Could Ivanovic Injury Leave Chelsea Exposed?
By my own admission, I’ve whinged a bit about our defensive cover lately, particularly when it came to sending Michael Mancienne back out on loan but with the news that Branislav Ivanovic has now been ruled out for up to six weeks with a back injury, I feel completely vindicated.
Ivanovic has been ruled out of Serbia’s qualifiers and says “I came to Belgrade to see my team-mates, but the back injury is such that I cannot train or play.” Chelsea’s next game is against West Ham on 11th September, with MSK Zilina in the Champions League the following Wednesday and Ivanovic could well miss both of those following the announcement that he is facing from ‘two to six weeks’ out.
So, the situation we’re in right now, with John Terry, Jeffrey Bruma, Jose Bosingwa and Ivanovic all currently injured is exactly the situation I was on about. Because, add to that Carvalho’s departure, Mancienne’s loan and Hutchinson’s retirement, and our defensive cover is starting to look a bit stretched just a matter of weeks into the new season.
Of course, we don’t yet know how long the other defenders will be out but at this point in time, we’re left with Alex, Paulo Ferreira, Ashley Cole, Yuri Zhirkov and Patrick van Aanholt (as long as we don’t loan him out) fit to play and it’s a bloody good job we haven’t got a game next weekend!
Filed under: Current Players, Injuries, Rants
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Please i want anceloti to get a defender before the transfer ends tonight or better still give the young ones chance to prove their self or change the formation by making Micheal essien the defender
Yes, we need David Luiz, Perfect CB & can play as RB. Only 23. will cost a lot but worth every cent.
Yes, I’ve got to agree this is a real concern. The club know that Ivanovic has this back injury, Bruma’s undergone a hernia op and that JT has been struggling all week with this hamstring problem, so why did they loan out Mancienne?
We’re especially looking stretched in central defence where we only have Alex and inexperienced Van Aanholt currently fully fit. And even then Van Aanholt is probably more comfortable at left back.
With only 24 hours left of the transfer window I doubt we’ll dip into the market and fear we’ll end up using Essien as an emergency centre half instead. And that will leave a gaping hole in midfield, particularly if Lampard faces time out with this hernia.
well if brana is injured i dont wnna see fereirra as a rb ..he was bad against stoke…..i think though ptraick is a left back…..carlo should play him at rb atleast to give him some much needed match practise …….or else we can go back to the jose era with essien covering right back and ramires or yossi coverin up for essien in th centre with lampsey and mikel!!
Their some young talented player from reserve team team. What i think is dat Ancelloti should give those young player just a chance to prove their self or he should buy young and talented defender. He can also convert Essien as a defender as we have Mikel, Ramires, Lampard, Malouda, Benayoun and Young talented Joshua McEachran who can filled the Midfield. Lampard encounter a minor injury at-least we need to call-up McEachran just for him to gain a First Team Experience
its a real concern but it can also show our strength in-depth, several players who can play in different positions, malouda who can play in 4 different positions; winger, attacking midfielder, central midfielder, left full back; essien, right back, dm, cm, central defence, just 2 mention dose two. I think don carlo will need 2 tweak with the formation when the need arises, play with the players available
Now that Carvalho has left and recent injuries are affecting Terry and Ivanovic our central defence has become suspect and a central defender a priority . Benfica’s David Luiz would be an ideal choice and Carlo should step up his efforts to sign him before the window closes. Luiz is only 23 years old with a long career ahead of him and the potential to become the best central defender in the game. Roman should loosen the purse strings and bring him to the Bridge.
We don´t need another defender, we just have to give Aanholt a chance to prove himself
I feel like I have been proven right for now and am waiting for the fans to get in a row over the fact that we will not be counting on transfers anymore as a way to build the team. I am not saying this is totally bad if we can develop one or two people at a time, but we need to bring in one or two big names as well. Ramieres in our future will be as big as they get and do not count on anything bigger while Roman holds the purse strings. Yuri, Nicolas, Daniel and Deco have been the biggest we have done in three years and this will continue.
Perhaps there are benefits, however it is been a long time that a champion has come from development alone and not with signings. I think we are fine for this and next year but beyond that if we do not seek big players soon we will slowly loose our grip on the league.
As fans we can live with rose coloured glasses and pretend that this is not happening, or we can start to create some noise and pressure the team to loosen the purse strings.
I have suffered through tough times and cheering for winner is much more enjoyable…I personally do not want to go back and any of the lifers must agree with that.
we’ll be fine. just move some of the first-teamers around a bit (essien at RB etc) and bring in some of the fringe players. I’m chelsea haven’t signed anyone, we have a great squad and they are playing excellent football. why rock the boat with a big money signing?
Essien is a box to box midfielder. To use him as a full back or centre back would be a waste of his talents.