2012/13 Squad

[CacOBG]

OK, with rumours already all over the place, what are your wishes or ideal team for next season (including manager). I know we are not managers of Chelsea, nor RA himself but would be good to see a summary of what everyone's main wishes for next season are.

Here's mine:

Coach - RDM

Cech (Turnbull)

Luiz (Branco) Terry Cahill (Hutchinson) Cole (Bertrand)

Mikel (Romeu - potentially a CB back-up too, Meireles) Ramires (Lampard)

Hulk (not very expensive right winger sub with Sturridge money - someone like M Jarvis) Mata (De Bruyne) Hazard (Marin)

Torres (Lukaku)

Josh - on loan at Norwich/WBA/West Ham type of club

Kakuta - on loan in Championship

Piazon - on loan in Norwich/WBA/West Ham type of club

Courtois - on loan at Atletiko

Malouda - sold/released

Essien - sold if bid is good enough - this guy needs to play and at Chelsea there isn't much space for him, shame as I used to love him pre-injury

Sturridge - sold (too selfish and cocky)

Hulk - strong and powerful, a beast on RW

Hazard - excellent supplier and finisher (can switch with Mata)

Ramires - to boss the midfield/rotate with Lampard

De Bruyne - to be given a chance

Marin - Back up winger

Lukaku - to be given a chance in lesser games

Luiz - to be adapted as RB so that he can go forward, just like Branko only younger!

Net P/L: around 60 million

Edited May 26, 2012 by CacOBG

[Zeta]

Fantasy mode activated.

---------------------------------Cech

----Ivan-------------Terry--------------Cahill------------Cole

------------------Ramires---------------Mikel

--Hulk-----------------------------------------------------Mata

------------------------Falcao------Torres

Bench: Gordon, Luiz, Bertrand, Lampard, De Bruyne, Marin, Sturridge

[CacOBG]

Are there any teams left playing with two up front? Man U sometimes, Man City only in crisis situations, Juventus sometimes. Can't think of anyone playing normally with two up front except Loserpool, but we can see how good that is going.... I can't see it happening after last year's heroics when Drogs was playing alongside Torres in a couple of games in the beginning of the season.

[facial26]

In my opinion Mata has to play behind the front man. In my squad I cant fit Rambo in, yet hes one of our best players, I dont yet know his best role, I think he is a replacement for lamps in the following team. It lacks our usual strength in the middle, but I see it as a huge danger going forward. Only reason i left Lukaku out is I believe he is going on loan as part of the Marko Marin deal.

Edited May 25, 2012 by facial26

[Ozztheboss]

Cech

Iva Terry Luiz Cole

Mikel M'Vila

Hulk Mata Ramires

Torres

Which can be a 4-3-3 if we want midfield advantage or if Mata tires out:

Cech

Iva Terry Luiz Cole

Mikel

Lamps M'Vila

Hulk Torres Ramires

[CacOBG]

Falcao as a sub at ANY team? :) I wanna see that happening. His price tag is something like 40m pounds right now (Atletico bought him for 40m Euro).

Not that we haven't seen it before with Torres, but I think Falcao is better than Torres ATM from what I've seen from him at Porto and the few games I've seen of him at Altetico.

Ozztheboss - I am also thinking that Ramires is better than Marin on the wing, even on the left, which is not his natural position!

Edited May 25, 2012 by CacOBG

[Zeta]

I wanted Mata in the middle, but I also wanted 2 up front and I couldn't leave out the DM or Ramires, which meant I'd haev to have 3 in the middle and 1 up top.

[Ozztheboss]

I wanted Mata in the middle, but I also wanted 2 up front and I couldn't leave out the DM or Ramires, which meant I'd haev to have 3 in the middle and 1 up top.

That can be solved with Cole/Bertrand being a wing back allowing Mata to drift inside while still providing the necessary width. Hiddink played that formation with Malouda drifting inside, Cole providing width left, Bos and Essien providing width right and Anelka being a very "narrow" striker, feeding of Drogba's lay offs. Still think that a two striker formation is a bit "out", leaving much space in the middle of the park.

As for Ramires on the wing: he provides great first defending (which makes us win the ball earlier and allowing our full back to go further up the field), he can run in channels, can cross in from left (like he did against Napoli where Drogba headed) and has developed into a clinical finish. On the other flank I've put Hulk, since he can challange 1 on 1, shoot from distance (cutting inside) and provide decent crosses, even with his right foot.

