Not enough time for a full preview. After the disappointment at Turkey, I expect a reaction from Chelsea. The 6-0 annihilation is a distant memory now. Man City themselves are not in the best of form. They’ve just been beaten 3-1 by Birmingham. Good enough to feel cheerful. I should feel confident but looking at our performance and results against the top 8 teams, I have every reason to be skeptical about this one.
Hope these things happen:
1. AG plays 4-4-2
2. AG starts with Anelka and Drogba
3. AG plays no one out of position
4. AG plays Mikel ahead of Essien or Makelele
5. The players play with confidence
6. AG reads the game at least as well as I do
7. AG makes timely and meaningful subs
8. Terry & Carvalho play to their best
9. Joe Cole plays all 90 minutes
10. The worst Chelsea player on the pitch is subbed
11. If we get a lead, we will protect it at any cost
10. Chelsea plays with more determination and hunger than Man City
11. AG talks sense after match in the press interview
12. Arsenal lose heavily to Liverpool
13. Chelsea wins
Prediction: Here’s to a 1-2 win for Chelsea. Be there at BC Shout!
its going to be a draw, surely….
If all these 13 points are taken into consideration by AG, then we shall get the 3 points. with good display.
Blues 4life
Go chelsea…i want to see the 4 4 2 also…we have to play drogba and anelka up front…
I wanna see AG do a practice victory lap ! LOL
And I wanna also see him wear an Angelina Jolie mask at the post match interview.
I heard Steve Clarke is leaving Chelsea at the end of season to pursue managerial career. And it seems more likely that Drogba is going out too! Unless Jose comes back, i think slowly its time for me to change my fav club as well. I am slowly hating the whole system…
@IwasMissingJose all football club’s will have good time and bad time,if ur a true football fan, u should support ur club when they r having bad time.If u changing ur club now then next time when ur new club is facing crisis u will change that also.
DERBY County, fulham are having bad time still there fan’s are supporting these club.Why ????
CLUB is important than PLAYER’s and Manager’s.
@6…I always knew Mourinho fans are fake…they are glory hunters…they will go where Mourinho goes…
6. IwasMissingJose – 5 Apr – 8:31
I agree Jose was our best manager and also this season we will not win anything under Avram, but i am a chelsea fan not a Jose fan.Even if chelsea is relegated i will be a chelsea fan…………..
i have a feeling that we will murder them 4-0 or something…. them ag can give 3 more bad results and keep talking about the time we killed mancity 4-0…. wow
and i still think essien should go… ok so hes a versatile player…BUT what can he bring to chelsea that makalele didnt bring and mikel wont bring? last year he was brilliant… but this year it looks like his twin brother playing for an average club replaced him after the AFC…. are u sure its Micheal and not Bill essien??
i came across something in another chelsea blog…
would you want sven goran erikson to be chelsea’s manager???
and if you want to see AG kick like a girl (possibly worse than angelina jolie would kick ( @5 Joseholiday… ) check out the chelsea crossbar chalenge on youtube…. i dont think u need to play topflight stuff to be a good coach but…. if ur gonna coach one of the best teams in the world ATLEAST kick a damn ball!
For Today’s match we should go with this formation 4-3-1-2 ,we cannot change the formation to 4-4-2 quickly as it make more confusion to avram ,he only know’s 4-3-3.Ashley Cole,Carvalho ,Essien should be rested for champion’s league match.Plz give Sheva a chance today.
—————-Cudicini———————
belletti——-John Terry—— Alex—–Bridge
—ballack——- Mikel———Lampard——-
—————-Jole Cole———————–
————–drogba—-Anelka—————-
Substitution:- Sheva,Essien,Kalau,SWP,hilario.
@bluesluv
Essien always give 8/10 for all match’s ,this season before AFC, he played all our matches ,After Afc he was not in best form,but from arsenal match onwards he started performing,he is quality versatile player.
@bluesluv, Essien is better than lampard , ballack or even today’s drogba(selfish)
@8 its foot+ball, not air+ball
i admit i started supporting chelsea after Jose Mourinho
hell im only 15 but u cant really blame people for wanting more entertainment
thats what footballs about… not just blind faith in a club…
@arun
yeah…. hes versatile but… what does he do that belleti, makalele, mikel cant do…
u can use that cash on someone more specialized and effective…
and define (8/10)??
carvalio should be rested this match as alex is a good replacement. I want riccy to be totally fit for CL quarters.
mikel should play in makalele role.
