Matches, Premier League - Written by BlueChampion on Wednesday, December 26, 2007 20:41 | 2,451 Views | 69 Comments | Add Comment
Chelsea 4-4 Aston Villa | A Complete Mess Of A Match
A great match for the neutral. A disappointing result for a Chelsea fan. When was the last time a team scored 4 goals against Chelsea, leave alone at Stamford Bridge? This result and the couple of straight red cards should put us out of the title race.
There are too many negatives from this match but let me start with positives. The first positive is that our home league record still hangs on. Then comes the brace from Shevchenko and also the assist. He was having a great match. Shevchenko assisting Alex for a goal was kind of strange as even the vice versa would have been rare. The way Alex scored with the instincts of a striker was nice to watch. That second goal from him was a cracker. But I will not ignore the fact that he had loads of undisturbed time for him to blast it. He did not manufacture that time with his skill or anything, he was simply allowed that time by Villa. Still a very good performance from him. Superb timely contribution by Ballack. We need more such matches from Ballack. We came back from 2 goals down and showed that we are not going down in adverse situations. And then . . nothing else.
Then on to negatives. I need a lot of space to write now. I’ve listed them down in no specific order.
Negative #1: Lampard goes off injured. I don’t know about the status of his injury. If he’s gonna be out for weeks or something, that could be really bad. While some of you would see this as a blessing in disguise because this injury could allow your man Ballack to play more.
Negative #2: It appeared that we could not have defended even to save our lives. Poor marking and defending all around. That goal by Laursen was a massive insult to the Chelsea defence. The collective intelligence of the team was missing. Especially in defence, there was no real chemistry among the players. It was like an XBOX LIVE football game, where the 11 players on the pitch are controlled by various unknown people from different parts of the world.
Negative #3: We conceded 4 bloody goals! That’s with Petr Cech, Ferreira, Alex, Carvalho and Ashley Cole. Add to this the presence of Michael Essien. This is the best possible defensive set up that could play for Chelsea now. I’m considering Terry’s form when I say this is the best defence possible for us. it would not have felt so bad if it was a 0-0 draw. Here is a trivia for you. When was the last time we conceded 4 goals. No team could manage this against Chelsea of late, not Man Utd, not Liverpool, not Arsenal, not Valencia, not Barcelona (we scored 4 against them though!).
Negative #4: What’s happened to Petr Cech suddenly? Was he not fit enough for the match? Was his return hurried after reports until yesterday that he could miss the festive season football? He should have done better for Villa’s first goal and his Robinsonesque let off for the second goal had me wondering what’s going on? Cech should start saving penalties or start by guessing the correct side at least.
Negative #5: Two red cards - both to defenders. Carvalho has apologised for his tackle on Agbonlahor. This is where the coach or captain should make a difference. Carvalho should have known in the back of his mind that Terry is out and if he is going to get suspended for three matches at this period, it can be disastrous. Ashley Cole’s red card has been appealed by Chelsea FC. It’s unlikely to see the suspension cancelled. Now we need to play with Alex, Ferreira, Bridge and Belletti with no quality defenders on the bench. We can’t take any more injuries or suspension to any defender now.
Negative #6: We freaking let them off the hook - TWICE! When we led 3-2, we were playing a 10-man Aston Villa. If we can’t defend this lead for 25 minutes at Stamford Bridge against a 10-man Aston Villa, I don’t know what to say. This is downright unintelligent football. We did the same mistake against Leicester in the Carling cup but our superior quality bailed us out. We made the same mistake of not closing down and lost two vital points in stoppage time against Everton. Frustrating thing is these are all at home.
Negative #7: Ineffective substitutions - SWP and Mikel coming in at 82nd and 84th minute respectively when we were 3-3 with possibly 10 maximum minutes to go. When we led 3-2 at the 65th minute, had we brought on Mikel, we would have killed off the match against 10-man Villa. This was a high scoring game because we succumbed to Aston Villa’s plans. We were playing the way they wanted us to play. We should have dictated the pace of the game and grinded the match then on.
