Ashley Cole will play for Chelsea against Manchester United despite being disciplined for shooting a work experience boy with an air rifle.Cole has apologised for Sunday’s incident, described as an ‘accident’ by Chelsea after players messed around with the rifle at the club’s training ground at Cobham, and is also expected to be fined by the club.The accident left student Tom Cowan requiring treatment, but not seriously injured. And it seems Cole has escaped calls for him to be sacked.Manager Carlo Ancelotti said: “He will play tomorrow, yes. Obviously we are not happy with what happened but I have spoken with him. He was really disappointed about this, he said sorry – he made a mistake, it was an accident. Now we are taking proper action but tomorrow he will play and I think he is in focus to play a good game.”When it was suggested Cole should be sacked, Ancelotti was adamant the English Premier League club would stand by the player and denied discipline was a problem in his squad.”No, there is no way for this. He’s our player. He always took very good behaviour here. He made a mistake, he knows this. Now we have to move on,” he said.”When one player said sorry it’s difficult to do different. We have to take our decision.” “Cobham is not out of control. Cobham has discipline, the players have to respect this. If some players step over the line, we take a decision. This is normal life.””But I think from outside nobody can say it’s out of control. They are not here. We have internal discipline. We don’t want to speak about it. It’s not true that there is no discipline here.” “You can judge the players on the pitch, and on it they are showing respect for referees and for the fans. This is what we have to judge, not other things.” “He said sorry to everyone. He said sorry to the guy that was involved in this and second to his teammates and third sorry to the club.””He’s a good player, a fantastic player, maybe he did a mistake in this situation but he remains a very good player and in my opinion and very good professional.”Cole will line up against United in a match that could have a huge impact on the Premier League title race, even if Chelsea – at 15 points in arrears – are now almost certainly too far behind the leaders to win the championship themselves.Ancelotti said: “It’s a very important game for them, for us – a very important game for the future of Man United and of Chelsea. We are excited to play this game. We are in a very good moment, we have confidence to win.””It will not be easy because Man United until now is the best team in the Premier League but we hope to play our game and to win.” “For us it’s important to win to improve our confidence. It will be a good step.”Ancelotti refused to say whether Didier Drogba and Fernando Torres would both line up against United but said both players would have ‘some minutes’ on the pitch and gave his backing to Torres, who is yet to score since a 50 million-pound move from Liverpool in January.”For a striker, it is obviously very important to score,” he said.”But over the last games he played really well. He had four opportunities to score with just the keeper and he moved really well for the team. I was really happy about his performance. He would prefer to score but he will score.”
So far this summer there has mainly been news of who is coming out of Chelsea as Joe Cole, Michael Ballack and Juliano Belletti going out the door, with Deco, Paulo Ferreira and Ricardo Carvalho possibly following them. But who should Chelsea bring in and where do they need to improve?
Fans should be impressed with manager Carlo Ancelotti, who won a Premier League and FA Cup double in his debut season in English football. Chelsea was deemed by their critics as being too old, not hungry enough and a team who had regressed since the departure of Jose Mourinho.
Now that Roman Abramovich appears to have found a manager he likes the former AC Milan boss has earned the right to be backed in the market, but who should he be looking at to bolster the ranks at Stamford Bridge?
It may sound ridiculous as the team scored 141 goals in all competitions last term but the Blues could really do with a playmaker to boost their creative flair, with David Silva being mooted as the most likely player to fill the role. The Spaniard would prove to be a wise signing as he can play on the left, right, or as the traditional number 10.
However, if you believe what you read in the papers this morning then Silva is Manchester City bound despite his media quotes:
“There is no doubt in my mind that Chelsea would be a great club to play for – and a club where I could fulfil my ambition of league titles and the European Cup.
“The Premier League is still the place to be, no other league in the world has six or seven Champions League quality teams.”
