We clearly do not need to buy a striker only if we are not letting either of shevy/pizzaro leave by January. And if we have to buy one it has to be a proven striker like Anelka. I dont think Avram believe so much in Pizzaro and dont know exactly why he is preserving Shevy from not playing. I believe Shevy can come alive soon with the style Avram establish. I just have a feeling that we are going to suffer a bit during the Jan/Feb. Hope we clinch a second spot in the table if not winning it by the end of may. It will be incredible for the season we are having so far.

In my opinion, its YES, i dont think we have 2 buy a striker…..we juz need 2 loan….i dont have the TRUST on sheva n pizarro 2 score many goals…..like drogba…..I THINK CHELSEA NEED 2 LOAN huntelaar frm ajax….he should be more dependable……=)

we really should buy a striker if avram stops believing sheva and pizzaro…,the striker i suggest is anelka…

BC there can be other things to be planned as well. some of which i think are.

1. Its not just 4 weeks but the players will take atleast 2 weeks more in leaving early and coming back. Its upto chelsea management how well they negotiate with the country. essien and drogs being key players will definitely be asked to come early.

2. injuries suffered if any during the cup which normally happens quite often in cup competitions and that too africa!!.

3. Fitness after the exhausting tournament especially as our strikers belong to ivory coast which might reach final easily. No chance they can come and directly start playing with full fitness.

4. change of style for a long period … its manageable.

And whats wrong to get a striker for the next season in view to adapt as drogs will be leaving and who knows about essien?? getting some one on loan is good if there is some one available on loan… its mostly the young and unsettled players on loan. Other clubs would like to cash chelsea on this occasion i feel and grant would not like to take any chances this season.

Nothing wrong in discussing the same with jose as he was preparing for this for quite a time

@Blue Champions
See the problem is
1.Sheva
He is a classic poacher…………he is not a drogba……..he is not a henry…………he can’t dribble……..he can’t outmuscle the defense like drogba do……….or dirty poaching like rvn i.e hanging around the post looking for a ball
he needs THROUGH BALLS,QUALITY CROSSES to keep on scoring………..another point if u remenber some times ago i mentioned we did not change our system when ballack and sheva arrived……………this is what i meant………………..even if we changed our system from 4-3-3 to 4-1-2-1-2
we did not change the kind of game we were playing……………changing formation to accomodate sheva and ballack is something which anyone who has a little knowledge about footy can do………..let’s analyze our midfield we seriously lack what we call a complete playmaker……….frank lampard’s playmaking is limited to long balls[majority]…….like it or not……….i m not influenced by media but rather what i have seen…………essien is a perfect holding midfielder so is mikel but they ARE NOT PLAYMAKERS……….. ballack is the best bet when playmaking is concerned………but he is also of the mould of lampard with less long balls
we seriously need a playmaker caus though i rate ballack definitely higher than lampard in playmaking[germany fan so obviously] but when i see fabregas,ronaldinho,kaka,pirlo they are just different class………that’s why i will anyday have a highly rated playmaker like modric in my team anyday and sell off lampard…………..caus we have ballack who can offer better playmakin than lampard and will offer variety to the squad

2.Pizarro
lacks pace,can get involved in the set up better and probably score random goals too………………he offers dimension to the squad but he is not 1st team material…………

we do need a striker[a dribbler and a poacher]……………………drogba is leaving it’s time we accept the fact…………. i would have prefferd to have drogba though caus he offers dimension to the striking option

I think they do need a strike and anelka is a good target to buy but if news is correct that drogba is on his was i think they need more than anelka. Last comment get rid of lamps complete and utter joke.

We should by the velencia striker villa if drogba goes and may be alves as well

VALENCIA are in a mess. How about David VILLA? He’ll be cup-tied at CL though this year. We should sell Sheva in the winter to either AC Milan or some other clubs interested at him. Play Pizarro and Sinclair in a 4-4-2 formation during the ACN, and replace the player that we buy - Villa or even Adriano from INTER - with either Pizarro/Sinclair at the start of the game. We should also have Sahar back from QPR as well, I think, by Jan/Feb.

