Chelsea Thread

On English TV we only get to see what Ronaldo is doing (except when he cocks up, then the commentators change the subject) but from the glimpses of other players I've seen, Bosingwa looks great going forward, awful at the back.

Actually, that's Portugal in general.
 
I'll have to see it again because I'm not sure, but Andy Townsend seems to be slagging off Carvalho for man-marking Mertesacker, allowing Klose a free header. Who was meant to be marking Klose?
 
T Butcher fan said:
I'll have to see it again because I'm not sure, but Andy Townsend seems to be slagging off Carvalho for man-marking Mertesacker, allowing Klose a free header. Who was meant to be marking Klose?
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Ronaldo I think. But they're never going to blame him, are they?
 
Well, bad day at the office for the Chelsea Portugeezers. While I'm impressed with Bosingwa going forward (some of his crossing was shite though), he was very lacksadaisical in defence. Not very promising.

Ferreira had a stinker too - letting Schweinsteiger go for the first, bad starting position and too easily muscled out by Ballack for the third.

And obviously Carvalho too, because ITV can't blame Ronaldo (who looked like a sea otter straight out of the water last night).

Granted we'll have JT and AC instead of Pepe and Ferreira, but Steve Clarke must stay on as Big Phil's coach. Obviously no one he has on his current staff knows how to defend set-pieces.
 
Portsmouth waiting in wings for £10m-rated Wright-Phillips

By Sam Wallace and Jason Burt
Friday, 20 June 2008

Shaun Wright-Phillips has been told that he can leave Chelsea with Portsmouth the closest to agreeing a fee for the England international. Chelsea have not waited until the arrival of Luiz Felipe Scolari as manager at the start of the next month to start clearing out some of the squad members whom they judge to be surplus to requirements.


Wright-Phillips, 26, fell so far out of favour with Avram Grant that he was not even among the substitutes for the Champions League final against Manchester United. Having signed in 2005 for £24m, his amortised value on Chelsea's accounts - which depreciates over the length of his contract - is understood to be around the £10m mark. Chelsea would want that kind of fee for the player.

Wright-Phillips is one of three English players whom Harry Redknapp is targeting for the summer. A £10m bid for Peter Crouch is imminent and Nicky Shorey, the £3.5m-rated Reading left-back who has also played for England, is another target. It is part of Portsmouth's strategy of increasing the English contingent in their multi-national squad. Chelsea have told Wright-Phillips that he is a long way back in the queue for a starting position with further new signings expected this summer and can leave the club for an acceptable offer.

Jose Mourinho made clear yesterday that he wants to sign both Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba from Chelsea - and is keen on preventing Deco from moving to Stamford Bridge to also join him at Internazionale. As ever Mourinho's statements were calculated to maximum effect, given the sensitivity of Lampard's contract negotiations, which are set to resume next week, and it was the first time that he had spoken about his transfer plans since taking over at Inter.

"I am not nostalgic but I really like those three players, they helped me win some great titles," Mourinho said. "I cannot forget Deco, Lampard and Drogba. These are players who I could never say no to. I would love to work with them again in the future, but I am not too obsessed with this idea. I don't know which of these three will leave their clubs but we will see."

All three can leave of course with Deco and Drogba having been told they can find other clubs while Lampard, who turns 30 today, has just one year left on his present contract and Chelsea do not want him to leave for free next summer. Mourinho's admiration for him is genuine - he talked of how much he "loved" Lampard on his first day as Chelsea manager and had wanted to make him captain ahead of John Terry before relenting to a players' poll.

Mourinho was speaking in Brazil ahead of the country's 0-0 draw in a World Cup qualification tie against Argentina. He said he was there to "scout" Inter players - striker Adriano, goalkeeper Julio Cesar and right-back Maicon, wearing the Brazil shirt, and centre-back Nicolas Burdisso, fullback Javier Zanetti and striker Julio Cruz, in the Argentine squad. His main interest is Adriano who has been on loan at Sao Paulo.

Chelsea are prepared to keep Lampard but do not want to agree to either the wage demands he is making or the length of contract he is after. The club is also reluctant to meet the 20m euro asking price Barcelona want for Deco, especially as he soon turns 31.

The Coventry coach Steve Kean - and long-term ally of the club's manager Chris Coleman - revealed yesterday that he had been approached about joining Scolari's new backroom staff at Chelsea. Kean's major selling point for the new Chelsea manager is that he is one of the few Englishmen in football who speaks Portuguese, from his time with the club Academica Coimbra.

Announcing that he would not be leaving Coventry, Kean said: "There was someone acting on behalf of Scolari who contacted me about a role at Chelsea. I was very honest and explained that I'm under contract on a very exciting project at Coventry.

"I can speak Portuguese, I've got a lot of experience in the Premier League and I suppose I tick the boxes of what they're looking for to help Scolari get started over here. That's probably where it has come from. I have to say I was very flattered by the approach but the simple fact is I'm at Coventry and we are just getting started on something very exciting."
 
I thought Boswingwa looked really useful as a wing back, but given Ashley's desire to get forward might leave you a bit exposed at the back. Still he's a freaking bullet, very quick. Looks a good signing, though pricey (I'll reserve judgement til i see what Alves goes for, who i rate higher).
 
I think we've paid over the odds no matter what. Regardless of what Alves goes for, I think we would still have had to pay Sevilla £25m for him - so at least we have saved ourselves £9m, but Alves is a much better crosser of the ball.