Negative #8: This match being branded and marketed as entertaining football. Yes, for non-Chelsea supporters. For me, it was more painful than entertaining. To call this the match of the season, is typically football marketing by BBC, Sky etc. More goals need not always mean more excitement. It could also be a poor advertisement for quality football because of awful defending on either sides. Sometime later, there could be a 12-10 result and BBC could have that replace this as the best match of the season. Load of bull . . .
Of course when you’re watching 90 minutes of this match, you get many exciting moments, spills and thrills plus one single point at home. But is that all we want? We will then be in the league of Newcastle, Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers, West Ham etc - mid table premier league - plenty of excitement but no desired end product. There are these concepts of process and result. The process exists to achieve the result. If we don’t achieve the result, the process does not carry too much weight.
Negative #9: To outplay Chelsea is not that difficult nowadays. Many teams have done it this season - home and away. Gone are the days when teams lost hopes once we take a lead. Now any team that comes to Stamford Bridge comes with lots of courage and expectation. The matches in which we have outplayed the opposition in attack, defence and midfield are very few.
Negative #10: We are not in the title race for now. We are now about 8 points away from the league leaders with African Cup of Nations yet to begin. Unless both Man Utd and Arsenal collapse like a pack of cards, I don’t see us really catching them up. Ferguson and Wenger are way too experienced to now allow Chelsea climb up to nick the title from them. May be we will do a Liverpool by going on a winning run when it does not matter.
Negative #11: I feel that our home league record could go any day. I only wish that it does not happen against one of my blacklisted teams. All teams would have taken note of this match and the fact that Chelsea shipped 4 goals at fortress Stamford Bridge.
Martin O Neill almost conveys that if it was a 11 vs 11 match, they would have won at Stamford Bridge today:
We were absolutely teriffic and deserved it and even now I don’t know if I’m delighted to get a point in the last minute of the game or whether I’m disappointed that we haven’t won. We conceded ground in the second half because we were down to 10 men. We knew Chelsea would be relentless, they chased the game, but we came roaring back and deserved it.
And Avram Grant is disappointed with the points dropped:
It was an exciting game but I am disappointed because on the one hand, we came back from 2-0 down to lead 3-2 but on the other hand, we dropped two points because we were leading 3-2, dominating the game, and the other team didn’t have chance to score.
When we were not scoring, we put it on Drogba not being there, Kalou not up to the mark, Joe Cole back to his ‘play boy’ days, Lampard losing his form, Ballack out for a long time, SWP not being in Chelsea standards etc. When we concede 4 goals at home, what can we say? The defence and the goalkeeper are all first choice internationals. All of them have won two league title, and three of them have been European champions. There’s enough quality and experience there for us to not look for replacements.
For the situation we are in, Avram Grant should stand up and face the music. I will not blame it on the players. I’m not going to be deceived by this propaganda. There’s nothing wrong with the components and composition of the team, at least when it comes to defence. We might need replacements for long term injuries or ACN or probable exits but certainly not because players lack quality. One thing is about going for better players and the other is saying we cannot achieve with this set of players. I’m fine with the former but do not agree with the later. I don’t expect to have 26 world class players in the squad. We are of course, facing some serious injury problems just like the last season, but today’s match was a real mess with all the right people in. Efficiency is in getting the maximum from the minimum and Jose was a master at it. Avram is apparently caught between the benchmark that Jose has set and the change of playing style that Roman expects.
I’m not expecting wonders from this team. I don’t want them to beat Man Utd 4-0 at the Old Trafford. I just want us to win the matches that we should. I want us wrap the matches up with some kind of authority. I want us to do the sensible things and not the incredible things. That’s why a 0-0 draw is far better than a 4-4 draw after leading the game twice because that does not make any football intelligence. Man City are breathing down the neck and some more dropped points will make Chelsea rub shoulders with Everton, Portsmouth and Villa. I’m curious how Chelsea’s league title chase would go from here and where would we be by the end of the season. I’m very curious.
