Lukaku should be back at Chelsea in January

West Brom currently sit above Chelsea in the EPL table with an impressive forward line to choose from.While first choice striker Shane Long has been brilliant, Romelu Lukaku has proved that he is a more than able to succeed in the premier league with 4 goals and an assist. The stats are really impressive considering that the young Belgian has started from the bench most of the times. While his parent club Chelsea are struggling with their strikers Torres and Sturridge have disappointed. The decision to loan out Lukaku is proving to be an unwise one already. Abramovich might want Torres to succeed, but his performances in front of the goal is really testing the patience of supporters who have always stood by him. While there is a slim chance that Rafa might be able to get back some of the form in Torres, there is every chance that he will not be as lethal as in his Liverpool days. Also, with Sturridge wanting out in January, the clause to get Lukaku back in January should be used by the Blues. The other option is to bring Falcao to Chelsea, but that would again mean spending a load of money. But when we have a youngster doing so well for another club in the premier league, why bring Falcao in? Even if Falcao is in, that would mean more or less that Torres will move in the opposite direction, leaving us again with a single striker. Lukaku has gained valuable experience playing for the Baggies and has proved his worth. Even with a main striker,Torres or Falcao in the squad, there has to be someone who can make an impact from the bench, like Hernandez does for Man United or super sub Dzeko does it for Man City. It all depends on how the manager succeeds in giving playing time to the fringe players,something that RDM didn't do very well. Chelsea have used only 19 players in the EPL till date, which is the lowest in the league. If Man United and City who both have 4 strikers to choose from can rotate their players, why can't Chelsea do the same thing. It brings out the best in the players starting,since they won't be taking their places for granted. Also, it would give some rest to the players. Torres began impressively this season, but has started in almost every game, which would have obviously tired the Spaniard. Isn't that enough reasons to suggest that Lukaku should be back at Chelsea in January?

Lukaku's stats so far at West Brom

Starts : 3*
Substitute appearances : 8*
Goals: 4
Assists : 1

* Lukaku wasn't eligible to play against Chelsea. 11 appearances off a possible 12 for the Baggies

** 3 of his 4 goals have come in winning causes
** Torres has the same number of goals and he has started in all matches

Frosty reception for Rafa as Chelsea and Manchester City play out a draw

The Rafa Benitez era at the Bridge began with the new manager being booed by large sections of the home crowd and support pouring in for Robbie Di Matteo. Rafa has been an unpopular figure for the Stamford Bridge faithful ever since his Liverpool days and for almost the first half, the crowd never got behind the team.All the action was restricted to the crowd as on the pitch,Chelsea and Manchester City were far from impressive as a tame draw was played out. There weren't any clear cut chances for both teams and if Rafa is to win over the fans,he will need the team to win a few matches convincingly. This one did little good to enhance his reputation with the crowd.

Torres was back in the side with the trio of Hazard,Mata and Oscar behind him. Ivanovic was preferred over Cahill at center back with Luiz along side him.The same 4-2-3-1 system was employed but the creative spark which has gone missing for the past few games was again missing as no clear cut chances were created. The result leaves Chelsea in 4th position behind West Brom and City in 2nd position.

Manager Watch:

It would have been really tough for Rafa to hear the chants of 'Rafa Out' in his very first game in charge, but it wasn't unexpected. When you replace a fan favorite with someone who the fans don't want at all, it would have been a surprise if a good reception was given to Rafa. No changes to the system nor the personnel were made by the new manager as the same 4-2-3-1 formation was employed.But the free flowing football was missing,meaning that more emphasis was laid on the defensive side of the game.But with the fans against him, the only way to turn around things is to get wins and I felt that enough wasn't done to win the game.It was City who looked like scoring for most parts of the game.

