Be positive not Negative

One of the biggest problems we have at this football club in terms of playing style is the lack of positive attitude. The only way to play quick exciting football is to play in a positive way, what does that mean? Well it involves a few different aspects of the way we play.

It all starts right at the beginning. Too many times we have seen us set up with the opposition in mind only. Yes you do have to do that to a certain extent but to set up with defensive minded players like Bertrand on the wing against teams like QPR and Brentford is just madness, understandable when there is a real threat to try and stifle like Messi, Ronaldo, Tevez ect.. but you are not going to get that same threat from the majority of teams we will play against.

It goes right back to the mentality aspect, of course you study your opposition and learn how they play and how to counteract them but against 99% of the teams we are playing against the main focus should be how we impose ourselves on the opposition to dominate play and give us the best opportunities to win the game, this it seems we do not do.

We have some of the best creative young talent in world football in our squad and to get the best out of them we need to play with a high tempo. You can see that when the pace of the game picks up and the ball moves with speed the ability from these players shines in particular Juan Mata. These players are so quick with what they are doing that they can take 3 or 4 players out the game with one quick move. Playing with a slow tempo however makes it so much harder for them, the ball gets passed around the 18 yard box for a while looking for an opening and when it comes that opening is so tight that the pass will not get where it was intended.

Just look at the second half against Man Utd to see how the quick play gets the best out of these players and look at most of the other games to see how a slow tempo game frustrates these players and makes it very difficult for them.

The final aspect is pressing. This is something that we very rarely do but the best teams have to do. When opposition teams have possession we always sit back and let them come at us with absolutely no pressure on the ball. Teams can just take their time to pick out the pass they want and make it and as for crosses well we just seem far to happy to let them come in and then deal with them. Again against United we was on them as soon as they got the ball and it caused them all sorts of problems. We want possession of the ball and we do not want them to have it. Barcelona are the masters at the pressing game and that is why their possession stats are always so high. We have got to stop making it so easy for teams to come at us, this is why we have struggles defensively because we invite the pressure and hope to deal with it.

This is not to say that the team has to play full tilt pressing and quick breaks every time. Jose's team had it right, they would break when they could but they also knew how to rest on the ball, keep possession while resting, we do not have the right balance to our play at the moment.

There are signs that we are finding our feet, last night there were periods where we would press and made quick chances but there was all too often where we would let them play and put pressure on ourselves. If we can up our tempo and be positive in our play then the rest of the season could be good again for us as fans to watch. 

A springboard to a positive end?

There has been a lot of talk following the game against Manchester United on Sunday, unfortunately a lot of the talk has been about whether Benitez should get the credit for the changes he made, personally i think the team selection was wrong from the outset but Benitez is not the topic of this blog post.

What we saw from the team on Sunday was a group of players really go for it, the pressure was put on Man Utd and this is something we have rarely done, the first half against Arsenal was another example of when we did this. All too often we are content to let the opposition have possession of the ball and allow them tons of space to come at us and we hope we can clear it from our defence, then we have a slow build up and try and break through a brick wall.

This time we put pressure on the United players, we harried them when they were on the ball and then we broke quickly to catch them out and we did on several occasions. This is the basis on what we need to work on for the rest of the season. We have hugely talented attacking players and we need to utilize them, we cannot expect them to beat 8 men every time, we need to give them opportunities to break at defenses with speed.

The managers biggest fault has been his refusal to play our only real defensive midfielder Mikel. Mikel needs to be playing every game for the rest of the season. When the substitutions were made on Sunday and the Chelsea fans were singing "you don't know what you're doing" i was surprised because the subs made sense. Personally i think it is because a lot of fans are a little precious when it comes to Frank Lampard, fact is that Frank does not always cut it in the formation that we play and this game was one of those. With Mikel alongside him Ramires is able to be at his devastating best. Mikel and Ramires is our best pairing and should be played together in the biggest games, Lampard and Ramires should be a combination played together, it just does not work and never has.

Ramires' runs from deep are what he is all about, even when played out wide his best work has been done on the break and running from deep, playing high up the pitch and trying to make things happen is not his best suit. Ramires is a bundle of energy, him breaking from deep with Mikel sitting causes problems for opposition defenses and he is able to make much more telling contributions. When played alongside Lampard he is the one expected to be more defensive minded and that is not his strong suit either, he can play well defensively, but positionally it is not comfortable for him.

Playing a high tempo pressing game suits the players we have and releases the pressure we put onto ourselves. We can play all 3 of Oscar, Mata and Hazard together and it will work very well, but the tempo of our play needs to be high for them to be as effective as they can be.

Can Benitez use what he saw on Sunday and take us comfortably to the end of the season without giving all supporters heart attacks? Or will his constant chopping and changing and random substitutions still continue? 

For me we showed ourselves the way to play, hopefully the players can realize this and galvanize themselves for a decent end to a disaster of a season. We have a very good team of players and we should be looking to finish the season comfortably in 4th place not hoping and praying for 4th place on the last day of the season.

The fans are not at fault here Rafa!

