A long way away from perfection

At Stamford Bridge one could not be blamed for thinking that Chelsea were coasting to another Premier league title, and at times were untouchable, but recent dismal showings up North have exposed a more fragile side to Ancelotti's Chelsea side, and has served Carlo with his first real conundrum while managing the London outfit. As the prospect of another Manchester United slip up drew ever closer, Chelsea must have been buoyant about the weekends endeavours. As the 94th minute twinkled on the United clock, almost simultaneously so a second United goal glisten from the same scoreboard after Park's late winner. Nevertheless, an Arsenal and Tottenham slip up had set Chelsea up to brush away even further from their London rivals with a win at Anfield.

A woeful first half performance from everyone in blue, weaved with a masterclass of finishing and spectacular return to form from Anfield's darling and media-touted Chelsea target Fernando Torres. Torres' excellence was enough to win Liverpool the game, but it was Chelsea who lost the game. The Chelsea midfield, depleted by injuries was absent and dominated by a fairly mediocre Liverpool midfield. Liverpool's midfield, just like Manchester City's was allowed to dictate the momentum of the game and left Chelsea on the back foot from the go.

I had no major qualms about Mikel's performance, although not quite economical in possession as he's high standards have set, he had little to help in the Chelsea midfield. Ramires was anonymous in Chelsea's dismal first half showing, with his pass map highlighting how little passes went forward. With Ramires' passing limited to short, simple and backward passes it heaves much responsibility on the creativity of the unpredictably enigmatic Yury Zhirkov. He's captivating performances have won many plaudits, none more so from myself but he's effectiveness was limited by the fact that he isn't a central midfielder.

Like a magnet Zhirkov is attracted to the left, which caused Chelsea's only real threat. Lack of service down this side, and end product meant this would never be enough to split a sturdy Liverpool defensive display. Chelsea failed to get Kalou at all involved and the midfield desperately lacked the absence of Essien, not to mention Lampard.

Drogba's absence once again left the dilemma that is Nicolas Anelka. An exceptional player in his own right, Anelka however once again struggled when given the starting berth to lead the attack. Chelsea's injury problems have exposed Chelsea in away struggles early this season but with Essien returning on Wednesday, and Lampard who has barely featured this season at all to return soon, there's certainly no reason to worry just yet.

‘Chelsea’s squad too old’- A myth based on the past, semantics and idiocy

'Sometimes that is mind games from other managers or press talk and we proved them wrong last year.
'We have got players here who are experienced and you can't buy experience in football - look at Didier, he is a specimen and he will overpower any 24- or 25-year-old.
'People have been waxing lyrical about Paul Scholes, and rightly so, because if you take him out of the United team now, they will want to replace him and they probably won't be able to.'

Frank Lampard shared his view with the Chelsea magazine earlier this month, discussing the common opinion that Chelsea’s squad is a short term solution in the pursuit of silverware. Lampard is a very intelligent man, so there in so surprise he is talking sense but he captures three main points in regards to age perfectly for me.

The first is based around the origin of this opinion that haunts Chelsea with every shortcoming and attempts to cloud every success. If we track back the first time this propped up then we inevitably read none other than Sir Alex’s questioning of the Chelsea age. I won’t bother to recycle quotes as they are simply no longer valid. Anyone could dissipate Ferguson’s idea by just making him look closer to home but this isn’t about Manchester United’s inevitable struggle to replace some of the greatest players in their history, but Chelsea’s to do the same.

Now the first and most obvious place to start is the Chelsea squad, which gives me the perfect opportunity to post Chelsea’s 19 man squad in accordance with new Premier League rules, plus 6 players under the age of 21 who already have been assigned a squad number. Add now to this young goalkeeper Sam Walker who appears to have taken the Number 54 shirt.



There is no arguing that Chelsea’s side contains a number of players in or around their 30’s, but what does being 30 mean in football in this modern day. Cobham offers any Chelsea player anything to their professional heart’s desire. It’s a hub that contains the finest physiotherapists, facilities, psychologists etc that can be offered. This intense scope on the players welfare is only further lengthening the career span of players. Now who immediately springs to mind when thinking of successes with ageing sides...

"I would be happy to stay as long as (Sir Alex) Ferguson at Manchester United." –We’ve won the Ancelottery

The man who coached Paolo Maldini into his 40’s obviously knows a little about the impacts of age on performance. Maldini won two Champions league titles in his 30’s, both under Carlo, the second one at 38. People looking for reasons why the likes of John Terry, Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba et al cannot do similar are the ones fearing the continual dominance of these players. Ancelotti knows how to treat these players. Frank Lampard sat out the game against West Ham with an injury, whilst both him and John Terry skipped the international week to recover for Chelsea’s forthcoming fixtures. Slowly but surely Carlo is expertly thinning the dependence of these players. Sitting watching the West Ham game was the first time in years I’d seen a Chelsea side minus Frank Lampard still play with such fluidity and impetus. Ramires was willing and hard working on debut, very promising of what is to come. Mikel is the player people tipped him to be now. His pass to Ferreira on the third goal showed excellent vision and craft, and he has become the enforcer of the Chelsea midfield. Words won’t do Michael Essien justice, he has came back from a horrible injury, only to pick up exactly where he left off. Two headed goals typified he’s all round class.

