Drogba and Anelka

[Sparkz]

surely they should start together after today? anelka was ineffective on the wing, but as soon as he came in the middle he looked alot better and scored 3 goals!

credit to drogba aswell, looked very good and had some good oppurtunitys!

[Mod]

I would start with Anelka over Drogba these days if we were playing the one up there.

If together, I would put Drogba out wider. As you said, as soon as Anelka moved central, he was unstoppable.

[blueday3]

Agreed Mod, especially since Drogba has delivered some good crosses and needs more time on the pitch before he is scoring again.

[geezer]

Looks like Mancienne and Stoch can also play and on the same wing despite being 'inexperienced'. Watch and learn unbelievers.

[Chippy]

It's a lot different playing 4-4-2 against Watford than it would be against the likes of UTD and Pool..even Villa so I doubt if we will see it again until we are chasing the game,

Taking off Mikel against lower league opposition takes far less bravery than it would when a team has the players to punish it.

Mancienne looked confident but not really pressed hard and Stoch as I've said for a while looks ready for a strat.

Take nothing away from Butch today he done well (apart from as I said yesterday he should have rested Cole).

Edited February 14, 2009 by Chippy

[coco]

I would start with Anelka over Drogba these days if we were playing the one up there.

If together, I would put Drogba out wider. As you said, as soon as Anelka moved central, he was unstoppable.

:wub:

Looks like Mancienne and Stoch can also play and on the same wing despite being 'inexperienced'. Watch and learn unbelievers.

[BlueBeard]

Can't remember how long I've been advocating playing 4-4-2, but as soon as we switched today we scored two goals in two minutes.

Anelka's strength lies in playing alongside another striker, so the sooner we adapt to that the better.

Chippy - you were spot on about Ashley Cole, Wilkins should have left him out today - now we've got to play Villa with no proper left back - brilliant!

[Chippy]

Can't remember how long I've been advocating playing 4-4-2, but as soon as we switched today we scored two goals in two minutes.

Anelka's strength lies in playing alongside another striker, so the sooner we adapt to that the better.

Chippy - you were spot on about Ashley Cole, Wilkins should have left him out today - now we've got to play Villa with no proper left back - brilliant!

I am with you on the 4-4-2 Steve as I said when I put the team I'd have liked to see against Watford but I still think it needs some fine tuning of the players to make it work against the big boys,

I think it has to be used a lot more though but not at the moment necessarily as plan A.

I really hoped Butch would leave Cole out, had a feeling he would get the Yellow that means he will miss the Villa game which could hurt.

Sorry I missed you in match chat mate..had people round.

[clubhappy]

Drogs did ok tonight but dosent look as sharp and his touch let him down a few times too, a few games and a goal or two should make a difference. Anelka's hat trick was typical Anelka, opportunity and ability to finish in the right position.

Delighted with the win but im still concerned with our poor defending and failure to deal with crosses.

[ethicalstrategy]

The key here is for them to play together up front rather than with one or other out wide. Anelka was invisible until we switched to 4-4-2. All round Drogba had a much better game, which I know sounds ridiculous when you see Anelka scored 3 goals. The problem is that Anelka offers nothing apart from the goals so if he doesn't score then he is a complete passenger.

We need to play with width too and we didn't do that until we brought Stoch on. I think we need to stick to that if we want to get anywhere this season.

[coco]

All round Drogba had a much better game, which I know sounds ridiculous when you see Anelka scored 3 goals. The problem is that Anelka offers nothing apart from the goals so if he doesn't score then he is a complete passenger.

Your right, its ridiculous, 3 great goals, all 3 were superb takes by Nico.

I dont care what else he did in the game. He is without doubt a better finisher than Drogba at the moment.

He should have the full support of Hiddink and Roman after that game and those 3 finishes.

[Orangutan]

Your right, its ridiculous, 3 great goals, all 3 were superb takes by Nico.

I dont care what else he did in the game. He is without doubt a better finisher than Drogba at the moment.

He should have the full support of Hiddink and Roman after that game and those 3 finishes.

Better finisher, sure, but that's all he does. Drogba looks more capable of setting up others. If Nico isn't scoring, he's almost worthless out there. Not so for Drogba.

