Premier League: Chelsea 4 - 0 Portsmouth

what a brilliant performance! i don't know how i surivived without this kind of entertainment! Although deco put in a few off passes that's only to be expected when you're with a new team, and he was increbile for the most part, loved watching him and bosingwa who was also really great.

malouda showed surprising improvement, normally when he comes in when we're playing great he doesn't rise to the occasion and stands out as being poor. When he came on he kept the ball (not too great at up to now) and was putting in some great crosses (although he normally does these anyway). Anelka scored 1 in 4 great chances, perhaps should have put away his first chance but apart from that was chelsea forward quality, and that's saying alot (the one's who get to play anyway).

poor ballack, a silver lining would be what i said in the other entry though -

'i welcome ballacks injury with open arms, if we can keep 1 person injuried at any one time throughout this campaign no-one will get angry. Essien was out today, comes back next week when ballack is injuried, when ballack comes back maybe frank will get a knock, then deco, then mikel... they can take turns! Do that for a few years until one of them gets too old XD'

can't wait till next week, a ROMP at wigan perhaps!

The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and the bees were going about their daily business collecting all thats sweet. What else can you say from a performance that was quite simply sublime, and talking of sublime that's what it was from Deco. If ever the word "Art" should be used, it should be used before his name, because that's what some his passing was today, pure and simple art.

Nothing else to say apart from well done lads, keep it up and no team will live with us on that display.

Nicely summarised as ever, Nick, and reminded me a bit of opening day in 1999-2000 when we demolished Sunderland 4-0 and Poyet scored an outrageous goal.

Your Good Point 3 will no doubt be argued over by our formation obsessives - it looked almost like 2-7-1 to me at times with both our full backs camped in Portsmouth's half but what struck me before Ballack went off was the degree of positional interchange between him, Lampard and Deco plus Joe Cole in a free role that Portsmouth just couldn't deal with. Diarra seemed to be trying to man mark Deco early on but had to give up - though that might have been partly to do with the rather nasty whack Deco gave him.

It was great to see us playing with such an attack-minded formation but can't help feeling we'll get caught out by teams who don't lay down and die so feebly and counter-attack quickly with more purpose. Cech might see more action than ever before.

Can I add a Bad Point 3 - installing those horrible electronic perimeter advert boards. Am I the only one who finds them irritatingly distracting, particularly when they have horizontal scrolling images? Only saving grace was that the colours are quite muted so far and sitting in the West Stand Upper Tier at least I don't have them directly opposite me [presumably because the TV cameras don't show that side apart from in reverse angle replays].

Very encouraging start, but I recall opening day last season was a pretty attack-minded performance too when 2 of our 3 goals v Birmingham were scored by Malouda and Pizarro!

A truly outstanding start to our season, played with class and flair..

Not one bad performer today, they were all fantastic and exciting to watch..

Well done boys..x

But ... [innocent look] ... I thought it was only Arsenal that played good football?

You know, Arsenal. The team that are the Neutral's Favourite, Nobody Can Live With Them When They Play Like That, The Best Team In England (even though they don't win anything).

It'll be interesting to see how this one gets spun. My guess is that the envious hordes will have to fall back on the tried-and-tested "they're destroying football by buying the league" angle.

Brilliant game. Altough Pompy were poor we turned up the heat and they had no answer to our attacking play. Deco was top class, Always looking for the ball and hardly ever loses it. Looks like Scolari found a way to play with Deco, Lampard, Ballack and Joe Cole in 1 team after all. Despite a certain blogger who said that Ballack and Joe Cole were going to be sold. Very pround of the way we won. The boys grabbed Portsmouth by the throat in this game and never let their standards slip. The difference between how the team played today and how Arsenal play is that we looked like we would score with almost every attack.

Scolari's Chelsea is still not quite the finished article yet. The passing can still be more crisp and our forwards, wingers and full backs can still be alot more penetrative down the flanks cutting into the box. Art needs more understanding with players like Anelka, Lampard, Ballack and A.Cole who can potentially profit from his paint brush. The others on their part should be anticipating Art's next move and get into more strategic positions to recieve his pass.

Here's the frightening thing: We are only at 1/2 gear and we dismantled a Pompey side with very good players though they were poor to begin with. We can get even better and when the day arrives, we might become world champions like Brazil.

This was Brazil in their Blue (second/away) strip, plain and simple!! :-D

Well done Scolari, a great start (to a long season, mind).
There were a couple of "The Bad"s I can bring up but perhaps not on this glorious day.

We are The Famous CFC...


..
Oh and up The Toons...heheeheee
..

@Nick

You can add one more stat to that The Good section: We have kept our 250th clean sheet in the entire history of the Premier League. On par with those gooners. =)

Really sound performance....

Personally though (and being a little picky), whilst Anelka looked sharp anf quick, his finishing was pretty poor and it should perhaps of been 6 or 7.

Other than that though, it was a very solid start. Bosingwa looked good going forward, but so have Ferriera, Johnson, Beletti.... Let's wait til he has to defend before we pump him up too much.

Midfield was simply awesome and will be a joy to watch if they can keep up the slick passing. Some of the movement was breathtaking at times, and Mikel looked very comfortable in behind them, which meant he was not forced into the rash tackles which have become his trademark unfortunately.

To be honest, the only downside for me was the fact that James, Hreidarsson and Crouch are all in my Fantasy Team..... which somewhat increases my goals conceded!

Great performance today and nice to see that a diamond in midfield can work to produce attacking football, unlike under Jose. We'll be even better when Essien returns next weekend, but i'm not expecting another 4-0. Perhaps only 3-0 due to Wigan's dodgy pitch and i think the likes of Michael Brown will be out to kick Deco out of the game.

Seemed a lot more mobile up front without Didier, and it was nice for Anelka to finally score at home. He could easily have had a hat-trick if he had his shooting boots on.

Capello must have been pleased with his England squad. James makes two classic errors for the second and fourth goals and Glen again looks totally out of his depth against top quality opposition.

In response to 13Joe13's extremely subtle dig: "Despite a certain blogger who said that Ballack and Joe Cole were going to be sold," i'd like to ask him when have i ever said that Ballack and Joe would be sold? I simply said that if we did have Kaka and Essien available, they would be put in the side ahead of Ballack and Cole. Essien is simply undroppable and as seen today Joe's finishing just isn't good enough. He may have got his goal but with his next 2/3 chances he didn't even hit the target. And he still can't beat a defender one on one. Bosingwa can beat a left back more readily than Joe due to his pace. Maybe the best will be brought out of Cole by playing him up front next to Anelka as he was today.

So 13Joe13 how would you fit in Mikel, Essien, Lamps, Deco, Ballack and Cole into a midfield for Wigan next week?

I thought Joes finishing was pretty good today. You cant score at every oppurtunity. And by the way he was not played up front today he was played next to Deco. I will find your comment tommorow. Heres the highlights for anyone who didnt get to see the game. LINK You cant argue about Ballack and Joe not being good enough. Both were different class yesterday.

1. "the point of buying Kaka and Robinho, which the club wants to, is that Joe and Ballack DON'T PLAY!"
2. "So by next summer if we do have the two Brazilian stars, expect to see your favourites, Joe and Ballack be firmly parked on the bench or at a new club."

SSN have just said that PK has put in an improved bid for Robinho but Real are adamant they are NOT selling..

Boah...so unlucky. Got invited to a American Football match and then I'm missing this brilliant performance. From what I have seen so far, it looks like Scolari has already done a great job in midfield. They all played so well together, it's a shame that Ballack got injured...I will keep u guys updated with news from Germany about that ^^ One thing I really wanted to add to the player's performances is that I really can't understand what some people see in Anelka. I'm looking at him and what I see is a striker with good pace and passing but awful finishing and shooting. I have kinda stopped counting the missed chances and hope we will not rely on this bloke cause he's not even half as good as Drogba and also I would pick Sheva instead of him at any time. But of course the best would be to get another decent striker...the usual suspects you know. ^^

We were terrific. We went out, all guns blazing, and Portsmouth did not know what hit them.
First goal – Ballack’s cross was wicked, then Joey Cole had the easy job to do, and did it well.
Second goal – glad Anelka scored at the Bridge at long last. :)
Third goal – somewhat of a soft penalty, but the ball touched his hand so the referee made the right call. Lampard > James
Fourth goal – cracker. Best goal this season.

