Tabloids survive on sensationalism. It is clear that for them to achieve a large readership, secret leaks of training ground rows, transfers, club policies and personal life problems of players need to be published. Human nature forces us to be curious about  these ‘secrets’. Hence, we can’t blame the media for spreading wrong, inaccurate and sensational news. They publish what we find interesting.

Unfortunately, for Chelsea FC, the club has become the prime source for filling the front pages in the last decade.

Mourinho’s antics, his sacking, big money signings, overspending, Terry-Bridge saga, Terry and 9/11 saga, Ashley Cole and his gun, frequent managerial changes, Mikel transfer saga, Mutu and drugs, Terry Racism scandal, player power ousting AVB, hiring of Benitez, taking on the refs with Clattenberg and Ovrebo, Hazard and Charlie Morgan, Frank without contact, Abramovich visiting the training ground for ‘checking the progress’ and training ground clashes – Team Terry vs Manager. That, pretty much summaries the last decade of Chelsea’s moment in the spotlight.

Now, it is important for the management, players and owner to understand that a club simply cannot run like this. It is amazing that The Blues have managed to find regular success through such torrid and unstable times. However, stopgap solutions leading to short-term success works for a few years. As time progresses, the lack of stability and increased controversy  results in the decline of the club.

For the second consecutive year, Chelsea might fail to finish in the top 4.  Even after such worrying performances, the attention is on all the wrong things. Instead of talking about football and tactics, the fans talk about signing big players, Lampard’s contract, sacking the manager, off-field controversies and training ground rows, which are all initiated by the media. The Chelsea official website went to the extent of posting an apology from The Sun, who posted a false news of a dressing room row between John Terry and Rafa Benitez.

Apology

That was a great act by The Sun (who need to apologize for a lot of articles), but does it really matter? The harm has been done. Chelsea have allowed the media to stir up yet another controversy. There are hundreds of other media outlets out there who post the same rumours and never apologize.

The pressure on the manager and players after such news increases tenfold. Who can perform when the whole world is saying that the next game is going to be your last. Who can perform when each argument with your manager, or each mistake is highlighted on the front pages of the next edition? The players are constantly fighting  to preserve their integrity. When media says that the team morale is down, all that the players try to do is prove it wrong by hugging the manager while celebrating, instead to trying to achieve better results.

‘Close Source’ again! Media doing its part in the mind-games against Chelsea

When Andre Villas-Boas was in-charge of the club, the start was good. The fans loved him and expected him to be ‘The Special One V2′. But within a few months, AVB became the most hated figure among the fans. The credit for this swift change in opinion of the fans goes to the media. Bad results and immature treatment of Nicolas Anelka and Alex just helped the media’s cause. One moment, the media is praising him, the next they are calling him arrogant. After the sacking, media again took AVB’s side, portraying him as the victim. Reports that AVB was sleeping in the training ground were published only after the sacking.

The agencies got their readers and money, but at a heavy cost to the club.

AVB the Villain

The Villain again

Now the good hardworking guy

As fans and as a club, we give too much reason to the media to speculate. There are secret leaks, the manager decides to highlight the problem by saying-’XYZ is unhappy on the bench’, and Abramovich decides to visit the training ground during bad times. It just becomes easier for the reporters to write sensational news.

Why does he need to tell it to the media?!

With the recent reports of a training ground bust-up, one cannot expect Rafa to win over any supporters. His already unstable position is further threatened.

Now, we cannot expect the media to stop their work. What we can do is prevent these training ground leaks. When the players are at the training grounds, they should be kept completely isolated from the outside world. One must look at Manchester United’s training ground – Carrington, which is ideal and prevents any prying reporters. Even searching the images of Carrington is really difficult. On the other hand, there are thousands of images of players at Chelsea’s Cobham Training Centre. There is no need to be media friendly when it is causing more harm than good. ”Fortress Carrington” is not affecting Man Utd’s popularity in any manner.

Even the manager needs to protect the club and their players from unnecessary media speculation. It is really admirable how Arsene Wenger quickly lost his temper, when the media tried to put unnecessary pressure on Arsenal before their Champions League game vs Bayern Munich. Sir Alex is also quite unpopular among the media because of his refusal to answer any ‘silly’ questions which put pressure on his players. In the end, both managers keep their players and club safe.

Without any permanent manager, such things can’t be expected at Chelsea FC, but this is needed. It is high time that the media is stopped from portraying Chelsea as Team Terry (literally). Players and managers have to be protected.

Chelsea must learn from how they dealt with the Terry scandals and how Man Utd dealt with the Ryan Giggs and Wayne Rooney scandals. In the end, a club and its players should be known for football, not for scandals, bust-ups and racism. The club website should stop acknowledging or giving comments on minor issues, which should be handled internally. It is time to disconnect the Club from the media. A little privacy in this rebuilding time will do the club a lot of good.

Roman Abramovich

When Roman Abramovich purchased Chelsea in 2003, fans and players expected a lot to change in the club. However, the amount of money and time which Roman put into the club surprised everyone. This passion, dedication and personal involvement in every club matter, shown by an owner, was never seen in any club before. Roman ran the club like a fan, very emotionally connected to the victories and losses of the club. In every match, we could see him reacting to goals, misses, cards, like a fan. He desired to make Chelsea the best in the world, not only on the football pitch but also as a brand.

For achieving this target, RA took and is continuing to take decisions which are completely unorthodox. Many pundits, fans, managers and players have clearly expressed their disappointment in the way Chelsea is run. There is no doubt that Roman holds the club very close to heart, but the general feeling is that the policies of  ’hire and fire’, spending big, little promotion of youth and the latest 1 yr contract for 30+, are doing more harm than good by affecting the stability of the club. There has been no shortage of success at the club, but how long can this be sustained?

