This actually is a term used by many opposition fans after CFC being the host of a somewhat invisible display by their strikers. Ofcourse it is not all true. The recent past saw the likes of Drogba and Anelka flourish so well leading the front line, but doubts do arise as to why the players with the caliber of Hernan Crespo, Andriy Shevchenko and Fernando Torres failed to bloom at Stamford Bridge.
Hernan Crespo didn’t have that bad a record to be counted as one of the flops at Chelsea, but the player he was for Argentina, he was one of the best in the business at the time, but he was never at his best for Chelsea.
And when it goes for Andriy and Fernando, they have been regarded as the worst investment of money by the owner. These players were supposedly brought in with the idea of raising Chelsea FC to another level, however, while they failed at delivering their promising history with Chelsea FC, hearts were broken and frustration was seen.
Demba Ba was brought in this January as a rotation partner for the misfiring Torres. And even though he made an excellent ‘Striker’s’ debut, and also good performance after that, he still isn’t the Demba Ba that he was at Newcastle. At Newcastle, he had a comparatively less creative midfielders, and it was all but expected that any striker on form could score goals as per will at Chelsea with the array for talented midfielders behind them. It clearly did not happen, not yet atleast. He went missing on a few occasions too.
So, back to the question, Are we really the Graveyard for Strikers? Is there no striker out there who can fit in with our current squad?
My reply? Utter Garbage!
Every team has a style and if they bring in players of different style, either they take time to adjust and eventually succeed, or else they keep trying till they are deemed unfit for the team. Demba Ba has just started his Chelsea career and this jump from Newcastle’s style of play to Chelsea’s one will take a while to get the best off him. And on the better side, he is scoring goals too, every now and then, that really must take off the pressure off him.
As of Torres, you can write a 1000 page book on what went wrong, but all I’ll say is that he was already damaged and overused by Liverpool, and we were fooled due to some hasty transactions. There were reports already that Liverpool didn’t actually let Torres know the real extend of his knee injuries because they were too reliant on him. And this led to him losing his pace and sharpness. Anyways he was already on a decline towards the end at Liverpool, and his form endured a further dip when he joined Chelsea. The negative media focus on Chelsea FC never failed to point out that. The main reason for this maybe because of the reaction from Liverpool fans all over the world. Some players thrive on hatred and rivalry (Carlos Tevez, Craig Bellamy), some are unaffected by it (Zlatan Ibramovic, Robin Van Persie), and there are some like Torres who act like they are not affected by it, but psychologically the damage is done. Even through the bad spell, Chelsea fans cheered his name over and over till they ended up running out of air, and then Torres became a man who was not only hated by his old club fans, but also his new club fans. And I don’t actually see a turnover in Torres’s form any time sooner, because the damage is far too much on him psychologically. Better take him to a psychiatrist first!
And not to forget, Chelsea FC have also been home to a variety of strikers who any team would had loved to have. Starting with Didier Drogba himself, we had Anelka, Hasselbaink, Gudjohnsen, and ofcourse our beloved Gianfranco Zola, and others from the tip of my mind. These players were so vastly different to each other, yet each of them left their mark at Stamford Bridge among the fans.
My advice to Chelsea FC right now would be to go after a striker not by his name or fame, but according to his style. The kinds of Mario Gomez will find it hard to fit in with us, and then the media won’t shy off from calling us the deathbed again. The current squad needs someone of Aguero and Suarez’s style. I am not insisting that we go out and buy either of them, the wide world of football has so many jewels here and there, and if indeed we are going to replace Torres next season, go for someone who is filled with determination and give them a ‘dream’ of becoming the best, rather than giving a ‘job’ to a player who has made his name already and is now playing only for his bank balance!
Do you think we really are ‘The Striker’s Graveyard’? Or are we just a target of negative media stunts? Leave your thoughts below. I’d love to hear from you.
I think the reason why Demba Ba has not been firing at Chelsea is because the Attacking Players beyind the strikers rearly target the striker.The incisive through passes expected from the like of Mata,Hazard,oscar,moses and so are lacking.The AM prefer to score rather than to pass to the striker before them that’s mata has score over 17 goals this session thereby killing the motivation and morale of the striker.If you take a look at the debut match of Demba Ba where is scored 2 goals,he was obviously on target in the match and that payed off.
i personally prefer to see mata and hazard score the goals than demba ba..they are the gems of chelsea..get a striker who can score because mata and hazard have to continue on scoring and producing quality football instead on focusing only on the striker
i would like to see Islam Feruz to play, the main point is he is grow up with chelsea youth and senior player, he’s know very well che;sea’s playing style
the answer to our problems is LUKAKU.
