I think it's obvious that the squad needs fixing, maybe not major rebuilding since we have a strong core of players, but there are certain areas that seem to lack quality needed in a club like Chelsea.

This is still pretty much Mourinho's team if you look at the squad. Don't mean to knock on the Special One but he did build the team in his image,so to speak, and our lack of speed and creativity in the midfield and cutting edge in the attack are direct consequences of the transfer policy by Jose. Since he'd arrived we released Robben,Duff,Guddy,Mutu,Crespo etc for various reasons but never really replaced them or replaced them with inferior players(Malouda,Kalou etc)

The likes of Robinho, Aguero,Pato, Ribery, Eto'o etc etc were available at one point or another but it seemed we pretty much missed out on all of them.. Tevez and Mascherano were available on loan but we didn't bother with either, which I believe was a bad mistake. Mascherano would have been a better replacement for Maka and Tevez would bolster our frontline and add speed to our attack.While I realize that some players may have snubbed us for other clubs, and some were too pricey even for our pocket I can't help but feel that at least in the first two seasons when Jose had an open cheque book he could and should have done better with bringing some flair and speed to the squad.

Roman's fickle nature and his conflict with the manager obviously had an effect on the squad development,too. Buying an aging and out of form Sheva proved to be a disaster. Investing in youth and scouting was a welcome development so was the idea of working towards becoming self sufficient but neither project can bring an instant results and requires time and patience.

I believe RA will have to spend in the summer and we need to get rid of at least 6-7 players and bring in younger talent to have any chance of remaining one of the elite clubs and winning trophies.

formation and philosphy need to change before we even start to think of new playing staff. otherwise we'll end up with more players forced to play out of position and in a system that is just plain wrong

unfortunately that comes from the manager and will take time to implement. stickler being our manager is leaving at the end of the season

if serious money is going to be spent this summer then i would like to have something along the lines of:

cech

bosingwa --- terry --- carvalho --- cole

quaresma --- lampard --- essien --- silva

drogba --- tevez

creativity all over going forward and a powerhouse in essien to boss the CM

retains options in anelka, kalou, mikel, ivanovic, stoch, mancienne. perhaps a couple of new prospects but people with a realistic chance of breaking through

not a massive change in players but a complete rethink to our attitude towards games

Edited March 23, 200917 yr by sexelk

I think it's obvious that the squad needs fixing, maybe not major rebuilding since we have a strong core of players, but there are certain areas that seem to lack quality needed in a club like Chelsea.

This is still pretty much Mourinho's team if you look at the squad. Don't mean to knock on the Special One but he did build the team in his image,so to speak, and our lack of speed and creativity in the midfield and cutting edge in the attack are direct consequences of the transfer policy by Jose. Since he'd arrived we released Robben,Duff,Guddy,Mutu,Crespo etc for various reasons but never really replaced them or replaced them with inferior players(Malouda,Kalou etc)

The likes of Robinho, Aguero,Pato, Ribery, Eto'o etc etc were available at one point or another but it seemed we pretty much missed out on all of them.. Tevez and Mascherano were available on loan but we didn't bother with either, which I believe was a bad mistake. Mascherano would have been a better replacement for Maka and Tevez would bolster our frontline and add speed to our attack.While I realize that some players may have snubbed us for other clubs, and some were too pricey even for our pocket I can't help but feel that at least in the first two seasons when Jose had an open cheque book he could and should have done better with bringing some flair and speed to the squad.

Roman's fickle nature and his conflict with the manager obviously had an effect on the squad development,too. Buying an aging and out of form Sheva proved to be a disaster. Investing in youth and scouting was a welcome development so was the idea of working towards becoming self sufficient but neither project can bring an instant results and requires time and patience.

I believe RA will have to spend in the summer and we need to get rid of at least 6-7 players and bring in younger talent to have any chance of remaining one of the elite clubs and winning trophies.