SWP and anelka should both start. Drogba to be rested and on bench for 2nd half 4-4-2.
cech for cudacini if he has to play in the QF tuesday night.
1st half
——–cech———
paulo—terry—alex—bridge
lampard—-mikel—-ballack
SWP—-anelka—-malouda
2nd half
1st half
——–cech———
paulo—terry—alex—bridge
lampard—-mikel—-ballack—j cole
—drogba—-anelka—
1-3 chelsea win
i think we will win today and also want a 4-4-2 formation but i don’t think he will use that until we are losing just like again Arsenal so anyway i predict a 0-2 win and if Anelka play from the start i see him in scoresheet ..
@ bluesluv
Plz … Compare Essien with ballack and lampard .IS mikel and makalele better than essien in Attack and physical strength, Essien can be play good(not better) in all three players(belleti, makalele, mikel) position ,
Also having Essien is an advantage for a good Manager(not Avram) as he can put one more additional attacking player in Substitution bench because if any of first team defender’s are injured (RARE CASE), essien can do that job also.
@BC
I Will just suggest that u watch the game vs schalke again………ronaldinho is out,messi is out,deco is out……….henry is adjusting……….that’s what i mean on paper schalke is the easiest bet…………performnce wise it is barca…………THAT’S WHAT I MEAN GAMES ARE NOT PLAYED ON PAPER.
By the way i have started playing EA Fifa Manager 08……is there any tip on that game you can give me?
@BC
I Will rather like to catch the bird that is dependent on our performance that is CL instead of chasing a bird whose capture is not in our hands…………….this means if i m manager,i will be resting key players.
1. AG plays 4-4-2
*let me know why you have this sudden fetish with 4-4-2
2. AG starts with Anelka and Drogba
3. AG plays no one out of position
*when jose played players out of position,you had no problem is what i can gather……….no why sudden problem……please explain
4. AG plays Mikel ahead of Essien or Makelele
*mikel has done nothing to gain a first team ahead of either of the two mentioned
5. The players play with confidence
*correct:players defend set-pieces with confidence.
6. AG reads the game at least as well as I do
*i just won’t comment
7. AG makes timely and meaningful subs
*timely yes….i am pissed by his habits of making 70+ min subs
8. Terry & Carvalho play to their best
9. Joe Cole plays all 90 minutes
*if ihave my way i wil rest him….he has been playing nonstop
10. The worst Chelsea player on the pitch is subbed
*I Never saw ballack,lampard being subbed last season in many games……if you didn’t have a problem then why now…….pls explain
11. If we get a lead, we will protect it at any cost
*amen
10. Chelsea plays with more determination and hunger than Man City
11. AG talks sense after match in the press interview
*like what critisize refrees,blame players or start taking “i m special one”
12. Arsenal lose heavily to Liverpool
*amen
13. Chelsea wins
*amen
@arun
mikel is more than capable of being essien…
okay… lets compare ballack and lamps with essien
essien does not go in front as much… he likes to hold midfield…. if he was like ballack or lamps ag wouldnt even think about playing him in LB…. therefore…. its better to compare him to viera, gatusso, makalele, mikel
he has a very physical presence, but we have done so well with makalele i dont see the point of keeping essien…
dont get me wrong… hes a good player, but he doesnt fit anymore… atleast now
@TBF
a 4-4-2 has much more range and depth. a 4-5-1 is too defensive and chokes the game in midfield which looks bad, and is leggy because there are so many players playing interconnected roles, grant cant cement positions for everyone which shows on the pitch. a 4-4-2 lets anelka and drogba play with Drogs the target man. it also lets ballack and lampard dictate midfield while they can take turns going forward. a 4-4-2 diamond is also a decent formation to play which would give depth.
My comments after the letters ‘BC:’
1. AG plays 4-4-2
*let me know why you have this sudden fetish with 4-4-2
BC: I’ve talking about this at lengths in the last few posts.
2. AG starts with Anelka and Drogba
3. AG plays no one out of position
*when jose played players out of position,you had no problem is what i can gather……….no why sudden problem……please explain
BC: Jose was a football manager. I could trust him. Moreover he played players out of position, only when there were no able specialists for the roles.
4. AG plays Mikel ahead of Essien or Makelele
*mikel has done nothing to gain a first team ahead of either of the two mentioned
BC: Essien and Maka have done enough to see them out of the team. Mikel should be given a chance when Essien and Maka fail repeatedly.
