Football, finally! Proper, top flight football and a trophy in sight! Chelsea, the FA Cup champions will take on Man Utd, the premier league champions, on Sunday in the FA Community Shield match. After a near flawless pre-season, there is no better match-up than a trophy match with Man Utd. Only yesterday, Carlo said that there won’t be any further signings for Chelsea. Few weeks back, Sir Alex had said the same for Man Utd. I’m not disappointed with this update from Carlo but I’m not too excited about this either.

Chelsea may not even have spent as much as Sunderland this summer. There were only three signings of which one was a free signing and another was through the tribunal. So that leaves only the Zhirkov signing where we had to spend 18m. For weeks, various black suits from Stamford Bridge have been saying that there would be another one top signing. And that’s what we’ve all been waiting for. May be because we were very open about our intention to make another top purchase, we had to deal with some inflated prices. So, Carlo’s recent declaration that there won’t be any further signings and that he will take only this squad to this season could all be just mind games. This is one way of telling the selling clubs that though we wanted to make one more top signing, we are not really desperate and we have a squad that can win the trophies. So, all I’m trying to say is that we could still make that marquee signing, irrespective what Ancelotti says.

By the way, the Pirlo news has also died down. There was no snub as is being made out by the dirty press. Pirlo decided to stay with Milan. The same way Terry did not snub Man City but opted to stay with Chelsea. So, Deco and Carvalho stay. I’m happy that Riccy stays. I’m still not decided on Deco. I have a feeling that Ancelotti can bring Deco back to some kind of form and importance. Still there is no news on Pizarro and Sheva. Are they going to play for Chelsea this season?

On the finer topic of whether our squad is already complete, I would say NO. One of the fundamental assumptions that we sub-consciously make is that Frank Lampard is available for all season and he would play. Lampard has been able to keep himself fit for most or all of the season for many years (touch wood, dammit, hug the forest). And we seem to assume that he would play 50+ matches this season as well. If Lampard is unable to play for say, half a season, we simply have no replacements for a player like Lampard. Of course I know that Lampard is not such a player whom you’ll be able to replace easily but we don’t even have a decent replacement. Essien, Ballack, Deco, Joe Cole are all quite different and do not produce what Lampard does.

Ballack does not have the legs and the final third capabilities of Lampard. Deco can never be a box-to-box midfielder. Joe Cole does not even think like a midfielder be an attacking one or otherwise. Essien is one player who can come close. He can be a box-to-box midfielder with his ability to read the game and his undying stamina, drive and desire. But I think Essien lacks the vision and accuracy of Frank LampardLampard. And Lampard can win you matches with his attacking play. Essien on the other hand, contributes immensely to our defence but I have my doubts if he would be able to win matches for us with his attacking play.

We talk so much about the Makelele role. There is infact a Lampard role too. He is very unique as well. He has defined his role rather than his role defining his play. He is there in attack, he is there in defence, he is there in midfield, he scores with his feet, he scores with his head, he assists, he aids, he chips, he long passes, he throughballs, he takes free kicks, he takes corners, he takes penalties, he makes goal line clearances, he tackles, he plays every single minute in every single match, he captains when needed and leads all the time. In the football world and football media, he is still very underrated. It is Chelsea and the supporters of Chelsea that are willing to give him his due. The way I see it, he has created a Lampard role which only very few players play and not one to the degree of Frank Lampard.

That’s why he is so important. And basically the issue is we have not really seen a Lampard-less Chelsea in the last five or six seasons. So that’s a risk that we have not really considered or we don’t want to consider. In the whole of Chelsea squad, the most irreplaceable player has to be Frank Lampard. Yes, it is not John Terry, Didier Drogba or Michael Essien, it has to be Frank Lampard. The one top player that we want to sign ideally should be a very talented player, who can be an understudy for Lampard as well as being a partner for him. Someone like Gourcuff. Someone like Diego. Unless we have a suitable candidate to support Lampard and to take over the Lampard role over a period of time, our squad will not be complete.

Oh I was talking about the match on Sunday right? We haveChelsea team a full squad to choose from except for Zhirkov who is doubtful for Sunday. Anyway, when we have fully fit squad, I don’t see Zhirkov starting yet. Not over Ashley Cole. Not over an all guns blazing Malouda. This will be the first be the first proper test for Carlo Ancelotti. In a superb pre-season preparation, for the first time he played an English opposition, we needed to two goals in the last two minutes to snatch a draw. A week later, we are playing the champions of England. It’s a big test for the Man Utd squad too. There is a popular belief that they are weakened due to the absence of Ronaldo and Tevez. That’s what I feel too but let’s remember that Ronaldo wasn’t around for the first part of the last season and Tevez was never an automatic starter.

Carlo put it very well. The biggest strength of Chelsea is that they are able to retain all the key players which is something none of the other top four teams can say. Man Utd lost Ronaldo and Tevez. Arsenal lost Adebayor and Toure. Liverpool lost Arbeloa and Xabi Alonso. Chelsea lost none. Even better, players like Malouda, Mikel and Drogba have signed contract extensions. Chelsea is certainly the strongest side in the premier league this season and I want to see that on the pitch. This time, Chelsea must show their authority all through the season and that must begin on Sunday. A victory of Man Utd would be a great start for Chelsea, Ancelotti and that 4-4-2 narrow diamond.

My prediction is a 2-1 win for Chelsea. Drogba and Anelka to score. The match starts at 15:00 UK. For the viewers in India, the match is telecast live on Sony Pix channel. I’m really really excited that the season is here and I’ll be watching football tomorrow! You know this bit already – Be there at BC Shout – for the live match chat! And yes, do join the BlueChampions.Com Fantasy Premier League. Catch you after the win :-)