The news of him speaking to return Barca is totally terrible. Hope it's not true. This kind of attitude is not tolerable in a team.
epson, that sounds freaking scary.

Speaking about commitment to a team, Lukaku! That young ambitious guy.I like his attitude, he clearly speak out the desire of him playing for Chelsea.
Come on, wrap the deal!

It was a 50-50 performance to me. The team was still too narrow, had no width. The build up could do a lot more faster. Lampard was slow, and what a rubbish penalty, he didn't take it properly.
Even though Sturridge scored two, he still has a lot more to do, but I have no doubt on his capabilities being a big star in future.
Torres looked kinda sharp isn't it? Could do better though.
One thing i hate the most is, Kalou is shit. Hope avb will give him some words.
I was gutted to see Mikel injured, he was amazingly good. He's like our Xavi! Love to see him spraying some passes all over the field.

Cool, Lukaku is finally a blue Honestly, it was a great 15m deal to release Zhirkov. I don't think other team will offer that amount for zhirkov.

Well, more to come! Hope we can grab some wingers.

This post has been edited by ericling: Aug 7 2011, 10:24 AM

No no, that was harsh comment on AVB and the board.
We have to offload some players to make space for Lukaku. plus 15, deal for zhirkov isn't too bad. It's a good business.
AVB will bring in some wingers, come on.

I thought it was Delfouneso?
Oh well, I like how AVB tells the player what he wants. He's like a father looking at his child playing football. Aww, so lovely.
Anyone feel that his half squat pose is quite cute?

Hmm, that's from caughtoffside, They can really write whatever they want.
It would be really awesome if we can bring Sneijder in, but, I don't put my hope high. I don't even dare to put my hope on the rumor.

I seriously can't wait for the game!

What the shit? Torres injured? Ughhhhhhhhh. Well, maybe it's time for him to rest and relax down.
He could find back his form and slowly recover by following AVB tactics.
On a more positive note, the injury makes AVB a lot easier to pick his first eleven. I dont think Torres would have started anyway, against Stoke I would think we would fight with physically with Drogba leading the front line.

This post has been edited by ericling: Aug 11 2011, 05:46 AM

No wonder we're the best in fair play.

From optajoe twitter.
https://twitter.com/#!/OptaJoe/status/101974921814609920

Okay, so Liverpooland Arsenal drew. Nice one.
Away against Stoke is not an easy job, focus lads!

off topic: anyone of you guys watched Joey Barton? He is... legend? Check out his twitter too. Epic guy.

---

Added on August 14, 2011, 9:30 amAmazing article.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/...philosophy.html?
AVB footballing philosophy.

This post has been edited by ericling: Aug 14 2011, 09:30 AM

Actually we played quite well. Just poor in wing plays. Malouda and Kalou were awful to watch. Very very sharp Torres.

A midfield and 1/2 wingers will do.

Overall, it is a positive result. Away against Stoke at Britania always called as "hard to beat" match. I am delighted to see we cope with the set pieces.
This match reflects our team need at least one winger. First half, Malouda and Kalou were really poor. At HT, I am sure that AVB was looking at the bench and finding a replacement for Kalou and Malouda.
Obviously, no direct replacement. Anelka or Drogba. Both are not wingers.

I am not worry about our midfield. Benayoun, Josh,Lampard, Ramires,Mikel are all good enough. Look at Ramires, what an engine. Running from one end to the another end. Amazing player.
Mikel can do some 'xavi style of passes' isn't he? He will grab the first premiership goal this season!

Wingers wingers wingers. We have to grab one at least!

I don't understand there are still any reason to blame Torres. This guy, is the main attacker for us. Sharp. Good on the ball, he can hold the ball.
When he started his run, Stoke defense was totally ripped apart. What we're poor in, Torres's strike partner on the two flanks, Malouda and Kalou performed really terrible.

Kalou was unbelievable terrible. He's out. Anelka might offer more.
Lampard looked heavy, lack of composure, but I am not too worry about it, because Josh can replace him directly. Next game against West Brom at Stamford Bridge, Josh in for Lampard because west brom doesn't play too much physical,like Stoke did.

Speaking about all the replacement, again, we need to replace Malouda with someone has pace and can cross. But what, we have no squad depth at all. Anyone can replace him? No one. Well. I got to whine again about our lack of activities in transfer windows again.

I shall stop it. Winger, come on AVB. GRAB A WINGER.

This post has been edited by ericling: Aug 15 2011, 05:27 AM

The high frequency of Malouda losing the ball causes a lot of problem to Ashley Cole. and Stoke's Etherington keep on attacking on their right, which is out left, and Ashley can't go to attack too often.

Objection!
It's against Swansea. Their defense are really wide open.
And if Torres got the service like MCY gave, he will score too. The problem is not on Torres, it's the service for him. Of course Torres also need to give his best, but the main problem rely on our midfield service.

Kevin De Bruyne is a good punt. Punt, I would rather use this money to gamble on this guy rather than slapping a huge price tag on a player.
10-15m, grab him!Finish your Belgian hat trick AVB!

This post has been edited by ericling: Aug 16 2011, 10:54 PM

Kakuta is back from Fulham isn't he? AVB can start giving him some minutes, maybe 10-20 minutes of game time.
Regarding Josh, he deserves starting eleven. Lampard is aging, his performance against Stoke was poor. He's heavy, slow, can't do miracles anymore.Hate to say this though.

Our main aim is, transform Torres into a goal machine and win games.
We're lack of width, Torres is always surrounded by lot of defenders.And our wingers(I would take Malouda and Kalou as our 'wingers') always need to come narrow to collect the ball. This causes we have no width and the midfield cannot make some long passes to both flanks to open up opponent defense. If you watch MU/Arsenal/Liverpool game, they will have Young/Walcott/Downing on the flanks. When it's packed on a side of the field, they'll send the ball to the other side of the field to stretch the defense. This is what we're lack of.
This tactic is extremely useful against 'park the bus' team, which are those team we always having troubles to break.

Speaking about the wingers need to come narrow to collect the ball, back to midfield. We need somebody to play in between striker and midfield, often called as "hole man'. Benayoun should be able to do this, but his age is becoming a problem. I am not very convinced that Modric can do this job because he's a deep lying playmarker.

Conclusion, we need to bring in one or two wingers and a midfielder.
Winger who has pace and can swing in crosses.
Midfielder who can deliver the ball to both sides of the field.

That's all!

This post has been edited by ericling: Aug 17 2011, 08:48 AM

Guys, look at our biggest signing of this summer!

That's almost 40m! Too much.
I would take Kalou+27m for Modric. No way for Benayoun to go.

This post has been edited by ericling: Aug 17 2011, 07:03 PM

WHY LUKAKU DOESN'T WEAR HIS NUMBER 14?!

.............Cech................
Ivan....Luiz....Terry...Cole
............Ramires..............
.....Modric.....Lampard/Josh
Sturridge..............Mata
..............Torres

Oh mai, my hope is really high now.

Well, most of us here prefer Ivanovic, because of his solid defensive work.

AVB prefer Bosingwa though. I remember he said that fullbacks should provide more attack, link up with teammates and create chances to break down opponent defense. This is what Bosingwa can offer while Iva only offer little.

Fantasy wise, Bosingwa don't really offer much. Biggest reason is he can't really cross, that means less assists will come to his way. While Iva do not cross, he offers set piece goal threat. I am a fantasy player too, but both Iva and Bosingwa are under rotation risk, it's not wise to choose them.
Ashley Cole or Terry are only the solid picks for fantasy, still need to wait for Luiz returns, AVB likes Luiz. FYI, 1 week more for his return.