I know (or it was reported) Jose travelled to South America with Clarke to watch Tevez but was told by the chairman upon return they'd signed Sheva. I'm not too sure how much of the current squad state of the squad is Jose's fault. OK there are a core of players left that were brought in by him, but we've seen two managers come and go since Jose was here and it was quite clear JM wasn't in control of our transfers for his last year or 2 at the club.

We need to cut some dead wood, bring in another forward and get soome quality out on the wings - job done.

And the players brought in must be dictated by the new manager, no other person at the club.

Edited March 23, 200917 yr by BLUENUT

I know (or it was reported) Jose travelled to South America with Clarke to watch Tevez but was told by the chairman upon return they'd signed Sheva. I'm not too sure how much of the current squad state of the squad is Jose's fault. OK there are a core of players left that were brought in by him, but we've seen two managers come and go since Jose was here and it was quite clear JM wasn't in control of our transfers for his last year or 2 at the club.

We need to cut some dead wood, bring in another forward and get soome quality out on the wings - job done.

And the players brought in must be dictated by the new manager, no other person at the club.

The two managers after Jose had spent around £53m on five players (Anelka,Ivanovic,Di Santo,Bosingwa,Deco). Considering that Bosingwa was bought before Scolari was even contacted and Grant's claim that Anelka wasn't his choice, it's even less than that. Jose had way more money and freedom to spend, at least in his first two seasons.

The two managers after Jose had spent around £53m on five players (Anelka,Ivanovic,Di Santo,Bosingwa,Deco). Considering that Bosingwa was bought before Scolari was even contacted and Grant's claim that Anelka wasn't his choice, it's even less than that. Jose had way more money and freedom to spend, at least in his first two seasons.

So the previous 2 managers have spent money, and released players, but the state of the current squad and all it's imbalances are down to Jose?

Jose told Kenyon not to sign Robinho aswell I suppose.

Edited March 23, 200917 yr by BLUENUT

The Point was when Roman bought Chelsea, he wanted to make the club one of the World's Elite overnight and the only way he thought he could do it was trying to sign world known players like Sheva for ridiculous amounts of money.

If the managers like Jose & Scolari in some respect (the Robinho saga) had complete control over transfers and could sign who they wanted, I have no doubt we would of won the champions league by now and a few more league titles to go with it.

As for the summer, with players being bought & sold, I would go for:

Cech

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

J.Cole --- Lampard --- Essien --- Zhirkov

Drogba --- Villa

With the Drogba and Villa partnership, they could alternately drag defenders and leaving the other one to score the goal. Possibly.

So the previous 2 managers have spent money, and released players, but the state of the current squad and all it's imbalances are down to Jose?

Jose told Kenyon not to sign Robinho aswell I suppose.

Grant didn't release anybody, he never had a chance. Scolari hasn't released anybody worth keeping, with the exception of,maybe SWP who'd have been more help than say,Malouda, but then again it wouldn't make a great difference,either. Both managers had spent a drop in the ocean compared to Jose and haven't had the time to do their spending,either. Like I said, this is still essentially Jose's squad.

And when I mentioned Robinho, I meant when he was still in Santos. Him,Aguero, and many others were already well known young starlets before they were snapped up by bigger clubs but somehow never found their way to Chelsea. I don't believe for a second that Jose had nothing to do with identifying our transfer targets in 04-06 and you can't tell me it's pure coincidence that after spending a fortune our squad still lacks speed, flair and creativity.We overpaid for very many players because JM wanted them and them only and he identified certain players that fit the playing style he had in mind. Up until the summer of 2006 JM was spending at will on whoever he wanted and by then the current squad was already formed.

You know, the way I see it right now, the Chelsea lineup next season could easily be...

Cech,

xxx, Terry, xxx, Cole,

xxx, Lampard, Essien, xxx,

Drogba, xxx.

Yup, I genuinely believe only six of our players are good enough to say that almost without a doubt, they should be/will be in our starting lineup next season.

