Chelsea Fanatic

Napoli Vs Chelsea - Match Preview. Champions League

noreply@blogger.com (Malhaar Kale) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 14:23:00 +0000

Last 5 results:

Napoli – WWLDD (in order from recent to previous)

Chelsea – DLDDW

Probable Line ups :

Napoli (3-4-3) – Morgan De Sanctis, Salvatore Aronica, Paolo Cannavaro, Armando Campagnaro, Walter Gargano, GokhanInler, Christian Maggio, Andrea Dossena, MarekHamsik, EzequielLavezzi, EdinsonCavani.

Chelsea (4-3-3) – Petr Cech, BranaIvanovic, David Luiz, John Terry*, Ashley Cole*, Raul Meireles, Ramires, Frank Lampard, Juan Mata, Didier Drogba, Daniel Sturridge.

* indicates current status is injured but might feature in the game.

Play Style :

Napoli – likes to stay composed and strong at the midfield and the back, and hit out on counters.

Chelsea – likes to keep the possession and move around the ball, plays a semi – highline football, sometimes leaving them vulnerable at the back.

Players to watch out :

Napoli –

Edison Cavani – Cavani was one of the hottest property in Europe through the last two – three transfer windows. Tall,strong, quick and agile, Cavani is a classy finisher who can make the most out of even the half chances.

MarekHamsik – Much is talked about the danger of EdinsonCavani, but MarekHamsik is a figure as important as the former to Napoli. The creative outlet of the team is well known for his incisive passing as well as well taken goals.

Chelsea –

Juan Mata – There have been few positives out of this Chelsea season. And Juan Mata is one of the positive along with team mate Daniel Sturridge. Precise passing, dangerous deliveries and also a eye for goal makes him the most dangerous Chelsea man to watch out for.

Daniel Sturridge – Another prospect that has given smiles to Chelsea fans. Even after rumours of him being unhappy at the Bridge, bets can be made that Daniel Sturridge might be the one to open the scoring for Chelsea. Quick, tricky this young English striker has a viscious left foot and has a trademark cutting in from the right and taking a shot from the left foot.

Ashley Cole – Ashley Cole has been the most stable Chelsea defender this season. He is well strong at the back and better going forward. The pace of the Chelsea game is often defined by this mans involvement.

Prediction : Considering the dip in form of Chelsea and the somehow better form of Napoli, an Italian win can be most predicted. But I somehow believe this is going to be a one a piece draw, with Cavani to score for Napoli and Daniel Sturridge to equalize for Chelsea.

Napoli 1-1 Chelsea

you can reach Tushar (writer of this article) on twitter by clicking here

Torres – Past or the Future?

noreply@blogger.com (Malhaar Kale) — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 19:00:00 +0000

The signing of Fernando Torres from Liverpool FC was one of the most surprising moves that happened in winter transfer window of 2011. 50m euros was a hell lot of money to pay for a striker even if he was Fernando Torres. Ever since the move, Torres never managed to make believe his critics that he is still the old Torres and is still one of the best.

The question is – Is Torres not good enough or is the entire team responsible for it?

Win as team, lose as a team. This is a concept that many of the fans and critics have forgotten. As long as the team was winning Torres was only not scoring, and when the team starts to lose Torres is not performing. The tired and slow midfield we have at the moment (even after boasting the big names like Frankie Lampard and Juan Mata) is nowhere near the required midfield. Raul Meireles is a fighter, he runs, attacks, defends, but he isn't one of those players who made those incisive passes that make strikers score. Though Juan Mata is a player of that technique, him being employed at the wings does no good to our strikers. Danny Sturridge is the other problem. He has made public his desire to play as a center forward, and so he wanders more in the box than he should be, at least he gets the goals that way.

Torres has tried over and over to make those good runs and score goals. The goal against Manchester Unied was absolutely a beauty. No other striker would had lifted the ball over the keeper at such tight angle. AVB tried putting Didier Drogba and Fernando Torres together hoping maybe they can form a partnership together. I feel though it didn't work out properly Chelsea should still try with the formation that includes both of them. Since playing alone isn't really working maybe AVB should gamble on playing them together.

Past or the future? I still believe the Torres we knew is not yet the past, he is only 27 now, so he is yet to play in his peak years. Roman Abramovich brought Torres as to rebuild our ageing squad, its been a while now. So the main objective in this summer should be rebuilding the squad, keep Torres, build a team around him. ( like Roman planned) If the Torres we all believe in is still in there Chelsea can become a dreaded force we used to be. Goals is the unified responsibility of the entire squad, as long as we win, who scores is no problem.

I’m in noway saying Torres is Chelsea and Chelsea cannot have a future without him. For I was one of the few who was sad when the transfer occurred as I admired him as a great player, but not for Chelsea. And even if we have to sell him this summer, maybe it is his luck that has fallen out or maybe he isn’t what Chelsea needs. After all Chelsea comes first the rest to follow. All we need to do is cross our fingers, pray to God and sing our hearts out to support the team.

you can reach Tushar (writer of this article) on twitter by clicking here

A Christmas Gift for McEachran

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea Viewer) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 12:44:00 +0000

Christmas has just gone away. I guess everyone got many gifts from Santa and they have liked it all. And Josh McEachran is perhaps happy with his gifts too. I guess he had stuffed himself with lot of food this Christmas to gain some flesh for his slim body. So it was a happy time for him like every year, I hope......But was he really all around happy after this Christmas? I can guess he wasn't.

Our 18-year old prodigy had found it hard to break into the first team this season, and that was pretty much expected and unexpected at the same time. Maybe there are still frailties in our midfield, there is the same creativity problem down the middle, and you can see it more against the relatively weaker sides, who tend to play a low block. But still its one of those same stories for our youths, and McEachran is not an exception in that tale. Josh loves this club, as he is playing here from the age of 8, and perhaps he was overjoyed when the number 20 was printed on his back of the Chelsea shirt. But still the gloom remained as he hardly got the games to prove that number.

But certainly, he has got something to smile about now. A loan deal with Swansea, is likely to take place for him for the rest of the season. Its currently stalled because of injuries to midfielders like Malouda and Mikel, as there are not enough backups. So we all expect Joshy to be at the Liberty Stadium after this weekend's Sunderland match.

Here are some quotes from Swansea manager Brendan Rodgers, taken from a BBC article, regarding the McEachran loan deal, in the picture below.

Of course he will get more playing time over there, as we all expect it. Our players have got it hard to complete a successful loan spell for all these years. Let's have our fingers crossed, and hope the kid gets enough games. If he tuck in some goals, create some assists, or create some chances, then we can finally say its a successful loan spell. We had found it hard to replace the Legendary Lampard down the years, but his ageing compounded with his lack of pace, had made the urgency of a replacement more significant. If Josh returns with a potential to replace the Legend, we will all have our lengthy dream come true.

Certainly, this can be a better Christmas gift for Josh, as I think. If be succeeds there, at Wales, I can bet you this loan deal will be the Christmas Carols that will be a music to his ears for years to come.

Up The Chels..

If you liked this article, you can follow me on twitter, @ChelseaViewer

"Go see the French lad, he is the star" - Will That Star Shine Once Again?

noreply@blogger.com (Malhaar Kale) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 15:54:00 +0000

Kakuta Secures Dijon Move

This is how Michael Ballack described this talent from France when he played shoulder to shoulder with him in the reserves game for Chelsea after coming out of injury. This is the same player for whom Chelsea dug deeper and deeper and went through many troubles to sign him and bring to Cobham. This is the same player which is (yes, "IS") dubbed as Black Zidane.