Since we are losing Drogba we need to strengthen ourselves on set pieces (saw how effective it was against Bayern, huh). That's why I think Hulk and M'Vila would be a far better option than Hazard and Modric. The balance of the team is very important, and with a strong midfield (Mikel/Lampsy/M'Vila) we can integrate our youth better, since we are more compact than if we were to play Modric and Ramires deep, for example.

[J.J]

OK, with rumours already all over the place, what are your wishes or ideal team for next season (including manager). I know we are not managers of Chelsea, nor RA himself but would be good to see a summary of what everyone's main wishes for next season are.

Here's mine:

Coach - RDM

Cech (Turnbull)

Luiz (Branco) Terry Cahill (Hutchinson) Cole (Bertrand)

Mikel (Romeu - potentially a CB back-up too, Meireles) Ramires (Lampard)

Hulk (not very expensive right winger sub with Sturridge money - someone like M Jarvis) Mata (Marin) Hazard (De Bruyne)

Torres (Lukaku)

Josh - on loan at Norwich/WBA/West Ham type of club

Kakuta - on loan in Championship

Piazon - on loan in Norwich/WBA/West Ham type of club

Courtois - on loan at Atletiko

Malouda - sold/released

Essien - sold if bid is good enough - this guy needs to play and at Chelsea there isn't much space for him, shame as I used to love him pre-injury

Sturridge - sold (too selfish and cocky)

Hulk - strong and powerful, a beast on RW

Hazard - excellent supplier and finisher (can switch with Mata)

Ramires - to boss the midfield/rotate with Lampard

De Bruyne - to be given a chance

Marin - to be a back-up playmaker - the only thing he is good at (terrible on the wing, just like Mata)

Lukaku - to be given a chance in lesser games

Luiz - to be adapted as RB so that he can go forward, just like Branko only younger!

Net P/L: around 60 million

some of this i agree with, but some is just backwards - Marin is a winger, his whole game is based on pace, getting past a man and whipping in crosses/finishing - when he played as a number 10 after Ozil left Bremen that is when his form started to decline

I've said that "Luiz for full back" thing before aswell but I've been told by people who know football better than most that in his time at Benfica he looked lost there (albeit LB more often than RB), Ivanovic has always been a more disciplined defender and so positionally he found the transition easier - also he had been playing RB for Serbia for ages before we tried him there, it wasn't something he really "learned" it had been in his repertoire for a while he's just massively developed it

De Bruyne was signed as a wide-player but I think the last 6 months have changed that, he has looked absolutely amazing in the handful of Genk games I've watched playing as one of the pivot in a 4-2-3-1; far more of a playmaker than I expected to be - of course with Josh in the squad we could play him wide, and he does a job there, but he has looked some player in the centre

Ramires doesn't "boss" the midfield either, he doesn't dictate tempo like Mata can as his passing isn't on that level, Ramires' strengths lie on nicking balls, harrying other players, inspiring rapid counters and having some end product. I'm undecided on his ideal role in the team tbh; his drive is nice in the middle and he can get a bit isolated wide, but if you were to put a highlight reel of his best moments a lot of them are a result of coming inside from wide positions

Also I haven't seen a lot of Hulk but I don't like what I have tbh; any playground bully - all the selfishness of Sturridge but stronger

Anyway my ideal squad is below, I'll have justifications under it

Cech, someone for less than 3 million better than Turnbull (they must surely exist) and Blackman - we should 100% keep Courtois on loan let's not stunt his growth

Ivanovic, Kane... Cahill, Luiz, Terry, Hutchinson... Cole, Bertrand and Don Paulo- Hutch is 22, this is the time players become first team regulars, same w/ Bertrand, Kane I'll admit a risk

Mikel, Romeu... Lampard, McEachran...

Ramires, Hazard... Mata, De Bruyne... Marin/signing number 3 - an abundance of pace and skill here but also fluidity

Torres, Sturridge, Lukaku

IN: Hazard, a keeper who can be relied on for a year or two as Blackman and Coutois grow up a bit, a Valencia-esque winger who is relentlessly solid, efficient and can track back, one doesn't come to mind atm but a scouting network the size of Chelsea's should be able to find one (alternatively Ramires could switch/and Bertrand worked decent on Saturday..)

OUT: Hilario, Essien, Malouda, Kalou, Bosingwa, Meireles, Drogba ( )

I don't particularly want to see us go for Modric, I wanted us to sign him before Spurs did, think he propels any team to playing a lot better football, but we have a mass of good young ballers now (Juan Josh Kevin Oriol) with the experience of Lampard and (relatively) Mikel (also wouldn't mind Essien staying on as a dressing room personality as Paulo has done if his wages are low enough) we don't need to spend 40 million imo

We need to put our faith in Fernando - now or never but he deserves to have a year without Didier breathing down his neck - if Sturridge were to stay, let's not highlight the greediness of a striker by playing him in midfield - let's allow him to actually play where he wants!

