Swansea Vs. Chelsea, Match Report: An Atrocious 1-1 Draw

No fantasy answers like Buy Goetze and Hazard and sell Torres, Malouda, and Bosingwa.

Sounds like a total mess.

At this point, we dont deserve fourth place. And we might not get it.

Formation change….personnel change….something, anything!

I’d be tempted to play three CB’s with two wingbacks for width and lose the holding midfielder, three in the middle and two up top. A 5-3-2 changing to 3-5-2 when attacking.

insanity later…

In my opinion, its AVB’s fault. He has a very decent squad and it should be doing better. Even if you dont think the squad is good enough, then that’s his own fault because he should have bought players for THIS year rather than spend his entire time buying people like De Bruyne for like 2 yrs from now.

Were coming F***ING FOURTH FOR GODS SAKE! FOURTH!!! i can’t believe its even a question of whether we make the top 4 in the end of the year. Absolutely disgusting

I don’t think changing the team’s formation is as easy to implement as you’d think it will be. The players will need even more time to get used to a new formation and all the movements involved in the new system and by the time they do we might already be struggling to qualify for the Europa League. We haven’t lost in 2012 as of yet (though that might change on Sunday :/ ) so it still isn’t as bad. We’re definitely under-performing as a team though. Should we really expect much in a transitional season like this, anyway?

I like AVB, I want him to be great for Chelsea, and it sounds as though he’s even won over some of the players… but at the end of the day, the motivation and performances have generally been going downhill in the course of the season.

Sometimes there isn’t anything the manager can do.. .they just aren’t a fit. I certainly hope that isn’t the case for AVB, but if it isn’t, that means he needs to do something. I have been shocked at the seeming unwillingness to let go of certain things… try Danny at CF… hell, if you can push Torres to the wing with Drogba in the middle, you can put Danny at CF for another stab at it. If it sucks like Blackburn or whatever game it was, well, at least you tried it another time to make sure. If it doesnt, then great!

Get rid of 4-3-3 and try a new formation or two. We don’t have the personnel to do it, apparently. Now, I’ve always tended to think of it as just a formation on paper, and that players will play whatever they want on the field, but to some extent, it influences their movement, their interactions with one another… their personal comfort level with whatever they’re doing and what their role is on the pitch. Practice against players that arent Chelsea first teamers. I cannot really see them getting any better by playing themselves… with the troubles in defense and our complete incompetence in front of goal lately, not to mention our non-existent midfield, neither side is helping the other.

Lastly.. it seems a catch-22. I can’t shake the feeling that this is going to turn into some over-reliance on the Old Guard and old ways, going back to the comfort zone. With Terry, Drogba, and Lampard out, it makes it seem as though the team is incapable of operating without them. I’m cool with them being in the line-up for the most part, especially when they do play really well… I’m not cool with the team needing them to this extent because they wont be there forever.

Lastly.. it seems a catch-22. I can’t shake the feeling that this is going to turn into some over-reliance on the Old Guard and old ways, going back to the comfort zone. With Terry, Drogba, and Lampard out, it makes it seem as though the team is incapable of operating without them. I’m cool with them being in the line-up for the most part, especially when they do play really well… I’m not cool with the team needing them to this extent because they wont be there forever.The craziest part is that we had shown evidence of it working earlier in the season.. goals were conceded, but we were getting more of them. And suddenly things went to shit. Our disciplinary record sucks too, and I just get the feeling that AVB needs to be a hardass (in the right way… not through exiling and benching without talking about it… players cant improve if they dont know what they need to do, other than the obvious), and maybe be more specific with players about what he wants and expects out of them, versus the entity of the team. Then he can get a new team in the summer to better suit his style.

Lastly.. it seems a catch-22. I can’t shake the feeling that this is going to turn into some over-reliance on the Old Guard and old ways, going back to the comfort zone. With Terry, Drogba, and Lampard out, it makes it seem as though the team is incapable of operating without them. I’m cool with them being in the line-up for the most part, especially when they do play really well… I’m not cool with the team needing them to this extent because they wont be there forever.The craziest part is that we had shown evidence of it working earlier in the season.. goals were conceded, but we were getting more of them. And suddenly things went to shit. Our disciplinary record sucks too, and I just get the feeling that AVB needs to be a hardass (in the right way… not through exiling and benching without talking about it… players cant improve if they dont know what they need to do, other than the obvious), and maybe be more specific with players about what he wants and expects out of them, versus the entity of the team. Then he can get a new team in the summer to better suit his style.It’s so weird to me how much he was talked up at Porto and his other clubs, but there definitely doesn’t seem the same feelings from everyone about him at Chelsea. I have to wonder what it is that is cause for that… maybe it is just cultural or the way the game is played in different leagues?

