Chelsea News 24/7Writer: GabeU 
Date:Saturday January 19 2013
Time: 5:21AM
UK time is: 04:07:28
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As a follow up to the article written yesterday on squad depth I have written this to crystallize the situation we face because reading through the comments from that thread it appears some of us on VC (and maybe even more worryingly our board and decision makers) seem to live in this illusionary world where they actually feel we have a strong squad with adequate depth.
Well lest we forget there are just 14 days left in this January transfer window. Once the window closes that is it..we will have made our bed and we will then have to lie in it. Now let us look at the realities. We have a 25 man squad. Any team that has any aspirations to compete on multiple fronts needs to ensure that this 25 man squad has to essentially be two men deep at every position with the last 3 positions occupied by a no 3 goalie and two utility players capable of playing in multiple different positions and thus able to fill in whenever and wherever needs arise.
This was the way Jose built the juggernaut that was our back to back BPL titles winning sides.This is what squad depth means.
Currently anyone interested can go on the official Chelsea web page to see who are the listed 25 players on our current 1st team. What I will do next is detail all these players in team 1 and 2 formats and then list what presently constitutes our 3 extras. I will discuss our available two teams using the 4-2-3-1 formation that appears to be the most popular format that RDM and now Rafa deploy the team in.
Goal keepers; team 1 cech, team 2 Turnbull,
Right back; team 1 Cesar team 2; Ferraira
Left back; team 1 Cole, team 2; Bertrand,
Center backs; team 1 JT and Cahill, team 2; Ivanovic and Luiz
DM; team 1; mikel team 2; Romeu,
CM; team 1; Ramires team 2; Lampard,
CAMs; Team 1; Mata, Oscar and Hazard, team 2; Moses, Marin and Malouda
Strikers; Team 1; Demba Ba, team 2; El nino.
3 extras; no 3 Goalie; Hilario, Benayoun and Piazon.
These are the names on our 25 man first man team right now. There are some obvious head scratchers here that would make even one with limited capacity for deductive reasoning very concerned;
Of our two true DMs one is at AFCON and may be there till mid February, the second is out for the rest of the season injured.
One of team 2 listed CAMs Malouda is a total team outcast who has not played one minute for the first team this season and that is not going to change anytime soon. He is on the books but offers nothing to actually help the team cause. Of our 3 extras only one Hilario is actually even available and he hasn`t played one game this season that I can remember (the last I remember of him playing for us was in preseason). The other two; Benayoun is injured presently and has not hidden the fact that he has no love for the club nor interest in playing for us any longer. Frankly though, even if he did he is an injury prone CAM and is certainly not what we need now. The last of the three extras; Piazon is gone on loan.
In essence thus when you take Romeu, Benayoun, Malouda and Piazon into consideration our first team actually only has 21 players right now and two of those are at the AFCON and may not be back till mid February. In what reality does this constitute adequate squad depth to anyone?
Turnbull still has lingering questions in my mind and I don`t feel he is a quality no 2 Goalie but it appears he is all we have right now so I would hope he would be played exclusively in the Europa league to allow Cech some down time so he is fresh for the games that really do count in the BPL and FA cup. As regards our defense that is the one place where we are actually in decent shape as far as depth ..as long as we don`t get any more significant injuries.
In central midfield we have serious depth issues. Right now the only real DM we have is Mikel and after Ramires our only other central mid is an aging legend; Lamps who other than chasing Bobby Tambling`s record has to largely now have his mind at Los Angeles with the LA galaxy. As far as CAMs/wingers, beyond the first team MAZACAR trio our second team trio is non existent other than Moses. Marin is hardly consistent, major defensive frailties and has lingering fitness concerns but beyond those two we simply have no one else.
At striker we have just Ba and El nino whose recent form is cause for concern. As far as our 3 extras we really have none..Apart from Hilario we simply have nothing; By doing away with Miereles and Essien we have done away with our two true utility players and our closest player to a utility player right now is David Luiz who we however need to be very careful using this way because to do that would impact our depth at CB.
