Phew! No live telecast of this match over here, not even delayed recorded telecast. Will have to wait for the Chelsea TV highlights until tomorrow to make some opinions.
So all that I’ve managed so far is being awake at this ungodly hours of the night to check the live text page on BBC. By the looks of the statistics, we’ve outplayed them completely like we should. No punishment to them would be less, for the impact they had on our premier league title last season.
That’s a match of two teams missing their players. While Chelsea had top class back ups, Reading struggled with their lot. They must be happy to have lost by just a goal. Michael Ballack comes back and scores. His season so far has been just brilliant, with goals, assists, commanding displays and even captaincy. Like some of his colleagues he has taken a full season (injured half the time) to really blossom.
A very good win but this has not shaken the table for us as both Arsenal and Man Utd march on. Liverpool lose to West Ham after conceding a penalty in the last 5 seconds of th match. I truly pity Rafa. Another case of a good manager undone by their billionaire owner. I think he should resign, that’s the quickest way to end the agony. All your comments and match reports and reactions are most welcome!
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I saw the last 15 minutes and it was a done game, the only chance they mustered in my watching was a tame free kick. What i saw of pizarro didn’t seem too bad, i was suprised! He was running with intent for the first time from what i saw of him, played a good ball to ballack and didn’t get tackled within seconds of getting the ball.
Ballack did look very good from what i saw, still its a shame sidwell only got 10 minutes, paid off in a goal though i guess. Didn’t see anelka’s miss but that’s a shame too.
we looked very comfortable and although i didn’t see too many real chances (apparently SWP could of got a couple), we looked like a team who were a few up heh.
I saw the match and was impressed with the first half because we completely dominated them just like we used to play under mourinho. But as soon as we got the goal, we calmed down and let Reading do the attacking. I was also very disappointed with SWPhillip’s performance. He squandered two wonderful one-on-one chances and kept playing disappointing crosses and wide shots. His one-on-one misses made me miss Robben for some reason.
I also thought SWP should have been substituted for Sinclair early enough in the second half but he was subbed for Pizarro. I prefer sinclair better as he is very fast and can dribble unlike Pizarro who looked confused in many games for us. Joe Cole was brilliant in this match and Anelka was only unlucky not to score. Ballack impressed me in the first half but i didn’t even know he was on the pitch in the second 45 mins. He should also have been subbed. I really missed Mikel in that midfield today ; if he was only there, Lita and Hunt wouldn’t have been able to move anyhow into our defence.
Overall, I enjoyed the first half and was disappointed with the second. BC, i’m sure you would have agreed with me if you watched this match.
Didn’t happen to see the match but sounds like a ‘typical’ Chelsea display. 1-0 against a struggling team, with all the talent we have why can’t we win more convincingly?
It is really starting to irritate me, the fact that we are winning is of course great but if the wheels begin to fall off it’s not like we can say ‘hey, well at least we play dangerous attacking football’, because from what I can tell we don’t.
AG needs to take a few more risks with his formation’s. I think against teams like Reading you can experiment a little.
I of course didn’t see the match so let me know if anything other than the basic Chelsea display was on offer.
1-0 again. we started well but could not keep up the tempo. we should have beaten this reading team 4-0. reading did not have the talent, skill, interest, passion to put up anything decent. i get so annoyed to see us win 1-0 even after JM left. when grant took over i thought we’ll start winning by bigger margins and that’s what even roman wants. we are same old chelsea, winning 1-0.
look at man utd. they had 14 shots on target and 11 shots off it, while Pompey had just 3 and 1. manu rolled them over completely. it was terrific attacking football from start to finish. pompey were shivering in their spines. they were so sh*t scared of going any forward. that’s how champions play. what are we playing? couple of moves and that’s it for all of the match! we’re simply a humbug while arsenal and manutd play true attacking football
bluevictoryaus – it’s probably worth seeing the match before making those criticisms!
though the scoreline says we won 1-0 we played some great attacking football today and counterattacked very well. cole ran very well down the right wing and to be fair SWP got in the right place to have a chance to score. ballack is so commanding in the midfield and gets better and better. we did not miss lampard or terry today, nor drogba.
it will be a selection head ache for AG when they all return but we have the SQUAD to keep winning games. we had 74% possession and 11 shots on goal so it was dominant.
on a side note wayne bridge is playing very very well, it is hard to see how ashley cole can keep him out of the team when he’s playing, i think, his best football since he’s been at the club.
but for anelka’s miss (great technique/lucky save) and SWP one on ones it could quite easily have been 4-0. great job at home, with some leaders in the team stepping up in FL and JT’s absence. goes to show our buying in the transfer market has been top notch like man utd, rather than liverpool who again lost away.
jumbo read my earlier comment. watch the man utd match or highlights. then tell me which is attacking football. under jm we did not play attacking football. under grant nothing has changed. we played very normal and ordinary football with occasional one or two nice moves. watch man utd. i fear them. forget manu. tottenham plays better football than us. that’s a fact. they have inferior players but they play better attacking football than us. i’m tired of these 1-0s. could have been 4-0, could have been 5-0 is what we keep hearing. let’s kick the ifs and buts and score some goals. even teams like villa are scoring more than us!!!
