₦airaland Forum

It amazes me that you do not know the basic difference between me defending a manager tactics and me telling you what a manager will do and why he has chosen to do it his way.

Is there anything in that post that tells you I support the way he played. If anything I have always stated that "I understand" why he plays that way. 


And I told you he won't be changing his ways based on all the interviews I have seen him give. That's the way he wants to play. That's the way he will. Now 10 weeks ago was different. He was not faced with the possibility of damaging his status, he may now change his mind. Heavens knows I will give him kudos for changing his mind. . after playing a high defence line is not the only way to play attacking football.

debosky:
The real problem with nateevs is that he sees this as an 'either or' situation  - you either play park the bus footie or you play flair footie.

In reality that distinction is only at an overall philosophical level - from game to game you'll employ differing tactics to win games as required.

This is where the likes of Ancelotti shone in his first season at Chelski - he battered teams when required but 'parked the bus' against Arsenal and won handsomely home and away.

His overall philosophy was attacking play, but he didn't have any qualms switching it up on occasion as required to win a game.

The key is knowing when to go gung-ho and when to park the bus. This 'knowing when' is what Villas Boas appears to be lacking - he seems to think he can force a single strategy to work in all games and we can all see it isn't working.

Even Fergie at his best would adjust his side, playing 5 across midfield to stifle Arsenal for example - any manager unable to adapt accordingly from game to game is sure to fail.

The reason Wenger won his last trophy in 2005 was by 'parking the bus' to beat Utd in the FA Cup finals - so again, all great managers must realise the need to adjust to defeat the opponent.

The issue is you have never understood me. You make a conclusion of me by picking on a few posts here and there. I made this post only this morning.

nateevs:
I absolutely detest when I raise points like these and you guys go the other way.
Is there no way there is a middle ground. . . ?

A few minutes later you are making up lies. Because I discuss flair football with passion does not mean I am not a big supporter of the middle ground. So no Debo, I am not an either or person and that informs my use of United's model as opposed to Arsenal's one.


I am a big supporter of switching it up and I will become an even bigger fan of AVB if he parks the bus against United, Arsenal, City and Spurs while he slowly continues to teach his team his new style.

I am not a big fan of sudden wholesome change. I'd rather a more cautious approach. Many times on the match day threads, you will see me say, "At this point, I just want the points. Let's just get the win and then regroup because we are having a bad day" What I will never stand for though is ignoring open play or ignoring changing the overall football philosophy because parking the bus earned points against the big four. That's rubbish!

And that is what the likes of Diva want to see. "It doesn't matter how we win. . . the points matter"

I believe everyone is on the side of AVB changing his strategy.
It does not mean then that we should park the bus.

If we revert to what works for our players, we will continue to buy players that work with the system.
I am sick to death of seeing attackers disguised as mid-fielders.

I want to see players like Modric, Gotze, Javier Martinez, Jordi Alba, Hazard, David Sila, Mata, Lucas Moura, Lucas Ocampos, McEachran, Romeu.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Changing the style takes time.
It won't happen overnight and the road to change can be slow and painful.
The issue is, because JM has spoilt Chelsea fans with titles, we have suddenly become impatient robots incapable of waiting like we've always won titles. Our consistency only began in 2003.

BlueDiva:
For you to win, you must have assists and goals aplenty.

I would rather park the bus and win games than play with flair and keep losing!.

That's because you don't support a team that parks the bus.
If you do, you'll be the first calling for the head of the manager.

There is no team in history that has won a league title by parking the bus. (and please don't use Greece in 2004)
So don't try to convince us that parking the bus is better than playing with flair.
It's not and will never be.

When your philosophy is parking the bus, you can only win a handful of games.
You will not win the league parking the bus. You will not win the CL parking the bus.
So what then is the essence of parking the bus? For obtaining the odd 3 pts?

I will rather play beautiful football and not win the league than park the bus and not win the league.

