Chelsea at Euro 2008: A winning start

Petr Cech was what separated the Swiss from victory. And all are saying Cech had a great performance. Am I the only one who felt Cech was superb, but not upto his best. There was certainly something missing.
Bosingwa was pacy, but I'll wait for a few more matches to say something conclusive about him. He certainly kept Nihat and Tuncay quiet.
Ferreira played just like it was expected of him and so did Carvalho. The Portuguese defense looks very solid with him and Pepe at the center.
Ballack was majestic, marshaled the brilliant German midfield very ably.

I thought the Germans looked very average at the back, save for Lahm (Still think we should have bought him).

Metzelder and Mertesacker seem to have all the footballing ability of Peter Kay in the John Smiths ad. Every time is just 'hoof' it forward. They'll get found out soon enough, ditto Jansen at left back.

Looking forward to seeing the Dutch, sans injured Arjen Robben (quelle surprise), against Italy tonight. Hopefully it'll be a good game.

On the domestic front, exactly what the hell is going on regarding Sheva ??? How can we possibly not want to sell him but happily let AC Milan open talks with DD. Absolutely barmy.

The gospel that is the Sun claims we're after Eto'o AND Villa. That would be very interesting to see.

Frings and Gomez were most impressive. I remember the former having a good World Cup too. Excellent game, also -- in fact they've all been pretty good apart from the opener.

No pun intended, but the absence of any star strikers so far has been ... striking. Lots of goals from wingers and defenders, and teams seem to be playing either without a dominant penalty-box player (Portugal, Croatia), a useless one (Koller), or a good one (Klose) who still doesn't have much influence on the game.

Frings and Deco have both really impressed me. There was an interesting piece in the Observer yesterday about tactic and they both fit the bill as perfect modern players who can pretty much do everything,

Newsflash that we've sold DD for 18m. Any confirmation?

@ 3 LTB,

Did you really think Gomez was impressive ??

I was watching him for the first time, in the knowledge he's - apparently - a target for us. I really dont recall him contributing much other than the through ball for Klose. Missed a sitter (mind you DD, Sheva and Pizarro probably would have done the same) but drifted out of the game too much for me.

Was impressed by Podolski though, especially as he was playing out wide. Interesting to see Schweinsteiger on the bench, I thought he was the next big thing for Germany at one stage.

France on tonight - all eyes on supposed target Ribery then. We'll see if the quoted £31m looks like a bargain or not.

Peter - No confirmation as far as I can see. That's the figure that's been banded about in the mornings press.

Frings was absolutely top-notch; very impressive (and a bit of a Thomas Schaaf success story since his return to Bremen, whilst we're about it...) Always been a fan of Podolski - rather pleased at my 20-1 bet on him for the Golden Boot too :-) but didn't think a huge amount of Gomez, although it is only one game and the Germans tend to take a while to get into their stride at tournaments.

Bosingwa looked OK from what I saw of him (which wasn't a great deal).

Modric was impressive but he has that slightly Rosicky-esque "could do with a fish supper or two" look about him. Looked reasonably resilient but he could take a bit of a battering in the Premiership.

I suspect the Sheva "unsellable" comment could be construed as either Roman desperately wanting to hang on to him, or more likely that Milan's offer was so awful that we couldn't consider it - we loan him back and pay his wages, that type of thing.

Looking forward to the 'Group of Death' skirmishes today - nice to indulge in a few weeks of football without too much of a care who triumphs...!

Modric is a typical Spurs midfielder, very fancy, great technique and all that but will be bullied out of games very easily. He'll end up doing a Hleb.

I was impressed by Boswinga - strong, fast, tall: can see the attraction. Although Lahm looked very good as well. Gomez didn't do a great deal, did he?

Podolski's second goal deserved much better credit than it can, it was an absolutely sublime finish.

Saw the chat on the other blog was about the ludicrious praise give to Ronaldo: the epitome of that was when the commentator insisted that even though they hadn't actually got out their own half since the substitution, Portugal looked much better as an attacking force when Ronny replaced Nuno Gomez as the lead striker. Deco was easily their best player.

I fear the prime-time for signing players from Bayern was last summer with them unable to offer Champions League football.

I can't see Podolski, Lahm or Ribery really wanting to leave now, and their performances in the coming weeks will only serve to increase their value. It's interesting to hear the press report that we're happy to continue the pursuit of all these 'supposed' targets despite having no manager. What that means when we actually put someone in charge is anyones guess.

Modric did look good, albeit 'only' against Austria. Spurs must now be able to field a team that is just midfielders, they've got so many.

Peter - There was an interesting piece in the Observer yesterday about tactic

The Jonathan Wilson article? Really interesting - will be searching out the book at some point; always interesting when anyone gets to talk to the likes of Sacchi about tactics etc. - if only he were a few years younger and keen to come here and take the reins at the Bridge...

Portugal all the way, the best team in Euros only followed by Spain.

I was quite impressed by Portugal's performance overall though hard to judge Bosingwa yet. Thought Deco looked a lot better than the "spent force" stories earlier in the season would have suggested though I'd much rather we keep Lamps -and I see rumours Jose is after Deco again anyway.

I've been enjoying seeing PurpleNose get some of his own medicine over Real's tap-up attempts on Ronaldo - but felt really down reading somewhere at the weekend the suggestion that a deal between Madrid and ManUre for him could founder because it would stymie a planned personal shirt sponsor deal for "CR7" because United are Nike and Madrid an Adidas club -or it might be vice-versa I don't take much notice of that sort of thing usually, but if major transfer deals are now dependent on the 2 clubs sharing the same shirt manufacturer then football really has sold its soul to the devil even more than I'd realised.

I see the most predictable headline at international tournaments has arrived already before they even get to their first game:

"Dutch camp hit by rift" - see link below if you want to read dull details:

LINKfacets/sport-space/football/great-britain-locale/

10, So you are Portuguese?

“Dutch camp hit by rift”

Almost 48 hours into the tournament - they took their time.

hey footy, La Capana in Cobham.

A very fine restaurant...

This obesession with Ancellotti... and now the news Sheva will be staying. Cant help but think Roman has the silly idea in his head that re-uniting the pair could see Sheva recapturing his form.

You only have to remember the celebrations by Roman when Shevs scored against Bolton to know what it means to him to have the Ukranian do well.

On the Euros' front I was a little disappointed with Gomez. Frings has looked great every time I've seen him. At least the game was a little more enjoyable than the rest.

Stand back now though, and watch Romania pull off a surprise victory over France...

@16 Cashif - I was wondering about the Ancelotti - Sheva link being Roman's obsession too - or more broadly with all the rumours of non-English speaking Italians being touted perhaps he sees Sheva as Assistant Player/Manager with Translation Duties?

This bit in todays Times is interesting :

LINK

When you look at those who played under Sacchi at AC Milan and see what they've gone on to do as managers themselves, it hits home just how influential he must have been.

Maybe Sheva's being kept on to guide Ancelotti through the treacheous back 9 at Carnoustie........

Cheers for that Fifty - hadn't seen it. Sacchi's influence on modern football can't be overstated; hugely important figure. And he's just a spring chicken at 62 - come on Kenyon, give him a call...!

(Ecclesiastes 1:9-14 NIV) "What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun."
Robben just injured again.

LINK

the longer our manager farce continues the more i feel scolari will be with us in a matter of months, unless they dont make it past the group stages! I feel we are going after his targets and that those we are signing will be told he is the manager but that it is confidential - no doubt signing a piece of paper saying the same.

i dont think he is right for us but hey - keep on trucking.

Did anyone else think podolski looked v v good and at 22 a potentially great signing?

Come on the spags - we can do it - outta group "death"

I'm trying to avoid watching the Euros because, a bit like wine, if I take in one I'll likely take in another and then another ...

During the season I watch more football than is good for me. If I'm at home and the rest of the family are out I normally end up watching any match that's on, even if it's Wales Ladies reserves against a herd of sheep (speciality channels cost an extra subscription).

Anyhow what's the point of watching out for Chelsea players because with the current state of flux only Bosingwa is a definite for our squad next season.

Would it be appropriate to lift my boycott of the Megastore now that the desired effect has been reached (i.e AG now gone)?

Maybe no. AG is gone, his ghost remains till a new manager is appointed. :P

Re this Orlando Engelaar chap in the Dutch midfield - what on earth do they feed him on? He's absolutely fecking massive!

The Italians were peeled like oranges.

25- JD
Had quite a game, Engelaar. Apparently rated quite highly in Holland and has joined Schalke from Twente. Shame he's already 28.

Remind me again why Roman has it in his head that an Italian coach would be a good idea!

