News - Written by BlueChampion on Saturday, October 6, 2007 11:02 | 2,217 Views | 39 Comments | Add Comment
Bolton vs Chelsea | 07-Oct-07 @ 15:00 UK
We take on Bolton at the Reebok stadium on Sunday and going by current form, we should count the eggs before they’re hatched (Ah, Jose!). The interesting thing is, the last time we scored in premier league was on Aug 25 against Pompey. Yes, we could not score a single goal in premier league in the month of September! How strange! Things change rapidly and all it takes is only a good win. Prayers are answered finally - Super Frank is back. Since Lampard is back, we won’t have Drogba and Mikel due to their red cards (for God’s sake, why can’t we have the complete first-choice team for once?).
First thing to discuss is Avram and his claim of independence. It appears that Avram is independent and has the freedom with regards to the transfers of his staff and players. At least he claims so. Strange that Jose never categorically said that he has this kind of freedom and in fact, had been hinting and suggesting the opposite. There are more and more stories appearing about how Jose was over-ruled in transfer decisions in the last two seasons - Jose did not want to sell Gallas, Gudjohnsen, Huth, Duff and Robben. Jose did not want to buy Sheva, Khalid, Ben Haim and Alex. Jose wanted to buy Eto’o, Villa, Dani Alves, Miguel and Milan Baros but was denied. These are still tribalfootball brand of theories but nowadays tribalfootball’s hit rate of rumours becoming news has improved tremendously, hasn’t it?
Avram says that he needs an assistant with English football knowledge and one from Europe. Steve Clarke would be the one for England but there are reasons to believe that he won’t see the end of this month in Chelsea. The Ajax man Ten Cate would most probably join us as the assistant coach for Avram. With whatever I’ve heard of Ten Cate, I believe he is a strong personality and can even overshadow Avram. Our coach confirms that he, not Ten Cate, would be head coach of Chelsea. Sounds familiar?
About Ten Cate, Avram says:
He has a good record, he is a nice person, and I’ve met him before. He knows football, and when I look for an assistant for Chelsea I want an assistant from top of the line, because he needs to work under me and to understand modern football and modern systems of training. It’s my decision, I am in charge of myself, my staff and my players. Any decision about my staff and my players is my decision.
Read that line about modern football and modern training systems? Now I can link to the rumour that Chelsea players were complaining that Avram’s methods of training is about two decades old or very modern in Israeli football but not quite so in the UK. Avram methods are primitive and Ten Cate’s are modern. They can either complement each other’s skill or end up disagreeing on virtually everything. I hope that Avram, Steve, Ten Cate and Frank Arnesen do not end up in a ego war and make things worse.
Back to this match, Lampard is here and I can’t tell you how relieved I am. When Jose said ‘with Drogba and Lampard, we are talking about 50% of the Chelsea goals’, that was not an excuse, that was a raw fact. That’s the case with many teams. The top two goalscorers would contribute/score about half of the goals. Drogba is out this match only because of a suspension. Once he is back, with Lampard and Drogba, we should be right back on track. Oh wait, I just realised we cannot wait till the next match, we have to win this match. In fact, unless we come up with a 10-match winning streak or more, we won’t be catching those teams that whizzed past us.
Coming back from an unjury, will Lampard help us win the match? Absolutely. Out of the 100+ matches I’ve seen Lampard play, there were very very few matches where he was ineffective. Otherwise, he always comes up with his goods. His commitment and all-round dedication and spirit were the reasons why he was such a darling of Jose Mourinho. Call me whatever, I believe he would score tomorrow!
If Avram drops Sheva for this match, I’d think he has the freedom to choose his team. I don’t think Sheva merits a chance by his form and the form of the ones competing with him. Kalou has been awfully wasteful in front of the goal, but he is just 21 and I believe he can be a great player one day. Kalou at least beats defenders, creates chances and gets some free kicks in crucial areas. Sheva on the other hand, makes me feel that we are playing with one man short straightaway. I’ve been on Sheva’s side for too long hoping that his class will prevail and he’d get back to his Milan form. The cost of his settling down has been very expensive for us. As we are already trailing by a huge gap at this stage, I don’t think there is any room for experimentation or accommodation.
