Race for the title

Fergle better hope Liverpool are still within touching distance of 4th on the last day of the season, because if not I'm sure most Liverpool fans will endorse Rafa experimenting with fringe players and youngsters. Jay Spearing in goal perhaps.

It will be Arsenal, sadly. Cause they always win it when ajax become champs as well and like them they profit from other teams that bottle it and easy remaining fixtures.

So,

Have Chelsea blown it then? Looking at their remaining fixtures they now have the most difficult run in.

they're down to the bare bones of the squad, a few seasons ago when they were collecting players they would easily cope with this situation, the likes of Glen Johnson, Scott Parker, Lassana Diarra, Wayne Bridge, Shaun Wright Phillips waiting in the wings. Getting knocked out of the CL might just have spared them.

I really think it's too close to call. Arsenal are more than capable of shooting themselves in the foot, and if Rooney gets injured then United are in the race for 4th.

Looking past this season and taking for granted they wont win the title. Lampard...Drogba..Ballack..Carvalho also...possibly a few others all coming to the end of their prime. Then you got the players just not cutting it. I think they're going to need big changes to compete next season because im sure everyone else will improve. Essien will make a difference but Essien- Mikel-Lampard- Malouda doesn't strike me as anything to be worried about. While Rooney..RVP..Torres..Tevez even are at good ages....Drogba is unlikely to match this season so you do wonder how they're going to cope.

We've got two tough(ish) games in the run-in. The first is the Brum away game which is next. If we win that, my confidence will be significantly ramped up. Brum are a bit hot-cold at the moment but they're still a very solid team who on their day, at home, are capable of winning against any team.

I think Chelsea's main problem is the fact that Anelka and Drogba can't play togther. It's so glaringly obvious. When Drogba was away in the African Cup of Nations Chelsea were flying, playing fantastic football and scoring lots of goals. Drogba's fantastic but he's not young, I wonder how many more years he can keep playing at the top level. Anelka has had a very poor season by his standards, he's only got 8 league goals. Again he's not young either. Their young striker, Sturridge, hasn't really showed enough to say he's going to be the obvious successor to either of them. IMO they could do with getting rid of Anelka in the summer and getting in 2 top class strikers.

I don't think they're as dangerous on the wings as they used to be. When they used to play with 2 wingers, SWP/Joe Cole and Robben, they were so dangerous. Joe Cole has lost it a bit for me, no doubt the injury has had an effect.

Ancelotti is another defensive Italian manager IMO, but if he can use the limitless cash wisely in the summer and bring in some dangerous, attacking players again then Chelsea can get back to the dominance they showed in the Mourinho era.

Luis wrote:Ancelotti is another defensive Italian manager IMO, but if he can use the limitless cash wisely in the summer and bring in some dangerous, attacking players again then Chelsea can get back to the dominance they showed in the Mourinho era.

Stereotypes

Care to explain how Ancelotti is a "defensive Italian manager" ?

defensive
his teams build up is slow and they tend not to commit many players ahead of the ball. They have the best defensive record in the division

Italian
he was born in Reggiolo, played for Italy and holds an Italian passport. He loves food and his mummy.

manager
He is the current manager of the English Premier League football club Chelsea

Luis wrote:I think Chelsea's main problem is the fact that Anelka and Drogba can't play togther. It's so glaringly obvious.

At the start of the season they seemed to be working very well as a partnership though.

I personally think they're suffering a bit of a crisis of confidence, partly because of terrygate and partly because of the loss of Cole, Cech and Essien. These losses, in addition to a drop in morale have caused a number of players to play at only a fraction of what we know they are capable of.

Manuel Glennegrini wrote:defensive
his teams build up is slow and they tend not to commit many players ahead of the ball. They have the best defensive record in the division

Italian
he was born in Reggiolo, played for Italy and holds an Italian passport. He loves food and his mummy.

manager
He is the current manager of the English Premier League football club Chelsea

Is the answer Kas. Doesn't take a genius to see that playing a diamond system with no wingers is defensive.

Luis wrote:

Manuel Glennegrini wrote:defensive
his teams build up is slow and they tend not to commit many players ahead of the ball. They have the best defensive record in the division

Italian
he was born in Reggiolo, played for Italy and holds an Italian passport. He loves food and his mummy.

manager
He is the current manager of the English Premier League football club Chelsea

Is the answer Kas. Doesn't take a genius to see that playing a diamond system with no wingers is defensive.