However, I can’t say I thought much of the Chelsea fans that were booing Crouch and calling him “freak”. I know that we have beef with him ‘cos he’s an ex-Scouser and got sent off last season against us. Plus, if they were booing someone like Ronaldo, Rooney or Gerrard, then I’d be all for it. But Crouch has been through a lot already and to be picking on him, well, it just made me a bit sad.

Lovely stuff all round - sexy football indeed.

Not much to add really - we're going to be a very difficult team to play against this season; teams without some sort of ball winner in midfield (hello Spurs) could find themselves in for a very uncomfortable time, especially when they visit the Bridge. Top notch performances from Mikel and Deco; certainly no sign of a sub-standard performance from anyone in a Blue shirt yesterday - long may that continue. And where do you put Essien and Drogba? Sheva looks likely to be cutting the half time oranges at this rate...

@BBD (3) - have to say those new advertising boards were bloody irritating; noticed them less as the game went on but some of the more colourful 'flashes' were very distracting. Wonder what sort of effect they have on the linesmen when they're trying to judge offside decisions; can't imagine it helps in any way.

This game proved Obi is miles better than Essien.
Wait until Essien is recalled and start falling over the ball.

Great class and a great passer.

This is Team Chelsea winning a gold medal on day one! Bloody marvellous! TSSO is a great motivator. Well done all round!

@Emma - There's no malice in booing opposition players... well, not from the majority of fans anyway. It's only done in an attempt to get under their skins, to put them off. A bit of a laugh a lot of the time.

There was more malice in Crouch's two-footed tackle on Mikel last season.

And he's big enough to take it. :-)

@BlueBoyDave - I see your team's top of the Chelsea Blog Premier Mini-League, and with no Arsenal, United or Liverpool players. Long may it continue.

The less said about my team's position in the table, the better. ;-)

The son and I stayed up to watch the game and I'm sure we must have woke the neighbours up when the first and last goals went in. Great performance all round. Very impressed with Mikel thought he played with great poise and maturity. I think old Red Nose will be worried.

HABS

I wouldnt need to. Ballack appears to be injured. Replace Ballack With Michael Essien. Easy.

@20 chelseablog - it was one of those dream weeks in FF - when I was picking up goals/assists across my team while all 3 "Reds" only managed to scrape 1 goal each.

Not sure if Lolli has got at the OleOle game but every team I look at seems to have Frank Lampard as their captain even if he's not in their squad!

Going back to your match report I agree the "Brazil" and related comments are getting cliched already, so I'm happy to note I can now change my team name in The Guardian FF game and have deleted the "samba boys" description.

had to rely on footytube for highlights, i can't wait until i get setanta. the first goal was fantastic, ballack's through ball was sheer class. after what le sulk pulled in the CL final, I was ready to give him a pair of cement shoes and chuck him off a bridge, but what's more important now is for him to be confident as a lone striker up top in the 4-5-1. deco's goal was a cracker, and he seems to be fitting in quite nicely. its going to be interesting to see where essien plays, with the holding midfielder position so adequately taken care of by mikel.
my fantasy team got annihilated, mostly because portsmouth and tottenham lost so badly.
KTBFFH..

I think there are a few bugs still to squash in OleOle's FF. I went to make a substitution before kick-off Saturday and the striker I was replacing (Luke Moore) was listed as Nigel Martyn, who I'm pretty sure didn't score a single goal during his career between the sticks.

I'm doing much better in LTB's Guardian FF mini-league, albeit with a slightly different team.

What's with the Ivanovic rumours coming out again? Please get him and the Robinho issue over and done with Mr Kenyon. We need 4 center halves. I reckon we dont have enough time to look for another one of his level if he does go to the San Siro which i absolutely hate to see. The bald headed idiotic Galliani should just ass off. Its irritating to hear him moan everyday in the Italian newspapers. Same for Ivanovic and Robinho's agents.

@ 15.OLIGARCH

Anelka is a great player..the problem he has at the moment is lack of confidence. That's because under Avram he was more often than not sidelined in favour of Drogs..which is fair enough. You're ALWAYS gonna pick your more experienced striker if he's fit, especially a goal scorer like Didier.

Nicky was fantastic at Bolton and also great for his country in the Euro's..there can be no doubts there. I truly, truly believe that if Uncle Phil plays him more, we will see the real Anelka..the one that we KNOW is capable of scoring goals.

LOLLIE

Totally agree about Anelka. He can be a prolific goalscorer if given the chance, LGF/TSSO can see that. I wonder though, if we can fit everyone in? And if the Robinho Deal goes through, We might have a few selection problems.

Will LGF Choose Drogba+Robinho or Anelka+ Drogba or EVEN Anelka+Robinho( Lots of pace)? Who knows?

That's the second time I've heard that, and this time I'm sure it's not a joke.

It can't be just me who thought Anelka was bloody awful for France along with Malouda, but great he got off the mark straight away. There's gonna be a lot more service for our forwards if we keep playing like this.

Drogs' mouth must be watering at the thought of being all the support, Lamps, Deco, Ballack, Cole, Bosingwa all ready to feed him.

Im expecting at least 15 goals in all competitions from Anelka this season. With all the supply line he's got from midfield and playing in his natural position, surely theres no more excuses. 1 goal in 3 games looks alright to me.

I know someone else has mentioned it earlier - but I was at the game and the booing of crouch and calling him a freak is well out of order. For one - he is a chelsea fan and 2 the poor bloke has only got little Jermain to play off instead of Torres ;-)

Anyway great game and we can only get better. A lot still to do of course but the signs are good!

Come On Chels

Umm, it's not actually that much like watching Brazil though is it ???

It's all well and good waxing lyrical if the performances continue like that for the next 9 games, but one swallow does not make a summer (or something to that effect with those words).

We were mighty impressive though, although I cant wait to see Essien back, really missed him (as did my FF team). Would still take him over Mikel in the holding role, purely for his 'engine'. Also would have liked to have seen Di Santo given a run with 10 / 15 to go. Pompey never looked like scoring, but I can see why TSSO wanted to shore things up, particularly having to use a sub early on for Ballack.

Nothing else to add, all in all a good days work. But let's remember it took Man USA 4 games to register a win last season, and look how we (and they) ended up finishing the season.

On a finla note, interesting to see TSSO saying we're still in talks over one new player - I'm hoping it's a striker to give Anelka a bit of competition and keep him on his toes, the last thing we need is our one forward getting complacent over his selection.

Not sure if this is true,if so it's been leaked


BREAKING NEWS: Fabio Capello appoints Chelsea skipper John Terry as England captain for qualifying campaign

Dated at 12.36 pm

John Terry has been named as England captain for the 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign.

The Chelsea skipper beat off competition from Manchester United's Rio Ferdinand, who was widely tipped for the post.


Two years ago, Terry was handed the armband by then England coach Steve McClaren following another two-horse race, this time with Steven Gerrard, but today boss Fabio Capello has given Terry the nod

From Mail online

Beat me to it, Lynn.

Great news if true. Not sure why people thought Ferdinand was the player for the job - he's not England captain material.

@Fiftee - The 'It was like watching Brazil' thing was tongue-in-cheek. Like I said, I will never write or say it again!

If Mikel continues to play as well as he did on Sunday - a lot thought he was MotM - then Essien will struggle to get back into the team - in the holding role anyway. ;-) I think Mikel's better in that position, Essien's talents are wasted there. Scolari's got some juggling to do, although Ballack could be out for a few games.

It's not often I beat you Nick,let's hope it's true,not official yet.

It's official Terry's captain

The only sensible choice,Ferdinand's lucky to be mentioned in the same breathe as JT.

"I think Mikel's better in that position, Essien's talents are wasted there"

My thoughts exactly.

Great news for JT. Fully deserving of the armband over a druggy who has the memory of a goldfish.

Totally agree about Mikel. He's showing the potential which made him a first choice player under Mourinho and MOTD2 and many of the newspapers made HIM and not Deco man of the match. As they pointed out, when Bosingwa and Cole surged forward to join midfield, Mikel stepped back as the 3rd centre back meaning we played a very Brazilian 3-6-1. His height makes him a very good 3rd centre back when we're attacking and as many have pointed out, Essien would be wasted playing as our defensive midfielder/centre back. As seen in pre-season, Scolari has pushed Essien further forward, even playing him as our right winger against Lokomotiv Moscow resulting in him scoring a great volley. The next logical question is where do we play him?

