The Curious Case Of Frank Lampard!
Frank Lampard is a Chelsea legend. He is and will be in the Chelsea hall of fame. He has made some incredible achievements in his 10 seasons at Chelsea which would be hard to beat for any player – 164 consecutive premier league appearances, more than 100 goals, three times Chelsea player of the year, runner-up to the world player of the year award, second in the all-time premier league assists – he’s had an illustrious career and we’ve been a big beneficiary of the same.
I like him very much. I think of him as a model professional. Trains hard, plays hard, makes no excuses, delivers consistently, acts with class and grace – he’s a top professional in this football world where 18-year olds talking and behaving like they’ve won the world cup thrice and as many ballon d’ors.
Basically, I’ve tried to established three things here: (a) We, Chelsea fans and Chelsea FC, owe a lot to Frank Lampard (b) He’s a great bloke, class footballer (c) I love this Lampard. Just wanted to get these things out of the way because obviously this piece is meant to be a critique of the effectiveness and contribution of Frank Lampard these days.
I remember writing a post in August 2007 titled ‘Frank Lampard – How good is he nowadays?’. That was four years back. Lampard was 28 years old then. Jose Mourinho was our manager then who was picking Lampard to start match after match. The question was the same. Excerpt from that article of about 4 years back is below:
If he is not in form, why do we have to play him, especially when you have multiple options for his central midfielder role. Mikel, Diarra or Makelele can be used and given the current set-up they would return the same output that Frank returns. When Ballack returns from injury, only Lampard’s merit, and not anything else, should find his name on the teamsheet. Jose did say that he does not pick the team but the players (and their performance) picks themselves. If this is truly the case, either Lamps should improve or see himself on the bench. And ye, if he has an injury, then what’s he doing on the pitch? He should stay away from playing and aggravating his injury.
What hurts is not his lack of goals or assists but only his loss of possession and that too in very crucial areas that would normally have the opposition cut through you. Someone playing in the midfield role should be lot more wary and careful of what damage they can do to their team. With two in-form wingers and in-form strikers, do we need an attack-minded midfielder or a neutral minded one?
For sure, Jose seems to be thinking the former way and that’s why you still see Frank on the pitch and that too as the captain. If I were Jose, I’d rest (not drop, mind you!) Lampard for a few games and let Essien and Mikel marshal the midfield. But Jose can’t whip him like to does to Mikel. We certainly have to respect a player of Lampard’s calibre and also for his contribution to our achievements. At no cost, Lampard should feel ill-treated for a short loss of form, as he knows he was in top form for successive seasons and he has certainly built up loads of goodwill to his advantage.
In short, rest him for awhile and let someone else play but he’s still a very important player and he is part of the core of our team because he is one of those players who has it ‘in the blood’!
After the above, he returned to form and produced some brilliant performances and even won the Chelsea player of the year award in 2009. By criticising or questioning his performances, neither is he being disrespected or nor is he being written off. Frank should and would come back to form but what’s not acceptable is keeping someone beyond any sort of criticism. Even Terry has been subject to a lot of flak for various reasons including footballing ones. Whereas Lampard has been almost untouchable – both from a selection point of view as well as from a criticism point of view.
I think we’re at a stage where we no longer have the luxury of not talking about this. There are some very important questions that needs to be answered. The way I see it, below are the statements or questions to be considered on the Lampard situation.
Frank Lampard is not in form
Let’s not beat around the bush. He’s not in form. And he’s not been in form for some time now. Different people have different measuring scales for players being in form. For a central midfielder, in my view, what matters is the influence he exerts on our team and our play. Of late, Frank’s influence has been waning. As a key midfielder, he needs to operate as the fulcrum of the team as he has before. Right now, he is mostly invisibile, leave alone influential.
His contribution to the team has been dwindling
Franks’s goals have dried up and so are his assists. If my memory serves me right, he lost his venomous long shot from 06-07 season itself where Essien had to play in defence during our injury crisis in defence. He no longer scores from distance. His free kicks have become very poor that each time we get a free kick I’m hoping with Drogba or Alex takes it. His corners don’t go past the first defender half the time and if they do they’re not threatening. He’s not tackling as much as he used to. Overall, his hard contributions have come down.
