Yesterday was the week-iversary of our Champions League triumph!!! In celebration I watched the replay of the game and dropped some money at the online Chelsea Megastore. While watching the game this time, I was significantly less edgy and was able to analyze the game more than just praying my heart won't explode. I noticed something early in the game and the further the game progressed the more I noticed it was a trend. That is that Mikel placed Lampard and our defenders in a perilous position constantly. Let me first say I'm not a Mikel hater. He gives tremendous effort for the squad and has been our best option on the right side of the pivot with Essien being a shell of his old self. I may sound over critical during my assessment, but this was a critical game, and this is all coming without any knowledge of the tactics RDM and co gave Mikel. That being said I noticed he put the defense in detrimental positions multiple times using with 3 different reasons: lunging, positioning and lack of effort. His passing wasn't great either but I only noticed that as an issue one or two times.

The first time I noticed this was very early in the game, when Mikel lunged for a tackle too late, which put everyone out and, by luck, Schweinstager had a strong touch and it fell for Ashley, who sent it to Mikel, who returned it to Bayern. Minutes later he lunged again at Schweinstager, was nutmegged and gave up the first chance of the game. He did this quite a few times, often at the midfield, which left Lampard, Cahill and Luiz at disadvantages as our fullbacks were pushing up on occasion.

Then I started looking for his positioning during the game. With Ryan Bertrand at the LW and Lampard on the left side of the pivot going box to box it was my opinion that Mikel's job was to work on the right side assisting Cahill and Bosingwa. Bayern put the ball on the left side quite a bit and with Lampard pushing forward and not being quick enough to make it back on defense before Bayern it was understandable that he would work his way over to that side on occasion. But more often than not I noticed Mikel was on the top of the box on the left side, which left a huge hole in our defense. The play which this most angered me was during the quick throw in which Muller sent it to Gomez who then put it in between his legs, Lampard got to it first sent it to Bosingwa who then missed the ball while trying to clear and surrendered the throw. Where was Mikel? On the left side at the top corner of the box watching and not marking anyone. Far too often during the game I saw Mikel standing by himself in an area that would not help out the defense. He was playing specific areas, but he wasn't playing where the game needed him. He left way too many passing lanes open and stood behind the dangerous areas when a cross seemed likely.

The thing that frustrated me the most was the lack of effort he displayed. This was not a sweeping display, however when he needed to give a little extra he sat at the top of the box and watched. On the play that Robben had his first chance and Cech blocked it then it hit the bar, it was Mikel that was on him. Robben used Ribery and Bosingwa as a screen and went around them. What Mikel should have done was go underneath, and meet Robben on the other side. What he actually did was stop and watch the play unfold. Kalou was in the corner and he came flying in, was late to the shot, but after it deflected off the crossbar, he ran straight into the middle and would've been the one to clear the ensuing scissor kick if Lampard hadn't been infront of him. Where was Mikel during all this? Still at the top of the [fun]ing box watching.

This is by no means an exhausted list. These are just a few of the blunders (from only the first half I might add). I suggest you re-watch the game also so you can see some of these for yourself (also its so much fun to watch again and again and again).

Continue reading this post »

I'm not naive. I know there is still a long way to go until a move to Battersea but being a fan I am entitled to hopeful speculation. The concept of encorporating the four smokestacks into the design has brought up a bunch of ideas on how to give them some Chelsea flair and while most of it has been hilarious jokes it got me thinking on what I'd do. I'd use the four smokestacks to commemorate the four types of tournaments we are involved in. One pillar will commemorate our evolvement in the UCL (hopefully we will have a trophy to display winkwink). That corner of the stadium concourse could be a museum of evolvement ion UCL and/or Europa. The next corner would be our premier league/second division museum, then the F.A. Cup, then what I would call "lesser tournaments" such as carling cup, community Sheild, and uefa super cup. As I write this I realize I'm not doing a good job describing it but hopefully you guys can understand what I mean

KTBFFH

Hey everyone, this is my first Chelsea post so I'll give a quick bio. I'm born and raised in Orlando and currently enrolled at Florida International University in Miami. The first football game, that wasnt a world cup match, I ever sat down to watch was a Chelsea v. Everton match that I watched in a pub in London. That day I was a Chelsea fan for survival but since then I've been a Blue.

Now on to my point. There are currently three races at the end of the season that will be effecting Chelsea's UCL qualification. Those races come from the EPL title race, La Liga title race and the fight to avoid relegation to England's second level. Here is how those races will effect Chelsea:

Continue reading this post »

Ed. note: edited for profanity - ED

I'm going to be completely honest here.... I hate Andrew Bynum. He is a headcase who gets injured way too often. I also do not like Pau Gasol because he's just way too soft to take over the way Dwight does. That being said I am starting to accept the fact that Dwight may not be in Orlando and that those two guys are most likely going to be the best straight up offer.

