Chelsea FC

[Holminho]

Well backup for Ashley Cole was needed, Zhirkov provides that as well as being a winger

Zhirkov has said that he aint interested in a bit-part role and would like to start everygame. Ive got no doubt in my mind that Kalou will be out the door. I think his contract is about to finish anyway so he's leaving on a free. So it's between Zhirkov and Maloud to start on the left unless Zhirkov can play somewhere else that we don't know about like...the right wing?

[Aus-Rotten]

Originally Posted by King-Osgood-1690

I'm happy with our shrewd spending, paying over the odd's has failed time and time again, we already have a world class squad and all we need are a few young players to consolidate, and by young i'm talking about the likes of Sturridge and Turnbull, not Pato!

If we nab one more youngster, preferably a midfielder, and Yuri Zhirkov, we'll be away laughing.

We have the players, we need the right manager, and in time we will see if that half of the equation shows up

I actually don't mind if we don't get any big names. It's good to be out of the spotlight for once at least. I just mentioned that because the grade of hypocrisy of people is amazing.

I wouldn't pay over 30 mil. for Pato. But you have to remember Sturridge won't be cheap... He left City because he wanted more income.

I'll be happy with Zhirkov if he ever comes. I think moving for Higuain now that Madrid have Benzema wouldn't be a bad deal as long as we don't have to pay loads for him.

[King-Osgood-1690]

We have to remember that Franco Di Santo might be out the door, Blackburn are reportedly interested and he may be uneasy about his chances of playing time under the new manager.

Originally Posted by RerereChelsea

Well backup for Ashley Cole was needed, Zhirkov provides that as well as being a winger

Zhirkov has said that he aint interested in a bit-part role and would like to start everygame. Ive got no doubt in my mind that Kalou will be out the door. I think his contract is about to finish anyway so he's leaving on a free. So it's between Zhirkov and Maloud to start on the left unless Zhirkov can play somewhere else that we don't know about like...the right wing?

Kalou just doesn't cut it for me, sometimes he can have brilliant games but they seem to be few and far between.

[Katarinaccio]

Mysterious training ground injury for Malouda. Zhirkov to start very game.

=]

[WallerWalla]

Originally Posted by Katarinaccio

Mysterious training ground injury for Malouda. Zhirkov to start very game.

=]

Mysterious involving you and a sniper by any chance

[Cheeky Hobbit]

I heard they found a 18 year old Czech goal keeper. I think his name started with and 'S', maybe he can replace good old Cech later on, or atleast have Cech as his mentor or something.

[WallerWalla]

I think hes rhys taylors cover...
Cech
Turnbull
Hilario
Taylor
Chezh guy who name cannot rember.

[King-Osgood-1690]

Originally Posted by WallerWalla

I think hes rhys taylors cover...
Cech
Turnbull
Hilario
Taylor
Chezh guy who name cannot rember.

Rhys will unfortunately most likely be out the door soon, never has really cut the mustard according to a mate of mine who follows the reserves quite extensively.

Sebek has a lot of promise, but Turnbull is most certainly ahead of him in the pecking order and hopefully he is put before Hilario as we need to have him involved to help him flourish.

With all of the talk about bringing down the average age of the squad, i was disappointed with the contract extension for Hilario.

[King-Osgood-1690]

Chelsea Football Club can confirm it has completely rejected an offer from Manchester City for John Terry.

It was made clear to City, for the second time following an approach last season, that we would not entertain any conversation on the subject.

At that time John also reiterated his total commitment to Chelsea.

We would like to make clear, and will not do so again, that John is not for sale

[Katarinaccio]

City sure has a lot of nerve. Trying to buy one of the players who embodies the spirit of the club. In any case with the goal keeper issue seemingly solved and Yuri very likely to come on board, I think thats it really for our transfer season, maybe Kalou and Deco to leave. Don't want to see Franco go, Stoch should maybe go on loan somewhere to get some playing time because it seems like he's not going to get any, at any point in the near future.

Originally Posted by WallerWalla

Mysterious involving you and a sniper by any chance

No one will ever know.....