Dominant in the first should have scored more than one and finished off the game, Reading were and are poor – hence their league position.
Second half we faded/sat back a little and let Reading back into the game. They had about one really good chance I think but 3 points in the bag again and a typical result.
Nothing wrong with Grant’s performance tonight but when we play well it’s like Mourinho in our pomp and when we play and sit back on a one goal lead it’s like what we used to do under Mourinho at times as well!
Not that I mind as I liked how we played before but this is Grant’s mandate after all – bring a new style attacking football to Chelsea and I don’t see much of that mandate being fulfilled just more of what made us so successful before.
Still 3 points is 3 points and we remain on Arsenal and Man Utd’s coat tails. Congratulations Avram Grant and the team.
As for Rafa I have to disagree that he’s a good manager deserving of better. Yes he is a good manager but only in EUROPEAN football terms – give him a premiership game and he’s hopeless.
They were better under Houllier.
Benitez has been using all this fuss with the owners to hide his performances and as Alan Green said tonight Benitez has to take the blame for Liverpool’s poor performances.
A nice start to what later became a boring 2ed half
SWP should have scored 2 but again we sow a very bad scoring percentage, with a bit better percentage it could have been 4 -0 easy.
I hope this won’t cost us points soon
Ballack is good but like the last game he played, once again he had a great start and then he despair
Anelka is not yet to feel a part of the team I hope he will be patient.
Malouda –was sleepy the all game
Bella – you won’t believe but I think AG should have made a sub way before he did
As I see it, it was extremely important for us to win in a big margin, to take our confidence higher to the pompy game
Any ways 9 wins in a row
typical 1-0 win. in the above table i see that everton, villa and spurs have scored more than us! even reading has scored more away goals than us!! of course, when it comes to goal diff it is another story. but why we scoring so few goals. it’s not just this match, where you;ll say we were unfortunate etc. over many months we have not been scoring enough. some one above said tottenham play better attacking football than us. i might even agree.
Jumbo – Why do you think I need to see the game before making an observation on the result and style of play? It appears blatantly obvious that this is a ‘typical’ result and I have seen Chelsea play 1,000,000 ‘typical’ games in which we don’t move out of second gear. As The Dugoutter said why can’t we start winning 4-0 or 5-0. I mean we have attacking players capable of applying huge amounts of forward pressure however we always seems to sit back after taking the lead.
I love winning but I love winning well alot more.
to degautter, playing attacking football doesnt mean being champions, that’s crap. it’s where you end up in the table and yes united are dong a good job at it, thanks to one man- ronaldo.
if they come to stamford bridge, i guarantee you they will not shoot more then us. just look at last year’s statistics at the bridge and old trafford- it favoured us. ts about controlling the game, and that is what chelsea does- we”re a possesion team, a team based on our midfield. if you want entertainment then go to manchester or north london.
im sick of people fearing united, it’s them who crumble in nervousness when they face chelsea.
2 years ago our goal difference was superb, was it because we attacked a lot more? no, it’s because we took our chances and our wingers were consistent unlike malouda who is having trouble with the pace of the game.
ps- i am also sick of slender wins, but we are depleated and we have to support our squad for their efforts. they are winning, controlling and dominating games.
i meant ‘to dugoutter’
and we should start concentrating on pompey, its a tricky place to go to. last year they almost stole a point from us but thanks to cech we got away with three points.
have patience, the goals will come.
Rahul, i completely disagree with you that we are a depleted team and i’m also tired of several fans complaining about injuries and African Nation’s cup. For God’s sake the “depleted” squad we have now can win anything, EPL, carling, FA cup even world cup if possible. Look at the players available, Alex, Belletti, Carvalho, Ashley cole, Wayne Bridge, Ferreira, Ivanovic, Ben Haim, Makalele, Ballack, SWP, J.cole, Sidwell, Malouda, Di Santo, Sahar, Sinclair, Anelka, Pizarro,etc…
How can you have these types of players and not win your matches by at least 3-0. I bet if we can loan only ballack or Malouda to a team like Aston Villa, they’ll beat Chelsea both home and away. But we have a star studded squad and we cannot still have a “genuine” victory. Most of our wins of late have been hard earned wins unlike under mourinho when we played the winning game.
My Arsenal fan friend used to say under mourinho we played 3points football but now Grant is trying his own “entertaining attacking style”
I think the problem with our results is the management. The manager obviously does not know how to utilize the squad he has to produce the maximum amount of goals they can score. Unser Mourinho, our biggest win was 6-1 but at least, we had several 4-0, 3-0, 3-1, 2-0, etc. BUT NOW IT’S ALWAYS 1-0, 2-1 1nd to cap it all, 4-4 (the most embarassing result at the bridge in recent years) why? why can’t we just play our usual 3point football instead of some stupid “entertaing” bullshit some stupid manager is trying to create.