Hazard: bit of a weird one, as he seems such a prick that I don't know if I really want him, but I've been moaning for a year that he is the exact player we need, so for competitiveness' sake I think it would be a real coup

Last time we tried to scrap experience for inexperience it didn't work - this squad seems balanced enough but would probably crumble in comparison to City's superstars over the next year but I see this as the real transitional season - yet the only difference from the first 11 I can really see is pace behind the front man

Chalobah should stay as regular reserve captain - perhaps drafted into the team for Carling Cup, similar to Piazon (not for lack of quality, just for the amount of players currently in their way) - don't really know what to do with Kakuta... doesn't seem to fit, hasn't been a permanent fixture in the Dijon team due to lack of effort, think his time could be up unfortunately

[CacOBG]

J.J

Yes, I was wrong on Marin as established in another thread. He seems to feel better on the wing (and he should really as his skill set is good for the wing - pace, technique and running one v one). De Bruyne will be a sensational midfielder very soon - especially in a central roledue to his vision, passing and shooting. But dont' forget he is an excellent crosser so he can easily play out wide with good pace and not so bad technique.

More or less agree on the rest, except that I like Hulk for us. Not so keen on Hazard after all the rubbish that came from him and his agent in the past few months, but we can't rely solely on Marin I think for the left wing so if Hazard doesn't come then maybe Ramires can continue to play there if we can't find anyone else affordable and suitable (not ideal, I know) - I'd love Lavezzi there but he is darn expensive - something like 40m.

On Luiz - he was insane as CB when he first came to us - look at him now. I am sure if he is at RB he can be "taight" to be sensible there, too. Don't get me wrong, I love Branko's style but I can't see any of Cahill, Luiz and Terry being subs and rotating Centre Backs is never a good idea in football.

Edited May 26, 2012 by CacOBG

[comtrend]

I hope we quickly secure RDM for 1 more year.

Hulk and Hazard is hopefully bought for £60-65mil. Hulk beeing most important of the two, since he will add much needed physical presence in our forward line after Drogba has left. Should Hazard choose Manchester, then Lucas Moura, Stevan Jovetic(No CL) and Lavezzi(Don't like his manager) should be our next choices.

We could use another good option on right back now that Bosingwa has left. Van der Wiel has only one year left on his contract and has said he will leave Ajax after Euro 2012 for either PL or Spain. I think we could get him cheap, maybe £7mil-£10mil (Roma made a £4mil offer earlier month, wich was denied).

With Hulk and "Hazard" in place we can sell Meireles and Malouda, hopefully for £10mil in total, wich would cover Van der Wiel buy.

----------------------------------------------------------Cech/Turnbull---------------------------------------------------------------

VDW/IVA----------------------------Terry/Cahill-------------------------Luiz----------------------------------A.Cole/Bertrand

-----------------------------------Mikel/Romeu/Essien---------------------Lampard/Ramires----------------------------------

Hulk/Sturridge-----------------------------------------Mata/Marin----------------------------------------------Hazard/Bruyne

----------------------------------------------------------Torres/Lukaku-----------------------------------------------------------------

Piazon, Feruz and Josh on loan, I wouldn't be against a championship club for more playing time, but still at a ok level.

[Lane]

On Luiz - he was insane as CB when he first came to us - look at him now. I am sure if he is at RB he can be "taight" to be sensible there, too. Don't get me wrong, I love Branko's style but I can't see any of Cahill, Luiz and Terry being subs and rotating Centre Backs is never a good idea in football.

i think benching ivan would be just ridiculous. hes the best rb in the league, why try fixing something that isnt broken? terry, cahill and luiz can easily rotate given the number of games chelsea play each year.

Edited May 26, 2012 by Lane

[CacOBG]

i think benching ivan would be just ridiculous. hes the best rb in the league, why try fixing something that isnt broken? terry, cahill and luiz can easily rotate given the number of games chelsea play each year.

But we don't have good back-up plan if Ivanovic is injured/suspended for a big game (Ferreira's time is long gone). I think Luiz needs to get some playing time out right if we want to have two good RBs with Bosingwa gone now. Otherwise we have to spend money on yet another player (someone suggested Van der Wiel and use him as a sub...). And I wouldn't use the term "benched"as he would be sub No. 1 for RB and 2 CBs, which for 60 games a season is a lot of playing time!