Pizarro has been quite productive given the limited opportunities he has had. Unfortunately, no one considers him for a start as the only striker in a Chelsea shirt. For this match, I’d play 4-3-3 with Pizarro as the lone striker with Kalou in the bench. Sheva should be out of the squad until he really shows the sharpness in the training that makes Avram believe that he can do a good job. Until then, he can be the spokesperson or interpreter or whatever.
The back four should be Terry, Carvalho (hope that golf ball on his forehead is gone!), Ashley Cole and Belletti. In the midfield, I’d go for the rejuvenated Makelele, raring-to-go Lampard and Sidwell. The front three are Pizarro, Joe Cole and Malouda. Or alternatively Joe Cole can replace Sidwell and Kalou can play as a winger or swap places with Pizarro, moving him to the wings.
There are always some opponents that, as a fan, you’d fear, you won’t want them to play, you know they’ll getcha. In my list, I also have Anelka. The man who stood between us and an incredible ‘unbeaten’ season in 2004-05. Whenever he plays, against anyone, I feel that he’s gonna score, sooner or later. Maka feels the same way:
In the league, for me he is one of the best. He is quick, sharp in front of goal, a good player, he has everything. He’s one player Chelsea need to be careful of for 90 minutes.
Well, I believe he meant 90 minutes plus stoppage time ;-)
Bolton are struggling and languishing at the relegation zone. They have not looked the same team since their successful manager left. They still have all the key players of the previous season and still a dangerous team. I’m talking about Bolton here. The Reebok stadium has some wonderful memories for any Chelsea fan. What a place for Super Frank to make a come back!
Short expectation on the outcome: I don’t think we will concede any goals. I’m sure we’ll score as the full-strength defence and in-form Maka, give the rest the license to attack freely. If we score in the first half, we’d score in the second too. Otherwise, we may just score once. 1-0 for Chelsea, 2-0 if I wake up on the right side of my bed.
[tags]Chelsea, Bolton Wanderers, Reebok Stadium, Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba, Obi Mikel, Avram Grant, Ten Cate, Steve Clarke, Makelele, Pizarro, Kalou, Premier League, Premiership[/tags]
39 Comments
1. Maysam
2. Maysam
Bolton 0-0 Chelsea.
I believe we should start like this:
——————–Cech———————
Belletti—–Terry——-Carvaliho—Ashly
Malouda—-Sidwell—Maka—–Kalou—
————Sheva—–Pizzarro————
well it depends how Pizarro did in trainings, and How well Malouda can play on right side.
this way, we are able to change the game with introducing J.Cole
but if we start with J Cole and Kalou , Bolton can read our play easilly because we practically don’t have anybody on bench to change the game.
but i think Grant will choose this line up
——————–Cech———————-
Belletti——Terry—-Carvaliho—Ashly
J Cole—–Maka—–Sidwell—Malouda-
———-Sheva—–Kalou—————-
then in second half when we can not score he will bring Pizarro in and bring sidwell out.however it does not work out.
I hope we win this game
3. TrueBlueInd
Hi guys,
If lampard plays, our chance of winning goes up..he really makes a hugeeeeee impact…we saw how our team suffered in his absence over the last couple of weeks…
Bolton..19th place in the league…We have to win..we failed to beat Fulham last week..this is a must win situation now..
Even in the present situation the EPL looks like a distant dream..any more points dropped n we will be struggling even for a top 4 finish..
I would prefer a 4-4-2 line up
————-Cech—————–
Beletti—-Ricky———JT——Ashley
Joe——-Lampard——Sidwell—Malouda
———-Sheva——–Kalou———-
wats the news on Shaun n essien…are they fit????
