Ok maybe I lied there is a 5th part but this is only because I want to add some comments to a few positions and talk about another Formation we could use. The positions I want to talk about are Centre Back, the Pivot and the Strikers. I have only decided to write this up because of after watching some of our more recent performances and seeing some players play I want to change some of my views.
Starting with the Positions
Centre Back
I think we need to find a new centre back and push Luiz further forward as against City as when Torres came on and we scored quite literally 3 seconds later we changed formation to like a 3-1-2-2-2 and pushed on. If you could not see the formation on Sunday it was kind of like Cech- Azpilli, Ivanovic, Bertrand- Luiz- Oscar, Ramires- Mata, Hazard- Ba, Torres. I know this seemed a wierd formation but when Luiz was suddenly given some extra freedom we saw what he can do and he did it well. He created chance after chance for us and pushed us forward he became that link between defence and attack.
There are a few options out there for Centre Back:
Vasco De Gama(If I spelt it correctly) – Dede – A big, powerful and fast CB who will let you know he’s there with his first tackle. He is valued at £15million, his contract runs out in 2014 so we may be able to get him for a cheaper price.
Borussia Dortmund – Hummels or Subotic – Hummels is more of a Terry like of a defender but he is valued at £25million and could cost more as Barcelona are looking to acquire his services. Subotic is more of a Playmaking CB like Luiz he is fast and strong and can pass well.
Real Madrid – Varane or Ramos – Varane has played quite a bit for Real recently and has impressed Mourinho, he will cost £25million supposedly but if loves Mourinho so I can see him pushing for a transfer if he hears Mourinho comes looking for him. Ramos even though him and Mourinho supposedly do not get along. According to a few papers though not the big one’s but the few that actually are more believable and have reliable sources say that Ramos and Mourinho actually get along and it was just non-believers of Jose making up stories to have him kicked out of Real. Ramos wants out of Madrid because of the way he is being treated not by Jose but by how the heiarchy are treating him poorly and with him not signing a new contract he may come cheaper as well. £20-25million evaluation.
The Pivot
A very important two positions in our team as the cover of our defence. I think we may need to sell Mikel (I know I saying he was important a couple of articles ago) He has been hot and cold all season and the last two performances by him where very below his average game. We need some passing talents and muscle in the Pivot. I am going to change my view on the Pivot and what we need.
I think Chalobah should go out on Loan back to Watford no matter what and if Watford are promoted send McEachren there if not then Loan him to a Premiership team for experience. We’ll have Luiz moved into the Pivot to give us some passing skill and defensive cover, Ramires for his endless running and tackling, Oriol Romeu as he is strong, good passer and tackler, strong in the air. We could have Oscar drop deeper to play a deep-lying playmaker role (Like Modric did for Spurs)
Borussia Dortmund – Sven Bender – The defensive midfielder from Dortmund has played a vital role in their Championship push and helped them win the Bundesliga 2 years running. Dortmund are looking to bring Nuri Sahin back and they could be looking to sell a few players to fund the move so we could try a bid on Bender and see whether they sell him or not. He is strong, good in the air and can tackle, he can pass short or long as well. He is the definition of defensive midfielder and you will rarely see him attacking. Price is supposedly between £15-20million
Corinthians – Pauliniho – The defensive midfielder is good tackler and battler, strong and can pass well. He does like to attack though which is a down point as we need some defensive cover, he also does not have vast experience in Europe so he will have to adapt but all players have to adapt to new play styles. His value is supposedly £10-15million.
We will only need Bender or Pauliniho and I do think we will have the appropriate cover for the Pivot for at least 5-7 years. We sell Mikel and Essien to fund the move for one of them and we should be ok.
Strikers
After watching the City game and looking at some highlights of other games I can see that both our strikers games like to have a partner up top with them.
In the City game when Torres came on it equalled the playing field of Strikers vs Centre Backs as the City CB’s where all over Ba when he was on his own but Torres came on and made them think which caused confusion and for Kompany to misplace his header letting Ba to score. If we play two up front and drop one of the trio in behind the Striker. We can have Ba+Torres or Lukaku+Torres or Ba+Lukaku. This could be useful and then we have 2 quality strikers and one young striker pushing to prove himself and being a good player. If needs be we could possible bring in another Striker to have 4 strikers pushing for 2 spots.
Borussia Dortmund – Lewandowski – We have been linked with the Polish striker over the last couple of weeks as United have been linked with Falcao and supposedly paid half of the fee already. I think we should bring in Lewandowski more that Falcao as he is younger and Falcao is more used to counter-attacking style of play, Lewandowski will link up well with other players as well. Price of around £24million but they are after KDB and supposedly want to bid £15million for him so we could look into a cash+player deal with Dortmund.
Vitesse Arnhem – Bony – The giant Ivorian is one of the highest goalscorers this season in Europe. He is big and strong, holds the ball up well. He will cost around £15million which is not bad considering he is in a rich vein of form.
