Official Chelsea FC Thread

Moderators: kdawg32086, magik9113

User avatar
5DOM
Retired Mod
Retired Mod
Posts: 40,216
And1: 1,811
Joined: Aug 30, 2004
Contact:
       

Re: Official Chelsea FC Thread 

Post#21 » by 5DOM » Tue May 22, 2012 1:14 am

http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2914/cha ... ons-league

I wish this guy could just stfu. Has something to say every single time LOL
Image
User avatar
jim todd
Sixth Man
Posts: 1,954
And1: 370
Joined: Nov 07, 2007
       

Re: Official Chelsea FC Thread 

Post#22 » by jim todd » Tue May 22, 2012 4:25 am

Finally got to watch the game tonight...YEEEEEEEEEAAAAHHHH
What an unbelievable match.

Excited to see what happens this summer. Hopefully the team can make some important upgrades, most specifically on the wings and perhaps up front if Drogba truly is leaving.
Image
User avatar
5DOM
Retired Mod
Retired Mod
Posts: 40,216
And1: 1,811
Joined: Aug 30, 2004
Contact:
       

Re: Official Chelsea FC Thread 

Post#23 » by 5DOM » Tue May 22, 2012 2:05 pm

And it's official: http://www.chelseafc.com/page/LatestNew ... 53,00.html

''I LEAVE CHELSEA''
Tuesday May 22, 2012

After eight seasons with Chelsea, I leave the club with a Champions League success and with great sadness, but even better recognition.

"Even the greatest stories come to an end. My contract is finished and I am now prepared to leave the Blues. It is with great sadness but also with much gratitude that I announce you my departure from Chelsea.

I played my last game for the club in Munich and I am delighted to have finally been able to lift the Champions League trophy after an incredible final. I am sad, even if it is part of the life of a footballer. We have to accept it. Above all, I will remember all the great seasons I have had here, and all the emotions that will remain forever etched in my memory.

Thanks again to all the fans for their tremendous support. I wish the best success to this club where I may come back in the future, but in a different role.

"Blue is the color!""

Didier


Looking forward to his testimonial/charity game and of course his return (as a club ambassador I am guessing)
Image
User avatar
fatlever
Senior Mod - Hornets
Senior Mod - Hornets
Posts: 55,424
And1: 12,561
Joined: Jun 04, 2001
Location: Terrapin Station
     

Re: Official Chelsea FC Thread 

Post#24 » by fatlever » Tue May 22, 2012 3:40 pm

finally, we get our own thread!!! did we have to win the CL to prove we deserved one? Oh wait, then why does arsenal have their own thread? they've never won anything ;)
User avatar
fatlever
Senior Mod - Hornets
Senior Mod - Hornets
Posts: 55,424
And1: 12,561
Joined: Jun 04, 2001
Location: Terrapin Station
     

Re: Official Chelsea FC Thread 

Post#25 » by fatlever » Tue May 22, 2012 4:09 pm

its the perfect time for drogba to go. he leaves as a hero and chelsea can finally start the true rebuilding process... because it was never going to happen as long as drogba was here.

i'd really like to see torres stay and get a chance as the main striker next year, but only if we can get some creative players around him. he was never going to thrive playing the old chelsea style. for this reason i would hold off on chasing falcao, cavani or higuain for at least a year. instead we must go all in on every stud winger and attacking md who might be available, hazzard, hulk, moura and land one of them.

if lukaku isnt ready for minutes, loan him out and find relatively cheap, but PL proven stiker to add depth behind torres and sturridge.

say goodbye to kalou, malounda, bosingwa, paulo (unless he wants to come back to be 3rd string again) and maybe essien or mereiles if they have any takers.

find a backup right back.

not sure what to do about yossi. we could use his versatility in the midfield i think. he could play right mid, attacking mid and left mid in a pinch. but if he wants to go, so be it.

more than anything i am excited to see if any of the younger guys are ready to step up and make a contribution next year. i'd hate to see all of them get loaned out again. i really want to see josh, kakuta, de bruyne and lukaku earn minutes next year, but that might be a bit optimistic.

don't go chasing modric all summer. he'll cost too much. would love to have him but i think that boat has sailed. i'd really only spend huge money on a stud winger. other than that, we need to start spending money more wisely and giving all this youth a chance to earn a spot.

i think romeu will be here next year and beyond.
User avatar
fatlever
Senior Mod - Hornets
Senior Mod - Hornets
Posts: 55,424
And1: 12,561
Joined: Jun 04, 2001
Location: Terrapin Station
     

Re: Official Chelsea FC Thread 

Post#26 » by fatlever » Tue May 22, 2012 6:49 pm

soccernet posted rankings for chelsea players for the season. i think that most of us who watched this team all year will have some serious disagreements with his rankings