I think there's the obvious question mark over Drogba, and you could argue that people like Mikel have done enough to justify being in the above too.

It's going to be incredibly interesting to see who we sign next season, but it's embarrassingly obvious that we need to do something quite drastic considering the ageing players we have now.

I'm still hoping for a Russian raid to be honest; Dzagoev to hopefully follow in Lampard's steps, Zhirkov to play on the left wing and cover for Ash when needed, and Pogrebnyak to play up front.

All of those three would be available I think, and all would be interested in joining Chelsea, and all would add a lot to our current squad IMO.

Edit: Also note that in my team above, yup, both winger spots are very much free. It's crucial. If Roman wants his pretty attacking football it's crucial, if we want to be competing at the highest level it's crucial.

Edited March 23, 200917 yr by blizeH

You know, the way I see it right now, the Chelsea lineup next season could easily be...

Cech,

xxx, Terry, xxx, Cole,

xxx, Lampard, Essien, xxx,

Drogba, xxx.

Yup, I genuinely believe only six of our players are good enough to say that almost without a doubt, they should be/will be in our starting lineup next season.

I think there's the obvious question mark over Drogba, and you could argue that people like Mikel have done enough to justify being in the above too.

It's going to be incredibly interesting to see who we sign next season, but it's embarrassingly obvious that we need to do something quite drastic considering the ageing players we have now.

I'm still hoping for a Russian raid to be honest; Dzagoev to hopefully follow in Lampard's steps, Zhirkov to play on the left wing and cover for Ash when needed, and Pogrebnyak to play up front.

All of those three would be available I think, and all would be interested in joining Chelsea, and all would add a lot to our current squad IMO.

Edit: Also note that in my team above, yup, both winger spots are very much free. It's crucial. If Roman wants his pretty attacking football it's crucial, if we want to be competing at the highest level it's crucial.

I partly agree but i would go for aguero instead of pogrebnyak. He would cost abit more but he is in my opinion one of the best strikers aready and he is ONLY 20 years old. Joe Cole is great for the right wing and we should go for Ashley Young that would be playing on the left wing. dzagoev would be great, we could sing a young CB, we should use our youth (Kakuta,Stoch,..) alot more in the future. We should sell Drogba as I think that he will start complaining again :unsure: , we could sign a strong tall CF instead of him someone like Gomis from St. Etiene

formation for next season:

Cech

Bosingwa Terry Riccy Cole

Lamps Essien

Joey A. Young

Aguero Gomis

This could work wery well and would not cost that much we could make alot of money by selling Drogba(atleast 15m), Deco(8m),alex(10m),Malouda(atleast 10m),Mineiro,Belletti,if he wants to go we should sell Kalou(10m)

We would get about 55m from that, roman could add some to that and we should be able to sign those players.

sorry about my english

Blueboy - I think your expected prices for our players are inflated.

Deco would probably be more like £3m. We paid £8m for him and he has had an injury hit year since then, is another year older and hasn't set the world on fire at all.

Malouda has been an almighty flop for two years now and I think we will be taking a massive loss on him - I would predict about £7m tops.

Kalou, again, hit and miss and still top establish himself as a player whjo can hold down a first team places in a good side. I would expect about £7m.

Alex we might be about to get about £10m for - he has made the odd error but is generally reliable and I think there would be a few intereted parties. however it looks more likely that it will be Ivanovic that is sold.

Drogba I just don't know. OK he has recently shown some signs of a return to a bit of form but he is still nowhere near the player he was in Jose's second season and I am not convinced anyone will be prepared to pay £15m for him now that he is the wrong side of 30 and prone to being a moaning minnie.

