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The 2007/08 Chelsea Thread

Philip Rolfe

By Philip Rolfe,
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Juve4EVA

Juve4EVA

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I thought you might want to know that goal.com is linking you with Cannavaro.

Jose Mourinho is reported to be monitoring Fabio Cannavaro’s situation with Real Madrid.

The World-Cup winning captain of Italy has repeatedly been linked with a move away from the Spanish capital, with the Madrid fans deriding his patchy form throughout the season.

Newly appointed head-coach, Claudio Ranieri, has already ruled out any potential deal that would see the defender return to his former club Juventus, thus leaving the door open for Chelsea to attempt to lure the Italian to London.

The story first appeared in The People, who claim new Madrid boss Bernd Schuster has already informed Cannavaro that he is free to search for a new club.

With the expensive arrivals of central-defenders Pepe and Christoph Metzelder it seems Schuster might be looking for a new direction with his defensive line, with no first-team spot assured for Cannavaro.

Although Jose Mourinho has already secured the services of Tal Ben Haim from Bolton and Alex from PSV Eindhoven as defensive cover, he will still see the signing of Cannavaro, a world-class central defender, as a major coup and possibly to tempting to turn down.

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jvovk22

jvovk22

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Posted
Mourinho upbeat over Shevchenko

Shevchenko scored four league goals in his first season at Chelsea

Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho has insisted that striker Andriy Shevchenko can be a key player for the Blues next season.

The 30-year-old Ukrainian scored four Premiership goals in his first season after his £30m switch from AC Milan.

But Mourinho told BBC Five Live: "If he performs and shows me match after match he deserves to play, I'm very happy.

"I hope Sheva can do it. If Sheva plays magnificently I have to play him and Didier Drogba together, that is no problem for me."

Shevchenko's lack of goals in his first season at Stamford Bridge fuelled speculation that he could leave the club during the summer.

Chelsea business affairs director Paul Smith on the deal with Disney

But Mourinho insisted that he had no favourites at the club and said every player had the chance to make the first team.

"We have a lot of good players and I'm not the kind of coach that gives places just because of faces or names," he said.

"With me, everybody has to fight for a place and I think they have a difficult task because the squad is really good."

"What we want is free competition between players and players, with their performances, to influence my decisions.

"So, I'm not stupid, I see if a player is performing at a high level."

Mourinho was speaking during Chelsea's pre-season tour of north America where the club's business affairs director Paul Smith revealed the club was building business ties with the Disney corporation.

Smith said the link would entail Chelsea sending coaches to the United States for seminars during the forthcoming season.

He added that he hoped the link-up would ultimately lead to Chelsea having a presence at Disneyworld in Orlando, Florida

"They get 10 million visitors a year, so Chelsea will be in the line of vision," he stated.

First a long talk with Roman, and now this comes out. So it's official - Sheva stays

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Philip Rolfe

Philip Rolfe

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Sidwell 9

Pizarro 14

Malouda 15

Sinclair 17 (not new signing but new number)

Ben Haim 22

Alex 27/28

Sinclair is an assumption based on the training numbers which have matched up for everyone so far, Pizarro because it's his Peru number and vacant, and Alex because nothing lower will be vacant.

Seen the highlights of the America game, decent stuff for a preseason opener, not sure why Sam Hutchinson was said to have had a poor game by Oz, he looked useful in the highlights, got an assist, a lot of blues reckon he was very good and he was playing at left back which is not his position. Can't speak for Cork, didn't feature much in the highlights, but his role is typically unremarkable but effective.

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Poyplemonkeys

Poyplemonkeys

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Posted
Originally posted by Anon!:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by shanyi:

Chelsea sign new goalkeeper!

Signed a 'keeper exclusively for the reserves? Probably just quadrupled his income though so fp. icon14.gif </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Read the article? He's coaching the youth academy and the reserve team.

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shanyi

shanyi

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According to the Chelsea website, Wayne Bridge is having surgery on his hip and will be out for around 2-3 months. Ashley Cole might also miss the start of the season and Tal Ben-Haim would replace him at left back. Michael Ballack is also out for a few weeks, didn't say if his injury would impact on the start of the season though.

Never heard of that Charlton vs Chelsea XI game before, though it's likely to have been a team composed of mostly youth teamers given as how anyone else is in the US. Maybe Macienne, Woods, Smith, Sahar would have featured as I haven't heard anything of them in the reports from our training camp. That's all guesswork though, I don't even know if Mancienne and Smith are back at the club.