Yes a very pressing 1st half from Chelsea, frustating to have only one goal, with 3 clear opportunies to score.
2d half Chelsea, disappointing, but I understand chelsea are not stupid, they knew they were playing a very very poor team, so they “shut shop”, they knew they could move up 1 gear.
SWP is going back to his habitual attitude, lack of consistency so peculiar of his play when the best manager in the world (JM), did you read this israeli????, was there.
Ballack gives me the impression that he is not 100% fit is good for 45 minutes and then disappears. Anelka, unLUCKy, a word that I would never dreamed of writing for the last 3/4 months, just hope that all the hype we have heard of him, doesnt make a bit complacent and thinks is the first choice. J Cole I wouldnt say he was brilliant, but against suck weak, poor opposition he should have tried to score. The substitution tells me that when the opposition is poor then we replace like with like, the 1st time for the last 3/4 months, but if the opposition is a bit stronger we know the kind of substitutions. Anyway next I watch the next match gonna take a magnifying glass to see all this attacking football.
Absolutely typical win, 1-0 how many more times are we going to see these kind of results, great, really OK 1-0 or 10-0 it is still 3 points.
Regarding MU against a Portsmouth ( a good team) they rolled them over, that Ronaldo is impressive the free kick is right from AG’s book, lol, you still reading israeli? hmmm don’t know if he stops playing what is MU gonna do without him. But with the luck that AG has, maybe he (Ronaldo) gets red carded the match before they have to come to Stamf. Bridge, but I must admit MU and Arses are playing really well.
Spuds are really playing well, too, but I still think they are no match for chelsea, but i am seeing a Ramos pattern emerging, lets wait for next season.
What about Liverpoo???? they cant really connect in the league, a shadow of last year’s, I do not agree with some people that say Rafa is not a good manager, I think he is and he has a proven record, but I think the rotation method does not fit Liverpoo, they do not have the replacements that i.e. chelsea has, and we are seeing in the results, all the injuries as well the absentees.
One thing is for SURE at least 3rd place is in the bag, cant see anyone threatening that, too many points adrift.
Next matxh against Portsmouth, well I think it will be another win, easy not as easy as against reading, but still easy Portsmouth at home is no match, away from home they have impressed me
but their form at home is not of a club that wants to get a UEFA place, so my verdict is a really good win for chelsea.
BTW guys and bella, I was looking at the EPL last year and comparing it with this year, and what a difference a year makes, last year was a much tighter situation with the 4 big clubs, this year only 3.
Before I go i amazed at Malouda a damn good player and he seems to be uninterested, no motivation, I think this guy is a rough diamond with a great deal of potential but some how doesnt show it consistently.
i agree with you that we were better under mourinho in terms of goal scoring, but it’s also a matter of confidence and to be honest with you, last season without terry we lost the title. and now we find our team without so many crucial players but still winning. i really couldn’t ask for more.
and if you had seen the game, we couldve score 4 or 5. it’s about finishing and you cannot blame grant because swp and anelka missed clear cut chances, plus the commentators were making a smart point about our movement being very good and organized, everybody makes up for everybody and it’s a joy to watch if you’re up by two goals; which hasnt happened but if we start finishing properly, it will.
stop the pessimism and criticizm over avram grant, none of us like him. but he is the present and unforutanly, jose is the past.
*unfortunately
we are also missing lampard and drogba, who combined scored 53 goal last season as a pair.
@rahul
I didnt critised AG this time, nothing to critise with this game.
it was so obvious on way traffic that it was painful to watch.
Because of that i believe the chelsea players did not perform well the 2nd half
they knew that Reading wouldnt be a threat.
The only time I mentioned AG was the substitution, this time like with like, based on the poast susbstituions by AG they have not been like with like, this time nothing wrong.
I still think key players are not 100% match fit, i.e. ballack.
Thats all lets wait for the weekend. You will see that Chelsea performance in Fratton Park will be different (to the better)to last night. The opposition is different (much better team), lets wait and see, if my thinking is confirmed, it only reiterates the most chelsea fans’ comments ( that I hear at the end of matches) that the quality of the chelsea players and the mentality that they have inherited, they do not need managers, they can manage themselves.
And I am not pessimistic at all.
