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25 Nov 2012 22:44:42
everyone says moses was our big bargain of the season but really i think azpilicueta was.made 6/6 tackles today,more than any other player on the pitch
Yes its either Azpilicueta or Oscar, maybe even Marin when we see him play who knows yet, hope he gets some playing time soon tho.
I don't rate Moses I wanna see marin
25 Nov 2012 22:35:38
liverpool fan here in peace, for those who doubt rafa, he is a brilliant tactician and a vey good manager although his man management needs work. dont forget this man brought us magnificent wins over madrid, man u and many more. if he gets the chance to work his magic like he did with our academy that then is no mean feat. give this guy a chance, he is a decent bloke and a decent manager
huddz red
Lets not forget he often used to put Mourinhos teams to the sword
I think he is quite good too.In 3 days he managed both Hazard and Mata to defend quite well, and made our pivot play much better.
I hope so for the sake of Chelsea
Huddersfield
PB
25 Nov 2012 21:34:13
who,s off to the leeds game then .should be good crack
No chance
25 Nov 2012 21:40:17
Azpilcueta is looking an really good RB {Ed018's Note - agreed, he played well today}
Every game his played bar the juve game when he was out of position I think his been good, ivanovic is brilliant CB so hope he stays there, I think rafa will actually do well with us,. (Can't believe I said that ) mattma
25 Nov 2012 20:48:00
Thoughts on the game:
Defensively we were excellent. Held our formation well, and every player was aware of their defensive responsibilities, when we weren't on the ball. I thought Azpillicueta was probably our best player on the pitch along with Ramires. I was also extremely pleased with Mikel. While his ability to move the ball forward is still questionable, he was breaking up a lot of Citehs moves, and tackling was top notch.
Going forward we looked a little out of sync. I'm not sure this was because of Rafa making sure the trio an Torres were accountable in their defensive duties, or it was just a off night for some of the lads. I thought Hazard wasn't crisp in his play, and almost looks worried to just take men on. Something he made a name for himself in France for. Oscar was probably the best of the 3 for me, but Mata also put in a good shift. He was our creative outlet for the game. Always looking for quick one-twos to open up spaces in Citehs defence.
I never like having a dig at refs but Foy had a shocker. Not surprising he hadn't reffed one of our games, since QPR away last year. I can't imagine the Clattenburg matter has endeared us to the referees as a whole, however the way teams have been getting nothing free kicks all over the park against us, while we get nothing, certainly seems an ongoing issue.
Torres at least looked better than the last few weeks, hell, he even had a shot at goal, wasn't on target, but it was a shot. Moses needs to work on his final ball IMO, he is a quick player with heaps on ability. He can drift past players but then is wasteful from that point, although we don't generally have a lot of 'target men' in the box, going forward.
All in all, pleased with a clean sheet, disappointed with a draw. To say I hate Rafa would be an understatement, but while he is our manager I will support him. I think in two to three weeks he will having us playing a lot more balanced football, and with our attacking options I have no doubt we will start scoring for fun.
Opinions as always welcome. Hope this wasn't too long winded for the muppets that seem to be popping up on the page.
Melbourne CFC
Totally agree m8 good post as always.
PB
I thought the ref was great.
He didn't show yellow cards for every challenge, he booked balotelli for diving not like sending Torres off against united aka Clattenburg and he wasnt racist always nice to get a fair ref.
Cant believe the change in defence in one game,felt it was going to take something special for them to get a goal,ref didnt give us much as you said Melbourne.
rayzor
Very accurate post Melbourne CFC .
Personally I thought we looked solid at the back , the breakdown in our play in my opinion is in the midfield .
Bulldog Bill
His problem was he didn't show yellows hen they were obvious. Toure on Hazard early on, and Zabaleta deserves one in the first half, can't remember who he brought down.
I like refs not just pulling cards out, but when it's a professional foul, bringing a player down who is past him, running into space it should always be a yellow.