BlueDiva:
Nateevs is passionate about shapes, he studied geometry. ^{Just kidding nateevs (u're still my favorite blue.}

Seriously, the whole objective at the end of the day is to win games.

After all the display and fancy work on the field, its the 3 pts that matters.
You only get 3 pts when u know how to score. Tell Torres to start scoring.

dayokanu:
^^ What else is there to football aside assist goals?

I guess keeping shape matters more than goal scored in the Gospel according to Nateevs

I absolutely detest when I raise points like these and you guys go the other way.
Is there no way there is a middle ground. . . ?

Have you and do you guys not watch United?
Even though they drew yesterday, the football they played was first class.
What's even more amazing is that they've been doing just that for decades.

I am sorry, United know how to win and they do it beautifully.
And nobody knows more about shape than Fergie. . .
And I have never known Fergie to play a player just because of assists and goals.
The way I see it, every player that United want to buy has a prerequisite - technique.

Bar Fletcher, there's no United player I know with average technique.
That's what keeps them ticking.
How do United stay in there or there about, year after year even though they don't 'always' produce the highest goal scorers or assist creators?

That exactly, is what I mean by football is more than "just" assist and goals.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


I belong to the school of thought who does not just do assists and goals.
Primarily because when those players are off form, there's hardly anything they can offer the team.
And offering the team balance is a team's primary need. If that is achieved, goals will happen.

debosky:
He'll be younger than Giggs in 2013 so why not? The lad is still very productive - he just needs to be managed appropriately and not overly relied upon.

That should normally not be a problem. . . except some will call you names when you call for him not to be relied upon.
Assists and goal stats will be flying over the place like that is all there is to football.

Meanwhile Lampard wants his deal extended. His current deal ends in 2013 when he'll be 35 . . . He wants that extended.
I'm bored to death of this crap honestly.

debosky:
Make una leave Mikel oh. . . .yes he made a mistake for the first goal, but was Mikel on the pitch for the entire 2nd half when y'all self destructed in the 89th minute?

Blaming someone who played only 45 mins with the score at 1-0 isn't reasonable.

Abi oooo. Others will attempt to make you believe otherwise in a desperate endeavour to be the first to say "I told you so" . . .

BlueDiva:
@nateevs

Never said the manager is crap.
I know he will become very good in the near future.

UCL or no UCL, you don't go starting with crappy players.
Why start with Maloda? Malouda shouldn't even be playing again.

Why leave Alex out? Why leave Sturridge out?
The high defensive line isn't working, Chelsea doesn't have the players for such.

Why should Mikel start? Romeu is a better player.
AVB still has a lot to learn about the EPL. Unfortunately, Roman is not a patient man. 

Haaa! Now they are crap players?
Some will make you believe that these are title winning players and AVB should be able to get the best out of them.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

That said, it is very naive to call Romeu a better player than Mikel.
Romeu is at best a technically better player. That however does not mean he can stand the heat week in, week out.
Secondly, the same steep expectation from every manager we Chelsea people dish out means that they are afraid to experiment.
People like McEachran, Romeu, Lukaku will get less and less chances because the managers don't want to read "Manager out" after a 'bad moment'

It's was the same with Grant, Scolari, Hiddink and Carllotti . . No chances for youngsters.

debosky:
I'm wondering who the next player to shyte all over him will be. . . .Nani, Walcott, Johnson. . . maybe Elokobi will do the damage next week.

Yet AVB persists in doing the exact same thing and getting beat each time. . . .this comment wasn't made by Debo so what say you Lateef?

Like I said to Ibime, what you guys do not understand about me is that many times I do not like what a manager employs however "I understand" . . .
I can understand why AVB persists with his defensive philosophy even though I have never liked it. His defensive philosophy however is heavily dependent on other parts working. Those parts are not working.

Now AVB I believe is thinking that to play a deep defence line, the midfield will sit far away from the defence. Pressing becomes useless and the passing game will break down more times than presently. . . especially as we don't have good passers in the team. This will break down the overall passing game in the team and everything grinds to a halt.

