Lahm > Cole ; Sagnol > whoever

Ballack has put his cards on the table and admitted that he was missing LAHM and SAGNOL

to score more goals , notably headers, he would need better service from the full backs

by specifically praising Lahm he effectively questioned Cole's forward play, which is allegedly what makes the money-grabbing bastard the BEST LEFT BACK IN THE WORLD

he also encourages other Teutons like Klose to play abroad

meanwhile , both Hildebrand and Metzelder are said to favour such a move at the end of the season

I've always said, Cole cannot defend, and is not that great going forward, can't pass, cross or shoot, nothing but pace. Bridge is a better player.

waft the hapless youth wrote:I've always said, Cole cannot defend, and is not that great going forward, can't pass, cross or shoot, nothing but pace. Bridge is a better player.

I'd say he's excellent defensively, his only major drawback is his poor crossing. Left backs aren't really expected to have a great shot on them, so thats no big deal.

Anyway, Zambrotta > All.

Where is Metzelder reportedly off to Otto or has he not been linked with anyone yet?

Ballack making excuses for the fact hes been rubbish since his move.

Ballack has always been a goodish player, who got lots of headed goals around the penalty area. Now the way Chelsea play this season, barely any crosses, no headed goals for Ballack, and whats he got to offer, basically nothing. overated very overated.

Ashley sChOoLboy Error

Shitley shold be dropped for Bridge who is by far the better player. But Ballack should maybe focus a bit more on his own perofrmances rather than bemoaning his teammates'

The Sun did a peice on Mourinhio and his buys and said the only good signings so far are Essien, Carvahilo and COLE.

theflyingfrenchman wrote: Shitley shold be dropped for Bridge who is by far the better player. But Ballack should maybe focus a bit more on his own perofrmances rather than bemoaning his teammates'

Ballack is not blaming anybody; he merely said that the Bayern full-backs provided top-class service up-front , which by implication is not the case at Chelsea

the good boy should never have gone to Chelsea though: neither Flumps nor Robben, Essien, Cole, Boulah... are top notch crossers of the ball; the team does not have enough width to benefit from Ballack's natural attacking instincts

Metze speaks fluent English; who knows; he might be on his way to an EPL club

Parks lives wrote:The Sun did a peice on Mourinhio and his buys and said the only good signings so far are Essien, Carvahilo and COLE.

Drogba?

Cesc wrote:

Parks lives wrote:The Sun did a peice on Mourinhio and his buys and said the only good signings so far are Essien, Carvahilo and COLE.

Drogba?

Not done enough in previous seasons I think he said.

Like Cole has done enough in about 15 games.

Parks lives wrote:

Cesc wrote:

Parks lives wrote:The Sun did a peice on Mourinhio and his buys and said the only good signings so far are Essien, Carvahilo and COLE.

Drogba?

Not done enough in previous seasons I think he said.

Like Cole has done enough in about 15 games.

I bet Shaun Custis did this.

His goal return in the previous two seasons wasn't too bad, considering he was rotated constantly with Crespo.

No, it was Steven Howard.

otto: Albion's No 1 fan wrote:
Metze speaks fluent English; who knows; he might be on his way to an EPL club

Tribalfootball reckons that Sevilla are looking at him, along with Ujfalusi, for next season.


They're not exactly reliable though. Is there anything in the German press about that?

obispo
i have seen that other places too. sevilla are going for either ujfalusi or metzelda.

Isnt it quite ironic that the reason less crosses are being sent over to Ballack is because hes in the team...
And Lahm probably didnt provide that many crosses as he would always cut inside. A bit like Cole just with an attacking threat...
True about Sagnol though, great crosser.

have chelsea ever been a crossing team???

I think otto has had a little play with Mr Ballacks words here.

Tactics otto tactics

you should be aware of the lampard/essien/makalele hoof to drogba.. the difference is this year ballack is vastly inferior at picking up drogba's knockdowns than flump was when he was in ballack's position plus mr drogba has finally realised that flump was getting all the credit for his hard work so has started to take on the target practice himself.

Ballack hasnt played well so far for Chelsea not to the level he could have , you could blame the coach or system but he has found it hard to adapt to EPL.

Bilal wrote:Ballack hasnt played well so far for Chelsea not to the level he could have , you could blame the coach or system but he has found it hard to adapt to EPL.

chelsea don't pass.. chelsea don't play football therefore ballack has had little chance to shine. would love to see how

j.cole....ballack...essien...robben

.........drogba....shev

works but we never will

Me too ,I think Ballack is definately better then Lampard but Jose wont drop Lampard and neither he is going to drop his system of playing 2 defensive midfielders.

Bilal wrote:Me too ,I think Ballack is definately better then Lampard but Jose wont drop Lampard and neither he is going to drop his system of playing 2 defensive midfielders.

Based on what? Because so far this season, Lampard has been superior to a very mediocre Ballack. Dropping Lampard for the bigger name would be utterly ludicrous.

For such a supposedly tactically astute players such as Ballack, he's done sod all.

instead of blaming others he should sort his own game out. Cant play without crosses? Then adapt if you're so WORLD CLASS!!