[coco]

Better finisher, sure, but that's all he does.

What about Cech, all he does is dive around saving the ball, and then theres Terry, bleeding waste of time he is, all he does is tackle, never dribbles down the wing or anything else adventerous.

As far as I'm concerned, whenever available they should of been paired together up front (centrally) from day 1 .

[Orangutan]

What about Cech, all he does is dive around saving the ball, and then theres Terry, bleeding waste of time he is, all he does is tackle, never dribbles down the wing or anything else adventerous.

As far as I'm concerned, whenever available they should of been paired together up front (centrally) from day 1 .

Come now, you're being absurd. I'm simply trying to make the point that Drogba was a better all-around attacking player than Anelka. Of course, strikers are ultimately judged by goals, but there's a bit more to it than that.

But we do agree in that they should be on the pitch together centrally. Play Anelka up high to take advantage of his goal-poaching ability with Drogba just behind him in a slightly more altruistic playmaking role.

[TomP]

Can't remember how long I've been advocating playing 4-4-2, but as soon as we switched today we scored two goals in two minutes.

Not so sure we will see a 4-4-2 under Guus.

When he wants to play with 2 strikers, he tends to go with a 3-5-2.

Something like:

...................Cech....................

..........JT.....Carvalho...Alex......

Bos...................................Cole

..........Lamps..Mikel..Ballack......

..........Drogs.........Anelka...........

It means we don't play with proper wingers - but we haven't got any decent ones anyway!

[Barn]

I still don't want to see Drogba anywhere near my football club, let alone starting in the team - Anelka and Di Santo through the middle.

[sexelk]

...................Cech....................

..........JT.....Carvalho...Alex......

Bos...................................Cole

..........Lamps..Mikel..Ballack......

..........Drogs.........Anelka...........

i would cry if i seen that formation

don't know why mikel was sacrificed when we made the switch to 4-4-2. i don't know what ballack has to do to get dropped. evidently miss from 2 yards isn't quite enough

i have been saying it all season, the only thing wrong with us is the formation. we were complete and utter bollocks for 72 mins, switch to 4-4-2 and score 3 in 15 mins. it's not rocket science. was the same against arsenal last season. we were 1 nil down and playing terrible, we make the switch to 4-4-2 and destroy them for 10mins, score 2 goals to go 2-1 up but then we went back to 4-5-1 and were awful again, held on for the 2-1 win

was suprised quaresma didn't come on for kalou at some stage. kalou wasn't having the best of games and quaresma would have given us the speed for 4-4-2

i was actually really glad the match played out like it did. it gave hiddink a chance to see the problems that we have been dealing with and clearly how to resolve them:

4-5-1 is sh*t and doesn't work. 4-4-2 is great and it does work

anelka is useless on the wing. he scores a hattrick in 15mins when played up front

drogba and anelka can play up front together

ballack is crap and misses from 2 yards. thinks it's f*cking funny when he does (i was ready to put my foot through the tv when i seen him laugh about it)

our youth is compenent and deserves a chance

would love to see this line-up against villa:

cech

belletti --- terry --- ricky --- mancienne

quaresma --- mikel --- lamps --- kalou

anelka --- drogba

simple 4-4-2 with a bit of speed and creativity on the wings. lamps to push on, mikel more in the game. bosingwa has been terrible of late so give belletti a run and mancienne looked really competent even on the left foot. has the speed to correct any mistakes made from playin on the wrong flank

I still don't want to see Drogba anywhere near my football club, let alone starting in the team - Anelka and Di Santo through the middle.

that is harsh, drogba played well

he wasn't treated the best by scolari and if he can get back to any sort of form under hiddink then he is a definite starter for me

Edited February 16, 2009 by sexelk

[evissy]

Not so sure we will see a 4-4-2 under Guus.

When he wants to play with 2 strikers, he tends to go with a 3-5-2.

Something like:

...................Cech....................

..........JT.....Carvalho...Alex......

Bos...................................Cole

..........Lamps..Mikel..Ballack......

..........Drogs.........Anelka...........

It means we don't play with proper wingers - but we haven't got any decent ones anyway!

You might be right. Isn't this 3-5-2 something that the dutch have come up with(?). Might work fine with us as we don't have Robben and Duffer anymore.