Substitutions: Benitez made two substitutions in the game. Moses coming in for Hazard and then Romeu for Mikel. While the first one made sense to put fresh legs on the pitch,the second substitution just confirmed the fact that Benitez was happy with a point. It simply didn't make sense for me that Romeu came in for Mikel. If Chelsea were looking to win the game, then another attacker should have been on the pitch. Again the unlucky Marin was to miss out. A 4-1-4-1 formation would have given more of an opportunity to score,with Marin,Oscar,Mata and Moses behind Torres, or even push one of the mid fielders to partner Torres upfront with a 4-1-3-2 formation. Di Matteo was also a bit reluctant to change the formations and watching the first game with Benitez in charge, I fear the same is going to be repeated.

Not a good outing for the new manager in terms of the reception and the substitutions made but a positive from the match would be the clean sheet especially against City who has arguably the best forward line in the premier league.

Rafa Benitez appointed manager till the end of the season

Chelsea's pursuit of Pep Guardiola was due to fail as the former Barcelona manager refused to come out of his sabbatical before the end of the season. Former Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez has been appointed as the interim manager. Here are my thoughts on the appointment.

Benitez's appointment is seen as a short term solution by the Chelsea hierarchy until Pep comes out of his sabbatical. Having seen the history of Roman's impatience with manager, will Pep be ready to come after all? After all he will need time to implement a free flowing style and Roman's impatience won't help him achieve the success in short term.Now what happens if Benitez wins the Premier League this season? Won't Chelsea be forced to keep him as a good will gesture? Another dilemma for Chelsea would be that Pep will have a lot of offers other than Chelsea, with probably Manchester City or even Man United interested. Sir Alex Fergusson might be retiring in a year or 2 and if SAF decides to go at the end of this season, I see no reason why Pep wouldn't be interested in take up the job. Both the Manchester clubs will provide much more security to his job.

Another problem with Benitez's appointment is that he is almost hated by Chelsea fans.Chelsea fans are not happy with RDM's sacking and on top of it, the hierarchy appoint a person whom Chelsea fans hate. Rafa has to win over the fans and keep winning matches as well. So a lot of pressure is already there on Rafa as he takes the reigns at Stamford Bridge.

Benitez got the boot from Inter Milan, 6 months after taking charge. The same Inter won the treble the previous season with Mourinho at the helm. He wasn't able to land a job for another 2 years after the sacking from Inter. So is he really the right man for the job?

In spite of all this negativity surrounding the appointment of Rafa, there are some qualities in Rafa, that could really inspire the team. He was able to win two La Liga titles with Valencia before winning the Champions league with Liverpool. There is no doubt that he is a successful manager. Another positive about him is that he is the manager under whom Torres thrived. It does makes one wonder whether the appointment is to fire Torres. Personally, I don't really think that Torres will reach that same heights but the plans to revive Torres starts with Rafa's appointment.Another quality that Rafa brings in his no nonsense attitude, which would help in managing the egos within the team.

Will Rafa be able to revive the team low on confidence? Only time will tell and all I can say is "Good luck Rafa". That doesn't mean that I am impressed by the appointment, but lets see what happens at the end of season before being judgmental.

RDM loses his job after loss at Turin leaves Chelsea on the brink of CL exit

6 months after he led Chelsea to its greatest night at Munich, Roberto Di Matteo was sacked by Chelsea after a string of bad results. The loss to Juventus at Turin has left Chelsea facing an exit from the Champions league in the league stage itself, a fact that was too much for Roman to ignore and acted by axing the popular manager.

This is a really shocking decision (rather another shocking decision). True that the results over the past few matches were disappointing but that doesn't mean that the manager has to be sacked,especially since RDM won the Champions league and FA cup as the interim manager last season. Add to the fact that he was a wonderful player for Chelsea, RDM has a legendary image at Chelsea and this decision would have alienated so many fans.

Pep Guardiola has long been sought after by Roman and is favorite to replace RDM. Whether he will come out of his sabbatical is still a major roadblock for Chelsea. Rafa Benitez is another candidate for the job.

So sorry for Di Matteo. Led the team to its greatest night and still didn't keep his job. While I accept that Chelsea would have been nothing without Roman, he cannot continue axing managers after a string of bad results. What happens if Pep comes in and loses 5 matches - he too will be fired. So will he even take a job that is so insecure? Disappointed by the decision.

