Chelsea F.C [2009-2010]

kp40;2838898 said:

great, finally Chelsea fans admitted their aging issues.

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We've always known we have an old squad, it's just never really bothered us. It still doesn't bother me, really. I'm not advocating a clear-out, there's hardly anyone I would want to see leave either, but the team has been stagnating. We have good, young players coming up, but they need to get their chance, and we need a manager to impose his style on the team and create his unit, not a redone Mourinho team.

We have excellent players backed by excellent staff. There's no need to panic, a lot of people are jumping on the bandwagon and saying the writing was on the well since Mou left, bla bla bla. Bull****. We're still a good team, we're still in the chase for the league and the FA cup. We need to improve, but we don't need an overhaul.

and to be honest they were unlucky to experience injuries at critical positions. Essian and Cole are so effective.

kp40;2838898 said:

great, finally Chelsea fans admitted their aging issues.

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You make it sound like age is the only problem in our squad. Up until December our so-called old aged squad were doing great, playing quick passing and neat football.

I have to admit injuries have depleted us badly. They all came at the wrong time and players that are supposed to be back for us only aggravated their injuries much further.(Bosingwa, Essien).

I don't think we need to look that far to rebuild our squad. I feel there's a lot of promise in our youth players, we only need to give them a chance.

Stoch, Kakuta, Matic, are several players that can bring more attacking pace and flair to our team.

Ballack, Lampard, Mikel, Malouda have been playing 6-7 games straight now(apart from Ballack who was finally rested). No squad rotation whatsoever, and apart from Mikel they're all 29++ players.

The only thing I liked during Scolari's time was that he wasn't afraid to bring on our young guns in big games.

5-0 against Pompey. What a relief.

7-1

And that's against the team that has conceded the least goals prior to the match. Super Frank with 4 goals, Malouda brilliant yet again, Mikel was outstanding in his role and eveyone was quite good. Zhirkov made up for a bad start with an assist and two penalty calls. Excellent match.

I was bit disappointed with Cole, though. Didn't contribute much, and made a few mistakes. I love the player, and want him to stay, but he needs to improve.

I repeat: 7-1, with one striker, who didn't even score. Drogba, with 30 goals so far this season, was on the bench. 25 goals scored in the 8 matches Drogba hasn't featured it or started (can't remember which). See what I mean when I said that we're the only team that desn't rely on a one or two players. No Cole, Essien, Bosingwa, Carvalho, Ivanovic or Drogba, against one of the better sides in the Prem, a side that beat Pool and United away, tied with Arsenal, beat us at home, and we won 7-1.

An excellent way to set up the United match. We can still win this thing.

Your form is truly impressive, and I'm glad I had noticed it - I have both Lamps and Malouda in my fantasy team, and with Drogba on the bench, I think Frank will be the captain. Especially Malouda has played over par recently.

Just a quick comparison stats to back up Frank's case in the England team. People always say that Lamps and Gerrard can't play together and that if one of them should be dropped it should be Lamps. But seeing that club form is the absolute pre-requisite for being selected ahead of other rivals for your position, Frank surely is head and shoulders above everyone else in England's midfield.

Player - Goals - Assists
Frank Lampard - (20) - (14)
Steven Gerrard - (10) - (10)
James Milner - (10) - (14)
Michael Carrick (4) - (3)
Gareth Barry (3) - (7)

Add the fact that he banged in 20 goals for the last 5 seasons and the consistency of the assists he provides for our team. Surely already a living legend at Chelsea. He's our modern day Osgood/Dixon for me. Doesn't have the glitz and glamour of his peers(Fabregas for example) but what a player he's become.

Honestly, since his skinhead debut for us against Southampton back in 2001, I always thought he was a bit slow and sluggish, but that was because he consistly drifted out of position to right midfield. It was only against Arsenal(FA Cup Final) that year, that I personally saw his true potential, he and Petit dominated the midfield against Vieira and co that day, even if ended up losing to two spectacular goals from Le Arse.

