Midfield...

[4EVERCHELSEA]

So i was chatting with the bro after drinking myself silly after the great show chelsea put on last night(JD never tasted so good) and we were talkin about chelsea's midefield at full strength and wondering if there was a better one out there.

Essien, Lamps, Ballack, Cole and deco is pretty damn good.

Is there a better midefield out there or were we just being homers??

[Kerry]

Ballack hasn't impressed yesterday. Now he's just returning and not fully match fit. JC has the same problem over here. And Essien - damn damn damn what has happened to him! So we don't have half of our quality midfield at full availability. Of course this hurts us. Past season in the CL-semi against scum Essien has proved to be one of the key players. I think we need his strength. Though Mikel is performing well. But still Essien's strength and coolness is lacking.

Lampard and Deco had some decent performances in the past. Though especially in the match against scum (I'm referring to this especially because my friend has analyzed it to me) they proved to be too weak against a strong opposition holding midfield player. Don't know if it's the same with Frank yesterday, though his pass for Anelka (was it deflected?) was superb.

Edited November 27, 2008 by Kerry

[Chelsea FC Champions]

we have the best defence&midfield.were only lacking on attaking options.

[Nibs]

When they are all fully fit and at the very top of their game then that is a great midfield.

However, Essien has been out, Ballack and Joe have been injured and are clearly not 100%. Lamps had a great start to the season but appears to have gone off the boil recently. And Deco is great on his day, but again has been nowhere near his best since early September.

As for Mikel, he is good at what he does, but he is never going to cause the opposition too many problems. They'll let him have the ball all day long.

[The Moos]

I think Deco needs to get a more free role and be encouraged to go forward more.

Right now it seems as if he's playing like a two way player which doesn't suit him. Ballack can play like that, Essien can too and of course Lampard also, but not Deco.

In the first games of the season it seemed like he played like he did at Barcelona when he concentrated on the offence and left the defence for the other players. But he's not playing like that now. I've seen him go deeper than Mikel and that's not the kind of player he is.

So let him roam free in the offence and let the defenders and Mikel (and perhaps Lamps or Ballack) take care of the defence.

As for the others midfielders I would say that they've played okay. Lamps has been good so far (though he doesn't score that often on freekicks anymore it seems) and Mikel has been great as the new Maka (few mistakes though, but no one is perfect).

Joey and Ballack has been injured and I'll give them some more time before I pass judgement on them. So far they haven't been good enough, but I think they'll play better after a few games.

I miss Essien though and I hope that he'll be back soon and that it won't take too long for him to get back to his usual standards.

I wonder who will play when Essien is back (if all are fit). Playing with only three midfielder (unless you count the wingers) two players will have to stay on the bench. It's kinda neat to have players like Ballack and Deco on the bench :angry:

[Kerry]

I wonder who will play when Essien is back (if all are fit). Playing with only three midfielder (unless you count the wingers) two players will have to stay on the bench. It's kinda neat to have players like Ballack and Deco on the bench :angry:

We'll see what happens when everyone is fit again because Scolari will have more opportunities. What I don't hope is when he invents a rotation system a la scum. It's nice when some players get a rest. It's enervating when nobody knows anymore who's on the pitch and who's on the bench.

Here I'm asking myself what will happen when Essien is back again. Will Mikel go off? Will he play right back? (obviously the right back position is there where players are "dropped" when there's no other) Mikel has still made some mistakes but he's developing well.

[Barn]

Our midfield is no-where near the best because they have no shape or cohecion if you look at Manu in the late 90's, they had a real left winger - Giggs; a real right winger - Becks; and two very good centre mids who could play together - Scholes (more attacking) and Keane (the ultimate leader, and a ball winner that could use the ball once he'd won it).

Our's, Lamps and Ballack are two of the best centre mids in the world for their generation, but I don't think they fit in the same team. Supporting them? I like Mikel, and along side the right player I think he could be one of the best in last nights set up there was no space for him to show what he's capable of. Wide, we've got nothing! Joey Cole is a lovely player on his day, unfortunately that's a long way short of being a great player. And he's the best we've got in that position - people keep telling me that Malouda has improved but I still think that Jesper Gronks offered us more but I haven't seen it.

Up front, Anelka is the leagues top scorer but he still does far too little. If we had Kevin Phillips up front he'd score as many goals!!! Drogs = tosser.

I've sulked and I'm drunk so I'm going home now.