Load of pre-madonna rubbish, proving its not just Cashley who's the tw@t playing at Chelsea these days.

PS- As an attacking force, Bridge is indeed > Cashley, but as an athlete who can track and nullify, there are far fewer better than Mr Tweedy. Its not the fullbacks' fault that Mourinho doesnt play with natural wingers

So you think Lampard is better then Ballack?
right.

COTR wrote:

Bilal wrote:Ballack hasnt played well so far for Chelsea not to the level he could have , you could blame the coach or system but he has found it hard to adapt to EPL.

chelsea don't pass.. chelsea don't play football therefore ballack has had little chance to shine. would love to see how

j.cole....ballack...essien...robben

.........drogba....shev

works but we never will

tweak that slightly:

j.cole....Makelele...essien...robben

.....................Shev

....................drogba

COTR wrote:have chelsea ever been a crossing team???

Well they used to actually play with wide men which was definitely a start.

Ballacks only problem is he's moved to a much stronger and competitive league. As time goes by his quality will help him adapt, or, his lack of quality will see him fall by the wayside, only time will tell.

The Real White Powder wrote:

Bilal wrote:Me too ,I think Ballack is definately better then Lampard but Jose wont drop Lampard and neither he is going to drop his system of playing 2 defensive midfielders.

Based on what? Because so far this season, Lampard has been superior to a very mediocre Ballack. Dropping Lampard for the bigger name would be utterly ludicrous.

For such a supposedly tactically astute players such as Ballack, he's done sod all.

instead of blaming others he should sort his own game out. Cant play without crosses? Then adapt if you're so WORLD CLASS!!

Load of pre-madonna rubbish, proving its not just Cashley who's the tw@t playing at Chelsea these days.

PS- As an attacking force, Bridge is indeed > Cashley, but as an athlete who can track and nullify, there are far fewer better than Mr Tweedy. Its not the fullbacks' fault that Mourinho doesnt play with natural wingers

Just for all you who haven't noticed it yet: Ballack is NO playmaker. He never was and he never will be. He is "only" one of the most dangerous midfielder in Europe.

In his last Bundesliga season he scored 14 goals in 26 matches, Makaay as a foward scored 17 in 31 appearances and in the national team he does have more goals than Klose!!!

No question, Ballack has to improve and he probably will, but by demanding of him to adapt to the current Chelsea style of play with only a few crosses and passes providing him, you take away Ballacks MAIN strength which is scoring goals, especially decisive ones. Mourinho should have noticed that while watching him play at Bayern.

Poor Micha, neither our Lederhosen nor those Londoners know how to implement a system around him.

@ ball

good points as always

-----------------------------

excellent interview with Ballack

takes too much time to translate ALL

you might as well learn German

http://www.sportbild.de/de/nncs/sportbild/2007/01/08/5332800000.html

SnowBall wrote:

The Real White Powder wrote:

Bilal wrote:Me too ,I think Ballack is definately better then Lampard but Jose wont drop Lampard and neither he is going to drop his system of playing 2 defensive midfielders.

Based on what? Because so far this season, Lampard has been superior to a very mediocre Ballack. Dropping Lampard for the bigger name would be utterly ludicrous.

For such a supposedly tactically astute players such as Ballack, he's done sod all.

instead of blaming others he should sort his own game out. Cant play without crosses? Then adapt if you're so WORLD CLASS!!

Load of pre-madonna rubbish, proving its not just Cashley who's the tw@t playing at Chelsea these days.

PS- As an attacking force, Bridge is indeed > Cashley, but as an athlete who can track and nullify, there are far fewer better than Mr Tweedy. Its not the fullbacks' fault that Mourinho doesnt play with natural wingers

Just for all you who haven't noticed it yet: Ballack is NO playmaker. He never was and he never will be. He is "only" one of the most dangerous midfielder in Europe.

In his last Bundesliga season he scored 14 goals in 26 matches, Makaay as a foward scored 17 in 31 appearances and in the national team he does have more goals than Klose!!!

No question, Ballack has to improve and he probably will, but by demanding of him to adapt to the current Chelsea style of play with only a few crosses and passes providing him, you take away Ballacks MAIN strength which is scoring goals, especially decisive ones. Mourinho should have noticed that while watching him play at Bayern.

Poor Micha, neither our Lederhosen nor those Londoners know how to implement a system around him.

Quite right. At Leverkusen he was even used as a defensive midfielder.

Parks lives wrote:

Cesc wrote:

Parks lives wrote:The Sun did a peice on Mourinhio and his buys and said the only good signings so far are Essien, Carvahilo and COLE.

Drogba?

Not done enough in previous seasons I think he said.

Like Cole has done enough in about 15 games.

You would call 20 assists a season not enough?

By the way, I think all of Ballack's goals have been headers (and 1 penalty v Bremen).

It's been his shooting which has been poor.

And defending-wise, Ashley Cole has been brilliant this season. It's his attacking (predominantly crosses) which have let him down.