Russian Railways Cup: Lokomotiv Moscow 1 - 1 Chelsea (5 - 4 on penalties)
Saturday, 02 August 08, 05:25 AM · Comments (145)
What is it with our beloved Chelsea, penalties and the beautiful, if not chaotic and wild, Russian capital? The obvious connections with
Roman Abramovich spring to mind, as if some unknown force has suddenly teamed up with all those people who believe having a rich owner appear out of nowhere and invest heavily in the team is
nothing short of a felony, or even constitutes some twisted form of a crime against humanity. And yet it must be noted that his connections with Russia actually have very little to do with
Moscow, where Chelsea played their pre-season friendly game against a once exciting and promising Lokomotiv Moscow (who under Juri Semin played some dazzling European-class football and fought
very well with teams like Inter Milan and Real Madrid some years ago), a team sponsored by the
Russian Railway Ministry - a very powerful organisation considering the sheer overall length of all the railway tracks in the world's largest country (and the ever-growing train ticket
prices...), which can easily afford to invite some of Europe's best clubs to take part in a pre-season friendly tournament. And while the stakes weren't as high as they were in May, both Chelsea and Loko had something to play for.
Especially the Blues, since Luiz Felipe Scolari needs all the matches he can get before the season kicks off to adequately assess the squad he inherited from Avram Grant. Whereas for the
Russian team, which unlike its European counterparts is in the middle of an action-packed season, it was a great chance to stabilise their spontaneous style of play and test their skills
against the world's best. Besides, it was under pressure Rashid Rakhimov's (the Loko manager) first ever match against a Champions League team, which must have been an added incentive for the
talented young manager, who used to be a fairly decent centre-back for the mighty Spartak Moscow.
Either way, the chilly August evening seemed perfect for the match and the atmosphere around the stadium was quite relaxed and friendly, unlike the Russian league match days, with some
exclusive collectors' merchandise, coupled with... seeds and nuts, sold for crazy prices (and absolutely no alcohol anywhere - the reason I missed the Milan - Sevilla match). There were some English fans I met on my way to the stadium who seemed to be having a
great time and looking forward to a fairly easy game, and lots of young Loko fans, who are as harmless as stoned koalas even during some World War II-style Moscow derbies, but whose pre-puberty
shrieks of "GO LOKO! GO!" can drive anyone absolutely mad (I was unlucky to end up sitting right next to a 12 year-old "fan" who might have given me an ear condition with his unorthodox style
of supporting).
After a fairly sloppy warm-up session the match kicked off, with Chelsea fielding a very strong team and Loko opting for the younger players to give them an edge over the Blues and please the
fans (could have saved the effort of playing and just given away free candy, if you ask me). Speaking of fans, I was very pleased with how organised and powerful the Chelsea fans were, despite
being heavily outnumbered, impressing me and everyone else throughout the entire match with passionate chanting, singing, flag-waving and even the odd flare after we scored. So a huge amount of
respect goes to everyone with a blue shirt on who attended the match! You made Chelsea proud!
The starting line-ups were as follows:
Lokomotiv: Pelizolli (GK), Yanbaev (Russian National Team), Spahic, Rodolfo, Fininho, Hurenko, Glushakov, Torbinsky
(RNT), Drahman, Bilyaletdinov (RNT), Traore.
Two leading strikers - Sychev (RNT) and Odemwingie (former Lille player) - were not in the starting line-up and weren't even used as substitutes. And it's also worth noting Branislav Ivanovic also used to be a star player for the team.
Chelsea: Cech, Ferreira, Terry, Carvalho, A. Cole, Essien, Mikel, Lampard, Deco, J. Cole,
Anelka.
The first half left a two-sided impression. On the one hand, Chelsea controlled the ball really well (63% - 37% possession at half-time) and seemed to be at least trying to play the style of
football Roman so heavily craves, yet we were certainly lacking that vital edge in attack (perhaps due to the absence of Drogba). Anelka wasn't a
handful for Loko's defenders and the French striker always tended to drift away from the penalty box, so the few crosses we had posed absolutely no threat to Pelizolli. Deco - a player I didn't
value much - was very good, always looking for ways to advance the attack and trying all kinds of through balls, looking very much fired up for the game. I don't know if van der Vaart would have been a better choice, but we certainly have a great attacking player who's always a potential danger to the opposition. The
flanks didn't work quite as well as I'd expected, with Joe Cole not doing much at all, though his namesake compensated for that with some nice runs down the left wing. Ferreira wasn't as good,
and if not for the totally abysmal display by Malouda, he would have been my choice for the Worst Player award. The Portuguese rarely threatened
the opposition and when the opposition (even more rarely) threatened him, he seemed to have been lacking in confidence and composure. Good thing we have Bosingwa and Ivanovic, though I'm not sure why Scolari didn't give either of them a chance today. Mikel is not Makelele yet, and there were moments today when he could have done much better, missing a couple of interceptions and misplacing some tackles. He also
could have been sent off (as usual) for a reckless challenge, which could have been avoided had he not fumbled on a perfectly acceptable long ball, giving Drahman a chance to go one-on-one with
Cech. Lampard was his usual self, I was actually very glad to see him playing with the same attitude as before after all the transfer speculation. Whatever happens, at least he's shown himself
as a true professional. Overall, I think Lampard and Deco can work really well together, with Ballack behind them. As for the defence, there's
nothing much I can say, since Loko were so poor going forward. Terry can still outrun pretty much any mediocre player and, what's more important, he was a true captain in a couple of instances,
having a tough word (don't know if the cameraman got it) with Mikel and someone else over something that could have led to a goal. And Carvalho was commanding as always.
Nothing much happened in terms of goal opportunities, with Loko absolutely clueless in that department and Chelsea not knowing how to convert their dominance into goals. Loko had an odd long
ball chance when Cech went too far away from the goal, which might have been due to boredom, but I think he kept everything under control. Chelsea had a couple of chances, when Deco was left
absolutely alone during a corner kick (poor man-marking by Loko), but the Brazilian's shot went wide. Anelka was trying hard, adopting a nomadic style of play, and it paid off in the end when
his chest flick-on was converted into a goal by the impressive Essien, whose rocket-powered left-footed shot blazed through Pelizolli's hands, leaving the entire Russian team wondering what hit
them. It was a perfect way to start a potential thrashing of the utterly unimpressive host team, and everyone was looking forward to an action packed second half.
With Wright-Phillips coming on for Joe Cole and Malouda replacing Mikel for the second half, Chelsea should have had the final edge over
Loko, utilising the flanks and thus leaving their shattered defence even in more trouble. And it kind of worked... At least Wright-Phillips was trying very hard, fighting for every ball and
always being in a good position. Malouda seemed less enthusiastic and struggled to make an impact. The thrashing didn't happen. Loko started the second half really well, creating a number of
half chances and trying to regain possession, but Chelsea's star-studded defence was clearly too much for their young players to handle. Chelsea were perfectly content with the way the second
half started, trying to hit Loko on the break, instead of keeping possession. It would have paid off had Essien, Anelka and Wright-Phillips converted their chances into goals, instead leaving
the fans amazed at the fact that Chelsea didn't score when it was quite clearly easier to do so than to miss. Three times. I have to give credit to Loko's defence where it's due. Despite them
panicking and being out of position they somehow managed to prevent Anelka from scoring, and Pelizolli made a marvellous save when Essien could have got his second of the match. Wright-Phillips
received a perfect pass leaving him one-on-one with the Italian goalkeeper, yet he managed to miss the goal altogether. Malouda took part in a couple of these chances, but overall his display
was quite poor, and Yanbaev had no problem blocking his crosses and making a mediocre player out of him. Deco wasn't as impressive as in the first half, and in general Chelsea gave up on trying
to advance through the centre of the field, opting for the wings instead, which didn't quite pay off because Anelka was never there for the header, there weren't any dangerous crosses, and
Loko's right-backs were quite adequate at keeping our wingers away.
