Are Chelsea washed up under Scolari?

Chardee MacDennis

Xavi6 wrote: »

Better than City's? We may be crap in general but our youth system is the best in the country imo. Our performances in the FA Youth Cup over the past few years and the amount of graduates who have played first team football would back up the point.

2000 Arsenal 5-1 Coventry City
2001 Arsenal 6-3 Blackburn Rovers
2002 Aston Villa 4-2 Everton
2003 Manchester United 3-1 Middlesbrough
2004 Middlesbrough 4-0 Aston Villa
2005 Ipswich Town 3-2 Southampton after extra time
2006 Liverpool 3-2 Manchester City
2007 Liverpool 2-2 Manchester United after extra time; 4-3 on penalties
2008 Manchester City 4-2 Chelsea

i am not really seeing any one clubs dominance. in the past 10 years the youth setups across the top PL clubs have improved immensely - not really knowing about other teams setups but Liverpool have a brilliant one at the moment with about 5/6 players expected to make the step up to the first team in the next 3/4 years. Arsenal and City have been bringing through some quality in the last few years and from what i hear that looks to continue but to say any one side has the best youth setup is boll*x. talking to my cousin over the weekend, who is a chelsea fan, he was complaining that there isnt much potential to come through and the ones that are good dont seem to be able to break through but thats his opinion not mine....

Boggles

Xavi6 wrote: »

Pfft, they robbed it off Roma.

They have been severly plundering Roma for a while now. :pac:

Xavi6

BastardPrince wrote: »

2000 Arsenal 5-1 Coventry City
2001 Arsenal 6-3 Blackburn Rovers
2002 Aston Villa 4-2 Everton
2003 Manchester United 3-1 Middlesbrough
2004 Middlesbrough 4-0 Aston Villa
2005 Ipswich Town 3-2 Southampton after extra time
2006 Liverpool 3-2 Manchester City
2007 Liverpool 2-2 Manchester United after extra time; 4-3 on penalties
2008 Manchester City 4-2 Chelsea

i am not really seeing any one clubs dominance. in the past 10 years the youth setups across the top PL clubs have improved immensely - not really knowing about other teams setups but Liverpool have a brilliant one at the moment with about 5/6 players expected to make the step up to the first team in the next 3/4 years. Arsenal and City have been bringing through some quality in the last few years and from what i hear that looks to continue but to say any one side has the best youth setup is boll*x. talking to my cousin over the weekend, who is a chelsea fan, he was complaining that there isnt much potential to come through and the ones that are good dont seem to be able to break through but thats his opinion not mine....

2 finals in 3 years would is a pretty good record.

Combine that with academy graduates in the first team squad (Richards, Wright-Phillips, Hart, Ireland, Johnson, Onouha, Sturridge, Evans, Schmeichel, Logan and Etuhu) and I don't think there's a better overall youth system out there right now.

But of course, that's just my opinion.

Chardee MacDennis

Xavi6 wrote: »

2 finals in 3 years would is a pretty good record.

by that logic its Liverpool ftw with 2 wins in the last 3 years

Xavi6

BastardPrince wrote: »

by that logic its Liverpool ftw with 2 wins in the last 3 years

Ah yes but I covered myself by listing graduates currently in the first team sqaud.

City pwn Liverpool in that category at the moment, but they are the best two around right now I think.

Chardee MacDennis

Xavi6 wrote: »

Ah yes but I covered myself by listing graduates currently in the first team sqaud.

City pwn Liverpool in that category at the moment, but they are the best two around right now I think.

true but only coz we have better players in the first place:pac::pac: we'll see how many youth players make the city first team next year, my bet is it goes down significantly each season for the next 4/5 years...

Xavi6

BastardPrince wrote: »

true but only coz we have better players in the first place:pac::pac: we'll see how many youth players make the city first team next year, my bet is it goes down significantly each season for the next 4/5 years...

