Chelsea Thread

[abigsmurf]

Crap performance in that half. Wasn't a throw in leading to their goal and we should've had a penalty in the dying minutes but we should expect that. Ancellotti showed no emotion at all when he should've been firing the team up, is it any wonder we looked so demotivated?

Not gonna win the league and if we perform like that against Villa, we'll be out of the FA Cup too (although I'm finding it hard to get worked up for the cup again, I don't want it to turn into our compensation cup).

[Kron]

We are really playing some dreadful football under Ancellotti, I honestly can't see us winning anything this season.

[abigsmurf]

Gotta love putting Sturridge on at 89 minutes and wasting our own time. If you're going to lay into Anelka, do it after the game. Not that he probably would. He didn't flinch the slightest when Blackburn scored. There's being reserved and there's not caring...

I don't want to go through another bloody manager, lots of people need a slap at the moment and Ancellotti is one of them.

[EJG1980]

Ancellotti had a bit of a reputation in Italy for not really being worried about the difference between coming first and second. It was supposedly a large part of the reason he got the boot at Juventus.

[abigsmurf]

Joe Cole is on his way out it seems. We're not prepared to pay him what he wants and frankly, based on his performances this season, he's not worth anything near what he wants.

Ballack has allegedly had a 50% drop in wages too.

Won't be terribly sad to see either of them go, it's just a shame that we'll get so little.

[Kongster]

Ivanovic is out for month. Looks like Paolo Ferreira will step in then.

[abigsmurf]

Another position where we've gone down to our third choice. S'not our season this...

Still, Essien will be back soon, he'll make a massive difference.

[C']

Yeah, you're unlucky that whilst Chelsea have been riddled with one injury after another, your nearest title contenders have both managed to go through the entire season without losing a single member of the squad at any point.

If only Man Utd had to go through a period of a couple of weeks with a central defence made up of midfield players. Would have been all different then...

[abigsmurf]

You've had to go a couple of weeks like that, we've had to go months. Carvalhio has been injured on and off and Alex missed 1/3rd the season. Ashley Cole and Essien are utterly vital players with injuries lasting several months.

Then of course there's the ACON...

Has any team in the Premier league had to use third choice keepers as much as us in the last 2 seasons?

[C']

We’ve had to make use of all 3 keepers this season too. We were without our first choice keeper for a couple of months at the start of the season then lost him again for a month due to an unfortunate family illness. Both times we had to rely on our second and third choice keepers for longer periods of time then you’ve been without Cech.

Only now, since October, have we got a settled defence with our preferred first choice defensive pairing back together after long-term injuries. Probably without both Rio and Vidic for close to four months of this season with Brown doing his usual “oh I’m injured again for a month” performance that has become a regular occurrence. The only consistent defender has been Evra.

We’ve just recently lost Anderson and Owen for the final three months of the season.

I’m sure Arsenal fans will be able to detail their own squad problems over the course of the season. Injuries and losing players have always been part of the game and how teams cope with those losses. It’s no one’s problems but Chelsea’s if the players required to come in and cover during these periods aren’t good enough to pick up the slack.In fact, it was you yourself saying before this season even started that Chelsea had the best squad for the upcoming season. What happened to that?

That’s what I’ve found. It always seems like it is outside forces conspiring against you. Complaints like “we’re have so many injuries” and “other teams never do us any favours” have been used but there comes a point when you have to look at your team and decide when you stop blaming everything else and “are we really good enough?”

[abigsmurf]

We did have the best squad, then they all got injuries or didn't come back from injuries the same player (Joe Cole).

When Man U went through their injuries, it was back page news talking about their injury crisis and poor performances were largely blamed on them. When Chelsea have been playing badly for the past 3 or so weeks with 3-4 first choice regulars not available not a mention is made (aside from Hilario's especially awful performance against Man City).

You can't compare Anderson and Owen being absent to Ashley Cole and Essien.

Our injuries don't excuse our bad performances but they do contribute towards them. Outside of our first team we've lots of mediocrity at the moment.

Yes I'm incredibly defensive but frankly, we've had to deal with attacks from all sides ever since Mourinho arrived and given there aren't that many active Chelsea fans in here meaning this thread is most active after a bad result for Chelsea, is it any wonder I'm so defensive?

[C']

Our injuries don't excuse our bad performances but they do contribute towards them. Outside of our first team we've lots of mediocrity at the moment.

I can't understand how in one sentence you can claim you had the best squad, then later claim to have lots of mediocrity outside of the first team. You can't just blame it on injuries as that is what the squad is there for. To cover the injuries.

If I was a Chelsea fan, whilst I would have concerns with the team (mostly with the age of the first team first and foremost), I'd also be asking why the manager seems unable to motivate the team and squad players when they come in. I've had to put up with jibes all season about how this is the "worst United team in years" with comments about how the likes of Valencia/Park/Fletcher etc. wouldn't get into the other person's team of choice, and whilst none of these are what would be classed as superstar players (although hardly donkeys either) but there is something to Fergie's coaching style that gets to them to up their game and put in performances such as what Park did against Milan. I don't think there's anyone in the Chelsea squad who could be classed as awful and should be more than able to come in and do a job when needed with the right motivation.

I watched Ancelotti during the Blackburn match and couldn't see any difference in how he acted during the first half when Chelsea played them off the park and the second half where Blackburn made a game of it and pulled level. You needed a manager to be urging your players that they could still win this and he sat there seemingly oblivious that a draw was seriously harming your title chances. That is where Mourhino was different (in the first few years at least). He knew how to motivate players and get a squad mentality to play for each other in the same way that Fergusson and Wenger do.

EDIT - I hope you understand nothing I'm posting is being said to purely wind you up or get you defensive.

[abigsmurf]

I think we had the strongest first team as the season started but at the moment, we're being forced to use our cover and they're not stepping up, so to speak. Ballack has been horribly under performing in a way that's hurt the team.

I still hold that Man U's team is much weaker than last year's. Valencia has outperformed most people's expectations though. It remains to be seen how well Man U would cope if Rooney couldn't play.

I think one thing I'd say is that all the top teams have been fairly poor this year. Lots of dropped points from minor games and all of them putting in horribly uninspired performances. Regardless of how it turns out, this hasn't been a year for promoting brilliant to watch football in the premier league.

*edit*

OMG you're so mean, you're always picking on me ;_;

[Jebus]

Smurfy, I'd say that both Ballack and Deco were past their prime (long past) when they came to you. Ballack in particular has been woeful for about 12 months, a constant red card waiting to happen at best.

Don't think Kalou is anywhere near good enough for the standard Chelsea aspire to either.

So much of Chelsea's play comes from the fast pace of their full backs, and with both injured, you are horribly exposed attacking wise.

Also, for the record I don't think Terry is nearly as good as everyone else thinks he is.

Essien is an absolutely world class player as well, would get into almost any other side in the world, so to be missing him hurts you in a big way.

[abigsmurf]

Deco had 3 amazing games when he first joined and hasn't played well since, he's likely on the way out after this season. Ballack put in some strong performances last season (although he also played bad for long periods). He seems to play much better for Germany than he does for us. This season he hasn't been putting the work in at all though.

The annoying thing is that all the players we want to sell are at or near the end of their contracts so we won't get much money for them. Think we'll unload 3 or 4 players (plus some of the ones on loan) and we'll buy two big name signings and 3 youngish players to 'grow into' their roles replacing some of the aging players down the line.