United beat Chelsea with a three goal margin last weekend. And Chelsea hit back by beating United with a three-goal margin win today. Perfect revenge as long as you don’t mind that those Uniteds were Manchester and Southend respectively.
Has the normal service resumed? I don’t think so. I would say that we are not out of the jail yet. I would not call this a great performance but this was a good result. At least we’ve woken up from the nightmare. We badly needed a win. We needed goals. We needed smiles. We got all that, but not before a scare from a customary ‘cornered’ goal. Until a minute before half time, not everything was going our way. Our eternal passing game was found out by Southend too. Luckily for us, Ballack scored a beautiful goal with seconds to go before the half time whistle. Had we not scored that goal and had we finished the half at 1-0, it could have been a different story. Anyway, we’ve got the win. We have avoided the upset. Scolari has got a little breathing space. Only a little because we are now third in the league table as Man Utd beat Wigan.
Scolari did the right thing in dropping Drogba and bringing on Kalou. I hope someone has that defining conversation with Drogba. What does he want to do – stay or leave? If he stays, it should be under our terms. If he wants to leave, he should be allowed to. A Drogba playing with full of his heart is an immense asset to any team, a superb matchwinner. On the other hand, a Drogba with low morale or motivation is pretty much a liability and an unwanted influence. A decision needs to be taken on Drogba. Soon. Oh yes, Phil dropped Deco too! These little things can make a difference. I’m happy that Scolari is not too stubborn and has at last started to learn from his mistakes!
The final whistle must have been moment of relief than that of euphoria. We need to put this result in perspective. What have we done? We have taken our team of first choice players and have beaten Southend United. These are the kind of matches where if you win, you get no praise but if you lose, you’ll be battered badly. A win with a three-goal margin is what is normally expected of Chelsea when they play against a league one side. We’ve done just that, albeit in a hard way. I’m not convinced with this performance because of various reasons.
- We are still conceding in set pieces. They had just 5 corners and they scored one. How is that Southend won every single 50/50 header while we were always late to react. Whatever happened to our aerial skills! Teams like Liverpool and Juventus are specialists in set pieces. This kind of set piece defending makes us start with a goal down right at kick off.
- We got 16 corners but hardly troubled them. Why don’t we do something different for a change? Not even something outrageously brilliant like Man Utd tried against us. You can just try a short pass or a low cross. Something different. There was not any much variety in the way we handled all those 16 corners.
- Our attacks are still very slow. Mind you, I’m NOT referring to the players here. Players are fast enough but the attacking movements and plays are very slow. With our over-elaboration of attacks, we make our opponents to defend in numbers, even if they had not planned to.
- Still our attacking play is far too predictable. When we chose to be unpredictable, Joe Cole gave that lob to Kalou who dribbled it, may be because he did not have anyone to pass it to, and then slotted it home superbly. That’s our reward when we want to be less predictable. For about an hour, we were doing our regular drills up and down.
- We still have difficulty in breaking down deep defences. Let’s not be blinded by the scoreline. Our first goal was from the goalkeepers’s blunder. But Ballack took the goal beautifully. The second goal was when we did not play that slow short-passing style. After that goal, Southend was forced to venture out which created space for us to exploit. I’m yet to see us truly break down the defence with our movement and passing.
- We don’t put pressure on the opponent. We still allow the opponent to play his game. Chelsea had about 80% possession today. So, to say that we did not pressurise them might sound like an absurd statement. Southend lost possession not because we won it from them. They lost possession because their passes were poor. We should start pressurising the opponents heavily, like we used to.
- We don’t get into the punitive mood. We could have scared the hell out of Southend. We should have made them pay for forcing this replay. But we never get into this punishing mode. We are always at peace when it come to our attacks.
