Chelsea: What’s Really Happened?
I’ve never exactly been known for my optimism where football – or more to the point, Chelsea – is concerned but even I can’t help feeling this blog has been nothing but doom and gloom lately. So, with us now halfway through the season maybe it’s time to take stock and have a realistic look at where we are and where we’re going?
We’re three points behind the league leaders. Would I have taken that before the start of the season? Yes, probably. Although it’s fair to say I wouldn’t have expected the league leaders to be Liverpool.
At the start of the campaign what I was looking for was a better standard of football than Grant dished up last season, and to be fair, Scolari gave us that but it was all away from home. If you take out the first game of the season against Pompey, a Champions League game against a poor Bordeaux a month later, and the 5-0 drubbing of Sunderland in November, we’re struggling to score at home.
Of course, some might point to the game against Liverpool which saw our home record go as the turning point, although we scored 8 goals in our next two games (0-3 away to Hull and 5-0 at home to Sunderland), and it probably wasn’t until the defeat away at Roma and going out of the Carling Cup at home on penalties to Burnley that we really started to look vulnerable, so what was going on at that time?
Well, for a start, there were the injuries. When Scolari arrived at Chelsea there was a bit of a clearout with plenty of players leaving and only Deco arriving. Of course, Robinho was firmly in Scolari’s plans but as we know, we lost out on him and there didn’t appear to be a plan B. Then, we lost Essien to injury in September and I remember questioning at the time, how much this combination of events would cost us. Little did I know at the time that things would get a whole lot worse on the player front.
In and around the time when things started to go a little pear-shaped for us, players we had to do without included Ricardo Carvalho, Didier Drogba, Ashley Cole, Joe Cole, Michael Ballack, Petr Cech and Deco. Even when Deco returned, the pace of the Premier League didn’t seem to do much to help him and he was struggling to regain his form. John Terry, likewise, picked up an injury away at West Brom and yet turned out for his country only days later despite concerns in the Chelsea camp. For me, he really hasn’t looked right since either.
We’d made it to the Champions League final at the end of the previous season – and lost – and now, whether we wanted to admit it or not, we had an ageing side who not only might be suffering the hangover from Moscow psychologically, but seemed to be struggling physically as well.
So, we had a pretty depleted and inconsistent first team to deal with – not to mention changes in backroom staff. Because prior to things going wrong, Chelsea had just lost Steve Clarke to West Ham and that surely has to have had a significant impact on the players? For all the changes at Chelsea over the last couple of seasons – and god knows there’s been plenty of them – Clarkey was the ever present, maybe the steadying influence? And certainly things don’t seem to have gone too well for us since his departure. Of course a replacement was found quick enough in Ray Wilkins but whilst my initial thoughts were that this was a pretty good idea, the fact that he seems to have done nothing but recite the usual party-line fashion like a total yes-man has completely changed my mind about his appointment.
So, essentially what we have now is a Chelsea manager who only ever signed a two year contract to start with (in other words, he really isn’t in it for the long haul), an assistant who ‘quite frankly’ couldn’t believe his luck when he was offered the job although will apparently kiss whichever arse he needs to in order to keep it, and the hapless Peter Kenyon – all dancing to (and forever singing) Abramovich’s tune.
Still, let’s look at the positives: we’re only three points behind Liverpool (for now), we made it through the Champions League qualifiers and get to play against the team the Uefa president favours in our next game and we’ve managed to earn ourselves a replay in the FA Cup courtesy of a draw against the mighty Southend.
Oh and did I mention it’s United up next?
KTBFFH
Filed under: Rants
scolari is a stupid man,is not a club coach is a national coach……….he doesnt no anything about club team………we need shevchenko back.why he didnt like ballack?
Spot on, If you read my comment yesterday i was stressing this very point. Our ageing stars also have lost appetite and spirit that was key to Jose success.