Watching Euro 2004 as a Chelsea fan was great. Looking on at our new signings, Cech, Carvalho, Ferreira, Robben all playing well gave me huge optimism ahead of a new season, under a new manager. How times have changed...

Watching Euro 2008, i had the same sense of optimism as 2004. A new era on the horizon after a manager had been sacked. Then i saw some Chelsea boys excel with Cech not putting a foot wrong, Ricky, Paulo and Bosingwa anchoring Portugal's defence and Ballack lauding it as captain for ze germans. And then onto tonight and 'the group of death.' I had high hopes, but after two contrasting games in terms of entertainment and quality, my optimism has been drained.

Firstly, France vs Romania. After seeing Chelsea boys representing the club with distinction, to turn on and watch Malouda and Anelka was embarrassing. At least Maka did alright, but he's on the verge of retirement anyway. Both Malouda and Anelka were beyond useless. The game may have verged on being worse than our 0-0 with Liverpool last season, but both of these players seemed to fit in well with the general level of shitness. Neither of them had any effect on the game, Malouda for a winger can't run, cross or shoot let alone beat his man and Anelka seems to drift around all game until being taken off. For everyone saying we should give him another chance next year to play as our Centre Forward, well watch today's game as confirmation that he must go. He's not prolific, can't hold the ball up, can't head the ball and seems permanantly uninterested. It was embarrassing to think that we had paid £28.5m for the pair. In my mind they are definitely on the list to go: Belletti, Boulahrouz, TBH, Maka (retire), Sidwell, SWP, Malouda, Sheva, Anelka, Pizarro and Drogba. One positive was seeing Raymond Domenech. He must be one of the worst managers in the world. Negative tactics and negative subs, i think he may even be worse than Avram.

Then it was Holland vs Italy. This game definitely gave me mixed feelings. On the positive side, there was the fact that Boulahrouz must go and that we MUST sign Van der Vaart. Van der Vaart with Sneijder ran the game and VDV could play the Zola role to perfection as next year i think we'll be playing a 4-4-1-1 formation. However there were many negatives for me. Firstly was the football. On some occassions it was total football being run by Van Basten on the sidelines and it was the beautiful game Roman and us as fans love. However it just brought back regrets. I remember when Roman was sitting next to Van Basten at Old Trafford on day 1 of Avram's reign. We fucked it hugely by not appointing Van Basten and now him and his football will be revolutionising Ajax. Secondly it emphasised the players that should be at Chelsea but the type of players we never seem to sign. Seeing Sneijder run the show made me wonder why we didn't sign him last year, and how if we don't sign Van Der Vaart we'll be the biggest idiots in Europe. If we want total football why didn't we appoint Van Basten and why don't we sign the likes of Sneijder and Van der Vaart. It also reminded me, despite him not playing, of how idiotic it was to sell one of my favourite Chelsea player of recent times: Arjen Robben. Against Romania, Robben in tandem with Van Der Vaart will tear them apart and yet we replaced him with Malouda. I think that sums up the imcompetence of Chelsea recently.

So the optimism i felt at the start whilst watching Bosingwa, Ricky, Paulo and Ballack has drifted. We need to sell the shit that are our French players, Malouda and Anelka. They don't deserve another chance simply because of their lack of effort. I felt envy seeing Van Basten and a missed opportunity at what could have been if he was managing us. After seeing Spain tomorrow, i think i'll have settled on a replacement for Anelka, as being David Villa and the fact we need a whole new style under our new manager. All the rumours linking us with Van der Vaart, Kaka, Ribery and Aguero seems to suggest that we're looking for a 'no. 10' player and that's why i think we'll be playing a 4-4-1-1. Our defence seems pretty formidable, but ahead of that we need many new signings. Wingers of real quality are a must and being linked with Quaresma, Young and Robinho would be a huge improvement on Malouda and SWP. Then for up front. All 4 of our strikers SHOULD be shipped out. I think we'll need 3 in. A choice of 3 between Villa, Huntelaar, Benzema, Berbatov and Eto'o seem like our options. Then there is our new manager. Portugal's performance under Scolari did impress me, but he's too old and can't speak English. The best performance has undoubtedly been Van Basten's Holland, but our incompetence has made him a non-starter. Joachim Low of Germany could be an outside bet as another up and coming coach, but for me it'll still be Laudrup. Seeing the rewards of placing faith in young managers who were great players, like Klinsmann and Van Basten, only reinforces this. So after all this, for me next season:

Manager: Laudrup
GK: Cech, Carlo, Hilario
DF: Bosingwa, Paulo, Ricky, Alex, JT, Ivanovic, Cole, Bridge
MD: Lamps, Mikel, Essien, Ballack, Van der Vaart
WINGERS: Cole, Kalou, Robinho, Quaresma
FORWARDS: Aguero, Villa, Di Santo, Sheva

This will leave us with 24 younger and more hungry players. I know i've left out Ribery, Kaka, Benzema, Bentley and other potential signings and that i've included Sheva and Di Santo. But even though i wish for Kaka, it seems impossible and it also seems that Sheva will see out his contract at Chelsea for another 2 years (i know it's laughable but Roman will not let him go). This is what i believe could be our squad, not for what i wish for the squad. I just hope that Kenyon gets on with getting in a new manager and signing up some players. Waiting will only inflate prices and lose us players. We've lost Modric and i fear we'll lose Villa and especially Van der Vaart after Euro 2008. Time is ticking away and i hope for good news from Chelsea, although i expect to be disappointed with yet more missed opportunities.

KTBFFH

@ Habs,
You made some fine points that I have to agree with, especially getting rid of Anelka because he's worthless but there were some things I have to disagree with. How are you so sure that Van Der Vaart and Robben will tear it up against Romania when in their Euro qualifying group Romania beat them 1-0, and tied them 0-0 the two times they played, they didn't exactly tear them apart did they. Being the proud Romanian that I just had to point that out.

Just wanted to add my two penneth on the games last night.

I dont think the Romanians are getting the credit they deserve. Yeah, it was a bad game, but France weren't undoing themselves, I thought the Romanians stifled them well.

Holland looked nothing short of awesome. RVN was a revelation in the lone striker role (and he was WELL alone to shin in the first). Sneijder is absolute class, hence his move to Real. I really wanted Van Der Vaart to be a revelation as he's another we're linked with. I thought he played well, but didn't really shine. I was trying to picture him playing for us, but if the role behind the striker is where he flourishes, I guess the new manager would be looking at a different system to get the best out of him. Were he to sign of course.

Nice to see a team combined to utilise their strengths as a unit, and not stick 11 names on the team-sheet. I'll admit to not having heard of a few of the Dutch players, but they work amazingly well together. And that Engelaar is one big unit.

Oh, and anyone know who that guy was at right back for Holland? He had a pretty memorable game.........

Van Der Vaart was excellent - good, tidy, clever player. Agree with Habs, exactly the sort of signing we need to make. If we sign three players of his age and calibre this summer, I'll be made up. Alternatively, we could take another look at Holland's lethal right-side combinatin of, er, Dirk Kuyt and Khalid Boulharouz.

Actually, it's interesting how all the players that are usually rubbish in international tournaments but get a lot of attention - Ribery, Toni - looked completely rubbish when it came down to it, while those who always look excellent but you kind of forget about between international tournaments - Frings, Podolski, Zambrotta - have been dynamite.

Finally, I was also mulling over Loew as a possible coach. Perhaps it's about time the Prem had a German influence.

LINK

The more time goes on, the more I suspect it is Scolari.

One Portuguese player signed with no manager in place, presumably no need to approach the Portuguese FA as he's out of contract after the Euros hence the relative silence about the process (and the subsequent wild speculation) in the media, some fairly solid links to the likes of Deco etc. And he'll already be incredibly popular here before he starts if Ronaldo takes his advice and goes to Madrid...

Not overwhelmed by him I must say, primarily as the jump back into club football (and for the first time in Europe) at nearly 60 and the culture shift of coming here is a lot to take on, but his track record is exemplary. Concern is also that we haven't officially signed anything with him and he gets the collywobbles about the English media / does well with Portugal and decides to stay.

Always surprised more German managers don't come over here; might see it happen if the money gap keeps widening as even Bayern Munich might struggle to compete for the Champions League these days - they do produce some decent coaches over there.

Very impressed with the Dutch, liked van der Vaart and Sneijder but Italy looked all at sea at the back without Cannavaro.

And what were France doing playing both Toulalon and Maka in midfield against a relatively defensive Romania, other than succeeding in making Rafa Benitez look tactically adventurous?