Loko, on the other hand, while not having a clue as to what to do, were doing their best to at least wake Cech up and at times seemed to cause some sort of panic among our defenders, especially
Ferreira. Essien did very well in the holding midfielder role, not putting a foot wrong, and Ashley Cole was very impressive throughout the match, but for some reason attacked less, and with
Malouda not doing much either, Chelsea's left wing was of no threat to Loko. Despite the match being, well, a friendly, I can remember three instances of the game being stopped to give medical
aid to a player, and the funny little car was cheered by the fans every time it had to drive onto the pitch (and watching it trying to drive back to its parking space was perhaps one of the
better parts of the match). Time flew by, Chelsea not converting their chances into goals (Shevchenko came on for Anelka and had a decent
chance but his header went wide) and Loko trying desperately to at least make a shot on goal, until the 84th minute, when Kambolov scored a perfect free kick sending the Loko fans into
raptures. I personally saw it coming, since Cech was a bit out of position in my opinion, and Kambolov didn't have to do anything fancy, just taking a very well-placed right-corner shot which
went into the net after hitting the post. Surely Cech could have saved it easily, having set up a nice solid wall which no one at Loko would have even dared to bend over (no pun intended)?!
Thus the legendary rule of "If you don't score, the opposition will" manifested itself yet again, the rest of the match being as boring as watching grass grow.
Then came Chelsea's worst nightmare: the penalty shoot-out, which was a surprise for me, I must admit... I was expecting Chelsea to regain their pride and demolish Loko in added time. Instead,
all of us had to experience the same tragedy we experienced
not long ago (OK, so this wasn't a Champions League final, but still...). Of course, it started well. Cech revealed his hair
to all of us once more and finished off Bilyaletdinov's unimpressive display with a nice save, adding to the speculation that the young Russian might not be as good as everyone thinks he is.
After that, it was a master class of penalties and an array of frustrating experiences for both goalkeepers until Bridge, who replaced Ashley Cole
and did fairly well, stepped up to take the penalty. I don't know why, but lefties don't seem to do all that well in penalty shoot-outs, or maybe it's just a coincidence. Either way, Pelizolli
made a superb save to deny Bridge a top-right-corner finish. Loko coolly scored their penalty, and Shevchenko... What can I say, the poor unlucky bastard, who received a warm welcome from the
Russian fans, took a shot right at the centre of the goal, making it easy for Pelizolli, already airborne and flying to his right, to make a save with his foot and book Loko a place in the
final, where they'll play against Sevilla. Why a professional striker with a 130k p/w salary couldn't spare me the agony of walking along with hundreds of crazy and happy Loko fans shouting
obscene things about Chelsea, is beyond me... Oh well, maybe next time?
The bottom line is... This should have a been a fairly straight forward match review of a nice relaxed pre-season friendly, where we got to see all our new players and some great goals.
Instead, it turned into something that some of us will try to forget, but the reality is that Chelsea themselves should not think of this as a mere friendly match and really examine and work on
the problems that led to this defeat. After all, it's the fifth, if I remember correctly, penalty shoot-out defeat in a row. We all call it a lottery, but it seemed to have turned into a
tendency for us, being anything but random. I was impressed with some players, Ferreira and Malouda left me disappointed, hopefully we have a replacement for both of them (and let Malouda join
Roma), Wright-Phillips tried hard and was fairly productive but wasteful, Anelka needed a striking partner, and I'm not sure how well he'll fair in
the Premier League playing like that. The Ukrainian is useless, we all know that. I almost can't remember anything Joe Cole did, but he's certainly
a great player and much better than Malouda on the left. Mikel is far away from being as good as Makelele, and Scolari should really use Essien as an anchorman. The defence, especially Ashley
Cole, did well, but considering how little Loko were capable of, I guess it doesn't mean much, but Cech left me disappointed on a couple of occasions, bringing to mind his antics at the
Euros.
Today is Chelsea's open training session and on Sunday we'll play against Milan. Hopefully they'll provide enough incentive for all the players to do their best and win the Russian Railways Cup
third place award. Now how cool is that, eh?
Or maybe it was yesterday's sun eclipse that drained our luck yet again? We'll never know...
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145 Comments · Add yours
Robinho looked quality in his match today. Although the liklihood of him arriving seems slim after he was made captain today.
Nice match review but i have to say that Malouda would come second to Sheva in terms of worst performer. Both are utterly useless but at least Malouda attempted to shoot whereas Sheva seemed afraid of getting involved, that or he was so bad that the rest of the side tried to avoid him. This is a great insight into the demise of Sheva:
LINK
Also agree that our penalty losses aren't down to bad luck. It's now become a psychological barrier. Just like we go into home games knowing that we can't lose, we now go into pens knowing that we can't win. We need Ze German to start leading the penalty training sessions. It's also strange how we seem to like defenders, not known for their accurate shooting, to take the all important no.5 winning penalty.
It'll be nice to see us against Milan tomorrow, especially the comparison between Sheva and Kaka. I'm sure we'll see more potential swap-deal stories and it'll be Roman's (he is there tomorrow) last chance of ridding us of the nightmare that is Sheva and bring in Kaka for €100m by chatting to Galliani tomorrow.
I kind of went easy on Sheva because he only had 15 minutes to do something, whereas Malouda had an entire half. And I was watching both closely: Sheva didn't get a lot of passes to work on, while Malouda had enough possession to be a threat. I just thought that such a high-profile young player would have done much better against a decent team at best. He had space and he had a lot of chances. Sheva was all alone up-front so I think we shouldn't really be that harsh... Should have scored the penalty, though.
And thanks for the comment!!
According to an Italian paper Sheva was seen later that night after the game eating and drinking with his old Milan teammates, I think he missed on purpose because he wanted to play against them, lol.
Good review GLEB..I din't see the game but was going on everyone else's reactions. Your review gives a better insight, so thankyou and well done for being mine (and probably a few other people's) eyes for the night!! Good work!
I'm with HABS..Sheva is totally useless..never mind the "lay off him's" etc etc etc..the guy's supposed to be a pro!! He cost £30million ffs!! MAYBE that's why i begrudge him, i don't know..I definitely don't think Chelsea have got their money's worth at all where he's concerned..I expect a lot better from a supposed striker. God Almighty, he couldn't even score a penalty! A striker that can't score a penalty? Is that some sort of joke?!
Malouda i'm stuck on. 75% of the time he's rubbish but then he'll have this occassional "spark" of brilliance. I couldn't believe how good he was in the Euro's....why isn't he that good for us?
Gleb
Thanks for a colourful report. As you live in Moscow I assume you could have written it just as well in Russian. Makes me feel just a bit limited.
Do you follow Ice Hockey or any other major sports as well? Perhaps you could give us a periodic update on the Russian sports scene as apart from the odd bit of football its all ignored over here. A Russian girl at work was extremely excited a few months ago when they won the World Championships in Ice Hockey(I think).
Indeed, I probably could have written it just as well in Russian... being Russian, so please don't feel limited.
And I'd be glad to give you all kinds of updates, though I'm not quite sure how it's connected with Chelsea. For instance, the Russian Premier League (football, of course) is very intense this season, with loads of stuff going on, both on and off the pitch. I think a lot of people might find it interesting... I don't really follow the local ice hockey league, though of course us becoming World Champions was a massive thing for the country.
P.S. If you click on my name above the article title, you'll see my profile, but I've no idea how to access or edit the page, Nick must have created the profile for me, does anyone know how that works?
Cheers for the comments!! I'm very happy you liked the report!
"Whom the Gods would destroy they first make mad"
They're well on the way to succeeding with me....
