Wednesday, August 8, 2012

STRIKER POSITION AT CFC, MY OPINION


Does Chelsea have enough strikers to compete for top honors, yet again?

Last night I was going through the chelsea fc website and after I clicked on the first team tab and i wasnt impressed by what I saw. Yes, Chelsea has bought creative players, amazing talent, world class and very intelligent but we are still short in numbers in our strike force.
I then looked at Chelsea's current forward line, compared to Manchester’s city’s which has Dzeko, Aguero, Tevez, Ballotelli and Roc Santa Cruz and are still rumored to want Van Persie. I also looked at Man U’s forward line that is comprised of Rooney, Welbeck, Chicharito, Berbertov and may still sign Van Persie or Lewandowski. (I hope am allowed to call them Man U) At this point I realized we are still short in numbers, with only Torres as the only world class striker in our ranks.
Three scenarios are evident and in my opinion, either these actions would clearly redefine Chelsea’s season.


(a) Sticking with Torres as the main striker




When place 50million pounds on a striker, it means you have faith in him. It also means he would be the number one striker. I have written before, that Torres main undoing has been his price tag, which sadly over the past season has put too much pressure on him. He has not played too badly if you ask me, but strikers are judged by the goals they score. That’s the unfortunate truth.
When you take this price tag element, add it to the fact that Didier Drogba somehow, season in and season out is always the dominant force, the main man if you like then you will understand, that perhaps Chelsea management feel the same way a few analysts have said before, that Torres would always be in the shadow of Didier Drogba and would only come out when Chelsea releases Drogba.
Which brings into question, did Chelsea have to release Drogba? Is it true that he had asked for a two year contract? Did someone within the club hierarchy feel that another “domination” of Drogba over Torres would be disastrous? The current PSG coach Carlo Ancelloti had this to say “For Torres to get better, Chelsea needs to release Drogba. He is a dominant force. He always dominates. He dominated over Gudjohsen, Kezman, Shevshenko, Crespo and most recently Torres. He is like Pipo Inzhagi of Ac Milan, who dominated over many strikers during his time.”
Could it be that Drogba was released so that Torres could be the main man? If the answers to these questions is a yes, then sorry fellow blues there won’t be any strikers arriving..

(b) Success over personal Glory






Well, Abrahamovic has tasted European glory. During the early 2000s, Chelsea’s ambition was mainly to qualify for European competition. The next stage would be to win it and finally, to dominate it like the Real Madrid and Ac Milan of yester years. Now, would Abrahamovic sacrifice this for the sake of one Fernando Torres?
What about the English premier league? Is it still not important? Some people wonder, what if, just what if Chelsea hadn’t won the Champions League would they feel comfortable playing in the Europa League? What would have been the financial implications, the merchandise, the TV rights etc
Abrahamovic and the Chelsea board must be having answers to these questions. Yes, you may want to stick with Fernando, but what happens when he is injured or suspended. If Abrahamovic feels that we would rather focus on Chelsea’s success other than an individual’s, then I have no doubt he will bring in another striker and whether or not he dominates over Torres and becomes the main striker wouldn’t be an issue since at the end of the day there will be trophies to write home about.
If this is the case, then blue fans, expect a big name signing. It could be Falcao, Hulk, Neymar or Cavani!

(c) Change of formation

This is the most likely scenario. Modern teams are getting rid of the traditional number 9player. Barcelona have employed it successfully, Real Madrid, Spain national team and many others. The traditional number 9 has been replaced by a much faster paced attack minded midfielders in the caliber of Messi and Ronaldo.
Chelsea’s recent signings can attest to that, in which case the game is more dominated in the midfield, with midfielders like Marko Marin, Hazard, Oscar, Mata and Victor Moses calling the shots, scoring goals and dictating the play. We call this the tiki taka style. This type of play has two implications

(a) Because there are good midfielders, the main striker, in our case Torres could score as many as 50goals because of the many assists he gets from the established midfielders

Or

(b) The main striker, again in our case Torres may not be needed since the midfielders would be doing all the work, including scoring goals.
If this is the case, then blue fans should not expect any big name summer arrival but even Torres will have to prove his worth, score goals or he will be rendered useless by the more goal scoring midfielders. I get the feeling Abrahamovic is leaning towards this option.

Abrahamovic may want the last option. The British media may want the first option so they have something to write about every day. We the fans will definitely want the second option, its success which counts.
Until then, ladies and gentlemen…………please pass the salt, nyama imeiva!!!