It is that time of the year again! We’re busy talking about who to keep, who to sell and who to buy. I’ve now come up with my version of what we should do this summer. The basis for my views is that we want to begin an era of dominance built through good, but not necessarily star, players by thoughtful acquisitions and youth development. We also need to keep in mind the need for financial stability/sustenance and the compliance with the probable UEFA rules that might come into play very soon. The primary objective still remains football success, that is to win titles while we ensure that we become financially self-sustained, further the strong bonding within the Chelsea family and basically continue with the Blue Revolution.

I’ve split this post into four parts – (a) keep no matter what (b) keep at club’s terms (c) sell only if you get the best offer (d) offload anyway (e) who should we buy then. These are self-explanatory but still I have tried my best to explain further. Here we go!

Keep no matter what: Petr Cech, Branislav Ivanovic, Ashley Cole, Michael Essien, John Obi Mikel, Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba, Florent Malouda, Jose Bosingwa, Yury Zhirkov, Paulo Ferreira, Daniel Sturridge & John Terry.

I would like Chelsea FC to hang on to these players no matter what. Some of these players are not to be sold at any price and some of these are never going to fetch you a great price. The common things across these players is their usefulness in their given roles. One might wonder why I’ve put a Paulo Ferreira there. For his limited pitch time in the last few seasons, he has come in handy when called upon. He never complains, he waits for his opportunities and he does deliver. He is a fantastic second choice right back to have. If you’re a bit kind enough you might remember that he even kept Messi quiet over two legs. You’re never going to get a second choice right back like Paulo who’s as good as him but doesn’t complain. He must stay.

Jose Mourinho badly wants to take Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole with him to Real Madrid. I hope we send a big ’sorry’ note to him as soon as possible. I wouldn’t swap Lampard and Ashley Cole even for Kaka and some money. We don’t need Kaka as much as we need players like Lampard and Ashley Cole.

There are some questions over Mikel as well. Some think that he’s not as good as he’s made out to be. I have a quite opposite view. I think Mikel is highly underrated. He performs a role which normally does not get him to do spectacular things. I’ve said time and again that for a man of his age to be playing as the holding midfielder in a team of Chelsea’s calibre and in the premier league competition is phenomenal. Imagine what he could be at 30. Mikel is pure gold. We must hold on to him.

Keep at the club’s terms: Joe Cole & Michael Ballack.

I’d give Ballack a 2-year contract if the price is on our terms. Ballack is certainly not the player he was at Bayern. It’s clear that his age is showing up. To his defence, the role that he played at Bayern/Germany and at Chelsea are entirely different. In Germany and Bayern, the team was built around him and he was the channel for all the attacks. He was the undisputed leader there. In Chelsea, his role is far more muted. I think he has taken his new role in Chelsea very well. If we are playing a big match, I’d love to see Ballack in the line-up. His strength is not pace, dribbling or tackling. He is all about ball control, skill and game intelligence of filling spaces and being a pain in the wrong place for the opposition. I don’t see Ballack being a first choice player anymore but he is fine with being a squad player at our terms, I’d happily have him.

Joe Cole is in the same boat as Ballack. He is 29 now and his best days are not ahead of him. He has probably two more good seasons. I’ve mentioned here why he is not a 100k player and why he must stay only at club’s terms. We are not getting enough from Joe Cole. He is a bit injury prone. While he is still working hard, he seems to have lost that magic which defined him. He stays as per the club’s terms or leaves. Simple as.

Sell only if you get the best offer: Ricardo Carvalho, Nicolas Anelka, Salomon Kalou & Alex.

First of all, this doesnt mean that I want these players to be sold. It’s just that I think we can cash in on them as they are not so very critical for the team or there could be better options for their positions in the team now. Carvalho has been rumoured to leave for some seasons now. With his mentor JM at Real Madrid (who need quality centre backs), he might just want to leave. You might be surprised that I’ve put two centre backs – in Carvalho and Alex – in the ‘sell if you get the best offer’ list. While Alex has been very good for us, I’ve never been so convinced that he is a quality centre back. For our style of play now, we need a more solid centre back who has pace. Probably a good young centre back is what I’m looking at.