The ‘hire and fire’ policy is the most hated policy by everyone, including the Chelsea fans. Fan favorites like Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelloti and Roberto Di Matteo were removed without any remorse. Mourinho’s departure is termed more as a ‘mutual consent’ , but it happened because RA’s interference did not suit Jose. Now, Chelsea has a lot of trophies to show and justify these decisions. In fact, Chelsea is the most successful English team in the Abramovich era. Continuous change of manager ensures that the motivation of the team is high. The players are always willing to prove themselves, and tend to give a little bit extra under a new manager. These are the slight pros of this policy.

Fan favorite Jose Mourinho was made to leave even after being very successful

Coming to the cons; this policy really damages the image of the club as a brand. There has been lot of hate for Chelsea after the sacking of Di Matteo. Continuous sacking also affects the mentality of the new manager. The goals of the new manager will be to ensure short-term success instead of long-term. In this way, the  manager never really thinks about the promotion of youth, phasing out of senior players, the finances of the team and other long term targets. Every manager spends big, wins games, has a good run, and when the expected bad run comes, he is sacked. Villas Boas tried to make a new Chelsea right from the word go and failed miserably. He knew that he had less time to make it work. An assurance of a long term job would not have resulted in AVB trying to change the team so rapidly.

Due to the ‘hire and fire’ policy, right from Mourinho’s time, the team has essentially been depending on the same group of players to pull them out of bad times. Even in the current season, Chelsea has had more wins when John Terry and Frank Lampard were playing. Every manager who comes to Chelsea, improvises with what he has, to achieve the targets. Any attempt to change the style and team results in a bad run, which is not acceptable by RA’s standards. As a result, the team has never evolved. All managers after Mourinho have failed to change the team significantly. Di Matteo changed the team a lot. He was rightly phasing out the senior players and building a young energetic core like Jose, but a bad run ended that project too.

A long term change in the team will always be accompanied by a trophy drought. Reports say that Roman is waiting for Pep Guardiola to get free. The question is – will RA give Guardiola the time? Incorporating the Barcelona style in Chelsea will not happen overnight. If the same trend continues, there will be no top manager who loves his job willing to come to Chelsea.

The policies of spending big and lack of promotion of youth are directly affected by the ‘hire and fire’ policy. The Chelsea youth department has improved a lot in the RA era. Quality youth players and reserve teams players have led Chelsea to a lot of success at the academy level. However, no manager is willing to give these young players a break into the first team, as the target is immediate success, which is easier to achieve by spending big. The huge amount of talent available at our disposal is being wasted. No manager in the RA era has got the time to think about the future and groom the likes of Josh McEachran, Patrick Bamford, Lukaku and Sam Hutchinson. Fabio Borini and Scott Sinclair are few of the academy players who have left the club due to lack of opportunity. Ryan Bertrand is the first player after John Terry, from our academy, to become a regular member of our first team. But, John Terry broke into the first  team before Roman came to the club.

Josh Mceachran: Still waiting to break into the first team

Recent reports indicate that Daniel Sturridge and Islam Feruz are also on their way out of Chelsea. To be fair, for Benitez, it is better if he buys an established striker like Falcao, than give Sturridge, Lukaku or Bamford a chance to prove themselves. There is a gun to his head and his job is short-term for now. Lukaku and Bamford, both, have been  impressive after being loaned.

Spending big is not a problem if the club has got the money. However, a player bought by one manager is not favored by the other manager who then faces the problem of making both the previous signings and his own signings happy. It never looked like AVB and RDM wanted Torres as their lead striker, like Ancelloti or Benitez. Similarly, Benitez does not favor Oscar like RDM did. For Chelsea, this also makes signing new players difficult. A player might think twice before going to a club where he might not fit into the plans of the next manager. Moreover, most of the transfers of the club are dictated by Roman and super agent – Pini Zahavi. Hence, it doesn’t always mean that the new signings are a part of the manager’s plan.

So, in the end, because of ‘hire and fire’ policy, the manager thinks about immediate success which is achieved by big money signings and lack of promotion of the youth. The player worries about going to a club where the manager might change in a few months, which makes his own future uncertain.

More than the players and the managers, its the club’s reputation which takes a hit. The ’1yr contract for 30+ players’ policy is really against the will of the fans. No one wants to be associated with a club where there is a lack of empathy between the management, fans and players. A club should respect its seniors, manager, youth and the feelings of the fans. The lack of respect shown to Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole by offering only 1 year contracts is something which the club fans really disagree. Its not just about the fans; even the team benefits a lot from the experience which these senior players offer.

30+ and gone?

Fans know what they want

Now that Roman Abramovich has won all that he could with Chelsea, it is time he gives Chelsea a period of stability. The difference between a double and a treble winning team is stability, which is absent in Chelsea. With stability, the current crop of first team players and youth will certainly shine, giving Chelsea the only thing left – The treble. It may mean that Chelsea has a trophy-less run, but then there will be similar success without damaging the club’s reputation as a brand. Roman should also be willing to listen to the needs and demands of the fans to some extent. After all, the club is nothing without its fans. Its the fans who complete a club.

It is never possible to have a team free of faults. Every team as a soft spot which the opponent can exploit. As Gary Cahill said, it important to find a perfect balance between attack and defense.