Last night saw a spectacular outburst from the Interim one and it is a wonder that he is still in charge of this football club. The outburst has had some people agreeing with him (basically opposition fans, those who like to be different and those who crave attention) and some people disagreeing with him, and surprisingly a number of media outlets agreeing with Chelsea fans on this point.

Chelsea fans have been right from the outset, yes we didn't want him because he was in charge of Liverpool and said some stupid things about us but more than that we knew that he is a useless manager. At the end of his reign as Liverpool manager Chelsea fans would sing that we wanted him to stay  there because he was doing such a wonderful job of messing up Liverpool football club. We knew it then and we knew it when he was appointed here.

Benitez has a habit of blaming everyone possible for his failings other than himself. When he came he said that he will prove himself by winning games, well he has not won games that he should be winning and as such has proved himself to be as useless as we thought he was. He said he would get Torres playing well again but Torres scored more and looked better pre-Benitez. It is quite staggering how bad things have got.

For Benitez to come out and blame the fans for the poor performances is just ridiculous. You can blame Abramovic for the knee jerk sacking of DiMatteo and the frankly bizarre appointment of Benitez. You can blame the players for not playing to their highest level. Then you can blame the man whose bizarre team selections, tactics and substitutions actually DO dictate what goes on the pitch. 

On top of all that he has it totally wrong, Chelsea fans do support the TEAM they do not support BENITEZ. There is big difference there and one i am sure that is not lost on the players. 

To me it seems like this is a man who has either found out that he is not getting the job long term and is chucking his toys out of the pram. Or more likely because he has previous of this is to find things are not going well for him and he is trying to maneuver his way out of the club.

If he is not given the push before the game against West Brom then the reception he is going to get will quite rightfully be unbelievable and will continue to be so until he finally leaves our club and on that day everyone will be happy. The desire for Benitez to go has got to such a level that most people are thinking warmly of comical Avi Grant and would quite happily have him back for the end of the season.

Personally i can't go that far, a Steve Holland, Dermot Drummy combination would suit me for the remainder of the season. Any replacement would get better results than Benitez is now. But the question has to be asked, how on earth is he still the manager after that rant? 
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Put us out of our misery

A season that started with so much promise has now descended into chaos. When the 2012/13 season started we were looking forward with excitement, we had signed some exciting young talent with ability to make us play some good football and we had the prospect of some exciting trophies to win with Super cup and the World Club Cup both up for grabs.

Fast forward to today and we have managed to mess up the Community Shield, the Super Cup, the Champions League, the Club World Cup, the League Cup and the Premiership leaving us with the FA Cup and the Europa League a competition we never expected to be in in the first place and chances are very slim that we will win either of those.

Add to that list of disasters the fact that we fired a manager hugely popular with the fans way before giving him. Fair chance and appointed the only man that Chelsea fans would dispise being in the job even if it is only as interim.

So all I am asking now is for the club and Roman to put us out of our misery. Please just get shot of Benitez whatever it means. Even if we replace him with Steve Holland and Dermot Drummy for the rest of the season. Anything has got to be better than what we are having to sit and suffer at the moment. The football is going very wrong and it is clear Benitez has not got a clue how to get things going for us again.

We are in serious danger of missing out on a top four finish again this season and this time there will be no way for us to get in the Champions League without it. To start next season without Champions League football would not help us at all.

Lets act now, no manger has been afforded the luxury of this level of poor results and performances and hold onto his job so why allow it now. Sack Benitez now and let's try and save something from this season and that is securing a top 4 finish.

All we ask us get Benitez as far away from this club as possible. And quickly too.

Support the academy

These are trying times for Chelsea fans, watching our team perform to a level that is way below them and struggling to beat even the smallest of teams, not to mention having to endure a manager that pretty much ever fan cannot stand. But thankfully there is an answer to the woes...... follow the young stars in the academy!

Roman Abramovic has a vision for Chelsea, he wants them to be an entertaining team, playing wonderful football and being successful at the same time. What he may not realize is that it has already been achieved and the academy is providing that vision.

Last night saw a Chelsea U19's team take on a huge challenge in the NextGen series last 16 against first team foes Barcelona. The assumption was that things would go pretty similar to the first team, Barcelona will have lots of possession and Chelsea will try and hold them off and catch them on the break.  As it turned out it was just like the first team, but not in that way. As is typical in a Chelsea Barcelona game Chelsea had to play half the game with 10 men. Prior to Connor Hunte being sent off Chelsea were playing very good football, playing out from the back and keeping possession well, Barca had chances but a lot of them game from mistakes from our defence. In the first half we deserved to be 1 - 0 ahead and then had to hold off waves of Barca attacks than really led to little in real chances due to a superb defensive performance  then much like a night not too long ago in Barcelona we go down the other end and Boga produces some magic to win the game.

I would have loved to have seen this game played out for the full 90 minutes with 11 v 11 because it was a great footballing spectacle and the sending off ruined that, however i don't think there can be any arguments over the sending off, it was a very very silly challenge to make already being on a yellow.

What this game highlights is just how far we have come, Barca are regarded as having the best youth set up in world football, bringing those talents through and we went there and for 45 minutes was playing them comfortably at their own game.