Could well do alright, though I would hope not as there are some seriously talented players from last year's FA Youth Cup team could could probably make the step up even at this early stage.

iregk

Just posted this in the match thread but would probably be best served here actually.

Ok now that I've had time to think about it more I think I can sum the Chelsea displays of recent times up.

Were United brilliant yesterday? No. They were good but by no means brilliant.
Were Chelsea woeful yesterday? Yes. But this does not completely diminish Uniteds efforts. Chelsea have a lot of weaknesses right now and United exploited them.

So what exactly is wrong with Chelsea. Well in my opinion this team needs major surgery both on and off the field. I'd leave it as it stands this season but during the summer this needs to happen. I think we have all realised that Scolari is not a premiership winning manager. He is a great internation manager and yes was a great club manager in Brazil but as far as European club football goes he just doesn't think correctly.

I'd point to set pieces to backup a certain amount of my comment above. A lot of goals in the premiership are scored from dead ball situations. Under Mourinho the dead ball situation was something Chelsea excelled at, never conceeded from them and always scored from them. Under Scolari every set piece almost results in a goal or at least a near miss and they just don't score them anymore either. The problem here is how he sets them up. If you look at his Brazil and Portugal sides they were horrendous at defending set pieces so its no surprise that his current Chelsea side are also.

In my mind this comes down in large part to Steve Clarke. While there he was the defensive coach and controlled everything in that area. Mourinho realised this and as such gave him a lot of respect and space there. Clarke knew his time was up with Scolari so moved on and this season its easy to note how Terry has constantly been caught out of position and it can't be difficult to spot Petr Cechs growing anger as his defenders for the amount of chances now getting through.

Defending is only one aspect. In attack the decision to play with Drogba was a baffling one as he looked like a Sunday league striker and his head and heart clearly are no longer interested in Chelsea. Deco and Ballack are finished as top level footballers and its harsh to see Lampard is gaining nothing but frustration in the past two months at having to do everything in the middle.

So what needs to happen. Well in my opinion Ballack, Drogba, Deco, Malouda and Beletti all need to go in the summer. We can forget any silver wear this season its gone. Also and I know it may not be popular but Scolari needs to go. I'm not basing this on just yesterdays result but on the season thus far. Early season form papered over a lot of cracks and now in the heat of the business end of things they are coming through. I don't but into the Deco knock at half time hence the sub I'd almost wage money on a dressing room argument between players and Scolari hence no Deco for the second half. Again thats pure speculation but recent noise would suggest its not far wide of the mark. Its harsh to say this but yesterday was not a "Chelsea weren't at thier best" result. I think since October this is Chelsea's best, this is where the club is now and I think it could be Uefa cup time again!

Chardee MacDennis

iregk wrote: »

Were United brilliant yesterday? No. They were good but by no means brilliant.
Were Chelsea woeful yesterday? Yes. But this does not completely diminish Uniteds efforts. Chelsea have a lot of weaknesses right now and United exploited them.

perfectly fair assessment imho...

Bubs101

People are really overlooking that we brought Scolari in on a long term contract on good money so if we sack him it's going to cost us at a time when we can't buy anyone and had to sell our best back up in defence

me-skywalker

from the back -
Cech - Lost his edge, droppin balls, not as commandin,
Carvalho - reliable without being too imposing
Terry - Too slow needs to shed the pounds
Cole - doesnt have a football brain, relies on his speed to get
Boswinga - still to find his feet looks good but needs cover

mikel- useless
ballack/deco - gettin on, have won trophies with otr clubs, lack desire
lampard/essien - nothing wrong there
cole - form
malouda/kalou - not a top 4 player

drogba - wants away
anelka - seriously?

chelsea have lost the psych they had under mourinho, the spirit of the battle. even on sunday wen terry got booked for a foul on park he jsut accepted it, that was it no moaning or shouting...

scolari needs time to develop HIS team not inherit one and use it full of useless aul men.

redout

Scolari is a top manager end of. People who think otherwise are bloody fools. Anybody would have won the world cup with that Brazil team ? Haha. LoL. Look at the team that played the final, some superstars ie: Ronaldo, Rivaldo that was it. Ronaldinho was no superstar in 2002 Roberto Carlos never was just over hyped. The rest were pretty avereage to good. Nothing else. I suppose if you compare you could argue the 2006 Brazil squad at the world cup was equally as good if not a little better.

