Chelsea Banter Archive August 19 2012

19 Aug 2012 23:30:04
I just watched the highlights of the game. Obviously it doesn't show everything but we looked dangerous on the attack, and now we plenty of different options in attack.

I've seen some people on here slate Torres for not scoring in one game...one game people, get a grip! He will score goals he came with in inches today and scored last week against city. He will score.

PR!

While I agree with you PR and say Torres shouldn't get slaughtered for not scoring today, he had a chance and did well to get it off his feet and almost scored plus he seems to have his confidence back.

I do have to say however, that perhaps the problem and question for most fans this season isn't "if Torres would score", but rather, "how many goals would he score"? Can he score 25-30 goals come the end of the season?! Big teams (like us) looking to compete on all fronts need their striker to be hitting the back of the net week in week out. I'm all in for EL Nino and trust he can be the main man............ But we need back-up, you can never be too sure!

ELI

19 Aug 2012 22:22:41
What's up with you people... Give Torres service the one chane he had one on one it got cleared of the line... There is no point kicking it long his not drogba but confidence is everything and he will prove his price tag....remember Barcelona ???

19 Aug 2012 21:08:45
Mikel had a GOOD game today, did his job better than any of you fools, that keep slating him.

I agree. I think people are far too harsh on Mikel. For people who actually do watch him closely he DOES pass forward more and more under Rdm, but his job isn't a pretty one. He sits in front of the back four and plays simple passes to the more creative players. He is a Chelsea player. Support him!

In the top games that really matter one chance may be the difference.If you watch the highlights again and see the Kone chance at the end of the game he just stood and let him run off and have pretty much a free header which should have ended in the back of the net. Fortunately Kone missed but in a tight game it could be all the difference. He just switches off at times which could cost us.I think if we have all our players he will be on the bench. The system looks like 2 in front of the back 4 and Rami and Lampard should be the 2

A GOOD game? A guess a good game is not scoring an own goal or directly gifting one. Mikel's position defensivly is very important, except for long balls and most wing crosses, the play is in front of him. Yet i don't recall him taking the ball away 1v1(maybe twice the entire match), blocking passes, or even using his size to head away crosses. Yer most of the time he is infront of the oposing player but doesn't take him on, just keeps backing up until a shot or cross. He had a couple fouls running on to player with their backs turned. Go watch the game again, he is just a guy sitting in space.

People saying Mikel did his job, a decent holding mid wouldn't have let Wigan get in behind lamps and Mikel and dominate them. He did nothing of the kind to do his job. He made few tackles and passed 2 yards side ways to lampard after he held the ball for 10 seconds allowing Wigan to fall back and shut our play makers out. Go watch the whole game again persons.

He makes mistakes (more than one) and considering the area of the pitch he operates this is not something he can make a habit of.
When Mikel plays well he is decent, strong on the ball, strong in the tackle, but his touch is not great and he sometimes plays loose passes which means he can make mistakes if he is pressured, which happens.

Remember Kone's header at the front post, mikel was marking him, didnt look like mikel knew that as he just stood still, he gets caught on the ball all the time, cant tackle without fouling someone, and completely slows down any attack chelsea look to break with, im sorry to whoever thinks hes good but hes just not good enough for chelsea.

If u look at kone's chance the whole team was asleep.

19 Aug 2012 19:53:17
Really why mikel is playing...he only knows how to pass the ball back...he never look forward if the had enough of space in front of him...he is really playing bad but still we are not playing romeu or some other bench players who may play a better role if given the chance like Bertand(spelling) really love to see some youngster in this stage if they got their confidence from these games they will continue to do better...they need more games...mikel is not fitting to the team...we still can't hold the ball in the midfield...this thing must be seen by RDM...if we don't or can't play the passing football it will be difficult because we don't have drogba now whom we can give the long ariel pass...we need to be more careful...hope for the best...!! chelsea for life

Mikel is awful why is he in the team come on rdm get shut of him now. blueboy

I think you need to calm down and maybe have a beer?

Mikel is either related to Abramovich or he has photos of Bruce Buck wearing a Liverpool FC bikini.

