First of all, hello. I've joined this forum a long time ago (when Chelsea played against Bayern Munich in the CL). Obviously I was and still am a Bayern fan and am pretty neutral with regards to your club. My interest was rekindled when you signed Michael Ballack and I have since followed his progress at Chelsea and with that the games of your team more closely.

Many people here see Chelsea and Abramovich as the death of football due to the fact that you are now able to buy any player while other, historically more successful clubs can't match that. Personally I see it quite differently. I believe that your emergence into the top level of European clubs (I know that you were a decent team before, but not on that level) can prove to be the impetus for the established sides to manage their clubs more efficiently and to improve their quality wherever possible. The developments in the Premier League seem to support that. Manchester United has accepted your challenge and now matches your spending levels. The Premier League has gotten better year for year. I hope that this lesson will also be learnt by the clubs back here in Germany (At Bayern we had to after our miserable last season.) so that one day we can also have multiple successful clubs in the CL knock out rounds again.

Now on to some of my observations having seen most of your games this season and read most of the threads here:

- You seem kind of obsessed with wingers and a 4-3-3 system. Nobody can argue that it has brought you ample of success under Mourinho, but don't you think that with the current players a 4-4-2 would be the best option? I have often heard the claim that certain players can't play in certain positions and can't maximise their strengths. Well, top class players just have to overcome and adjust. As I see it your best formation would be:

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

Belleti-------Terry------Carvalho-------A.Cole

J.Cole-----Ballack----- Essien--------Lampard

-----------Drogba-----Kalou/Anelka

Now some of it might seem exotic like Lampard in the left midfield, but think about it: Lampard is reasonably mobile, has a precise pass/cross and a high amount of footballing intelligence and vision. I remember a game where he picked out Ballack from the left and delivered a perfect cross that Ballack slotted in. You scored many other goals that way. Another thing, Lampard likes to shoot from outside, being on the left and right footed, that means that he can cut in to the middle and then unleash shots. IMO he offers you far more there than Malouda.

Joe Cole has been great for you this year and he plays his best stuff on the right. Ballack and Essien would be a very good pairing in the middle. Ballack's control, passes, headers and shots coupled with Essien's lungs and tacklings should dominate almost any opposition (A similar style to the one played in the German national team where Ballack plays with another bulldog kind of player, Frings). If you are concerned about the defensive qualities of that formation, you can replace Essien with the superb Makelele. Up front you have of course Drogba and beside him a support striker. The nice thing about this formation and set of players is that it enables you to switch from 4-4-2 to 4-3-3 in an instant with J.Cole going forther forward. In essence you will have the best of both systems available. What do you think?

- Your most overhyped player is Mikel. I have seen him described as a future world class player here quite often, but honestly I don't see what's suppose to be great about him. He neither excells offensively nor defensively, IMO you have a lot of better players available that can play in CM (Ballack, Makelele, Lampard, Essien) and should they all be fit, Mikel should not even be in the squad. Still, he is young and he may turn out to become a better player than he is now. One thing remains though, you paid far too much for him.

- What's the latest on Shevchenko? I was really horrified to see him fall so suddenly and lose his form. Quite astounding for a player of his quality. I reckon you are not planning with him anymore?

- Grant is a very weird choice for a head coach and getting rid of Mourinho for him seems even weirder. I was really unhappy when we did not make moves for him as a replacement for Hitzfeld. Klinsmann is a risky choice.

So, that would be it. Comments?

Not much to disagree with there, my new German friend.

Personally, I think your idea of putting Lampard on the left is worth a shot and, satisfyingly, follows a good Chelsea tradition of occasionally sticking central midfielders in that spot (Wise / Poyet / Di Matteo / Cole etc) when the likes of Robben, Duff, Gronkjaer and ahem.... Ambrosetti weren't available.

Aside from sticking Bridge in ahead of Cashley, your team looks ok to me and I too can't understand the fuss re Mikel

Mikel should not even be in the squad.

You were doing ok up untill that bit! Mikel is a great player. Sure, not world class yet but he is only 19. A lot to learn for sure but he keeps the ball fantastically and has a great future ahead of him.

Your team looks good though you've chosen the wrong full backs.