5. The players play with confidence
*correct:players defend set-pieces with confidence.
6. AG reads the game at least as well as I do
*i just won’t comment
BC: Thanks
7. AG makes timely and meaningful subs
*timely yes….i am pissed by his habits of making 70+ min subs
BC: Thanks
8. Terry & Carvalho play to their best
9. Joe Cole plays all 90 minutes
*if ihave my way i wil rest him….he has been playing nonstop
BC: AG won’t. He needed a full team against Barnsley and Derby County.
10. The worst Chelsea player on the pitch is subbed
*I Never saw ballack,lampard being subbed last season in many games……if you didn’t have a problem then why now…….pls explain
BC: They were playing well then. And the team was winning.
11. If we get a lead, we will protect it at any cost
*amen
10. Chelsea plays with more determination and hunger than Man City
11. AG talks sense after match in the press interview
*like what critisize refrees,blame players or start taking “i m special one”
BC: Like knowing what he talks about.
12. Arsenal lose heavily to Liverpool
*amen
13. Chelsea wins
*amen
TBF
we have everything to play for in premiership atleast till arsenal visits old trafford. We have to keep appling the pressure at the top however difficult it may be for man utd to drop points. and with AG luck anything is possible isnt it.
@BC
This new calendar feature is good. Though it shows only premiership matches
@13…’blame people for wanting more entertainment
thats what footballs about’….
thats what people like Joeblue,Midfield_decider etc have been trying to say since last season that football is all about entertainment, flair,passing,movement…Mourinho’s style was totally devoid of entertainemnt…but same people are criticizing ‘toad’ who were praising Mourinho…
Toady is a fake. He is a conman. He is a backstabber. I will not mind these things if he is not on a mission to destruct the club.
I will take anything to see toady get the sack.
TBF’s latest stance is supporting AG. Stay tuned to see TBF’s changing colors!
@25
what happened to barca flair with injuries to key players? 1-0 schalske. defeated by getafe in cup.With joe cole . robben, cech, cudacini, terry, carvalio injured for majority of last season would u expect winning FA cup?
How can attackers attack with all their flair when they know they have to help in defence with key players missing in defence.
arsenal plays with so called flair and what have they won in 4 seasons?? this season too they dont look like winning anything. Do you this we have this liberty in chelsea. think about it.
@Smicer
pls smicer…………i do not trust anyone blind and to be fair AG should leave at the end of season if he doesn’t win anything……….the point is removing him at this point doesn’t signifies anything or will change anything.
my stance has been same all along………judge him at the end of season.
i never wanted mourinho out in the mid of season and i made myself very clear at that point
@Nihongo blue
please don’t push this point thaT YOU CAN’T WIN ANYTHING WITH FLAIR FOOTY……….Barca has won as much as us with the same brand of footy……….man utd are doing it……..arsenal have had sucess with the same brand of footy……….i have no problem with mourinho’s brand of football if it’s plan B to counter injuries or win big matches.
ofcourse wining with flair is the best sight. We have done it in past in 2 seasons2004-2006. Havnt we?
@BC
Some points i don’t agree with
BC: Essien and Maka have done enough to see them out of the team. Mikel should be given a chance when Essien and Maka fail repeatedly.
essien yes……………but makelele has been top notch for almost everymatch he has played
BC: AG won’t. He needed a full team against Barnsley and Derby County.
This is hardly a counter point caus jose played all stars vs wycombe at SB
BC: They were playing well then. And the team was winning.
Playing well……….sorry but please just review what you have written………and if it was all about winning then why do you complain bout newcastle,boro,luck.completely disagree with the point
@Nihongo Blue
Be honest………nihongo……..in flair terms our footy has degraded with every season with mourinho in charge………please don’t mix winning footy with flair footy.
liverpool dominating arsenal … goal can come any moment. Liverpool playing long balls to crouch :)
This ought to be a Chelsea victory if Grant follows BC’s first 3 steps.