[WallerWalla]

CSKA Moscow warn Chelsea's £18m Yuri Zhirkov deal could yet collapse | Mail Online

Comooonn chelsea just get the deal done

[CFC_tremberz]

We just signed Daniel Sturridge if anyone didn't know...

[chris louie II]

I look forward to seeing how well he does!

[King-Osgood-1690]

Sour grapes from Scolari


Luis Scolari gave an interview to O Globo newspaper, in which he lashed out at his treatment at Chelsea from senior stars. It made for interesting reading. More particularly, it made for a fascinating revision of what happened at Stamford Bridge during the 2008-2009 season.

"The real owners of football at the moment are the players. The coach, in most European clubs, has no strength to contradict them. The people sacked are always the coaches. The main players already know this. That was my problem at Chelsea. Drogba, Ballack and Čech did not accept my training methods or my demands" is how Scolari explained away what happened whilst he was the coach at Chelsea.

We know that, under Scolari, a number of players rebelled against the coach. There was an argument between Čech and Scolari about Čech`s use of his own goalkeeping coach, Christophe Lollichon, who was brought from Rennes. Didier Drogba clearly fell out with the coach, which could be an explanation as to the Ivorian`s half-arsed performances until February.

Other players also expressed their displeasure. Apparently John Terry and Frank Lampard went to see Scolari, as the senior players, to complain about the training methods, which had left them unfit. By the accounts we read, these elite athletes were deeply unimpressed by the activities that Scolari lined up for them.

And frankly it is a bit rich for Scolari to whinge about player power. 'If only the players had listened to me` he declares, before berating the fact that the club owner chose to side with the players rather than the coach.

Here`s another view. Scolari arrived at Chelsea with the reputation of having won the World Cup with Brazil. But, as the cliché goes, anyone can win the World Cup with Brazil. The first few weeks at Chelsea were fantastic, there was some really attacking football on display.

Unfortunately, Scolari had developed just the one gameplan, which was easy to unpick. To be precise Rafa Benítez managed to do it, one day in October. In the process, Scolari conceded an unbeaten home record that stretched back to 2003. It wasn`t rocket science either: cut off supply lines from the flanks and get into Mikel`s face, a tactic then used by Arsenal and Roma and any number of other clubs during a string of poor results. Most depressingly, Scolari didn`t have a Plan B (let alone Plan C or D)up his sleeve for when the opposition had picked apart Plan A

Scolari`s methods, the ones that he complained about when the senior players failed to follow them, were simply not delivering. By Christmas, the Chelsea squad was suffering an alarming drop in physical form. Scolari had inherited a squad that was still under the training regime of José Mourinho, and we had faith that, sooner or later Chelsea would win as they were simply the fittest side on the pitch. They could run further and longer than the opposition, and were capable of scoring a winning goal in the 85th minute only because by then the opposition was flagging, whereas Chelsea weren`t.

This is the most damning indictment of Scolari`s reign: he run down the fittest squad in England, if not in Europe. When Chelsea beat Valencia at the Mestalla, 3 years ago, the result was a foregone conclusion: we might have been one down, but you could see Valencia ebbing away whereas Chelsea just went on going. Valencia declared as much after the game that whilst they were tired, they felt that Chelsea were going to run for another hour or so and just that demoralised them enough that Michael Essien could power in on the right flank, past some expiring defenders, and slot home the winner. But under Scolari, the roles were reversed: Chelsea became the unfit side whereas our opponents were still going. No wonder Chelsea were conceding goals - and games - in the final quarter of the game: they were tired and simply couldn`t keep going.

And that`s before we start analysing how Scolari had destroyed a magnificent defense, starting with Petr Čech. Chelsea used to be able to go 1-0 up in the first 15 minutes, and then hold onto that lead for the last 75 simply because nobody was ever going to get through. Not so under Scolari. This was not only an indictment of the player`s fitness, it was Scolari`s incompetent training. There was a constant mix-up between zonal and man marking, and Chelsea kept conceding silly goals from set pieces. No wonder Scolari had a run-in with Čech about goalkeeping coaching: for years Čech had been the best keeper in the world. Now he was a calamity who inspired no confidence.