November blues continue as Chelsea as slump continues at West Brom

Over the past few years, the month of November has been a very bad month for Chelsea as the team some how seem to lose the momentum and this season also has proved so far that the curse of November is still there. A 2-1 loss to West Brom meant that Chelsea are now 4 league games without a win. With Man United losing to Norwich later in the day, it was also an opportunity missed to close the gap. As it stands, the Blues are now 4 points behind new league leaders Manchester City and 3 points behind United.

Di Matteo decided to bench key players for the game as many of them were on duty for their country during mid week. Oscar,Ramires,Mata and Ivanovic were absent from the starting line up. RDM's rotation has been really poor and the Blues have used only 19 players in the league, the least in the Premier League. With the talent at his disposal, Di Matteo should be using more of his players to prevent the key players from burning out. With Mata and Oscar benched, RDM started with Moses,Hazard and Sturridge behing Torres. Again for some reasons, Marin was again left on the bench. Hazard has normally played on the left side for Chelsea and with Marin's preferred position being the left, one would have thought that the Belgian could also be given a break and play Marin in the position. The Belgian was however one of the brighter players on the pitch and scored Chelsea's lone goal by heading in Azpilicueta's cross. Torres was again anonymous.With Sturridge moving to the center when Torres was taken off,Chelsea carved out some chances for scoring. Sturridge did his chances no harm as he forced the keeper into a couple of good saves. But the "selfish" nature in him was again evident as he chose to shoot instead of passing to a better placed team mate.

The lack of quality up front is really hurting Chelsea and with Torres again misfiring after the good start to the season ,the need to get a good striker in January will be the top priority. News reports suggest that Falcao will arrive in January. I don't really think the Chelsea need to go spent another 50 million on a striker and would prefer Lukaku brought back from his loan spell. 

Blues lose further ground on league leaders with draw against Liverpool

While the Blues began the season in absolutely wonderfully well, the last few games have been a different story with Chelsea struggling to notch up victories. While the match against Manchester United was lost in controversial circumstances, even in that match, the first two goals were conceded so easily. Last week the Blues allowed Swansea to draw level after taking the lead and it was the same story this week as well as Terry's opener was cancelled out by Luiz Suarez. This makes it 3 EPL games without a win and 2 points out of a possible 9 is not at all championship winning form.What will concern more for RDM is that Terry's comeback was cut short by an injury,which looks like will keep him out for some time.

Chelsea had enough chances to win the game and were guilty of not finishing well. There is obviously a lot of tired legs in the midfield, who have been laboring week and week out. While the depth of the squad is great, the rotation seems to be happening only in the defense. Moses has got some action, but the bulk of the matches have seen Mata,Hazard and Oscar line up. It would probably be a good thing to bring in Marin and Piazon for some of the matches to avoid a burnout for Hazard,Mata and Oscar.

The draw saw us lose further ground as United's and City's wins means that Chelsea are now in third position. Next up is West Brom away, which will again be another massive test. West Brom are currently fifth in the table.

Looking ahead to Chelsea vs Liverpool

Competition: EPL
Opponent: Liverpool
Venue: Stamford Bridge,Chelsea

After the mid week triumph against Shakthar Donetsk in the Champions league, Chelsea resume their battle for the EPL crown on Sunday with another tough match, this time against Liverpool. The current table position shows the Blues in second place while Liverpool are languishing in 12th, but that wouldn't mean that this will be an easy game. Liverpool have the habit of raising their game against the likes of Chelsea,Man United,Man City and Arsenal and are a dangerous opponent. The results may have gone against them, but with Suarez,Gerrand,Allen etc in the team, Liverpool are still a strong side. Also, Liverpool have been something of a thorn in the flesh for Chelsea as they have been one of the most successful clubs to have face Chelsea in the recent past. In the last four meetings at the Bridge, the Reds have amazingly won 3 of them, including a 2-1 win last season.

With Chelsea opting the expansive style, goals are something that the Blues are sure to offer these days.But a recent slump in form following the defeat against Man United and an away draw at Swansea saw the Blues losing the top spot in the EPL tables. With Man United winning against the Villans today, Chelsea are now 4 points behind the league leaders and thus this game becomes a must win to keep up with United.