I have a question to Scolari. He says we don’t use 4-4-2 because he thinks this system is tough, the midfield will be weaker etc. Chelsea have played 4-4-2 very often before. In fact, Chelsea have played multiple formations before. If Scolari is so touchy about using 4-4-2, how come he does not mind the experimenting of zonal marking as against the tried and tested man marking that Chelsea players are used to? I don’t understand the logic here. I also wonder what prompted him to change this! If there is one area in Chelsea that need not be tampered with, that would be defence. Here is Phil telling players to start zone marking while not using 4-4-2 because it is tough. Strange.
There were lots of positives from this match. I’d like to highlight a couple of them. Kalou scored a crucial goal once again. Regular readers would know that I like Kalou. He can be frustrating but I’ve always thought he is good. He can be better if appropriately utilised. That piece of work that he did today was something we are unable to expect from any other Chelsea player as of today. To take that effort, one had to be confident and selfish. I’m happy for Kalou. I hope he gets more playing time, especially as a second half substitute.
And then, the other positive is that Di Santo played for 15 minutes. He couldn’t make a telling contribution but I thought he showed glimpses of what he can do. I had written before that Di Santo’s movement is much better than that of Anelka. I stand by that statement. Anelka’s movement is largely one-dimensional. He does not make intelligent runs to the exploitable space. He makes normal runs that a striker would do and use the space if it’s created in his zone. Whereas Di Santo can be cunning striker. His movements can be troublesome for the keeper. He’s got a good header too. I’m still waiting for him to start and complete 90 minutes. With Scolari’s obsession towards 4-1-4-1, the only chance for Di Santo to start is by keeping Anelka and Drogba in the bench. Di Santo can start against Ipswich but unfortunately, I don’t see that happening.
Okay, we have saved a massive embarrassment by beating them 4-1. Scolari’s job is somewhat safer for now. Stoke at Stamford Bridge this weekend could be a tough game. All the while we have been conceding from corners and free kicks. This weekend we run the risk of adding ‘throw-ins’ to our catalogue. After Stoke (it has the potential to be a tough game but I hope it’s easy), there are no more easy matches. Take a look at this list of next 10 matches: Middlesbrough (H), Liverpool (A), Hull (H), Aston Villa (A), Juventus (H), Wigan (H), Portsmouth (A), Juventus (A), Man City (H) and Tottenham (A). Hope this win has put us back on track. I think this must have brougt back some much needed confidence for the players. Scolari has not put a winning run (home + away) of more than three matches yet. Now that the voodoo is gone and confidence is back, let’s go on a winning run, shall we?
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WOWWWWWWW. The fog thing worked LOL, & your prank 2 BC. Had to admit that almost had a heart attack when they scored.
Just to say, BC, that your facts are wrong: we actually won FOUR Premier League games in a row straight after our defeat to Liverpool before the draw with Newcastle and the defeat to Arsenal which I believe started all of this mess, each by at least two goals: Hull 3-0 a, Sunderland 5-0 h, West Brom 3-0 a, Blackburn 2-0 a.
As I mentioned earlier, I have given up hope on winning the league for the time being, and am focused mainly on the FA Cup which is the one trophy I think we have a realistic chance of winning this season. The league looks United’s all over to me – Rafa’s tinkering will be the downfall of Liverpool as usual, and unless we emerge from the tricky run you have noticed with wins at Anfield or Villa Park, I don’t see us touching first place again this season. Second is perfectly acceptable there. We do not have the confidence or squad at the moment to win the Champions League, and our run last year was incredibly easy before we turned it on against Liverpool. That belongs to Barca or United.
It is clear we need investment from Roman in the summer, most notably some new wingers like Zhirkov or Ribery and maybe a striker able to replace Drogba (whose negative impact on the club is starting to outweigh the positives) like Benzema. Joe Cole, it has been said time and time again, is not a winger, and belongs in the hole behind the striker where he tends to drift anyway.
You’re right Chris. It’s not in the premier league. Across all competitions, Chelsea this season has not won more than 3 matches in a row. In fact, the list of four matches mentioned by you had that 3-1 defeat to Roman right in between. Anyway, a a four or five match streak is hardly a run! How strong is our renewed home league run so far?