Classic snippet from Peters link :

"Shevchenko, who is reportedly acting as an adviser to Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich in the search for a new manager..."

Oh joy. Not only has he been bobbins on the pitch in his time here, he'll happily endorse someone who'll wheel him out every week to top up his £150,000 a week basic with a £20,000 starters bonus. Possibly.

Really, really, really dont want Scolari. I think its a big leap from club to international management (and vice-versa) when you've done the one for so long. Only meeting with your group of players every couple of months or so is completely different to being there every day. And we'll end up paying over the odds for a 30 year old midfielder as we become some sort of London-based offshoot of the Algarve.

And, in fairness, does he have any (sorry for this..) 'PTR' at club level ?? Riijkaard does, Mancini does. Hell, I'd accept Hiddink before him as he does.

Even Ancelotti the match fixing magician has won things at club level.

Please, no Scolari.

Nice to see Domenechs decision to pick his team based on star signs (no, really) was about as successful as everyone knew it would be.

Based on Malouda's performance, I'd never pick anyone with his star-sign for club or country ever again. At least he's performing consistently at the same level for France as he did for us.

Yeah, thirded on being unexcited about Scolari. He's a good coach, but he's hardly the future. Still, if it means we can plunder the Portuguese leagues for up-and-coming players, we'll at least be getting something out of it.

Didn't mean to imply that Romania will be pushovers. Was just saying that players of Van der Vaart, Sneijder and Robben will shine on present form and that these are the types of players we should be signing.

All signs point to Scolari with Bosingwa bought and rumours around Moutinho, Quaresma and Robinho all of whom Scolari has managed at Portugal and Brazil. But his age and lack of English are what worries me. He seems a short term 2 season plug who'll run back to Portugal if he's upset at our press or if he can't adapt to club management. Can't be sure of his appointment and still hope for Laudrup who's still available. But another left field option is... ZICO. He's just resigned and beleives in the beautiful game. However his lack of English is also a worry. Whoever is apponted, i hope we win something. I can't take the embarrassment of being huge underachievers every season where we're slowly turning into England - happy with getting to Finals and losing them. I'm also looking for some quality players to replace the 11 departures i want out. If we can bring in 1 midfielder (Van der Vaart), 2 wingers (Quaresma and Robinho), 1 no. 10 (Aguero) and 2 world class strikers (Villa and Eto'o), the Quad will surely be ours!

KTBFFH

Scolari does have the contacts in Brazil which I suspect might be part of the attraction.

As for possible player 'ins', Robinho would be the most likely makeweight if Real do push ahead with their Ronaldo pursuit.

Thought I read somewhere that Laudrup was a target for Fenerbahce - might explain Zico's departure.

Habs, some great points made and interesting reading. Couple of things though - I personally wouldn't put such a high praise on Van Basten and his 'total' football. I think it may be one of those situations in a major tournament when your team selects itself due to a number of injuries to flair players. Holland looked good, but had Van Basten selected his first choice team (and Italy had Cannovaro available) I don't think it would have been as good a result or performance.

Also, to sell as many players as you suggest may be ok in the long run, but I wouldn't do it all at once this summer. We would need to bring in so many new players, along with a new manager, and they probably wouldn't gel until Christmas at least, by which time United would be too far clear at the top.

And as someone who believes in the youth academy we have, I am hoping that some of the young players we have had loaned out in the Championship or abroad will get a chance this season and become real stars, rather than paying such exhorbitant sums for players who have already achieved everything they could want, except even greater wages.

As far as a manager goes, (having followed Zenit these past few years as well) I'd prefer someone like Advocaat or Ramos who know how to win domestic and European honours on a smaller budget in competitive leagues (as Jose had done with Porto) than Scolari or Ancelotti.

JD,

I have a feeling Ribena will be part of any deal that takes Ronaldo from OT to the Bernabeu, should it materialise.

I think the chances of Zico getting the job are slim, limited success of note on the managerial front.

I'm still hoping for Rijjkaard or Mancini, but have a nasty feeling it wont be either.

And I feel the same on the player front. The longer we go with no manager, the more chance the targets we (or, I guess, I) want will be looking elsewhere. I'd love to think we'll sign Van Der Vaart, Villa, Quaresma etc but I have a horrible feeling that the summer is heading down a path called 'Disappointment'.

Given the top heavy make-up of the Dutch squad, with countless excellent midfielders and wingers and no defenders, it's no wonder they played they way they did. Portugal and Spain actually look like having the two most well-balanced squads out there - strength in all departments.

Germans and Dutch have crap defences, French and Italians have crap midfield and strikers. Can anybody explain to me the point of Luca Toni? He reminds me of Mark Hately. And Ribery - is he really that good? Whenever I see him he has an intense expression on his face and is running really urgently into a cul-de-sace. He's like Malouda, but with constipation.

I hear Lewis Carroll has just been appointed by UEFA for the rest of the tournament as Special Advisor on Rules Interpretation:

LINK=1/newsid=711341.html

- who'd have thought they could make the offside rule even more impossible to understand?

He’s like Malouda, but with constipation.

Powerful image...

Know what you mean - I'm told he (and Toni) have been excellent for Bayern, but it goes back to your original point about delivering in tournaments. Toni did fall into the "made a nuisance of himself" category, albeit a bit too late for it to matter, but France were very disappointing overall.

Personally think Scolari will be a good signing.

Yes, he will probably be here for 2 maybe 3 seasons but he ticks lots of boxes;- adventurous, tactically astute, good contacts, larger than life and he will certainly control the egos in the Chelsea dressing room.

Transistion to Club football will depend on the backroom team, which should include a successor in waiting to be his apprentice, Mr Zola perhaps.

With Chelseas resources Big Phil Scolari is the right man for the job.

The Ducth and their total football? Looks more like typical Mourinho's counter-attacking tactics at its best with 2 defensive midfielders being deployed to shield the back four. Was that an Italian 4-2-3-1 or Dutch 4-3-3? Personally, im not reading much into the performance of Holland yesterday for a few reasons:

1) Italy played crap and made KNVB look good.
2) Donadoni got his team selections and tactics wrong. His first eleven has no pace and cutting edge to even trouble the Boulahrouz! De Rossi and Aquilani on the bench?
3) Buffon
4) Italy were too predictable for their opponents. Heck even Steve McClaren's England could beat them last night.

Still, you can only beat whats infront of you so take nothing away from the Dutch. Van Der Vaart was superb and i agree with you guys that we need more players like him.

Just a random question. How do you guys feel about Van Der Vaart's speed and pace? I think we could try him on our left flank. Get another striker in the form of Villa, Aguero or Berbatov(Creativity + Finisher) and the Chelsea jigsaw is complete. And theres this small issue of fitting Lampard, Ballack, Essien and VDV into the Chelsea midfield. Who goes? =x

My team for next season:

------------------Cech---------------------

Bosingwa---Carvalho---Terry----------A.Cole

J.Cole-----Essien---Lampard---Van Der Vaart/Another left winger like Silva etc

-----------Villa---Anelka/Drogba/Sheva/Aguero/Berbatov etc

@44 Berks Blue

Transistion to Club football will depend on the backroom team

that's actually a very good point which we have mostly overlooked; hanging on to Steve Clarke is important in this case - has proved himself to be a great link between players and management with more than one manager now.

@HABS

Like any other bosses who interview potential employees, Roman looks at the CV. Big Phil Scolari has the World Cup in his resume which is very telling. I can understand where your're coming from and i would love Laudrup or Deschamp to be given the chance at the managerial post of Chelsea. But our owner doesnt think that way most probably. The new manager may be old but im sure Roman will know about this situation. Like duh, he's not that stupid at all. So Big Phil could be building the platform for our new and beautiful style of football for the present and also for the forseeable future. He will ne the pioneer of the new project and when the likes of Laudrap or Sparky are ready in 4 to 5 years time (They should be around 50-55 by then maximum), the baton will be passed on to the supposedly 'younger generation' of managers for 'on probation' candidates.

i think the club have a verbal agreement with someone. i just hope its not Mancini or Rijkard.
On the transfers, i think sidwell should be given another season to prove himself if he is willing to be patient.Anelka i think will depend on the new managers system. anelka needs a striking partner so therefore anything short of that, he should be sold
We are in an acute need for specialist wingers. i think seville has a number of decent wingers Jesus Navas and Diego carpel and we promote kakuta, stoch and sinclair. No need to go chasing after the Robinhos especially when we might be short on time.

