He needs to stop playing players in the wrong position! Firstly, Lampard. He needs to give Lampard his best position which is Center Attacking Midfield. It gives him more width and space to work in because he works the ball well and gives him a better oppertunity to make better runs, passes and perhaps nip a shot through the middle which we all know he can do very well. Secondly, he needs to play and start Joe Cole on the Left or Right wing. We are missing him bursting down the flanks and opening up the gaps in the opposition that need opened up. And Malouda should be on the other side, not Belletti! Also Zhirkov is a better midfielder, no disrespect to Belletti though! Thirdly, no disrespect to Carvalho but Alex deserves to be starting. He is ot only a better defender, but he has some shot on him and he is stronger and somehow can make decent runs for his size. Also when Bosingwa is back, I think that will make a difference to our defence as he is always on the attack and can track back well.

With Ancelotti we have a manager who knows the game inside out and has got the credentials to prove it. It will take a little more time for him to become thoroughly familiar with the Premiership. But I can't see him change his diamond formation. It is difficult to crack and creates more attacking options for us. He has been most successful in using Anelka up front with Drogba which other managers failed to do. I see no problem with his rotations as it allows players more playing time. I'm glad he uses the depth of the squad to keep fresh legs in the game. However, he still has to solve who plays at the tip of the diamond. A matter that concerns me is the ages of some of our key players e.g, Lamps,Ballack. We need an injection of some young blood into the squad. The fact we are sitting at the top of the table in January is no accident. It is a situation most Blues fans would have gladly accepted at the beginning of the season.

We may be sitting at the top of the table but it should be by more than 2 points.

Ancelotti has a squad of top players and i agree with Wilson 19, he's not using them properly. It dosent take a genius to work out Lampards best position and the centre back position alongside Terry should be an obvious choice [Alex]. Our midfield is our problem and its all very well saying hes new to the premiership , it shouldnt take an experienced manager a season to work out how to play other teams and how to change a system . When Bosingwa gets fit again he'l be lucky to get his place back.

We may be sitting at the top of the table but it should be by more than 2 points.

Ancelotti has a squad of top players and i agree with Wilson 19, he's not using them properly. It dosent take a genius to work out Lampards best position and the centre back position alongside Terry should be an obvious choice [Alex]. Our midfield is our problem and its all very well saying hes new to the premiership , it shouldnt take an experienced manager a season to work out how to play other teams and how to change a system . When Bosingwa gets fit again he'l be lucky to get his place back.

It always makes me wonder what good managers look for in the game that's different to you or me, it can't be too obvious or everyone would be a top manager.

When Bos is fit I'd like to see him pushed up to R/M position and keep Ivanovic right where he is.

Wat Ancelotti needs to do is add consistency which was only found under Guus. I still believe that the best formation for cfc in the 4-3-3 with mikel/essien/lamps following drogs/nico/malouda. Nevertheless i dont mind the diamond however it needs to be consistent, with people getting a game week in week out thus building confidence and having a decent team set up. I find that this year we keep messing with players like cole/deco/ballack when we shuld have a strong core of no more than 15 players. Then we shuld have a strong first team with enough replacements to cover.

The argument of tinkering with the starting line up can be used either way. If the team is performing badly you can say Carlo should stick to a core group of players whereas if they are playing well, like we were a few weeks back, no one had any problem with it and people said its actually quite a good idea. United havn't had a stable midfield ever since the Keane left. Fergie has tried all sorts of permutation and combination and still keeps on changing the midfield every game. However, that did not stop them from winning three successive titles and a CL along the way.

Carlo has to sort out the attitude of some of the players, which does not seem to be right at the moment. If we dont get things on track in a couple of games, I have a feeling the horrible memories of Scolari era will flash in front of our eyes, if they're not already that is.

I didn't mean change the diamond formation. It is a great formation and suits chelsea 100%. The tip of the diamond is an attacking midfield role, which should be played by Lampard without a doubt, not Joe Cole or Deco. I don't mind Ballack or Essien playing there either but Essien is better behind Lamps in the defensive tip/back of the diamond. Joe should be on left midfield or right and malouda at the other side.

Lampard at the tip? No way. He is in no way suited to that role.

why do people still, after all this time, after ranieri, jose (for most of a season!) and now ancelotti, still think the diamond has wide positions?

saying "left" and "right" of the diamond does not mean "wide left" or "wide right"- they are central midfield positions!

that is why we haven't seen zhirkov there- because they are meant to be central. we've seen malouda on the left because he has experience of playing in central midfield- experience playing wide is utterly irrelevant.

lampard played on the left of the diamond in jose's last full season. he scored a lot. his form has nothing to do with position- how many times have we seen him shank the ball over the bar from 18 yards this season? a lot- the opportunities are still coming, but once you lose confidence it is hard to get it back. putting him behind the strikers is something three managers have tried for club, and eriksson for country- it plainly does not work.

the only difference in the position lampard plays now, and the one he has played for five years is that rather than there being two wide players and one striker ahead of him, now there are two central strikers and a no.10 just behind them. lampard's position hasn't changed- we still use a defensive midfielder with two central midfielders (one of which is lampard) ahead of them!

in summary- the diamond is a defensive midfielder, two box to box midfielders and link player. there are no wingers in the system!

