Chelsea FC 2012/2013 Season

[paj]

Wait... transfer window was shut on Friday.
Na Oriol Romeu supposed to step up to the plate after sending Essien on loan and selling Meireless to Turkey


I will take 4th spot now and a decent run in the cups

I think this will be a good time to have the young man step up.....

[Lager-back]

paj, how much did meireles go for ?

8mp.....

ok.. so they recovered about 75% of what they paid for him last year.. decent deal.
Can't believe Kalou left on a free. Saw the replay of Lille vs Copenhagen CL match and he played and will feature for Lille a lot this season.

[analyzer]

@paj,
Miereles had about 3 yrs left on his contract.. CFC did not pay 13MP last summer to sign him for just 2 yrs..

As for Oscar.. You don watch the bobo for brazil? Does he play as AM or CM? does he play in a 2 man MF? Can he hold his weight defensively?? e fit tackle or contribute to defending set pieces??
Only logical option is a 3 man midfield to gradually blend Oscar in..

Hope the team does not suffer and the young ones they want to put hope in can step up.. But letting Essien/Miereles go without experienced/quality back is very very naive...

[paj]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/articl ... -Sale.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/articl ... -Sale.html

Kenyon stands to cash in on any Chelsea Falcao deal



By Charles Sale

PUBLISHED:17:23 EST, 3 September 2012| UPDATED: 17:23 EST, 3 September 2012

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If, as expected, Atletico Madrid star Falcao joins Chelsea in the January transfer window, former Stamford Bridge chief executive Peter Kenyon will be a big beneficiary of the deal.

Kenyon, now based in Jersey, is involved in the running of three third-party ownership football funds in partnership with super agent Jorge Mendes, whose clients include Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo and Jose Mourinho.

The players under part ownership include Colombia striker Falcao, whose £35million move from Porto to Atletico in 2011 was financed to a large extent by the GestiFute fund, now part of Quality Football Ireland Ltd, an umbrella operation headed by Kenyon and Mendes.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/articl ... z25SW0A1Vj

They would need to have their stakeholding in the player repaid by Atletico if Falcao moves to Chelsea, as third-party ownership was forbidden in the Premier League after the furore around Carlos Tevez’s transfer to West Ham in 2006. UEFA have also tightened their rules.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/articl ... z25SWSsHMG

[okokobioko]

this guy is truely brainless

[paj]

@paj,
Miereles had about 3 yrs left on his contract.. CFC did not pay 13MP last summer to sign him for just 2 yrs..

As for Oscar.. You don watch the bobo for brazil? Does he play as AM or CM? does he play in a 2 man MF? Can he hold his weight defensively?? e fit tackle or contribute to defending set pieces??
Only logical option is a 3 man midfield to gradually blend Oscar in..

Hope the team does not suffer and the young ones they want to put hope in can step up.. But letting Essien/Miereles go without experienced/quality back is very very naive...

well..we'll see what happens...unlike some moronic AMEBO_ITK wey dey parade some inexistent source..I mean..the mugu actually said no way Oscar comes to CFC and we'll be paying Cesar 80k/week...I cant believe someone with a supposedlyfully developed brain will actually spew that out.....
....I'msure other stuff are brewing beyond our eyes...we go wait and see jare..

[odi]

A summer that went so well for Chelsea has ended on a really sour note.
Getting rid of Essien and Merieles? And replacing with Romeu and who? Chelsea has lost the plot. This is annoying.

Na siddon look time.

[Lager-back]

A summer that went so well for Chelsea has ended on a really sour note.
Getting rid of Essien and Merieles? And replacing with Romeu and who? Chelsea has lost the plot. This is annoying.

Na siddon look time.

Think about the bright side.. us fans no long have to to live with Meireles ugly hair cut

[phantomjournalist]

Malouda is truly a forgotten man at the club. The scary part is that he will definitely have to fill in at LCM this season if there is an injury to one of the regulars. There's also the option of recalling Josh Mac from loan in January - we will need to actually with AFCON coming up.