Cech
Ricky Mikel JT
Bosingwa Lamps Cole
? Deco ?
Anelka

And those damn rumours about Kaka just won't go away. Most likely solution is that by September 1st we'll have let someone go at a knockdown price (probably SWP) assuming we can get a replacement only to be thwarted at the last minute. Just like how we let Diarra go for £2m last summer.

A BIG congrats to John Terry our fearless leader...very desreved indeed.
A head and shoulder above Ferdinand, end of!
Just don't go out drinking with Jody Morris ;-) hehee...

Re Crouch: He is tall he is shit he dun fit in his kit, Peter Crouch, Peter Crouch..

Having said/chanted that I have to agree with John and Emma. No need to boo the lad as he is a Chelsea fan and I believe he and his dad are season ticket holders!!! He is a very nice lad to boot, not withstanding his infamous tackle on Mikel.

Also agree with Mikel in the holding role as Essien is a box to box midfielder.
And one of the best if not the best in the world. He is finally starting to score as well which was the only missing element in his arsenal.

Nice to see common sense prevailed in selecting England skipper. I mean, Rio Ferdinand? Havin' a laff.

Yeah congrats JT, but then there's more chance of him winning an Olympic gold in the womens 50m butterfly than there is of the England football team ever lifting a trophy, so he hasn't got much to do.

After the amazing start on Sunday, I've resigned myself to a couple of the team returning from International duty with injuries.

Still, at least Kalou will be back from the Olympics.

Wow.

LINK

Hmmmmmmmm. Well. Wouldnt of expected that. 102m? Peanuts for Abramovic! Wonder If LGF wants to replace Ballack(DONT) With Kaka?

@44 mike12 - The fact that even Goal couldn't be bothered to regurgitate this non-story from this morning's Daily Star till after 4 in the afternoon suggests exactly how little attention we should pay to this....

BBD

Hope your right. I LOVE Ballack.

Pleased for JT..he's the ONLY choice for the England Captaincy imo..

Note to Duck Bill: It just goes to show you Rio, no matter how many charities you decide to set up in 4 months, or how many Stag Party invitations you decline, you will never, ever change the fact that you always were and always will be a rabble rousing, drug addled, Prozzy sha****g to**bag!!! Stick to what you do best..fighting in nightclubs!!

I Cannot understand why there are so many people rating Rio as the Best CB in the world /Choice for Captain of England.

Anyone told Rio that he's been 'Merked', by the press all along!

Well done JT, right choice has been made.

I still feel that Essien is a better defender than Mikel. Especially when it comes to covering his fullbacks. But what makes Mikel so effective in that 'Gilberto' position is his passing abilities. He can play the ball out of defence and distribute it evenly or pick out a player to start a counter attack rather than hoofing it up high in the sky. If Obiwan can get his art of tackling right, i will stick my head out and say that he will surpass Makalele.

BTW, Mikel's game by nature is not defensive at all. He started out as an offensive midfielder/playmaker. If hope that he really wants to succeed Makalele in that role and not force himself to do it so that he has a place in the first team as our 3 slots for central attacking midfielders would be easily taken up. There's more to Mikel's game than just being a successor to Makalele. He has good passing abilities and imagination. I really hope that Scolari will get the best out of him.

@Jang - I read somewhere that somebody within the Nigerian international team set-up thinks Mikel's talents are being wasted and he isn't getting the chance to shine at Chelsea.

The problem is we have a gazillion midfielders so if Mikel wants to play it's likely that he will have to adapt and continue to play the defensive role. It is handy having a player with such good passing skills in that position - Makelele certainly wasn't the best at it, about five yards was his passing limit! ;-)

Mikel will be a combination of the best of Makelele and Deco. Not half bad.

@52

Yea, i hope that the finished article of Jon Obi Mikel would be like what you say, a good passer of the ball like Deco with the anticipation of Claude Makelele. But he's tackling skills are still very far behind. I think he can study Andea Pirlo's game, since both operate in deep positions to spray passes. I wont mind if he plays like him. Both of them cant tackle. ;-)

Congrats to JT. I admit I didnt think he would get it but he deserves it way more than that former junkie Ferdinand. It will be intresting to see how they play against the Czechs. Mikel played very well against Portsmouth. Essien was the only reason he played and many of you think that Essien should be played more further forward but I disagree to an extent. He will still get to bomb forward occassionally and I remember him playing in a more attacking role in the past and his shooting can be downright awful at times.

This is what happens when we put all our eggs in one basket.

"Robinho's agent claims the Real Madrid forward's possible move to Chelsea will not happen this summer.

Chelsea have been trying to persuade Real to part with the Brazilian, only for the Spanish champions to insist Robinho is not for sale.

Reports suggest Chelsea would make one last attempt to persuade Real to do business for a player who has two years left on his contract.

The skilful attacker's agent Wagner Ribeiro says he will now have to revisit the situation in 12 months' time due to Real's stance.
The dream of Chelsea is broken because Real Madrid will not even negotiate," said Ribeiro in the Daily Star.

"It is impossible to advance any conversation.

"Next summer we will sort out the situation if people can show some sen

To have the ugly Duck Rio as England captain would be like having the Toad as Chelsea manager, absolutely unthinkable!

Thank you Fabio, England now have the Lion Terry!

This is a new name,never heard of him before.

"Chelsea are primed to snap up Fabio Paim in a deal that will run until the end of the season.

Sources in Portugal suggest the deal with Sporting will be on a loan basis initially with a view to a permanent transfer next summer.

After attracting the interest of the West Londoners, the youngster looks set to link up with Luiz Felipe Scolari at Stamford Bridge in a bid to bring out the best of him.

Paim came through the same youth system in Lisbon that developed Cristiano Ronaldo but his potential has yet to be fulfilled.

His speed and skills caught the eye with Sporting B and he was tipped for big things a few years ago but has spent much of his time away from the club on loan.

Paim primarily plays on the wing but is also capable of operating in the middle as well. The 20-year-old has reputedly had disciplinary problems that have hindered his progress but the chance to work with Scolari could be the making of him."

I found a really good article on goal.com (first time for everything). Its worth a read. LINK

LINK

Rumours abound that Sheva will be allowed to join AC Milan on loan.

Whilst I'd happily drive him all the way to the doors of the San Siro - WE STILL NEED TO REPLACE HIM. Although it's looking increasingly unlikely - I've said all along we wouldn't sing anyone else, but that was before we started loaning players out.

Pizarro's gone, if Sheva goes that leaves Anelka and a currently unfit Drogba as our only strikers.

It's a bit much to expect Di Santo to be chucked in at the deep end, and with the move for Robinho seemingly dead, we'll end up with little in the way of striking options.

@Fiftee - I know you have this blind spot/ disregard for Kalou but he is now back in training after the Olympics and I still expect him to improve on last season [when he was 2nd only to Lampard in goalscoring with 11].

Looks like we may have another youngster, Paim, as Evilynn states above, to get his chance with Di Santo and Drogba is allegedly fit enough to play for Ivory Coast tonight so must be close to returning.

Is there really still a problem?

Anyway Kaka's on his way according to the Daily Star so we can play just one up front with mass support from midfield/fullbacks ;-)

@BBD,

He's just one of those players that frustrates the hell out of me so much. I'm not saying I want rid of him - far from it - but I'd like to see an established out-and-out finisher signed.

He tends to play more in the wide positions of a 3 man attack, and Anelka and DD both have in the past (and will, no doubt, in the future) been through hot and cold patches.

In reflection, I'm sounding a bit like a spoilt kid. I'm hoping the forwards we've got are good enough to propel us to some sort of success. I'm still 'smarting' that we didn't sign David Villa (you may have seen me mention him once or twice), and the rumours about Kaka and Robinho - whilst absolute made up bobbins - are a mouth-waterring prospect.

Any links to stories about this 'Paim' story then ???

LINK

Here You go Fiftee.

The Sheva stories aren't really great news for us. He may be useless, slow and seemingly always unfit, but the fact that we're paying ALL of his €6.5m salary, means that we are gaining no advantage by shipping him out, apart from maybe freeing up a space for Scott Sinclair in the changing room. The only other possible positive i can find is that we are freeing up our no.7 shirt, which in the unlikely event Kenyon actually bothers to buy anyone, we can hand them a proper shirt number! Clutching at straws?

