An interesting piece on Chelsea's youth signings

I too have started to wonder what exactly is being planned at the Bridge with the influx of such youths such as Kakuta and Bruma and the intense pursuit of Neymar. These all are extremely young, extremely talented individuals, but why would they join Chelsea when they are just going to sit on the bench. One must also ask the other question, why does Chelsea want them? That is easier to answer - they own the talent, these players won't have a chance to join Man U or Arsenal for a while. It is sort of like having these players for the sake of having them. I understand this, but I do not understand the sudden enthusiasm to snap up talent who can be loaned out or will just sit on the bench. It is a little confusing, also, I don't know what Chelsea can offer these youths, as they will most likely not play in a game for the next few seasons. As talented as Neymar is, he must be doubtful of his chances of playing when legends like Michael Ballack are being cut...

Check out this article - http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/who-would-want-to-be-a-young-star-at-chelsea-2056139.html

I would love to hear your views.

The Premier League is back!

The Premier League is a week away, this time next weekend the top clubs in England will be kicking off their seasons. After a year where Chelsea dominate all major english domestic competition and English teams flamed out of Europe's biggest tournament, there have been many changes in the offseason, an offseason fraught with world cup failures for most of the prem's big name players. Let start off with transfers. Major names such as Fabregas and Torres are staying at Arsenal and Liverpool respectively. Arsenal have also brought in Marouane Chmakh, a mercurial striker from Bordeaux, who could be a major producer this year. Liverpool have picked up Milan Javaonic, a solid striker who will bring some stability to Liverpool's front line. They have also signed Joe Cole, while losing Yossi Benayoun, but one must question Cole's worth after he failed to start for Chelsea and refused to sign a contract extension at Stamford Bridge due his wage demands. Speaking of Chelsea, the champions have managed to bring in Yossi Benayoun, a perfect replacement for Joe Cole, while also releasing Ballack and Belletti. The choice to release either of these two players is somewhat surprising and shocking, but Carlo appears to know what he is doing...Finally, the last of the big four, Manchester United, have brought in two young guns who will most likely spend their days sitting on the bench. Tottenham, a team which was able to break into the champion's league and end big four dominancy last season opted to not bring in anyone. Lastly, big spenders Manchester City made a number of major moves this off season. Manchester City released Martin Petrov, Benjani, and Sylvinho, to name a few; while picking up defender Aleksandar Kolarov,  midfielder Yaya Toure, midfielder David Silva, and defender Jerome Boateng. City have picked up some major players who have allowed them to be one of the best teams on paper, but lets see if Roberto Mancini can bring their talent out on the pitch. Now that we have figured out who is going to be playing where this year, let's see if they actually make an impact. 

Ahh, now for that all important predictions - 

1st - Liverpool
They have a new manager, they have all the talent and experience of a championship team. They have also waited 20 years...After last season's disgrace of a season, this team will have everything to prove and be on a course to crush all who doubt that they can contend in the modern game and that their glory days are behind them. This team has so much talent at hand and a manager who can apparently conjure up miracles, they really have no excuse this year not to take the league. 


2nd - Chelsea

As odd as it seems that they have released players like Ballack and Belletti, there is some reason in this madness. Chelsea have simply cleaned house, they have trimmed their budget and their team of extraneous players who have kept other players off the field. As much as we at the upper ninety love Ballack, he was simply not performing at the levels he should be. Chelsea played last season without Michael Essien an Yuri Zhirkhov was often injured. Either of those men can play Ballack's holding roll in midfield. With Ballack on the payroll, Chelsea would have too many midfielders, they would have to bench a world class talent, while paying a world class salary. Belletti's release makes sense in the same manner, also one must remember that Juliano wanted to leave the club and return home to Brazil. The amount of talent in this club if healthy is more than enough to win the premier league. Though, that is a very large "if"... Sadly this year Chelsea will finish a close second as they just seem of the pace already. They aren't playing as a team and their recent double success may have made them a bit too cocky...


3rd - Manchester United
They won the Community Shield but they are not going to be adding another premier league trophy to the case at Old Trafford. The team is tired of having to rely on only Wayne Rooney to score goals. Luckily, Nani and Berbatov will come into their own this season and score a number of goals. Sadly this will not be enough to propel them to the top of the premiership, they drop too many points against teams they should be crushing. This in conjunction with the strength of the top 8 teams in the league means that they will have a hard time finding a full three points. Manchester United plays to many draws and were able to eek out 1-0 wins, this trend cannot continue and many of these small wins will become draws this season. 