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/st ... ea?cc=5901

their ratings
drogba 9.5
lamps 9.5
cech 9.5
cole 9.0
ramires 8.0
mata 8.0
luiz 7.5
ivan 7.5
cahill 7.5
terry 7.5
mikel 7.0
kalou 7.0
bosingwa 6.5
mereiles 6.0
romeu 6.0
essien 5.5
bertand 5.0
torres 5.0
ferreira 4.5
anelka 3.0


seems to me like the writer only watched the last month of chelsea. not really a fair assessment of the season. some way to high (drogba, lamps, boz; some too low torres and ivan)

i'd love to hear what everyone elses rating look like. off the top of my head i think i'd go something like

mata - 9.0 overall was our best player for the season, we looked horrendous when he was off the pitch
ramires - 8.5 he was the engine of the midfield and covered just about every position except center back and striker at times
drogba - 8.0 he gets a deserved bump for his play in the big games, but half the games he played this year he was either invisible or disinterested.
lampard - 8.0 much improved under RDM, but lets not forget how many awful games he had the first half of the season
ivanovic - 8.0 the most consistent defender for the year
cole - 7.5 much like drogba and lampard, really only shined under RDM. he had some un cole-like performances in the league getting bested by guys who in the past would never get him. MOTM for the CL final though
luiz - 7.0 for me he was the best of the full-time centerbacks this year, especially after AVB ditched the high back-line. people who were getting on luiz were lemmings just following the media. he cleaned up the mistakes halfway through the year and was great after.
mikel - 7.0 once he got out of AVBs doghouse he was great. finally played like we have been expecting for years.
cahill - 7.0 when he played he was solid
terry - 6.5 some days he was a 10 others he was a 5. the high line didnt do him any favors. has to take a hit for the bone headed plays he made this year (QPR and Barca)
torres - 6.5 yes he had the massive drought and looked scared to get into scoring position at times, but he rebounded nicely and had a solid 2nd half. even when he wasnt scoring his work rate was top notch
sturridge - 6.5 great first half, mediocre 2nd half. not bad considering he isnt a winger and refuses to pass
kalou - 6.0 seemed like a different player after coming back from African Cup. i think he needed the confidence boast. nice defending for a forward, but just doesnt do enough with the ball.
bertrand - 6.0 hard to put him much higher with so few games. looked good when he played though, solid defensive and going forward. future looks bright
mereiles - 5.0 right in the middle, totally average, where he belongs. a couple of great goals cant offset the horrendous passing and defending. nice work rate though.
bosingwa - 5.0 to be fair, he was much better in the big games than i ever thought. but we cant forget how many needless goals he gave away in the first half of the year. who knows where we would be in the PL standings if ivan would have played RB exclusively all season.
essien - 4.5 sad to see the bison reduced to a bit role. but what did we expect after so many injuries. he clearly isnt back to 100% and not sure he ever will be.
malouda - 4.5 did he do anything positive this year? i honestly cant remember anything he did that had a real impact on a game in a good way.
User avatar
lukekarts
Head Coach
Posts: 7,168
And1: 335
Joined: Dec 11, 2009
Location: UK
   

Re: Official Chelsea FC Thread 

Post#27 » by lukekarts » Tue May 22, 2012 8:00 pm

fatlever wrote:seems to me like the writer only watched the last month of chelsea. not really a fair assessment of the season. some way to high (drogba, lamps, boz; some too low torres and ivan)

i'd love to hear what everyone elses rating look like. off the top of my head i think i'd go something like

mata - 9.0 overall was our best player for the season, we looked horrendous when he was off the pitch
ramires - 8.5 he was the engine of the midfield and covered just about every position except center back and striker at times
drogba - 8.0 he gets a deserved bump for his play in the big games, but half the games he played this year he was either invisible or disinterested.
lampard - 8.0 much improved under RDM, but lets not forget how many awful games he had the first half of the season
ivanovic - 8.0 the most consistent defender for the year
cole - 7.5 much like drogba and lampard, really only shined under RDM. he had some un cole-like performances in the league getting bested by guys who in the past would never get him. MOTM for the CL final though
luiz - 7.0 for me he was the best of the full-time centerbacks this year, especially after AVB ditched the high back-line. people who were getting on luiz were lemmings just following the media. he cleaned up the mistakes halfway through the year and was great after.
mikel - 7.0 once he got out of AVBs doghouse he was great. finally played like we have been expecting for years.
cahill - 7.0 when he played he was solid
terry - 6.5 some days he was a 10 others he was a 5. the high line didnt do him any favors. has to take a hit for the bone headed plays he made this year (QPR and Barca)
torres - 6.5 yes he had the massive drought and looked scared to get into scoring position at times, but he rebounded nicely and had a solid 2nd half. even when he wasnt scoring his work rate was top notch
sturridge - 6.5 great first half, mediocre 2nd half. not bad considering he isnt a winger and refuses to pass
kalou - 6.0 seemed like a different player after coming back from African Cup. i think he needed the confidence boast. nice defending for a forward, but just doesnt do enough with the ball.
bertrand - 6.0 hard to put him much higher with so few games. looked good when he played though, solid defensive and going forward. future looks bright
mereiles - 5.0 right in the middle, totally average, where he belongs. a couple of great goals cant offset the horrendous passing and defending. nice work rate though.
bosingwa - 5.0 to be fair, he was much better in the big games than i ever thought. but we cant forget how many needless goals he gave away in the first half of the year. who knows where we would be in the PL standings if ivan would have played RB exclusively all season.
essien - 4.5 sad to see the bison reduced to a bit role. but what did we expect after so many injuries. he clearly isnt back to 100% and not sure he ever will be.
malouda - 4.5 did he do anything positive this year? i honestly cant remember anything he did that had a real impact on a game in a good way.