In case you still are unable to recall his name, to be honest, you are not the one to blamed. I will blame circumstances for that matter. His name is Gael Kakuta, Aged 20. Bought from Lens, the then manager of the club Marx was quoted as saying,

The easiest way to describe him is a phenomenon. Perhaps one criticism was that he didn't try very hard sometimes in training - because he didn't need to! He could already do everything.

Waiting For His Chance to Shine

Such a talent, such a talent he is! and still, the luck decided to show only back to him for the entire of 2011, where he went on loan to Fulham for first part of the season; scoring one in (plentiful?) 7 appearances for the cottagers, most of it coming off the bench. at the start of this season he was sent out on loan again to Premier League Club, this time in the custody of Owen Coyle, who has very interesting track record of nurturing and polishing the young stars in the name of Jack Wilshere and our very own Daniel Sturridge. We all hoped that this loan spell will enable us to witness this phenomenon, but it was just not about to happen. We all and the lad as well were frustrated with the outcome. At Reebok Stadium he only managed to break into first team for 4 times. Yes, you heard it right, only 4 times.

The player of his age who is full of trickery and talent had to endure whole of last year on the bench at two different clubs, waiting for the manager to call his name and stepping up on the field and show the world what he is made up off. but to his and everyone of us disappointment it didn't happen. and sad thing is people went to such an extent to call him flop and all the other rubbish.

Finally, as the calendar changed its year, he came back home to Chelsea and was immediately linked with a move to host of French clubs, particularly Dijon and Lille. And today he completed to shift his base temporarily to Dijon till the end of the season. Dijon is struggling in Ligue one at the moment, standing at 16th place and barely managing to stay out of relegation zone and still he chose to sign for them. and if you think of it, he was taken a right decision by joining such club. He will definitely get more playing time than he would have got with 3rd place Lille.

We all hope that finally his third loan move will ripe the fruits which we all are hoping to taste. Let's be hopeful that this Black Zidane returns to Chelsea come May all polished and as bright as THE STAR, BALLCK DESCRIBED.

Are There Negotiators At Chelsea Who Really Can Strike "A Deal"?

noreply@blogger.com (Malhaar Kale) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 15:53:00 +0000

Getting Robbed While Signing and Getting Robbed (Again) While Selling???

As the Janaury transfer window is upon us and rumour mill in full swing, every day we get to read this and that player being linked with Chelsea and certain someone being linked 'away' from Chelsea. In the latest trend we have seen Salomon Kalou, currently on his national duty with Ivory Coast for African Cup of Nations being (reportedly) targeted by Arsenal.

Mere 3 million pounds?

Kalou, who rarely has touched the green grass this season is out of contract come June. It is also said that concerned parties have failed in negotiations over extending his contract. This situation has presented a good opportunity for the interested parties to take him at cut-price deal in this window, one of them being our London rivals Arsenal. Wenger is said to be long admirer of Ivorian and wanted to lure him to Emirates couple of seasons back but failed that time.

I won't be surprised if Kalou follows Anelka's foot-steps and departs this month to join Arsenal or any other club for that matter. What bugs me off is that he will be sold (if that is the case) for mere £3million, that is one third of what we paid for his services back in 2006. The player has won 3 FA cups and a league title with us and has scored over 50 goals in the process.

I agree that considering his contract is expiring at the end of the season and being hardlt breaking into Starting XI; no club would be interested in paying handsome amount for him; but still he is proven goal scorer and has been really effective from the bench and will be good edition to any club; if not the best. and despite all this he might be sold for mere 3 million.

How many times it has happened that once Chelsea is interested in certain player his asking price gets inflated by leaps and bounds and when we sell the player, we always think that he could have been sold for little more for sure?

It really makes me wonder what our negotiators really do?? Has anyone got the answer of it??

Match Preview: Chelsea v. Wolves

noreply@blogger.com (Ameya Badwe) — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 10:48:00 +0000

Arguably one of the most crucial games for AVB. With 3 points in the last 4 games this game is a 'must-win' for Villas Boas. Although, sacking AVB should and will be far from Roman Abrahmovich's mind he will keep an eye on results and will want to know how he can help the young Portuguese so that he can restore glory to a club that craves it.

Going into this game we are faced with some problems.

We have gone from being one of the most solid and compact defences in Europe to being one of the leakiest. David Luiz although has become more aware and defensively orientate, making less mistakes at the back giving JT to go on surging runs to pump speed into the game. Although, Bosingwa is not the player we bought few years back.

Also, Sturridge is doubtful with a slight injury but to be honest he has been the best Chelsea player this season without doubt. Ramires although, another player who can work some magic is back and his form is crucial for any success.

Here is my predicted line up for tonights game. We will play for the first time a 4-4-2 formation after the 4-3-3 has ceased to be effective recently.
---------------------------------------Cech----------------------------------------
----Ivanovic--------------Luiz---------------------JT----------------------A. Cole
--------------------------Meireless--------------Romeu------------------------
-----Mata------------------------------------------------------------Malouda-----
---------------------------Drogba---------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------Torres----------------------------------

Subs: Lukaku, Ferreria, Bosingwa, Mikel, Lampard, McEachran and Bertrand

Should I have to predict this game, I would have to say that I see this going down as a victory. Chelsea should be able to sneak a win at 2-0. Torres would, in an ideal world, score the winner.

Romeu has been another fantastic find this season by AVB and continues to show great composure in midfield and Drogba will play behind Torres so that he can come and recieve the ball and play those killer passes and take those powerful shots.

The danger man in this game who can swing it in Wolves favor will be Steven Fletcher. The Scot is dangerous and can quickly pounce on a ball. Romeu will have to track him and limit the amount of service he gets from pacy wingers like Hammill, Hunt or the infamous Stephen Hunt.

Comment below what you feel.

Urging some improvements for the Chelsea official twitter account

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea Viewer) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 05:15:00 +0000

We all crave for popularity, and when its down to commercial purposes, popularity becomes the chief agent for success. Chelsea Football Club is our favourite club, and down the years it has become one of the popular sports organization throughout the world. Like every club, we too have a twitter account to promote the club's popularity socially.

We all follow it. The account updates us with all the latest official Chelsea news, as we all know. But sometimes, I think the account is short of something. What is it? The account doesn't communicate with anyone. I don't know whether they check their mention box or if they do, why they don't reply us. Certainly its crazy, or rather insane to be more elaborate, to reply all, but still the account can reply 20 mentions a day?

Chelsea was voted the most successful club in the Premier League in social activity in a poll recently, but that doesn't please us all. We depend on articles from our popular enemy, the media. Most of them consist of 99% crap, but we still have to rely on them. We don't know what goes on inside Cobham, but some unpopular stories arise from the media, reporting bust-ups which seem to be coming from nowhere, comes on our twitter timeline. We all expect someone to clear the air, and only some Chelsea official can do it. And who can do that in a better way? The Chelsea twitter account? Yes. But sometimes, we understand that privacy should be maintained and hence we dont mind when the twitter account doesnt reply to these rumors. Some of the rumors are brushed aside by our great manager, Villas Boas, himself in press conferences recently.

But the account can update us with the reserve matches, cant it? We dont get to see them all. But if we get minute to minute updates in all of those matches, we can surely enjoy it. Though they are covering the reserve matches recently, our official account's coverage of the games has been poor all-around. They even doesnt give you minute to minute updates of our first team games, so I can dream about quality coverage of the reserve matches.

