12th Fixture: November 20, 2011 - Chelsea FC v. Liverpool FC [R]

Ok its sinked in a little bit.

Our recent form is frankly shocking. That performance at Bolton really had me thinking we were starting to get into it.

I wont bother commenting on Mikels error or the Mikel police (aka Okocha ) will come around , but yeah. It wasnt good.

I fully stand by AVB still , he has got alot of talent and im afraid to say its going to take more than 12 games and 1 transfer window to get this team going.

Abit of calm around these boards could go a long way , but having watched the replay and seen the benches reaction to the 2nd goal , I wouldnt want to be in that dressingroom to say the least.

Bane's been consistent at full-back but Luiz continues to make poor decisions. Today, he tried to dribble through 3 players, 5 yards outside his own box instead of just getting rid of it and recently he's clattered players in the back giving away, (albeit rather soft), penalties.

JT gave away the ball the entire day? You must have been watching a different match to me because I didn't see that particularly although I accept he lost it once or twice bringing it out. He's not as good as he was but, as you've already said, the main problem is the system with a high line, very little pressure on the ball, (so allows the other sides midfield to pick a pass), which almost guarantees that teams will be able to play the ball in behind us.

But I think the nub of the issue, (apart from the aforementioned tactics), is the attitude and motivation that the team start games with which is far too relaxed and lackadaisical. The main question we need to ask after this game is, why do we need to go behind in the first half and the guys THEN 'need a talking to', (that's what one of the fellas said after the match), to put some life into them.

For all this "we need to sell so and so" "we need to buy buy buy," our team wasn't this bad under Carlo after our "bad moment" with him, and with an arguably weaker team.

My point? I'm not really sure tbh but AVB hasn't helped this team one bit, and the players are just not playing.

At this point id take sturridges pace, goals and drive over maloudas slow, predicable and backward possession.

Hes supposed to be a winger not a CM, and if he plays like a CM at least tuck him behind studge/mata where he isn't sucking the life out of our attack.

AVB needs to start Sturridge every game and give Romeu and even Josh more minutes. Give these guys who have more to prove some time to play, and im sure they will show more enthusiasm than the ones who already have showed their worth.

Agreed. AVB wants that tiki-taka Barca movement. Oriol is a perfect example of what he wants in there. Im not throwing Mikel under the bus at all but I think Oriol could begin to be better suited in that position.

frustrating to say the least....

Although im not surprised at some of the comments on here, i don't believe AVB is the problem with this team. Yes, he is playing a high line tactic that our defense is seeming to have a difficulty with but we are just not producing any threatening attacks nor covering each others spaces. This start off jogging mentality in the fist half and full on attack for the first 15min in the second is not working. Not sure what is needed or missing but Danny has been our most threatening force up top. Not saying much, cause once he scored he disappeared for the rest of the game. New hungry blood might be needed and thats an understatement in regards to Malouda's position.

I just think that there are too many players who are past their prime or that were never good enough but got carried by great players in their prime like Terry, Lampard and Drogba.

Out of yesterday's side I would say that Ivanovic, Terry (on current form), Luiz (as a CB), Ramires, Mikel and Malouda are not good enough for a side with title hopes.

I was shocked when I saw the starting lineup. How could Sturridge not be starting over Malouda? WTF does Malouda do to warrant always starting and playing a full 90 when he does?

The timing of bringing AVB in was one year too soon. He has come in and wanted to put his stamp on his team, but he simply doesn't have the ingredients he needs for his style. At some point he has to play with the cards he has and adjust his style of play to suit the players we have.

The most concerning thing to me is how rarely we even challenge the opposing keeper. I keep reading how AVB's system is all about attacking, but we hardly even generate shots. It's sad

I thought we were starting to really show something before Torres picked up that red card when we were using a Mata-Torres-Sturridge front 3. What happened to that? This squad really needed another Mata/Modric player to work

great post!

My concern is that AVB seems reluctant to change his formation of choice. Why? i dont know but wasn't he switching between formations in the first few games to suit the players we had on the pitch/bench. What happened to that?

were going to need more than just mata, who else on our team can hold the ball and make intelligent runs in the final third

it sucks when none of our forwards now what to do in and around the box

Excellent post Fern.

I completely agree with the formation change to a 4312. Mata roaming around behind the strikers would be perfect of him , and give Sturridge the opportunity to play abit more centrally , and get in with his left foot. Sturridge and Mata are the only ones out there that can produce something out of nothing.

I would love to see more of Meireles as well. Nonetheless , AVB has alot to do , and we have a particularly busy schedule coming up.

Interesting facts but they don't mean all that much. Carlo had a melt down in mid season last season and Scolari, though he had a great start...just lost it from there. I would not read to much into it but interesting none the less.