Should Silva end up at Eastlands there is another playmaker catching the eye who judging by articles and comments on BBC 606 the Chelsea fans would love to have at Stamford Bridge, Mesut Özil. The 21-year-old German international has been in great form during this summer’s World Cup and has been the creative force in making a usually efficient Germany side into one that plays with flair and panache. The £20m rated Werder Bremen ace is currently in the last year of his contract and it is likely his club would prefer to cash in on him after the World Cup.
Chelsea may also seek to replace their outgoing veteran Ballack and versatile midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger could be perfect for the role. The 25-year-old started off as a winger (so could fill in on the right, which isn’t as strong as Chelsea’s left flank) but he has since reinvented himself as a central midfielder who can attack or sit deep for both club and country.
Many believe it is the Champions League that Abramovich wants above all else, so the Blues have been linked with the likes of Silva, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Fernando Torres and Kaka to take them onto the next step and win the prize they have come so close to on so many occasions.
Out of the four of them the addition of Torres would do the most to boost the club’s chances against Europe’s elite. However, the player comes with a huge price tag and Liverpool are confident of holding onto the former Atletico Madrid man.
In light of this, if the club are to reward Ancelotti for his efforts and let him make an extravagant transfer then he should be allowed to go for Kaka, a man he knows well (providing it doesn’t mean losing either Frank Lampard or Ashley Cole). The Brazilian has had sorry time at Real Madrid with injuries and lack of form, but under his former boss he could have a revival as you don’t suddenly turn into a bad player overnight, surely?
Who would the Chelsea fans like to see making their way to Stamford Bridge this summer?
Follow me on Twitter: ajwilliams1987
Get the latest Chelsea news on Twitter
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
Click image below to see a gallery of the Italian babes at the World Cup:
Debate on the form, and in several cases, ability, of Fernando Torres rumbles on for a 29th consecutive week following a goal-shy, yet assist-laden, performance by the Spanish striker in Chelsea’s 2-0 triumph over Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions’ League last Tuesday. Albeit the £50million signing from Liverpool has failed to replicate his most impressive form of days gone by – 31 goals in 41 appearances for the Reds in his first season in English football – ‘el Nino’ has at least been demonstrating fleeting expressions of remuneration towards the club that invested so heavily in his talent.
That is, arguably, on the pitch. Away from Stamford Bridge, and away from the sunshine-deficient island he lives and works on, Torres is alleged to have made inflammatory assessments of his current team-mates/co-care-home residents in an interview that later appeared on La Liga’s official website and the forward’s own. Chelsea’s ‘internal investigation’ concluded that Torres’ thoughts on the club’s older playing staff “retaining lots of possession” were not as incendiary as initially suggested, perhaps because the ‘pensioners’ do boast an experienced squad who maintain greater possession than the opponents they encounter most weeks. But possibly the most alarming aspect of the brief affair, other than the club’s hierarchy reeling at the completely justified spoken and written judgement of their team’s tactical strategy, was that a reaction was provoked purely because such judgement was articulated by a player.
Marina Hyde (Guardian) underlined this point by reminding us that at present, “players are a corporate cog first, a player second, and a human being perhaps eighth or ninth.” Footballers who regularly verbalize their frustrations and elations have come under intensifying scrutiny of late, as Premier League clubs attempt to curb disruptive behavior within their ranks and preserve as healthy relationship with the public as possible. Darren Bent was fined around £80,000 for tweeting his irritation at having a proposed move from Tottenham stalled a couple of years back, Joey Barton was advertised as a free transfer earlier this summer as Newcastle attempted to cut their loses on a player they deemed too volatile in the public domain/social media circus and therefore harmful to the image of Mike Ashley’s relentlessly ‘pleasant’ Toon administration, and Liverpool youngster, Nathan Ecclestone, has this week encouraged his employers to initiate an investigation in to comments he made regarding 9/11. While Twitter continues to provide an outlet for professional sportspeople and celebrities to broadcast their honest opinions by evading ‘sinister’ and ‘devious’ journalists – as Cesc Fabregas has done so emphatically this week – the trend has provided more consequences for the characters involved than it has freedom of expression; going some way to explaining the theory of footballers as mere ‘corporate cogs.’