I like AVB, I want him to be great for Chelsea, and it sounds as though he’s even won over some of the players… but at the end of the day, the motivation and performances have generally been going downhill in the course of the season.

Sometimes there isn’t anything the manager can do.. .they just aren’t a fit. I certainly hope that isn’t the case for AVB, but if it isn’t, that means he needs to do something. I have been shocked at the seeming unwillingness to let go of certain things… try Danny at CF… hell, if you can push Torres to the wing with Drogba in the middle, you can put Danny at CF for another stab at it. If it sucks like Blackburn or whatever game it was, well, at least you tried it another time to make sure. If it doesnt, then great!

Get rid of 4-3-3 and try a new formation or two. We don’t have the personnel to do it, apparently. Now, I’ve always tended to think of it as just a formation on paper, and that players will play whatever they want on the field, but to some extent, it influences their movement, their interactions with one another… their personal comfort level with whatever they’re doing and what their role is on the pitch. Practice against players that arent Chelsea first teamers. I cannot really see them getting any better by playing themselves… with the troubles in defense and our complete incompetence in front of goal lately, not to mention our non-existent midfield, neither side is helping the other.

Lastly.. it seems a catch-22. I can’t shake the feeling that this is going to turn into some over-reliance on the Old Guard and old ways, going back to the comfort zone. With Terry, Drogba, and Lampard out, it makes it seem as though the team is incapable of operating without them. I’m cool with them being in the line-up for the most part, especially when they do play really well… I’m not cool with the team needing them to this extent because they wont be there forever.The craziest part is that we had shown evidence of it working earlier in the season.. goals were conceded, but we were getting more of them. And suddenly things went to shit. Our disciplinary record sucks too, and I just get the feeling that AVB needs to be a hardass (in the right way… not through exiling and benching without talking about it… players cant improve if they dont know what they need to do, other than the obvious), and maybe be more specific with players about what he wants and expects out of them, versus the entity of the team. Then he can get a new team in the summer to better suit his style.It’s so weird to me how much he was talked up at Porto and his other clubs, but there definitely doesn’t seem the same feelings from everyone about him at Chelsea. I have to wonder what it is that is cause for that… maybe it is just cultural or the way the game is played in different leagues?

and if we don’t secure a CL position for next season, we can kiss any hope of landing Moura or Hazard or Gotze this summer. This is a disaster right now. The team has no leadership. What happened in Mallorca? At least we could connect passes before. Now, basic passes (not even crosses) look like a challenge. Our players tried to dribble through multiple defenders multiple times. Honestly, the only players who counted for something were Luiz and Ivanovic. Sturridge was a mess. Malouda passed straight into defenders. Essien was okay, but not enough time to impact game. ugh.

the remainder of the game thread. Excuse me while I go listen to Morrissey and slit my wrists.

Is it me or is David Luiz the most creative player on the field these days? How about pushing him up to a defensive CM position with Cahill behind him? What do we have to lose? Thoughts?

I’ve just read through some of the comments here and I really can’t believe the way some of you are so blinded by the media’s bullshit.

But that match was dreadful. I was fully prepared for a loss after seeing us play like we did in the first half. And our only goal was apparently an own goal.

AVB is so stubborn. Once again, it’s the same formation that has not worked and will never work. Once again, for whatever reason, we run our offense through Bosingwa. We’ve been doing that for the most part since the first game and it’s just a shocking strategy. Once again, our midfield is slow and useless, unable to get the ball to to the forwards, turning the ball over easily. It’s just exasperating. We have no creativity, no discipline, no vision, and no communication between the key roles. Yes, wee keep possesion during most of the game, our passing is for the most part decent, but that’s about it. The chances never arrive, much less the goals.