He holds too important a position to be not contributing enough
Lampard’s role is so crucial to our playing style. When we’re on the ball, most probably Mikel wouldn’t get involved so much which means Lampard and the other midfielder need to organise the attacks. We can’t afford to have someone at his position/role stay out of form for too long. All those matches where we think we didn’t create enough opportunities, watch out for Frank’s movements and passes.
Are we getting value for the speculated salary of £151k a week?
How many top players can you get at £151k a week? Doesn’t it work out to roughly £8m a year for one player just in the form of wages? That’s a lot of money even for Roman Abramovich. Are we getting performances worth £151k a year? This might sound like a very cold question but trust me at some point these questions will be asked by the club too.
He should be treated with respect and grace
Without doubt. Like I said, he’s a club legend. He needs to be treated with respect. He can’t be told in the morning that he’s not playing in the afternoon. There’s a way to treat legends and he should be dealt with in the same way. We should do it in such a way that undermines his contribution to the club and its successes.
A short break or a rest from starting would definitely rejuvenate him
It’s a simple but effective solution. Anyone who’s going through a rough patch will be benefitted by watching the game from the bench, unless it’s an issue of confidence. For Frank, in my opinion, it’s neither ability nor confidence, it’s just that he’s going through a rough patch just to prove that the law of averages does catch up even on the most consistent performers.
He need not be a constant starter
At 33, Frank should be not be surprised if he’s told that he would be a squad player going forward. That pretty much means that he’s not guaranteed to start every game. He shouldn’t be surprised if he’s not chosen for a game. He should be comfortable to come in as a sub. He should try to contribute to the team whenever he’s given an opportunity.
The one big question is – “Is Frank Lampard so indispensible to the playing eleven that he needs to start every single match?”
Sir Alex has his way of deal with big personalities at Man Utd. We know what he did with legends like Keane, Cantona, Beckham, Nistelrooy etc. Pep Guardiola did it to Eto. Jose Mourinho did it at Inter to Stankovic and Ibrahmovic. When Jose came to Real Madrid, he told Raul and Guti in clear terms that they are not in his first team plans and let them leave. Raul for Madrid is much bigger than Lampard for Chelsea. Probably, Lampard is in the same situation as Raul was, in 2010 August.
The responsibility of dealing with this situation is not with Frank Lampard though. It’s firmly with Andre Villas Boas. The important
thing here is Andre Villas Boas is not as big a personality as a Fergie or a Jose or a Pep. He doesn’t have the pedigree as that of those managers to take a big decision in his early days over a fans-favourite and a club hero.
We know that Boas has made some very impressive moves in his first couple of months. He’s taking Chelsea FC in the right direction. I’m extremely excited about Chelsea’s prospects under Boas. One of the key steps in building the Chelsea FC squad for the future is to find a workable solution for the senior players. Players like Frank Lampard are not only the crowd-pullers and the shirt-sellers but also the talismen and symbol of this club. We need their guidance and experience but we don’t play millions just for that. We need performances on the pitch too. Therefore, it’s not going to be an easy job for Boas to resolve this situation.
I know what Boas needs to do. He needs to tell Frank Lampard that he might be a squad player going forward and would be used not as frequently as before. Frank needs to stay motivated and continue to train like nothing’s changed and support and guide the players that are competing for his place. I don’t quite know how Boas would do it. That’s his job. I’m fully confident that he’s very competent and he would deal with this situation very very well. That said, all this is not going to happen in the next few days. It might take weeks. One more midfield signing would almost force the situation.
I don’t mean to be disrespectful. This is not a shameless show of ingratitude. I like Lampard myself. I still have and wear the No.8 jersey. He’s still my screensaver on my macbook. He’s on my lock screen on my iPad and iPhone. I love to play as Frank Lampard in PES. He’s my most favourite Chelsea player. I want Frank to do well, but when he’s not, particularly for long periods, I want that situation to be dealt with.
Now, I’d like to know what’s your take on this topic:
Chelsea 3-1 Norwich | Lukaku Matata!
What a day! The scoreline doesn’t tell you the whole story. This turned out to be a difficult match. Norwich at home – how can this be a difficult match? But it was. Too many nervy moments. After Norwich equalised, our suspect defence and goalkeeping meant, the game’s not going to over until we score the third goal. And thankfully, we did score that thrid goal – get in, Juan Mata!