The most important positive that I saw today was dropping of Drogba and Deco. The two problems I see for chelsea are inability to convert chances to goals and set pieces. I don’t understand much about Zonal marking, but my questions to other bloggers is why are we moving from a tested system to zonal marking . Is it some thing of the beautiful football ??
Again after the third goal, make be Stoch should have given 10 + minutes to play . Stoch is not the player who should come when we are 1-2 down against Arsenal..
Against stoke and middlesborough, 1-0 wins would be perfectly fine, because we have just won once in the last 5 or six epl games.
4 | cfc
Have not seen the match but as I understood before, the main problem is not the zonal marking as a whole, but the fact that sometimes parts of man-to-man marking are incorporated to zonal marking as a consequence of some exceptional headers in the enemy’s team. And as I can see, this could be a real problem as nobody knows what to do in the situation. I would normally say “OK, it will come good eventually”, but now it is quite necessary to solve it right now. OK, Scolari maybe has got other priorities, but without being able to defend set pieces you will not be able to do anything in the PL.
we HAVE to put players by the post, we MUST.
@ 6
Seconded. How come we can all notice it but Scolari doesn’t?! Every time I saw us lining up for zonal marking tonight, it scared the hell out of me. Definitely not the answer.
zonal marking is what screwed liverpool in the same situations and they eventually dropped it
zonal marking generally is poor in football although you can argue, positions like defensive midfield are zonal
im not particularly convinced by the result, set pieces we are still struggling
in honesty i expected us to conceed the first goal, southend thought they could win so would of played the first 20 minutes or so like they would
i didnt see the game so cant say too much, but I will say
either scolari has no faith in the chelsea youth, or he was very worried about today
Zonal marking will only work if you have players that are willing to accept that the opposition are going to be running at them and they will have to defend while they are stationary. The system can work in theory, it works at my local club because of the mentality of our defendrs.
I thought that Alex and Anelka just stood there and allowed Southend to swarm in and get that easy goal. I would’ve preffered Terry and Ballack in the centre because they have been just about the only players to show there commitment when defending set plays this season.
Apart for that one unsurprising goal, we got a solid win (albeit against a League 1 side) – If we can improve our set piece plays (we wasted so many set piece ourselves) then we can still salvage something from an almost forgettable season. Mind you, no one was speaking like this when we were 5-0 against Middlsebourgh and 4-0 against Villa.
I watched the game today (in a pub full of ManU fans watching the ManU/Wigan game) and I swear my stomach fell out of my a$$ after we went down 1-0 by yet another set piece. I had every ManU fan in the joint ribbing me and all I could do in defense was sing sing sing! Thank God we scored to level it up before the half or I would have gotten even more stick from the ManU fans coming back in from the break. (They started 10 mins earlier then the Chels game).
ManU fans were actually really frustrated by the 1-0 win. Wigan really took the game to them and I think they thought after they beat the pants off of us that they were gonna beat Wigan into double digits.
I’m not sure how the ManU fans are abroad, but here in the States they are nearly all “Johnny come latelys”. Bandwagon fans that want to cheer for the team that wins the most consistent trophies. Unless you have a English, Welsh or Scottish accent and you are wearing a ManU shirt here in America I don’t much give you the time of day.
I know it is only the damn Shrimpers but all that being said thank the stars that Chelsea found the bottle and realized the need to pull it together and come out of this game with a “W”.
Speaking of which – Some of you SoCal Chelsea fans – Where are you watching the games in L.A.? I’m in the O.C. and always catch them at The Shamrock in Newport Beach but I’m always up for meeting with fellow posters in L.A. (Fox and Hound / Britannia, etc.) on a Sat or Sunday morning. Bright and early out here on the West Coast!!