4th - Tottenham Hotspur 
The Spurs will hold this place, this will be much harder than it seems as Aston Villa (without Martin O'Neill) will be contenders for this spot along with Everton and Fulham. Look for this team, like Manchester United, to draw numerous games which would have been 1-0 wins and lose games which used to be draws. They will still manage to hold on to this spot and keep their champion's league spot.


6th - Arsenal 
They are still missing major parts to a championship team like experience and depth. They are also a team that is plagued by injury issues. They have managed to retain and gain talent, but they are still so young. They also only can rely on their strikers and lack depth. They are still lacking a solid defender and a goal keeper. It is my belief that Arsenal will lose their spot in the champions league, though I believe Arsenal will be able to secure one piece of silverware this year, say the Carling Cup...


7th - Manchester City 
Once again, the money spent by this team will not land them in the top 4. This team which Roberto has created has too many conflicting personalities and too many different styles of play. Splashing cash does not equal championships, they have just become the new Real Madrid and like Real (was), they are lacking leadership and players to cement this team together. They are also lacking the experience to win the title.


In terms of teams that are going down - I am not even going to make a prediction, as this is near impossible to predict. No one would have thought Newcastle would have gone down, but it happened, and there are just too many variables for this prediction. 

Sorry about the break people, but here is what you should expect -

Finally, a finished article of Real Madrid, thought Captain Fantastic took the words right out of my mouth...

Pure Class: An Article on Arjen Robben's performance during the WC and his display of class when he refused to go down under a soft challenge from Puyol

WC wonders and WC flops: A discussion of which players were truly amazing this WC and those who we had high expectations for and flopped.

Why Germany are truly the best in the World: An article by Hans Gruber (not the evil doer from Die Hard...) our newest author, his thoughts on why German consistency and their WC challenge.

 Barclay's Premier League Preview: It's that time of the year people....
(I swear to god, if you say liverpool take the title Captain Fantastic, i will beat you...with a vuvuzela...)

Another year another failure - The story of real madrid

Just an interesting aspect of the game - Real spends tons of money and goes another season without a trophy. I attempt to understand why. On its way...

Two good to be true

taken from the daily mail

If you are a blue fan...or just want to see something funny:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuvj_O7rp5E

Carlo and the Blues have done it. After a four year wait the Premier League title has returned to west london. In a season rife with scandal and and many other off field issues Chelsea have still managed to win the premiership. Chelsea started off the season with a 6 game undefeated run, they then stayed in first from week 10 to week 29 where a draw at Blackburn dropped them down to 3rd on the table. The Blues rallied and were able to win the league on the last day of the year. They also defended the FA cup allowing them to win their first double (they are the 7th team ever to accomplish this). Chelsea absolutely dominated this season. Chelsea racked up 86 points this season, an fairly large number but they still lost 6 games and drew 5. Still, they way the racked up these 86 points was what really mattered. 6 wins out of 6 against big 4 teams. 4 games won by at least 7 goals. Chelsea's defeats also came on days when they lost men to red cards. Chelsea's dominance this year cannot be seen in their point total as this year's haul is nothing compared to Mourinho's record setting total of 95. But this is due to the excellence of other teams in the league. All teams within the top 10 challenged for the number 4 spot on the table and thus gave played amazingly well against all teams, including Chelsea. The Chelsea Double is a history occasion that one cannot forget and has established Chelsea FC in the english game of football. They will no longer be the jokes of comedians or the new up and comers financed by a Billionaire. They are title contenders, this year has cemented this image of Chelsea in the eyes of England and the world.

CONGRATULATIONS TO CHELSEA

All the Money in the World...

