Chelsea FC Official thread

Bertrand's first cross of the game = almost score.

Easily Chelsea's best crosser and he can't even get a game.

Should start next week then that will probably be it. Unless we get a few injuries in defence.

Looked like Sturridge spent more time falling over the ball than actually doing anything useful with it.

Torres was atrocious today, probably worst Ive seen him.

Chelsea are rumoured to be interested in Capello. Would make sense with the Capello and Terry issue, wouldn't it?

iSamuel wrote:Chelsea are rumoured to be interested in Capello. Would make sense with the Capello and Terry issue, wouldn't it?

Call me crazy, I still have faith in AVB.

iSamuel wrote:Chelsea are rumoured to be interested in Capello. Would make sense with the Capello and Terry issue, wouldn't it?

If he was to get sacked now, then the only manager who I would until the end of the season would be Hiddink.

You NEED to stick with AVB, Chelsea's problem is the fact you change managers nearly every season, how can you build squad harmony and high morale if you have another managers team?

Nightmare wrote:You NEED to stick with AVB, Chelsea's problem is the fact you change managers nearly every season, how can you build squad harmony and high morale if you have another managers team?

Exactly, but we need a big overhaul of the squad.

Nightmare wrote:You NEED to stick with AVB, Chelsea's problem is the fact you change managers nearly every season, how can you build squad harmony and high morale if you have another managers team?

This is a massive massive myth, look at Chelsea in recent years

2004 - Sacked their manager, won the League the following two seasons and won a Cup double the season after that
2007 - Sacked their manager near the start of the season, reached the CL and Carling Final and took the League to the last day
2008 - Sacked their manager, were quite poor the following season
2009 - Sacked their manager mid season, appointed Guus Hiddink, won the FA Cup, should have reached the CL Final again
2009 - Guus Hiddink quit, they brought a new manager in, he won the Double in his first season

This is the most successful period in their history.

It's not a good thing though that your manager will be under so much pressure and uncertainty about his job if he doesn't win the CL...

Nightmare wrote:You NEED to stick with AVB, Chelsea's problem is the fact you change managers nearly every season, how can you build squad harmony and high morale if you have another managers team?

Amazing moment, was listening to some music, and Hodgson was rocking his head EXACTLY in time with it. Brilliant stuff

Paulinho wrote:

Nightmare wrote:You NEED to stick with AVB, Chelsea's problem is the fact you change managers nearly every season, how can you build squad harmony and high morale if you have another managers team?

Amazing moment, was listening to some music, and Hodgson was rocking his head EXACTLY in time with it. Brilliant stuff

That's pretty much all he is good for.

ResurrectionRooney wrote:

Nightmare wrote:You NEED to stick with AVB, Chelsea's problem is the fact you change managers nearly every season, how can you build squad harmony and high morale if you have another managers team?

This is a massive massive myth, look at Chelsea in recent years

2004 - Sacked their manager, won the League the following two seasons and won a Cup double the season after that
2007 - Sacked their manager near the start of the season, reached the CL and Carling Final and took the League to the last day
2008 - Sacked their manager, were quite poor the following season
2009 - Sacked their manager mid season, appointed Guus Hiddink, won the FA Cup, should have reached the CL Final again
2009 - Guus Hiddink quit, they brought a new manager in, he won the Double in his first season

This is the most successful period in their history.

But that's not related to the fact we sack our manager every year.

Sean wrote:

ResurrectionRooney wrote:

This is a massive massive myth, look at Chelsea in recent years

2004 - Sacked their manager, won the League the following two seasons and won a Cup double the season after that
2007 - Sacked their manager near the start of the season, reached the CL and Carling Final and took the League to the last day
2008 - Sacked their manager, were quite poor the following season
2009 - Sacked their manager mid season, appointed Guus Hiddink, won the FA Cup, should have reached the CL Final again
2009 - Guus Hiddink quit, they brought a new manager in, he won the Double in his first season

This is the most successful period in their history.

But that's not related to the fact we sack our manager every year.

How do you know? I think it must foster great unity between the players.

