How can you take Drogba and Lampard's goals out of the Roman era and Terry's

leadership and defending out of our current line up and expect anyone to succeed ?

 

Make no mistake had Didier Drogba left Chelsea the summer before he did this club

would be in free fall.

 

JT's absence cannot be underestimated here either and as for Frank's ability to

pop up with a crucial goal.

 

Oscar, Hazard and Mata are going to be our future, but to lose the above three

players this season has made the job near impossible.

 

For me, 4th place iin the Premiership is now our only realistiic target.

 

For RDM, for Rafa for anyone..

 

Rafa will be gone in the summer, we need TWO WORLD CLASS STRIKERS

 

and WIILLIAN to make things inviitiing and easier for the next manager

 

 

When Terry comes back, we'll start winning again. Mark my words. It's fact that our record without Terry is awful compared to our record with him. However then that leaves the question of what happens when he goes.

Just removing Benitez from our club is all I am interested in right now Star.

His mere presence is draining the lifeblood out of the fanbase and the players. Supporting Chelsea right now isn't enjoyable and the club have to understand just why this is and what they've done.

I just want him gone and won't be able to support the club that I love with my normal passion until that happens. Everything else is irrelevant to me right now, I really do feel that strongly about it.

The club or someone (preferably) fsw needs to put someone in charge. The problem is when we are playing no-one is taking charge and barking orders. Goalkeepers should not wear the arm band unless the team is capable of playing without a voice on the pitch a la Real Madrid! In our case we don't have that...the only candidate I would say with that much passion and determination is David luiz. All this talk of mata being made captain is a joke, he is a fantastic player but he is not a leader

Just removing Benitez from our club is all I am interested in right now Star.

His mere presence is draining the lifeblood out of the fanbase and the players. Supporting Chelsea right now isn't enjoyable and the club have to understand just why this is and what they've done.

I just want him gone and won't be able to support the club that I love with my normal passion until that happens. Everything else is irrelevant to me right now, I really do feel that strongly about it.

 

All I can say is ..

 

   

West Ham United 3-1 Chelsea: what did we learn from the second half collapse at Upton Park?
 

I don't recall ever having seen a Chelsea side so thoroughly in command, go on to look so very much like a dropped pie.
A pretty hopeless West Ham side of the first half was transformed by making substitutions that were so obvious most people called them long before the break.
The transformation was complete, and it was Chelsea who ended up looking hopeless.
When greater creativity was needed, Rafael Benitez made only like-for-like changes, which achieved nothing.
So what is the problem?
There was a clear lack of character on the pitch. Chelsea are missing John Terry's leadership desperately.
The difficulty off the pitch, is that they also lack a big character in the dugout: Benitez is not the sort to be quoting lines from Henry V in the dressing room.
This is not a realistic punt for manager, but the sheer chutzpah of Sam Allardyce would have done wonders for Chelsea yesterday had be been on the other dressing room for just those 15 minutes of half time.
Chelsea were perhaps flattered in a first half where West Ham were constructed like a sieve – they invited Blues' attacks, though for the most part Chelsea wasted chances.
Fernando Torres, with a great assist for the opening goal, seemed to decide that he had done his work for the day, pack-up, and all-but catch the District Line home.
He wasn't the only one to blame: there was Ramires' fluffed pass for what should have been the second, and some shoddy shooting on top.
As soon as Allardyce rectified a problem he really should have sorted from kick off, Chelsea had nowhere to go.
Frustration turned into calamity: as the fired-up hosts went all-out for the win – something that was never in evidence from Chelsea.
The final score of 3-1 probably flattered the hosts, but this was a win they ultimately deserved – and which Chelsea handed them.
Almost of more consequence right now are matters off the pitch. The anti-Benitez sentiment was always going to be intensified by the concentrated emotion of our travelling support.
But, added to the dreadful nature of the Upton Park capitulation, this can only mean even greater supporter opposition against Nordsjaelland on Wednesday. That is a game Benitez cannot win: for even a hat full of goals is useless without a big helping hand from Shakhtar.
In the post-match press conference Benitez already had the look of a hounded man.
Chelsea presently look like a car crash being replayed in slo-mo.