Mr Alan

me-skywalker wrote: »

anelka - seriously?

remind me how many goals he has scored this season again?

PHB

They will demolish crap teams on form.

Good teams however will double up on their wing backs, making them have no width. Without width, a good defense is very very difficult to break down. They desperately need some width to win the top games constantly. However, in European style, they are quite solid and strong. If they can get their defending in order, which was shocking yesterday, won't be surprised to see them there in the league and even in the CL also.

LuckyLloyd

iregk wrote: »

I think we have all realised that Scolari is not a premiership winning manager.

nope

jesus_thats_gre

At the start of the season, I posted here that how well Chelsea do this season will completely depend on whether Scholari is able to organise the defence as effectively as Jose and even Grant done so.

Going by yesterdays match, it is looking increasingly like that he isn't able to do so.. To compound things, he also doesn't seem to be able to instill the same confidence or attitude that Jose was able to.

Then you have to look at the squad:

#	Name		Age

[B]1  	Cech[/B]	
2  	Ivanovic	
[B]3  	A Cole	29[/B]
5  	Essien	
[B]6  	Carvalho	30
8  	Lampard		30[/B]
[S]9  	Di Santo[/S]	
[B]10  	J Cole		28
11  	Drogba		30
12  	Mikel		[/B]
[B]13  	Ballack		32[/B]
15  	Malouda
[B]17  	Bosingwa	26[/B]	
19  	Ferreira	31
[B]20  	Deco		32[/B]
21  	Kalou	
23  	Cudicini	
[B]26  	Terry		28[/B]
[S]27  	Mineiro	[/S]
33  	Alex	
35  	Belletti	31
39  	Anelka		28
40  	Hilario	
[S]42  	Mancienne
43  	Stoch	
44  	Woods	
47  	Sawyer[/S]

I have included the ages of all players nearing 30 and also highlighted the players that started yesterdays match in bold (included their age also).

A season or two ago, the general opinion was that Chelsea had an absolutely awesome squad. For every world class player they had, they seemed to have another one sitting on the bench for the same position.

You used to have Bridge covering A.Cole.
Ferreira and Belletti can cover Bowsingwa but both are 31 now.
Alex is cover for the cente backs but he is rumoured to be looking for a way out.

Malouda is the only player that you would describe as being an out and out winger but lets face it, he has been quite the disappointment. I really rate J.Cole but isn't a winger and is unlikely to get a chance in the middle.

Then there is the midfield trio of Lampard, Ballack and Deco. All are quality players but are all 30 or higher. Essien and Mikel offer undoubted quality however.

Drogba is one of the best strikers of his type but is rumoured to be looking elsewhere. Even if he does stay, he is over 30 now also. Anelka is the only other PL grade striker that they have.


It just seems that Chelsea's squad is nowhere near as strong as it was. Finally, previously they would have just gone out and spent 100 million to address any weaknesses in the squad. The money just doesn't seem to be there anymore.

They still have enough there to compete for a another 2 seasons or so but I would worry for them once some of those first team players start hitting 32 or so.

