That we are not as good as we think we are.
At the start of the season, I was more than satisfied with out squad and despite a slow start, I was confident that Chelsea would step up a few gears as the weeks went on. I'm starting to think now however that this is as good as it will get. We will win the majority of our games, but the consistentcy to win the title will not come around.
Went to the game yesterday and boy was it dire. Our squad is so unbalanced its scary. We are very very slow and very very predictable. You don't need to be a world class defender to keep us out because we are so laboured in attack.
All I ever see is Luiz pass to JT who passes to Ash who passes back to JT to Luiz, to Ivanovic and back to Luiz to then tries a 30 yard long ball that goes straight to the opposition.
Its clear to see that we are missing a dictator in midfield that can drop deep pick up the ball from the defence and spray it quickly around the pitch. Maybe we should buy 2 midfield dictators and create a sumbline nucleus in the middle of the pitch to link attack and defence.
Bottom line is, this team lacks urgency in attack with very slow reactions in defence.
I've realised and accepted...
posted on 12/12/13
comment by Stuck With The Name Biggish (U7916)
posted 3 minutes ago
Ramires is very important to us now because we are so weak in the area of CM, but I feel a player of his quality should not be important to us, and there is no way such a bad passer of a ball would ever be part of Bayern or Barca.
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Dani Alves gets into the barca team and he is a woeful passer of the ball....but he really shouldnt be as importatnt to us as he is, shows how poor our transfers have been
posted on 12/12/13
A bad passing RB may not be ideal but a bad passing midfield player is fairly devastating
posted on 12/12/13
Nick.
When I watch us play. I just see the same old thing.
What we need is for more players to take on the responsibility to drive the team forward quickly and with precision. If we can do this, we can catch the opposition defence out.
Now, at the moment, out of our backline, I only see Luiz doing that. He is the only one who stops the 700 pass combination that our defence are doing between themselves and takes the ball forward. Problem is, sometimes his risky passes dont work out.
Our midfield, Mikel does not do this. Ramires will pass sideways most of the time and Lampard will too but not as often as the other two. The problem we have is, the possession we do keep is pointless. Its not threatening to the opposition at all.
So Luiz is the only one trying them. He's the only one in our team who is looking for runners, gaps, forward passes.
Sad state of affairs
posted on 12/12/13
Its sad that its taken us over 5 years to replace makelele...who even as the best DM ever in terms of positioning and interceptions, he was also so quick at getting the ball forward with incisive passing.
posted on 12/12/13
One thing about ramires though he may not cut out a team with a quick pass but he takes on responsibility to drive on and draws in players to create space for others. But your right, our teams passing and responsibility of passing is terrible.
posted on 12/12/13
And that is why Ramires is crucial too us atm, without that we would never cross the feckin half way line
posted on 12/12/13
What we need is for more players to take on the responsibility to drive the team forward quickly and with precision.
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Exactly but we've been like this for over three years now (since we won the Double) and I really don't understand why.
Are some of our players afraid of losing posession if they get forward ? There seems to be a fear in our players that must be stomped out.
posted on 12/12/13
There is a lot of doom and gloom here, I don't think its that bad to be honest. This is a club, after all, who have maintained a pattern of success even through what has been an extended transitional period.
If we get a manager to stay on for longer than a year, everything else will sort itself out, especially if that manager is Jose.
posted on 12/12/13
Ramires is very underrated.
Energy and work rate still matter, call me old fashioned And he is much better at using the ball than people give him credit. Besides he is very direct which is refereshing as our midfield plays like a crab otherwise.
In my view, he maybe isnt a starter for an elite team, unless as a defensive winger BUT when the game is stretched and the midfield dissapears (as is the case in the last twenty minutes of every gung ho PL game I can think of) he is the best palyer on th pitch.
I mean his speed, acceleration, in the centre of the park. It is so effective in the last twenty minutes of matches.
posted on 12/12/13