Dan Levene hit the nail on the head there.

I love all three of them Star, but we have to face the reality. Lampard is the shadow of the player he once was. He's still a legend in my eyes, but he's 34, not 29 anymore. Drogba is also a legend, but he wouldn't be much better if he was still playing with us. He only scored 5 goals in 24 appearances in the EPL last season. 

John Terry is the player I believe that we are missing at the moment. He provides us leadership and he makes us stand taller against other sides. His absence has certainly been felt around the club. I hope he returns soon.

 

While Frank may not be performing to the best of his ability, he does have an effect on the whole team in general when he plays, as shown by the diagram below.

 

481558_390728644335602_799350198_n.jpg

Edited December 3, 201213 yr by Jezz

Absolutely spot on Jezz.

 

Unfortunately the people who run our club cannot make up their minds as to what they actually want. With the back-bone of our squad all coming to the end of their careers at the top level, this was always going to be a difficult period which needed careful handling. As has already been said, you cannot look to replace key players like Lamps, Drogba, Essien and soon to be JT and Ash and expect a smooth transition. Even more so when you are sacking one manager after another whilst all this is going on.

From AVB to RDM to Rafa to what next? And WHO is choosing the players that are being signed in the meantime?

 

We all knew we would likely have to go through a - Cliché Alert - “transitional period†when we started losing the players who had given us our most successful period in our history. Look at Arsenal, who are still trying and failing to replace the side they had a decade or so ago. But the club have made a complete f**king mess of this – something we have got use to but not quite on this scale. You wonder what must be going through the minds of players like Mata – signed by AVB (or at least during his time) and now third manager down the line and counting. He may have a couple of medals to show for his efforts but you wonder if he could turn back the clock, would he still choose our car-crash of a club?

 

It will actually be interesting to see if JT and Lamps go straight into the side once they are 100% fit. We certainly need their experience at the moment to try and halt this free-fall we are in.

JT quote from not that long ago - damn, he leaves probably the biggest chasm:

"There are certain players at Chelsea I could give a kick up the backside and get a good response. Then there are others who need an arm round them."

John Terry, Chelsea and England Captain

Well when you rip out the spine of anything it will turn to jelly as we saw on Saturday. IMO as a club we haven't gone about this the right way and that is down to the owner and his demands and the scouting team that have bowed to every demand.  As much as I don't like Man U, SAF has got this 'transition' thing down to a fine art, a tweak here and there over a period of time, with the style of play remaining basically the same for decades.  Utd were an attacking team in the 60's with Best, Charlton and Law as they are today with RVP, Rooney and Welbeck, their dentity and culture hasn't changed, whereas we have generally been regarded as strong defensively during the same period with Harris, Webb, Dempsey, McCreadie et al to Terry, Ivan, Cole etc, but the owner wants flair, creativity and attacking play but he is trying to achieve it in one foul swoop rather than over a period of years by bringing in one or two players a season.  Roman is trying to change a culture here which in my view is a massive undertaking, its almost like emigrating, its a culture shock that takes a few years to adjust.  If we were to replace Drogba that should have been thought of a few years ago and if the plan then was to change the dynamics of our play why buy Lukaku AND Torres? each player is different, so which way do we turn?.  Perhaps Mata is the answer to Franks replacement as he has the capability to score goals from midfield but he is not a leader, he doesn't command the presence on the field perhaps because of his stature, a leader needs to be like JT, seen and heard barking out orders continually and driving the team on.  And where is his replacement?  Maybe Cahill, as he seems the only one at the back capable of being level headed, whereas Luiz and Ivan IMO are reckless at times and don't offer anywhere near the presence of JT, but there again the likes of JT are a dying breed.  It will be extremely difficult this year and I think we will be in the wilderness for another season or two in terms of finding our 'identity' again or our new identity whatever that may end up being.