69 Comments
1. nitesh_chandra
2. TrueBlueInd
Hi Guys,
Extremely disappointing…we scored FOUR n didnt win..HORRIBLE..
The DEFENCE SUCKED today…
1st Goal..Alex not staying with the player..Ball watching
2nd Goal..alex not closing down well n Cech making a mistake
3rd Goal..frozen defence..NO MARKING at all..
4th Goal..Inability to clear the damn ball..{it was bouncing around in the box forever before the gaol line hand ball by ashley which led to that penalty}
Avram Grant doesnt know what to do and when..he finally decides to go 4-4-2 but plays kalou at left wing..Bad decision n it showed in the play Kalou was struggling today…Kalou is ok on the left in a 4-3-3..in a 4-4-2 his role completely changes n thats not his strength
Sheva’s 2nd goal was a screamer..n Villa were down at that moment..that was the time to finish them..to hit them hard..AG did nothing..let the game drift…we were at 2-2 n wanted to win..he could have used essian at Rb n subbed ferreira, bringing on SWP..{This was a successful formula last seasn when we were chasing lots of games}…that would have devastated Villa at that point..
Ok he didnt do that..we scored the 3rd Goal..we are 1 man up…cant he freaking shut shop..Villa cant penetrate with 10 men if we get men behind the ball to protect our lead…
Ok..even that didnt happn..We score a 4th goal with 1 minute or so left..what the F***..cant we play negative for the damn last minute n keep the freakin ball????…NO..
Carvalho making the Blunder of his life with his stupid challenge..lampard going off..cech making a blunder..Someone up there hates us:)..its just not destined to happen..
Still keeping the benchmark at 91..we need 53 more points to win the EPL..total points available..only 57..that means we can afford to lose only 4 more points..LOL..thats beaing veryyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy optimistic
My heart says we can..but common sense says its over
We have the CC, FA n UCL to play for…we need to win atleast 2 of those..we need to keep winning trophies..a team grows in stature only by winning…the winning feeling should b there at the end of the season
AG has to learn soon..he keeps making the same mistakes over n over again..I am waiting to see what he does in the transfer window..with unlimited amounts of cash avilable, lets see who he gets in..
positives..Ballack n Sheva..what a game they both had..
Negatives..everything else
Cmon Blues..pull up ur socks..make us proud
3. roger
why can’t we just win when we were a goal up twice? how did we allow a 10-man villa to score twice against us, when we had cech, carvalho, alex, belletti and cole? that’s our best defensive line-up (yes, i know terry isn’t there), essien was there as well!
we were incredibly wasteful. what a waste. we had to defend for few mins for 3 points and we crumble like we did against everton. grant lacks big time in tactics. roman shud have never brought grant in the first place. at least now he should act.
4. Khalid
@Roger
Probably, thats where we missed Jose……. (again the game might not have been so exciting if he was still the chief)… but we have to admit that if it would have been jose… Mikel would have had come on much earlier, that wud have straightened the mid-field and so support the defense as well.
I defenitely don’t blame teh Defense for this lapse….. but there was good pressure from Villa nd AG is the man who should have taken it head-on.
5. Nihongo Blue
i am ok with the result because i thought we saved one point… doesnt matters though as we were already out of title race..
i am impressed with ballack and negetive on other 9… ya sheva had a good game .
i am not sure how r we going to play the next few matches.. cole has cover of bridge and carvalio of haim(ahhhhhhhhhhhh)
lampard replaced with ballack….
christmas is bad………..
6. Maysam
we have no chance to win EPL , no doubt about that.
this game could be a very good game, Sheva and ballack played very very well.
Avram Grant is not to be blamed. we should have not let them put pressure on us from begining as if we are playing in Viall park. this way we gave them this courage and beliefe to attack us and score.
