ethicalstrategy

I never said anything about Lampard playing at his best. It's obvious that he hasn't been as good last season and this as he was in the previous two seasons. That's not what your post was saying/implying. You said he was well below par in the vast majority of his performances over last season and this and that a spell on the bench might motivate him to put in more effort. The implication being that he was a) not worth his place in the team and not trying. I apologise if the way in which I made my point annoyed you but I still think you are completely wrong. I think most Chelsea fans would be very glad to have Frank back in the team particularly as we have Essien and Mikel away and SWP injured. What with the alternative being Sidwell. I am presuming that you would play him ahead of Sidwell?

Have you been drinking? Firstly, no one is suggesting Ballack is dropped. We have a desperate shortage of midfielders at the moment. Secondly, "the vast majority of his performances over the last two seasons have been well below par" Loz, is there a prize for most ridiculous post of the year so far?

That's a triumph of investigative journalism! Where's it from? Heat magazine?

A very difficult choice. Cole is a better defender, I'm sure of that. Bridge is much better going forward. I'd obviously try to keep hold of both and play them as appropriate. All round though I would say Bridge is better. His attacking skills are much better than Cole whilst his defending is only a little behind Cole.

I meant play, I guess. And yes, I did know you would pick Joe! If he is, he hasn't been showing it this season. The same is true of skill. It's no use going past defenders if the ball is then lost. Yep, I'll give you that. That may be your perception but the facts show it's just not true - I know you don't like to acknowledge stats but if the alternative is gut feel then I prefer them. I do agree that Joe is at his best when he can turn and run at players more centrally, but then again this thread is about wingers/wide players.

In the PL 6 of his 20 games were as a sub. I'd have to do a lot more homework to apportion his assists and goals between matches he started and those he came on as sub! No doubt though it is easier to make an impact if you have fresh legs in the last 20 mins.

It's doing the rounds on some other sites. Apparently it comes from his mum and dad I hope it's not true.

I actually think Kalou would get more interest to be honest. He is younger and has arguably more potential than Joey. My 10 year old son is younger still and arguably has loads of potential too. Don't mean a great deal though!! OK. So you have a straight choice between Joe or Kalou. Which one do you choose and, more importantly, why?

Damn! These things come back to haunt you! Just goes to show that I don't have it in for Joe at all or any special bias towards Kalou. The truth is, with a fully fit squad neither would get in my starting line up on a regular basis. This thread is entitled do we need a new winger and my answer was yes we do! I was merely saying that out of the "wide" player we have Kalou has contributed most, but as you rightly say he is really a striker. But then Joe is not really a winger either - he doesn't have the pace. You can mock goals and assists as a measure of effectiveness, but it's a darn sight more helpful than a very subjective measure like going on a mazy run. In any case, my understanding is that assists are awarded for a significant contribution to the goal rather than simply who touched it second to last! As for saturday, I still haven't seen anymore than the football first highlights and so am not making any judgement on how well or otherwise Joe played.

The mail is reporting that he got injured in training on Friday - which would explain his absence for the Birmingham match - and that he will be out at least until after the England v. Switzerland match. I hope that's not true. Anyone heard anything else?

Which is where Ten Cate comes in - the man almost entirely responsible for getting Ronnie's fitness to its peak and having him playing at his very best. I don't see why he couldn't do the same for us. In some ways Ronnie may be even more motivated to perform for us as he will be the main focal point of our creativity rather than one of a few. You could be right. I just feel that someone who isn't prepared to come to training regularly (my understanding is that even in his halcyon days Ronnie didn't manage more than 50% of the Barca training sessions) and therefore holds himself above the rest of the squad is likely to cause disharmony. One of our biggest strengths is the togetherness that Jose engendered and which is still in tact under Grant seemingly. I would hate to lose that.

Thanks for the support! My point was that "best" is a subjective measure but "effective" is measurable with things like goals and assists. Using those measures it is clear and unarguable that Kalou rates as our most effective wide player this season. If there are other measures that people can suggest that are more important then I'd be interested to hear what they are.

It looked a nasty twist. He went over on it pretty badly. I was surprised that he was able to continue so long after to be honest. I hope for his sake it's not too bad.

Reasonable question. ------------------Cech Belletti-------Carvalho---JT-------Bridge --------------Mikel/Essien ---------Lampard-------Ballack ----------------------Ronaldinho -------Anelka ------------------Drogba I would want to see the full backs getting forward to provide true width. Anelka and Ronnie are comfortable drifting wide and cutting back in with Drogba leading the line. We would almost certainly concede more as I don't see either Anelka or Ronnie tracking back like SWP or Joey but the basic system would take us much closer to how Barca played when Ronnie was at his best. With a bit of time and the right coaching I could easily see us playing some pretty exciting football. (All assuming that Ronnie was motivated to train and play)

I think you may be on your own with that conclusive opinion or at least in a very small minority!!! Not my opinion. Fact. Kalou has scored 5 goals and made 8 assists. Joe has 3 goals and 1 assist in a comparable number of games. Step overs and beating the same player three times don't count! Seriously though, if you can't see that kalou has been more effective than Joe then you really aren't being objective.

Oh how quickly we forget those matches at Xmas against Blackburn, Villa, Fulham, Newcastle and QPR. Top marks for results, but the performances were pretty pants. I'm not complaining just pointing out that the signs that we are playing better are not all that clear!