I also often take bizness trips to San Fran for any of you NorCal BlueChampions. When I’m in the City I usually go to Mag Dog in the Fog. You can find me there (I’m usually the loudest and at 6’5″ / 230lbs. I can get away with it – err most of the time). =)
sorry to leave you guys in the middle (before the end) of match in BCSHOUT! but like i said 4-1-2-1-2 always works for Chelsea. This should be our core formation. And i was really happy with today´s performance, Scolari showed that passion today, showed us that he can change, and i want to thank him many times for that.
some of our weakness are exposed by BC, and i agree, defence and set-pieces are something we need to work with.
but really, i truly enjoyed the match. have a nice other half of the week guys.
for zonal marking to work you need two quality defenders with 1 really good leader. AC used zonal marking when they dominated during early 90′s with baresi being the main tower, without terry it falls apart because he is the control tower.
Zonal marking is a better system against a 442 or 433 with attacking players since it lets you pick up a man easier. Man Marking is easier to do but also leaves the threat of an unmarked man who could screw you over as well. Each has its flaws really but in a perfect system zonal marking is better then man marking just much harder to achieve.
Kalou did really well against southend and i think he thrives best against smaller teams, j.coles pass to him was absolutely world class, he is wasted in the wings in my opinion, would work so well playing behind a anelka and drogba in a 442 diamond.
Set pieces were our undoing last season as well. Chelsea last season let the most set piece goals in from any other team the previous season, considering we had very little goals scored against that says something. Terry is an integral part of our team and his absence hurts more the carvalho’s even though in terms of pure technique carvalho is superior to terry, terry has the leadership at the back that is missing from the current squad. Anelka did well today, i am impressed with his work rate so far, he is our rooney.
I like deco, when he plays we have a different style to our game, a slow methodical style, that said when he plays we play like barca from last season, lots of possession, very little cutting edge.
Scolari must do something in this set pieces.Is that so hard that a average defender beat 1.90 alex in corner.How sad that we are 2d in EPL.
Quoting CFCIR
Ahem . . we’re third in the premier league . .
The match was turely one-sided, it was almost annoying. The media will always play it against us, but what they forgot to say was Chelsea virtually played the entire game in the opponents half. What i picked up from the performance? well perhaps Kalou should replace Malouda. However both Joe Cole and Malouda are crocked, so who plays in the wide areas? Problem for Felipao. I say Kalou should keep his place for the Stoke game. This game will be a real test of character. Southend just played to frustrate. They never turned up to play football.
One question. Any of u realise how Felipao always seem to give away his tactics in his press conferences? i mean if you use zonal marking, why broadcast that to the whole world. This is not the first time, when we started the season with the Pompey opener , he was out saying this is the new style he intends to play, with full backs bombing forward. Next thing u know, the discussion by the media was about how to stop Chelsea. All the pundits were out to stop us, a la Lee Dixon, Alan Hanson et al. I guess what i am trying to say is , if Felipao wants to play whatever bloody system he wants, he should learn to keep it in the team and not to shout it to the rooftops. geez.
I still think he should cop his physical trainer. The team generally seem slow. Mr Schneider should be up and doing. This is not a national team.
Does anybody still think Mikel isn’t the so-called “superb” player everyone thinks he is? I ‘ll continue saying it till he really shows his maturity and confidence. Cos he has none. I mean always passing sideways simply doesn’t merit such huge wage. I think Belleti should take his place. A defensive midfielder who can’t tackle is no good but a liability. Forever carefree. Up the Blues!!
Quoting GamingTheSystem
I feel you, pal! A lot of my friends are ManU “fans” but couldn’t name a full squad if their life depended on it… while I can even name their reserve players and I don’t even care for them. I guess it comes with soccer’s rise in popularity over here in the States, but I wish they’d actually learn about the teams they cheer instead of just attaching themselves to whatever happens to be most popular.
i thought chelsea played really well, although it was another set-piece that undid them before they bombarded the other end. after they conceded the goal, it was one way street.
http://wedontknowfootball.com/
We took care of business, that’s how I se yesterdays result.
I am really happy for the players as well as for every blue fan. You could se how glad they got when we scored. Even the players’ started to question themselves. I don’t think Deco was dropped though he got injured just before half time against man u and that’s why he didn’t play in the second half and I guess that’s why he didn’t featured in the game. I hope DD gets his shit together and stays wit us or the club sort this issue like BC said.
