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Our indispensables

dontcallme

SC Supporter
Mar 18, 2005
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We all read Jose Mourinho's list of indispensable players at Chelsea and it got me wondering who ours are. We have a large competitive squad and we constantly debate about players not being given a chance but some when they have been given a chance have made themselves indispensable.

Here's my list:

Paul Robinson - England's number one and among the best keepers in the premiership.

Pascal Chimbonda - like many I questioned whether he would make a good signing. Not anything to do with a £6 million price tag but whether he was actually that good or a one season wonder at a small club. His speed, strength, reading of the game and ability in the air has made him a firm fan favourite and arguably our best player so far this season.

Ledley King - Often injured this season and we've suffered heavily in the league as a result. When fit he's as good a defender as anyone in the premiership.

Aaron Lennon - bought supposedly as Routledges' under-study but when he played he terrorised even the best of defenders and made himself an unlikely member of the England World Cup squad.

Berbatov - scoring for fun in the UEFA Cup and his all round play has made him our one striker Jol never considers dropping for tactical reasons and will only find himself on the bench from the start if he needs a rest.

Unfortunately that is it. You could mention Dawson but he has struggled at times this season without Ledley by his side and may be another season away from being considered for the England squad, to be fair Tom Huddlestone also fits that description.

Ekotto needs more time and Ghaly also needs to work on his all round play. Jenas has been much debated in Spurscommunity and no doubt he upped his performances at the beginning of this season and as a result was drastically over-rated as our Gerrard. These players alongside Defoe, Keane and Malbranque find themselves in the first team squad but haven't quite done enough to cement themselves as indispensable.

Time will tell though and we need some of these players to really hit the peak of their potential and then we can really start considering ourselves as competing for a Champions League spot. Sadly for us not this season though.
 

Dan

New Member
Apr 14, 2004
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Good idea for an article. Jol has been quoted as saying he'll never sell Defoe so I think he should be on that list, possibly Keane as well - given the consistent service he's given the club, I doubt he'll ever be sold unless he wants out. Berbatov looks awesome at home but until he starts doing it away, he's not indispensible. There's even an argument that Mido, when fit, would be a better option away from WHL...
 

BringBack_leGin

Well-Known Member
Jul 28, 2004
27,719
54,929
i agree with king, lennon and berbatov, but would add defoe to the lsit given his current form. Chimbonda isn't completely untouchable, he is exposed sometimes, i think he's great but has the occasional lazy moment. As for robinson, nothing this season has suggested he is untouchable, i used to praise him and adore him but, even though he's not particularly to blame for the goals we concede, he is not actually saving anything anymore whereas he used to have the best reflexes in the league!
 

scottadams40

New Member
Jan 9, 2007
28
0
:duh: Sorry dontcallme, your chatting shit. The article you have written (with all the correct spelling and everything!) was missing the simple fact that we still have a young, strong, fantastic and may i say, English spine running through its team. You also have to remind yourself that when ever a team loses it best centre half/halves ( just think of the dip in form of those wankers down the road and John Terry?) they will struggle. I was at the game today and have never seen a more one-sided match, we should have fucked them up 3-0 by half-time. All we lacked today was a leader on the park, everthing else was there, pace, strength. flair and charater. We're missing King more than we should, maybe we need another guy to help lead us into battle?:shrug:
 

brightyid

New Member
Jul 22, 2005
1
0
Robbo

Perhaps i'm being a little harsh ,but is paul robinson really englands number one. Can you remember the last time you thought paul robinson kept us in that match. yesterday was a prime example shay given pulls off great save after great save. Robbos first save to make & its in the back of the net.
He's looking heavier than ever , it cant help with his agility.
On these perfomances how long will he keep the number 1 jersey, perhaps a few weeks on the bench would do him good :oops: COYS
 

AJ

Active Member
Jun 8, 2003
708
130
There are and should be no indispensable players. It's about the team and no single players, because when you get too dependant on single players, your form will suffer when they're absent. So there are only more and less important players.