Salomon Kalou probably had his best season with Chelsea. I think he is a very useful squad player but I wonder how much of a future he has at Chelsea. I also wonder what could be his maximum potential. I’m all for keeping Salomon Kalou if he can get a bit of strength and power and more importantly, a bit more game intelligence and consistency. May be it’s a harsh call on someone who’s best we’re yet to see. He’s 25 now. Drogba was 25 when he came to Chelsea. This is a very close call.

You know how much I’ve grown to like Anelka from those low-work-rate days of the Frenchman. He has impressed me a lot over the last one year or so. The only reason why I’d sell him if I get the best offer is, this could free up space for a new young talent – either from inside or outside. Anelka may not want to be a squad player. It is one thing about sitting in the bench when Drogba is playing as the lone striker in 4-3-3 while watching two other strikers play in a 4-4-2 is another. I’m happy for us to go with another season of Drogba-Anelka combination but we don’t want to feel a void when Drogba leaves. We should already have some young striker working with Drogba and learning from the master.

Offload anyway: Deco, Juliano Belletti, Henrique Hilario & Ross Turnbull.

We should let Deco and Belletti leave. I think it’s only a matter of time before they both depart for the Brazilian league. Wish them good luck. I’ve put the second and third choice goal keepers here. Basically what I mean is, we don’t have a quality second choice for Petr Cech. While Hilario has come in and done a decent job, I don’t think I’d be comfortable to go through a say, two or three month period with Hilario. We could probably keep Turnbull as the third choice, sell Hilario and get a new second choice goalkeeper. Right now, we’re betting big on Petr Cech and his ability to see through a season without any long injuries. Actually, we don’t have to, if we address this situation.

Who should we buy then?

1. Right winger: Chelsea’s left side is probably the strongest in Europe. You have Ashley Cole or Zhirkov in defence, Lampard or Zhirkov or Malouda in midfield, Malouda or Zhirkov or Anelka in attack – all on the left side. When you compare this to the right side, we’re way too weaker. The weakness of the right side comes from the lack of an out and out right winger. Kalou is a striker-turned winger. He doesn’t play like a winger. We need a magician who can produce magic when things don’t seem to go our way.

2. Centre back: We need a good partner for John Terry. Someone who can complement Terry. With Carvalho looking to leave, we need a top replacement for him, who can play alongside Terry. Here, I’m not looking at a young player, I’m in fact, looking at an established centre back who’s probably around 25 to 28 years of age. We anyway have a few options from our reserves/youth team waiting to break into the bench.

3. Goalkeeper: Petr Cech needs a good second choice. Cech has been very crucial to our success the same way Drogba and Lampard have been. We know how important he is when we recollect the impact of his absence in 06-07. We need a quality second choice who can be a first choice in clubs like Everton, Atletico, Parma, Bordeaux etc. just to give you an idea.

4. Attacking midfielder: Belletti and Deco could be out. Joe Cole might also be out. Ballack could probably only hang on for another season. Lampard is 32. Essien, unfortunately, has his injury concerns that doesn’t let him finish a season fully. Mikel has fit himself superbly into the holding midfielder role. All this says loud and clear that we need a next-generation attacking midfielder. A young but creative player who can play as the centre midfielder or as the attacking midfielder. He must be pretty versatile. In other words, the next Frank Lampard. I know we have Matic coming up but I’m talking about a fairly established player here.

As you can see, I have no names in my shopping list. I have only roles. There are many players in the market that can fit into those roles and in our budget and in our team ethic. Also, I want to see some fairly established players to compete with our young players in the slots that are going to be vacated by our legends. The image above is only my wishful thinking. I know we’re not going to buy too many players and we’re trying reduce the wage spend considerably. If we’re going to buy only one player from the above image, I’d be ecstatic. Since we may not get too much cash for our outgoing players, I don’t see Chelsea buying three to four established players this summer. We could still buy one or two.

As mentioned on my Twitter, the key influence on this summer transfers would be Jose Mourinho and Real Madrid. Since Real Madrid adopted the galacticos approach, they have normally gone for the stars and ballon d ors, or the ones in the making. JM normally looks to have the players that he needs in order to win. He may not go by star value. I think JM would shake up the whole squad and look to strengthen the squad. He already said that he might want Danielle de Rossi etc. He would also get some EPL players for sure. If he happens to nick an Ashley Cole or an Essien (which I hate to even imagine), we need to be prepared for the quality replacements. We need to act quickly because the world cup always inflates the price. I think Kaka would be offloaded not because they’re fools but because he never should have been bought there. I don’t think Kaka is a player for Real Madrid’s style of play. He would work better in a diamond with slower players around him.