It is not helped by Kenyn who seem to do more in destroying Our club than building it. Now they tell us Solari wont spend any mony this transfere window so why on earth did they sell Brigde at this crucial time of the season without another replacement? yes he is a team player but you never no what injuries will do to our squad.
I admitt Scolari is strugglng Tactically but fresh Blood tend to help in such situations to raise the moral. The likes of Droga, Malouda, Mineiro, Deco, Ballack, Balleti nd Cdicini are just too old and not good enough for chelsea. Get rid of them and buy fresh young players. My dream team nex year
……………………………..Cech………………………………….
Bosingwa…….Terry (Fit)………….Carvalho………….A.Cole
…………………………………Mikel………………………………………….
…………Essien…………………………………..Lampard/Goucurf……………
J. cole /Obertan……………….Benzema………….Ribery………
Bench
Kameni
Alex
Ivanovic
Kakuta
Anelka
Diego
Kalou
“Get rid of them and buy fresh young players. My dream team next year… etc”
At the risk of sounding nasty…. Hello? McFly? Anyone listening in there? Haven’t you guys figured it out yet? The money has gone. The club is considering getting the players to pay for their meals in the Cobham canteen. Does no one sense a theme?
Buying Benzema, Ribery, Diego and the King of Siam next season… well, tell you what mate… just let me know what medication you’re on. I hate January and I could do with a lift.
We need sharp left and right winger. Scolari’s power house which is left and right winger is his weak point. So, let them provide the two players and start playing like real Chelsea. Up blues ib.one.
got to agree with Rob - dream teams forget it!
In fact we don’t need new players, what we need is a manager with tactical sense, some understanding of the league he’s in, who won’t make silly substituions and hasn’t promised the boss (before he even arrived!) that Deco is the answer to everything and now feels duty bound to prove it week in week out by playing him.
that’s what we need and yes, i know we’re only 3 points off top but does anyone really think we’re playing like champions - incidentally i agree about steve clarke.
Rob - made me LMAO. Abramovich’s money hasn’t gone, or at least not if he can afford to lash out on the sort of private parties we hear about. Clearly though, his cash flow in Chelsea’s direction is what’s gone but what I dont understand is why? He’s a businessman, surely he realises that with no success at all he hasnt got a hope in hell of ever getting a return nevermind Kenyon’s bullshit about self sufficiency? The way Chelsea FC is being ‘run’ atm doesn’t make any sense to me.
buddha9 - I have to disagree about us not needing new players. What we’re playing with is an ageing squad - players from Ranieri and Mourinho’s sides. We need at least some fresh legs in there and by that I mean of a better quality than Malouda and Kalou. Mourinho bought us some seriously poor players along the way.
Buddha is spot on, I keep banging on about organisation and motivation, that is all that is required. My take on it is that the money has not gone - RA is keeping it for the new manager, after all what kind of idiot says we can’t play 4-4-2 because nobody has a left foot, is crossing from the right side not allowed and why did he not try playing Bridge at LW in front of Ashley, the man is not up to it.
chelsea D - of course the squads aging mate we all are -
But most of the players are actually in their prime 26-29 - a new pair of legs won’t hurt never does esp. a winger but in the big picture the problem is organisation, players not getting in other players channels and players knowing what the game plan is.
That was Mourinho’s great strength - he organised the tactics and the players played them - look at the FA cup final verses Man U - what is a problem is that Scolari’s’ training is under done for this league and that will eventually effect players as they get older.
I can’t even understand the players he’s selling - as ranners said why not play bridge as a left winger instead of Malouda or why seller a dribbler like SWP and then complaqin about not having a person who can run at teams like Robinho - well he had one why did he sell him?
This is what I mean about the team not appearing to have any focus.
