Who should start for Chelsea?

Knee jerking? I've been saying the same thing since you've bought Oscar, Hazard etc etc. Your defence lacks quality.

The closest I've came to knee jerking on this forum is saying Torres is back - and I genuinely believe that he is.

But yeah. Knee jerking.

ADP is a goat, I'm going to going to go watch him play when he's in Melbourne. First marquee signing that's actually to the A-league. [Kewell was meh. That's coming from a MV fan.]

We were never poor in defence.

Ivanovic is a better RB than anyone who was available. Cahill and Terry are solid as long as we don't play a high line. Luiz is great when on form.

Cole is still one of the best LB's in the world.

Our midfield could use improvements but overall we are fine, United have won the EPL with an equally poor midfield.

Your defence has been poor since Carlo's days...

Luiz looked like good business but he's turned out to be a liability in defence but he's great as the "ball playing" CB.
You brought in Cahill as depth and he's turned out to be one of your better defenders.
Terry is getting older and isn't the same player anymore.

Havn't mentioned anything about Cole but even then, he's getting older too. From what I've seen from Bertrand you'll be okay. May need depth though.

United has Carrick though. Chelsea has no ball winners / defensive midifielders at their club. Mikel has proved he can't play there and is a CM.

Kick wrote:Oh good god, way to kneejerk guys,

9 points in EPL, we're not in trouble yet.

Outplayed by Wigan for 84 minutes. Looked poor.

Scraped a controversial win against relegation contenders Reading.

DESTROYED by the first above average side you've come up against.

Glaring issues with your team setup.

Kneejerk? The signs have been there since pre-season.

No Drogba miracles this season. Something has to change if Chelsea don't want a repeat of what happened tonight against the top teams in the league/CL.

Kick wrote:

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:Tbf we would be if we played 4-3-3, us and 4-4-2 is like Barca suddenly deciding to play like Stoke and expecting to be successful it just doesn't suit them.

If we persist with that formation we won't even finish top half.

We can beat anyone in the league on our day with 4-3-3, but with 4-4-2 we struggle against practically everyone.

Tbf if we had done our homework on Atleti we would not have let Falcao score and blah blah blah.

You didn't. You played anearly full strength squad and lost. As did we to today.

Everyone is just knee jerking despite the fact we made a top 10 Newcastle side look poor last week.

Point is, shoulda, coulda, woulda, but didn't. Everyone expected us to lose or sturrgle against you and we defied them. It won't be the last time this season.

I will be very surprised if we don't finish top 4.

This thread is full of idiotic knee jerkers who judge from one match.

Spurs made us look poor when we use 4-4-2 too but when we changed to 4-3-3 we completely controlled the game.

Really don't think you understand the difference lol.

4-3-3 = top 6 4-4-2 = 12th or lower.

Also no one's knee jerking, Gil asked what the best team would be and gave my response.

The only reason i got involved again is when you was bragging about 3 wins from 3.

2 against relegation candidates and one against us and we are crap with 4-4-2 u did'nt make us look crap we are always crap with 4-4-2 a lot worse teams than u will make us look crap with that system because we are no better than Norwich with that system.

I wouldn't say you were that brilliant anyway, goals aside i don't remember Krul doing anything.

Also people expected you to struggled against the 4-3-3 Newcastle the two are totally different.

I'm not making excuses it's just a fact we won't even beat mid-table teams with that system but we will and have beaten CL teams with 4-3-3.

After much thought I'd like to see this lineup.


Think that would offer us the most balance both offensively & defensively, for the moment at least. Still not sure about RB position yet.

Whether RDM has the balls to drop Mata & Lampard remains to be seen. But those two along with Luiz have been the weak links so far this season. Still not sure whether Ivan is out of form or playing like shite because of Azpi's arrival.

Mata and Luiz should be starting imo.

Hazard and Mata are a bit of a problem in my opinion, Mata likes freedom to travel from middle to flank depending on where the space is. I saw vs Atletico Chelsea had the ball but no ideas how to use it.

Madrid have Ozil who moves where the space is, but this works because of the directness to their play which means they exploit space very quickly. Chelsea struggled to do that in that game.

I havent seen all Chelsea games, so I cant comment too much how they should play but my gut says something like this if they are insisting on an attacking game (with the players they have they kind of have to now).





Its a variation of Dungas Brazil, but you lack one player. Lampard cannot do it if your playing so open as there is too much space for him to cover. I dont understand the need for Moses, Marin, Hazard and Mata but only Mikel, Romeu and at a stretch Lamps in the position. Oscar could do it, but defensively he would have to do too much and it will impact his offensive. Brazil had Melo...not a great player, but someone who fits the role. Technically Romeu could probably do it..but clearly he isnt favoured.