We don’t need spine surgery any time soon

There is the also the infamous Chelsea spine, which many stress will not be there forever. Those who feel Chelsea will suddenly collapse without the spine are taking the anatomical reference too seriously. Chelsea have planned for the future, but there are no struggles with this spine in the immediate future anyway. John Terry has excelled in the early part of this season, and there was little coincidence that when he left the pitch against West Ham with a hip problem, we promptly conceded for the first time in 571 minutes. The point is not that John Terry is irreplaceable but rather that he has been superb which only further dissipates those calling him a spent force or a shade of his former self. Conversely John Terry’s performance against Stoke reminded me of a John Terry of 10 years, just with better technique. His game has been reinvigorated as he has rediscovered a bite in his zealous challenges which exemplifies how he is amongst a dying trend as a true bastion of English defending. Not forgetting John Terry’s ability to execute Beckham-esque passes on demand with his left foot. Terry is just one example amongst the others. Drogba has looked even sharper than last season post surgery, Ashley Cole is the best left back in the world and I’m certain I’ll be able to reference to a Frank Lampard brace soon enough. These performances from this quarter, along those of Malouda, Anelka etc do much to dispel those linking age with a decrease in performance, as if anything the beginning of the Premiership has shown to the contrary.

“The future of Chelsea”- The fallacy that is Frank Arnesen’s failures

Frank Arnesen has been made a scapegoat for alot of negative things. He is the one made responsible when seeing a lack of youth products on the team sheet, The standard of youth players has not been the problem though, rather the slight desperation for short term success and merry go round of managers at Stamford Bridge. In Carlo Ancelotti, we seem to have found a long term project though, and he has walked into a club where the calibre of young players available or the scouting system could not be higher. He described Gael Kakuta as the ‘future of Chelsea’ and promptly included him in the squad at West Ham after he returned from injury. Watching Kakuta since he joined, I quickly gained an idea of what a special talent he was. The temporary sanctions given by FIFA were farcical as us nor Kakuta had done nothing wrong, but you can expect little more from Kakuta. He has kept his head down, continued to work and was awarded the Golden Player award at this summer’s U19 European Championships, having steered France to glory. I was delighted to see him get some minutes at West Ham and even a song by the Chelsea fans that he warmly appreciated and am thoroughly looking forward to seeing more of him this season.

Jeffrey Bruma is another undoubted talent. Few other clubs boast 18 year old defenders who have made a full international debut in such a pressured position as centre back, even fewer for a national side who reached the World Cup final in the same year. He has great composure and awareness, and having recently pledged his future to Chelsea with a long term contract is another example of Chelsea’s future planning. Alongside these two talents, we have numerous of talented players such as Patrick Van Aanholt, Fabio Borini and Daniel Sturridge. Particular Daniel Sturridge. He has shown much more maturity in his performances, and will feature this season without doubt. He is certainly one to look out for, and one who I believe Carlo can successfully nurture to the first team. The final young player who springs to mind is Josh McEacharan who having been given an opportunity to feature in pre season also looks set to be involved intermittently. He is in company with a vast number of other young, promising English players although most of these are gaining experience away from Chelsea.

The fact that Jack Cork, Michael Mancienne and Ryan Bertrand are being sent on loan just further shows that there Arnesen and the academy team have done an excellent job in producing players, and that although the chance seemingly may have passed for the likes of Mancienne to impress at Chelsea, there is definitely a future for many of them with Carlo at the helm.

People will look at many of these players and say they are too inexperience/young too feature, whilst still trying to condemn the age of our experienced and mature players. This views is based merely on semantics and pre conceptions of those reluctant to accept Chelsea as something else than a team just chasing a rich Russians selfish dream of European glory. Our young players are too inexperienced but are old players are not experienced, but rather on the verge of retirement. Our young players are immature but are older players are not mature, but rather nearing an expiration date. Those arguing that Chelsea are not amongst the best clubs in the world at the moment base their views on a string of flawed and hypocritical arguments but for me right now there are no side I’d rather watch, defend or sing for then Chelsea. Some people are impossible to please, but for those who aren’t then at Chelsea we have everything to suggest a successful future for many years. Hail King Carlo!

