Win the cup, but no more injuries please!

Surprise! Surprise! John Terry is back! Amidst news that he’s gonna be out for four weeks, we got to know yesterday that he’ll be back for the Portsmouth match. Now, the news is out that he would be available for the Carling Cup final. CFC has stated that the speed of Terry’s recovery has surprised the club’s medical department. The club doctor has apologised to Jose for providing him with misleading information about Terry’s injury. We know that he is a very strong personality and surely that would have helped to make this recovery in a flash.

As much as fans of other teams are annoyed by Jose’s repeated concerns about the injury situation in Chelsea, he does very well to make sure Chelsea’s injuries get the right kind of attention. Glenn Roeder has been as unlucky as Jose wrto the injuries, but Glenn has not made enough noise about this to let everyone know that he does his best in given circumstances. Once again, Jose Mourinho has clarified that he would stay in Chelsea and among other reasons it is also because of the ‘lovely press’ in England.

Back to the match. Surprisingly, quite a few news websites consider Arsenil as the favourites for this match. May be the fact the mauled the Pool at Anfield twice in a week, has made the experts feel that they can beat us. If we win, people would say that we are Champions of England and we are expected to this Arsenil team. If we lose, they’re gonna say that the inexperienced Arsenil team beat the millionaire champions. And also if Chelsea wins, Arsenil fans might say that no one cared about the Carling Cup and if we lose, they’ll give us no chance for any of the silverware.

Many people are very excited about Arsenil playing their second team for the Cup matches. You want to know why we are not doing it? We have a very talented bunch of youngsters in our reserves and our youth team – Sinclair, Sahar, Woods, Mancienne, Stoch, Tejara etc.

The reason why Arsenil is playing their youngsters and we are not playing ours is that the expectations of these two clubs are different. Even if Arsenal does not win anything at all this season and the next season, things will go on for the Club and Arsene Whinger. Whereas, if Chelsea draws a few matches, rumours start spreading about Jose leaving for Madrid.

The standards for trophies for Chelsea and Arsenil are different. Jose Mourinho’s winning mentality and the Club’s ambitions together mean nothing is left to chance and absolutely no charity anywhere. If Roman tells Jose that he need not win anything at all and if Jose is not too particular about winning trophies, he can do the same. If the youngsters win a trophy for you, then that’s a bonus for you.

Chelsea’s historian Rick Glanvill says:

Of the sides that finished the last games in this competition, against Spurs and Wycombe, the average age of Arsenal players was just one and a half years less than that of Chelsea’s. People overlook the fact that Mikel is 19, Diarra and Kalou are 21, Arjen Robben is 23, Cech and Essien are 24. Senderos, Adebayor and Hoyte are 22, Eboue and Aliadiere 23. Ashley Cole is 26, Lampard, Carvalho and Drogba are 28. Rosicky is 26, Almunia 29, Silva 30. There’s actually not the great age gulf the media portrays.

The ones who can tilt the average are Fabregas, Denilson and Walcott. I’m not sure if Arsene would play Denilson/Walcott against us. We did play Ben Sahar and looks like Scott Sinclair could start making his regular Chelsea appearances soon. Once someone is brought on the big stage such as this, they are all players – young and old doesnt matter much. That’s what Jose says:

In football there are no boys and no old people. Maldini is not old, Makelele is not old and Giggs is not old. They are top. And the young boys are not young, they are top. In referees, you have an age limit. In players you don’t. They play until they can’t be top anymore. And players can start at 16 and 17, there is no low age limit. So they are good players.

Well, if you’re going to include the manager’s age also for the average age, it’ll help us!

More good news ahead of the match that Ashley Cole and Robben would also be available. With Terry also back, this gives us absolute balance in the team. Most importantly, we will have genuine centre backs and Essien back in midfield. Essien’s move to central midfield would give the flexibility for Jose to drop under-performing Ballack and bring in Obi. I wish Jose does not select Ballack and Maka for this match. Please Jose, don’t please.

Sheva had a memorable match against Porto. His movement was superb and he scored with a divine finish and he created so many chances for others. You could see the confidence showing in Sheva’s moves and touches. Knowing that Arsenil does not play quite like an English premier league team (less physical and more light weight players), Sheva should find it more comfortable and should have a fantastic final against Arsenil. Drogba anyways plays well against them but bad news for him is that Senderos does not play. Anyway, I expect both Sheva and Drogba to score.

For them, Theirry ‘I’m the greatest‘ Henry does not play, while Baptista and Aliadiere might be present. The worst of football rowdies, Jens Lehmann is not playing in this match. That will spare some funny moments and some annoying moments too. Do you know that he is suspended for this match for having collected 5 yellow cards. How many goalies have got 5 yellow cards?!

For Chelsea to win this match, we need to keep three key Arsenil players under check – Hleb, Fabregas and the most dangerous Rosicky. I’m sure Jose would have instructed our players to close down Rosicky as and when he gets possession in his shooting zone. Fabregas has not been playing really well in the last few matches, may be due to fatigue. And about Hleb, dont worry, just when he starts playing well, Arsene will sub him off.

I dont think Arsenil would play Chelsea like they do with other teams. They know that we are stronger than them and can be quicker too. We should not allow them to play their natural game. Their predicatable one-touch passing game will be rudely disrupted by our excellent anticipation and interception. We should aim to win the ball in the midfield instead of allowing them to play their passes and let them screw it all up.

My prediction is 2-1 for Chelsea and Arsenil scoring a late consolation goal.

Do you know that Jose was not on the ground to celebrate his first ever Chelsea silverware? When Chelsea won the Carling Cup in 2005 against Liverpool, Jose was sent off from the dugout for his finger-on-the-lip gesture to the Liverpool fans. This is how Jose won his first Chelsea silverware:

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpVidHUC928[/video]

Silverware is silverware. It doesn’t matter if you win it for the first time, it doesn’t matter if you have won it ten times before, the feeling is always a good one.

You know who said this!