I personally think tt…to replace drogba and kalou…we can use sheva and pizarro…i believe they can get back to their usual goal scoring form…maybe there is a need to get another striker to act as backup for sheva and pizarro….as for essien and mikel…they are indeed hard to replace…essien is solid and strong….whiile mikel is stable….however chelsea has been linked to modric and some russian players…hopefully they can arrive to give chelsea some creativity in the midfield areas..also…makelele sidwell can get a chance to feature …chelsea can cope with the loss of few players during the ANC period…this is the best time to see sheva and pizarro play a huge role…and gain more experience in EPL….i am hoping for some gd buys….to instil creativity…

Whaaaa!!played a full strength manutd side?no u didnt!anderson,hargreaves,tevez,neville,saha all did not play.and the first 3 are now starters!really irrelevant i know but it makes my blood boil when ppl dismiss uniteds injury status and dont give us the amount of praise for getting through these injury “crises” as perhaps they give other clubs(chelsea).i think chelsea do not think chelsea need a new striker at all. 5 games isnt a lot of games and with sheva and pizarro,who have played at the highest level available there is no “gap”.although drogba is world class!and will be missed but not to the extent of a new striker being needed.

Buying first choice striker(s)in Jan/Feb is an insult to Sheva and Pizarro,Sheva in his recent matches that he took part of,has shown glimpse of brilliance and qualities,excellence he’s been blessing us with for many years in his time at AC Milan.Sheva and Pizarro have been on the fringe for a long time,Jan/Feb will be the perfect time for them to show us in the true sense what they can do for our lovely club(Chelsea fc).Use Ben Sahar and Sinclair as their backup,to help our young stars to adjust to the high level of football,we do have almost every types of Qualities,skillful and excellents players at Chelsea fc,we just need to help them to bring about the best of themselves.

I personally do not think that Avram Grant is bold enough to change teh tactic against Derby or against any side, and that’s why he opted to use 4-3-3 because he wants to play it safe and to establish himself. We should all know that 4-4-2 is one of the most complicated formations in application so i don’t think Avram will gamble and implement it in a crucial time of the season … he may introduce it as a Plan B sort of tactic in case 4-3-3 failed to deliver in a match .. but to adopt 4-4-2 i don’t think he is going to use because he is not brave enough !!

chelsea are the best will you give these guys the credit they deserve true blue fans would be encouraging the players not abusing them remember the key to sucess is confidence none of these players will have this if you keep jeering them

ps
WE LOVE YOU ROMAN!!!!!

IVE HEARD RUMOURS OF ABROMOVIC PAYING 200MPLUS
FOR MESSI KAKA AND LULINHA COME ON BOYS

Truebluefashion @ 5

you’re wrong. why should chelsea change their playing style for sheva and ballack? that’s stupidity. these superstars, who happen to be internationals and top professionals, should be able to modify their game to the team tactics and strategy instead changing the mindset of the other nine players. otherwise, what’s the difference between the great shevchenko and jermaine defoe? stop talking about throughballs, he was given enough throughballs and also balls to his feet for one-on-one chances. he couldn’t connect the simple tap-ins, he couldn’t retain possession for more than 2 seconds! the failure of shevchenko should be blamed on only one person - that is, shevchenko himself. no passion all money. greedy bugger.

it’s not about goals, it’s about his willingness and passion. he does not have them. as long as he is not passionate, he will do nothing. you said we have to get rid of lampard. you can millions and billions, but you can’t get a man of lampard’s passion and heart. there are many players wanting to come to chelsea for the money, but lampard is our heartbeat, he plays for the chelsea, he respects and loves chelsea fc. barca keeps chasing him but he says he wants to retire at chelsea. guys, let’s not play ‘football manager’ game because these are not just players with skills points, like in a game. these are human beings.

the playing style and tempo of the english does not require a playmaker. a strong attacking midfielder will do. may be if kaka comes to premier league and fails, you’d all agree. now don’t tell he will be a resounding success, that’s what you guys said about sheva and ballack too.

madrid did not change their game for beckham or nistelrooy or even ronaldo for that matter. barca has not changed their methods for henry. napoli did change for maradona (vice versa is more true), but sheva is no maradona and we are not napoli too.

ONCE AGAIN: Players, with their experience, skill, talent, game awareness etc should adapt to the team strategy. period.

Hi guys,

ANC..Jan/Feb..we are talking 5 EPL games and 3 or 4 cup games as well.is CC, FA n UCL…

The players leaving are ones who have a great influence on the way the team plays…So if we dont have good back up or if we dont bring in good back up, we will be out of all 4 competitions by Feb.

Grant has handled Sheva n pizzaro very poorly so far.Sheva was beginning to show some spark but Grant dropped him n naturally sheva’s confidence must be sinking.

Our Midfield can cope without essien n Mikel..we have the players for that.

However, I dont think Sheva n pizzaro can bang in goals.I am talking based on present form n confidence levels.

We also need to think about the future of CFC.Sheva is getting older, Pizzaro is not the 20 goals plus man that we need.Drogba will most probably leave in june.

