Chelsea Thread

beachryan said:
I guess my point about Pool playing 'spoiler' football is that they were dominant without creating much, and completely nullified any pace in the game. I'm not saying it's a bad thing, it worked wonders. When Ashley Cole having a full running volley is your only worry, you're defensively having a great day.

It was more like watching an Italian masterclass than a Spanish or English one.
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That's what Rafa does though. He's the only manager in England that can actually adapt to the opposition. We won simply because we didn't let Chelsea play. We completely blocked the space between their midfield and attack (where they do most damage), and our pressing didn't allow Deco and Lampard to influence the game. Riera and Kuyt worked their socks off to push the full backs, and Rafa was quiet happy to give Bosingwa a bit of space on the right to cross, so that we could be more compact in the center. It didn't matter, cos Bosingwa ain't such a great crosser, and they didn't have any real target in the box.

It wasn't defensive. It's just tactical planning, which is used all over Europe (especially in Italy), but is alien to the English game.
 
I think that's a write up based on a result Abhishek. It all looks great because you won, but you'd have to be mad to give Bosingwa and Cole the freedom they got on Sunday - their end product was utter shit though. Riera and Kuyt clearly lost the wide battle - how many crosses did Bosingwa on his own attempt? (Then add up Kalou, Malouda and Cole's). He was in the right positions once every 5 minutes or so. Roma on Wednesday didn't let us have any space wide - that was tactical.

On Sunday we were just plain bad. Not being able to pass accurately to a man 10 yards away wasn't a Rafa tactic. Ashley missing an open goal from 3yds out wasn't a Rafa tactic. We were poo and that's really all there is to it.
 
Well Terry, what Beachryan is calling spoiler football is just very, very clever football...since their lack of fairplay in some matches (Everton last season, Standard,...) i've stopped liking Liverpool, but you gotta hand it too them that their manager is fantastic. The only real star in the team (Torres has his moments,Gerrard is the most overrated player in the world). Slowly the team is picking up what their manager learns them.
The manager has also adjusted, he plays a litle bit more offensive...

But it would be bad for football if that team wouldwin the league, they are as exciting as watching paint dry...of course the Liverpool fans should not mind this. Football is about winning and Liverpool is winning all the rest is trivial (like my post).

Chelsea need a good winger...with Robinho and...SWP unstead of Kalou and Malouda they would outclass every single team in England IMHO...but who am i (Spurs are my favourite team...i guess that says it all...).
 
T Butcher fan said:
I think that's a write up based on a result Abhishek. It all looks great because you won, but you'd have to be mad to give Bosingwa and Cole the freedom they got on Sunday - their end product was utter shit though. Riera and Kuyt clearly lost the wide battle - how many crosses did Bosingwa on his own attempt? (Then add up Kalou, Malouda and Cole's). He was in the right positions once every 5 minutes or so. Roma on Wednesday didn't let us have any space wide - that was tactical.

On Sunday we were just plain bad. Not being able to pass accurately to a man 10 yards away wasn't a Rafa tactic. Ashley missing an open goal from 3yds out wasn't a Rafa tactic. We were poo and that's really all there is to it.
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Rafa played a game of percentages, as he so often does. Do you really think Rafa wounldn't have noticed how much space Bosingwa was getting. It was clearly intentional, given that neither Kalou, nor Anelka are really that great in the air. Anyways, Bosingwa himself was restriced to crossing from the touchline rather than cutting in for a cut back.

You can say all you want about Chelsea missing simple passes, but they missed them due to Liverpool's pressing. I can't count the no. of times, Chelsea had a move of around 6-7 one touch passes, but then they were forced to either bring the back, or give it to Bosingwa (which was part of the plan), because of their inability to get in between the lines of defense and midfield. Scolari himself commented how Chelsea were forced to play long balls into the box rather than passing, due to our shape. And obviously, Chelsea don't have Drogba for that to work (make sure the gameplan would have been different if Drogba had played). Scolari was simply outwitted by Benitez, and even he'll admit that much.

@gerd, I'd suggest you watch the whole game. Some of the best passing moves were constructed by Liverpool, who, at least managed to penetrate the Chelsea defense. But I guess we've had this argument before, and we choose to agree to disagree. But, personally sick and tired of the 'Liverpool are boring and defensive' cliche.
 
Abhishek, that is the biggest load of balls I've read for quite some time. Seriously.

You were the better team, no doubt about it, but any talk of a tactical master class is a joke. There's no genius to the tactic 'fluke one in off the right backs chin, then sit back and try to hit on the counter'. Don't believe the hype as they say....
 
Boswinga and Cole could have crossed a million times in that game, but we wouldn't have given a monkeys, because Carragher and Dagger got to EVERYTHING.

All the chelsea crosses were early crosses from deep, and our backline was always in the right position to deal with the ball dropping either behind or infront of them.
 
And yes, Chelsea fans moaning about a single deflected goal. Isn't that how you've always beat us?

Cole, Lampard. Nuff said. Asheley Cole's chance wasn't an open goal, and it was on the half volley, by a defender not known for scoring...
 
well done to pool for beating us on our home ground.....lets move on.... i wouldn't agree on the fact rafa was tactical seeing the amount of space cole & bosingwa got..... on another day we would have scored one or more.... Mikel & DiSanto were the bright spots in that game!! Is this a sign for Big Phil to bring on some youths?? Bench some of the first teamer's? Sad bridge was injured as ashley was definitely wasn't fully fit!! Lets see how we far away from home.....against high flying Hull City!! Don't we have a record of away wins currently??
 
