2012/2013 Soccer/Football thread

yeah, torres has been being terrible. but i think torres will return to his kickass form as soon as he leaves chelsea, idk why...

and lol, and if falcao does move to chelsea, he'll bang a hat-trick per game, if he gets assists from mata/hazard/oscar.
 
as a Chelsea fan myself, all these Hazard Mata Oscar was nothing but hyped, We're playing like the old Arsenal these days, Seriously their positioning on the pitch is atrocious, at times i saw all three of them both clouding in the middle left, right, we are always wanting to play the perfect ball into the net, Seriously at the start of the season when we play both Hazard & Mata, We're doing fine, Scoring goals after goals, However when Oscar started playing, We became too predictable its as if teams already knew what we are trying to do and that is not a good thing for Chelsea.
 
Sturridge was amazing last season when he was starting almost every game under AVB even though he was forced to play out of position notching 13 goals in all competitions.But ever since Di Matteo took over he hardly featured,even as a sub.He has started only two games this season and he hasn't made many substitute appearances either so yeah unlike Torres he can blame his poor performances so far on something real.Then there's the thing that his glory days aren't exactly behind him and that you don't have to go back more than one year to youtube some of his best performances.

EDIT:http://www.goal.com/en-india/news/1...-at-axing-torres-for-vital-chelsea-clash-with
Oh goody oh goody!
 
Yeah Sturridge was amazing last season and he was even better during his stint at Bolton. I really liked the look of him, I'm not sure why he's being overlooked now. Is he selfish? Yes, but seriously talented too.

I don't know how true it is but all this talk of Abramovic picking the transfer targets and forcing his managers to play Torres certainly doesn't help.

If I was Chelsea manager I wouldn't play the three of Mata, Hazard and Oscar together. I'd rotate one of them each week and play an out and out winger on the other flank, someone like Moses or even Sturridge. It would give the team more threat of pace and helps stretch the opposition back line, while the midfielder on the other flank tucks in to help out in midfield and gives the team balance. Kinda like what Wenger does when he plays Walcott on one side and Ramsey on the other. Except Ramsey does not give the team balance defensively and doesn't have any of the qualities of a winger either...

Oh and also play Luiz up front, or else stop playing him at all.
 
Always thought Luiz would excel as a RCB in a 3 man defence. That way he can venture forward without a marker (quite dangerous for the opposing team) and without leaving a huge gap behind.
 
This West Ham vs Stoke match must be the most English football match played in a long time. The ball spends most of the time in the air and half of the players are sporting gentlemanly moustaches!
 
Always thought Luiz would excel as a RCB in a 3 man defence. That way he can venture forward without a marker (quite dangerous for the opposing team) and without leaving a huge gap behind.

So would chelsea be like this in your mind?

Cech
Luiz - Terry - Ivanovic
Mata - Ramires - Mikel - Cole
Oscar - Hazard
Torres

Instead of these guys in the standard 4-2-3-1.
 
i think it would have to be something like this:

cech
luiz - terry - ivanovic
ramires - mikel - lampard - cole
mata - hazard
torres

mata wont track back and the success of playing a back 3/5 depends pretty much entirely on your wing backs. i guess maybe im a bit harsh on mata, hes the kind of player that would track back, but he wouldnt do a good job and i think he would be wasted there.

chelsea dont exactly have an out-and-out right wing back. i feel like azwhatever isnt quite ready and obviously ivanovic can come in over ramires (which would bring in cahill and force ramires inwards). i think ramires would be a good right wing back for the reasons valencia is good on the right for man united.
 
It would suit Terry to play as a sweeper because he reads that game so well and is starting to lose some pace. Thinking about it, Luiz as LCB and Ivanovic as RCB.
Something like this:

---------------------------Cech

----------------------------Terry
-------------Ivanovic--------------------Luiz

--Azplicueta-------Ramirez------Mikel/Lampard----Cole

------------------Mata-----Oscar/Hazard

-----------------------Falcao

Leaving one of the three creative attacking midfielders (mata, hazard, oscar) would provide strong firepower from the bench along with Marin, Sturridge and Moses.

Defend deep and counter attack swiftly, just the way Di Matteo likes it.
 