I think buying 1 or 2 good strikers in Jan will help us for the short term n the long term.

I have 4 people in mind..Anelka, Crouch, Podolski n Adriano

All of them are proven goal scorers.

All of the 4 are unhappy at their respective clubs and would welcome a change.We have to act fast and buy atleast 2 of them because there are other clubs looking for strikers as well.

Grant has the backing of the owner, so money wont be a problem.I just hope he buys well.

Cmon Chelsea.

NO , Chelsea should not bring a new striker, they have to wait untill the end of the season , they should not rush and waste the money, at the end of the season , we should check who are available.

There is something that i don’t understand here. Dear ARTHUR
You and others talk abaout HENRY DROGBA, VILLA , LAMPARD, ESSIEN and
buying a striker etc. but remind me please who won THE GOLDEN BALL 2004 and finished top scorer in the CHAMPION’S LEAUGUE the year he came to chelsea???????
Is it SHEVA or some other striker? Maybe RONALDINHO was , KAKA will be, ZIZOU was. It’s BALLON D’OR man!!! The one who gets chosen is one incredible talent who played the best football of the year. And in 2004 it was ANDRYI SHEVCHENKO! You know why? Because he was the deadliest striker in the world and don’t forget that. In two goals he will beat GERD MULLER record in european cup’s history. And the question is if whe should buy a new striker?? We should build the team around DROGBA and SHEVA!! I also admire Drogba’s talent but SHEVA deserves a chance in CHELSEA to say the least. When Drogba who wants obviously to leave will be in Africa Sheva will do the same job , same classical finishes: go to YOUTUBE for god’s sake and see, even against Leicester or City. D’ont forget the Masterpiece against Tottenham in CUP last year.

Everybody will agree that Mourinho doubted him all the time , if he played it was on the Robben’s place on the left, crazy! He still scored against Porto: clinical left foot finish , against Valencia , and for Liverpool semi-fianl he got banned from DROGBA SUPERFAN MOURINHO . Grant is even worse: only games he played was LEICESTER( two goals and the equalizer was a beauty) and sixed goal against Manchester city. Since then he’s on the bench without A SINGLE MINUTE.

It’s wednesday today and there was a match between Ukraine and France:
Sheva missed a magic volley, hit well free-kicks, scored to earn Ukraine a draw in a deadly group. 38 goals in 74matches for Ukraine. Played excellently at his Milan level in a team that cared about him like Pirlo, Kaka( Pupil of the master when Sheva was Milan captain), Seedorf , Gattuso who ripped himself off to get him good balls back!

QUOTE from WIKIPEDIA:Shevchenko won the 2004 European Footballer of the Year award, and was named by Pelé as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers in 2004. He was named a starting striker on the 2005 FIFPro World XI team, and is the second-highest goal scorer of all-time in European club competitions with 60 goals, behind Gerd Müller.

ARTHUR : i only hope that you’re too young and haven’t seen Milan games from 1999 to 2006 when he came to Chelsea where Mourinho didn’t want him and nobody did: LAMPARD, AFRICANS Etc. nobody liked him and Press was saying ugly things about him: snitch of Abramovich and so on. Have Chelsea Coaches or players ever tried to use Sheva’s strengths? Or Lampard, Essien , Drogba shooted whenever Sheva asked the ball when he had minutes under Mourinho. Situation whith Grant makes me and hopefully every experienced Football fan sick and YOU ALL KNOW THAT IT’S TRUE WHAT I SAY . I didn’t give him this Golden Ball myself and i’m not Pele even if i would make the same choice.

So Arthur, please don’t disrespect a man who has achieved so much and fought hard for his goals (allways) ans did his best for Chelsea, club where people don’t give a S++T about a living LEGEND. THAT when we gave him a chance .

I WOULD LOVE TO SEE SOME REACTIONS ON WHAT I SAD: IT’S JUST THAT STATS DON’T LIE and i consider myself, even if a little bit passionate about this player, still objective. THANKS for reading. ARTHUR please right back and tell me
that yo’re really young so that i can forgive you for your comments( not forgive but accept without being angry)

last season man utd were under similar striker crisis but SAF managed to win the EPL by getting larson on loan. need to be seen what chelsea does….