All of us want the Chelsea twitter account to reach 1 million followers as fast as possible. They are on a mass-unfollowing spree at the moment, as you can see, they are now only following 122 people from more than 6k people. I hope Justin Bieber is one of those 122, which many of us hate to find it. I would even like to recommend our Chelsea twitter account to follow a pornstar, instead of Justin Bieber. But oh wait, its their twitter!!

You can slate me, if I have irked you with this post, but I have been straightforward with this article, and had spoken my heart out. Up The Chels..

If you liked this article, you can follow me on twitter, @ChelseaViewer.

This January, AVB must sign players!

noreply@blogger.com (Ameya Badwe) — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 05:24:00 +0000

Firstly, lets face the facts that we have lost a good back up striker in Anelka. However, let us also remember that right behind him is Romelu Lukaku who is raring to go and make his mark and the departure of "Le Sulk" will give him an oppurtunity to shine.

Also, for those fans who are not aware of this, we have already have one player who will join us in January. Lucas Piazon. For those who haven't heard his name before he is a 17 year old player who joins us from Sao Paolo and looks and plays just like Ricardo Kaka. He joins us the day he turns 18, should he impress AVB in training then this young man could be in line for some appearances.

Didier Drogba, the great, is rumored to leave the club as he is not being offered the contract extension he wants. Should Drogba leave there is no need to replace him as we have a superstar striker , Fernando Torres, ready to replace him in the 4-3-3. Drogba and Kalou will also be leaving during January and February for the African Cup of Nations and so Torres should be raring to go, all he needs is that one goal to get past the barrier.

On the other hand, with the handing in of transfer requests from players like Alex we are now faced with a defensive crisis. If possible, I would say recall Jeffery Bruma who is on loan at Hamburg. He has a great chemistry with JT as we have seen on a few occasions. Playing in the top division for half of the season will have given him some vital experience and it is time we throw him into the starting line up and see the results. Otherwise, we need to sign a Centre Back. That is priority and the name touted and seeming likely for this position is Gary Cahill.

Apart from a Centre Back we need a new right back. Ivanovic doesn't cut it and Bosingwa forgets to defend as he is often completely focused on attacking. We need a world class right back who can do both. Gregory Van Der Wiel is a name being suggested for this, doesn't matter who but we need someone who is a proven and young right back. Also we need to get some more players to provide back up along the defence as we have a old group of players in this group providing back up such as Ferreria who need to go now.

If I were AVB I would also look at signing another midfielder who can play his style of Football and to be a long-term replacement for Frank Lampard. Lampard is on the decline and there is now a need, greater than ever, to replace him. Javier Pastore who rejected Chelsea for big bucks at PSG is unsettled and is looking for a move to London, or Moutinho who AVB managed at Porto, maybe even players such as Gaston Ramirez. But maybe AVB will choose to go for Josh McEachran and give him a shot and making a name for himself.

It is clear that AVB has a wishlist and needs to bring in some players. The priority is at least two defenders to make solid that back line and give us some new faces to provide good cover in those positions. A new midfielder along with Piazon for the first team would be great so that they can be groomed by AVB for his style of Football. A new striker is not needed, with Lukaku waiting in the lines he is a player who Chelsea Fans can rely on for the next decade or so and all he needs is a chance.

noreply@blogger.com (Ameya Badwe) — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 07:12:00 +0000

Ramires, leading from the front

Last year the season began with our most notable signing, Ramires, failing to shine. For some fans it looked as if it was going to be another big money flop. However, this year Ramires has led the club from the front and has gone from strength to strength.

Villas-Boas is one manager who knows Ramires well from his time in Portugal. He had heard and seen a lot of Ramires and even played against him and was aware of the Brazilian midfielder as he helped Benfica to their title. AVB knew what to do to bring out the best in Ramires, a player who had attracted attention from the likes of Barcelona after just a season in Portugal.

Ramires, started improving last year after New Years and put together some brilliant performances and goals including the goal of the season against Manchester City. Now the Brazilian has settled into the hearts of the Chelsea fans and is now nicknamed Rambo for his tenacious speed and strength.

Yet, it is this season under AVB that Ramires has truly 'terrorized' the opposition. Yesterday against Everton he marked his 50th appearance for the Blues with a goal.

This year Ramires has used his tenacious speed to break away from the opposition defences as Lampard and Mata feed him with brilliant over head balls. The Brazilian has broken away several times to score goals and to earn the team penalties.

He was instrumental as Chelsea kicked into gear and turned on the style against Swansea, Bolton and Everton. His brilliant distribution of the ball and making quick passes has meant that has allowed some players to play more freely.

AVB has been key, by bringing Ramires, Mata and Sturridge together he has been able to accelerate Chelsea's rate of play. Ramires is always breaking on counter attacks which have allowed us to score some great goals moving from one box to another in a matter of mere minutes.

Last year Ramires made Chelsea fans happy with a few goals. But having already scored more than he did last season Ramires is reminding Chelsea fans that there is more to come from the skinny, yet powerful Brazilian midfielder. Ramires is looking like a player who will long reign at Chelsea and in the Premier League and will definitely become one of the greats.

In Hindsight, sacking Ancelotti was a mistake

noreply@blogger.com (Ameya Badwe) — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 12:04:00 +0000

THIS POST IS IN NO SHAPE OR FORM SHOWING ANY DISAPPROVAL OF ANDRE' VILLAS- BOAS.

Roman Abrahmovich is a one of a kind Football Club owner who has poured almost 1 billion clubs into Chelsea to turn it into one of the greatest teams in Europe in a matter of 10 years. His decision to hire AVB can be seen as a change in his perspective.

Roman is not the man to shell out 15 million to hire a young manager and then sack him; it is clear to be seen for us fans that Abrahmovich wants to support AVB in building a successful 'empire' so to speak at Chelsea, similar to what Sir Alex has done at Manchester United with great success.

While AVB is a great manager this article is not about hiring him or his progress, it is about Carlo Ancelotti. The Italian was a breath of fresh air at Chelsea with his attacking style of play and strong defense which saw us score 106 goals in his first season. However, Ancelotti was on a different page. His philosophy was based largely around using the older players and the 'Milan Lab' theory to prolong the careers of the experienced players and bring as much out of them as possible.

Ancelotti made his last play in the transfer market in January when he splashed out 75 million to bring Fernando Torres and David Luiz to the club. However, his results disappointing in the second half of the season.

Had Ancelotti been given one more year I am sure he would have revamped the club and his positive relationship with existing players would have meant that his ideas of attacking football would have remained. Ancelotti is a proven manager and Abrahmovich knows that for sure, having had many conversations with him on Football even before the Italian was made manager.

AVB and Ancelotti both have the same ideology in the sense that they want to get as much from the experienced players as possible but also want to groom younger players. Ancelotti would have done the same AVB is doing now.

AVB has made a positive start but I know he will not be sacked at the end of the season, whatever the result because Roman wants to create a winning mentality at the club that will only come with stability. Ancelotti lost his job not because his results were failing but because Roman knew he wouldn't have stayed at the club for long anyways. With AVB Roman has the assurance that he will stay at the club for 10 - 20 years, provided the club is successful.

So in hindsight we could have done without sacking Ancelotti and we have definitely still won trophies, but AVB was what Roman was waiting for, for so long.

'Mirror Mirror on the wall, who is the £50m of all?'

