Chelsea F.C [2010-2011]

[Help?]

Now we will finally see if Torres actually had a dip in form or he just wasn't playing with the right players. I don't see Anelka holding on to the starting spot ahead of Torres.

 

[Coruja]

David Luiz its just one of the best CB of his age right now.

 

[Mandieta6]

I've seen great compilations of Cygan, too. It doesn't convince me.

Anyway, Torres confirmed, around 50m, very steep. Luiz all but confirmed, 21m plus Matic. I really like Matic, I think it's a shame he had to go too, but hey, we got two great young players, let's hope for the best. I highly doubt they'll even feature tomorrow against Sunderland, which is a must-win in my book, but Torres will 99% play against Pool.

 

[Coruja]

I've seen great compilations of Cygan, too. It doesn't convince me.

Anyway, Torres confirmed, around 50m, very steep. Luiz all but confirmed, 21m plus Matic. I really like Matic, I think it's a shame he had to go too, but hey, we got two great young players, let's hope for the best. I highly doubt they'll even feature tomorrow against Sunderland, which is a must-win in my book, but Torres will 99% play against Pool.

That compilation sucks. I just had to put some video related to him.

Hes gonna be so missed... damn.

David Luiz and Terry = Top Tier CB.

 

[Arnau]

Its like one of those transfers in FIFA Manager Mode that makes you think how unrealistic is that?!

 

[Help?]

This is gonna be one hell of a run-in. Lucky for Chelsea, Torres can also play in CL

 

[Sevillista]

So, the transfer craze, amongst other things, means I won't be able to recover sleep today, so, might as well discuss this prematurely.

1. The club has stated today that for the first time since Roman, we have been cash positive, i.e making a profit. It's a relatively small profit, and doesn't include the potentially record-breaking transfers we might be making now, but still, it's encouraging.

2. I'm weary about both transfers because they both might involve players leaving, and I don't want Torres in exchange for Anelka plus cash, honestly. We'll see, though.

3. Not enthusiastic about paying out the nose for players on deadline day, but hey, if it means titles this year, I can't really complain.

4. Sturridge out on loan too? So much for investing in youth. 2 multi-million panic buys, and while I agree that we need to make the squad younger and better, I don't want to go back to spending over developping our own talent. That said, Sturridge and Kakuta could really benefit from the moves, since they'll probably get more chances. If they don't break those squads, they're not going to break into ours.

5. Davi Luiz, I really haven't seen enough of him to judge, but we've been after him for a long time, and we definitely need another top quality CB. Not sure if he'll oust Ivanovic or Alex out of the other starting spot, but if he does, then I'll be excited. I think we have 3 world-class CBs, and for him to get a starting berth would mean that he's at least just as good. And he's young. Bruma won't go on loan to West Brom, though, and I would keep him around for when we're dominating and bleed him in. Bruma's got talent, Luiz should be replacing Carvalho, not him. Bruma was never going to be able to step up that much.

6. So, the big question is, what to do with Torres? As of right now, I'd start him on the bench and if he delivers, I'd remove Malouda for now and have the trident of Torres, Drogs and Anelka constantly rotate, with Torres and Drogs pinning the defense back, allowing Anelka to work his magic in he space in front of the defense. I'd move Drog wide unless Torres shows the potential to work from that position. Drogs has played this role sometimes, with Kalou or Anelka drifting in, but I highly doubt he will adapt to the role well enough to stay there. Really, Torres would be Drogba's successor. I'm not deluding myself into thinking he and Torres will click, I'm not sure they'll even compliment each other, although if they do, it will be terrifying. I think the rotation will be great for the squad, and Malouda could play in the midfield 3 and the attacking 3.

7. If Torres does arrive, there's a good chance he'll make his debut against Liverpool. Now, for me, the most important thing is to beat Pool, and heavily if possible, and show that we've really turned a corner and are back in the game, and I think there's a better chance of that happening without Torres in the team. As good as he is, I doubt he'll blend into the squad right away, he'll probably get subbed in. Would be sweet if he scored though.

So, assuming all goes well and the players blend in quickly, we're looking at:

Drogba - Torres - Anelka
Lampard - Mikel - Essien
Cole - Terry - Luiz - Bosingwa
Cech

Subs: Turnbull, Alex, Ivanovic, McEachran, Ramires, Malouda, Kalou

I'm currently favoring this formation because I envision Drogba playing realtively central, between the CB and RB, but moving wide to recieve longballs, fighting for them with the physically waker fullback and menacing to move diagonally, with Torres using his pace to break from behind the defense, the movement allowing Anelka to come in from wide or Essien/Lamps to move into the space, not to mention the overlap from the fullbacks, this could be done on either wing, and I definitely think that a lot of the weaker defenses would be very intimiated by the prospect of dealing with the pace, strength an quality of such an attack.

