Thanks to Joeblue for reminding me of this piece, which has been long overdue. I’ve tried to rate as many players as possible here. This is supposed to be a reflection of the matches they had played this season, for instance, if someone played only 3 matches and were fantastic in all three, they’d get a good rating despite the fact that law of averages would have caught them later on. I’m using the BBC rater as that seems to be a good standard for rating football performances. Here we go.

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Petr Cech - 10/10 – He was near perfect all season. The very few goals we conceded when he was on goal and the even fewer defeats when he was on, were a true testimony of his incredible quality. In many matches, he was simply the difference between victory and defeat. If we had not lost him to injury, probably we could have been champions.

Carlo Cudicini – 7/10 – Carlo was quite good in Cech’s absence but was always second best and you could always see his shortcomings as he’s always compared to the 10/10 man. The first goal we conceded this season (Riise in the community shield) was his error and for some reason I’m unable to forget that!

Henrique Hilario – 6/10 – He was thrown in like a gladiator, in the world of high quality football, where two keepers were sent to the hospital in the space of 90 minutes. For his limited quality and exposure, he did quite well but his frequent ‘momentary madness’ due to inexperience cost us quite dearly. For a goal keeper, 6/10 is quite a low score, anything lesser we should have finished 3rd or 4th.

Ashley Cole – 7/10 – He was good all along. They way he linked up with Drogba did produce some important match winning goals. This was a very difficult season for him having moved on from Arsenal after some bitter episodes. He put all that behind gave his heart out for us. I never saw anything less than 100% from him.

Wayne Bridge – 7/10 – When all, probably including himself, expected him to warm the bench, he had to play a lot of matches not only because of Cole’s injury but also because he played superbly. While I was not too comfortable with him dealing with the right wingers, his crossing and attacking were superb. If we were to include decimals in these rating, I’d rate him half a point above Cole.

Ricardo Carvalho – 9/10 – Could have run in for the player of the season, if he had played all season. He was the anchor of our defence this season. Sometimes, when he makes tackles and interceptions, I admire at the way he makes defence look so simple. Barring very few errors, he played a colossal part in holding our defence, not only in Terry absence, also when he was around.

John Terry - 7/10 – Overall, it was a good season for him. He has set his standards so high that a minor slip from his standard is seen very critically. I felt that post-injury his form was very volatile but has always been captain courageous.

Khalid Boulahrouz – 4/10 – Started off brightly by taming the best footballer of the world but struggled poorly against the not-so-world class premiership forwards. Looked clearly out of league and just when he was called back and was played impressively, got injured and was out for weeks. Comes back, plays poorly, concedes a penalty, gets a red card – what can you say.

Paulo Ferreira – 5/10 – Apart from his late cameo, there was not any noteworthy contribution. He had loads of chances to have caught on the right back role and to make the place his own, but he allowed to Geremi and Diarra to climb up and replace him even for some high profile matches. If his season had ended in March, he’d have got 3 or 4.

Njitap Geremi – 5/10 – He had his moments and all his crosses seem to end in goals but all that was for few matches only. He could never achieve that consistency to keep his place safe in the right back and also in the team. For a right back, he lacked certain qualities and was found wanting against good oppositions.

Lassana Diarra – 7/10 - He had a good season at the right back. He had the pace, the bravery and everything you’d like to see in a young player and he also had all those other things you’d associate with youth players – inconsistency, brashness and impatience. He played well in a series of matches and it just took one poor performance to pull his form down. Very bright prospect and should do a lot well next season.

Obi Mikel – 9/10 – Still wonder why he was not even shortlisted for the ‘best young player of the premiership’ award which finally went to Cesc who did no better than Mikel in terms of contribution to the team and its results. There was enough drama in the beginining of this season with his poor behaviour, Jose punishing him, his red card against Reading etc. When he came back, he came back with so much vengeance that he was simply a joy to watch in whichever role was given to him. He’d be a great great player, if he is always guided and coached by someone like Jose.

Michael Essien – 9/10 – If he had played in the midfield all season, he’d have got 10/10 for sure. Before the start of the season, if someone had told me that Essien would make more than a dozen starts as centre back, I’d have laughed off. Jose had the idea and Essien was man enough to make that sacrifice and execute his boss’ orders to near perfection. In the midfield, he is absolutely unstoppable and makes me feel we are playing with 12 men. And well, he is my player of the next season.