Ranners - Ive been thinking for a while that the reason Scolari only signed a two year contract was because the plan was never for him to stay - and Chelsea certainly wouldnt be wanting to pay out yet another long contract. I could be way off the mark here but I’ve been wondering whether we ended up with Scolari because the manager we wanted fancied a break - and didnt want to join us until this summer?
buddha9 - I totally get your point about us selling players like SWP and Bridge and then Scolari coming out with the comments he does. But maybe the point he’s making is that HE didnt sell them? If you read the comments he made about Bridge, he didnt appear to know very much about it.
http://thechelseablog.org/2009/01/05/scolari-happy-to-be-in-the-dark/
A buisness is controlled by its customers, but not apparently the premiership which has the ability to controls its customers…..because they are willing to get the same stale product year in year out?
They are controlled with clever advertising….which fails to explain what is actually in the box when you buy it….or on the box so to speak!
It is the most predictable and boring league in the world??
Everyone knows from 4 teams….one of them will win and although we get some decent games..the end product is baically the same….year in year out!
My goodness it is nearly as predictable as the SPL and how boring is that league???
We need a radical overhaul and the fans have the power….we need financial controls..salary caps, transfer controls and an equal spread of the wealth and maybe our league would be as competitve as the american footy and aussie rules leagues, where there is real competition and not the same old,same old all the time….with the rich getting richer and small clubs struggling to compete in totally unfair buisness.
Mark my words, if something is not done soon…our league will go the way of the Italian League and we will become the laughing stock and no amount of advertising will get us out of that one!
I watched Singapore v Vietnam recently with a small gate fee….result was not predictable,all fans sat in harmony, and all 50,000 enjoyed the product!
Schoolkids were allowed in free….we used to do that in the UK years ago….but many would not remember this, but this was at a time when our product was competitive!!!
The sad thing is as a soccer enthusiast….I loved it and the product was nowhere near as boring as the overhyped premiership and long may it continue..I got what i PAID FOR….and how many in the Premiership can say that……truth now please!
That’s an Interesting observation Chelsea D - Mancicni is not working and I don’t think Rijkaard is. They are the right sort of age but I’m not sure if the right people - Rijkaard leant on Ten Cats (as we call him in our house!) and Mancini won the italian league when the others were releagated or weakened by the scandal. Having said that, Mancicni was in London around Christmas and the bookies have stopped taking money on Scolari to be the next to go…………….
You could well be right about Scolari not knowing what is going on, I would like to think a good manager would have tried to get more out of SWP, I recall that he had a good start before Mourinho was fired.
I was thinking more of Rijkaard, Ranners. Like I say, I could be way off but didnt he say he wanted a year out? It just wouldnt surprise me to see him at Stamford Bridge in the summer.
Are you the New LEEDS of the South?
If you get tanked by Man Utd this weekend will you start to freefall out of the top 4 or 6? Are you safe for this season?
Let review your season without the rose-colored glasses.
Home recorded beaten by Liverpool and Arsenal and drew with Man Utd so 1 point from 9 now struggling at home after beating some poor sides away Sunderland????
Beaten by Burnley in the Carling Cup at HOME drew with Southend in the FA cup and just got into the second round of the champions league by the skin of your teeth drawing with Dracula’s 11 at home just.
A few players injured but no body to replace them out of the squad, now the squad looks like the weakest squad of the top 4 or 5.
New Manager looks out of his dept but smiles at the press (was the press not the reason why he would not take the England job?)
More people leaving that coming in from backroom to first team squad!
Players having to buy meals at the training and match tickets allocation cut!
Has the rich man (now the second richest in the league) has got fed up with the team he was expecting to win the Champions league and rule world football with his money has found out that 11 players with real heart with a real manager can win the Champions league but 11 guys without any heart just fat wallets will win many games but not when the bank account mean more than the silverware!
It is now the time for money to either buy the best players or walk away from it all as falls around you. However, hold on your getting bid out of the game by the richest man in football so time to walk away?
No “Money” to buy new players to freshen up the aging team with owner more willing to spend on this yacht than his team you could say that at least the yacht will stay afloat. So welcome New Leeds of the South LOS