Nightmare wrote:

Paulinho wrote:

Amazing moment, was listening to some music, and Hodgson was rocking his head EXACTLY in time with it. Brilliant stuff

That's pretty much all he is good for.

100% Agree.

Also Abramovich cannot only blame AVB for your toils this season. If Chelsea had not bought Torres, there would be no pressure on AVB to play a fucking shit striker up front, and Sturridge would probably have scored twice as many goals as he has by this stage of the season because he'd be playing in his preferred position, and is a good player. Even if Drogballs had gotten more games you guys must feel that your fortunes would have been better

Sean wrote:

ResurrectionRooney wrote:

This is a massive massive myth, look at Chelsea in recent years

2004 - Sacked their manager, won the League the following two seasons and won a Cup double the season after that
2007 - Sacked their manager near the start of the season, reached the CL and Carling Final and took the League to the last day
2008 - Sacked their manager, were quite poor the following season
2009 - Sacked their manager mid season, appointed Guus Hiddink, won the FA Cup, should have reached the CL Final again
2009 - Guus Hiddink quit, they brought a new manager in, he won the Double in his first season

This is the most successful period in their history.

But that's not related to the fact we sack our manager every year.

It's hard to disagree with those facts. What is more worrying is that AVB hasn't exactly gotten the best out of the squad. This might be related to his age. Even as professionals it's blatantly obvious how fickle footballers can be..

Paulinho wrote:

Nightmare wrote:

That's pretty much all he is good for.

100% Agree.

Also Abramovich cannot only blame AVB for your toils this season. If Chelsea had not bought Torres, there would be no pressure on AVB to play a fucking shit striker up front, and Sturridge would probably have scored twice as many goals as he has by this stage of the season because he'd be playing in his preferred position, and is a good player. Even if Drogballs had gotten more games you guys must feel that your fortunes would have been better

If we had not brought Torres then Ancelotti still might be in charge.

Also

'Mata Drogba Sturridge' is better than having 'Mata Sturridge Kalou'

If there was no Torres, how unlikely is it that Hazard would be in the picture?

I guess it's good you bought Torres, because if by some chance a pig flies, we will get Hazard

I think we would have gone in for Aguero if we had never brought Torres.

Paulinho wrote:If there was no Torres, how unlikely is it that Hazard would be in the picture?

I guess it's good you bought Torres, because if by some chance a pig flies, we will get Hazard

I dont understand?

If we hadn't bought Torres, then the likelihood of Mata joining would have been much smaller.

Sean wrote:

Paulinho wrote:If there was no Torres, how unlikely is it that Hazard would be in the picture?

I guess it's good you bought Torres, because if by some chance a pig flies, we will get Hazard

I dont understand?

You would probably have bought him by now, even as reluctant as he was to leave Lille, Chelsea would have been able to make an offer they couldn't refuse.

Mata Drogba Hazard.

Eat your heart out lol

We could still get Hazard if we finish 4th.

Paulinho wrote:

Sean wrote:

I dont understand?

You would probably have bought him by now, even as reluctant as he was to leave Lille, Chelsea would have been able to make an offer they couldn't refuse.

Mata Drogba Hazard.

Eat your heart out lol

Oh, nah I think it would have been the same, I think having Torres makes the need for Hazard even greater, hopefully we get him this Summer.

Sean wrote:Torres was atrocious today, probably worst Ive seen him.

Not really his fault, barely any service and when he did stay in the box like everyone has been mentioning he didn't do much cause there was fuck all he could feed off. At least when he's on the wing and drifting all over the place he's actually creating shit.

He might as well not play striker, there's just no point. Even Drogba has struggled so it's clearly the service that's the problem, he had one good game v Valencia and that was cause they had a high line (if I remember correctly).

So I've finally found a forum worthy of a proper footy discussion.

Back on topic, the thing about sticking with a manager is to make sure you keep the right person to do the job. Unfortunately for us, it looks AVB isn't quite the right man for the job, and it's not a kneejerk reaction either:
- He continuously picks players who don't justify their place in the first team. Some perfect examples are Bosingwa, Malouda and more recently (and sadly) Ashley Cole.
It puzzles me how he hasn't noticed our current best defensive lineup consists of Ivanovic at RB, Luiz/Cahill partering JT at CB. The problem would only lie in choosing a leftback; Bosingwa seems to perform better on the left somehow while Ash hasn't been close to his standards. Bertrand would be a gamble even though he's shown great skill and he of all our youngsters deserves a chance.

