Real Madrid are champions again, and deservedly so. You can make out that I’m happier for Barca losing than Real winning. With Barca dominating the Spanish scene, I started to feel sympathetic about the los merengues. With multi-million superstars who had won almost eveything you can ask for, from champions league to world cup, it is quite natural, but not fair, that they are not highly motivated or committed. Capello deserves a round of applause for their turnaround. While there are still discussions about whether the goal difference is a better tie-breaker than the head-to-head record, you cannot take the title away from Real Madrid now.
Do you know that, since 2000, whenever Chelsea, Man Utd and Arsenal won the title in England, the Spanish title was won by Barca, Madrid and Valencia respectively – Chelsea & Barca: 04-05 & 05-06 | Man Utd & Madrid: 00-01, 02-03 & 06-07 | Arsenal & Valencia: 01-02 & 03-04. How coincidental is this?
In Chelsea news, Boss has said that he stayed back at Chelsea because he had a matured mind, or a thick skin as I read it. Anyways, nice to see him sound so respectful and apprehensive of the roles and responsibilities of various key positions in the club. We always talk about the need for the players to settle down when they arrive in a new league. It is equally important for the managers too. Apparently, the way things work in south of Europe is completely different from how it happens in England. Don’t be too excited about Jose’s interest in Benni McCarthy. Yes, he said he loves to have Benni on his side and also said that that Blackburn has hung a big ‘not for sale’ board around his neck. I’ll be jumping for joy if he does end up at Chelsea.
While I could be right about Eto’o moving to Milan, it seems that Saviola is also surely on his way out. May be Jose must be kicking himself that he went ahead and signed Pizarro before the Saviola story. Let Saviola play for anyone except Man Utd. Fergie should only sign Eidur as Saviola is technically far superior to the icelander.
Now that the league season is over in Europe, the UEFA Champions League scene is more clear. As Chelsea is a first-seeded team this time, we won’t have to face top teams in group stage and upset their chances, like we did to Barca last season. Each group will consist of one team from each block of seeded teams.
The teams that are in bold and shaded in blue are the ones that are already qualified for the group stages. The other teams will still have to play qualifying rounds. Some seeded teams can still go out in the qualification matches making way to smaller teams into group stages. The draw is on 29-June.
If you get to know any interesting transfer news, update all. Bye now.
benni could join us is what some sources say. we should swap swp for benni. in champs lge, it’ll be nice to draw sevilla just for some variety. and that coibcidence is reaaly mind blowing. i dont mind barca winning the next la liga!
swp, geremi, maka out. benni/quaresma, alex, alves in. if this happens we will win everyting in sight.
I don’t think Jose goes for Benni because he is an African. We will miss him when we miss Drogba and Salmon , so there is no reason to buy him.
About Saviola, I don’t think Jose prefered him rather than Pizarro. U guys , don’t forget who Pizarro is, the best goalsoccer in Germany.
I think Pizarro is better than Saviola.
I believe SWP will stay in chelsea one more season. However, I don’t like him.
Maysam – Benni won’t play for south africa as he is boycotting national team. So, he won’t play in the african cup.
Congrats BC for the 50000 hits!!!And thank u for this amazing blog!!!
Some transfer updates:
1.Alex has said JM wants him at the Bridge next season
2.Tevez will most probably sign for Real
3.Looserpuddle r still struggling to find somebody who wants to go a season without anything
4.Gudjohnsen wld come to the prem either N’castle or Manu
5.Arsey r sweatin it out to sign Sagna
6.Forlan is goin to choose between Sunderland , Lpuddle and believe it or not…..Manu
7.Henry to Inter , AC, or Barca
8.Gabby Milito of Zaragoza to Juve!!!!!!!!!!!
What is the status ouf our Alex transfer? I still hear rumblings that we will land the young brazillian. Will we get him? Will he be a good fit?
Blue Champions. Thank you, it is really good to know.
i did not know that.
but i don’t think Chlesea needs another Stricker.
By the way, Could you please tell me Why Benni does not play for his international team anymore?
it was me, I forogt to write down my name . :D
mgelz, I love Alex’s play, he is extremely solid in the back, good with his head and in the air, and is fantastic overall. He’s as good as Ricardo. But to call him the “young brazilian” is not so appropriate… he’s 25, so not too young compared to some others. Just call him his proper nickname, “The Tank.”
To be honest, I have never watched alex games.
but comparing him with Ricardo is kind of exaggeration.
if you ask me, I will tell you Ricardo was even better than terry last season. I don’t know if he really plays like Carvaliho , I will gurantee we won’t have any problem in defense anymore.
Annual after season report card…….
JM–7/10…..Sometimes far too arrogant to admit his mistakes but by and large a good season , some great tactics and subs but the squad size decided was too small , which proved our bane!!!!
P.Cech–9/10…..dont know how many points he cld hav saved us but surely we missed him a hell lot during that festive period , and acc to me we lost the title there , excellent shot stopper , reflexes and turned out to be a notch better after recovery!!!!!
W.Bridge–8/10…..proved why i like him so much , excellent crosses , great cover defence and much better than A.Cole at any rate!!!!
A.Cole–6/10……mostly inconsistent throughout ,scored a crucial own goal , was found wanting in defence on quite a few ocassions , not such a great crosser , but ability to find Drof whenever and wherever was the saving grace!!!