About your list: Robinson's form this season shouldn't be enough to label him indispensable. Robbo wasn't directly at fault yesterday, but he should be starting to make some game-winning saves now and then. He has very rarely "kept us in game" this season and has been beaten repeatedly from 25 metres. Dropping him at such an important stage (important cup games coming up) of our season wouldn't be wise, mainly because that could upset the defence as well, so let's all hope he can once again be the England's number one we all know he can be. I agree with you that King, Lennon and Berbatov are propably among our four most important players.

Why do you analyse only some of the first team players but not all of them? You mentioned Assou-Ekotto, but left out Lee who has been playing recently. You mentioned Ghaly, but left out Tainio and Zokora, who are both preferred by Jol over him in midfield.
 

infamousyiddo

Active Member
May 8, 2006
1,182
88
my untouchables

Robbo - England number one, arguabley best keeper in prem.

Chimbonda - Possibley best RB in prem, good header of ball, great pace

King - Best defender in prem IMO

Berbatov - Oozes class everytime i see him

but the biggest untouchables of all Martin Jol, Daniel Levy because without them none of this would be possible!!!
 

Lillywhite4eva

New Member
Jan 8, 2007
17
0
I agree that Robinson hasn't been on top form this season and yesterday Given's outstanding performance for the barcodes made him look decidedly average but he still is ours and Englands best option between the sticks, when he's got Ledley & Daws in front of him he seems a lot more confident! I don't think he was to blame for Newcastles first goal he was unlucky it ricocheted off his leg into the goal!
 

jetrb3

Member
Aug 6, 2004
129
0
My untouchables

King, Daws, Chimbo, Lennon, Defoe, Keane, Berbs and possibly the Huddmeister.

Robbo is a good keeper but not a great one, I think he needs to go back to basics to build his confidence and if you take note, quite a number of goals conceded mite have been saved if he stood on his line, thats the problem these days though as modern day football the goalies dont stay on there line when getting attacked.

Jenas is a good 1st team regular but no Gerrard or Lampard, dont think he ever will be although through improvement and hard work could be a quality player just not world class.
 

adamsilver

New Member
Feb 11, 2005
216
0
World class players:

King, Lennon

Possible world class players

Robinson, Dawson, Huddlestone, Berbatov, Defoe, Chimbonda, Zokora

Very good players

Keane, Malbranque, Jenas

Thats my opinion.
 

infamousyiddo

Active Member
May 8, 2006
1,182
88
ledders without doubt is different gravy i agree, lennon has the potential to be world class and to me berbatov is world class will score goals wherever he goes. u dont understand how lucky we are to have this guy
 

egyptianfan

New Member
Dec 6, 2006
79
0
Any club would love to have these:
1- Lennon - unmatchable speeeeeeeeeed! decent skills too...
2- Keane - beautiful touches of ball, scores out of nothing...
3- Defoe - no one can take the ball away from that man!...specialized in edge of box shots too..

Potential STAR:
Huddelstone - easy and confident ball control, superb shot accuracy and BIG body!
 

sebo_sek

Well-Known Member
Jun 2, 2005
6,023
5,168
ledders without doubt is different gravy i agree, lennon has the potential to be world class and to me berbatov is world class will score goals wherever he goes. u dont understand how lucky we are to have this guy

Totally agree on Berbatov. How some of you leave him out of the TOP PLAYER lists is beyond me. Without him we would be in noman's land this season.
 

whisquer

Active Member
Apr 10, 2004
126
69
quick argument really on yesterdays evidence, Robbo or Given.... Robbo or Cech.... Robbo or Van der Sar.... lets not blind ourselves here, he's probably the best English goalie, thats the best we can say.
Robbo or James?

I will get crucified for this no doubt but would really appreciate a considered response. Goalkeeprs live and thrive on form, and should be played accordingly; without deference to their past glories. Also, before everyone jumps and points to King's absence being the reason why Robbo looks poor, how many matches have you watched season in and season out where the team's defence is a shambles but the goalkeeper keeps the team in the game almost single-handedly? We don't have a poor back 4, not by any standards, yet does anyone at this time feel that Robbo can keep us in a game single-handedly?

