Crying out for strength

[Zola]

We can slate the fat Spanish waiter for being a naive and useless manager until we are blue in the face. In my opinion, on top of this (as well as the obvious pathetic choice of strikers), we have a two main weaknesses in our team.

1. No midfield bruiser(s)

2. Very little strength

We need someone like Yaya Toure who is a tough, intelligent and physical unit...he is also someone who actually wants to play positive football and seeks to pass the ball forward (not as quickly as possible to the nearest person, as a means of getting rid of any responsibility).

2. We have too few blood and thunder players these days who really want to get stuck in and frighten the opposition. Yesterday Man City's bruisers were overpowering us in physicality - this is something we used to do to Arsenal. Back then we all knew Arsenal had some great players, they could always play attractive football and demolish the lesser teams, but we ALWAYS knew we had the muscle and steel to overpower them and get a result no matter what.

Are we becoming / have we become a flimsy Arsenal? I love Mata, Oscar, Hazard etc, but there is no muscle, big protectors, bulldogs or giant figures who can really make the difference. Without having this I get the feeling we will always be set up for continual failure against a side like City.

In the premier league a strong and physical side without skill is easily beatable.

A physical side with skill is almost always a recipe for success.

[Lane]

[ishangodbole]

Schurrle, Falcao one CM and 2 centre halves.

[evissy]

You are right about the physicality. I agree. And to be fair every team in the world need or could use Yaya Toure. When he is interested he is easily the best in what he does.

We used to have Essien, Maka. Would be brilliant to have Schweinsteiger.

[Stim]

Schurrle, Falcao one CM and 2 centre halves.

 

2 center halves! Then we'll have ... 6! for two positions. Defence is the least of our worries. Perhaps LB only. (Not that big on bertrand sorry).

 

Defense is our most stocked position.

[Remodez]

I think if we play to our strengths there's very little need for muscle. Also think people are going a bit too far in regards to Oscar, Hazard is no bigger and players bounce of him all the time. Oscar just needs to work on the strength he does have, he does have a fair bit as he stood toe to toe with Toure and Milner (I think it was him) and held his own yesterday without getting shrugged off once, and mainly his balance. If you've got balance like Hazard it doesn't matter how strong the opposition is, they aren't getting the ball without giving away a foul. 

 

Of course muscle is always welcomed and it's obviously something we've had over the years so if we can find the right player then I would hardly complain but I wouldn't say it's a priority assuming we get a more competent manager than Rafa next season. 

[Jonty]

2 center halves! Then we'll have ... 6! for two positions. Defence is the least of our worries. Perhaps LB only. (Not that big on bertrand sorry).

 

Defense is our most stocked position.

I thought Bertrand has been excellent in Ash's absence.

Above all else we need a replacement for Mikel, no more room for passengers, and although it's never a good idea to judge a player off youtube highlights, Capoue does look the business.

After that a striker and an extra CB would be helpful.

[c3blu2]

I agree we have gone from a very powerful side to a very lightweight side almost overnight. I'm not talking about building a team full of lump it anywhere giants but you can have big strong players with skill and touch.

A good big'n will always beat a good little'n. Its all about having the right balance though, and sometimes you need players to win the battles physically to allow players like Mata to then get on the ball and express themselves.

[mazacar]

Irony is that the smaller players(hazard, oscar) are more willing to put their body on the lines while the supposedly bigger and stronger players (Mikel) shy away from tackling. 

Oscar won 8 tackles in the game yesterday. Hazard ran all the way from opposition penalty area when Milner caught us on the break. 

[dkw]

Fully agree, after years of battering teams in terms of footballing ability and strength it was quite upsetting seeing City bully us yesterday.

[i-like-to-munich]

Firstly i totally agree that we look like we are becoming a flimsy Arsenal type of team, even down to wanting to walk the ball into the net.

Why Essien was ever sent on loan to arguably one of the best teams in the world and walked straight into a starting place, yet was deemed surplus for us is a mystery.

Lets just hope a new season brings new players, the right players regardless of who is our new manager.

[Lane]

2 center halves! Then we'll have ... 6! for two positions. Defence is the least of our worries. Perhaps LB only. (Not that big on bertrand sorry).

 

Defense is our most stocked position.

 

i dont know what bertrand has to do more to prove he has a place at chelsea

[Stim]

I thought Bertrand has been excellent in Ash's absence.

Above all else we need a replacement for Mikel, no more room for passengers, and although it's never a good idea to judge a player off youtube highlights, Capoue does look the business.