This is why any wise observer would understand why it is critical for us to get at least 3 players (and ideally 4 players ) before this window closes If only to just get back to a fully functional 25 man complement to get through the business end of the season. Ideally we need a DM, a true utility player (ideally two of these) who can play anywhere from DM through CM to CAM (this is on reason for me whay a player like Fellaini is so appealing) and another striker considering El nino's dodgy form and fears regarding Ba`s knees.
If we had decision makers with vision and long term planning in this regard we would not need to buy our way entirely out of this mess; KDB could have filled our open team 2 third CAM/winger, Josh could fill our team 2 second Central mid, Essien could have filled our utility player lack and Lukaku could have filled our need for a 3rd striker. It is however clear that our board is not recalling anybody.
Benayoun returned by default only because he is injured and WestHam have no further need of him (he didn`t exactly cover himself in glory while there for the first half of the season anyway). Since we are clearly not recalling any of our 23 plus players on loan that then means in traditional Chelsea fashion we need to go buying again which means before Feb 1 at the very least we better get at least a DM, a striker and a utlilty player in the transfer market.
Remember we are faced with the BPL, FA cup ties (and if we are remarkably lucky 2 more Carling cup games) and the torture of Thursday evening games spread all over Europe in the Europa league. If we stay put and do nothing in the next two weeks don`t be surprised if come May we are facing the same horror scenario we faced last year outside the top 4 (only this time there will be no miraculous escape). In my mind this is how serious the decisions made in the next 2 weeks may be. How we end up this season will have way more to do with squad depth than Rafa's tactical nous or lack thereof. No amount of know how will help you when all you have available are exhausted, over used or worse injured players with no credible back ups. A word is enough for the wise.
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Your Comments
Nice post gabeu, I think malouda shouldn't be called a squad player as he is not with the first team, piazon is a player that would have contributed to this team if the coach had the balls to trust him, but the board seeing that rafa will destroy him by not playing him adequately when he needed game time loaned him out, I pray he gets that game time in malaga, I wish they could loan marin out too so we won't ruin him totally as the coach obviously have no need for him, a loan back to germany will be good or a pl club, I don't think teams like southampton, norwhich or reading have players of his quality playing from their wing, or in the middle, now when that is done, perhaps we can loan oscar too out to a PL team or la liga too since our coach play him out of his natural position and we can go on a buying spree again this january. Hopefully he'll use them, but seriously if u think rafa will play another striker ahead of torres after ba, then u need to think again my friend, there are so many reasons why I doubt we'll sign anyother striker, we need a dm and an out and out winger, 2 signings would do us a lot of good now, where we would get them, how much would they cost and would we play them? Is the question we need to ask ourselves first
Desmondadonis
no matter how many players you sign...if you don use them properly then there is no point in buyng players for squad depth...rafa is talking about rotataion but i dont see hs rotation at all...marin hasnt been used properly piazon was there but he hasnt used him also...oscar has been also not used properly...you have to use the player to play in the right position not just use player for the sake of rotaion...people who think rafa is tactician is either clueless or dumb...what wis the difference between rdm and rafa tactics...i dont seem anything at all...infact under rdm w played well and was having some kind unity in the team also...but under rafa its seems like the playrs are playing just for the sake of playing and nthing else...
shlok27
Just as the editor stated i don't think we need to buy ourself out of this mess, we have the solution right under our nose, for the CDM we can recalled josh mceachran since romeo is out injured and essien is on loan why our board can't just trust this guy is beyond have been following is progress at boro trust me his been execptional for them, he can takle dan mata, he can't be disposed off the ball easy like marin, i will be annoy if chelsea eventually let go of josh as dey normally do, and for the CAM we have de bryne, piazon and thorgan all what dis guys need is to believe in them and give dem playing thme but unfortunatly at chelsea dat is not the case. If soton don't give a 17yrs shaw time to play how would he develop to a kind of player he is today, franco disanto our former player if he is giving more playing time then he would have develop and we would be reaping the reward now bcus he is a fantanstic goal poacher now better than our 50 million man, even star studed barca give there youth player chance the likes of pedro, tello, thiago, iniesta etc but dat is not the case at chelsea we keep on buying is that how a proper football club should be run.
