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Chelsea: Do the Blues have a Plan B?

  By O-Posts Team | February 10, 2013 - 18:58 | , , ,
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Despite the disappointing sixth place finish in the Premier League, the silverware won in the form of Champions League had erased the negatives of Chelsea side last season.

Roberto Di Matteo, who took the reins as Chelsea manager in between the two leagues of Round of 16 phase in the Champions League last season, had played with adrenaline-related tactical moves which helped the Blues to win Europe’s biggest prize.

Di Matteo re-invented the Catenaccio style of play-the Italian art played with majority of players packed on the back, in his years at Chelsea. The outcome of winning Champions League and FA Cup had rewarded the interim manager to become the permanent manager, where the Italian penned a two year agreement last summer.

However, the reign of Di Matteo had lasted for only 262 days as the Chelsea’s lose at Turin in the game week 5 of Champions league group stages piled up Abramovich to sack the Italian on immediate reaction. Former Liverpool and Internazionale manager, Rafael Benitez was appointed as the interim manager in late November and since then, the Spaniard has been on constant pressure of getting sacked at any point of time due to the poor run of Chelsea.

Rafael Benitez has guided Chelsea in 14 Premier League games in this season so far winning on only 7 occasions, losing 4 and obviously, drawing 3. Before the Wigan game, Chelsea were without a win in the past three games of all competitions and so, the question is raised whether Rafa will opt plan B of three man defense- the trending topic of modern football?

Three man defense style of play needs influential wing-backs, an impressive defensive midfielder with an astonishing box-to-box midfielder. If a three man defense will be opted at Stamford Bridge, then how the players are packed in the formation of the same? Let’s have a brief discussion here.

David Luiz, who has been spending his time in the midfield in recent days under Rafa, has to return back to his original favorite position to form partnerships with John Terry and Gary Cahill at the back. Wing-back roles will be provided to overwhelming full backs, Branislav Ivanovic and Ashley Cole as both of these players can cause serious vulnerable problems to the opponent defenders during Chelsea’s attack and at the same time, having the spectacular tendency to take up a valuable role at defense when the emergency cover is desperately needed.

Frank Lampard and Ramires will be taking up their roles at centre-midfield just behind the attacking midfielders, Eden Hazard and Juan Mata. Lampard, whose contract extension is in doubt with Chelsea, has been in spectacular form in recent days. Till December, Lampard had featured 11 times for the West London side and out of those 11, Chelsea had won 10, drawing once. Speaking about the present, Lampard has scored 4 times in his last 4 appearances for both his club and country.

Juan Mata is leading the assists chart this season with 20 assists for both his club and country. The unselfish Spanish attacker is in the best form of his life as his contribution is not limited only with assists.

The goal scoring abilities of the 24-year old has been considerably increased this season. Demba Ba or Fernando Torres will be solely leading the Blues attack. However, based on current form, Ba will start the majority of games.

With Lampard and Mata serving as the creative sparks, Ivanovic and Cole instrumental on the wings, and Demba Ba who can convert the majority of the chances leading up front, the 3-4-2-1 formation can certainly reduce Chelsea’s woes.

 

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Written by Raghuvarman Sampathu

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Chelsea: The Great Striker Enigma

  By O-Posts Team | February 2, 2013 - 12:27 | , ,
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Various words springs to mind when I think of Chelsea’s season so far: chaotic, wild, unpredictable, inconsistent. The latter perhaps best summarises the way in which Chelsea’s results have gone. The season started well with wins over Wigan, Newcastle and Reading, but a 4-1 demolition spearheaded by Radamel Falcao in the UEFA Super Cup against Atletico Madrid.

After the oh so controversial sacking of Roberto Di Matteo and equally controversial appointment, wins over Aston Villa, Norwich and Everton made it seem things were really on the up at Stamford Bridge. Yet again however, the positivity was disrupted after a shock 1-0 loss at home to local rivals QPR.

So what has caused all this inconsistency and vast but regular changes in the feelings of Chelsea fans. Well, one thing about Chelsea has been consistently poor: their striking options.

Although Fernando Torres has shown glimpses of his best this season, he hasn’t shown anywhere near enough of this form to justify his place in the team. Some would claim Torres deserves to be in the Chelsea starting line up week in week out due to his ability to score out of nothing as shown by his goal against Brentford, but goals like these have been far too rare.

In fact, I can’t remember a single occasion where Torres has scored a truly vital goal for Chelsea, and the goal against Barcelona, which was a chance that he couldn’t really miss was the only goal I can remember Torres scoring against a real top side. Instead, his goals have come in matches against weaker teams such as Nordsjaelland, Brentford, Leicester, Reading, etc.

Also, on most of these occasions, he has chipped in with a goal rather than be a heroic match winner, like he was many times during his days at both Atletico Madrid and Liverpool.