John Terry might have been benched against Shakthar, but I expect him to be given the start against Liverpool, especially after a horror show by the center backs against Shakthar. Cahill would probably keep his place ahead of Luiz. Ashley Cole and Frank Lampard are still out injured. Bertrand will obviously start at left back against Liverpool. Bertrand was absolutely poor against Shakthar and will hope that he doesn't make such mistakes in this game especially against the pacy 17 year old Raheem Sterling.

Another key battle is for Torres. Torres had a legendary status at Liverpool before Chelsea prized him away but the Spaniard is yet to score against his old club in three meetings.He will be certainly hoping to add to his Chelsea tally of goals. Torres is still not to his best and needs a good game with a goal or two. The striker at the other end, Suarez has been in red hot form in EPL and has already scored 7 goals. The problem for Liverpool has been that none of the others have been contributing much goals. So stopping Suarez will be of primary importance for the Chelsea defense. Expect Terry to be closely marking Suarez.

The mid field trio of Mata,Hazard and Oscar will again start behind Torres. RDM has been saying about squad rotation and while he has rotated his defenders, he has been reluctant to rotate Mata,Hazard and Oscar. Marin is yet to get a game, while Moses has impressed recently with two goals in the last two matches. If Chelsea need width, then it would be good idea to bring on Moses and Marin as the game progresses.

Probable Team : Cech,Ivanovic,Cahill,Terry,Bertrand,Ramires,Mikel,Mata,Oscar,Hazard,Torres

This is another massively important game and a must win if Chelsea have to keep pace with United and City in the battle for the EPL crown.On paper, the Blues should easily brush aside Liverpool,but recent record for the Kop shows that they perform  really well against the Blues. This could be another match with end-to-end stuff and I am really looking forward to it. Only concern is about the referee, Howard Webb. Hopefully the referee and his assistants won't be in the news for all the wrong reasons after the game.

Last gasp winner keeps alive Champions league defense

A last gasp header from Victor Moses gave Chelsea a 3-2 win at Stamford Bridge against Ukrainian champions Shakthar Donetsk. Shakthar had already shown that they are a wonderful team when they thoroughly outplayed the European champions at Donbass Arena, and they once again nearly outplayed the Blues at the Bridge. Two goalkeeping mistakes led to 2 Chelsea goals and the result would probably had been different if not for their defensive lapses, not that Chelsea defended great themselves.

It was an entertaining match with the attack minded players from both sides running riot while both the defenses looked like conceding every now and then. Oscar's wonderful cross in the 5th minute should have probably been turned into the net by Torres,but the Spaniard made up for his miss soon enough as his opportunism meant that Andriy Pyatov hit straight onto Torres. It was more of a gift from the goalkeeper, but Chelsea were soon giving the gift back as horrendous defending from Bertrand and Luiz allowed Willian to slot home after Fernandinho's wonderful run in the 7th minute. The Shakthar goalkeeper was again the culprit as he tried to play sweeper when Mata crossed to the path of Torres. His clearance went straight to Oscar, who lobbed the ball into the empty net from 45 yards. 2-1 to Chelsea at half time.

Straight after half time, Shakthar equalised through Willian in the 47th minute. With the score at 2-2,Shakthar even hit the post while Chelsea also had a case for a penalty. Finally in the last minute of extra time, with almost the last kick of the game, an unmarked Moses rose to head home Juan Mata's corner to keep the Champions league hopes alive.

Shakthar definitely looked the better side and was probably unlucky to lose. With Juventus winning 4-0 at home to Nordjaelland, the group is interestingly poised with Shakthar and Chelsea with 7 points while Juve have 6 points. It could go down to the wire and Chelsea have to improve a lot against Juventus, who as always are strong at home.

Chelsea vs Shakthar Donetsk Preview

Competition: UEFA Champions League
Opponent : Shakthar Donetsk(Ukraine)
Venue: Stamford Bridge,London

Chelsea face off with Ukrainian champions Shakthar Donetsk in the Champions league today in what is a must win game for the Blues. Chelsea is in second position in the group with a win against Nordjaelland and a draw against Juventus. The 2-1 reverse against Shakthar away means that the Blues have to win the remaining home games and probably will need a point from Turin to progress to the next stage.

