Righting Wrongs

So another game and another snooze fest was served up at Stamford Bridge. Again emotions were running high and feelings were made very clear by the crowd at Stamford Bridge. There are many different views and people feel more strongly about different things when it comes to the recent events.

Firstly Roberto Di Matteo, last night there were many calls for him to come back and that things would be better if we had him as manager still. This I struggle to understand. Before I carry on I want to make it clear that I think the club were wrong to give him the push so quickly and he should have been given more time to try put right what was going wrong. That being said lets not look back with blue tinted glasses and think everything was going well. The performances were very poor and we were getting slaughtered at the back. The Juventus, West Brom, Liverpool and Swansea games were not good and it was looking difficult to see a way back. People are saying that the results would have been different with Di Matteo in charge, yes they may have been better but they could also have been worse looking at the form of the team. Benitez was criticized (rightly) for playing Bertrand in one of the attacking midfield spots and that this would not have happened under Di Matteo, well it did happen and plenty of times. Lets not forget in his last game against Juventus he played Azpilicueta in one of those spots. 

The point I am making on Di Matteo is that it is fine to be upset that he was sacked when he was but lets look back honestly not think that Di Matteo was getting everything right just because Benitez is now in charge.

This leads on to Benitez himself who really does seem to want to make things as difficult for himself as possible. He passed up another oppertunity to draw a line under the past and continues to go down the line of saying that the supporters will back him when he starts winning. Well Rafa you are not winning games, and so far he is not improving a thing. Playing Bertrand in attacking midfield is just madness, how many other top clubs in Europe play defenders in advanced positions unless injuries dictate otherwise. What it just   underlines for me is that this formation is just not working for us at all. His persistence that Torres is fine and just needs more help from his team mates is frankly laughable, Torres is a totally spent force and we persist with him past the January transfer window then madness truly does reign at Stamford Bridge.

The body language of Torres is not right at all and 95% of the time when we will attack will take up a position where he is unable to collect the ball and will not make the right runs to enable his team mates to put him through. It is past crazy now that we are persisting. Yes Sturridge is injured and we have no other options but with the contribution Torres is making we would do no worse playing a youngster.

I find it hard to understand how the club thought that Benitez was a better option for the rest of the season than Di Matteo. Lets be honest it is perfectly clear that in the summer we will see either Guardiola or Mourinho as manager but what could Roman and the board seen in Benitez that made them think he would be able to do a better job? Maybe he will turn things around, who knows, but it will take more than a few minor changes and personnel changes to do that.

As I have already said the formation for us is busted. It just does not work with the players we have. We should be looking to change our formation and do it quickly, for me there is only one way to go and that is back to our tried and tested 4-3-3, ironically we have players better suited to that now than we have had for a long while. In my opinion we should be playing a midfield with Mikel holding, Oscar playing the box to box role and Mata playing the more advanced role of the midfield three. The balance works, we know Mikel plays the holding role with no problems, Oscar is very comfortable coming deep and then moving forward and Mata is of course ideal of the 10 role.

Ahead of that we should be wingers Hazard who out of our three attacking players is better suited out wide and then either Marin or Moses on the other wing with of course Torres or Sturridge as the lone striker. To me the balance just works with this team and it gives us a more solid base and we even manage to keep our three golden boys on the pitch. More than that it will give us some much needed width. Rotation and changes will also be much easier, Ramires can come in and play the box to box role or the holding role, Lampard can play the box to box role of course and either Oscar or Hazard can play the 10 role.

For me this is the only way forward and the change needs to be made pretty quickly otherwise we could seriously run the risk of falling out of the top 4 again. West Ham are the opponents for Saturday and 3 points is an absolute must, but more than that is a need for improvement.