WELL, lol. I'll start by saying Red Bull arena really doesn't have bad seats, I was up there and had an awesome view of things. Although just a pre-season friendly, everything was overly reminiscent of the low quality football we played over the course of the 2nd half of the season. Not a bad first half, I thought Moses and Mikel looked pretty sharp actually. As someone who still has some type of faith in Mikel I do hope we see a resurgence from him. 2nd half was a mess. Pre-season or not, conceding 4 goals in one half to the team they had on the field is pretty pathetic all things considered. My logical/Chelsea mind tells me to not stress it and just look to the start of the season but as one of many who paid a pretty penny to be there I expected more from our lot. Overall: not stressing the result, felt awesome to actually be at a game for the first time in what? 3 years? Definitely need to get out more.
I wish it weren't a part of the Spanish language package with my provider, I think anybody in our forum would've been better than the schmucks on FSP. At one point one of them claimed that Cahill is the best center back in the world...
Great news. I hope he, along with RLC, can make the jump and play a few matches this season. In all seriousness, I'd rather play RLC than Mikel in almost all scenarios.
Thought he had a good game he linked up quite well, kept the ball and took on some players when he had the opportunity.
Thought Moses was one of the bright spots on the night. If he could tighten up his touch and decision making by just a wee bit, he'd be at a whole level higher than where he is currently. We could be doing worse than him, Traore, and Cuadrado backing up the attacking mid spots. And yes, Jose said that both Traore and Moses are in his plans for this season. I'm definitely in favor of a switch to 4-3-3 at times, think it suits a lot of our personnel more than the 4-2-3-1 we're used to. A midfield three of Matic + any two of Fabregas, Oscar, RLC, or even Ramires would be pretty well balanced and able to play in a few different styles
One of the few who showed up last night but I am not sure how much that means against a Redbulls B squad.
Right. I missed the match so I missed all the Mourinho talk afterwards. I'm actually looking forward to Moses playing a part this season. Like most on here, I've ultimately given up on Cuadrado coming good. So I'm hoping that between Traore, Moses, Willian, and the highly improbable Cuadrado we can get some much needed offensive output from the right side.
what would the difference on the field really be between a 433 and a 4231? a flat 3 across the midfield instead of a 2+1? either way you're going to have matic shielding the backs and cesc in his regista-esque role. the only difference is instead of oscar as a 10, he's moved over to an 8. someone will still have to take over that playmaking, linking role so it's almost like you're just witching cesc and oscar. it's kind of the same thing no?
Really there isn't much of a difference in the middle of the park like you say. Oscar often plays deeper anyways. What I think it'd do for us is keeping Ivanovic back and Willian can focus more on his offensive duties.
it also covers your fullbacks and allows your wide forwards to be more wide forwards. the mid 3 have a little bit more responsibility to cover out wide. but yes, overall it's not much different. as Blue said though, i would also like to see Willian not have to cover for Ivan as much this season. or whoever plays at RM/W
though Moses looked strong. Traore i really think could become a good player for us. still very young, but has some really silky skills. just needs some maturity. i like that he has the #14. makes me think Jose actually has plans for him. obviously that remains to be seen. so let's go get our new LB, and perhaps this showed Jose we still need a CM.
Gives us more flexibility in that midfield three rather than having to slot two into the pivot and someone into a 10. A change of tactics would also have to occur, but it'd benefit someone like Ramires who looks completely lost in the pivot but could do a job in a box-to-box role. Think we'd be able to see more rotation rather than the Oscar, Fab, Matic combo we see while playing with a 10 as well. I'd be interested in seeing RLC play in a 4-3-3 rather than having him slot into the pivot or 10 role - might be a more natural fit for him
As I said, I'm very happy with both Traore and Moses. Think it offers us so many more options and we did it without spending any dosh. CM is frustrating. I wanted Schneiderlin pretty badly. But I'm also adamant about wanting to see RLC play a part and be the breakthrough player. I would have been more than happy to see both Ramires and Mikel out though and us bringing in someone.