- Some of his subs are just mind boggling and make you wonder if what he really aims for is scraping a draw or clutching for a single goal lead.

- His way of dealing with the press. Lately he's looking more like Dogleash than anyone else, and that is worrying.

I'd like to add that not everything about him is bad. He does have the bollocks to drop players no other manager has been able to, even though I think it's a bit confusing when he still picks the aforementioned players who clearly are either past their best or just not bothered.
He also seems to be controlling our transfers or at least to some degree, our January transfer activity can prove this. Panic signings are just not the way to go and it finally looks like we've learnt from our mistakes.

I'm not sure how much longer AVB will be with us, I'm thinking if we lose against Napoli then he'll most definitely be out. Consistency is key for our future, but we need to make the right choice. You could give Avram Grant ten years here and we'd most likely be a mid-table team if not worse.
At the end of the day, Villas-Boas was a gamble and we took it. It could have gone either way, and sadly it looks like it's going down the wrong way.

Just my two cents... Oh, and Capello for Chelsea? No, thanks.

Gianfranzo Zola's Interview.

Gianfranco Zola admits his "heart is split" before his two former clubs Chelsea and Napoli play in the Champions League next week.

The Italy striker, nicknamed Magic Box, learned his tricks playing alongside Diego Maradona at the San Paolo Stadium.

Then after a spell at Parma, Zola was voted Chelsea's greatest ever player after lighting up the Premier League for seven years until 1993.

Napoli knocked Manchester City out in the group stages but their form has since suffered and they won for the first time in a month at home to Chievo on Monday night.

Chelsea have also dropped out of the top four in the Premier League and Zola, now 45, said: ""It is a hard game for me - my heart is split between these two teams. May the best team win.

"Napoli have had highs and lows but that happens to everyone in the first season in the Champions League.

"Also for me at Chelsea it was like this. European games are so emotional - all the emotional energy burns you up.

"At Chelsea it is different. They have changed coaches and he has brought new ideas and players. It is a transition year at Stamford Bridge."

The former West Ham boss makes Milan the favourites to go through in the other Anglo-Italian tie against Arsenal.

"The Rossoneri are held together with sticking plasters, but I see them as slight favourites," he said. "Arsenal are dangerous in attack but they are vulnerable at the back."

Zola, who has not worked since leaving Upton Park in 2010, has been repeatedly linked with a return to Stamford Bridge in a management role.

In the last fortnight, he has visited training at Barcelona and Pescara to gain tips from Pep Guardiola and Zdenek Zeman.

"I am awaiting the right opportunity," he said. "But I am not sitting around doing nothing. I want to learn and challenge myself.

"For now I am enjoying myself playing golf and relaxing a lot. But the beautiful game still really attracts me.

"Let's speak again in the summer."

Our youth team managed to defeat West Ham last night on penalties, after the match ended 3-3 in the youth cup.

Also,

Andre Villas-Boas is unlikely to succeed at Chelsea while his players are still in contact with ex-Blues boss Jose Mourinho, says Porto's president.
"He needs time to mould his team," said Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa, who employed Mourinho and Villas-Boas at Porto.
"He can't do that as long as there are players, as I've heard, who exchange text messages with Mourinho."
Villas-Boas reportedly rowed with some senior players on Sunday following the previous day's lame defeat at Everton.
The 34-year-old described the 2-0 defeat at Goodison Park - Chelsea's fifth in the top flight this season - as "one of our worst displays - if not the worst" .
It is reported that Sunday's heated exchange took place in front of Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich.

Cech, Ivanovic, Cahill, Luiz, Bertrand, Ramires, Mikel, Meireles, Sturridge, Torres, Mata.

Bertrand and Ramires.

Hilario, Bosingwa, Essien, Lampard, Malouda, Kalou, Drogba.