strikers, oh boy there is something of a striker curse at SB these days. the days of zola, mutu,crespo, jimmy floyd and eidur seem far away. i think our striking problem arises from the way we have been deploying strikers. strikers have been deployed as battering rams or bulldozers to clear the way for our midfielders to score. I have not seem a creative midfield player, in every sense of the word since di mateo left. i know how hard it is to get rid of old habbits,i think if frank wants a new challenge its time to take a risk and get someone in there. someone young hungry and can stand the heat. for me its the following list, mikel(in my opinion, he was never a holding midfield player), van dar vart, diego
what about Hleb, supper player, get him.
well our holding midfield is in need of a specialist too, Maka another old habbit. Maka is slow and very defensive. good for some games but not good for others. because of the way he plays, our midfield normally sits too deep and is slow,so the strikers are isolated many times. its time to go back for diarra, who else? of course we have to pay 15 mil but thats the price for being so short sighted.
until we sort out our midfield problems, it won't matter if we bring strikers from intergalactic football or whatever place.
that brings me to two other places. our scouting department and youth systems and the board.
The youth system is suppose to produce the first batch of player by 2010, i can't wait but something tells me not to hold my breath.
Then the scouts, what is wrong with these guys? if i'm not mistaken since 2003, we just seem to be a season behind other clubs, we always let the big clubs buy potential talents and then try to poach, we end up paying twice the amount. Ribery was in marseille and no one bothered now we may have to pay through our nose for this guy and others, this is why i will always thank Ranieri for his foresighted decisions, cech for peanut, robben peanut, the list goes on, lamps, cole etc.

whoever our new boss is, it is important to give the guy a chance. No unrealistic expectations nor unecessary pressure and give him enough room.
i'm hoping we get a tough man with a lot of common sense, forget this club image, age and branding, are we running a club or a speak easy?

@47 JD - I think there's been consistent support and recognition of Steve Clarke's role from some of us on here. Was good to see the admittedly entirely speculative piece in Observer yesterday suggesting he still has some backers in the power struggles too.

Zola comes up repeatedly on here as a possible new assistant to almost anyone but has he actually said anything since he did Inside Sport interview for BBC a few months ago when he didn't rule it out sometime in the future but seemed happy to see out his Italian Under 21s contract?

Can't help think he might want to get more experience at a less high-profile club first still?

On a side note i hope we retire the no.7 shirt. It is a curse at this club and if we buy David Villa it will strike him too. Just look back at our no.7s of recent times: Sheva, Mutu, Laudrup, Bogarde... I hope also that we get a proper no.9 worthy of the shirt. We seem to flucutate between quality no.9s of JFH and Crespo to randomers like Kezman and the star strike pair of Boulahrouz and Sidwell. Hopefully Eto'o or Villa can be given the no.9 and perhaps Sergio Aguero has the skills to inherit the sacred no. 25?

KTBFFH

Once the axe started swinging post-Moscow, I feared for Steve Clarke.

I love the guy, it's great he stayed when Jose went, and I was worried that he would follow Hank Top Cat out as part of some overhaul.

He's still there, although I guess that could be as much down to him waiting to see who the club bring in than the club keeping him. He seems like the only link between us, the fans who've been here longer than Roman and his entourage, and Chelsea as it were.

We'll always love the club, but it's nice to have that bit of comfort in place.

30 - Andrei

As someone who was backing Romania to be the surprise package, I have to confess, they were shocking. Yeah, they kept it tight and stifled France, and in that respect it was a good job, but going forward -- what the hell?

Truly Dreadful.

I'd been hoping to see the new generation of Romanian talent after a few barren years, but there was absolutely nothing and no-one to get excited about.

It's not even that, generally a lot of Eastern European sides have that natural look about them when they pass it around, and even if they can't always execute, they do look like they are comfortable in possession and they try to work the ball. But Romania yesterday, it was like watching a second or third division English side with an ultra defensive gameplan and Adrain Mutu.

On the Italy game, no Nesta and No Cannavaro, plus Panucci instead of Grosso.
Agree about RVN playing really well in that lone striker role. I don't know if you can call it 'total football', it was more counter attack stuff like Jang says.

I was most impressed with Engelaar, though. Not just a big obstacle in midfield, looks a good passer too.

Like many others I stand corrected over the first Dutch goal last night and UEFA and Keith Hackett are quite right to clarify the situation so that everyone understands the finer aspects of the rules.

I am prepared to accept that the lino knew what he was doing, but RVN was just goal hanging as he did so ably through his Old Trafford years and got lucky.

Along with all other fans, I now look forward to the same acreage of careful explanatory print when, as they surely will, one of the officials drops a major b*ll**k.

No I didn't think so either.

What I am still not clear about is that while the rule is there to stop defenders doing a crafty jump over the touchline (but not attackers), if a defender slides off the pitch in one of the stadia with a large area behind the goal how far away does he need to be before he's not playing someone on side?

I suppose its infinity? Otherwise you could see a player in Panucci's position last night realising the problem and legging it up to Row Z.

@Jang #48

"He will ne the pioneer of the new project and when the likes of Laudrap or Sparky are ready in 4 to 5 years time (They should be around 50-55 by then maximum),"

One of the reservations about Laudrup is that he has already declared his wish to quit coaching by 50. So just when we want him, he will be putting on the slippers and cardigan.

@BBD (50)

Good point about Zola - given his incredibly decent and honorable nature, you'd say he is one of the increasingly rare people in football that actually means what he says in terms of having a contract and wanting to see it out. Obviously not entirely his decision, but I don't see him coming back to the Bridge just yet - the cynic in me says that should things not work out with the next managerial team that Roman would like to keep the Franco card up his sleeve in case he needs to placate the fans by trying to bring him back in some capacity.

@Fifty (52)

True about Clarke - doubt he'll jump yet until he knows what is happening; the only managerial (i.e. not assistant) role I've seen him linked with is Leicester, which is surely one of the most poisoned chalices in football right now.

It's nice to see the loyalty shown by Ricky today in his press conference for Portugal. By that i mean his devotion to Jose after he said that he'd love to work with him again next season. So even if we bring in Scolari and sign Van der Vaart, Robinho, Aguero, Villa... i think Ricky will always follow Jose around Europe. He may be the best defender in Europe but i fear that soon he'll be forming a new partnership with Christian Chivu next season.

So potential replacements... For me it would be Micah Richards. But having decided against signing him for the past 2 summers and now with Mark Hughes at Eastlands, it seems unlikely. I remember Jose saying that he followed Frank Arnesen's recommendation to sign BOULAHROUZ in 2006 instead of Micah Richards and then last summer he wanted Richards again for £18m but Roman's sulk meant we ended up with TBH. I'm struggling to think of many other quality central defenders with pace to pair up with JT: Lescott, Jagielka, Mexes, Chivu. I think that Richards would be ideal but he'll 99% wwant to stay for Mark Hughes revolution at City. Realistically i think Ivanovic will be promoted to the first team, with us hoping he'll be the next Vidic and not the next Boulahrouz and then to make up the gap, i'd give it to Mancienne. He may be young but he has the pace and versatility of Richards.

I just hope that with Jose now at Inter, players will be choosing them over us. If he gets Ricky, then he may beat us to Eto'o, Quaresma, Moutinho... all because we don't have anyone in charge to attract players to the bridge. We need to hurry up otherwise Lamps may be next...

KTBFFH

Habs,

We've got a few more CB's dotted at clubs around Europe - Alcides (sp?) in Holland somewhere and Slobodan Raijkovic who's, umm, somewhere else as well.

Granted, none of the names you mention are a patch on Riccy yet, but realistically how likely is it we'd be able to find a ready made replacement ?? I can only think of Ramos at Real and Richards that are young enough. Maybe it is time for someone else. Maybe Tal Ben Haim - oddly, you missed him from your list ;-).

And please, no Joleon Lescott. If ever the term 'one season wonder' was coined for one person, then step forward Jolene, Jolene; Jolene, Jo-lllleennee.

I'd rather see Mancienne get a chance then ever see TBH in a blue shirt again (can't get over his snail's pace reaction to Torres at Anfield last year). Having seen the Spain side i of course forgot Sergio Ramos, but he's just as unlikely to get as Richards due to his price (£28-£30m) and having won two La Liga titles. I still think that if we can get him, he'd be great. Out of all of this, i hope Frank Arnesen explains why he told Roman to sign a cheque for Boulahrouz who cost £9m instead of giving £15m to Mourinho for Richards in 2006 or £18m in 2007. Yet another poor signing from our all conquering chief scout.