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea Viewer) — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 12:49:00 +0000

"Mirror Mirror on the wall, who is the beautiful among all?"

Certainly, this can be a line from the fairytale, 'Snow White and Seven Dwarfs', and if you ask any Chelsea girl, that who is the most handsome player in the squad, they will say Fernando Torres. But looks dont count on football (except for merchandise and promotion purposes), rather beauty in football counts. Torres is handsome! Ok! His game is beautiful too! But not his form. I am not bothered by his lack of goals, whilst Spain coach Del Bosque and the media are, as long as my team is winning. To me, Chelsea matters more, and not Torres or any individual in the squad.

Fernando Torres risked the wrath of the Chelsea Old Guard by branding them slow and inefficient, as he tries to offload some of his critics from his back. From the helm of Mourinho to Torres' £50m arrival, Chelsea largely depended on Didier Drogba's physique and Frank Lampard's goals. The system worked, and it yielded Chelsea 3 league titles (along with other notables), and established Chelsea as one of the most powerful and feared clubs in England, as well as in Europe. Needless to say, even till now, the 'slow' and so-called 'inefficient' Lampard can pick a pass or which turns out to be an assist for Drogbas, Anelkas, Maloudas, Kalous, or any player in the squad, who was a part of the squad before Torres' arrival. But I dont understand why those balls dont reach Torres!

Goals do come from the Old Guard, as well as character, even till now. Then why are we blaming the system which had been our mainstay for these past years? And why are we blaming our players for not feeding up Torres with passes and crosses? Is Torres more important than Chelsea now? Certainly, Torres is more important than Chelsea, to those gloryhunters who had joined our bandwagon after Torres arrived. If you had seen Lukaku playing against Norwich City, you would have seen him getting more chances than Torres got, as Lukaku's playing style is more like that of Drogba. Torres cost us £50m, and for him we bought Mata for another £25m and we indulged ourselves in Modric saga until the summer transfer deadline. Now what more if Torres doesnt score?

Some people are suggesting to bench the Old Guard and rope in a lineup mastered by our young players. Certainly that can increase our game's speed and creativity in the centre of the park, but it will lack determination, inspiration, character and leadership, which are ideal things to glory for any team. We have seen in recent years, how Arsenal had stumbled due to lack of those attributes and I fear the same fate for us, if we change the system for Torres. And our new manager cant save us then. The team can lack a calm penalty-taker, who can slot it into the net even in the 90th minute, when the team isnt in a winning position, or the team can lack a leader who can roar loudly to his teammates to show the character for winning the game. The gloryhunters will leave us as usual then, when there will be no glory.

Torres can be a star, and a great talented footballer, but his misfiring doesnt mean our system is to be blamed. In other words, he aint fitted to our pristine system, with this presence of him, which made us 'Chelsea' today. To change the whole squad, a transition is needed. But to choose the path of transition is a way of gambling, as consequences are unknown. I dont know how much helpful it will be, by changing the system for Torres, but I would rather want Torres to adapt to our system.

I have not criticised Torres in this article, as I am not a gloryhunter and I am against the idea of criticizing my own players, but I urge all of you, readers, to think it otherwise that our system aint wrong, despite being 'slow' and 'old'.

Somewhere down a lane of mind, a line is budging me.....

'Mirror Mirror on the wall, who is the £50m of all?'

Written By: Prad Ghosh (ChelseaViewer)

Join my Chelsea page on Facebook: We r frm Stamford Bridge, we r frm Chelsea

Special Article on Perreira - "You and Me Aint the AVB"

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea Viewer) — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 12:34:00 +0000

The summer transfer window will close tomorrow, and media, clubs and their eager fans are getting very keen to know, who will come to their clubs in the fianl two days. Chelsea, as always under Roman Abramovich, had been a significant club under the watchful eyes of the media in the transfer windows. In the notable last transfer window, we bagged Fernando Torres from Liverpool and David Luiz from Benfica in the dying hours.

Similarly, we are quite busy in this window too as it seems now. The recruitments of Courtois, Romeu, Lukaku, Mata, Davilla are aint quite enough to Villas Boas as rumours suggest, as he is in a pursuit of Modric, Perreira, etc.

Many sources, even a suspectable, unverified twitter handle which claimed to be of Alvaro Perreira's, announced that the Uruguayan is heading to Stamford Bridge.

But many Chelsea fans seem to be very reluctant to welcome the wing-back to the club, as they are claiming, that Chelsea already have Ashley Cole, Ryan Bertrand, Patrick van Aanholt for the left-back spot. Rather they want a flying right-sided player. It is surely acceptable, that, while Cole is ageing, it will be more encouraging to see Bertrand or van Aanholt to fill in his boots. If it happens, then we wont have to think about that spot for a decade or so, as they are young, combined with the fact, that they are homegrown and will reduce some total wages (if we dont buy a left-back).

But, you and me aint Andre Villas Boas! We dont know, how will he line up Perreira, if he does get his services in the next two days. Our past managers had been different. Back in the times of Claudio Ranieri, teams generally used to play in a basic 4-4-2. And so every team needed wingers. All teams had wingers in their arsenal, and notably we had Damien Duff, Jesper Gronkjæer, Mario Stanic, and Geremi and Joe Cole in a way too. Mourinho relied on width more than Ranieri did, and so he had the likes of Duff and Robben, who were lethal against any opposition. After the departures of Duff and Robben, we really lacked width over the years.

Managers like Grant, Scolari, Hiddink and even Ancelotti depended much on his midfielders to win games for them. That idea worked in a different way and it did give Carlo a double in his 1st year in charge. But as soon as we became predictable for the lack of width, our juggernaut of prevailing over other teams was checked, which ultimately did cost Carlo his job.

In the most part of the last season, Ancelotti stuck to a basic 4-3-3, and he didnt change that formation, even when was loosing during the match. He replaced man to man, like strikers for strikers, holding midfielders for holding midfielders. Elsewhere, the scenario was quite different when it came to AVB's job as a Chelsea manager. For instance, we fell behind to West Brom in our first home game, and AVB reacted quickly after half an hour, by changing the formation and bringing on Malouda, instead of Kalou, which ultimately resulted being fruitful.

Alvaro Perreira is undoubtedly an AVB man. He was an important member of his treble winning squad last year at FC Porto. Villla Boas usually used him as a left-back or a left-midfielder, but never used him in the forwards of his favoured 4-3-3. Perreira's position is the same in the Uruguay team also. But, we never know what AVB is gonna do with him. Perreira has a good agility (which is better than Malouda) and can deliver some pin-point crosses into the box without taking much time (which can fuel Torres). Many suggest Perreira is a replacement for the current Anzhi winger Yuri Zhirkov at Chelsea, while at the same time they think that Zhirkov was better than Perreira. In my opinion, Perreira is a Uruguayan and played in Portugal, where conditions dont really differ much to that of England's. Being a Russian, Zhirkov never really adapted to the England atmosphere, but on the other hand, i believe, Perreira can.

Villa Boas is currently in the pursuit of a Modric, but if he fails to recruit him (or a player like him), he will have the same creative problems. In that case, who knows that our manager can use Mata as the 'Modric' while pushing Perreira up in the forward line, where the latter hadnt been tested yet? AVB is promising and we all expect him to be experimental. Roman Abramovich has more faith in him, so I can see Perreira to be used as a winger more often, rather than to be as a left-back or left midfielder, if he does complete his move to Chelsea.