Like Mike id be up for giving Frank a shot on the left though , we would have to be careful. The strongest part of his game is arriving in the box at the right time and if he was to do that from the left we would need ample cover in case of a break.

As for Sheva, nothing astounding about it. Its simple science really - his legs have gone. His Chelsea career is over and so is his standing as a top quality player. All very sad, watching him play is painful he tries so hard but its simply not there anymore. AC Milan must be laughing their bollocks off.

i agree with bjd. for a 19 year old mikel displays remarkable coolness on the ball. he slows or speeds games up to the tempo we need, and at times has came on and settled games for us. he will go on to be one of the best centre mids in eyrope, i have no doubt.

Mikel should not even be in the squad.

You were doing ok up untill that bit! Mikel is a great player. Sure, not world class yet but he is only 19. A lot to learn for sure but he keeps the ball fantastically and has a great future ahead of him.

Your team looks good though you've chosen the wrong full backs.

Like Mike id be up for giving Frank a shot on the left though , we would have to be careful. The strongest part of his game is arriving in the box at the right time and if he was to do that from the left we would need ample cover in case of a break.

As for Sheva, nothing astounding about it. Its simple science really - his legs have gone. His Chelsea career is over and so is his standing as a top quality player. All very sad, watching him play is painful he tries so hard but its simply not there anymore. AC Milan must be laughing their b*****ks off.

Agree with everything you said there excpet the full bakcs, I would pick Ashley Cole everytime and I don't care who plays at right back, both aren't up to scratch. On the Mikel thing, he isn't a world class player but is a really good player and liek you said is still 19 and he has shown really promising signs this season and I believe if he keeps improving it wont be long till he is up there with the best of them.

I would also like to say Hello to Reaver180. Going by your first comment it looks as if you will be a good addition to this forum, welcome mate

Hello & welcome.

I saw Michaels last European game for Bayern in the Olympic stadium. Fantastic player, he's even got a bit of a nickname now - Rolls Royce.

Glad your still following him, i reckon he could be in for a super end of season, especially now he has returned to match fitness and is showing signs of 'Rolls Royce' form.

I like A Cole as a palyer, but not necessarily as a person, and I think that is why so many plum for Bridge. Either way, I think it is great that we have two such quality LB's. As for RB, I think Ivanovic might be pushing to make that position his own next season.

Lampard on the left, could be good, but I think that he would drift into the middle too much and leave Cole of Bridge exposed at the back. I think having Frank in the middle allows him to be more visionary, and create long range passes to either flank. Sticking him on the left would take away his range of passing, but like you said, might allow him to come into the middle onto his favoured right foot.

Sheva, paid too muc, bought him too late..sad!

oh, and welcome to the site. Please post more

Good post reaver180. I envy you for one thing. You can watch Chelsea from a neutral point of view which pretty much gives you the chance to review the team's chances objectively. We can't do it here, too much emotions involved .

Mikel is going to be a great player. He showed that in the FA-cup final last year against ManU. He was great in that game. His temper is something he needs to work with and now that the referees target him unfairly he has tough times ahead of him. Avram should play him in next game.

A.Cole is clearly number one choice at the moment. He seems like a whining c*nt but a good left back. Don't like him as a person, well the on-field person anyway. Bridge is good when opposing lesser sides.

Lampard is playing on the left side of the field so I don't understand why people are talking about him playing on the left, he is there already. How much more left can he go??

Playing Lampard on the left is an interesting idea. Reminds me of the Gus Poyet days...

Lampard is playing on the left side of the field so I don't understand why people are talking about him playing on the left, he is there already. How much more left can he go??

A few matches ago it did seem that Frank was very much on the left of the midfield three (albeit quite narrow) and Ballack on the right and it seemed to work very well. Recently, like sunday, they seemed both to play much more narrow and frequently swapped around which didn't seem to work as well, certainly from a creative perspective. It may be that it was to make the midfield more defensively solid.

Playing Frank on the left of a diamond would be ok too as it wouldn't be all that different to where he plays in a 3. Left in a traditional 4 man midfield wouldn't work for me.

Good post. Hail to the fatherland!

Some excellent points there, so welcome to the forum. You clearly talk alot of sense.

How are the new signings at Bayern settling in?