Bounty Hunter

Itl be interesting for me to see how long Chelsea will give Scolari, will they become the English Real Madrid? where you either get instant success or get fired. "The Golem" aka Avram Grant would have been out on his ear after losing to 3 of their rivals at this stage two of whom were at what had been a fortress for Chelsea at home, However they never saw Grant as a long term appointment imo even when they gave him the long term contract. Scolari needs to adapt this Chelsea squad and bring in his own young, fresh faces while moving on a few faces no longer needed at the club, this will more than likely be done during the Summer when clubs are willing to buy/sell their better players more readily but will Scolari get till then if things dont change?

jesus_thats_gre

I still maintain that if Jose was still there and they didn't undermine him like they did, Chelsea would have won the league the past two seasons and would win it again this season. You can quote me on that even if Liverpool win the league this season. Chelsea are responsible for their own downfall, not anyone else.

spockety

Xavi6 wrote: »

Ah yes but I covered myself by listing graduates currently in the first team sqaud.

City pwn Liverpool in that category at the moment, but they are the best two around right now I think.

City might 'pwn' Liverpool with regards bringing youth players into the senior squad, but er, Liverpool are top of the league, and City are 4 points off the bottom of the table, so I'm not sure it's really worth highlighting.......

_blank_

spockety wrote: »

Liverpool are top of the league

You just keep on repeating that mantra.

It's January, not May.

spockety

Des wrote: »

You just keep on repeating that mantra.

It's January, not May.

Ok fine.

"Liverpool will finish ahead of Manchester City in the league come May, and have finished ahead of them every year since god knows when, so I'm not sure that's worth highlighting?"

Are you happy now?

Mr Alan

spockety wrote: »

City might 'pwn' Liverpool with regards bringing youth players into the senior squad, but er, Liverpool are top of the league, and City are 4 points off the bottom of the table, so I'm not sure it's really worth highlighting.......

good point well made Spockety

Boggles

jesus_thats_gre wrote: »

I still maintain that if Jose was still there and they didn't undermine him like they did, Chelsea would have won the league the past two seasons and would win it again this season

Was he not there in 2006/2007 when United won it. Your blaming what exactly for that?

Boggles

spockety wrote: »

Ok fine.

"Liverpool will finish ahead of Manchester City in the league come May, and have finished ahead of them every year since god knows when, so I'm not sure that's worth highlighting?"

Are you happy now?

Just One reason why nearly every non Scouse supporter will vomit if by some miracle ye win the league.

_blank_

Boggles wrote: »

Was he not there in 2006/2007 when United won it. Your blaming what exactly for that?

Good point well made Boggles

Mr Alan

Boggles wrote: »

Was he not there in 2006/2007 when United won it. Your blaming what exactly for that?

think his point was that at this time Jose was being quite seriously undermined by his owner and kenyon.

Boggles

Mr Alan wrote: »

think his point was that at this time Jose was being quite seriously undermined by his owner and kenyon.

Bollix! Grasp another one FFS!!! :rolleyes:

Mr Alan

jesus_thats_gre wrote: »

I still maintain that if Jose was still there and they didn't undermine him like they did, Chelsea would have won the league the past two seasons and would win it again this season.

heres his post again-his point is right, Utd won the title after the beginning of the end for Jose, when he was being ****ed over basically.

SlickRic

How can anyone in rightly say they are 'washed up'? Utterly ludicrous.

It's the most competitive all-round premiership for years, they are 2nd, and its only January...not May.

Yesterday was poor, they just looked like they didn't want to be there.

As much as it is the responsibility of the manager to motivate, I'd equally look at the 'would-be' leaders for Chelsea...Terry, Lampard, Ballack, Carvalho, even Drogba....they were ALL relatively disinterested. If they can't get stuck in in a game like that, then there's something wrong.

Terry was like a mouse as opposed to the snarling, 'love-to-hate' leader we're all accustomed to. Lampard didn't have a sniff. When does that happen for him for Chelsea in the Premiership? Drogba was embarrassingly poor. Carvalho even made errors he wouldn't normally make in his sleep.

Having said all this, as a pool fan I'd love them to drop off but the reality is they won't be far off by the end. They've too many quality players not to be close

Scolari needs to look at himself, because for whatever reason, his team are operatiing at 50%, if that, at the moment. But to put ALL the blame on him would be harsh. The players are their own men and know how to put effort in for the cause at the very least

spockety

Boggles wrote: »

Just One reason why nearly every non Scouse supporter will vomit if by some miracle ye win the league.