Melbourne CFC
So your happy that Torres had a shot at goal,albeit wide,not a glowing reference for a 50 million pound man eh,he helped get RDM the sack and if rafa dont get shut hell do the same for him,the guys totally lost it,2 years now of piss poor performances,get shut. {Ed018's Note -Go to your own page, worry about your side. This is Chelsea and we will stay together no matter what.}
Torres is rubbish. I can't believe what i'm seeing. Worthless. The game was horrible and i can't see any positives. No goals allowed? OK. Feeling stressed about the gameplay.
JG {Ed018's Note - we all know we need another striker to come in. The clean sheet for me was a positive}
I very well appreciate your positive thinking. But i'm so annoyed, i just can't really think straight. These problems we have right now were obvious beforehand. They were avoidable. And still the club failed to address them. Mikel and Torres are rubbish. It's obvious for so long, now. And as for striker i knowthe club is looking for one, whereas in Mikel Chelsea are offering him improved terms as they seem to appreciate him.
It's disastrous. He would be a good all around midfielder in a certain set up, in a Seria A club. But not at the pace we play. It's tiresome to continue. He looked good at the end of last season in CL, because all the team was defending. It made him look good. As there was no going forward and he is good at intercepting the ball.
I love Ramires, but he isbest when he plays wide, in my opinion. Because he'd run with the ball rather than pass. And Mikel would pass wide, rather than forward. This makes movement of the ball inadequate. Hence our attacking three will drop deep to get the ball. I mean, all of us understand that and i bet agree unanimously. Then why the hell do we not improve on these problematic areas?
JG
25 Nov 2012 20:27:02
Hey Ed , im really intrested in the guy p
Paulinho , is he a similar player to Ramires.
Paulinho or Fernandinho is a defensive mid id love to see partner Ramires in the pivot !
How about you guys !
CFC Family
The best thing is, both Ramires and Paulinho/Fernandinho can both defend and attack, which Mikel cant. This could make it alot easier against not so good teams when we Control the ball, and you could also switch to run forward and attack if the other need to get his breath back.
25 Nov 2012 20:03:10
Who would be your realistic targets for January?
I think our priority would be a striker and a defensive midfielder.
We've been linked with James rodriguez but I doubt we need him with our attacking choices.
My Choices:
Falcao (Striker) - and if Torres leaves someone like Huntelaar as second choice if we want to be a trophy winning club we need two world class strikers to rotate. Also bring back Lukaku if Sturridge leaves would start Lukaku in FA and League cup games for experience.
Khedira (DM) - plays in a 4-2-3-1 formation for Madrid not exactly first choice either and would be deadly alongside Ramires.
Khedira is a box to box midfielder like Ramires, what chelsea needs is a ball winner that will stay back allowing ramires to push on.
Fernando of Porto and Denisov of Zenit are perfect examples of this.
Think your right with Falcao and Huntelaar seen as Huntelaar is nearing the end of his contract and is cheap and they could rotate with alot of midweek games.
I rate Khedira but definitely someone like Fernando, Fernandinho or M'Vila to partner Ramires then we would have a great squad.
I've gone over it a bunch in my head but I'd rather have another midfield general than a guy that just sits deep that will do the same job mikel does. Having another general will allow us to boss games against weaker opposition while we still have mikel of we want to park it again. With that said I can't honestly say much about our midfield targets as I haven't seen them play much.
Tk
25 Nov 2012 19:24:56
Rafa is King!
Its only one match see wat he will be like at the end of feb
Rafa the gaffer
I didnt boo you today rafa and i was there, come on the blues and benitez
25 Nov 2012 18:58:58
Luiz was brilliant.The rest worked very hard.Torres cannot score out of thin air,so stop slagging him and most of the time he was alone against Komapay and Nastatic.He tried very hard so did Mata,Oscar and Hazard,but the co ordination was just off and we will definitely do better in the coming matches.
The defense looks rock solid.RDM's side lacked defensive organisation and something was just not right with the system.
