Fulham 0-0 Chelsea

[spuz 143]

The Blues paid 50 million pounds for Torres, was probably the most stupid transfer in history IMO

Torres and Drogba can not play together

They didn't play together last night. I think that was the problem. If Carlo would wake up and realise then we'd see the best of them both. It'll take a new manager to get the best out of them both.

[LDN Blue 7,903]

They didn't play together last night. I think that was the problem. If Carlo would wake up and realise then we'd see the best of them both. It'll take a new manager to get the best out of them both.

Disagree, I think Drogba's finished. Thanks for everything, you've been important in the last few years, but time for you to go.

Priority if finding a strike partner for Torres now.

[Jose M 140]

Disagree, I think Drogba's finished. Thanks for everything, you've been important in the last few years, but time for you to go.

Priority if finding a strike partner for Torres now.

Lukaku?

[Fulham Broadway 17,313]

So guys this can't be true, if anybody of you have learnt to know me in the last couple of years, than you will know me for being one of the last persons who want to sack the manager, but if the manager isn't responsible for a whole squad, I repeat, a WHOLE squad out of form then I will tell you, yes he is, he is, he is and he is! If you want to, you can find reasons and excuses for anything that happens, even for Hitler! You could tell us he was a poor poor little old man who didn't know what he was doing and didn't ment to kill millions of people, but the bottom line is, he was a sick bastard who exactly KNEW what he was doing. Sometimes when I read these posts with the whole "Carlo isn't responsible for the players on the field"-shit I really doubt my knowing about the tasks of a football manager.

First of all: A manager of a football team has a staff behind him but he has to watch a game closely and see any weak links of his team. After this he goes to his staff and tells them which shit they've got to get sorted out is it passing the ball quicker, is it his technical ability, is it his stamina, is it his heading, is it shooting, is it decision making, in short terms, every fu**ing single weak point of a player has to be sorted out through Carlo, telling his staff, which training is needed, than he has to take a close look in training. If Carlo discovers that the player hasn't worked enough in the training, he has to take a place on the bench, if not he has to go to the stands, simple as that. Note Carlo has to discover weak links and communicate them to his staff

Second: Carlo has to instill the winning mentality into his players. This willingness to get his foot on the last ball for the last shot in the last minute of the match, this will to push the ball behind the line with every part of his body. The players must have the will to win every Mickey Mouse-Cup or Milkiway-Cup on this Planet, the only possible outcome of a match in the heads of a player must be a win, nothing else, like Guss, Mou and even the players themselves, when we in a fact had no manager (Grant-Era), did. Note Carlo has to instill winning mentality

Third: Carlo has to give his players Hunger. These kinds of hunger to bite, scratch, tackle and fight for every inch of ground on the Field. This kind of hunger you need against "big" teams (Real, Barca, Manbuh, Liversum…) to get all over them and smile at them when they don't find any space, take them every space to breath, like Guus did with Mikel when he ALONE owned the whole Barca midfield, or when Essien absolutely destroyed Xavi in the second leg. This kind of hunger for winning, for two footed tackles in the box, no fears no respect for anybody. Note Carlo has to instill Hunger and determination

Fourth: Carlo has to have the guts, to place any player on the bench or in the stands. He has to select the team and is responsible for the players on the field, if even fans who have no clue about the football world know better than Carlo which player doesn't justify his selection than something is wrong. I would take Sala or Mellis over Malouda and Essien any day, because at least, they would give it their all! Note Carlo must be brave enough to leave ALL stars on the bench if needed

Let's take a look on all this points:

1^st discover weak links and communicate them to the staff, does Carlo? NO, if there was one or two players not fit and sharp you could say, OK the player is a bitch and don't gets his shit sorted out, but a WHOLE squad out of form talks for itself

2^nd Instill winning mentality, does Carlo? NO, in fact we look like a team that is happy not to lose and try to avoid defeat

3^rd Instill Hunger and determination, does Carlo? NO, just look at our players, we look like puppies with no teeth in our jaws, a disgrace to Denis wise and our former Self (Terry, Drogs, Lamps, Riccy, Maka, Zola all fighting pit bulls on the field)

4^th Brave enough to leave players out of form on the Bench, does Carlo? NO, if you've taken a look for the last four months you will know why

I'm not trying to tell you that Carlo isn't CAPABLE of doing this or not TRYING to do this, but it seems like it won't work for him, not here and not with us, this was what I've told 2 years ago and it has come true a NIGHTMARE for me!

Good points there Clevermeyer. Ancellotti, in fairness, has also be greatly undermined by the removal of Ray Wilkins and the appointment of the apparently useless Emanalo......

[spuz 143]

Disagree, I think Drogba's finished. Thanks for everything, you've been important in the last few years, but time for you to go.

Priority if finding a strike partner for Torres now.

well I'm disagreeing. When Drogs came on he looked livelier,benching may have taught him a lesson.I'm not going to spout out the malaria rubbish excuse though that people come up with. Basically he's not been given that kick up the backside that Carlo isn't capable of giving. Not to mention poor formation and lack of service.

