Ballack unplugged, or rather, f@ucked !

he seems to have given an interview to our journalists in Duesseldorf

the crux of the matter: Lampard and Ballack are going for the same balls, or rather, they want to go for the same balls

since this obviously would not work , Mourinho tells them not to play "on one line"

Ballack: " Lampard is rather dominant; I am happy to stay back in the interest of the team"

translation: Flumps is selfish and unable to do what I have been doing with Frings in the Nationalmannschaft

essentially, Ballack is f$cked , finding himself in a similar situation to Gerrard alongside Frank under Sven

the FR rightly also points out that the Chelsea players are NOT LOOKING for Ballack; they don't really cut him, but simply do what they have done in the past; going to Flumps directly

in a nutshell: Ballack is at the wrong club and 100% wasted

some of us predicted that prior to his move

http://www.fr-online.de/in_und_ausland/sport/aktuell/?sid=f8f51ea40c2f44c21c0cb60ec436fe1c&em_cnt=1067746

@ Otto

Der Kaiser said not so long ago Ballack would have done better at Manchester United, you agree?

I do , he would have done alot better at Man Utd.

yes, Cees, I do

the implied criticism of Lampard doing his own thing is kind of the key here

in a way it's similar to the Diego - Klose story

Diego shining at the expense of the MONSTER

Ballack also seems to be unimpressed by those English pundits who criticize him

+

he indicates he is only allowed to give English interviews on the club website

in other words, he has no way of getting his point of view across

welcome to the country of control-freakery

If you watch every single Chelsea game this season (and I have been to 9-10 home games this season), you will very rarely find Ballack running. Ever.

He seems to amble (at best) across the pitch, whilst Lampard and Essien bust a gut to get forward and back. Fact of the matter is, Lampard is playing as a LCM whilst Ballack is playing as an AM. But of course Frank likes to come into the middle and score goals.

If Ballack actually started running more, he'd be beating Frank to these passes from Essien, Maka, Drogs, Sheva etc and scoring goals. Fact of the matter is, Lampard has been 3x better than Ballack this season (perhaps understandable, given this is Ballack's first season)

ottOld Shatterhand wrote:
he indicates he is only allowed to give English interviews on the club website

in other words, he has no way of getting his point of view across

He has done interviews for ITV, Sky Sports as well as ChelseaTV.

Not sure where you heard that one.

S4P wrote:

ottOld Shatterhand wrote:
he indicates he is only allowed to give English interviews on the club website

in other words, he has no way of getting his point of view across

:scratch:

He has done interviews for ITV, Sky Sports as well as ChelseaTV.

Not sure where you heard that one.

he probably means PRINT media

and indeed, I have yet to come across an substantial interviews with him in the Guardian/Times...; same probably applies to the Sun/Mirror...

as for Lampard and Essien charging forward, that's kind of the point and problem

Mourinho has specifically told them NOT TO PLAY ON ONE LINE, which you could probably translate to mean "not to go for the same balls"

meaning: Flumps and Essien charging forward forces Ballack to clean the kitchen; presumably Mourinho would not mind them taking it in turns, but just like under Sven, Flumps does not do that

But Ballack is not being forced to 'clean the kitchen', Essien (or makelele) do that - and as S4P said, Lampard tracks back reasonably eagerly for an AMF. And surely the big pro of Ballack is that he can play deeper (I'm sure you've mentioned it yourself) due to his composure, passing technique and understanding of the game.

Clearly he is not playing well. It is perfectly reasonable to blame it on a new league, a new system, poor man management, poor communication with new teammates etc.. But a player like Ballack, were he playing well, would be dictating play from deeper positions (its not like he's prevented by tireless mopping up). His position can excuse fewer goals, it can't excuse poor form (although he has plenty of other excuses).

Hey Otto, Is it possible he just is not as good as he was made out to be?