While I do not like Rafa, it is clear to see what good organisation can do .Luiz was awesome as a result.So if Rafa builds on this defensive performance and gets his attackers to play together I think we will do very well this season.
So we may not like the guy but now he is working for us so I will support him and the team.There are worse guys out there like some of the media,commentators and journalists who do not like us and taking great pleasure slagging us and they would like nothing better than for us not to support our whole team.So lets stop these brainless protests and get behind the manager and the players.In the end they play for us and do their best for us all they need is our support.So lets get behind Rafa for he is a Chelsea manager and not a Liverpool manager now.I bet we will do very well this season.
roan
It was certainly a more solid performance, Luiz was more disciplined, Ivanovic and Cech both benefitted from having Luiz hold his position.
Azpilicueta looks like a proper defender, stays on his feet and does not dive in, looking like a good buy. Cole was as usual excellent in defence, a mistake to let him go.
Mikel and Ramires were solid need to work at getting more challenges in when we dont have possesion.
I feel we need a defensive mid who can distribute the ball better so Oscar, Mata and Hazard dont have to come so deep to get the ball, it leaves Torres very isolated.
Finding the best positions for the above 3 will be a challenge as they are quite similar and all like to cut inside, we lack a little width at times.
Benitez is not my first choice but we need to support him and not give the players any excuse not to perform.
He may not be a chelsea man at heart but he want success so booing him is futile.
Remember it was not Benitez who sacked RDM or any of our other managers!
Superb post Roan, absolutely pointless hearing all those boos at Benitez before he had even begun his first match in-charge. Defence already looks a lot more solid and Falcao is coming, therefore goals are too.
EH17
Really cant believe all the boos towards rafa we need to get behind him for the good of the club, rdm has gone now i know it was a shame but results just were not good enough were they so i say come on blues and rafa lets win the prem. DANCFCFOREVER.
Totally agree dan, rafa is the gaffer now come on you blues i say.
Rafa will do a good job at the bridge, fact is rdm was tactically poor we would have finished 10th or so with him in charge sorry but thets how i see it blues
25 Nov 2012 18:42:18
Today showed the team Chelsea is about to become in this 6 month period. A safety first, think before acting team that will hopefully become as formidable as they were defensively under Mourinho. Rafael Benitez will follow the trend and become a solid interim manager as shown by his predecessors but Chelsea will not challenge for the league but rather 3rd or with a phenomenal run of results and a tremendous amount of luck, 2nd.
Chelsea will not challenge for the league mainly due to two players, John Obi Mikel and Fernando Torres.
John Obi Mikel has never been good defensively (partly due to the ultimately unsuccessful 'Lucas Leiva method' that was applied.) and has relied on putting himself between players when trying to break up attacks, as shown this season his many, many attempts have usually proved futile. He is not fast or an adequate passer which leads many a question of "Why is he on the pitch". Although he has improved vastly surely at some point in the near future his place in a supposed "World-Class" team must be questioned.
Like many fans, I always believed in hope that Torres might regain the form he once had at Liverpool. Last season showed his desperation to function in the team from his tireless displays of chasing back and providing quite a few assists to compensate in what way he could for his lack of goals. This season has proven to be the opposite with Torres always looking annoyed, making no off the ball runs and when the ball is at his feet, adopting a head down running style which has frankly made himself look no better than a Championship player. Yes you may still argue he has scored a few but does he really do enough to fit into this team? I still live in hope that he realises that he is not the player he was and adopt a different style (e.g. Drogba's way of being dominant in the air, close control and the ability to play in a teammate)
Don't get your hopes up about January. The only way a big money target is coming into Chelsea is if Roman gets bored and sees a new shiny toy.
Dev
25 Nov 2012 18:28:35
ED002 is Drogba going to train with Chelsea during his time of from china? {Ed002's Note - I have no idea but I would very much doubt it.}
25 Nov 2012 18:19:59
hazard aint been that great recentlty time for marin to get his run out v fulham
We would have lost that game if jimminy cricket was still in charge !!!!