If you are feeling down with Chelsea at the moment turn your attentions to the academy and you will be in for a thrilling end to the season. It is debatable how much improvement the new league set ups at U18 and U21 levels has brought around but what it has created is a bit of league excitement for the end of the season and something to really aim for.

With the win over Barcelona last night Chelsea U19's find themselves in the quarter finals of the NextGen Series with their opponents to be decided on Friday and this is a team that should fear no-one. On top of that the recent win in the FA Youth Cup sees the U18's in the quarter finals of that competition too with a ties against either Derby or Manchester City. 

In the U18's league Chelsea topped their first phase group in style and are still unbeaten in the second phase in the Elite group with 2 draws and a win and will be expected to do well. In the new set up Chelsea will need to finish in the top 3 places of this Elite group to progress to the semi finals and be in with a chance of being crowned U18's league champions a challenge that i am sure they are well up to achieving.

At U21's level Chelsea have a tougher route if they wish to be crowned U21's champions, having narrowly missed out on the Elite group they find themselves in Group 1 where they are currently top after 3 wins and a loss although they have played more games than the 2 below them but they are playing very well so far. To make the semi finals however from Group 1 they would need to finish top in the group and then play off against the top team in group 2 to join the top 3 teams in the Elite group in the semi finals. Not an easy task for sure but one that this group of players can do.

What you will always get at Academy level is great football, desire and commitment from the players and excitement. It is getting harder and harder to justify why these players are not coming through to the first team. So cure your blues blues with the academy, watch the games on Chelsea TV or the highlights on my YouTube, get down to cobham on a Saturday morning to watch the U18's if you can and go and see the U21's if you can because it is going to be an exciting end to the season for the Chelsea academy boys.

Time to ditch 4-2-3-1

Sometimes logic truly goes out of the window, and at Chelsea Football Club that seems to be a pretty regular thing. For years now we have been playing a 4-3-3 formation and it has worked for us very well indeed even though for a lot of the time we have not had the ideal players for that formation. It has been a long time since we had proper wingers that will run at defenses and try to beat their man and until last season we have lacked that creative playmaker, that number 10, who will make things happen behind the 3 forward players.

If you take a look at what we have been playing with recently and analyse it we have been making things harder than they need to be, yes we have had injuries and players away with the African Cup but it does not need to be such a struggle, this has been our team of late:

What you have here is a number of players playing out of position in a formation they are not comfortable with. Ivanovic is a fantastic player but for me he is a much better player as a center back, yes as a full back he has scored goals but positionally he gets caught out far too often Newcastle's second goal at the weekend being a prime example. In this formation you have 2 sitting midfielders who will break up the play and get the ball moving forward again but playing with Lampard and Ramires you have 2 players who are box to box players and will instinctively get forward. Again it has been a pattern of last few games, both players high up the pitch, we lose the ball and the opposition break without any cover from the midfield. Then we have Bertrand playing as a winger, if you are asking him to do a defensive job only as was needed in Munich then fine, but to be using him as a solely attacking job just does not work, he is a left back.

If we had all of our players available to us then the only way to make this formation work for us would be to put out this team:

Here you have 2 proper full backs, 2 proper sitting midfielders who can get the ball forward to the attacking players and 2 proper wide players. What we are not allowing for is the ability to rotate the squad and give players a rest. The bottom line is to not keep trying to put players where they are not comfortable. Play the system that suits the players, not try and force players to play a system that they are not suited to.

Going back to the 4-3-3 now, we may have a small squad this season but playing the 4-3-3 gives us the best opportunity to use our squad to it's fullest. Our strongest team in a 4-3-3 would look something like this:

Again all over the pitch there is balance, players playing in their natural positions to enable them to fully know their roles and deal with any situation that comes up. I truly believe if we were to play with this formation we would again be a truly formidable side and would put teams under serious pressure. But more importantly we would see the nervousness in the side disappear as everyone would be comfortable within their roles in the team.

Also in playing this formation we could play 2 completely separate teams with full balance and strength. Not that we would necessarily have to play this team as it is but it give the chance for rotation of players with some players being very comfortable in a number of positions:

I have no idea why there is such a determination to continue with the 4-2-3-1 as it just is not working for us and if we continue to persist we will not see an upturn in results, any team sees us as a soft touch now and can easily expose us and put us under serious pressure. The time to change is now, switch to the 4-3-3 and focus on making top 4, that is an absolute must for us.

Academy puts first team to shame

This season we have seen more than ever how badly run and poorly organised things are within the hierarchy of the first team. However that does not mean that this football club does not know how to run a football set up well. Our Academy is an example of what can be achieved if set up and run in the correct way.

Firstly and possibly most important is continuity, Neil Bath has been the Academy Director since 2004 and has overseen the most dramatic change in the academy and turned it into something very special indeed. But there is far more to it than that. Whilst Roman, Gourlay ect obviously are interested in the academy and what is does they have no intention of interfering and dictating what goes on in the academy. Neil Bath has had the last 8 years to with the help of the footballing people around to do what he believes is right to make the academy as good as it can be, and unsurprisingly it has worked. 

