coco Posted January 23, 2007 Posted January 23, 2007 We may be potrayed as the 'deepest' squad in the EP, but i think were the most unbalanced squad ! With the injuries & individual players poor form its really shown us how weak & unbalanced the squad is. Magnus Hedman Yves Ma Kalambay Petr Cech Carlo Cudicini Henrique Hilario Ashley Cole Nuno Morais Ricardo Carvalho Khalid Boulahrouz Wayne Bridge Paulo Ferreira John Terry Claude Makelele Michael Essien Frank Lampard Joe Cole John Obi Mikel Michael Ballack Geremi Arjen Robben Lassana Diarra Michael Woods Salomon Kalou Shaun Wright-Phillips Andrei Shevchenko Didier Drogba Ben Sahar With all the ? we have spent i find it disturbing that in one season we have gone from a strong, confident & balanced(ish) squad of players, to an unbalanced, decimated squad.
Pauly Posted January 23, 2007 Posted January 23, 2007 having two central defenders plus boulharouz was a disaster from the beginning, and having 2 strikers and wanting to play the 442 was silly also unless he considered Robben a striker for the season and Kalou a possibility also.
ethicalstrategy Posted January 23, 2007 Posted January 23, 2007 Is the squad unbalanced? I don't think it is terribly unbalanced in terms of where we started the season. We could have done with an extra central defender and another striker but otherwise it looks ok. Goalkeepers: Petr Cech Carlo Cudicini Hilario Defense: Ashley Cole Wayne Bridge Ricardo Carvalho Khalid Boulahrouz John Terry Paulo Ferreira Geremi Midfield Claude Makelele Lassana Diarra Michael Essien Frank Lampard John Obi Mikel Michael Ballack Wingers/Wide Midfield Arjen Robben Joe Cole Salomon Kalou Shaun Wright-Phillips Strikers Andrei Shevchenko Didier Drogba However, if we look at where we are now then a combination of injury and poor form changes the picture quite dramatically: Current squad - excluding those unfit: (those dreadfully out of form in brackets) Goalkeepers: Petr Cech Hilario Hedman Cudicini Defense: Ashley Cole Ricardo Carvalho Paulo Ferreira Geremi Midfield Claude Makelele Lassana Diarra Michael Essien Frank Lampard John Obi Mikel (Michael Ballack) Wingers/Wide Midfield (Salomon Kalou) (Shaun Wright-Phillips) Strikers (Andrei Shevchenko) Didier Drogba Now we defeinitely have a problem. With the players we have then we have to play 4-4-2 -------------------------Cech Ferreira--------Carvalho-----Essien------Cole -----------------------Makelele ----------Ballack---------------------Lampard -----------------------Mikel ------------Sheva----------------Drogba
coco Posted January 23, 2007 Author Posted January 23, 2007 Yeah thats my point, we have a midfield laden with players available, but we dont need some of them, but we do need c/b's wingers & right sided players.
ethicalstrategy Posted January 23, 2007 Posted January 23, 2007 Yeah thats my point, we have a midfield laden with players available, but we dont need some of them, but we do need c/b's wingers & right sided players. the injuries don't show how unbalanced the squad is. the injuries make the squad unbalanced because they have been focused in two positions - goalkeeper and centre half. not many teams could cope with losing two goalies and two centre halves.
Pauly Posted January 23, 2007 Posted January 23, 2007 we play with 2 central defenders and have 2 in the squad. we play with 2 strikers and have 2 in the squad. that, is madness.
BLUENUT Posted January 23, 2007 Posted January 23, 2007 we play with 2 central defenders and have 2 in the squad.we play with 2 strikers and have 2 in the squad. that, is madness. AND have 5 keepers for 1 position!
ethicalstrategy Posted January 23, 2007 Posted January 23, 2007 we play with 2 central defenders and have 2 in the squad. We have three. we play with 2 strikers and have 2 in the squad. that, is madness. that is madness I agree.
