The headlines are all about Chelsea’s interest in signing a new striker, based on a Ray Wilkins interview. This one is a bit strange. I have three points. First is, Kenyon has indicated that we won’t sign new players in January. What is this now? Second is, we have a Drogba and an Anelka. For Scolari’s love of single striker formations, we have one too many. Does this mean Scolari is planning to move to a two striker formation? Third is, didn’t Scolari want a dribbling playmaker? Let’s look at what Wilkins said.
We have got the injury situation haven’t we? We have supplemented Didier’s injury with the players we have here, while Nicolas’ goals have been top drawer. From that aspect we are thrilled. However, if you lose both in the same game, you always need cover. Otherwise, we are not going to progress through the Premier League.
This might just be Wilkins’ opinion on the situation. I wouldn’t read this as Chelsea’s intent on signing a new striker in January. Buying a striker in January would be a blunder unless we offload one or more of Anelka, Drogba and Kalou. In fact, I don’t think we should buy anyone without selling players. May be, that would be the situation for Scolari. With very less or no funds available this January, he might have to sell players to buy new players.
Let’s talk about the Fulham match. All available except Terry, Essien, Carvalho and di Santo. I wonder what’s stil wrong with di Santo? He was supposed to be back in mid-December, wasn’t he? We should once again start Drogba and Anelka, hopefully in a 4-4-2. For this match, I don’t want to see Deco and Ballack. We’ve tried too many things and have learnt a lot. Mikel is untaouchable now. He’s been our best player of the season so far. So he should as always play as the holding midfielder. Along with Lampard, we should have Joe Cole and Belletti. Like I mentioned in the earlier blog, I don’t mind seeing Wayne Bridge on the left midfield.
Fulham have had a very good season so far, with a special mention to their home form. We simply can’t take them lightly. In fact, we can’t take anyone lightly. May be that’s why Scolari doesn’t try to rotate too much. The only reason why he would not play any of his preferred playing eleven is only because of injuries and suspensions. I’d say the result as at the first half would be the final result too. Hope we get an early goal in this match too. My prediction for the West London derby: 2-1 in favour of Chelsea. Anelka to score one, for sure.
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Got to win atleast this london derby . Lost one, drew two .. Fulham have conceded only 5 goals since Oct, so it will be bus park .. Didier has to score as the next three away games after this will decide chelsea season, and we need a fit hungry didier.
Just because we are mid-way in the season does not mean its a title decider. So what if Liverpool go into the new year log leaders, that does not mean they will ultimately win the premiership. There is still a lot to come. Anything can happen.
Thank goodness LFS has understood the importance of DD. I was actually shocked to see him state in one of his interviews that he felt that Anelka was more important for him, than DD. I felt really sad for DD and also feared that he might leave the team and join the special one. But now i feel things are in proper order in the team and feel more relaxed than ever.
sup blue peeps
bc I think ballack wont play tomorrow, he got this 5th yellow card agains WB. But am not sure=)
Got good feelin that we gonna take care of business and take the 3 points wit us back.
come on you chelsea
God bless u blue champion. U are truly a blue. U have said my mind completely about Deco and Balack. I mean i wonder why Balack should stil start a match or even play d whole 90 mins when he makes so many wrong passes and his very reckless challenge on opponents. For deco, i think he should start from d bench till he is match fit again.
Lastly, i dont mind bridge in d mid field instead of Balack.