Written By: Prad Ghosh (ChelseaViewer)

Join my Chelsea page on Facebook: We r frm Stamford Bridge, we r frm Chelsea

Goal Glut by Manchester Duos but DON'T PANIC!

noreply@blogger.com (Ash Di Spontaneus) — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 18:15:00 +0000

Oh! dear dear, I smell some fresh fragrance of panic and fear around the London Blues Supporters Camp after watching the Manchester Duos City & United’s start to the season. More panicking taking place after United’s 8-2 bashing of ‘crocked’ Arsenal. Well, It was a good performance by United without an iota of doubt, said that we have nothing to fear. Most fans who start to panic and fear argue based on our results against Stoke, West Brom & Norwich. Every one of us expected Chelsea to thrash off West Brom and Norwich but both ended in a ‘hard earned’ 2-1 & 3-1 wins. Well under Carlo we used to thrash teams by 6,7,8 goal difference and this ‘hard earned wins’ have instinctually put some of the supporters under fear and panic.

Now why I say we need not panic? Well, Grant doesn’t play like Mourinho did, Mourinho didn’t play like Scolari did, Carlo didn’t play like Mourinho did thus we cannot expect AVB to play like Carlo. The Managers are different, their tactics & philosophies are different. Look at our days under Mourinho, we didn’t score like Carlo’s ‘Playstation Football’ yet we managed to win. AVB is from the same camp of Mourinho and an expert tactician like Mourinho too thus there is nothing big for us to panic and fear about. Whether it is 8-0 or 1-0 it is still 3 points (if you are gonna argue about GD, well, when you win, GD doesn’t matter!)

Of course we have a ‘fragile’ midfield and AVB and the club is working to bring is some bright stars. Look at Mata & Lukaku, they were amazing against Norwich. Lukaku is still 18 and he was impressive and Mata – without doubt we have signed a star. Now with Romeu & Davila there is more power added to the midfield. We already have ‘Sir’ Frank, Ramries, Mikel (and Essien is of course out!), Malouda, Benayoun & ‘Super’ Josh! It’s matter of time until we start showing our best. If we sign another ‘classy & creative’ midfielder then that’ll be the cherry on top of the cream!

And we need our ‘Saviour’ Cech back in action as soon as possible. YES WE ARE MISSING HIM! And look at our defense, Bosingwa, Ivan, Luiz, Alex (might leave though!), ‘Captain’ JT, ‘Hot’ Ashley and may be Van Der Wiel joining that list! City’s or United’s defense doesn’t match this. Look at the Keepers, I honestly don’t think De Gea or Hart is better than Cech! City has an amazing ‘fire power’ which can be matched by Chelsea provided we gain our form. It’s been so long but I’m (we are) waiting for Torres to ignite his fire engines. And with Sturridge returning from suspension, Drogba recovering, Lukaku on form we can match City's fire power. All together put we can be better than City!

Thus I put my faith on AVB and rest with hope by cheering my ‘Super Team’, Darling, CHELSEA!

‘DON’T PANIC!’

-
THE CHELSEA ANALYST
www.chelseaanalyst.tk

Juan Mata to Chelsea from Valencia subject to medical examination!

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea Viewer) — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 19:19:00 +0000

A little over 24 hours ago, AVB denied having any knowledge of an attempt by Chelsea to Sign Manuel Mata from Valencia. It seems that our manager can be very good at keeping things quiet, I wonder what else he may be hiding...

Anyway, it seems Mata will be our latest addition, providing that he passes the medical examinations he is expected to undergo in coming days.

Mata will wear the number 10 shirt, and the 23 year old left winger will be signing a 5 year contract that will see the club part with 55000 pounds per week. His transfer fee is expected to be around the 27 million euro mark.

On Sunday evening, the Valencia official website released this statement:

"Valencia Football Club has reached an agreement in principle with Chelsea FC for the transfer of the player Juan Manuel Mata. The agreement is subject to the relevant medical tests."

Mata will be a welcomed addition to the Chelsea squad and we hope to see our investment return positive results for many years to come by signing one of Europe's hottest properties.

KTBFFH

Article written by: Ryan Bruwer
http://www.twitter.com/ChelseaViewer
http://www.facebook.com/chelseaisoureverything

Whom To Keep? Whom To Sell? Anelka or Kalou?

noreply@blogger.com (Malhaar Kale) — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 16:54:00 +0000

Will One of These Two Be Scarified for Rumoured Arrival of Lukaku?

Bridge Bound?

Reports in the media are on high note for last couple of days suggesting that Lukaku's representatives are in serious discussion with Chelsea officials over this prodigy's much awaited transfer to Chelsea. If that deal goes through and if Lukaku stays as Chelsea player this season and not sent on loan then will any of the current player be let go?

There is much of a possibility of that situation, cause in the case of arrival of Lukaku we will have Malouda, Kalou, Drogba, Sturridge, Torres, Anelka and Lukaku fighting for 3 places upfront. So it will be bit overcrowded, wouldn't it be? and in that case whom Chelsea will sell, let go? If you ask me then I will say Kalou. Why? here are the reasons -

Inconsistent - I am well aware of the fact that Kalou reached his personal best last season with more than 10 goals and the time to goal ratio was really good compared to others, but still over his period at Chelsea he has been pretty inconsistent, well that has been the case with other Chelsea strikers as well but still his inconsistency is stark as compared to others.

Scored double-digit goals last season

Good Resale Value - It won't take football pundit to tell that Kalou will definitely fetch high resale value than Anelka or even Drogba, given his age. He is in his mid -20s and has lot to be offered as regular first team player, the opportunity which rarely came to his way over the years at Chelsea. Also, Anelka is 32-33 and almost towards the end of high level intensity football, so unless Sheikhs come in, no sane club will pay extravagant sum of money for his services. But on the other hand, if Kalou is sold he will definitely make us richer by at least 15 million pounds, and that is in no way bad transfer fee. Another wild guess which comes to my mind is what about using him as make-weight for Modric signing? We have plenty of options at the front and on the other hand it is said that Uncle 'Arry is in search of striker to solve his club's attacking problems. Wouldn't that be win-win situation for both the clubs?

Sturridge Factor - Anelka staying will be good news for Sturridge's future at Chelsea, this is said after taking into consideration that he won't be loaned out this season. During the pre-season AVB used Sturridge at right side of front 3, where both Anelka and Kalou can play. So there are 3 players competing for one place. In such scenario, I will let Kalou leave over Anelka cause, Sturridge is "almost" finished product and in couple of seasons he will be regular starter for Chelsea if everything goes in proper direction, and in that time Anelka's contract expires at the end of this season, So we will have our own successor of Anelka in next one or two seasons. But on the other hand, if we let Anelka go and keep Kalou, the opportunities of Sturidge will always be limited as Kalou will fall first in the pecking order to succeed Anelka.

Another thing is Anelka seems to have accepted the secondary role at Chelsea and knows that he won't get to play in each and every match since the arrival of Torres, but Kalou on the other hand has reiterated his desire to play in the starting line-up many times so far and his commented about it in the media just too many times.

Ready for A Secondary Role

In the end, I would like to say again that this is my completely wild guess over the departure of any of these two players and our new manager Andre Villas-Boas knows what to do and whatever he does regarding the signing, selling of players, I can assure you that he will have full support of fans like me. Up The Chels!!!

We don't need big signings!

noreply@blogger.com (Ameya Badwe) — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 13:12:00 +0000

We have agreed terms for the signing of Oriol Romeu and we have already signed Thibaut Courtois who is on the verge of moving to At. Madrid. However, with rumors of another bid for Modric and the completion of a transfer for Javier Pastore I realized that we don't need more big name signings.