If I was Grant, I would use Carlo Cudicini next game. Unfortunatly some players are sure about their fix position in the line up so they don’t try that much like Cech , Essien and Kalou. just look at Sheva and Ballack . they run a lot , they did their bests. Essien was awfull . Peter Cech just screwed up. I don’t know how he was chosen as the best GK . two bad mistakes in two big games. well most of ordinary gola keepers can do cleen sheet versus weak teams when they have a good defensive line
I think they have to focus on CL from now on.
7. Maysam
that’s interesting , Liverppol 1-1 Derby
Chelsea and Liverpool have better players than Manchester and Arsenal but they both lost the title to Arsenal and Manchester.
u knowe why ? becasue both of them have not goad managers.
8. Khalid
Liverppol on top, considering the form of Man-City…. I am worried if we will be able to make it to next season’s Champ-League. God help Grant and Roman…
9. Roberto
Can’t turn water into wine, Jose couldn’t do it with this team (and all the injuries), and neither can Grant. People will probably jump on Grant for this or that, but I can’t really blame him for anything, its his first year and for all intensive purposes it still Jose’s team. I’ll judge Grant next year when he had a chance to make his mark.
10. Blue Maverick
Ballack and Sheva supporters (and lamps haters too) must be having collective orgasm today.
11. CFC
well. as BC said from a neutral point of view, it cant get any more exciting, 8 goals, 3 red cards, and entertaining, but as of points, its disaaaster, but i want to give credit to villa, for being, in the game for almost a half with 10 men they didnt loose thier head.
There is somthing seriously wrong with PC. he’s usually very reliable, but past 3 games, hes been a bit nerves, i dont know whats going on, but to let 2 goals in when we were winning, its shambolic defence. sheva and ballack were awsome, ballack looks very sharp. dejaavooooooo what can i say, we drew 3 games during xmas last season and our title hopes wer ended there, i am not sure if there is any come back from here, i would like to be positive becos there is still 19 more games to play, anything could happen.
I usually defend grant eeverytime someone makes any comment about him, but today, i think he has to be blamed for some substitution, u hav to bring on defensive players when ur winning esp after a come back from 2-0 down. when we went up 3-2 y on earth he didnt bring in some one defensive, he brot obi for pizz, but i would say wrong move, pizz is someone who cud hold the ball up front, should have taken of jcole and put essien, mikel and ballack in midfield, wid sheva pizz and kalou upfront. ok, they scored and we managed to score again on 87th min wid ballcks free kick, superbbbbb free kick, but wen ur almost there with 3 mins to go, what on earth was he thinking. well am happy we played with some entertainment factor but as far as results and points, disappointed,
Now with ricardo and cole out suspended, straight red, they wud miss 3 games, newcastle, fulham and cup game against QPR. well we can use alex and benhaim. i dont know the extend of injury to lampard but ballack can cover him. i think we missed makalele here, becos, if he was on the bench, just becos of his experience, he would have atleast managed to try and break the attack of villa, Jose was greatly missed today, purely on his substitution genuis, but i dont know if Jose was here, we would have seen the triller, possibly the match of the season. but sad to see someone scoring 4 past chelsea, we are supposed to be the team to grind out results and hold our lead, and frustrate opposition, all credit to villa, and anyone who watched the match can tell the difference, the pace of ashley young and agbonlahore, young kids, who are ready to run riot, thats wat we need, am sure, roman is gonna tear his check leaf and spend quite a lot during janury, but who will come in and get into the first team straight away ?
12. Blues_Godson
i am very disappionted about this team and although i hate to admit it,i think we’re out of the race but i sure hope we do well in the CL….this team needs a lot of overhaul…we need to bring in young hungry talents to fill the shoes of the old overpayed once…i was very impressed by the way Gabriel and young play…this are young flank players that you know on their bad days still play well..we need to use our flanks more and believe me,joe cole,SWP,are not the material….
lets see what aresenal play and lets see how we cope with the red cards..