The Brit Posted January 23, 2007 Posted January 23, 2007 the question is not the size but the strength of the squad...we're relying on young guys like kalou and mikel, whereas the last two seasons we'd have seasoned pros coming in...everyone spotted the lack of centre halfs at the start of the season, but we have been effectively a further two men down due to ballack's and sheva's disappointing form
Pauly Posted January 23, 2007 Posted January 23, 2007 we play with 2 central defenders and have 2 in the squad. We have three. we play with 2 strikers and have 2 in the squad. that, is madness. that is madness I agree. hehe- if you consider #9 Boulharouz a central defender then harry redknapp should sign me up and watch me make a cup of tea goalside of him for 10 minutes. (i am not good with the tea)
sergeyMS Posted January 24, 2007 Posted January 24, 2007 we play with 2 central defenders and have 2 in the squad. We have three. we play with 2 strikers and have 2 in the squad. that, is madness. that is madness I agree. hehe- if you consider #9 Boulharouz a central defender then harry redknapp should sign me up and watch me make a cup of tea goalside of him for 10 minutes. (i am not good with the tea) Then what`s your considerations about Boulahrouz? Is he Right Back? I believe he is more central defender than full back. Maybe you treat him as a keeper?? (who knows?)
Pauly Posted January 24, 2007 Posted January 24, 2007 no idea, but from what I've seen he looked incompetent and uncomfortable in the center.. wasn't goalside, dragged players down, made fouls... Didn't see any football before christmas so i can't judge him on the right.
coco Posted January 24, 2007 Author Posted January 24, 2007 no idea, but from what I've seen he looked incompetent and uncomfortable in the center.. wasn't goalside, dragged players down, made fouls... Didn't see any football before christmas so i can't judge him on the right. He is not a replacement of high enough standard, at least Huth was !
ethicalstrategy Posted January 24, 2007 Posted January 24, 2007 I'm not sure that Huth is any better than Boulahrouz. It's pretty hard to make much of a judgement about him at centre half as he has only played there about 4 times for us. First time he was alongside Terry and was fine. The other times he was alongside Carvalho and his decision making was terrible against Everton. Clearly he is a back up for Terry and Carvalho and as such I would think he is fine.
g3.7 Posted January 24, 2007 Posted January 24, 2007 boulahrouz is definately a lot better than huth. he had a particularly poor game against everton, but that was his first bad game in the middle IMO, and came off the back of being subbed as a sub at spurs (at rightback)- his confidence was shot to bits.
bjd Posted January 24, 2007 Posted January 24, 2007 At this moment Id take Huth over Boulha, credit where credit is due his performance at SB against Ronaldinho is THE performance of the season by a Chelsea player so far, however since then its all been downhill culminating int he hapless performance at the JBB where he bought new meaning to the word liabillity. Also, every time he plays you fear he is a sending off waiting to happen.
g3.7 Posted January 24, 2007 Posted January 24, 2007 we never had what would have been the horror show of a huth playing without terry (or without gallas doing all his work), but it would have been terrible. I think boulahrouz has done enough to have confidence in him as the third choice... his form obviously will pick up, but I'd like to not see him at right back again.
sergeyMS Posted January 24, 2007 Posted January 24, 2007 we never had what would have been the horror show of a huth playing without terry (or without gallas doing all his work), but it would have been terrible. I think boulahrouz has done enough to have confidence in him as the third choice... his form obviously will pick up, but I'd like to not see him at right back again. Agreed. At right back he was great just once - against Barcelona at Stamford.
c3blu Posted January 25, 2007 Posted January 25, 2007 One of the original points about the squad being weakend still holds up in all positions, who would you rather have: Gallas or Boularouz Gudjohnson or Ballack Duff or Kalou Crespo or Shevchenko I know there were different reasons for the players leaving and not all could or would have stayed but the players who have come in hav'nt done as good as the players who have left. If you add to that the injury situation Jm has done well to keep us where we are.
BlueBeard Posted January 25, 2007 Posted January 25, 2007 I think our team is very well balanced. At the back we've got Paulo Ferreira on the right, and Ashley Cole on the left - so, total w*nkers on either side
coco Posted January 25, 2007 Author Posted January 25, 2007 I think our team is very well balanced. At the back we've got Paulo Ferreira on the right, and Ashley Cole on the left - so, total w*nkers on either side
BlueBeard Posted January 25, 2007 Posted January 25, 2007 Lets not start again about Paulo eh BB ? Sorry BJD It's just so frustrating watching him play knowing that he's capable of playing so much better (or at least he was). As for Cole, I just get so pissed off when he's selected ahead of Bridge all the time Oh, and coco, if you've got something to say, say it - don't just post sarcastic emoticons - we can all do that........... .....see, it's easy
BlueBeard Posted January 25, 2007 Posted January 25, 2007 :upyooours: That doesn't count as 'just posting a sarcastic emoticon', as you'd already made a comment
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