₦airaland Forum

Naaah! I am not waiting to dig into Lampard.
I did not crucify Mata for the miss because all have missed.
Even Lampard himself missed a glaring opportunity only a few weeks ago.
Drogba, Torres, Ramires, Sturridge all of them have missed opportunities that could have fetched us points.

When I come in is when the effort put in does not match required performance.
And we were found out.

It was not that we lost to City but that they could easily have thrashed us . . easily
No decent chance on goal, no trouble for Joe Hart, no through balls to Torres. . .Citeh were not under any pressure.
240mins and we won't have scored.

Speaking technically, we could not hold the ball for than 20 secs unless we are passing across the back.
Our midfielders ran out of ideas any time we were pressed.
Because they do not have the underlying ball retention skills, they are boxed into a corner when with the ball.
Essien, Lampard, Meireles, Ramires were all the same. Mikel was the only player who when with the ball seemed to have idea and delivered vertical passes through the channels.

I was hoping for a more cohesive midfield with intricate passes when De Jong was subbed. It never happened. And when City pressed in banks of four, we had ours backs against the wall.

These are the reasons folks wanted AVB gone. . .Because these are the underlying reasons behind his failure. . . albeit with issue of trying to force through a new style.

This was a game that so desperately needed ball retention. See the City V Swansea game to see what I mean. Route cannot and didn't work because City had the energy levels to cope. Exactly what AVB was trying to force through. . .


So we are back to square one. . . The place where Roman wants fancy football and goes to get another continental manager to help with free flowing footie. . . .

Do we actually expect RDM -another rookie- to repair the damage?

"Another" rookie manager. . . but you'll rather have him there.

Some will rather have allowed AVB stay for 3yrs and we'll end up in the championship.
Good thinking by RA to sack the novice. My grouse is we should have done it earlier.

So if AVB had stayed we "would" have ended up in the championship right?
Great insight!
So how do you know we won't end up in the championship now ?

I don't care if we play Europa next season as long as we are rebuilding the team without AVB.
The dude would never have rebuilt anything. Mata is the only decent player he managed to spend the over 60m he was given.

As long as AVB is gone, it doesn't matter if we play in the EL.
The same person who was telling us months ago that Mikel should be dropped for Romeu now say says AVB did not buy anything decent.

One question though. . . can you honestly come and defend how you know AVB was "given" £60m?

I'd be happy to have new young vibrant players next season and a new manager who knows his left from right.
I'm just glad we won't have to rebuild with a hit and miss, a trial and error manager.

Since you know this manager why don't you name them.
Someone who will get in instantly, win the players on his side, play beautiful football, win the CL, win the league, without requesting for an entire new team. Name one.


By the way. . . did you see Mikel in that game? Remind me once again how you think Ramires is "way better"

Hehehe. I laugh in dry gin. It was AVB's fault.
AVB made us park the bus against a very fluid City side we were lucky to score a goal against.

If Balotelli had put away that chance from the disgusting Lampard mistake, they could have scored 5 goals easily.
They tore through us like we weren't there.

Don't be surprised some folks will still be blaming AVB next season. AVB is the reason we gave non-technical footballers like Ramires a 5 year contract even though we are looking for a new manager and that new manager might not quite fancy Ramires. . .

Hey Ramires, we the guys in suits think you are just like Messi with your pace and energy we are offering a brand new 5-year contract. It's ok if the new manager doesn't fancy you, we'll just write it off like usual.

Postponing the inevitable . . . .

Back to earth. New manager euphoria wearing. The gulf in quality was clear for all to see. Now we park the bus against City. 240 mins and we still wouldn't have won. For the record, Ramires did not make one single delivery even though he has all the pace and energy. Lamps? Essien? don't get me started. . . . . I cannot remember Joe being troubled.

Found out again against a decent team. Postponing the inevitable. . . .

BlueDiva: Chill out. . .
Let's share a drink to celebrate this victory and FT's goal.

Of course . . .
All e-drinks on me.
Let's parry!