Juan Mata seems to have recovered from the injury that kept him out of the Swansea match and this is really good news for the Blues. Without Mata in the lineup, Chelsea seemed to be struggling to create chances, even with the likes of Hazard and Oscar in the team. But left back Ashley Cole will sit out of the game with injury along with Frank Lampard. John Terry returns to the side which is good news considering the fact that the defense gave away 10 goals in the 4 matches without him.

Probable team for the game:

Cech

Cahill                        Terry

Ivanovic                                                  Bertrand

Ramires                  Mikel

Mata                 Oscar          Hazard

     Torres

Shakthar are a strong attacking unit and they have a 100% record in the Ukranian league after 13 games with a 12 point lead already. They are scoring goals for fun and the Blues were quite lucky not to have conceded more against Shakthar in the previous game. The Blues will have to take their chances and also cope against the counter attacks from Shakthar. Hopefully Di Matteo won't try to protect a single goal lead as in the Swansea game. Torres has been off color in the recent games and needs to step up. The Spanish striker was awarded the Golden boot award for his goals in Euro 2012 held at Ukraine, but has lost form after starting well this season.Chelsea cannot afford their star striker to be off-color in this must win game and hopefully Torres will come good. Mikel has been found wanting in the champions league matches this season,even though he has performed well in the league. Mistakes like the one against Juventus has to be avoided.

So what to you think the score will be tonight?

Mata awarded the Player of the Month for October

Spanish maestro Juan Mata has been awarded the Premier League player of the month award for the month of October. Mata has been in superb form since he was given a 2 week rest by Di Matteo and in a superb spell in October, Mata scored thrice in the EPL and twice in the other competitions. The EPL goals came against Tottenham and Manchester United. Mata also ended with 5 assists in October to go along with the 5 goals.

With a must win game against Shakthar tonight in the Champions league, Chelsea will be hoping that Mata will recover from his hamstring injury and continue his good form. Mata has been a revelation since he joined last season from Valencia and was the first player to be awarded the Chelsea player of the season in his very first season after Ruud Gullit.

Lackluster Chelsea held by Swansea

With Spanish play maker Juan Mata out with a hamstring injury, Chelsea struggled to create the chances that we normally create these days and in a lackluster performance, allowed Swansea to share the spoils at the Liberty stadium. With the draw, Chelsea's reign at the top of the EPL also came to an end with Manchester United's victory over Arsenal earlier in the day.

With Luiz out with injury, Chelsea started with Ivanovic and Cahill at the center of the defense with Cole and Azpilicueta at the full back positions. Romeu was given a start along side Mikel at the center of the midfield, with Moses coming in for Mata. Hazard,Oscar and Torres completed the attacking four. Chelsea still had the attacking threat,but the lack of creativity in the absence of Mata was very evident right from the start. Chelsea somehow got the lead through Moses, after he deflected a Cahill header towards goal. Chelsea seemed to be happy with a 1-0 victory as RDM sent out Bertrand in place of Oscar, only to see the Swans hit back through Hernandez to make it 1-1. Overall a very disappointing performance to say the least. So what went wrong? Here are my thoughts.

Romeu and Mikel shouldn't have started together:
Romeu and Mikel are very similar kind of players and are a bit slow in passing the ball. This meant that the attacking midfield trio did not get the balls quickly enough.Ramires should have started the game along with either Mikel or Romeu. Ramires eventually came on at half time.

Why is Marin not playing:
One player who must be kicking himself for joining Chelsea would be German winger Marko Marin. The pre-season saw the German coming up with some really good performances on the left. At the start of the season,Marin was injured and after a frustrating period on the sidelines,Marin is now fit but it does seem that RDM is simply not prepared to put the German on the pitch. Today was a perfect opportunity to give him at least 10 minutes, if RDM was prepared to sent in Marin instead of substituting Oscar with Bertrand. At 1-0,we should have tried to score one more instead of the defensive option of Bertrand. Also it would have given some time on the pitch for Marin.