We need to monitor the situation at Real Madrid, Liverpool, Inter Milan, AC Milan and Juventus. These are the clubs where there would be some player traffic either triggered by the management or by the players themselves. All those players who are in these clubs or the ones who wanted to move for these clubs can be potential targets for us. Madrid will offload because they bought players without a good vision of what type of squad they wanted to build. Inter Milan would have to get a big personality to fill the void created by JM’s exit. Otherwise, you’ll have players looking to grab new opportunities. Milan are in complete disarray with no manager, old players, uncertainty about ownership etc. In a way, Liverpool are in a similar situation. Juventus spent a lot of money but couldn’t convert that into success. Some players are very upset and disappointed and are looking elsewhere. These are top clubs with some top talent – they are not necessarily Cristiano Ronaldos or Lionel Messis but they are cream of the talents in Europe.

Finally, you have this small matter of the world cup. Will be interesting to see how the stars perform and to see if new stars are born. This month-long spectacle can have a huge impact on the transfer market. It’s best to re-look at the transfer market in the second week of July. There you have it – my view on who to keep, sell and buy!

After reaching the dizzying heights of a glorious season, in fact the most glorious till date in the club’s history, it’s time to move on and look ahead towards the next season and identify the players we need to ensure that we can build upon our success and try and aim for even bigger things going forward.

Manchester United will be smarting from losing their grip on the title they’ve held for 3 years and rest assured, our main rivals will do everything in their power to better us this time round. I see two big name signings heading in the direction of Manchester in this window. The Goners will also be looking to strengthen, not that anything they do is a threat to us anyway. The likes of Manchester City and Tottenham will surely push on for bigger things and want to have a say in the transfer market and make a statement of intent.

Hence, I don’t agree with Carlo Ancelotti’s belief that we can tide through and more importantly, maintain our winning momentum next season with the current squad. It’s a little easy to say such things when you’re high on the celebratory champagne and everything around you seems more pleasant than they have ever been, but I think even Carlo knows deep down that the squad needs reinforcements. In fact, I would think that he already knows what he needs and has conveyed the same to Roman. So here is my take on what we need to do this summer to keep us on top for next year, and hopefully, years to come.

Out : Hilario, Belletti, Deco, Ricardo Carvalho, Paulo Ferreira, Michael Ballack, Joe Cole.

1.  It’s time to promote a solid goalkeeper to deputise for Petr Cech when the situation presents itself. For anyone who watched our games this season, Ross Turnbull seems to be a very good backup keeper  and is much better than Hilario. The arrival of the Croatian youngster Matej Delac from Inter Z (this move had been agreed upon last season itself) will contribute to Hilario’s ouster.

2. I firmly believe Ricardo Carvalho’s time at Chelsea is well and truly up. He’s been a wonderful servant to the club but has sadly never been at is best since the last two seasons. Alex’s emergence as a quality centre-back partner for JT means the injury prone Carvalho will not get too much play time next season, and hence it will be best for both parties if he is moved on. It’s the same situation for Paulo Ferreira. Wonderful player over the years, but sadly, it’s time to make way for the younger crop of players.

3. Michael Ballack has never quite lived up to his name in a Chelsea shirt. He’s not the same player he was at Bayern Munich. Has lost his attacking flair and although he’s done well for us the last couple of months in the midfield enforcer role in Essien’s absence, his inconsistency is quite frustrating. His big game experience is the biggest strength he brings to us. The man has played in Champions league finals, title winning sides and important World Cup games. But he wants a 2 year contract which is difficult to give when you’re 34 years old.

4. Joe Cole – I, like every Chelsea fan, would hate to see him go. He’s been here 7 years now and has been such an integral part of our side over the years that it’s almost impossible to think about a Chelsea team without our loved No.10 in it. But given that we love him so much, it needs to be reciprocated at some level. I mean as good as he is, Joe Cole is not worth the 100,000 pounds a week that he wants. Unless he shows some loyalty, out he goes.

5. Belletti and Deco have both spoken about wanting to leave and going back to Brazil to see out their careers, and really, this is a no-brainer. If a player wants to leave, he should be allowed to. Period.