Many Chelsea fans are pointing out that fullbacks are our main weakness. To a certain extent, this statement is true. Chelsea do look vulnerable to the attack from the wings. However, as I said in the previous post, our weaknesses are first the defensive midfielders, and then the fullbacks. Defensively, our holding midfielders are not doing a good job at all. Sometimes even Oscar fails to mark a run; but to be fair to him, defense is not his primary job. The pressing and the transition from defense to attack is good, but the transition back to defense is really slow. Its difficult to blame either Ramirez or Mikel. Both share equal amount of blame in this matter.

Mikel and Ramirez are not doing a good enough job. The main analysis will be based on the game against Shakhtar.

1st goal.

Shakhtar scored the first goal after Fernandinho made a powering run into the box and pulled back the ball into the penalty area where Willian was waiting unmarked to fire the ball into the net. Now how did this happen?

In this frame, the positioning of all the players, except Ramirez is good. Mikel is in the right place to cover the empty space between Luiz and Cahill. Willian is unmarked, but it is not yet dangerous.

However, one slip by Bertrand changes the whole situation. Willian has continued his run unmarked. Both Mikel and Oscar fail to see the free player. The blame should be more on Mikel as he gets pulled towards the ball really easy. There are already 3 players on Fernandinho and Mikel needs to look out for the pass instead of going for the ball.

Even Ramirez is way out of position. He needs to get in the the free space shown, or at least mark the player in front of him.

In this last frame, Fernandinho has cut in the ball to Willian who has already taken the shot. Look at how far Mikel is from the ball. He should have rushed in to block the shot. We can notice that even after Willian has taken the shot, Mikel is just about starting to move towards Willian. The reaction by Mikel is a bit slow.

On the bottom edge of the screen, we can see Ramirez, who has not moved a single yard during the whole attack. Last year, Chelsea was perfectly organised in the defence with two rows of 4 players closing down each and every opponent. However, in this photo, we can see how far the two defensive mids are from each other and how the player to right of Willian is still unmarked.

2nd goal

The second goal for Shakhtar also originated from the wings and a similar pass into the box resulted in a goal by Willian. People were quick to blame Bertrand and Hazard for the mistake.

In this frame, all players are in a good position. Bertrand is marking the player and Hazard is a bit wide to mark the winger. The positioning and awareness of Hazard is a little poor but one cannot put much blame on a attacking player for not defending well. Also, the exquisite through pass by Fernandinho made the positioning  by Hazard look even worse.

Now in this second frame, we can again see poor marking by Mikel. While Cahill and Luiz are marking the player closest to them, Mikel is simply jogging into the box without picking out any runs. The reading of the game by Mikel is really poor. Willian is running unmarked and both Mikel and Oscar fail to notice him.

Now, in the last frame, we can see now Mikel and Oscar are caught watching the ball without noticing the players around them. Once the ball came to Willian, he simply took the shot. In the match, after the goal, you could see Luiz pointing out to Mikel that he should have been marking Willian. This goal was a result of laziness in Mikel’s part.

As a no.1 choice defensive mid, Mikel should really pull up his socks. Such mistakes win or lose matches. Even though Mikel has improved a lot from the last season, some work still needs to be done.

It has happened before

Now, this is not the first match where opponents are finding it easy to roam about in the hole between our defense and midfield. Ramirez and Mikel fail to close in that space, time and again. Against Man Utd in Premier League, Van Persie, like Willian, was simply waiting in front of the defensive line to receive the ball and shoot. Both the goals by United were very similar in the set up.

Against Tottenham, many sharp runs by Defoe were not being picked up.

We can also notice the goal by Gervinho in Arsenal vs Chelsea game. The goal was a result of a slight error by the defense, but one of our defensive mids should have been there to stop the pass to Gervinho in the first place.

Chelsea fullbacks need to improve but our defensive mids have an enormous amount of work to do. Attack wins games but defense wins titles. Saying this, I wish that Chelsea don’t sacrifice a lot in the defense for the sake of free flowing football.

DONETSK, UKRAINE – OCTOBER 23: Chelsea team group during the UEFA Champions League Group E match between Shakhtar Donetsk and Chelsea at the Donbass Arena on October 23, 2012 in Donetsk, Ukraine.

The start for Chelsea this season could not have been better domestically. In fact, this is the best ever start for Chelsea in the first eight games of a season with seven wins and a draw. Ironically, the second best start of eight games in a season was last season under Villas- Boas, which bettered all other starts under Mourinho and Ancelotti. Last year, even after having the best start ever, the season under AVB turned out to be a disaster. Learning from last year, as Chelsea fans, we must not get our hopes high so early into the season. Only one game is required to expose a team’s major weakness, if there is one.

Unfortunately for Chelsea, the team has quite a lot of deficiencies in the defense. It is very surprising, but Chelsea’s greatest strength may turn out to be their greatest weakness this season. Until the last match against Shakhtar, I’d watched every Chelsea game, keeping an eye on our defenders and holding midfielders. Although not many goals have been scored against Chelsea, there was a feeling opposing players were finding it easy to attack the Londoners. This hunch was proved right, after Shakhtar forward Fernandinho commented:

“The current Chelsea team are different from the team who won the Champions League. So many times, the offensive players didn’t come back to help the defence.

“They usually had only the four defenders and one midfielder in front of the box. It’s a different style. The team who won the Champions League were compact and concerned a lot about defending.”

Fernandinho pointed out that Chelsea have a soft centre with the midfielders not tracking back and helping out the defense. The Shakhtar forward also commented that without Petr Cech, the score would have been a lot different. Chelsea’s ‘compact’ defense this season is not an indication of good defense but an indication of how good Cech is.

Majorly, there are two areas which Man Utd can exploit.