You can't play a diamond system and wingers

The problem with the diamond is that Mikel, Lampard, Ballack are not Pirlo, Kaka & Seedorf.

The Santa Stalker wrote:

Luis wrote:

Manuel Glennegrini wrote:defensive
his teams build up is slow and they tend not to commit many players ahead of the ball. They have the best defensive record in the division

Italian
he was born in Reggiolo, played for Italy and holds an Italian passport. He loves food and his mummy.

manager
He is the current manager of the English Premier League football club Chelsea

Is the answer Kas. Doesn't take a genius to see that playing a diamond system with no wingers is defensive.

You can't play a diamond system and wingers

The problem with the diamond is that Mikel, Lampard, Ballack are not Pirlo, Kaka & Seedorf.

Or Xabi Alonso, Silva, Iniesta, and Xavi.

Manuel Glennegrini wrote:defensive
his teams build up is slow and they tend not to commit many players ahead of the ball. They have the best defensive record in the division

Italian
he was born in Reggiolo, played for Italy and holds an Italian passport. He loves food and his mummy.

manager
He is the current manager of the English Premier League football club Chelsea

Honestly I don't think Ancelotti is defensive really. Rather he is more of a pragmatic who can go each either very defensively when needed(like against Barcelona at Camp Nou) or very offensive like he played Pirlo-Kaka-Seedorf in a midfield with Cafu and Pancaro as attacking full backs plus two strikers.

Like TS/Jaime said it is a question of squad he has. Ideally for Ancelotti im not sure Lampard or Ballack would play.

Luis wrote:

Manuel Glennegrini wrote:defensive
his teams build up is slow and they tend not to commit many players ahead of the ball. They have the best defensive record in the division

Italian
he was born in Reggiolo, played for Italy and holds an Italian passport. He loves food and his mummy.

manager
He is the current manager of the English Premier League football club Chelsea

Is the answer Kas. Doesn't take a genius to see that playing a diamond system with no wingers is defensive.

Don't hide behind Glen's cute little jokes Luis. You're trying to tell me that any team that plays a diamond midfield is defensive?

If you're going to throw cliches about, be ready to back them up with your own opinion.

What are you on about Kas, I've given you my reason. The diamond system that Ancelotti plays is IMO far more defensive than the system Mourinho played with out and out wingers. As a result they find it more difficult to break down the lesser sides away from home.

If you want to use someone elses opinion, how about pretending Henry hugging Messi at the end of the game actually angered you, did it fuck, just another over-dramatic piece of garbage from yourself.

The football Chelsea played in last two games was pretty dross. I wouldn't say negative, because it's not true. For example, there was no width whatsoever in diamond (and both Anelka and Drogba up front don't know to play wing) and there were long balls played to Drogba which didn't get runs from other players, including Anelka and Malouda. I dont know why some big coaches like ancelotti and wenger complain about long balls (okay managers like pulis and Fat Sam overuse it), when they also employ that tactic with players like drogba and bender..

Luis wrote:What are you on about Kas, I've given you my reason. The diamond system that Ancelotti plays is IMO far more defensive than the system Mourinho played with out and out wingers. As a result they find it more difficult to break down the lesser sides away from home.

Forget it, arguing with you about football is like talking to a woman about it.

Luis wrote:
If you want to use someone elses opinion, how about pretending Henry hugging Messi at the end of the game actually angered you, did it fuck, just another over-dramatic piece of garbage from yourself.

I'm not sure how to convince you. If I had a device that recorded every thought that passes through my mind, along with a date and time stamp, I'd send you a recording from it. I'm not anti-Henry like Pierre, and I'm not a Henry loverboy like Professor...but at times his personality genuinely irritates me so my post in that thread was 100% honest.

Kas - I HAVE ANSWERED YOUR QUESTION

Jesus.

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I was saying before to a mate that another problem Chelsea have had is that because times have been tough (the whole Terry saga) they haven't recovered well from it because they haven't got a motivator like Mourinho. Mourinho would have ensured that the players forgot about it and ensured that it made them stronger. I can't see Ancelotti doing this, his english isn't good enough for a start.

Advantage Chelsea now.

United without Rooney. Arsenal without Fabregas, Gallas, Arshavin or RVP.

A Chelsea win this weekend would put them firmly in the driving seat.

Why? We're missing one player they are missing essien cole bosingwa carvalho ivanovic

If we beat them it's over. if they beat us it isnt. Not only that but rooney aint even out that long.

L r dd wrote:Why? We're missing one player they are missing essien cole bosingwa carvalho ivanovic

If we beat them it's over. if they beat us it isnt. Not only that but rooney aint even out that long.