I was really glad to se kalou play well and I think he was really good. He scored 1 goal and had two assist. That’s MOTM stats for me. One more player that impressed was Ballack. He isn’t near his top yet but the worked really hard and was decent. I think he will come good for us a lá last season. I think LFS did good wit the switch of mikel and belletti. In this kind of game I should even have wished for mikel to get some rest and instead play belletti because it’s not like we were going to do any defending.
Our zone defense was just embarrassing to se. I don’t think the players want to play it either. Did anyone se JT answer q after the game. They asked him about the zone defense and he was like “Yea I guess we will continue wit it” lol but he couldn’t even convince himself wit that statement.
When they “park the buss” like that what we need to do is have better movement from our frontcourt players. And we need one of our midfielder to be a better playmaker then what is the case for the moment. We struggle in half court offense, like BC said up there, we should press them as soon as they have the ball and that would give us a chance to play on the open court (counterattack??)
I really don’t like Jose B to dribble into meddle the way he seem to try to often. I think JT was ok today. Ashley cole was good. I hope Joe cole’s injury isn’t that bad. We need him even though he isn’t having one of the best days so far.
I think cech did a superb save when we were 1-0 down. 0-2 there and S United could have written history.
That ballack goal was really important and when he plays wit such a swagger he is really good. Now do it on a regular basis.
What is up wit our set piece defending? Is the world coming to an end, Chelsea biggest weakness is its defense?
Overall much needed victory. I don’t care if it was against a lowly league one team. In the state we been lately I take every win against anyone just to get back on the winning way. I agree we got come good against some good sides for use to feel comfortable again but we don’t have to outdo ourselves, just let’s get back to respectable level and we will be alright. We are too talented to mess up.
You aren’t better then your weakest link, who do u guys think is our weakest link????
Come on Chelsea
what ever it is, i could see that LPS will not be our manager for a long time…we are really struggle in many aspects, there are a lot of unrest stories in our dressing room…Chelsea may hv to keep him as it wouls cost 10 million to sack him..
i dont care if cfc did not win premier league, champs league because our performance were very bad…we did not deserve at all at this moment….what i care is to see chelsea that i know before..never say die attitude..determination…but the root problem is the manager…
i dont understand why people say malouda is trash, from what ive seen he is when fit very useful to chelsea as he allows attack down the left side, chelsea is a much different team when he plays. Bosingwa for instance is the attack down the right while the left is usually left empty when malouda isnt playing as a.cole isnt as attacking as bosingwa. Thats why i want zhirkov he would be very useful down the wings.
Mikel is very good as a replacement DM, he is young and DM role is usually best placed by more experienced players. The most important thing for DM’s is positioning, strength and some decent passing ability. Mikel is good enough that he makes his job look easy. Now essien is a much better player but essien is possibly one of the best players in the world. Easily in many peoples top 11.
oooooffffff….!!!!!!
I am still not able to come out of our nightmare performance against ManU. However the result against southend was a convincing one and wish the same result against everyteam but I am still skeptical regarding our position rating top in the table because asusual we are winning thrice and loosing twice…!!!
Vijay Anil
yeah, when bosingwa starts his runs, it usually involves 1 -2 with joey which sees a cross into a crowded box
we dont seem to look for joey in advanced positions anymore, he just drifts into a position, back to goal in front of the box
did have hopes for malouda but i accept he needs to go, our attack needs co-ordination and he does not provide that, he has become very scrappy and uninspirational, we dont need that
I dont want to see
*SCOLARI saying to the press” this is how we will play,this is our system will be” .
*jose boswinga to dribble for the 2nd time.because he beats the defender in first attempt and opens the chance to cross.but he wants to beats twice.when he does so.the defenders close the door at him .
*passing around the box 25 times before having a strike.