I partly agree but i would go for aguero instead of pogrebnyak. He would cost abit more but he is in my opinion one of the best strikers aready and he is ONLY 20 years old. Joe Cole is great for the right wing and we should go for Ashley Young that would be playing on the left wing. dzagoev would be great, we could sing a young CB, we should use our youth (Kakuta,Stoch,..) alot more in the future. We should sell Drogba as I think that he will start complaining again :unsure: , we could sign a strong tall CF instead of him someone like Gomis from St. Etiene

formation for next season:

Cech

Bosingwa Terry Riccy Cole

Lamps Essien

Joey A. Young

Aguero Gomis

This could work wery well and would not cost that much we could make alot of money by selling Drogba(atleast 15m), Deco(8m),alex(10m),Malouda(atleast 10m),Mineiro,Belletti,if he wants to go we should sell Kalou(10m)

We would get about 55m from that, roman could add some to that and we should be able to sign those players.

sorry about my english

I partly agree but i would go for aguero instead of pogrebnyak. He would cost abit more but he is in my opinion one of the best strikers aready and he is ONLY 20 years old. Joe Cole is great for the right wing and we should go for Ashley Young that would be playing on the left wing. dzagoev would be great, we could sing a young CB, we should use our youth (Kakuta,Stoch,..) alot more in the future. We should sell Drogba as I think that he will start complaining again :unsure: , we could sign a strong tall CF instead of him someone like Gomis from St. Etiene

formation for next season:

Cech

Bosingwa Terry Riccy Cole

Lamps Essien

Joey A. Young

Aguero Gomis

This could work wery well and would not cost that much we could make alot of money by selling Drogba(atleast 15m), Deco(8m),alex(10m),Malouda(atleast 10m),Mineiro,Belletti,if he wants to go we should sell Kalou(10m)

We would get about 55m from that, roman could add some to that and we should be able to sign those players.

sorry about my english

some of your suggestions make sense blueboy,but joe cole on the right wing?thats fine if you want a winger who has little pace and cant cross a ball.also he struggles a bit with his upper body strength imo.if there is to be major changes at the bridge whos to say he might go as well?

The squad lacks balance. That's very obvious. We are completely short on quality strikers with Drogba a hit and miss proposition even assuming he isn't injured. He and Anelka are both ageing and Di Santo too young. Kalou almos gets there but ultimately not premiership winning finishing skills, in my view he has the rest.

There is no real quality on the wing, nothing like a Ronaldo or even Ashley Young.

In the central midfield, the area that works the hardest, except maybe for overlapping wing backs, essien may get back to his best but Lampard and Ballack are also starting to age. You can see that with Ballack not scoring as much this season. Mikel can do the defensive job but we need a cutting edge attacking midfielder.

It's that time of season again when we all have one eye on the summer transfer window and try to guestimate who will stay and who will go. I do agree completely that we do need to overhaul, and I think Roman will see that too. I just hope we don't try go down the Galactico (a phrase I hate) route and sign more players liks Ballack, Shevchenko or Deco.

So, who do i feel will leave, and who do I hope will leave?

I hope we see the end of Malouda, i've officially given up hope a few months ago. I suppose I stood by him as stoicly as Chippy did Grant and Scolari. I also hope that Ballack, who has been a complete passenger for well over a year now (ever since he decided to go and get an operation when it suited him), is getting lacsidaisical in his passing, is providing nothing from a goal scoring threat, and has lost his man on more that one occassion defensively. The other playesr I hope to see leave are deco and Miniero (both whom I feel are stopping some youth being developed onto the bench)

Who do I feel will leave? I actually think we have seen the last of a few players, but again it all depends on how much cash will be available. I hate to say it, but i think we have seen the end of Carvalho; he has become too injury prone and feel we may cash in on him this season. If he does leave, I think it will mean that Ivanovic will stay.

I think Anelka may leave too, he just doesn't seem to look overly interested, but at the same time I feel that will all depend on Drogba. If Drogba leaves, or an audacious bid is put in, then we may see him leave and Anelka stay.

Players I am in two minds about: Bosingwa....started great, but since has been more than limited and predictable

So, the main question is, who will replace them all?

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

????..............Terry...........????..........Cole

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

.................Essien..........Lampard

Cole/Kalou....................................Queresma/????