Yeah my blue fans tomorrow is a crucial game for us and we must win.i think my DD should start tomorrow and scolari should play deco,lamps,mikel and joey i.e 4-4-2 that shud b alrite up chelsea
Scolari gbu do lo mikel,lamps.deco ati joey si waju lati fi idi won jon le up chelsea yeah
Fulham are going to be a threat and are not to be taken lightly because as BC earlier mentioned thay have not conceded many goals at home this season and they were also able to frustrate Liverpool to a draw. Therefore we need to play tactically and ruthlessly tomorrow, because they will definetly park the bus in defense and are also dangerous on the break. Not having JT + RC is abit of concern but hopefully Ivanovic and Alex can get the job done and Cech would also need to be on his toes. Anelka + Drogba would need to break their defense down and Lampard and J.Cole would have to pass the ball intellegently in the midfeild. I hve full faith that we can pick up another 3 points tomorrow, and playing Belletti and Brigde is also a good idea as we need to shoot from outside the box more often. Go You Blues!!
this is our best formation:
—————————–cech———————————
bosingwa———–carvalho——terry——————–cole
——————–mikel—————————————–
——————————-lampard————————–
——-cole————————————–kalou———-
———————anelka——-drogba————————-
@ 9 Mike, I would be very happy to see us playing that sort of 4-4-2. If we only still had a fit Robben instead of Kalou!
==============Cech==============
==Bosingwa==Alex==Ivanovic==A.Cole===
==Mikel==Lampard==Ballack===J.Cole===
========Anelka====Drogba=========
Quoting k.drogba
u should switch lampard and mikel so mikel stays infront of the back four
——————Cech—————–
–Bosingwa–Alex—Ivanovic–A.Cole–
—————–Mikel—————–
——-Lampard——–Ballack——–
–Anelka———————–J.Cole–
—————-Drogba—————–
Subs: Cudicini, Belletti, Ferreira, Kalou, Malouda, Deco, Stoch
Quoting True Blue in L.A.
Quoting mike ayad
thats a very good team, Kalou deserves a chance hes got lots of potential, deco might start in his position though.
Quoting mike ayad
Terry and Carvalho? Lampard’s pretty much the only creating midfielder you got there. I’d like to see Deco start and JC subbed on if he doesn’t perform.
The team who will win us the league and champions league
—————cech———–
Boswinga–terry–Carvalho–A.cole
J.cole–Essien–Mikel–Lampard
====Drogba==Anelka==
Quoting mike ayad
I’ve got to agree with you. That’s truly our best formation as of today. I might even be tempted to try Belletti in pace on Bosingwa. Remember, Belletti was fantastic in his right back position last season. In terms of their contributions to the game, I’d even rate Belletti a bit above Bosingwa for the sheer unpredictability that he offers.
Joe Cole and Kalou have been very wasteful and inconsistent. With Drogba and Anelka as the strikers, these two wide men could have a great game. With due respects to Anelka’s goal scoring record so far, he is his own man. Whereas Drogba with his ball holding skills, would naturally encourage and allow his fellow attackers to make runs and movements into the zone. I feel, Drogba’s presence would make the other attacking players look intelligent. With a clear knowledge that we are not the most pacy side in premier league, it is very very essential that someone holds the ball up front so the others can arrive.
All said, I have this sneaking fear that Scolari might leave Drogba on the bench as he has been successful on the road with Anelka starting as the lone striker. Does anyone else think so?
Quoting Den
absolutely right. kalou deserves a chance. we never give him a run of 90-minute games. mostly he gets only 20 mins as a sub. if we start him for about 10 matches and play him for all 90 mins in each match, surely the return would be good. as it is, we’ve seen his stats. this guys produces the goods. why not give him the chances.
granted, he could be frustrating at times. anyone who tries to display skill can be very frustrating when they don’t pull off. you can’t take the facts away.
08/09 season – Salomon Kalou – 2 goals & 3 assists in 7 starts
07/08 season – Salomon Kalou – 9 goals & 7 assists in 31 starts
06/07 season – Salomon Kalou – 9 goals & 10 assists in 25 starts
Salomon Kalou = 20 goals & 20 assists in 63 starts | 63%
Kalou deserves a start.
Quoting kuhulai
ballack can play against fulham,the 5th yellow applies only after a minimum period of 3 or 4 days,he can play against fulham but will miss the FA cup match against southend
I like to see kalou today,he is very talented,we must give him time. can newcastle make a upset today?