I see him play and he looks like a more agile, quick and young drogba.
I dont think anyone would disagree
Andrey was already 30 before we acquired him so that means he could lose his form anytime even if he was to stay in Milan….. About Fernando, i can’t even find the words to explain what i thought about him, his lost form in Chelsea is just a mistery, so eerie!…. Ba problem is so obvious…. With this current squad, i don’t think Ba will shine cuz our midfielders style of play simply don’t suit him, it suits Nando better but his having a problem that’s beyond him…. I will come back to say we are killing these Strikers if the likes of Cavani, Suarez, El Sharawey and Aguero couldn’t finish every season with at least 40goals in all competition…. Those are the kind of Strikers we need…. Strikers that can receive passes from offside traps and break defends with pace…. Ba can’t do all that, that wasn’t how he scores when he was in Newcastle…. It would’ve been better if he had come when the likes of Lampard, Ballack, Essien and Malouda were our midfielders.
totally agree with you, Ba is the type of striker like Drogba, based on strength. I’d love to see Feruz to play for the A-team, He’s quick, skillfull and young, obviously chelsea’s future !
Andrey was already 30 before we acquired him so that means he could lose his form anytime even if he was to stay in Milan. About Fernando, i can’t even find the words to explain what i thought about him, his lost form in Chelsea is just a mistery, so eerie!…. Ba problem is so obvious…. With this current squad, i don’t think Ba will shine cuz our midfielders style of play simply don’t suit him, it suits Nando better but his having a problem that’s beyond him…. I will come back to say we are killing these Strikers if the likes of Cavani, Suarez, El Sharawey and Aguero couldn’t finish every season with at least 40goals in all competition…. Those are the kind of Strikers we need, Strikers that can receive passes from offside traps and break defends with pace…. Ba can’t do all that, that wasn’t how he scores when he was in Newcastle…. It would’ve been better if he had come when the likes of Lampard, Ballack, Essien and Malouda were our midfielders.
I think it’s been said time and time again, but Chelsea need a Gerrard or Xabi Alonso type midfielder for Torres and Ba to thrive. At Liverpool and Newcastle, respectively, they were the focal point of the attack, and a counter-strike could be made when the teams only had to look at one target. This is exactly how Falcao and Atletico work. Falcao scores so much because he is the target man for them. In this case, Fifa got the team set up spot-on. Chelsea should sell Ba and Torres to save both of their careers, and cradle Lukaku and buy a striker in the vein of (like you said) Suarez or Aguero, who drift in and out of the middle with ease. If we plan to hold on to Ba, we need to rein in the midfield or put on someone who can make incisive long-passes
I think The Actual Problem with us is that We can not afford to play A Lone Striker up front with the likes of Mata Hazard Oscar and Moses behind! We should try A Different Formation like 4-3-3 instead of Playing 4-2-3-1. Play Demba Ba or Torres in Center while Mata and Hazard take over the Wings with Ramires Oscar and Lampard Behind the 3 Forwards! I think this is the real solution for Our Misfiring Strikers as this can result in creating more Chances them.
Thats a very good point which I have stated before as well.. a world class striker cannot turn into a bad striker.. Btw his stats are still OK.. and there is no need to talk such crap about him.. secondly he still fits better to our attack than Ba cause he moves a lot more to give more options to our creative mid-field.. And the real problem for Torres is that our players pass sideways to other MF while our striker is all open in space waiting for a through ball which never comes..
i agree with you. torres is much more suited to the playing style of chelsea than ba, simply because of his movement and his technical abilty.
would like to see the like of ba to play becoz he is stong like drogba
Demba was used to playing with another striker up with him. At Chelsea, he’s playing as a lone striker so its a completely different style of play.
This is the key. Playing a lone striker is alien to some strikers. Bringing in a striker used to a 4 – 2 and jamming him into a 5 – 1 or 2 – 3 – 1 to be exact, makes it difficult to adjust.
ITS NOT A GRAVE YARD 4 . . . . STRICKERS. WE ARE PROUD OF U ALL. TK.
NONE OF DA ABOVE AND WE A PROUD OF U.
chelsea mid fielder are all goal fetish dont pass to striker .
we need a player who kn drible their oponent difendas in d 18yard box n score. We nw BA-BA kn’t do dt i give dt 2 DANIEL STORIGE bt he is selfish n he is gone. The likes of EL-SHARAWY, S. AGUERO, L. SUAREZ. is wt we need