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Anon!

Anon!

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Posted
Originally posted by poyplemonkeys:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Anon!:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by shanyi:

Chelsea sign new goalkeeper!

Signed a 'keeper exclusively for the reserves? Probably just quadrupled his income though so fp. icon14.gif </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Read the article? He's coaching the youth academy and the reserve team. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yes, but I'm just focusing on the playing bit. Still seems odd to me.

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Poyplemonkeys

Poyplemonkeys

Posted
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Originally posted by Anon!:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by poyplemonkeys:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Anon!:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by shanyi:

Chelsea sign new goalkeeper!

Signed a 'keeper exclusively for the reserves? Probably just quadrupled his income though so fp. icon14.gif </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Read the article? He's coaching the youth academy and the reserve team. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yes, but I'm just focusing on the playing bit. Still seems odd to me. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yeah that totally makes sense.

Reckon any English channels will be doing coverage of the LA Galaxy game what with Beckham and all?

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Chapman

Chapman

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Posted

Poyple - I think the game is exclusive to ChelseaTV in England, I know it's live in America but no idea what channel.

TCMH - I think you'll find thats because the other thread's have many more fans of those particular clubs on this board, I've browsed for a long time and posted every now and then but will make more of an effort in this thread this season.

Jose to buld around Essien.

I know a link from football365 is not the best of starts but its the only place I came across this obvious but fantastic news.

To answer your question in the short version, with Essien running things from midfield all year,and going back to 4-3-3 one can endevour to hope things will be rather good icon14.gif

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Chapman

Chapman

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Looking forward to watching Ballack this year, he was looking good toward the end of the season and I'm feeling pretty confident he can turn it around.

Looking forward to alot of potential things this season...

Ballack getting to the level everyone know's he can.

Same goes for Sheva, happy to give them both another season.

A fully fit Joe Cole (Hopefully).

A fully fit Robben for more than 10 games (Providing he stays).

Essien in midfield consistently.

Mikel becoming the best defensive midfielder in the world.

Someone/anyone nailing down the right back spot.

A small selection.

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shanyi

shanyi

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Posted

I've been searching t'internet for ways of watching Bluewings vs Chelsea, if anyone's up at 4am then try this site. I think you need to download a few things to get the streams working, which I'm in the process of doing and shall let you all know if they work or not. If anyone has any success getting this stuff to work prior to myself, please let me know as my computer skillz are not exactly top drawer.

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shanyi

shanyi

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If you download the SopCast thingy, it seems to work. Obviously the match doesn't start for another hour fifteen, so I don't know how well that particular channel holds up, but the one I tested it on seemed to load reasonably fast and have decent quality.

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shanyi

shanyi

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Daniel Alves would improve any club, he's incredible. His defensive skills are essentially close to nil, but on his day he can absolutely take control of his flank and rip anyone to shreds. He's easily worth £20m in my book.

As for Robben, he's undeniably a huge talent but I won't shed too many tears were he to depart. He's been moody and inconsistent for a lot of his time with us and, despite periods of magnificence, he's never really fulfilled his potential or looked like he really had his heart at Chelsea. I don't know diddly about Drenthe apart from the fact that he did well at the U-21 Champs, I don't really see the need to buy him- we'll already have Joe Cole, SWP and Malouda, plus potentially Alves.

The Alex thing is quite interesting, I was always a little surprised he wanted to come to begin with as we've already got three Premiership class defenders in his position and Mourinho's not a big fan. From what little I've seen, he's immensely powerful and formidable in the air but not very fast and consequently, might make for a rather sluggish central defence paired with Terry. What would happen with Ben Haim, I couldn't say.

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Zaitsev

Zaitsev

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Surely you chaps can't go into the season with only three centre-backs again though?

I doubt you'll miss Robben much - his fitness and attitude issues just too much. Drenthe would be a nice backup (and more cover for left-back) to Malouda icon14.gif

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shanyi

shanyi

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Half-decent game that, the first half was again quite scrappy but there was some terrific football in the second half. Although the screen I was watching the game on was quite small and the commentary was in Korean, I managed to pick up on a few of the players doing well and not so well.

