Bring Jon Harley back , and bring him back soon !!....please

[Di Motteo]

Luca said before the season started that Chelsea were going to play the English way to try and win us the league , ie. 4 - 4 - 2 . Get the ball to the front men quicker and more directly ( more long balls ) . I think to win the league he is probably correct . But to do that we must have a balanced midfield . The 2 central midfielders must be chosen from Wise and either Di Matteo , Morris , Poyet or Stanic . The right side midfield must be chosen from , Stanic , Poyet or possibly Melchiot . The left side must be chosen from Harley or Le Saux .

After watching WHU at the Bridge and Villa on the TV , it is glaringly obvious to me that we are very week on the leftside of midfield because Poyet has a natural tendancy to drift infield towards his favoured position of filling in behind the 2 strikers , leaving Babayaro over exposed . Then as the 2 centre backs have moved across to cover Baba , the defence is no longer as tight as it should be ( the rightback has become issolated ) ; the ball has been quickly switched to our rightside allowing a quality ball to be played in to the striker(s) and ....bingo ...a goal for the opposition .

If the midfield has a good balance to it ( ie. left footed player on the leftside , and a right footed player on the rightside then they will automatically give cover and protection to the defence in a 4 - 4 - 2 formation .

I hate to say it but it seems to me that either Poyet or Stanic will have to give way and sit on the bench if the team is really going to challenge seriously for the title.

Bring back Jon Harley , at least for the away games where I'm sure more often than not we would settle for a point !!

[Pitball]

I agree 100% with what you say. To me there seems to be three clear problems at the bridge.
1) Tactics - Luca seems unable to adapt, it'd be nice to see him try 352 or 532 or 433 or basically anything that gives us more strength in the centre of midfield.
2) Players - despite what we may think the team is nowhere near good enough to challenge for the Premiership. 2 years ago we were close but needed a goalscorer. We have the goalscorer now, but players like Di Matt and Franco are nowhere near the players they were then. We need another CB, a genuinely great and creative midfielder and a left winger, not midfielder, winger. Terry, Dalla Bona and Harley/Alexidze could play these positions but I don't think Luca is brave enough to give them a chance. When he's played Terry, he's played him at right back, Dalla Bona always comes on in right midfield or left midfield, Harley plays at left back more often than not when he is an attacking midfielder. Alexidze hasn't even been given a chance.
3) Attitude - the attitude of the players in the last couple of years has been appalling. If the players played their heart out, maybe we would be a bit closer to Man Utd and Arsenal. I think ultimately this comes down tothe manager, the problem was never quite so bad under Hoddle or Gullit.

We need to stop buying players in positions where we don't need them. Pannucci is a great player but do we need him with Ferrer, Melchiot and Luca Percassi? I think Melchiot should be given a go in CM, Stanic would probably be better in that position as well. If you're going to play CM's out wide, like Poyet or Stanic, then you might as well scrap the wide players and play 4 in the centre of midfield. I remember Portugal in Euro2000 had no wide players, instead they allowed Figo, Rui Costa and Joau Pinto to wander around behind the striker and this worked brilliantly. It's time we stopped thinking in terms of rigid 442 tactics. Remember Keegan played a rigid system and we looked dated and inflexible. It's the way forward.

What does everyone think??

[Di Motteo]

At last !! Someone on my wavelength .

There is no doubt about it , if we are seriously going to challenge then we need some skillful " scrappers " in that midfield ( especialy away from home ) , and that probably means younger players who are playing for their future at the club , rather than some of the older guys ( Di Mo , Poyet ) who are probably to ' long in the tooth ' to change their ways .

The burning questions are :

1) Does Vialli realise that this is probably our root problem ?

2) If he does , has he got the balls to give Harley , Dalla Bonna , Aleksidze and Terry the oppurtunity to prove themselves before it is to late ?

NB: Remember when Harley had 9 domestic matches in succession , starting with Spurs on Jan 12 ( 1 - 0 ) and ending with Watford on Feb 26th ( 2 - 1 ) , before injury put him out of contention ? We won 7 and drew 2 .

[Pitball]

I really worry for Vialli. I love him to death, he's my hero, same birthday as me, possibly the nicest bloke alive. But I just don't know if he has what it takes. We desperately need to blood youngsters. When Leboeuf was throwing a wobbly, Terry should have been given the chance. With Baba off to the Olympics, Harley should be given the position and if he's good enough he can keep it when Baba is back. Di Matt shouldn't be in the team and Morris just ain't good enough at the moment. Dalla Bona or Wolleaston need to have a chance and I mean a couple of games, not bringing them on after 80 minutes, by which time there's nothing they can do.
I think maybe there's certain players who have a bit too much influence in the dressing room, like Poyet and Di Matt.
I worship everyone at the Bridge (except Leboeuf obviously) and I hate to think of them ever leaving the club, but we need to start giving young players the chance, otherwise in two years time when Gus, Soxy, Di Matt, Zola, Dessy, De Goey and Wisey finally retire there'll be no-one to take their place with any decent first team experience. Mind you by that time Luca will probably have bought the rest of his old Serie A friends to take their place!!

[zOla]

heh.. I just had to laugh on Pitball's last sentance.. hehe http://www.worldsoccerboard.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

I think some of the lack of performances might be do to the age of the players.

Poyet - 32 (almost 33)
Wise - 33 1/2

Since we are talking about the midfield here... I thought I'd point 'em out. I mean how many more years can you give those players.. max 1-2.. usually when a player reaches 33 he looses some of the speed and stuff.. but he gains SKILL.. which is very imprtant.

Poyet as well as Wise can still "cut it" I believe so why experiment with them, esecially Poyet, in different positions. Play them in the center.

True it's good to try how they will perform in left (I know Wise ain't the king of that position as well) but we should not do that in the league..nor any competition. That is why there are friendlies. Of course it's too late since the season is under way.

Instead of chasing Zenden, Savio... why not go after McManaman... We don't need a back player nor another attacker.. we need midfielders at the moment.

I wanna see Alexidze out... Harley... was the total suprise player we brought out last season, he performed so well.. and now he ain't even getting the bench sit, and he should get more than the bench as all of you agree.

[zOla]

it seems like Luca started cutting the paper well...but it ripped before he could finish it nicely.