Eurosport - Wed, 12 Aug 16:11:00 2009
Eurosport-Yahoo! continues its countdown to the Premier League season with a look at Chelsea.
Manager: Carlo Ancelotti
Last 10 Seasons: (1999/2000 to 2008/2009): 5/6/6/4/2/1/1/2/2/3
POSSIBLE STARTING XI:
Branislav Ivanovic - John Terry - Ricardo Carvalho - Ashley Cole
Michael Essien - John Obi Mikel - Frank Lampard - Yuri Zhirkov
Didier Drogba - Nicolas Anelka
BACK-UPS FROM: Henrique Hilario, Ross Turnbull, Jose Bosingwa, Paulo Ferreira, Alex, Sam Hutchinson, Michael Mancienne, Juliano Belletti, Joe Cole, Michael Ballack, Florent Malouda, Deco, Salomon Kalou, Daniel Sturridge, Andriy Shevchenko, Claudio Pizarro
TRANSFERS:
In - Yuri Zhirkov (CSKA Moscow, undisclosed) - Daniel Sturridge (Manchester City, undisclosed) - Ross Turnbull (Middlesbrough, free)
Out - Franco Di Santo (Blackburn, loan), Morten Nielsen (AZ Alkmaar, free), Lee Sawyer (Southend, loan), Jimmy Smith (Leyton Orient, free), Tom Taiwo (Carlisle, loan), Ben Sahar (Espanyol, undisclosed), Slobodan Rajkovic (Twente, loan), Mirolsav Stoch (Twente, loan), Ryan Bertrand (Reading, loan), Frank Nouble (West Ham, undisclosed), Sergio Tejera (Mallorca, undisclosed), Scott Sinclair (Wigan, loan), Patrick van Aanholt (Coventry, loan)
POSITIVES: New manager Carlo Ancelotti proved he is able to handle big-name players at Milan, and the Community Shield shows he already seems to have the Chelsea dressing-room onside. Core players Didier Drogba and John Terry have been persuaded to stay put, while the addition of Yuri Zhirkov should provide added verve down the left.
NEGATIVES: Question marks remain over the efficacy of Ancelotti's preferred narrow diamond midfield, which makes great demands of the full-backs. The constant chopping and changing of managers show Roman Abramovich is not a patient man, and chief executive Peter Kenyon is not prepared to stand up to him. Chelsea must start well or the pressure will be on Ancelotti.
VERDICT: Arguably the only side from the 'Big Four' to strengthen this summer, Chelsea look certain to have a say in the title race, but they may just lack enough attacking sparkle to prise the Premier League trophy out of Manchester United's hands. 2nd.
Comment 26 - 45 of 45
Chelsea are the strongest team in the epl.
ment to add that malouda will probably play before Zhirkov, especially at start of season till zhirkov settles
look to have the best squad and probably the best starting 11 this season and they are sarting with a manager that is acomplished in club management. I disagree with the starting 11 here. I think Essien might play the sitting role after seeing how he played sat out wider. then Deco or Ballack would move to the right until Cole is back. I also dont think Bosingwa will leave so he will start which evens up the side with a.cole on left. These are the changes I feel should happen anyway.
Id like to see maybe a right sided midfielder come in or maybe a young player to eventually replace lampard and as always I want Aguero but Im happy with the squad as is!
Looking at chances of 1st in league and runs in all other cups, especially CL.
ABC...Anybody But Chelski
use this formation for me .petra ceach, bosiNGWA, a. cole. terry, carvhlo, micheal essien, ballack, lampard, malouda,drogha and kalou.reserve.hilorio, invonic. alex, mikel, yuri and anelka.
Nice to see the optimisum but remember this time last year it was all scollari this scollari that, 4trophy season blah blah blah, Any real fan shouldn't be expecting much this season since CA has just taken over the management job and will need time to work his magic unlike what they did to Grant, Scollari and Renieri, It took SAF 6years at United to win the league and look what he has won since he has become the most sucessful manager in the world ever, Congrats 4 winning the shield but don't be expecting much more otherwise this time next year you could be singing the praises of yet another manager.
I think Chelsea will do much better. The only thing Scolari's regime lacked was intensity - the players lacked puff to play the big games. Once Hiddink came and upped the intensity, things came into place.
All a Chelsea manager has to do is make friends with Abramovich, Terry, Cech, Lampard and Drogba, and make training sessions high-intensity. He will then have enough quality to deliver minimum two trophies a season. According to the Chelsea website, Ancelotti has done all that, and it was evident in the Community Shield too. So I'm sure Chelsea are set for the Premiership, Champions League or both.
chelsea wins premiership this year
!
handyandyisalways!!! a "Hanky panky always" I'm one and u're two..@#$%
don't mind what prankster hated say about CFC... they just want our attention... what all they talking is rubbish... not bad prediction from this article... but all of this depend to how '4-4-2 diamond' working... if that success CFC deserve more from that position... BLUE IS THE COLOUR...
chelsea would have have a shed load more trophies if the management was settled ,lets see what lotti can do to steady the ship if he does it .i can see loads of silverware going to the bridge !chelsea without a doubt have the best playing staff in the league ! if not europe ,
28,
ranieri-sacked cos jose was better.
mourinho- sacked cos afta 2 gr8 1st seasons he lost it.
grant-sacked becos he reached 2 finals, and got no trophies (and he got to last day of prem league with no title)
scolari-sacked becos afta a good start he lost our season
hiddink-was not sacked or did not leave for any other reason than for russia.
ancelotti-will be gr8 success, down with united.
come on the blues,
33 jterry-lampard , that is not a single word whereas @#$% is!! and you are one
One Single Word!!! Chelsea the looser forever.
Chelsea have too many weak links:-
Cech - was good all the time, now its every 5th game, but can moan at refs
Terry - Really wants to be at City, injury prone, but can moan at refs
Mikel - Cant takle, cant score, cant pass, cant ran, cant dribble, but can moan at refs
Lampard - Too fat and no-one likes him, but can moan at refs
Boll0ck - Too old, can no longer pass, cant shoot, but can moan at refs
Drogba - Too sleepy as he appears to lay down a lot, but can moan at refs
Play Sturridge best Chelsea signing this summer with all respect to Zhirkov Sturrige is way better deserves place in the first team
28 u don't know what football is... #@#*&%$... just wait and see...
28 @#$% - it should be Carlo Ancelloti - European Cup - (Remains)
Claudio Ranieri - No European Trophy (Sacked)
Jose Mourinho - No European Trophy (Sacked)
Avram Grant - No European Trophy (Sacked)
Luis Felipe Scolari - No European Trophy (Sacked)
Guus Hiddink - No European Trophy (Left)
Carlo Ancelotti - No European Trophy (Will Be Sacked)
Sorry oh. All Chelsea fans posting comments here. It's always good to sound positive cus it gives U the faint hope that all will be well. Go down memory lane, since the inception of the EPL, and tell me Man Utd's worst finish. Like they always say, only a fool (no offense please) would write off Man United. Glory Glory the Red Devils
Please login to post a comment
Not already a Yahoo! user ? Sign up to get a free Yahoo! Account