Players we need:

1. A playmaker : Although our best success this season has come when we’ve played the 4-3-3, I still believe there is scope for playing the 4-1-2-1-2 diamond, especially against teams which don’t play with or have very good wingers. Unless a team players wingers high up the pitch against us, we can use the diamond to good effect as it allows our fullbacks to attack a lot more. Then, the midfield playing close to each other can dominate games. But for a diamond midfield to succeed, what is needed most is a high-quality playmaker. Carlo employed this system successfully at Milan, but it couldn’t succeed here because there the system made use of Kaka as the diamond tip, but Lampard couldn’t play the same role at Chelsea. Also, with Joey and Deco possibly leaving, we badly needed a creative midfield player. Possible signings :  Kaka, Sergio Aguero, David Silva.

2. A right winger  :  The most glaring need. With the 4-3-3, Anelka is often played out wide and although he is a forward who likes to run into the channels, he doesn’t quite flourish there. Kalou as everyone knows, is terribly inconsistent, and in my opinion, he plays better as a striker than as a winger. That leaves us with just Miroslav Stock and Gael Kakuta. Not the most reliable players for that position, in this stage of their development. Possible signings : Bastian Schweinsteiger, James Milner, Adam Johnson, Franck Ribery, Jesus Navas.

3. A centre back : As stated earlier, Ricardo Carvalho could go, and with Belletti and Ferreira also on their way out, that leaves space for a young centre half. Ivanovic will likely be asked to rotate with Jose Bosingwa in the right back slot and sometimes played in the centre. Possible signings : David Luiz.

4. A midfield general : Ballack and Deco going could leave a big hole in the centre midfield position with just Lampard and Essien established players in that area. A tenacious midfielder, with a good passing range, vision and a strong tackle can be a useful addition to the first team squad. Possible signings : Daniele de Rossi, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Jack Rodwell, Marouane Fellaini.

5. Finally, what we DON’T NEED is an out-and-out striker. Drogba and Anelka have done a great job this season. Don’t forget, Drogba started playing professionally only once he was in his twenties, much later than most footballers these days. Thus although he is 32, he still has atleast 3 more years of top level football in him. That throws the whole age argument out of the window. Plus, in a 4-3-3 just one striker is played. With the signing of a new winger, Anelka would not be starting too many games and he will be fresh for rotation with Drogba. Kalou and Sturridge will get more play time. In addition, Franco di Santo will return from loan, as will Scott Sinclair. Fabio Borini is there too. The signing of a striker is very glamourous news, and that’s why the media keeps linking us with the kinds of Torres, Pato and David Villa, but truth is, we don’t need a top striker, unless Anelka leaves.

My verdict on the players linked with Chelsea:

1. Kaka : Hasn’t enjoyed a good season with Real Madrid and those fools might be willing to sell him for a significantly lower amount than what they paid for him. BUY, if the price is right. We need a proven, big-name midfielder.

2.Sergio Aguero : A useful contender to play ‘in the hole’ behind the strikers. Quite young, has the big league experience, and is a starter for Argentina. Will help to lower the squad’s average age. BUY, again if the price is right.

3.Pato and Torres :  Not needed, as explained above. REJECT

4.Yossi Benayoun : Considered a replacement for Joe Cole. In my opinion, Joe Cole is a better player than Benayoun, and if he can’t get into the team consistently, what hope is there for Banyoun? REJECT.

Also, Carlo has already spoken about promoting 5 reserve and youth players in the first team squad for next season. Excellent move, in my opinion. Most probably, they’ll be Jeffery Bruma, Sam Hutchinson, Nemanja Matic, Gael Kakuta and Fabio Borini.

In my opinion, with these signings, our already formidable squad will become even more fearsome. These players have gone down in Chelsea and English football history and we’ll remember this team even 50 years down the road. But there comes along a time in every club’s life where difficult but necessary decisions have to be made in order to push the club on to even bigger and better things, and that time has come for us now. It’s likely to be the end of an era, but hopefully, the dawn of an even more glorious one. Here’s hoping for many more trophy-laden years at our beloved Stamford Bridge….KTBFFH !

In Retrospection

I know this little write up is not worthy to be an article in here, and not literally ‘retrospective’. But as a break from the INs and OUTs discussion that is going hot in here, I thought this article would give us a chance to reflect back on the season which brought beer smells at work on Mondays!