I'm a bit busy at the mo so haven't yet read the article Bismarck –

but the point is Fwank's whole raison d'être as a midfielder is to charge forward and try to get knockdowns etc and score; he isn't really a midfielder at all in that sense and certainly can't dictate play from midfield. This is not Ballack's way, and as Otto points out it would be ludicrous for him to attempt to duplicate Lampard. As it is, he's left without a role; the fact that he admits he still hasn't found a role at Chelsea is rather sad, for us and for Chavski fans.

I contributed to a BBC 606 debate on this the other day (I'm on pages 3 or 4 I think):

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/606/F6386946?thread=3814309&skip=80&show=20

and as one Chelsea fan interestingly says, in the defeat against Liverpool Ballack's passes at least found their man or started something, whereas Flumps's went straight out of play or to the opposition.

With any luck he'll do well against Switzerland tonight, in a role where he has more space and responsibility; but even if he does, this will do nothing to convince his English critics of what the real problem is.

Ballack is shown up for the amateur he is by Fwank.

Now he realises he made he fool of himself by chosing for the money instead of football (which all of us and my neighbour's dog predicted) he starts to whine......ghee, what a big surprise

Ballack does get more space than many think. The problem is, he never wants to get out of 2nd gear.

Is this just a German way, or is Ballack becoming lazy? Whatever it is, it's starting to annoy a large number of Chelsea fans (including myself). He had a good game against Blackburn, but even then, he never got out of 2nd gear.

If anything, it is Flumps who has been moved to accomodate Ballack. Personally, I would have Ballack playing the deeper role, and Flumps playing in the centre.

ottOld Shatterhand wrote:

Ballack: " Lampard is rather dominant; I am happy to stay back in the interest of the team"

translation: Flumps is selfish and unable to do what I have been doing with Frings in the Nationalmannschaft

http://www.fr-online.de/in_und_ausland/sport/aktuell/?sid=f8f51ea40c2f44c21c0cb60ec436fe1c&em_cnt=1067746

Real translation: Even a mediocre player like Lampard is making me look shit but I'm too lazy and crap to do anything about it.

That's the point though S4P (at least how I see it) - if Ballack was chasing after the passes, him and Lampard would both be going for the same ball and would look like junior school football where everyone runs after it. Mourinho told them not to do that, so he has no choice but to sit deeper, and doing this also eliminates what is basically the best and most frequent aspect of his game - making runs into the box and scoring. Lampard even takes over that space from him. The other posters are right IMO, it's a situation similar to Gerrard and England. Unless Lampard and Ballack can work out some kind of rotation system where they alternate, or they stick strictly in their zones of the diamond, this will continue to happen.

ottOld Shatterhand wrote:in a nutshell: Ballack is at the wrong club and 100% wasted

Actually I just can't feel bad for him.

I remember last spring when there were talks about Ballack coming to Inter, and his agent said that it just wasn't going to happen coz Ballack wanted to move to a club capable of winning trophies.
Ah-ah.
Guess he could regret it now, especially since I think he could have adapted much better to Inter midfield which features versatile, helpful and tactically aware players like Stankovic, Vieira, Cambiasso and Zanetti. =P

Spot on! Ballack had the chance of being in the side which breaks the records set by the Mathaeus-Brehme-Klinnsman Inter.... And with Figo looking iffy, Ballack could have got himself a starting spot...

Anyways, no regrets... Inter midfield at the mo is better than our midfield has been in the last 20 years since I have been a fan... there is no need to change anything.

Stankovic >> Ballack, we don't need him!

abundance wrote:

ottOld Shatterhand wrote:in a nutshell: Ballack is at the wrong club and 100% wasted

Actually I just can't feel bad for him.

I remember last spring when there were talks about Ballack coming to Inter, and his agent said that it just wasn't going to happen coz Ballack wanted to move to a club capable of winning trophies.
Ah-ah.
Guess he could regret it now, especially since I think he could have adapted much better to Inter midfield which features versatile, helpful and tactically aware players like Stankovic, Vieira, Cambiasso and Zanetti. =P

Ballack is just overated and is being shown up for the average player everyone outside Germany knew he was. I am so happy he didnt join United.