And while he remains a world away from the shiny, mid-week, evening floodlights and deafeningly epic anthem of the Champions’ League, no player has represented the ‘corporate cog’ contingent quite like David Beckham. Although the former England captain has successfully maintained control of his private life throughout an impressive career, he, currently, demonstrates the embodiment of a modern professional athlete, much in the same way Jay-Z personifies the essence of a modern professional musician. Both pursued their passions with fervent enthusiasm and managed to exhibit their talents on the greatest stages of their respective fields, and both have notably engaged in projects that transcend the parameters of sport and music, ventures that are charitable as well as lucrative and have laid the blueprint for their pretenders to follow.
Recent speculation has surfaced linking the LA Galaxy midfielder with a move to either Queens Park Rangers or Paris Saint-Germain when the current MLS season, along with Beckham’s contract, expires. Perhaps a few short months ago this story would have raised far fewer eyebrows bearing in mind that both clubs in question represented institutions of a stature that would match Beckham’s deteriorating influence on the field. Today, however, QPR and PSG enjoy significant financial support from Malaysia and Qatar respectively, and both sides wasted little time in supplementing their newly-acquired wealth with a host of squad additions. So what does a 36 year-old who has featured in the fledgling American league for the past four years have to offer an up-and-coming team playing in an elite European league with aspirations of Champions’ League fulfillment?
[ad_pod id=’vip-2′ align=’centre’]
Leonardo, a Brazilian World Cup winner and current sporting director at the Parisian outfit provides the answer: “He is more than a football player – he’s a brand, a pop star. I would always consider him.” Eschewing even a modicum of discretion, Leonardo candidly emphasizes the allure of David Beckham being more about financial incentive and brand cognizance than the ‘cog’s’ ability with a football. Sentiments echoed in W12 by Tony Fernandes, the new owner of QPR: “Beckham’s advisers want to talk because our vision is a long-term one, with commercial things David can do with me in Asia.” It wouldn’t be the first time that Beckham, the brand, has been exploited through football for extra-curricular endeavors. On 1st June 2008, the FA cynically appointed Beckham as stand-in England captain for one friendly encounter with Trinidad and Tobago, for the express purpose of courting the favour of then FIFA vice-president, Jack Warner, who held an important vote in the bid to host the 2018 World Cup. Although the bidding process, along with Warner, have since generated controversy on a far more encompassing scale, the move to appoint Beckham as captain was largely conspicuous seeing as he relinquished his duties as skipper two years previously and had barely featured on the international scene for Fabio Capello or predecessor, Steve McLaren, since the 2006 World Cup.
There’s no doubting Beckham’s pedigree, past or present, seeing as the six-time Premier League winner has featured in 622 professional club matches, scoring 114, assisting an absurd amount more and has gained ardor from Manchester to Madrid and Los Angeles to Milan. Much like at any time in his revered career, he must not be completely written-off, although potential suitors should remain cautious about his capacity to play at a top level again. The danger, however, isn’t whether a gamble on a veteran midfielder will yield a sudden rise up the table or progression to a tournament’s next round, but that we are witnessing the open acceptance of professional athletes as marketing tools, the USPs of developing clubs attempting to forge an identity amongst the big-spending and traditional milestones on the European footballing landscape.
The recent and sudden suppression of players’ public broadcasts by their employers isn’t, as they would have us believe, an effort to shield the fragile fans from internal disillusion nor try to maintain dressing-room decorum or ‘set the right example to kids,’ but because their statuses now represent values far removed from the pitch. As much as the current state of play signifies a natural and predictable juncture in football’s development as an overall entity since the influx of television money in the 1990s, the potential cost to players’ freedom remains unknown, yet appears worryingly unstable at present. No matter where Beckham lends his services to next, his arrival will be met with warranted fanfare. I hope for his sake that his intentions remain consistent, in so far as playing regular competitive football will significantly increase his chances of appearing for Great Britain at next summer’s London Olympics. But it seems more than likely that his next club will reap benefits that far outweigh his personal accomplishments.