For today's game of Spain vs Russia, i hope Villa scores to show Kenyon that we must sign him now before other big boys start circling. It's the same situation as with Van der Vaart, Moutinho, Quaresma... I don't really know what to hope for from Russia. If they lose badly they'll be on the verge of elimination and Roman will have the opportunity to appoint Hiddink. However if they win, Roman's love for Hiddink will only be enhanced. So perhaps a 1-0 victory fro Spain via David Villa will suit me.

@54 BB - I don't understand why you have a problem with this perfectly logical interpretation of the rules - if the ref has not given permission for a defender to leave the pitch then he is "still on the pitch" - even if he has nipped back to the club hotel for a quick conjugal visit to relieve the boredom of playing out a dull 0-0 draw...... Alice in Wonderland indeed.....

As I understand it, Panucci was deemed to be in play even though he was conspicuosly absent from the pitch at the time.

A perfect metaphor for his Chelsea career, then.

Nice day outside - shan't stop for my coat...

'And please, no Joleon Lescott. If ever the term ‘one season wonder’ was coined for one person, then step forward Jolene, Jolene; Jolene, Jo-lllleennee.'

What I would give to hear the MHL belting this out.

All i hope for is that we don't have another summer of 'if only...' We could have signed Torres, we could have signed Pato, we could have signed Richards but we didn't beacuse of Roman's sulk. This summer should be different but if we don't hurry up we'll end up with some second raters. Instead of Van der Vaart we'll get Deco, instead of Robinho we'll get Ronaldinho, instead of Quaresma we'll get Stewart Downing, instead of Villa and Aguero we'll be left with Sheva and Anelka. Kenyon needs to get to work, and quickly.

Panucci and Boogaloo, the two worst internationals I have ever seen in a Chelsea shirt. On the same pitch.

It was heaven.

Stop panicking Habs!

It must be the pressure of experiencing a summer when we haven't won anything. I'll calm down with the quality football on show with Spain.

#@59 BBD

I love the concept of the infinite in sport - the flat vertical plane that has to be broken for a down in American Footie stretches upwards to infinity, but if I understand physics it must start to bend one way or the other somewhere. The lacrosse pitch is technically infinite, so the team taking the ball over the boundary is in possession or the player nearest the ball.

Technically the defending player in football is a prisoner on the pitch. The pitch is infinite as he cannot leave without the refs permission or risk creating the sort of situation we saw last night and put his team at a disadvantage.

An attacking player has the freedom to leave the pitch without the referees permission in order to ensure he is not offside and therefore assist his team.

With the ingress of European employment law into the game of football, is it possible that as a threatening situation develops, a player could announce an appeal to the courts (a sort of Bosman if you like) on the basis that as a defending player he is being discriminated against and having his human rights infringed......?

I am available for legal consultation but be warned, my fees are too inflated to be afforded by mere mortals.

Yay Villa scores! Get your chequebook out Roman.

Villa again! Shit his price must be rising from £20m to £25m!

Villa could be our Fernando Torres. If only Anelka knew how to play like him.

If you're watching MOTD at the moment, Anelka is getting an absolute bollocking for his laziness when compared to Villa. We can all see it but can the club? Villa looks absolutely class!

Villa is ridiculously good. Hat-trick and his price is rocketing!

I hope we can get in there first to grab Villa for ourselves but watch out for Utd or Jose to spite us by signing him before Kenyon gets to work.

Sign me up for the Villa-to-Chelsea campaign.

Wow.

£30m+ after that display.

That very impressive Villa performance doesn't do our chances of signing him any good whatsoever.Not only will his price go up but it will also alert him to other teams who weren't that sure of him.Because of that he will have a greater choice of where he wants to go.Unless we signed him before the match kicked off,I fear we have little or no chance of him joining us.

That was impressive - has anyone checked on Fifty? I fear he may have expired after that performance...

Look on the bright side: as of now, Abramovich may be the only person in the world who can afford Villa.

VILLA, VILLA, VILLA. Oh what a performence, We MUST sign him along with Silva

Villa will cost at least £35m after that performence, Barca have too many strikers, Real lots too, Milan are playing in the UEFA cup next season, Fat Rafa cant afford him, Arsene Whinger wont break the bank, The Mancs have 4 strikers.
SURELY we are the only club that can sign him right now, Get out the checkbook

If Eto leaves Barca they will have plenty of room for Villa,so would Manure if Ronaldo moves on.Imagine Tubby Benitez trying to pair him with Torres?
Stranger things have happened

Villa looked fab, allbeit against the international defending equivilant of a chocolate fireguard and his mate, chocolate teapot. Knowing Spain, however, they will probably get annihilated by the Greeks and Swedish in the next two games - which hopefully may reduce Villa's value to something more realistic (it has gone from £20m to £35m in the space of 10 comments above!).

@ everyone from me and Fifty......told you so.

Eto'o or Villa - one a bright 26 year old deadly striker in a poor team, the other a dirty spitting cheat who did everything he could against us to get players booked or sent off.

Oh, and does this mean Gus is now the most likely candidate?

*runs for door*

Villa is the type of quality we need. Anelka, Drogba and Pizarro out, Villa, Aguero and Di Santo in. Di Santo is there to save Roman some precious Euros, whilst for striker no.4 we'll have our local hero Sheva. I hope Anelka was watching that because his future is in doubt whilst Sheva's is secured. Didier and Pizarro are out. Anelka got an absolute trashing from the MOTD panel when they put his performance against Villa's. No quality, no effort and no threat from Anelka.

Barca have been interested in Villa as long as we have. With Ronaldinho and Eto'o out they want to play a new 4-2-3-1 formation under Guradiola:

Valdes
Alves Puyol Caceras/Milito Abidal
Xavi Keita/Toure
Messi Iniesta Bojan
Villa

That team would be pretty incredible up against our 4-4-1-1:

Cech
Bosingwa Richards/Ivanovic JT Cole
Cole Lamps Essien Robinho
Van der Vaart/Aguero
Villa

Certainly if we can bring in 5 quality signings in central defence, on the wings, in the no.10 role and up front, us and Barca will surely dominate Europe next year. Both sides after a season of failure have got money to spend on new managers and new players. Let's hope that our signings outdo theirs: Bosingwa vs Alves, our defender (Richards) vs Caceras, our midfielder (Van der Vaart) vs Keita and our striker (Villa) vs theirs (Villa).

KTBFFH

On behalf of the blog I have ordered 2 pairs of the very finest yak wool smug pants for Fifty and TG to be presented with our love and admiration.

They only come in one size very very large.

That loud chafing sound you can here is Villa's agent rubbing his hands

@TG

Don't underestimate the incompetence of those running the club. Just look at some of their recent choices:

Boulahrouz vs Richards WE BOUGHT: Boulahrouz
Belletti vs Alves WE BOUGHT: Belletti
TBH vs Richards WE BOUGHT: TBH
Torres vs Sheva WE BOUGHT: Sheva
Pato vs Pizarro WE BOUGHT: Pizarro
Grant vs Van Basten WE APPOINTED: Avram

So looking ahead to next season:

Mancienne vs TBH
CLUB: Will keep TBH and send Mancienne on loan AGAIN
Lamps vs Deco
CLUB: Will let Lamps leave due to their stingy attitude.
Van der Vaart vs Sidwell
CLUB: Think Sidwell could turn into our new playmaker.
Robinho vs Ronaldinho
CLUB: Will choose the fat celebrity over the up and comer
Aguero vs Eto'o
CLUB: Thinks Aguero is overrated and Eto'o's good value
Villa vs Anelka
CLUB: Arnesen fails to see his hat-trick and keeps Anelka
Scolari/Hiddink vs Laudrup
CLUB: Experience more valuable than potential

So don't rely on the club to make the right decisions. We should get rid of Boulahrouz, Belletti, TBH, Sidwell, SWP, Malouda, Anelka, Didier, Pizarro (Sheva is untouchable) and bring in Bosingwa, Ivanovic, Mancienne, Van der Vaart, Robinho, Aguero, Villa and Di Santo. But that's in a logical world and when has Chelsea ever been run logically?