Regarding the bench, there's also Yossi eventually getting back into the thick of things, hopefully not Josh's expense. We'd also have Zhirkov to consider, and now that's a great bench to have, with hopefully Sturridge, Kakuta, Bruma, Matic and van Aanholt especially pushing for first-team action next season. Delac hasn't played at Vitesse yet, so he's not ready to usurp Ross' position, so I wouldn't object to spending a few extra mill and getting Begovic or poach whoever ManU want to sign.

It is laughable that you still discuss transfer sums like it is of any consequence to Chelsea. You have an owner who is worth $11 billion. Your concerns about giving up on home grown talent are valid though; you can't just buy success (see: Real Madrid).

 

[Xifio]

It is laughable that you still discuss transfer sums like it is of any consequence to Chelsea. You have an owner who is worth $11 billion. Your concerns about giving up on home grown talent are valid though; you can't just buy success (see: Real Madrid).

all the other stuff you said is fine ... but "you can't buy success"? and you're talking about Chelsea? dude, they bought their way to consecutive league titles, and bought their way to being one of the modern European powerhouses ... if any one club has shown that you can buy success, it is the Chels ... Barcelona are lucky/blessed with the talented youngsters, and their youth system blossoming has as much to do with the ingrained philosophy of play as anything else ...

and, for the record, Real Madrid bought their way to 2 Champions League trophies in 3 years in the early 00s ... it's only different now coz they are up against what could in retrospect be considered the greatest team ever, led by arguably the best player ever ...

 

[Zakov]

I don't give toss what anyone says, I'm absolutely stoked!

What a fookin mental Jan transfer window.

 

[Sevillista]

all the other stuff you said is fine ... but "you can't buy success"? and you're talking about Chelsea? dude, they bought their way to consecutive league titles, and bought their way to being one of the modern European powerhouses ... if any one club has shown that you can buy success, it is the Chels ... Barcelona are lucky/blessed with the talented youngsters, and their youth system blossoming has as much to do with the ingrained philosophy of play as anything else ...

and, for the record, Real Madrid bought their way to 2 Champions League trophies in 3 years in the early 00s ... it's only different now coz they are up against what could in retrospect be considered the greatest team ever, led by arguably the best player ever ...

Okay, let me rephrase that... spending only gets you so far. Real Madrid and Chelsea would not have had their success without the cash, no question about it, but it took more than that to make it all work. I'm not saying you need homegrown talent, but it's something that can help establish a team's identity. I'm convinced that if Madrid had a core of players from the cantera supported by their big name signings, those players and the team as a whole would have had much greater success. Instead, they have almost zero patience with their youngsters and sell them off and bring in a carrousel of new players (and coaches...) every season, leaving Madrid to figure themselves out year in and year out. I think this is a model that Chelsea would do well to avoid.

Also, it's not just Barcelona that are in Real Madrid's way. They've been tossed from the Champions League by a vast array of European clubs (Lyon, Roma, Juve, Bayern, Arsenal...), and humiliated by many small Spanish teams (Alcorcon and Real Union being the most egregious).

 

[Zakov]

Torres is cup-tied for the FA Cup, Sideshow Bob isn't but its vice versa for the Champions League.

Next step is to make Bane sign a new deal, I'm a bit worried that he'll feel threatened with the arrival of Luiz. He shouldn't be if that's the case.

The twist in all this is that Torre's first game is likely to be against Liverpool, how ironic.
Some Pool' fans have lost it burning Liverpool shirts with Torres's name on it , not realizing that they're burning the Liverpool crest, Liver Bird and Hillsborough symbols.

 

[VanTheMan]

I feel the signing of Torres will f*ck up your squad big time...
If Anelka would have been sold, it would have been good..
Now you need to bench either Malouda or ANelka, which will be a disaster considering their roles this season...
It looks obvious that maybe drogba would be off next season, but as for this season, the timing of torres seems bad...

neverthless, how many of you think Luiz will be a starter? I gotta alter my fantasy team ! :P

 

[ShiftyPowers]

Following the twitter accounts of players is kind of depressing. Charlie Davies (just as an example) tweeted something like "wow Torres to Chelsea! They HAVE to be the favorites now!"

Now, I don't necessarily think Torres will make you worse, but it's not like you're 1 point down either and have a lack of quality strikers. You'd THINK that professionals would understand the game better than fans, but it certainly seems that isn't true.

 

[Zakov]

Following the twitter accounts of players is kind of depressing. Charlie Davies (just as an example) tweeted something like "wow Torres to Chelsea! They HAVE to be the favorites now!"