Mikel unsung hero in early season routs

Chelsea's £18.2 million capture of Ramires is most likely to displace Jon Mikel Obi from the team when studying the Chelsea midfield. The ever consistent Frank Lampard and returning Michael Essien are seemingly certainties for the majority of games, which leaves Mikel with a struggle for first team football. Some less attentive journalists have even dismissed Obi completely and claimed that the capture of Ramires means the end for the Nigerian. These reports are off course far from the mark as Mikel will by no means be starved of appearances. Nevertheless competition has increased, and Mikel becomes more of rotation player then a certain starter.

Mikel has been at the club since 2006, after his infamous signing from Lyn and has quickly clocked up over 150 appearances in 4 seasons, despite his tender age. Mikel has always been a target for criticism at the Bridge though and is often found as a scapegoat both with the Stamford Bridge faithful and with managers of the past. He was the 5/10 man in all of Sunday's papers all too regularly in his early career but The Nigerian came on leaps and bounds in last seasons double winning year, and has picked up the pace immediately in The Blues' impressive opening. He disappointingly missed out on The World Cup with injury, but started in the Community Shield and featured frequently throughout pre-season.

This brings us to the season curtain raiser at The Bridge against West Brom. Now, in a rout such as the one against the Baggies, those receiving the plaudits were the obvious candidates. Drogba praised for another hat-trick, Lampard and Malouda praised for their goals, Ashley praised for bombing forward time and time again. However there was a growing presence of praise for Mikel in discussions about the game. I sat there with a bit of disbelief from my seat when I heard groans quickly follow a misplaced Mikel pass. This untidiness signals a part of Mikel's reputation that he has forged in his early career for being a tad lazy and sloppy in his passing. However I couldn't remember another stray pass he had done at that point. I felt Mikel was excellent that day, and equally as important as the aformentioned players for the way he controlled the midfield. It was not just Mikel's passing that was no longer erratic, but it was his presence in front of the defence that gave them such an easy ride. Mikel marshals the midfield and continuously was seen to outmuscle the West Brom attackers and brush away the opponents attack with ease. It was a vintage display from Mikel and one that should have seen more credit, as hopefully a sign of greater things to come.

Picture Courtesy of The Guardian's excellent Chalkboard feature.

Now the picture above shows both Gerrard and Mikel's pass map from the season opener. It would be naive of course to suggest that this evidence is unquestionable because of the difficulty of opponent being so different. We are though looking at one of the great passers of the game, and the steering wheel in the Liverpool midfield, with responsibilty to drive the team on. Of Gerrard's 44 passes, 8 of them were unsuccessful, whereas Mikel recorded a much larger 72, of which just 5 were misplaced. There are a few things that I noted from this, obviously many of Gerrard's 'unsuccessful' passes came from wide positions but it shows that nobodies passing is perfect. Mikel's pass map is more self explanatory and it shows how commanding and important a presence he was in the Chelsea midfield against West Brom. The number of passes show how frequently he was involved in Chelsea's ball possession. Another thing of great importance to note is the frequency of passes into wide areas. The Chalkboard feature highlights how Mikel kickstarts many of the moves that start with Ashley Cole.

We move onto Chelsea's second successive 6-0 win, this time at the place that Chelsea were victim of an embarassing grounding back to earth last season as we met Wigan at the DW Stadium. Chelsea were given a hard time in the first half by the sheer pressing of the Latics. It was admittedly a difficult first half for the Blues, who were lucky to go in with the lead at the half time whistle. The second half began and Roberto Martinez would have gave messages of optimism. This is when Mikel once again came to the fore with an exceptional ball that perfectly found Anelka who brilliantly finished. This was his second assist in the most decisive or important goal of both games. Mikel teed it up to Malouda for Chelsea's first of the 10/11 season, while his pass put this game beyond doubt. He was immediately mobbed by everyone close to him, thus was the excellence of the assist, and wore a childish grin with it.

The pass map above once again shows Mikel's excellent passing success and again highlights the importance that he holds to distributing to Ashley Cole. There's much that could be repeated about the Nigerian's performance at Wigan that were similar to that of West Brom so I'll focus on the further positives. Mikel stood up to be counted in this game, his passing was decisive, his presence was commanding and relentless, whilst his running and attitude was admirable. His passing success was greater than that of Paul Scholes, the man already ordained as this season PFA Player of the Year by journalists and reporters alike. Mikel has stood out for me greater than anyone else thus far, and a continuation of this may see Ramires struggle to force his way into the starting eleven. Mikel hasn't quite fit the mould of 'solid but unspectacular' in his time so far, despite drawing comparisons to the great Makelele but on this form Mikel may come across both solid and spectacular, and what the heck, may even score a goal!