KTBFFH

@ HABS the likes of Villa and aguerro see chelsea has last option behind the elite clubs.
watching EURO 2008 is sad for me personally because it shows me how much talent is out there and also shows chelsea for exactly where they measure up(we are in own class below the elite critics might say when it comes to luring talent we might be below liverpool and arsnal). Truth is all the money in world will not get the great players. Again RA is talking silly money for Ribery , Queresma.Why are we trying to sign player with no manager?why are we buying mercenaries who dont give a damn about the club...
it is a really frustrating time for chelsea fans at moment...we dont have any signings to look forward 2 ,dont know who the manager is and dont know who will be leaving.
Why does chelsea get linked with stars and then be rejected in public....
Chelsea was linked with aguerro but in public he rejected us,linked with pato only to beaten by ac milan in last moments..WHY
why is roman still trying to do the managers job(if so why not just go for a uefa pro license)
#brings me to my next point why is chelsea not attractive place for stars to come,just have to look to papers where players link themselves with real madrid.most recently the french sensation Benzema and ronaldo.
One argument....chelsea play boring football..... maybe ,maybe not just depends who is watching ..but real madrid played boring effective football the whole of last 2 seasons...under capello and Bernd........Thus this cant be reason.
#2 Chelsea dont have history............last 4 seasons we have made history it must obvious that we are gonna carry on winning....this cant be reason

#3 chelsea owner runs chelsea like his private playground(we need to stop blaming kenyon , Visser and Buck ; they have in football a while now but going against RA equals losing your job)...structure of club is not of world standard...RA interferes in everything.... yes he has transformed our club but he needs to be less hands on.why is roman still trying to do the managers job(if so why not just go for a uefa pro license)
players know going to chelsea is high risk ...if sheva can lose his career there than so can a up coming star.RA has taken us up and brought us down..................................................thus we will never enter elite domain of MANURE ,REAL,AC,BARCA with him at the helm unless he starts letting people he employs do their job...

FIFTY..are you ok after seeing your boy score a hat trick?! Or are you still in the shower cooling yourself down? LOL :D

Of all our boys that have played, i'd only say Riccy, Paulo, Maka and Ballack have done good. Couldn't believe how poor Anelka was last night..lack of practice maybe?

Of the games so far, Spain HAS to of been the best. Villa, Torres (sorry EMMA!) and Fabregas are amazing players.they'd all look great in Blue! Spain the eventual winners of the tournament? I think so..

The Germany game was enjoyable also. Ballack had a sound game but i admit my favourite is Klose. Has been for a long time..

MUNKEY & BLUETONE

Erm..what happened to Italy last night? They've ALWAYS, after England, been my personal faves in the Euro's and World Cups..they were dreadful! Haven't seen them play that badly in a long, long time..:((

P.s Did anyone else see Riccy earlier on SSN in a news conference saying how he "wants to play football with Jose again" and when asked if he'd be leaving Chelsea he said, "I don't know, i'll have to wait and see what happens." with a wide grin on his face..

totally agee bluenews,
Why is RA interfearing with managerial affairs?Why can't he get a good manager, stop buying players for HUGE amounts of money , let the manager deal with transfers and just fecking leave well enough alone?!

@Lolli

Agree with you on Chelsea's poor performers. Anelka was so shit compared to Villa, that Lineker and Co were laughing at him. Was Malouda so bad that he failed to leave any reminder of his performance on your mind? I think that next season the only frenchman left in our squad will be Gael Kakuta. Anelka and Malouda don't deserve to wear the shirt and Maka is old enough to claim his pension.

Also saw Ricky's excited response to whether or not he'll be joining Jose. That's why i've been speculating on replacements. Next year i think our 4 centre backs will be Ivanovic, Alex, Mancienne and JT with money being saved for Van der Vaart, Robinho, Aguero and Villa.

My bet for the Euros: Top scorer: Podolski and Winners: Germany. Would love to see Ballack get a trophy. After losing the Bundesliga, German Cup and CL with Bayer Leverkusen and then the Carling Cup, League and CL with Chelsea, he deserves a trophy.

Otto Rehagel anyone?

No?

Luis Aragones then?

Surely Ibrahimovic is now worth £35m?

*runs even faster for the door*

HABS

Malouda was that bad that i forgot he was there!!! Think he had one decent go at goal and that was it..invisible!!
I saw Lineker and Alan Hansen taking the p**s out of Anelka and i was embarrassed and outraged at the same time. Compared to Torres, he was sub-standard at best. Looking at them both, it's hard to believe that they play in the same position isn't it?! Don't know what's gotten into Anelka since he came to Chelsea, he was scoring constantly while he was at Bolton and looked a totally different player altogether. Sharper on the ball. Now, he looks like he can't be arsed, for club OR country it seems!!
I reckon he should wake himself up a bit or he could be on his way out of the door!

Bring in Klose!!!!

If it was a choice of 4 strikers for next season from:
Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Samuel Eto'o
Sergio Aguero
David Villa
Nicolas Anelka
Sheva
Drogba
Pizarro
Di Santo

For me it'll be Aguero, Villa, Sheva and Di Santo. Villa and Aguero would be worth £60m for the pair but £35m for Zlatan? He doesn't produce on the biggest stage in the CL and why would he leave Inter where he's on £140,000/wk and working with Jose, to Chelsea who are being run by Roman? Seems overrated although him and Drogba/Eto'o at the San Siro does seem more potent than Sheva and Anelka.

I dont want Scolari, I dont want Mancini, I dont want ANYONE other than Rijkaard.
If there is a guy that can bring big names to Chelsea then its him, Villa wont come if we have a low class manager who isnt a proven winner. Lynn about Villa he recently said that he admires the premier league and its his first choice to play here, Lets hope for the announcement soon because the longer we wait the more I start to think he may get Scolari or Hiddink who are both over 60 and arent the right managers for us. Keep the Blue Flag Flying High

Habs, I totally agree about the signings, Kenyon and Co have been damn right brainless at times. But they did manage to get Bosingwa, Obi and Essien from under McFergies big nose so they do deserves some (little) credit. Like most of you I am hoping for plenty of new signings in the summer to freshen up the squad.
Silva and Villa were great totay but I cant choose between Silva and VDV, What do you guys think? Whos better?

it just might be my boy zico...
>showed us sexy football first hand in istanbul
> lured likes roberto carlos and many other playmakers to that side(which is lower than us in prestige and ambition
>Chelsea being linked to his history is enough to shut up the doubters.
>he is new manager .................. potential ...
>he has great public image.
he is our man
LINK

LINK
Agüero Rejects Chelsea
we meet his buyout clause....and he chooses loyaly over a move ...who knows how much RA gave for sale..

Spain will find a way to mess it up. If I had to guess, I'd say they'll take the patented Wenger-o-matic Arseroute (TM) to ultimate uselessness:

1) Play super tipetty-tappety passing football and switch positions like you're Arie Haan and it's 1974!

2) Score zillions of wondergoals!

3) Make world's press wet collective pants!

4) Come up against a team that challenges for possession in midfield.

5) Lose decisive game 1-0. Whinge a lot.

Et voila! With the Wenger-o-matic Arseroute (TM), another glorious failure is only five simple steps away!

If this is true then it doesn't help our chances of signing Villa. After all, Villa has said that he would prefer to join Arsenal if they could buy him:

LINK

Getting some cash for Adebayor will potentially give Arsenal a new team:
Almunia
Sagna Toure Gallas Clichy
Walcott Fabregas Nasri Rosicky
Ramsey
Villa

That looks pretty good. But with some star signings our power will overcome their kids.

However this pleases me:

LINK

He should be the first of 10 to leave.

And this sums up our buying policy. Basically pick names out of a hat hoping they'll be alright:

LINK

It's funny how they criticise us for wanting to buy Ribery for £31m this summer whilst passing on him for £16m last year. We seem to be linked with Aguero for £30m despite him costing Atletico Madrid £18m, Torres for £50m despite him costing Liverpool £26m and Kaka for £50 despite him costing them £20m. We don't take risks on young players and young managers and that'll cost us.

Comparisons between Kezman and Anelka seem perfect. Kezman even scored 3 goals for us whilst Anelka has scored 2. That's £7.5m per goal. Utter shit. Would rather have bought Eidur back for £7.5m. At least he seems to care.

Sorry for all the links but this sums up Malouda:

LINK

'Maloudering' really does sum up lazing around the pitch waiting to get back to the dressing room to talk to Anelka about how much effort they've just put in, whilst laughing at how Chelsea could possibly think they are worth £60,000/wk and that the club's board think taking £24m for Robben and spending half of that on malouda is a good deal. Yep that sums up 'Maloudering' or even 'Anelkering' or perhaps 'Bellettiing' or even 'Shevchenkoing'. Doesn't portray our scouts in such a good light does it?

How did Silva fare yesterday? Anway after watching 3 matches so far, 2 players that we MUST BUY are:

1) Van Der Vaart
2) David Villa

Period. Get it done Kenyon.

Morning All,

Anything of note happen in the matches last night ;-)...........