Why else would so many decent managers start him?

SurreyBlue

People disagreeing are as deluded as liverpool fans. look at other teams and ther defensive mids, mikel wouldnt make the top 100. so why is he good enough to play for us? weve got 2 other dm who are better ffs. BLUEBOY1

Couldn't agree more, Mikel is so bad it's shameful. It's not that he passes negatively so much. It's the fact he can't tackle ( kind of important in that position) he shows no fight or desire to go & win the ball & generally wanders around aimlessly. I don't see why we don't play luiz there. Think makelele. He had a great understanding with Terry/ carvalho. He didn't do anything expansive he was just the general who gave us security at the back & allowed more creative players to express themselves. Luiz would have that with terry /cahill. This would also allow the midfield to get up & support the front line. The gap between Torres & midfield is way too big. I don't like knocking long balls up to him but everytime we did the closest player was 40 yards away. With a proper holding mid we could also go & close the ball down further up the pitch

19 Aug 2012 19:27:21
I watched our match today with keen interest, and Tores was not in d game, so tired.any posibility of any striker coming in dis week?
weldone gud work.
Ak

19 Aug 2012 19:16:36
i am a liverpool fan but just a little post on how bad the game of football has become. already, fans of clubs have got there managers under pressure, us with rodgers, mark hughes, chris houghton, avb. im a season ticket holder who has been to the 4 corners of the earth following liverpool and i enjoyed every minute of it, but now the game has changed for the worst so much. to many fans now havent got a clue about football its a social event for alot of people . every club has got alot of good knowledgable fans and you find most are working class people, not all but most. but football now has virtually been took away from us. most fans up and down the country cannot afford to go the game now and as for taking our kids to its just impossible, so more and more the working class man is being squeezed out the game. so in a few years time it will be 80percent corparate or as roy keane said the prawn sandwich brigade. i no by speaking to alot of fans and workmates that they are coming to the end of there love for the game. we work 50 sometimes 60 hours a week really struggle to keep are heads above water, like most in the country. i live by the ground and struggle payin my morgtage but if rooney and van persie put one weeks wages together they could buy are whole side of the street ! fottballers now are so far from the fans its ridiculous, i dont blame them for the wages they get cos anyone in there right mind would work for as much money as they could get. but clubs need to do something before it really is to late and the working man and his kids walk away from the game. sent this post to most clubs sites and would be grateful for peoples thoughts, thanks.

You are only moaning about the game because your team are crap, we all know football is now all about money but it is still the best game in the world. cfcforever.

No mate ,i get it i think you have to be a certain age to understand it.We cannot go back it was a working class game followed from areas such as the one i was brought up in.Sadly those days are gone.I suspect i have more in common with you a "scouser" than many of my fellow chelsea fans on this site.,

Battersea Boy

Typical Liverpool fan, '4 corners of the earth' doesn't even now the world is round, now that's living in the past.

^^^ I'm the real CFCFOREVER! Mate.

19 Aug 2012 18:44:53
wow i love how many of you are getting on lampards back and blaming him for torres's goal drought

last time i checked theres 11 players on the pitch not 2

your complaining that he passed sideways in the last 10 minutes well not being funny how often does a team all out attack 2-0 up with 10 mins left

so much negativity for a comfortable win, 3 points and clean sheet

if you want to be so negative then go support liverpool there going to be doing that alot this year :D

curt

It is to some extent true.Lampard's style is compatible with the style of a big striker such as Drogba who hold the ball and often lays it off for Lamps to score.His playing style is just not compatible with fast strikers such as Rooney (for England),Anelka(Ballack was the chief creator when he scored his 19 goals),Sheva,Torres etc.He is more of a goal scoring midfielder rather than a creative one.
roan

You make a fair point roan i just think people need to cut him some slack since hes been a rock for like 10 ears now

if we get a rock of a denfensive mid like makelele was then he cud play a bit further up where a centre mid should be and wont need to track back as much

curt

The last 10 minutes him and mikel was the last 85!