After that a striker and an extra CB would be helpful.

 

CB is our most stocked position, its fine. And we need an alternative to mikel, not a replacement. We need quantity.

 

 

 

i dont know what bertrand has to do more to prove he has a place at chelsea

 

Didn't say he doesn't have a place, just wouldn't feel comfortable with him being our only option. Cole doesn't have long left (apparently) and I don't feel bertrand is any more than a backup. Everything behind bertrand is not confidence inspiring.

Edited April 15, 2013 by Stim

[Jonty]

CB is our most stocked position, its fine. And we need an alternative to mikel, not a replacement. We need quantity.

 

 

 

 

Didn't say he doesn't have a place, just wouldn't feel comfortable with him being our only option. Cole doesn't have long left (apparently) and I don't feel bertrand is any more than a backup. Everything behind bertrand is not confidence inspiring.

Next season may very well be JT's last at the club, Luiz has played well at CB but may be needed at CM at times, Cahill has been badly injury prone since he's been here and Iva has had a really poor season, I think as JT is becoming less of a key player we really need a new big man to step up at the back, you don't win league titles without a JT/Vidic/Kompany-esque man at the back.

[kennypaul]

Irony is that the smaller players(hazard, oscar) are more willing to put their body on the lines while the supposedly bigger and stronger players (Mikel) shy away from tackling. 

Oscar won 8 tackles in the game yesterday. Hazard ran all the way from opposition penalty area when Milner caught us on the break. 

yes they do try and get stuck in, unfortunately though mata on many occasions this season has gone in half heartedly, on some occasions just sticking his leg out.althoughthere was one break very near the end from city and i was surprised to see him doing the clean up in the box.

[kennypaul]

Next season may very well be JT's last at the club, Luiz has played well at CB but may be needed at CM at times, Cahill has been badly injury prone since he's been here and Iva has had a really poor season, I think as JT is becoming less of a key player we really need a new big man to step up at the back, you don't win league titles without a JT/Vidic/Kompany-esque man at the back.

i would be more than happy to see one of youngsters graduating to the squad. someone with a bit of pace like bruma or omeruo just in case we wanted to play with a sweeper,because lets face it we haven't got the quickest back four in the world, and from what i've seen this season terry's getting slower.the amount of times he's been left for dead this season, it's a shame to see it.

[Jonty]

i would be more than happy to see one of youngsters graduating to the squad. someone with a bit of pace like bruma or omeruo just in case we wanted to play with a sweeper,because lets face it we haven't got the quickest back four in the world, and from what i've seen this season terry's getting slower.the amount of times he's been left for dead this season, it's a shame to see it.

Based off recent form I think Luiz has been our most consistent CB, going forward we may be looking more for a big man to partner him than a quicker CB to partner someone like JT/Cahill/Iva.

[Teritus]

We need a battering ram to partner Luiz.

[superdan]

Oscar has proved this season that although he looks a lightweight from his small frame he can hold players off and shield the ball no problem - but he is never going to be the tough tackling physical midfielder we are missing this year

[Englishman]

2 center halves! Then we'll have ... 6! for two positions. Defence is the least of our worries. Perhaps LB only. (Not that big on bertrand sorry).

 

Defense is our most stocked position.

 

Poor defending has been a constant problem all year. We may be stocked in defence but that doesn't mean there's not room for improvement. JT is on the decline, Luiz is unreliable and Ivan has been error prone all season. What we need is a replacement for JT.

[Lane]

Poor defending has been a constant problem all year. We may be stocked in defence but that doesn't mean there's not room for improvement. JT is on the decline, Luiz is unreliable and Ivan has been error prone all season. What we need is a replacement for JT.

 

i think we'll see an immediate improvement in our defending once we get a proper DM

Edited April 16, 2013 by Lane

[Adamrb]

i think we'll see an immediate improvement in our defending once we get a proper DM

I agree with this. In my opinion, the ease at which teams play straight through lamps Mikel rambo has been our biggest problem - it's the reason our centre backs are often out of position.

With a big centre midfielder - maybe capoue or fellaini - next to rambo I think we'd improve a lot. Then throw Lukaku up top. Schurrle to replace marin. Sorted I reckon.

[Brizzleblue]

Everton have two players that would suit us down to the ground, Fellaini and Baines!!

[charierre]

Everton have two players that would suit us down to the ground, Fellaini and Baines!!

 

I'd take Jagielka too, he was immaculate tonight

[KrazyTea]

Id settle for a Makelele