The Robinho rejection is hardly surprising. Kenyon should have learnt from last season when we put all our eggs in the Dani Alves basket, only for that 'dream' transfer to fail. We then hastily snapped up some reject, Belletti, as Kenyon was desperate to bring anyone in to appease the fans. The same appears to be happening with Fabio Paim, who's so good that he's in Sporting's B team! Getting Robinho or Kaka would have turned is into the undoubted best side in the world, but Kenyon should have known that even Roman's money and Scolari's Brazilian connections wouldn't have brought us Kaka or Robinho.

So as for potential new signings with 2 weeks of the window left? Quaresma, Arshavin, Downing, Ashely Young. These are more realistic signigns, yet all of them seem a little disappointing after being told by Kenyon for a couple of months that we wanted to sign Robinho.

Well, sounds o.k (as far as Goal.com and 'sources' go), but this sounds a bit worrying :

"Setanta Sports report Portuguese sources as suggesting that Sporting no longer regard Paim as a long-term prospect for them...." They go on to say that TSSO hopes to iron out problems he's got, but if Sporting Lisbon don't regard him as a long term prospect why do we ????

FIFTEE

Well I think I read somewhere that Deco's original Club did not consider him a Good long term Prospect.

@Fiftee/Mike12 - at least the Portugese papers making the Paim story up ["O Jogo" and "Record" according to Sky website] are only suggesting an initial 1-year loan deal with option to buy - so we're not throwing lots of money down the drain yet. Possibly a short term measure before trying for Robinho again next summer?

Going back to Kalou - in the 2 pre-season friendlies he appeared in before going off to the Olympics he seemed on my dodgy internet video connection to be playing in a more central role alongside Anelka - so perhaps he won't always be pushed on to wide positions this season.

I guess if we sign him on loan, and he get's homesick and is caught late at night covorting in some London club, the headlines will be 'Paim in the ass'.

That sizeable pile of coats hasn't been mentioned lately, anyone seen it?

Never mind all that, when are we going to sign up Usain Bolt as Sheva's new sprint trainer?

Actually, why don't we just sign Bolt himself - he looks to have a bit of pace about him.

Come on JD if we sign Bolt we'll have another Gronkjaer on our hands someone who can skin defenders but cross as accurately as err Gronkjaer.

On saying that Bolt would confuse the hell out of linesmen for the the offside rule.

Im very pissed with Milan. They want Ivanovic on a permanent deal and Sheva on a loan deal? We might as well give him to Milan for free who refuses to pay for his wages! Why call it a loan deal? If its gotta do with Kaka, fine. But we dont need Kaka and we are allowing Milan to have it their way messing with our players? I simply cannot understand what Roman and Kenyon is thinking.

Are we becoming a feeder club for Milan?
Let them pay up or shut up.
They're constantly telling us that Kaka is not for sale,while trying to beg,borrow and virtually steal our players.
We should only let Sheva go if we have a replacement lined up and ready to play.
Have last seasons injuries been forgotten already,why should we allow players to leave when we have little cover in certain positions.
We are not strong enough upfront,if Sheva goes that will leave Di Santo and Kalou as cover for Drogba and Anelka and we all know how easily Drogba gets injured.
Yet again we've been linked with a player that his club doesn't want.Fabio Paim was considered,apparently,to be the next Ronaldhino,but for whatever reason it didn't happen.
So much for our scouts who are searching the globe for new players and yet again what the hell does Arnesen do every day to pick up his hefty pay packet.
It's all very well signing players to play in the youth team but how many actually make it into the first team?
Manure signed Nani and Anderson last year and they were first team regulars,we never seem to manage that.We usually go for players with a short term future at Chelsea.
Anyway enough of me ranting,tell Milan unless Kaka is part of the deal they can f##k off and stop bothering us.

Let him go, I say. I'll drive him to the airport.

If the manager is happy with what we've got up front, that'll do for me. Half the time on Sunday Anelka was virtually part of the midfield which seemed to work pretty well - and really, how much of a look in was Sheva going to get this season anyhow?

No doubt it'll be the worst financial deal possible, but honestly, will anyone actually be sorry to see the bloke go? With the possible exception of Bogarde, probably our most embarassing transfer of the Premiership era. Get rid.

Clive - like the average lino needs confusing when it comes to the offside rule anyway... :-)

Paying Milan to take Sheva off our hands must be of huge embarrassment to Roman, especially as they won't even give us Kaka in return!

Without a replacement, i'm also thinking that when our Christmas injury curse returns, we'll be left pretty think up front. Don't know where Kenyon's gone off to hide, but after signing Bosingwa and Deco months ago, he kept saying that we would definitely sign one more player to complete Scolari's squad, and with only a few days before the window closes, we're left looking at Sporting's rejects. The only positive is that after completing the worst deals of the summer last year (Belletti and Pizarro), Arsenal have trumped us this summer. Buying Silvestre is an absolute joke. I think Arsenal fans will finally be able to feel our pain when looking on at the incompetence of the next Bogarde, Boulahrouz and Ben Haim. I'm looking forward to playing an Arsenal backline marshalled by Gallas and Silvestre!

I agree with JD - as much as I love Sheva and as much as I wanted him to succeed at Chelsea, all the evidence points to him being so far past his best that it's becoming embarrassing for the poor bloke. Let him return to the club he loves and who love him - he'll be appreciated no matter what at Milan, where rightly he's a hero (not that he wasn't appreciated here - he always got a good reception at the Bridge). It has to be said that we're unlikely to notice that he's gone anyway.

As for Wenger signing Silvestre - apparently he has many millions at his disposal yet he chooses to sign a United reject at the arse end of his career who's just recovered from a career-threatening cruciate injury. Ferguson can't rate Arsenal's chances in the League or Silvestre otherwise he wouldn't have so readily agreed the deal. Silvestre is the first player to be sold to the Gunners by United since Brian Kidd in 1974, according to the BBC.

'Drogba out until October' LINK

71. Evillynn - well put.

Anelka
Kalou
DiSanto

As long as Ballack recovers quickly we'll be fine IMO.

BTW - England. On form as usual.

Czech Republic 2 England 2. Thank god for Joe Cole. Eh Habs?

Its not so much about Sheva's below par performances. Its the way Milan behave and treat us. IMO they are showing us zero respect. Who are they to demand a option to sign Ivanovic permanently? Who are they to sign Sheva on loan for free? If both of these deals go through, its daylight robbery and Kenyon or Roman would look like absolute idiots. Unless of course Kaka is on the agenda which i cannot see it happening. The way Milan are going about their buisness, its as though we owe them something or they are bias against us. I just cannot understand why...

Mr Kenyon, dont become a laughing stock.

JANG, Totally agree about Milan. Its an absolute disgrace. All they have that we want is Kaka and we dont need him really. Ivanovic hasnt played a game for us and were meant to give them the option on signing him permanently when he could turn out to be really good. I thought this was going to be the season where Sheva would get to play more often and show what he can realy do. Letting hi go there on loan is a no-win situation for us. If we are going to pay his wages we might as well use him. And by the way Mr Kenyon is already a laughing stock. If the deals for Ivanovic and Sheva go through then he should be fired on the spot. Theres no reason for us to be forcing into becoming their feeder club. Im off to watch Joe Cole rescue England

@Psychofak and Jang

I'm glad someone agrees with me.
It's not about us missing Sevchenko,it's Chelsea paying yet another team to take a player on loan.I'm sick and tired of Kenyon and co.allowing other teams to make us look like mugs.
I dread to think how much our loan deals have cost us in the past and it amazes me that we're still eager to carry on throwing money at other clubs.

It's about time that Kenyon,Buck and Arnesen stopped acting like the Three Stooges and actually earned their money.
So Kenyon,after you failed to sign Robinho,what exactly is Plan B going to be?

Right now, its still purely speculation. It could be those A.Cheating Milan idiots playing around with the media. But theres 10 days more to see if Kenyon is really an idiot with a low IQ.

This is from Mail Online website.

Chelsea were close to completing the signing of Robinho for £25million last night after chief executive Peter Kenyon was seen arriving in Madrid to tie up the deal.

