The Chelsea F.C. Thread IV

I honestly think that Real Madrid are better than Bayern Munich. Maybe not defensively, but everywhere else. Have Bayern got central/attacking midfield options like Isco/Ozi/,Khedir/,Xabi Aloso/ Luca Modric? It's not even close in central midfield. The only team with as good a midfield is Barcelona IMO. Attacking wise , Real have Ronaldo, ADM and Benzema. While BM have Robben, Ribery, Shaqiri, Thiago and Mandzukic. Arguably Bayern have more depth here, but I'd take Real Madrid's first choice.

Agree with everything else.
But i think that real have a better attack than bayern.
Central midfield is very close though. Remember schweinsteigger, martinez, thiago, gustavo, muller, kroos and gotze all play in central midfield/central attacking midfield. I'd say that real are certainly stronger on the wings and up front.

Anyway we will be ready for them when we face them again. Want to see how illaramendi does for them. I think a month will help us, if we start well we'll be ready for bayern. But I don't want to see lampard in the match starting. I guess if he was fully match fit we'd have a better/fairer reflection of his ability though.

Still really impressed by Van Ginkel. Just 20 as well.

I still worry about our defence though. Cahill again doing the same things he's done before, Terry this game was a bit anonymous tbh which I was a bit surprised about and I can't really see him starting a lot of games, Luiz can be good, but he has far too many brain farts. Ivanovic is very good but I think he will be deployed as a RB this season. Maybe should get another CB...

Agreed about Lampard. I still think he can start games against weaker teams but against these teams he should be brought on as an impact sub.

Also agree about the team needing a bit of time because they're not as used to playing with each other.

Lamaprd is too slow, but i think ramires touch and basic control isn't good enough.

I was also thinking last night, we do need another CB alongside a striker, Cahill still doesn't impress me and i feel Luiz is best deployed in the midfield, in a 4-2-3-1 with van ginkel the other holding.

I feel like Real did a great job of roaming when on the attack; I don't think I saw Benzema on his own in the penalty box more than once.
I'm worried about Mata because Chelsea quickly rose to dispel any rumours when Luiz had a tight hamstring so i'm wondering now what is happening?


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Mourinho said he's not getting rid of anyone else, plus anyway where would mata go?
I don't see him as a PSG type player. None of the italian clubs can afford him, he'll be warming barca's bench and the isco signing makes a madrid transfer next to impossible.

Although if we could get a swap for mesut ozil I wouldn't be too averse, I think ozil's better tbh but he can't play 90 mins for some odd reason.

Yeah, you can't help but get worried though..
Ozil was always a favourite player of mine even at Bremen. He's the ideal playmaker as he's so creative on the ball; Ronaldo and Benzema must love playing ahead of him.


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Ozil's my favourite AM, along with kroos and iniesta. I don't know they're just great to watch. Damn madrid are a good team. Kinda happy we got schooled now, it sort of leaves a benchmark as to where we are atm. Can't wait until the CL starts though.

Managed to watch the highlights and when the reception was off during the first 10 minutes, Hazard missed a one-on-one which was when we were on top at the start of the second half. We had like 2-3 opportunities to equalise while it was at 2-1 and then madrid took their first good one.

The scoreline probably did reflect the game although we should've scored at least one more goal but it's only pre-season

Dare I say this, but I think Ozil and Mata are on a similar level. They both set up a similar amount of goals, although Ozil's ball control is tighter, while Mata is more of a goal threat IMO

I agree tbh. I like ozil over mata though but they're on the same level.

Lamaprd is too slow, but i think ramires touch and basic control isn't good enough.

I was also thinking last night, we do need another CB alongside a striker, Cahill still doesn't impress me and i feel Luiz is best deployed in the midfield, in a 4-2-3-1 with van ginkel the other holding.

I agree about Ramires. We can't play against top teams with Ramires in an advanced attacking position. He can't hold onto the ball. He's probably best alongside Van Ginkel to break up play but MVG can do that by himself. I think a midfield trio of Oscar, MVG and Luiz would work best. Plus I am 100% sure if Mata was fully fit he would have played against Madrid and improved our creativity. We couldn't really cope with Madrid's runs on the flanks but when we did have the ball, Lampard and Ramires aren't good enough to link up play with the attackers because Lamps is too slow and mainly looks for his own opportunities while Ramires has a poor first touch. he's good if we're breaking from corners because of the runs he makes.

I've been trying to convince myself i like ramires, but it's just not going to happen. Yeah think mata and luiz would have helped out massively in that respect, we were craving a playmaker in the no.10 role. I still think we could do with a striker and maybe a CB if a quality one comes at a reasonable price.

Do you think Brana shouldn't play right back at stay at CB? To me he doesn't have the pace, and ramires and brana on that right side were left the door completely open to marcelo. Whereas i feel our left side with cole and oscar, was much more secure.

Do you think KDB could partner MVG in CDM? as i don't think he has the pace to play RAM? But he does finish very well!

Would you play Luiz/KDB or Ramires alongside MVG in a big game?

I've been trying to convince myself i like ramires, but it's just not going to happen. Yeah think mata and luiz would have helped out massively in that respect, we were craving a playmaker in the no.10 role. I still think we could do with a striker and maybe a CB if a quality one comes at a reasonable price.

Do you think Brana shouldn't play right back at stay at CB? To me he doesn't have the pace, and ramires and brana on that right side were left the door completely open to marcelo. Whereas i feel our left side with cole and oscar, was much more secure.

Do you think KDB could partner MVG in CDM? as i don't think he has the pace to play RAM? But he does finish very well!

Would you play Luiz/KDB or Ramires alongside MVG in a big game?

Agree really. I think Luiz will work will in midfield but we'll desperately need a CB. A good one too. This Doria kid is meant to be really highly rated in in Brazil -- hope if we do sign him the risk will pay off (like Marquinhos).

Not sure who else to get.

Ivanovic is a bit slow as a right back but he isn't ridiculously slow. Sometimes as a centre back, he looks a little dopey and I think Cahill, Terry and Luiz are more aware of danger. We should probably play Azpilicueta there as he's quick and against Madrid he would've pushed Marcelo back and stopped him coming forward at pace and will.

I wouldn't put KDB as defensive midfield. He doesn't really tackle, and he's much better at least as a CM. De Bruyne is more of an AM. He's got quite good ball control and quick feet, has a good pass on him and is at least faster than Mata, plus he takes awesome set pieces. I mean he could possibly be a deep-lying playmaker but I don't think that he has the long pass accuracy to play that role. I reckon next year our team will come closer to its peak

I'd love to see Rooney come. I think he's the type of player that would put us up there. He played as United's main striker in 09/10 and 11/12 and he scored 25+ league goals each time. Plus, with our supply line, we have enough to even get him to score loads. Plus, his passing is great and he works really hard defensively, which can't be said of all our attackers