...........................Drogba??????

Yes that is question marks after Drogba's name, not a ???? for a different striker

Scott

For me, the main reason we're so inconsistent this season and unable to win big games is because of the players, not the manager(s).

I don't want it to sound like I want to cull everyone off who is over 30, but are our big ego's and lack of enthusiasm affecting us? I'd disregard Lampard and Carvalho in this list though. Don't get be wrong though, the under 30s are pissing me off too!

In a knee-jerk-heat of the moment way, these are the players I'd get rid of:

Malouda

Kalou

Ballack

Deco

Belletti

Anelka

Drogba.

Now, the last two may be foolish seeing as Anelka is the top scorer and on his day Drogba is unbeatable. But I don't want it "on his day" - I want it all the time, he gets paid enough. I do my quota of work a day on a basic wage, why can't he?

We've got two sulky strikers, and I get the feeling half the time neither of them particularly care. Again, on their day their lethal, so if we want to win half our games a season that’s fine, what about the other 19?

Malouda can piss off. Kalou wants to go to Arsenal... why not let them go?

We need YOUNGER legs, like we did in 04/05. Players who haven't won anything, haven't lost their passion, want to run around like headless chickens. I saw Ben Watson play for Wigan at the weekend, he was everywhere and didn't stop running, then he scored a beautiful chip when he was off balance. Skill and enthusiasm, could we do much worse a long side Lamps? Scott Parker and Steve Sidwell have both said they learned a lot from him, any young player could not have a better example next to him.

Now, I'm not saying we go for Watson, but his sort. Tiago wasn't brilliant, but he was a good, hard working player. Why not go back to basics?

And for God’s sake Chelsea get some effing pace in the team!! Our break aways are so laboured and slow there’s no sodding point. The Mancs and Scum are most affective when they break on the counter, for me, that’s why we fail.

Neither Scolari or Hiddink can be blamed for a slow, aging team when the funds aren't there.

Rant/Knee-Jerk over. :unsure:

Joe Cole is quick. Really f**king quick, in the top 10 fastest players in the league I believe?

His pace won't set the world alight like Aghbonlahor's, Torres' or Ronaldo's, but he's far from slow!

I also think, as much as it's nice to say "Oh, oh! I want Benzema, Aguero and Ribery please!" of course it's nice to dream, but it's not very realistic either.

We could get all of those Russian players I mentioned and still have change left over from the amount it'd cost from buying just one of those, and then there's the little issue that they may not even want to play for Chelsea.

Also, a horrible thought, if Liverpool win the league, maybe they'll get Aguero? f**k.

Edited March 24, 200917 yr by blizeH

Grant didn't release anybody, he never had a chance. Scolari hasn't released anybody worth keeping, with the exception of,maybe SWP who'd have been more help than say,Malouda, but then again it wouldn't make a great difference,either. Both managers had spent a drop in the ocean compared to Jose and haven't had the time to do their spending,either. Like I said, this is still essentially Jose's squad.

And when I mentioned Robinho, I meant when he was still in Santos. Him,Aguero, and many others were already well known young starlets before they were snapped up by bigger clubs but somehow never found their way to Chelsea. I don't believe for a second that Jose had nothing to do with identifying our transfer targets in 04-06 and you can't tell me it's pure coincidence that after spending a fortune our squad still lacks speed, flair and creativity.We overpaid for very many players because JM wanted them and them only and he identified certain players that fit the playing style he had in mind. Up until the summer of 2006 JM was spending at will on whoever he wanted and by then the current squad was already formed.

I can agree with Bluenut here.

Jose had a full freedom in a question of signing for his 2 first years, a lot of money has been spent, a lot of players arrived, but, though, there were doubtful signings in JM`s choice (for needs of JM`s football conception) like SWP there were great signings as well and they are key players at Chelsea currently - Carvalho, Essien, Drogba, A.Cole, A.Robben (he was sold (doubtful decision I agree), but has made an impact and had very bright times at Chelsea and good business too) and Molouda started well with JM in charge.