People can say that no news is good news or it's not a good idea to name possible targets because the price goes up.But the general consensus is on here that no news news means that the board haven't done or are not doing anything to sign badly needed new players.Why don't they come out and ease our worries by saying that Carvalho has a contract and isn't going anywhere?
Regarding thae price,we always pay over the top because of Romans money and unless we refuse to pay,like we did with Alves,this will always be the case.
Can't the board see that every good performance by players who are linked with us,raises their tranfer fee by millions.
Do they really have players that they are going after,or are we going to end up with the players that nobody wants,again.
Can't they see that players won't come to a club without a manager?
Most players would want to know how the manager wants to play and how much that player is wanted by the manager.
This ongoing media silence is affecting everyone,current players,fans and players who might sign for us,if they knew what the hell was going on.
We can all name players who we would like to see in a Chelsea shirt,but unless something happens soon,we will all venting our anger on here again about how we let them slip away.
I think that our chances of signing a couple of players that most of us want are virtually nil.

MALOUDERING, BELLETING, SHEVCHENKORING, TALLYING,GRANTING,SIDWELLING, BOULAROUZING(my personal favourite) and other symptoms like constipation, morning sickness, loss of vision and balance, diarrhoea. There is a disease at the bridge, the disease is called KENYONISM

HABS, you just killed me. nobel price for, medicine,literature WHAT EVER YOU WANT.

Why don’t they come out and ease our worries by saying that Carvalho has a contract and isn’t going anywhere?

Because having stated it yourself, you clearly already know this Lynn. And if he does want to go and reunite himself with Jose and Inter are prepared to pay the price we're asking, he'll go. Bugger all anyone can do about that.

I'm not often driven to berate Chelsea fans as a group, but seriously, there are an awful lot of people out there that need to grow a spine. Far too much spoilt kid in a sweet shop style behaviour going on, especially with all the grand confectionery on display in Austria and Switzerland.

"I've seen player X and I want him, why haven't we made an offer yet? What are the club doing?"

The fact that the club aren't issuing hourly press releases telling us their every movement shouldn't really lead to the conclusion that they are sitting around with their fingers up their backsides, should it?

Despite having this terrible shower of incompetent c*nts in charge, we seem to have done OK in recent years and the last time I looked, our squad was hardly full of Djimi Traores and Francis Benalis. Yes, mistakes have been made but Fergie, Wenger and Benitez have all purchased a few duds in their time. Christ, the latter has made it into something of an art form.

Once the manager is in place, if we want a player who wants to come here and his club is prepared to sell, then we'll probably get him. Not much more to it than that, really. Yes, we may be beaten to the punch by Arsenal, Spurs or whoever, but so what? If player X decides he doesn't want to be here, best he doesn't come really.

You are really missing a trick here - just stop bloody panicking: there is a sackload of great football on over the next few weeks - why not enjoy watching the likes of Villa and Sneijder, rather than fretting because they have supposedly been quoted on Tribal bloody Football as saying they don't want to go to Chelsea or that we haven't bid £40m for them.

Here here JD.

I would have thought it plainly bloody obvious that any of Europes top players (and coaches) wont be saying anything about their domestic futures until after the tournament because, lets face it, they're too busy concentrating on the job in hand.

National squads aren't going to let every football agent and club representative into their camp to start negotiations with their players.

And, as of now, 11.20 am on the 11th June, I cant think of any top name European players (least of all those playing in Austria and Switzerland) that have moved clubs this summer except for Modric, and that was agreed some time ago.

Danke schon, Herr Fifty...

It does also become something of a domino effect at this time of year - if X big name striker moves, the market starts to open up; if Villa went to Barca, Eto'o would make more serious noises about looking for somewhere else to park his huge ego next season. If Jose decides that he doesn't want Ibrahimovic, etc.

And if that little git Villa scuppers my Podolski Golden Boot bet, he can fark off to Arsenal for all I care ;-)

JD, I do think there is a reasonable concern that we have been signing the wrong type of player over the past two summers and if that happens again this summer we'll be lumbered with a squad much less impressive than United, Real and now possibly Inter. And each time we miss out on a good, young player it makes it harder to attract the next one because we are being seen as a club that good, young players don't want to join. Hence we're left with the likes of Anelka. Decent players, but constantly coasting.

Agreed that there is a little too much PANIC, though. And we're in a good position with Carvalho, he's a superb player but he's getting on and if we have to sell him, we should at leat be able to get a good wedge for him.

JD,

On that very subject, The Mirror have piled all sorts of transfer window related merry-go-round pressure on the broad shoulders of DD :

LINK

You'll probably be shocked to hear that I didn't back Villa as top scorer. I plumped for a bit of each-way action on Ballack. Which I'm beginning to regret already. 5 or 6 goals is - usually - all it takes. And that bloke I rate a fair bit is half way there already.

I'm sure you'd be happy to see the best striker in Europe in 2 weeks time join the mob at the Airline Arena as long as you win a few quid. Who wouldn't ?

JD/Fifty - thirded in the calm down advice to all - why don't people have a browse on:

LINK

if they're that desperate to buy something NOW!

What about this dodgy, not-quite-a-real agent, Serb, Vlado Lemic who The Times claims increasingly has Roman's ear - and apparently the one we have to thank for that sparkling success Kezman, Alex and the yet to play Ivanovic?

Pete - agreed there has to be some concern; there is a good deal of dead wood in our squad that either needs to be knocked into shape by the new manager or shipped out to make room for some decent young, hungry talent from either within the youth team or elsewhere. Whether the new man will be given the scope to do this is another matter (and this raises the wider question of the direction the club is taking - the lack of one key football man with a clear vision worries me for starters), of course.

We have made some dodgy signings, no question and there are probably half a dozen we could happily ship out tomorrow and not miss. Some big decisions await the new man; what to do with the dead wood, and we will have to wean ourselves off our Lampard dependency in the next couple of seasons which will be painful, losing Drogba which will almost certainly mean a dramatic shift in the way we play. Makelele and Carvalho will also be difficult to replace, but the fact that we have so many 'untouchables' at present, to use the Jose-ism, has probably made it difficult for any promising youngster to pick Chelsea in recent years.

But that said, overall we also have a great core of players, many of whom are under 25, which puts us in a great position for the future. We have to keep them, of course, and make a couple of decent buys depending on who leaves, but I think it will only take one or two signings to change the perception that we're not the right place for decent young players to flourish.

Fifty - I jest of course, I'd much rather have Villa here than the Emirates - but if he keeps this free scoring nonsense in the Euros up, I'll be after the little bugger for a couple of hundred quid... ;-)

Speculation and panic amongst fans is what makes this part of the season the most exciting. Before we fly off to China and then Russia for preseason in a months time, we hope that we'll have our new coach, our 5 new signings and the departure of the 10 pieces of deadwood. But after a few meaningless games in China to boost our brand, we'll be flying to Moscow to compete in the Railways Cup! It may sound like another one of Roman's strange ideas to make Chelski more Russian, but a preseason tournamnet between Chelsea-CSKA Moscow-AC Milan-Sevilla should show how far we have come in our summer dealings. By then if we have signed a few more duds and kept our free transfers, then we'll know that this season as the strange smell of dissappointment like last year. However if we bring in some real quality then we can show Anecelotti and Kaka what they missed by being crowned champions of that very important tournament. We will be Champions of the Railways! Well at least it's a trophy!

KTBFFH

@JD - I guess it's a combination of the constant merry-go-round of loan spells for Sinclair/Sahar/Mancienne et al with scarcely an appearance for us plus our tendency to buy older established/mediocre players which has saddled us with such a bad reputation for giving young players a chance.

But Mikel and Kalou have both managed to become regular starters [and not just in Carling Cup] and if Di Santo and 1 or 2 of the youth team make the breakthrough I suppose you could be right that we can turn that perception around.

God forbid we end up with Milan's situation where I read Maldini has signed up for one more season at 40 - is he on the Gordon Strachan diet or something?

Habs - I'm all for a bit of speculation, but descending into full-on panic when the list of completed transfers so far this summer looks something like this:

LINK

is a wee bit over the top, in my opinion.

@BBD - I think the pressure to win trophies has seen the youth players that might have come through suffer; the manager (whoever it is) probably feels reluctant to take the chance on the untested when so much is at stake - if Roman and co realise that the transition from Chelsea 2008 to Chelsea 2010 might be tough and possibly trophy free then this might change. A big if, it has to be said.

JD

FYI Francis Benali was one of the all-time great loyal, mousachioed, non-scoring, bench-warming left backs of all time. Ranks alongside the likes of fellow great defender Gus Caesar of Arsenal. How can you possibly rank him as low as Djimi Traore?