It is really attacking and posession oriented formation. I think the key is to have most of the ball so opposition has to lay down and defend. This is what we have shown this season without the real threat inside the box. Anelka has been really lonely between the defenders. If we want someone to receive the ball in the box we need to put at least another striker there.

What ever formation Hiddink decides to use it needs to differ from the one we use now. Everybody can see that.

[evissy]

would love to see this line-up against villa:

cech

belletti --- terry --- ricky --- mancienne

quaresma --- mikel --- lamps --- kalou

anelka --- drogba

Well anything else from the formation we use now. 3-5-2 could work as well IMO.

[ethicalstrategy]

Your right, its ridiculous, 3 great goals, all 3 were superb takes by Nico.

I dont care what else he did in the game. He is without doubt a better finisher than Drogba at the moment.

He should have the full support of Hiddink and Roman after that game and those 3 finishes.

You are right. But only if we play him in the right way. Upfront on his own in a 4-3-3 then he is a waste of space as he has shown on numerous occasions. Upfront with a strike partner and some space to work in (created by having some width to our game) then he is clearly a good finisher. I see him as being like Pippo Inzaghi. If you can give him the chances he'll score but if you can't then he offers nothing.

[Blue Sun Tzu]

You might be right. Isn't this 3-5-2 something that the dutch have come up with(?). Might work fine with us as we don't have Robben and Duffer anymore.

It is really attacking and posession oriented formation. I think the key is to have most of the ball so opposition has to lay down and defend. This is what we have shown this season without the real threat inside the box. Anelka has been really lonely between the defenders. If we want someone to receive the ball in the box we need to put at least another striker there.

What ever formation Hiddink decides to use it needs to differ from the one we use now. Everybody can see that.

No team in the world plays this system anymore. It is as outdated as the notion of a sweeper. The problem here is that in the age of super quick athletes this system is too susceptible to the quick break away. All the opposing team has to do is play the long diagonal ball by passing the midfield and wing-backs stretching the back three so that one is out of position to cover the wing leaving a two versus two situation at the back. This would spell absolute disaster.

[icecoolguy22]

We need Drogba and Anelke to play together if we are in any chance of winninga trophy this season. The Scolari excuse of ' we dont have a left winger so we can't play 442' was laughable, and he was rightly punished for that. I think Hiddink may fancy a diamond formation, with Deco plays behind the 2 strikers and wing back over lap. I dont think he will start with a flat 442 , until we have Essien back.

[BLUENUT]

We need Drogba and Anelke to play together if we are in any chance of winninga trophy this season. The Scolari excuse of ' we dont have a left winger so we can't play 442' was laughable, and he was rightly punished for that. I think Hiddink may fancy a diamond formation, with Deco plays behind the 2 strikers and wing back over lap. I dont think he will start with a flat 442 , until we have Essien back.

Flat back four - diamond midfield, 2 up front. Job done.

The player at the tip of the diamond can support the forwards alternating between a front 2 and a front 3.

With Drogba in the side, it gives more oppotunity for Lampard and Ballack (if playing) to get up and support him, and also gives Anelka the chance to get on the end of any flick on's from Drogba.

If Anelka can be a top scorer at Bolton playing off of Kevin Davies, he can do it at Chelsea playing off Drogba!

[blues forever]

drogba and anelka are both great players but they have completely different styles. i think they work well together when put straight down the middle. against watford they were great when they were put down the middle together and anelka is in top goal scoring form. a couple of goals and games from drogba and he will be back up there with the goals. hiddink really needs to look at defending crosses because when we get a team that are good from set peices we will be in serious trouble.

my line up against villa wud be:

...............Cech...............

Beletti...Terry...Alex...Cole

................Mikel..............

Quaresma................Deco

..............Lampard...........

......Drogba.......Anelka..

it would have been two attacking midfielders but they need to be wary of the break because villa have incredibly pacey striker, so i put a holding midfielder like mikel or it could be ballack depending on how mikel trains and stuff. it also gives the full backs freedom to push forward because quaresma and deco can play centrally (quaresma not so much).

as long as malouda doesnt start we should do ok lol :lol:

[blueday3]

Speaking of Drogba