@27…I have always said Arsenal would slip, no matter how they play…and that happened…for me Manure have always been benchmark..this team can attack, can defend and can dominate midfield…
we had injury woes last season…accepted…but losing by playing with flair is better than loosing by playing hoof-the-ball….
secondly,grinding results is not bad…but making it a norm,no matter who the opposition is, is really irritating….Mourinho grinded results even against likes of Wigan…
thirdly,Mourinho destroyed players….JCole was abt to leave under him….if you see SWP’s runs on flank in isolation, then every top manager will crave for him but tell me did he improved further after spending seasons under JM….just remember Ronaldo…he was a similar player who used to dribble ,run,dodge…but today he is top class player..I am sure he would had remained same show-boater under JM….I know JM is a very good tactician and motivator…but thats all…he was not a player developer,was not an entertainer….and as someone above said football is all about entertainment….
hmm somewhat like man utd drop in form in 2003-2005
@35
Ronaldo and Joe were very similar players……….immenesly talented,top-notch dribblers and yes circus tricks.
ronaldo was given 2 years and look at where he is now………ronaldo was never asked to improve his overall game,never asked to track back and never asked to cut his circus tricks.
it happened with joe…..he has to play at rb………track back,defend,don’t showboat and only blind person won’t see the difference.
ronaldo at 22 scores 37 goals with many matches remaining…….free-kicks,corner and provide entertainment whereas poor joe he remained at max 15 goals with no set-piece skill.
liverpool lead 0-1. We have to win against city
@Nihongo Blue
Notice the big difference between riijkard and mourinho…………forget footy…………barca’s injury problems and main players being out of form has never been used as an excuse a single time by riijkard…….neither is he blaming the results on a particular signing which was not done in winter transfer window.
ronaldo has improved tremendously this season especially free kicks. Reminds me of drogbas improvement when he stopped getting down at slight challenges. Ronaldo joined a team which was already settled and champions. He had time all credit to SAF and departure of beckham , nistelrooy and prolonged injury to saha.. all previous set piece specialists.
JCole has only improved under jose. He always had talent but was never like he is today.Got his break to international football here. Today he is a great player before he was just a good player.
i want to play 4 4 2 cuz im getting fed up with stupid toads stupid tactics!!!!!
so heres my team:
——————–cech/cudicini——————-
ferreira——-carvalho—–terry———-cole
————–makelele————————-
————————lampard—————-
J.cole—————————–kalou—–
————-drogba——anelka————-
im said to leave out ballack or essien but i dont want to play ballack on the right because i dont visualise him playing in that position.
my prediction is 1-3
@39
i agree that injuries were a bit exaggerated may be to save his job, fighting media who is always against us whatever.Could have done better . But the injuries always came at very very wrong times
regarding winter transfer ill say we desperately wanted one CB and it could have made a huge huge difference as essien could have played in mid field then. We wanted some support from the board at
jose was no god. he made some mistakes definitely but most importantly did majority things right. Having a small squad was one big mistake last season
actually a change in formation
-——————–cech/cudicini——————-
ferreira——-carvalho—–terry———-cole
—————mikel————–
——-ballack——lampard
————–cole———–
——–drogba——-anelka–
alot of people have been suggesting this formation and i think it could work because anelka drifts wide anyway and cole will have the free role so it will trouble the defence and it means we can play differentstyles eg wing play, central play, long ball play etc!!!
im really starting to love the ballack lampard partnership
arsenal 1- 1 liverpool bendtner equals for arsenal
Anyways TBF what do u say about deco and carvahios development as players under jose?
Chelsea will line-up in a 4-3-3 formation as follows:
23 Carlo Cudicini
35 Juliano Belletti
33 Alex
26 John Terry (c)
3 Ashley Cole
5 Michael Essien
12 John Mikel Obi
8 Frank Lampard
24 Shaun Wright-Phillips
39 Nicolas Anelka
21 Salomon Kalou
Substitutes: 40 Hilario, 20 Paulo Ferreira, 13 Michael Ballack, 10 Joe Cole, 7 Andriy Shevchenko.
No drogba even on bench????? being punished for being selfish ?
looks like later in the game ferriera will come and balletti will play as a winger… Wow
otherwise ferriera on bench doesnt makes sense when we have essien who can play RB if belletti is injured..
Arsenal drew against liverpool… now its a 2 horse race… we cant drop points now else it willbe too easy for man utd.
Arun,
Love your line up, especially Bridge at LB.
” @6…I always knew Mourinho fans are fake…they are glory hunters…they will go where Mourinho goes…”
yea its true, i´ll go where Mourinho will go. If Mourinho weren´t there i would have never watched any English Premier League games. Its his name and fame that brought me into this world. And if this world has no respect for him, i´ll lose my respect for football.
why does AG speaks so much to opposition manager always?????
anybody… no one does that. politican most visible trait
agaon an own goal.. wow.. we lead 1-0