1) The Holding Midfielders

DONETSK, UKRAINE – OCTOBER 23: Henrik Mkhitaryan (L) of Shakhtar Donetsk challenges John Obi Mikel (R) of Chelsea during the UEFA Champions League Group E match between Shakhtar Donetsk and Chelsea at the Donbass Arena on October 23, 2012 in Donetsk, Ukraine.

Under Di Matteo, Chelsea have adopted the 4-2-3-1 formation, which has two holding midfielders sitting in front of the defense. One more major change from last season under RDM is the high pressing into the opposition half. Unlike under AVB, the pressing of Chelsea this season does not involve the whole defense line moving up. The high defense line was very easily punished by our opponents.

RDM has introduced high pressing by pushing up the forwards and the holding midfielders. Our defense line is relatively deep and hence there is a lot of space to exploit. Due to the holding mids moving up to win the ball, an opponent can easily roam between defense and midfield relatively unmarked. A sudden counter-attack or a good long ball can open up our defense, if the midfielders don’t track back quickly.

Even though Chelsea’s transition from defense to attack is good, the transition back to defense is a little slower.

What Chelsea wants from high pressing is that the opposition plays long and loose the ball in the process. However, if the opposition is  Man Utd, the plan might work against us. With the pin-point long balls of Paul Scholes, the whole Chelsea midfield can be easily bypassed.

Wayne Rooney, who plays as a play-maker nowadays can also harm Chelsea by exploiting that ‘hole’.

If this hole between defense and midfield is not covered quickly by midfielders, United will find it really easy to play good long balls and launch a quick counter-attacking move. The holding midfielders have to work their socks off if the team has to be compact in defense. Chelsea can also remove high pressing for one game just to ensure a tighter defense.

2) Attacking full-backs

LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND – MAY 02: Ashley Cole and Branislav Ivanovic of Chelsea celebrate

It is not bad to have full-backs who give the team an extra attacking option. Chelsea have got two very good full-backs in the form of Branislav Ivanovic and Ashley Cole. In every match this season, Ivanovic and Cole have spent most of the 90 min in the opposing half. Ivanovic is sometimes seen lurking near/inside the penalty box. Cole, due to his enormous experience, and positional awareness, doesn’t spend much time near the opposition’s penalty box, but is still playing very high.

A team having  good ability of retaining possession can risk playing their full-backs high. However, if the team is prone to losing balls while attacking, it is better to have full-backs playing a little less high.

An opposition with good wingers and full-backs can exploit the space in the wings, if unmarked. Against Arsenal, we saw our London rivals  frequently attacking from the wings. Arsenal attempted close to 30 crosses in the match, and failed to score only because of the absence of a good finisher and brilliant saves by Cech.

Against Tottenham, the absence of Bale ensured that our full-backs weren’t stretched much. Still, most of the attacking moves by Spurs were started from the wings by Lennon.

With hardworking wingers like Valencia and forwards like Robin van Persie, Chelsea’s full-backs will surely be put through a stern test.

Again, the full-backs can be asked to sit back a little to ensure defensive compactness.

In the end, Chelsea can either make their defense more compact for this game or continue playing the same attacking way. If it is the latter, then we are in for a goal-scoring fest today.

After a long international break, the focus is back on the Premier League. With Tottenham set to play Chelsea this weekend, the spotlight will be on one man – Andre Villas-Boas. It feels like a lot of time has passed since AVB was at Chelsea, loved by fans, media and players alike. However, it has been only 6 months since Di Matteo replaced AVB as the boss. The Champions League and FA cup success made us forget everything about the man who was supposed to be ‘The Special One-2′. From being a tactical genius, to being a failure; AVB has seen a lot at a very young age.

Only a year back, AVB was basking in his brilliant treble success with Porto. Every club wanted to secure the signature of the next Jose Mourinho. After all the hype, it was Chelsea who managed to secure the services of AVB after paying off £13.3 million release money to Porto.

AVB started off very well in Chelsea. The credit for purchasing Juan Mata definitely goes to Villas-Boas. With smart purchases and a good start to the season, Chelsea fans felt that this was going to be their dream season, which it was, but not because of AVB. As the season progressed, everything seemed to go wrong for the Blues. Within days, AVB was seen as an immature and stubborn manager. His treatment of senior players and the unsuccessful high-line tactic were the main causes of his downfall. The media turned against him, the players turned against him, the fans turned against him, and everyone realised that the Portuguese has a lot to learn yet.

After AVB was sacked, few thought that he will return to premier league so soon. However, it is like Villas-Boas never left. Within 5 months, AVB is back as the Tottenham manager.

After his appointment, Villas-Boas managed to make smart purchases yet again. Among all the managers in EPL, one can dare to say that AVB has the best eye for talent. At Chelsea it was Mata, Romeu, Bamford and many talented youth players. At Tottenham it is Moussa Dembele and Hugo Lloris. Even Oscar and Marin of Chelsea were shortlisted by AVB a year back. As a manager, AVB knows the players he wants and what is best for the team.

Unfortunately, AVB’s brilliant eye for talent was beaten by his poor man management skills. 8 months into the job, Boas was facing mutiny by some of his own players. The change which he wanted to do at Chelsea was done too quickly, and in a very irrational manner. Keeping Lampard and Terry on the bench without any quality players to replace them was his biggest mistake. His treatment of Anelka and Alex, when they put in a transfer request, was also uncalled for. These are the things which Di Matteo set right and led Chelsea to a historic double.

Early into this season, it looks like AVB has learned from his mistakes at Chelsea. After a slow start, Spurs have managed to win their last 4 games in a row. Defoe seems to be rejuvenated under AVB and praises from all players are flowing in.

