Evidently AVB thinks he'll learn more from playing with Rory Delap's throw ins and Shawcross' rough housing.

This post has been edited by Nitheon: Aug 30 2011, 06:43 PM

More like Chelsea who are kedekut.

They better have a contingency signing otherwise we can look forward to another season of excuses why Torres can't score.

Ribery is 28 years old and a left winger. Not worth the time and money. Not the kind of signing AVB would make, I think.

Maybe they'll play Ribery and Sturridge as interchanging wingers with Mata pulling the strings from Lampard's spot in midfield.

Huge imaginary signing?

We haven't bought anyone and there's three hours left.

Looking forward to getting massacred by United in two weeks.

Really underwhelming. We needed a creative midfielder but instead AVB copped out by getting one of his old Porto rejects.

Meireles was sold by AVB as soon as he took over Porto. He used to be a defensive midfielder and now he's some sort of attacking midfielder. He seems more of a utility signing than anything.

We loaned Benayoun, our one creative outlet who hasn't really been given a chance to play with Torres, and get Meireles instead? Makes little sense. Meireles plays on the right side of midfield so he'd be competing with Ramires. Oh and the big bonus is that he carries a collarbone injury with him sustained from the Liverpool Carling Cup game a week ago.

Right up till now, I was thinking AVB would have a contingency plan for the creative midfielder position. Turns out he didn't.

We're very fortunate that MU didn't get Sneijder. That would've been the nail in the coffin. I fully believe we'll continue to struggle creatively and rely too heavily on Mata.

Cue panic buying in January.

This post has been edited by Nitheon: Sep 1 2011, 06:40 AM

When did Mata ever leave the left wing? When he came on for Malouda against Norwich, he was a left sided forward in a 4-3-3.

Do you think we're going to change our formation to a 4-2-3-1 because of Meireles? AVB wouldn't even do that to accommodate Torres, let alone some buffer signing to boost the midfield numbers.

It's quite a concern that we can't get rid of old players like Malouda, Anelka, Kalou (not old but crap). Their wages prohibit clubs from buying them and they're not exactly lighting up the league at the moment. It's old players like these who are complacent and stubborn that make it difficult for the team to evolve.

Mata will encounter these obstacles as he now becomes the fulcrum of the team. It's too much pressure for him to take on alone. I think AVB will need to phase Romeu in. Or at least players who can pass the ball quickly and accurately. Instead of our useless slow build up play.

Does it really matter to us how much the club spends? We're all just consoling ourselves here that Modric was too expensive. If we had gotten him, no one would be complaining about the price. There's no point comparing Modric and Meireles, they're completely different players.

Believe me when I say our midfield will continue to struggle for dynamism and make a panic purchase in January. The management thought they could call Spurs' bluff with the £40m bid but it didn't pan out. Expect Chelsea to pay at least £50m for Modric in January after our traditional winter slump.

Neymar was only using Chelsea to stir Real Madrid's interest. He's not a Chelsea fan like Lukaku. No way Neymar would pick us over Real.

It's hard to come by players like Lukaku who are actual fans of the club before they joined. Gives them that extra motivation to do well. Can't wait to see how he does against Sunderland.

I doubt AVB will start Sturridge next week. AVB's always been the cautious type, he doesn't want to upset the egomaniacs in the team. Anelka will probably start on the right side and when he inevitably fades in the second half, Sturridge will come on.

MU employees are trained in mind games by Fergie.

Anyway it's the English Premier LEAGUE, not the English Premier GAME.

I would take a gamble on Meireles playing in Mikel's position.

Just watched the Argentina - Nigeria highlights, Messi ran past Mikel who just stood idly by admiring the little man's footwork.

That aside, I can't see how much longer AVB will tolerate sub-par performances from the senior players without giving way to the new ones.

I'd even start Lukaku ahead of Torres.


Cech/Hilario

Bosingwa, Luiz, Terry, Cole

Ramires, Meireles/Romeu, Lampard/McEachran

Sturridge, Lukaku, Mata

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Added on September 7, 2011, 4:41 pmhttp://chelsea.theoffside.com/chelsea/adding-to-the-mix-lucas-piazon-joins.html#more-8569

http://www.weaintgotnohistory.com/2011/9/3...in-chelsea-four

http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=a...nova-no-chelsea

Piazon's already joined Chelsea?

This post has been edited by Nitheon: Sep 7 2011, 04:49 PM

Technically Sturridge didn't assist for the goal because the Sunderland defender parried the ball for Terry to shoot again, but what a finish from a tight angle despite the defender helping it in.

Still laboring in possession though but hopefully that will change sooner rather than later with the addition of the new players.

Good to see AVB having the cajones to drop the rubbish who aren't performing. We still need another right wing forward, playmaker and right back though. Bosingwa left us exposed a couple times.

With England, it's easy to drop Lamps because they have options. For Chelsea there's not really anyone else. McEachran's still a little lightweight for that position. Meireles and Ramires are more defensively inclined.

Chelsea really dropped the ball on the Aguero deal. Should've held out for him rather than the panic buy for Torres.

I think you'll find Aguero also creates goals for people as well as himself. Torres just waits for the ball.

Torres really can't expect the old midfield to support him after he slated them on the La Liga website.

OMG look what poor concentration the defence had to let the Korean debutant score. The defence is still shaky.

AVB clearly resting Sturridge and Mata for the big games ahead.

Replace Lampard with a creative midfielder and we'll look more dynamic going forward.

The centre forward position is a problem now though with Torres clearly not interested in performing.

Sell Malouda, Kalou & Anelka and bring in players with pace and desire.

This post has been edited by Nitheon: Sep 11 2011, 12:02 AM

To save the Torres fanboys some time, I'll compile the excuses for this week:

- Only played 15 mins
- Mata went off
- Malouda and Lamps wouldn't pass to him
- Midfield was slow
- Good movement but no clear cut chances
- Rusty from warming two teams' benches
- Confidence shaken by two managers lack of faith in him
- No one spotted his amazing runs
- Had to come to deep to receive the ball
- Mentally weighed down by transfer fee
- Psychological block
- Mystery injury

Decent win for Chelsea!

We had good luck with decisions going for us and defensive mistakes going unpunished but bad luck with the inaccurate offside calls, otherwise we would have had an early goal from Torres which would've shut the press up for awhile.

Bosingwa still gives me that nervous feeling defensively but does alright going forward. Don't expect him to have many forays forward this Sunday.

Anelka seems to play better in Europe, at one point I couldn't believe my eyes when he bamboozled his way past two defenders. His passing though, still lets him down at times.

I hope Mata doesn't burn out before the season's end as I foresee us relying a lot on him as the team's fulcrum.

Torres was let down by his control numerous times but had good positioning sense and looked interested today. Hoping for more this Sunday.

All in all, a 7 out of 10 performance. Markedly improved from the previous EPL games. Hopefully we're transitioning into the type of game AVB envisions.

Imagine how much better we'd be with a playmaker in place?