[paj]

Malouda is truly a forgotten man at the club. The scary part is that he will definitely have to fill in at LCM this season if there is an injury to one of the regulars. There's also the option of recalling Josh Mac from loan in January - we will need to actually with AFCON coming up.

...well..not if Lyon grabs him as it's been speculated today o..

[paj]

A summer that went so well for Chelsea has ended on a really sour note.
Getting rid of Essien and Merieles? And replacing with Romeu and who? Chelsea has lost the plot. This is annoying.

Na siddon look time.

Think about the bright side.. us fans no long have to to live with Meireles ugly hair cut

quite honestly this could be a positive turning point for the youngsters as far as games are concerned...

[Lager-back]

Malouda is truly a forgotten man at the club. The scary part is that he will definitely have to fill in at LCM this season if there is an injury to one of the regulars. There's also the option of recalling Josh Mac from loan in January - we will need to actually with AFCON coming up.

...well..not if Lyon grabs him as it's been speculated today o..

Will they pay 16m for a Cl winner and 2 time Fa cup winner and 1 time epl winner that chelsea paid for him back in the days ?

[Lager-back]

A summer that went so well for Chelsea has ended on a really sour note.
Getting rid of Essien and Merieles? And replacing with Romeu and who? Chelsea has lost the plot. This is annoying.

Na siddon look time.

Think about the bright side.. us fans no long have to to live with Meireles ugly hair cut

quite honestly this could be a positive turning point for the youngsters as far as games are concerned...

name the youngsters.. josh is on loan. orio ?

[paj]

A summer that went so well for Chelsea has ended on a really sour note.
Getting rid of Essien and Merieles? And replacing with Romeu and who? Chelsea has lost the plot. This is annoying.

Na siddon look time.

Think about the bright side.. us fans no long have to to live with Meireles ugly hair cut

quite honestly this could be a positive turning point for the youngsters as far as games are concerned...

name the youngsters.. josh is on loan. orio ?

Oriol and Oscar...Oriol has spent a year already and if U asked me that's enuff bench action..Oscar was bought with the prospect of a phenom so he needs to play and get minutes...granted I'd have liked either Essien/Mereiles(1 of them) to stay as cover but even as cover they'd always get chances before these youngsters...so when will we eventually start playing them..when dem begin grumble?remember Pogba?ok then....give them Baptism of fire if you wish..instruct them to keep it simple but please PLAY THEM..abi na how many guys we go dey send on loan for lack of action?

[paj]

Between Mikel,Lampard,Ramires,Oscar and Romeu we should be ok for the next 3 months...something tells me CFC is brewing something underneath in form of another CM..but had to reduce the squad to make room..also..dont forget if needed David Luiz COULD be deputized to DM or Bertrand deployed for a multiman midfield....

[Ugbowo]

Between Mikel,Lampard,Ramires,Oscar and Romeu we should be ok for the next 3 months...something tells me CFC is brewing something underneath in form of another CM..but had to reduce the squad to make room..also..dont forget if needed David Luiz COULD be deputized to DM or Bertrand deployed for a multiman midfield....

PaJ,

Nice try man. But i am still not sold. This was NOT a good decision especially with the way Lampard has started the season. He needs either rest or a kick up the backside. And as has been stated many a time here, if we go to the AFCON and Mikel leaves for a month....wahala dey ooo....it just does not seem like much thought has been put into it. We need a striker and a deep lying CM now! I wonder why we did not enter the Sahin sweepstakes if we knew all these guys were going to leave.

[paj]

http://www.weaintgotnohistory.com/2012/ ... ssien-loan

http://www.weaintgotnohistory.com/2012/ ... ssien-loan

On the Michael Essien loan

I've now had a bit to ponder Chelsea's dealings on deadline day, and really that means I've had some time to think about the Michael Essien loan. I think many of us expected the possibility that Essien could be moved on Friday, but I certainly didn't anticipate the chance that Essien could be heading out on loan prior to the rumor mill firing up early in the day.