I've kept a steely eye on Robbo's approach to set plays and corners this entire season and what I"ve noticed is that has long stopped giving confidence to the defenders that he will come out and claim the ball securely. Just consider this: I don't know about you, but everytime the opposition gets a corner a part of me cringes and mentally prepares for possibly conceding a goal I didn't remember feeling this way last season or seasons before except back in the bad old days of Ian "Johnny" Walker and if I am feeling it this season, I wonder how our backline must be feeling seeing the ball flying in and their goalie always in the mood to shout "away".

It's so blindingly obvious that Robinson's suffered a loss in confidence that he should be given a rest to recover and refind that confidence that made him one of the very best in the league. Look, Mr. Calamity James himself earned that reputation during a period where he had a serious loss of confidence and form (plus a serious misjudgment of his own ball-catching abilities), but look how he's picked himself up years on.

AS to the original question above, on current form, even Calamity is a better choice of an English goalkeeper over Robbo, much as I love Robbo and have supported him in the past years. Give our reserve goalie a chance and Robbo a chance to rest, recover and reclaim. No one (and no one's reputation, even if that reputation, even if it is 'Engliand's No. 1) should come before our beloved team.
 

krisjerome

New Member
Nov 30, 2006
106
0
THE 5 UNTOUCHABLES

1 KING

without him we are very average and vulnerable at the back. as important to us as terry is to chelsea.

2 BERBATOV

fantastic finisher and superb ability. parnership with defoe works great. he's on track to score 25+ goals this season.

3 LENNON

do i need to say anything! this kid has an abundance of skill and speed. a total fans favorite and will only get better and better as jol nurses him into a complete star.

4 CHIMBONDA

i was sceptical about pascal at firstand agree with 'dontcallme' that i wasnt sure he would be the RB solution, but boy has he proved me wrong. he has pace, strength and excelent defending attributes to name a few. worthy of being an untouchable

5 DEFOE

simply because of the way he has linked up with berbatov this season. these two could yet break the 50+ goals that teddy & klinsmann achieved way back when!!

.............................................................................
.............................................................................
NOT QUITE UNTOUCHABLES

tommy hud:
no doubt will be a cert in the very near future imo, but just not quite ready.

robinson
i dont think is an indispensible. he is a good goalkeeper, not world class. he has made a couple of mistakes this season.

malbranque
i think he could be if we sign someone like gareth barry for the left side of midfield and have steed in the middle with hudds. then lennon completes the midfield quartet. And i think that could make a midfield of 4 indispensibles.
 

sebo_sek

Well-Known Member
Jun 2, 2005
6,023
5,168
Robbo or James?

I will get crucified for this no doubt but would really appreciate a considered response. Goalkeeprs live and thrive on form, and should be played accordingly; without deference to their past glories. Also, before everyone jumps and points to King's absence being the reason why Robbo looks poor, how many matches have you watched season in and season out where the team's defence is a shambles but the goalkeeper keeps the team in the game almost single-handedly? We don't have a poor back 4, not by any standards, yet does anyone at this time feel that Robbo can keep us in a game single-handedly?

I've kept a steely eye on Robbo's approach to set plays and corners this entire season and what I"ve noticed is that has long stopped giving confidence to the defenders that he will come out and claim the ball securely. Just consider this: I don't know about you, but everytime the opposition gets a corner a part of me cringes and mentally prepares for possibly conceding a goal I didn't remember feeling this way last season or seasons before except back in the bad old days of Ian "Johnny" Walker and if I am feeling it this season, I wonder how our backline must be feeling seeing the ball flying in and their goalie always in the mood to shout "away".

It's so blindingly obvious that Robinson's suffered a loss in confidence that he should be given a rest to recover and refind that confidence that made him one of the very best in the league. Look, Mr. Calamity James himself earned that reputation during a period where he had a serious loss of confidence and form (plus a serious misjudgment of his own ball-catching abilities), but look how he's picked himself up years on.

AS to the original question above, on current form, even Calamity is a better choice of an English goalkeeper over Robbo, much as I love Robbo and have supported him in the past years. Give our reserve goalie a chance and Robbo a chance to rest, recover and reclaim. No one (and no one's reputation, even if that reputation, even if it is 'Engliand's No. 1) should come before our beloved team.
:clap: Ive been wanting to say the exactly same thing
 
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