Panic is going too far. But speculation and rumours are great as a Chelsea fan at school. Hearing Arsenal fans tell me how they've signed Nasri and how Villa's going to sign for them (even though they've got neither of them), Spurs fans tell me how great Modric, Dos Santos and Bostock will be, and how arrogant Utd fans try to put a positive spin on Ronaldo leaving... "Well £100m offer will get us Tevez, Richards, Robinho, Huntelaar, Quaresma..." and Liverpool fans saying how Gareth Barry is the final piece in their jigsaw (even though he only scores pens) all adds to the banter of being a Chelsea fan. It'll just be nice to respond to them by saying that while you're signing Nasri, Ramsey and Barry, we'll be signing Villa, Van der Vaart and Aguero. After all last season my response to Utd getting Tevez, Liverpool getting Torres and Arsenal getting um... some more French kids was "well, we've got TBH, Sidwell and Pizarro. You can't beat us on value for money!" It'll just be nice to have an answer to them by signing some great players. So wild speculation and rumour flying all adds to the fun at this time.

Lordmorf,

I demand you retract that 'non-scoring' statement. He in fact scored 1 goal in 311 Southampton appearances.

Which makes him as prolific as Sheva and Anelka. And more prolific than Pizarro.

@BBD, you make a good point about the young players getting a chance, but apart from fleeting glimpses last season of Sinclair, and Sahar to a lesser degree, one can only assume that Frank Arnesen is about as good at recruiting brilliant young players as I am at scaling Everest in my lunch-hour.

Hi All

Just got back from scaling Everest in my lunch hour to read the comments on who we should/shouldn't buy. I think JD's list is damning in that it shows that almost precisely bugger all has happened transfer wise and isn't likely to until after the first Euro tranche is over. After all, what national team coach is going to let his players wander off for wine and cake to negotiate their potential move to a mug EPL team willing to pay stupid money to sign them on the basis of one competition?

Obviously, Gerard Houllier set the precedent for this type of fool-hardiness but as we haven't recruited him (yet?) then our lack of activity matches that of Liverpool, Arsenal and Manure even with their coaches still in active employment. I still see the Scolari card being played here despite a signal notable success of one world cup and bugger all else, and the fact that he hardly fits the criteria of 'long term' - but if it is him then such a single minded character is going to want to pick his own players...or at the very least apply a seal of approval to those being picked for him. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised to find the prospective candidate has already provided RA et all with a list and thats who they're checking out in the Euro's.

I desperately want to say the Scouse 'Cam down, cam down' platitude to some of our more exuberant bloggers and my last few comments have been sly digs at those who watch a game, see someone score and then say 'we must get him AND his coach'. In fact I'm heartened that no-one decided to start calling for the immediate signing of Ibrahimovic on the basis of his ONLY goal for Sweden in 2.5 years, even if it was a cracker.

In the spirit of the usual end of season, Sun style 'chuck every name into the open and you're bound to get one right eventually to take the credit for' modus operandi......

Houllier anyone? Zico anyone? Allardyce anyone? Hoddle anyone? Gullitt anyone?

Others that are available include Souness, Reid, Vialli, Spackman, Sanchez, Royle, Wilkinson.........etc ad infinitum

As for David Villa...surely all 3 were flukes weren't they?

@ Blue bayou - the smug pants fit just fine thanks very much.

Afternoon TG

I'm actually just imagining the devastating potential a front 3 of Sheva, Anelka and Ibrahimovic. We'd only score about once every 3 months due to the front line being about as mobile as Stephen Hawking with broken back axle, but you're almost guaranteed it'd be a pretty spectacular goal.

Apologies Fifty, I'd forgotten about that classic Benali goal (I think it kind of hit his head and bounced in if I remember!). It also puts him on a par with Chris Sutton or Claus Lundekvam.

Hell JD we could even play 4 up front with Pizarro as the target man - that would add even more mobility.

TG,

So not only have you out-done me by indulging in a trek up a mountain with your cheese and ham sarnie, you had the yak pants on as well.

Puts my gentle meander round Norwich city centre into perspective.

Oh, and were you not aware that Mr Gullit is in fact fulfilling a managerial position at the Hollywood Soccerball Hoofers or whatever they're called ???

@ Fifty - yes I was aware of Gullits LA lifestyle with the LA Soccerball DolphinSharkTigers as I think you'll find they're called. But I thought an offer of $200m compensation, along with a $250m per annum salary, full image rights, $450m compensation for Beckham to come as well on a $500m annual deal, including Hello/OK/Heat signing on ceremony rights for both might put us in with a shout. Maybe with the additional incentive of a Russian gas-field thrown in we might swing it?


@ JD, I reckon even with a broken back axle Stephen Hawkings dribbling skills make him more mobile than those 3.

Ok, I'll get my own coat.

Gentleman, just to say this, since i´m portuguese:

for your sake and the health of chelsea( which i do not believe that will ever again win anything in the next 3 or 4 seasons precisely because mourinho left) DO NOT ACCEPT SCOLARI AS A COACH.

On one hand i´m very thrilled by the fact that the idiot is going away from the portuguese team. ( someone else will be the unfortunate "cleaner" of all the mess is has made...)
On the other if chelsea wants to avoid mid table or relegation DO NOT bring Scolari in.

The men is a fraud and as absolutely no competence whatsoever to coach something like Chelsea.
It´s a different brand of Avram Grant but the inside is the same.

TG,

I agree whole-heartedly.

And to think we're accused of trying to 'buy' success. Tsk.

I just read that Bosingwa will wear 31 for us, Thats a bit strange for a full back. I dont know why they wouldnt give him 16 or 27

@ 124 - Dissidentex - my fears encapsulated perfectly! Thanks.

On that note can anyone tell me what Portugal have won under Scolari? I read somewhere it was about as much as England.

1 - Cech
2 - Ivanovic
3 - Cole
4 - Maka? Could be up for grabs
5 - Essien
6 - Ricky? Could go to Mancienne
7 - Sheva (Worst no. to be given)
8 - Lamps? (Could be Van der Vaart's)
9 - Sidwell? (Give it to Villa)
10 - Joe
11 - Didier? (Give it to Aguero)
12 - Mikel
13 - Ze German
14 - Pizarro? (Definitely available)
15 - Malouda (Definitely available)
16 - ? (No-one seems able to follow Robben, perhaps Robinho?)
17 - Sinclair
18 - Bridge
19 - ?
20 - Paulo
21 - Kalou
22 - TBH (Definitely available)
23 - Carlo
24 - SWP (Definitely available)
25 - ? (Who can ever follow Zola)
26 - JT
35 - Belletti (Definitely available)
39 - Anelka (Available, hopefully)
40 - Hilario

We've got some good numbers available and i know some say it doesn't matter, but we deserve a proper no.9 and if Lamps leave who can successfully take over his shirt?

Do you think if we bought Ronaldo and stuck him in the No7 shirt he'd turn to shit overnight?

A West Ham mate of mine once said you could stick Brazil 1970 in the old claret and blue and they'd still win bugger all...

Czech Republic vs Portugal

Hopefully Cech, Bosingwa and Ferreira will do well. Carvalho can break his leg since he's obviously an Inter boy now. Nice to see Moutinho's performance compared to Van der Vaart's. Expect golden boy, Ronaldo to get man of the match for taking a few free kicks, and doing a few stepovers! Hopefully Cech will keep a clean sheet but i think it'll be 1-0 portugal.

@ 129 - Peter

You might be onto something - Sutton looked fantastic at Blackburn and turned into footballing turd around 30 seconds after signing for us. Robert Fleck was a sensation at Norwich, but died a horrible footballing death with us. Adrian Mutu came with a reputation and a few bags of white powder. SWP? Kezman?

Yep, a fair assumption.

Tony Glover (127)

The man is atrocious. I don´t write very well english so it is difficult for me to explain in detail exactly why Scolari is an idiot.(amongst other things)
But even Chelsea doesn´t deserve "that".
You already have Kenyon and Abramovich and Frank arnesen and the rest to worry about without Scolari.

He did in fact do better results with Portugal than England, but that´s not the point.

With the amount of quality( and money put at his disposal in training grounds ...) at his disposal he should have done a lot better.

Apart from the recent turkish game Portugal in 3 years only played some 45 decent minuts against Belgium in the Euro quallifying groups.
Absolutely nothing more.

Believe me, and push for another solution because the man is crap,crap,crap.
The guy puts "saints of clay" in the locker room, for god sake!

That´s the "main tactic, the "B" plan when nothing else works!
I think that for a coach who earns 250.000 euros a month apart the fringe benefits and the contracts in publicity an ads; one should expect at least that he actualy coached the team.

Cech was unlucky. HE's way too good for this Czech Republic side.