Justice has been delivered. John Terry is made the England captain. He thoroughly deserves it, and he deserves it more than anyone else. Either Capello thought that Terry is the best choice or he did not want Terry to be on the losing side against Rio once more. Last season Rio won the double while Terry had all the agony to go through. Capello might have thought that this is one way of finding the balance among his first choice centre backs. I don’t want to take anything away from Terry though. It’s hard to see anyone else captain a team, when John Terry is in it. And I’m all more pleased that Stevie Me was not even in contention. Well done Capello! So, should we understand that Stevie-Me does not have that ‘big personality’ you were looking for? Can you say that loud please!

JT is apparently ecstatic over his appointment. Me too. The Chelsea team has so many players with captainship material such as Lampard, Essien, Deco, Drogba, Ashley Cole, Ballack etc who are being led by JT. If Terry is able to lead this leader-heavy team so successfully, there is no reason why can’t lead any other team. This should be the right kind of start for Terry’s season. With so much positive energy and good news coming from every quarter, I can’t help but say this cliche: ‘this season belongs to us’!

It means the world to me to retain the armband, especially with the players in the squad who are playing so well and have achieved so much over the last couple of years. To get the armband back is a huge achievement for me. I’d never given up on the chance to wear the armband once again and never will do. It is a very proud moment for me today. I heard little whispers that Rio [Ferdinand] had got it, but I am absolutely delighted and have got to make the most of it.

That was JT after the appointment. More good news, Joe Cole is not going anywhere. He said so himself. Now, this is one way of disappointing the press, with so much clarity and conviction in his communication.

I just wanted to put the contract to bed. We wanted to get it sorted this year, but with new players coming and going there wasn’t time. I love it here, the club want to sign me and there won’t be any problems. I suggested that I concentrate on my performances this season because it’s not nice for the fans to have an ongoing thing, but I will be a Chelsea player for the rest of my career.

That’s lovely, Joey. There’s no way we’re letting you go when you talk like this. I don’t see Chelsea selling any player against his wish. Especially when players like Joe Cole want to stay with us for the rest of their career, the club will go all the way to retain them, like we’ve seen in Lampard’s case.

Do you guys know how frightened our rivals are? The last couple of seasons, we had terrible injuries and an Avram Grant which put our rivals at ease. Now they know that it is them who are injury-ravaged and we’ve got ourselves a top manager. They’re all worried.

We’ve played just one match and you should see the fear and terror that we’ve created with our rivals. The fans of these red rivals are all shivering with fear. Some admit it openly, some don’t. I have been browsing through the blogs the last couple of days. They’re all worried and scared. They know the Chelsea is made of sterner stuff and with a couple of key signings and a good manager, we are a dangerous team. Some of them are so disturbed that we’ve started using our full backs as wing backs. Some think that with Deco and Bosingwa in our side, we are almost unbeatable. Some are so worried that all the key players are signing extensions. In short, the fear factor is back.

It’s not just the fact that we have brushed aside Portsmouth but also the manner in which we have done that, has worried the rivals. Moreover, we seem to be generating a lot of positive reviews in the press, which means the complexion of the propaganda could be changing. Scolari could well do the same thing that Chelsea has been doing all the while but if the propaganda is in his favour, people would start writing match reviews without even watching the match. That’s what happened to Chelsea before. The moment they realise that Chelsea has won 1-0, they make up the rest of the cliched story on how we shut up shop, how we maintained defensive solidity etc. At least now, Scolari seems to find himself in the good books of the press, which is nice.

There is so much written in the press about how Chelsea’s style in the first match was close to the Brazilian style. As I had written earlier, I noticed only two differences – attacking wingbacks and the Deco effect. Otherwise, it was good old Chelsea. But I saw in the press that the Chelsea are playing Samba style football. Good, let’s maintain that line. It’s time for some good propaganda. Meanwhile, Scolari’s take on style of football has not changed.

We will try to learn about dribbling, controlling the ball, passing the ball, touching the ball and one-twos. But I need to respect the identity of the players and the quality of the players. We have some players who play similar to those in Brazil. But others don’t. Abramovich wants Chelsea to play very well and win. The fans are the same, it’s not just Mr Abramovich. But they need to understand that sometimes it is difficult to play beautifully and win. Sometimes it is impossible because the other team plays a different style. It is my style and I have been a coach now for 24, 25 years. I try to play very well and win but if you don’t win, people forget that you played very well. People kill you. You can play very well for one or two months, then you don’t win, then it’s over.

I’m quite impressed with his thought process. He certainly has the experience. No doubts about it, and he knows the ground reality too. He knows that he doesn’t have a job if he doesn’t win. It’s okay that we play Samba football, I’d say let’s do some ‘Tamba’ football, which is Samba football with an eye on the ‘Table’.

TribalFootball and Daily Mirror (now that’s a deadly double!) ‘report’ that Milan are ready to sell Kaka for £70 million. Milan needs this cash badly. Despite buying Ronaldinho they are in bad shape. With JM now in charge of their city rivals, AC Milan know that they need a tremendous performance to win anything this season. With the current set of truly ‘aging’ players, there is only so much Ancelotti can do. Kaka is also reported to be wanting to play champions league football, instead of the UEFA cup that Milan offers him this season. If £16 Ronaldinho is back in form, selling Kaka for £70 million is a not bad business.

But what about us? Where do we fit Kaka in? Deco’s just come in and he’s been great. Essien and Lampard have signed extensions. Ballack and Joe Cole are in fine touch. At present, the fact is that we do not need Kaka as he will only create imbalance in the team. Also if Scolari is particular about making Chelsea loved, he should stay away from these bumper signings. If Chelsea wins the premier league or champions league this season, we’ll have excellent medium-cost players willing to join us and play for us. Scolari and Deco have given a massive face lift to Chelsea. If we want to maintain that, let’s stop spending too much. Going forward, a £30 million budget should be just enough.

Gary Cahill to Chelsea?






    • View Results

Loading ... Loading ...

England plays Czech Republic in a friendly tonight. Lots of Chelsea players will be involved in tonight’s international friendlies. I don’t think Scolari can complain too much as he has been on the other side too, negotiating with the European powerhouses for releasing his Brazilian/Portuguese players for friendlies.

There is nothing much going around at this moment. Let us know what you think about Terry’s appointment, my hope for ‘Tamba’ football from Chelsea and the £70 million Kaka. Catch you later.