@BC
JUST SOMEHOW CONTROLLED MYSELF INTO not REPLYIN TO YOUR EARLIER POST
well no wonder you pity rafa………………………rafa is the biggest crap manager on planet………he has a full strength squad………..he does not have players in his team which he doesn’t want………he spends every year and cry about less money………and as for his brilliant tactics vs milan 2 years back………..he got lucky caus milan just took the 2nd half lightly
“I truly pity Rafa. Another case of a good manager undone by their billionaire owner. I think he should resign, that’s the quickest way to end the agony. All your comments and match reports and reactions are most welcome!”
sometimes i wonder………can you post without somehow The allegged cruel treatment to world’s alleged best manager………….he is gone and he is not returning………..how can you blame avram for taking digs at jose when you yourself are taking your little digs all along…………..roman is the best thing…………jose the second best thing which has happened to cfc…………..without roman we would never have seen jose……..ok…………so leave the owner alone who is spending in the club like it is his family………..and i wonder whether you have noticed the media love which has grown for us since the departure of TSO………..and so from rival fans who earlier just abused and now are fully appreciating our good work done by the players and manager……………and don’t reply it will all change once we win something………….sorry BC……..media is in love with man utd even this year……………………….no wonder roman is a sucessful businessman……………..he has achieved whatever he has wanted………………and as for our playing style better start reading what media has to say about our style
i just read grant’s post match comment and the old buffoon is still talking about attractive football.
TBF – It is so strange that you find AG’s comments so noble and my comments as digs! The other club I was referring to was Newcastle.
By the way Rafa was not a crap manager. He was a good manager who is not mentally strong enough to deal with the off-field problems and it showed up on his performance. Basically, his choice of players for signing or for team selection has always been poor but tactic-wise he is as good as any. Of course, he was impacted by exit of Pako Ayesteran. When top class assistants leave the managers, it does affect to some extent (for some it can disable them). Anyway, It’s not my intention to discuss in detail, Liverpool or Rafa or Gillett or Hicks or DIC unless there is something Chelsea to it.
As regards playing style, I know enough football to make an opinion myself. Why should I go by what Guardian says! lol!
Can anyone make comments on this: What if Grant manages Liverpool and Rafa Benitez manages Chelsea. Who would be more successful?? Of course, assume both of them have the full backing of the owners.
lol . . that was a sucker punch BC. yes TBF who do u think he is taking digs at roman? even i understood that he was talking about newcastle and allardyce.
if rafa and ag were to swap places, chelsea will win the league for sure, anyway our team is about 90% players (it was about 20% in 04-05, 40% in 05-06, 60% in 06-07). now it is 90% becauce they have to make up for the manager too. Ag managing liverpool will be disaster becuase rafa has not given him a readymade winning formula and great set players and efficient assistant managers, for ag to steal credit! lol!
Hi guys,
I saw the game yesterday..we totally dominated proceedings except for a brief spell of reading attacks in the 2nd half..
we deserved to win atleast by 4 goals..bad finishing let us down
anelka is not playing like a typical CF..hes playing more of a link up role..we bought him to score 20 goals a season..i feel he should play a lill more selfish stuff n try getting in more shots..he can play link up stuff once DD returns..as of now hes the lead striker n should play like one
as for beautiful football n all..we were attacking n all..but nowhere near the type of football arsenal or united play..n seriously we shouldnt expect that kind of football in 3 or 4 months..United n arsenal have been playing the same players in a particular system n style for almost 4 years now..thats why they are able to display that flair now..theres a certain level of understanding among their players..building a team or squad n getting them to play effectively in a particular system takes time n patience..arsenal n united took time..
arsenal is playing this well after 4 years(end of 2004 to star of 2007..they werent this fantastic)..
united started playing this well at the start of the 2006 season..where were they from end of 2002 till the start of the 2006 season
our team wasnt built to play fancy stuff..AG is trying to change efficient football into beautiful football..that will take time..he has to play the players regularly in the preferred system over a decent period of time to achieve fancy football..AG is not helping himself by saying we already play very attractive stuff..
to b honest i can say theres about a 3% or 5% improvement in our play(as in the attacking part)..but theres also been a similar percentage of degradation in the defensive part..we have gone down a notch in defence..AG has to strike the right balance between defence n attack…maybe the present united team could b the benchmark..they have the best defence n also attack pretty well..solid fancy football
AGs done a decent job though..we are alive n kicking in all competitions at the end of january..thats a decent return for a man who had absolutely no credentials to manage a high profile club..for the sake of CFC, lets hope his record gets better with each passing game.
Cmon CHELSEA
Now come on Avram stop telling porkies today like this please:
“When I took over we were in sixth or seventh, nine points behind, now we are just four points behind,” he said. “It’s not too far, everything is open.”
No we weren’t, we were in 5th position actually 2 points off the lead, level with Man Utd I believe at the time, check the official table out and you would know but then I sense you do know really.
Be happy that you have equalled and could surpass Mourinho’s record against Portsmouth without making stuff up to make your achievements look better than you are – you are doing well so stop it!
I don’t quite understand Avram’s comments about the development of our style after the game as it seemed to contradict itself – but that’s no real surprise.
