Categoría: Tienda de Fútbol Online

There is a new heavyweight force in European football, they are being bankrolled seemingly by the Russian economy, they mean business, and their name is Chelsea F.C. Chelsea Football Club have always been a decent club in the second strata of English clubs. In London alone Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur have invariably been ahead of the Chelsea Blues, even West Ham have often put Chelsea in the shade. But no longer, for in the season 2004-2005, Chelsea won the English Premier League title for the first time in fifty years, their only previous winning season.

But they haven’t stopped there, in the new season 2005-2006 they are already well clear in the title race leaving all their rivals gasping, and now they have set their sights on the pinnacle of all the club trophys, the European Champions League. Chelsea have never won the Champions League, indeed no London club ever has. And it is clear that their charismatic manager Jose Mourinho is intent on winning the Champions League again, he did so with his previous club Porto, of Portugal.

So what of the traditional English giants? Manchester United, often described as the world’s richest football club, have fallen into the hands of the Glazer family of Tampa Bay fame, but they reportedly needed to borrow half a billion pounds to buy United, a debt the club now shoulders. Spending on new players has so far been thin on the ground and United’s brusque Glaswegian manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, has admitted that United, for so long England’s most successful club, cannot compete with Chelsea when it comes to buying players. The hordes of United fans are not amused, the natives are growing restless.

Arsenal, London’s biggest and most successful club, lost their skipper and driving force Patrick Vieira last summer, he moved to Juventus in Italy for £12 million pounds and with their star striker Thierry Henry suffering fitness problems, they picked up some uncharacteristic defeats at unfashionable clubs like West Bromwich Albion and Middlesbrough. This is their last season at their famous old Highbury Stadium before they move to their new purpose built Emirates stadium almost next door. The increased capacity of 60,000 will undoubtedly give their French manager Arsene Wenger more money to spend next year, but of course they have to pay for that new ground too. Far from challenging Chelsea again, it would seem that Arsenal are more likely to fall further behind.

That leaves Liverpool and Newcastle. News comes through just today that the American Kraft Company and family are interested in investing in Liverpool F.C., perhaps even buying the club outright just like Manchester United fifty miles up the road, but that is some way down the line. And they too are seeking to build a brand new stadium on Stanley Park and of course that all costs big money. Despite last year’s freakish win in the Champion’s League, Liverpool’s league form this season has again been patchy, and that included a 4-1 walloping by Chelsea on their own Anfield pitch. The idea that Liverpool might challenge Chelsea for the title remains a far-fetched one. Newcastle, England’s second best supported club are gradually improving, and they have signed England’s centre forward Michael Owen, but they still remain unconvincing at the top level. They haven’t won the title since Noah was seen building his ark, or so it seems, and they aren’t going to do so this season either.

So though it is very popular for foreign investors to snap up the leading English (and Scottish) football clubs, it appears that only Roman Abramovich at Chelsea has the financial muscle to buy the best players around. He is the only one to put unlimited funds on the table. Top class players now command a transfer fee of £40 million each and whereas Manchester United might afford one of them a season, Chelsea’s purse seems bottomless. They have already spent £220+ million and are still in the market to buy again when the transfer window re-opens in January.

They have already achieved success by winning at home, now the European Champion’s League is the Holy Grail for them, a trophy they are now the outright favourites to win with the odds layers. And astonishingly they have achieved their success to date with an array of strikers who haven’t really cut the mustard. Mutu the Romanian, was promptly sacked for drug taking, Crespo the Argentinian, was sent out to Milan on loan last season, and though he is back now he is hardly setting the world afire,or even playing that often, Gudjohnson an Icelander, plays more often than not, the muscular Drogba from the Ivory Coast, seems to have finally claimed the number nine shirt as his own, yet many blues followers still remain unconvinced about him, so it would seem likely that Chelsea may yet be looking for another proven goal scorer come January, especially after a recent rare defeat at Manchester United.

It would take a brave man to back against Chelsea in any competition at the moment. But if you’d like to, you can still have a free $30 dollar bet at Betfair.com by entering the code 6CHE3VPWJ when prompted. But one thing is for sure; no one would be surprised if this time next year the Premier League trophy AND the Champions League trophy were both on display in the Chelsea boardroom. It seems that only the Italian giants Milan and Juventus, and the Spanish top two, Real Madrid, and most especially Barcelona with their Brazilian superstar, surely soon to be the world player of the year, Ronaldinho, might stop the London blues. It really does seem as if we have entered a new era in European and world football, or if you prefer the ridiculous name that no one ever uses, Soccer. Chelsea fans have never had it so good while everyone else is left gasping in their wake, for it is a fact that Chelsea Football Club have raised the bar for everyone else to follow. Time will tell if anyone can.