Statistically Scolari has been Chelsea`s worst Abramovich era coach. It was for this reason that he was sacked: at the time, the club was sliding down the table and there was a real risk that the club could fail to qualify for the Champions League. Chelsea were then 4th, behind a top 3 that included an unfamiliar face: Aston Villa. Chelsea were also facing a difficult tie against Juventus in the Champions League. Sticking with Scolari meant taking a very uncertain gamble of complete failure, and there was little indication that things would pick up.

Whilst it was shocking at the time, everything that has happened since Scolari was sacked demonstrated that offloading the Brazilian was the right thing to do. Guus Hiddink came in but managed to put together a winning run that salvaged the season in the league. We can make an excellent case for the notion that, had Hiddink been the Chelsea coach since the beginning of the season, we would have won the League. As it was, by February the damage had already been done. Chelsea nevertheless finished 3rd. Whereas Scolari failed to win any 'big 4` tie (and managed to draw only one match, losing all the others), Hiddink beat Arsenal AT HIGHBURY in the League, beat Arsenal in the F.A. Cup, and won fairly convincingly against Liverpool in the Champions League double-header. Whereas under Scolari Chelsea failed to win one London derby and was the worst London team in the Premiership, Hiddink turned this around to make Chelsea the 'Pride of London` by the end of the season. Whereas Scolari was far from outstanding in the Champions League, Hiddink was deprived of a place in the final only by a 'fish-stinking` Norwegian referee. And, lest we forget, Hiddink won the F.A. Cup.

And he did this with exactly the same squad as Scolari. He just used that squad infinitely better, starting by restoring the players` fitness, using Didier Drogba in an intelligent fashion, managing his striking partnership with Anelka. Whereas Scolari was tactically one-dimensional, Hiddink was a grand master. One just has to see the way he out-Rafa`d Benítez in the Champions League quarter final at Anfield. Same squad, but different methods. Different training, different tactics, different man-management.

Scolari, on the other hand, has been recognised for his true value: the conditions of his ejection from Chelsea prohibited him taking a job in the Premier League. But was there a queue of Italian or Spanish clubs looking for him? Or those from his homeland, Brazil? No. German or French clubs? Portuguese? Dutch? Argentine? Er, not exactly. No, Phil Scolari, who won the World Cup with Brazil, had suffered such a calamitous drop in his stock as a result of his performance at Chelsea that he took a job at Bunyodkor. Have a look on Wikipedia, this is a club in Uzbekistan.

So Phil, don`t blame the senior players at Chelsea for your downfall. Funnily enough, there is an element of truth in what you say: "Drogba, Ballack and Čech did not accept my training methods or my demands". However, what you fail to point out is perhaps the most significant: those training methods and demands were rubbish. They stunk, and they were wrong. And the players were clearly aware of this. They were right not to accept your training methods. Don`t put this down to an illustration of 'player power`, it`s an illustration of how bad a coach you actually were because had these players meekly accepted your training methods and demands, it would have driven Chelsea into the ground. At least have the humility to accept that, rather than blaming players for your own limitations.

Phil, we hope you have a long and illustrious career at Bunyodkor. Because Uzbekistan is sufficiently far away that we can blissfully try to forget the disastrous 7 months you spent at Stamford Bridge.

Vital Chelsea - Sour grapes from Scolari

[Katarinaccio]

Originally Posted by King-Osgood-1690

Sour grapes from Scolari


Luis Scolari gave an interview to O Globo newspaper, in which he lashed out at his treatment at Chelsea from senior stars. It made for interesting reading. More particularly, it made for a fascinating revision of what happened at Stamford Bridge during the 2008-2009 season.

"The real owners of football at the moment are the players. The coach, in most European clubs, has no strength to contradict them. The people sacked are always the coaches. The main players already know this. That was my problem at Chelsea. Drogba, Ballack and Čech did not accept my training methods or my demands" is how Scolari explained away what happened whilst he was the coach at Chelsea.