Tosco
To integrate our youths and recall our youngsters,the answer is simply stability..we dont expect a manager whose job is not secured to put his trust in youths,he would simply go for the tried and trusted but when there is job security there would be less pressure from the hierachy and the manager would have freedom to play the youths/fringe players and closely monitor the development of our loanees..so far rafa has been able to get every member of the team involved(except hilario and malouda) with tangible gametime to fringe players but some of us for one reason or the other want to see marin and piazon to play every week irrespective of the circumstance.if we had stability your wish could be granted but unfortunately we have none now..
Ken4CFC
In between,nice article @gabeu,thanks for remindin us of the obvious depth lackin in our squad
Ken4CFC
It's the same problem we have had for ages now and it never gets addressed! GabeU you mention Josh but I believe we will see the emergence of chalobah breaking into team 2 before josh does as he so much the better player right now. It's very strange as for the whole of last season also out problem area was CM/DM and we still haven't fixed that area of the pitch? Why has the club not seen how bad that area of the team is and gone and got a hazard/mata/Oscar grade player but in the DM/CM area? We were linked with Modric for a while and fellaini but none ever turned up. Then this summer we sold meireles and still bought no one to full his shoe! Now meireles wasn't the best but Christ he is better than nothing at all! Now with romeu and mikel away it has left us in a shocking position! David luiz can play there but even though he has shown glimpses of genius against lower opposition against tougher i doubt he will shine as much. This January we should be getting a new DM that is a must! Then when the summer comes I think there will be again a massive change around of players with lamps/cole/Ferreira/hilario/malouda/Torres all shown the door. So with that ) spaces already come available for the first team sqaud! KDB and lukaku I feel will do anoner years loan(not what I want)maybe even josh to a premiere league club and chalobah gaining promotion with Watford and staying there and making his name in the topleague with them. So if that does happen we will need to go out and buy a few new players as I can't see the next manager bringing through that many youth players. This will be an interesting last few weeks of the transfer window and a very Interestig summer too. Manager and around 6 first teamers will leave!! Who will come?
Dave-David
They want youths but they dont want the old guards to move on,with oldies on the pitch the youths would certainly rot on the bench or be shipped out
Ken4CFC
Aaron ramsey is not better than josh and he gets to play every match day, and I don't undrstand how playing lamps and yanking him off for a younger player is stagnating their growth, man utd have giggs and scholes and it didn't stagnate cleverly, going all out to defend a mediocre coach who rotate unintelligently is laughable, the same thing he did with ngog, babel, christian poulsen and to an extent riera, it is not so hard as the geniuses here want to make us feel it is, u are leading a team 3-0 by the 65th minute and u are scared of resting ur best players and using the squad players as it is supposed to be, hazard can be replaced with marin when we have a comfortable win, mata for oscar and perhaps luiz for ake, after 4-0 are they going to come back with this subs? I don't think so, that is where the real issue lies, when making ur subs make it like for like or maintain a balance which rafa doesn't do...if piazon, marin and AKE are man utd arsenal players or villa, southampton players they'll probably be playing more and that is the truth.
Desmondadonis
The aim of having squad players is to fill in for the starters, if we say marin,piazon and oscar are not starting materials yet, then they should be played and fill in for the starters in their best positions even if its for 20 minutes, not so?
Desmondadonis
we need 2 squads to manage our workload. We also need these 2 squads to offer tactically different solutions. All the creative s.hit. Is useless against teams like stoke where you need to be physical and direct. 3 utility should be a striker, cm/cdm, goalie. And we can look at youth to fill these position.