First half, Lampard was anonymous apart from a few very decent long range passes, comprehensively overshadowed by the marauding Essien and the lively (but not particularly threatening) Sidwell. Terry looked a touch rusty at the back, but Glen Johnson did surprisingly well filling in alongside him and occasionally popping forward (and nearly making a goal for Essien). Hutchinson gave the ball away a few times, but generally didn't do too badly on the left. Kalou made little impression on the left, Joe Cole was full of running and gusto on the right but usually found himself heavily marked. Up front, Shevchenko did lots of good running and positioned himself well, but never really got anywhere.

Second half was a lot better on almost every count. Diarra was much livelier and determined than Ferreira (who moved to LB), conducting play on his flank as well as could be expected despite being caught out of position every now and then. I didn't notice Carvalho or Ben Haim didn't really do much at CB, though their attempts to play offside trap seemed to cause more trouble than it helped (Suwon were only denied a goal thanks to their striker's meagre finish after easily racing through and past the ever useless Hilario, where Diarra cleared a short way off the line). Makelele was very disappointing and quite sloppy, not up to the pace of what was a fairly quick game- his age begins to show, I'd be surprised if he makes many first XI appearances nexy season. Mikel mopped up very well though and was imperious as he was at the end of last season, while SWP, filling in the attacking MC role, was probably Man-of-the-Match, making some brilliant runs, taking great touches and playing a fabulous lob over the defence for Drogba's volleyed goal. On the wings, Malouda did quite without making a massive impact, Robben did a bit of ineffectual running but looked generally uninterested and didn't seem to get involved much. Drogba patrolled around up front, getting into good positions and occasionally drifting wide, his finishing needs some brushing up (he hit the inside of the post in a one-on-one, wasted a few other decent opps) but he took the one that counted. Sinclair came on for a while (the TV channel logo obscured the match timer, so I can't give precise minutes), looked lively and caused a few problems with his pace and skill. According to a halftime interview, he wants to stay and fight for a place in the first XI rather than go on loan this season, a decision which I think may backfire on him as he won't get many chances to start given the volume of players we have in the squad, but he certainly looks like he's ready to make an impact.

Quick assessment for those who can't be bothered to read:

LOOKING GOOD- Sweep, Mikel, Johnson, Essien, Joe Cole, Sidwell, Diarra, Drogba, Malouda, Super Scott.

STILL FINDING THEIR FEET- Shevchenko, Sidwell, Lampard, Terry, Hutch, Kalou, Carvalho, Ben Haim, Ferreira, Cech.

STILL THINKING ABOUT THE BEACH- Robben, Makelele, Hilario.

The Suwon goalkeeper was awesome though, he made some phenomenal saves to keep them in the game as we could have had at least five by the end. Koreans gave us a good game for the most part though, when we put passes together they looked a bit overwhelmed but they were adventurous and fought well.

Now let's go and give Beckham a good kicking...

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shanyi

shanyi

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Makelele just couldn't keep up in the match last night (or this morning, if you want to be pedantic), he looked rather overwhelmed at the quick pace and played some sloppy passes. He's been amazing for us, but we should sell him while we can still get even a little cash for us as, on last night's showing, he could be a bit of a liability.

Matt, I think that lineup is more the one that Mourinho is expected to play rather than the one he has actually said he'll play- I've been reading his interviews over pre-season, I don't recall him ever specifically mentioning his first choice XI or variations thereof, though he has made some hints such as his warning to Ballack. It'll be interesting to see where he plays SWP, as he played through the middle last night and was really great, by far the best I've ever seen him play in a Chelsea shirt. Lampard had another anonymous game and much as I like him, his place could be under serious threat if Sweep can get a good run of form going in a central position.

The fee for Robben is reportedly around £16m, which doesn't seem like much considering his age and potential, while Drenthe's price is said to be between £5-7m.

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JamieDay

JamieDay

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I think 16M is a good price, he's brilliant but just isn't committed imo, and injury prone.

The kind of player that will light up a world cup but not someone to be relied upon in the league.

His form in the first few months he joined seems a long time ago indeed.

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orion318

orion318

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Well i think JM needs to have a good talk with Robben.

If his mind his in Madrid already no point keeping him..he's unstable enough when he's focused. icon13.gif (still will be sad to see him go icon_frown.gif)

Would be cool if we got Drenthe. Sinclair could stay on and be the main backup for Malouda, and Drenthe get experience at both the left wing spots.

Although he is too small to be an important left back in the EPL.

What's up with the Alex deal btw?..if it isn't going to happen we need backup

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