Toni? Ribery? etc...

I have to agree that to play Lampard left sided would be wasting his natural talent, and threat on goal. Against Arsenal, he was able to make far more central runs towards the box to support Anelka/Drogba once Ballack had gone off.

Ballack has done better recently, and has certainly shown some excellent leadership qualities. His attitude has impressed me of late, however, out of him and Lampard, i would choose Lamps everytime, and i think Frank enjoys more freedom to do as he pleases when paired with a naturally defensive minded midfielder such as Maka or Essien.

Mikel is indeed a grey area.

We did pay alot for him (which we may be getting back very soon), but i can see why.

He doesnt seem to be excellent at either going forward or defending, but for such a young age, he possesses amazing amounts of composure on the ball, and is a very intelligent player for 19.

I think once he grows in stature, maturity, and confidence with regular games, he will also add the attacking side to his game, and become one of the best. He just needs to stay focused, and calm his temper from time to time!

Look forward to more of your neutral points!

Good post. Hail to the fatherland!

Some excellent points there, so welcome to the forum. You clearly talk alot of sense.

How are the new signings at Bayern settling in?

Toni? Ribery? etc...

I have to agree that to play Lampard left sided would be wasting his natural talent, and threat on goal. Against Arsenal, he was able to make far more central runs towards the box to support Anelka/Drogba once Ballack had gone off.

Ballack has done better recently, and has certainly shown some excellent leadership qualities. His attitude has impressed me of late, however, out of him and Lampard, i would choose Lamps everytime, and i think Frank enjoys more freedom to do as he pleases when paired with a naturally defensive minded midfielder such as Maka or Essien.

Mikel is indeed a grey area.

We did pay alot for him (which we may be getting back very soon), but i can see why.

He doesnt seem to be excellent at either going forward or defending, but for such a young age, he possesses amazing amounts of composure on the ball, and is a very intelligent player for 19.

I think once he grows in stature, maturity, and confidence with regular games, he will also add the attacking side to his game, and become one of the best. He just needs to stay focused, and calm his temper from time to time!

Look forward to more of your neutral points!

Thanks for the welcome, everybody.

I still remain unconvinced with regards to Mikel, but he certainly has time to improve. Ribery and Toni are doing wonderful, and have become our best players. Toni is right now one of the best strikers around and I don't see a better winger than Ribery bar Ronaldo. They certainly have proven their worth. Bayern is doing very fine right now, we are in the cup final, the UEFA quarter final and lead the Bundesliga with 7 points. Actually our only weakness is that we are sometimes a bit lazy and arrogant when we play against small teams. Today we drew with Nürnberg and two weeks ago we lost to the worst team of the league, Cottbus. With a bit more effort and concentration we could have been over 10 points ahead by now. Anyway, we have a very good chance to win all 3 trophies still. I very much look forward to CL action next year again. The UEFA Cup is really not the place for a team like us, but after the last season we deserved it.

A Cole-Essien-Ballack-Lampard central midfield would make us play pretty narrow if you ask me, which plays exactly into the hands of most of the premiership teams we play against, who invariably stack 5 men in the midfield and try and stifle the game.

Width and pace is what the wins the premiership. Can't think of any successful premiership team in my time that didn't rely heavily on this.

Our 4-5-1/4-3-3 was so much better a few years ago beacause Duff/Robben/Cole were a class above Cole/SWP/Malouda that we currently have.

Our central midfield has improved, but our wide options are not what they used to be. The very thought of sticking Lamps wide left is testament to this.

As far as Mikel goes, he's not there yet (worst of our CM's) but if he keeps getting the game time and experience that he has with us over the past couple of seasons he will be world class, especially as he has arguably the world's best central midfielders to learn from.

Look at how JT developed when he had the likes of Desailly and Lebeouf to learn from - he is now as strong, as quick and as good in the air as Desailly, and as good positionally, comfortable on the ball and not afraid to hit a long pass as Lebeouf.

My hope is that in 3 or 4 years time, he will have picked up the best parts of Makalele's, Ballack's, Lampard's and Essien's games. If he does, he will be one hell of a player. Imagine someone who had Essien's drive, Lampard's attacking sense, Ballack's passing range and Maka's positional skills.