Given last nights trauma and the way it resonated back to May, the last thing I would have wanted to see as I flicked through the channels on Freeview (aka Poor Peoples TV) were the closing scenes of Escape to Victory as Sylvester Stallone saves a f**king penalty. Sweet Jesus will it ever end.
As I sat stunned, I then noticed that as the crowd invades the pitch at the end the budget didn't extend to an appropriate wardrobe for the extras. They majority look like a football crowd from the late 70's and early 80's.
A pity to spoil on of the greatest sporting films ever ;-)
@ChelseaTony
Elbow. I hadn't heard of them until just before Glastonbury when one of my sisters was looking forward to seeing them live for the first time. On hearing that I was completely unaware of their existence, she expressed amazement as they had been around for years.
Me, I just shrugged my shoulders and put on another Val Doonican record.
@ BLUEBAYOU
Ha! Ha! Ha! I've just practically choked on a glass of Red Vino reading that..
Val Doonican?! Good Lord!! Remember him? Complete with rocking chair and cream cable-knit, polar neck sweater?!! Singing along to himself on a Sunday evening..
Ermm....so i've been told.
I'm too young to remember..
Obviously..:S
P.S there's a report in today's Mirror that Drogs is about to sign a 4 year deal at Chelsea worth £25million..
I know it's the Mirror but i hope this one's true..
chelseafc will win
I'm Chelsea crazy.
3-0 up at HT against a Milan side with no Kaka, Nesta, Pato and Ronaldinho. Are our opponents really AC Milan?
malouda and anelka are ripping it up! 4 goals for anelka and 2 very nice crosses from malouda to set them up! is this the first team ac milan defence or are we playing against a bunch of fringe players?
fantastic play so far if this is first team, i know their first team attack isn't playing but if this is their normal defence there may be hope for these two.
Its very much a 2nd string side, but you can only beat those in front of you and getting goals is always good for confidence
Okay - whose idea was it to have kick-off at the ungodly hour of 11 a.m. Sunday morning?! I didn't get up until 12:15 p.m. (heavy Saturday night, bed at 3:30 a.m.). Typical of Anelka to turn it on while I'm not watching. How's Malouda playing?
Hi Nick - malouda's doing OK, I might be seeign things but he looks like he's been given a freer role. Anelka took his goals superbly.
Who has scored the goals?
Goal videos:
Lampard LINK (Roman looked like a kid in a sweet shop)
Good to hear, Tony. Looks like he was involved in a couple of the goals - quality of the videos isn't great.
Thanks NICK..
The goals are fab, especially my boy's..naturally!!
Anelka with 4?! I'm pleased for him, he's a great player and i hope he gets more playing time when the new season is up and running.
Good result for the boys. Roman's certainly happy!! :D
Well done Chels x
Altough it was a very good performance,Milan were diasappointing and hardly troubled either Cech or Cudicini.
Milan's goalie virtually gifted the first two goals and after that we never looked like losing.
SWP still frustrates and still not convinced about Malouda,although he did play better.
Anelka has made sure that he will start against Portsmouth,he looked the player we thought we'd signed from Bolton.
The defence had very little to do and coped easily with Milan's toothless attack.
Ballack had a run in the first half and both him and Deco,who came on in the 2nd,looked at ease with Lampard.
It was such a stroll we didn't even miss Essien,who has a slight injury.
To be honest we could have scored more and not even the most diehard Milan fan could have complained
It was nice to see Roman getting his money's worth in the stand and even he looked a bit embaressed at the ease in which we dominated the game.
I hope the two week break before our first game will not affect the players after this upbeat performance.
Bloody Hell! I go away for a week and Chelsea win a penalty shootout. Having not had any net access for the past seven days I've been seeing pink elephants and climbing the walls, cold turkey isn't all it's cracked up to be.
And on top of that we beat the crap put of Milan.
Right off to read what's been written in the rest of the blog unless it's not worth it, please feel free to advise :-)
@ Clive
Unfortunately, Chelsea lost the penalty shootout yet again, and today's victory only sealed the third place for us.
@Gleb
I obviously got over-excited and didn't read it it properly, too much alcohol and sun I think.
Welcome back CLIVE..
Did you have a good time? Did you miss us all? ;)
No, Chelsea didn't win a penalty shootout but Nicky got 4 goals!!
Shocker on both accounts, eh?
Ok..one's not such a shock!
It all makes more sense when you see Milan had possibly the World's worst goalkeeper in Australia's own Zelko (Spider) Kalac in goal......
Good result, did Sheva get a run, or not?
I don't think it really matters that Milan didn't put out a full squad. A win's a win at the end of the day, regardless of who was/wasn't on the pitch..
I mean..it's not like it was a really MAJOR competition we were trying to win was it? It's just a bit of shooting practice/exercise, ready for when the new season kicks in..
Bloody hell... I wake up to find we thrashed AC Milan 5-0 and Anelka as scored 4 ! It might be the trainspotters cup but beating Milan no matter how poor the team is always worth its weight in gold. Even Malouda had a decent game (according to the reports).
Morning everyone, as everyone here in OZ knows Kalac is a clown and I can't believe AC actually continue to pay this guys wages. I doubt he would be third choice for Australia now Bosnich is back in the frame ! Good to see Bosnich back playing again even though he did stuff up his playing career with the drugs problem, he is still a fine goalkeeper and could well play for Australia again.. well maybe... He was one of the better goalkeepers in the EPL when he played at Villa, going to Manu U killed his career and by the time he got to Chelsea he was already on the slippery slope..
Really looking forward to the start of the season in 12 days time !!!
KTBFFH
It has to be said ....... that Goalkeeper was atrocious!!!! I would say he was at fault for every goal!
Even so, Nicky still had to net them and that will have done his confidence a power of good. Wonder what will happen when the Drog is fully fit?? Can they play together cos if they can, they are going to rip the Premier to bits. Never mind those two tossers at Liverscum ........... the papers could be writing lots about Nicky and Drogs this year.
So, the end of our pre-season fly-drive. 5 games that I dont really think have told us much we didn't already know.
The team looks like it's going to be 90% the same as last season, with Deco shoe-horned in at Joe or Ballacks expense.
Given a run of games in his natural position, Anelka will always score, so with DD seemingly out for the first two games, all hopes rest on his shoulders. With Sheva proving he's still as useful as a flame under-water, and Pizarro left at home presumably to engineer a move to, well, anywhere, we're looking thread-bare up front. And even the on-off saga of signing Robinho wont cure that, we need someone to finish the chances, not create more.
My prediction of signing no-one else still seems a dead cert. Which is now becoming more of a worry. If DD's knee doesnt heel as expected and 2 weeks becomes 3 or 4, how can we start the season with just one striker. Di Santo or Sinclair chucked in at the deep end as a last resort ??
So Drogba will miss the start of the season LINK
Still I guess he may as well be lying on his back in agony in the treatment room instead of lying on his back in agony in the opponents half.
German website "Der Spiegel" is reporting that Van der Vaart is set to sign a 5 year contract with Madrid. Brilliant news 4 us...the chance of crappy Raphael comin to Chelsea is 0 and hopefully this will raise our chancees to sign Robinho. Transfer Fee is around 13 Mio. Euro, still enormous for a player who used to make me laugh everytime I saw him playing for HSV.
News from Germany: Van der Vaart joins Real Madrid. Costs them 13 million.
No loss in my opinion. Our midfield is already crowded.
Despite Anelka´s peak in pre-season I´m still a little bit worried about the attack. Since Drogs will miss the first two games (and doesn´t seem excessively committed) we urgently need another high-class striker. Apart from Robinho I´m quite clueless whom to sign. A lot of European strikers lack the penetrating power to establish oneself in the PL.
Aside from that I consider our current squad (with Lamps) as unrivalled.
@ Misterdurst
I´m with you. VDV is totally overrated. He has his moments but they are rare. Apart from that he´s just a very slow player who would never have adjusted to the pace performed in the PL.