13. blufan nr:1
i blame it on avram. when the score is 3-2 u usually bring out one of the 3 strikers and put in a defensive player. what the hell are pizarro doing playing almost the whole game. mikel should come in instead of pizza. and kalou he dosnt desirve playing in a team like chelsea. and avram grant didnt use joe cole well. change the damn manager and get som better players. im pissed offffff
14. loyadaygrit
chelsea are getting stupid prone,two goalkeeping errors two defenders sent off, and chelsea needs a goal scorer.winners dont do the season of good cheer.
15. AgentBlue
Woooooooooow………..
I guess Grant finally got entertaining football!!!!!!
16. AgentBlue
Terriiiiiiiiiiible defensive work by the players today…………….Defese was crappy all round!!!!
Its as simple as that!!!!!!!!!!!!!
NO ANALYSIS NEEDED!!!!
I thought it was already clear 2 ya’ll we were out of contention 4 the league…we lost the league a couple months back!!!
Entertaining match none the less…….
17. abdullah
Well I just don’t know what to say. It was a thrilling match it was and i cant imagine how amazing it would have been if chelsea wouldve won but thats football i guess. In the first half i personally thought that there was no chance in hell that chelsea was going back into the game at 2-0 down and playing shit like that but the penalty and sending off changed our fortunes. When the second half started i always considered villa a threat even when down to 10 men. Sheva’s second was a beauty and he and ballack were the only two shining players today.
Petr cech was dissapointingly off his game, which is rare for him, but i can forgive him as he has saved chelsea on more than one occasion in the past. I have absolutely no idea what got into carvalho’s head when he went for that malicious crazy reckless tackle, i mean yes agbonlahor has got pace but he was at the halfway line and a simple propler tackle or foul would have been enough. Away from all that, when ballack scored that sweet free kick i thought it was going to be a sensational victory, but i still dont know what happened. Did ashley cole hand that ball or not, well it certanily doesnt matter now, but i dont think he did.
The thing that really pisses me off is that when we are up by a goal in the 87th minute why the hell cant we defend our lead for 3 minutes!!!!! I have no idea. Grant certainly had his tactical changes mixed up, why bring on wright philips i do not know, and mikel should have been brought on long ago not to mention ben hiam maybe to hold on to the lead in the last minutes.
Well after this performance the positives i take are ballack and sheva who may have finally come good, but the negaitives are too many to name.
I dont think after this game that Grant is the right man for the chelsea job or even close. The chelsea i see playing every week still has jose’s mark on it and its like nothnig has changed other than jose not being there.
Injuries havent been exactly well to us but what can i say, there is always hope i guess and we must always have faith no matter how bad things are going. On the bright side things couldnt possibly get any worse than this right? anyways lets hope chelsea goes back on track and those damn united and arsenal start dopping points. Blue4lyfe
18. Revolushawn
You’ve stolen every single word from my mouth BC! You’ve absolutely summed it up. Fully agree!
19. Crimson
The Special One said this after Arsenal’s 5-4 win over Tottenham:
Quoting Crimson @
That was not a football score, it was a hockey score; in training, I often play matches of three against three and when the score reaches 5-4, I send the players back to the dressing room, because they are not defending properly.
Pure genius! How much I miss him!!!
20. owonatty
I do not blame the players. The whole set up is rubbish by AG. Roman should have a rethink over a Chelsea Coach and get someone good tactically. I am pissed off starting from the begining of the match with the team line-up. Thats exactly where the problem came from. No mid-fields, essien and lampard played poorly for the first 20minutes which allowed Villa to pressurise and that do good to their confidence, we conceded 2 goals with cech unusually helping the second one to go in.
I see no reason why AG should have started with 3 strikers, Kalou should be benched in for Pizzaro to have plenty time which will give room for SWP but AG opted for 3 strikers and none of them tracking back to help the midfield. This allowed them to dominate for a very long period.
