new to the site, so before i start don't ridicule me too much if i make any mistakes haha! With the new season approaching i am looking forward to seeing chelsea line up as we now have real competition within the midfield, and especially some 'natural' width which was missing last year, i was just wondering how fans expected to see the team line up come our 1st game with a fully fit team and if we do not sign anyone else(although there is always speculation another player may come in or some players will be sold.) I am quite happy with the balance and also the approach to signing some young talent, and would only really like to see maybe one player(romeu) leave on loan for some experience and we keep the rest. I think if we were to play a 4-2-3-1 next season and then give some players like kakuta and benayoun, who both have wonderful footballing ability and brains we will see a much more attractive type of football and at the same time keep our strong spine of strength and power to give a real quality look to the team...add to the fact competition will be fierce and we can rotate players with no fear of weakening the team, I believe we will have a positive season and see no reason why we can't challenge for major honours. in respect to the line up, I would love to see mikel, who i think is a greta player for us and very underrated play alongside benayoun as our 2 DM, with yossi doing the pirlo role of deep lying creator, with ramires,essien and lampard as the backups, who both can do wonderful jobs and if called upon would be able to slot into the system and give us balance, and then have kakuta(amazing promise and flair) hazard and mata as a 3-pronged interchanging attacking format which would undoubtedly cause problems to the opposition with their speed skill and vision, whilst torres upfront would be guaranteed to be given chances to score, or sturridge and lukaku for that matter.....with players like marin and de bruyne on the bench to give us attacking width and the CF battling for the one spot there is real compeition. when you see the promising young full backs hutchinson and bertrand, both fast attacking FBs, but who can also put in a strong defensive display along with A.cole and ferriera(cover) another RB maybe arriving we are well covered there, whilst it can be argued that we possess 4 equally matched CBs all of whom would easily get into other top teams in the prem starting XI and who can all play out from the back....i would then say as we have again loaned out the belgian GK we need some real competition for cech, so i would break the bank for lloris of lyon who is available for 12mil and who would offer real presence in goal and can be the NO1 without fear, as dejac has not progressed as well as th club had hoped and turnbull is unreliable. so we don't really need much else apart from another GK, maybe a right back , and a winger/CF if we loan anyone out, the squad is very competitive in every department. What do other chelsea /non chelsea fans think...
Welcome and congrats on your first post but you've had a bit of a mare with that midfield!! Lampard and Ramieres on the bench and Benayoun as a defensive midfielder? It's out there and I can't see it. Ramieres has to play as was arguably our best player last year especially in the big games. With no other signings i'd say our first 11 would be say Cech Ivan Terry Luiz Cole Mikel Lampard Ramieres Hazard Mata Torres
Not sure about this. Couple of things I think are wrong. Ramires HAS to start, he was your second best player last season behind Mata. Starting Kakuta over Marin is ridiculous. He did quite well on his loan at Dijon, but Marin is a better player. I don't think Benayoun has anywhere near enough ability to play like Pirlo. He's a nice player, but can he control the tempo like Pirlo? I doubt it. I also gather that Hutchinson is more a of a centre back than a right back, but I may have got that one wrong. And I don't think Lloris would be a good signing. If he goes he'll expect to be number 1 wherever he ends up, and Cech is better than him in my opinion. If the season started tomorrow I think this would be my xi Cech Ivanovic Luiz Cahill Cole Ramires Lampard Marin Hazard Mata Torres I know leaving out JT is probably controversial, but Luiz and Cahill are much more mobile and they played unbelievably well together against Munich, and they were both carrying injuries! Plus if the court trial goes badly he may miss a lot of the opening games through the subsequent FA suspension. For the big games I might switch Lampard with Mikel, and normal rotation would see Sturridge, Lukaku, Romeu (unless he goes back to Barca), de Bruyne, and Bertrand all get some game time. McEachran should go out on loan to get some game time, along with a few more youngsters like Lalkovic and Davila. Looking at the squad has shown that you probably need another striker. I expect Torres to do very well next season, but there are always going to be question marks around him. Sturridge should be moved from the wing to be the replacement striker, but I'm unsure as to whether he will be good enough to make you challenge for the title should Torres falter. Lukaku will be world class, there is no doubt about that, but he's still very young. Hulk would be good as he can play upfront or on the wings, but the fee being suggested is stupid.
