Football is without doubt getting more and more unpredictable, on and off the pitch. How else would you explain a late change of ownership of Man City to the Arabs and an even later successful charge at a Robinho transfer? Man Utd have signed Berbatov, so they have a striker now. Arsenal, strangely, have signed no one, no not even one.

Is Robinho’s move to Man City a disappointment? Yes, certainly, if I give any other response I’d be lying. But then, as I have always said, it is not that Robinho resolve our weakness or something. Ours is predominantly a midfield set up. Our strength would be from the midfield and not really in the wings. Robinho would certainly have strengthened our squad, any squad for that matter. As such, like Scolari said, even without Robinho, we have a squad that can win the premier league. And you’ll see that happening.

I feel sorry for Robinho. No disrespect to Man City but this move means Robinho would miss champions league football. A player of his calibre should be playing in champions league. It can’t be that he feels so bad in Spain that he leaves Real Madrid to join Man City. I feel sorry for him because I’m sure this is not what he wanted but the baldheads at Real Madrid may have wanted to castigate him by giving him what he does not want. I guess Robinho’s agent must have explained to him about the ambitions of the new owners and that he could be playing champions league next season if they achieve their target.

But still, he wanted to play under Scolari, didn’t he? I still think, left to his choice, he’d love to play under Scolari, in the company of Deco, Ballack, Lampard, Drogba, Terry etc. Surely, he’ll appear with Mark Hughes with all smiles but deep inside he’d know he did not fight with Real Madrid all along to join Man City. Tottenham ignored Man City’s bid for Berbatov because they value the player’s wishes, which is exactly what Real Madrid refused to do. I can’t believe a club like Real Madrid can send a player to a club other than the one he wants to move, for a couple of millions. I’m supporting Valencia and Sevilla this season in La Liga.

I’m quite excited about the rise of Man City. It’s surely a worse news for Man Utd, Arsenal and Liverpool than for Chelsea. Bad for Man Utd because, as Mark Hughes said he wants Man City to challenge and rival Man Utd in a battle of Manchester. It’s a cheeky little quarrel that they’re gonna have this season and their city rivalry is going to go worse. Every single Man utd fan would be frowning at the developments at Man City. If with no major signings Man City could do a double on Man Utd last season, it could be interesting this time. Man City’s rise is a bad news for Arsenal and Liverpool because it is their places that Man City would be targeting this season. I’ll watch out for Man City.

In one way it’s a relief that Man City is going through this transformation. The stigma that was with Chelsea about the billionaire and the spending will shift to Man City. And you know what, it won’t end with Man City. You’ll have few more such coups happening in the premier league. If these new owners are here to stay, if they take their football investment seriously and are here for the long term, it is good for the premier league. Their new owner is someone who has about 20 times more wealth than a certain Roman Abramovich. And interestingly when the sheikh was asked if he would spend 200 million in the next transfer window, he replied ‘sure, if that’s what it takes’. His idea is to see Man City in the top four this season and challenge for title next season. Interesting times ahead!

From our side, whatever the doom monger have to say, I’m quite confident about the squad and about Scolari. He knows what he does. We absolutley have the best squad to stay on top until the end of the year and then I’m sure he’d use the January transfer window. So it’s like this. We have Joe Cole, Malouda, Kalou and Deco all of whom can possibly play in the wings. And we have Lampard, Ballack, Essien, Mikel and Deco all of whom can play in the midfield. And Didier Drogba has played about an hour for the reserves today and he would be back in action when premier league resumes. Sinclair could be used. Franco di Santo looks promising. Fabio Paim is still playing for the reserves.

I’m quite fine with the team as it is. We have a very compact squad. As Scolari had planned, we have a squad of 25 players that includes four goalkeepers (as against three as per Phil’s plan): 1 Petr Cech, 2 Branislav Ivanovic, 3 Ashley Cole, 5 Michael Essien, 6 Ricardo Carvalho, 8 Frank Lampard, 9 Franco Di Santo, 10 Joe Cole, 11 Didier Drogba, 12 John Mikel Obi, 13 Michael Ballack, 15 Florent Malouda, 16 Scott Sinclair, 17 Jose Bosingwa, 18 Wayne Bridge, 19 Paulo Ferreira, 20 Deco, 21 Salomon Kalou, 23 Carlo Cudicini, 26 John Terry, 30 Rhys Taylor 33 Alex, 35 Juliano Belletti, 39 Nicolas Anelka, 40 Henrique Hilario.

So that’s 4 goalkeepers, 8 defenders, 8 midfielders and 5 forwards. If Scolari uses his resources appropriately, he still has a great squad that can play any formation or any style of football that he can order. Scolari has to be very particular about one thing. If anyone underperforms, he can’t waste any time on them. In a squad like ours and in the kind of competition that exists in the premier league, you need to field your best eleven and for that you should know your best eleven.

Anelka has been poor but you never know, alongside a fit Drogba, he could different. Also someone like Malouda can be a better player with Drogba around as they’re supposed to have this chemistry between themselves. The biggest risk that we could face is another injury to Drogba (oh! I’ve said it!). We tend to miss him a lot when he’s not around. If he can stay fit until January, that might be just good enough. We might be grooming Franco meanwhile or be prepared to buy short-term striker in the January market.

One thing that would have happened with a new winger is that Joe Cole would have had some competition for his place. Joe Cole is a type of a player who needs to be threatened for his place. The more his role gets unchallenged, the better he performs. That’s why JM always kept him in check, play with ego a bit and get the best out of him. With no new winger, no SWP and an average Malouda, Joe Cole is the first/only choice for his role.

In one way I’m quite happy that we’ve not let anyone out on the deadline day. Wenger was apparently interested in Kalou and Mikel. Newcastle were rumoured to be interested in Malouda. Ferreira was rumoured to join West Ham. Ivanovic to Milan was always on. We weren’t sure if Belletti was in Scolari’s scheme of things and there were rumours about him moving back to Brazil. None of these things happened. The squad stays as it is.

It is quite easy to be disappointed that we could not make the signings on the deadline day. But let’s get this one straight. We have probably the best squad among the big four. Man Utd are still an one-man team. They get beaten by Zenit when Ronaldo is not there and worse, they even resort to volleyballing when things don’t work. Without Ronaldo they’re just half the team they otherwise are. Arsenal have a hole in their first team itself. They have a midfield that’s once again very light and inexperienced. They have no players for the first team itself, forget about the bench. Liverpool has made some key signings but still they too are never known for their bench strength. So in terms of squad depth and variety, Chelsea has the best lot and Scolari should make best use of the talent available.

Finally, the British transfer fee record is no longer for a Chelsea player. I’m glad that we got that record off our backs, never really took pride in that! By the way, if you still feel bad about deadline Monday, visit some of the Arsenal blogs, I’m sure you’ll feel better!

Now that the transfer window is closed, how do you feel?





    • View Results

Loading ... Loading ...