Montana Fan

This one is on Benitez for me. I didn't mind his initial team selection, but his substitutions, or lack thereof, again didn't make any sense. I would've liked to see Marin start on the wing in place of Oscar, but starting Oscar was fine. I thought Benitez was a boring defensive tactician. Well FSW, you've got a 2 goal lead at the half. How about you get defensive? Mata should have been subbed as early as possible. He's been dragging lately and desperately needed a rest before the big weekend tie with Arsenal. Didn't Benitez pop off in the press about how certain players were being over-used? No sh*t Rafa! So now Mata has picked up a little knock and both he and Hazard played the full 90 just to get a draw out of Southampton!? It's as if he's actively trying to hurt the team's chances. It's f-ing Southampton FFS! Use the squad! As others have suggested, he should have brought Terry in and moved Luiz to midfield. He could have sat Hazard or Mata for Bertrand and brought in Marin for fresh legs. He could have rested Mata, Hazard and Lampard in the 2nd half. He could have brought Brani on for Dave if he wanted to toughen up the back line. He had a ton of of options to tighten up the defense that would've given some key players a little rest ahead of Arsenal. But what did he do? Nothing. With a 2 goal lead he left a flat-looking, attack-minded team on the field and watched them piss away the lead. FSW, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

I'm with you, Searcher. Why bring in Torres when we're up 0-3(now 0-4)? Why not give Piazon a shot up front? Why not bring Marin or Oscar on for Mata or Hazard?

Is it just me or does anyone else think we should be looking at defenders in the transfer window? All the talk is about strikers and midfielders. We need the striker, but with Luiz playing so well in midfield and Terry out injured aren't we thin in defense? With Luiz moving up all we have at the moment are Ash, Ivan, Dave, Cahill, Bertrand and Paulo!? Am I missing anybody? Can Ake play? There's no way to rotate at center back. If Cahill, Ivan or Dave pick up a knock we'll be forced to drop Luiz back which isn't so bad. But wouldn't we be better off if we had another quality defender in the mix. We need Terry back asap, but of course he's not getting any younger. What do you all think? What's the plan for defense?

I came to Chelsea through the video game too. Some friends got me hooked last winter and somehow I chose Chelsea. I played with ManU, City, Bayern Munich and other top teams, but I kept coming back to Chelsea. Mata, Torres, Lampard, and of course Drogba were a devastating offensive combination. Terry, Cole, & Cech at the back made them tough to beat. Hardly anybody cares about soccer in this country. I can't get coverage without buying multiple cable packages and I'm too stubborn and cheap to be extorted by the cable cartels(free market my ass). But I followed the champions league knockout rounds on the net. All I could find were those crappy game tracker/commentary deals but I followed the team through to the final. Then, miraculously the final was on network TV. It was easily the greatest sporting event I've ever watched. I've been hooked since. I still haven't figured out how to watch the games. I listen to the commentary through the Chelsea website and watch the highlights after. I think I've only missed a game or two all season, and some of them start at ridiculous times here. I was up at 4:30am for the club cup final. I love it though, cooking breakfast and listening to the Blues is a great way to start the day; unless they lose of course.

I'm waiting for an apology from all the folks who said playing Luiz in the midfield was completely mental. I believe one poster told me the move was akin to playing Torres in goal. Well, what do you have to say now? Luiz as a midfielder is the talk of the football world. Who needs Fellaini? We've got our own crazy-haired midfield monster. I love it.

What is with this bunch? Every time they're looking good in a crucial match they find a way to piss it away. We were up against Liverpool, up two on Juventus, up at Shaktar, up against Swansea, and now West Ham come from behind. They seem to lack concentration and motivation. The problem pre-dates Rafa but he's clearly not solved it.

I'd like to see Moses, Mata & Marin start just to see a different look up front. The back four is obvious: Azpi, Ivan, Cahill, Cole. We're stuck with Torres up front. Defensive mid is tougher to call with Ramires Mikel and Romeu all serviceable. I expect a fresh Mikel will start with Ramires, but what do I know? Precious little. I think Ivanovic, Cole and Cahill are our biggest goal threats at the moment. That's a sad state. Late in the Fulham match it seemed like Ivan and Cole were fed up with the attack and started pushing forward as if to show the front six how it's done. Cole had a blast that got palmed over for what should've been a corner. It seemed like he was making a statement with that kick; "Let's put some damned shots on target. It's not that hard boys." Having Cole back in the lineup has been huge. We need that veteran leadership at the moment to settle the younger players and give them confidence. Terry and Lampard must feel sick watching the team struggle. Kick-off is 5:45am where I'm at. Here's hoping I start the day with some good news from the Blues.

That was a very thorough response, TBB. Thank you.