The penalty was a lifeline and we led them twice and couldnt defend. this is a problem from the coach because of no tactical ability. I doubt if we can attain a champions league spot with AG.
BC, you have said it all and i wish Roman is reading through this blog, maybe he’ll think very well .
21. Stimpej
Well according to motd and alan shearer, ashley cole was very unlucky to be sent off and for a penalty to be given. I wonder how different the feeling would have been had it finished 4-3…
22. Cancorus
a good game for the neutral, for me ballack was awesome, sheva was really good the only thing missing was mikel his presence was needed in the midfield, essien was nothing close to being good today. but on the whole i think chelsea fans should look lively becos we can only get better.
23. Giggs11egend
I thought the game was entertaining (obviously).and it was far more entertaining than a 1-1 or 0- 0 draw.if this game shows that teams defend poorly then what do 1-1 draws or 0- 0 draws show?that a teams cant attack?
24. Crimson
even if we had won 4-3 it was a bad defensive performance from our side. what would you have called Man Utd if the match ended at 1-0 for Bayern in 1999? a goal is a goal is a goal - scored or conceded. there is no point in ifs and buts.
25. Crimson
giggslegend
1-1 or 0-0 games can be highly entertaining but only the finishing (not attacking) could be the difference or a great day for a goalkeeper could be it. i’ve seen many low-scoring exciting games. i prefer that to such matches of sunday league quality with full of schoolboy errors.
26. Torohi
We need
#1 A manager with better tactical nous
#2 A world class winger who is dangerous and doesnt lose possession easily (aka jcole and swp)
# better cover than TBH
27. IwasMissingJMthroughout
i told yo guys last time, WE ARE PLAYING DANGEROUSLY ATTACKING THAT WE ARE FORGETTING TO DEFEND!!! I look at chelsea like a drunken bull nowadays.
28. Johnarejr
I’ve often said, “The Sun Doesn’t Shine on the Same Dog’s Butt.” But this is pittiful! I don’t even remember Chelsea giving up four goals when Renieri was manager.
Now is the true test of Grant’s management. Can this man get in the faces of his poor performers, kick them in the teeth, they take it, and come back and play the exact opposite for the rest of the season? Tinkerman could do it because he made players think they could beat anyone on any given day. This would not have happened under The Special One. Grant will have no excuses for not getting the back four to improve. Not one defender will be playing in the ACN.
29. Bluewinner
Asolutely rubbish red on Cole at the end. The ball clearly deflected off of his head an chest before finally bouncing away. That said, there was no need to be in that position. Poor substituting and poor tactics cost us that match. Why were we attacking up 4-3 in the 90th minute? Stupidity from the sideline. Now the calls for The Special One start again from the very bloody fools who ran him off in the first place. It’s too late now. Lord help us but the UEFA Cup is on the horizon.
30. sang_buragas
i agreed with some of you that we should replace awful ferreira with essien at the right back. paulo and cech was a big flop yesterday huhu
31. JoseHoliday
I have a splitting headache…..
32. Maysam
chelsea should choose these players for next game
——————Cudicini————–
Belletti—–Ben—–Alex—–Bridge
——————-Mikel—————-
———-Essien——–Ballack——-
——————-Cole—————–
————Sheva—–Kalou———-
33. king blues
dissapointing with positives and negitives. i agree with BC with the negitives
chelsea scored 4 without drogba goals from sheva and ballack very very good signs for us
34. king blues
i dont know wat chelsea will be at the end of the season. but now we r on disaster road (not quite but definitely there) leading us is grant and his foolish tactics. a ray of hope in the form of sheva and ballack is all we have. these injuries to lampard and terry has piled up ur problems. grant is only trying to satisfy roman but in the process has blown up the chelsea football style
35. Nubskeh
Fooks sake, the negativity in here is so depressing! Yeah, I know, we defended horribly. That happens! The players are only human for gods sake, you can’t win every game in perfect fashion. Yes, I admit that I wanted to see a win here and a tight defensive display. But there are actually positives that came out of this match for those who are too uptight to see.