However if he wanted out in the summer or any over 30 wanted out I wouldn't stand in their way.

And if the likes of Sturridge or Josh saw their futures elsewhere I wouldn't blame them.

And if Torres gave Carlo a slap I wouldn't blame him either.

[Krypt 241]

well I'm disagreeing. When Drogs came on he looked livelier,benching may have taught him a lesson.I'm not going to spout out the malaria rubbish excuse though that people come up with. Basically he's not been given that kick up the backside that Carlo isn't capable of giving. Not to mention poor formation and lack of service.

However if he wanted out in the summer or any over 30 wanted out I wouldn't stand in their way.

And if the likes of Sturridge or Josh saw their futures elsewhere I wouldn't blame them.

And if Torres gave Carlo a slap I wouldn't blame him either.

i have to agree , Drogba did more in the time he came on then torres all game. im not begrudging torres as he needs time to settle in ,i just have always though he wont be the answer to our problems. had torres been here last year he would be banging in the goals. he has come to us at a bad point. Though if i hear carlo say bad moment one more time i might have to go and slap him :eyebrows:

[magicrico 175]

We are awful....playing with no heart, no pride, no passion...top 4 side? I don't think so...we will lose to man u twice and draw with city...bye bye top 4....Torres doesn't look like he wants to be here...what happened to essien? Our defence is solid and luiz looks brilliant...but from midfield to attack I would rather have Adams and dj cambell from Blackpool...they show more grit than out players put together...disappointed in the team is an understatement...roll on getting turned over by everton.

[Cosmin 2,484]

1st:

The fact that Torres played pretty bad last night, makes me happy! Why? Because I can just guess that it's about his form, and that would mean that he maybe is able to play in the same team with Drogba!

I can't see Chelsea without Didier right now, he is very important for the team, even if he doesn't play very well. He's can wake the team up in the bad moments.

Berbatov needed like a season to adapt at Man. United, even if he came from another EPL team, and he's now the best scorer in the league. I think we should give Torres some time, at least a few fixtures. Yeah, I know Chelsea paid a lot of money for him, but he is not a robot, at the end of the day. I'm sure Nando will give his best for Chelsea.

BTW, isn't it the Liverpool's fans who say that "Form is temporary, class is permanent" ? Torres has class.

2nd:

The Chelsea fans were just AMAZING last night. Why can't it always be like this on Stamford Bridge too?

3rd:

David Luiz is our next legend. This guy is great! MOTM definitely. Can't wait to see him playing again.

Even if we'll screw up this season, I'm looking forward for the next one. With Sturridge and Kakuta back, plus McEachran playing more often, our team's gonna be a beast.

[Fulham Broadway 17,313]

1st:

The fact that Torres played pretty bad last night, makes me happy! Why? Because I can just guess that it's about his form, and that would mean that he maybe is able to play in the same team with Drogba!

I can't see Chelsea without Didier right now, he is very important for the team, even if he doesn't play very well. He's can wake the team up in the bad moments.

Berbatov needed like a season to adapt at Man. United, even if he came from another EPL team, and he's now the best scorer in the league. I think we should give Torres some time, at least a few fixtures. Yeah, I know Chelsea paid a lot of money for him, but he is not a robot, at the end of the day. I'm sure Nando will give his best for Chelsea.

BTW, isn't it the Liverpool's fans who say that "Form is temporary, class is permanent" ? Torres has class.

2nd:

The Chelsea fans were just AMAZING last night. Why can't it always be like this on Stamford Bridge too?

3rd:

David Luiz is our next legend. This guy is great! MOTM definitely. Can't wait to see him playing again.

Even if we'll screw up this season, I'm looking forward for the next one. With Sturridge and Kakuta back, plus McEachran playing more often, our team's gonna be a beast.

Lol like the optimism -yup you're right mental atmosphere as always at Fulham

As far as Torres is concerned. Utilisation is the key and there appeasr to be a lack of foresight.

We should not be starting him, he should be coming off the bench to exploit tired defences, and it wouldn't cause so much pressure for him to have that immediate performance expectation.

But he'll come good......

[Milan 17,957]

I was saying it to myself during the game as well - how on Earth could Anelka hit him?? It was a promising counter and Anelka hit their laying player.

[Clevemayer 764]

the worst thing ist, that from carlo's reaction you can see that everythings seems like it was the way I'm thinking about how on earth can he think this? read the bold-lines:

'We deserved to win this game but we could lose it at the end,' acknowledged Ancelotti.

'Petr Cech did a fantastic save from the penalty but our performance was a good performance. We did well in the second half and we put a lot of pressure on.

'We didn't allow Fulham a lot of opportunities to come out from their half and we had a lot of opportunities to score, but we were not able to and it was the one fault we had in the game.

'But the team showed good attacking play, good physical condition and a good attitude - but we could have lost it, and this is football.'

Explaining the selection decision up front, he said:

'I wanted to have control of the game in midfield by using Malouda and Anelka between the lines, and it was normal rotation because we have a lot of games coming and we want to maintain the players fresh. Drogba was a case of normal rotation as happened to Mikel and Kalou, and these players will play the next game.

