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LONDON, ENGLAND – APRIL 23: Michael Essien of Chelsea wins the ball ahead of Carlton Cole of West Ham during the Barclays Premier League match between Chelsea and West Ham United at Stamford Bridge on April 23, 2011 in London, England.
Chelsea travel to East London tomorrow lunchtime to take on West Ham and after two successive 0-0 draws, will be looking to get three points to get our season back on track. As we all know, a trip to West Ham is never easy and Chelsea need to be up and at it for this one to have any chance of taking the spoils.
The positive we have seen from Rafa’s two games in charge is an improvement in our defensive shape. OK, we haven’t scored but considering we hadn’t kept a clean sheet for 10 games, two in a row against Manchester City and Fulham is something to build on.
It’s up front where everyone knows we are lacking at the moment. Fernando Torres hasn’t scored for over 10 hours of football and in our last two games, we haven’t looked like scoring from anywhere else either!.
Rafa needs to work hard to get Chelsea firing in addition to tightening things up at the back and I just wonder if he will tweak anything tomorrow?
I posted yesterday my thoughts and observations on the Chelsea shape from the past two games here and rather than go into the full details I discussed with you all, I am going to pinpoint some things I would like to see implemented tomorrow.
I would like to see Juan Mata come off the right wing and come and play inside. At the moment under Rafa, the fluidity of Di Matteo’s attacking three is non existent as Hazard, Oscar and Mata have been asked to play a more rigid formation, sticking to their positions.
We need to find the right balance and it’s important that Rafa works hard to do that. Whether that means we have to switch to a 4-3-3 formation and sacrifice Oscar tomorrow then so be it, but we need out and out wingers working up and down.
West Ham are a hard side to play against with the obvious threats of Andy Carroll and Nolan. Chelsea need to dominate possession of the ball and to make West Ham work hard in midfield.
In order for Chelsea to win the game, I would like to see the following team start tomorrow:
Cech, Azpilicueta, Ivanovic, Cahill, Cole, Mikel, Romeu, Hazard, Oscar, Mata, Torres.
What about you people? Who do YOU think should start for Chelsea tomorrow?
Carefree & KTBFFH!