Now persisting with his high defensive strategy could be seen to make sense. . . and he is not dumb as Debo tries to make us believe.
To him, playing with a deep defence line means changing the overall strategy.

BlueDiva:
When i said AVB is a rookie, nateevs say na lie.
Even i would have selected a better squad.

Let him  fight for the FA cup only till he learn the rope properly. That is if RA will have such patience.
No hope for Chelsea this season, it's obvious.

This is why I disagree with you. . . .
You have failed to remember that AVB had one mind on the 'must not lose' CL game on Wednesday.
He then cautiously chose his team to keep everyone fresh. . . but it back fired.
How many times though has that happened to Fergie and Wenger. Sometimes we need to look beyond the result.

I am not hopelessly supporting AVB. The high defensive line just has to stop for now.
Everything else, he's on point.

Did you see how many times Drogba, Malouda and Sturridge opted for the frustrating option yesterday when a simple one would suffice and increase our chances of scoring? In the second half, we played Pool off the park. A half decent Malouda would have kept Johnson worrying all day instead of attacking but at 32 can you expect more?

The same thing goes for Drogba 33, Lampard 33, Terry 32, Ashley 32, Malouda 32, Anelka 32, Essien (thirty heavens knows what) and this is supposed to be the core of our team.

However on this side of the globe, the manager is crap . . . . Are all these managers that bad?

Ibime:
Negro STFU about how I support my team!
Why must it pain you if I'm not onside?
Once I see failure manifesting, I call it straightaway.
Did you hear any complaints when Guus Hiddink was manager?
Why do you want me to join you in mindless enthusiasm.
Nothing has changed between AVB, Ancelotti and Scolari. Its the same suicidal high-line. Not that high-line cannot work, but every Tom, Joystick and Harry knows we dont have the players for it.
I did not support it in 2008, 2009 and 2010, yet you want me to act all hunky dory now?
If you like, tell me again "not to bore you with the high-line crap I've been chatting since 2008".
As long as it continues to be in practice, I will continue to support the team half-heartedly.
Now don't bother with my worthless opinions. It might be repetitive and boring, but it remains true. Just mind your side.

Abeg dress make me see road. Just STFU. There's a massive difference between calling the frailties in your team and generating names for under-performers in your side. You are supposed to be a fan. . . If you do not like anyone in the team or how they perform, say it with decorum. You phocking piece of shit. One minute ago you were calling me an ungrateful sod for questioning Lamps now you don't want to queried.

You bore the sh1t outta me.

Dudes from the other side are excused for mocking. . . they are the opposition and we tolerate. . . .but you find pathetic names for everything less perfect than Lampard in the team and your excuse is "calling it as it is" . . . Oh Please! That's not half hearted support, that's trolling and it doesn't make your opinion any more emphasized.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And can someone just put some tissue paper in your mouth please cos Scolari and Carllotti never played a high line at Chelsea. If anything, the only similarities between all 3 was that they attacked with full backs. . . However like always, you are supposed to be the negro who sees sh1t from 2000 kporodim, so you twist sh1t. In fact, Carlotti iterally parked the bus when we beat Arsenal 2-0 in the title winning season. How can you claim to complain about a high defensive line when Carlotti was here when we conceded the second least amount of goals in the prem in the title winning season? Just stop typing negro. . . You don't have to have foreseen everything. . . No one has saddled you with the responsibility.  

Fetch my posts from pre-season and see how I expressed my reservation for the high defensive and it's potential failure in the prem. . . I don't need to be the one though reminding everyone though that 'I said so'. I just discuss what went wrong. . . You however only 10 games into the season have let loose your cannibalistic traits and gone wild calling everyone who doesn't kick a ball any name that reaches your head. . . and you are supposed to be supporting. I have been talking about players and how we need to evolve and rebuild since 2007 but I don't need to remind everyone every time something goes bad. I just continue to hope we will move on our mechanical players and opt for more technical players.

