Champions League Squad Analyzed

I was rather confused what should I start my blog with. I could have started with a lot of history about the club but then this blog is meant to carry the latest news,rumors and match previews and reviews. The club had its greatest moment when we won the Champions League and so my first post is related to the Champions League. The Champions League squad was announced last week.

Here is the list of the squad members.


Goal Keepers:

Petr Cech
Ross Turnbull
Jamal Blackman

Defenders:

Branislav Ivanovic
Ashley Cole
David Luiz
Paulo Ferreira
Gary Cahill
John Terry
Cesar Azpilicueta
Ryan Bertrand
Aziz Deen-Conteh
Todd Kane
Daniel Pappoe

Midfielders

Oriol Romeu
Ramires
Frank Lampard
Juan Mata
Oscar
John Obi Mikel
Victor Moses
Eden Hazard
Marko Marin
Billy Clifford
George Saville

Forwards

Fernando Torres
Daniel Sturridge
Lucas Piazon
Adam Phillip

* The ones in grey are from the B-List.

Thoughts on the squad

There is no doubt that this is a very good squad and more than capable of making good progress in the Champions League, hopefully even win it again. There is no doubt that unless Petr Cech has an injury ,the Goal Keeper's post will be his. If he does have an injury, then we might have be in a bit of a trouble as Turnbull hasn't really impressed and Blackman is very young and hasn't had a lot of exposure. Hilario is the notable omission from the Goal Keeping lineup with the youngster Blackman preferred.

Our defense is not as strong as the days when the Terry-Carvalho partnership was on but still they should do the job. Ivanovic should keep the right back spot ahead of new arrival Cesar Azpilicueta (still wondering how to pronounce his name). Ashley Cole will no doubt keep the left back spot with Ryan Bertrand a very capable deputy. The center back pairings will differ depending on Luiz's form I guess. Terry picks one spot automatically.Cahill and Luiz to fight for the other spot, though I will give the slight edge to Luiz. Our defense has not been the greatest in recent times, but hopefully everything should be all right. Also Ivanovic's natural position being center back, he can always be paired with one of the other three in case of any  injuries.

The central midfield or the defensive midfield position is one area of concern. With only Mikel,Lampard and Romeu to play there,this has to be a real concern for Di Matteo. I still think that letting Essien go on loan to Madrid was a blunder as the Ghanian. Even Meireles's departure to Turkey could have been avoided as we are really short in the central midfield area.One option would be to play Oscar there but then it might just be too risky.

The attacking midfield is no doubt one of the best in the world and RDM's main challenge would be to pick three from Mata,Hazard,Ramires,Moses,Marin. Hazard and Mata would be the first choices with the others competing for the third spot in the trio.

Another area we are a bit short is strikers. Torres has found his form back but this being a long season and with chances of injury,adequate cover is simply not there. We can only hope that Torres doesn't get injured and also Sturridge to come good. Young Lucas Piazon being handed a spot is a really welcome news and hopefully he will get some minutes on the pitch.

That ends my first post for you fans. Tell me what you think about the squad and my analysis. Please feel free to comment. Thanks for reading.