Chelsea FC Transfer News: Blues Not Planning Midfield Reinforcements
by Graham MacAree on Jan 30, 2012 5:03 PM GMT
in Chelsea FC: Transfer Rumours & News
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With the news that Ramires will be out for a few weeks, there had been some speculation that Chelsea could dip into the transfer market in order to replace the Brazilian midfielder, who has emerged as one of the key members of the squad following an up-and-down first season with the Blues. However, it appears that the manager is happy with the midfield options available to him and has no intention of buying a replacement before Tuesday's deadline.
[Are we going to buy a replacement for Ramires?] I don't think so.
As you saw today, we used Flo (Malouda) in midfield, have Lamps (Frank Lampard) to return and (John) Obi Mikel to return. We have enough numbers to cope with it. If we add Flo to the midfield then even without Rami we have six midfield options and I think that is enough.
-Andre Villas-Boas. Source: Fulham & Hammersmith Chronicle.
I'm not sure this is the wisest course of action. Malouda is a midfielder like I'm a doughnut, and out of the remaining five in the senior team, only Michael Essien - who's just returned from his own serious knee injury - can claim to fulfill a role anything like Ramires. Essentially, we're going to be either relying on the Bison to provide that drive from midfield or we're going to be messing about with the awful Frank Lampard Raul Meireles partnership, neither of which are particularly appealing options.
That said, avoiding panic buys (cough Fernando Torres cough cough cough) is generally a good thing, and Ramires isn't going to be out for that long anyway. It's unclear at this point what the Blues are planning beyond the Kevin de Bruyne transfer, expected to be finalised today, but we'll keep you up to date with the news right here.
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Buying a Ramires replacement when he's out for less than 4 weeks is senseless
Plus we have Essien back, although you can never be certain about him these days.
by el chelsea fuerte on Jan 30, 2012 5:10 PM GMT reply actions
I don't like Romeu in a double pivot
He can handle defensive duties by himself, which means that the main tactical benefit of the pivot – that the midfielders can cover each other on their runs forward – is rendered pretty pointless.
by Graham MacAree on Jan 30, 2012 5:16 PM GMT up reply actions
No, you can't.
Arteta, it's all about the right pass it goes left to the left foot of VAN PERSIE
Proud member of Fusillade and The Short Fuse
by Aidan Gibson on Jan 31, 2012 1:53 AM GMT up reply actions
We really don't need a replacement
Considering its a short period out…but those are some pretty key matches. A short term loan would be good. Nuri Sahin? Would bring something different to the team,too. But I still feel Ess can do the job. I wouldn’t even mind a midfield combination of Mikel,Essien and Lamps/Meireles or even Malouda to be more direct. Maybe Kalou can get more game time too after he’s back from the Afcon.
by Avinash Mohan on Jan 30, 2012 6:53 PM GMT via mobile reply actions
Malouda in the middle is just the wrong decision!
If he decides to play Malouda in the middle and Mata out wide rather than the other way round that would suggest to me that he doesn’t ever intend to move Mata into a more central position. Malouda’s natural position is wide left so why not play him there when Mata is clearly more effective from a central position.
There's a difference between a central mid and a central attacking mid.
Malouda, as unsuited as he may be to the task, is still better as a central midfielder than Juan “no-defense” Mata.
I wasn't suggesting playing Mata in central mid!
I was thinking more along the lines of a 4-2-3-1 formation, I feel 2 deep laying mid-fielders should be more than enough to cover for Mata’s lack of defending and I think this formation would improve our desperately poor recent attacking form! The team requires a new approach at the minute in my opinion and sticking with the current system, with an out of position Malouda in midfield, would be a missed opportunity to try something new!
Malouda central rather than wide…
Means that he is forced to come back and cover. Too many times when FM plays wide he goes missing for large periods of the game where he is able to hang high and wide. Playing him central does not allow for him to do that as much, almost dragging hime along with the defensive tide. To me it just says that AVB has more faith in mata covering than FM.
by iamJD on Jan 30, 2012 11:52 PM GMT via mobile reply actions
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