Just stop please!

Ibime:
I have not complained about Mata this season, except to ask you why you dont call Mata's name when we lose.

As for all the others, yes, count me in.


Players I will never complain about are Lamps, Ashley, Ivanovic, Anelka, Alex and Mata. . . . cos these players are reliable. I will not complain about Sturridge either if he plays no 9 whilst I would forgive Cech if he makes any mistake cos they are infrequent.

I know where culpability lies. Do you?

Imagine you saying you will never complain 6  players out of a squad of 18 first team players and feeling cool about it.
Show me one team with 11 reliable players. All you do is complain.
In-fact with your self-imposed monumental knowledge of the points of culpability, one wonders why you are not managing Wigan for starters.

But you cannot. On the contrary, you are just another internet warrior who has an opinion and perspective about football just like everyone else on here. Where you begin to phocking piss on my nerves is where you think you supposed knowledge is superior to others.

Wake up and smell the coffee dude. It's just a phucking perspective and if your opinions were as valuable as you make them seem, you won't be arguing with Nateevs on NL.

You cannot support anything inadequate. It has to be reliable, it has to be perfect. Else you bore us all with complaints.
If that's what you desire in a football team, dude go buy an auto-mobile. It's called support for a reason.

On the contrary I never blamed Lamps. I took the game as one of those we lose.
'A bad moment' in the words of Carllotti which will definitely pass over . . .

You on the other hand have complained this season alone about Mikel, Terry, Malouda, Kalou, Torres, Bosingwa, Mata, Sturridge, Ramires, Drogba and AVB. What just annoys me to death is the fact that Lamps can do no wrong.

In your eyes, Lamps has never had a bad game.
You are a Lamps fans. . .  nothing else.
There's nothing bad in you expressing your dissatisfaction with things in your team but your utterances are pathetic.
You have no allegiance and support for anything not up to speed.
You mock your team, mock the manager, mock the players you don't like.

You are phocking shocking and pathetic. What would you do if you support a mid table team?
Mr Lampard!

Ibime:
It was Lamps fault innit? 
Nateevs, the eediot, always waiting for Lamps to rescue him every game.
Why didn't you seek salvation from your beloved Mata?
Must Lamps carry you every game, you ungrateful sod!
Maybe you want him to score 2 goals to make it 3-2 and save your hapless AVB.
My beloved Lamps is top scorer and top assister.
Your lover AVB however is a different story.
Useless guy!

Eediot how is your AVB "philosophy" working for you?

Hehehehe. You could not wait to rain abuses on me because I asked where your beloved Lamps was.
Now Lamps can not carry us every game. . . I am laughing.

Your overrated 'midfielder' disappeared as always in a big game.
Your beloved may be top scorer this season, Chelsea cannot string a handful of passes if Mata does not play. Simple.
Your Lamps shows up against WestBrom and scores two goals and he's sooo terrible he has to be substituted against ManU, disappears against Arsenal, Liverpool and it will be the same against City.

Nonsense.

At least Torres is not to blame today for the loss, actually it's Nateevs.
You are just an absolute phocker who can never accept a loss. Someone has to be blamed for it.
And it's never Lamps.

Pathetic fan who complains about everything bad about his team except Lamps.
Just so he can say I told you so. The only fan on record who has complained about every single manager.

Ibime:
If Mata had played we woulda won the game!

Stop trying to mix issues jor!

How is AVB's philosopy (abi na strategy  ) working out for ya?

Great attacking play by the Portuguese Kevin Keegan there!

Should I still "forget everything I know about Mikel"? 

Ogbeni go siddon. Where was your beloved Lamps?
Abi Torres caused the loss?

Torres ruined the game. We could have won. He did nothing all game. How can we bloody lose to Liverpool? Get me Drogba.
If Lampard had played, he woulda bossed the mid field and popped up with a goal.

Nonsense!

Wow! Thanks for the numbers guys!
Only Torres and Lampard could generate this much arguement on here.

dayokanu:
Does nateevs even know what they are arguing about on here?

