Where did it go wrong?

[sexelk]

This is my 1st post so I'm going to give you my opinions on where we have gone wrong...

There is no denying Chelsea are in a sad state atm and Rom, if your reading this, take heed lol

(I don't really know where to start so this could be a bit all over the place and i apologise cause it's a bit wordy)

Phil Scolari/Tactics - is he really all he is cracked up to be? World Cup winner maybe, but you just had to point that Brazil team in the right direction and they did the rest for you. In my opinion he stifled that Brazil team (and got away with it) with his negative tactics. Negative tactics which he brought with him to Portugal and now to Chelsea.

Has he changed anything? I am far from Avram Grants biggest fan and no-one was happier to see him go. It was a great chance for Chelsea to revamp their attitude and style but Scolari has adopted the same tactics and employed the personnel in the same way. At least Avram Grant knew how to hold on to a home record. Something which I, as a fan was very proud of and one of the few things we could rub in people's faces. Playing Anelka on the wing was something which Grant was slated for but Scolari gets away with it.

Excuse, after excuse, after excuse is all we are hearing from Scolari atm. "Drogba and Anelka can't play together" - Arsenal last year. 1-0 down, hopeless, creating nothing. Grant brings on Anelka and goes 4-4-2. for the next 15/20 mins we destroy le Arse, score 2 goals and win 2-1 (Grant being Grant, at 2-1 stick Anelka out to the wing and the rest of the match we were pish but that's neither here nor there). Point being, he hasn't even experimented. Try it and see you nob. "I can't play 4-4-2 because Malouda is injured". Why sell Bridge? perfectly capable of filling in on left midfield. Doesn't even play Malouda when he is fit so hardly convincing is it Phil?

4-3-3 is a myth. When Bolton or West Brom employ the same formation it is 4-5-1. Since when have wingers become forwards? I hear people justify it by saying when we have the ball the wingers are pushed right up. At the end of the day, they are still midfielders with a midfielder's approach and instincts.

Imo, we play 4-5-1 to fit Michael Ballack into the squad (I will come back to this later). We have arguably the best back 5 (4 and keeper) in the world. Why the f*ck do we need a 5 man midfield to cover? Scolari made a comment that when we don't have the ball, he needs the 3 CMs as cover. WHY? Why doesn't he have faith in his back 5? like every other manager at top clubs

4-5-1 is all about possession football. Against utd, we had 40% of the ball. They played 4-4-2. When we have the ball we play quick short passes, something that may look nice but when it comes to breaking a team down, it is utterly useless. Against a team that sits back, you might create a few chances but as this season has shown, as soon as a team hassles us, we have no idea what to do. How many clear cut chances did we create against Utd, Everton, West Ham, Newcastle. You could count them all on one hand

The reason we cannot create anything is we are not direct enough. The only person who can take a player on and beat them is Joe Cole and he is played out of position. Cole doesn't have the pace to play on the wing. He sould be played just off the strikers, where beating a player opens more space for your strikers. That was the difference between us and Utd. They took are players on and opened space. We persisted with our short passes, allowing them time to get behind the ball and close us down

Arjen Robben - Whoever took the decision to sell this guy needs a swift kick in the Davina McCalls. Injury prone maybe, but he is going to get a spell in his career when he will stay fit for a few seasons and he is the best winger in the world (maybe bar ronaldo/messi if you count messi as a winger). And besides, Robben playing for 3 games will have more impact in a season than his replacement in 40 games

Michael Ballack - The most over-hyped, over-rated useless piece of cr*p to ever put on a Chelsea shirt. 2 Premiership titles before Ballack's arrival and I place the blame of no 3rd title squarely at Ballack's feet. An untouchable my t*ts. Completey inept when it comes to something more ambitious than a 2-yard sideways pass and you would not believe the amount of times he is caught in possession (watch a re-run of the utd game for a few examples. I remember at one point, it was a utd corner or something but suddenly the chance for a quick breakaway was on. Ballack brought the ball up to close to the halfway line. 4 or 5 Chelsea players moving forward. What does he do? passes the ball sideways, behind one of our players - breakaway ended). Worst player on the pitch in most games - again down to his pitiful passing. He may be good in the air and he can certainly hit a spot kick but that is all he can do. 0 goals, 0 assists this season speaks for itself. I have read many people say that he is sacrificing himself for the good of the team but that is utter bullsh*t. He his playing the position he has always played. He is there solely on a big reputation carried from a sh*t league. We are now trying to get him on to a performance related contract - I wonder why

Our formation needs to change if we are to challenge for anything this season. As we are not going to spend in Jan, wingers are not an option. I see the formation as:

Cech

Bosingwa --- Terry --- Carvalho --- Cole

Mikel

Deco --- Lampard

Cole

Anelka --- Drogba

Obviously when Essien is back, Deco can f*ck off. (he is only in the team because the alternative is the aforementioned Ballack. At least Deco has put in 1 or 2 mom performances this season). Width can be provided by the full backs, with Joey Cole in behind the strikers with a free role

In the summer we need to get in a good winger and another striker. Robben back would be the best choice but highly unlikely (or Robinho ffs)

I don't see much point in getting rid of Scolari until the summer. Imo he doesn't deserve longer than that and I'm confident he won't change my mind

hello btw

[blizeH]

Hi & welcome to the forum.