Last season, I had written a lot about the mentality of the team that went through the ‘bad moments’ and the need to bring in people who didn’t go through that phase so there’s a new thought, approach and mindset. That’s what we saw with Juan Mata and Lukaku. Both debutants played only for 20 mins but they brought such freshness to our play. And honestly, they even made the rest look better.
Seven points from the first three games of the season is a good return. Nine would have been better but honestly the way we are playing, we could be sitting at three or five points. Results-wise, decent start to the league. Performance-wise, we definitely need to improve. But I must say, having seen Mata and Lukaku, and with Romeu and Josh still to be used, we’re still after a couple of players – I fell quite confident about Chelsea’s immediate and long term future.
Juan Mata: What a cameo! Everytime the little man got the ball, he made a telling impact. He did something useful with the possession. You could see that Norwich didn’t know how to dispossess him. He was slipping through all the time. The cross that he delivered for Torres, the ball that he slipped for Lampard to cross, the ball to Anelka that led to the penalty, his constant skinning of the Norwich right back and finally the goal. He’s hard to mark, hard to track, he’s electric, skilful and hungry. He’s the real deal.
Romelu Lukaku: Played only for 20 minutes but he impressed me for certain reasons. One, he ran into the right spaces and channels. Two. he was asking for the ball to be played to him all the time. We didn’t give the ball to him everytime he was asking though. In a well-oiled team, you don’t need your striker to indicate that he wants the ball. It should happen seamlessly. We’ll get there.
Early goal: Is this Bosingwa v2? Boas comes with the reputation of getting the best out of his players, helping them fulfil their potential and on the pitch, making them more expressive. Is this the first instance of his style working at Chelsea. Bosingwa’s early goal was a cracker. It was poor defending from Norwich to leave someone like Bosingwa with so much space and time to launch that rocket. Bosingwa has scored a few scorchers like that and Norwich should have been smarter in closing him down. Anyway, it was a great strike. What this meant was that we could play a little more freely than usual. In the last couple of games, the first halves were a drab – boring, uninventive and uninspirational. At least, for me, the first half was watchable and that was because we had a goal under our belt.
Hilario’s saves: Suddenly, our defence has become so suspect that you kind of sense a goal everytime the opponents get the ball. It’s not meant to be that way. Our defence has started allowing too many chances too easily even for the weaker oppositions. In all this, Hilario did make some very important saves. Made some decent saves and overall he was quite focussed and held the ball to safety.
Ramires’ run: His run that earned the penalty was brilliant. I’ve always complained that our counterattacks lack pace and we take too much time that allows the opposition to get back into positions. Ramires has shown time and again what a fantastic runner with the ball he is. We need to use Ramires, not out of chance but out of choice in such counterattack circumstances, because he’s got the pace. I could see Ramires getting involved in more such counterattack opportunities.
Drogba’s injury: Didier will be discharged from the hospital, the official website says. Hope he will be fine soon. I feared for the worst when I saw his fall in slo-mo replays. I, just for a moment, imagined me falling flat like that from 6 feet, bloody scary. Always sickening to see a player, yours or not, being stretchered away with oxygen masks. Like I said, the man’s a warrior, he’ll be back.
Goal conceded: See I don’t expect Hilario to perform like Cech. Petr Cech is Petr Cech for a reason. When we have Hilario replacing Cech, there’s bound to be a drop in quality. And that also means the odd mistake here and there. The goal that we conceded was totally unwarranted. Hilario need not have come for the ball. The defence could have shouted at him to stay back. There could have been better understanding and communication between our goalie and the defenders. We’ve had such issues even with Cech on goal. With Hilario, we should have been a bit more aware.
Logic behind substitutions: Why is this becoming a tradition? Why can’t Torres play all 90 minutes? Drogba and Anelka will not be
in Chelsea’s plans, Torres would be. We need to give more opportunities to our most expensive striker. I’m sure Torres wants to play all 90 mins. He would want to run against tired defences. When Mata came in, he started finding Torres. They could have clicked. Torres got a fantastic cross delivered from Mata which he connected well (somewhat similar to the goal he scored against Chelsea couple of seasons back). We might have finally found someone who can feed Torres but they played together only for 10 minutes.
Boas needs to rotate his players in midfield to accomodate the subs. It can’t always be Torres. I don’t see the logic in our midfield getting 270 minutes among them every single match, esp when we are leading or comfortable. Merely chopping and changing the frontline won’t always help. The root is in the midfield and that’s where we need changes. That’s where substitutions need to happen.