@Arthur
when you buy a player of sheva’s and ballack’s calibre,you adjust the system to accomodate them
and you are wrong playmakers can survive in england i.e gerrard,fabregas and so can technical player

@Blue Champion
I Watched the match yestwerday………………trust me chelsea players were the best in england match

wayne bridge
—————-
is as good going forward as ashley but not as good as ashley in defense

frank lampard
——————-
scored the penalty………………..but again he was overdoin the long balls……..and if he tries to what i call playmaking then his shot was getting blocked easily by the marker

joe cole
—————–
why he was subbed was beyond me……………..was providing excellent crosses and maintainig poccession and overall good performance

swp
——————
troubled the defense………created many chances before he was subbed off……………….if only he can improve his crossing

about luka modric:i just watched the match for him,he is something special and he was completely fitting the bill of what i term as a playmaker…………..excellent through balls……………good counter movement………..good long balls………..and an overall package

i think the coach is the person we should be talking about here…,he needs to make these guys believe “they can do it” instead of keeping them on the bench and not playing them at all.Drogba’s early seasons in chelsea was quite woeful,it was cos jose showed he believed in him that brought out his best.Sheva’s form was beginning to make sense when boss grant started keeping him on the bench again.i wonder why boss grant doesnt like substituting even when we have nothing to lose…

First of all the thing that gets on my nerves is the fact that everyone is crying about teh farican cup of nations..this is absolute shit….we know their gonna go…we are going to lose them for a month or so..y repeat it and cry about it..just 4get it.i suppose a team like chelsea can handle the pressure.

-for mikel we have makelele(though he is defensive but none the less a gr8 player)
-for essein we have ballack and sidwell….the way ballack played in bayern….if he does dat here….we woudnt miss esseing dat much…..coz ballack i suppose averaged a goal every 2games der….and an assist every 1.5 game…so goals will come…we have one of the highest scoring mids in lamps……while for drogba ,y aint we thinking dat it is not shevas mistake for al this shit…hez not being played in his position which is in the box…..and is being made to play on the elft….hez a natural finisher and not some bloody ronaldo who can …..u noe…..come in..couple of stepovers……then DIVE….penalty and goal!!!!

I respect mourinho and love him a lot but i feel hez da one who ruined shevas career with the wing play he introduced for him…..he is not the one who can create many goals…..a reason for dta being dat he doesnt look up wen he runs…he doesnt look up at all

kalou….we have joe cole…..and malouda on the wings…..i dun swp as i said before the math in my earlier post……his crosses suck big time man……i still dunt see him as CHELSEA MATERIAL……wats the use of him to the team if he just runs and doant create any chances….and wastes chance like he has done quite a many numebr o times wen otehr ppl have been in better positions to score.

i know that even robben did that some times…..but he was an impact player…he created goals…he scored imp ones……and missed sometimes….but dats ok…..it happens.

while i dun see pizzaro being a gr8 premiership player as hez too slow and some times wen he is playing i just dun see him moving or playing as a team…..hez just invisible!!

We will miss Essien. It may or may not be obvious right from the get-go, but we will miss a player of his calibre, even with Ballack making his return.

Drogba will also be missed sorely.

Here’s to hoping that Shevchenko can find his form again. He will have a fantastic opportunity in the coming months to get back on top of his game, especially if Grant decides not to buy a striker. If he is indeed provided with the play-time and opportunities to impress during the cup, he must do just that. A pforessional of his calibre owes it to his team.

And to add to the ongoing debate on Shevchenko’s lack of form, I’ll add this possibility: it really isn’t all that surprising. I feel sorry for Sheva, and believe that he has been consistently and massively unlucky in his appearances. He’s doubted himself severely lately and must have had more than a handful of very dark days here in England. I make this assertion based on the fact that when he plays in a positive, warm, welcoming environment for Ukraine he seems to do so well. Unfortunately for Sheva, he never had the support of his first manager, he missed the chance to gain the support of the fans, and I only hope that he can do some good things enabling him to get back his confidence. He absolutely must capitalize on the many chances he will presumably have in the upcoming months.

Assuming, of course, that we don’t go ahead and buy up a new striker–and that’s a distinct possibility.

I hope we don’t. I’d love to see us make-do with the talent we currently possess, and it would delight me to get a few glimpses of the younger talent coming up through the youth team. But the coaches know their squad better than us fans, and I trust that they will make the right decisions.