Full marks to Ranieri for brining him and developing his early football with us. It'll be a sad day when he retires.

Lampard broke his previous record of 16 goals and there are 6 more matches to play.

If he scores one more goal, it will be his best ever season in terms of scoring. I can't believe how people were criticizing his scoring abilities earlier.

2001-02 53 7
2002-03 48 8
2003-04 58 15
2004-05 58 19
2005-06 50 20
2006-07 62 21
2007-08 40 20
2008-09 53 20
2009-10 42 21
What a consistent player, he deserves all respect and praise.

I hope he can maintain his club level for England as well.

Funny points quoted from the Pre-match briefing against Utd on the Chelsea website.

United's goal difference would be 13 inferior to Chelsea's were it not for their stand-out performer behind Rooney. In fact, they might consider playing him upfront instead if the England striker is unfit.
Because this lad Own-Goal has had a fantastic season for United. Although he didn't have the most auspicious start - he took five games to open his account this season - he has now bagged 12 goals in all competitions, 11 in the league.
United's third-top scorer is also very versatile, having netted from almost every position on the field, including goalkeeper (against Arsenal in January).
His best sequence was five strikes in three games, including the near-perfect hat-trick (full-back, midfielder, centre-back) against Portsmouth.
His icy coolness in front of goal - especially in the opener at Bolton last weekend - has opened the scoring five times (twice against local 'rivals' the Trotters) and made the difference between the two teams on six occasions, earning his team at least points eight points and probably more.
Chelsea have an Own-Goal too, but he is unfortunately not as prolific, scoring just the six, earning three league points, and having endured a barren spell since Watford in the FA Cup.
Typically, when Own-Goal scored as a centre-half for the Blues against Fulham just after Christmas, Manchester United's manager swiftly signed him up - Smalling Own-Goal will appear at Old Trafford next season.

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Another definite factor is Mike Dean as referee. He's given more penalties than any other referee this season. Also the same idiot that sent off Frank Lampard against Liverpool(later for it to be rescinded by the FA). He also sent off Belletti and Ballack against City, so he's definitely a referee that doesn't give any chance whatsoever to the players.

*ahh, just remembered he also sent off Mikel in our first game with Grant during 07/08.

So keep yer eyes peeled for any dodgy challenges by our players, there's certainly a potential red card coming against us in OT.

Just stumbled across this on youtube.
It was done on SoccerAM when Frank(21) was still a Hammer.



*Notice our Chelsea flag behind Frank, and a picture frame written with "The future".
Awesome stuff.

I suppose I should say congratulations, but I do so on the first half performance and lack thereof of United's.

That decision by an incompetent linesman has handed you the League. It's a shame because you were actually very good in the first half. I think a draw would have been fair given United's resurgence in the second.

Still, that's football I suppose.

MikeyM;2845863 said:

I suppose I should say congratulations, but I do so on the first half performance and lack thereof of United's.

That decision by an incompetent linesman has handed you the League. It's a shame because you were actually very good in the first half. I think a draw would have been fair given United's resurgence in the second.

Still, that's football I suppose.

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Well, I have to admit I was surprised with the lethargic performance and unwillingness of Utd to attack us in the first half , especially in their own backyard . I guess they've got their punishment. We should have had a penalty for Neville's rugby tackle on Anelka.

Drogba's goal definitely offside, you can't say the linesman decision had a conclusive effect on the outcome of the match, but nevertheless still a big decision which gone our way. What it did beside giving us a 2-0 comfort was that it made us more complacent, our defense before the second goal was much better.

Macheda looked like he handled the ball across the line, not sure if he did, but TV replays showed with the movement of his arm, the intent was there.

I pointed out before the match of Neville's inclusion would allow Malouda to create chances for us and it did.

Top of the league again. We still got Spurs, Liverpool to come, those potentially can decide where the title goes. Still much work to be done.
And there's still the matter of a semi-final against Villa to book our place in the final at Wembley yet again.

Offisde goal...........Offside............Offside.............Offside

Although I agree that Chelsea was the superior side in the 1st half.