Midfield trio of Ramires-Mikel-Lampard: This trio doesn’t help us much. They are very good players in their own right but as a group, they don’t dictate the game. As a group, they don’t control the game. In fact, there’s hardly a mini-game among themselves as you might expect to see in midfield combinations. Our midfield is very static and is not creating opportunities for the forwards under normal circumstances.
Lampard: In Jan 2011, I wrote a post ‘Should Michael Essien be benched?‘. I wrote that after a lot of thought because I’m a big fan of Essien. But there was a time when it simply wasn’t working out and he had to be benched for the good of the team. Now, the question is again on the table, for another player that I love to bits. Frank Lampard is my model professional. He’s my favourite Chelsea footballer. He’s a club hero and legend. All these don’t make this question disappear – ‘Should Frank Lampard be benched?’.
Juan Mata. For his contribution in the last 30 minutes. He brought in some fresh energy and ideas into the team. He played that ball to Anelka, who in turn fed Ramires for the penalty. He scored that goal from the right with a lovely finish. More than anything, there’s some new found confidence with Mata on the pitch. Enough reasons to call him the man of the match on his premier league debut for Chelsea.
Much improved performance especially after the new boys came in. We looked better as a team when Mata and Lukaku were playing. They were moving all the time and wanting the ball. I think they made our other players look good even in that short period.
Let’s remember one thing. The fact that we played impressively in the last 20 minutes is not all down to the new boys. Norwich were playing with 10 men and a substitute goalkeeper for 20 minutes. That also was one important reason why we were able to impose ourselves well. I don’t want to take anything away from the win or the late surge in performance, I’m only trying to put things in perspective. 11 Chelsea men against 10 Norwich men in Stamford Bridge in the last 20 minutes, there’s only one winner.
I was disappointed not to see Romeu in action. As regards Josh, it’s a routine that I’ve got used to now. He’ll be on the bench. He won’t
play much. After a year, we will ship him off to Hamburg and buy a 19-year old from Spain. I’ve kind of resigned to that possibility. At least, let’s see Romeu. At least for this purpose, I want Chelsea to go 4-0 up at half time, so Boas doesn’t need to sub his forwards like he does now. By the way, Franco di Santo (who was 19 when he joined us) scored a brilliant brace against QPR this weekend. If you haven’t seen those goals, do it now! I was super-excited when we signed him in 2008. Young Argentine with a typical latin american game, had intelligent movement and skill. We didn’t give him enough first team chances and we sent him off. I’m only saying that these young players should not be judged until they are given as much as chances as Kalou has got. I’m still surprised at the endless patience we seemed to have for Kalou while we are very demanding when it came/comes to other young players. Good thing though Boas is learning from his choices. Kalou wasn’t even on the bench.
Talking about new faces, from nowhere, Chelsea FC have signed a 20-year old striker from Chivas – Ulises Davila. Nobody had a sniff. Good job there! The boy’s regarded as a top talent – dribbler, poacher, finisher all rolled into one. Chivas have produced some real gems in the past. Hoping Ulises is their best yet.
Until recently we were buying established players in the late 20s and early 30s and youngsters in their teens. You could now see the shift happening where we are keen to sign players in and around the 20 years mark. This shows also the shift from our youth coaching abilities to youth scouting abilities. Anyway, the future looks bright and blue!
Chelsea vs Norwich | 27-Aug-11 @ 15:00 UK
Juan Mata is our new No.10. Only after Yossi ‘offered’ him the number. You have two ways of looking at this. One is the obvious way: Yossi is on his way out. The other is, Yossi is really a nice guy to give away the no.10 shirt. He might say that it’s just a number and he doesn’t care but tell me who wouldn’t want to wear the no.10 shirt in any team?
What does this signify? Is the no.10 shirt given to Mata because he likes it or is also going to play the famous no.10 role? He’s known to be a left sided player and in particular a winger who could push Malouda down the pecking order right from this weekend. But he can also play on the right or even play behind the striker or play what’s known as the no.10 role.
Even if Mata is to play the no.10 role that need not mean that Modric deal is off. Because Modric does not play the no.10. He plays the proper Xavi role – orchestrator from the centre midfield. I’d be very keen to use Mata in the wings rather than in the centre. We have decent options for the centre (irrespective of how much we use them) and only on the wings we are a bit toothless.