I watched the game against Thailand in the stadium and Josh McEachran was fantastic and looks like a player who could seriously contend for Mikel's position in the squad. I watched as AVB welcomed McEachran back to the bench and he looked a pleased man. McEachran has a deadly eye for a pass which we witnessed as he thread through a pass for Ivanovic which completely fooled the Thai All Stars defense as they expected the ball to go through to Torres.

Another player who has looked good has been Yossi Benayoun. The man who missed a large part of last season due to injury still has his pace and quick feet. He definitely will contend and be a key player this season coming off the bench to quickly influence games.

Ryan Bertrand and Patrick Van Aanholt will remain at the club to contend for the left-back position and both look promising in playing as a wing-back and acting like another winger for the team.

In the attack, Daniel Sturridge has confirmed his desire to remain at the club and compete for a position in the team. His brilliant loan spell at Bolton will have caught the attention of Andres Villas Boas. Contrary to rumors of Sturridge being included in a deal to sign Luka Modric.

Tomas Kalas and Nathaniel Chalobah had also been brought on the tour by AVB to show his desire to encourage young talent at the club. Personally, I believe that Kalas and Chalobah will try to contend for games in the League Cup.

Overall, Modric and Pastore might fit as long term replacements for Lampard but I refuse to succumb to the fact that this summer we need to sign top players.

Chelsea Times - McEachran, Bertrand and Pro Contracts to Academy Player

noreply@blogger.com (Malhaar Kale) — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 17:08:00 +0000

Day of Contracts for Chelsea Youngsters

Chelsea FC today announced that its academy products Josh McEachran and Ryan Bertrand have signed new contract with the club. McEachran penned 5 year deal while Bertrand extended his stay at Stamford Bridge by 4 more years.
In an interview McEachran said,

'I have wanted to do that since I was a kid, since I joined when I was eight years old. It will be good if I do but I need to keep working. This season my target is just to play more minutes. Hopefully I will play more games and keep improving.'

read full interview HERE

Whereas Ryan Bertrand, who made his debut for Chelsea last season against Birmingham at Stamford Bridge and celebrated that day with the assist has become third academy LB to sign a deal with the club in last 6-7 months, followed by Patrick van Aanholt and Ben Gordon.

Also it was happy day for few other youth prospects as well when academy prodigies Amin Affane, Todd Kane, Jamal Blackman, Archange Nkumu, Daniel Pappoe also signed pro contracts with Chelsea today. Affane and Nkumu have been offered two year deal while rest have signed contract for 3 years.

Chelsea vs Wycombe Wanderers Highlights

noreply@blogger.com (Malhaar Kale) — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 10:14:00 +0000

Enjoy the highlights of last yesterday's friendly match between Chelsea and Wanderers

Alex en Route to Bayern or Madrid?

noreply@blogger.com (Malhaar Kale) — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 16:02:00 +0000

Will It Be The End of The Tank? If YES, then are these reasons for it?

For last couple of days rumours in papers are suggesting that our central defender Alex might be sold to Bayern Munich who are interested in him for long or Real Madrid for the fee called to be in the region of £12 million. I bet none of the Chelsea supporter would like to see him leaving the Bridge after giving such a consistent level of performances over last few years and establishing himself as one of the quality CBs in the Premier League.

Then why is it that Chelsea want to sell him?

While answering that, couple of reasons come to my mind. Not many will agree with it or even people might have different opinions than me but here are the things which come to my mind.

Injuries - I am not saying he is on stretcher all the time but for last couple of seasons he has been hammered by injuries and has spent at least a month on sidelines, something which can't be overlooked in the competitive nature of the Premier League where one player's injury might be the difference between winning and losing, and losing a central defender at high times is such a disaster for the club like Chelsea who compete on all fronts at the same time.

Ivanovic More Suitable Option - Apart from Alex, we have John Terry, David Luiz and Branislav Ivanovic who can play at the heart of defense. Though Luiz is still getting to the grips of playing in league, he isn't far away from being the prime figure at the back line (or is he already?), talking about John Terry, I really doubt he will be benched until he retires or reaches the age of 32. So we definitely have John Terry there in the defense, one who can partner him is either Alex or Luiz or Ivanovic. In this situation Ivanovic has better dynamism than Alex as he can play at right back as well. So whether we sign right back or center back, it doesn't really affect Ivanovic's chances as he can settle at any of above mentioned roles. but in the case of Alex, he can only play at center back, which will somewhat limit his chances.

Reducing the number of foreign players - we already have 17 foreign players, and no club can have more than 17 foreign players in 25 men squad sheet. and because of this we will see some players leaving the team to open up the slots for potential new signings. In that case, Alex will be casualty and might be sold.

Upcoming 9 - 9 rule - FIFA is thinking of implementing new rule which says that in every match day squad of 18 players, 9 must be homegrown and other 9 will be allowed as foreign players. This rule is still on papers but is more likely to be implemented in near future and many are suggesting that is the reason why ridiculous sums of money have been spent on Phil Jones and Henderson by our rival clubs in this transfer window. Could this be the reason then we might see few other players leaving the club as well.

Andre Villas-Boas has something different in mind - In this case, no other person will be able to justify Alex's departure but our new manager, so I will leave this point as it is!

If any of this is the reason, yet none of it will be able to ease the pain of departure of crowd-favorite Alex. I really hope he doesn't leave for any other club, but in case of worst case scenario he leaves, I hope he will have bright future at his new club.

Will Modric Have The Same Fate Like Torres?

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea Viewer) — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 15:03:00 +0000

Just when Chelsea fans gave up hope, that Tottenham Hotspur ace Luka Modric wont arrive at Stamford Bridge, an interview by Luka himself, changed the whole perspective. Last Tuesday, Luka Modric and Spurs chairman Daniel Levy decided, after they held a meeting, that the Croat will stay at White Hart Lane. That all but gave up hopes of the Chels of seeing a playmaker like him at the Bridge. But then he delivered an explosive interview on Sunday, in which he claimed that Spurs chairman Mr. Levy had threatened him, if he wants Chelsea move.

Luka Modric still wants Chelsea move and according to him, Levy went backwards in a 'gentleman's agreement'. Modric was quoted as telling Sportske Novost:

"I haven't thought about it at all because [not letting me go] would definitely not be good for anyone.

"I have already told the chairman that last summer he said we would find a mutually satisfactory agreement if a club like Chelsea came in. I hope that eventually he will understand the situation and that we will reach an agreement and go our separate ways in an appropriate manner."

Modric claimed, further, that if he dishonors the agreement, he would be allowed to rot among the reserves, by the Spurs' officials.

"I must say that I am genuinely disappointed about what Levy said to me. He didn't care about what I was telling him. It all only convinced me further that I was right to consider moving on to another club.

"I reminded the chairman of our gentleman's agreement when we were in Dubrovnik last summer and I agreed a contract extension with Tottenham. At that time, I had an open chat with Levy - that if a bigger club came in with a concrete offer, we would consider it and agree the best solution for all concerned.

"The chairman said, 'Okay, we'll sit and talk [about any offers]'. Now Levy doesn't want to talk to me and said there is no possibility that I can leave Spurs."

"He threatened me - he said if I didn't accept the club's stance, they would make me sit on the bench or in the stands."