By the way ... Nice to have a german fellow! Are you also from Hamburg?
Oh. Dear. God. Please. No.
LINK
No no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no.
Not another consistently inconsistent wide man.
@Fiftee - don't panic - reads as pretty speculative waffle to the point of virtually non-story even by SSN standards.
On our striker situation remember unless Ivory Coast make the Olympics semis Kalou will be back by the Wigan game [and only a week later if they reach the later stages].
On Sheva while I agree we must be close to giving up on him I didn't realise till the weekend that he'd had a groin operation this summer and had only been back in training for a week before the Lokomotiv game - so perhaps he deserves more time to show if he can achieve proper fitness levels under LGF's magic wand.
See link for most bizarre unveiling of new season's strip ever - sadly no badge-kissing involved....
LINK
@ 35 BBD
I think the Hollywood trailer makers must have had a spare few hours! That had me rolling around with laughter. Surely the most bizarre and pretentious kit launch ever.......
Blimey, looks like the Bayern Munich marketing folk are taking their "FC Hollywood" nickname a touch too seriously there...
So were we very decent yesterday, or were AC Milan a touch bobbins? Not a bad pre-season though; bit too much travelling but hopefully it has given Scolari a few pointers as to how he'll be approaching the season. Pleased for Anelka - if we can get the best out of him this season it'll be a result after a somewhat inauspicious start to his Chelsea career.
BBD,
Don't get fooled by stories about Sheva. He's cack and past it - end of. And he has just one way of taking a pen in his locker, and Dudek was wise to it in the Champs League final a few years ago so Christ knows why he can't just hit the bloody thing.
Not sure Kalou's return is enough to make me think the striker crisis would be averted. He's hardly prolific. Definitely would like to see a signing made soon so we have cover if / when Anelka goes to pot.
Oh, and I did notice Adebayor giving the Arsenal badge a little too much love yesterday. Not a new singing per se, but it was pretty OTT. Until I watched that Bayern video.
@ 34 Fiftee
He may be infuriatingly inconsistent, but on the plus side, at least he's a penalty specialist! We don't want to lose six in a row... Besides, we need another one of those now that Maka's gone. ;)
@Fiftee
Weel, taking into account that SWP is useless and most probably will be sold by the end of the August, if not earlier, Simao gossips can be true.
@To All
Bayer Munich just went crazy with this presentation :-D
@blueeyes: Well I'm from Germany. My hometown is Stassfurt which is near Magdeburg and used to be the only place where they made TVs in the former GDR ^^ TechniSat, u might know it :-) So I'm not from Hamburg but I've been there twice to visit friends and watch the footy. I'm actually living in London for 2 years now.
However, good that there's another Kraut around...makes 3 at Chelsea now! How come we always lose on penatlies ?!^^
@ René
Since I lost my heart to CFC I had to adapt to the fact that losing on penalties is a realistic threat. When JT unfortunately missed from the spot and therefore my team lost the shootout I swallowed that bitter pill for the first time in my adult life. Couldn´t believe it. Strengthened my support though.
I own an TechniSat LCD flat screen - great TV. Kudos to your folks!
So Looks like "THE Drogs" has a lot of work to do to get back in the team!
Anelka was a GREAT!! signing
What do you guys reckon would be the lineup for the opening game against Portsmouth?
-------------------Cech-----------------
Essien-----Carvalho-----Terry-----A.Cole
J.Cole-----Mikel------Lampard-----Malouda
------------------Deco-------------------
------------------Anelka-----------------
Subs:
Cudicini
Ivanovic
Alex
Ballack
Wright-Phillips
Shevchenko
I Hate Essien wasted at the back althought he does overlap i still like to see him in the midfield possibly attacking
-------------------Cech-----------------
Ivanovic----Carvalho-----Terry-----A.Cole
J.Cole-----Essien-----Deco------Malouda
------------------Lampard-------------------
------------------Anelka-----------------
Subs:
Cudicini
Mikel
Alex
Ballack
Wright-Phillips
Shevchenko
That was hilarious! (and so was the first comment).
Simao and Malouda on the wings - we'll really strike fear into the hearts of defenders with those two, won't we?
I think the most promising thing I've heard from Scolari so far has been that last comment on making Anelka play more centrally instead of drifting wide.
I think that TSSO will use a Formation A bit more like this:
------------------Cech---------------------
---------Riccy------------JT---------------
Essien---------------------------------Cole
----------------Mikel---------------------
--------Deco------------------------------
-----------------------Lamps---------------
Cole--------------------------------Malouda
-----------------Anelka--------------------
Subs:
Cudicini
Alex
Ivanovic
Kalou
Ballack
SWP
BTW, didnt the FA extend the amunt of subs in a game to 7?
Add Sheva to my subs list.
The 2008–09 Premier League season (known as the Barclays Premier League for sponsorship reasons) will be the seventeenth since its establishment. Manchester United are the defending champions, having won their tenth Premier League title on the final day of the previous season. The campaign – the fixtures for which were announced on 16 June – will begin on Saturday 16 August 2008,[1] and is scheduled to end on 24 May 2009. A total of 20 teams will contest the league, 17 of which will have contested in the 2007-08 season, and three of which will have been promoted from the Football League Championship. Starting with this season, clubs will now be allowed to name seven substitutes on the bench instead of five.[2] This season is also different in that there will be no New Year's Day game, as is usually traditional. This is because the FA Cup Third Round is traditionally the first Saturday in January, which in 2009 will fall in the usual spot for New Year's league games.
From Wikipedia
While the source is questionable this story on Frank does make sense and perhaps shows the measure of the man that he put family ties and home support ahead of a sunny move to Milan. Of course the offer of a 5 year contract probably played its part too....
LINK
Just a question of now hearing from CFC website that Frank has signed when he returns from the preseason jolly.
I can hear Lolli whooping with joy from here...
KTBFFH
Hiya, PETERTHEGREAT!!
Nah, the old "family commitments" quote is an obvious smokescreen..
He's been reading the blog and has finally realised how much i adore him!!
I expect a phonecall from Frank any time soon..
*wakes up to reality!*
Hey Lolli, your up early you must start work early !
Personally I don't care how you do it just make sure Chelsea's greatest ever midfielder signs the new contract when he gets back.. A flutter of the eyelashes from his number one fan should be the clincher... might be worth the trip to heathrow ! Funny I used to live down the road from the airport... a LONG time ago...
Only 12 days to go until kick-off.. who cares about the smoggy olympics the new EPL season is all that matters...
KTBFFH
Interesting take from Ranieri regarding Frank - sounds extra dubious to me.
LINK
By the way, how could Ballack be left out of our starting lineup - he is worth a place as much as anyone including Frank, though it leaves TSSO with a mighty conundrum. Who do you drop - Ballack, Frank, JoeC, Malouda (or a n other wide player), Deco, Essien/Mikel (ie the holding midfielder). And if we want 2 strikers, we need to drop 2 of the 6 - I'm assuming we wont play Mikel/Essien together in midfield. Tough call, but I dont buy the consensus above as agreed by Jang, Comatosed and Mike12 that it should be Ballack.
We could argue for all of them:
Ballack - the best midfielder in the premiership
Lampard - ditto! plus he almost always turns it on for us
Deco - will add some much needed magic to our play
Joe Cole - last year the only purveyor of magic for us and England
Essien/Mikel - how can we not have a holding midfielder
Malouda - OK he might seem the obvious one to drop, but we need the width and crossing he provides (and what if he was replaced by one of our dream buys)
Drogba/Anelka - we can only play one of them if we use 5 of the 6 above
Maybe the answer is to hope for niggly little injuries throughout the season so the choice can be avoided!
@54
Dont think Ballack is fit enough for the first game yet. Thats why i excluded him. He missed a huge chunk of our pre season games. Dont get me wrong, im a huge Ballack fan.