T Butcher fan said:
Abhishek, that is the biggest load of balls I've read for quite some time. Seriously.

You were the better team, no doubt about it, but any talk of a tactical master class is a joke. There's no genius to the tactic 'fluke one in off the right backs chin, then sit back and try to hit on the counter'. Don't believe the hype as they say....
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its genius to end 86 games unbeaten home record.. the different is we take our chances well you guys don't.. deflected or not deflected, fluke or not, whatever you said, it is call GOAL that count.. we're sit back in style, intercept every crosses and passes.. that's what we have, that's our style. So deal with it and move on.. it's just the start of the season.. :COOL:
 
leonard5126 said:
its genius to end 86 games unbeaten home record.. the different is we take our chances well you guys don't.. deflected or not deflected, fluke or not, whatever you said, it is call GOAL that count.. we're sit back in style, intercept every crosses and passes.. that's what we have, that's our style. So deal with it and move on.. it's just the start of the season.. :COOL:
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That's a massive crock of sh*t...but hey, enjoy it while you can. If Chelsea had scored off a Lampard special you'd be moaning just like every other Pool fan. It's true that the team who scores more wins, but don't make it sound like Xabi picked his spot. You got a slice of luck and defended brilliantly, that's about it.
 
I'm not bothered. We played rubbish football on the day and Pool scored a lucky goal (nought wrong with that). Ergo, there was no 'masterclass.' I thought it was a rather dull encounter. Besides, i know where Liverpool will be, come the business end of the season. ;)
 
Hull conquered... Malouda got a goal but he should have scored more!! Good play by Anelka to get that goal and Lampard nice chip goal or was it supposed to be a cross to Anelka? Whatever it was wished he was present & did such during our last game..... anyway 3 points in the kitty sadly so did pool win their match!!
 
damn.... but we do have cover lol...we are spoilt back in defense rather than up front!! Two First Teamer's in their respective countries.... damn i wish we had some good players up front.... undecided how to feel about Malouda... blows hot and cold in different matches!! Kalou will give him the benefit of doubt is young... thus benefit!!
More gutted by the fact Cole might be injured than Carvalho's loss.... Are we going to see Malouda & Kalou in the flanks or can we see Belletti & a youngster maybe Sinclair? Stoch?
 
uhh...no we dont we actually had 27 players initially and now that Mancienne has left on loan we have 26 players and lot of them on loan!! So that makes it a very small squad.... man how i wish we still had robben in our squad would love his speed to break open teams defenses!!
Guess Big Phil might train his guns on.....dunno who he will..... In regards to Ivanovich naa... he has been stated as one for the future!! I mean Carvalho isn't getting younger and Terry is too becoming injury prone....sadly that just might be proving as a hindrance to Mancienne entering the 1st team!!
 
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wow the missing man is on the subs list.... Minerio... Drogba back on bench & little joey cole is back guess the injury wasn't so serious!!! Bench gets more experience and all youngster's thrown out!! What's up with Cudicini? Is he going out in January?? I mean Hilario is on the subs list!! I would have liked to see Ivanovich & Terry as a CB pairing... Alex not bad but he is same as Terry!!
 
ok my bad.... Alex was phenomenal this half!! Goal, blocked crosses and cut off service!! He is good for some time it looked like only Alex was playing as CB!! damn shame Ashley Cole had to go off...guess another has joined the injury list!!
 
Morning team - I'm pleased to announce that my wife gave birth to a little girl on Wednesday night! I'm currently knee deep in Nappies and lullabies but it's great fun (despite the sleepless nights).

Not had a sniff of BAL for over a week though!

Sort of a big game tonight, it would be great if we could win and get qualification for the next stage out of the way. But at the same time a defeat wouldn't make much difference either. We just need to avoid injuries! Every week we lose at least one person. It's beyond a joke.

Any ideas for who we'll sign in January?
 
Congrats mate, Your 1 down at the moment so its not going to well it seems and Malouda is arguably one of the worst players to play for a top 4 side, how this guy was ever rated is beyond me!
 
Oh dear - that wasn't so good!

Didn't do too much wrong first 40 minutes, and then we fell apart. Awful performance but one that might do us some good in the long run. If we don't score early, or at least score first in matches, we lose our way. As I've said before, against the top teams a strike force of Kalou, Anelka and Malouda isn't good enough so surely this is the wake up call we need for January.

I might be on my own here, but I wouldn't be heartbroken to see us out of Europe in the group stages, or at least early in the knockouts. We're always fighting for trophies on 4 fronts and I think we could do without the distractions this season. And obviously Scolari feels the same :BOP:.
 
Congrats Terry!

Well, that wasn't a good show was it. 'Balloona' was woeful again. What was with that shot he swiped wildly at?!

It was a must win for Roma or their season was in the bin, so kudos to them for winning it. We only need one more win i believe and i'd like to think we can beat Cluj at home and get a result at Bordeaux (bar more injuries).

As for who we should sign. A decent winger!
 
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Malouda was called "Laurent Maladroit" when he first was in Lyon...
I think this defeat isn't a catastrophe for Chelsea....in fact i hope Roma still can qualify...they are capable of producing stunning football when they are at their best...it would be a shame if they would not qualify...
 
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