Claude Makelele - 5/10 – ‘Off colour’ is the best way to put his performance this season. Too many fundamental errors creeping into his game nowadays. Apart from a couple of matches, his performance was deficient. May be Essien’s genius and Mikel’s emergence have played a role in his gradual downfall. May be his best years have gone and we should be happy that those were spent with Chelsea.

Frank Lampard – 7/10 – Ask the managers of other clubs if they’d like to have a midfielder who can play 54 matches in a season with 21 goals and 16 assists – there’d be a stampede. Truly speaking, he was getting more and more tired towards March and April itself. But for his fatigued football, he was delivering his usual stuff with his usual regularity. As always, he was a great contributor for our results. He even toned down his long-shooting instincts as the season progressed along but still ended up with 21 goals.

Michael Ballack – 6/10 - After a few pathetic performances, he improved greatly as he began to understand the Chelsea system and Premiership football. His absence was genuinely felt when he was out on injury. Ballack can be the answer to the perceived lack of creativity in the Chelsea midfield. He’ll come back with a bang and I’d put my money on Ballack to get a 8/10 next season.

Joe Cole – 6/10 – We waited for him so long and when he arrived, he lacked match practice and full fitness. But he sure showed a lot of promise in the games he played but couldn’t quite set things on fire.

Shaun Wright-Phillips – 7/10 – Had his best Chelsea season so far. Played a lot of matches and scored some fantastic goals. Still I feel that I rate him 7 because of the long absences of Joey and Robben and also because of his past performances with Chelsea. He had all the chances to be an 8/10 but only if he goes past the defender and delivers the final ball.

Arjen Robben – 6/10 – Having a gifted player and missing him every second week due to some niggling injury or the other was really frustrating. He had a few matches where he was simply brilliant and was a constant pain in the defenders’ butt. In a season where your striker is in top form, as a winger he could have done lots more.

Salomon Kalou – 6/10 – Adapted well to the new league but unable to really make a big impact so far. The kind of pressure he faced this season must have been really heart-thumping when you compare his stint with Feyenoord, which does not even challenge for the title in Eredivisie. Lacked composure in front of the goal and should have a better conversion ratio if he wants to play first team football. He’s young and skilled and he can only improve.

Andriy Shevchenko – 5/10 – Ended up scoring 14 goals in all. If it was some ‘mickey mouse’ striker (borrowing Jose’s line here), he might have got 6/10 for the same performance. Typical new league struggle of the first season. Unfortunately, he was always under pressure from the media and it must have been awfully difficult to think about what’s gonna be there in tomorrow’s newspapers. His 30-million tag, Drogba’s super season and Chelsea’s dropping the title – all these collectively could not pull his score beyond 5 at the max.

Didier Drogba – 10/10 – This was his dream season. Right now, his name should feature in the top 5 strikers in Europe (some say No.1) while he would not have been there in the top 15 last season. That shows his towering improvement. Some truly incredible goals, great match winning performances, helping the team in the defence when he had to – he was simply stunning. He was the torch bearer for Chelsea and his spirit and never say attitude was highly contagious. He gave the team a lot more intangibles apart from his 33 goals and 9 assists.

Scott Sinclair - 6/10 - Had a superb season with Argyle Plymouth and also scored that wondergoal (i haven’t seen many like that!). With the limited chances that were given, he did rather well. With Jose hinting more first team football next season for him, I’m already excited.

Ben Sahar - 6/10 – Same as Sinclair. Having won the Carling Cup and FA Cup this season, I think Jose would leave the domestic cups to Sahar and Sinclair, which can bring out the best in them. This Israeli superstar would be happier that his international team mate Tal has joined the Blues. By playing alongside greats like Sheva and Drogba, he’s going to grow exponentially.

Jose Mourinho - 8/10 – Most difficult season under a huge weight of expectations from fans and the club. If you realise that we got a lot of crucial results by tactics and sheer spirit and mentality, you know who should get the credit. With some extra support (couple of purchases and more verbal support and clarity on his future) from the Board, he’d have done the incredible quadruple, after all we were terribly close. Next season, you’ll see ‘The Return of the Special One’.

{democracy:43}