Fair enough Jang, but when all are fit, including Drogba, who would you drop?
Probably best if I don't speculate on the nature of Rooney's virus LINK although I understand Coleen is concerned he may have been trying some new ball tricks on the pre season tour.
He's probably caught a computer virus Mark, I imagine once he's been scanned and cleaned he'll be ready for the start of the season.
Is the photo really you Clive, so I know to look out for you on the bus.
Hey up CLIVE! Watch out..
You have a stalker!
@Mark
Yes I'm afraid it is me without my specs, but I only use them to see.
@Lolli
You don't have to stalk me Lolli you're welcome anytime :-)
@ CLIVE
Cheeky!! ;)
Morning bloggers.... just read an article on Goal.com quoting Sheva on why we haven't seen the best from him. I know many on here (and quite rightly) have bagged his contribution for the price we paid for him and the wages he earns. However he has suffered some serious injuries particularly with his back which will alwsys blunt any top player's ability to perform at that level.
IF he can stay injury free this season, build up his fitness level and thus be able to play the game like he did for Milan, then having such a player on the bench to come on and score important goals through a piece of individual magic could be our "ace up the sleeve" that TSSO needs this season.
I am going to predict 15 goals this season for Sheva in the league as a super sub. I shall never forget that goal he scored with a left boot from the right hang corner of the penalty box. There is no doubt he still has the talent the question is can he recapture his fitness and form. If he can then we fans are in for the treat we all hoped to get when he first signed.
KTBFFH
@ Peterthegreat....
I do agree Peter that Sheva has had a rough trot at Chelsea, but my biggest concern is whether the desire is still within him to want to prove people wrong.
My trip back to the UK last Christmas included the 4-4 game against Villa, and he was the stand out player in that game, after which his injury meant he didn't manage to feature again. A shame really, because with DD and Kalou at the African Nations Cup, he gave us a badly needed attacking option and did really well.
Unfortunately though, having won most honours within the game, and collecting a pay cheque of $130K + a week, where is the incentive for him anymore?
It is sad to see, and it wouldn't surprise me at all if he does show flashes of brilliance, it is never Sheva that is talked about in the press, working on his speed, stamina and shooting. He appears out of touch and two seconds too slow to react, and only some serious work on the training pitch will turn him around.
My Chelsea Formation
Terry and Carvalho at the back. There's no need for anyone else. Poor old Cech still looks like he needs a lie-down after that crack on the head. Essien roving like a velociraptor in front of them. Then I propose a seven-man midfield in the shape of a lion rampant: Lampard, Deco, Ballack, Joe Cole, Wright-Phillips, Obi, Kalou. And up front, at the tip of this whirling wheel of midfield brilliance, Drogba. Mind you, it means we should buy some more midfielders, because of potential injuries. We won't need to buy any strikers. Oh, no. If Drogba gets injured, we'll have the ex-gooner sulker extraordinaire, the man who missed the last penalty because 'he wasn't ready', a man you'd never see kiss the badge, Anelka. Or Sheva, who resembles an amnesiac who's been told he was once a world-class footballer. Or Pizarro. Anyone for Pizarro? What on earth is going on at Chelsea? Madness.
@Peterthegreat,
"I am going to predict 15 goals this season for Sheva in the league as a super sub".
I'll bank that for you. I'm going to predict he most definitely wont score anywhere near 15 in the league. But, if you're correct, I shall honour your prediction with a drink or two.
Did you say you lived Down Under ??? What a shame should I have to make that as a trip.
Come on Sheva ;-)
I would be delighted if Sheva can get between 8 to 10 goals league goals(excluding penalties) in the upcoming season and maybe a couple more in the cups. 15 goals in all competitions sounds alright to me given his age.
I seem to be in a minority, but I just don't understand how you guys can see Sheva performing to any notable standard at all next season.
Granted, he's had his injury problems, but even when he's been fully fit he's looked nothing more than a shadow of the Shevchenko of old.
It seems to me that Roman's just not willing to admit Sheva's had it. I guess it's hard for him to accept £30m has been - and it's no over-exageration - wasted on someone he really wanted to succeed but hasn't.
I'm not a Shevchenko 'hater'; I'd really love him to succeed. Boy, do we need him to do something this season, we're still short of a front man, but I just can't see it myself.
With you on this one Fiftee - would love to see him prove us wrong, but Sheva starting another season when not fully fit doesn't bode well at all. Time is not on his side any more either; I'm sure he'll make some sort of contribution to our season, but I don't see it being a meaningful one. The sad demise of one of my favourite players of the last decade or so looks set to continue, which is a great shame.
A few interesting stats in this Guardian article - LINK - including:
"Scolari has named both Florent Malouda and Andriy Shevchenko as players he believes can be rehabilitated and for all that the mere mention of those names provokes groans among some supporters, he is right to do so. Malouda would not be the first player to struggle in his first Premier League season only to go on to greater things, and Scolari believes he can bring more out of the player by relaxing his defensive responsibilities. Shevchenko, meanwhile, was actually the team's most clinical finisher last term. His five goals came at a rate of one goal every 148.2 minutes on the pitch - better even than Drogba (one every 191.1 minutes). Salomon Kalou and Claudio Pizarro each required more than 300 minutes per goal, while Nicolas Anelka's one strike in 14 appearances speaks for itself. Opta stats also show Shevchenko led the team's strikers for percentage of shots on target (59%) and "chance conversion" (23%)."
There's hope yet.
That said, while perusing the headlines earlier this one caught my eye - 'Back In The Swing' LINK - I thought it was about Sheva.
A new name for the last two weeks of pre-season: The Doldrums.
Nick (back to Nick Benfield again?)
"Salomon Kalou and Claudio Pizarro each required more than 300 minutes per goal". I'm wondering if the Guardian journo was doing us a favour in this sentence, casting the bad figures in a good light. While 'more than 300 minutes per goal' does sound pretty bad, Pizarro's actual strike rate was one goal every 11,338 minutes. Maybe. Well, at least it was from what I can remember.
I'm preparing myself for my works fantasy football competition, where I have £100m (not real money like Romans, mind) to buy a squad of 20. Last season I flirted with a few Chelsea players (Malouda and TBH to start the season; Ferreira and Sheva came in in the window, and Anelka by virtue of his move from Bolton). I wasn't hugely confident that spending my virtual money on CFC players was a good thing last year. This year, I'm chomping at the bit to sign as many of them as I can.
Maybe a sign that my pessimism is turning to optimism. I have a strong feeling we wont be pot-less come May 2009.
I want to see Malouda do well next season, he was great for France and, previously, for Lyon. If he went to Liverscum last year like he was supposed to, does anyone think he would have done any better than he did for us?
Sheva in pre-season has looked slower than ever and his first touch has dipped to the level of Pizarro's! So to predict 15 league goals is ridiculous. I think he'll struggle to score 5 in all competitions.
As for those stats showing that he seems to score in the least amount of time. Well Sinclair scored 1 goal in about 60 mins at Hull, 5 mins against Newcastle and 60 mins against QPR. So that's 1 goals every 125 mins. Maybe we should start predicting that Sinclair will score 15 goals this season?
Very little transfer activity at the moment. Clubs seem to be waiting for everyone else to trigger a deal. Will Barry finally leave Villa for Liverpool? Will Liverpool sell Alonso to Arsenal to finance the Barry deal? Will Utd sign Berbatov? Will Spurs use the Berbatov money to buy Ashton? And willwe actually buy Robinho or will he sign a new contract at Madrid?
And when are we going to get this ChelseaBlog Fantasy Football league going? Only a few days until the Charity Shield where some of my players could be gaining points!
Re: Fantasy Football. I've yet to pick my team. I'll set up the OleOle Chelsea Blog mini-league before Sunday's Charity Shield, promise. Bit short of time at the moment - brother's getting married tomorrow.