Oscar and mata were no better today. We havent even seen marin play yet
Jordan
25 Nov 2012 18:16:09
Not a bad result. That was the kind of improvement I expected to see from Raffa. We were well organised at the back. What is obvious is that we are lacking muscle in the middle and fire power up front. With teams like MC you must capitilise in the first opportunity you get. Proitos
I agree we lack strength in the midfield against better teams and we are basically playing with no striker.
25 Nov 2012 18:16:04
Been reading this site for arnd 3 yrs but never posted before.....i dnt like rafa either but we looked really good defensively.... So hoping team goes on a good run till the season end we win something rafa gets a good six months for his next job...... Manali cfc
Good post Manila. Glad you've decided to start posting, and great to see a newcomer signing his posts. Keep it up mate.
Melbourne CFC
25 Nov 2012 18:13:07
I thought defensively we looked very good today. Azpilicueta, Luiz and Ramires were all very good and disciplined. I really feel Hazard needs to get some fire under his belly, hes getting the ball to deep and hes not attacking players. You look at his Lille highlights he is constantly running at players and in most cases getting double teamed which allows space for others. If we can defend like we did and get Hazard fired up and attacking players we will have a good December. Come January hopefully we can strengthen and then anything is possible.
PB
By bringing in a defensive mid who can pass the ball acurately and quickly Hazard, Mata and Oscar will not need to come so deep to get the ball.
If they receive it higher up the pitch they will be able to take on defenders and create chances.
At the moment they are being double or trippled teamed on the half way line. {Ed018's Note - well said as this point is one of the two problems we have. The other being a forward that can score and hold the ball up}
I totally agree mate. When they drop deep not only do they have the fullbacks up their ass but also the CM's are closing them down, the one time Hazard got it quick he skinned Toure and got fouled by Zabaletta. He and Oscar are quick attacking players and to utilise them we need them receiving the ball higher up the pitch.
PB
25 Nov 2012 18:08:04
ED002 are all these stories that Roman wants 'Barcelona' style football right or is that just the media making assumptions? {Ed002's Note - These are not the sort of questions I can sensibly answer.}
25 Nov 2012 18:02:32
WOW! il take our first clean sheet in 10games all day long! luiz was superb i thought looked more solid and the whole team looked solid! not gonna go on bout torres same old crap! at last we might start to have a balance to our team! well done rafa
p.s still dnt want him there but lets get behind himkevinCFC
25 Nov 2012 18:00:04
not a bad result today. give rafa a couple more traings and we will start hammering teams. just torres out falcao in and job done
Mate thats the best post I've ever seen on this page:Rafa's style will work wonders if we get someone upfront who can make something of all those half chances and who can contest for balls
25 Nov 2012 17:52:07
Clean sheet is always good!
WindsorBlueBoy
Too right we were defensively sound which is a massive improvement! Just need to tell our strikers how to score now and jobs a good un!
Jim132
25 Nov 2012 16:53:01
So many free-kicks denied against Mata, Hazard, Oscar and Torres in the first half, if that had been man united, the ref would be falling over to give a free kick. Ah well Cesar has been sublime today and defence looks solid, all we need is some forward action to be a bit more clinical in the second half and we can win this.
EH17
Yeah i was amazed how much they were allowed to do without getting a yellow card too, iirc it was Zabaleta and Kolarov that just kicked our players down time after time and 3 times denied us counter attack and didnt get a card. And if Oscar pushed Toure a little it was a free kick.
25 Nov 2012 15:23:33
hey guys on which site do we get the team news for a match the earliest......anyone pls. {Ed018's Note - Cech, Azpilicueta, Luiz, Ivan, Cole, Mikel, Rami, Hazard, Oscar, Mata, Torres}
Why luiz!?!?! CAHILL :'(
25 Nov 2012 13:16:48
Jose Mourinho is struggling in La Liga which is virtually a two-horse ride, with a squad so full of worldclass players. Would he do better in the EPL with our squad of so many average and poor/off-form players? How many of our players can cement a place in Madrid's starting XI? Think a second and u'll appreciate this 'young team'.