The Brazil forward described a switch to Chelsea as his 'dream move' earlier in the summer but Real Madrid's failure to secure the services of Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United had put the transfer in jeopardy
The situation now seems to have been resolved and Luiz Felipe Scolari will be delighted to add his countryman to a list of summer signings that includes Deco and Jose Bosingwa.

Robinho's arrival will lead to the departure of Andriy Shevchenko, who has been told by Chelsea that he can return to AC Milan on a one-year loan after a disastrous spell in the Barclays Premier League.

Chelsea are prepared to take a massive financial hit on the deal, by paying Milan to take back the Ukraine striker.

Shevchenko, 31, is expected to return to the San Siro in the next 48 hours, two years after he joined Chelsea for £30m. The 2004 European Footballer of the Year will have part of his £5m-a-year contract covered by Chelsea.

The club's billionaire owner Roman Abramovich met Milan counterpart Silvio Berlusconi to discuss the deal in Sardinia last week, and Silvano Ramaccioni, a director of the Italian club, confirmed: 'There really isn't much more to be done. We are close to the end of the deal.'

Chelsea are also on the verge of signing attacking midfielder Fabio Paim on a season-long loan from Sporting Lisbon and have loaned out former England Under 18 captain Jack Cork to Southampton until January 1".

How much of this is true remains to be seen.

My mate said that Bosingwa got injured in a friendly against the Faroe's Island in the 34th minute. Pray that its nothing serious. Thats why i hate international friendlies! Damn...

@82

Still, it doesnt give us an excuse to pay Sheva's wages for those Italian scums. ;-)

This is from Setanta Sports Website.
Who know what to believe?

Wagner Ribeiro, the agent of Real Madrid star Robinho, claims despite the reports, Chelsea still have a chance to sign the Brazilian before the transfer window closes.

The representative has hinted the forward will be allowed a big-money move to Stamford Bridge in the case The Blues make a £32 million bid to secure his services.

Robinho is determined to link up with fellow countryman Luis Felipe Scolari next season in order to become one of the best paid footballers in the world.

“Everything is possible until August 31, as the transfer market is not closed yet” Ribeiro told Onda Madrid.

“I spoke to Pedja Mijatovic and with Ramon Calderon and they have told me Robinho must stay, that he can’t leave.

“We can’t do anything because he has two years of contract left with Real Madrid.

“Robinho never said he was not enjoying himself at Real Madrid, but the fact is that an important economic offer has been made.

“Chairman Ramon Calderon promised to Robinho if a club made a €40 million (£32 million) offer, then he would allow him to leave.”

So it looks like the previous story wasn't true after all,just the media creating news instead of actually reporting it.

LISBON, Aug 20 (Reuters) - Portugal destroyed Faroe Islands 5-0 in a friendly on Wednesday, Carlos Queiroz's first match in his second spell as coach.

Midfielder Carlos Martins put Queiroz's team in front with a deflected 20-metre shot after 23 minutes.

Captain Simao Sabrosa doubled the lead in the 48th when he headed in a cross from the right by defender Miguel, who came on for Jose Bosingwa when the Chelsea defender injured his left foot.

Here we go again,another injury,don't know how serious,but knowing our luck it won't be anything trivial.

@84

Not sure about that 32m price tag. He's been overpriced IMO. 25m would had been just about right.

Ivanovic will have a chance this weekend due to Bosingwa's injury. At least on the bench for Wigan hopefully. Would be a bonus to see him start.

So it seems that the international break has given Kenyon the time to hop on Roman's private jet and finally secure the signing he's been promosing us all along. Well that's according to the Mail who 'spotted' Kenyon in Madrid. Either that or a bald, slightly podgy Englishh tourist with a Manchester accent who happened to be wearing a suit near the Benerbeau. With Robinho sirely we'll be unstoppable. The only thing that can block us from an historic quad is our annual injury curse...

This leads me on to Bosingwa. Letting him join up with Portugal was silly of us as he's only had 1 training session in the past 3 weeks, and his injury surely gave us a reason to withdraw him like Ballack. Only now he's injured his foot. Knowing our luck it's probably a broken metatarsal, keeping him out for 10 weeks!

And as for England tonight. It was like watching...well England. A half empty stadium, an idiotic team selection, some of the most boring football ever seen and a manager who'll soon be hearing the call for his head. It's typical England, that we hype ourselves up, thinking we're a world class side except that we're 14th in the rankings whilst the Czechs (who deserved to win) are 8th and Croatia (who'll surely top the group) are 5th. Our best hope is to scrape through the playoffs but what's the point? We'll get to South Africa go out in the quarters and then we'll be looking for a new manager as Capello sails off into the sunset on his £6m/yr.

It must be time for England to start playing some youngsters. Relying on Beckham's corners for goals is embarrassing. James will always concede a stupid goal whilst our midfield will never work until someone follows Spain's lead and drops one of the big names in favour of a balanced midfield. And Rooney looks like a no-hoper when playing for England. Remember the time when he was the next Pele! My England XI:

Hart
Richards JT Rio Cole
Cole Johnson Gerrard Young
Ashton Walcott

Where's Lamps i here you screaming. Where's Rooney and Owen and the £18m rated genius that is Gareth Barry?

Well if i were Lamps i would retire from the circus that is playing for England. With a new 5 year deal, all i want as a Chelsea fan is for him to be playing his best football for his club. Like Shearer and Scholes, abandoning England can extend his career. And i hate the fact that despite single handedly carrying England through Euro 2004 and into the 2006 World Cup, he's the one who gets booed and not Stevie Fucking G. Let Stevie feel the rath of the England fans Frank and hang up your England boots.

Rooney at present doesn't deserve to play for England and giving Walcott a chance can't hurt. The little and large combo of Ashton, who despite his obesity does have Gudjohnson-esque skill, and Walcott, who has great pace and is a better player than Agbonlahor could work for England. Joe Hart or Ben Foster are both a huge improvement on Calamity James and surely Micah Richards should be a regular for England ahead of Brown? Michael Johnson i think could be the next Frank Lampard and will be turned into a world class player if he comes to the Bridge and Ashley Young is one of the last old-fashioned wingers, still in the Premiership. An English Arjen Robben if you will.

This side has more pace and will be more entertaining than our bench of old crocks. For Capello to be using Heskey sums up the direction our national team is heading. This side still won't win anything because we simply aren't good enough, but it will give it a better shot than a 2-2 against the Czechs with goals from 2 corners. We must understand that England are no longer a great side and we don't have the skills and technique of a Spain or Portugal, the pace and total football of Holland or the power of Germany, let alone the sheer quality of Argentina or Brazil. Our side are now just also-rans!

@HABS

TOUCH WOOD! Bosingwa will be fine!

I dont know if anyone thought of it but i think England can adpot a system implemented by Scolari against Portsmouth. If Ballack, Lampard and Deco can click in one midfield, i cannot see why England cant. Its not about Lampard and Gerrard being too similar, its about the way England play, tactics and overall movement around the pitch. There has to be a balance.

------------------James--------------

Richards---Ferdinand---Terry---A.Cole

-----------Hargreaves/Carrick--------

--Gerrard---Lampard---Barry/Carrick--

------J.Cole/Rooney---Heskey/Owen----

Basically we will get Richards and A.Cole to bomb forward like Bosingwa did. A playmaker in the form of Carrick or Barry will link up play with Hargreaves being deployed as the 3rd center forward. Even Carrick can play in that role as a deep playmaker. Lampard and Gerrard will just roam forward and play a pressing game just as Ballack and Lampard did last. J.Cole or Rooney will play in the hole off the shoulder or a target man or main center forward.

I think England lacked imagination and crisp passing through out the match. A playmaker(Carrick/Barry) will be the solution just as Deco did for us.

"The Czechs deserved to win". What game were you watching? Capello got his tactics wrong but we still had more chances. It felt like one of those games where it just wasnt going to go for you but Joe Cole came on and scored.

My England XI:

Hart
Richards JT Rio Cole
Cole Johnson Gerrard Young
Ashton Walcott

LOL, Hart conceded 6 against us not too long ago (4 of them through his legs). Just imagine how he would do against Brazil or Argentina. I hope you dont mean Michael Johnson. Hes not even at Sidwells level let alone the likes of Gareth Barry and Owen Hargreaves. Walcott has pace but no composure and doesnt score nearly enough goals. Ashton gets injured almost everytime he kicks a ball.