–
Sent on a phone using T9space.com
Still no sign of the naughty JoeBlue and is silly comments about Kalou.Joe Blue hope you are watching Kalou’s stat is exceeding that of Joey this season again.That would make it three season in a row….
Solomon Kalou very very good player:P
I must admit a good performance and result from our blues, I watched the whole match and the min we wnt 1-0 down to be honest my stomach jus turned because I don’t think I was going to handle another loss and eviction from another cup. In the end though I had the biggest smile on my face but I have to admit even when we went 2-1 up I was still scared and it wasn’t till the 3rd goal that i started to relax. Now imagine this is the state us fans are in that even if we are leading by a goal its not enough, we have to be leading by 2 goals in order for us to relax down a little. Neway a brillaint 2nd half, truly one sided and well deserved victory. Ballack’s goal was superb and this is exactly what we need from the German Captian on a more regular basis, if Ballack can pick himself up from this game and build on the momentum then I think we can certainly get a good attacking system going.
Kalou and J.Cole also had a brilliant game, I am really impressed by Kalou, he is a very intellegent player and one of the few strikers with the ability to play as a left and right winger, Joe Cole was equally impressive, his vision to set up Kalou was world class and this is the kind of performance we need from our players, their was hunger, determinination and courage present in that 2nd half and this should help boost up the team morale and hopefully we can string a row of good performances and wins from here on. Interesting points to be noticed in this match were the cry baby and the wooden leg (Drogba and Deco) were absent and frankly speaking we performed a hell of a lot better without them, good on Scolari to teach them a little lesson for their lacklusture performance as of late.
I don’t need to say anything about Anelka and Super Frank, they were awesome as usual and combining good attack formations. Di Santo is the real deal, the kid needs time on the pitch and I think it is safe to say he can be our Tevez in good time. Good control on the ball, intellegent runs, ability to exploit free spaces, and being able to handle defenders (At the last whistle, the defender he shrugged off must be 7/8 years older than him and bigger built) and that is what we need on the pitch. The boy can do wonders under the right circumstances, Overall a good response to sunday’s humiliation, well hopefully Chelsea and Scolari can learn something from this and get the season back on track.
i can’t be convinced with this changin stuff they claimed just for now. it was just league one team we defeated. our result against big one’s in first leg are awful and it can’t be considered as a improvement just yet. i believe it’s just a painkiller not a cure and we are far away from max levels right now. let’s keep hope alive & see what will happen in the next days. Remain Blue till death do us apart.
kalou shuld be starting every game as he is consistently good and young. team for stoke:
————————Cech———————
—-Bosingwa—Carvalho—Terry—A.Cole—
———————-Mikel———————–
———-Lampard———-Ballack————
–Anelka——————————Kalou—-
———————Drogba———————
and essien is back early next month!!!!!!!!!!!
den, how much of our football did you watch last season, anelka on the wing, not good, grant is gone for many reasons my friend
actually the formation that Den posted should be the starting formation with maybe malouda in for kalou, i dont care if every1 else dislikes him, he is good in his role, provides width, has good vision and is able to beat his man. If he was slightly faster he would be world class, if we get zhirkov then malouda can go to newcastle for all i care but right now he is our best left winger.
Back to the formation, because bosingwa attacks more then defends and provides width down the right, this season j.cole has been barely crossed a ball anelka is able to play much further in, basically playing as a second striker, maybe swap lampard and ballack around since ballack is better defensively then lampard so can help cover the space left by bosingwa more ably. It allows him to pove into the right channels, get service from lampard, bosingwa and drogba while drogba can recieve the crosses from bosingwa. This 433 is what was being played early season when we were winning. i think chelsea plays best with a 433 because its what the players we have are best suited for.
Quoting Jaz
I thought I was the only one to see that. It’s really quite amazing because he’s still rather young and has a few more years left to really bulk up, which would make him really deadly on the field indeed. I’m hoping he’ll get more play time because he really looks like Chelsea’s future.
