Chelsea post match celebrations

[Gingawaria]

Those scores are unbelievable. To give Carroll 6 and Sturridge 7 when Carroll was all over them and Sturridge was anonymous?!!? Surely they're taking the piss!?

[baitman]

I cant decide whether Gerrard suppresses lesser players talents through taking stuff on himself, or whether players like Henderson & Shelvey abdicate responsibility when Gerrard is playing

a bit of both, but the same result is a less dynamic team.
i have seen this over many seasons. a few years ago gerrard was out injured for a long spell, and we actually did better without him. we were playing much better as a team, rather than it being the stevie g show.

[Gingawaria]

a bit of both, but the same result is a less dynamic team.
i have seen this over many seasons. a few years ago gerrard was out injured for a long spell, and we actually did better without him. we were playing much better as a team, rather than it being the stevie g show.

The issue there was that we had better players around Gerrard meaning he wasn't missed as much.

[Galb]

a bit of both, but the same result is a less dynamic team.
i have seen this over many seasons. a few years ago gerrard was out injured for a long spell, and we actually did better without him. we were playing much better as a team, rather than it being the stevie g show.

If we do get some decent players during the summer (if, if, if), I can see this issue coming up again and again next year.

Fitting Gerrard into a formation that makes the most of his attacking abilities without the problems that come with him in a two man midfield (some of his decision-making on passing and positioning; the way some others seem to play worse) has been one of the challenges for us for years. Its only going to get more difficult as he starts to get older and loses some of that explosive power that makes him so good at pouncing on chances in the final third.

Playing him off Torres obviously worked brilliantly as a solution for a while. But what about with our current squad? If we're going to go with Carroll and Suarez up front, where does he play then? With Lucas in the middle? That's worked ok in the past but no more. With anyone else in the middle, the team as a whole seems to suffer.

Do we leave Lucas as the sole DM and leave Gerrard as part of a 3-man attacking unit behind Suarez and Carroll?

Do we go 4-3-3 with Gerrard and Suarez playing inside left and right of Carroll? But then where's the width going to come from? Full back?

If we're staying with 2 up front, it looks to me (contoversially) like he might be best accommodated as an attacking player drifting in from the right. He's already the best crosser we have at the club and he's scored goals from there before.

[Gingawaria]

I don't think it's any coincidence that Gerrard's best form coincided with Alonso and Mascherano being played in behind.

Jesus we had some team back then

[Muddled]

If we do get some decent players during the summer (if, if, if), I can see this issue coming up again and again next year.

Fitting Gerrard into a formation that makes the most of his attacking abilities without the problems that come with him in a two man midfield (some of his decision-making on passing and positioning; the way some others seem to play worse) has been one of the challenges for us for years. Its only going to get more difficult as he starts to get older and loses some of that explosive power that makes him so good at pouncing on chances in the final third.

Playing him off Torres obviously worked brilliantly as a solution for a while. But what about with our current squad? If we're going to go with Carroll and Suarez up front, where does he play then? With Lucas in the middle? That's worked ok in the past but no more. With anyone else in the middle, the team as a whole seems to suffer.

Do we leave Lucas as the sole DM and leave Gerrard as part of a 3-man attacking unit behind Suarez and Carroll?

Do we go 4-3-3 with Gerrard and Suarez playing inside left and right of Carroll? But then where's the width going to come from? Full back?

If we're staying with 2 up front, it looks to me (contoversially) like he might be best accommodated as an attacking player drifting in from the right. He's already the best crosser we have at the club and he's scored goals from there before.

Good post.

It's a debate I tried to start by saying he was retiring ... PTP still hasn't forgiven me.

[baitman]

Do we leave Lucas as the sole DM and leave Gerrard as part of a 3-man attacking unit behind Suarez and Carroll?

this

[Mello]

If we do get some decent players during the summer (if, if, if), I can see this issue coming up again and again next year.

Fitting Gerrard into a formation that makes the most of his attacking abilities without the problems that come with him in a two man midfield (some of his decision-making on passing and positioning; the way some others seem to play worse) has been one of the challenges for us for years. Its only going to get more difficult as he starts to get older and loses some of that explosive power that makes him so good at pouncing on chances in the final third.

Playing him off Torres obviously worked brilliantly as a solution for a while. But what about with our current squad? If we're going to go with Carroll and Suarez up front, where does he play then? With Lucas in the middle? That's worked ok in the past but no more. With anyone else in the middle, the team as a whole seems to suffer.

Do we leave Lucas as the sole DM and leave Gerrard as part of a 3-man attacking unit behind Suarez and Carroll?