Sturridge was amazing last season when he was starting almost every game under AVB even though he was forced to play out of position notching 13 goals in all competitions.But ever since Di Matteo took over he hardly featured,even as a sub.He has started only two games this season and he hasn't made many substitute appearances either so yeah unlike Torres he can blame his poor performances so far on something real.Then there's the thing that his glory days aren't exactly behind him and that you don't have to go back more than one year to youtube some of his best performances.

EDIT:http://www.goal.com/en-india/news/1...-at-axing-torres-for-vital-chelsea-clash-with
Oh goody oh goody!

Sturridge was very predictable coming to the 2nd half of the season, Remember there's a time where Bale was tearing defence apart? Sturrdige style of play was similar to a extent.
 
chelsea is dying hard on ucl tho, 2-0 juve and if juve beats shaktar last round they're done ehehehe

edit: oh yeah i forgot the tiebreakers scenario with juve too, rofl they're so dead
 
chelsea is dying hard on ucl tho, 2-0 juve and if juve beats shaktar last round they're done ehehehe

chelsea are done, if chelsea tie juve or shakhtar on points they won't move on given they've lost both tiebreakers (shakhtar on aggregate and juve 2-5)

the only scenerio in which chelsea would move on involves shakhtar beating juventus.... given that shakhtar has already qualified i don't see them playing their starting 11 next week
 
Di Matteo got his tactics wrong and paid the price.He should've stuck to his usual 4-2-3-1 and started Sturridge/Moses over Torres and Ivanovic + Cahill over Luiz instead of using a gimmicky formation just to accommodate him.We could've drawn if Di Matteo had started either Sturridge or Moses but Mata,Hazard and Oscar just weren't clinical enough and there was no one to finish the chances they created.I really hope Di Matteo learns from this mistake and leaves Luiz and Torres on the bench vs City with Cahil.l and Ivanovic in defence and Sturridge/Moses up front
 
Why did Chelsea let Lukaku go? They bought him for a pretty hefty fee just last season. If the plan was that Sturridge would compete with Torres then why hasn't he been picked at all? And if Sturridge was never in the picture then why loan out your only other senior striker to leave just Torres? I really don't understand that move.

I'm no football manager, but it just seems to me that Chelsea need a proper winger to help the balance of the team and give space to their midfield. Di Matteo seems to be trying too hard to implement some sort of Barca-esque system (I'm not sure again if this is with pressure from the owner) but even they have Pedro or Sanchez to give them that threat of pace and directness.

I don't think Chelsea's current team have much problems at all, just a few small tweaks here and there would be enough since they have probably the best midfield in the PL. But there are serious problems with the man management of certain players and the whole hierarchy of who's in charge seems to be a complete mess.
 
yeah, di matteo should have gone for defensive tactics. if chelsea got at least a draw, they'd be already pretty much qualified, but theres still hope. if shakhtar dont bench their team against juve, they'll almost surely going to win vs them, and playing nordsjaelland at home is pretty much a guaranteed win as well. still, the team NEEDS a top striker and NEEDS a top defender, as i said a billion times
 
yeah, di matteo should have gone for defensive tactics. if chelsea got at least a draw, they'd be already pretty much qualified, but theres still hope. if shakhtar dont bench their team against juve, they'll almost surely going to win vs them, and playing nordsjaelland at home is pretty much a guaranteed win as well. still, the team NEEDS a top striker and NEEDS a top defender, as i said a billion times

TBH, It only work against teams that dont play or rely on Crosses, Arsenal, Barcelona. Otherwise it fails.
 
goodbye di matteo

and this is why i absolutely abhor chelsea. what a disgusting and ruthless owner, i am so glad i do not support them

how can you even begin to like a team with such a contemptible and shady owner
 
won the champions league and the FA cup a few months ago, third in the league and a mere four points off the leaders, a Chelsea legend by all accounts...

...and sacked.

what a joke
 
That is unbelieveable.

And apparently Benitez is in the running...seeing him at Chelsea would be so entertaining I really hope that happens.
 
goodbye di matteo

and this is why i absolutely abhor chelsea. what a disgusting and ruthless owner, i am so glad i do not support them

how can you even begin to like a team with such a contemptible and shady owner

^^^ This

Chelsea should get a manager they deserve, one that will put Abramovich's hard earnt money to astute signings - Kenny Dalglish is the man.
 
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