J.Terry–4/10…..the worst season for Terry by a huge margin , he was porous , injured , laclusture and poor in every respect , and worst of all was that he was nowhere when the team needed him , even after recovering from his injury he was too poor and slow!!!!
R.Carvalho–10/10……he couldnt hav put a foot wrong this season , rock solid in defence , strong in the box , awesome in the air , and his bravery was worth a hundred medals , scored some crucial goals , absolute livewire , standing applause!!!!
K.Boulahrouz–1/10……some of u might be wondering how he got that 1 . wel it was solely for his performance against Barca , being slow and poor is an understatement , he was pathetic in defence , injured whenever u needed him , and got red-carded in our most imp game , i say put him on the first flight in a suitcase as soon as a club even mentions to sign him , dont worry even if they wanna give .50$ for him , i wld be more than glad to see him go!!!!
P.Ferreira–4.5/10……he is too slow and weak for the premiership but came up with some good displays when needed , its abt time JM understands his mistake and sell him before we run out of buyers!!!!
Geremi–4/10…..he is versatile but we need better players than him , sell him to Boro and get it over with , he is simply not good enough for CFC!!!!
F.Lampard–7/10…..he is superfrank in every respect , he is superfit , scores so many goals and by and large very consistent , but he is not the most gifted and seems to be running out of steam , needs help and fast!!!!
M.Ballack–6/10…..we all know how good Michael can be on his day , he is better than any midfielder u can name except for Kaka , but he just cant produce the required goods , hopefully we will see the real Ballack this season!!!
Totally Agree with u JB!!!
Our best players this season have undoubtedly been Ricardo and Essien!!!! these guys could just not put a foot wrong! While Drogs had a superb season, I still think he needs to find a way to get his strike partner more involved in the games!!! I think a lack of goals cost us dearly this season! We just did not score enough goals! Drogs did good tho!
well , JB you are correct but I don’t agree with you on p.Ferreira. he was not that bad. ofcourse he is not good enough to play in first the line-up but he is good enough to convince JM to keep him.
I think that the analysis was mostly correct. A few of the studs you forgot to mention however were mikel and essien. I feel that Jon Obi Mikel will play a much larger role this season and given more playing time from what i’ve seen he could shine. He is extremely strong on the ball, in amazing shape, and rarely makes a bad pass. Essien what can we say about Essien? He was fantastic in every respect.
Thanks guys and here goes the part 2 of the report……..
J.O.MIKEL–8/10……The find of the season , excellent ball control and distribution , passing and a good physique which we will all see come into play in the coming seasons, just needs to keep his cool and be calm and has to learn to join up Lamps in attack!!!!!
M.ESSIEN–10/10……Do i hav to say anything???? Stamina , strength , ball control , power , he can play RB, CB, CM , CDM CAM , can score crucial goals , the best midfielder in the world by a mile!!!! Some call him the TRAIN , others the-BULL , how abt the BULL(ET) TRAIN!!!!!LOL!!!
L.DIARRA–6/10…..Talented no doubt , but we hav to wait and see how he developes , looks confident and mature , but has the habit of getting booked more than not , maybe lack of maturity , but surely can become one of the best!!!
C.MAKELELE–5/10…….Surely a player at the horizon of his career , lacks the pace and strenght now, cant play 90 minutes , and has lost his reflexive tackles, surely spiralling down a brilliant career , fading but not forgotten!!!
D.DROGBA–9.5/10…….The best striker in the world, power , speed , strength , ball control , u name it , just needs to get rid of his party tricks and looses the ball too often , but hey , nobodys perfect , and DD comes real close!!!!
S.KALOU–6.5/10……Good prospect , has speed , skills and aint scared to use them and even has scored some vital goals, though i still do not believe he is an out and out striker until he joins Drogba in the gym!!!!
SWP–5.5/10……..Proved he aint good enough for CFC, sometimes produced moments of brilliance ,but is still not good enough or consistent enough to stay at CFC!!!!!
J.COLE–6/10…….He is indespensible, the tricks , style ,creativity and assists are unique , he adds flair to CFC , how we suffered without him is as clear as we can see England struggling without him!!!!!But he needs to pip up his fitness a bit as we dont hav any subs for him!!!
A.ROBEN–5/10……Has all the class to be one of the worlds best , but has to improve his fitness by a mountain , very inconsistent and undependable , and wasant there whenever the team needed him the most , either he improves or shld be kicked out!!!!
A.SHEVCHENKO–5/10……Huge dissapointment, only 3 goals in the EPL, i wont say i told u so , or that i was right in saying leting Crespo out and Sheva in was a mistake but whats happened cannot be changed , so lets hope for the best and hope that Shev wld be back to his attacking best , if he stays that is!!!!
Chelsea bringing in Pato and Dutch U-21
LB(can’t remember name…)
His name is Royston Drenthe and he plays for Feyenoord. He is a right back and can also play as a right winger. In fact, he was part of the Dutch U21 side that scored the thrilling 23-penalty shoot out against England U21 yesterday.
“You can make out that I’m happier for Barca losing than Real winning. With Barca dominating the Spanish scene, I started to feel sympathetic about the los merengues”
That said, you might have been happy about Man utd winning the title this year then, no? (or are you willing to be a hypocrite just this once) Think about it :)
Hey Red Ranter. Nice to have you here.
When it comes to Premiership, passion beats logic hands down. I dont mind even if Chelsea keeps winning quadruple year after year, I wont be bored. Am I a hypocrite? Of course yes. Who’s not?