[RX8 40]

This game is one more of the Awful season Chelsea are having.... And this is not going to end... I just hope That we do so much better at CL, and get at least 4 place in the table to return to CL...

However... The Special One showing at the Game is very disturbing......

[spuz 143]

Fulham had more shots on target and a penalty at the end. Not often Cech saves those. We were fortunate if anything.

[Peace. 4,352]

Lately, when I'm watchin Chelsea play, i got the feeling that I'm watching my France team in the South Africa Wolrd Cup...

[MetsajCFC 1,255]

This is already a huge thread so I'll try to keep it short.

Terrible. Terrible performance. No excuses tonight and we're running out of time too. Lampard, Essien, Malouda & Anelka were subpar.

Torres' touches were quite heavy. I'm all for giving him time but we desperately need something better now.

On the bright side. David Luiz will become my favourite CB in the future. What. A. Player.

I have a "man-crush" on that keeper with the helmet.

Ramires was surprisingly good. Not he's been anything but great in his last few games but today he was a level above our other midfielders.

Sums up my thoughts, well put mate.

[Styles 9,790]

I was saying it to myself during the game as well - how on Earth could Anelka hit him?? It was a promising counter and Anelka hit their laying player.

That video just goes to show just how dumb some of our players are. Why on earth did Anelka attempt a long ball across the pitch when Ramire is right there infront of him unmarked? Or why didn't he run into the acres of space infront of him with the ball? That was a brilliant chance of a counter attack wasted by the sheer stupidity of Anelka.That is the kind of stupidity that is costing us games, too many of our players play with their head down and fail to spot simple gaps to pass through.

[pachman40 357]

I dunno guys, part of me wants to come in here and bash the boring predictable football that was played last night but the other part of me thinks we're simply on the wrong side of the luck right now. People are saying that Torres didn't play well in our system last night and the tactics are wrong. I disagree and say Torres brought the wrong shooting boots, he had chances out the ass including that beautiful long ball from Luiz at halftime but Torres simply couldn't finish. People are saying we played terrible yesterday. Well I say we played better than we're giving them credit for and we simply couldn't put the ball in the back of the net. There were definitely negatives out there (Essien's behind a step, Lamps is lost out there, and Anelka was wasted in his role. That being said, we were 100% in control except for a couple of dangerous counter-attacks, we basically camped out in their half, and if we had 1 breakthrough I know I was feeling that the floodgates would burst open.

I will say that we seemed content with our control and looked uninspired. There was no urgency until the last 20 mins and there was too much standing around. I dunno, there were positives and negatives in the game, if we popped in a goal obviously the mood would be different around here and we'd have some more positive reflection but I guess that's natural.

By the way, didn't I tell you guys about Luiz????? He's a stud and will only get better once he settles into the team a bit more and plays within them instead of on his own. He tries to do everything himself though and I could see it kinda unsettled a couple of our players cuz he was all over the field and they kinda stood back and watched him do his thing instead of helping him out. They were like "who the F is this guy?". He is our future no doubt!

[steve5221 91]

I see your point, but feel that we are really missing a trick by not playing Drogba and Torres up front together. Torres touch was woeful last night but his movement was very good. I think if we combine that with Drogba's strength and touch we can really look to score some goals. If Carlo would just revert to a standard 4-4-2 with Malouda on the left and Kalou/Essien/Ramires on the right I think we will flow

[spuz 143]

I see your point, but feel that we are really missing a trick by not playing Drogba and Torres up front together. Torres touch was woeful last night but his movement was very good. I think if we combine that with Drogba's strength and touch we can really look to score some goals. If Carlo would just revert to a standard 4-4-2 with Malouda on the left and Kalou/Essien/Ramires on the right I think we will flow

:goodpost: I've made that point a billion times. Things will click with that one simple change. Carlo may even save his arse from the sack.

We've got the talented players they're just being played wrong and maybe by the look of things training doesn't seem to be up to much. We just need someone to come in and give the players a kick up the backside in training and have more passing sessions. Maybe Luiz could teach them how it's done.

By the way, didn't I tell you guys about Luiz????? He's a stud and will only get better once he settles into the team a bit more and plays within them instead of on his own. He tries to do everything himself though and I could see it kinda unsettled a couple of our players cuz he was all over the field and they kinda stood back and watched him do his thing instead of helping him out. They were like "who the F is this guy?". He is our future no doubt!

I feel guilty now that we've robbed Benfica getting him so cheap.

[dodojojo 510]

We should not be starting him, he should be coming off the bench to exploit tired defences, and it wouldn't cause so much pressure for him to have that immediate performance expectation.

But he'll come good......

He was exploiting the Fullham defense as he was in a couple of clear scoring positions. That Luiz hoof pass to Torres isn't all that different from what Torres did to Vidic in 2009. Problem is his finishing and I think that will improve with time on the pitch and confidence. Ancelotti should not have taken him off when Chelsea needed a goal and he was still involved. I'll take this back if Ancelotti believes Torres was tired and slowing down.