Didn't Nick post something about the FF a few weeks back?? Perhaps he could post the details again as I still haven't registered a team yet.
@TheBear - Go here to pick your team: LINK - it's free and there are lots of great prizes. FAQs here: LINK
Habs,
I guess this is the lull before the storm regarding transfers.
It seems to come and go, so to speak. The window opens and those deals that have been on the cards for months get wrapped up a.s.a.p so the chosen signings get the full pre-season at their new clubs (ala Deco and Bosingwa).
Then deals get mooted for players that may be shuffled out if their team sign someone else (most of those you mention above) but the buying clubs are biding their time, leaving it as late as possible to make signings so the selling clubs reduce prices. Well, they're supposed to, but that never happens when we buy someone.
Still, it makes me laugh. Well, I'd cry if not.
Count me among the Sheva sceptics also. Presumably he'll never lose his instincts and his skill striking the ball, but in The Premier League you can't get away with being as heavy-legged as he's become. Defenders just shove him off the ball, or slide in and clear it before he can get anywhere near it. I'd love to be proved wrong as his attitude has been great: for a former consensus best striker in Europe to turn out at Griffin Park for the reserves without grumbling and sulking is very impressive. I'm sure that's why the home crowd keeps singing his name, despite his Pizzarro-like air of being helplessly out of his depth. Maybe Beeg Pheel can sort him out, but I doubt it. A lot.
Is there going to be a fantasy league here? That would be fun. I'm always rubbish at them because of my absolute refusal to use any Man U arseh-- sorry, players.
Re Fantasy Football - sorry if it makes me an anal dullard by actually reading the rules but right at the top of the page it says:
"The OleOle Fantasy Football game is based on the 2008-09 Premier League season. Players will score points based on all games played over the season.
The game will start from matches played 16th August 2008 and will run through to the final matches played 24th May 2009. "
So you don't need to rush setting up the Mini-League before the Charity Shield, Nick, as it doesn't count.
@ 78 limetreebower - glad to hear there's someone else with principles in these games - I add Loserpoo to ManUre and Arsenal players in refusing to include them - even when it leaves me trailing behind. Where's the pleasure in your success being based on our main enemies playing well?
I did my FF with OleOle and fuck me it's hard to put a decent team together with the money they give you!
My god they overrate some players!16K For Bent?
I would be very satisfied this summer if we can get another winger. Forget about giving SWP and Malouda another chance. We said the same old things last summer and eventually, became disappointed again. If we want to avoid those kind of rants later on in the season again, we should rectify the problem. Or hope Scolari can really work his magic on our wingers and Sheva.
We are just short of a consistant wide man who will shoulder majority of the burden in opening up defenses with his pace, skills and technique. Silva, Quaresma or Robinho. Either one would complete the Chelsea jigsaw this summer and give us that cutting edge and balance we lacked last season, which ultimately cost us valuable points.
Hmmmm. I had a look at OleOle's FF game and the scoring seems incredibly trivial. It's like footy highlight shows here in the US (where I am in temporary exile): the only thing that counts is goals.
I might stick to the Guardian's FF game. (football.guardian.co.uk, and then follow the FF links.) Much more involved system for getting points, and you can change formations and use subs in interesting ways.
One slight downside is that you're only allowed 3 players from any one team. So (@ BBD 79) I had to hold my nose and pick a couple from Arse and 'Poo. I have to confess that I don't have a deep visceral hatred of those teams. I'd happily see them both relegated, of course, but I wouldn't refuse to talk to someone wearing either of those shirts, unlike Man U.
If anyone else is interested in a mini-league over at the Grauniad ...?
I've also got a FF team at the Guardian. I've picked a totally different side to try and spread my bets.
i got a team in the sky sports one and the guardian one, i don't like this one quite as much. Don't like the prices in this one.
On the FF front, there's a hugely immersive one run where I work (by someone with so much time to organise it, I wonder what he's supposed to be getting paid for) so I rarely bother with other ones.
Might plump for the Guardian this year though.
Thank God the Ronaldo saga's over for 12 months at least. Can we get on with Fergie whingeing about all his missing players now please. Who'll miraculously recover in time for the opening league game next weekend.
There's a pretty good one over at the Virgin radio website: rocknrollfootball.fantasyleague.com
Still no news on the Lampard/Drogba front?
Sorry, the link is: LINK
@84 limetreebower - I like the scoring system of the Grauniad game too which is more complex than the usual "goals/assists/clean sheets" obsession without being so geeky no one can figure out how it's calculated - come on down Times' "Play The Game".
I'd be up for a mini-League there too even if you have let your principles slide a bit already ;-)
The original price of even the most mediocre strikers is ludicrous in the OleOle game and I don't like being tied to 1 formation for the whole season but I guess we could still give it a try anyway....
@BBD,
"The original price of even the most mediocre strikers is ludicrous in the ... game and I don't like being tied to 1 formation for the whole season but I guess we could still give it a try anyway...."
You've resorted to quoting the 'Management my Way Handbook' by A Grant I see.
@Fiftee - well spotted. This of course follows on from his predecessor, The Tinkerman, who seemed to have increasing trouble distinguishing reality from computer games in his time with us as quoted just the other day:
"the following year was something that will stay with me all my life. My last year was something that will never be repeated. It was like fantasy football! I was like, 'I'll take this one and that one...and that one'. It was amazing." - and no 145m euros limit either.....
@ BBD 90 -- okay okay, you've made me feel guilty now!
How about this as Guardian/Chelseablog FF Extra Rule #1 --
"Participants may select players from EITHER ManUre OR Arse OR 'Poo, but may not include players from more than one of those teams."
That way, I don't make everyone else conform to my blanket prejudice against the Mancs -- people can have C.Ronaldo if they really really want (though they will be publicly shamed here, I hope) -- but we all get to decide whom we hate most. (Hello, Sir Alex.)
I created a mini-league name at the Grauniad site. The name is "ChelseaBloggaz", and the password (natch) is "musumba".
@LTB,
'I sense a disturbance in the force'
Craking work with the league and password. But he'll be after you now....
@limetreebower - seems a fair compromise to me. As my team already complies with Extra Rule 1, of course, I've joined up successfully, though it won't let me see who else has until the 16th. Presumably as league administrator you'll be able to let us know recruitment progress.....
I have made a good team without Manc/Poo/Arse players. I am proud and prefer the Guardian FF. By the way, the mini-league is awsome
I've had a little peek at the Guardian FF and it looks great. Although I'm a bit like a kid in a sweet shop with all the choices and overspend way too much.
Perhaps an idea with the ladies and gents on this blog would be to pick our team and subs but have a cap on individual players so that you can't spend more than
£6.5 million on each one.
Certainly would make it more interesting.
Just joined ChelseaBloggaz FF at the Guardian. Looks great so far although we need more of the blog to join.
@ LTB, ok mate I've joined your mini league as well. As the 'administrator' does this mean you'll be changing your name to LimeTreeBarwick, getting a secretary called Faria, growing a 'tache, declaring your life long support of Liverpool, supporting ITV bids for live football and generally freeloading at every opportunity and doing whatever it takes to make sure the cards fall in your teams favour?
Just wondering that's all.........
1955: Sky Sports News are reporting 'sources' claiming Chelsea have made a £19.7million bid for Real Madrid's Robinho. More if and when we get it.
Sky Sports News understands Chelsea have lodged a £19.7million bid for Real Madrid forward Robinho.
Chelsea boss Luiz Felipe Scolari has made no secret of his desire to link-up with his Brazilian compatriot and now the Blues have upped the transfer ante.
Earlier this week Robinho refused to rule out a move to Stamford Bridge, while Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon has openly declared the club's interest in the player.
Real Madrid have repeatedly expressed a desire to keep the South American in the Spanish capital but the recent signing of Rafael van der Vaart does give them amble cover in Robinho's position, even when taking into account Wesley Sneijder's injury troubles.