The academy functions as a whole unit from top to bottom, the philosophy of Chelsea football club is taught from the age of 7 all the way through to the U21's. At the start of the change in academy set up coaches were brought in to make changes which had mixed results but now Chelsea are not only developing players but developing coaches also. Dermot Drummy has moved through the ranks from U16's coach to now being U21's coach, Paul Clement before him went from U18's to Reserves to first team assistant and now is with Carlo at PSG. Steve Holland went from the reserves to assistant for the first team. Adrian Viveash came in at the young age levels and has quickly worked through the U15's, U16's and is now U18's manager and doing very well. This is not progression for the sake of it, these coaches Chelsea are developing and progressing are of a very high standard and deserve to move through the ranks.

The results speak for themselves, every year the standard of player gets higher and higher. We have seen our U18's team look incredibly formidable and this is a young team, we have U16's moved through to U21's football already, we are not afraid to push our better players to be better. Our success in the FA Youth Cup is another indication of the strength at academy level.

The problem is, no matter how good our academy is, when the structure set up around the first team is so poor we are never going to see the real progress of these young players that we should be seeing in them getting into the first team. Time and time again we see players be at the top of their age group all the way up to 18/19 and when it comes to push on it falters.

What the academy SHOULD be showing to Roman and the people surrounding him is what can happen when you let football men dictate the football matters. Gourlay, Buck and Roman may be very good when it comes to business and the business side of football but what qualifies them to understand the running of a successful football club over any other fan on the planet? 

Imagine what would happen if a team of football men were charged with the running of the club overseen by Roman, the football board are accountable to making sure that the club is solid from a football standpoint, using their knowledge of the game to put forward their best choices for managers, players ect. Let Gourlay deal with the business side, the sponsorship the shirt sales, he actually seems pretty good at that but keep away from footballing decisions.

Emanalo is a man who take a lot of criticism, at the end of the day we have no idea of what his involvement is with the poor choices that have been made recently. But what i think he has done well is his ability to bring in the right players, the signings we have been making have been very good indeed.

Lets say for a moment we have a football board consisting of Guus Hiddink as the Director of Football, someone like Pat Nevin who is clearly a very intelligent and articulate man with Chelsea at his heart and Emenalo to continue player scouting. Charged with the job of creating some stability to the club, if actually given the licence to do so i think we would see some results similar to what the academy has produced. Even if it is not these, but just people who know football and how the workings of the football side of the club should be, just anything to create stability and continuity at the club.

So yes, the academy certainly puts the first team to shame, but Roman should use it as an indication of where things are going wrong at first team level and finally address the instability at our club. 

Chelsea Managers Job - a GOOD prospect.

The managerial post at Chelsea is currently being viewed as something that any potential candidate should avoid at all costs. Certainly the learned men in the media claim that to be the case. But the truth is that on many levels the new man walking into the Chelsea job in the summer is on to something really very good.

Feeling among Chelsea fans at the moment is pretty low, either you are frustrated that Roberto DiMatteo was sacked, annoyed that Rafael Benitez was appointment, disillusioned with the way the club is run or all of the above. The bottom line is that unless it is someone really who is universally disliked by the fans (the club have already done this one now anyway) whoever comes in is going to have the whole fan base behind them because they will feel that anyone will be better than Benitez and they will look forward to moving on from what has happened this season.

In addition to that you only have to look at our squad and the potential is huge to build something very special. We have already seen what players like Mata, Hazard and Oscar have to offer and Hazard and Oscar will be able to offer much much more than that next year. A young but very talented squad throughout with the likes of Lukaku, DeBruyne, Courtois on loan and able to come back in. This is a team that has been able to trundle along in third place all season without having had the best got out of them. Some manager is inheriting a very good team of young players and likely to be added to in the summer also.

No matter what you think about Roman Abramovic and the way the club is run lessons will have been learned from what has happened in the last 2 seasons and in many ways this summer will be a new start for everyone. 

And lets not forget that good old faithful draw for top managers - money. The role will be as it always has been a high paying one and that in itself without all the other points will be enough to draw plenty of managers.

No matter how the press will view what is going on at Chelsea and how they think the job is poison any manager that takes over in the summer has a role that is ripe for somebody to do something special with, who that man will be we have no idea at the moment but i hope it is someone with the vision to be able to see the potential we have at this football club to build a new exciting chapter to follow the last that ended in Champions League glory.

Youth Cup Excites Again

Regular viewers to Chelsea's FA Youth cup games will be well used to the excitement, drama and good football that was served up on Wednesday night. In a tough hard fought game Chelsea's young lads fought back from a 2 - 0 deficit at half time to come out 3 - 2 winners at the end of extra time and will face either Barnsley or Stevenage at home in the next round.

Given the strength in depth available to Adi Viveash the team selection was always going to be something of a headache, which is always a nice problem to have. Missing from the game against Colchester but back for this game was influential youngster Jeremie Boga and relative new boy Andreas Christensen to the defence.