Cmon Chelsea..lets start a winning run of 10 games or more…
4. True Blue Fusion
@Maysam
Essien And Lamps[gaurantee on bench assured,90% will start caus terry and lamps are super humans and they don't want to miss a single moment on the bitch] Are Available
CFC Team
———-
Cech
Belletti/Ferreira———-Carvalho———–Terry——–Cole–
————–Makelele——————————-
Essien——–Lampard/Sidwell—-Joe—-Sheva——Malouda
Bench
——
Cudicini
Pizza
Kalou
Lampard/Sidwell[whover doesn't start]
Alex
Formation Explained[4-3-3 modified]
——————–
Belletti/Ferreira……….Entirely dependent on grant…Ferreira is better defense…..Belletti If attack is preference
Makelele———-May be substituted with read sidwell or lampard and essien swappin the position with the substitute
sheva wil start……….caus grant will be under pressure from you know who and he cannot operate as a winger so lone striker is the only option……….pizarro is a supporting striker………don’t see any sense in playing him as lone striker.
joe should start caus he is a good strike option
very decent squad……….should win the match easily………..my predictions 2-0 in favour of cfc
5. Johnarejr
I like Chelsea’s chances against Bolton. This may be a good game for Sheva to start alongside either Kalou or Pizzaro. However, if he looks as bad as he did against Fulham, perhaps he should be sold to Real Salt Lake since he wants to help out American football one day.
6. Mike Ayad
If essien is fit i will pik this team
———cech———-
belletti——jt—–carvalho——-cole
——————————————-
cole——-lampsy——essien——–malouda
————-sheva——kalou————–
if essien isnt fit ill go with maka so that lampard can have the freedom to attack
7. FleetofFoot
I’m assuming Essien is fit to play for this match considering he played almost the full time against Valencia in our Champions League match. I’m imagining he’ll play, hopefully alongside Lamps as part of a 4-4-2 something like the one below.
—————–Cech—————–
Belletti–Terry–Carvalho–A. Cole
———Lampard–Essien———–
J. Cole———————-Malouda
——-Kalou———–Pizarro——-
Subs: Cudicini, Alex, Makalele, Sinclair, Shevchenko
Sadly, I imagine Shevchenko will end up starting alongside Kalou, but who knows.
8. Nihongo Blue
BC even in ur fav firefox i m facing prob.. y is screen left tilted and text invisible :o
Nihongo Blue! Are you sure? Sometimes when we put in our formation with so many consecutive hyphens, the comments section goes a little awry but I modify the comments a little bit. Is it ok now?
10. zummer
2-1 for us. malouda and lampard. campo for them.
11. Owonatty
line up and Prediction:
Cech
Belleti - Calvaho - Terry - A.cole
J.cole-Essien(if fit)/Maka-Lampard(if fit)/Sidwell- Mouluda
Pizzaro Sheva
Subs: Alex, Cudicini, Kalou, Sinclair +1
We should be winning by 2-1 .
Up Blues
12. Anonymous
0-2 for me .. (J.Cole/Pizzarro)
13. Jumbo
Grant should drop Sheva, Sidwell and Ferreira. Or at least not play Sheva up front as a sole striker.
Joe Cole must start.
A clean sheet and a scoring win please!
14. Blue Champion
Jumbo - Is there a ‘non-scoring win’ as well ;-)
15. CFC
i think we shud start somthing like this
————-Cech—————–
Beletti—-Ricky———JT——Ashley
————makalele———
Joe——-Lampard———Malouda
———-Pizz——–Kalou———-
i dont know if essien is fit enough to play. sheva only deserves a place on bench.
subs. carlo, alex, benhaim, sidwell, sheva.
16. crew
essien is not fit. so is swp. i think we have already risked terry, carvalho, drogba. that’s enuf.
17. Nihongo Blue
its fine BC now .. thanks
i expect maka to score in this match 
18. Essien=FREAK
I’d go for a 4-3-3 in this one. This team if perfect, it has balance with make as the holding midfielder, Essien puishing up from the midfield position and super FRank playign attaking midfielder. Cole and malouda flanking pizarro looks right. You could go either way with pizarro or sheva.