This isnt about a shekpe keeper you know?

No he doesn't.

debosky:
The inverted commas should show y'all that he is talking about the role of a 10 in a 'traditional' or flat 4-4-2, not the presence of someone wearing a no 10 jersey on the pitch.

But I don't expect a rabid coogar or a phat phool like nateevs to understand the usage of inverted commas.

Sharon just go and jump in that Scottish lake and spare us all the bunkum spewing.

You deserve to be chained up for life for his post.

"There is no "10" in a traditional 4-4-2. Unless you want to call Jermaine Defoe a "10"

Ritchboy 2011.

"There is no "10" in a traditional 4-4-2. Unless you want to call Jermaine Defoe a "10"

Ritchboy 2011.

BlueDiva:
Forget what he did at Porto, AVB is still a rookie manager.
This ain't Porto, this is England where old horses like Fergie rule.

AVB should study the turf and know exactly what managing an English club entails.
Only geniuses like JM can come in the first season and take Fergie to the cleaners.

Are you serious? He was with JM for 3 seasons. He did all of JM's scouting work.
He studied the opposition and proffered solutions based on the model JM worked with . . .
JM called him "my eyes and ears" . . . . And now you think he needs to study what it takes to manage in England?
How ridiculous!

You guys just do not get it. He already has a working model on a plate. He doesn't even have to revisit it.
He knows what to do to win 1-0 and remain unbeaten because he did all the spade work.

He however chooses not to win that way. That's the point and that's got absolutely nothing to do with not knowing what how to manage in England. Instead he chose to use the Bobby Robson model.

coogar:
villash-boash hasn't failed any test in my opinion. his only flaw is he's trying to do too much too fast.

his vision as a manager is very different from jose mourinho and he is much more attack oriented. the players he inherited for the most part don't suit the tactical model he's trying to build, so struggles at least in the beginning are inevitable.

you can't play high defensive line if your centre backs lack pace and in order to emulate in any shape or form barcelona type football which is apparently what he strives for you need to have technically gifted players in the midfield that are capable of keeping possession and moving the ball fast.

the fact that old guard that used to carry the team in the past are clearly past their peak doesn't help matters, either. what we are currently witnessing is a blip - most likely caused by the teething pains adapting to villash-boash style of play

Ssssshh Coogar! You are making too much sense. Unfortunately that is not allowed when you are having a conversation with Debo.
According to him, AVB is a daft, unintelligent young manager who does not possess the ability to adapt his team for prevailing conditions and destined for failure and not for the resources at his disposal, will be contending with Wigan at the bottom of the table.

To help Debo see this is any other way is like trying ride a horse across a sea. Why bother?

So Wenger has mitigating factors eh? Paying mediocre players enormous amount of money. Have you compared your wage bill to United's lately? Tell me the calibre of players who earn this money. You must be an absolute tool talking to us about Wenger's mitigating factors. . . You think we are idiots?

You have no idea what you are talking about. Wenger, like you pointed out, is an unrepentant unintelligent daftie, who continues to tell us the money is there to sign a defender if he wants, yet continues to under-achieve year in year out with no sign of improvement. Unless you are telling us what you have been saying is crap.



To measure improvement, you have to give some time. Call him names all you like. What I am very sure about is you will eat your humble pie on a large plate. I will not continue to argue with you about what AVB can and cannot do. We will see at the end of the season.

So the summary of what you are telling us here is Mr Wenger is also very daft and stupendously unintelligent for repeating the same mistakes season in season out for 6 years. Nothing to show for his work, no improvement but keeps at it. . .


Okay. . . In that case, I could reason with you sort of.

I don’t need to know what backing he has with Roman - intelligent folk learn from their mistakes. . . .those that don’t are lacking in intelligence. It’s really that simple. Unless Roman’s backing is for him to get worse against the top sides.

silly you. You think open play against a rival is "the mistake" when insufficient defensive organization and upfront pressing could be the mistake "in the" open play. Now you are asking him to ditch his open play calling that the mistake because "YOU" think it is. . . That's daft. The philosophy is not the mistake. . . tiny parts in the philosophy that have yet to blend are the mistakes. Stop acting like you invented anything.

