The Chelsea Thread

[Alcaraz]

I am going to Naples to watch the match, hopefully it will be a cracking match and we somehow pull off a stunning win although I highly doubt it.

Looking forward to munching on the Pizza although my Chelsea Football shirt will remain firmly in my suitcase at all times haha

Hopefully I return in one piece, I heard the Ultra's are mad so will not be hanging around after the match... will post pics of the match on here

 

[Athe~]

will post pics of the match on here

...if you live. Bwahahaha!

Nah, just don't do anything stupid and you should be fine. Also, try to keep your expensive stuff out of sight if you're taking a walk or something.

 

[Alcaraz]

...if you live. Bwahahaha!

Nah, just don't do anything stupid and you should be fine. Also, try to keep your expensive stuff out of sight if you're taking a walk or something.

yeah thats what I heard. Got advise from a few people on the areas I should definitely avoid. I will generally not be walking around too much as I heard that the way people drive out there is crazy, nah will probably only pop out to munch on pizza and watch the match before heading back to Singapore

 

[ChrisBird]

Ramires 'would return to Brazil now if there was a good offer' - Sambafoot.com, all About Brazilian Football

 

[Subtle]

As much as I like him, if we were to lose Ramires it would let us have a DM + DLP rather than DM+Shuttler which is nice.

 

[ChrisBird]

As much as I like him, if we were to lose Ramires it would let us have a DM + DLP rather than DM+Shuttler which is nice.

Agreed. But I would hate to lose him because he really is one of the best CMs in the prem. But really we miss somebody who is a DLP, but if we sign one then we'd need to offload a CM.

 

[Calum]

BBC Sport - Champions League: Napoli boss banned for Chelsea games

 

[drifter639]

Tbh the only times I have ever seen Torres getting service he has scored apart from when he did everything right but missed the open goal against Utd. Against West ham Anelka put him through he scored, against Utd once again Anelka looked for him he scored and against Swansea mata looked for him and he scored. Other then that I have not really seen our midfield look to put him on goal in the year he has been at the club tbh.

EdIt: also his two goals against Genk

i doubt sunil, with his hatred of chelsea and torres would believe this.

 

[Athe~]

I'm heading to bed now, but before I forget, Borini got the only goal for Roma against Parma.

 

[fuhua1993]

I'm not fully buying the story that Drogba has more physical presence and hence we are more willing to pass/cross in the second half,especially Daniel solo Sturridge who is crossing eagerly,which is an extremely rare sight. I believe player power also plays a part in this, players like Sturridge,Malouda etc who are more of an "ally" to Drogba will attempt to make Torres "look bad" by not giving him the ball. The 3-5 loss at home to Arsenal is a perfect example of that,Torres just returning from suspension,early 10-15 minutes,Sturridge was owning their left back freely getting into positions where he could just send a low cross in for Torres,but he either goes for goal himself or drags till the entire arsenal defence is back. From that game onwards i felt that Sturridge is "anti-torres".
But also Torres has to shoulder part of the blame as when he has the rare chances,he just misses. And his movement in the recent games has sort of deproved, which is a clear sign of his already low confidence getting even lower -.-

 

[Mike.]

While I don't necessarily agree with the analysis posted here, it's not like Torres was getting himself into positions were he could get the ball.

He was making those channel runs, but often was overlooked by the midfield, and also cut out by the birmingham defence.

Curtis Davies, the Birmingham central defender who marked Torres out of the game and caused him to be substituted, said: "With Torres he wants to play on your shoulder, get in that right hand channel, and try to his famous cut in and whip. But we didn't let him do that, we managed to get on to him quite well.
"I didn't actually think he was that bad today. I thought he put himself about and he was not any worse than any of the rest. It's just one of those things that he got taken off because of their approach to the second half. We managed to keep them quiet in the second half, so that's how we did our job."

Should add that though Drogba was more effective, he was only marginally more so

 

[sunilvk7]

i doubt sunil, with his hatred of chelsea and torres would believe this.

Believe what? That Torres can't score if midfield doesn't play defense splitting passes?

p.s: great post btw..

 

[Athe~]

He was making those channel runs, but often was overlooked by the midfield, and also cut out by the birmingham defence.

Curtis Davies, the Birmingham central defender who marked Torres out of the game and caused him to be substituted, said: "With Torres he wants to play on your shoulder, get in that right hand channel, and try to his famous cut in and whip. But we didn't let him do that, we managed to get on to him quite well.
"I didn't actually think he was that bad today. I thought he put himself about and he was not any worse than any of the rest. It's just one of those things that he got taken off because of their approach to the second half. We managed to keep them quiet in the second half, so that's how we did our job."

Should add that though Drogba was more effective, he was only marginally more so

Of course he's gonna say they 'neutralized' a formerly world class striker. He's not going to come out and say 'he was poor, he didn't give us trouble, we didn't even have to mark him', even if at several points during the game that was pretty much the case.