———–Cech————
—Belletti–Carvy–JT— Cole
—–Maka—-Essien—–
——–Lampard——-
–J.Cole————–Malouda–
————Pizarro————
19. bestboyvijay
this is the first time i am posting on this forum. i feel this time we might score from a set piece with JT heading it in. i also feel that by half time they score and we play with 3 strikers in the second half resulting in an 1-3 victory for us. i feel this might be the turning point in sheva’s career and he can be one of the legends for chelsea. i also feel that he might start a rich goal scoring form from this match( i amy sound like an ultra optimistic guy / an future teller). hopefully we can go from strength to strength from here and maybe we might just win the champions league( going by the form of real madrid and ac milan). but thats still a long way of.so hail blues……………
20. Anonymous
i bet the starting line up will be
–cech–
belleti–carvalho–terry–a.cole
j.cole–essien–lampard–malouda
pizzaro–sheva
21. chelsea 4 ever
i luv essien but guys just watch him if u wana play thru de midfield essien isnt ur man he is awful back 2 goal, mikel is amazin i no hes suspended maka is gud lamps shud b okk malouda decent j.cole’s awryt also dats de midfield sheva shud play wiv a big man pizzaro kalou is awful!!! terry nd alex we need sum height nd alex is raw!! carvalho shud hve a break after that bruise lol ferreira nd ashley gta b de team!!!
CECH
FERREIRA ALEX TERRY COLE
MAKALELE
COLE MALOUDA
LAMPS
SHEVA
PIZZARO
PIZZARO BETA PRODUCE DE GUDS HE LUKS SHIT!!!
22. Blu Rehman
Build up to any Chelsea game is full of Speculation these days, it is exciting not to know what will happen on one side and on the other hand claims & counter claims regarding new coaches. Assistant coaches & managers surround the Bridge. However coming of a great win a Mestalla certainly did well for my confidence, its up to 20% hope we can manage to take it to 80% for my & the millions of other faithful’s sake.
The week in running has been clouded by two personalities;
1- AVRAM
2- TEN CATE
Avram stated on the 5th of Oct 2007 (extracts from his statement from The Sun):
“I’ll do it my way”!! (whatever that means)
Than further adding:
“All my life I have been forced to prove my self”
Cool, now we know that its not just the JM & CFC faithful that have questioned AV’s credibility, for sure it’s a routine thing for AV to be criticized like this, however it is unclear that has he been able to prove himself with respect to the continuous barrage of questions against his capabilities. I wonder??
The above to statements were followed on by headlines stating that “AV is the boss”, all of these had to be made because of one more important character sprouting in the headlines which is Mr. Henk Ten Cate, the Ajax coach who does complete the majority take over of this English club by the Dutch, now CFC is truly a Royal Dutch club.
Before I could believe that Ten Cate was going to join the Chelsea I was forced to reckon with the news flash that he has decided not to move from Ajax, while most interestingly the news flash was just after a statement by Ten Cate that he would like to rebuild the Chelsea side into an aggressive & attacking team. I really don’t appreciate this buzz term of attacking football as it is not possible to be attacking all the time in a 64-65 match campaign, it’s supposed to be “calculated aggression” not “crazy obsession”.
Than you had the CFC website out of the blues denying the Russian coach being given a job at Chelsea. A complete mess up of my attempts to come up with some sense in these troubled times. I have rated these days as the most difficult for all blues fans that are being subjugated to so much speculation after the great trauma we had to face of JM leaving the bridge. Stability in thought, strategy & actions are required and the true master be revealed.
BOLTON Vs CHELSEA
The confidence boost that we have had after the champions league result will make an impact on our game today however the exclusion of Drogba & Mikel would make the blues job a little difficult.
Considering the position of Bolton in the league it won’t be a huge hassle to win this game however Maka has shown his confidence in at least Anelka’s abilities.
Defensively with Terry and Ricardo being protected by Maka looks very secure, however moving up a little if Essien is not playing alongside Malouda & Joe Cole than it becomes a little alarming. I would trade Essien’s injury in this game foe Sidwell with clear instructions of moving forward rather than assisting Maka.
