Chelsea's 'fluidic' attack

Michael Emenalo under Roman Abrahamovich's orders, has gone overboard in stacking Chelsea's squad with as many as 6 attacking midfielders. The reason was there for everyone to see in the Chelsea-Newcastle PL game. Chelsea's second goal (from Torres) is a specific example of the same. 

Build Up Play....

Mikel brings the ball high up the pitch (a rarity for him), but ends up passing the ball sideways to Hazard.

With Luiz (bottom right in the above image) also in the opposition half, Chelsea seem to be playing a high defense!!!

Seeing Newcastle’s well organized two defensive banks of four, Hazard spreads the play, by passing the ball to Ivanovic on the right wing. And then instantly tries to exploit the space between the midfield and defense ( disadvantage of a a 4-4-2  vs a midfield triangle comes to the fore here). Gutiérrez reacts by moving to the left wing to offer support to Santone. 

Look at Mata, as he speeds from his left wing position (unhindered) towards where the action is.

Torres receives the ball  from the right wing. This illustrates a pretty fluidic attacking one-third for Chelsea, with Hazard, Torres & Mata all on the right wing.

Hazard keeps Taylor occupied whilst Mata coming to right wing slightly disrupts Newcastle’s defensive organization.

The Finish.....

Torres receives the ball, heads towards goal, this prompts Santone to press him. Elsewhere (just out of the the image to the right) Mata speeds goal wards (yellow arrow), to take advantage of the pocket of space behind Santone. 

Torres passes to Hazard and fakes a rightward 

move. Santone has no idea that Torres is moving towards his left. Hazard makes a smart back heel pass back to Torres and then BOOM!!! 

ESTUPENDO!!! GoooooL!!!

Powerful shot from the outside of Torres' right foot.

CHELSEA 2 : NEWCASTLE 0 ......

Chelsea going downhill!!!

It has been quite sometime since I have blogged about Chelsea. And rightfully so, there isn't anything different to blog about. CFC is on a downward spiral, with more questions than answers being posed after each of their performance.

A lackluster display against Fulham, followed by a similar display against Villa. What's wrong with Chelsea??? Well, where do I start!!!

Some of the tactics that AVB has used were bizarre. You replace Lamps, who looks like the only player who has the urge to win the title, with Malouda. Drogba is at his moody best, blowing hot and cold and being inconsistent at that too. The Torres transfer saga has given Chelsea two records, the most expensive EPL signing and the most expensive substitute. Torres has forgotten how to score he is getting into very good positions, but his finish is lacking, along with his confidence. When the Drog goes to ACoN, it will be a make/break time for Nando. He will not be having any extra pressure upon him regarding starting games. He won't have to fight for a striker's spot for at least3-4 weeks. This might give him some leeway to play freely and score goals.

Then we come to the right backs, the reason I am not calling either Bosingwa or Ferreira defenders is because they do not seem to know how to defend. Further, the central defensive partnership is all over the place. JT had a good game against Fulham, but in defense individual performances do not matter. The defense for any team is as good as it's weakest link. And Chelsea seem to have many of them at the moment. Luiz is a brilliant attacker, creating/building plays from the back, but on more than one occasion his positional sense during defense has been appalling.

The team performance has been taking it's toll on Cech too. He has started making rookie mistakes, taking one on ones half-heartedly.

The defense seems confused as to what needs to be done, they seem to be waiting for the next disaster to happen. even though the defenders are to blame for some individual errors, the Manager needs to have a plan for the defense, and it seems though AVB is out of ideas, and hence wants to delve in to the transfer market again in Jan, for Cahill.

Let's hope that Cahill can stop CFC's defense going downhill. I am tempted to say that Gary will not be the only addition in central defense come summer 2012. Maybe AVB has realized Luiz's inexperience and wants to forge a JT-Cahill partnership. If that is so, convert Luiz into a rt wing back. ( I am not sure of his ability to concentrate defensively for the 90 minutes)

Most of the teams seem to have an extra spring in their step when facing Chelsea, as they know that the Chelsea is not the same team they were a few years ago.

AVB has important decisions to make, he needs to stop the downward spiral of the Chelsea defense, lest it be too late. We were initially fighting for 4 trophies, then we lost the Carling Cup, we were then fighting for a top 3 spot in the league, now it seems we might struggle for a champions league spot next year. Forget about the champions league this year, if anybody is getting beaten/drawn by the likes of Villas, and Fulham, how can you expect to beat Barca or Real for that matter. If Roman does not see improvements, there is no telling what he might do. 13 million will not seem a costly sum after all, compared to a Champions league spot exit.

Chelsea vs Liverpool 2011

Chelsea vs Liverpool 2011

An extremely important game for both Chelsea and Liverpool. Is AVB 'special' enough to learn from the Arsenal debacle and sort out his defense? Will Kenny be under pressure for his 110 mil pound signings to deliver? Will Kenny's experience beat AVB's 'youthful' flair?

In the past two meetings between the two sides, Meireles scored in the recent encounter and Torres scored in the first encounter last year. What Chelsea have done is gone ahead and bought both these individuals. However the Biggest threat Chelsea will face is from Torres' replacement at Liverpool, Suarez, who is in very good form and is a wizard with the ball at his feet. He is also very quick and that might be of concern to AVB, with a high Chelsea defensive line.