Malouda, Meireles and Bosingwa were just horrible. We are so dull to watch. Sure we keep the ball, but we never create anything. Aside from Mata, our next best creator is Torres who is now some sort of deep lying playmaker because no one else in midfield can do their job. He’s supposed to score goals. So let’s formally convert him into the playmaker role and have him play behind the CF. It seriously can’t be worse than what’s happening now. But I see that everyone is already blaming Torres, as usual. Anyone with two eyes and a mildly functioning brain could see every single one of our problems in display in today’s match, and most of them had little to do with Torres. He’s actually been, along with Mata, one of our best players this month.

When I saw the team sheet, I couldn’t believe that AVB chose Bosingwa over Ivanovic at RB and left Cahill on the bench. And Malouda’s sole contribution was getting booked. Sturridge had his worst game of the season I think. He seemed to want to shoot from everywhere and ignore wide open team mates. And the tactics, AVB apparently still hasn’t figured out that Torres is wasted in a 4-3-3 formation that suits Drogba. When he brought on Lukaku, it seemed that Torres was pushed out onto the LW and Mata moved into the middle off Lukaku. Er, that’s where Mata should be when Torres is in the middle.

I mean how many games will it take before AVB figures out what the rest of us all know already? I want him to be the right man for us so much, but sometimes it’s too much. I’m all for putting the blame on the squad as a whole (because most of the times they are to blame), but AVB was given lemonades and instead of making lemonade, he makes fucking pizza.

yes our mdifield is hopeless, but great strikers feed off scraps. torres has the look of a man who demands some kind of golden plate served to him. he deserves none of that for his apparent efforts which are pretty much non existent. but we can’t drop him. no drogba, so we have no choice. malouda is hopeless…but even worse then the players is avb’s mystifying tactics.

4 3 3 with two wide players who are not wide players. it’s killing our team. play the 4 2 3 1 FOR GOD’S SAKE AVB..JUST SWALLOW YOUR PRIDE AND LISTEN TO THE FANS BEFORE YOU’RE SHOWN THE DOOR.

team for the next team- if he plays this we have a chance of winning, if he continues the mystically horrendous 4 3 3 we will lose.

cech
ferreira ivanovic terry luiz
romeu essien
sturridge mata ??
torres

the lam will be malouda but i refuse to wrtie his name on my line up.

most folks here are younger than myself. I am going to assume that is why no one has brought this up. There is the distinct possibility that some of these guys just cannot and will not get on the same page. It happens in real life day jobs all the time. The amount of money you make and the profession you do doesn’t make you any less human. Mistakes happen, and sometimes it’s bigger than that and people just don’t fit in to a certain organization.

The one thing that they really sort of have in common with the average joe is having someone manage them. AVB isn’t a miracle worker.. he can’t make things happen that may not ever happen. But he does have to put in a best effort at that. I am never sure what to make of his comments after matches like these, but he does speak an awful lot about pulling the natural talents out of players and getting them to work together. We’re not really seeing it at this point, and maybe that process takes longer than we all want. And maybe, with some of them, it never works at all. Guess we’ll have to take our chances, because we can’t undo the Torres deal, we can’t rewind to the beginning of this transfer window, and we sure as heck can’t will AVB into putting the lineup on the field that we think is best (Lord knows I’ve tried).

Maybe they’re all so focused on next year that they’re losing focus on this one. :-/

AVB’s tactical naivety is starting to get on to my nerves…. How to we goin to get past Napoli if we can’t beat the likes of Swansea and Norwich…. Whats more worrying is that our chances of finishing 4th is now looking very uncertain…….

I understand AVB needs time but he also needs to buck his ideas. I honestly think he thought it was gonna be an easy job but has surely realised that this ain’t Liga Sagres in Tuga. If he’s a tactical genius, I haven’t seen it. His man management and motivational skills are pretty much non existent. He talks a lot about his football philosophy but honestly i’ve yet to really see it bar a few exceptions. Dude needs to grow a pair quick or sadly Roman will bring the hammer down on him.

As for the players last night, mostly shocking. Ashley had a mare, Malouda was pants, Meireles’s passing and ability to dictate the game was absurd, Bosingwa was the usual (not sure who I despise more now, him or Kalou), Sturridge’s form has dipped, Mata wasted on the wings, Torres needs to up it also (service to him is still an issue), the only players who actually showed up were Oriol, Brana and Luiz. A bright spot though was Essien, he did what Meireles tried and failed miserably at. Hopefully he can stay fit and add the steel and fire that this team needs.

ManUre up next, can’t say i’m really looking forward to it. But maybe the football gods will hear my prayers and bestow glory on us, KTBFFH!