Chelsea fans, more and more of them, are becoming increasingly frustrated with Torres. Many fans are posting, saying and writing things reading messages such as: “Torres and Rafa out of our club”.

The reasoning behind this sentiment isn’t as obvious and one dimensional as it appears.

Contrary to popular belief, Chelsea fans’ support for Torres has only faded somewhat since the sacking of Di Matteo and hiring of Rafael Benitez. Many Chelsea fans feel all the drama surrounding Torres has been the clear reason behind Abramovich’s constant hiring and firing of managers, and that Benitez was only hired to help Torres find form.

So with Torres still misfiring and Chelsea fans becoming more and more impatient towards the Spanish striker, surely the conditions are ideal for Demba Ba to seize the role of Chelsea’s best striker to play up top?

Well, Rafael Benitez doesn’t seem to feel that way. One game that summarises the whole Torres/Ba and the general Chelsea striker situation is the blues’ game at home to Swansea in the Capital One cup first leg a few weeks back. Torres regularly lost the ball, and couldn’t seem to get hold of it, despite some decent crosses and passes. When Ba came on, things seemed to improve, but still no goals.

Ba looks to be a threat when he is on the pitch, and hasn’t really had a bad game in a blue shirt as of yet. But it appears Ba is doing something wrong, as he hardly ever seems to start. Since Ba joined the west London club in early January, he hasn’t really started any of Chelsea’s key games, to be precise, the games against Arsenal, Reading and both legs against Swansea.

To me, Benitez should stop playing Torres just to keep Abramovich happy.

Ultimately, football is about winning matches, and as of right now, I feel Chelsea are more dangerous and more able to score goals with Demba Ba playing.

Ba doesn’t have to play every week, or even be the distinct first choice striker, but I just feel that Torres is far too unreliable, and the more he is left on despite being what some would call lazy, and appearing exhausted almost constantly, the more the resentment of him and Benitez amongst a large proportion of Chelsea fans will grow.

So please Rafa, give Ba a go as otherwise it may damage the whole atmosphere at Chelsea, as it is being slowly but surely damaged now.

 

Written by Joshua Sodergren

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Demba Ba: Should Chelsea go for him?

  By O-Posts Team | December 30, 2012 - 22:54 | , , , ,
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Due to the departure of Daniel Sturridge to Liverpool, Chelsea currently only have one striker, that being Fernando Torres, so the Blues need a new one. Now, it looks like the new man will be Demba Ba from Newcastle for £7 million.

So what does this mean for Chelsea? Well, at 27, Ba is a fair bit older than other recent Chelsea signings who are closer to 19 than 27, so this is very much a “here and now” signing. The deal, to me, strongly resembles the £15 million deal which brought journeyman striker Nicholas Anelka to Chelsea from Bolton in January 2008.

Proven centre forward moving to Chelsea at a time when the London club are chasing the title and suffering from a shortage of strikers. Although Ba and Anelka are different players, Anelka did just fine at Chelsea and didn’t take much time in settling in.

Ba has had a tremendous season so far, having scored an impressive 13 goals in all competitions. He proved just how talented and well-rounded he is on Saturday with two goals against Arsenal (one of which may be given as an own goal by Jack Wilshere).

The Senegalese striker is always a threat, being able to score with his head as well as with his feet. He is often on the end of long distance passes and crosses, so he is always a menace for opposition defences. Ba will receive plenty of the ball from the likes of Oscar, Hazard, Moses and Mata, probably more than what he received from the likes of Simpson, Obertan, Cabaye and Ben Arfa at Newcastle.

His almost two years of Premier League experience (the first six months of which were spent with West Ham before they got relegated) will mean Ba shouldn’t face any “settling in” issues. To be honest, I see no real reason why Ba shouldn’t score goals in the blue of Chelsea.

So does the sale of Daniel Sturridge for £12 million and the signing of Demba Ba for £7 million result in a “good bit of business” for Chelsea? Personally, I think Chelsea were wrong to sell Sturridge as he provides another option, and gets many chances, despite not taking them regularly enough.

However, I believe Ba is more reliable and trustworthy in front of goal, despite not having the longevity that Sturridge has who is 23, four years younger than Ba. However, a profit of £5 million means I think Chelsea have done right. For what it’s worth, I still think Chelsea need a striker, even on loan, as I think Lukaku should finish his loan spell at West Brom.

To conclude, I am feeling very confident about how well Ba can do for Chelsea. As I mentioned previously, there is no real reason to doubt Ba’s potential to score vast numbers of goals.

As well as goals, he will provide industry, great movement and another option away from the highly unpredictable and sometimes frustrating Fernando Torres.

It’s a thumbs up for this deal from me.

 

Written by Joshua Sodergren

Follow him on Twitter @chelsealad1365

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