My england XI

James
Richards
Rio
JT
Ashley Cole
Joe Cole
Gareth Barry
Steven Gerrard
Ashley Young
Wayne Rooney
Gabriel Agbonlahor

HABS, I do strongly agree with you about Lamps. He is WASTED in the National Team. Hes played best cbehind the striker with freedom to shoot and he doesnt get that with England. He should just leave it and give his best to us and stop getting thigh strains with them lol.

Agree with HABS, Rooney shouldn't be allowed to play for England..why on Earth does he keep getting chosen (i wonder!)?
If we can't play Owen and Heskey, probably for the fact that Owen suffers from permanent injury syndrome, then i reckon, give Crouch and Defoe a go up front..they're working well together at Pompey..

Glad to hear Fat Barwick has been given the boot. Why did it take so long?

How long before we get rid of Capello, because he's turning out to be another useless t**t...not that i ever doubted otherwise!

Its funny that nobody seems to care that square head Barwick has been sacked. Why people like Heskey and Woodgate are still in the National team is beyond me.
I feel Agbonlahor deserves a chance. Hes been a consistent goalscorer in the last 2 seasons which is more than you can say for Heskey, Owen, Ashton etc.
Looney Rooney will play for England simply because hes Rooney and he plays for Manchester United. Capello doesnt seem to care about form. Players are getting in the squad on reputation alone. Glad thats not the case with Scolari.

How many managers do England need to go through before people realise it is the players and not the manager that is the problem with England?

Whilst they are in the main good players, many do not have a footballing brain cell between them, and it shows very clearly when they play.

If you look at the fluid movement against Pompey at the weekend, and compare it with the dis-jointed rubbish England produce it is almost laughable. The Blues were able to pass first time almost everytime on Saturday and players had options everywhere, whereas England look for Beckham to produce something from nothing, time and again.

It's time for James / Robinson / Lamps / Gerrard / Heskey / Beckham / Owen to all retire gracefully from the England cause and to send out a side along the lines of that listed by Jang above. Personally I would drop Rooney too, as he seems to simply get in the way by playing too deep for England and I can't remember the last time he scored a meaningful goal for them.

That would allow Capello to build a side for a couple of years, without having unrealistic expectations heaped upon them and perhaps we might see players that want to play for their country, rather than players too scared to make a mistake, for fear of how the crowd / press are going to react.

GREENLIGHT, I know its the players and not the manager you have to look at some of the decisions he has made. He played Gerrard on the left rather than a natural winger. I thought this was the Fabio Capello who wasnt scared to drop anyone? The player certainly didnt have a "winning mentality". Capello selected Heskey (Whens the last time he scored a league goal?) ahead of Agbonlahor who scored a hat trick on Saturday.

@GREENLIGHT

Its simple. England need an authentic playmaker to organise the midfield. They were passing like some headless chickens last night.Its funny why no one in the England team realises that?

@ 15.30 on Tuesday I posted :

"After the amazing start on Sunday, I've resigned myself to a couple of the team returning from International duty with injuries. "

And....jackpot !!!! Bosingwa injured.

As for England, the excitable press getting carried away as always. Surely 2 - 2 is a great result for us. The Czechs qualified for the Euros and we didn't, so we've drawn against a team who are better than us. They are the ones who should be disappointed.

And the players are right about the Croatia game, things will be different.

In that we will lose instead of draw.

Got to admit that I didn't even bother to listen to the England game last night, let alone watch it. An exercise in pointlessness.

I'm coming round to Greenlight's way of thinking - it's the players not the management that's the problem. And I think Sven did a good job with this group of players - the QFs of major tournaments is about the best they can hope for, and he knew it. Poor old JT.

The first touch and composure on the ball is never there. The movement isn't there because we're too scared to get caught out of position, and even if we try to string a decent move together, it falls apart because players can't take the ball in their stride. You get the impression even the playes themselves don't trust eachother to keep the ball.

There are only a handful of players who really look comfortable on the ball.
I cant help but think maybe our top players are 'exceptional' at certain parts of their game, but when it comes to the basic manouevering their bodies with the ball, they're not up to the same level.

Why is it that when watching even the shittiest teams like Estonia, Belerus etc, playing England you can see clearly the huge diference in the way the players move with the ball. Everything is smoother. They're passing will usualy let them down, as will their finishing and defending, but when they're on the ball they look 'COMFORTABLE'?

------------------------------------

James
Cole
Terry
Ferdinand
Richards
Barry
Lampard/Gerrard
Joe Cole
Bentley/Rooney
Downing/Young
Ashton/Bent/Defoe

Okay I live In South Africa Where every team except for our Football Team excels. But, I do ant t See a team like England do well. So this would be my England Formation.

A 4-5-1. I cant see the 4-4-2 Working at all.

---------------------James--------------------
---------------Rio--------JT------------------
Richards---------------------------------Cole
------------------Hargreaves------------------
-----------Gerrard----------Carrick-----------
J.Cole-----------------------------------Barry
-------------------Agbonlahor-----------------

OR A formation like this:

---------------------James--------------------
---------------Rio--------JT------------------
Richards---------------------------------Cole
------------------Hargreaves------------------
-----------Barry----------Carrick-------------
J.Cole-----------------------------------Young
-------------------Agbonlahor-----------------

Anyone heard of Fabio Paim and Angel De Maria before?

Don't know anything about Paim, Jang, apart from the fact that he's a striker - but we've signed him on loan with a view to securing him on a permanent deal. LINK

@ 13Joe13 97.........

Hate to point out the blindingly obvious Joe, but Heskey's last league goal was I believe against us, just before the end of the season! Went a long way to costing us the title, as I recall. :)

So it looks like the optimism of yesterday, when Kenyon was 'spotted' in Madrid tying up Robinho's transfer has faded. We've signed a random winger who has never fulfilled his potential as the 'next Cristiano Ronaldo.' It's a very strange deal, because does that mean we consider him a better player than SWP or Malouda to get in the first team? Or is he here just to get experience in the Cup Competitions? If so, what does that mean for Scott Sinclair or Gail Kakuta who i would much prefer to see be given a chance in the Carling Cup?

And just to top off a great night of deals, we seem to have vetoed Sheva's deal:

LINK

I hope that when Kenyon was promising us one more signing, he wasn't really thinking of Paim!

@HABS

Im having my doubts on Kenyon too but still positive that we will have at least one more winger coming in be it Robinho or Paim. Imagine the faces of those Mancs if we found a new Ronaldo for free!

Fabio Paim: LINK

Chelseablog 109.......

I do hope that's a wig! I guess the club have nothing much to lose in having him over here for a year. If it works out, great.. If it doesn't, send him home.

Not a wig! Our new Ruud Gullit? ;-)

10 more days left in the transfer window. Let me summerise the things left to be done:

1) Robinho, not Kaka for this season.
2) Belletti - Too many right backs
3) Prevent Ivanovic and Sheva from the clutches from those Italian cheaters(AC Milan).
4) Signing of Baim(Scolari keeps his promise in developing unknowns into superstars) and maybe Angel di Maria(Roman DID make a bid for him but was rejected by Rui Costa. Could return for him if the Robinho deal falls through).

With that, we will be done for the summer. Come on Mr Kenyon. Get it done fast!

There's something, to me, a bit strange about signing Paim.

If he is the next Cristiano / Nani / Rui Costa etc. why would Sporting let him leave on loan at the age of 20. After the way Ronaldo's developed, you'd have thought they'd have requested millions.

And with Pizarro gone and maybe Sheva, hardly an ideal replacement. And what does it say about the youngsters at the club who instead of getting a chance to show their stuff, are now another place down the pecking order.

Can't believe Sheva isn't going. Again.

Enough already, take the £30m hit, let him leave and never come back. What's the point in trying to sell him, no club in the World is stupid enough to try and buy him, he's proved his worth which is why we can only give him away.

Welcome to Fabio Paim then; we need some more mad hair in our squad, although it's all a bit close to Milli Vanilli for my liking.

Can't we just send Sheva to the knackers yard and claim on the insurance?

I have a bit of a soft spot for Sheva, I would love him to succeed, and the start he had with us looked promising. Wherever he ends up I wish him well, and pray he never comes back to haunt us.

Fabio Paim...WELCOME.