Gareth Barry: 12 million pounds
Roque Santa Cruz: 18 million pounds
Carlos Tevez: 25 million pounds
Emmanuel Adebayor: 25 million pounds
Kolo Touré: 16 million pounds
Craig Bellamy: 14 million pounds
Ridiculous Man City scarf: 20 pounds
Not Clinching a Champion's League spot: Priceless

     Roberto Mancini's job is in question even though he has helped his team reach one of their highest premier league finishes ever. As great as a job as Mancini has done, this is just another example that proves money cannot solve everything in the world of football. A lesson Real Madrid should have learned, but continue to splash their cash and not win trophies. Apparently Sheik Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan has never heard of Real Madrid and has pumped tons of money into the team. Granted they will probably finish 5th this year instead of last years 10th, and they are going to be in the Europa League, this is doesn't necessarily mean that throwing money at a team is the answer. Manchester City have lacked consistency this year and have beaten a number of great teams while losing to teams at the bottom of the table. The team also strung together a number of wins which would then be followed by a losing streak. Manchester City was able to get a number of big name stars buy offering large salaries, but this is what separates them from the top 3 - Presence. Clubs like Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United, and Liverpool all have a presence which is know world wide. Player's join these clubs to win trophies - players who join Manchester city are shunned by these clubs and decide they wouldn't mind a large salary and a fairly tiny shot at winning a piece of silverware (Insert here the name of any Chelsea, Man U, or Arsenal reject). Manchester City cannot buy this kind of presence - you can only achieve this by history. City have done great things this year, but can this sustain this? Will they be able to take 4th next year? Well, that really depends on how they are perceived by the rest of the world. Of course City can offer Torres, Silva, and any other player a huge salary, but what would make them join the team -- these players who are the best of the best and want to win - the perception that City is a place to do it. If the rest of the world begins to believe that City is a team that will be in the top 5 yearly and will no longer just be that other team in Manchester, then they have a shot at doing something great and this will be a situation in which throwing money at a team has fixed it. Granted in this situation the money has been aimed in the right direction by the Sheik when he hired Mancini.
     I am not yet convinced that City can keep a top 5 spot as I expected more out of Villa this term and teams like Everton and Fulham have that slight presence that City are still yet to establish, and will forever be chasing a spot in Europe. Furthermore, when Liverpool is able to get in order, they will be reclaiming their top 4 spot. The Premier League is becoming harder to predict each season and this is only a great thing for football on the whole.

The End of The Big 4?

     Could this season be the end of the big 4? As an exhausted Liverpool fell to an on fire Chelsea team thanks to a back pass by Captain Fantastic (just as bad as Terry's slip...) they mathematically were eliminated from a UEFA champion's league spot. Liverpool has had a torrid season, which cannot really be blamed on Rafa or the players, but on the organization as a whole The game on Sunday summed up their season, playing hard, giving themselves a chance at winning, then watching their opponents celebrate after the final whistle. While Liverpool's implosion has been all over the media, another team that fell apart but has slipped under the radar is Arsenal. True the challenged for the title, but they lost too many games that they should have won, this puts them in an interesting position. If Man city and spurs don't tie when they play on Wednesday, it puts one of them in a position to leapfrog Arsenal and push the Gunners down to 4th. This situation could easily become a reality as Arsenal blew an early lead today leaving them at 72 points. They must play Fulham on Sunday while Spurs play already relegated Burnley. Man City will be playing almost relegated West Ham, but for City to end the season in third would require them to beat spurs then score enough goals to claim third on goal differential. A less likely situation, but if Tottenham win on Wednesday, third will be theirs to take. Arsenal would once again have to play for their chance to make it to Champion's League group stages. 

   

    Is this a good thing? Well, it is a good thing that there are more than 4 English teams capable of performing at the highest levels. This season could be the end of the big four with Liverpool barely claiming a UEFA cup spot. There is speculation that there are now a big 6, this is a silly claim to make after only one season. Furthermore, there are 6 teams that could have claimed that 4th spot. Even Fulham who are sitting 10th on the table could have easily ended 4th. Who could forget their European adventure this year in which they surpassed Roma, Juve, Wolfsburg, and finally Hamburg? The rest of the top ten could have easily taken fourth place this year with a little luck. The premier league is exploding with talent, and the end of the big four is good for the league and the world perception of the premier league. It is also good for world football in general, as it will allow more players to make their debuts on the larger stages in Europe. If this is the end of the Big Four, then I say goodbye and good riddance. 

     An interesting though just popped into my head, if Fulham do take the Europa League Championship then win the the UEFA Super cup they would gain entry to the champion's league. This would mean that the 4th place team in England wouldn't make it to the Champion's League. This could create a situation in which Arsenal also don't make an appearance in the Champions League...