But I think that adding another team into the trade talks would be better. We heard Gerald Wallace's name paired with Brook Lopez (I don't even have to bother explaining how little I want to see this guy in Orlando) and that really got me thinking. We need a trade where we do not take ourselves out of playoff contention (because we have an arena to pay off) while not forcing us to give up too much young talent. A group I have been watching is the back 3 of Portland. Camby, Aldridge and Wallace have been linked with moves to Orlando before and I think I'd rather have them then Gasol and Bynum.

Here is the trade. http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=7kz47fd

Give Receive

Magic: Dwight Howard(C) LaMarcus Aldridge (PF)

Hedo Turkoglu(SF) Marcus Camby (C)

Daniel Orton(PF) Gerald Wallace (SF)

Quentin Richardson(SF)

Draft Picks

Lakers: Pau Gasol(PF) Dwight Howard (C)

Andrew Bynum(C) Hedo Turkoglu (SF)

Draft Picks Daniel Orton (PF)

Trail Blazers: Marcus Camby(C) Pau Gasol (PF)

Lamarcus Aldridge(PF) Andrew Bynum (C)

Gerald Wallace(SF) Quentin Richardson (SF)

Draft Picks

What Orlando's Roster would look like

PG Nelson/Duhon/Hughes

SG JRich/JJ/Wafer/Liggins

SF Wallace/Earl Clark

PF Aldridge/Anderson/Harper

C Camby/Davis

Why Orlando would do this:

We get high powered additions at the SF and PF which would help us match up better against Miami and Atlanta while not having to give up Anderson, JJ, Nelson, Davis, Clark Liggins, Harper or JRich. I think Liggins has a great future and Harper has an opportunity to be the next Rashard Lewis. Also we get away from Hedo's contract. It's not like the contracts we get in return are better but the players are and Camby's contract will be over at the end of this year which is $11 mil off the books which could be used to get a number of centers(not up to Howard's level but the rest of the team will be improved) for the list of centers http://www.hoopsworld.com/2012-nba-free-agents . We lose draft picks but good teams hardly ever get good players in the draft because there just isn't enough talent, but we do not have to give up our best picks because the Lakers will be willing to shell out their top picks.

Why Orlando wont:

Dwight decides to stay or we do not want to risk not signing a good center and being stuck with Camby or worse. Also if they don't think that Wallace and Jameer (PO) will stay.

Why Lakers will:

They get Howard. He is the next torch carrier after Kobe and the best player "available." I am watching the Magic vs Lakers game now and it is clear that they need a roster transition to come with their change in system.

Why they wont:

It looks up their ability to change their roster without improving at PG. Bynum's contract ends this year and they may think that they could sign Dwight and a PG over the off season while keeping Pau (which is unlikely). They lose a top PF and gain a SF which they already have a log jam. They lose picks so they can't start building around a dominate center. I do not see a reason why these would stop them from getting the most dominate center in the game.

Why Portland does:

They get height and possibly cap space next year in an underrated free agent market. Camby cannot keep up with Ibaka or Nene. They get draft picks and they know that they need to rebuild. They are second to last in their division and it doesn't look like it'l get better with a Love/Rubio tandem starting to brew in Minnesota.

Why Portland won't:

They lose their franchise player and an exciting SF (which is huge in their division) for some very unexciting players. If they don't feel confident about keeping Bynum or improving in the free agent market that may stop them but i doubt they see that as an issue (Bynum>Camby) and Bynum opting out would get them an extra $3mil more than Camby leaving. It is going to be losing Aldridge that could destroy this deal. That is the only thing I can see destroying this deal. The trade will net the Trailblazers -$3mil in cap room but they cant really do much as is so that will not be a real issue.

So tell me what you think. Do you think it is possible and/or would it be something you'd like to do if Dwight's trade request stands?

I'm not joking I will convert.  http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=6cth3uw

So you don't have to look it up the:

Magic get: Chris Paul, Josh Smith, Quincey Pondexter

Atlanta get: J.J. Redick, Hedo Turkoglu, Quentin Richardson

New Orleans gets: Jameer Nelson, Brandon Bass, Marvin Williams

Do I have to waste any time saying why the Magic do it? They will need to resign J-Rich or a different SG and then have Gil float as back-up PG and SG and hope Duhon finds a game. The Hawks get 3 players and lose 2. They fill out roster space with semi-solid veterans and basically replace Jamal Crawford for $3 million dollars of cap extra cap space. New Orleans has a definite downgrade in PG but they are sending out Quincey Pondexter and getting Brandon Bass and Marvin Williams. Bass will be big since they will probably be replacing David West, Carl Landry, and/or Jason Smith who are all coming off the books.

Magic Line-up

PG- CP3, (Gil), Duhon

SG- (Fill in SG), (Gil), Liggins

SF- Josh Smith, Pondexter, Harper

PF- Bass/Anderson, Anderson/Bass, Harper

C- Dwight, Orton

Portland Gets: (C)Marcin Gortat and (PF) Brandon Bass

Orlando Gets: (PF)LaMarcus Aldrige

BOOM that just happened

Portland needs a center because all of there's blow up and in case you haven't realized... the guy is VERY good. We would be losing two guys who could start but get minimal playing time. Only problem is that we would have to go into free agent or make another deal for a back up center.