If there is a problem, or something we feel is not right, his door is open. He wants us to work that way: together, the players and staff, and if there is a problem we can always share our ideas with him and he will take it on board.

For example, if we feel we are working too hard in training, if we say that to him, then he’ll ease it off. He’s still learning as well as a manager but he does all the coaching and everything himself, which is great. Every manager is different and he has his own ways of working. Sometimes it just takes a little bit of time. – Bale

The situation is very similar to last year. A good start, praises from players, but still a bad end. The Hugo Lloris and Brad Friedel issue can still be AVB’s undoing, although, till now everything seems to be fine.

Playing Chelsea, who have won 7 of their last 8 games in EPL, AVB has a lot to prove to his naysayers. This season, Chelsea is playing the football which AVB wanted to play last season. Di Matteo has managed to rotate his players perfectly without causing any dissent among the players. In short what AVB got wrong, RDM got right.

For AVB, the derby will be a match to prove that he still has it in him to become a successful manager. If Spurs win, the fans and players will get behind their manager, and Tottenham will become a force to be reckoned this season. The fans and media will feel that the Spurs victory against Manchester United was not a fluke. The victory against Chelsea will be a vindication of his tactics and style.

Winning against his old club and table leaders will certainly make AVB happy. His time at Chelsea was not pleasant and a victory will be the right way to hit Chelsea where it hurts. It will also be the perfect moment to kick-start a very successful managerial career.

This privilege of punishing a guy who racially abused you, wasn’t even there 20 years back. Just ask Paul Canoville, the first ever black player to play for Chelsea, or ask Cyrille Regis, Laurie Cunningham, Brendon Batson – the first black players who became regular starters for a team – whether they could do anything against the blatant racism in their times. Ask any black player who played in the 1980′s, or before, the same question. Their answer is, there is nothing that they could do. The John Terry judgement shows us how the times have changed.

Chelsea player Paul Canoville was racially abused by his own fans

Back in 1980′s, when Paul Canoville played for Chelsea, he was abused by his own fans. This thing is hard to imagine in a time when Chelsea is a black dominated team. Whenever Paul went out for warming up, he was greeted with the chants of - ’You black ****, you golliwog’. ‘Go back home you n****r’. After the abuse continued for a long time, the former Chelsea chairman, Ken Bates, was approached. However Bates found nothing wrong with the abuse. This issue was never paid much attention because, racially abusing a player was accepted by the society. Everyone saw what was going on, but no one decided to act.

West Bromwich Albion players Cyrille Regis, Laurie Cunningham and Brendon Batson were victims of racism too. Even though all three of them were regular starters for West Brom, the abuses didn’t stop. When Cyrille Regis made it to the England team in 1982, he received a bullet through the post as a threat. Not that it mattered to Regis, but there was nothing he could do about the situation. Racism was so rampant in England, that even legends of the club and national team players failed to escape abuse. In 1987 John Barnes was pictured back-heeling a banana off the pitch during a match for Liverpool against Everton, whose fans chanted ‘Everton are white’. Every fan of every club in England wanted his team to be free of all black players. The whole Suarez and John Terry incident may be called as kindergarten incidents by the people from the 1980′s.

Lord Herman Ouseley

After all the years of unpunished racism, one guy decided to do something. He was the same guy who approached Chelsea chairman Ken Bates to talk about the Paul Canoville issue. His name is Lord Herman Ouseley. In 1993, Lord Herman started a campaign to combat racism in football. The name of the campaign was – Let’s Kick Racism Out of Football. In 1997, the organization ‘Kick It Out’ was established. Kick It Out changed the way how racism was tackled. It did not change the people, but it ensured that the racist abuses were now being punished. Today, Kick It Out is supported and funded by the Premier League and the Football Association. Football clubs have a zero tolerance policy on racism and 25% of premiership players are black or from ethnic minorities.

The fight against racism has been very successful. However, after every few years, there is a racist incident which reminds us that work still has to be done. In 2004,  Ron Atkinson, working as a commentator, said , “He’s what is known in some schools as a fucking lazy thick n****r”, referring to Chelsea defender Marcel Desailly. After the incident, Ron Atkinson had to leave his job. What we should be happy about is that this racist remark was not accepted by the society. In the case of Liverpool striker Suarez, he was punished for using a harmless word in native language which sounded like an English racist word. Now that is a lot of progress from the 1980′s.

Although the progress has been good in the last two decades, there are some areas where work is still needed. The FA and the boardroom hardly have any black directors. Only three of the 92 English league clubs have black managers. This issue cannot be tackled by punishing people for being racist or implementing an American NFL style Rooney Rule. The only way to address this problem, is through education. Unless the people are made to realise that skin colour doesn’t affect a person’s ability, blacks will never be truly accepted in football. It is good to see the ‘Kick It Out’ campaign working along the same lines.

There will always be people like Terry and Suarez, whether rightly or wrongly, who will fall. Sometimes, extreme measures have to be taken so that real racists do not find an escape route. This is why the FA does what it does. It is not the job of the court to remove racism from football. It is the job of the FA to do so. Hence, even if there is a slight doubt, the FA dishes out a ban. So instead of criticizing the FA, it is time we appreciate the work which has been done, so that we can work together towards removing racism from football.

Shelvey’s sending off was justified because of a new rule implemented earlier this year by the chief of referees, Mike Riley. As per the rule, all two-footed tackles will be punished with a red card whether or not there is contact or injury to an opponent — and even if the ball is won first. This move was done in an attempt to remove dangerous tackles. Vincent Kompany of Manchester City, Didier Drogba of Chelsea, Branislav Ivanovic of Chelsea , all have suffered because to this new rule.