As far as CAM for Chelsea is concerned today than be aware of the facts that LAMPS is back!!! A real boost for our odds which would mean that I do agree to the suggestion that a lone striker would do for today’s match & it should be Pizzario rather than lack luster Sheva.
If we waste our precious first half with Sheva not scoring and Kalou missing than this PL campaign is history as we cannot afford any draws & losses. Next year qualifying for the CL is not an option for us, however in my part of the world the say;
“On the people who ride valiantly fall”, so parking you with this thought before theis important and wishing the blues loads of luck.
23. joeblue
Cech
Beletti——-JT——Carvy/Alex——–A.Cole
Joey Cole–Lampard/Sidwell–Essien/Makelele–Malouda
———Sheva————Kalou
This is not my preferable lineup but its what (i suppose) AG wld choose , no Pizarro cuz i dunno he aint a fav with the coach for some reason (thogh Kalou is so crap) , Sheva is satrting 100 percent , Joey and Maloda wld be allowed to develop their excellent partnership and understanding , Lampard and Essien if fit otherwise Sidwell and Maka wld be the subs in , Beletti is usually prefered in the EPL(while Paolo gets the nod in the CL maybe cuz his exp , even thogh i dont like that guy at all) , JT is sure , Alex if Carvy dosent feel too fit no need risking him if he is not ready , and Bridge wld be my choice if Lampard dosent play as both wings wld be very strong and attacking while the two centre midfielders can sit back!!!
Sheva to score , Chelsea win 2-1!!!
Keep the blue flag high………………
24. joeblue
oh and i m tired of only super Frank and Drog being given the responsability to score always , hello ppl pull up ur socks and just bang in some goals , anybody , please step up and do it , how releaving to kno if somebody else CAN score that is!!!
And Joey Cole shld be soon elivated , make him Vice-Vice captain or something , let him lead the team in the Carling cup , English lad , young , talented , been here and done that , abt time he knos its HIS team and he is no longer the brash kid , if Grant does that expect Joey to become double the player he is , much more mature and of course , another crux of the team!!!
P.S——Mikel IS so crap , and so overrated , not worth being a Chelsea player , neither the attitude nor the ability to play big games and become a big player , Kalou is the same !!!
25. trueblue
PC
AC-JT-RC-JB
CM-SS(Sidwell)-FL
JC-CP-SWP
Subs: FM-SK-SS(Sinclair)
26. Blue Champion
joeblue
If Sheva is selected today and does not score, what will be your verdict on him?
As regards Kalou and Mikel, I won’t jump to a conclusion so soon. They are just around 20 years. There were so may great players who did not show their potential at 20 but became greats by the time they were 28 or so. Mikel was brilliant last season but he needs a lot of guidance and kicks in the butt.
27. rupert
arsenal managed to beat sunderland 3-2. if they manage to get 4 points out fo the matches against liv and manu this month, thdy’re gonna finish on top. i just hate this.
28. Owonatty
Thats the today’s line up and the oppositions too.
Chelsea will line-up in a 4-3-3 formation as follows:
1 Petr Cech
35 Juliano Belletti
6 Ricardo Carvalho
26 John Terry (c)
3 Ashley Cole
9 Steve Sidwell
4 Claude Makelele
8 Frank Lampard
10 Joe Cole
21 Salomon Kalou
15 Florent Malouda
Substitutes: 23 Carlo Cudicini, 20 Paulo Ferreira, 22 Tal Ben-Haim, 7 Andriy Shevchenko, 14 Claudio Pizarro.
Bolton are expected to line-up in the following 4-3-3 formation:
Subs: Jaaskelainen; J O’Brien, Meite, A O’Brien, Gardner; Guthrie, Campo, McCann; Davies (c), Anelka, Diouf.
Subs: Al Habsi, Cid, Stelios, Wilhelmsson, Braaten
The referee is Alan Wiley.
We should win with the return of lampard and the back four include belleti will help so much.