//Edit - I do agree that they were all bad and Drogba wasn't a lot better than Torres. But he was better, and has been better for most of the last year, with a few exceptions. At this moment in time Drogba is an improvement over Torres.

 

[Mike.]

Of course he's gonna say they 'neutralized' a formerly world class striker. He's not going to come out and say 'he was poor, he didn't give us trouble, we didn't even have to mark him', even if at several points during the game that was pretty much the case.

//Edit - I do agree that they were all bad and Drogba wasn't a lot better than Torres. But he was better, and has been better for most of the last year, with a few exceptions. At this moment in time Drogba is an improvement over Torres.

Thats becuase they did neutralize him. If you watched the game you'd notice that instead of trying to dismiss his point as him trying to big their side up, birmingham were excellent defensively. But this game was about service, and about a mdifield explictly not doing its job. I'm not really interested in what happened in other games, because it wasn't this game. The midfield was the source of the problems, but it was easier to remove Torres, than suddenly find creativity that didn't exist anywhere in the side apart from Mata.

 

[Athe~]

Thats becuase they did neutralize him. If you watched the game you'd notice that instead of trying to dismiss his point as him trying to big their side up, birmingham were excellent defensively.But this game was about service, and about a mdifield explictly not doing its job.

I'm not taking anything away from Birmingham, but Torres made it quite easy for them. I don't know your definition of 'putting himself about' but running like a headless chicken certainly isn't mine. I didn't see him making any dangerous runs, be it because he doesn't trust his midfield to supply him with quality balls, be it because he isn't confident on scoring if he does get the ball, be it because he's become lazy (At this point in time I wouldn't even bother trying to figure out what's wrong with Torres), but as far as I'm concerned I didn't see any smart movement from him nor did I see him contribute to Chelsea's game in any way.

Of course you can't expect him to hold the ball for his teammates or drop deep and create a la Rooney, but I think calling him anonymous would be a compliment.

I'm not really interested in what happened in other games, because it wasn't this game.

Now that's a smart line. It's not like this has happened for the nth time in a little over a year.

The midfield was the source of the problems, but it was easier to remove Torres, than suddenly find creativity that didn't exist anywhere in the side apart from Mata.

Of course it's easier to remove a player that putting it mildly doesn't fit in with the rest of your squad than trying to change the rest of your squad to fit one player, particularly in the middle of a game. It's entirely logical. And by the same logic Torres could very well sit on the bench until the summer and prey there's a massive revamp in the squad and he somehow (Frankly I believe it's highly unlikely) goes back to what he was.

 

[Mike.]

Chelsea beware – Edinson Cavani has faith in Napoli's success

Prolific Uruguayan striker is embracing his Christian faith and the 'beautiful things' about Naples, where it may well turn ugly for Chelsea in the Champions League

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Napoli's Edinson Cavani makes much of his devout Christian faith, which he says helps him in his life on and off the pitch. Photograph: Alberto Saiz/AP


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Having struggled to contain Birmingham City's lone striker Adam Rooney at the weekend, it must be slightly disconcerting for Chelsea's defence to head for Napoli, where Serie A's most in-form striker Edinson Cavani not only has God on his side, but also Ezequiel Lavezzi and Marek Hamsik.
The 25-year-old Uruguayan – a blur of speed, skill and shaggy hair – is exactly the kind of striker André Villas-Boas would want to avoid at Stadio San Paolo on Tuesday night. He is confident, he is unpredictable and he has scored seven goals in the past nine games. He could wreak the same kind of havoc Zlatan Ibrahimovic did for Milan against Arsenal last week.

And if he does, he will do it in the name of God. There is a famous quote in Italy, from the Archbishop of Naples, Crescenzio Sepe, who said: "God serves himself by having Cavani score goals", and the striker would probably agree. When asked in an interview with the Spanish paper El País if he is an athlete of Christ, he replied: "No, no, no. I am an athletefor Christ.

"That's why I play for Him, to give Him glory, to thank Him for giving me the ability to play football and be able to compete in a league like the Italian one, for giving me that divine gift that I am trying to manage more and more. We belong to the Evangelical church. I don't like the term athlete of Christ."

Cavani was born in Salto, the same city where Luis Suárez was born a month earlier, and was spotted by one of Montevideo's biggest clubs, Danubio, at the age of 12. His family, he says, were not rich enough that they "could drink Coca-Cola or anything like that" but they had food on the table and clothes to wear. In 2006, as a gangly 18-year-old nicknamed "The Boy", he made his debut for Danubio's first team and went on to score seven goals in 15 games.

His international breakthrough came two years later, at the 2007 South American Youth Championship in Paraguay, where he finished as top scorer despite competition from players such as Alexandre Pato, who subsequently joined Milan. When Cavani made his Uruguay debut, he scored after three minutes.
Asked years later why Uruguay produces so many world-class footballers, he said: "I will explain to you: we eat football, we breathe football, we drink football. I was born a footballer. Before I could walk I was chasing balls. In Uruguay there is a football pitch every hundred metres, whether it is made by grass, small stones or sand. This has been my football education."