Yes BC, you said it right , I don’t think that LFS would be starting Drogba.
A match against the lowest ranked team allowed him to experiment with 2 strikers. I don’t think he was impressed with Drogba either (could have scored more than 2), substituting him in the 65th minute indicated so. What a blunder it would be to see Drogba back in the bench. Hope LFS changes his mind.
I agree with you in terms of Belleti starting. He was really good in the w.brom match and adds that unpredictability in the proceedings. I don’t find Bridge excelling in the left wing than Malouda, not that Malouda does wonders. But I don’t find Bridge creative enough, just that he has good shooting skills. He didn’t make much of his chances when offered to play as LB during A. cole’s injury span. Nothing wrong in experimenting though. But I just don’t find LFS trying it.
Playing Bridge today may be our wild card since he played for Fulham before
Quoting BlueChampion
I fear this also, but I think since Drogba made an early exit on Friday he should be set to start this one. I also think it will really disgruntle Drogba if he has to start on the bench one more time, and you never know.. if he’s benched again maybe he will throw another tantrum and Chelsea may finally decide to not deal with it anymore and let him go. He’s an exceptional talent but I sometimes get the feeling his heart is not with us, he admitted himself that he daydreams during the games, so who knows. I hope Scolari can find a way to bring the best out of him. I say keep starting him as it proves to be our strongest attacking option and hopefully he’ll stay happy and keep scoring goals.
@20. trueblue
Tx mate
well today, we should be looking to take 3 points, fulham can be stubborn but with two strikers playing, there is no reason not to tear them apart, im looking for a 2-0 with joey and ballack to score
im hoping liverpool can slip up but mind you, they have injuries now and newcastle did manage to hold us to a goal-less draw, so hopefully we’ll see a repeat
we should be resting our wingbacks more often, we can always bring them in later if we really need them. There is no doubt that our success this season has had dircect result from our wingers that are athletic enough to run the wing on their own for an entire match
as for wilkins, what he said is believable. If any of you had a formation with two strikers, would you feel easy about having 3 in the entire squad? i think not. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a loan move for someone like adriano
personally i think malouda and anelka team up very well, alot of anelkas goals have been due to malouda.
Kalou is ok but he is similar to joe cole, not consistent enough through out a full game to warrant a run out for 90mins. My Formations would be
——————cech
ivanovic—–terry—alex—-bridge
——-belletti—-mikel
————ballack——–malouda
——–drogba—-anelka—
malouda playing more on the wings and belletti/ballack/mikel making the midfield, ivanovic with a license to come down but belletti providing another way down. Ballack to be the attacking mid and anelka/drogba to work 2gether again.
Wooah! Scolari! You’re a hero!
Chelsea: Cech, Bosingwa, Ivanovic, Alex, Ashley Cole, Deco, Mikel, Lampard, Joe Cole, Drogba, Malouda. Subs: Cudicini, Carvalho, Ballack, Ferreira, Kalou, Belletti, Anelka.
Anelka rested/dropped to the bench. Malouda is in. Deco is in (grrr). Carvalho is in the bench. It’s 4-3-3.
The Real Scolari is back .. Deco cries and he is back in the team with a 4-1-4-1 combination …
Chelsea: Cech, Bosingwa, Ivanovic, Alex, Ashley Cole, Deco, Mikel, Lampard, Joe Cole, Drogba, Malouda.
Subs: Cudicini, Carvalho, Ballack, Ferreira, Kalou, Belletti, Anelka.
its 4-3-3 formation and anelka deserves rest as he as played most of season and malouda plays well with drogba
LOL! That’s another way to look at it! I don’t mind Deco on the pitch but if he is poor, he should be off, no need to look at the watch before he is subbed. Not sure if it’s a 4-1-4-1 or a 4-3-3. I thought it’s a orthodox 4-3-3.
5:1 for liverpool,fuckkkkkkkkkkk
Loserpool is 5-1 up at St James Park ??? are they peaking in the right time.. Torres is yet to play.