Vincent Kompany’s tackle which fetched him a red card

 So in a contact sport like football, how do define a two footed tackle as dangerous? In the FA cup third round clash between Manchester United and Manchester City last year, Vincent Kompany simply put his feet in the path of the incoming ball. He didn’t charge at Nani, he didn’t touch Nani and his studs weren’t even facing Nani. The tackle had nothing dangerous about it. Still Kompany was punished with a red card. How do you expect a player to lie down with only one leg in the path of an incoming ball without doing splits.

Rio Ferdinand did a similar tackle against Luis Suarez in the penalty box yesterday. It was a brilliant tackle, and football is all about such last ditch attempts to win the ball. In the QPR vs Chelsea match last season, Didier Drogba won the ball with a two-footed tackle which resulted in him getting sent off.  In this controversial incident, Drogba merely jumped on the ball, clipping the toe of opponent in the process. This tackle was sadly termed as dangerous by the referee and Drogba got sent off.

The new ruling was expected to bring consistency in the referee’s decisions in terms of dangerous tackles. However, in the carling cup semi-final match between Man City and Liverpool previous season, Glen Johnson managed to escape punishment after a two footed tackle.Even if the referee saw the foul, it was at the most a yellow card offense.

Glen Johnson not punished for this two-footed challenge

Luiz’s tackle on Jon Walters

So why term all two-footed challenges as dangerous,when the required consistency in decisions is still not achieved? Why not give send off a player depending on the situation instead of a style of tackle?

Due to this new ruling, many dangerous tackles are escaping punishment. Just because the tackles were done with one leg, the referee decided to give only a yellow card for the offense. David Luiz of Chelsea, Jamie Carragher of Liverpool and Alan Hutton of Aston Villa,  have avoided getting sent off after making leg-breaking challenges.

In Chelsea vs Stoke on Saturday, Luiz made a wild lunge on Stoke City player Jon Walters. This tackle left the Stoke boss, Tony Pulis, fuming.The tackle had everything dangerous in it. The player was charging in,the studs were up and the contact was away from the ball.Even though this tackle by Luiz deserved a red card, the referee only produced the yellow card.

In a similar incident, Jamie Carragher went and crashed into Nani of Man Utd which resulted in the United player being carried off in a stretcher. The tackle was so hard, that the stud marks were clearly visible on Nani’s shin. After all the complaints by United players, the referee let off Carragher with a yellow card.

LIVERPOOL, UNITED KINGDOM – MARCH 06: Nani of Manchester United lies on the pitch following a challenge by Jamie Carragher of Liverpool. Stud marks are clearly visible on Nani’s left shin.

Another one of these dangerous challenges was done by Alan Hutton on Shane Long of West Brom. The Aston Villa defender lunged at Shane Long’s knee, studs up. The West Brom striker just about managed to avoid a ligament tear, but still got injured out for 6 weeks. The referee didn’t see anything wrong with Hutton’s challenge.

None of the two-footed tackles, done in recent history, have been so dangerous and so damaging to the opponents as the above  mentioned, one-footed tackles. Still the players managed to get sent off because they went in with two legs instead of one. The referees should have sent of Luiz, Carragher and Hutton for high studs and malicious intent  instead of Kompany, Drogba and Shelvey.

Jonny Evans escaped from punishment while Shelvey couldn’t. In football, you want players to show commitment and go for the ball. If the tackle is not malicious, two-footed tackle should not be punished. Sometimes on the field, the players have to use unconventional techniques to win the ball. Not all tackles will be proper one-footed slides which will not touch the opponent in any manner. It is better that FA look into this new ruling before good two-footed tackles get punished and wild one-footed challenges escape punishment.

LONDON, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 15: Anton Ferdinand of Queens Park Rangers refuses to shake hands with John Terry of Chelsea

Anton Ferdinand’s refusal to shake John Terry‘s and Ashley Cole’s hand in QPR vs Chelsea was expected. The hype before the match was about this expected handshake snub. No one really cared much about the match which was about to follow. Many might have just switched off their TV sets after the incident. In the end, attention was diverted away from the game.

Sadly, the pre-match handshake practice, which was adopted in 2004 to promote respect in football is now being used to make personal statements. It is not about blaming Anton or Terry. They both are right in what they did. Anton has had a tough life after the alleged racist incident. Even Terry has had to face hostile fans wherever he went. All charges of racism by Terry have been dropped by the court, but his name is tainted forever. If Terry had done a Suarez by refusing to shake Anton’s hand, it would still be right.

In Terry’s and Suarez’s world they are victims of false charges. In Patrice Evra’s and Anton’s world, they are victims of racism. Due to the personal problems of these high profile players, football is losing. Suarez and Anton thought that refusal to shake hands is the right thing to do. Instead their actions have done nothing but aggravated the issue. The pre-match ritual of promoting respect is now turning the rival fans against each other. The fact that QPR fans were cheering Terry’s injury in the game shows how the handshake snub influenced the fans to behave in such a bad manner.

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND – FEBRUARY 11: Luis Suarez of Liverpool looks at Patrice Evra of Manchester United during the Barclays Premier League match between Manchester United and Liverpool at Old Trafford on February 11, 2012 in Manchester, England.

However, one cannot expect these players to shake hands when there is no respect among them. The whole exercise of promoting respect becomes pointless once these pre-match handshakes are used to make a statement against a player you hate and turn your fans against him.