In my opinion, Mata’s arrival should not bother Malouda so much. It’s Kalou and Anelka that need to worry. Malouda has the capability to switch sides or interchange and so does Mata. Together Mata and Malouda can form a good partnership.
Mata is available for selection this weekend. So are Lukaku and Romeu. They are all fit and ready to play against Norwich. I want us to use them well in this match. If they’re fit, we should even start one or two. We saw Aguero coming in scoring a brace on his debut. Such is the readiness and fitness of these professionals.
My team against Norwich would be this. Terry, Alex, Ashley Cole and Ivanovic should be in defence. David Luiz can come in as a sub. Ramires, Josh and Benayoun in midfield. Mata, Malouda and Torres in attack. Lukaku and Romeu can come in as subs.
See Norwich may not park the bus but honestly they should be happy to leave the Bridge with a point. They might start brightly and if it ends 0-0 at half time, they might be tempted to end with the same score without taking too many risks. On the other hand, we need to take risks. We need play those killer passes and the clever chips. We need break down their defence and score.
Some might say that Ramires, Josh and Benayoun is a light midfield. I’d say let them play and see what happens. If I’m right, our midfield will be more lively and we will control the game much better than usual. After all, this is the best trio of ball players in midfield I can come up with, until I see Romeu. I’ve heard Romeu is a technically sound and skilful defensive midfielder who could challenge Ramires and Mikel for their places.
Another great weekend of football. Some good Chelsea performance and three points. Arsenal getting annihilated by Man Utd. La liga strike is over (Serie A’s has started though). Villareal (I like them) looks to upset Barca. Madrid to open the league season at Zaragosa. Spurs vs City. Sevilla vs Malaga. How am I going to watch all these matches?
I almost forgot. We’ve got a decent draw in the champions league. We should be confident of a relatively easy progress. One more top signing, I would feel much better about the champions league campaign. That’s it for now. See you at BC Shout tomorrow!
Chelsea 2-1 West Brom | Still shaky . . .
Congratulations to Andre Villas Boas on his first premier league win! I’m sure this will be memorable only for the result and certainly not for the performance. We laboured to win against a weak opposition in the first game at Stamford Bridge this season. Not quite good enough but at least the monkey’s off the back. A draw or a defeat might have put tremendous pressure on Andre. Good for him that he’s got a win under his belt now.
Meanwhile, Liverpool beat Arsenal at the Emigrants 2-0. I must say that Liverpool played much better against Arsenal at Emigrants than Chelsea against West Brom at Stamford Bridge. Of course, Arsenal at home would play a very open game and that creates numerous opportunities for you. But then I didn’t think West Brom parked the bus. That would be very disrespectful. They attacked us when they were on the ball and they defended when they were off the ball. Basically, Liverpool were more in control of the game than Chelsea was. To stay in control, you don’t need to score goals neither do you have to create chances. It’s just being confident and assured on and off the ball. We weren’t.
I think Andre Villas Boas looks to learn the hard way. Luckily for him, we won the match. If this match had ended in a 1-1 draw, we wouldn’t have had much to complain. Let me get into the details now.
Result: The best thing about today’s match is the result. Three points. First game at Stamford Bridge – win! It’s quite important that we didn’t end up not winning two matches in what’s an easy start to our premier league season. Man utd and Man City are playing Tottenham. Liverpool are playin Arsenal. And we are playing Stoke, West Brom and Norwich. We should win. Luckily we did.
Torres: Still very lively. Was very purposeful. Got no service. But he was very involved in the game and bouncing around everywhere. Looks like he’s very keen to make amends for the last season or he’s finally fully fit or both but we are not helping him enough.
First half substitution: I loved how Andre got all impatient and removed Kalou after just 30 minutes. I just loved it. Kalou shouldn’t have started, but that’s another thing. At least, Andre wanted to see a change and he brought it immediately. I liked the urgency shown by Andre though his team didn’t show even half of what he showed.
Hilario: Did a fine job. Couldn’t have done much for the goal but he was good throughout the match. He has his style of goalkeeping which is a litte un-pro and unorthodox. He makes you think he’s fluffed it and held to it uncomfortably but don’t worry, that’s how he does. That’s probably his style. Good show all day.
Malouda: Love him or hate him, he produced the goods, consistently. He’s hated mostly because he’s selfish (one reason why he scores at least 10 every season) and he doesn’t help Torres. That’s an area of improvement. If that’s corrected, he’s a very useful player. Very well taken goal today.