Chelsea’s attacking midfielder Joe Cole has finally joined Liverpool FC and would begin to ply his trade at Anfield and would no longer be seen at Stamford Bridge from August 2010 when the 2010/2011 season commences.

The fast paced, skillful midfielder could not produce the scintillating display he is known for, for the great part of last season following series of injuries. But on the few occasions he donned the blue jersey, he gave a good account of himself. One of his great moments last season was when he scored that beautiful goal against Manchester United at Old Trafford.

With Michael Ballack already gone back to the German Bundesliga and now Joe Cole’s signing for Liverpool FC, Chelsea is beginning to lose some of her prized jewels. Didier Drogba is said to be courted by Manchester City and may leave if they present him with an irresistible offer.

Michael Essien has not still completely recovered from his long-standing injury. This leaves only John Obi Mikel who is also nursing an injury to handle the position of a defensive midfielder for the Blues. The new season is fast approaching and Chelsea needs to defend her premiership title and also go for the Champions’ league title.

They therefore need midfielders and youthful attackers to beef up the team if they are to realize their dream of winning the UEFA Champions’ league. There are players that performed relatively well during the 2010 world cup in South Africa that could be contracted to strengthen the team. Some of them include Mexico’s Don Santos, Germany’s Thomas Muller, Sweinsteigger and Podolski; The Netherlands’ Van Bronckhorst and Wesley Sneijder; Slovakia’s Robert Vittek, etc

We should also not forget that our captain John Terry is aging and would need a back up. Getting a reliable defender and strengthening the midfield and the attack are panacea for our long elusive Champions’ league title. The club must also spend its money wisely this time by making sure they get value for their money. They should avoid going for players that would not last for more than two seasons; they should rather get players that should stay in Stamford Bridge for at least three years, and have enough time to completely blend with the old ones and make an impact before retiring.

It is only when we invest in the right players that we would not feel the impact created by the exit of some of our very good hands who have contributed immensely to the success story of our team. We also need a good goal keeper like Nigeria’s Vincent Enyeama, Barcelona’ Iker Casillas, etc to help Petr Cechs.

The sky would be our limit if we get things right especially at the beginning of the new season. We would be sure to successfully defend our premiership title, win the UEFA Champions’ league and possibly the Club World Cup. When we get the right instruments, our able coach, Carlo Ancelotti would know how to use them to achieve the desired result.

Chelsea’s last campaign offered a telling commentary on the high stakes of modern top-flight football and the narrowness of the margin between success and perceived failure. For the Blues it was a season dominated by a generally unloved manager’s attempt to take the team beyond where his adored predecessor had led them.

Following Jose Mourinho at Stamford Bridge was always going to be the tallest of orders but anyone other than Avram Grant, with any boss other than Roman Abramovich, would probably have been lauded for taking Chelsea so close to treble glory. Beaten in extra-time of the Carling Cup final; edged out by two points in the Premier League title race despite accumulating 85 points (the first time a team had gathered so many without securing the title); and beaten in a penalty shoot-out after extra-time in the Champions League final – Grant’s stab at footballing immortality with the Blues was heroic.

But it was failure nonetheless, and his reward – after being doubted, derided, and damned with faint praise – was the sack, within a couple of days of John Terry’s kick hitting the post in the Moscow shoot-out to hand Manchester United the coveted European crown.

Chelsea had lost only two Premier League games out of 32 under Grant – his first, against United at Old Trafford, and then against Arsenal at Ashburton Grove. In the critical later stages of the season the Blues beat both the Gunners and United at Stamford Bridge – and indeed they kept the title race against Sir Alex Ferguson’s side alive until the final day of the campaign, which said much for their determination and consistency.

They were relentless in their pursuit of the title, overhauling Arsenal at the end of March to go second and coming within a whisker of overtaking the defending champions. But two dropped points in a home draw against Wigan, for whom Emile Heskey scored a 91st minute equaliser on 14th April, proved costly, although United’s significantly better goal difference was always worth an extra point if push had come to shove.