It's irrelevant I suppose, but even though we've spent a lot of money in the last 5 years, at least half of it has been wasted on crap signings or paying vastly over-inflated prices. If only Roman hadn't gone nuts at the start. Now we're seen as mugs (and we are!)
 
Bosingwa just had a bad game I think. He's a pretty decent defender. Was part of Porto's back 4, that conceded only 3 goals at home (or something like that). He's also very strong, good in the air, and extremely fast. He's an athletic defender, and I think he'll do much better in the Premier League.
 
Deco was awesome last night, bloody hell with Essien and Ballack behind him your midfield is looking extremely strong next season. the front 3 may be all new faces aswell?
 
Porto fans will tell you that Bosingwa was a shadow of himself this Euro, maybe because he had already transfered to Chelsea, and didn't need to impress any club.

I blame our GK on the 2nd and 3rd goals.
 
This could be Big Phils best dally in the transfer market. Nice start to the job....

"New Chelsea manager Luiz Felipe Scolari has warned Manchester United that "they can do nothing to hurt" Cristiano Ronaldo as Real Madrid reveal they are prepared to smash the world transfer record to lure the Portuguese winger from Old Trafford."

Aside from that, we're looking at Arshavin who looks a snip at £20m if the papers are to be believed (which they're not!). And Eto'o. Mixed feeling on that one, strikes me as a bit of an arsehole. :-s
 
Russian clubs can afford very high wages. There are many Roman's there.

I don't think Roman will resist the tentation of getting a quality russian player for chelsea.
 
Well, according to the papers:

Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich has told Scolari to forget signing the Portugal midfielder as he is ready to sanction a £20m bid for Russian playmaker Andrei Arshavin. (Daily Star)

I can just imagine Roman reaching for the phone, whilst watching the Russia/Holland game :LOL: "I want Andrei Arshavin..."
 
I'd have thought Roman already knows all about him. His club is, I imagine, owned by another oligarch so transfers are probably slightly more political over there.

Zhirkov looks a real talent too.
 
I think Arshavin would be better than Deco.
He will be more hungry.
I think Roman must have thought about quite a few Russian players when watching Russia against Holland Prof (that CF was a great player too, and the left back and there are others who played very, very good).
 
Seems like Scolari is looking to revamp your side as i thought, Lampard, Drogba, SWP, Malouda, Anelka are all apparantly getting the axe. with the first two rather not but going to Inter. Deco, Ronaldinho and Eto'o all from Barca? think that would be a bad move IMO Arshavin, Quaresma and Villa would be the way to go.
 
My wish list would be:

Keep Lamps/Drogba/Anelka and bring in Scott Sinclair from the reserves

Then Arshavin, Van de Vaart and Robben! I'd have him back like a shot.
 
gerd said:
I think Arshavin would be better than Deco.
He will be more hungry.
I think Roman must have thought about quite a few Russian players when watching Russia against Holland Prof (that CF was a great player too, and the left back and there are others who played very, very good).
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I've never been overly impressed by Deco. Perhaps i haven't seen enough of him. Arshavin has impressed me for both Zenit and Russia, instead. I like his movement.

Going back to the 'Russia playing well' bit. I think that's down to Hiddink, the man RA wanted and may get at some later stage. Also, the man i think we should have got (ahead of Scolari in my book). But he has a nice long season to prove me wrong.

TB, i too would like to see Sinclair in the first team, getting games/experience under his belt. He wouldn't have that big name pressure and could well shine.
 
What we need is, for lack of a better word, a 'flat track bully'. Henry used to demolish crap teams on his own, and Ronaldo did the same last season. We, meanwhile, huffed and puffed our way to 1-0 wins when the games should have been over after 25 minutes.

Someone with pace and trickery - not many of the players we are looking at have both. Sinclair, if handled right, could be that man in a couple of years but we do need to bring someone in in the short term.
 
T Butcher fan said:
What we need is, for lack of a better word, a 'flat track bully'. Henry used to demolish crap teams on his own, and Ronaldo did the same last season. We, meanwhile, huffed and puffed our way to 1-0 wins when the games should have been over after 25 minutes.

Someone with pace and trickery - not many of the players we are looking at have both. Sinclair, if handled right, could be that man in a couple of years but we do need to bring someone in in the short term.
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Villa, surely?
 
Maybe - I'm not totally convinced by him though. And he is now over-priced.

Good striker, but not really what I had in mind.
 
T Butcher fan said:
My wish list would be:

Keep Lamps/Drogba/Anelka and bring in Scott Sinclair from the reserves

Then Arshavin, Van de Vaart and Robben! I'd have him back like a shot.
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what a great list,i'll go exactly for the same:applaud: just maybe i would take van der vaart off as we really dont need central midfielder anymore

T Butcher fan said:
Maybe - I'm not totally convinced by him though. And he is now over-priced.

Good striker, but not really what I had in mind.
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spot on!he 's good but not really what we need
i don't know if you remember when we played Valencia the last 2 years ,over the 4 games he played he was really average,
i don't think he would"fit" in our team.
 
ALAIN said:
i don't know if you remember when we played Valencia the last 2 years ,over the 4 games he played he was really average, i don't think he would "fit" in our team.
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That's largely what my opinion is based on, but quite a few quality strikers have been made to look bad by our defence in recent times. Really it should be based on what he does against crap defences and that hat-trick against Russia put's him in the frame - but he just doesn't float my boat.
 
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