Guys, we need a striker...I think we should consider buying Klas Jaan Huntelaar....
Franco Di Santo seems good, but he is not ready yet.
Drogba is...well...I think we cannot relay on him anymore.
Sheva is a waste of money and time.
And Anelka...well...we need someone who will replace him or Drogba...and I think he is not reliable.
Kalou plays better as left winger.
Pizzarro...no comment.

Hey, Ho - another day in the Transfer Rumour Merry-go-round.

Yesterday [or was it the day before, it's all becoming a blur really] Robinho IN and Sheva OUT were both dead in the water.

Today Robinho has finally said unequivocally to the Spanish press he wants to leave and it seems to be just a haggle over price and, at least according to Goal, Sheva might go to Roma or Milan are considering making an offer to buy him after all.

Strange lack of announcement over Paim arriving on the official website so far -perhaps they're peeved they didn't get to do another WORLD EXCLUSIVE announcement?

LINK

As BBD points out (dman you - beating me to it), he's said he wants to leave Madrid and come to the Bridge.

Spoilt kid hat on - just give them £32m if that's what they want. We did it with Sheva, and he was a sensational failure, so things can't get any worse.

Go on PK, earn your money. For once.

So he has attitude problems, likes to get himself sent off, isn't tactically aware, and has been pemanently affected by an injury. Looks like we won't be seeing the best of this kid quite a while.

If we do manage to land Robinho, we'll have...

Joe Cole
Kalou
Malouda
SWP
Robinho
Sinclair
Fabio Paim
(Kakuta)

Getting a bit crowded in the wings department too.

@119 Cashif - could be one in-one one-out according to this:
LINK

Also Kalou, and allegedly Paim - still no confirmation? - can play as central striker too....

Hello all!
Yes, The management must be really peeved at Scolari's move for Paim. Absolutely no video evidence on the tube! Atleast there was a bit On Di Santo when he was signed. The motives are unclear here. I am sure he is way down the pecking order for a Striker with Anelka > Drogba > Sheva > Hilario > Paim.
And ofcourse given that we would go for all the 4 cups, we would be putting in our best available 11 most of the times. So logically Paim is going to be benched or playing in the reserves. That can all change if Paim gets an obligatory run-out in the last 2 mins of a game and scores a screamer :)!

Just in case if you would like to keep a tab on whats going on in the youth/reserves. Found this nice blog!

LINK

@ Fiftee - Another pen-poised pose for the collection at last:

LINK

Belletti and one more winger(SWP or Malouda) will DEFINATELY need to leave to accmodate Robinho. We are overcrowded.

Chelsea tv say that Paim has been placed in the reserves. Maybe we'll see him in 2009/10 after a year's training like Di Santo. At least that means Sinclair will be given a chance as he is training with the 1st team.

As for Wigan, i'll go for a tight 2-0 with Wigan looking to kick Deco off the park. Lamps and Anelka to score.

"Real Madrid have changed their stance over Robinho's possible transfer and told him they will not keep him against his will if he wants to join Chelsea.

'Real Madrid would never want to retain a player against his wishes,' the club said in a statement on their website.

'As a result we have no alternative but to accept his unilateral decision to rescind his contract.'"

LINK

@ Chelseablog......

I think if we do get Robinho, we really have to free up some space in the squad. SWP or Malouda need to be moved on, because I think we will have a number of top drawer players that will never get a game, and that cannot be good for morale.

We need a strong squad, and the Jose philosophy of 2 players for each position was excellent, but I think we have so many extras now that surely trimming the squad is needed.

Problem is though, we pay them so much money that no-one is prepared to match it and the only way we can move them on is to keep paying the wages.

This sums up Sheva's contribution to Chelsea, from The Times:

"Steve Bruce, the Wigan Athletic manager, goes into the match at home to Chelsea tomorrow having suffered humiliation at the hands of one of the London club's players this summer. Bruce, a keen golfer, could not resist a round with Andriy Shevchenko when the pair bumped into one another while holidaying in Barbados.

“I got hammered,” Bruce said. “Shevchenko's partner was the pro at Wentworth, while I was left with Stephen Hunt, from Reading. I have to say, Shevchenko is one hell of a golfer. We were beaten by the 9th hole, but I blame Stephen. He was hopeless."

When Kenyon develops our brand and branches out into the golfing world, only then will Sheva prove useful for Chelsea but as many of us has speculated, he's spent the past 2 years on Surrey's golf courses, instead of learning how to run.

@HABS

Wouldnt be surprise to see his face pop out on TV at the upcoming US Open. Dont forget Tiger Woods is his one of his best friend.

We are said to be on the verge of an Adriano-Drogba swap deal. I dont know about you lot but I would welcome the move. Didier has done alot for the club but he isnt committed and is at the wrong end of his career. Adriano still has his best years ahead of him (Hes 27) and his physical style would suit the Premier League.

@ Joe 129

Thats one out of left field where did you get that little snippet from?

@130 - sounds like a tribalfootball one.
He has been getting injured a lot, and doesn't seem to be at 100% that often when he is fit. Doesn't need to be a lot of the time of course, he's that bloody good.


Yesterday there were rumours that Malouda was heading off to Rome.
I know he's been shite so far, but he is the only left footer we have who can play on the wings. I'd rather see SWP allowed to leave.

Robinho
Joe Cole
Kalou
Malouda

This is probably where 13Joe13 picked up the Drogba/Adriano rumour from:

LINK

- highly speculative to put it mildly.....

it's on goal.com front page too you know, it's definitely a realistic prospect and i would welcome drogba leaving if he doesn't want to stay. I don't want anyone who isn't 100% commited to chelsea! Not too sure if adriano is a suitable substitute though

@ 127. HABS

Ha! That says it all about HIM really doesn't it? He really gets to me..can't stand the fact that the useless, arrogant git is still hanging around like a bad smell!! Aaargghh!! It winds me up!!

I also think it'll be a Chelsea victory tomorrow..but i reckon Wigan MIGHT scrape a goal together..
Wigan 1 Chels 2

Sheva joins Milan for the 2nd time! How much the fee im not sure. I dont think its a loan deal.

Here's the link to the BBC site LINK

I know we never got the best out of him, but I wish him well, he never complained or bad mouthed anyone to the press, so great respect to him just for that.

He might be arrogant, he might not, but he you can't really 'hate' the guy.
Great result for our neighbours, BTW

Good luck to Sheva but i wonder if Kenyon will ever release details of the deal. Why did Roman agree to the deal now? We must surely have got something in return from Milan, like first refusal on Kaka?

It was also great to see all the heavy hitters at the launch of our academy. It's one of the best in the world, but it should be having spent millions on it. Roman looked pleased at his investment, Scolari and JT looked tired from training whilst Kenyon looked as if he'd just got off Roman's jet from Madrid.

Speaking of Robinho, we must be close to signing him if we let Sheva go. I wonder if it means that he'll be given the cursed no. 7 shirt? Following on in the glorious footsteps of Sheva, Maniche, Mutu, Bogarde, Laudrup...

@HABS

Sheva is Roman's mate. So from a buddy's perspective, he may not want to see Sheva continue to suffer. He's 31 now and if he doesnt continue to play regular football, he may have to retire early. But i agree with you on the 'confidential' details that was stuck between us and Milan. So what kind of advantages did we gain from this piece of buisness. I would be gutted of its just for the sake of writing off a huge pay cheque and got nothing in return apart from making space.

So Sheva is gone, and reading between the lines, I think he has taken a pay cut, which probably means that we are not contributing to his wages. If that is the case then I am happy to let him go, however I would have rather it wasn't back to Milan.

Hope Adriano for Drogba doesn't happen.... That would be the worst bit of business (in my opinion) since we bought Sheva!

Finally great to see those lovable lads at 3 Point Lane and the Emirates getting off to a flying start to the season...... Hopefully we can get a win tonight and put some distance between us and the rest early on in the season. Same the Scousers got the late winner though!

Come on you Blues!!!!!

Thanks for the links guys. There were a few interesting results last night, just hope we get the right result tonight.

With all the wheeling and dealing going on re Robino etc, I think we are just being held to ransom, because of RA's money. I think we should just tell the to F**k off, we're happy with the team we have. We always seem to pay way over the market value for a lot of our signings.

Milan..whoever..I don't care who Sheva has gone to as long as he's gone and the Stamford Bridge gates were closed firmly behind him!
Good riddance to him. I won't miss the free loader one bit!