Bas!cs.
25 Nov 2012 14:36:53
On current form, I'll pick Cassilas over Cech; Mercelo, Coentrao over A. Cole, Ramos, Verane, Arbeloa over any of our defenders; Alonso, Khedira, Modric over (need I say?); arguably Ronaldo, Ozil, Di Maria over our attacking trio; and definitely Higuan, Benzema over (u already know).
They are only hitting their strides now p.s they won la liga last season...
Id have any of our trio over di maria
Mata for Ozil or Modric, Rami for Alonso/Khedira, Bran for Arbeloa, Ashley for Marcelo.
25 Nov 2012 13:47:16
My choice of targets for Chelsea are Fellaini, M'Villa, Falcao and Hummels.
JG
25 Nov 2012 11:44:18
A draw against City aint a bad result, but let's go for the win as a boost of confidence. Given no change of playing staff, I don't expect some spectacular from us in this match. Our defence will let us down.
BB.
To be honest at home I'm only happy with a win. We need to catch up.
25 Nov 2012 12:55:23
Unfortunately, u'll be disappointed. So u'll begin to blame the coach as usual. Our weaknesses as a team are glaring. Squad revamping cannot be achieved in just one season. Much work will be done in the summer.
BB.
We have been saying that for the last 2 or 3 years, we will have another new manager who had had no input into the players being sold and bought and be no further forward then we are now.
Negative I know but the harsh reality of where we are.
25 Nov 2012 11:35:45
Hi ed its not a transfer question but with your knowledge of the club. Is there a split in the camp between the players. Hope you understand my question and thanks in advance for answering my strange question.
Jambo {Ed002's Note - I have no idea, sorry. Typically the players get on pretty well - as they do at most clubs.}
25 Nov 2012 10:12:16
We need Falcao and a holding playmaker in the Xabi Alonso mould who can get the ball into the 3 behind the striker quickly. I have seen a few rumours linking us to Paulinho but I haven't seen him play so I can't comment. We are 2 really good players away from destroying everybody. What do you guys think? Suggestions for the holding midfielder?
Yann M'Vila, hes available at a reasonable price and would protect our back 4 and distribute the ball. Everything we need.
PB
We don't really need any centre mids! We have mceachran debruyne and luiz could play their. We need a striker and maybe a left back that is all
25 Nov 2012 14:32:40
we need a defensive mid player too partner ramires but also a defensive mid player who cant act as a playmaker too
also can you stop going on about luiz being played there hes a centre back and is never going too be put in defensive mid
curt
25 Nov 2012 08:57:09
The Famous CFC vs City:
Cech
Azpilicueta*Ivanovic*Cahill*Cole
Ramires*Romeu
Hazard*Oscar*Mata
Torres
I really hope we go with this line up
J.
I will be very surprised if Benitez plays Mata, Hazard and Oscar.
He may play 2 of them if we are lucky.
He WIL pick Oscar and Mata no doubt, Oscar is great offensive and defensive and Mata is the best of out the three offensive.
25 Nov 2012 03:28:27
Winning Percentages Of Managers Under Roman
Claudio Ranieri 54%
José Mourinho 67%
Avram Grant 67%
Luiz Felipe Scolari 56%
Ray Wilkins 100% (Managed 1 Match Only)
Guus Hiddink 73%
Carlo Ancelotti 61%
Andre Villas-Boas 48%
Roberto Di Matteo 57.1%
Lets Hope Rafa Has A +60 Percent Success Rate
Kings XI Punjab Chelsea Brisbane Roar
24 Nov 2012 23:16:19
ED002 Can you clear something up reports say we approached Guardiola sometime in the last couple of weeks to ask if he would take over is that correct was it direct contact between Pep and Roman ? and was the answer only that he wants a longer break or that he is not interested in the job? {Ed002's Note - There is no secret that Chelsea approached Guardiola to see if he would be interested in the job at Chelsea and he confirmed that he would be taking this season as a vacation from work.}