That reflected the Achilles’ heel of Grant’s side: they played without the attacking flair and panache of United or Arsenal, and in fact scored fewest goals among the top four. Although they kept a remarkable 21 clean sheets at the other end, Abramovich had demanded ‘expansive’ football after Mourinho, but got more of the same prosaic, pragmatic stuff under Grant. Without being able to lace that with silverware, or to win over a sceptical home crowd, Grant was always on borrowed time. Speculation about his future, which reached fever pitch after the Carling Cup final defeat by London rivals Tottenham and an embarrassing FA Cup quarter-final defeat by Barnsley, was a constant accompaniment to Grant’s reign.

His team showed character and resilience, especially defensively, but often struggled for creativity and goals, with Didier Drogba netting only eight in the League, and January import Nicolas Anelka managing only one, though he was mostly played out of position. Dynamic central midfielder Michael Essien also spent too much time filling in at right-back, while the manager failed to get anything like the best out of expensive summer buy Florent Malouda. There was a consequent over-reliance on midfielders Frank Lampard (who had his own injury and personal problems last season) and Michael Ballack (who emerged as the Blues’ most influential player in the final third of the campaign). Their goals and dynamism helped take Chelsea so close to the glittering prizes, though it was symptomatic that pundits and many fans felt their contribution was despite rather than because of Grant’s leadership. That was the burden the Israeli’s perceived lack of charisma saddled him with.

Summer Activity

The managerial soap opera at Stamford Bridge was ended when Grant was unceremoniously sacked, and his successor announced during Euro 2008 as Portugal boss Luiz Felipe Scolari. The Brazilian comes in with everything Grant lacked: gravitas, a hugely impressive CV, charisma, the authority that accompanies a reputation as a disciplinarian, and the respect of the players. Scolari is, after all, a World Cup winner who also won the Copa Libertadores twice.

If there are reservations because he has been out of club football for seven years, the risk seems a small one. The 59-year-old has been there and done it before, and if dealing with the English tabloid press is an aspect of his new job that probably won’t appeal, he is unlikely to find it more uncomfortable than dealing with the media in his native Brazil.

Scolari is the fourth Chelsea manager of the Abrasmovich era; the previous three – Claudio Ranieri, Mourinho and Grant – were all sacked despite delivering what at most clubs would pass for relative success. So Scolari knows what to expect, and what is expected: to recapture the Premier League title from United and to win the Champions League for the first time in Chelsea’s history. The other imperative is to achieve both through an exhilarating brand of entertaining, attacking football. Simple really. The key question is: can Scolari adjust to the demands of club football quickly and effectively enough to deliver what’s required in his first season back at the coal-face?

He has got off to a decent start. Drogba and Lampard, both widely tipped to join Mourinho at Inter Milan, are still at the Bridge and seem likely to stat for at least the next season. Portugal full-back Jose Bosingwa, well-known to Scolari, was recruited and waiting for him, and another familiar face, the creative and motivated Deco, has since arrived. Speculation persists that Robinho could yet join them, and that would certainly strengthen their attacking options and sharpen the goal threat, where the Blues were deficient last season. The fans would probably feel happier to have an additional quality striker on board, unless the form of Andriy Shevchenko and Claudio Pizarro has undergone a dramatic transformation over the summer.

As for the departures, Claude Makelele’s return to France should be adequately covered by the emergence of John Obi Mikel in the holding midfield role, while Steve Sidwell, good player though he is, was never really used so won’t be missed. Nor will the transfers of Tal Ben Haim (Manchester City) and Khalid Boulahrouz (Stuttgart) leave gaping holes in Scolari’s forces.

Pre-season has been useful if tiring: the goodwill trip to China and Malaysia was excellent PR but possibly of only limited value to Scolari in terms of preparation. But going on to Moscow for the Railways Cup offered a more pertinent test and, losing another shoot-out in the Russian capital aside, Chelsea can reflect on last weekend with satisfaction. The emphatic 5-0 demolition of AC Milan will have caused many to sit up and take notice, as will Anelka’s four-goal salvo in the rout.

Scolari has said he is more or less clear now in his head about what his starting XI will be for the Premier League opener against Portsmouth, so at least one of the main objectives of pre-season has been accomplished.

Analysis & Prognosis

There will be huge interest in how well and how quickly Scolari fits into his new job. He will have the benefit of the doubt, something Grant never enjoyed; but there will still be the spectre of Mourinho, who won the Premier League and the League Cup in his first season at the Bridge after arriving from Portugal. The parallels are there for direct comparison. His press conferences promise to be entertaining, but it is on the pitch where the entertainment quotient will be most under scrutiny.