Robinho was thought to be unsettled by talk he could be used a makeweight in Madrid's bid to land Cristiano Ronaldo, a deal which has now been shelved.
Chelsea earlier this month conceded their bid to sign Robinho would be their last of the summer should it prove successful.
Chelsea have confirmed!
This is just brilliant, let's get it done lads.
LINK
Since when has any club accepted our first offer for a player,Madrid will turn it down and demand probably double and this will drag on until the last possible moment.
Strange for Chelsea to publicly admit the bid,things are usually done more secretly than this,perhaps they know more than they are saying.
Why are we considering selling a player who can play at fullback and centre half and who's hardly had a chance to prove himself,if we sell him we're back to having only one player to cover JT and Carvalho,have we forgotten the injuries we had there last season.I think we paid £8 million for him and are thinking of loaning him out apparently.
"Reports in the peninsula suggest that Milan are ready to fight Juventus for the signature of Chelsea defender .
The Old Lady have already approached Chelsea with an offer for Serbian star Ivanovic – a player they tried to lure before his move to Stamford Bridge in January.
However, Milan are currently looking for a defender to act as cover for Alessandro Nesta in an ageing and injury-prone back line.
Ivanovic is yet to make an appearance for the Blues and has reportedly been told by new boss Luiz Felipe Scolari that he doesn’t feature in first-team plans.
According to Sportmediaset, Milan are ready to move in with a bid of around £1.8m to take Ivanovic for the season with an option to make the deal permanent next summer."
@ Tony 100 et. al. --
I'm the administrator? Really?
[demented evil cackle]
OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!
@103 : Yes, there is a strange excitement about this news. Robinho certainly is behind Robben in the pecking order for Madrid. The Player has also publicly said that he desperate to move to SW6. Madrid cant afford to keep him in the ranks playing the tyrant and risk the wrath/ indifference of the player/public if the deal is not made. One way or another - I see an attacking player coming in to the squad. It would be great if its Robinho and immediately! giving him enough time to integrate with the squad.
I hope our PR's are doing it smartly publishing this news only after they know that the deal is imminent else its going to be tough on them!
Here's hoping Robinho doesnt do a Ronaldo tomorrow!
This wait for the new season is breaking me!
In a few minutes time here in OZ the time and date will be 08:08 08-08-08. Of course for those on the other side of the world that unique event wont happen for 10 hours or so and itt will be another 1 year, 1 month, 1 day, 1 hour and minute before that happens again...
Good news on Robinho if the deal does happen...
KTBFFH
@ PTG - 08:08 08-08-08 and I'll be on plane. Please tell me that's NOT an omen!
Fuck me. I'm on hols in a few hours but managed to dismiss my own self restraint the night before and got socially relaxed/tired and emotional...delete as appropriate.
Monsieur Jean le Laiser, feel free to text me with any developments when I'm on hols. My first game this year will be at SB against Manure, let me know if you fancy a beer that day!
That should read Monsieur Jean Le Kaiser! Damn the key!
Bye all!
It's kinda cool to see 112 comments in my first ever ChelseaBlog article :) By the way, a huge thanks to Nick for making this happen!!
Anyway, the transfer period is going well, isn't it? Frank is staying (hopefully for longer than a year), Deco is doing really well, Ze German seems very determined to tear anyone who's not wearing a blue shirt apart, we've got a great squad and a potentially awesome manager, and we might get Robinho as an added bonus. I just hope that all this is gonna manifest itself in loads of goals and clean sheets! I really hope we'll see the old Petr this season, the one who was undoubtedly the best GK in the world, not that whiny Buffon (who's kinda good, I have to admit)!!
And something tells me we might have a Chelsea - Inter CL Final next year...
@ GLEB
You did a really good job for a first attempt! Chelsea v Inter? Wow! How cool would that be?! We'd win though...naturally!! ;))
RAVENOUS1
You're back from your jollies!!!! Hope you enjoyed your travelling, festivals etc.. x
Afternoon All
I have just joined the Chelseabloggaz fantasy league should be an interesting season. Coming from a long line of Chelsea fans, I just couldn't bring myself to pick any Man Ure players. Found it very hard with the money allowed but I suppose thats the secret of being a good manager
Anyone else get the feeling we've put the first official bid in a bit late ???
As Evillynn mentioned, they wont accept this offer, or the next couple so it'll be weeks before it's agreed. And there are only a few weeks till the end of the window.
Why not do it sooner ???
@Fiftee
I think there's a little bit of poker and brinkmanship being played here, and I think Chelsea are playing it just right. It's quite obvious he doesn't want to be at Madrid anymore, and do they want to keep a player (regardless of finding a replacement for him) who's heart is no longer with the club?
All the Ronaldo crap we've put up with over the summer and Robinho being used as a negotiating tool to get him, has played nicely into our hands. I may be way off the mark with my assumptions, but I think we'll get him for a few million euros more than the initial offer.
Does this crap never end.
"Milan representatives are due in London in order to set up a raid on Chelsea.
The two clubs are on very good terms and have spoken about Kaka and Andriy Shevchenko during the summer, although neither team wanted to sell on that occasion.
However, the Rossoneri are likely to have more luck taking a defender from Luiz Felipe Scolari with Branislav Ivanovic and Alex on their wish-list.
Milan are interested in taking Ivanovic on loan as the Serbian failed to make the breakthrough at Stamford Bridge after arriving last January and is believed to be keen on a move.
Italian sources claim Alex is also highly regarded by Carlo Ancelotti and a request will be made for the Brazilian stopper"
I hope this is just the usual rubbish media report because we would be very stupid to release either considering this season allows seven on the subs bench instead of five.
Clive,
I hope you're right, but sadly I see it ending the same way as Ronaldo - he'll end up staying, although Madrid will offer him a bit more money. I mean, how's he expected to live on the reported £30k a week ???
@Fiftee/Clive - I certainly can't recall a recent occasion when we've gone public twice now before a deal was done and dusted - first declaring our interest in a player a couple of weeks ago and now confirming an official bid "further to media reports" when there had been nothing but recycling of old contradictory quotes all day apart from some rubbish in Tribal Football!
I guess it's all part of the campaign to turn up the pressure on Madrid and encourage Robinho to submit a transfer request. There's still 23 days to sort this out hopefully without resorting to 23.59pm faxes on last day of official registration documents.
@106 limetreebower - having been administrator of an office mini-league in the Official Barclays Premier League FF a couple of years ago you'll probably find the threat of arbitrary and entirely unwarranted suspension/expulsion of members is your only duty, possibly plus the ability to send auto e-mails to us all that we'll put filter blocks on if we get bored with them.
It strikes me that I [and others] have set up team/manager names that don't include our blog names so it's impossible to tell who we all are. I can't find a screen/option anywhere that let's me change either of these descriptions in the game - has a more techy savvy amongst us found a way to do this?
Agree with Clive on Robinho - hopefully he's suitably peeved enough with how they've spent the summer using him as a pawn in the Ronaldo saga to force a move; my guess is that we'll get him, just a question of money now I'd imagine.
Can't see both Ivanovic and Alex going - would leave us without much cover; not impossible that one might make the move though.
Chelseablog preview of the season in this weekend's Observer for anyone interested - if it does appear online (which I think is unlikely) we'll stick a link up.
And I shall be submitting my team of relegation candidates to the ChelseaBloggaz mini league at some point over the weekend...
BBD/JD
Madrid have been performing this type of player tapping up as far back as I can remember, didn't they tout for Robben's services long before they got him last season.
It's nice to see that they're getting a taste of their own medicine with Robinho, and perhaps even Utd fans will see it as some poetic justice if we get him.
