Fed Up!

Fire power is on the bench. Spirt left with Ballack, Drogba, Essien and, etc. What's wrong? Got rid of too many CM's, fired RDM, have got Rafa in charge. To find out where it really went wrong, we failed to build a new team after being knocked out the champions league by Inter. It's 4/5 years too late. Who's to blame? Everyone, including the fans, though I do also understand the boo's, especially when your paying money to support a club that's not listening. In short, sacking Mourinho, not backing Carlo with money from the start and then sacking him ruthlessly, wasting youth, wasting money on 2 has-been forwards, not signing Aguero for £10m less than Torres, singing AVB one season too soon, sacking AVB too soon, releasing too many CM's, Lukaku, Courtois, De Bruyne, sacking RDM, and, finally!!! Hiring Rafa!!!! All we had to do was buy Modric and Fellaini - we would of had the best pivot in the league.

"the defence failed to clear their lines"................therein lies the problem, our defenders are playing poorly, they should know not to leave three people unmarked at the back post in the last ten minutes of the game. Most who subscribe here will of course blame Rafa, however it is my view that he can work only with the materials provided and he has been dealt a poor hand as this must be the most understrength Chelsea squad since Abramovic took over. We should have been moving forward after the win in Munich, instead we have concentrated on dumping older players and bringing in youths who have little idea of how to play in the premiership, this has resulted in a weak midfield which can’t win the ball back when lost and that is putting pressure on the defenders as they play with their backs to the wall most of the time. For the life of me I cannot see the point in Hazard who is just another Joe Cole and brings nothing to the side in the way of teamwork and I think Oscar has potential but he is much too lightweight yet for this league. Quite where we go this season with the personnel we have I don’t know, I suspect a finish of around 6th will be the best we can do. It will be a tough job for whoever comes in.

lool @ layorh...Lord have mercy indeed

So Ranners, top, international defenders (who were immovable rocks just a few months ago as we won the CL on the basis of our defence) are suddenly a shambles and it has nothing whatsoever to do with the Manager? So what does a Manager do then?

Chelsea these days have concentration lapses in every game. sadly this time we thought the game was won. That first goal although a well worked goal should never have been conceded. Both CB's were sleeping and reacted very late to that through ball. Amzingly the second goal was awful as reading had 3 unmarked players on the far post. Where was the defense? Blame Rafa all you want this was down to the players.

Breaking news: According to FA....QPR will be starting their own premier league from next season...Because they way they are going... till the transfer ends they would have signed each and every player from the planet.." so FA will be facing big competetion from QPR next season..

The problem is not rafa's alone, the players have to take a share of the blame as aslaram said and as spanishblue said too, how come defenders who are the best in europe last season become this *****ty? Offcourse we can't say it is due to old age is it? There is really something going on in the dressing room for awhile now, it seem to me that the players have lost their spirit for now, gone are the days when cahill will make terry esque blocks and when luiz would intercept passes like ricky did, its such a distant memory now and this ***** also started since we started playing the damn pivot formation

why fat f*** brought on ba instead of terry is beyond me

Definitely a difficult time to be a chelsea fan..as for yesterday,that was a game we could have won even without a coach to tell the players what to do.we squandered very good chances to increase our lead,the coach made a (ba)d sub,terry was a better choice than demba at that moment,then ultimately the defenders let the whole team down with their shambolic display in the last 7min..we can blame rafa for all we want but the players have got a fair share of the blame

I believe we shouldnt be adopting this 4-2-3-1 against every team. There are some factors we have to consider before deciding the formation to go with. This factors should bother mostly around the opponents approach and style. This formation like we all know has not favoured us against teams that seat deep and hit on counter and fast flank attacking. That is why i think another carefully tot out shape,that puts into consideration the kind of players we have and the style of our opponents ,should be established.

@ohans,am also givin that a deep thought,we have overused this 4-2-3-1 and it does not seem to be as productive as it should,we need to be innovative and probably play a different formation dependin on the opposition style and not just stict with 4231 everygame whether its workin or not..yesterday at 2-1 up we could have just brought on jt change formation to 5-4-1 and shut the shop..while in some games we can try 4-4-2 with torres and ba spearheadin the attackin,while chasin games like qpr and swansea who could have equally switched to a back 3 and add an extra man upfront or the the center of the pack(3-5-2 or 3-4-3) at some point in the game..with the transfer window shut i just hope rafa can get his mojo right away,be braver and innovate a new(or mixed) system that would be suitable for the players he has at hand...

Finally some fans are beginning to see the folly in that crap formation that RDM started and Rafa persistently uses as if under threat of a gun, 4-2-3-1. With this squad of attackers we should be ripping teams apart with 4-3-3 or 3-4-3. We have no targetman lone striker, we have no shuffling pivotal midfielders. Doesn't logic dictate that you play to your teams strengths? Why persist on a system that was doomed to fail from the get go?

Traykidd,i have been saying this for quite sometime too. That we won a double last season with this formation doesnt make it the ideal formation for us.

aslaram is the FUTURE...great commentator...eagerly awaiting your articles...

Holding on is the key for a victory. We tried it with the best come from behind team in Asernal and we managed no matter the pressure. Chelsea seems to be doing the same things all and over and other teams realizing it know we are not good at playing under pressure for the fear of loosing. The team needs to change their attitude

We don't need a new "bully boy formation" we need to learn how to hold on to the ball longer and quickly regain the ball whenever we lose it. That I feel is the crux of the Chelsea problem. We are helpless without the ball. We don't close down the opposition rather we jog back to the post and either wait for a misplaced pass to regain possession or Arsenal

Sorry for the incomplete post. We don't need a new "bully boy formation" we need to learn how to hold on to the ball longer, pass it quicker. That way the ball not the player does the traveling and the opposition defense focus on the ball not the player movements. We also need to quickly regain the ball whenever we lose it. That I feel is the crux of the Chelsea problem. We are helpless without the ball. We don't close down the opposition rather we jog back to the post and either wait for a misplaced pass to regain possession or tackle deep in our own half and the throw the long pass which inevitably goes back to the opposition. WE ARE TOO PREDICTABLE. That is why teams are no longer afraid of us.

Sorry Ken4CFC, what was the question? Became a rant. It's frustrating being a Chelsea fan. Reminds me of the inconsistent team I once followed........Chelsea, prior Ranieri. Beat Man Utd, get in! Coventry, we'll smash them. Crap, pants down time for Frank Sinclair, we've lost 3-2!

Muscle is needed in some situations but not wholeheartedly (over enthusiastic defending or challenging more often than not leads to cards). I'm saying the team needs to make things easier for themselves by taking advantage of a system that suits them better. If you have a team of tricky skillful players why waste their talents defending?

we aint good enough no strenght in deepth anymore its happening too many times to be a coincidence

It is false to assume that there is no physicality in the La Liga. Speaking of my philosophy there is a country south of England who won back to back continental trophies and the most prestigious cup of all the World Cup by competing against the most physical and rugged nations in the world. They also have a team who won the CL 3 times again beating the most physical teams there are. Here is the good news; they learnt it from somewhere and so can Chelsea.