Chelsea's Greatest Strength

They have one of the finest squads in the world; better even than Barca's and Bayern's.

Their greatest strength is that they dont have a superstar in the team. The team acts as one coherent unit and is less dependent on one player like Barca or Madrid depend on Messi and Ronaldo.

They dont have divas / traitors like Ramos and Casillas. Every player plays for the shirt and fights to earn his starting spot. No one is above the club or manager. Even Lampard who is a legend was about to be given the boot and no one but the manager (mourinho) could have stopped it.

By that logic quite a few teams are enjoying this magnificent strength.

Weren't there problems with AVB and Chelsea's 'old guard' last year?

what?their bench is a joke bar a player or 2.They are lucky Mata,Hazard and Oscar rarely get injured

Yohan Modric wrote:Weren't there problems with AVB and Chelsea's 'old guard' last year?

Yes, and that's why a manager with a strong character is required. Thing about the manager is that if he doubts himself for a second, the players will over-rule him.

The wings of the old guard are trimmed. They are no longer the cause of any harm.

Ganso wrote:what?their bench is a joke bar a player or 2.They are lucky Mata,Hazard and Oscar rarely get injured

Well, mournho's back and he's the one who can turn a joke of a player like essien for example into a mean machine capable of shutting down players in the ranks of Messi and Ronaldo.

The pivot needs to be sorted.

Waaay too often Mata had to track all the way back to his half to receive the ball because the pivot lacks the ability to pass consistently. Especially Mikel. He use to have such a good eye for the forward pass, now all he does is these short sideways and back passes. Its disappointing.

huntsman wrote:They have one of the finest squads in the world; better even than Barca's and Bayern's.

I stopped reading after that. Decent troll effort. 2/5

Betty La Fea wrote:The pivot needs to be sorted.

Waaay too often Mata had to track all the way back to his half to receive the ball because the pivot lacks the ability to pass consistently. Especially Mikel. He use to have such a good eye for the forward pass, now all he does is these short sideways and back passes. Its disappointing.

I thought this year he improved but apparently not.

Mikel's problem is he is not like makelele nor good at going forward.

Bénin wrote:

Betty La Fea wrote:The pivot needs to be sorted.

Waaay too often Mata had to track all the way back to his half to receive the ball because the pivot lacks the ability to pass consistently. Especially Mikel. He use to have such a good eye for the forward pass, now all he does is these short sideways and back passes. Its disappointing.

I thought this year he improved but apparently not.

Mikel's problem is he is not like makelele nor good at going forward.

I'd say the big issue is that Mikel is literally great at nothing.

He is just a body there. He doesnt go forward well. He doesnt defend well. His vision is average. His Work-rate is average. He isnt particularly strong. He cant particularly jump well.

He is literally just there, which made him perfect when the bus needed to be parked under AVB, but useless for pretty much everything else.

Betty La Fea wrote:

Bénin wrote:

Betty La Fea wrote:The pivot needs to be sorted.

Waaay too often Mata had to track all the way back to his half to receive the ball because the pivot lacks the ability to pass consistently. Especially Mikel. He use to have such a good eye for the forward pass, now all he does is these short sideways and back passes. Its disappointing.

I thought this year he improved but apparently not.

Mikel's problem is he is not like makelele nor good at going forward.

I'd say the big issue is that Mikel is literally great at nothing.

He is just a body there. He doesnt go forward well. He doesnt defend well. His vision is average. His Work-rate is average. He isnt particularly strong. He cant particularly jump well.

He is literally just there, which made him perfect when the bus needed to be parked under AVB, but useless for pretty much everything else.

whose fault is it ? I don't think he is the one to blame.

Here is a quote from Nigeria's coach 2 or 3 years ago :



The tactician claims Blues have destroyed his offensive instincts
The newly appointed Nigeria coach, Samson Siasia, has slammed Premier League champions Chelsea for destroying the attacking instincts of midfielder Jon Obi Mikel.
Five years ago, the now 23-year-old Mikel was considered as the second best player at the Under-20 World Cup behind Barcelona linchpin Lionel Messi.
But according to Siasia, Mikel, who is expected to play a big role in the Super Eagles African Nations Cup qualifying campaign, has lost most of his offensive instincts
"The system in Chelsea actually destroyed Mikel's game. Mikel is an offensive player, but when he moved to Chelsea, they changed him because they had a better player offensive wise like Frank Lampard who can score goals," Siasia said.
"I don't think he is playing in his natural position because we all saw what Mikel played in 2005 and everybody loved him for what he did, he can keep the ball and create chances for the strikers to score goals.
"That was why Chelsea actually gave him a contract, but getting there they had two top players, Lampard and Michael Ballack.
"Lampard scores goals and so what (Jose) Mourinho did was to bring Mikel back because how many goals has Mikel scored? He brought him back so that Lampard and Ballack played offensive.
Siasia said for Mikel to get his swagger back, he needs to go forward more often
"Mikel is a fantastic player, but if you want to be a great player, you have to take risks, do something extra," said the new Eagles coach.
"As a defensive midfielder, you do not have to do much; you just win the ball and pass to the other player. The offensive player takes on more responsibilities.
"(Michael) Essien scores goals from defensive positions, why can't Mikel take the kind of chances that Essien takes? If you don't shoot, you will never score.
"You keep passing those short balls, but sometimes you need to take a little bit of risk. That is what is missing in Mikel's game."
The Nigeria coach advised Mikel to quit Stamford Bridge if it would be impossible for him to be a great deal more offensive.
"He has to start playing more offensive to become the Mikel we knew. But if it would be difficult to change the way he is playing, he has to move to another club," Siasia said.

No Divas? Hmm i wonder what AVB thinks about that. We've seen Terry on the touchline literally shouting instructions over Di Matteo Chelsea's player power is notorious.

I want some of whatever huntsman is on...

Chelsea without divas? -> John Terry would like to have a word. I'm sure he'll be in full kit.

Best squad in the world? Better than Bayern and Barca? -> finished 4th in the league, 6th last year... out of champions league in group stages...

No superstars. -> wheres that thread on underated players? Can we add Juan Mata and Peter Cech to it?

huntsman wrote:They have one of the finest squads in the world; better even than Barca's and Bayern's.

Their greatest strength is that they dont have a superstar in the team. The team acts as one coherent unit and is less dependent on one player like Barca or Madrid depend on Messi and Ronaldo.

They dont have divas / traitors like Ramos and Casillas. Every player plays for the shirt and fights to earn his starting spot. No one is above the club or manager. Even Lampard who is a legend was about to be given the boot and no one but the manager (mourinho) could have stopped it.