Positives -
#1. Ballack. He played superbly. Nothing like last year. He was picking out passes left, right and centre and playing just, well, really well. This is coming after a very long lay off with injury.
#2. Shevchenko. One of, if not, his best match in a Chelsea shirt. And not because he got two goals. He was linking up very well with Pizarro, Ballack and the midfield and showed great vision to set up Alex. His second goal was absolutely brilliant. If he pulls the trigger like he did in the game more and more, we will be more effective up front.
#3. Attacking Essien. Essien’s first 20-30 minutes weren’t very good, I admit. But he turned himself around and alongside Ballack was orchestrating attack after attack. He showed more than just glimpses of his best attacking form as he powered forward. If Grant lets him play a more attacking role, then again we will see a more effective, efficient attacking Chelsea.
#4. The comeback. Chelsea showed their true spirit without the, arguably, 3 most influential players on the pitch. Terry, Lampard and Drogba all did not play (well Lamps played about 15mins) and we managed to turn the game on its head and in real style! Sure, it was 11 men vs. 10 men, but we had the ball in the attacking third for such a large period after half time and we were so unlucky not to extend our lead. However, I feel after we took the lead 3-2 and then again at 4-3 we should have sat back and shut off the game.
So, even though we drew, there are these and more positives to take out of the game. However, due to Carvalho’s rashness and the stupidity of the ref to take the word of the linesman on the penalty decision, we will miss Carvalho and Cole for 3 matches (unless Cole’s appeal is accepted). It is now time for Ben-Haim to perform at an acceptable level and for Bridge to shine.
We are lucky Arsenal drew as we are now 7 points behind. If they won, it would’ve been 9. Shame that some “FANS” are saying we are out of the title race. The negativity and pessimistic attitudes from these people is just disgusting. Show some faith, get behind the team and stop berating them every time they put a foot wrong. Always look on the bright side of life. 
For the next game(s), I hope we start with this line-up :
—————– Cech ——————–
Belletti — Ben-Haim — Alex — Bridge
—————– Mikel ——————–
———- Essien — Ballack ————-
—————- Pizarro ——————
——– Shevchenko — Kalou ———-
Or change J Cole for Pizarro or Kalou. It looks narrow, but Sheva and Kalou can spread a little wide and Belletti and Bridge can support the flanks while we dominate the midfield.
36. Bluewinner
@Nubskeh
Why oh why would you put Pizarro in the XI? He has been borderline incompetent this year and this latest go-round against the villans may have been his worst yet. He was, quite simply, utter trash. Use J. Cole, Sidwell, Sinclair or my mother in that link-up spot but please, please not Pizarro.
With that rant completed, here is a thought. What of that same XI but with Sidwell in deep with Ballack and Essien playing adrift of Sheva and Kalou up front. Sidwell is decent in defence and Essien thrived going forward in the last hour of this recent game. Essien can also get out on the flanks and cause trouble if need be. Hopefully Lamps is not in a bad way and this is all moot anyway. Ballack certainly cemented a spot today, he was simply brilliant.
37. king blues
well said nubskeh
38. graham
being practical and realistic does not mean being negative. we are out of the race. lets admit it. the african cup has not even started!
39. Nubskeh
Bluewinner - You are right, I suppose. I just have not been impressed lately by Joey either. Pizarro gives us a dominant presence if anything, but yes, I agree and see what you are saying.