In and of itself, a loan of Essien makes some sense. He's a player rehabbing a serious knee injury, and frankly he's looked like a shell of his former self since he returned last Spring. He looked a bit better during the pre-season, but he still didn't much resemble the Essien of old. Loaning Essien to a side where he'd see some regular minutes would allow us a better look at whether or not he's still going to be of use to Chelsea, and frankly just getting the games would probably be for the best as far as Essien himself is concerned.



But then word leaked that the loan was to Real Madrid. For those of you not aware, Real Madrid are pretty well stocked in the midfield. Just how stocked are they? Well they're stocked enough that they were willing to send Nuri Sahin on loan for the season so that he'd be able to even sniff the pitch. That's the same Nuri Sahin who would likely start the majority of matches for our own Chelsea, where Michael Essien is apparently not even in the plans.

The coaching staff at Chelsea see Essien in training every day. If they don't think that Essien will ever be of starting quality at Chelsea again, I really have a hard time making a case for disagreeing with them. I think most of us are holding out some hope that Essien would return to his previous form, but he's yet to show anything on the pitch that would suggest that it's coming.

But this brings us back to the issue I find the most confusing...why Real Madrid? If the idea is to showcase Essien in hopes of selling him next season, there would seem to be quite a few options where he'd see a lot more time on the pitch than Madrid. If the idea is to let him get some minutes so we can further evaluate if he's worth hanging onto, there are loads of places where he'd get more minutes than Real Madrid.

The only thing that I can think of here is that Essien may have wanted to leave with the amount of minutes it looked as if he might get (or not get) at Chelsea this season. I have a huge respect for the player and all he's done for our club, and if this is the case I can hardly blame him. He's spent most of the last three seasons recovering from injuries, so it's awfully hard to fault him if he actually wants to spend as much of this year on the pitch as he can.

Unlike most, I'm not all that concerned with the depth we have at central midfield. There's an obvious skillset we could upgrade, but Essien doesn't in any way fill that void. Between John Obi Mikel, Raul Meireles, Oriol Romeu, and Ramires, Chelsea have four players that can probably reproduce anything that Essien brought to the table. As a player, Essien probably isn't all that big a loss to this Chelsea club in his current form.

There is one big bright spot that I can find to this deal, and it's the fact that we haven't actually sold Essien yet. Getting a few pounds for a player we don't seemingly have a use for would make some sense, but as far as FFP is concerned we're likely slightly better off waiting a bit. Chelsea aren't likely to be in any trouble for the initial monitoring periods of FFP, so they really don't need the extra money. Pushing that one time profit into a later window might actually help Chelsea more as far as the books are concerned than selling him right now, as next summer we lose a few more contracts signed prior to June 2010. There's also the off chance that Essien impresses, and at that point we still have a player would could have some use to this squad.

After pondering this for a few days, I understand the reasoning behind loaning Essien. I understand why Chelsea felt they didn't need his services this season. I understand why Essien would want the move. I'm just having a hard time understanding why it was Real Madrid. I'm sure Essien will enjoy re-uniting with Jose Mourinho, and I'm sure all Chelsea fans will wish the pair the best. I just don't think that this was the best destination from a Chelsea perspective. Oh well, I suppose if this is the only move we made during the summer window that confuses me, I should count the window as a massive success. We're alone at the top of the table for the moment, and hopefully we spend the rest of the season that way.

[paj]

http://www.weaintgotnohistory.com/2012/ ... s-transfer

http://www.weaintgotnohistory.com/2012/ ... s-transfer

Making sense of a Raul Meireles transfer

Over the last couple of days Chelsea fans have had to become acquainted with the idea that despite some performances which may have suggested otherwise, the club simply wasn't interested in the idea of upgrading the centre of the park. That may have been acceptable to some considering the impressive outlay on attacking midfielders over the summer, but you'd struggle to find a man who would have been happy with a downgrade of the current Chelsea midfielders. Unfortunately, that's exactly what's happened with the loan of Michael Essien to Real Madrid and the proposed transfer of Raul Meireles to Fenerbahce.