That's a much better list than ESPN, so yeah I pretty much agree. Mata/Ramires 1-2 by a long way. I only made it to a couple of games but the difference between 6 months ago and now was huge. I also think you could almost rate all but the top 2 players completely differently depending on which manager they played for, such was the transformation. That ESPN list was rubbish though.
There is no consolation prize. Winning is everything.
User avatar
5DOM
Retired Mod
Retired Mod
Posts: 40,216
And1: 1,811
Joined: Aug 30, 2004
Contact:
       

Re: Official Chelsea FC Thread 

Post#28 » by 5DOM » Wed May 23, 2012 3:41 am

FA Cup & Champions League:

Cech, Cole, Drogba: 9 - without these players, we'd be trophyless. All three were outstanding defensively and made key plays (goal line clearances, penalty saves, goals, etc.)

Ramires: 8.5 - Scored some important goals and was integral to our counter attacking game.

Lampard, Mikel: 8 - Showed great composure and leadership under immense pressure.

Cahill, Luiz, Ivanovic, Bosingwa: 7.5 - determination, determination, determination.

Meireles, Kalou: 7 - defended well but lost possessions too easily at times.

Terry: 6.5 - Was solid when he played, but can't defend his red at Camp Nou

Mata, Torres, Malouda, Bertrand, Sturridge: 6 - Worked hard, but not very effective

Essien: 5 - I am afraid he is done

Pretty similar to ESPN's.


Premier League:

Not easy because with AVB everyone sucked and with Di Matteo we rarely played our best XI.

Mata: 8

Everyone else: 6

==========================================
Player of the Season: 1) Cech, 2) Drogba, 3) Mata
Goal of the Season: 1) Ramires at Camp Nou, 2) Drogba at Allianz, 3) Drogba against Tottenham
Best Win: 1) CL Final, 2) CL SF's, 3) Napoli (H)
Most Devastating Loss/Draw: 1) Arsenal (H), 2) QPR (A), 3) Napoli (A)
Young Player of the Season: 1) Piazon, 2) Feruz, 3) Chalobah
Image
User avatar
Man of Steel
Lead Assistant
Posts: 4,610
And1: 548
Joined: Jun 03, 2010
Location: Toronto
       

Re: Official Chelsea FC Thread 

Post#29 » by Man of Steel » Thu May 24, 2012 5:35 am

5DOM wrote:http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2914/champions-league/2012/05/21/3118066/nobody-can-be-happy-with-the-outcome-of-the-champions-league

I wish this guy could just stfu. Has something to say every single time LOL


I respect him as a player because he truly is one of the greatest to ever play, but the guy can't ever stop raving about Barcelona and Ajax and the way they play perfect football. Meanwhile he shows no end of disrespect for teams that play counter attack football, especially when they win trophies playing that style to defeat his so-called "perfect football".

Bittersweet having Drogba leave but he certainly finished on a high note :) couldn't have asked for more from him, and it's not an easy call but I think if any player in the history of the club deserves his statue at the Stamford Bridge it's Drogba.

As for the future, imho bringing in Hazard should be one of the top priorities as having a player with that sort of creativity on the wing is just the sort of thing Torres could use to boost himself back into his goal-scoring ways. I think those two could form a dynamic very similar to Manchester United in the year after the WC with Rooney and Ronaldo (and Tevez). We won't know one way or another before June 2 but apparently a fourth team (besides CFC, MUFC, and MCFC) is in the mix for acquiring Eden Hazard according to the director of football at Lille, though he didn't specify which team that was.