BlueDiva: Wetin?

I can give you 5 posts were i said he will yet shine.
AVB was the bad luck.

For starters, you don't humiliate people in public when you secretly hope they will do well.
You cannot claim to have stood by them with such attitude.

"The Dud" or wat was the name again?
You started it.
Now you need 5 posts to avail yourself?
Do me a favour!

Wow! What a goal!

BlueDiva: TORRRRRRRESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
The boy is back!!!

Oh please!

El Ninooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Torrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrresssssssssssssssssss!

He just wants to play all by himself Sturridge. Gosh!
Why did he not just pass the freaking ball there?

Mata off. . Malouda in 2nd half.

Nice save by Cech. What was GC doing there?

Torres, Sturridge and Mata are really in the mood today.
Sturridge just needs to lean how to be a team player.

Goaaaal! Kalou.

Nice work Torres. Where did he get that pace from?

2-0

Bertrand just seems to be jogging around.

Nice goal Gary. Pray for Muamba!

I got banned for no apparent reason. Anyway, Chelsea youth take a 2-1 lead into the 2nd leg at Stamford Bridge for a place in the final.

Nditi makes way for Nortei Nortey.

OMG! Islam Feruz just scored an absolutely fantastic goal.
Jeez!

1-1 United get one back.

Adi Viveash continuing the AVB method so far.

Todd Kane is really quiet today. Perhaps he has instructed to curb his forward runs and stop Jack Barmby.

First half over. United coming back into the game in the last 15mins of the half.
Chelsea better on the whole.
John, Lewis and Nathaniel running the midfield.

Hopefully the boys turn up in the second and get a second goal to carry us into the second leg.

Nditi messing up for the third time. Giving United a free kick that rattles the bar and gives them courage to push on.
We could easily have been 3 up.

I like this idea of Chalobah in DM.
The same idea came up in the 2nd half against NF after we went 3 down in the first half.
It injected pace and power in midfield and went on the score 4 and qualified.

Goallllll!!!!.

See Piazon. Top player.
Nice cool finish from Affane.

My boys on the front foot. . United are rubbish.

Meanwhile, the best Chelsea youth side ever are lining up against United.

Jamal in goal
Todd Kane at RB
Adam Nditi at LB
Nathan Ake and Alex Davey in CD

Lewis Baker, John Swift and Nathaniel Chalobah in midfield.

Lucas Piazon, Islam Feruz and Ammine Affane up front.


Kick off.

BlueDiva: This present Chelsea will never play like Athletico except you bring in younger players.
JM came and brought his players to play the kind of footie he wanted and he excelled.

JM spent over 200m during his time at Chelsea. Don't ever forget that any time you write that.
That's why he excelled.

AVB the dummy should have reverted to the usual style and wait till summer to do a clear out.
If RDM is achieving what his boss failed to do, surely he has succeeded.

Why should he have reverted? Just so he can win a trophy for you now?
You agree that he could have waited but you wanted him gone.
Guess what we are going back to do eventually what he should have done. . . albeit at the expense of a good season but a good sacrifice to pay. . . Now now fans like you won't see beyond a season.

As for the money being spent, stop crying more than the bereaved, Mr FFP.
Our accounts will balance up with time. Chill out.

Another show of shame.
Who is the bereaved? You think RA is?
The fans are my friend. Chelsea were 80m in debt and on the brink of going into administration.
RA buys the clubs pumps money. 10 years later we are still losing 80m except this time, annually.
RA is rich enough to away. Careful what you wish for.

Make I watch the boys play jare.

afrodoc: bielsa is a master tactician no doubt,but this goes beyond tactics.its about football styles and the way football will b played in the future pioneered by barca,bilbao n teams of similar ilk.u dont need powerhouses,u just need ur players to be technically sound,tactically astute and they must be able to operate both offense and defense WITH and WITHOUT the ball.
watching bilbao one can see why el loco was named as one of guardiola's mentors

Exactly what AVB was contracted to achieve at Chelsea.

Rooney is just world class.