The first half of the game was something of a disaster for Chelsea, passes were going astray all over the place, biggest culprits being Fankaty Dabo, Adam Nditi and John Swift. Our key players like Islam Feruz, Jeremie Boga and Ruben Loftus-Cheek were not having an impact on the game and Charlton were pressing hard and playing at a high tempo. 2 goals were shipped in the first half without reply and things were looking pretty dire but we have been here before and most people will have believe that Adi would get them playing much better in the second half.

At half time Viveash rang the changes, he brought on Alex Kiwomya and shifted the team around. Nathan Ake went to centre back and Christensen moved to right back Loftus-Cheek and Swift played as the 2 sitting midfielders and Boga moved in the 10 spot from playing on the wing. The changes and the team talk had the desired impact, the team was playing much better and keeping Charlton on the back foot. The first goal came from a brilliant run down the right wing from Christensen, the ball went to Feruz whose shot hit the post and the keeper and Christensen was following in to be able to tap it in.

The pressure was now all Chelsea and Viveash tinkered with the team again to go for the win. Off came Swift and Nditi and on came young players Hunte and Colkett. Now Chelsea were playing with 3 at the back Ake on the left, Davey in the center and Christensen on the right, Baker dropped in to play alongside Loftus-Cheek in front of the defense and then a 4 of Hunte, Colkett, Boga and Kiwomya were behind Feruz. 

The equalizer came from a break out of defense and Loftus-Cheek spotting the run of speedy Alex Kiwomya played a lovely ball between the defense and Kiwomya sped away to slot the ball home with a tidy finish. After that it seemed just a matter of time before Chelsea got the goal to win the game but unfortunately it did not come during normal time and extra time was to be played.

In extra time the pattern of play was much the same, Chelsea pressing for the winner and Charlton having worked extremely hard in the first half looked a spent force. Finally the big chance came, again a ball out of defense found Connor Hunte whose first touch was sublime to take him away from his defender and he sped away to then slot the ball through the legs of the Charlton keeper. Chelsea then tightened things up and was able to see out the game without too much drama.

Again another inspired comeback from this Chelsea Youth Cup team but a lot of the credit has to go to the manager Adi Viveash, this is what you can do when a manager has the knowledge and trust in his players to change things up and go for the game. Having said that he will be asking his players to not repeat the first half performance in later rounds.

Again there was some very good performances on the night, most notably Lewis Baker who was at the heart of everything good and was all over the park putting in a true captains performance.

The Importance of Protesting Against Rafa

There has been plenty of talk in the press about the way that Chelsea fans are showing their displeasure towards Benitez. They are saying these things as if Chelsea fans are the first fans to ever make their feelings felt about something going on at their club. Chelsea fans always believe that there is bias against them and their club in the media and that is wholly justified and at the same time the media journalists would swear blind that there isn't but how many times have we seen other fans applauded for their protests at how their club is being run and decisions that are being made yet Chelsea fans are wholly wrong for what they are doing?

People looking in will maybe think what have Chelsea fans got to moan about? Rafa is a decent manager isn't he? He isn't doing a bad job is he? Well that is very easy to say when you are not a Chelsea fan with a Chelsea fans passion to all things that happen at our club. It was no secret that Benitez was very disliked by Chelsea fans long before he was touted as a possible manager for us for many different reasons. But since he has come he has done absolutely nothing to help that, firstly he continues to not want the fans to warm to him, going so far now as to say that "proper" Chelsea fans want him to win! OK to be fair he never used the word "him" in what he said and the media did a nice bit of spin on that one but i think it is fair to say that the implication was there. Then there is the results, Rafa was brought in to improve the position of the team but the stats bear out that DiMatteo had a better win percentage when he left than Rafa does now and we have seen the distance between us and the Manchester clubs significantly widen since the arrival of Benitez not to mention the poor performance in the Club World Cup and the real possibility of being dumped out the League Cup by Swansea.

We have seen Stamford Bridge become somewhere where clubs will come and feel confident of getting a result no matter who they are. Rafa has pointed to the fact that teams will set up to frustrate us at home and that is why we are finding it difficult. Well surely any decent manager having picked up on that would have tried to find a way to combat it but clearly that is above Benitez's capability. During the games we have also seen his flaws as a manager, given our squad anybody can pick 11 players and put them out to win a game, but when things have got tough we have seen he is totally unable to do anything to turn a game around, like for like substitutions and an inability to change the make up of the team to make things happen and that is not to mention that he seems to not fancy one of the most talented players in World football Oscar and seems determined to alienate him from the team and make him unhappy.

With all this in mind it is very important that we keep getting across our message that Benitez is not wanted here. That has been added to by the news yesterday that Pep Guardiola is joining Bayern Munich is the summer. We all know how Roman and the board look at manager appointments, they want big names, the 2 times they have gone with managers with less experience things ended pretty quickly and Guardiola was the name most touted to come in the summer. As much as every Chelsea fan would want it to happen i think it is still a little hopeful to expect Jose Mourinho to turn up in the summer so who does that leave for the club to turn to?

What we do not want is for Benitez to be here beyond the end of the season, at the moment we see him tagged as "interim" manager, that is how we want it to stay. We need to make it clear that under no circumstances do we want him here so when it comes to the summer and they are struggling to find a name to come in and manage us we want them to know that it would be a disaster in club/fan relationship to keep Benitez on as manager no matter what the circumstances.

