Official Chelsea FC Thread

treiz · Post #1181 » by **treiz** » Mon Aug 31, 2015 11:36 am

Not sure about Cesc, he's shown some flashes but Iva is just completely shot. Need to start playing Baba and Azpi at FB ASAP, hopefully the 2 weeks off now will get Jose to start making some adjustments. We definitely need a switch to a 4-3-3, don't think we can designate any of our midfielders to be holders apart from Matic, too many times they leave the defence exposed.

Can somebody give me the shimmy on Kenedy, I genuinely had no idea who he was (apart from playing that one pre season game) but he was really good against Palace.

Post #1182 » by **fatlever** » Mon Aug 31, 2015 5:29 pm

Here's some of what WAGNH has had to say about Kenedy this summer

http://weaintgotnohistory.sbnation.com/2015/6/29/8859697/chelsea-fc-transfer-target-scouting-robert-kenedy-fluminense

http://weaintgotnohistory.sbnation.com/2015/8/13/9149267/robert-kenedy-nunes-do-nascimento-potential-chelsea-star

Post #1183 » by **fatlever** » Mon Aug 31, 2015 5:33 pm

Regarding a switch to a 4-3-3... Assuming no more changes to the roster are made, who would be your preferred 3 in the midfield (Matic + ? + ?)? My front 3 is easy, Hazard, Costa, Pedro.

treiz · Post #1184 » by **treiz** » Tue Sep 1, 2015 12:55 am

Matic, Cesc, Willian

I know it looks pretty similar to our 4-2-3-1, but having the CAM (whether it be Oscar/Willian) drop deeper in midfield and play as a more box-to-box midfielder (which Oscar and Willian are very capable of) should give them more time to turn and look when attacking and more cover at the back should Cesc not bother defending. At least gives insurance of another midfielder to help defend alongside Matic. I think the perfect trio would be Matic/Ramires/Oscar or Cesc or Willian, but again it leaves one of the three on the bench and that's not too ideal.

Post #1185 » by **fatlever** » Tue Sep 1, 2015 2:55 am

My concern with a 4-3-3 is that I fear Oscar ends up as the old man out. If it was me, Oscar would be one of the first names on the teamsheet every week, when healthy (and not dead tired, as he has been in previous springs). I don't trust Jose to pick Oscar over Cesc or even Oscar over Willian. I guess you could play a midfield trio of Cesc, Oscar, Matic, but that might be a little light against good teams. The midfield of Oscar, Matic, Ramires would be nice against the top teams. I think you could also do Oscar, Matic, Willian.

Regardless, something needs to change. Matic, Cesc in the pivot is not working. I am going to be sick if we see more of the same - Ivan at right back and Matic/Cesc in the pivot when we get back from the break.

Anyone else sad to see Moses heading out on loan again? I really thought he had a shot this season. I guess if it means more of Kenedy and Traore on the wing this year, then I can live with it.

And how many more loans does Chalobah need? He's never going to get a real chance. Neither will Ake, Kalas and the 25 others out on loan.

Post #1186 » by **5DOM** » Tue Sep 1, 2015 10:48 am

I think Oscar will be picked ahead of Willian when he's actually healthy. He's simply a much more complete player than Willian who should be sent to the U21's and banned from using his right foot so he can learn to use his left.

With the title looking very unlikely, my preference is to start integrating Loftus-Cheek into the first team. He really can't do much worse than Fabregas has.

Hazard-Costa-Pedro
Oscar-RLC*
Matic
Baba-CB-Zouma-Azpi
Courtois

* rotate w Fabregas

The likes of Chalobah, Ake, and Kalas just haven't impressed while on loan. It's not a surprise that RLC, Traore and Kenedy are already seen as better prospects.

treiz · Post #1187 » by **treiz** » Tue Sep 1, 2015 4:55 pm

fatlever wrote:My concern with a 4-3-3 is that I fear Oscar ends up as the old man out. If it was me, Oscar would be one of the first names on the teamsheet every week, when healthy (and not dead tired, as he has been in previous springs). I don't trust Jose to pick Oscar over Cesc or even Oscar over Willian. I guess you could play a midfield trio of Cesc, Oscar, Matic, but that might be a little light against good teams. The midfield of Oscar, Matic, Ramires would be nice against the top teams. I think you could also do Oscar, Matic, Willian.

Regardless, something needs to change. Matic, Cesc in the pivot is not working. I am going to be sick if we see more of the same - Ivan at right back and Matic/Cesc in the pivot when we get back from the break.

Anyone else sad to see Moses heading out on loan again? I really thought he had a shot this season. I guess if it means more of Kenedy and Traore on the wing this year, then I can live with it.

And how many more loans does Chalobah need? He's never going to get a real chance. Neither will Ake, Kalas and the 25 others out on loan.

Yeah that's the problem in that one of Willian/Oscar/Cesc will be left out but during these times we definitely need to start making some dire and drastic changes. Although a Cesc/Oscar/Matic trio will be a bit lighter like you said, there really isn't any other midfield trio that are giants in the top 6 down anyway, so it shouldn't be that much of a problem and having them 3 close to each other should allow us to have more possession.

Sad to see Moses going out on loan, thought he was actually going to be a nice piece this season he had a pretty good pre-season too. Chalobah and Kalas haven't really done much on loan recently, and Ake only got loaned out this year, but I feel like it'll be sooner rather than later before he gets sold, unless he proves himself a capable DM or a better attacking LB.

