3-3 allows you to play better football because there are so many possibilities to it in terms of build-up,' he explained. 'You can move the ball around and control possession more, it is a little more sophisticated, especially in England where teams often tend to play a 4-5-1 or 4-4-2 against us.

'I anticipate it coming back but it is good for us to have this variety, and I can also anticipate a possible 4-2-3-1 in the future, or even because of the forwards we have at Chelsea a 4-2-1-3.

Interesting, very interesting...

[eldo 868]

I don't know if this should be posted here.

22 - Chelsea have scored more goals than any other Premier League team from set pieces. Practice.

[Madmax 9,219]

I don't know if this should be posted here.

22 - Chelsea have scored more goals than any other Premier League team from set pieces. Practice.

We are a rich man's Stoke

[Milan 17,854]

I don't know if this should be posted here.

22 - Chelsea have scored more goals than any other Premier League team from set pieces. Practice.

Can't believe lol. Considering the not so distant past where we were discussing our awful stats from corners. It used to be a loss of the possession then.

[eldo 868]

Can't believe lol. Considering the not so distant past where we were discussing our awful stats from corners. It used to be a loss of the possession then.

I guess we were all desperate.

[Blue Armour 4,287]

Anyone else feel there's something wrong with the speed of our build-up play?

I feel that its:

1. Too slow in the middle of the pitch

2. And too fast in the final third.

Because of 1. the opposition defense always gets into position with enough time to spare, ready to prepare for any of the attacks. Because of 2. we don't spend enough time carving a good opportunity. As we saw in the Portsmouth game, the mindless crosses from Jose and Kalou were easily swatted away by the Pompey defense. This also leads to other problems. Because the players have only recently returned, team chemistry is at an all time low. Which is why after quick exchanges between two players, the third player involved in the play often ends up losing the ball.

I feel the team needs to take it slow in the first few games of pre-season and gradually build up speed to improve team chemistry.

What d'you guys think?

[BlueLion. 21,491]

I'll let you know after four more friendlies

[Blue Armour 4,287]

I'll let you know after four more friendlies

But we did play two full matches you know.

[zolayes 14,489]

it will be interesting to see if AVB introduces more flexibilty into our tactics . Jose introduced the holding midfielder with Maka ..everyone followed suit.

it did make us defensively the strongest side in the PL ,,, Jose was also very pro active in the use of substitutions often changing the shape of the team.

One of my criticisms of Carlo was that subs were so predictable ,,,first after 60mins and usually like for like.

Sometimes when we are playing weaker sides who played with one up and parked the bus I failed to see the need for a holding midfielder .

These are two of the things i hope AVB might change

[Bosnian Blue 2,471]

Jose was also very pro active in the use of substitutions often changing the shape of the team.

One of my criticisms of Carlo was that subs were so predictable ,,,first after 60mins and usually like for like.

Jose used his subs way better than Carlo.There were games when we were down and Jose made Huth a CF. That was unexpected and confusing, but it worked. Carlo on he other hand, sometimes even ruined our gameplay with the subs(IE Stoke away last season).

We'll see how AVB reacts when the season starts.

[lionsden 4,689]

Jose used his subs way better than Carlo.There were games when we were down and Jose made Huth a CF. That was unexpected and confusing, but it worked. Carlo on he other hand, sometimes even ruined our gameplay with the subs(IE Stoke away last season).

We'll see how AVB reacts when the season starts.

Absolutely nothing can beat Carlo's Ferreira for Bosingwa substitution whenever we are short of ideas and desperately chasing a game.

[Blue Armour 4,287]

That's because when Carlo panics, he sees experience as the solution

[Styles 9,790]

I think our team is average for two reasons. The two reasons are:

we don't have midfielders who feel comfortable passing between lines i.e. if there is a gap then play the f*cking ball instead of going for the safer option.

none of our wide players/strikers can consistently drop into little pockets of space and recieve the ball on the half-turn which would give us momentum to go forward. Only Drogba does it sometimes and is capable of getting the ball and using his power to turn. Torres, Malouda, Kalou, Anelka cannot recieve the ball on the half turn quickly and move forward with the ball. We don't have a single player capable of dribbling with the ball in tight areas.

[Domino- 116]

Scheme with two wings and a typical ram should be continued.

It is clear that it have the greatest success.

Diamond did not us a taste.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

But we did play two full matches you know.

No we didn't. We saw 23 players in both games, featuring for 45 minutes, with three or four each half playing out of position, ie. Zhirkov cm, Yossi rw, Josh cdm, etc.

[Madmax 9,219]

Good piece on our pressing game this season on zonalmarking : http://www.zonalmarking.net/2011/10/26/chelsea-villas-boas-pressing/