Blue India
by the way remember nemanla matic. Benfica has put a release clause of 45 million euros on him. If is a cdm. He was used as a make weight for buying luis
Blue India
*nemanja matic
Blue India
Absolutely right Tosco
Prince_Mathew02
Lets not be ahead of ourself,josh is good but not better than ramsey,he might get there pretty soon...Arsenal and United have the luxury of playin youths/fringe like ramsey,coquelin,gnarby, cleverly,welbeck,rafael e.t.c regularly alongside scholes and giggs because their managers job is secured and he has total control on team affairs(same cant be said of CFC managers remember?).here the manager has to depend on the tried and trusted for the safety of his job therefore stagnatin the development of the youths..christian poulsen?? I thought he was a roy hodson signing,ngog and babel were used as squad players.torres and kuyt were ahead of ngog in the peckin order,babel lost form and was injured hence he lost his shirt to new signin alberto reira...u are leadin a team 3-0 in 65th min and he makes a change,lets say subbin hazard for marin and we capitulate,surrenderin the lead or even losin u would come back here and blame him for wreckin the game with his subs..why dont u get over it that there is a reason why rdm and now rafa are not putin there faith in marin.piazon,ake and marin cannot be that good and sit on the bench,rafa has given him tangible game time and he hasnt grabbed the opportunity.maybe if they are in manure,arsenal,vila,sunderland they would be world beaters because their managers have job security and no pressure from the hierachy unlike ours and that is the truth
Ken4CFC
My question is, why the Feck can't we write fecking Swear words properly without it being portrayed in fecking Asterics (*), when I'm P.issed to kingdom come, i should be able to express my grieve however the feck I want, this isn't a Religious book club, is it?
The only area I wouldn't support, is using swear words on ourselves. But we can use it as an Adjective or a Verb or an Adverb. E.g, why the feck are we playing this way,
Or Rafa is P.issing me the feck off,
Or Shoot the fecking ball, Torres.
So Mr moderator, do somthing about it please, for i believe you put the parental guide on when its not like we are kids. Its stupid when VC members want to curse and write feck instead.
Tugay08
@tugay..loool., What baffles me the most is we are actually very quiet in the market..I hope its not that the board thinks what we've got now will take us to the end of the season....with top3 achieved...that will be moronic...we need to sign players since weve refused the more obvious economic path of recalling our loanees....its so quiet in the market now as far as chelsea is concerned...i am so scared and getting tired as well...I hope the board is working hard to bring in players quite disctretely..not doing so will be suicidal
layorh12
I have said it countless of times we have clowns running our football club.
Pila12
an injury to lamps or luiz or any of the first team member we will be playing for europa league next season. roman is responsible for this pathetic situation. managers are asked for instant success and they are afraid to give chances for youth. so we always have to "buy" success.
The Blue Indian
Ramsey is not better than josh, and its is moronic to say a club will lost a 4 goal lead because they put faith in their youngsters for 20-15 minutes, there is no kid in here who would be fed crap
Desmondadonis
Pila12 - Thank you...your concise analysis is correct...There is NO player development STRATEGY...and there is NO organizational STRATEGY. We have an owner that lacks the ability to create a professional sports organization and implement a strategy without destroying it in the process. All he does in surround himself with a bunch of *****-poor YES men that just want a pay check...and Emenalo ??? So he scouts and finds players...great..but the problem with Chelsea is that they DON"T KNOW WHAT TO DO with them once they acquire them...THAT IS THE PROBLEM...or they go out and spend money on players that the Manager doesn't use, or doesn't like or doesn't fit their formation? NO CLUE..and the circus surrounding the managerial position just escalates and magnifies all of the player development and player strategy issues...I for one do not see a long term solution unless a new manager comes in with total football control. Roman needs to step back from the team, hire a President of Football Operations/General Manager and allow him to create a board of directors that include experienced football personal. Then, allow them to hire a manager and together create a long term strategy...Regardless, i doubt it will ever happen until Chelsea finds themselves outside the Champions League and the top 4. Then Roman will need to make the decision to either go in a new direction or sell the team. Roman's and Chelsea's image is very poor right now...Furthermore, the team lacks direction and leadership..My only question is..."Is Roman forcing Rafa to play Torres?" I am afraid it will get worse before it gets better....
lamarochs
Stop deceivin yourself,josh is not better than ramsey,if josh was that good he could have broken into the swansea team last season.havin said that,he has got the potential to be far better than ramsey but he is not there yet.dont force it,its a gradual process...have u ever seen a football match ?? Because if u have u would know its not arithmetics and anything can happen,in the past we ve seen teams lose 2,3, and 4 goals lead in the last 20min(and thereabout)..except u are ignorant of the fact..am not feedin u crap,rather u are feedin yourself crap.ur obsession for wantin to see marin play has clouded your reasonin.u better wakeup from dreamland and face reality
Ken4CFC
@lamarochs you are bang on mate. I`ve been a season ticket holder since 1969 and the way my club is run embarasses me. Since that fantastic night in Munich, I should have been walking around with pride with my chest puffed out, but I am not. The way our club has been run is an absolute disgrace. Roman needs to either run it professionally or sell up and let someone else who actually cares about the image and style of our club take over.