Handshakes are generally done in appreciation, agreement and forgiveness. It is a meaningless routine when the players are looking to kick each other out of the game. Shake a hand and then break a leg. To see players wish other good luck before the match just because they have to, is hilarious. When in the game, the same players dive, shout at the referee and fire expletives at their opponents. Where is the respect when needed? Few fans even watch the pre-match handshake. It has become an annoying routine and you always want the players to skip this whole drama and start the match starts quickly. Only controversy makes this boring ritual interesting. This is certainly not what FIFA wants.

I remember having some serious wars out on the pitch with Arsenal legend Tony Adams that would leave us both battered, bruised and requiring numerous stitches. But, yes, afterwards we would shake hands. I also recall Manchester United hero Roy Keane wanting to shake my neck but it didn’t lessen my admiration for him as a player. And, yes, I would shake his hand afterwards, no problem. The whole pre-match handshake ceremony all looks so daft as well — like a morris dance. One side goes along the line then the other goes back the other way to shake hands with the referee and his assistant. If it’s the Champions League you then have to remember to loop back and group together for a photograph as well.

- Alan Shearer

Iniesta managed to ask Scholes for a jersey swap before anyone else

The actual respect in the game is genuinely seen after the match. Respect is when the Barcelona players like Xavi and Iniesta race against each other to get Paul Scholes jersey. We can see the real respect when Didier Drogba consoles his former teammate Robben after the Champions League Final, or when Djbril Cisse celebrates with Nasri after the title winning final game of the season. It is the respect for what your opponent has done and what he has achieved. This respect is impossible to replicate by making the players bump each others wrists before the game.

Many fans are eagerly waiting to see whether Suarez will shake Evra’s hand this weekend. Any snub by either of the players will do nothing but justify removing of the pre-match handshake ritual.We don’t want a small routine to become a mode of rasising social and personal issues. It is more important that the players respect the rivals, opponents and referees during and after the game rather than before the game. So let us stop this pretentious exercise and ask these footballers to show respect where it is needed.

Born in India, the first sport which you hear about is cricket. Every Indian is mad about cricket, and rightly so. Achievements of the Indian cricket team make it very hard to ignore the sport. Whenever players like Sachin Tendulkar or Rahul Dravid showcase their magical skills with the bat on the field, people forget about all their differences and unite under the chants of ‘Innndiiia, Innndiiiia!’. Millions of youth in India see these amazing players and dream to become like them one day.

The Indian hockey team has a fair number of followers as well because of its 50 year period of total domination in the sport, winning 8 gold, 1 silver and 2 bronze medals in the Olympics between 1928 and 1980. Sports like tennis, badminton, shooting, boxing also get fair amount of attention because of one or two players who are right at the top, among the best in the world.

When it comes to football, we don’t have a Tendulkar,  Bhupathi or a Bindra. Instead we have players like Baichung Bhutia and Sunil Chhetri, who are just about good enough to make it to the second tier football teams in England or Portugal. These players are the only role models for Indians in the field of football. However, if the number of football fans in India are counted, the number will be second only to cricket. The lack of success in football, lack of importance given to football, and lack of proper football in India does not stop a number of Indians from becoming football fans.

The rise of the new football crazy generation is nothing to do with India’s success in the sport. Many of the football fans don’t even watch Indian football. The Indian football team recently won their third consecutive Nehru Cup, but very few people actually appreciated it the way they would have appreciated a World Cup or Champions League victory by any other team. Football became popular in India because of World Cups and the English Premier League. The new generation of football crazy fans grew up watching players like Luis Ronaldo, Luis Figo and Zinedine Zidane. Personally, they were my favorites. Different fans loved watching different players in action. The advent of live telecast and the Internet made it easier for people to follow their favorite players.

As Indians, we have hardly had any taste of professional football. Back in 2002, most of the football which we  played on a big ground was 20 vs 20, and that too if the cricket lovers were absent. All the grounds had a majority of  people playing cricket with a few kids in the corner playing football. After the 2002 FIFA World Cup, it was common to see all the football playing people being called Ronaldo by the people who played cricket.

Smalls games with 5-6 people were played inside the building compounds or any small open area using stones or shoes as goalposts. The playing surface used to be rough and hard, which made diving and sliding tackles impossible. We couldn’t copy the footballers but nothing stopped us from trying. The biggest thing which got the Indians hooked on to football was the ease of playing the game anywhere; on the roads, on the beach, anywhere a little open space was available.

Without being exposed to professional football, we started appreciating the game. No one taught us the right technique to play or how to play in formation or how to support the player on the ball. As far as i remember, in my young days, the whole team except the goalkeeper used to run after the ball from one end to another. Passing the ball and providing support to your teammate on the ball is taught at a very young age in England. We learnt it by watching our heroes in action. We loved watching football irrespective of the team which is playing.

Today, everything is different. One thing which we have picked up very quickly from professional football in Europe is rivalry. Even though we live thousands of miles away from Europe, our heart, soul and passion for the game is in Europe. We recognize Manchester, London and Liverpool as our footballing homes. Terms like ‘glory hunter’ and ‘plastic fans’ are used even though we all support the team which wins and achieves glory. Sitting in India, no one supports Blackburn or Leeds United. The rivalry is growing day by day. Maybe a day will come when the Indian police will have to separate Manchester rivals or stop clashes between the fans of London clubs.

The fans in India are so passionate that every Champions League match or weekday matches, irrespective of the inconvenient timings, are watched,  something which even many fans in England don’t do. If a large group of people are sitting together and watching, the atmosphere is the room is absolutely electric. People shout, cheer, boo like they are in the stadium and the players can hear them. Distance does nothing to dissolve the passion of football fans in out country.