We know that, under Scolari, a number of players rebelled against the coach. There was an argument between Čech and Scolari about Čech`s use of his own goalkeeping coach, Christophe Lollichon, who was brought from Rennes. Didier Drogba clearly fell out with the coach, which could be an explanation as to the Ivorian`s half-arsed performances until February.

Other players also expressed their displeasure. Apparently John Terry and Frank Lampard went to see Scolari, as the senior players, to complain about the training methods, which had left them unfit. By the accounts we read, these elite athletes were deeply unimpressed by the activities that Scolari lined up for them.

And frankly it is a bit rich for Scolari to whinge about player power. 'If only the players had listened to me` he declares, before berating the fact that the club owner chose to side with the players rather than the coach.

Here`s another view. Scolari arrived at Chelsea with the reputation of having won the World Cup with Brazil. But, as the cliché goes, anyone can win the World Cup with Brazil. The first few weeks at Chelsea were fantastic, there was some really attacking football on display.

Unfortunately, Scolari had developed just the one gameplan, which was easy to unpick. To be precise Rafa Benítez managed to do it, one day in October. In the process, Scolari conceded an unbeaten home record that stretched back to 2003. It wasn`t rocket science either: cut off supply lines from the flanks and get into Mikel`s face, a tactic then used by Arsenal and Roma and any number of other clubs during a string of poor results. Most depressingly, Scolari didn`t have a Plan B (let alone Plan C or D)up his sleeve for when the opposition had picked apart Plan A

Scolari`s methods, the ones that he complained about when the senior players failed to follow them, were simply not delivering. By Christmas, the Chelsea squad was suffering an alarming drop in physical form. Scolari had inherited a squad that was still under the training regime of José Mourinho, and we had faith that, sooner or later Chelsea would win as they were simply the fittest side on the pitch. They could run further and longer than the opposition, and were capable of scoring a winning goal in the 85th minute only because by then the opposition was flagging, whereas Chelsea weren`t.

This is the most damning indictment of Scolari`s reign: he run down the fittest squad in England, if not in Europe. When Chelsea beat Valencia at the Mestalla, 3 years ago, the result was a foregone conclusion: we might have been one down, but you could see Valencia ebbing away whereas Chelsea just went on going. Valencia declared as much after the game that whilst they were tired, they felt that Chelsea were going to run for another hour or so and just that demoralised them enough that Michael Essien could power in on the right flank, past some expiring defenders, and slot home the winner. But under Scolari, the roles were reversed: Chelsea became the unfit side whereas our opponents were still going. No wonder Chelsea were conceding goals - and games - in the final quarter of the game: they were tired and simply couldn`t keep going.

And that`s before we start analysing how Scolari had destroyed a magnificent defense, starting with Petr Čech. Chelsea used to be able to go 1-0 up in the first 15 minutes, and then hold onto that lead for the last 75 simply because nobody was ever going to get through. Not so under Scolari. This was not only an indictment of the player`s fitness, it was Scolari`s incompetent training. There was a constant mix-up between zonal and man marking, and Chelsea kept conceding silly goals from set pieces. No wonder Scolari had a run-in with Čech about goalkeeping coaching: for years Čech had been the best keeper in the world. Now he was a calamity who inspired no confidence.

Statistically Scolari has been Chelsea`s worst Abramovich era coach. It was for this reason that he was sacked: at the time, the club was sliding down the table and there was a real risk that the club could fail to qualify for the Champions League. Chelsea were then 4th, behind a top 3 that included an unfamiliar face: Aston Villa. Chelsea were also facing a difficult tie against Juventus in the Champions League. Sticking with Scolari meant taking a very uncertain gamble of complete failure, and there was little indication that things would pick up.