Blueheart9
@lamarochs you are bang on mate. I`ve been a season ticket holder since 1969 and the way my club is run embarasses me. Since that fantastic night in Munich, I should have been walking around with pride with my chest puffed out, but I am not. The way our club has been run is an absolute disgrace. Roman needs to either run it professionally or sell up and let someone else who actually cares about the image and style of our club take over.
Blueheart9
Its a pity that everyone here except u realise that managerial instability and administative deficiency are the reason for not integratin the youth and squad player instead u choose to blame rafa,no thanks to your sworn hatred for the man..it would do u a world of good to set hatred for rafa aside and be realistic
Ken4CFC
Well at least it appears Ashley Cole has been offererd a 1 year extension to his contract, which he will sign in the next couple of days. Now for Frankie!!!
Since1963
Im just glad we all saw Oscar's quality before tubby came. We know what the boy is capable of and how good he can possibly get. Some months ago,some of us were talking about our very own Iniesta/xavi in the way he plays plus his hard work ethic. I simply cant wait for Rafa to just go and im praying Roman gets it right this time for the sake of young talents careers.
3nity
Oh and Frankie aint getting nothing! He should go!!!
3nity
i would rather roman remain owner than u guys support chelsea who want roman to sell our club. Thank god roman is not yank otherwise we would be worse than liverpool. All u people want to do is criticise. Criticise player, criticise manager, criticise owner, criticise youth player, feck most of u dont even like chelsea u only support ur favourite player, player from ur own country.
post_rom
what makes u people think that if roman sells club next owner wont buy it for only making profit? Do u realy think every owner is ready to spend money like roman does for our club. I dont think any OWNER will care for chelsea as much as roman does. Its just that he is too ambitious and its like chelsea cant keep up with his pace so he is carrying club himself toward being the best club.
post_rom
@post_rom,thank you for that comment,folks here fail to understand that no one is perfect,they want a perfect club,perfect owner,perfect team,perfect coach,perfect everything.forgetin we all make mistakes and what matters is your ability to learn from your mistakes and obviously roman is learnin from his mistakes..if he is such a fool as people here portray him he would never attain the lofty heights he is in today..we are very lucky to have roman,check out other club owners and tell me which of them is better and more passionate than roman,u want him to sell the club??do u think the buyer would be willin to carter for our needs and be passionate about us as roman has done over the years..comon folks this is a man who saved us from the jaws of bankruptcy,this a man whose spendin has brought us enviable successful,a man who has put us back in the map of world football,a man who willed £50mil of his wealth to us every season after his death,i can go on and on but i would stop here..he has his faults too but i repeat nobody is perfect.
Ken4CFC
@Ken4CFC: You are right and that is why clubs like ManU, Spurs, Arsenal, etc... / THEIR FANS HATE Chelsea cause they know we have a passionate Owner who spends a lot of money on players/club and they hate it.>>>> You know already that ManU, Spurs & Arsenal handed a petition or something to EPL about the FFP in EPL to stop Chelsea and Man City.
B2K420
@B2k420,spot on my friend..the spuds fans wish they have an owner who is passionate and spends for the club like roman,the le arse fans wish they ve gat a ruthless owner like roman to keep wenger on his toes,the manure fans hate us cos roman has made us tussle power with them...they are all jealous of us and we all always rise above hate..unfortunately many of us dont know how lucky we are to have roman
Ken4CFC
looool @ post_rom many thanks mate...tell these spurs/manure fans where to go, the only reason they want Roman to leave is because they're spurs fans or gooners and they want to take our position as no 1 London club...sorry fellas its not happening...Long live King Roman (hopefully with better decisions in the near future) but long live nonetheless....
JohnnyOz
Good article Gabe...:)
JohnnyOz
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