I think it has been established fairly conclusively that of our 4 wide players this season Kalou has been the most effective, followed by SWP with Joey trailing in just ahead of Malouda. That's not based on my subjective view but on the facts. I've only seen the football first hightlights of yesterday's game so I can't really comment on how well Joe did, but as a general rule my impression is that he mixes occasional moments of brilliance with losing the ball trying to do too much. His work rate for the team is always high and although he can be a bit rash with some tackles he always tracks back. On the subject of us needing a new winger: I would say yes we do. Mainly because I don't think we have any at the moment (maybe Kalou). Cole and Malouda are really wide midfielders and SWP is pretty hopeless as a winger. I too wish we hadn't sold Robben but as he has been permanently injured at Madrid it wouldn't have made any difference anyway.

It's nothing to do with sky, apart from the subscription management. It is corporate, but it doesn't stop sensible discussion, for instance when Jose was sacked there was extensive coverage including criticism from fans and pundits alike. There are a lot more than 2 clubs with their own TV channel these days. A lot of the premier league clubs have a channel, albeit just on the internet. But as well as ManUTV, Liverpool and Arsenal TV are now available via the Setanta package and so are Rangers Tv and Celtic TV. Real Madrid TV (English version) is available free too. I certainly don't spend my whole life watching it, but it's good if you want to watch full match coverage of every game, albeit delayed. I do agree though that you won't find out anything you didn't already know in respect of transfers etc.

We may have a mixed record when it comes to signing players, but we seems to know when to get rid of them I have been really struggling to think of any player who has left since Abramovich arrived who has gone on to be a resounding success at another club. I'm sure there are others, but off the top of my head: Gallas - first season at Arsenal finished 4th, didn't play too much, played out of position still. This season started much better. He may be the only one who could be considered to still be successful. Guddy - bit part player at Barca Robben - barely played through injury at Madrid. Last injury in training after Xmas! Parker - is he still playing football? Duff - makes Robben look resilient Kezman - ??? Tiago - last heard of failing to impress at Juve Smertin - bit part player at Fulham? Huth - seeing why he never made it at Chelsea Glen Johnson - not doing bad at Pompey to be fair Geremi - journeyman at Newcastle Carlton Cole - leading the line at West Ham - surely must be due an England call up soon? Veron - words fail me Crespo - steady at Inter but not a regular starter I don't think I've ignored those who left in the initial months like JFH, Gronks, Melchiot etc but I think the same applies.

I would suggest we will start: ------------Cech Belletti---Alex----Carvalho-----Bridge -----------Maka ----Lampard-------Ballack SWP-----------------------Malouda -----------Anelka

"on fire" might just be stretching it a teensy bit! He had a decent start playing out wide followed by a relapse to "absolutely pants". He has since had two very good games in the inside right position. It will be interesting to see how he fares out wide again when Lamps comes back this weekend.

Best team: ----------------Cech Belletti---- Carvalho---- JT----- Bridge -------------Mikel -----Essien------------Ballack -----------Lampard ----------------------Anelka ----------Drogba Subs: Carlo Alex SWP Joe Cole Malouda

I hope to god it's not Ronnie The only players I would be interested in would be Iniesta, Messi, Eto'o. Dos Santos and Bojan could be worth a punt.

i think some of that Norfolk air has been affecting you Nibs! Sinclair a possible candidate for player of the year so far? or SWP? or Joey? With the best will in the world there are players in your last list that have contributed more than those three. Kalou, Drogba, Essien, Lamps, JT. I'm not saying that they have excelled by any means but I'd still rate them well ahead of those three. My choice as of today would be Carvalho

Following the revelation that Kalou is our top assister in the PL this season I found a raft of other interesting stats. Of course some will feel that stats don't tell the whole story and that's true. But at the same time they can also be quite revealing in the sense that they take the subjectivity out of the equation. The first set show Lampard against Ballack. Not really to compare the two, but rather to show that some of the comment about Lampard and his "poor" form this season is not backed up by the facts. He is second on our list of assists and joint leading scorer in the league - despite missing 7 games through injury. Appearances Goals Goals per game Assists Assists per game Lampard 15 (0) 5 1 in 3 6 1 in 2.5 Ballack 3 (1) 2 1 in 2 1 1 in 4 The set below compares our wide players. I must admit I was surprised by the numbers. Kalou is our joint top scorer and leads our assists - in fact he is 5th overall in the Prem. Maybe not quite as sh*t as some have suggested. SWP has been very in and out. He started the season well under Jose but then has really struggled until the last couple of games. Joey has scored some important goals but is some way behind both Kalou and SWp in terms of his contribution to the team. Malouda has played more games than I realised without really being particularly effective. Appearances Goals Goals per game Assists Assists per game Kalou 14 (6) 5 1 in 4 8 1 in 2.5 Joey 15 (3) 3 1 in 6 1 1 in 18 SWP 14 (5) 2 1 in 9.5 4 1 in 4.75 Malouda 10 (2) 1 1 in 12 1 1 in 12 This last set show how much we miss Didier. He scores and assists at a very high rate. Sheva's contribution this season has also been good in terms of goals although we haven't seen much in the way of assists. Appearances Goals Goals per game Assists Assists per game Drogba 10 (1) 5 1 in 2.2 3 1 in 3.6 Sheva 8 (3) 4 1 in 2.75 1 1 in 11 None of this proves anything, but I quite enjoyed putting it together