Just seen the highlights of the Spurs game on MOTD. Unlucky for Malbranque that his shot hit the bar. He really looked like he wanted to score against Tottenham today. And where has Darren Bent gone? Remember him, the one who scored was is 9 (?) goals pre-season? The one who Fabio Capello reckoned could be the answer to England's goal scoring problems!? Hmmmm...

Spurs are definitely missing Keano and i'm not sure that Wendy teaching Berba a lesson by sitting him on the bench "because his mind isn't right" is the answer for them either..
but, who cares??!!! It made me smile that they lost (again!)

By the way has anyone worked out how to rotate players off th bench in the Ole fantasy football

I dont think we can do a rotate..we pick a formation, players and subs and thats pretty much it. We have 6 transfers and if you exhaust your budget like I have.I guess the plan is f*cked. i am stuck with a forward line of Afonso Alves, Ishmael Miller and Ricardo Fuller (Fuller being the only one who scored luckily enough for me)...the rest of the bunch was just Ok! now I cant really take some forward off list and bring someone like Anelka in because I dont have the money.
You pick a squad..you stay with most it for ever. Sucks given that I have Dunn, Reid in midfield and roy Keane as a my manager. Should have picked a top 4 manager for atleast consistent points!

All - be sure to come and tell everyone how your team fared after Sunday. My team is called "Easy Muffin"

@geefer : Incase you were wondering how to bring the subs to the playing XI, you just have to click on the sub you want to rotate in and in the next page click on the player who you want to rotate out of the aquad.

@ Ravenous, Thanks for that, it worked OK, pity they didn't explain it better in the rules.

Much like Jang and others on the blog im pissed at Milan. I dont understand how you can keep on blaming Sheva. He came back 1 week earlier than the other players to be in the best possible condition and Scolari didnt even have him on the bench for the 1st game of the season. If I was in that position where the coach didnt play me then I would want to leave. Just abit down because he wanted to prove himself and Scolari wanted o help him. I think that Kenyon and Arnesen are to blame here, If we are going to let him go then we might aswell get a decent price and the fact that Milan have got him and are about to get Ivanovic strongly indicates that they will give us a small fraction of what we gave them.

However it was great to see Spurs and Arse-Anal both struggle. How are you going to break into the top 4 if you cant beat Sunderland at home? Whinger needs to bite his lip and sign some good wingers. Good news that Ballack should be fit for todays game at Wigan and may even start.

Robinho update

In the latest twist in the Robinho-to-Chelsea saga, the Spanish champions have reportedly told the Brazilian that he should buy out his contract if he wants to swap the Bernabeu for Stamford Bridge.

Having earlier announced that the club would not keep a player against his will, Ramon Calderon the Real Madrid president has now hinted that the forward should buy himself out of his contract and has urged Robinho to leave the club quickly if that is what he desires.

Speaking to Cadena Ser, a Spanish radio station, he explained that the Brazilian must confirm to the club in writing that he wants to leave, as a first step. He said: “I'm sure that Robinho has already weighed up the consequences of his decision and I'm sure that in the next few days he will give a letter to the club to announce that he wants to go. If he does not want to be here, he should leave as soon as possible.”

Both Robinho and the Chelsea manager Luiz Felipe Scolari have spoken of their desire for the Brazilian to move to West London however, Calderon explained that the club were not willing to sell the player, and as he is still under contract, he must buy himself out in order to leave.

"I can tell you that Madrid are not going to transfer Robinho. We are not going to sell him. If he wants to go, then he should go now. Telling the press about it is not the right way to do things,” said Calderon before adding, “It's not necessarily that he will have to pay the £120m. He would end his contract but the courts will decide what he has to pay.”

The Madrid president also indicated that the club were not willing to be dictated to by a want-a-away player who still has two years remaining on his deal.

“Nobody is obliged to stay here, but we will defend our interests,” explained Calderon, “This is what we announced publicly on our webpage. He should leave as soon as possible, but he must accept the consequences of rescinding his contract when it has two years remaining. “

Yet, despite this the Real Madrid president did confess that the club were keen to keep the 24-year old forward.

“I hear that we wants to go, well he will have to give notice in writing,” said the Madrid president, “It's a lack of respect to the club, it's history and to the fans. We want Robinho to stay in Madrid.”

Although Madrid clearly want to keep their player Calderon reiterated the fact that the wouldn’t prevent the Brazilian from moving on if that was what the player desires. However he did reveal he was hoping Robinho might just change his mind, he concluded: “If he says tomorrow that no, he doesn't want to go, that he was only raising the idea, then we can talk."

Real Madrid are the biggest hypocrites in the world. Especially Calderon. He tells United that they should sell them Ronaldo because he wants to go and then Robinho tells him he wants to join us and he wont allow it.

If the Shevchenko deal is a loan then Kenyon should be sacked immediately. We could at least get some cash in for him considering we all know he will do well for them. If we end up paying his wages when hes at Milan then something is very wrong. Tell me Mr Kenyon what part of this deal is good for Chelsea fc?

@13JOE13

The worst possible outcome would be Roman being too sentimental with Sheva. He's our dear owner's good friend after all. And so, he left without any hurdles and resistance, playing into the hands of those swindling Italian scums. Remeber, they are A Cheating Milan team. ;-)

Or

We have first refusal on Kaka. Madrid wont be able to do anything with us should we really want to buy him.

Or

Mr Galliani and Berlusconi became enlightened and decided to cover Sheva's wages or buy him outright for a fee. I reckon its about 5-10 million pounds. At least we get to cover his wage bill for last season.

If we think of these 3 possibilities, it should form a good hypothesis on why the details of the deal are 'confidential'. Or maybe, we ultimately succumbed to Milan and struck a deal with them where Sheva goes for free. So to cover up our own embarresment, both parties are to keep their mouths shut. I would like to believe that Kenyon and Roman made the more logical choice.

It amazes me why people are getting so worked up about what the deal was, it has fuck all to do with us it's RA's money he can do with it what he wants. If we were a club in which ticket prices were going up every year to pay for our follies in the transfer market, then I could understand. But remind me, when did ticket prices go up last, I can recall paying £48 for the shed Upper last week, last year and the year before that.

I missed the news about Sheva's return to Milan - was out last night enjoying myself.

I entirely agree with Clive. The level of vitriol aimed at Milan and Kenyon is over-the-top. Sheva was useless to us so it was in both parties' interest to do a deal - if that deal wasn't the best for us then so what? It doesn't affect us personally (see Clive's comment) and Sheva deserves a chance to end his career on a higher note.

aw after mikel's great performance last week he's not starting today.

oh ! turns out mikel's injuried, but also essien is still a bit :S

There's rumours on one website that SWP has joined Everton

I fully understand that it was time for Sheva to leave and it was ideal for both parties BUT what im angry about is the fact that we obviously let him go for a fee so insultingly small that the club wont even reveal it. How come clubs like Milan and Real can set us an asking price for Kaka or Robinho but we cant do the same? Kenyon deserves to be sacked on the spot.

"Details of the agreement will remain confidential."

So we don't actually know what the deal entailed at all - people want to calm down a bit. Quite why the ire is being directed at Kenyon, I have no idea. I think he deserves a payrise for getting Sheva out of SW6 on any sort of terms; no-one else was going to be beating down our door for him.

Main thing is that he's not at Chelsea any more, that's all that matters. No more embarassment for either party. Hallelujah - thank fuck that's over with; no offence to the guy - one of my favourite non-CFC players of the last decade - but pretty much every day of his stay here has been farcical. Hopefully Roman will have learnt a lesson too.

@ 13Joe: How come clubs like Milan and Real can set us an asking price for Kaka or Robinho but we cant do the same?

You could view it in a less pessimistic way if you tried; the fact that their best players have crazy price tags slapped on them means that they may want to leave and come here? If we choose to pay silly money, we take the risks that go with the price tag, especially when the players are approaching / over 30. I've no doubt that we could ask crazy money for the likes of Joe Cole if he wanted to leave, but he (and most of our squad) don't. We got a fair chunk of money for Robben, given that his legs are made out of balsa wood - it is highly questionable as to whether or not Real will ever see 'value' for their cash. That's football.

We took our squad photo a week too early. Why is Pizarro and Sheva in there? And Robinho is not in there too.

SWP leaves Chelsea!?

LINK