It all started with Drogba’s and ended with Ashley Cole’s goal! We know Drogba would score anytime, anywhere but who would have imagined that Ashley would seal our successful season? But I know now that Chelsea fans aren’t surprised that Ashley actually did it. His ‘goal of the season’ award is an understatement of the season that he just had!

Here are some of the significant Chelsea goals of 2009-10 season in EPL:
• Drogba’s last gasp winning goal against Hull City;
• Terry’s header against manure;
• Ashley’s assist at Fly Emirates fetching Drogba’s awesome finish
• Joey’s priceless back slip against manure!

And some of the significant non-Chelsea goals of 2009-10 season in EPL:
• Agbonlahor’s goal against manure at OT;
• Gosling and Rodwell’s against manure.

Wonderful sights:
• Zhirkov’s heroics against Bolton;
• Drogba’s ‘impossible’ touch setting up for Kalou is a sight that will remain forever!
• Toni Poole and Terry posing for the camera with their twins;
• Carlo running the trophy with Malouda;

Torturous sights:
• Midget hunt (the cruel man of football) scoring the first gaol against us in 2009-10 season;
• Lampsy having told to take a penalty 3 times by Mike Dean against WHU;
• British media making too BIG of Terry’s scandal;
• Defeat to mancs at home (not to mention public humiliation of Terry before the kickoff);

Everton:
This is the team which drew(0:0) twice with us in 2008-09 season, and robbed 5 points off us in 2009-10 season, so we must keep an eye on them in the coming season!

Avarm Grant:
I don’t know if I heard it right about Roman asking Avarm Grant to be the Director of Football again at Chelsea. Just remember that he was the Director of Football and Jose left, he was also the Director of Football at Pompeys and Paul Hart was sacked. This man is not healthy, I am sure on it!

Tony Pulis on Stoke’s humiliating 7-0 defeat by Chelsea.
“They were far the better team, we were lucky to get nil. We had our pants pulled down and our backsides slapped.”

Guys, you can add yours now.

While Chelsea were breaking premier league records this season, there was one record that went unnoticed – that was the number of times anyone ever used the word ‘fantastic’ in a season. You can’t blame Ancelotti. Given his limited vocabulary in English and the way the season has gone, he had to use it 257 times. It was a fantastic season as we won in a fantastic league thanks to the fantastic players and their fantastic commitment. So how fantastic has he been? How well has Ancelotti done? It’s not a question whether he has delivered because he indeed has. I would never doubt a winner. If a coach has won the league title that has spanned over 38 matches, over 10 months, in a competitive league such as this, you have to give it to him. Did he live up to the expectations is a better question. So here we go . . .

It was expected of you & Chelsea, Mr. Ancelotti!

This was to be Chelsea’s season right from the beginning. Man Utd had lost Ronaldo and were missing Tevez. They were relying big time on Rooney while they had an ineffective Berbatov. Nani or Valencia was not expected to replace Ronaldo in this season. Liverpool were never going to be a threat for the league title under Rafa Benitez, probably even kops know it. Arsenal might go on an open top celebration tour as long as they get their champions league spot. Man City weren’t going to be a title winning side this season. So basically, this was a season where Chelsea were best placed to win the title.

If Carlo had won the title in April, with a few matches in hand, he’d have done a great job. The reason is, such was the gulf between Chelsea and Man Utd this season. The fact that the table shows just a point separating us and them is so misleading. This is not a season that we should have been run so close by Man Utd. This is not the season to be won on the last day. We should have had this wrapped up by April.

Chelsea have had set backs this season against sides that they should have had no trouble. Though we have always come back strongly from set backs, there is something that did not impress me. All our come backs are ‘inter-match’ recoveries and not ‘intra-match’ recoveries. Basically the come backs are after a draw or a defeat and not so much after a conceded goal or after having a player sent off etc, if you know what I mean. This lack of intra-match resilience is what made teams dominate us in certain matches while we were beaten. This was new to Chelsea as we were always known for our intra-match as well as inter-match resilience. This leads to my gripe about some of our painful defeats this season.