Anyway, if you had that player with energy (your Melo) to the more static reader (Mikel being your Gilberto) you have a sold base. Ramires naturally attacks the flank making up for Ivanovic's poor offensive play. With this he can stay back and focus on defending...perhaps thats what he needs, a more simple role. Cole can get forward on the other side with Hazard high up the pitch and coming inside. Oscar has the passing for that number 10 role and importantly Torres seems to like to drift to the right hand side of the box which works well in such a formation. His runs into channels keeps both sides of the pitch available for quick, direct balls.

Two problems. As said, you lack a Melo..second..where is Mata?

Don't see how replacing Lampard with Ramires makes any difference. Most frustrating thing with Lampard has been his discipline and going forward too much. You basically replace him with Ramires with the same flaws. Ramires differ because of his work rate but his retention skills are far worse then Lampard's.

@Franchise

I like that formation and I do think that because everyone isn't automatically shoehorning our team into a work-able first eleven that we ought to be playing a slightly more unconventional shape.

few things tho;

1) Azpi over Ivan at RB. Dunga's Brazil worked that shape because with Alves/Maicon + Ramires they effectively had 2 players that could cover 3 positions through sheer stamina levels. Also, you know yourself if you don't have a winger on that flank you need width from the full-back.

2) That 'someone' in your diagram could've so easily been one of Essien or Meireles.

2.5) Why Oscar as the #10? Again, Brazil used Kaka who is far more similar in terms of playing style to Mata/Hazard. I'd play Mata there and move Oscar into the 'someone' role.

I like that formation because it means our 3 most creative players (HazMatCar ) are all in close proximity to each other and the system is fairly fluid.

If a team is obviously weaker down the other flank you could easily move Hazard to that flank and then switch Ramires and Oscar.

Could easily switch to a semi-functional 4-2-3-1 too.

Mata ostracised.

Bear-Felix wrote:@Franchise

I like that formation and I do think that because everyone isn't automatically shoehorning our team into a work-able first eleven that we ought to be playing a slightly more unconventional shape.

few things tho;

1) Azpi over Ivan at RB. Dunga's Brazil worked that shape because with Alves/Maicon + Ramires they effectively had 2 players that could cover 3 positions through sheer stamina levels. Also, you know yourself if you don't have a winger on that flank you need width from the full-back.

2) That 'someone' in your diagram could've so easily been one of Essien or Meireles.

2.5) Why Oscar as the #10? Again, Brazil used Kaka who is far more similar in terms of playing style to Mata/Hazard. I'd play Mata there and move Oscar into the 'someone' role.

I like that formation because it means our 3 most creative players (HazMatCar ) are all in close proximity to each other and the system is fairly fluid.

If a team is obviously weaker down the other flank you could easily move Hazard to that flank and then switch Ramires and Oscar.

Could easily switch to a semi-functional 4-2-3-1 too.

Well it doesnt have to be a total copy of Dunga's Brazil. Yes, they had Maicon while Ivan is a defensive rightback..but we dont know anything about Azpli at this level. At this moment, if you dont ask anything offensive out of Ivan he may do better. Yes, normally if you dont have someone on the flank you need an edventerous fullback...but not if your playing directly, like Ramires did at Benfica. They always had a conservative rightback in Maxi Periera and it worked fine because Ramires in attack was like a winger in his off ball movements. Also I notice Torres loves the right side a bit, I think your fine there.

That someone could of been Essien prime, not sure about now. Raul doesnt have the defensive ability imo.

Similarly you wouldnt want Oscar there either as that amount of defensive work takes away from your offensive game. It will change him into a player you dont want him to become.

Mata while a great player like the freedom to drift from left to middle and visa versa, thats a very specific role in this type of formation, Oscar's skillset is a better option to me.

Meireles no longer plays for Chelsea.

The Franchise wrote:

Just saw the highlights, didnt know the Chelsea 11. Did they play like this yesturday?

I imagine Ramires wasnt this tucked inside and Hazard wasnt that high up the pitch though?

As long as Chelsea start either Mikel or Lampard, they will have problems against the top European sides. These two are not up to level right now.

The other problem with Chelsea is that Ivanovic and Luiz are not solid defenders. So Di Matteo has to use Ramirez to help Mikel because Mikel us not solid.

I personally would sit Lampard.... he's the biggest weakness.

Why Ramires is playing on that right wing?

Ramires is average.

ramires isnt average,the thing is that he is NOT a winger

Come at me Gil

Bear-Felix wrote:

Torres
Hazard Mata Moses
Oscar Mikel
Cole Terry Luiz Azpi

Come at me Gil

This.

After today's starting lineup and post match press conference I think hazard-Oscar-mata will be the starting trio,at least on the non big matches

Chelsea should've signed Moutinho

I'd love to see a midfield of Moutinho-Mikel-Ramires

Oscar and Hazard can keep switching.

kiranr wrote:

Hazard Torres Moses
Oscar Mikel Mata
Cole Terry Luiz Azpi

Oscar and Hazard can keep switching.

Why dont you get rid of Mikel and have Sturridge in there