I remember that in the annual five a side tournaments Chelsea were a real force, sharp, quick, accurate and boundless energy and fitness. Now we look passionless until given a bloody nose. I understand you can not get action and constant pressure on the ball for the whole game but surely we can achieve concentration for 90 minutes, yet it seems an impossibility for the team now. Over the years I have developed two sayings, 'here we go the Chelsea last five minutes panic', and 'one goal up DO NOT PARK THE BUS'. The second one, when we do park the bus generally ensures that I will have to say the other.
The squad needs a shake up, RA has done wonders with the club but also created a few egos that are little short of unmanagable... If one of them was to be moved on and demonstrate the strength of the club then the others may pick their game up, or quite frankly they can do one as well...there seems to be an air of complacency sometimes that I don't like to watch. Torres didn't score on Saturday, but relying on the BBC write up of the match he was apparently one of the only players to show any real enthusiasm...I stand to be corrected here as I wasn't at the game, but the quote reads: "Chelsea were flat and the wave-on-wave of attacks that used to overwhelm teams merely rippled, with only forward Fernando Torres showing passion and commitment to the cause." Interesting to see what happens with Mata turning up, but we need to pick it up because Utd at OT won't be out to do us any favours and will be more of a test than Stoke or West Brom, no offence.
I for one agree, Torres does look sharper and more focused if the first two games are anything to go by. The signing of Mata (when he agrees personal and passes medical). can only help him improve even more, I base this on Mata's ability to play quick one two's just outside the penalty area. Also and more important for me is he will need to be marked closely thus giving Bosingwa more space to exploit on the right when going forward. If we can do the same on the left hand wing we may have a winning formula again. Can imagine Cole putting a left sided quality winger in front of him on his birthday wish list. That said we will need a playmaker in the middle and a good defensive mid behind these three. We have one now please Roman get us the other. G'day to you fellow blues.