I don't think if Liverpool win the league every 'non scouse' supporter will give a rats ass that Liverpool have finished ahead of City for years and will finish ahead of them this year. But if that's what you wanna think about, then, eh, ok.

eddiehead

Mr Alan wrote: »

heres his post again-his point is right, Utd won the title after the beginning of the end for Jose, when he was being ****ed over basically.

Not to mention the disastrous injury crisis Chelsea faced that season, half the bloody team was out for months

Xavi6

spockety wrote: »

City might 'pwn' Liverpool with regards bringing youth players into the senior squad, but er, Liverpool are top of the league, and City are 4 points off the bottom of the table, so I'm not sure it's really worth highlighting.......

It kinda is worth highlighting when the comment was made that Chelsea have the best youth academy in the country. I simply countered that, as well as the comments that Liverpool do.

Nobody said anything about first teams in that part of the conversation so your "yeah but we're top of the league" comment is the irrelevant in that context.

spockety

Xavi6 wrote: »

It kinda is worth highlighting when the comment was made that Chelsea have the best youth academy in the country. I simply countered that, as well as the comments that Liverpool do.

Nobody said anything about first teams in that part of the conversation so your "yeah but we're top of the league" comment is the irrelevant in that context.

Sorry, it looked to me like you were asserting the quality of youth setups based in part on progression to the senior team.. may have picked you up wrong.

jesus_thats_gre

Boggles wrote: »

Was he not there in 2006/2007 when United won it. Your blaming what exactly for that?

He was being undermined for half of that season too.

I know that you can't help but instinctively assume that I am trying to play down United's achievement that season but knocking United really is the last thing on my mind.

The squad that Chelsea had assembled, the system that they employed and the mentality that Jose instilled in those players was, and would have remained, unstoppable for quite a few more seasons to come.

Chelsea have been responsible for their own downfall. To be honest, that makes it all the more satifying when I see them loose.

jesus_thats_gre

Xavi6 wrote: »

It kinda is worth highlighting when the comment was made that Chelsea have the best youth academy in the country. I simply countered that, as well as the comments that Liverpool do.

Nobody said anything about first teams in that part of the conversation so your "yeah but we're top of the league" comment is the irrelevant in that context.

About two seasons ago, I actually argued in favour of what Kenyon was saying about how they would be sell sufficient within 2 or 3 years. I done so based on the number of youth players that they were signing from the likes of Leeds and so on.

I would have expected to see something of these players by now but am yet to see anything at all. I know that that doesn't really hold any major significance but I really would have thought that we would see something by now..

Xavi6

Looks like Jose is amongst us!

Muff_Daddy

redout wrote: »

Scolari is a top manager end of. People who think otherwise are bloody fools. Anybody would have won the world cup with that Brazil team ? Haha. LoL. Look at the team that played the final, some superstars ie: Ronaldo, Rivaldo that was it. Ronaldinho was no superstar in 2002 Roberto Carlos never was just over hyped. The rest were pretty avereage to good. Nothing else. I suppose if you compare you could argue the 2006 Brazil squad at the world cup was equally as good if not a little better.

You may be right, but it wasn't so much that Scolari's team were so good in 2002, but that the rest of the teams were so poor. It was a World Cup played at a very low standard. The two best teams at that World Cup were Brazil, and Brazil's second string. I'm not saying Scolari is a bad manager, but I have seen nothing to convince me that he is a top level European manager.

Chelsea aren't washed up.....yet, there is still enough talent in that squad for them to go on a major title winning charge, but unless they spend money on good young players, they will struggle to compete at the top.

eagle eye

Of course along with losing the 'special one' they also got rid of their best player over the last four years imo, a certain Claude Makelele and for me thats the reason the defence looks a lot weaker. How many times did he break up attacks before the defence had to deal with anything.