Losing 2-4 to Man City at Stamford Bridge was unbearable. Particularly, given the circumstances and media attention at that time, losing heavily at home to Man City was truly the last thing we wanted. Having dominated Man City for a whole half to lose it 2-4 at home is unacceptable. The manner in which we lost our lead thrice against Everton at home was horrendous and that counts as the most disappointing match this season for me. We were all over Everton but could only get one point out of the match. That 3-1 defeat at Wigan was another match that showed our lack of intra-match resilience.

Chelsea was always expected to beat Inter in the champions league over two legs. While we were unlucky with some decisions at San Siro, I won’t say we deserved to progress ahead of Inter. By JM’s admission, it was after their win at Stamford Bridge, the Inter team started believing in themselves that they can go distance in this champions league. We were the clear favourites to beat Inter and we simply failed. We did not rise up to the occasion while Inter did. All that we needed at Stamford Bridge was a 1-0 and we couldn’t do it. There is no other word to this than ‘failure’.

Just when we were getting closer to the title, we were beaten fair and square by Tottenham. It was a match that further showed that this Chelsea team is unable to pick themselves up from the adversities during a match. Moreover, we didn’t appear to have prepared well for the match. That’s one other thing I noticed. Our preparation is not top notch. That happens when we rely completely on our strengths and not rely so much on capitalising on the opponents’ weaknesses. You just can’t lose such key matches especially when you already hold the lead in the table.

Probably it’s forgotten now that we had massive issues with set piece defending in the first half of our season. For a team like Chelsea, known for its structure and organisation, now with an Italian manager with an illustrious career, the number of goals and points that we shipped due to bad set piece defending, was just not good enough.

While Chelsea were growing old, you can’t deny the fact that we had the most stability as far as the players are concerned. We had no big player leaving or joining. We had a good team spirit and camaraderie. In a way, you can say that if Carlo hadn’t won this league title this season, he would have failed miserably.

Shame you’re not arrogant, because you are a fantastic one!

As I said, I would never want to doubt a winner because there is no reason. Carlo is the champion and it’s not easy to be a champion in any league, let alone the English premier league. History does not remember the points difference or the goal difference – it only remembers the champions. And Carlo is one. For any manager to come to the premier league and win the league title in his first season, is an amazing achievement.

We can say a lot about how our rivals weren’t a match to us and that we should have won earlier but how does it matter exactly? There was a league title to be won and we did just that. We need to keep in mind that this was a season where Chelsea lost its key players to African Nations Cup. Weren’t we supposed to succumb in January? Didn’t January turn out to be the most productive month of the season?

The new Chelsea relies a lot on our full backs. This trend started particularly last season. We were so full-back-driven that at one point of time, our opponents thought that if they stopped our full backs they’d get a result. For a team so reliant on full backs to lose Bosingwa for the whole season and Ashley Cole for a good part of the season definitely was a big blow. But Carlo was not ruffled. He continued with our style and in most times we ended up playing even a 3-5-2 with Mikel dropping back between the centre backs while the full backs operate like wingers.

Carlo’s unrelenting approach was rewarded with a record 103 goals scored in the league campaign. Now, scoring 103 goals in the league has nothing to do with Ronaldo not being there at Man Utd or Arsenal and Liverpool being managed by Wenger and Benitez respectively. Basically, no matter how weak your rivals are, to score 103 goals in a 38-match league is phenomenal and must be respected and appreciated. You just have to give it to King Carlo!

The John Terry issue came at the most inopportune time for Chelsea. When it was still in the headlines, we had to play none other than Man City themselves, which was sandwiched between the home and away champions league matches against Inter. That was indeed tough. We have shrugged off the controversy and also the champions league disappointment admirably to retain our focus on the premier league. Carlo must take the credit for having led the troops in a calm and collected fashion and also reiterating what he cares about – football.

I like it when managers beat their rivals and win those big matches. I love it when they create a fortress at home and beat the rivals at their back yard. Carlo is a top manager. His double over our rivals is a further testimony to that. I’m happy that he has won the league which represents the performance of the team and the coach, more than champions league.

The huge impact that Carlo has made is also the respect that he has earned for Chelsea. He has won the title, he’s scored the goals, he’s playing in a way that the media cannot call ‘boring’, he has been absolutely uncontroversial. He has certainly improved Chelsea’s image. But the credit should also go to the club management. The decision to stop the big spending has been a good decision. This is not a bunch of players who are playing for money. This is a team full of life and energy and these players fight for the club, fellow players and the fans. You only have to look how Chelsea defended against Wigan on the last even after going 6-0 up.