What’s wrong with liverpool? Why are they so consistent? I can’t even call them lucky this season. They have been so good, dammit!
Quoting BlueChampion
In the first 6 games or so they were lucky, to score after 80 mins or injury time., but now, they seem to be the team to beat.. after 12 year, they are topping the league to the new year, ..
why newcastle is playing like shit ?
Quoting cfc
I won’t call the late goals lucky. They have been very confident and determined and that’s why they’ve been rewarded. In the premier league, I don’t think they that typical Gerrard penalty or any ghost goals. Of course, they robbed Atletico but that was in the champions league. Or was there any cheap tricks that helped them along the way?
Quoting BlueChampion
True – I guess there were no penalities, but I remember three late injury time goals..
Guys, The morning gossips are heartbreak for JM fans — Man City going for JM ..
Chelsea in for Heskey ?? My question – Why Heskey over Zaki !!
What are your thoughts on David Silva, Can he play the role of the missing winger
http://www.veetle.com/viewChannel.php?cid=48cb03bd8ab18
cech gk
bosingwa rb terry cb carvalho cb a cole lb
essiend mf
lampard cmf deco cmf
kaka amf
d villa cf drogba cf
cech gk
bosingwa rb terry cb carvalho cb a cole lb
essien dmf
lampard cmf deco cmf
kaka amf
d villa cf drogba cf
i just watched the last 15 minutes. It looked better than previous games. Thought we would pack it in 2-1, but was really disappointed when Fulham scored. Don´t know what to say…..
This is unbelivable, im so angry right now, I feel like throwing my pc out the window, how inconsistent can one team be. At this rate Man Utd are already two point infront of us when they play all of their games in hand. With three more games played than UTD were only 7 points ahead and that is quite frankly speaking pathetic, im not going to go on and bash Scolari because he’s not the one playing on the feild. Its some of our own greedy and wasteful players that are to blame. 30 shots and 2 goals, if any other team in the epl is given half the shots on goal they will still bury 7/8 out of them. DD wasted one oppurtunity after another and that is not what you can expect from someone who should be burrying goals at will. I feel very ashamed to say this, but if it was Tevez, Torres or Van Persie, they could of scored atleast a hatrick each in a match like this full of oppurtunities.
Thankfully we have a brilliant CM known in Lampard, who atleast earned us a draw otherwise we would of lost this match 2-0. I don’t understand how on earth can a squad like ours go on to perform so poorly week in and week out, I mean other teams including the big 4 would love to have most of our players and yet i have never seen such poor performance from a team that is expected to win the PL & CL. At this rate I think we would be lucky to end up 3rd at the end of the season. Look at Liverpool, improving week after week, they are kickin themselves in a higher gear everytime they play and from the looks of it we have completely taken our foot off the pedal. Malouda, Deco, Ballack, are simply not cutting it, J.Cole is too inconsistent and we have a handfull of young talented players at out disposal but we never use them. The worst thing is all of these poor and inconsistent players are played on a consistent level and there quite simply making our whole team look awful.
We are already 3 points behind Liverpool and looking at the big picture, technically 2 points behind Utd if they go on to win all 3 games in hand. So what’s next now Aston Villa going ahead of us because with performances like this I can certainly see that happening rather sooner than later. We are in desperate need of self confidense and to be honest also in desperate need of 2 fast wingers and a striker that can atleast bury half the chances that we create because even at that rate we should be in the comfot zone of 4-0 atleast. I don’t know how much more of this we can handle, I for sure feel that at this rate were in for the worst season ever under the RA era. Its a real shame when you consider the fact that no one is scared of Chelsea anymore and even bottom of the league teams now know that a draw against Chelsea is easy. We need to pull up our socks big time, we cant afford to slip up like this on a weekly basis anymore but I dont know how and when will Chelsea decide to finally put their foot down because this is simply getting ridiculous!!