I'm a huge fan of Claude, I thought he was crucial to the success of the Galacticos and Chelsea. For me the most important player in both teams.

His arrival at PSG this season has coincided with a revival in the clubs fortunes, they finished 16th last season, and after a defeat the weekend they currently lie in 6th place only 6 points off leaders Lyon.

MisterAnarchy

The guys on the Sunday Supplement were saying that Terry and Lampard are unhappy with the quality and amount of training that Scolari is doing with the team.
As an international manager Scolari wouldnt have needed to do much fitness coaching .

Chelsea were abysmal yesterday .
The so called 'Samba' football they were playing at the start of the season is gone.
The truth is that they never played 'Samba' football .It was all hype.
In some matches against poor opposition they played more attractive football but in the big matches they reverted to type.
Even under Mourinho their style of football was based on high intensity and excellent defending and in alot of cases soaking up pressure and grinding out wins rather than playing attractive football.
They were a one dimensional team but extremely effective.

Selling their wingers ,Robben most importantly, was the biggest mistake they made.
They are lacking width in midfield and also pace.
They seriously need a good ball carrier .

In front of the back 4 they look suspect,Mikel is no more than a 'water carrier'.
Carvalho is getting older and had a few injuries .

I wouldnt write them off yet as Scolari is primarily a defensive coach.
He is a former defender himself and despite what people think his success as a manager wasnt built on attractive attacking football.
He was often criticised by the Brazilian media for playing the ugly side of the beautiful game.

Chelsea look in a slump but like so many times in they past whenever they lost an important match they always seem to have an easy match afterwards,Stoke home.

I wouldnt write them off just yet.

Call Me Jimmy

Smegball wrote: »

Agreed, I rate Essien as one of the most complete midfielders tbh, top top player.

agreed.

iregk

MisterAnarchy wrote: »

Selling their wingers ,Robben most importantly, was the biggest mistake they made.
They are lacking width in midfield and also pace.
They seriously need a good ball carrier .

They sold Robben because of hamstring injuries caused by his running style and back alignment. They would never be 100% and as a result Robben would either be injured regularly or loose a bit of pace by altering his running style. In my opinion selling him was good business.

Duff, well I think the evidence of how he has lit up the world since leaving Chelsea points to a good bit of business on Chelsea's part.

SWP - wasn't up to it at the business end of the CL hence the sale but I'll grant you that one. That leaves Cole, who is still at the club.

MisterAnarchy

iregk wrote: »

They sold Robben because of hamstring injuries caused by his running style and back alignment. They would never be 100% and as a result Robben would either be injured regularly or loose a bit of pace by altering his running style. In my opinion selling him was good business.

Duff, well I think the evidence of how he has lit up the world since leaving Chelsea points to a good bit of business on Chelsea's part.

SWP - wasn't up to it at the business end of the CL hence the sale but I'll grant you that one. That leaves Cole, who is still at the club.

Fair enough but they never replaced Robben or Duff properly.
They bought Malouda but he is rubbish.
They badly need a good dribbler who can run at a team at pace .There is only so far you will get with passing.

jesus_thats_gre

iregk wrote: »

They sold Robben because of hamstring injuries caused by his running style and back alignment. They would never be 100% and as a result Robben would either be injured regularly or loose a bit of pace by altering his running style. In my opinion selling him was good business.

Duff, well I think the evidence of how he has lit up the world since leaving Chelsea points to a good bit of business on Chelsea's part.

SWP - wasn't up to it at the business end of the CL hence the sale but I'll grant you that one. That leaves Cole, who is still at the club.

All I am taking from this post is that they wasted 60 odd million pounds.

iregk

Well Duff, bought for 16m sold for 5m. Loss of 11m.

SWP bought for 21m sold for 9m. Loss of 12m.

Robben bought for 12m sold for 24m.

So all in all jtg thats a waste of 12m not 60m.