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
This week on FootballFanCast.com we are celebrating the cult hero! Every club has one and football wouldn’t be the same without them. Cult heroes may not have the skill levels of some of the greatest players in the game, but they have managed to endear themselves to their fans either through their hard work on the pitch, feats that will be remembered forever or simply a silly hair cut!
There are central ingredients that go into making a cult hero, whether they are appearance or eccentricity, and every cult hero has a defining feature that the fans can replicate or at least a song that everyone in the ground knows. So join us as we take a look at football cult heroes from yesteryear and the modern day and pay homage to one area of football that will surely never die out.
[divider]
Blogs:
Top 10 Premier League Cult Heroes
Whatever happened to… Laurent Robert?
The Premier League’s ‘Cult Heroes’ XI
Whatever happened to Benito Carbone?
The Essential Ingredients of a ‘Cult Hero’ in football
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
Whatever happened to Paolo Di Canio?
‘Cult Heroes of English Football’ – the man behind the football results
Wenger’s pressing matter this summer is not to obtain players in the final third, instead the Frenchman’s main objective should be to strengthen and bolster up his back-line for next season’s campaign.
A number of Arsenal fans will want to see their manager concentrate more on acquiring defenders rather than attacking players this summer. The Arsenal boss is possibly facing the prospect of losing up to four players in this department when the window re-opens in July.
The club already obtain a number of options in their midfield and attack, yet Wenger seems to be deluded in what is transpiring in his team’s back-line. The North London club look set to lose William Gallas, Philippe Senderos, Mikael Silvestre and perhaps even Sol Campbell in the transfer market this summer, unquestionably this should be Wenger’s main focus in many fans eyes.
Wenger will not meet Gallas’ extravagant wage demands, whilst Senderos looks set to depart after falling out of favour with the boss in recent years. Silvestre looks to be on his last legs and faces the possibility of being released, and Campbell has not yet signed the deal that has been put on the table by Wenger. If all these players leave the Emirates this summer, then Arsenal will be left one recognizable defender, Thomas Vermaelen.
Wenger has been searching for a defender, and the club are heavily linked with Lorient’s Laurent Koscielny. However, is the 24-year-old French centre-back the right man to shore up the Arsenal defence? Or should Wenger look to acquire a more dominant and established defender during the summer window?
Granted, Arsenal needed to buy a striker (due to a number of injuries sustained this season) and Wenger did this by signing Marouane Chamakh from Bordeaux a few weeks ago. Wenger has also been strongly linked with Chelsea’s want-away midfielder Joe Cole. It would be a great attainment if the club can pull it off and the player (Joe Cole) will certainly be welcomed with open arms by a majority (if not all) the Arsenal fans.
However, looking through the team’s statistic this season, Arsenal have had no problem finding the net. In fact, the core problem has been keeping goals out this year. The Gunners managed to score 83 times, both home and away this season, yet they conceded 41 goals in 38 games. It may not look that bad to some of the fans, however, take into consideration that Wenger’s defence conceded more than Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool, Aston Villa and were even level with fierce rivals Tottenham…a cause for concern?
The manner of which the defence performed in certain matches cried out to many fans that their club need to bulk up this area this summer, whether Wenger does this is up to him. With out a doubt, it’s great to see Wenger obtain creative attacking players, as he is renowned for specialising in this and loves to see the game played in a beautiful manner, but there comes a time that the manager must focus solely on his defence and appears the time has now come Mr Wenger.
Follow me on Twitter – http://twitter.com/TMer4kl1
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
Arsenal have confirmed that they have finally completed the signing of Santi Cazorla from Malaga for an undisclosed fee.
The Spain international has been a target for the north London club for the last couple of weeks, with the Emirates Stadium side making the most of Malaga’s financial difficulties.
