After this long season , I can conclude that chelsea's weakness is against physical team + fast pace team . Mata , Hazard, Oscar cannot compare their bodies and always lose ball in the air.(except when Luiz / Mikel in the midfield).

Vs West Ham - against Diame , - owned
vs Juventus - against their tough 3 CBs - owned
vs Shahktar Donestk - fast pace - owned
vs Corinthains - against tough physical mid fied + samba pass - owned.

in conclusion we really need someone to hold the ball ala Drogba/Adebayor/ Ba /

beg to iffer with the bolded statement.

would that be a backward move if we are to acquire the service of a striker in the mould of drogba?

IMO, the setting now is nearly perfect. the 2 most apparent problem is the effectiveness of torres in converting chances and the 2 DMs.

last season, it was torres without chances. balls are not played to his strength and we only got juan mata as our creative outlet. this season, the excuse is no longer valid. we got, IMO, one of the best attacking trio in europe, beside barca's quartet of xavi-iniesta-fabregas-busquet. it is now either torres is unable to convert the chance due to his lacking in killer instinct or he did not move into space so that our trio can create something for him. you can have 9 xavi in a team but how to create chance for torres if he did not find some space for himself?

2nd, is on DMs issue. mikel is awesome defensively but this dude is so conservative with his playing style. take no risk at all with his passing. rather than going forward, he would rather passed it backward or to the side. ramires is all about energy and stamina. but does he have brain while playing? judge yourself.. lampard? no explanation required. romeu? will be sadly missed. luiz? promising but not yet tested against superior team. should be given more chance. and we let meireless and essien go. since we are playing with 2 DMs, the real question is what is the best combo?

So we failed to add to that one trophy that was missing from our cabinet. Haih. The Chelsea rollercoaster continues, and this might be our most painful season yet. We seem to be throwing trophies away one by one, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see us exiting the capital one cup soon.

From the moment our formation was broadcast, you just knew rafa didn’t do his homework and the dreaded pivot issue will crop up again. True enough, ramires and lampard couldn’t hold on to the ball for more than two seconds, and we never looked in control of the match. But that wasn’t just the problem, the whole team didn’t look up for it, and above all they looked dysfunctional. I think on the pitch I could only see david luiz actually giving it his all, while the rest just expected Corinthians to roll over. Back four looked okay, mostly due to luiz having a fantastic game.

All the other players just couldn’t hold on to possession. We were being bullied off the ball and Corinthians weren’t exactly rugby players. Toothless all around, especially in midfield and upfront. Hazard, moses and torres definitely didn’t deserve to stay on for as long as they did. How many clear cut chances did we have? One? Two? The torres miss near the end underlines our need for a striker once again, and at least we’re now being linked with some decent / reasonably priced ones. However for this particular game, I must admit the service from midfield was pathetic. It still wasn’t an excuse for torres to hit the ball straight at their keeper though.

Congrats to Corinthians, hands down they deserve that trophy. In the end I think rafa tinkered too much with the lineup by putting lamps and ramires in midfield, with brana back to RB. Merely three players who couldn’t hold on to possession, but had a huge impact on our performance.

Leeds next. In an alternate reality I see piazon / feruz starting as CF. Oh and he scores a hattrick

tinkering too much spoiled the rhythm..I never like tinkering..another reason why I dont like Rafa..not just because he was Liverpool's manager..even Renieri also another tinkerman...I cant stand tinkerman !!I believe that every player must play at their natuiral position and as much as you can to create understanding and chemistry in the team..

I really want to see Feruz..I dont know why but I think he in the same mould as Rooney..Tevez and Aguero..

i dont mind tinker man so long as they dont disrupt the fluidity of the team. rafa just being rafa, well known for his player rotation policy and caused us a cup by doing so.

dont you think hes a bit short when comparing with those youve mentioned? or its just me. How old is he anyway? 16? 17? a lot to grow to be on par with them

so we sell sturidge to liverpool 12mil good deal also
from soccernet.

woot woot woot

Falcao joining Chelsea

SOS TIRAM

With the news that Daniel Sturridge is all but out at Chelsea, it's becoming even more obvious that the Blues are gearing up to add a centre forward (or two) come January. And the striker whose name's on everyone's lips at the moment is Atletico Madrid's pet weapon of mass destruction, Radamel Falcao.

That we're being linked to Falcao is no surprise. The Colombian's one of the best centre forwords in the world, a position where we're desperately weak, and although he's doing very well at Atletico he'd make a lot more money at one of Europe's top sides. And Chelsea are the only club with both the capacity to pay Falcao a top-tier salary and the obvious need for an ace striker. It's a match made in heaven.

That Atletico would probably rather not sell -- they're currently second in La Liga and looking good to make the Champions League if he stays -- is neither here nor there, as Falcao has a €60 million (£49 million) buyout clause in his contract and if Chelsea want to pay it there's not a whole lot that they can do to stop him leaving. Given that, it's very, very easy to connect some dots, and we're already seeing rumours that the two parties have agreed to a January move.

I wouldn't buy into said rumours just yet, of course. They're completely plausible but not coming from any reliable sources at the moment, so we'll have to wait and see. But for now, let's talk about why Chelsea should and shouldn't do the move. Negatives first, I think...

Chelsea should be dissuaded from buying Falcao because of:

Cost. At 49 million plus a contract that'll end up in the region of 200,000 per week over five and a half years, acquiring Falcao would represent an annual hit of 19.3 million on Chelsea's books. Selling Daniel Sturridge for 12 million lightens that load for now, but 19.3 million per season should be enough to give everyone second thoughts. For that much money, a player hasto give world-class performances for the entire length of their contract.
Age. Chelsea's recent acquisitions have all been significantly younger than Falcao. The likes of Eden Hazard and Oscar, the Blues big-money summer acquisitions, are still several years away from their prime. Falcao, meanwhile, will turn 27 in February, so there's little change of recouping the investment via sell-on (lowering the amortised value of the transfer fee via a contract extension is probably out too). It's not really Chelsea's current style.
Risk. I think this one gets horribly overstated due to what happened with Torres. Falcao is, at present, probably the best pure centre forward in the world. That he's unproven in the Premier League means little -- he has the strength and the style of play to succeed in England -- and his recent form is incredible. Torres, meanwhile, had a pretty miserable 2010 before we bought him, and his career trajectory was pretty clearly going south. I wouldn't fret overmuch about this one.
Chelsea should buy Falcao because:

Everything else. The Blues are in need of an elite centre forward to take full advantage of the work their attacking midfielders put in, and Falcao fits the bill to a tee. Unlike other possibly buys, he's not just a decent current option with potential for greatness -- he's already world class and would immensely improve the current side.
Whether or not the two aspects of the possible transfer balance out is a matter of personal taste. At present, I think I'd prefer to upgrade at both striker and central midfield, and a combination buy of, say, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (St. Etienne) and Benat (Real Betis) would strike me as preferable for going all in on Falcao. But that said, I could be easily convinced otherwise. And I'd expect Chelsea to be very, very tempted to make a move this winter.

http://www.weaintgotnohistory.com/2012/12/...-rumours-falcao

Confirmed News

Daniel Sturridge > Liverpool

Radamel Falcao > Chelsea

Source?

soccernut kot

if falcao do come, there goes lukaku

wow.. they dare to sell striker again before confirm on any buying? we already lack of striker le..

wat if no1 wanna join us cos seeing we not in UCL ady~

wow.. they dare to sell striker again before confirm on any buying? we already lack of striker le..

wat if no1 wanna join us cos seeing we not in UCL ady~