It may come across as ungrateful and childish to the media and other fans but who are they to tell us how to feel about the club we love so much? All we can hope is that the club have some sort of master plan in place for the summer and it isn't as it looks that they have scared off any decent manager of coming to club and are left with Benitez to carry on with his step by step destruction of the club.

So, all together now.... "We don't care about Rafa......"

Piazon On Loan

Talented Attacking Midfielder Lucas Piazon has made a loan move away from Chelsea FC to Malaga in Spain. Since Piazon joined the club the talk had always been that he would stay with Chelsea and develop into the first team squad so there was never much conversation about him going out on loan, but it is certainly the best thing for the player.

When players are as talented as Lucas is then going on loan to a club is the best thing for the players development. Piazon should be playing regular first team football and certainly has the ability to do just that and playing at Malaga will give him that oppertunity. Piazon's Representative on Twitter has said that the idea is that he play every game for Malaga including the Champions League although he has just missed out on playing against Barcelona.

Lucas Piazon is a player with superb ball skills and able to operate in any of the attacking midfield positions and even as a centre forward if needed. He has such good close control and the ability to beat a man with either pace or skill that he is always such a threat and even in his limited first team appearances he has shown that he is a threat when on the ball.

First team opportunities were always going to be limited for him this season, especially with so many new players in his positions to integrate. This loan could be a huge boost to his development and put him on a path to our first team.   

Sam Walker make Colchester Loan move

Young Chelsea goalkeeper Sam Walker has today joined U21 team mate Billy Clifford at Colchester United until the end of the season.

Sam is no stranger to loan moves, having just come back from a spell with Bristol Rovers he had previously been at Barnet, Northampton and Yeovil. Sam will be looking to find some good form while on this loan move and try to aim for future loan spells at a higher level.

With goalkeepers it is hard to clubs to take a chance on a young loan goalkeeper but Sam is getting some good experience under his belt and is a very good young keeper.

Both Sam and Billy will be looking to help Colchester improve their position and pick up some results. Sam, i am sure will not be the last Chelsea youngster we see go out on loan this month.

Billy Clifford joins Colchester United on Loan

Finally Billy Clifford is making his first loan move away from the club and is joining League 1 Colchester United on a months loan deal. 

Billy has been a player that is long overdue a loan move and will no doubt enjoy the experience. Billy is a talented player who started out playing as a right back for the U18's and reserve sides but who later has moved into midfield and playing a more creative role. It is a role that he has taken well too and is able to use his ability on the ball to make things happen, he is also a tenacious player and able to get stuck into the game.

He is also able to contribute goals as you can tell from the video i have made of Billy:

I am sure the club and Billy will have looked to follow the likes of Josh McEachran, Nathaniel Chalobah and now Todd Kane and get a Championship loan but as always with loan moves it is all about the game time and Billy will be looking to impress and either stay at Colchester for longer or earn a move to a higher level for the rest of the season.

Chelsea U21's 2 Fulham U21's 0

It was return to league action last night for the U21's in a home game against Fulham. To start the second half of the season in the new tier 1 league was very pleasing and the performance was just as pleasing.

It was a team full of youth and experience. Sam Walker returned from loan to start in goal and ahead of him was Tika Musonda, Andreas Christensen, John Terry and Adam Nditi. In midfield was 2 players looking to impress and earn loan moves in George Saville and Billy Clifford and a young man looking to settle in U21's football Ruben Loftus-Cheek. The forward line consisted of a returning loan player Milan Lalkovic, Lewis Baker and Islam Feruz.

It was a game that was dominated by Chelsea as you will be able to see in the highlights but also one that full of rustiness. Things were just not clicking to full effect and Fulham were working hard to restrict us to long range and half chances. Having said that there was some very good football played and the young players will have enjoyed playing alongside John Terry who took the game seriously and used the chance to give the lads around him some good instruction.

As the game wore on it was looking like the goal would never come but a quick break and some bizarre decision making by the Fulham keeper allowed Islam Feruz to slot home from some distance and take the lead that was fully earned. Fulham did press on a bit from there and the Chelsea defence did have to work a lot harder but once Chelsea earned a penalty for handball and Lewis Baker stepped up to slot home the game was well won.

There was some good performances on the night, most notably from George Saville who if he does not earn a loan move in this window then there is something very wrong. Chelsea will be desperate to be in the play off stages of the U21's Premier League and only finishing top will earn them that so to get off the mark with a win was very pleasing.

The Fraud Number 9

Barcelona are a club that play in a system with what is called a false number 9, Chelsea are at the moment playing with a fraud as our number 9. A tad harsh maybe but things have definitely come to a head with Fernando Torres at Chelsea.

In so many games recently it has been said that we are handicapped in every game we play as we are virtually playing with 10 men. Torres is offering nothing to the team and the game. It seems that for the majority and i think it is the vast majority that last nights game was the very final straw.

Up until last week we have had no other option, Torres is the only player we have to play there no matter if we like it or not. But against Southampton we finally saw what a competent striker can do in this team. Demba Ba is by no means a world class striker, but he is a very good striker and he has a strikers instincts.