I didn't mean change the diamond formation. It is a great formation and suits chelsea 100%.

Don't mean to be disrespectful but seriously you and anyone else who believes this are getting better acid that me. The diamond formation sucks. There is not one great side in the world who even entertains such a formation let alone plays one. It is fraught with problems all of which are being found out by our opposition.

The obvious is an alarming lack of width which has been well documented on this forum. Early in the season - much as under Scolari last season - the opposition allowed our full backs too much space which meant they were working more as ancillary wingers than full-backs. Ashley on one side and firstly Boswinga and then Ivanovic on the other could bomb down the wing, get behind the opposition's defence and provided crosses from the by-line, the likes of which which were gobbled up Drogba and co. As last season, teams have become wise to this. Two banks of four push up and stymie any forward movement by the fullbacks. By defending deep they do not allow our full-backs any space. How many times over the past ten games or so have seen Lamps, Mikel, Ballack and Joe get the ball in midfield and look for width only to find none and be forced to play back into the congestion that the midfield has become? We are forced to play the ball sideways or back and left with the only option which is to lump it long and aimlessly to edge of the area from an angle that if even such a brilliant striker as Drogba has little chance in attacking to any effect, God knows how Sturridge of Bornin will fare.

If a diamond formation is going to work (which in my opinion it doesn't) you are going to need a unique and extraordinary player such as Kaka (£65 million worth) at the tip of the diamond - Joe Deco or Malouda do not fit into that mould on the evidence so far - and even then that is only because such player has the intelligence to know when to move out wide and create the width. This is something that Anelka has managed to do for much of the season much in the style of Henry in his pomp at Arsenal (see Ashley's goal against Burnley for reference). Even we had Kaka I would still be against the formation and see it as a waste of of such a talent. Real do not play with a diamond.

Another reason why this formation is sh*t is because it stymies our greatest strength which in central midfield. Suddenly our most potent talent are forced to play in a small congested area of the pitch. With no wingers to contend with the opposition's midfield can cram the middle and concentrate on crowding the likes of Lamps preventing him any time to play those little instinctive passes to the forwards and stopping his surging runs in to the box - it is not any coincidence that Lamps is having his worst period in a blue shirt in my memory (which admittedly is rather limited!).

In attack, the diamond also denies a team of one of the most devastating attacking weapons which is over-lapping fullbacks. With no-one hugging the touch-line this is not possible. With natural width provided by a winger this is possible. The winger gets the ball. A full-back has to push up. The full-back over laps and the full back doesn't know whether to go with the runner or keep with the winger. If he goes with the runner, he allows the winger to move inside and create havoc (this is why Messi plays on the right despite being all left foot) or he goes tight with the winger which allows the full back space in behind to get to the by-line to whip in the kind of cross that the likes of Drogba (and even Kalou) to thrive.

In defence, with no wingers to contend with, on the break the opposition can find room on the flanks, stretch our defence and make our world-class centre backs look ordinary. How many times has this happened in the last couple of months.

So - in case I have not been clear - the diamond system must be abandoned if we are to have any chance of winning the league, champions or otherwise. It is no coincidence that games in which we have struggled, Carlo had changed formation and gone with out and out wingers - today against Fulham being a prime example.

I have other issues with Carlo. Why doesn't he play Kakuta? If he is good enough age means nothing (Messi was playing for Barca at 16). Why does he drop players when in the previous game he has been our best payer (Alex). Why can he not admit when we have been sh*t? Why does he spend a game in conference with Gay Ray and the other geezer (who the f**k is he?!) rather than showing that he is control of what he wants on the pitch? Why doesn['t he have the sartorial elegance of Jose of Mancini (gotta love the cashmere coat and City scarf combo)?!

But the headline is this. Unless he realizes that the diamond formation is sh*t I will always fear for our future. So c'mon Carlo don't be a stubborn motherf**ker, abandon the diamond in favour of the footballing gold that we have the players to provide.

I agree with most things you said Blue Sun Tzu. A good proof for what you have written is also the fact that since we play the diamond we´ve never won the league again. Problem is just: What wingers do we have that are really good enough to play week in week out for a team that wants to win the EPL and the CL. In my opinion a 4-3-3 demands great wingers, and thats something we dont have since Robben and Duff left.