Some of the papers say they can see that our style of play is getting better by the way whilst some say it’s a typical Chelsea result – take your pick.
Whatever Grant is doing and I’m at a loss to really know, he’s doing enough to keep Chelsea motoring along, I still haven’t a clue what his ultimate attributes are in terms of coaching quality but you can’t argue with results as they say – although my critics would say I do all the time!
And Israeli, I thought Grant didn’t traditionally like to make quick subs in his games, seems more a traditionalist – wait and see how the players perform sort of thing before taking them off.
Yes or no?
I haven’t watched any of his games in Israel so I don’t know what he was like with his subs.
I also agree with the poster that says they are sick of people carrying on about our squad as if the players we have are made up of the reserves and would struggle to beat anyone and it’s like a miracle we can dispose of the likes of Wigan, QPR and Reading.
Oh please, this team has Ballack the German captain in, Alex, Ferreira, Riccy, Bridge, Maka, Anelka, SWP, Cech, Cole, Malouda, Pizarro et al. Are we really seriously saying that this is a squad creaking at the hinges in terms of available talent.
Have we really missed JT or Lampard? Or even Drogba against teams of this calibre?
I think not.
I think Grant will beat Pompey on Saturday and beat Mourinho’s record, cue more headlines about how amazing Grant is and doing much better than Mourinho ever did and isn’t it a total shock, despite terrible injuries to the squad etc etc etc.
Yeah okay whatever!
Moyo – did you watch the game? We had 74% possession and 12 shots on target to their 2. We dominated the game and played great attacking football, with great link up plays as the two wingers overlapped around Anelka and the midfield pressed on their defence. Such attacking football was not really seen under Jose. No doubt about it, under Jose we dominated teams and possession but not quite like against Reading. We used to sit back and hold possession with our defenders and midfield, but under AG we are quickly attacking and now what only needs to happen is that we find the net more often, like the day against City.
TBF –
AGFriend – It was painful to watch? If Chelsea was dominating possession, wouldn’t it be great to watch?!
@BC
My bad………..i misunderstood it for roman……………
as for rafa………….see bc l’pool is not a small club and they have a squad capable of winning league…………..he has torres,crouch,gerrard,alonso,mascherano,carragher,reina…………..all are world class players………….kewell is a world class winger ruined by injuries like robben………..resty are his buys…………..the real problem is like mourinho,capello he is a defensive mindset manager………….but his squad is built around a good attack……..and their defense is terrible………….that’s the problem he is stupid enough to not built his game around good defenders…………..when his game is defensive………….mourinho and capello that’s why are world class defense minded managers……………mourinho has left us with the best defense i have seen in long time………….there’s no doubt about it……………and bc if a manager keeps on buyin crap players[voronin,kuyt,pennant,agger,finnan etc and later cry about i m bankrupt then i don’t want him managin chelsea………..avram no matter how much unknown has already proved he is better than rafa
@Nubskeh
I am sorry if you understood my comments. When I said “it was painful to watch” I referred to Reading team, yes it was painful to watch , an “one way traffic” football, this is the first time I saw a team really feared by Chelsea, they walked into the pitch, with a ” defeat mind set”, only the last 15 minutes of the 2nd half did they think that they could snatch an equalizer, they almost did as well. But there is no doubt in my mind thata Reading is one of the poorest teams in the EPL, going by what I saw yesterday. yes it was painful to watch, for 2 reasons the reading fan and the Chelsea loss of opportunities.
@TBF
RTafa is a damn good manager, his CV speaks for himself, c’mon a much better and successful than that clown we have. The problem is that the confrontation between the American owners and rafa is getting to the players, confirmed some time ago by Gerrard and recently by SAF.
Any comparison between AG and Rafa is just coincidence, I am now comparing the type of opposition JM had and the type of opposition that AG has had so far, BTW I am discountin the luck he is so famous for, I go further I am disregarding the influence of Steve Clark and ten Cate, so i give this clown the benefit of the doubt, cant believe that he said “when I took over we were 7th, 9 points behind, OMG this is not taking the medecin as it should, well it just confirms the desperation this guy needs for recognition.
You wait, after the Portsmouth game, another easy victory, yes easy I wrote, the press, will start, well they already did, trying to convince the readers that AG is best manager since sliced bread, well it is a good analogy he looks and speaks to me more like a baker, it is pathetic that this guy say things like that, would love to have a discussion of tactics, preparation, motivation with him, really would love. GUYS open your eyes Chelsea did well and is doing well, but the credit as to be shared amongst the management team and the players . Yesterday was obvious chelsea players knew that the reading ones could not retaliate and didnt even knew how, so they didnt play in the 2nd half, this tells me that the so called authority of the manager is second to the players, lets face I can not see a better chance of having a robust victory, 4-0, 5-0, where goal average would be welcomed, thsan against Reading.