Hopefully AVB will be able to improve on form. I really want him to make it and hope for a long term manager here for once.

see its not as if we're playing like complete crap.... we are moving the ball around better then last year, just the players are not getting behind into open spaces as much. Plus the obvious mistakes that has cost us most of these games. I'm no were near panic mode although I have written off the PL title at this point. Would be amazed if they were close the gap.

Also....i see that we have pretty much zero through balls into the box (mainly due to no runs as well) but the times we do have an exciting pass the receiving player isn't expecting it and usually fluffs on the occasion. Very frustrating to watch at times.

I still feel AVB is the best man for us. We need coaching stability. Lets not call for his head. Just hope he learns from his mistakes.

My impression of the state of things with CFC is that AVB wants to play a particular style of football, high defensive line, continous movement from his personnel on the pitch, one-touch passing, a la Barça. Unfortunately he simply does not have the players to execute this way of playing.

AVB has obviously had some guarantees from tptb. For me he is trying to make a point to everybody that the way he wants to play and the players he has at his disposal do not cut it. Personally I would like to see him succeed, even if that means the likes of JT, Mikel, Malouda, Kalou, Drogba, Lampard, and yes, Cech, leaving the club.

Cech has been poor these last few months. No command of the penalty area, poor positioning, and was responsible for two of Arsenal's goals. Mikel is not a top PL dm; way too static, no vision, and cost us big time on Sunday. Luiz in his place, please, as I've been saying for years. JT cannot play the way AVB wants - way too slow these days. I think he fell over as the easiest option when Malouda made that horrible backpass against the Gunners. Frankie is fighting the fading of the light, Drogba has been engulfed in darkness, and I think everybody agrees that Malouda and Kalou simply don't do it anymore.

Harsh ? Yes, but if we want to move on under AVB we need big changes. Viva la revolucion !

EDIT : Ashley Cole ? Is he still the best LB in the PL ? Hmmm...
'Watching Spurs v. Villa - Modric is playing well...hoping he'll still be ours..

Yes, the only problem is that Sturridge is awful on the wing! He also plays there like a striker - witness his ridiculous shot yesterday when well placed.

If we didn't care about finishing 4th, sure, why not. I do. And if we care about that, we can't just let Sturridge play out wide.

I don't think AVB wants tiki-taka - I think he wants a more aggressive approach on the wings, which we're not capable of providing right now.

1. We're not adapting well to new tactics...which isn't AVB's fault?
2. We're not playing well enough tactically.......which isn't AVB's fault?
3. Sturridge is our most threatening player? On what planet?

1. Malouda plays out wide over Sturridge because he's better there than Sturridge. Sturridge poaches goals. That's great when it happens, but it's not enough from a supposedly wide player.
2. Why doesn't AVB tinker with his formation? I can't understand it for the life of me.
3. Before clamoring for more Matas, how about the one we have play better? He didn't do shit all day yesterday.

That never happened. He announced to the entire world that he'd be using a 4-3-3.

It would help if Mata did that yesterday.

Has there been evidence that he's learning from his mistakes?

If you buy a new house and are thinking of remodeling it, would you destroy every support beam at once or would you do it over time?

How about more importantly, the players learn from their mistakes and get their heads out of their asses? And play for the god damn shirt, which i could count on one hand at the moment.

AVB was brought in to rebuild the squad and change the way we play. If roman wanted us to play 90's style boring football he would have kept Carlo. These players need to get with the program or get the f*** out!

thats complete utter bullshit!!!

Say what you will about Sturridge, but hes getting goals whereas Malouda isn't, not in goals, assists... hes doing nothing.

At this point, hes our most dangerous forward, Dider and Nando are the only 2 other forwards that have played and they've sucked so far.

If your argument is that Sturridge can be used better, in another system the coach refuses to play then i agree, but so far hes done more than fine considering our form as of late.

That was something I was going to mention as well.

At certain points in most of the games this season we've been terrific. In this game, once they ran out of steam. we were all OVER them and should have gone on to win the match so, to my mind, that PROVES that there's nothing basically wrong with the players. In fact, in most of our losses, it's come down to individual errors that has cost us.

Even in games like the Arsenal 5-3 loss we were on top for significant parts of the match but we couldn't convert our pressure into goals and then a blunder from one player costs us, another goal coming right at the end when we're chasing the game, making it look far worse than it actually was. I mean, nobody... NOBODY has taken us apart in the same way that ManU were demolished by citeh or LeArse by ManU.

I think the problem is that teams in the EPL are much harder to break down so this slow, overly methodical, build-up just isn't doing the job.

I watched sperz tonight and the speed they move the ball is a LOT quicker than us when we're playing sometimes, at least in that game.

Thanks, great post. Keep it up.

I guess I'll lay it out simply: we have the players to beat the mediocrity that is Liverpool, and Arsenal. We don't need to add 4-5, and get rid of whoever else to take these teams on.