Blues till I die
29. Blue Champion
Exactly my team, except for Kalou! Good job Avram ;-)
30. blueboy
lol, i would have put both kalou and pizarro in and dropped sidwell….i have a feeling kalou and pizarro would work well as a partnership
31. joeblue
hello BC ,
my view on Shev is that he is too old to set the EPL on fire , he has lost that sudden pace that used to brush away defenders(Torres reminds me of a young Sheva thogh) , but he is still capable of scoring at least 15 goals a season(overall) , if he dosent score 2day then he shld be put on the bench for the next one and so on, our biggest problem has been the inability to find young, talented players who can step up when needed and later on become gr8 players(Fabregas ,Diaby , Persie)!!
Mikel had a few very good games but he is getting to 20 , Kalou is edging towards 22 and neither show any signs of greatness or superior ability , u r right in saying that many players become gr8 by 28-30 , but that never happens in the same lg ,only when they change leagues and settle into another style!!!
And even then they have neither repaid the faith , the money or the backing to even 1 percent , by now atleast we shld hav seen them as future talent but they dont show even that temperament to become better , one cant see any difference , any maturity gained by them , they r the same players match after match , Mikel can keep on with his rashness and his inability to do anything but tackle the man with(out) the ball, he was near disgraceful agnst Valencia(which is his regular performance) and Kalou makes shooting in an open goal look impossible!!!
They dont show any motivation or pride in wearing that blue jersey , which is intolerable acc to me!!!
32. Anonymous
still 0-0 after 15′ aafter a bad start, we are decent at the moment
33. blueblood58
Malouda has hit the bar and the team is:
Cech
Belletti
Carvalho
JT
A Cole
J Cole
Frank Lampard
Sidwell
Makelele
Kalou
Malouda
easy 4-4-2 to a 4-3-3
subs: Carlo, Ferreira, Ben-Haim, Sheva, Pizarro
38mins still 0-0
34. Anonymous
0-1. Kalou @ 41′. super goal.
35. Blues_Godson
kalou just scored a nice goal…am happy he finall knows where the goal post hi…
36. Owonatty
Joeblue:
I think Kalou is being given his chance today. And very soon you are going to see the best of Mikel and Kalou. They both need more matches and need more tactical advice on improvement. I really understand how you are feeling JOEBLUE. But CFC is not arsenal and we are not playing the style of football they play. Arsenal’s style of football can easily improve young players.
We really need to have patience with them and they will be developed into big stars.
The match is still 1-0 in favour of CFC powered by Kalou as a lone striker upfront. He’s still not doing badly. Both of them you mentioned need to be given more time and responsibility to show what they worth.
Match still going and i hope we can keep clean sheet and add one more goal.
Up Blues
37. cfc-n-me
Glad maloudas off sheva takes his place flo was awful today how he’s gettin his place instead of scott sinclair i dont know.
38. blueblood58
still 1-0
sheva is on and ferreira on for J Cole
still 1-0
COME ON CHELSEA
and the Spanish Weeble’s scumpool are losing to Tottenham 2-1
KTBFFH
39. Bolton vs Chelsea | 07-Oct-07 @ 15:00 UK | Chelsea
[...] (more…) [...]
Ten Cate ,
| | Add Comment | Go To Top | Back To Home | Gravatar | BC Shout | BBC Radio | Refresh |Ten Cate rejected to work under Grant. that’s another problem when you choose a coach like Grant for a world class team. No world class assisstant is ready to work under a non pro. coach. I think they have to bring an assistant from israel too.
I think Chelsea board is playing. they know that their coach is not Grant , they just want to finish this season.
Chelsea coach has already been chosen , I don’t know who he is. and they told Mourinho about that and that’s why Mourinho quit. that is exactly what happened to mourinho when he was in Benfica , I hope he does not to cheslea waht he did to Benfica after they sacked him.
but Yes, Chelsea’s future coach is chosen , I even believe Grant knows that.
but it is interesting becasue He should not be a famouse coach ( but better than Grant, At least he saw Old traford once) becasue all famous coaches are extending their contracts.