I think the Jury Is Still Out on AG and very much out, yes we are doing well but anyone would do well as well, the 24/26 players Chelsea has are of prime quality, most internationals and can even manage themselves, and then comes AG with that type of comments, unbelievable,PATHETIC! is alzheimers striking early??? or demention of grandeur???.
Yes Chelsea may still win the 4 titles, particularly if they still have the LUCK they have been having, Huddersfield, Olympiakos etc etc etc, but my mind will not be change, regarding th quality of AG’s influence in the team. With such talented manager, I bewildered that the FA had to go all the way to Italy to get a manager. Even JT after the match Englad v Croatia in Wembley, said that the FA should go for Mourinho and that he would like to work under JM again. Shoulkd I takle this as a dig at AG. No I dont, just a fact.
The continental type of footbal it always starts with a solid defence and midfield, just look at the stats and and at the most successful teams, and chelsea has that in abundance.
Changing subject, rafa and the players are really going through hell in the league, still in the FA cup and in the CL, but I do not think they will go into the next round in the CL and for the swap of manager AG and Rafa, yes I would take it anytime.
BC I am comparing the EPL this year and the EPL last year, do i see a huge gulf in the quality of playing from other teams, apart from the first 3? this comes about the type of football that wigan, fulham, reading, newcastle etc etc are displaying this season.
anyway have to go.
sorry for the typos, am in hurry
i dint get to see the match but i saw the highlights chelsea played well deserved to win but a better margin every one had a good game but i really wanted anelka to score i think he is feeling the pressure of playing for a club. i want to see his partnership with the other strikers sheva will be available for pompey 4-4-2 with anelka and sheva up front …..might be a deadly combo
Nubskeh, what you wrote in your post 28 was pure nonsense. How can you say we didn’t play attacking football under mourinho. Have you forgotten about our champions league victories when people wrote us off? Those geat matches against barcelona, the away game at valencia in which valencia hardly kicked the ball in their own ground. The matches agains bayern, porto,etc. Have you even forgotten the 3-0 win against Manchester utd?
I can stand right in front of Grant and say that Chelsea played the best attacking footbal under mourinho any day. Under Mourinho, everyone feared chelsea including ,anchester and manutd, barcelona, etc. Now, every team can’t wait to be the first to break our home run record whch i think will be broken before the end of this season. Look at villa, newcastle, birmingham city, blackburn rovers. For God’s sake we could only beat leicester city 1-o at stamfor bridge. Such teams would have been satisfied with nothing less than 3 goals in their net under mourinho which is actually the truth.
please Nubskeh, stop sayin’ we didn’t play attcking football under mourinho as it only insults his memory.
Moyo
The Chelsea team who played attacking football was the one JM inherrited from Reniery.
I love Michael Ballack.
He did seem to fade a little bit last night but he’s really an awesome player. I hope he can play alongside Frank, and he seems to think he can…
My chelsea friends, agian majority of post’s are criticizing chelsea,ystrdy chelsea played good football,had possession of 70%,but only 1goal,so what we won the game with clean sheet,under mourinho too we were specialist in 1-0 victory,only difference is missing of winger’s Robben and Duff.
Now MANU is a typical one man (Ronaldo) team,but we can win without lampard ,drogba and terry ,ie is the diffirence ,when Ronaldo is not playing MANu is down,pls remember bolton game in which Manu was defeated.
I think Advram Grant has done a good job till now, yeah we are wining lot of game,in two weeks all our player will be coming back,so chelsea will be having the best squad in EPL.
Then we can score lot of goal’s.
Please remember it not easy to manage a team like chelsea,because there will be lot of Ego’s between player’s .Only Avram Grant has the perfect solution for this,he know’s how to rotate squad,If mourinho was still our manager,then today chelsea will be without joe cole,ballack,shev,bridge,SWP,but today because of these player’s we are wining match’s
Bye
When AG took over this was the Chelsea position in league table:
We were on 11 points (Man Utd and Liverpool also were on 11 points) with Arsenal leading with 13 points. We were joint second separated by goal difference, I guess.
take away , rooney, tevez, ronaldo, ferdinand and se how man utd will play. take away fabregas adebayor, hleb and eboue and se how arsenal will play.. we missed allmost 11 key plyers and we are still winning. without terry,lamps,essien,drogba right now, and before even more players where missing. i dont care if we attack or not right now. the things that mathers is that we are winning and that we are my friends! i dont care about how man utd are playing right now i just want them to loose. when are key players return chelsea will be a killing machine and wvery team knows it.
i hope when chelsea vs manutd play, mikel will give ronaldo a very heavy tackle that ronaldo will have about 3 months injury and then, we will see if manutd will not drop to 6th in the league.
Bella
AG subs are usually between 60-70,
That’s the way it’s always been
I agree that the players that play are great and they win, but I’m sure that out of the players who didn’t play for all kind of reasons in the last 3 month, you would pick few in each game to play before the ones that did.