Now, I don't necessarily think Torres will make you worse, but it's not like you're 1 point down either and have a lack of quality strikers. You'd THINK that professionals would understand the game better than fans, but it certainly seems that isn't true.

Having quality players is one thing, but to have quality players that are actually performing almost consistently is another.

I'd take Anelka for example, against Bolton he looked sharp but in other games(like the Everton game), he just drops deep and does little, same with Drog at times(this season especially).

Malouda plays at his best when the whole team is ticking. He's no game-changer that's for sure.

That's where a player like Torres comes in, he brings something different to the table, surely he won't drop deep to receive passes, he'll play on the shoulder of the last opposing defender, he's quick, makes intelligent runs and is very clinical in front of goal.

In addition to that, having someone like Luiz is a big plus, sure there's a chance he won't be fully up for it this season, but he's young and can offer us as much as Riccy did when he was here. Hopefully with Sideshow Bob here, he'll take a bit of pressure off JT.

Sturridge gone on loan was probably the best choice for him this season, but I'd rather have him go to Newcastle seeing that they haven't got a proper replacement for Carroll, he'd gotten more games there than in Bolton.(with Elmander and Davies in front of the pecking order).

Matic's gone to Benfica, good luck to him, always saw him as a replacement for Ballack but he was part of the Luiz deal so it couldn't be avoided.

 

[Xifio]

Okay, let me rephrase that... spending only gets you so far. Real Madrid and Chelsea would not have had their success without the cash, no question about it, but it took more than that to make it all work. I'm not saying you need homegrown talent, but it's something that can help establish a team's identity. I'm convinced that if Madrid had a core of players from the cantera supported by their big name signings, those players and the team as a whole would have had much greater success. Instead, they have almost zero patience with their youngsters and sell them off and bring in a carrousel of new players (and coaches...) every season, leaving Madrid to figure themselves out year in and year out. I think this is a model that Chelsea would do well to avoid.

Also, it's not just Barcelona that are in Real Madrid's way. They've been tossed from the Champions League by a vast array of European clubs (Lyon, Roma, Juve, Bayern, Arsenal...), and humiliated by many small Spanish teams (Alcorcon and Real Union being the most egregious).

- it's nice to have youth players making the step up, but even young local players who were bought can provide club identity (Lamps is the case-in-point) ...

- I agree about maintaining stability for a decent period of time; the best replacement Chelsea got for Mourinho was the Guus, and he made it clear he was just a temp ... with Carletto, it looked like they finally found that stability when they won the league last season and looked unstoppable early this season, but the last few months have certainly shaken up that happy picture ... hopefully he stays ... meanwhile, Real Madrid made one bad appointment after another once Del Bosque was wrongly fired; before Mourinho, the only truly world class manager after Del Bosque was Capello ... but the concept of stability clearly, sadly, still doesn't seem to hold much water in that ivory tower ... I really want to see Mourinho given time and space to build the team as he sees it ...

 

[Zakov]

4-2 against Sunderland.
Anelka played a blinder today, tormented Sunderland all day long. Torres's arrival must've motivated him. Very very cool finish in the end.

Drogs looked out of sorts and sluggish throughout the match, seemed a step behind everyone else, hopefully its just a one off.

 

[Mandieta6]

ONly watched from little before Terry scored, but it looked a good performance. Drogba and Anelka had pretty opposite nights, and Malouda did well to get an assist from the bench. Kalou also had a pretty good game. Looks like no one wants to reliniquish their spot.

 

[Zakov]

I reckon we hit the frame of the goal about 3 times today, and Sunderland took their chances, they didn't create any other clear cut chances though apart from Bardsley's early goal. Free-kick goal conceded was terrible, though u can't blame the wall for jumping.

Just sort out the few lapses at the back and be more clinical going forward, because we are creating chances. The other big plus for me was Lamps, he was taking on shots a lot and gave Gordon plenty to do. But as mentioned before, Drog was just poor.

 

[Zakov]

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepag...orres-dinner-at-Roman-Abramovich-mansion.html

Last night it was revealed NINE times more of his Chelsea shirts had been sold than the rest of the team put together in the 48 hours since his transfer.

That is a hell of alot of shirts sold then. Players like Drogba, Lampard and Terry must be in the top 20 global names on shirts. So to be able to almost 10 fold the entire squad is incredible. Doubt it was higher when he joined the biggest team in the world , Liverpool. So this is a good indication of how many shirts we have sold in 48 hours. Could easily make over £ 15 million globally by the end of the week if it carries on like this especially with loads of people going to the megastore on sunday before and after the game to get their shirts. This is why he is such a global brand and also a world class player.)

Looks like its paying off already.

 

[ShiftyPowers]

That's pretty crazy, although £15 million seems ridiculous. Maybe in revenue, but not profit for the club. Still pretty cool though.