Mikey

I still believe that shevy and pizzaro still have plenty of potential and we need to exploit that. They could be not on the best fo form but for christ’s sake how many games have they played the full 90 mins? Remember these are world class strikers we are talking about and we have all ever seen them perform magic. Lets give Shevy and Pizzaro the opportunity to play full length games in the absence of Didier make them fully adapt to the English style.
Another thing I have noticed at Chelsea is that everyone is goal hungry thus ending up being selfish because they want to go for glory. In so many cases Ive seen Shevy begging for a cross or a pass so tha the could net the ball but all in vain. what we need is a midfeilder who creats chances, tears apart the opponets defence creating chances for these strikers not a brand new name.

yes i think we need to buy strike because drogba is going to africa nation cup

In my opinion we HAVE to buy atleast one or 2.. because kalou and drogba are leaving.. who have we got left sheva and pizzaro only ?? how about a sub striker ?? Choices of Anelka. Huntellar, (Wagner) Love and David Villa ofcourse..but eto’o can be a 50-50 Chance.. ROnaldinho or Kaka are dream players to buy.. sheva and pizzaro are not enough… whoever they buy i wish them goodluck.. but drenthe is coming to chelsea-for sure

@ 22 - Gaurav-Michael Ballack: your exactly right about ronaldo !!!!!!!!!!! and no one of Manchester United can deny or ague about that

Do we need to buy a striker? The answer to that question is of course yes. Someonen pointed out before that purchasing a striker in January is an insult to Shevchenko. Well I disagree. Who ever we buy is more than likely going to be cup-tied so that leaves Shevchenko in the box seat to prove his worth, he wont get a better opportunity than that.

The real question shouldn’t be ‘Do we need to buy a striker?’ but What striker will A.) Want to come to Chelsea and B.) Who do we need. As I am sure your all aware we have not had the best of luck with strikers of late. Drogba left us all red faced with his comment’s to the press, Shevchenko is constantly upset and Pizarro well we all know his proformances have been few and far between.

I think we need a youngish striker to come to the Bridge. Being from the land down under it’s hard for me to keep a close eye on our reserves team so unfortunately I don’t know a hell of alot about Sahar and Sinclair except that they both seem like good players, however the Chelsea tradition continues in not really develaping our home grow talent, so I guess regular first team football for those two is still a little while off, so we really need to think of a player who can not only score goals but also help with the development.

I really like the look of Benzema but am realistic in the fact that I don’t think we will chase him. So that leave’s me with either Huntelaar and Villa. Both have fantastic goal scoring record’s.

I would like to advice chelsea to loan Haantlaa from AJAX and if possible to let ANELKA join chelsea be cause we never know what will happen in Ghana

the worst mistake that chelseafc has made this season is selling ROBBEN to real madrid. robben is the best playmaker we’ve had since zola and if he was still around, i’m sure we wouldn’t be looking for a striker in january though he is a midfielder.

we need goals! Sheva and Pizzaro are simply not enough!i dont hate them, but strikers must score goals! so i think Anelka would be a good choice, because u know the EPL already !, Podolski is a good prospect as well. We MUST buy well or get a good player on loan in this window. thank God the special one was planning ahead! we have Sidwell to back for essien and the boss ballack is back so we should be ok! too bad we lost Terry again !!

chelsea choice to win or lose the premiership,and thedifference is always goals,or lack of goals.

Hi Guys
I found that you all cursing sheva &N pizzaro.

But this is the fact that problem is with our selfish midfield.
unselfish player like Phillips are badly needed in chelsea do you think arsenal has great strikers no they have confidence and every player is young so they is unselfish.

We need to concentrate on passing the ball more about pizzaro he is ordinary
Sheva is little xtra………..

Hope that chelsea will invest wisely in january bring good strikers like huntelar from ajax on loan……..

Come on blues………

Chelsea rocks…………….

we need players

cech or hilario. , alex , ben haim , a.cole,bridge or ferreira on defence ,……………and ballack , essien and wright phillips on midfield and…….sinclair , shevchenko or pizarro and j.cole on forward this is a 4-3-3 formation . try this formation vs fulham im sure chelsea will win!!!

{CECH on goal }……….{ALEX ..BEN HAIM..A.COLE.. FERREIRA.. on difence}……..{BALLACK..WRIGHT PHILLIPS.. ESSIEN on midfield}……{SHEVCHENKO ..SINCLAIR.. J.COLE on forward} this is 4-3-3 TRY this formation against FULHAM and CHELSEA WILL WIN!!!!!!!!

When we get our whole team back from injury and if mordic comes and anelka and Villa put this team out we would go unbeaten for 10 matches and african nations!!!!!

(Cech in goal)

(Ferreira…. Alex…. Terry…. A.Cole)

(Wright-Phillips…. Mordic…. Lampard…. J.Cole)

(Anelka, Villa

bang bang

luke… what about Ricky?? i dont see him in ur line up! i also want to see sinclair get his chance! the boy has tricky feet!

let pizarro and sheva play a full 90 minutes match

by the way guys

i am promoting a game

i am willing to pay $100 american dollars to those who thinks that PIZARRO WIll leave

all u need to have is a paypal account and a hot sister

pizarro is not leaving chelsea :d in january