Hazard and Oscar were disappointing today:
There were too many loose passes from Hazard and Oscar today and this contributed to Chelsea lacking the punch going forward. All the more reason why Marin should have come on for either of them . Torres too was disappointing in the final third as another goal drought seem to have hit the Spaniard. Hopefully it won't run for a long time.

Next up is Shakthar Donetsk at the Bridge in what is a very important game for us to qualify to the knock out stages of the Champions League. In the must win game, Chelsea will have to up their tempo and hopefully Mata will be back for the game. A performance like today, and Shakthar will punish us.

Swansea vs Chelsea - Preview

Competition: EPL
Opponent: Swansea
Venue: Liberty Stadium,Swansea

After 2 back to back encounters with Manchester United, Chesea face off with Swansea City in the English Premier League on Saturday.The Swans may have lost their manager Brendan Rodgers to Liverpool, but under Micheal Laudrup, the Swans still play the tika-taka style of football and are still a wonderful team to watch. In Michu, they have  free scoring midfielder and the last match even saw the Spaniard being deployed as the center forward.

The League cup victory needed almost the full team and playing the whole 120 minutes after the dramatical 90 minutes on Sunday seems to have taken its toll on  the players. Midfield maestro Juan Mata is a major doubt against Swansea as he has a hamstring injury. David Luiz is also a major doubt as he is sidelined with an ankle injury. Both players took part in the whole 120 minutes on Wednesday in the League cup and Di Matteo's lack of the squad rotation is proving difficult to understand.Luiz anyway wouldn't have made the squad for Swansea as he serves a one match ban for picking  up a 5th yellow card of the domestic season. German winger Marko Marin is back from injury but yet to get a look in from the Chelsea manager. I would have thought that Marin would start the League cup, only to see Mata again being asked to lead the attacking midfield. With Mata injured, RDM is now forced to look for options in the attacking midfield. Lampard is also out while Terry serves the last of his 4 match ban. Torres and Ivanovic will be back after serving their 1 match bans for the red cards received on Sunday.

With big games coming in the Champions League and the EPL, Di Matteo will be well served to rest Juan Mata and Luiz in the game against Swansea. That means that either Marin or Moses should start against Swansea. I have a feeling that RDM will go for Moses instead of Marin in that case, but certainly hope that the German gets some minutes on the pitch. This is  by no means an easy outing for the Blues, but the changes are more or less forced. This is a time the squad's depth will be tested and with a good pool of players available, it would be better not to take any undue risks on players.

Probable team:

Cech

Ivanovic                    Cahill

Azpilicueta                                                                   Cole

Ramires                 Mikel

Moses                  Oscar             Hazard

     Torres

Blues through to Quarters of league cup after unconvincing win

Chelsea are through to the Quarter finals of the League Cup after an unconvincing 5-4 victory against Manchester United. The fact that the Blues needed almost a full strength team to achieve the victory against a young United side is a worry for the Blues, but it was enough to avoid a 3rd straight loss.Chelsea started with Piazon,Moses and Mata in the attacking midfield ,with Sturridge starting as the lone front man in the absence of Torres. There were starts for Cesar Azpilicueta and Bertrand at the wing backs and for Romeu in the central midfield. In an uninspiring performance, Chelsea went behind 3 times and needed a last minute penalty from Hazard to take the match to extra time. Chelsea will face Leeds United away in the next round.

Chelsea Team for the match: Cech,Azpilicueta,Cahill,Luiz,Bertrand,Romeu,Mikel,Moses,Mata,Piazon,Sturridge
Subs- Ramires for Mikel(h/t),Hazard for Piazon(55'),Oscar for Romeu(71')

Chelsea    5             Manchester United   4
                                         Giggs  22'
Luiz(p)   31'
                                         Hernandez  43'
Cahill      52'
                                         Nani   59'
Hazard(p)  90'+4
Sturridge    97'
Ramires      116'
                                          Giggs(p)  120'