I mean it’s great to have a Mercedes but even better to have a Porsche!
The problem as I see it is not us (knock on wood)
The problem is that both Man u and Arsenal are not dropping points
Just read this, about JT interview in a Portuguese site.
http://www.maisfutebol.iol.pt/noticia.php?div_id=3776&id=902676&comenta_sucesso=1
Terry: «Mourinho era magnífico, como treinador e pessoa»
O defesa-central garante que aprendeu muito com José Moutinho e fala das experiências transmitidas pelo «Special One», como treinador e como homem: «Aprendi muito, chegou e a sua motivação era fantástica. Também tinha boas pessoas à sua volta. Era magnífico, como treinador e como pessoa. Sabia tudo. Fez tantas coisas, ao longo da época aprendemos tanto com ele, como pessoa, como treinador, como homem.»
«Quando ele chegou, percebeu-se a confiança que ele tinha, ele sabia que era um dos melhores treinadores do Mundo. Ele transportou isso para nós, penso que o nosso sucesso teve muito a ver com essa confiança transmitida pelo Mourinho», acrescentou John Terry.
Confira as declarações do defesa do Chelsea no vídeo divulgado pela Skysports.
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid958992159/bctid1375780500
First time I saw this as I was surfing the net, where JT gives his opinion about JM, where he says that JM knew he was one of the best in the world and he instilled that believe in the players, there is also a “youtube” video wher he is interviwed.
Maybe it is a old video it is my first time.
Why didnt my post registered?
Hey giuys watch this
http://tinyurl.com/3ask77
did JT say that “our record still goes on because of the confidence that he gaves us?
The secret is out.
Really funny: dont know if the 2nd one is ok
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYbZ1Md0asA&NR=1
http://tinyurl.com/39p4ke
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qAkm6Pc7LE&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hg3GY90vOSc&feature=related
BC whats the problem with posting ?
I am trying to post some “youtube” songs about JM but it doesn go.
Maysam what happened? Why have you removed your team from squadgod?
AGFriend.. i think when u send links they wont appear unless approved by the moderator… patience!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBniDRCcciI
scottishsquirrel11 (3 hours ago)
premier league just isn’t the same..and that’s from an arsenal fan
thelast one from the italian dive
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-QmrSFZUmE
Nihongo Blue
I tried to post a link about JT interview with Sky
and didnot post beh
Moyo – I didn’t say that we didn’t play attacking football under Jose. What I actually said was “such attacking football was not really seen under Jose”. By this I am saying we didn’t see a 6-0 win or such attacking domination as much as we do under Avram. Sure, our games against Barcelona and the others we played superbly in attack, I am just saying there IS actually a change in style under Avram, and that is we are focusing on attack. And we beat Leicester 3-2
Thanks Israeli for the info about subs and I agree tough whilst MU and Arse don’t drop points but they could this weekend!
And Arun, the reason possibly Grant has done so well “managing ego’s” so to speak is that many big name players are not available so he has no choice in his line up the team pick itself so to speak.
Everyone gets to play right now with the games coming thick and fast. When all the players are back then we can see how he manages the team and ego’s Lampard v Ballack, Alex v Terry, Drogba v Anelka or Pizarro or Sheva or Kalou and so on.
And sorry I didn’t understand your comment that under Mourinho the likes of SWP, Cole etc would not have played. Plainly they would have done just the same under Grant during this period if for no other reason than because of the ACN and injuries. Mourinho knew just as much about Grant how important squad rotation is and used well (better than Rafa!) he would certainly have played Ballack and Bridge and has done many times in the past.
Ballack after all was one of his infamous “untouchables” wasn’t he?
As for squad depth, Chelsea have the greatest. MU are more heavily reliant on Ronaldo and if he gets injured I think they will suffer. Arse are also much weaker and miss key players – we don’t that is a BIG difference.
Hey BC,
If we are rock solid like this, am sure we can make a difference for the title.
Nice review of the game, it was a rude shock for me when I found out that there was no live coverage of Chelsea game and instead we were shown the Poo game, which btw was entertaining, yeah, UNTIL the last last whistle, was reading both BBC commentary & Orange website, and it appeared that we controlled the game and should have won by a better score.