The addition of Bosingwa should add genuine right-sided quality to an already formidable defence, behind which Petr Cech is due a bit of luck after a miserable spell, so Chelsea will again be one of the hardest teams to score against.

And in midfield they have a veritable cornucopia of riches. With Essien restored to the centre where he is at his best, Ballack in the sort of form he showed during the latter stages of last season and at Euro 2008, Deco’s vision adding a new creative dimension to Chelsea’s game and Lampard fit and focused, Mikel offering running power and muscle, plus the likes of Joe Cole, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Malouda to provide pace and width on the flanks, Scolari’s challenge will be to find the right blend and balance while keeping all his stars happy.

Anelka fired a warning in Moscow and Scolari may be prepared to play to his strengths, through the middle, at Drogba’s expense in a way Grant hesitated to do. The fact that Drogba is likely to miss the start of the campaign through injury could facilitate that decision. Salomon Kalkou impressed last season but too often chose the wrong option with his final ball, so we can expect an improvement there.

Scolari has indicated that Shevchenko will not be in the starting line-up, at least initially, but the Ukrainian has said he is determined to make an impact at Chelsea and if he is fired up rather than diffident when coming off the bench then he’ll give his manager a useful option.

Chelsea are certain to challenge hard for the title, and with their squad strength in depth and seemingly impregnable home record they are likely to be in the top few places for most of the campaign. They have the playing resources and now, they hope, the right manager to win major honours again. But much will also depend on United, Arsenal and Liverpool, at least, so how Scolari reacts to the Big Four challenge, and how he plots his tactics in the head-to-heads, could prove decisive.

I expect the Blues to be challenging on all fronts until the latter stages, and possibly collecting a cup; but winning the Premier League title at Scolari’s first attempt, after being out of the club game for a long time, might just prove a bridge too far. A top-three finish then, but not first place.

Coach: Luiz Felipe Scolari

Stadium: Stamford Bridge (42,055)

2007-08 Position: 2nd

2007-08 Record: P-38 W-25 D-10 L-3 GF-65 GA-26 GD-39 Pts-85

Players In:

Jose Bosingwa (FC Porto, £16.2m), Deco (Barcelona, £8m).

Five Champions’ League semi-finals in the past six years. As Chelsea’s newly appointed manager, Carlo Ancelotti, pointed out in his first interview, that is a wonderful achievement. However, it clearly isn’t quite good enough. The fact that those five semi-finals have only resulted in one ill-fated final appearance must be a source of incredible frustration for Chelsea’s billionaire owner, Roman Abramovich, and the club’s supporters – although a little less so for them, perhaps.

The reason the long-standing Chelsea fans might be a little more philosophical about ‘only’ reaching one final in five attempts is that many of them are probably still only just getting used to challenging for honours at all. Until 1997, when Chelsea won the F.A. Cup, the club had won nothing for 26 years – unless you include the old Second Division title. Chelsea’s fortunes in the 1980s, after they had been bought by Ken Bates for the princely sum of £1, slumped to such an extent that they almost found themselves in English football’s third tier.

But how it turned around during the last decade of the century. Even before Abramovich’s arrival in 2003, the process of recovery had started. Managers of the international pedigree of Glenn Hoddle, Ruud Gulli, Gianluca Vialli and Claudio Ranieri all helped establish the club as one of England’s leading outfits and the F.A. Cup was won in 1997 and 2000 and the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup in 1998. The Chelsea of this time were ground breakers in so many ways – with their continental managers and their overseas players particularly – becoming the first club to take the field with a team without a single British or Irish player in a fixture against Southampton in 1999.

So, when the Russian oil magnate brought in Champions’ League winner José Mourinho to take over the team in 2004, almost everyone suspected that ‘the special one’ would produce a special team.

And so it proved. The Premier League was won on two consecutive occasions, as well as the F.A. Cup again and the League Cup (twice). From March 2004, the team embarked on a record-breaking run of 86 matches in which they remained unbeaten at their Stamford Bridge ground.

With some of England’s finest players – John Terry, Frank Lampard, Ashley and Joe Cole – and with some outstanding foreign imports – Didier Drogba, Michael Essien, Michael Ballack and Nicholas Anelka – the world sat and waited for the trophies to continue. And especially for the ‘holy grail’ that Abramovich wanted so much; that Champions’ League.

And yet for the past two seasons Chelsea have flattered to deceive – and frustrated their supporters so much. There are occasions when they are so powerful they overwhelm even the strongest opponents; almost bullying them into submission because of their physical, and mental, superiority. But there seems to have been some fatal flaw in the club’s make-up that has stopped them making that ultimate breakthrough.