Drogba expressed his confidence in Torres' ability to perform and I think it's certainly his time to shine now. Can't wait to see how a lot of these guys perform at Euro, should be fantastic.
HALA MADRID || GO LEAFS GO || LET'S GO RAPTORS
User avatar
treiz
RealGM
Posts: 11,984
And1: 564
Joined: Aug 17, 2005
Location: London, England
       

Re: Official Chelsea FC Thread 

Post#30 » by treiz » Thu May 24, 2012 7:19 am

5DOM wrote:http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2914/champions-league/2012/05/21/3118066/nobody-can-be-happy-with-the-outcome-of-the-champions-league

I wish this guy could just stfu. Has something to say every single time LOL


What a joke, tell that to the Bayern players whether they prefer to play pretty and lose.

One thing I am kind of looking forward to from Drogba leaving is Torres, he should have no excuses now. Really hope we run with a Torres/Sturridge/Lukaku as our strikers next year and don't bring in anybody upfront.
User avatar
lukekarts
Head Coach
Posts: 7,168
And1: 335
Joined: Dec 11, 2009
Location: UK
   

Re: Official Chelsea FC Thread 

Post#31 » by lukekarts » Thu May 24, 2012 2:48 pm

As many had expected, Salomon Kalou and Jose Bosingwa will be leaving Chelsea this summer on free transfers:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/18185485

The article also notes (in contradiction to what I previously thought) that Paulo Ferreira is under contract for a further 12 months.
There is no consolation prize. Winning is everything.
User avatar
5DOM
Retired Mod
Retired Mod
Posts: 40,216
And1: 1,811
Joined: Aug 30, 2004
Contact:
       

Re: Official Chelsea FC Thread 

Post#32 » by 5DOM » Thu May 24, 2012 4:01 pm

Can't let our official English-Portuguese interpreter go ;)

I wonder what this means. More chance for Todd Kane? or are we going to buy a backup?
Image
User avatar
treiz
RealGM
Posts: 11,984
And1: 564
Joined: Aug 17, 2005
Location: London, England
       

Re: Official Chelsea FC Thread 

Post#33 » by treiz » Fri May 25, 2012 9:53 am

No way, don't think Kane is ready yet. Besides I think if anything we should let Hutchinson have some games. I think we should run with Ivanovic/Hutchinson/Ferreira/Kane as our RBs next year.

Have our CBs be Terry/Luiz/Cahill/Ivanovic/Hutchinson

We need the depth, so I like the signing of Ferreira and Malouda. And Essien has had a bad year but for what he's done he deserves another shot.
User avatar
fatlever
Senior Mod - Hornets
Senior Mod - Hornets
Posts: 55,424
And1: 12,561
Joined: Jun 04, 2001
Location: Terrapin Station
     

Re: Official Chelsea FC Thread 

Post#34 » by fatlever » Fri May 25, 2012 5:42 pm

i would rather bring yossi back into the team and let him take all of malouda's minutes.
User avatar
treiz
RealGM
Posts: 11,984
And1: 564
Joined: Aug 17, 2005
Location: London, England
       

Re: Official Chelsea FC Thread 

Post#35 » by treiz » Sat May 26, 2012 12:35 am

It's like replacing crap with bigger crap. Doesn't make a difference, just have them there just in case.
User avatar
5DOM
Retired Mod
Retired Mod
Posts: 40,216
And1: 1,811
Joined: Aug 30, 2004
Contact:
       

Re: Official Chelsea FC Thread 

Post#36 » by 5DOM » Sun May 27, 2012 1:08 pm

Looking like the favorites at least until Hazard changes his mind again. Fingers crossed
Image
User avatar
treiz
RealGM
Posts: 11,984
And1: 564
Joined: Aug 17, 2005
Location: London, England
       

Re: Official Chelsea FC Thread 

Post#37 » by treiz » Sun May 27, 2012 4:26 pm

Hope the Belgians in our team can persuade him to come. Considering they're all young and would play in the international teams in the future should be to our benefit.

Mourinho wants Ivanovic.
kdawg32086
Forum Mod
Forum Mod
Posts: 10,691
And1: 928
Joined: Jun 12, 2004
Location: Clark County, Washington
         

Re: Official Chelsea FC Thread 

Post#38 » by kdawg32086 » Sun May 27, 2012 5:46 pm

If Chelsea somehow gets Hazard, Falcao, and Hulk... :o
Image
Thank you triplemke23 for the sig.
User avatar
jim todd
Sixth Man
Posts: 1,954
And1: 370
Joined: Nov 07, 2007
       

Re: Official Chelsea FC Thread 

Post#39 » by jim todd » Mon May 28, 2012 3:38 am

kdawg32086 wrote:If Chelsea somehow gets Hazard, Falcao, and Hulk... :o


Someone put in a request to Abramovich. Please.
Image
User avatar
MaliBrah
RealGM
Posts: 19,753
And1: 4,303
Joined: Feb 03, 2011
   

Re: Official Chelsea FC Thread 

Post#40 » by MaliBrah » Mon May 28, 2012 7:51 pm

hazard signing with chelsea

Return to The General Soccer Board