As much as I'd prefer to have Oscar over Willian (due to what you said 5DOM with being a more complete player), Jose just trusts Willian more and his capabilities as well as willingness to drift wide if need be (not saying that Oscar can't do it as he clearly has with Brazil, just that Willian is better out wide) favours him heavily.

treiz · Post #1188 » by **treiz** » Tue Sep 1, 2015 5:29 pm

Just signed CB Michael Hector from Reading to be loaned back for the year

Really like the signing, like the look of the kid and the fact that he's Reading's captain at 23 he's probably better than all of our CBs on stash right now except Zouma. Looks REALLY solid in the Championship and with Steve Clarke their manager should also give Jose a CB who he likes, just hope he'd be ready for the step up next year.

Post #1189 » by **fatlever** » Tue Sep 1, 2015 7:09 pm

We have something like 32/33 players on loan right now.

jirrit · Post #1190 » by **jirrit** » Tue Sep 1, 2015 11:05 pm

DD12 wrote:Mark my word. Pedro is another Bojan Krkic. Dude has no skill above average and will suck at Chelsea.

DD12 · Post #1191 » by **DD12** » Tue Sep 1, 2015 11:06 pm

What is so funny?

jirrit · Post #1192 » by **jirrit** » Tue Sep 1, 2015 11:33 pm

DD12 wrote:What is so funny?

I'm saying he'll be a starting player in 90% of the top teams in the world.

Krkic was a huge talent but Pedro has proven it already. Bojan never did, expect for some genius flashes. Pedro's got 50 caps and 16 goals for Spain for instance. Always had lots of playing time in Barcelona. Always as some kinda 12th man indeed but Barca was and is pretty talented and stacked.

He scored 100 goals in 320 matches (primera division, europe and copa del rey). I think almost half of these matches he played 45 minutes or less. Not too bad for a right winger. In the national team the same. No way he's in the Bojan-tier.

Post #1193 » by **fatlever** » Sat Sep 12, 2015 2:35 am

you know what would make the start of this season even more fantastic? lets have our keeper **** up his knee and miss half the season.

Anyway, anyone want to place odds on whether or not Ivanovic starts tomorrow? I don't think Jose is ready to bench him yet. In fact, I don't think we see any real changes tomorrow. It will be Begovic - Azpi, Terry, Cahill/Zouma, Ivanovic - Matic, Cesc - Hazard, Willian, Pedro - Costa. Slight chance of Mikel/RLC starting next to Matic and Cesc starting at #10 and Willian on the bench (since Willian had to fly to US during the break)

jirrit · Post #1194 » by **jirrit** » Sat Sep 12, 2015 8:45 am

fatlever wrote:you know what would make the start of this season even more fantastic? lets have our keeper **** up his knee and miss half the season.

Is he really expected to miss that much? Here in Belgium they're saying half november but don't really know what they're saying in England. We're lucky we still got Mignolet as a second goalkeeper. Kinda the same for Chelsea, Begovic is pretty decent, no?

and1GS · Post #1195 » by **and1GS** » Sun Sep 13, 2015 12:13 am

Begovic was great today, but the attack looked toothless and Chelsea's defense was somehow confused by the narrow 4-4-2 Everton was playing (at least it looked like that to me - they never show the formations when I record games so I'm guessing most of the time).

The biggest concern I saw was that Hazard/Fabregas, stalwarts of attacking creation, both looked invisible. Ivanovic missed Hazard on a great run inside the box, opting to pass it to Costa much wider instead, but both players need to find a better way to impose themselves on a match. Kenedy looked bad too IMO. May have been jitters though so who knows.

Post #1196 » by **fatlever** » Mon Sep 14, 2015 4:21 am

Costa, Ivanovic, Hazard and Fabregas are all playing miles below their 2014 levels. How long do you wait on those guys to wake up and start playing better? They represent 4 of the biggest names at the club, so benching them isn't an easy solution, especially in the case of Hazard and Costa, considering the other options aren't really any more attractive.

I suspect Jose will use the midweek CL game as a chance to see Baba and also test the fitness of Oscar as well as possibly getting a longer look at Falcao and/or Remy. I never believe Jose would play Baba in a PL game before having a chance to see him in either CL or a cup game, no matter how dire the Ivanovic situation has been.

That being said, I still don't think we see any real changes vs Arsenal next weekend. Maybe Oscar comes back in the lineup if he is ready and maybe we see Mikel again. That's about it. And I suspect we will get our doors blown off.

treiz · Post #1197 » by **treiz** » Mon Sep 14, 2015 9:50 am

Ivanovic and Cesc needs to benched, I was actually surprised it was Willian that got benched on the weekend and what's even more surprising is that we haven't really seen much of Remy this season, hope he gets a chance midweek. Still not convinced by Falcao.

Hopefully, like you said Jose will experiment more midweek but seriously thank **** we have Begovic.

J-Mezzy · Post #1198 » by **J-Mezzy** » Mon Sep 14, 2015 10:37 am

Costa, Fabregas, and Ivanovic need to hit the pine.

Costa has 1 goal in like 500 minutes. Not acceptable

Post #1199 » by **5DOM** » Mon Sep 14, 2015 11:13 am

treiz wrote:Ivanovic and Cesc needs to benched, I was actually surprised it was Willian that got benched on the weekend and what's even more surprising is that we haven't really seen much of Remy this season, hope he gets a chance midweek. Still not convinced by Falcao.

Hopefully, like you said Jose will experiment more midweek but seriously thank **** we have Begovic.

Watch Begovic get injured. That's Blackman next. Hilario better be ready to come out of retirement :lol:

jirrit · Post #1200 » by **jirrit** » Mon Sep 14, 2015 1:17 pm

Chelsea is in real trouble. They need their star players to step up asap. Hazard this season is playing like he has been playing in his 50+ caps for Belgium.