The arrival of Ba has certainly got Chelsea fans excited, and it is because we can see someone who actually has something to offer as a striker, imagine what we could do with a player like Flacao in the team. Following the impressive debut of Ba many people like myself were interested to see the reaction of Torres, well the reaction was none.

Last night surely has to be the final nail in any goodwill that Chelsea fans have towards Torres. It was again a game where he offered nothing of a threat to the opposition and made Ashley Williams seem like a world beater. The man has just lost it, he makes bizarre runs, totally against where he should be, at one point he pulled out to the right wing when we were on a break to literally stand on Oscar's toes, rather than make a run into the middle to create a different option he goes and stands by another player.

Benitez should have made the change sooner and it did not help Torres at all and it got a little cringe worthy to see Torres go through what he did. Firstly the calls for Demba Ba to come on were loud and regular, although the fans were right, Rafa should have made the change so when he did make the change way too late the fan reaction must have completely sunken Torres.

The cheer that went up when Ba was getting ready was one thing, but the boos that rang out when Torres was announced as coming off was surprising and as i said a little cringe worthy. But this is what it has come to, we have seen with clarity the difference with a striker on his game, Ba had 2 headers on goal, 1 goal chalked off harshly for offside with an incredible strike and a decent penalty appeal all in 10 minutes, Torres offered nothing.

Last night for me in personal feeling and my perception of what the fans are feeling was certainly a breaking point with Torres. It's a shame because us fans have always stuck by him, but there comes a point where enough is enough.

Todd Kane Joins Blackburn on loan

Chelsea have today confirmed that 19 year old right back has joined Blackburn Rovers on a months loan up until February 10th. Todd Kane has only just returned from loan at Preston North End where he made a total of 5 appearances.

The step up from League 1 to Championship level will be very positive for Todd providing he gets games. There is no doubt in my mind that Todd is more than capable of playing at Championship level but i do have reservations about Blackburn giving him the playing time he needs.

As is always the case with players going on loan it is all about finding the right club for the boys to play at, Chelsea have done this with McEachran (Middlesbrough) and Chalobah (Watford), will Blackburn Rovers be the place for Kane to start to become the player he can be?

Lets hope so.

Anyone wanting to see Todd Kane in action he will hopefully be playing in the televised game Friday night against Wolves.

Lukaku earns Albion stay

In a move of common sense it has been confirmed that Romelu Lukaku has been allowed to stay on at West Brom until the end of the season. It is the only sensible move that aids everyone in the long term.

It is clear to see the benefit to Lukaku playing at West Brom, learning the league and getting more game time than he would at Chelsea. It is easy to forget that he is only 19 years old and needs to be able to develop his game just like any other young player before making a serious crack at the Chelsea first team.

We saw last season how disruptive it was to keep him at the club and it cost a season of development. Now we will look to him to keep improving and earning more game time and scoring more goals. I am sure another loan move will be on the cards for next season where he can look to continue to build.

For me Lukaku is very much a part of Chelsea's future and we need to allow him to become the player we need him to be before becoming to reliant on him.

U21's Fixtures Announced

Following the release of the U18's fixtures the U21's fixtures for the second half of the season have also been announced. After a dramatic end to the first half the season the U21's narrowly missed out on a place in the Elite group and find themselves in tier 1 with:

Fulham
Everton
Middlesbrough
Sunderland
Blackburn Rovers
Aston Villa

The only placement that will mean involvement in the play off stages to determine the U21's champions is a top place finish in Tier 1 and that will be what Chelsea will be aiming for. 

The fixtures are as follows:

Thursday 10 January	Fulham	Home	7.05pm
Tuesday 22 January	Everton	Away	7pm
Friday 25 January	Middlesbrough	Home	7.05pm
Sunday 3 February	Sunderland	Home	12 noon
Monday 11 February	Blackburn Rovers	Away	7pm
Friday 15 February	Aston Villa	Home	7pm
Friday 1 March	Fulham	Away	7pm
Sunday 10 March	Everton	Home	2.30pm
Monday 18 March	Middlesbrough	Away	7pm
Sunday 31 March	Blackburn Rovers	Home	12 noon
Monday 8 April	Sunderland	Away	12 noon
Monday 15 April	Aston Villa	Away	7pm

Building for the future

Chelsea Football Club have taken a lot of stick for their transfer policy over the years and quite rightly in a lot of cases but right now i think the club are getting it very right when it comes to the transfer policy. Obviously we have seen some quite brilliant signings come in, Juan Mata, Oscar, Eden Hazard, Cesar Azpilicueta ect... but it is the other side of the transfer dealings that is most interesting me.

Chelsea are clearly looking to build for the future and to try and acquire the best young talent there is and do that on a tighter budget, something that is obviously not very easy to do. As we have seen at Chelsea it is very hard to break into the first team as a younger player unless you are exceptionally talented like Hazard or Oscar.

What Chelsea are doing to get around this is to buy up young players earlier and allow them to play away from Chelsea to continue their development with us safe in the knowledge that they are our players. The best examples of this are Thibaut Courtois being an excellent example of that having been signed for a fee of about £7m is now regarded as one of the best young keepers in world football and playing very well at Athletico Madrid, when the time is right he will come to Chelsea with great experience and ready to step in.