So if Modric is speaking the truth, then I think Mr. Levy cannot do that. If the meeting in Dubrovnik was actually held for this purpose last summer, in which it said that if a bigger club comes with a solid offer, Spurs will look on it, then I think Modric is right to say this. I am saying these as a neutral fan, and not as a Chels. Its really unfair to promise someone about something in the future and then reiterating from it. Actually Chelsea did submit an offer of 22 million pounds to Spurs for Luka Modric, to which Spurs briskly refused. 22 miilion pounds looks like a real solid offer. But there have been many players, who are not even worth 20 miilion and still had completed 20 million pounds in this window. So, Harry Redknapp didnt want to loose his ace to such money, and wanted a more solid offer. I think its logical from Redknapp, as smaller clubs are demanding more and more money for average players.

Well, by the looks of it, Modric really wants a Chelsea move, as he wants to stay in London and also wants to win trophies. There have been reports also, that Modric will hand in a transfer request to Tottenham very soon. But the perspective was quite different before Sunday, and Daniel Levy was claiming that Modric had promised that he wont hand a transfer request. But is Mr. Levy and his Tottenham trying to make Modric, another 'Torres'?

According to the Anfield faithful, Fernando Torres was the best player in their last 20 years's history and they were claiming it until 31 January, 2011. But from then, Torres has become a popular icon of hatred among the Kops, and he is mocked by them everytime and every moment. Fernando Torres didnt win a silverware at Anfield and Liverpool did promise him of some dreams. But when Fernando realised that Liverpool wasnt the ideal place for him to pursue his career, he at last gave in a transfer request to the Mersyside club, which Liverpool rejected. Kops started to burn his 'number 9' shirt, and when Roman Abramovich did bid 50 million pounds for him, Liverpool agreed to sell him to Chelsea. So Liverpool made Torres a popular villain to their fans, and it looks Spurs are also doing the same towards Modric. Some Yids have started to hate Modric and I think Levy will at last sell Modric to Chelsea, after Chelsea bid something good to suit the Spurs' pockets and making Modric a 'Spurs enemy'.

Levy may well be concerned about his position at the club and he wants to retain Modric for the sake of his club. But is it right to chain a bird, who wants to fly away, after you fail to feed it properly? I hope its not. We dont know what will happen next, but will expect Luka to hand in a transfer request very soon. Till then, we, Chelsea fans will continue to flood twitter with our famous hashtagged tweet, "#FreeLuka".

Written By: Prad Ghosh (ChelseaViewer)

Join my Chelsea page on Facebook: We r frm Stamford Bridge, we r frm Chelsea

Claudio Ranieri: Gone But Not Forgotten at Chelsea

noreply@blogger.com (Malhaar Kale) — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 16:12:00 +0000

this is a guest post by Josh Robinson, if you also wish to write for us, click HERE

Claudio Ranieri has been a very good manager of several clubs over the last 20 years or so. He had a very succesful start to his managerial career with back-to-back promotions at Italian team Cagliari and then followed that success by gaining promotion, from Serie B, with Fiorentina. The Rome-born manager also captured two trophies with Valencia in Spain.

Following his early success with those 3 clubs, Chelsea decided to appoint him as our new manager on 18th September 2000, despite him resigning after a below par spell at Athletico Madrid. His spell at Stamford Bridge is what Ranieri is arguably most renowned for in football. He spent 3 and a half years at Chelsea until Roman Abramovich bought the club in June 2003 and decided Claudio wasn’t the right man for the job, but Roman still gave him a season to prove him wrong. Ranieri was sacked in May 2004, but was and still is, appreciated by us Chelsea fans. Although he didnt have great success with us, he was integral in bringing in some of our big players who were vital in the future success of Chelsea.

Claudio Ranieri brought in players that are now ‘the spine of the team’ at Stamford Bridge including Petr Cech and Frank Lampard, aswell as nurturing John Terry into a great defender and picked him to start above Frank Leboeuf in one game, to show his faith in J.T. However, he was also responsible,as well as the board and Abramovich, in bringing in players that were part of unbelievable success under Jose Mourinho. These players include: Arjen Robben, William Gallas, Claude Makelele, Joe Cole and Hernan Crespo and other good players. To this, we owe him a massive thanks because he has bought some players who turned into stars at Chelsea and also made Jose Mourinho’s job at ‘the bridge’, a lot easier.

You may follow Josh on twitter - click HERE

Michael Essien's Another Injury: Is This The End of Bison?

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea Viewer) — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 13:32:00 +0000

So Michael Essien has suffered another injury to his right knee and many people are guessing that its the same injury which had invaded Essien over the past years. Michael Essien got injured during a training session this week as said by Chelsea Football Club on their official website. The club said:

"Michael Essien suffered an injury to his right knee during training this week.
He will undergo tests over the next few days to determine the extent of that injury. Until we have the full results of those tests we will not be commenting further."

Read more: http://goo.gl/5pFyQ

By the looks of it, it looks really serious, and there are some serious concerns among many Chelsea fans, that Essien may take at least 6 months, or even worse (whole season) to recover. Well, we are really concerned about it, but the person who is the most concerned is none other than our new manager, Andre Villas Boas. But what is good, that the news of this Essien injury had come a bit earlier, as our team can prepare without him in the preseason. Its true that Michael Essien was out of form in the last season. Now with Lampard's times are getting numbered with his age, our midfield really needs some experience, on which our youngsters such as John Obi Mikel, Ramires or the young Josh McEachran should rely upon. Does it mean that we really need a good signing now? I think its yes.

Malhaar Kale (the founder of Chelsea Fanatic) was tweeting about these similar things today. Yes, we need a new signing, and thats what I think. Many Chelsea fans will call for a creative midfielder to be signed right now. Yes, they are right, but at the same time, those creative midfielders can lack the solidity, which Bison provided in the middle of the park of Chelsea's game. So is it the time for Villas Boas, to make either of Mikel, Ramires or McEachran, a new 'Essien'? I cant comment about it further, but it can happen as Villas Boas is in the charge. Only the coming days will answer my ambiguity.

As for Essien himself, when he returned against Manchester City back in 2009 (the 2008-09) season, he made a sparkling return with a goal, which ended in a 1-0 victory over City at Stamford Bridge. From then, it seemed that Essien had got over his injury, as he alone orchestrated the Chelsea midfield upto December 2009. Then he was injured again and never played again in our historic 'Double' season. He returned in the preseason against Crystal Palace in 2010, scoring the lone goal of the match again. But as the season went on, we realised Essien had lost his 'Bison' nature. Now, as we have a new energetic manager in Andre Villas Boas, we felt like our manager will be able to return the form of Essien back. But sadly, this new injury can crush our hopes.

We will see the upcoming results of the tests, promised by our club. Now, the only thing we can say is, "Get well soon, Essien."

Written By: Prad Ghosh (ChelseaViewer)

Join my Chelsea page on Facebook: We r frm stamford Bridge, we r frm Chelsea

Roman Abramovich’s Managerial Decisions Have Been Correct

noreply@blogger.com (Malhaar Kale) — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 19:30:00 +0000

Image via Wikipedia
this is a guest post by Josh Robinson, if you also wish to write for us, click HERE

Many people say Roman Abramovich doesn’t give time to his managers. I think that is nonsense.

