Season Preview - Chelsea

Quick Reminder, Real Life

Sort of an odd season at Stamford Bridge wasn’t it. Never REALLY in the race for first but never REALLY out of it either. The Blues big names down the spine of the formation - Drogba, Lampard, John Terry, Ashley Cole, Essien and Cech - were all less than their best for varying reasons but all were still above average Premier League players when they played. The names brought in to supplement that core also had their ups and downs. Florent Malouda had a great first half but only an adequate second half. Anelka and Kalou were effective in spells and invisible over other spells. Ramires wasn’t ready. Mikel may never be ready. Big winter signings Torres and Luiz cost a lot of money with mixed results at best. Luiz was by far the better of the two although he seemed to have a penchant for making one big mistake per match. Torres was an unmitigated disaster. Chelsea are clearly a team between “generations” of players with half a roster of players heading toward the downside of their careers a few decidedly on the upside and precious few healthy and at their prime. It just wasn’t enough to compete with United.

Quick Reminder, Fantasy

You expect a lot from Chelsea players when it comes to fantasy. Lots of goals, lots of clean sheets, and expensive prices. Of note, FloMal was one of the best players going for the first two months of the season. Drogba closed the season very well. Luiz scored some goals which will be a great addition to defending points if he can settle down a bit, hold on to a place in the starting line-up, and avoid the bad cards and fouls in the box. Anelka degraded throughout the course of the season leaving us to wonder what his fate will be this coming season.

Summer Changes

Alex and Terry out for Months

ALEX SIDELINED FOR SIX TO EIGHT WEEKS | Latest Chelsea News | Team & Transfer News | Chelsea FC | Chelsea

Alex has withdrawn from the Brazil squad to play Argentina this week and will undergo surgery on his knee.

Further... investigation via arthroscopic surgery is required on the player's right knee. That will take place over the coming days.

He is expected to be out for approximately six to eight weeks.

This, of course, is compounded by John Terry's indefinite absence due to "a long-term nerve problem in his right leg.

‘Basically, I am trying whatever is suggested. I’m at my wits’ end. I know I won’t play on Saturday against Birmingham City, but beyond that there are no clues. It could be weeks, it could be months.

So mighty Chelsea's starting center-back pairing is... right-back Paulo Ferreira and right-back Branislav Ivanovic!?!?!

Season Preview: Chelsea

Overall Outlook - It's been a pretty quiet off-season for the Champions with some fringe players with bigger names than games (JCole, Ballack, Deco, etc.) moving on and some less high-profile names (Ramires and Benayoun) coming in.  The veteran team also got a year older which has to be of some concern but certainly not to the point where you expect any of their big names to have a significant drop.  You just can't expect that many of them will improve and should expect slightly reduced performance and perhaps a few more injuries from players like Frank Lampard, John Terry, Ricardo Carvalho (if he sticks around), and Ashley Cole. That said, these are the reigning champions and neither of their closest competitors for last season's title - ManYoo and Arsenal - have made a significant step forward so you have to expect Chelsea to be the favorites unless ManCiteh make an unexpected huge step forward.  Seems like old times with a professional, unexciting, Ancelotti-led squad marching inexorably toward the title with a string of 2-1 and 1-0 wins being chased by a high-risk, high-reward, Mancini-led squad providing entertaining football but losing too many points to their inability to keep the ball out of the net while inexplicably losing the occasional 3-0 disaster to an inferior team. 

Bet They're Wishing They'd Signed Ribery Last Month...

Football365 | All The News | Football News | BLUES BUYS BANNED UNTIL 2011

Chelsea have been banned from registering any new players for the next two transfer windows after FIFA found them guilty of inducing a French teenager to breach his contract with another club.

Gael Kakuta, 18, joined Chelsea from Lens two years ago but the French club lodged a complaint with the sport's world governing body.

Now FIFA's dispute resolution chamber (DRC) has ruled that Kakuta breached his contract with Lens and that Chelsea induced him to do so.

Talk about some stunning news from out of nowhere.  Either the editors at Football365 are having some fun with us in the wake of the transfer window closing and their being no more sensational stories of immediate interest or FIFA have over-reacted to something that doesn't seem to merit it.

Don't get me wrong, I'm sort of giddy at the notion of Chelsea not being able to throw their cash around in January or next Summer but isn't this entirely on the player?  A club can't force a player to breach a contract, they can only suggest it and facilitate it by being willing to sign a player who has made that decision.  You can argue that in signing the player, they have acted unethically but it seems minor in contrast to the type of "tapping up" that goes on all the time - Real Madrid being the masters. 

Is this FIFA finally finding a way to hit back at Chelsea for buying success as opposed to building it organically the way they perceive Real, Bacra, Milan, ManYoo, and Arsenal have done?  Is it just that there is more of a paper trail than there ever is in any of the alleged "tapping up" situations? 

Regardless, just a bizarre thing to wake up to this morning.  Even more so when you think about how old Chelsea's current squad is and the impact that not refreshing their talent base might have if any of their main cogs (Lamps, JT, Drogs, Elk) fall off significantly between now and January 2011 when they can next buy players.