Edited May 26, 2012 by CacOBG

[timetowaste]

Cech

Ivan Luiz Terry/Cahill Cole

De Rossi/M'Vila Ramires

Hulk Mata Hazard

Torres

Terry should play less games and give the duo of Luiz and Cahill game time. Bertrand should be given more game time too. De Rossi isn't likely but I'd like to have him, if not we should go after M'Vila

[Myles_91]

[Lane]

But we don't have good back-up plan if Ivanovic is injured/suspended for a big game (Ferreira's time is long gone). I think Luiz needs to get some playing time out right if we want to have two good RBs with Bosingwa gone now. Otherwise we have to spend money on yet another player (someone suggested Van der Wiel and use him as a sub...). And I wouldn't use the term "benched"as he would be sub No. 1 for RB and 2 CBs, which for 60 games a season is a lot of playing time!

we have todd kane and hutchinson as backups for rb. maybe theyre not good enough but we have a whole preseason to find out. i think luiz would be a good enough backup for rb.

i cant for the life of me understand your reasoning. you seem to prefer to have ivan as a backup for some reasons not related to football

[Virosh]

I love this time of the year. Dreams are free and everyone is a manager for two months and that definately includes me.

This is my team assuming Kalou, Bosingwa, Malouda and Essien all leave.

--------------------Cech---------------------------

(Turnbull, HIlario)

---Ivanovic-----Luiz------Terry----Cole-----

(Ferreira) (Hutchinson) (Cahill) (Bertrand)

(Kane) (Chalobah)

--------------------Mikel--------------------------

(Romeu)

------------Ramires------------------------------

(Meireles, Josh)

---Hazard-------------Mata------------Marin---

(Sturridge) (Lampard, Piazon) (De Bruyne)

-----------------------Torres----------------------

(Lukaku)

I would be remiss to let Lukaku go on loan. Torres may shine or not, but we will need a big physical presence sometimes and there is no one else close to Romelu who could provide it. He still has a lot to learn, but if he was deemed good enough for Chelsea, he should be able to start showing some of it next season. If he does leave, we will probably play Sturridge as a second centre-forward, which will leave us looking for another right winger, or another forward and also for a plan B during games.

De Bruyne should stay as back-up for Marin, or if he goes on loan, we will need to keep Kakuta (what is going on with him?).

Wingers are very, very important for our next season. I hope Hazard decides to come to the Bridge, or Hulk, but at any rate we desperately need quality on the wings. And please no more playing Ramires there.

[CacOBG]

we have todd kane and hutchinson as backups for rb. maybe theyre not good enough but we have a whole preseason to find out. i think luiz would be a good enough backup for rb.

i cant for the life of me understand your reasoning. you seem to prefer to have ivan as a backup for some reasons not related to football

My reasoning is that Luiz has the skills necessary for a RB and is younger than Branko, so he could be developed into a great RB for the next 7-8 seasons. I have no issue with rotation on RB just like Jose and Branko were last season + both Branko and Luiz can play as CB if Cahill/Terry is out. That is plenty of playing time for all four of them and we are developing a new player for the future at RB. Is it really that hard to understand what I mean?

[bluedave]

------------------------Cech---------------------------

Ivanovic----Cahill/Luiz---Terry---Cole/Bertrand

------------------------Mikel---------------------------

---------Lampard/Ramirez------Mata--------------

----Hulk-----------Torres---------Marin/Hazard---

I'd encourage whoever is playing out of Mata/Marin/Hazard to interchange regularly, and the full backs to bomb down the flanks when appropriate. Torres should benefit greatly from being surrounded by 4 creative players.

[Guest]

Since this is a fantasy thread....

------Ivanovich-------Terry--------Silva-----

Lahm--------------------------------------Cole

----------------Modric------Y.Toure----------

Ramires--------------------------------Hazard

---------------------Van Persie----------------

[CunningStunt]

This would be my ideal team for next season:

Subs: Blackman/Taylor, Cahill, Bertrand, Romeu/Mikel, Sturridge, Marin, Hulk

Unfortunately there is next to no chance that we will get Bale. I think he would suit us down to the ground.

Javi Martinez is brilliant from what I've seen, and while I appreciate what Mikel has done over the past few weeks, I still wouldn't have him as first choice DM. Him and Romeu would be competing for a place on the bench. Lampard has proved he still has a lot to offer, especially in the holding role. He's improving all the time in this position and, assuming KDB goes on loan, can do a good job while KDB learns his trade in a good league.