Some have said that it’s because some of the overseas players have not been committed enough; but then when they showed their passion and commitment after losing controversially to Barcelona in 2009 those same players were criticised for their lack of sportsmanship.

Some have blamed successive managers for not being able to control ‘big’ players – as if that was ever a problem for someone like Luiz Felipe Scolari.

Some have even blamed Abramovich for either losing patience with Mourinho too quickly in 2007 or apparently losing some of his enthusiasm for the club for a while.

But now, having failed to persuade the admirable Guus Hiddink to remain at the club after his rejuvenation of the team in his short spell in charge, Chelsea have appointed someone who has won the Champions’ League Trophy twice as a player and twice as a manager. Surely, Stamford Bridge – a wonderfully atmospheric ground to watch your football compared to some of the other more ‘soul-less’ stadiums around – is going to be able to witness something only the most optimistic of fans would have dreamed possible twenty short years ago; a team capable of winning the Champions’ League.

If Carlo Ancelotti can’t bring the trophy in, where on earth will they turn next?

It was with great shock that I received the sudden departure of «the special one» from Chelsea Football club, this morning.

I had predicted that he would not last the season when I was previewing the premiership but it still came as a surprise.

The reason I thought he would go was football related because I could not for the life of me think, why Chelsea ever thought they were even remotely close to Manchester United last season but chose not to make significant signings this season.

I was flabbergasted that they only brought in Claudio Pizarro, Steve Sidwell on a free and Tal Ben-Haim. None of those players in my humble opinion is likely to add anything really significant to a championship chasing side. They even managed to lose Arjen Robben in the process to make them worse.

I have never been a fan of the way Chelsea played under Mourinho with the emphasis on Drogba muscling his way round defenders and Lampard coming in from deep. Mourinho may have further irritated with his constant harpings that after a while, became tedious.

But there is no escaping the fact, that he was the finest tactician in the premiership by a long way and possibly in the world. Some myopic people would argue that he was successful because of Abramovich’s money. Having money does help but does not get you success, as Real Madrid and Inter Milan would testify to.

Barcelona won the champions league and the La Liga title 2 seasons ago and deemed it fit to spend money on Gianluca Zambrotta, Lilian Thuram and Eidur Gudjohnssen to make them even stronger but they did not win anything last season.

Newcastle have spent money over the years and they just have 2 FA cup final appearances to show for it. Mourinho, in just 3 seasons, had won the premiership twice, Coca cola cup twice and the FA cup. His Chelsea side has gone from being soft away from home to be the most feared ruthless machine in premiership history and are unbeaten at home in 64 matches, which is an English record.

He has reached the Champions league semi final twice only to be defeated by Liverpool through a controversial goal and on penalties that everyone knows is a lottery. What some of his critics fail to understand is that a lot of his buys are vastly overpriced like £12 on Paolo Ferreira for instance.

Again it is not like Chelsea are the only ones that spend big, Manchester United have spent £30m twice on Wayne Rooney and Rio Ferdinand, £18 on Michael Carrick and £17 on Owen Hargreaves. You have to be rich to spend those sums on players that are nowhere worth that kind of money.

As a matter of fact the only manager that has not spent big to gain success is Arsene Wenger and that is mainly because he does not have that much money to spend and when he does splash out, it tends to be a waste like £8m on Francis Jeffers!

It does not matter how much money you spend but whether you spend the money wisely.

Not necessarily getting the best players and the most skilful but also getting players that would gel with one another, players that are ready to do battle for you and you should be able to create an atmosphere that is to most of the players’ liking.

I think Mourinho did that to great effect at Chelsea. My only big problem with him was his favouritism of some players over the others.

I do not subscribe to treating people differently and I did not like the way he was always putting the likes of Lampard, Terry, Cech, Essien and especially Drogba over the others.

His treatment of Shevchenko was extremely shabby as he should have shown Shevchenko more respect and understanding instead on continually undermining a great player. But Chelsea, in my opinion have committed an almighty blunder and only time will tell how big a blunder it was to get rid of the most successful manager in their history. The winners are Rafa Benitez and Arsene Wenger because they now know that instead of 2 teams standing in their way, it is now just Manchester United, as I don’t really see Chelsea mounting a serious challenge with their current crop of players.

On a side note, a lot of women would be very upset that they would not be getting their regular dose of oogling Mourinho. I have never come across any other manager with his effect on the ladies.