Despite a delay completing the deal, Arsene Wenger has expressed his delight that Cazorla has joined his squad.
“Santi Cazorla is a great signing for us,” the French coach told the Gunners’ official website.
“He is a player with good experience at both club and international level, who will add significant quality to our squad.
“He is a versatile, attacking midfield player who can play comfortably on either side of the pitch or centrally.
“He has good pace, is technically gifted and will be a huge asset to Arsenal Football Club. We are delighted that he is joining us,” Wenger concluded.
Cazorla meanwhile has also admitted his delight at the deal being completed and is looking forward to getting started with his new club.
“I’m so happy to be joining Arsenal. This is a club with great players, a fantastic stadium and huge support.
“The club has one of the best managers in football and their style of play is recognised and admired all over the world.
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
“I’m so excited to be joining one of the greatest teams in Europe and also in the Premier League. I will do my best to help Arsenal challenge for trophies and make all the supporters happy,” he stated.
Liverpool’s start to the new season has not been all smooth running, but there is an air of optimism around Anfield that has been swelling up ever since ‘King’ Kenny Dalglish returned again, to the delight of the Liverpool faithful, in January. Dalglish’s three-year deal, signed in May, underlines the support placed in him by Fenway Sports Group owner John W. Henry, who is himself approaching one year in control of the club.
In that time, there have been significant changes to Liverpool’s playing staff, as well. Andy Carroll, Luis Suarez, Jordan Henderson, Charlie Adam, Stewart Downing, Sebastien Coates and Craig Bellamy (on loan) have come in; gone are a raft of Roy Hodgson signings, including Paul Konchesky and Christian Poulsen, as well as the relics of older regimes – Emiliano Insua, Sotirios Kyrgiakos, Philipp Degen. Add to that the defection of both Fernando Torres and Raul Meireles to Chelsea, and you have a veritable whirlwind of income and expenditure. I pity Liverpool’s accountants this past summer.
These are all positive moves as far as Dalglish’s aim of more expansive, attacking football is concerned, and many of the new recruits have made strong starts to their Anfield careers. Henry, too, is surely popular right now as he provides funds for one big signing after another. Henry can be assured that he’ll never walk alone, though, for an unsavoury reason – he is followed everywhere by the spectres of owners past.
Amid all the positivity buzzing around Liverpool right now (especially those who write off the thrashing by Spurs as an aberration), and with one of the biggest fixtures of the year looming this weekend with the trip across Stanley Park to Everton, Liverpool are still pursued in the courts by the disgraced and ousted George Gillett and Tom Hicks, the ‘Little and Large’ pairing who couldn’t even sustain a personal relationship while they were co-owning the club.
I’m sure Liverpool fans remember the consequences: little money to spend, constant uncertainty over the club’s future, the two men trying to buy each other out, and finally, Hicks attempting to remove directors Christian Purslow and Ian Ayre when they voted in favour of the NESV (now FSG) takeover.
Back in the courts again this week, Hicks and Gillett have succeeded in securing the right to prosecute Liverpool Football Club for an amount Hicks estimates to be up to £1 billion for the “epic swindle” that drove them out of Anfield (not that they were ever there much). Somehow he believes that they were still the rightful owners of the club, even after Henry’s finances rescued Liverpool from £250 million of debt and his takeover bid was approved by the board, hence Hicks’ last-ditch attempt to remove two of the three directors and leave himself and Gillett with a majority.
The case was thrown out of American courts in February, but the pair have now secured the rights to prosecute here in the English courts. The case is expected to begin soon, but is highly unlikely to reach a conclusion any time soon.
[divider]
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
Former Holland international Ronald de Boer believes the soaring heat in Qatar during the 2022 World Cup will not affect players, only fans.
Qatar’s intense summer has been the subject of debate since the tiny Gulf nation was awarded the right to host football’s biggest tournament in December.