Quoting asangurai
err, I was referring to Di Santo, of course
asangurai – I’m pleasantly surprised that we all have noticed a small piece of action that too even though it happened right at the final whistle. Di Santo is the real deal. As I said in the blog, I waiting to see him start and play all 90 mins.
No blog entry is complete without the customary pop at Anelka eh.
Good performance by our players.The game was only played in their half.Our set piece defending is woeful,we do not keep anybody on the far post and we pay for it the 3rd time.Anyways it was only just Southend a League One team.I hope we get 8/9 wins in the next 10 matches that BC mentioned in the article.That would put the season back on track,but still the PL favourites are Man Utd and the problem this time is that we play all our remaining big matches away and we do not play Man Utd at home like last season,so it is going to be really tough to win the league.
I am pinning my hopes on the FA cup and the Champions League but in these tournaments you only have to be good on one day,so anything could happen.
And by the way Franco Di Santo could have had his 1st Chelsea goal when he was one-on-one with the keeper but the linesman called it offside when it was’nt.
BLUE TILL I DIE.
INJURY AGAIN! According to reports Joe cole season ended with knee injury,now are we going to buy?
36 | CFCIR
Seems to be like that
( hope it won’t be that serious, I can’t imagine fighting till the end without him…
For now, the best option for me is this:
Cech – Bosingwa, Carvalho, Terry, A Cole – Kalou, Ballack, Mikel, Lamps – Drogs, Anelka.
At least this opens space for KALOU – who deserves like nobody else. Moreover, it is versatile – in case 4-4-2 does not work, let Kalou go up front and play 4-3-3 or even 4-5-1 with Nic on the opposite flank (OK, he is better as a striker, but this is emergency, isn’t it?) If this does not work, bring in Ferreira (or Ivanovic) for Nic or Drogs (depends on their performance) and let Ashley play left winger. This is obviously emergency as well, till Malouda is OK.
As I look at our team, we still have options – just need a good game to get confidence! And Stoke could be a good team for this – last week they showed all they can do, forcing Liverpool to a draw with a 100% concentration performance. If Scolari is able to read their game, now it is the chance for us! C’MON BLUES!!!
so.. has anyone seen the news about tevez?? me likey!
tevez and fabiano line up together in chelsea next season maybe?
tevez and fabiano line up together in chelsea next season maybe? .
my dream team
————cech————
bos—-terry—-carv–acole
—————mikel————-
ribery–essien–lamps–g.barry
————-benzema———
ballack, fereira, alex, drogba, malouda, mineiro, belleti, out…i think we of a center back, one or two in the center, a winger that can bribling and a quickly attacker…
Quoting bluefan #1
This is really good news . Tevez has shown he can play well in EPL for both West Ham and Man U . I thought he scored the most critical goals last year. Will he join chelsea is the real question..
Chelsea midfielder Joe Cole could be out of action for two months after hobbling out of Wednesday’s FA Cup clash with Southend United with a knee injury.
The 26-year-old was forced off the field after his leg bent awkwardly during the Blues’ 4-1 victory in their third-round replay at Roots Hall, and there is a strong suspicion of ligament damage.
If scans scheduled for later today confirm those fears, Cole could be sidelined for up to eight weeks – and that could prove a huge blow for the London giants.
The former West Ham United star would miss the crunch trip to Liverpool on February 1, as well as both legs of the Champions League last 16 tie with Juventus on February 25 and March 10.
Furthermore, he would be ruled out of England’s glamour friendly with the European Champions, Spain, which takes place in Sevilla on February 11.
In the meantime, Cole will definitely sit out Stoke City’s visit to Stamford Bridge this weekend.
essien will be back in bout 3 weeks..so cole out and essien fit again..even though it might take him a good 3-4 games minimum to get match fitness etc…but im guessing no one would mind having him back even just in glimpses…
Hey guys, Im reading about the possible J.Cole injury…thats sad, one dribbling midfielder lost for Scolari..sigh..lets hope Kalou can bring in some magic.
Anyone knows if Essien will be fit enough for the game against Liverpool ? I certainly hope he is !