One might say that this is Jose Mourinho’s squad. While that’s true, this success belongs to Carlo Ancelotti. That’s because while the fundamentals are from the TSO, the style and swagger patently belongs to the TFO. Don’t take anything away from the TFO. Let’s not even compare the TSO and TFO – both are winners and both are distinct. What Jose Mourinho did to Chelsea cannot be undone or bettered by any manager. Mount Everest has been climbed by more than 3,000 people now but Sherpa Tenzing and Edmund Hillary are remembered for a reason. JM’s achievement was very special. It’s like the birth of your first child. It’s very special but it no way undermines the memories of your later ones.

The reason why Man City would never win the title without a top manager is this – to win titles, the players and the team needs to believe. This thing called belief is what the top managers instill in players. With every win they make you believe you can do it. That’s what Jose Mourinho gave Chelsea. That belief has stayed with us. Without belief, no money or superstars can bring you success.

Let’s appreciate TSO and TFO for their respective achievements without having choose one over the other. The circumstances were different and so were the objectives and challenges. I’d like to say this again – this success this season belongs to Carlo Ancelotti and we should take nothing away from him.

So . . . stand up for The Fantastic One!

The Champions just did that last piece of business. Chelsea have won the first double in their history. Carlo Ancelotti completes a dream season despite a premature champions league elimination. Some could be a bit disappointed with the thin scoreline. Let’s remember, Chelsea have just won the premier league last week. They may not even be done with their celebrations. It’s bloody hard to keep your focus when you’ve just become the champion and if you’ve to play a domestic final the next week. Also add the upcoming world cup in the mix, it’s a tough challenge.

Special mention to Pompey. They played well. Unlike Chelsea, for many weeks this is the only thing they had to play for. Having long been relegated, they had been preparing just to win this cup. They were many grades below Chelsea, in terms of ability but they showed real desire to win the match. Credit to Avram and Pompey.

What made it more difficult for us was also the quality of the pitch. The ball didn’t seem to roll properly. The pace and bounce of the ball was not true. Every now and then, our passes didn’t reach the destination because the weight of the pass had to be more because of the poor pitch. For a fantastic stadium such as Wembley, the pitch is such a shame. With a better pitch, we could have raced into a comfortable lead in the first half.

In the end, Chelsea were very deserving winners. In the commentary, they sounded as if a Boateng penalty would have won the cup for them. It would have given them the advantage but remember, they are playing the champions. If Boateng had scored it, you never know, a rampant Chelsea might have upped the gear and  decimated Portsmouth. Also, before Cech saved the penalty, Chelsea might have been already 4-0 up, if we had finished better. I can’t play football to save my life but I think I could slotted in the sitter that Kalou missed. It’s so hard to miss that and he did the impossible.

Lampard’s been so good all season that he has do stuff like missing a penalty just to show that the law of averages does exist. He played well enough to have got a brace by himself but he had contend only with the FA Cup trophy. I thought Malouda had a poor match and Anelka too. Alex and Ivanovic had my heart beat go up every now and then with their positioning. Drogba from that range and angle was always going to score that free kick. This weapon of his is something that his rivals don’t have. I hope Ballack’s injury is not a concern for his world cup plans. Ashley Cole, the six-time FA cup champion, is my man of the match today.

John Terry is now the captain of the team that has won the double. He is the captain of the champions. He is in fine form. Rio cannot even make the team on his form and fitness. But still, John Terry will not captain his country at the world cup. The whole affair and the subsequent world cup axe are really very difficult setbacks. I’ve my full respect for JT to have come back from these downs and have championed twice this season. If I were the coach of the England team, I wouldn’t look beyond John Terry for the role of captaincy.

What a season this has been! I’m very very very very happy! If you know me, you know that I rate the premier league much much above the champions league. Which is why I’m very very very very happy. Now I can watch the rest of the football season at peace – la liga, serie a, champions league, world cup – I can watch these at peace now. In this kind of form, how do you think Chelsea would fare in the world cup? Okay then, relax, have fun, enjoy, celebrate, run around like mad people because . . .

We are the champions – my friends!
And we’ll keep on fighting – till the end . .
We are the champions!
We are the champions!
No time for losers . .
‘Cause we are the champions – of the world!