In JM`s third season he has no freedom in signing players, Grant and Arnesen had it instead. So signing of ones, like Sheva and Ivanovic is not JM`s fault as well as he can`t be accused of the passive transfer politics during last few years. when we`ve signed no one like Essien, Drogba or Robben.....

BlizeH - Joe Cole top 10 fastest players in the league? Really? Think that's pushing it just a bit.

Off the top of my head - Ronaldo, Stoch, Torres, Anelka, Pennant, Lennon, Cisse, Young, Agbonlahor, Johnson - are all much faster than him, and there are many more.

Quick feet, sure. Pace? Not really. I do agree he is certainly not slow, but you won't see Joe leaving a defender in his wake very often.

I also wouldn't worry about The Scum getting Aguero. Given Tubby is there for a while now, his preferance for one up front, and the unmitigated disaster that was Robbie Beane, I just can't see them splashing a lot of cash on another top class striker. I hope.

I agree Joe Cole is far from fast, but he is the quickest player we have... which says something.

I agree Joe Cole is far from fast, but he is the quickest player we have... which says something.

Bosingwa, A.Cole and Anelka all have more pace than Joey.

Slightly off the point but related to the comments about Mourinho.

I picked my daughter up from a friend's party on saturday night and bumped in to Brendan Rogers, whose daughter was also there. He'd just got back from Watford's match with Ipswich and was on his way to Barcelona to watch them play Malaga.

I had a chance to chat with him for a few minutes and get his views on what has been going on at Chelsea. It is well known he was a big Jose fan and he said the place was not the same since Jose left. He was fairly nice about Grant but politely declined to say too much about Scolari. He said that Mourinho had wanted to create a dynasty at Chelsea in the same way that Fergie has at Utd and to stay for a long time - 10 years plus. It was interesting to get an insiders point of view. Just a shame that I didn't get longer to find out more around Jose's departure.

Malouda

Kalou

Ballack

Deco

Belletti

Anelka

Drogba.

:unsure:

Agreed!

This is from last season, but...

1. Cristiano Ronaldo

2. Andrew Johnson

3. Fernando Torres

4. Kenwye Jones

5. Ashley Young

6. Cameron Jerome

7. Aaron Lennon

8. SWP

9. Jermain Defoe

10. Joe Cole

Slightly off the point but related to the comments about Mourinho.

I picked my daughter up from a friend's party on saturday night and bumped in to Brendan Rogers, whose daughter was also there. He'd just got back from Watford's match with Ipswich and was on his way to Barcelona to watch them play Malaga.

I had a chance to chat with him for a few minutes and get his views on what has been going on at Chelsea. It is well known he was a big Jose fan and he said the place was not the same since Jose left. He was fairly nice about Grant but politely declined to say too much about Scolari. He said that Mourinho had wanted to create a dynasty at Chelsea in the same way that Fergie has at Utd and to stay for a long time - 10 years plus. It was interesting to get an insiders point of view. Just a shame that I didn't get longer to find out more around Jose's departure.

Interesting stuff ES and good to see you are posting as yourself again rather than use the alias of Kennypaul as you did in the previous post......

"some of your suggestions make sense blueboy,but joe cole on the right wing?thats fine if you want a winger who has little pace and cant cross a ball.also he struggles a bit with his upper body strength imo.if there is to be major changes at the bridge whos to say he might go as well?"

Interesting stuff ES and good to see you are posting as yourself again rather than use the alias of Kennypaul as you did in the previous post......

"some of your suggestions make sense blueboy,but joe cole on the right wing?thats fine if you want a winger who has little pace and cant cross a ball.also he struggles a bit with his upper body strength imo.if there is to be major changes at the bridge whos to say he might go as well?"

Yet strangely my name is Paul :unsure: (but not Kenny, thankfully)