Whilst it was shocking at the time, everything that has happened since Scolari was sacked demonstrated that offloading the Brazilian was the right thing to do. Guus Hiddink came in but managed to put together a winning run that salvaged the season in the league. We can make an excellent case for the notion that, had Hiddink been the Chelsea coach since the beginning of the season, we would have won the League. As it was, by February the damage had already been done. Chelsea nevertheless finished 3rd. Whereas Scolari failed to win any 'big 4` tie (and managed to draw only one match, losing all the others), Hiddink beat Arsenal AT HIGHBURY in the League, beat Arsenal in the F.A. Cup, and won fairly convincingly against Liverpool in the Champions League double-header. Whereas under Scolari Chelsea failed to win one London derby and was the worst London team in the Premiership, Hiddink turned this around to make Chelsea the 'Pride of London` by the end of the season. Whereas Scolari was far from outstanding in the Champions League, Hiddink was deprived of a place in the final only by a 'fish-stinking` Norwegian referee. And, lest we forget, Hiddink won the F.A. Cup.

And he did this with exactly the same squad as Scolari. He just used that squad infinitely better, starting by restoring the players` fitness, using Didier Drogba in an intelligent fashion, managing his striking partnership with Anelka. Whereas Scolari was tactically one-dimensional, Hiddink was a grand master. One just has to see the way he out-Rafa`d Benítez in the Champions League quarter final at Anfield. Same squad, but different methods. Different training, different tactics, different man-management.

Scolari, on the other hand, has been recognised for his true value: the conditions of his ejection from Chelsea prohibited him taking a job in the Premier League. But was there a queue of Italian or Spanish clubs looking for him? Or those from his homeland, Brazil? No. German or French clubs? Portuguese? Dutch? Argentine? Er, not exactly. No, Phil Scolari, who won the World Cup with Brazil, had suffered such a calamitous drop in his stock as a result of his performance at Chelsea that he took a job at Bunyodkor. Have a look on Wikipedia, this is a club in Uzbekistan.

So Phil, don`t blame the senior players at Chelsea for your downfall. Funnily enough, there is an element of truth in what you say: "Drogba, Ballack and Čech did not accept my training methods or my demands". However, what you fail to point out is perhaps the most significant: those training methods and demands were rubbish. They stunk, and they were wrong. And the players were clearly aware of this. They were right not to accept your training methods. Don`t put this down to an illustration of 'player power`, it`s an illustration of how bad a coach you actually were because had these players meekly accepted your training methods and demands, it would have driven Chelsea into the ground. At least have the humility to accept that, rather than blaming players for your own limitations.

Phil, we hope you have a long and illustrious career at Bunyodkor. Because Uzbekistan is sufficiently far away that we can blissfully try to forget the disastrous 7 months you spent at Stamford Bridge.

Vital Chelsea - Sour grapes from Scolari

Owned. Lets hope Ancelotti's reading this.

[Mode560]

So how much is Sturridge getting paid a week?

[WallerWalla]

Im looking forward to sturridge

[King-Osgood-1690]

Originally Posted by Mode560

So how much is Sturridge getting paid a week?

Too much no doubt, the only reason he left Citeh was the fact that they wouldn't meet his overzealous wage demands.

[WallerWalla]

I forget...January its africa cup of nations isnt it?? hopefully then we will see him shine.

[King-Osgood-1690]

Originally Posted by WallerWalla

I forget...January its africa cup of nations isnt it?? hopefully then we will see him shine.

Daniel Sturridge is English.....

[Gorayfle]

He means Drogba and Kalou will be leaving so Sturridge will get to play

[WallerWalla]

Originally Posted by King-Osgood-1690

Daniel Sturridge is English.....

Yes i mean so we will see alot more of him... Because as much as i would like to see him start he will be on the bench for most of it, and when drogba is in africa in january.... you see where im going with this?

[WallerWalla]

Originally Posted by Gorayfle

He means Drogba and Kalou will be leaving so Sturridge will get to play

Indeeeed

[King-Osgood-1690]

Originally Posted by WallerWalla

Yes i mean so we will see alot more of him... Because as much as i would like to see him start he will be on the bench for most of it, and when drogba is in africa in january.... you see where im going with this?

I see, sorry for that

I hate the cup of nations, it really has disrupted us in the past.

[WallerWalla]

So numbers for turnbull, sturridge, Zhirkov?

Turnbull 23?
Sturridge 14?
Yuri 7?

my guesses