Now that Ballack is back, I feel a little relieved and confident, why do we play that Malauda? He has been the worst signing for us this season…
Another 3 points, The Blue army is marching on, solidly, strongly, silently
i have a question what is going to happen to PIZARRO and SIDWELL the UCL is round the corner we have to name a 23 man squad
PAULO,ALEX,CARVALHO,TERRY,BELLETTI,A COLE,BRIDGE,ESSIEN,LAMPARD,BALLACK,MAKELELE,
J COLE,SWP,DROGBA,ANELKA,KALOU,SHEVA,CECH,CUDICINI,BEN HAIM,MIKEl,MALOUDA,
IVANOVIC or HILARIO …….. where do those two fit should chelsea have sold or loaned them out
@Jose big supportes
ok we have a quality team…………..so did we have the same squad during mourinho’s reign………
milan,valencia,liverpool all have a quality team and so has barca………………under mourinho the team was nothing it was the out of this world tactics and now it’s the player professionalism…………………..who are u trying to kid??????????aren’t the players in milan,valencia and liverpool athletes and professional and they allegedly have better manager…………….when mourinho was there,steve clark was no one…………..but now steve clark is god………last year poor mourinho did not have back ups and now suddenly we have the world’s best backup………..jt and lamp,drogba,kalou,mikel are no ones suddenly and as for alex,when jt returned from injury last season,i always wondered essien is a cb or jt
Grant has moved onto Southend United.
No, not Avram Grant. Chelsea’s Anthony Grant has moved to Southend on loan.
I’m sure a few of the readers on here got excited for a second, haha. Also, our opponents for the next EPL match Porstmouth signed Jermain Defoe, hopefully he doesn’t start. Looks like a great move for all – Portsmouth get a good striker, Defoe gets a move and Tottenham offload a striker they aren’t really using.
Hypothetical question for all – who would you put in your starting eleven when every Chelsea player is available, and for arguments sake, is in the best form of their life? It’s such a tricky question and possibly impossible to get the perfect 11. I’d probably have – Cech ; Bridge, Terry, Carvalho, Belletti ; Ballack, Mikel, Essien ; Anelka, Drogba, Shevchenko. Oh, if only we lined up we those 11 all in great form one day. Hmm, no Lampard, J.Cole, Wright-Phillips, Malouda, Kalou, A.Cole …
tricky one nubskeh i would start with the in form players but before that play sheva anelka, anelka drogba, lampard ballack, sheva drogba anelka and different combinations and pick the best out of it …….
nubskeh
ill better get jose do it!!
nuskeh
the team will look something like this if every player was available.
4-4-2
——————Cech——————–
–Belletti–Terry–Carvalho–Bridge/Cole
————-Lampard–Essien————
–Cole/SWP———————–kalou/Malouda–
————–Anelka—Drogba————
We also could play a 4-3-3- like this.
——————-Cech——————–
–Belletti–Terry–Carvalho–Bridge/Cole
—————–Mikel——————–
———Essien———–Lampard—–
—Cole/SWP——————-Malouda/Kalou
—————–Drogba——————–
i dunno what it is but i jus find kalou to be a winger, he is not a striker and should use his pace and dribbling abiliy as a winger, also that CM department is shocking to pick between, when you have Ballack, Lampard, Essien, SWP and with Mikel and Maka As the Holding mids if we play a 4-3-3 is tough to pick from, it hink Maka should retire afta this season, he has bin great for us but he is aging and Mikel is one of the best DM in the world and is still getting better and better, if we want to p;lay sexy football we have to play with a 4–4-2 its a simple as that, Although i do not believe Anelka and Drogba can play together we should still try it, i just believe they are to similar.
Den
@ 53
malouda is a very talanted player. he hasnt had a good start but who has when they come from a another leauge to the premier. not even sheva and he has been heir for a long time. malouda is a very flexible player good at defense and can score. jose played malouda very good he scored a tuff goal against man utd remember, and his passes are exelent. i belive that he should not play upfront cause he is a midfielder that can play leftback to. i want avram to play him left mid istead of next to anelka. or maybe put anelka or drogba infront of him cause he can dribble and make fast passes that could be deadly for other teams.
Can we all please get over the whole Avram-Mourinho debate. When we win all we do is talk about who’s a better manager, when we draw/lose all we talk about is who the better manager is. The bottom line is, Chelsea are doing well at the moment and are hanging in there for the title race which is a great effort considering the difficulties the team has faced this season.
Avram Grant is Chelsea’s manager so lets deal with it and get behind him. It gets so incredibly boring now on this blog when 90% of the comments made are about the managers, whether it be criticising mourinho or criticising grant.
the current chelsea team is the strongest ever chelsea team. one is because they gained valuable experience winning and losing titles under a great legendary manager. grant actually has two teams under him in the squad. we have a top quality second choice player for every position. if you make a team of all the second choice players, they would beat most of the teams now. credit to jose for building such a brilliantly balanced squad.
true blue fushion – under mourinho it was his tactics. it was so bloody evident to see, that even a blind man could have seen. under grant, it is the players who are making it happen. it is there in all sports. some teams win by the team strength and quality than by tactics of the manager.
if you say steve clarke was no one last season, i’m sure you’re not a chelsea fan. Every chelsea fan would know what kind of contribution steve clarke made. just get lost instead of making such idiotic comments. roman wanted jose to fail somehow and that’s why he did not sanction any january money for him while he gave away 50 million for buddy grant. that was clear anti-chelsea backstabbing by roman, who put his interests ahead of chelsea’s for once.
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