Cahill and Luiz are interchangeable at the moment. The choice between the two would be based on who we are playing. Terry is still top of the pile.

Hulk is good, but I don't rate him higher than Mata, Bale, Torres or Ramires at the moment. He may well prove me wrong, but until he does he'd be coming off the bench.

Chalobah, Piazon would remain in the reserves but given opportunities in the League Cup and maybe FA Cup.

Kane, Kakuta, McEachran, Lukaku, KDB, Courtois all go on loan.

Sell Malouda, Essien, Meireles, Turnbull, Hilario, Ferreira (these are the players that aren't good enough any more and are preventing the younger players from getting first team experience in weaker cup ties).

I'd give RDM a rolling 1 year contract.

Edited May 26, 2012 by CunningStunt

[Lane]

My reasoning is that Luiz has the skills necessary for a RB and is younger than Branko, so he could be developed into a great RB for the next 7-8 seasons. I have no issue with rotation on RB just like Jose and Branko were last season + both Branko and Luiz can play as CB if Cahill/Terry is out. That is plenty of playing time for all four of them and we are developing a new player for the future at RB. Is it really that hard to understand what I mean?

it really is. you want to phase out a natural rb (ivan) by retraining a 3 (3 whole fukin years, ivan could be a father to luiz) years younger cb (luiz) into his position, even though on the position of cb you have a player (terry) who is 7 years older than luiz. so far luiz has been very poor as a fb and nothing guarantees that he would be good even after spending a lot of time there.

so rather than phasing out terry and having a great backline (lb excluded) for the next 5 years, youd phase out ivan (which would probably end up in him transferring to another club) so that in 2 years you need to get a new starting cb, and you may even end up with a dodgy rb in luiz

sorry to say this, but your reasoning is truly idiotic.

[CacOBG]

it really is. you want to phase out a natural rb (ivan) by retraining a 3 (3 whole fukin years, ivan could be a father to luiz) years younger cb (luiz) into his position, even though on the position of cb you have a player (terry) who is 7 years older than luiz. so far luiz has been very poor as a fb and nothing guarantees that he would be good even after spending a lot of time there.

so rather than phasing out terry and having a great backline (lb excluded) for the next 5 years, youd phase out ivan (which would probably end up in him transferring to another club) so that in 2 years you need to get a new starting cb, and you may even end up with a dodgy rb in luiz

sorry to say this, but your reasoning is truly idiotic.

So you actually think if Branko plays 30 games a season he is going to leave? Just like the seasons up to now? wow.

Phase out Terry? Are you nuts? He is 31. He has at least 3 (possibly 4 for a CB) more years at top level football. Please, go on and tell him he is being phased out this season. And how do you know Luiz is not going to be good at RB, he hasn't played there for us yet and he clearly has the skills - defensive talent, good going forward, good tecchnique, not sure on how good his crossing is. You are just making comments like they are facts when they actually aren't. I am not saying Branko is bad, he is one of my favorite players at Chelsea as he comes more or less where I come from but that doesn't make the option of Luiz playing on the right impossible. It will depend on the next manager, not on you and me and I have the right to an opinion.

Edited May 26, 2012 by CacOBG

[Blueregard]

1 of Falco, Hazard, Hulk

any 2 from this list

Alan Dzagoev (CSKA)

Andre Schürrle (Leverkusen)

Georginio Wijnaldum (PSV)

Antoine Griezmann (Real Sociedad)

Gaston Ramirez (Bologna)... currently being chased by Liverpool and Malaga

Abel Hernandez (Palermo)

Iker Mouniain (Bilbao)

that is all

Edited May 26, 2012 by Blueregard

[bluedave]

it really is. you want to phase out a natural rb (ivan) by retraining a 3 (3 whole fukin years, ivan could be a father to luiz) years younger cb (luiz) into his position, even though on the position of cb you have a player (terry) who is 7 years older than luiz. so far luiz has been very poor as a fb and nothing guarantees that he would be good even after spending a lot of time there.

so rather than phasing out terry and having a great backline (lb excluded) for the next 5 years, youd phase out ivan (which would probably end up in him transferring to another club) so that in 2 years you need to get a new starting cb, and you may even end up with a dodgy rb in luiz

sorry to say this, but your reasoning is truly idiotic.

I'm also not convinced about Luiz as a right back (if we were to change his position I'd rather see him in Mikel's position), but that's a bit harsh. For a start Ivanovic is not a natural right back, and (at least according to his agent...) he prefers to play centre back.