19 Aug 2012 18:09:35
For me it was the same old story today.. after spendin all that money we still lacked that spark in midfield. Super frank is not a deep lying midfielder and mikel has absolutely no bearing on the game like a player in that position should. If i were torres id be unbelievably frustrated. The ball is passed back just as much as it is passed foward. Say what you like about mereiles but at least he plays it forward and isnt facing his own goal for most of the game like mikel is. I wouldnt be surprised if torres wanted to leave because a player of his ability is never going to shine unless he is given the right supply of ball.

irishblue

Chill mate, we won the game, got 3 points, a clean sheet and to be honest it is just the first game of the season. I do agree with some of your points though and I'm confident in a months time we wouldn't just be winning the games but playing better as well.

ELI

Got to disagree with this. Although i do not think Mikel is the right player for us, i do believe there were encouraging signs today. Hazard was exciting and productive (when he wasn't being hacked to the floor). Oscar looked very good and i believe him and Mata will be key to us retaining possession and creating chances and space for Torres and Hazard.
It was the first game of the season, Oscar played his first game at the club, Hazard was making his debut in the prem and Bertrand was playing out of position, it was never going to be brilliant, but we won and that is what is important at the moment.

19 Aug 2012 17:39:39
Here's my analysis for the game :

Cech : Solid game, not much to do in terms of saves

A.Cole : Solid game, good workrate however had some poor decision making,luckily didn't really cost us

Ivanovic : Solid in defence, took the goal very well but shows that pace isn't one of his better attributes

Luiz : Good performance overall, was reckless in a couple of challenges and gave away a couple of needless freekicks. Looked like he's back to his serious self unlike his performances in pre season

Terry : Solid rock at the back, but i worry about his pace, might be his last season as a regular starter

Mikel : was his usual self, too slow, too many passes back to defence, can't control the tempo of the game.

Bertrand : Impressed me again this game, he's really matured, great potential for us in the future

Mata : Good game, was all over the pitch for us. Combined very well with hazard, it's as though they have been playing together for quite some time. However did miss several opportunities to deliver through passes when Torres made his runs

Hazard : Good league debut, impressed with his overall pitch awareness, can spot teammates all across the pitch, has confidence to take on his opponent and as I stated before, great link up play with Mata

Lampard : Apart from the penalty goal he had little contribution, i'm sorry to say that he needs to be starting from the bench. He is a typical goal scorer from midfield not a natural passer of the ball. Had several opportunities to deliver a killer pass but passed sideways instead

Torres : I don't know whether he's ill or he has some other personal issues, but it looked like he didn't want to play. I love the bloke but today he just looked lazy, there was a couple of times he could of tried for it but the effort was just not there

Oscar : Looked great, great vision, pressed really well, and surprised me when he went for every ball, never held back. i think he's trying to prove that he is tough enough for the epl

All in all a good overall performance from the lads, was quite disappointed that we took our foot off the gas when we were 2-0 up, could've scored quite a few more.
Also there was one thing that frustrated me, we passed back to cech tooooooo many times, and cech would just kick the ball upfield. we should be building our attacks from the back more often, we don't have a target man anymore so start changing the way we play please RDM sir.

This is the lineup i would want to see

Cech

Iva Luiz Terry/Cahill A.Cole

Romeu Ramires

Hazard Oscar Mata

Torres

Thoughts fellas?

aL

Wouldn't mind seeing Romeu given chance in DM or see how Essein performs this year,

Lamps natural goalscorer but not a passer hmmmm when did you first start watching chelsea?

curt

Im just saying curt that he's more of a scorer than a passer,that's his mentality,he sees a scoring opportunity better than he sees a passing opportunity, and since when are you the expert on all things chelsea?and you wonder why so many people can't stand you?
Chill mate

aL

Look at how many assists hes got at chelsea you dont know what your talking about you see him put in a defense mid position which isnt him and your all over him

as for people not standing me im not really bothered mate because i dont know any of you personally and the majority of them are unamed tools

curt

Such a good post until the line up

Stat for you curt 32.5% of lamps assists over 9 years is from rebounds from his shots. 29% of goals is from the spot.