Concerns have been raised about player safety given temperatures can reach up to 50 degrees Celsius during the day, prompting FIFA boss Sepp Blatter and UEFA chief Michel Platini to consider shifting the tournament to January.
But Qatar World Cup bid ambassador De Boer – who finished his career in the country with Al-Shamal – believes players will not be affected by the heat due to air-conditioning technology installed in yet-to-be-built stadiums in Qatar, though he worries about the safety of supporters outside the arenas.
“Playing is not an issue because we have the technology already that will cool down the stadium inside, so for me the players there won’t be a problem,” De Boer said.
“The only worry for me is for the people. Football is for the fans, so I see a little issue there maybe, but football wise for the players they will have great conditions. I don’t see any problems with that.”
“If it was up to me I would say move it a month backwards because May is perfect, so you would have it from the beginning of May to the beginning of June.”
“That’s my opinion but who am I to say? Qatar has always bid to host it in the summer so we’re not deciding that it should be in the winter or some time else.”
De Boer also revealed he is to replace Dennis Bergkamp in leading Ajax’s youth team, fuelling speculation that the former Arsenal star is to become an assistant to Ronald’s twin brother, Frank.
Frank de Boer was appointed caretaker manager of Ajax following Martin Jol’s resignation in December.
“I will move back to Amsterdam in the summer, as I’m going to start coaching the youth team,” the younger De Boer said.
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
“I’m also doing my coaching badge and trying to get that and see how I like it.”
“My kids are getting older now; they are turning 18 and 15 so they want to be in Amsterdam so it’s time for me to go back.”
“But I want to make sure the link with Qatar is very strong. I’m going to be involved in the World Cup and let’s see how it goes.”
Roberto Di Matteo was handed a two-year deal to take over Chelsea in the summer on a permanent basis after a hugely successful six-month interim spell in charge last term, but is talk of a title challenge premature? You only have to look at their rotten pre-season form to realise that this is a side caught in transition.
Owner Roman Abramovich has invested heavily in the squad this summer, spending £65m on the likes of Eden Hazard, Oscar and Marko Marin, while Marseille right-back Cesar Azpilicueta looks to be getting closer to completing a move. All four of these players have one thing in common – they are all under 25 years of age and the long-term nature of these deals is worth drawing attention to.
You can never truly gauge a team’s form solely from pre-season – Tottenham for years dominated all before them year after year only to then go on and struggle in the league, but you can begin to make a judgement on the shape of the team and where the club’s new players are going to settle in. It looks as if Di Matteo is staking a hell of a lot on Fernando Torres being a success this coming campaign and there are simply too many things up in the air to treat them as serious title contenders.
Andre Villas-Boas was accused of trying to do too much, too soon, which may be true to an extent, even if his sacking for that very same reason can be considered extremely harsh. Nonetheless, the very same job that he was brought in to do still needs picking up and finishing off as they simply reverted back to the tried and tested old guard during their Champions League and FA Cup triumphs.
The club looks to have a settled number one goalkeeper in Petr Cech, while Gary Cahill’s form towards the back end of last season was magnificent and in Ashley Cole they have one of the best left-backs in the world. Branislav Ivanovic is a sturdy and versatile squad player and John Terry, despite being hugely flawed, still has some use to him, while David Luiz has vastly improved. It’s only really at right-back where the troubles come in and they’ll definitely make a signing there this window.
However, you can’t ignore the fact that the club kept just 10 clean sheets last season, compared to Manchester United’s 20 and Manchester City’s 17, with even Arsenal (13) and Tottenham (14) achieving more. They failed to score in eight separate fixtures, again more than all of their rivals and some systemic problems still need addressing, even if some are willing to get carried away by the glitz of new signings and promise of more, with FC Porto forward Hulk still on the horizon.
They conceded 46 goals last campaign, more than Everton, Liverpool, Tottenham and both Manchester clubs – just because they’ve signed a few eye-catching creative talents, this problem doesn’t suddenly just go away and there’s no magic wand to this issue and the club could do with some more strength in depth at the back, even if on paper, the first-choice side looks decent.