Steven already gave some pretty salient points on the Essien transfer yesterday, but this Meireles move is a fair bit more difficult to work out. Polarising he may be, Raul undeniably offers options, and in a weak midfield, that's exactly what Chelsea need. More to the point, Meireles showed against Newcastle he's certainly capable of pushing for the starting role in the double pivot of Di Matteo's favoured 4-2-3-1. With Frank Lampard still adapting to a deeper position, having a player somewhat capable of transitioning the ball from defence to attack is crucial. Meireles isn't ideal, but he is a better option than Ramires or Oriol Romeu for the position.

You could certainly make a case that Oscar could play there, and I'd agree with you. Unfortunately, we just haven't seen enough of Oscar to justify putting so much faith in him, especially when he has played very little time in the position many fans have earmarked him for.

There's also the possibility that Ramires could move from the wing into the centre of the park, and while I'd be in full support of that move if it involved a switch to 4-3-3, and I'd be a lot less receptive if it meant giving the Brazilian a spot in a midfield two. Ramires is a fine midfielder, but a list of his weaknesses would unfortunately be the items you'd have under ideal strengths of a pivot midfielder. Indeed, Ramires himself has admitted such flaws in a revealing interview with FourFourTwo.

So if Meireles was such a vital piece of the jigsaw, why is heading to Turkey? Without wanting to jump to too many sweeping generalisations, I'd suspect there are some internal issues at play here. It's certainly curious that Chelsea didn't sell Meireles before the transfer deadline (remembering that the Turkish window doesn't shut until the 5th of September) and give them time to get a replacement, which suggests to me that there is some sort of plan in place to cover for his departure. What that plan is not exactly clear, but I'd guess it's to do with how Di Matteo will deploy his troops in the coming weeks. We've been rolling with a 4-2-3-1 in every game so far, but one would suspect a return to 4-3-3 would be on the cards. It wouldn't limit the wonderful interchange we're seeing from Juan Mata and Eden Hazard, and as a bonus it would see Frank Lampard and Ramires restored to their nominal (and best) positions. Furthermore, it'd give us the chance to integrate Oscar into a slightly deeper role whilst not placing too much defensive onus upon his young shoulders.

That aside, it shouldn't mask the fact that Chelsea are doing themselves a real disservice here. They are ridding themselves of some useful depth, whilst restricting their own tactical flexibility. Unless there's some hidden gem waiting to be snapped up on a free transfer that we all seem to have missed, then this transfer just doesn't make sense, at least in the short term. Even from a Financial Fair Play perspective, although Chelsea are currently paying Meireles wages as a post-2010 contract, I'd like to think he's not on anything so exorbitant that we simply can't keep him around. In a world in which Yossi Benayoun can be on wages £92k a week, I suppose, anything is possible.

In fact, if we consider the actual transfer fee itself, then we may find ourselves some justification. Several media outlets are quoting Fenerbahce's price at €10 million. In British pounds that's around £7.9 million. Considering that Meireles cost a reported £12 million on August 31 last year, Chelsea haven't managed a profit here, but they have probably recouped as much of the fee as was possible. At 29, Meireles is entering the twilight of his career, and his value was going to depreciate from here.

[paj]

Between Mikel,Lampard,Ramires,Oscar and Romeu we should be ok for the next 3 months...something tells me CFC is brewing something underneath in form of another CM..but had to reduce the squad to make room..also..dont forget if needed David Luiz COULD be deputized to DM or Bertrand deployed for a multiman midfield....

PaJ,

Nice try man. But i am still not sold. This was NOT a good decision especially with the way Lampard has started the season. He needs either rest or a kick up the backside. And as has been stated many a time here, if we go to the AFCON and Mikel leaves for a month....wahala dey ooo....it just does not seem like much thought has been put into it. We need a striker and a deep lying CM now! I wonder why we did not enter the Sahin sweepstakes if we knew all these guys were going to leave.