Original post - Lamps had a great game

JMJW

19 Aug 2012 17:16:34
I just feel we are 2 players short of something special! Need a world class striker desperately! And a midfield general! Someone with energy


KevinCFC

YAYA WOULD BE AWESOME

19 Aug 2012 17:11:48
Whooaa! What's going on with all the negativity? We cruised through that game other than the last five minutes when we got a bit nervy. We've got a game wednesday and another one saturday, there was no need to waste all our energy in a game we had complete control of after ten minutes. For me that was an encouraging performance. Up The Blues!

LF07

19 Aug 2012 17:03:36
2-0 can't ask for much more. A clean sheet, 2 goals and good performance all round. Yes there was a couple of stray passes from frank and mikel but I think that's what RDM has settled on (two of lampard,mikel and ramires). Very impressed with Ryan Bertrand, I think he's deffinetly going to replace ash in england team. LFC and spuds beaten,arsenal draw and we win what more can we ask for. The problem is we have been spoilt over the last ten years with wins/trophys, but what we have to realise is we are now in a transitional period which is going to take time. With the possibility of three more players to come in,we should be ok but all in all great to start off with a win off a team that takes points off the big teams at home.

NWBLUE

A good performance alround?

19 Aug 2012 16:02:26
will Chelsea purchase another striker before the transfer window shuts and what number will he wear {Ed002's Note - Yes and I have no idea about numbers players wear.}

Y the hell does the number matter?!

19 Aug 2012 16:00:50
Everyone doubting Moses on here before todays game i think would now agree he'd be a good addition?

He has definitely continued where he left off last season and i still hope we get him. He was class against us last season home and away and was class again today. something different that we don't have (someone who goes forward) get the deal done Roman

19 Aug 2012 16:00:07
Ed do you know if Marin will be fit for Wednesdays game against Reading and is the game live on sky {Ed002's Note - It is too early to tell if he will be fit. Try the TV listings.}

19 Aug 2012 15:50:15
Torres once again a spectator, he is so lazy im suprised he just don't lay on the pitch and go to sleep. RDM needs to drop the bloody defensive formations, 2 holding midfielders are you kidding me? Why in the hell did we just sign Hazard, Marin and Oscar playing that formation and poor/sloppy negative football. How long does it take City/UTD/Arsenal/Newcastle to get from defense to attack? Chelsea are still caught up in playing slow boring cautious build up football. Torres is no good on his own up front, when we play against better opposition we will get punished playing like that.

Yeah, blame Torres for the poor overall performance.Did you watch the game, he made several runs that were not found or seen by our midfielders.The chances he got were mostly created by himself and one was cleared off the line.Just blame Torres for the bad performance of others.
roan

He is a loan striker Roan and our team depends on his goals more than any other player on that field. If he isnt getting passed to its because he is marked by 2-3 players. He only did 2 things yesterday, the chance where he was stumbling and had a goal cleared off the line which was his best point and he should have had a pen for a clear pen. Other than that he lost the ball far too easy and made no effort to win it back. His body language was as if he just could no be bothered. When he made the odd run he was always offside. We cant rely on him and the only other striker we have is Sturridge and he aint all that good either. Better get a quality stiker signed, drop the negative football and start to have some belief again and some drive to go out and really have a go at teams. The 2nd half was so poor I was so annoyed, we could have won by 5+ goals easy but they just got sloppy and that is not the right way to go about it.

19 Aug 2012 15:35:32
Not to sure about all the risky passes around are on box today that Di Matteo has got us playing but all in all a decent performance! Glad to see hazard and Oscar fitting in straight away.

Wasn't to keen on Moses but he looked pretty decent for them today and would be a massive improvement on Kalou.

Nick88ftl

I thought Moses looked impressive, it took him a while to get into the game but all in all he looks a good prospect and he's got a better end product than kalou

Trueblue012

Not too keen on Moses after but after that performance you are? He's been putting in those kind of performances for a while now hence the interest from us, so so fickle!