There’s also an onus on changing the side’s style of play and they’ll need to integrate the likes of Hazard and Oscar slowly into a new league. The pace and physical demands of the Premier League will far exceed what both of them are used to and while they may be wonderful, world-class players in the making, right now, the pair are little more than potential and should be treated as such, rather than the world-beaters capable of helping to bridge a huge 25 point gap on both Manchester-based clubs.
Di Matteo will not be able, particularly given the money spent, to rely on such a defensive outlook that helped them to their success at the end of last season. He’s essentially just warming the seat until Pep Guardiola wants the job at the moment, which explains the relatively short contract he was offered which only increases the pressure on instant results. It’s a huge job to take on, especially for someone with as little managerial experience as Di Matteo, but patience is the key and expectations must be dampened.
In midfield, Ramires was a huge success last year and Oriol Romeu showed some promising signs too, but doubts still remain over the likes of John Obi Mikel, Michael Essien and Raul Meireles, while Yossi Benayoun and Florent Malouda look they’re going to be heading towards the exit door. The sheer volume of incomings and outgoings are just not conducive to a title challenge, that is not to say that the signings that the club have made this summer will not go some way to improving their chances of mounting one in the future, but for the time being, pragmatism must reign supreme.
The role that Frank Lampard will have over the coming campaign also provides food for thought, and at 34 years of age now, he must begin to accept that he’s no longer first-choice, otherwise we may see another display of his much-vaunted ‘professionalism’ as we were treated to last year, when he repeatedly complained to his media chums about Villas-Boas benching him.
They do have a tantalising front four on paper, with Torres and Mata dovetailing beautifully at times last year, supplemented by the likes of Hazard, Oscar, Sturridge and Marin, but they will need time to gel together and the club’s bumpy pre-season form, during which they’ve won just one of their five games so far, has seen Hazard shifted about in numerous different roles, which points to Di Matteo struggling to find where he’s best placed.
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
A switch to a more fluid system to suit the players at his disposal coupled with the need to let new players settle and a fresh emphasis on stylish, aesthetically pleasing attacking play all points to an inconsistent season ahead for Chelsea. When it clicks, it will be quite something to marvel at, but Di Matteo has inherited the job that Villas-Boas failed to see through and trying to change too much, too soon could see results become erratic.
At this stage, that in itself is no bad thing, as long as expectations align with the realisation that this is a period of transition. Last season’s success should be seen as the end of an era, the dawning of a new one is just beginning, a potentially exciting one at that, but as the club’s pre-season form has shown so far, Di Matteo has been left with just as many questions as he has answers going into the new league campaign and talk of a title tilt is unrealistic at this stage in the club’s rebuilding process.
Aston Villa’s strikers proved the difference at Villa Park on Saturday, with goals from Gabriel Agbonlahor, Emile Heskey and Darren Bent sealing a 3-1 win for Villa against a disappointing Blackburn Rovers.
Agbonlahor opened the scoring with a beautiful curling effort that deservedly nestled into the top corner. The lively attacker then played a part in Villa’s second, setting up the normally goal-shy Emile Heskey who beat Paul Robinson will a low strike.
But instead of Villa looking to finish off the game, it was Blackburn who started to make their mark on the match. They got a goal back early in the second period when Morten Gamst Pedersen found the net with a header to give Blackburn a chance. But Darren Bent ended Blackburn’s hopes with a typical poacher’s goal to seal the points in a convincing win for Villa.
The result leaves the two managers in very different positions. Alex McLeish made a good first impression during his first home game in charge. But the under-pressure Steve Kean watched his side fall to their second league defeat of the season, with Blackburn now bottom of the Premier League.
Click here to see all the stats from Villa Park
[divider]
Watch the goals from today’s game by checking out ESPN’s New GOALS APP
[divider]
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
[divider]
Check the winning the numbers from this week’s Goaldash here