Rafael Benitez bemoaned the lack of depth in the Chelsea squad and has suggested that the West London club needs to spend in order to compete on all fronts, should the Blues strengthen before the January transfer window slams shut?
Roman Abramovich sanctioned the signing of £7 million man Demba Ba from Newcastle earlier in the month but the interim manager Benitez believes Chelsea are lacking in a few key areas and don’t have the strength in numbers required to rotate the playing staff to avoid fatigue.
The Spaniard revealed that he had a conversation with the owner on the issue:
“We cannot rest too many players because our squad is not that big in certain positions.
“I had a good conversation about this with the owner the other day. I gave my opinion, he listened to me, but I have to concentrate on the team.
“I have to play Frank Lampard and Ramires all the time because we have problems with injuries and suspensions and we have two players at the African Nations Cup. We have had nine games a month since I came here and the players are a little tired. You can really see the difference when players are allowed to have a rest.
“If you have a big squad you can keep the level when you play in a cup competition. We will try to strike the right balance.”
(ESPN)
We’re having some problems in terms of the squad at the moment as Nigerian duo Victor Moses and John Obi Mikel have been away at the African Cup of Nations, Oriol Romeu is out long term, David Luiz is injured and John Terry is only just coming back from a spell on the sidelines, whilst Eden Hazard will be banned for three games minimum. And the players that we do have available aren’t performing at their peak as we just don’t have any opportunity to rest them and it’s particularly prevalent in the case of Juan Mata, who almost had to carry the team during difficult times this season. We already saw the benefits of some rest could do for the diminutive Spaniard earlier in the season when he earned a break from international duty after a busy summer at the European Championships and the Olympics.
The midfield is the problem area in my opinion though. We’re forced to keep playing Lampard and Ramires there for the moment which isn’t ideal, especially as the former isn’t exactly suited to his role in the pivot despite the occasions he has shone such as Stoke away, so I’d say a central midfielder is a priority. Some would also argue that we may need even more firepower on top of the introduction of Ba, whilst others aren’t convinced by Oscar’s recent performances and are looking to the likes of Willian to potentially provide some more spark.
Oscar has been played out of position. He shines when he is at the centre of the MAZACAR
You are very right,Oscar has been played out of position,even Mata and Hazard…You cannot play Hazard on the right and get a perfect result,he need to be played on the left while Mata can play on the right cutting through the middle…Benitez to me never love Chelsea,he just want to destroy what RDM built…He knew even if he did a perfect job in Chelsea,he will still be sacked afterwards.
We need Fellaini!! Even our strikers would perform better when he is in the side!! Sorry Gary..but I can’t remember when Oscar had to play out of position..he is always put in the middle..but the ‘MAZACAR’ always has LOTS of inter changing between them..
I guess you never watch Chelsea match a lot,Benitez use him most time on the right and left
Why not just write off the league for the season. Use it as a chance for the younger players to have a real game. Save the big guns for cup competition. There’s no no point in signing make do players to help on a season that has already been wasted. Want until the summer and get some big names.
I think buying new players isnt a good option. We hav a lot of young players on loan (Josh, De bruyne, piazon etc), who are ripe 4 midfield job, plus romeu, mikel n essien(if he may stay). Buying other m.fielders wil be killing our young talents. We hav to use th available resources(players) 4 d time being until summer whn we must buy a quality striker. After all, moses n mikel r returning in Feb.
Oscar should nt be used at d start of d match let him come from d bench, he ll surely make it.
Oscar has been disappointing so far but its his first season I remember even drogba had a poor first and second season then picked up later I think we need a rugged defensive midfielder and possibly a creative holding midfielder to pick out the passess from deep in midfield like a xabi alonso or pirlo
In my opinion gary cahill is not a top quality defender we need one with speed and positional awareness like carvalho
We dont need players for now.What will happen to de brune,josh,lukaku,vanharlot,kalas,davila,piazon,sevila,ake,chaloba e.t.c who are all coming back during d summer.
January 27th, 2013 at 3:05 amAkin Reply:
And I guess u have never seen a team line up before games!! Have never seen Oscar placed on the right. When ever he starts he is in the middle!
The truth is that both Oscar and Hazard ‘r natural midfielder, its only Mata who can play at wing. If any one here have watched Eden Hazard at Lille last season then u people will agree with me that to see the best of Hazard is to play him behind striker, because Hazard used to scored like Lampard. While Oscar can b play free roll. But i think that Chelsea team need a very good manager, whom will know where will fit those players. Benitex ‘r just one way manager, because i haven’t seen a good manager who will be change the winning team or who doesn’t have a starting 11.