The season kicks off this week for Chelsea with the pre-season matches at China and Malaysia. A good number of players have traveled to China for the pre-season friendlies. That’s not going to be any indication of who’s going to stay and who’s not. The complete squad including Deco and Bosingwa has travelled except for Ballack and Drogba. Let’s not make any stories about their absence. Ballack played until the final of the Euro so his holiday started later and it’s fair that it would also end later. Drogba is still under rehabilitation from a knee injury. He is in Cobham and not in some icecream parlour in Milan.

The first pre-season match is on 23-July which is broadcast only on Chelsea TV. I need to check if my online Chelsea TV subscription is still alive. If I get to see the match, I’d publish my match reactions too. This match at China is the first under Luiz Felipe Scolari. I know that these friendlies are just meant to loosen up the players a bit. We may not be able to see the ‘Scolari effect’ in these matches yet. Let me tell you upfront that even if we were to draw or lose these matches, I’m not going to be worried. As such, I attach very little importance to these friendlies. These are primarily marketing measures where the players can warm up for the season. As long as all the first team players and the bench players get a run in the next couple of weeks, I’ll be fine.

Scolari just confirms my views that it’s going to take a few matches to see his philosophy in action:

The players are not ready yet totally, but we are starting to build a new team and a new philosophy. This is just the beginning, and I expect after these five games that I have a general idea about all the players and a system.

I’m very keen to know the system that Scolari has in his mind. Would it be a 4-4-2 or a 4-3-3 or a 4-5-1. We have the players to play in any of these formations. With every rumour that’s associated with Chelsea, I’m getting more and more worried about Joe Cole. I do not know where is he going to fit in and what role is he going to play. Would there be a possibility of Joe Cole being fully fit and still making it to the first team.

A very good news! Petr Cech has signed a new 5 year deal with Chelsea. He is just 26 now and he is already one of the top 3 goalkeepers in Europe. Goalkeepers generally peak between 30 and 35 years or some even beyond 35 years. So actually, we are yet to see the best of Petr Cech. This new contracts of Bridge and Cech sends out a great sense of stability and faith in the camp. If Drogba too signs a new contract, I’d say we are ready for the next season.

The other good news is that JM has conceded that Lampard may not join FC Inter after all. This does not mean Lampard is signing a new contract. JM also left a hint that Lampard might see out his current contract with Chelsea and then join him next season. If that’s how all this pans out, Lampard might have a very difficult 12 months in the team. He may not be a favourite with Scolari. Lamps could spend a good part of this season in the bench. Scolari has to find a balance between not snubbing or humiliating him and giving opportunities to players who see their future in Chelsea. If we are not going to use Lampard as much as he would be otherwise, we should rather let him leave and get the 10 or 12 million that FC Inter are offering.

And then comes this Kaka rumour. To start with, I love this guy and he is one of the best players around. I’d love to see the such players at Chelsea. But do we need Kaka? Is it Kaka that we miss in our team? I don’t think so. For the 70 to 80 million pounds that he is rumoured to have bid, I don’t think we need him. A striker and a right back are needed much more than an attacking midfielder. I don’t think Bosingwa is the answer for our right back weakness. He can paper the cracks for sometime but he is not even in the top 10 right backs in Europe. And he is not that young to evolve at Chelsea and improve himself by a great deal.

Drogba has still not confirmed about his Chelsea future. Shevchenko is doubtful and even if he is to sign a new contract, he is not the player now that you can go with to win the premier league title. The other strikers are all temporary fillers – Kalou still needs to improve, Pizarro should be leaving, Di Santo is unknown, Anelka does not seem to have his mind here. Why would I go buy Kaka for 80 million pounds while I badly need a striker and a top quality right back? And why would I do that when I have Ballack, Essien, Mikel, Deco and possibly Lampard too.

Another new theme for the blog. I can now understand Roman’s psyche. A small time blogger like me can be so fickle with the stuff that I own, I can’t blame the billionaire owner of a club about what he wants to do with the club. May be I’m dealing with the themes like Roman does with the managers of his club. Success or no success, once and only when you get tired of something, look for another thing which is not necessarily a better one. Once we get through the niceties of the themes and gloss, we know all that we care for is the engine, which is the posts, the comments and the community over here. Catch you later.