Anyways I think a flat 4-4-2 would be a possibility during the ACN, I really cant see that the diamond-bullsh*t can really work out without Drogba and Essien. We could play Zhirkov-Lampard-Ballack-Joe in the middle and Anelka-Sturridge(or Borini) upfront.

the diamond is a defensive midfielder, two box to box midfielders and link player.

Someone should tell Carlo, because Ballack isn't a box-to-box player.

As I've posted before, at home to sides who put all their men behind the ball, you can't play Ballack and Mikel together. It's way too conservative, ponderous, slow and predictable. You need to forsake one of them for an attacking player. Carlo needs to learn this fast, or call Guus, who'll soon put him straight. No sooner did Sturridge come on for Mikel than we scored two goals.

there are no wingers in the system!

No, and that's the problem. Everyone in the ground could see we were crying out for width, and have been for a long time now. Sturridge comes on, hogs the left flank. Kalou hogs the right. We bang in two goals in no time.

What does Carlo need to do? Here's my two pennies:

1. Never play Ferreira again. Schoolboy error. Competent at best, incompetent generally. Ivanovic didn't need the rest, Carlo was just trying to keep his squad players happy, which is generally a sign that the manager lacks authority.

2. Understand that full-backs aren't wingers. Generally, when they receive the ball halfway inside the opponents' half, they're not going to beat their man and get to the byline and deliver a perfect cross. Without someone to link-up with, they're going to toss a harmless ball into the box from way too deep. If it's Ferreira hitting the cross, you may as well not even bother.

Our opponents are no longer allowing our full-backs to overlap. They've cottoned on to this. Just like they did with Scolari.

Ivanovic comes on, benefits from the fact Kalou is playing ahead of him, hits a ball that Ferreira can only dream of, we score.

3. Alex is better than Carvalho. Understand this and act accordingly. Stop trying to keep everyone happy.

Carvalho can bide his time, wait for his chance, and when it comes prove his worth. If you're worried he won't want to perform for you or he might skulk around the place with a face on, then you may not possess the requisite authority.

4. Never let Deco near the first team again. I promise you, he won't care one jot.

5. When defending corners and free-kicks, keep someone upfield. That way, when we clear the ball, we may be able to avoid it coming straight back at us. We may also be able to counter attack.

6. When defending corners, get a man to stand ten yards from the ball. Fulham stopped three of our corners this way. Admittedly two of those corners were taken by Ballack.

7. Drop Ballack.

Those that claim that Ballack is having a better season than Lamps are missing the point. While Lamps is having a poor season, he tries to give us an attacking thrust. He tries to make things happen. He could easily do what Ballack does but that wouldn't get us very far.

8. Stop saying things like "We are not at our best technically". "We are not at our best" will suffice.

9. A lot of our players are now playing well below their optimum. You're their manager. Get them playing better.

We've been playing poorly for too long now against poor sides. You haven't really got any excuses. You've inherited a group with a big mentality and plenty of ability.

10. Decide who you like and who you don't. Get rid of those you don't. Bring in someone you like. It may be the last chance you get.

11. Today, you and Wilkins were in constant conference on the touchline, with Wilkiins doing all the hand waving. At one point, your other assistant joined you both on the touchline and started hand waving himself. This is confusing for the players, who clearly do not know what they're meant to be doing. Every time there's a break in play, they're summoned over for a tactical sermon from Wilkins. Imagine their dismay. Wilkins is nice, he means well, but he's thick. Keep the instructions simple and to a minimum. Players like this. Communicate clearly. Preferably, do the communicating yourself. There's too much hand waving from too many people. The players might not know who to ignore. They may also be getting baffled by a bit too much science.

12. Get us playing football.

I agree with much of what you say, sunshine kebab (two things which I am currently longing for, believe me!), but I can't agree with you on Ferreira's crossing. In my opinion, Ferreira is one of the best crossers we have in the entire squad.

From yesterday's evidence, all Carlo needs to do is ditch Ballack for good. I mean, if you cant get a ball over the head a player standing 10 yards from you while taking a corner - not once but twice - and all you do is either give the ball away by erratic passing or do those 'smart' fouls which, shall I add, almost always cause trouble (not so smart then, eh?) you cant be a part of this team.

He also needs to give anesthetics to Drogba before sending him on the pitch. I could see the frustration in our own players when he went down in pain the second time in first 10 mins.

I think what he needs to do is add some asymmetry into the team. Chuck Malouda or Zhirkov on to play ahead of Cole. It still can be a diamond if needed, but having Zhirkov run up and down the wing provides a genuine wide option.