The Chelsea F.C. Thread IV

Thank **** Madrid are going for Bale. This should hopefully lengthen the amount of time we'll have Hazard.

Would really like to see Willian and Eto'o as well. (The former esp.)

Suarez Saga
Rooney Saga
Bale Saga
I dont see any of them going through.

Thank **** Madrid are going for Bale. This should hopefully lengthen the amount of time we'll have Hazard.

Would really like to see Willian and Eto'o as well. (The former esp.)

Bale is gone already lol. He left to go talk to madrid, bale hasn't left yet but he's agreed personal terms and madrid and spurs are just sorting out the fee. Rooney was always a maybe, Moyes words were misinterpreted as he's not their main player. I did think that we'd put in a big offer for rooney that they can't refuse but it made little sense for united to sell to chelsea unless it was a big offer.

Surely Madrid getting Bale doesn't affect any future interest they'd have in Hazard? If the rumours of Ronaldo wanting to join United next year are true then there is a possibility they'd want Hazard to replace him

More likely scenario of course is that Hazard will be at Chelsea for a long time due to Mourinho and him possibly being the 'star' of the team though

We didn't sell Drogba. We even offered him a new deal. He turned it down, because he wanted to go out on a high, a new challenge (and more money) in China. He could clearly still do the business. But for the good of Torres (and in the long run the team) he had to go. It would be better to phase out all of the bigger core of the team over time.

Look at Arsenal. They lost the most important parts of their invincible's squad (Henry, Pires, Cole, Viera) within a season or two of each other. Drogba would have been good to provide experience for the other players such as Lampard, Cech and Terry are now, but in the 2011-2012 season he only scored about 5 goals aside from the CL all season.

Entirely dependant on what type of game we're playing, counter-attacking or possession. We have players for both now.
Also no one has seen what the team can do yet and there's plenty of different line-ups to try to see who clicks the best.

For me, I'm not saying it's the best, But I'd really love to see a formation such as the following.

Cech - Cole, Ivan, Luiz, Azpi - MVG (B2B), KDB/Oscar (DLP) - Schurrle, Mata/Willian, Hazard - Lukaku/Eto'o.

Hazard and Schurrle where immense on the wings tonight, and they both tracked back well. Their defensive work rate was brilliant.

Oscar and KDB have both played a deeper role, and I'm hoping one of them will be moulded there to replace lamps and to free up room upfront. Oscar would be my preferred choice as his tackling and marking has really came on.

I think Ivan and Luiz would only work if we pressed a lot, such as tonight, and the midfield could control a game. They're both attack minded and if we didn't close down as a team it would be a disaster pairing, but personally I think they're the two best CB's.

MVG is self explanatory, Good defensively and will work hard to retain the ball. Better passing than Ramires.

Not sure on how good Eto'o is still, but he looks like he still has it, just wasn't motivated at Anzi. Lukaku should progress further this season.

Think Willian has been under rated by a lot of people. Will speed up the play more than Mata, but then again Mata is Mata. The only problem with Mata is he's a bit like Ozil. Poor defensively and tires late in game. But he's still world-class until he gets fatigued.

The entire team would be dependant on the Pivot, they'd control the game but whether they'd hold up defensively I don't know.

It's really hard to come up with a best lineup for us, as there's just too much choice!

The team needs a solid spine I feel, like how City and Utd have:

Hart, Kompany, Toure, Aguero
DDG, Vidic, Carrick, RVP

Once you have this I think the rest of the team can fall in place. But for us, I'm not sure. It used to be our old guard who were the spine:

Cech, Terry, Lampard, Drogba

But who do you think would fulfil those roles now? Cech is still solid, and I guess Terry is getting back into good form under Jose. Not sure about our FWDs though, and Ramires who is meant to be our team engine is just too inconsistent.

Van Ginkel has a great future and is a better player than ramires imo.

Lampard isn't going to be able to play as many games as normal. Not if he's to be effective.

Very strong team, isn't it?

I have put Schurrle on the right wing instead of Oscar because I feel Oscar plays much better in his free role as a no.10. Additionally, Schurrle will offer more width and threat from wide areas, instead of Oscar constantly drifting in and congesting the final third of the pitch.

Mata and Oscar should be rotated for the no.10 position over the season to keep both of them fresh.

Where should KdB play whenever he gets the chance? No.10 role? RW? Or in the double pivot? He has all the qualities to play in any of those roles.

Yh it's strong, assuming Eto'o will adapt to this league. I'm pretty eager to see him play for us actually.

As for KDB, I think he looked best when he was playing as an attacking mid. He's been linking up really well with Hazard and Oscar when he's been playing there. Also I don't know where Willian will fit into all of this, as he would normally be playing in Hazard's position. Looks like we're set to be rotating like this over the season:

Schurrle/KDB - Mata/Oscar - Hazard/Willian

Couldn't have asked for more strength in depth tbh.

Musester gets banned the same day he gets unbanned.