Do we go 4-3-3 with Gerrard and Suarez playing inside left and right of Carroll? But then where's the width going to come from? Full back?

If we're staying with 2 up front, it looks to me (contoversially) like he might be best accommodated as an attacking player drifting in from the right. He's already the best crosser we have at the club and he's scored goals from there before.

As you say at the end, the answer for years has been to play Gerrard on the right wing. Not sure why managers refused to put their foot down and force the move. Quality CMs are much more common than quality wingers.

[el matador]

I think this result on its own confirms my total belief that we're going to take the league by storm next season. We was brilliant. We ripped them apart big style. They were almost hoisting that white flag at half time. It was one the most convincing home victories over chelsea in living memory. It should serve as proof that Kenny knows best and we are in safer hands than Jack Russell behind the wickets at Lords.

bob i love your optimism but i just cant see it happening.

i dont know just how many points we are off the top but its got to be approx 35 or so. And we're 14 points off fourth.

At the start of the season i honestly believed that this team would get 70 points this season and thus champions league qualification. Seeing just how far we've fallen short of that i cant see us getting those extra five wins that we havent this season.

Everyone thinks that when lucas comes back we'll be back in top shape again but he will have missed a lot of football and its going to take him time to find his feet again.

There are some real positives though. Andy carroll god willing can really push on next season because he's been excellent recently. Jordan henderson should start cm for us and stick there throughout the season as i think hes shown that hes best played centrally than out wide. Suarez has been our best player all season and our main attacking threat and hopefully we can integrate him into some sort of system that suits his and our strengths. Skrtel and agger have too been excellent at various times.

On the down side well you can take your pick from enrique, downing and charlie adam who have all been disappointing. Pepe's form has been shocking and really if this continues we will have to look for another keeper imo because his mistakes have probably cost us a few points this season.

The loss of carra will be a massive one to us because his presence on but given his age mainly off the pitch is important to younger players. Gerrard will be 32 and tbh his form hasnt been great and im not convinced that he will contributing hugely next season.

If you factor into that the probably losses of maxi and definitely dirk that too will take a lot of experience and know how out of the squad. Bellamy has had a really poor second half of the season really since his injury and at 33 you question whether he too can contribute significantly next season.

for me there's a lot of questions over the playing squad and more importantly the management. As things stand I think thats too many questions to answer in one season.

[Galb]

this

Id like to see that for games against weaker teams but I think we'd need more in the middle against stronger teams.

[Galb]

As you say at the end, the answer for years has been to play Gerrard on the right wing. Not sure why managers refused to put their foot down and force the move. Quality CMs are much more common than quality wingers.

As he loses pace, this has to be a no brainer. Beckham built a career out of crossing ability and no pace. For crosses into Carroll alone, a slow Gerrard would still make a massive contribution over the course of a season.

[kris90210]

Mos, any highlights of this? Missed the game unfortunately

[Exiled_red]

If we do get some decent players during the summer (if, if, if), I can see this issue coming up again and again next year.

Fitting Gerrard into a formation that makes the most of his attacking abilities without the problems that come with him in a two man midfield (some of his decision-making on passing and positioning; the way some others seem to play worse) has been one of the challenges for us for years. Its only going to get more difficult as he starts to get older and loses some of that explosive power that makes him so good at pouncing on chances in the final third.

Playing him off Torres obviously worked brilliantly as a solution for a while. But what about with our current squad? If we're going to go with Carroll and Suarez up front, where does he play then? With Lucas in the middle? That's worked ok in the past but no more. With anyone else in the middle, the team as a whole seems to suffer.

Do we leave Lucas as the sole DM and leave Gerrard as part of a 3-man attacking unit behind Suarez and Carroll?

Do we go 4-3-3 with Gerrard and Suarez playing inside left and right of Carroll? But then where's the width going to come from? Full back?

If we're staying with 2 up front, it looks to me (contoversially) like he might be best accommodated as an attacking player drifting in from the right. He's already the best crosser we have at the club and he's scored goals from there before.

Gerrard while being our biggest asset over recent years has also been a big problem in terms of position, aside from the 18 months or so he played in a 4-2-3-1 behind Torres we've never really established a system that suits both the team's and his style of play, I don't think he can play as a traditional midfielder in a 4-4-2 formation which I think could be a problem with the current set up. The other option is a right sided role but he didn't seem to like that.

[Daniel 7]

Re the Star's match ratings, I think some of you are naive enough to think that they actually had something to do with the match, and weren't written before the match started...

[Boogs]

Mos, any highlights of this? Missed the game unfortunately

Go to mostar twitter account there's plenty on there.