Hazard looked great and if we weren't so insistent on playing triangles in our back 4 for the majority of the game and focused on giving the ball to Hazard, Mata and Torres we'd have ran out 4/5/6-0 winners. but it's bad when your keeper has more touches than your striker!

Good result and a great start to the match but we stopped playing after 7 minutes, that'll have to change

No one could have called 2-0 after 7 minutes. It's a long old season and I thought we were comfortably in third gear for the rest of the match, Shame Torres didn't get off the mark but he was close. Can't wait to see more of Oscar he looks a thoroughbred. Hazard was exciting too, seems able to step up to the premier league with ease. The more we run at defences the more space Torres will get, and thus chances.
Mikel didn't lose the ball once that I remember, simple passes for the most part, maybe the odd touch too many, but did his job. Back four were more or less untroubled.
Hopefully we can raise our performance as needed against better opposition, preferably before March this season...just saying

Comeonyoublues

One of the few people actually talking some sense

Trueblue012

19 Aug 2012 15:31:36
Quite disapointed with the teams possession and players passing the ball backwards all the time... Oh well Eden Hazard got man of the match :). Next game i would like to see Oscar, Hazard and Mata play together but i doubt that will happen :( MKBLUE

Think marin is better than sitting on the bench

19 Aug 2012 15:26:07
well im happy with the result yes we should of carried on the attack when we went 2-0 up but i still see it as a nice comfortable win with a clean sheet something we didnt manage all pre season a good positive i think

the whole team played well (apart from mikel he had 1 or 2 good moments) what can i say about hazard apart from i got it wrong a few days ago when i said he would take a while to settle in he showed that wasnt true today well played

oscar looked handy when he come on too

lampard shoudnt sit so deep in my opinion but he can still play

wigans best player is most probably going to be a chelsea player in the next week

torres looked good when he had the chance too and was unlucky too have that shot cleared

now i wasnt up for the idea of sideshow bob being a defensive mid but in all honesty i think he would be better there and then cahill at centre back we could make sideshow into our own xabi alonso but it probably wont happen

would love all your thoughts on the games today

did you see it ed whats your opinion?

curt {Ed018's Note - I'm happy we got the 3 points. It was a bit sloppy and we sat back to much.}

Spot on ed. we really need to move the ball out of defence in to midfield and form midfield a lot quicker way way too slow. Gives time for the other team to get back and defend us. Mata looks tired. Mikel needs to be changed. BLUEBOY1

That was the only frustrating part of the match we done a typical chelsea scored 2 goals and thought yep game over and just sit back

curt

19 Aug 2012 14:24:35
I'm sorry but Mikel and Lampard in the middle just aren't up to it, just in this first 45 minutes they've given the ball away too many times. Just to say I'm not ungrateful for the performance so far I'm just concerned at the sloppy nature of our midfield distribution.

Can't argue with the result, but with the exception of Hazard, & Oscar looking bright. What a sloppy & lazy performance. We have nothing in the middle of the park. Mikell has to be one of the worst footballers I've ever seen. Can't tackle can't pass no pace. shocking lack of effort from 90% of the team

Hu ever disagreed obviously don't see how long it takes for the ront four to get the ball because of our poor midfield.

19 Aug 2012 14:20:53
We go two nil up and should look to kick on but we can't even keep the ball against Wigan. We pass it about in defence and to cech, get closed down and then knock it long. We should play to the strengths of our players. U can see Torres is frustrated again because he's not getting any of the ball. I don't rate bertrand as a left sided attacking player. He doesnt do anything.

Ads

I totally agree mate, RDM is just Too defensive minded for my liking really. I don't want to act un grateful or like I'm not impressed, but we have the players to dazzle the prem. But he persists with this defensive game which does not suit our new players more so against a side like Wigan. Anyway good 3 points and also a lot of positives.

P.S. Hazard is gonna be a legend so also the little I saw of Oscar he was brilliant.