Graham - It is halfway through the season. The second half for the season could see anything happen, so you cannot say we are definitely out of the race. Arsenal have begun to drop points lately and with a few injuries I can see both Arsenal and Man Utd dropping points. We might see a very dominant Chelsea in the 2nd half of the season, potentially winning all games. Who knows! There is no reason to say that Chelsea can’t do what Arsenal / Man Utd have done in the first half (44 / 45 points) and Arsenal / Man Utd to do what Chelsea have done (38 points). If we can start turning the draws into wins and the 1-0 wins into 3-0 wins the confidence will be boosted and we might win the title. Be optimistic 
40. TINA/TEH
i`ve often said someday we will see the final result of losing Jose!
the players were just well and all of them played aboloutly with their hearts.but the result was awful…………….
there are some other things that thank god arent negative!for wxample we mwntioned that ballack and sheva can recover the attacks as good as lamp and drogba and even better.but the only empty place was terry`s everybody knows his value now.
however i hope that chelsea doesnt prefer an entertaining match to the several cups it can get.
41. king blues
sinclair should get a chance his pace might help us on our flanks
42. Bella
Exciting game for the neutral but as an exhibition of the new style Chelsea - if this is it - then thanks I will do without.
2 points dropped and we are very close to being also rans for the title race already.
Grant lacks the tactical nous to make quick decisions to influence the ebb and flow of a game I believe.
We had the lead twice and lost it - that would never have happened under Mourinho - okay it might have been less exciting but we would have shut up shop, closed Villa down and played out time to frustrate them.
Mikel came on way too late and Grant let the game run out of control.
He is not a top line manager, just a caretaker coach when said and done.
43. Sly the Blue Spy
For once Chelsea supporters we should stop making excuses. We always blame poor perfomances on injuries. Its always about missing this player and that player etc etc. Why on earth doesn’t the club build a balanced squad that compensates for the loss of players through injury. Ranieri had built such a squad, Jose destroyed t and built a squad around a few “untouchables” now once two or three of those untouchables are missing chelsea plays mediocre football.
I hope for the love of God. AV will address this. There is no competition for places, some players are guaranteed of positions and that should not be the case.
Honestly I think Chelsea need to rebuild , because the team is not balanced.
I think the following players should be offloaded:
Pizzaro,
SWP
Sidwell
Ben Haim
Kalou
Ferreira
Joe Cole is also not effective , he just dribbles unnecessarily and does not pass the ball timeously, Sheva always gets into very good positions but because of SWP and Joe Cole who prefer to do fancy unfruitful tricks before passing the ball, sheva’s good positioning is not being fully utilised, as such Joe cole should be kept but be a substitute
we should then buy
-The Hunteelar
-dani Alves
-van der vaart
-Quaresma
and a defender, preferably someone from the EPL butwe know competition is tough so maybe:
Metzelder
Pepe
Ivanov
44. OLATUNJI MARIAH
when chelsea consumed 4 goals at Stanford Brigde, i think it is very disgusting after coming twice up,i dont know what to say,when jm was there i bragged anytime we have match that we win,but now i just keep my mouth shut and pray inside,honestly i have watched many games of chelsea recently,the most annoying one was against Derby county,though we won that match but it was heart breaking sitting down and watching it,terrible substitution,the same sub error with Aston Villa game.i agree if it were jm era it would have been less entertaining but victory was sure not after twice up i trust him.we chelsea fans should just watch,all these hike about entertaining with foolish result,i pray we dont end at midtable like aston villa,newcastle etc.what Arsenal did last season and it didn’t pay is what we are doing these season.
under Mourinho we were bittest rivals to Man U,Arsenal,Barcelona and Liverpool,now Wenger and Alex Ferguson are claiming superior.2007 we are rated the second best behind Ac Milan,and seeded for the first time,lets wait and see next rating,Grant should do something as far as am concerned the current players are still playing Joses style which was visible yesterday.attacking football with a point wil
this team really needs serious overhauling….too many mediocre players….
| Quote This Comment | Add Comment | Go To Top | Back To Home | Gravatar | BC Shout | BBC Radio | Refresh |Blackburn was having a bad patch and then they outplayed us…Villa’s last few results were not that good and then they brought us to knee….is it what one expects from a title challenger….I won’t take names but there are really too many average players in this team….