Confusion reigns in nateevs’ head - I thought it was ‘tactical play’ i.e. a strategy that was responsible for the loss, now it has become a philosophy? AVB’s philosophy is to lose woefully to his big rivals?

Dunce! You cannot separate tactics from philosophy. Hence the word "tactical" . . . His philosophy is not to lose woefully to rivals. His philosophy in the initial stages "could" make him lose woefully to rivals but with persistence, he "could" be better and play that same way yet achieve the desired results against big teams.

Stop mixing up things again - you do have an issue distinguishing between subjects. I have no issues with his philosophy - I have issues with his failure to appropriately adapt his strategy to achieve that philosophy.

Then you clearly do not understand what a philosophy means. Because if you do, you would know there are teething problem when wholesome changes are attempted. It's not achieved the desired results but you cannot say it won't. . . So you cannot say he is daft. If I build a new engine and it never works past 10mins at a time, it doesn't mean there's no improvement going on underneath. It just could mean the improvement could take time to come to fruition. In that time, there could be a lot of embarrassing defeats but it "could" turn out good. Until a sufficient period of time has elapsed and there is not evident change, then you can rant but for now, you should STFU!

Not at all - again you need to improve your reading comprehension. The daftness emanates from repeating the same mistakes and learning nothing from previous encounters, not from using the same strategy as such. You should re-use strategies with learnings from previous failings included - AVB is not doing that.

So how do you know he is not doing that? Because of the end result? This is big st.upidity on show. Can you break down the two games and tell me the errors you notice in the first game, that repeated in the second game? Then tell us how you think he hasn't learnt. Are you making this conclusion from the end result? Because he lost big means he repeated the same mistake? Who let this dude loose?

His goals are to win games and trophies - he has stated so clearly. If we were talking about another club then this tosh about 'getting the team to play in a certain way' might fly. We know that coaches that fail to win games/trophies at Chelski get sacked, regardless of the ‘way they play’. Scolari’s sack came on the heels of a RVP double at SB, not because of the ‘way they play’.

Carlo was sacked despite producing the best attacking football ever from Chelski two seasons ago - 'way of play' didn't save him when trophies disappeared.

His goals are to win games and trophies but you leave out the important part "in a certain way" . . . And that is the crucial part. He is not going to defend deep because United are coming to town. He is not going to play counter attacking football because City have shown up. It does not make him unintelligent. It makes him dogged. You, on the other hand, are very unintelligent for thinking the only way out of this is for him to abandon his style for the purpose of winning games. He will not compromise his style of football. . . . Why do you think he is afraid of being sacked? He will be paid off in millions. £20million at least.

So why should he not be dogged and force through his idea? It doesn't matter who's gone before him, some managers stick to what they know regardless. Stop acting like his sacking will amount to cancer of the scrotum. It won't. So there's nothing to argue about. You may think he is an  for playing the same way and losing games. He may think he's getting there, losing games yet improving behind the scenes. You have no right to class that as being unintelligent. There are no grounds for such arguments.


You also do not know what goes on behind the scenes. Stadium naming rights, buying out CPO shareholders, investing in young players, selling off high-earning players are all indications that Chelsea are trying to pursue things in the right way. . . at least for a change. You cannot argue a case of firing AVB solely on past events. . .especially when it'll cost upwards of £20m to get rid of him. (FFP rules). If you are unwilling to consider things going on in Chelsea in 2011, then you are the unintelligent one.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Utter nonsense - is the style of coaching an end in itself or intended to win games? When the tactics repeatedly fail stupendously on the big occasions, what conclusion is to be made other than the person applying them is daft? The results speak for themselves - 3-1 and 5-3 against your main opponents isn't Debo speaking.