Kevin De Bruyne is again another example of this, also having been signed up for around £7m he was allowed to carry on for the rest of the season at Genk before moving to Werder Bremen where he is earning great reviews and developing into a top player, De Bruyne is a big talent but the chances he would have had at Chelsea this season would probably have not been enough for him to develop as needed.

This is what should have happened with Lukaku, signed for a bigger fee and allowed to stay with the first team Lukaku is an example of why the club are right to make this moves for the highly talented youngsters, he is now doing well on loan and will continue to develop.

Other players treading this path is Kennith Omeru currently with Den Haag, Ulises Davila currently in Spain with Sabadell, Wallace currently still with Fluminese but likely to be elsewhere next season all with varying degrees of success of course and if rumors are to be believed Serbian youngster Lazar Markovic will be joining the ranks of young talent owned by Chelsea playing in Europe.

All of this is of course in addition to the many young talents we have from our academy out on loan too and the youthful side of Chelsea could be coming prominence very very soon.

This is an approach that i fully applaud Chelsea for, of course they will not get it right every time but it is a policy that be bearing some very talented fruit for the Chelsea first team in the near future.

Buying British

As is customary this time of year there has been much transfer speculation surrounding Chelsea, not just who they are about to sign but who could be leaving now and in the summer. With all the talk of Lampard and Cole leaving in the summer and Sturridge already gone it leaves us very light on homegrown talent.

This does affect both our premiership squad and our Champions League squad. Currently we have submit for the Premier League a squad of 25 players, 8 of which has to be "homegown" (To qualify as home grown, a player will have had to be registered for at least three seasons at an English or Welsh club between the ages of 16 and 21.) With Daniel Sturridge leaving that leaves our homegrown contingent as:

1. Ross Turnbull
2. John Terry
3. Gary Cahill
4. Ashley Cole
5. Ryan Bertrand
6. Frank Lampard
7.
8.

Add to that the fact that Frank Lampard is almost definitely going to leave in the summer and quite possibly Ashley Cole too then it is clear that we are going to have to invest in some homegrown talent or find ourselves having to work with a smaller squad, having to leave 4 places in the squad blank.

Of course you could look to our own homegrown talent to take those spots but the only likely candidates are Josh McEachran and Nathaniel Chalobah and both of those are players who could do with another season at least away from the club before being brought into the first team squad. 

We need to be looking for a new homegrown core to the squad and going forward we can look to be using our own talent but at the moment that is not an option. We have been linked already with Micah Richards and Leighton Baines neither of which would significantly improve our squad and of course there is Walcott, but with Demba Ba on board a move for Walcott seems unlikely.

The club will have to be looking at this and trying to address the issue and it will be interesting to see what they do as we are already suffering from having a fairly small squad of players.

U18's fixtures released

The fixtures for the second stage of the U18's league season as been announced. Chelsea having finished top in their first stage group are now in the Elite group for the next stage with:

Southampton
Bolton
Everton
Manchester United
Crystal Palace
Reading
Fulham

As you would expect from the Elite group it is a tough group of teams but our U18's are having a superb season and will feel confident of doing very well.

The fixtures are as follows:

Friday 11 January	Southampton	Away	2pm
Saturday 19 January	Bolton Wanderers	Home	11am
Saturday 26 January	Everton	Away	1.30pm
Saturday 2 February	Manchester United	Home	2pm
Saturday 9 February	Crystal Palace	Away	11am
Saturday 16 February	Reading	Home	11am
Saturday 23 February	Fulham	Away	11am
Saturday 2 March	Southampton	Home	11am
Saturday 9 March	Bolton Wanderers	Away	1.30pm
Saturday 16 March	Everton	Home	11am
Saturday 30 March	Crystal Palace	Home	11am
Saturday 6 April	Manchester United	Away	1.30pm
Saturday 13 April	Reading	Away	11am
Saturday 20 April	Fulham	Home	11am

Demba Ba Signs

Today we finally got the confirmation that Demba Ba has officially signed for Chelsea FC.

The list of big name strikers that we have been linked with and supposedly signing this month has been virtually endless, so what does it mean that we have signed Demba Ba?

To me what is means is very good business. Signing big name strikers is never  an easy thing to do and we desperately need a striker to add to our squad, more so now that Daniel Sturridge has left for Liverpool. Demba Ba had a release in his contract of £7m, so for us to be able to sign a player with Premier League experience, who has a very good goal scoring record and would work in our system for this price is great business.

It reminds me of when we signed Anelka and if he can have a similar goal scoring impact then we will be very happy indeed. From his point of view Ba has the opportunity to come into a big club where the only other striker is massively struggling, if he can come in and score goals and make an impact he would find himself the main man very quickly.

Ba is eligible for tomorrows game against in the FA Cup against Southampton and you would fancy that he would be given a chance to start that game given that Benitez has stated that Torres is "tired".

So welcome to Demba Ba and i am sure we are all hoping that he can start banging in the many chances that are being created in this team.