In 2007 Real Madrid and Juventus were only two of the clubs interested in signing Cavani but instead he joined Palermo, partly because his grandfather had worked in Sicily for several years and partly because the club seemed the right size for him. Before he signed a deal, he had read about Palermo on the internet and was concerned by how often the word "mafia" appeared. In fact Cavani, while at Palermo, was held at gunpoint in 2010 but escaped unhurt and he will not hear a bad word said against the Sicilian city, or Naples for that matter.
"You can do what you want with a city," he said after his move to Napoli that year. "I decided to embrace the beautiful things in Palermo, of which there are many. It is the same here in Naples: there are positives and negatives. Although, having said that, when the news starts on TV, I turn it off …"

His interest in religion increased further after the move to Italy and he told Corriere della Sera: "I read the Bible every day, study it, and share with my wife the blessings of faith. I understand that there is a time for everything: for the sacrifice, the rewards and goals."
Asked whether it had been difficult to refrain from some of the temptations on offer for a modern-day footballer, he answered: "Football puts everything at your fingertips. And I was raised in a way that focused everything on looking after your family. Faith really helped me realise that the temptations that you have on hand will give you joy, enjoyment, whatever, but only for a short while. And after that it is all gloom."

And gloom there has been very little of for Cavani at Napoli. At first, the idea that the manager, Walter Mazzarri, had brought in Cavani in 2010, initially on a season-long loan with a clause to buy him the next summer for €12m, to replace the homegrown goal-machine Fabio Quagliarella seemed odd. After all, Cavani had only scored 21 goals in 129 games for Palermo.
At Napoli, however, he scored twice on his debut and ended the season with 26 league goals. The difference? At Napoli he is the focal point, flanked by the fluidity of Hamsik and Lavezzi, whereas at Palermo he had been stuck out on the right for three years.

Cavani has continued his rich vein of form this season and has 15 league goals already. Two of them came against Fiorentina on Friday and after the 3-0 win he urged his team-mates to work with the same "dedication and attitude" in the game against Chelsea.
It is easy to be impressed by Cavani and it is easy to like Napoli. The club president, Aurelio De Laurentiis, a former film producer, is a proud man who rails against the powers of modern-day Italy. He is the underdog, fighting the suppressive northerners. He is also, evidently, very funny.

Once, when confronted again by rumours that English clubs wanted to buy Hamsik and Lavezzi, he said that he would warn the players about what awaits them in England. "If they want to go to England then in the end they're going to go," he said, "but they need to understand this: the English live badly, eat badly and their women do not wash their genitalia. To them, a bidet is a mystery."
The midfielder Gökhan Inler, who interested Arsenal for a long time but was in the end snapped up by Napoli, recently told the story about when he was waiting nervously to be introduced to the media as a Napoli player. "We were standing around after I had completed my medical and he was wondering out loud what kind of presentation we should have," Inler said. "De Laurentiis turned around and saw a lion's mask in the changing rooms. His face lit up and he said: 'That's our presentation. That is our surprise for the fans.'

"To begin with I didn't want to do it at all. I am quite a reserved person and don't want to make a big deal of it. But he is very infectious and in the end I went ahead with it. The fans loved it."
De Laurentiis, however, is rarely joking when he is talking about the jewel in his crown: Cavani. "Edinson is a serious person and he loves Naples," he said recently. "This is the place where he is raising his son. Everyone wants to buy him but until now no one has even asked, perhaps because they know that the answer will be no."
Cavani is not likely to move in the near future, mainly because, as De Laurentiis says, he loves the place. The citizens of Naples, meanwhile, no longer call him "The Boy". They call him "The Matador". And on Tuesday night, his target almost seems too easy: the confused men of Chelsea.

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[cfc12345]

David Sullivan ( west hams owner ) has revealed on his twitter page west ham tried to sign Torres on a 1 month loan but Chelsea replied not in this moment of time lol.

 

[ajt09]

Looks like no Cole or Terry. And from what I'm hearing-Lampard not starting. Which is just non-sensical to me. That need him to tonight. He's got 11 goals this season, has vital experience-amazing if true. Also a story running that Lampard tried to convince AVB to play him. And to be honest-he has a point.

 

[thekill]

Another manager will end up calling 4 th position the only trophy they win this year i guess than.

 

[Average Joe]

Once, when confronted again by rumours that English clubs wanted to buy Hamsik and Lavezzi, he said that he would warn the players about what awaits them in England. "If they want to go to England then in the end they're going to go," he said, "but they need to understand this: the English live badly, eat badly and their women do not wash their genitalia. To them, a bidet is a mystery."


Cheers Edinson!