If we don’t get either of these two I think we should be ok with the 3 of Torres, Ba and Lukaku. Send Bamford and Feruz out on loan to Championship or high up League 1 team for experience.
New Formation?
Against City when Torres came on we changed to a 4-2-2-2 formation and it seemed to work well as the City defenders found it hard to track both Torres and Ba creating more space and chances for ourselves. Oscar dropped deapper to accomodate Torres coming on and he played better in that 25mins than he had played better and had more of an impact on the game than he had prior to Torres coming on. I think he could have a future as a deep-lying playmaker role in the team.
If we kept the players we needed and bought Bender and Dede I think we should line up in 4-2-2-2 for all positions.
Goalkeepers:
Cech, Walker/Delac, Blackman
Right Back:
Azpilicueta, Wallace
Centre Back:
Terry, Cahill, Ivanovic, Dede
Left Back:
Cole, Bertrand (Shaw out on Loan)
Pivot:
Luiz, Ramires, Romeu, Bender, Oscar
Right Attacking Midfield:
Mata, Moses, Piazon
Left Attacking Midfield:
Hazard, De Bruyne, Marin
Striker:
Torres, Ba, Lukaku
I think this should be our squad for next season as we have enough players to cover any position and if we play 4-2-3-1 we have cover for the Centre Attacking Midfield role. I think we should sell some of our deadwood in the team. Benayoun needs no explanation, Mikel has not lived up to his potential, Essien I don’t think he will ever be as good as he used to be im afraid.
What do you think? Should we look to change formation for next season or stay as we are?
That’s your opinion, i know Mou won’t sell him if he come. You better tell those behind transfer to buy us solid player not the one that will be push around. Mikel will not perform, when two player are macking for those strengthless, powerless, focussless, and self glory minded players in the squad. Feel sorry for chelsea., if care is not taking we won’t be challenging for anything again just like this season that we went for eight and now chasing the shadow of europa cup..
Now thesame mikel who has been our defensive wall is bad? (just after two bad days)……..
not after two bad days watch consistently
Haaaa…..now if mikel performs well against liverpool u ‘ll call him world best defensive midfielder (the guy is good) why hating him?
good not great not what we need
say know to racism where is mikel
Selling Mikel??? The whole team was inconsistent this season.. because of the transition we are gng through.. So sell all of them?? u are againg talking abt buying3-4new players (60-80mill pounds).. makes no sense to me.
Mikel go cus u are not a good passer and he slow the game of play
I dnt think u have a clue abt what u are talking. u cant judge players every next 2 games. mikel has been performing all season and he has two bad games and from all important he becomes useless. every player has a few bad games. Nomatter who you buy mikel will be important to chelsea squad. under any manager he has been plaging regularly so that must mean he is doing something right.
KTBFFH!
sell a player is has played consistently under those managers who had been appointed and fired in the last 5-6yrs because his had 2 recent bad games? If you know so much about the game why don’t you go into coaching? We have players in the academy pushing for a place in the first team yet, your suggesting we buy players age about 24 or 26 where does that leave the young lads in the academy? Well i think we need more than two new players for next season.
Though i’m glue 2 the GUNNERS but the fact is that mikel is one of the most underated players in d world……..he has never gained praises he deserves
why dont we just bye borussia dortmund??
As long as am concien mikel s the best midfewder chelsea can get bcs he has succeeded wit so maney managers.
Why is this all about Mikel. Can’t anybody see the Ref was the worst person on the field. Its very simple match, Chelsea had a throw in 10 seconds to 6 minutes added time, you just blow the whistle. It would definitely take more seconds to play anything meaningful, especially seconds you cannot account for.
John Obi Mikel is a great Defensive midfielder. He has played the very best and succeeded. He has come against Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Yaya Toure, Tevez etc and he played well. He has won everything in club football that is worth winning. He is better than Bender or Paulinho in his role. Just put him up forsale and see BIG teams coming for him.
It is our loss if we sell him. Daniel Sturridge, a reminded to what might v been.
sturridge was a serious problem he wanted to play the cf role and was a ball hog
i am a chelsea fan but mikel is a poor DM don’t know why chelsea fans keep sticking up for him he is poor he has poor ball retention skills tackles reckless picks up alot of stupid fouls slows down play when we are trying to play on the counter why would you keep him chelsea fans need to learn to let go of dead weight and mikel has been there because chelsea has a policy of buying attacking minded players, chelsea has not been in the market for a DM we bought romeu from barca and hardly use him who is a much better player than mikel romeu best run came when avb was there and has hardly been used since he left which i think is unfair because he is a much better player than mikel, and i do agree with the writer move luiz to dm and bring in a cb,essien and mikel should go drop oscar to deep lying playmaker so we would have oscar,luiz,romeu, and ramires, and we need a proper back up LB to give ashley cole some needed rest sometimes bertrand isn’t ready yet and about the goalkeepers we should bring courtois to the bring to give cech some competition and rest also and a goal scoring stiker.
What will happen to Mikel? Ur analysis no too make sense! Try do better one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!