Formation: Happy to see that we are sticking to the 4-3-3 formation which even Carlo noted that the Chelsea squad understand very well. This was a poor line up for this formation but anyway, at least we are sticking to a certain formation and that’s the reason why we’re after Mata (winger) and Modric (attacking midfielder for the 4-3-3).
Starting line-up: Our biggest problem was the line-up and I strongly believe that this made us play slowly, incoherently and ineffectively. This is the first home game of this premier league and you have the privilege of playing a team that averted relegation on the last day of the season. We should have fielded a much more attacking line-up and killed the game in the first half. We didn’t. I’m very eager to see Andre picking a more vibrant team for next weekend’s home match against Norwich City.
Ivanovic should have started in place of Bosingwa. Granted Bosingwa made a fine assist today but you know what, in a way he’s like Shaun Wright Phillips. Makes 100 mistakes to get one right. When he does get it right, it spectacular to watch. Isn’t it? Wasn’t SWP something like that? Bosingwa also wants to do a lot of things and fails more often than not. Way too inconsistent for my liking. Ivanovic over Bosingwa any day.
Anelka and Kalou shouldn’t have started. Drogba should have started. We shouldn’t have retained the same midfield – we should have started Yossi or Josh or both. Actually, Andre played the same team as last weekend except for one change – Anelka for Malouda.
Performance: First half performance was terrible. We hardly created anything. We didn’t even trouble West Brom. They were a goal ahead at Stamford Bridge and they were having it easy. In a way, to concede a goal so early in a home game is fine because that could spur you on to annihilate them and make them even forget that they scored a goal. We didn’t show much of a reaction. We were slow, lumbering and lacking any sort of rhythm. We hardly created anything in the first half. Second half, we got better because there’s no other option.
What kind of chemistry do you think the front line oif Kalou, Torres and Anelka has? Answer: Zilch. How much service did the midfield provide this dis-jointed front line? Same answer. Our midfield performance was simply sad. Ramires was error prone. Lampard was invisible again. Mikel had a specific defensive role. Upfront wasn’t any better. Anelka was the roaming roadie. Kalou plays like he’s just handed in a transfer request. Torres alone was jumping around.
We should consider ourselves lucky that we scored two goals.
Anelka & Kalou: This combination just doesn’t help. If we don’t have creativity to break teams down, we should at least have pace to attack and counterattack them when possible. We have neither. Both Kalou and Anelka have a tendency to slow down things. They hold up ball and wait for their team mates to arrive and then they pass. We don’t exchange passes on the run, as we move. We become too static. Honestly, I’d bring in Anelka or Kalou in the second half when we are winning and we need to slow the game down or hold the ball up and use up time or win free kicks. These two players should not start together. Kalou as a sub is very effective though.
Ramires & Mikel: Why are we playing both these players in midfield? It should be either Ramires or Mikel, especially when we have the golden trinity of Kalou-Anelka-Torres upfront. Lampard is not an organiser like a Xavi or a Modric or Gerrard. Lampard’s style is different and almost always keen to arrive at the box. This leaves a huge midfield space to be occupied and controlled. Neither Ramires nor Mikel does that. We lose the midfield battle. In our squad, right now the best options are Romeu or Josh – players who control the midfield zone, who pass and receive relentlessly to gain spatial advantage. No more Mikel + Ramires please.
Second-half substitutions: Good that Drogba came in but shouldn’t have come in at Torres’ expense. Anelka should have been taken off. Torres should have stayed on for 90 mins. Torres has every right to feel totally gutted when the midfield stayed on for all 90 mins. Ivanovic should have started in place of Bosingwa, so I was happy to see him on the pitch. Unless it was due to an injury, we wasted an important substitution on defence while we were at 1-1 at home. Yossi should have come in. Against the tired Brom legs in the second half, Yossi would have run riot.
Always a tough one in a match where we played like we did today. It might be between Hilario and Malouda. Always dependable, within the limitations of his abilities – Hilario is a very good character. Comes in and does the job. Did very well today indeed. I don’t think we missed Cech today, which is a big compliment to him. That said, the man who scored the winning goal late in the second half has to score more brownie points. For that reason, I might have to go with Malouda. You can trust Malouda for one thing – he shoots at goal, always. No half measures. And that’s why he’s rewarded with goals.