I agree and think we should've kept @ least one of Essien/Mereiles for cover..but moving foward I think on the long run it will probably allow us to seek out a solid alternative to those two..remember that names like Tiote/Fellaini floated about but perhaps the board(like I was) was not convinced either of the two were good/consistent enough for Chelsea...could it backfire?yes...but what are the upsides?the inclusion of youngsters in active football and possible allowance of using other formations besides just the 4-2-3-1 ...as stated in the article above.........as U've suspected no be today Chelsea been dey do sontin like this..remember 2010?the difference is @ least now we bought players..and may require more than ever for allplayers to put in defensive shifts..

[analyzer]

A summer that went so well for Chelsea has ended on a really sour note.
Getting rid of Essien and Merieles? And replacing with Romeu and who? Chelsea has lost the plot. This is annoying.

Na siddon look time.

Think about the bright side.. us fans no long have to to live with Meireles ugly hair cut

quite honestly this could be a positive turning point for the youngsters as far as games are concerned...

name the youngsters.. josh is on loan. orio ?

Oriol and Oscar...Oriol has spent a year already and if U asked me that's enuff bench action..Oscar was bought with the prospect of a phenom so he needs to play and get minutes...granted I'd have liked either Essien/Mereiles(1 of them) to stay as cover but even as cover they'd always get chances before these youngsters...so when will we eventually start playing them..when dem begin grumble?remember Pogba?ok then....give them Baptism of fire if you wish..instruct them to keep it simple but please PLAY THEM..abi na how many guys we go dey send on loan for lack of action?

Why are you under the assumption that theses youngsters are READY!!!They went down this road in 10/11 thinking and last season thinking likes of Josh and Lukaku were ready... Do you want Oscar starting vs. Juventus in 2 wks if Lamps go down.. or Romeu vs. Arsenal?? Except for romeu, have not seen Oscar in a competitive game long enough to know if he can hack it..
What did Oscar do vs. Athletico.. together with hazard/mata, athletico boyz where just out muscling them on the pitch
You do not throw them into the deep end like that.. it is a gradual process..

When Mikel joined CFC, Maka/Essien/Lampard/Ballack/Diarra where there.. In his first season, Mikel started 20 of his 24 games in the 2nd half of the season. it was a gradual transition.. Now compare to Ramires/Lamps (34)/Romeu/Mikel/Oscar..
Reckless luiz in DM..

Mikel/Lamp alternative..
Romeu - Since RDM took over, he has only started 2 games.. Yet to see 1 single min so far this season..
Ramires - decent option in pivot but better in 3 man MF.. but will not suit the CFC possession football that well
Oscar - Is not a pivot CM has hardly played their but they hope to convert him to one... I really dont see him as a piot option for now..

As long as the fans and board are ready to adjust their expectations then no wahala with this new move.. RDM should consider 3 man MF... Thats the logical option that benefits Ramires and helps likes of Oscar gradually adjust...
There was no need to rush the Raul move, could have waited till Jan.. Can loose Raul and bring in whoever they wan to..

[analyzer]

http://www.weaintgotnohistory.com/2012/ ... s-transfer

http://www.weaintgotnohistory.com/2012/ ... s-transfer

Steven already gave some pretty salient points on the Essien transfer yesterday, but this Meireles move is a fair bit more difficult to work out. Polarising he may be, Raul undeniably offers options, and in a weak midfield, that's exactly what Chelsea need. More to the point, Meireles showed against Newcastle he's certainly capable of pushing for the starting role in the double pivot of Di Matteo's favoured 4-2-3-1. With Frank Lampard still adapting to a deeper position, having a player somewhat capable of transitioning the ball from defence to attack is crucial. Meireles isn't ideal, but he is a better option than Ramires or Oriol Romeu for the position.

You could certainly make a case that Oscar could play there, and I'd agree with you. Unfortunately, we just haven't seen enough of Oscar to justify putting so much faith in him, especially when he has played very little time in the position many fans have earmarked him for.

There's also the possibility that Ramires could move from the wing into the centre of the park, and while I'd be in full support of that move if it involved a switch to 4-3-3, and I'd be a lot less receptive if it meant giving the Brazilian a spot in a midfield two. Ramires is a fine midfielder, but a list of his weaknesses would unfortunately be the items you'd have under ideal strengths of a pivot midfielder. Indeed, Ramires himself has admitted such flaws in a revealing interview with FourFourTwo.