Welcome allaboutfootball! That was an almighty bit of prose for a first article, if you dont mind me saying so! My feeling about preferred lines ups is that we have a SQUAD!!! This means being selective according to 1) the game and 2) the competition! We took home the biggest prize in club football with a team no one would have selected 2 months earlier! Use the squad effectively is what I say!
With these new boys in the squad we need to move the ball quicker. I'm afraid that with Mikel AND Lamps in there we'll have the same old problems hence my preference of Romeu.
Welcome to the CFC site. We have many more options this year for sure, but before we draw up our 1st team, we need to see how the new boys fit in, and what they bring to the team. A natural balance will evolve, and hopefully more than one way to play, using different personnel to play different formations. I wouldn't be surprised to see us play 2 strikers in a 4 4 2 shape more often than not. Anyway, better football brains than mine will give us the answer soon enough. One thing is certain, we have some great new players and youngsters to fit in, so we should be yards quicker than last year. bring it on.
i even left out meireles and no one else mentioned him..feel sorry for the lad cos he had a great euros and might come good for us next season........bluemoon2, i totally agree with you about squad selections, but was just saying that if the squad stayed as it is for our 1st game that would be my pick, not for every single game.......thanks for the replies
you did the right thing leaving out Meireles mate - nowhere near good enough. A panic buy after the Modric deal fell through and the main reason why Lamps had to play so much when he should be slowing down.
Its just dawned on me Benayoun is back at Cobham after a season on loan to the Gooners! We are definitely spoiled for choice in midfield!
I think bluemoon2 has hit the nail on the head with 'SQUAD'! With the players we have (plus maybe 1 or 2 additions) it is possible to play any number of formations and alternate tactics (even during a game which is not going our way, unlike Barca against us!!). With the players we have: Cech Ivan Terry Luiz Cole Mikel Lamps Ramires Hazard Mata Torres or.... Turnbull Hutchinson Ivan Cahill Bertrand Romeu Meireles Benayoun Marin DeBruyne Sturridge Assuming we buy a new RB then every one of the first team which I've listed could get injured and we could still play the second! And I haven't even included Essien, McEachran, Piazon, Lukaku or any other promising youngster or any other potential signing (Oscar, Moses, Walcott, Hulk) (although I think that any more additions would equal more leaving)!! 4-4-2 Ramires Lampard Mikel DeBruyne Sturridge Torres or Benayoun Romeu Mata Marin Hazard Lukaku Options are almost endless!!
And I reckon you will too at some stage. Equally we could see Terry in the back 4, Mikel and De Bruyne, Lukaku and Sturridge, Lamps get a run, Bertrand , Josh, Young Piazon, or Hutchinson. We have what looks like an excellent squad this year, and we will need all of them at some stage. By Christmas, our top 14 or 15 will have emerged and we will have had a good look at the youngsters. Exciting times, even with no more signings.
I still think we'll bring in 3 more players yet. A Right Back, Centre Midfielder and another Attacking player. I'd love to see us hold onto Yossi though, i think he's class. Especially if De Bruyne goes out on loan. So we'd end up with something like: Cech/Hilario/Turnbull Iva/Debuchy or Azpilicueta - Cahil/Luiz - Terry - Cole/Bertrand Mikel/Romeu - Lampard/Modric? Hopefully! Ramires/Marin - Hazard/Yossi - Mata/New signing Torres/Sturridge That still leaves out Meireles, Essien and Malouda. Then i reckon we'll see several young players loaned out such as De Bruyne, McEachran, Lukaku, Piazon.
I don't think we need a right back. Brana is good enough and has cover in Sam Hutchinson, Todd Kane plus Nathaniel Chalobah can play there too. Still hope we can offload Malouda and Meireles. Paulo should be given a free but he'll never match the wages he gets at the Bridge so there's more cover at right back. let's not forget that Essien has played there effectively too.