ELI

19 Aug 2012 14:13:55
Any one else concerned about our lack of fire power, really hope we resovle this matter. Would be more cincerened if I was a spurs fan though. Haha will be lucky to finish top 6

Wishful thinking

Trueblue012

19 Aug 2012 14:05:37
Ed in your oppinion as the window winds down and we get more desperate in all honesty for a striker do you see a possibility with Chelsea given in and slightly overpaying for the likes of Cavani, Hulk, Falcao or simply settling for slightly lower rated strikers such as Lorente, Jovetic etc...

thanks {Ed002's Note - Nobody is desparate.}

19 Aug 2012 12:52:38
Just seen the line up today. Please tell me Ramires is injured and that's why he's not playing.

Why is RDM obsessed with playing lampard and mikel? I can see it being another slow performance from us today as a result of them 2 playing.

Ads {Ed018's Note - He is ill}

Lampards not the major problem there mikel is

curt

After seeing this starting lineup Ed I am ill!!!

19 Aug 2012 12:37:04
Team v Wigan: Cech; Ivanovic, David Luiz, Terry (c), Cole; Lampard, Mikel; Hazard, Mata, Bertrand; Torres.
Not liking this at all.

19 Aug 2012 12:05:34
ED02 what other striker may we be interested in? {Ed002's Note - I have explained repeatedly where the interest is. This is hopeless with your repeated dumb questions asking me to validate the nonsense you read on Twitter.}

19 Aug 2012 10:35:47
Brendon Rodgers take a bow.... True blue. Melbourne CFC

19 Aug 2012 08:48:45
Loserpool fans are a disgrace ,no wonder everybody wants them to lose. Their fans are downright delusional.I am saying this as I am shocked by some of the comments they are passing on Joe Cole.They were actually insulting him because he got injured and had to come off as soon as he came on to the pitch.They think that Joe was a useless player and has a useless career.Well,I have got one fact for them that he has won 3 league title where as their beloved Gerrad has won 0 league titles.Why the hell, did Joe ever go there !A player of his ability and class just wasted two years and does not deserve the treatment he is getting from these Loserpool fans.
roan

These fans are deluded, every season they think they are gonna be world beaters, they lost 3-0 yesterday in the mid table clash with west brom and could have lost by 6.
get real loserpoo, youre average and will never be a top 4 team again

Must be loserpool he was awesome for us awesome for lille but poor for loserpool must be the club

curt

So awesome for you that he left? so awesome for Lille that they wouldn't stump up the money to buy him? get a grip curt

Puzzled {Ed002's Note - He left Chelsea because of financial demands. After some pretty serious inhuries it was always going to be a long road back so moving on was the best option. His wages were the issue for Lille.}

I have to say the scousers are the most deluded bunch of supporters in England, they are unbelievably pathetic, its gonna be really fun watching them crunble. He's there, he's here, he's every where Joey cole, top man and doesn't deserve Liverpool .

Can't wait to face them this season, Torresssssss....

P.S. Carragher looked really good on the floor, good job by Lukaku :D

ELI

Im just stating facts puzzled every player that leaves liverpool goes onto better things

xabi alonso is a prime example was good at liverpool now at madrid he is immense and probably the best defensive midfielder/deep lying playmaker in the world

curt {Ed002's Note - Poulsen, El Zhar, Degen .... }

The list is never ending ed :D

curt

Those liverpool fans are the worst in england, most deluled fans ever joe cole should try and get away from that shower asap he would be better playin for someone like fulham than the scousers, cole 3 prem medals gerrard none enough said. cfcfoever.

Ed002 - it would appear that curt thought you were agreeing with him

Puzzled {Ed002's Note - I noted he missed the point - or he has a better sense of humour than we realised.}

Ed002 there is always that possibility but i think that it is so remote we can discount it. Unless you and I are at cross purposes and we are each talking of a different curt

Puzzled

19 Aug 2012 02:21:32
Does Piazon playing for the U21s mean he wont be on the bench tomorrow? thanks

19 Aug 2012 00:04:06
"He comes from Stamford Bridge, hes bigger than a Fridge. Lukaku, woah Lukaku"
Sung by West Brom fans today

That's a nice one :D