Chelsea

Pictures by Empics



I was reading a friend's blog about Chelsea and I do disagree to a large extent. Ever since the billionaire Russion tycoon Roman Abramovich bought over the club, it has been under intense scrutiny and pressure to perform. If money can buy success, this club will prove or disprove the statement.

I would think that the club is becoming a Real Madrid, they buy the big names, the superstars, but not neccessarily the best players. True, Essien was the African player of the year, but it was more because he played for a good club on the biggest stage. Also, he has alot of flair, pace and enery in his game to be eye-catching. Taking nothing away from his achievements, Chelsea still paid too much for him.

Their other overpriced buys include Didier Drogba, Shawn Wright-Phillips, Asier Del Horno in recent times. Drogba isn't as useless as some people describe him to be. He wasn't bought for scoring goals, as much as he was bought for a physical presence upfront. All teams need a huge strong target man. It would be great if he can score goals as well, but Drogba wasn't bought to do that. They have wingers such as Damien Duff, Arjen Robben, Joe Cole and SWP to do that; and if they need forward men who can score, look no furthur than Hernan Crespo and the much-under-rated Eidur Gudjohnsen.

The issue about target man is evident from some of the top teams in England. This is because England has such a physical league, and long balls are also played often. Liverpool, for example tried to solve that problem with Peter Crouch. Again, his goal tally isn't good, but he is not there to merely score goals such as the likes of Micheal Own or Robbie Keane to name a couple of big names. If you have a tall, strong, target man who can score, you have potentancy upfront - an example would be Ruud Van Nistelrooy of Manchester United. If you have a tall, strong, fast target man, who can pump goals in by the truckload, and has the flair of the best dribblers in the world you are blessed as a club - two such players are the famous Theirry Henry and Adriano.

However, not all big target man are blessed with quick feet, so I would defend Drogba on this one, that he doesn't score many, but he is still an asset to the team. But having said that, he is still overpriced, because if they needed just a target man to score a handful of goals, they could have gone for a 7-million-pound Peter Crouch.

SWP is an exciting player when I watched his games for Manchester City. The reason why he doesn't seem to be playing well is not because he is not a good player, it is because he doesn't have enough match-time. It's a fact that the less you play, the poorer your form. Training is different from matches in terms of intensity, concentration, pressure and many other factors. So a lack of match-time would effectively mean a poorer performance in the long run. I don't blame SWP for wanting to move to a bigger club given that his former club has been under-acheiving for seasons. But I believe he chose the wrong club with well-established wingers like Robben, Duff and Joe Cole. So it is not that the player is crap, it is the club that isn't good for him. Having said that, however, he is still too expensive for a player the club intends to be a bench-warmer.


The last player I speak about is Del Horno. I haven't been impressed with this player since his 14milion-pound move from Spain. He was much better playing in his former club Athelic Bilbao, but I suppose you have to give a player team to adapt in a new country. Unfortunately, that cannot be used to defend him against the red-card he received against Barcelona (Champions League 05/06 last 16) which effectively cost Chelsea the tie. Against Spanish opponents, he should have been familiar with their style of play, and yet disgraced the team by 'cleaning up' Leo Messi, and when they lost at home, no one expected them to beat a on-form Barcelona team in the Nou Camp.

Chelsea on the hold are doing well this season, lying the first place though they have a neck of screwing up simple games. The games against Middlesborough in the Riverside and the 0-0 draw against Birmingham spring to mind. However, other than their effiency to win, they have failed to impress me with flair, and a team with flowing football to take the breathe away. They used to be that when Arjen Robben was on form a season back. But seems like Robben has been forced to take dives now that he is heavily marked.

In my opinion, Robben is a diver, he goes down way too easily and we all remember his theatrics when he got tapped in the chin by Jose Reina of Liverpool. Okay, maybe sometimes he is taken down unfairly, but you've won the free kick, stand up and take it rather than rolling on the ground for 30seconds!

I would sum up my entry by saying that Chelsea are an efficient team, but not a team I would pay to watch. And also, their millions better buy them a title, I just don't think that they are doing it in the most effective way. With the 200million pounds more they spent than Manchester United, they should be more than just 7 points ahead in the league - which could easily reduce to 4 should the latter beat them in the showdown later this season.