Not enough time to read everything at the moment unfortunately, but regarding the pace thing, Ashley, Joe and Bosingwa aren't slow, not by any means! We've just got everything wrong tactically and metally, it isn't working at all, and a few of your other points I very much agree with.

[midlandblue]

very impressive first post

welcome

[Nibs]

Welcome.

It was a bit all over the place but must say, I agree with just about all of it so good first post!!

Not sure of the name you've chosen though?

[sexelk]

Welcome.

It was a bit all over the place but must say, I agree with just about all of it so good first post!!

Not sure of the name you've chosen though? :)

lol surname into predictive text and that came out

i'm not american btw how do I change that

was a member on cfcnet but kept getting banned. they're all self righteous pompous twats over there. if you don't agree with them or arse lick ballack till your toungue falls off you are banned and accused of being a scouser

[TheWestwayWonder]

Welcome to the forum, agree with Nibs about the name though, haha

This is a very good first post, as its always good to have people who are gonna improve the standard of the discussion around here. However, there are a few points where I disagree, and want to offer a riposte to them.

-I dont think you can fairly label anything Big Phil has done since getting here as negative. If you mean that he is meddling or confusing and inhibits the play, then I might agree, but with the current personell I doubt many people would have guessed he would have us playing attack attack attack every game.

-The Robben thing, and the point about 4-3-3. When we had Drogba flanked by Robben and Duffer/Cole up front, then imo that was a 4-3-3 attack, but a 4-4-2 defense, because you know Joey or Duff were going to drop back and mix it up to win the ball back, but couldnt count on the other two to do it. Robben couldnt anyway. In Robben's case, i was all for his sale because, imo, his attitude was poisonous and he was a prat, but the mistake to me came in not getting a replacement for him. And there were plenty available. I wouldnt point to Van der Vaart as a versatile player who has the same pace, skill, shot etc (maybe not the guile and trickery) who might have been easily had this summer, and improved our width dramatically.

However, on everything else, I think you are spot on, buddy. Especially the part about the three midfielders. I like Mikel and all, but i dont really understand why we needed a holding player early this season when the biggest issue we had was breaking teams down. IMO Mikel is needed if we are thin on the backline, or face a roaming CAM like Jailbird Ger 'National Traitor' rard who he can shadow, but outside of that, go two in the middle, two on the outside (if we even have two for the outside) and two up front. Once Essien gets back, imo, his versatility means we will always have him tracking back, anyway

Again, welcome to the forum

[loz]

Welcome mate

Can't change your flag I'm afraid - it is linked to your ISP so you are going to have to move countries!

[sexelk]

However, on everything else, I think you are spot on, buddy. Especially the part about the three midfielders. I like Mikel and all, but i dont really understand why we needed a holding player early this season when the biggest issue we had was breaking teams down. IMO Mikel is needed if we are thin on the backline, or face a roaming CAM like Jailbird Ger 'National Traitor' rard who he can shadow, but outside of that, go two in the middle, two on the outside (if we even have two for the outside) and two up front. Once Essien gets back, imo, his versatility means we will always have him tracking back, anyway

Don't get me wrong, I love Mikel. For me he has been our stand out player this season and he is the future of our midfield. Great passer and disrupts opposition play (not always legally but i'm not complaining). Seriously needs to work on his shooting though lol. If we splash on a winger in the summer and play 4-4-2, he would miss out because Essien is a machine and Lamps is Lamps but he would be pushing them hard for a spot

Welcome mate

Can't change your flag I'm afraid - it is linked to your ISP so you are going to have to move countries!

lol work for an american company you see. shouldn't really be on here but sure

[loz]

lol work for an american company you see. shouldn't really be on here but sure

Just don't do what I did and get caught! That was one uncomfortable 'progress meeting' with my boss!

[Scott]

lol surname into predictive text and that came out

i'm not american btw how do I change that

was a member on cfcnet but kept getting banned. they're all self righteous pompous twats over there. if you don't agree with them or arse lick ballack till your toungue falls off you are banned and accused of being a scouser :)

You can't change, your a Yank now.

BTW I agree 4-3-3 as we play it now is a myth unless we played

.......Di Santo................Drogba.....................Anelka

across the front. What Chelsea play is more of a 4-1-4-1.

Welcome to the Shed End !