The overwhelming feeling is that of relief. We didn’t play well but we managed to win and get three points. Relieved. Lots of lessons to be learnt. Lots of mistakes to be corrected. Sadly, we didn’t learn much from the Stoke game. This game was in fact very similar to the Stoke game in terms of the proceedings. Probably, if Begovic was in goal today, we might have drawn this match too. Despite a disappointing start against Stoke, I couldn’t see a change in line-up and approach. We were still playing like we have 180 minutes.
As I said, luckily for us, we have been blessed with an easy schedule to start the season and rake up a lead. We still get to play Norwich and Sunderland before we play Man Utd. We need to take full points from the next two matches before we go to Old Trafford. And by the time we face the defending champions, we must have integrated some of our new signings and we should field a team with a diffrent dynamic.
In the last blog I had said that Boas should be willing to take risks if he wants to see the rewards. I would have to say that again. He should be more bold and brave in his approach because what matters is the result and he must do all those things that will lead us to those results. If we are to be champions, he should take some risks. I hope he’s only waiting for the new signings to arrive and then his approach could change and will have to change. Mata is not going to enjoy sitting in the bench while watching Kalou start and hoof it up to row Z.
That leads me to the topic of Mata. Reports range from ‘we are few hours away’ to ‘we have done the deal’. I feel Mata would join us this week. Also we’re reported to sign Perreira and Moutinho too. Modric deal could still happen. If Spurs want Sturridge in the deal, I’d call off the deal and let Spurs have the unhappy player for another season. But if they want Kalou and/or Anelka, I might give them a discount.
This week and the next one would be very interesting for the Chelsea fans. With Sneijder staying put at Inter, two or three quality players coming in to Stamford Bridge would put us as a strong favourites for the title. If we sign Mata, Moutinho and Modric, I’ll be ecstatic. I think we’d go to Moutinho if the Modric deal doesn’t work.
Anyway, it will be an interesting couple of weeks for the Chelsea fans. Stay tuned people. Hopefully my next post is to welcome Mata to Chelsea FC! Cheers!
Who should play against Brom this weekend?
West Brom at Stamford Bridge this weekend. Who do you want to start? Who do you want on the bench? A team like Chelsea always looks to win. Coming from a slightly disappointing draw on the opening day, the urge to win will be even more. The key question, as always, is on the starting line-up and the bench. The line-up against Stoke was the stock Chelsea line-up from last season. Some were happy, some weren’t. You know where I stand. So now, let’s pick our team for the home game against West Brom.
My choice would be exactly what I had put out for the Stoke match. Alex, Terry, Cole & Ivanovic in defence. Ramires, Josh and Lampard in midfield. Benayoun, Drogba and Torres up front.
Yes, I’m not making any changes to the line-up I posted for the Stoke game. My logic remains the same. This bunch of players will have the right mix of old guard and the new faces. This will have the right mix of tough nuts and fluid passers. At Stamford Bridge, I expect West Brom to make it very difficult for us to score and might even be looking to go home with a 0-0 draw.
So it is Alex, Terry, Cole & Ivanovic in defence, Ramires, Josh and Lampard in midfield, and Benayoun, Drogba and Torres up front.
I don’t want to play Mikel for two reasons. One, he’s going through a traumatic period. Let him focus on his family matters and resolve them. Hope it all works in his favour. Two, he is one of the players who slows down our attack. We need someone more pacy and better on the ball and with distributing. I’m counting on Ramires to do that.
I don’t want Malouda to start. His effectiveness keeps coming down by the match. He needs to be rested and used for smaller periods. I would surely bring him in as a sub. Also, I don’t want Anelka to start. He is another player who slows us down. He’s got good skill and decent ball holding abilities but he’s slow to my liking.
Drogba must start. Torres had a good match and if he’s continue that performance this weekend, we should have players that would support him. Didier always supports the fellow-striker. Plus, Didier is the best crosser in our team. I want to see a towering header from Torres off a Drogba cross. Plus, Didier is the best free kick taker too.
Benayoun and Josh should start because these are players that can provide the creative spark. Kalou can come in as a sub for the last 15 minutes. So can Malouda. Torres to play all 90 minutes. Mikel can come in depending on the situation.
So that’s my line-up. What’s yours? By the way, I’ve not given the options for goalkeepers. There’s only one Petr Cech and he plays.
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