Looking forward to the preview JD, stick the link up anyway for the lazy internet surfers like myself. :-)
The worst part about the bids for Ivanovic and Alex is that the prices are low. What do both clubs take us for? An idiot? We bought Ivanovic for 9 million pounds less than a year ago and we are going to sell him away for less than 1/2 that amount without making even a single first team appearance? Absolute garbage and a total lack of respect for Chelsea. Dont sell to Milan and Juve. Both defenders have a future with us.
@ JD
Agree with CLIVE..can you put the link up anyways? I read the papers online..don't bother wasting my money on them anymore. Besides, i'd get strange looks from people i know if i started to buy the Observer!! It's a bit too posh for me!! I'm more of a Daily Mail type of girl..(sorry TONY!!) but i don't even buy that!
I'm only interested in what you're writing anyways!!
@Lolli
I had you down as more of a cough cough.... page 3 sort of girl
Runs and hides like the coward I am.
@ 124. CLIVE
So would i if i were you, Mister!!
I don't look at page 3!!!
@Clive/Lolli - for historic family reasons lost in the mists of time I do actually see the hardcopy Daily Mail on Saturdays only and have to say page 3 is usually just the normal baiting of benefit scroungers/asylum seekers/loony left councils etc, etc...
Curiously though last Saturday there was a picture of a really hot number that might get Blue Bayou's pulse racing at least[allegedly] - see below:
LINK
mmmmmm a man merely indicates a passing interest in transport infrastructure and is immediately set upon and ridiculed.
I think I'll just go and play with my trains
@BBD
That fourth picture is bordering on pornographic, whatever is that man doing with the oily rag? I'm sure BB will have a perfectly reasonable explanation.
Ha! Ha! That Torando certainly is a hot little number.."steam hissing from her pistons" and all that!
Phew!
Try saying that after a few beers!!!
@ 127. BLUEBAYOU
As long as that's all you're going to play with after letching over that set of seedy pics...:D
*gets a mental picture in head of BB sat in a quiet corner of a dark room, torch in one hand...erm...pictures of steamy trains in the other*
Steady on Lolli you can turn a perfectly innocent love of steam trains into something quite racy.
I know I know pot, kettle, black!
anyone play fantasy football on LINK
i have a mini league if anyone wants to participate the code is 506448-103259
and i don't use united and livetrash players either
@ CLIVE
There's nothing "perfectly innocent" about loving steam trains!!!
Have just registered with the Guardian etc and still not received the blinking confirming email
Official squad numbers for Chelsea FC 2008/09 season:
1. Cech
2. Ivanovic
3. A.Cole
5. Essien
6. Carvalho
7. Shevchenko
8. Lampard
9. FRANCO DI SANTO
10. J.Cole
11. Drogba
12. Mikel
13. Ballack
14. Pizarro
15. Malouda
16. SCOTT SINCLAIR
17. JOSE BOSINGWA
18. Bridge
19. FERREIRA
20. DECO
21. Kalou
23. Cudicini
24. Wright-Phillips
26. Terry
33. Alex
35. Belletti
39. Anelka
40. Hilario
I dont really like Bosingwa to wear the no.17 and would have preferred him to wear Maka's no.4. But he avoided that dreaded and cursed no.16 which have caused the likes of Di Matteo and Robben serious injury concerns in the past. Di Santo would be inheriting the no.9 shirt. The last decent player who wore it was Crespo and Hasselbiank. Hope he will do us proud and of course, someone worthy of the legendary number 9 shirt. Now, which number would Robinho take? Numbers left are: 4, 14(if Pizarro is sold), 22, 27, 28, 29, 30 and so on...
Have received the mail now............ all registered on the Guardian FF. We could do with a few more on there.
Team picked for Chelseablog mini league....
It was easy to fit within the budget.... Until I reaised I had forgotten the Manager!
@GreenLight - Exactly what happened to me! I've heeded BlueBoyDave and LimeTreeBower's advice and picked a team containing no United, Arsenal or Liverpool players - and only one from Chelsea! Relegation looms large, but it'll be an interesting ride.
Will stick a post up tomorrow or Sunday with all the details etc. I intend to pick a team in the Guardian's FF too - will include LTB's mini-league details in the post.
Not really much of a shock,the sags continues....
"Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon has ruled out 'any possibility' of Robinho leaving the Spanish champions for Chelsea.
The Blues revealed on Thursday that they had made a bid - reported to be in the region of £20million - for the Brazil forward following a summer of speculation.
Robinho's agent has outlined his client's desire to move to Stamford Bridge, but Calderon is adamant the 24-year-old will be going nowhere.
"Definitely he (Robinho) is going to stay with us. The coach (Bernd Schuster) has said he wants him in our team," Calderon told Radio Five Live.
"We don't see any possibility of him leaving Real Madrid.
"We know Chelsea have been interested in signing him. He's one of the best players we have got in our team - we need him for the next season."
Interesting interview on radio tonight with Ramon Calderon where he says Robinho is not leaving Real Madrid - which of course he would say whether he meant it or not. I believe Robinho won't be allowed to join us because it is not like us to go public over transfers, unless we are deliberately trying to force Real Madrid's hand and destabilise Robinho i.e. use Real Madrid's tactics that they employed unsuccessfully over Ronaldo. That means we are trying to force Real Madrid's hand and they are resistant to it. Given their failure to land Ronaldo, I think they cannot afford to lose face and lose a major player, even if they have a ready made replacement in Van der Vaart. Ergo, no Robinho at Chelsea this year.
If Robinho isnt coming to Stamford Bridge then its against his wishes
Robinho's agent has revealed the Brazilian's anger and dismay at his treatment by Real Madrid and says that he cannot stay at the club if he wishes to become the world's best player.
Wagner Ribeiro pulled no punches as he told reporters that the Samba star has become completely disillusioned with life at the Bernabeu after the club's treatment of him this summer.
Now Chelsea have made a formal offer for Robinho the split between the player and Madrid has become even wider and the problems have now been exposed by Ribeiro.
"Chelsea have made a formal proposal to Real Madrid for Robinho. I do not know the amount, but the offer has been made," he is quoted as saying in Marca.
"Robinho is very angry with the way that the directors of Real Madrid have behaved towards him.
"He calls me every day to see if anyone has told me anything about his future and I have to tell him that I have received no calls.
"I have spent three days trying to speak with some of the directors at Madrid, but they have all disappeared.
"Robinho does not understand anything. He wants to be the best player in the world, but at Real Madrid he cannot achieve that because they treat him like a normal player.
"He has liked nothing about the way that Real Madrid have gone about their transfer activity this summer."
Madrid were reported to be ready to include Robinho in a swap deal with Manchester United for Cristiano Ronaldo and it is the Spanish club's pursuit of the Portuguese star that caused the problems, according to Ribeiro.
"Real Madrid wanted to sign Cristiano Ronaldo and have not been able to. The second option was Van der Vaart. The third one was Villa and then in fourth place is Robinho," he continued.
"Things cannot be like that because he wants to be the best and he does not have the support at Real Madrid. He is also certain that Real Madrid is trying to sign David Villa."
In recent months, Robinho stated that he only wanted to stay with Real Madrid, but that was before being made to feel like he was down the list of the club's priorities.
"Robinho's plan has been to play for Real Madrid for many years and then go back to Santos. Where is he going to find a better club than Real Madrid?" Ribeiro said.
"But now he does not have the support he needs, and he knows that Scolari is willing to give him that because he knows him and speaks to him often."
Re: Robinho "Saga"
What saga? There's less chance of him coming to Chelsea than there was of Ronaldo going to Real (which was always zero).
Some of you are getting brainwashed by trashy gossip columns.
#144
It is a saga. An OFFICIAL bid has been made to Real Madrid. Now they are playing hardball with us over a disgruntled player. Lets see who emerges as the ultimate victor. But bare in mind that the season starts next week. We have to settle it ASAP as time is not on our side. Perhaps we can turn to David Silva at last?