Rooney is United basically, it's a far bigger miss lerd.

Luis wrote:

L r dd wrote:Why? We're missing one player they are missing essien cole bosingwa carvalho ivanovic

If we beat them it's over. if they beat us it isnt. Not only that but rooney aint even out that long.

Rooney is United basically, it's a far bigger miss lerd.

On what logic

Rooney's missed 11 league games in the last two seasons.

We've won 10 of them and drew 1.

Where is your evidence jewis? tell me something with some factual info...

L r dd wrote:

Luis wrote:

L r dd wrote:Why? We're missing one player they are missing essien cole bosingwa carvalho ivanovic

If we beat them it's over. if they beat us it isnt. Not only that but rooney aint even out that long.

Rooney is United basically, it's a far bigger miss lerd.

On what logic

Rooney's missed 11 league games in the last two seasons.

We've won 10 of them and drew 1.

Where is your evidence jewis? tell me something with some factual info...

Here's a fact, Own goals is your second top scorer. Therefore if Rooney isn't available against good sides, not shite like Bolton then I don't know if you'll be able to score enough to win the game when Chelsea will have Drogba, Lampard, Malouda and they all score goals.

Luis wrote:

L r dd wrote:

Luis wrote:

L r dd wrote:Why? We're missing one player they are missing essien cole bosingwa carvalho ivanovic

If we beat them it's over. if they beat us it isnt. Not only that but rooney aint even out that long.

Rooney is United basically, it's a far bigger miss lerd.

On what logic

Rooney's missed 11 league games in the last two seasons.

We've won 10 of them and drew 1.

Where is your evidence jewis? tell me something with some factual info...

Here's a fact, Own goals is your second top scorer. Therefore if Rooney isn't available against good sides, not shite like Bolton then I don't know if you'll be able to score enough to win the game when Chelsea will have Drogba, Lampard, Malouda and they all score goals.

Berbatov, Nani, Valencia, Park etc match those names. Park scored v Milan, Pool, Arsenal.

Valencia has about 7-8 goals. berbatov has scored 16 goals this season. Nani is a man on top form.....so what are you basing this on..why are you dismissing 0-4 away to bolton as a nothing result.

Are you speaking out of hope...or actual knowledge because it isnt adding up mate.

If you can't understand why losing Rooney for 4 weeks gives Chelsea the advantage then there's nothing I can do about that. I suppose we'll just have to see how you cope without him

Luis wrote:If you can't understand why losing Rooney for 4 weeks gives Chelsea the advantage then there's nothing I can do about that. I suppose we'll just have to see how you cope without him

We shall see when Macheda strikes. Rooney will miss 3 games maximum. You heard it here first.





No Carvlho, Cole, Bosingwa, Ivanovic? Let us at em!

L r dd wrote:Why? We're missing one player they are missing essien cole bosingwa carvalho ivanovic

If we beat them it's over. if they beat us it isnt. Not only that but rooney aint even out that long.

Agree that if ManU win it's almost certainly over, but would also be v surprised if we didn't go on to win after a victory, considering we would be at least 4 up on goal difference with Wigan and Bolton at home still to come and most of our injuries back for the Liverpool game. So we probs could even afford to drop points at Tottenham.

P.S. Ancelotti isn't defensive.

EDIT: oh and I'm not convinced Rooney being injured is that significant relative to our injuries, more important is that we've had a whole week off with nothing else to focus on...

Hardrada wrote:

L r dd wrote:Why? We're missing one player they are missing essien cole bosingwa carvalho ivanovic

If we beat them it's over. if they beat us it isnt. Not only that but rooney aint even out that long.

Agree that if ManU win it's almost certainly over, but would also be v surprised if we didn't go on to win after a victory, considering we would be at least 4 up on goal difference with Wigan and Bolton at home still to come and most of our injuries back for the Liverpool game. So we probs could even afford to drop points at Tottenham.

P.S. Ancelotti isn't defensive.

EDIT: oh and I'm not convinced Rooney being injured is that significant relative to our injuries, more important is that we've had a whole week off with nothing else to focus on...

Well you'd be favourites. But 2 points with 5 games to go and two of them tough away games...that's not over. No doubt more injuries will be picked up so while a few will be back those things are neither here nor there. Plus who would predict 7-1 v Villa? 3 goals better GD isnt that decisive either IMO.

Hardrada

(not that I'm feeling particularly enamoured of Chelsea types currently )