Brandinho, if he compromises the midfield defense, ideally he'd still have five guys behind him to clean up the mess. But you're right it's a pretty mental idea. I just don't think it's any more mental then throwing an extra young right back in the mix, changing formation, playing without a striker, and expecting three three tiny, young, midfielders to boss the ball against Juventus. What other reasons do you have for being against the move? I'm genuinely curious as I make no allusions to having any kind of real football experience or knowledge.

That wasn't just a bad night. He took a team that was only struggling a bit and completely blew it up. He gave in to all the anti-Torres pressure and I expect started an irreconcileable feud with our top striker. He put his job on the line for that match and Chelsea got embarassed, completely dominated in the 2nd half. That was a catastrophic night, all on his shoulders, and I don't see how he could have continued from there.

I was a big fan of RDM's up until the Juve game. In my opinion he absolutely panicked with his team selection. We haven't been that bad this season or lately. Aside from a couple of defensive errors and poor finishing we dominated the match against West Brom. We looked good against Liverpool, Manchester United twice, and in the first meeting with Juventus. Against ManU I felt we could have won the first match with 10 men. Plus we've seen some bad luck with injuries, shoddy refereeing and many missed penalty calls that have helped this current skid along. Yes, we've struggled of late but there was no need for panic. The team was competitive. RDM panicked, took the team out of their game, killed their confidence and Juventus blew us off the field. I don't think Fernando Torres is the problem. He's just a convenient scapegoat. He plays hard and is always dangerous passing and shooting. He draws a lot of attention from defenders. Sure he's struggled recently but I think sitting him against Juventus was a really poor move. Struggles or not he's still our best and most experienced striker. I could have seen giving Sturridge the start against Juve. He looked sharp against West Brom aside from some trouble finishing. But when he pulled a hamstring in training we had to go back to Torres. If you bench Torres and lose like we did you're left with one really upset striker. How does that help the team? After that move failed, RDM was done. Our troubles haven't primarily been on offense. We've looked really dangerous all season. The problems are defensive. Aside from adding Azpilicueta and really screwing up the formation RDM didn't do much of anything with the defense against Juve. But his big mistake was leaving 3 really small, offensive-minded midfielders up front. If he really wanted to defend I would have liked to see him move Luiz to defensive mid with Mikel; put Ivanovic and Cahill (currently our 2 best center backs, Where was Ivanovic against West Brom btw?) at the back with Cole and Azpi beside them. He could then have put Ramires in the attacking midfield with only one of the Mata, Oscar, Hazard trio (I'd prefer Mata) and Bertrand, Romeu or Moses to really beef the midfield up. Maybe then you could put Hazard, Moses or Oscar up front in place of Torres, but I still don't like that move. That would have given us 6 solid defenders at the back, plus an attacking midfielder or 2 that could also drop back and defend well. Take Pirlo/Quag's first goal. Pirlo knicked the ball easily from Oscar, burned Ramires and fired on goal. If it was Ramires he had to knick the ball off, and Luiz to beat I don't think he would have had it so easy. Oscar, Hazard and Mata are fantastic, but playing all 3 together leaves our defense exposed. Juve are a gritty, experienced team and we only needed a draw. Park the bus and hope Mata and Torres can make something happen on the counter. RDM tried to have it both ways throwing Azpi in to bolster the defense but also playing an extremely attack-minded front 3. His changes failed miserably in my opinion, and exposed all the little mistakes he's made leading up to this game such as not giving Sturridge any time up front (why play him in the mid-field behind Torres?), playing too many attackers at once, playing inexperienced young players in crucial games, and preferring Luiz to Cahill and Ivanovic at the back. He left Roman and the board little choice. He had to go.

I completely agree. If RDM wanted to shake things up defensively for the Juve match he should have moved Luiz to defensive mid. His creativity, ball skills and tackling prowess would shine there and we wouldn't get completely burned when he falls asleep or does his hands behind his back routine. Plus we wouldn't have had to completely overhaul the 4-2-3-1 formation that's been really dangerous so far this season. Ivanovic and Cahill are our best center backs at the moment. Ivanovic is a beast. He's great at right back but we need him in the middle with JT out, and we have Azpi playing well on the right to fill that spot. Leave Mikel at defensive mid with Luiz and you've got 6 really solid defenders at the back. And if you're really serious about defending against Juve you put Ramires and maybe Bertrand in the attacking mid with only one of the Mata Hazard Oscar trio. Juve are a gritty, experienced team. Mata, Hazard and Oscar are fantastic but all three together leaves the midfield quite small. Victor Moses could have fit into the mix at striker or attacking midfield in this set up as well. I've been a big fan of RDM's but what he did against Juve made no sense to me. Sure he added an extra defender but he played a really small midfield with Hazard, Oscar, and Mata up front and Ramires at CDM. I think everyone can agree what a disaster that game plan turned out to be.