My Dream Team:
===cech====
=bos=terry=ivanovic=a.cole=
==Ribery=essien=mikel=Lampard==
==Kalou==DI Santo==Aguero==
lol
Why did J Cole and Kalou not side-switch ?
Why does Chelsea have nearly no goals from set-pieces anymore ?
Why is play so predictable ?
Why is there no guile or trickery ?
Why no men at the posts ?
Why is the ball not crossed by A Cole ?
Why are there no more layoffs for Lamps to smash in ?
Why is Sinclair loaned out when a left winger is needed ?
Why does Alex look overweight ?
Why does Cech not get a rest ?
Why was Steve Clark let go ?
Why are we not playing European style nor Brazilian style or fancy pansy or solid boring style but a hodge podge ?
Why is LFS not wearing suit and tie ?
Why ….. etc
Why is there no money in kitty for new players ( Ahem .. don’t mean Kaka , would just clog up the midfield more )?
Why is there no tempo change ?
Why are challenges to the ball getting soft ?
Why was the real reason Robben was sold ?
Why is Deco not left out more regularly ?
Why is the line-up mostly the same (and not a core of players withe rest used depending on the situation) ?
Why is there no trumpeting in the media that we want this player (that to raise the prices that other clubs have to pay for new players, a strategy used forever in the past against us ) ?
Why is Malouda absent as of late ?
Why do have no super-subs that other teams dread ?
Why do we not have a up-and-coming-frequently-touted-by the press- as-the-next-Zidane-or-Messi- and is-so-much-man-marked- that- he- opens- up- acres- for- the- rest- of- the- team YOUNG player
hey guys!
Kalou has always added something when every he plays!! Scolari is just fcuking him(kalou) up, by putting Deco in his position!! rememeber kalou was a key player in Grants team!!
I say give Kalou more chances… even try him in his natural role as a striker!!
Im not convinced by our performance.. we played too slow and predictable… when ever scolari beats the other big 3 .. each of them once…. ill start to take notice!!
Quoting JoseHoliday
damn good questions!!! but i dont think scolari knows the answer himself!!!….
I wonder if he thinks he can use bosingwa… A.Cole, Cech… just to name a few!! to play all games!!.. thats why the players are getting restive!! you just watch, it will get worst!! he has a International team mentality, he is basically telling the rest of players that they wont make the team!! thus no effort will be put out by the payers(gringe and upcoming)! this will lead to the down fall of chelsea!!
you cant have a team like chelsea!! and not rotate for less important games!! you cant have the same players… playing week in week out they are not machines!!! they will get tired.. this is one of the big reasons why scolari will never be ready for chelsea!!! and i cant rate him!
scolari said this:
“‘I have Malouda for tomorrow and I don’t know how long he will play, 45, 60, because he starts again. I have Kalou and young players, and this is the time I put young players in the squad, Miroslav Stoch and [Gael] Kakuta
‘If I have the opportunity to put them on the pitch I will. This is one thing the people don’t see until now, I put many Academy players in the group – it is a time for the young players to show me they need more opportunities.’
Im very excited about Stoch and Kakuta, and I hope Kalou plays the 90 mins!!…. I however dont think both stoch and Kakuta will get games! unfortunately
Why is LFS not wearing suit and tie ?… because he is a coach .. he says it many times
Why no men at the posts ? scolari does not like that method… stupid old man … he should demand that two players mark the post.. and the rest watch and read where the ball is and head it out before the attacker gets to it!!
Why is the ball not crossed by A Cole ?…. I noticed too… and I dint know maybe not confident it will meet anelka’s head
I noticed that the RB does not cross much anymore either
Quoting denver
I’m very excited about Stoch. From the reserves games, it seems the play typically revolves around him. He’s a little small (5’6 I think) but with the role he plays I’m hoping we can use him as a winger instead of his natural position as an attacking mid.
It’s about high time Scolari gave them some play. I’m just hoping it’s more than the last 10 minutes of every game…