For starters, ’7′th manager in 8 years’ sounds much worse than it is. The 1st was Ranieri, who was given a season under Roman to bring success to the club, but he didn’t, so we let him go and went on the look for someone else. We then brought in ‘the special one’ of Jose Mourinho and the rest is, as they say, history. He brought great quantities of success to the club. This included our first premier league title ever, and first division title in 50 years. This was turned in to back to back premier league titles the next season. His out-going,arrogant personality was a breath of fresh air to the media and he almost always gave the newspapers a headline or a controversial quote. Jose engraved his name in Chelsea’s history winning 6 pieces of silverware. However, when some results went against us in Jose’s 4th season in charge, Roman, the board and Mourinho himself, decided it was the right time, for all parties concerned, to part company mutually.

With Mourinho gone part way into the 2007/08 season, we needed to find a new manager. We looked to Avram Grant to take charge temporarily until the end of the season. Although he got us a game or 2 away from silverware domestically, and a spot-kick away from our first Champions league win, Roman and us Chelsea fans still knew that he wasn’t the right man for the full-time job.

Roman Abramovich decided to employ Luiz Felipe Scolari for a different style of football, but still hoping for success. As a Chelsea fan, i thought this could be a good move for us, because pre-scolari we were a team that grinded out results, not a team who played in a particularly entertaining way. After a pretty solid start, things started to go downhill and it looked like ‘Big phil’ couldn’t cope with the pressure of the job. Due to this, we sacked him and looked for his successor. After a short while, we appointed Guus Hiddink as an interim manager until the end of the season, because he was manager of the Russian national team and wanted to continue with that job. Hiddink made an instant impression on us Chelsea fans and got us winning games we were previously not and got the best out of our players who were dormant early-season. Hiddink unbelievably lead us to F.A Cup glory against Everton and we lifted the trophy at Wembley. Hiddink remained loyal to the Russian national side by staying there and that meant we needed to find a new manager for the coming seasons.

Then came Carlo Ancelotti to Stamford Bridge, who on his first season completed a sensational feat of winning ‘the double’, of the premier league and F.A cup, for the first time in Chelsea’s history. The next season sadly went much worse for Chelsea and we ended up trophy less, but most importantly not putting up any major battle in any competition. At the end of the 2010/11 season we sacked Carlo Ancelotti but thanked him for his memorable success on his debut season for us.

We have now got our 7th manager in 8 years, but like I said at the start, it is much better than it sounds. The new manager is Andre Villas-Boas and I personally am delighted!. The next few years for us is massively important because i believe we have got the right man for the job, and I also think we will back him to bring success to the club.

You may follow Josh on twitter - click HERE

Steve Holland Appointment - Villas-Boas's Step Towards Striking Balance at Chelsea?

noreply@blogger.com (Malhaar Kale) — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 09:02:00 +0000

Next Step already taken by New Manager Andre Villas-Boas!!!

Staff appointments made by Andre Villas-Boas after taking Chelsea hot seat are full of planning and yet quite unexpected. Arrival of club hero Di Matteo and 26 year old opposition scout Daniel Sausa have certainly caught an eye of us fans.

Another important change which Villas-Boas immediately made after his arrival was that he released Paul Clement from services (who was there at cub for more than 15 years) and he promoted reserve team coach Steve Holland to first team as Assistant. Seeing club staff and players getting promoted to first team is always a good sign and gives overall boost to club structure.

In this post, I am talking about Steve Holland's promotion. We all know we have set up one of the best youth academy in the world and the academy and its players are developing year after year. FA Youth Cup title and Reserve Team championship are couple of examples of how far we've come with the academy development in recent years. Bur still question which surrounds many of us is that

WHY we haven't seen any of those academy players breaking into first team if they are that good?

and to answer that question we have to look again towards Steve Holland's appointment as first team assistant coach. He already has worked with all these academy players, being a Reserve Team coach and knows every player in person and in detail than anyone else in club hierarchy.

That knowledge of his is going to be very very important to Andre Villas-Boas to consider whom to give chance and whom to not, whom to play where and whom to play how much. Also this expertise knowledge of his will help new manager in deciding which areas of the field can be competitively covered by the the club on its own and which can't be covered from within and will require signing. This will assist the young manager to strike out the perfect balance between academy prodigies and external signings, the thing which we lacked under previous managers.

Even though we can not expect too much of academy players in the first team this season but they will be put in gradually and will be given chance here and there, but it certainly can be said that we will see more and more home grown talent nurtured by Chelsea on its own in coming seasons. That definitely will be the breath of fresh air in the team and there is nothing as full of pleasure as watching our own lads taking the field for senior team and representing the club with pride.

We all are sure that Steve Holland's appointment will help to serve this cause and decision taken by manager will yield sweet fruits of success in coming time.

Toni Kroos Is What We Need?

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea Viewer) — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 13:16:00 +0000

Chelsea had been linked with many playmakers recently, namely Luka Modric of Tottenham, Wesley Sneijder of Inter, and even Joao Moutinho of Andre Villas Boas' former club FC Porto. While the talks of Sneijder (related to Chelsea) had died out in the recent times, the rumors of Modric and Moutinho are gaining momentum with Chelsea. While, media speculate about them, one of my friends, Manas Agrawal gave me an article, about a player, with whom we are not related, according to the media. His views about Bayern Munich midfielder, Toni Kroos are:

"After winning the golden ball award in the U-17 FIFA WC 2007, bagging 5 goals and the bronze boot award, he was well identified as the perfect replacement to Bastian Schwiensteiger.

Already plying his trade with the Bavarian giants Bayern Munich, he was sent to Bayer Leverkusen for a loan spell, which turned out to be very fruitful. He is an attacking midfielder, who also prefers to play in the defensive midfield both at club and country. Called up for WC 2010 senior squad, he also featured as a sub to his mentor, Bastian Schweinsteiger. A kind of player, who is much needed at Chelsea.

An ideal fill in to the void of a fast and creative player at the club. He has been off form lately at club level but it is just a matter of time before this 21-year old carries another young German team to glory."

Well, Modric, Sneijder or Moutinho are definitely the players, we need at this moment. We really lack creativity in front of the goal, as our own midfielders are no more, that much reliable. Those above 3 players cant come in cheap, and their clubs will not let us have them so easily. I think that Sneijder wont move from Inter, but Modric or Moutinho can leave their respective clubs if we bid their clubs ideally. Modric may have the Premier League experience, but Moutinho can be more judged by Andre Villas Boas, as the former was in Porto, under the 33-year old. So, if we buy Kroos now, it will be rather unusual type of signing, as he is not currently on top of his form, but still in the end, he is a German, and he has got the talent to turn Chelsea's wheels (if he comes at Chelsea). He is younger than those players, and he will come at a much cheaper rate, than those players, with whom, we are linked now. But we can expect a tough stance from Bayern too. If we do bid for Kroos in the future, and Bayern asks for an abnormal amount, then I think, its better to not to go after him.

Toni Kroos is really much like Bastian Schweinsteiger, as he plays pretty much in the same way as German vice-captain. He has the strength to offer Chelsea, the stability in the midfield and with his defensive efforts he can cut out many attacks. But considering our situation, we need creativity, than solidity in the midfield. We are not creative enough, and that is why Manchester United had exposed loopholes in our midfield in the last three encounters with them, as we have become predictable to our opponents. Michael Essien had been poor in the last season, and according to many Chelsea fans, he had lost his ability. If we sell Essien, then we can replace him with Kroos. I see Kroos as a much more replacement to Essien, than as an answer to our 'midfield creativity' problems.

Article within the quotes are written by: Manas Agrawal

Written and Edited By: Prad Ghosh (ChelseaViewer)

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