I would agree with anarchy in that they never replaced them. They bought Malouda who despite showing early promise has been a huge disappointment. Kalou is just not a winger so that really leaves cole. I'd even have kept bridge and play him on the left rather than Malouda.

me-skywalker

eddiehead wrote: »

Not to mention the disastrous injury crisis Chelsea faced that season, half the bloody team was out for months

hah.. and united also had a host of injuries concurrently and also seperatly!!

while mourinho changed his whole system and tactics out of his own accord and to his own detriment this in no-case was not a 'declining' chelsea team. i fully belive they are a declining team NOW!!

Bubs101

The age thing I don't really see as a problem. Bar Deco most of the players should be hitting the general peak period around now and for at least 5 years once Deco and Ballack have gone we'll have Essien and Mikel which is a quality partnership in the making. As for a lack of wingers, people keep saying that Cole isn't really a winger but he continues (or did before this season) to impress in that position and offer something completely different. Malouda is useless and Kalou appears to be going that way to but he had a great season on the wing last year so I think it was a fair call to assume he'd step it up. Personally, I think Beletti should be given a shot there.

We have the bnest wingbacks in the country and probably the second best centra back partnership as well as the top keeper. On paper everything should work out but it isn't and the blame must fall at the feet of the manager. He took the steel out of the team instantly and the home record falling was awful and a sign of things to come. we could still win the league by crushing the bad teams but realistically we're staring at a maximum of 4 points (Anfield will be impossible) from 18 against the top 4. That loses leagues and if we can't beat the good team at home we can kiss the Champion's League goodbye. He should be given time but only because this season is effectively a write-off

eagle eye

I'm surprised nobody sees the loss of Claude Makelele as significant.

MisterAnarchy

eagle eye wrote: »

I'm surprised nobody sees the loss of Claude Makelele as significant.

It is a factor but Makelele is a shadow of the player he used to be.
He is almost 36 years of age and has alot of miles on the clock.
He was on the wane over the last few seasons.
In the past Chelsea were very difficult to score against ,their defence was ruthless.
They are still scoring as many if not more goals but they are conceding alot more.
Mikel is a very limited player and not a patch on Makelele in his prime.

mormank

ShooterSF wrote: »

But even if he isnt sacked will he be handed the war chest he needs to rebuild /re-shape the team into "his" Chelsea. If not who can he sell to fill that chest?

he could sell lamps and ballack for starters..then sell drogba. should get about 30 mill for those 3 alone. then he can sell ricardo for some silly amount of money. already received 12 mill for bridge. ferreira he should get a few mill for, after all he was bought for about 20 mill(lol)...sell malouda and kalou...havent offered much in the past couple of seasons. sell anybody who wants to leave in my opinion..and start afresh like at barca this year, total clear out, well not total but u know what i mean.

as for chelsea, course they are not finished.

as for big phil...i dont know. honestly dont. i look at his world cup win and i see a team that had big ronnie little ronnie and rivaldo up front and think i couldve won the world cup with them up front and with my mates from home playin every othe rposition. also the portugal team he had had some real quality in it too, ronnie, simao deco, carvalho, pepe and boswinga and he failed to win anything, which while isnt a huge disaster is hardly a great achievement imo...just reckon his coming being viewed as some sort of messiah like it was proved to be a little short sighted..he is a little out of practise with the day to day running of a club after all, but this statement makes me kinda contradict everything ive just said and think he should be given time...strange one

mormank

jesus_thats_gre wrote: »

I still maintain that if Jose was still there and they didn't undermine him like they did, Chelsea would have won the league the past two seasons and would win it again this season. You can quote me on that even if Liverpool win the league this season. Chelsea are responsible for their own downfall, not anyone else.

jose WAS there when utd won the league in 2006/07 so your statement is null and void...

or i could say, i bet u a million bucks that chelsea would in fact not have won the league this season and the previous two seasons had jose been there..

respond to whichever you prefer