The Chelsea center-backs in JT, Bran and Alex are not very quick, and can be easily beaten for pace by the wily Uruguayan. And David Luiz although quick has this rare edginess for a center back ( He needs to be played outside the penalty box, till he tightens his defensive errors and tackling. Wonder if he is better off as an attacking right back? It might also be worthwhile to try him out as a defensive midfielder)

Chelsea need to counter the threat posed by Downing on Chelsea's right wing. Downing is extremely accurate in his crosses and can easily beat Bosingwa one on one. If his return to form in the international against Sweden is any indication, then Bosingwa is in for a tough night.

Chelsea though will end up playing a similar style as the previous games. To do the same they might need to tweak their formation just a little bit. AVB was Mourinho's protege of sorts learning under the special one. And now he needs to learn again. Why not use a 4-2-3-1 tactic. With two players in front of the defense, the defense will become more compact and tight.

The two players can be Mikel and Meireles, with Mikel playing slightly deeper, and Meireles playing ahead and linking up play. In the attacking third, Lamps can play central attacking midfield ( He is extremely good at that), Mata on the left and Anelka on the right. Torres should lead the attack, he owes Chelsea fans a huge game and this just might be the right moment when he is facing his former club.

AVB needs to outwit the great Dalglish in tactics, whilst still trying to carve out an footballing identity for Chelsea. any compromise on his attacking style and he may lose his credibility.

This is easier said than done, especially now that there exists a subtle and implicit pressure on AVB from Guus Hiddink who was sacked by Turkey after an Euro 2012 qualifier draw.

Andre Villa Boas

Another new 'Man'ager at the helm.

Andre Villa Boas all but 33 years of age, has signed up for probably the most thankless job ever- Manager of the Chelsea football club. What makes me say that - well if you didn't live in some other planet you would know of the almost 50 mil pounds in compensation to fired managers and backroom staff over the last 5 years.

Imagine a manager who knows he is going to be fired if he does not win the Champions league.

Add to that, his inexperience at this managerial level, managing a team with a trigger (ready to fire) happy owner, obsessed with his team and interfering in team selection and transfers.

A team that boasts of powerful stars, who have a history of undermining their manager ( as in Scolari's case), some of whom are his age.

Now on top of that, around 13 mil pounds paid to trigger his release cause. What on earth is Boas thinking? How can he take up this seemingly insurmountable challenge, under such extreme pressure?

Tell you what, contrary to the obvious, Boas might have thought this through this rather intelligently. Frankly he has nothing to lose, if he his fired after a year, fans will blame Abramovich. And if he does win he will create history.

However if you see this from Roman's perspective, this is actually a pretty strange move. 13 mil for somebody not proven in the big league. Either he has the right advisors ( which we know is not true) or he really is thinking of a long term plan ( which is really strange).

All said and done only time will tell whether Boas was worth the 13 mil. For all Chelsea fans though it is a time of transition and patience. But hasn't that been the case ever since Mourinho left?

Listless display at the last home game

Chelsea vs Newcastle United at Stamford Bridge

The only thing new about Chelsea were their jerseys. Their football, will to win etc all were just a pale repetition of their slump mid season.

Torres can't score, not even with a new Chelsea jersey. Chelsea seem to have a flair of buying extremely talented strikers, by breaking bank each time only to convert them into nobodies.

Further, defensive frailties still exist, no one marked Taylor for the second Newcastle goal. Poor Cech , I think he was the best player on the pitch all season long. And the frustration on his face said it all.

I was hoping that some more youngsters can be given a chance to shine at home so as to give the fans some positive hope to cling onto. However the glum looking Ancelloti, ever so graceful in defeats and in tremendous pressure went in for a full strength squad only to find out that many of his players did not turn up on the pitch. The Manchester United result had certainly taken it's toll.

The game perfectly summed up the Chelsea season that was.

Must win Game

No 4-4-2s please.Stick to your strengths.Chelsea have to relegate Torres to the bench for a must win game. The entire team has not yet come to terms with Torres' strengths.The midfield personnel are mostly energetic central mid fielders and they do not play a passing game and create goals through incisive passing. Most of the goals are scored when the top 3 forwards play well amongst themselves and Lampard drops late into the penalty box to score 20 goals a season.

Team for the match:

Drogba

Malouda Kalou/Anelka

Lampard Essien/Ramires

Mikel/Essien

Cole Terry Luiz Ivanovic

Cech

Come on Chelsea......... bleed blue.

Torres' First strike

Great Strike by Torres.

A brilliant through ball by Anelka, found Torres who was playing off the shoulders of the West Ham defenders.

A rainy day at the Bridge, the rain brings back some very bad memories for the Chelsea faithful. When Anelka split the West Ham defense with his through ball, the ball seemed to lose it's bounce in the puddle but Torres did well to swivel and bury a goal with his left foot. The rain hadn't played spoilsport again after all.

The reaction of the crowd, Ancelloti and players were really unbelievable on TV, wonder how it must have felt at the Bridge?

With Drogba being very effective in the first half, and Kalou and Anelka doing their bit, it is going to be a tough summer period for the Chelsea hierarchy to chose players for a summer clear out.

This 'emotional' goal should not mask the ' average' defending that Chelsea were forced into by some creative West Ham attacks.

However let this day & match be remembered for the man who had a 50 mil pounds monkey come off his back.