MikeyM;2845863 said:

...That decision by an incompetent linesman has handed you the League......that's football I suppose.

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Hopefully the higher ups don't think like you and do something to fix it - make use of video or take away the goal/rescind the card(in this case, it would be the goal).

newbie original;2845881 said:

Offisde goal...........Offside............Offside.............Offside.

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At least we didn't score a goal that didn't actually cross the line.

I think we deserved to win, even though there'll be debate about the refereeing, we were by far the better side in the first half and although ManU regrouped, they didn't fashion many clear chances, and basically just had the ball at the final third, which was still dangerous. I'm content with the performance we put in, I saw Cole look lively for a while there, and I hope the goal gives him the confidnece to step it up and be the player we know he can be. Neither Zhirkov or Ferreira are really good enough, although they've done well, considering they're 2nd and 3rd/4th choice respectively, but I hope we don't have to use them against top sides because Zhirkov got beat at every turn by Valencia, and Ferreira couldn't handle Nani. They were good going forward, and decent at the back, though.

Good effort from the midfield, Malouda was fantastic. It's funny that Malou was reportedly unsettled and wanted toi leave because he and Lamps couldn't work together, and yet they've both been excellent together. Lamps didn't go forward as much, instead helping Mikel out with the defending and letting Deco take the reins, which he did well enough. Just as well, anyway, whenever he did go forward Fletcher and Scholes would close him down, so him staying back kept them on their toes.

All in all a good performance, and the league is ours to lose now. The next 5 matches won't be easy, especially at Anfield, but if we can beat ManU and put 7 past Villa, we can win this thing.

Zakov;2845883 said:

At least we didn't score a goal that didn't actually cross the line.

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A refereeing/linesman error is a refereeing/linesman error. They're all the same. Just like that one, this one decided the game. What more can I say.........

Congrats guys.

When a team does double against their top two rivals, they really deserve the championship. We lost at Old Trafford and I don't give a damn about those ref staff. It was in our hands and ...

But we can still hope!!!! can't we???

newbie original;2845881 said:

Offisde goal...........Offside............Offside.............Offside

Although I agree that Chelsea was the superior side in the 1st half.



Hopefully the higher ups don't think like you and do something to fix it - make use of video or take away the goal/rescind the card(in this case, it would be the goal).

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Handball goal............handball............handball...................handball
All is even then.

An interesting article from the Independent.

United's only other league defeat of this calendar year – at Everton – came when Rooney failed to fire and though the support acts can generally be relied upon, the side's average age was 31 years and three months on Saturday. Chelsea, those so-called old men of the Premier League, were over two years younger.

Nani playing from the start might have imbued the side with some pace at least, but he is not an individual who can always be depended on. But Federico Macheda does seem to be, with three goals in six starts and a nature that might persuade Sir Alex Ferguson to use him more. Asked if he had handled the ball when giving his side some hope two minutes after Drogba's offside strike was allowed to stand, the 18-year-old Italian shot back: "I don't know. It's a goal. Handball or not, it's gone now."

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Points highlighted aside, Malouda has been in fine form, and surely should be one of our players' of the season, along with Drog, Ivanovic, Ashley Cole and Lampsy.
I don't think another player apart from Rooney played better than Malouda during March, by far our best player in that period.

None of those fancy flicks and step overs, but his strength and tenacity as well direct approach to wing play is a nightmare for defenders, remember how he owned Daniel Alves in last season's CL? Definitely deserves some sort of recognition especially after pete and I constantly slagged him off in his first season or so.

Hi guys.

Yeah I was getting frustrated with him. You don't expect a player to take so long to settle, but now he has, we are beginining to see the player we were told he was. He's had a great season for us to be sure.

I think the squad has been magnificent all in all. We have had some difficulties to overcome as the season has wore on, and although we dipped in form a little while adjustmments were made, we have come back again and again, and we are now back at the top with 2 points to spare. Lets hope we stay there for the next 5 games, and take back the title.

C'MON U BLUES