If he hasn’t perfected the style, why force fit it in games where it is clearly NOT going to work and even fails worse than the previous trial? That is a clear lack of intelligence.

It’s like saying that someone learning how to drive and can barely manage on residential streets insisting on driving on the motorway during rush hour when his skills are not yet mature - suicidal behaviour.

Mr Debo, you dare liken losing to a rival in football to a scenario where a loss of life could occur? What sort of brain do you have?
You cannot call AVB lacking in intelligence. You do not know what sort of backing he has with Roman.

Secondly, you cannot teach a football club a philosophy when you choose when you want to attack. That's why it's called a philosophy not strategy.
It means you stick to what you do no matter what. . That's a philosophy.


You cannot tell me AVB does not know how to be strategic. He does but that's not the goal.
You cannot also call him daft for persisting with his ways because you don't know his goal.
You think his goal is to win a game of football and when he hasn't done so employing his tactics, then he is evidently daft for trying again. He may think his goal is to get the team playing in the way he wants even if it means we lose all big games. To call him daft for persistence in his ways even though his goals may be different from your desires is plain ignorant and insanely id.iotic.

debosky:
If I was talking about someone who made a meaningful distinction when using both terms then it would matter - for you to argue about being in contention is a clear indication that you are using both terms interchangeably.

If you so clearly believe you won't win, of what value is an argument about being in contention?

For example - mathematically, Fulham can still win the title, so in theory they 'can', but you won't hear any Fulham fan claiming to be 'in contention' for the title.

No Debo. The difference here is that Fulham don't even have the personnel to win the title. Chelsea does.
Now whether Chelsea will harness the capabilities of the squad and mount a challenge for the title is another question. Especially under a new manager and new tactics. Hence my assertion of not "expecting to win the title" . . . .However, it is folly to argue that Chelsea "cannot" win the title.

There's a gulf of difference between my expectation of winning the title and Chelsea actually being in contention. I may have enough conviction based on what I see to suggest Chelsea will not win the title but at the same time, it is not to suggest Chelsea are not in contention. Why? Because they have what it takes.

This is just plain daft. You cannot call AVB's style of coaching daft because you "Debo" think it is.
AVB is working on a new style with Chelsea. He clearly has not perfected anything.

Some managers will reverse after a humiliating defeat, others stick to it and perfect it.
To say they are daft is just plain s.illy.

AVB is not going gung ho! . . It's tactical play. There's nothing wrong with his tactics expect it is heavily dependent on other parts being right. For starters, the high defensive line requires relentless pressing from the forward players and midfielders. It evidently has not happened like anticipated.

Like a pundit said, if you need pacy defenders in a high defensive line, it means something crucial is not working in the first place. Read into that what you may but there are people who see this cup as half full. AVB will probably lose all games to the big four but he will come out with something.

No Debo, I was not wrong about that. It's just a difference in philosophy of football.

Admit I was wrong about what exactly?
It also amazes that you cannot spot the simple difference "we won't" and "we can't".

Ibime:
I had let you off lightly but you seem determined to put yaself back on the hook again.
Can you show me where I said Meireles is the DM we need?
I said Meireles is a player we need and cited his proficiency at CM, DM and AM.
Anyway, enough about me. Please lecture us more about the art of shekpe keeping. I cant believe your keyboard did not taser you for continuing to type megedefegede about shekpe keeper being the most productive striker we currently have. If Anelka, Sturridge and probably Lukaku cannot outperform shekpe keeper in the no 9 role on any given Sunday, I will help you to finish your Baba Suwe dish.
You knew all you had stated above and were still overoptimistic, even telling me to forget everything I know about Mikel?
Mr Man, dont make me declare you persona non grata on this thread o! Some people are still struggling to stomach your presence after backing all the wrong horses and filling em with false confidence. Where is yur mate El Guapo?  

Typically evasive, lazy and empty. Absolute bullsh.it unworthy of any sort of long reply.
When you want to type sense, come back.