That aside, it shouldn't mask the fact that Chelsea are doing themselves a real disservice here. They are ridding themselves of some useful depth, whilst restricting their own tactical flexibility. Unless there's some hidden gem waiting to be snapped up on a free transfer that we all seem to have missed, then this transfer just doesn't make sense, at least in the short term.

By the way, Essien article was written thinking Miereles was still there..

[paj]

A summer that went so well for Chelsea has ended on a really sour note.
Getting rid of Essien and Merieles? And replacing with Romeu and who? Chelsea has lost the plot. This is annoying.

Na siddon look time.

Think about the bright side.. us fans no long have to to live with Meireles ugly hair cut

quite honestly this could be a positive turning point for the youngsters as far as games are concerned...

name the youngsters.. josh is on loan. orio ?

Oriol and Oscar...Oriol has spent a year already and if U asked me that's enuff bench action..Oscar was bought with the prospect of a phenom so he needs to play and get minutes...granted I'd have liked either Essien/Mereiles(1 of them) to stay as cover but even as cover they'd always get chances before these youngsters...so when will we eventually start playing them..when dem begin grumble?remember Pogba?ok then....give them Baptism of fire if you wish..instruct them to keep it simple but please PLAY THEM..abi na how many guys we go dey send on loan for lack of action?

Why are you under the assumption that theses youngsters are READY!!!They went down this road in 10/11 thinking and last season thinking likes of Josh and Lukaku were ready... Do you want Oscar starting vs. Juventus in 2 wks if Lamps go down.. or Romeu vs. Arsenal?? Except for romeu, have not seen Oscar in a competitive game long enough to know if he can hack it..
What did Oscar do vs. Athletico.. together with hazard/mata, athletico boyz where just out muscling them on the pitch
You do not throw them into the deep end like that.. it is a gradual process..

When Mikel joined CFC, Maka/Essien/Lampard/Ballack/Diarra where there.. In his first season, Mikel started 20 of his 24 games in the 2nd half of the season. it was a gradual transition.. Now compare to Ramires/Lamps (34)/Romeu/Mikel/Oscar..
Reckless luiz in DM..

Mikel/Lamp alternative..
Romeu - Since RDM took over, he has only started 2 games.. Yet to see 1 single min so far this season..
Ramires - decent option in pivot but better in 3 man MF.. but will not suit the CFC possession football that well
Oscar - Is not a pivot CM has hardly played their but they hope to convert him to one... I really dont see him as a piot option for now..

As long as the fans and board are ready to adjust their expectations then no wahala with this new move.. RDM should consider 3 man MF... Thats the logical option that benefits Ramires and helps likes of Oscar gradually adjust...

U dey type as if Mereiles was like Yaya Toure or something...Mereiles would have been a COVER at best and I'm not certain he likes that..like I've repeatedly said and will say once again,I wish we'd keep one of the two..but moving foward I'm trying to make sense of what the board is thinking..btw this is not Oriol's first season so bobo needs to start seeing some action...and of all the youngsters I've seen @ Chelsea Oscar is integrating himself faster than others imho..for a 20 year old...I dont think I would be worried much about Oscar...and bobo is adaptable....heck we could switch to a 3 man midfieldto make room but for 19MP and as fast as he's adapting(filling in without missing a beat) he'll be ok..against Atl Madrid the entire team was horrible...

[analyzer]

@Paj,
No dey do myopia.. Not Miereles' biggest fan but as far as squad is concerned, It is called quality in depth.. And with essien gone, that is what Miereles offered.. He is no Yaya but he fits the damn bill on available squad depth options..
he was sure good enough to rack up 45 appearances for CFC all last season...
So important to the team rotation that he was used in key UCL games by RDM....

You are your own.. No wan hear pim from u if this blows up (hope i am wrong) in CFC's face... Be ready to get on with the program..