The European clubs have been very quick to recognize the passionate love for the game in India. Manchester United has opened Manchester United cafes and bars in India. Arsenal collaborate with TATA to search for soccer stars in our country. Manchester United are doing a similar search with Airtel. Chelsea held a official screening of the Champions League Final match in Goa for the large number of Chelsea fans in India.

As football fans from India, we passionately support something with which we have no relation. Not our city, not our game. However there is something in every team which makes you support them.  We become a blue or a red because we can relate ourselves to the club. Some like history and success. Some simply don’t like supporting the best club and support the second best because they love the  never-say-die attitude. Some like a club because it plays the way they think football should be played. In the end there is a strange sense of belonging which makes you feel attached to the club. Once you feel attached, you feel like an English fan supporting his childhood club.

I am a football fan from India but during a game, English blood flows in me. I shout and cheer loudly. I hate it when we lose to our rivals and love it when the rivals lose. For those 90 minutes, I forget about everything else and get into the mood  for the game.

” I’m a pwoud followaa of  EPL” (yeah, I know the copied accent is lame).

Whenever a club like Chelsea or Manchester City does a big money signing, everyone thinks that UEFA Financial Fair Play Regulations will be there to hurt these clubs in future. Teams like Arsenal take pride in their financial stability , believing that the kicking in of FFP will help their cause. However this is far from true. UEFA Financial Fair Play Regulations has a lot of loopholes which make it very easy for a club to comply with the rules. UEFA’s new regulations won’t affect any top EPL clubs at the moment.

The first monitoring period based on  UEFA FFP started last season, which is basically looking at the accounting books of the club . This period includes seasons 2011/12 and 2012/13. Even though clubs are allowed to have a maximum deficit of  €45 after the end of first monitoring period, spending by the top clubs in the transfer market has not reduced. Manchester City, Chelsea, Manchester United, Liverpool continue spending in spite of deficit. All the clubs will be affected by FFP  for the first time in the 2014/15 season. The acceptable losses for each monitoring period can be seen below:

The maximum acceptable loss for the first monitoring period is €45 million only if the owner is willing to put in his own money for losses greater than €5million. If the owner is unable to invest, then the losses limit if €5million. With Manchester City having a deficit of €150million and estimated operating losses of €70million in the first monitoring period, Chelsea having a deficit of €70 million and Liverpool having an estimated operating losses of  €50million in the first monitoring period, the chances of these clubs to comply with the FFP look very bleak but it is not so. So let’s see how the big clubs will beat the FFP.

1) Amortisation

Amortisation is simply distributing the transfer fee of a player over a period of the players contract. For example, Eden Hazard was signed for €38m on a 5 year contract. To UEFA, his expense isn’t €38m in 2012/13. Instead, it is €7.6m per year till 2017/18. Same for Torres. He costs Chelsea €10million per year instead of  €50million for one season which makes it easier to balance the books.  Manchester United purchased Kagawa for €22million with a 4 year contract, hence the players cost per year excluding wages is approximately €6million.

By the third monitoring period the clubs along with €30million deficit limit for the 3 year period, are allowed to have only €10million deficit per season. Amortisation helps in meeting this requirements by distributing the player’s cost over many years.

So if a club gives out longer contracts, they have lower deficits per season.

Due to Amortisation there is something called ‘book value’ of a player. We can see it below:

So from here we can see how the book value reduces at the end of each year. Now if Chelsea sell Torres at the of term three for €30million , then the club will earn a profit of (€30million-€20million)= €10million profit instead of a (€50million- €30million)= €20 million loss in their accounting books because Torres’ book value at the end of year 3 is €20million. Similarly if United sell Kagawa at the end of year three for €30million then they will earn a profit of  €24million instead of €8million.

2) Player Contracts

As per UEFA Financial Fair Play Regulations, if a club exceeds the  €45million deviation limit and the main cause for that is the salaries of the players who signed contract before 1 June 2010, then the salaries of those players won’t be counted. In simple words, the players who signed their contract before 1 June 2010, are free for the club. Unless the contract of the player is extended after 1 June 2010, the cost of these players won’t be counted in the accounting books.

This rule helps in removing the deficit very easily. Manchester City has a deficit of €150million and most of their revenue of €152.8million will now be used to balance the books as the players are playing for free. Players like Vincent Kompany, Carlos Tevez, Micah Richards have signed contracts before 1 June 2010 and are free for the club.

Even in Chelsea, the contracts of most of the players were extended long term before June 2012.

3) Sponsorship and TV rights

Sponsorship is another major factor in beating FFP. In case of Manchester City we can see how the sponsors are linked to the owners. Shirt sponsor Etihad Airways, telecommunications company Etisalat, Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority and investment company AABAR are all based in the Middle East. Even Ferrostaal, a virtually unknown German engineering company, has been taken over by the Abu Dhabi government. Man City recently completed a £400 million deal for renaming their stadium as Etihad Stadium.

After Champions League victory, Chelsea signed many lucrative sponsorship deals with companies like Delta Airlines, Audi and  Gazprom.

Manchester United have a sponsor for training kits, online betting and every other small thing.

“Many of the more recent deals like Etihad’s long-term agreement with Manchester City and Chelsea’s arrangements with Gazprom have prompted some to suggest such sponsorship deals are a convenient way to use the facade of a sponsorship deal to boost revenues,” -football finance expert Daniel Geey of London firm Field Fisher Waterhouse

It is very easy for top clubs to get sponsors who become a source of cash for the clubs. We already saw in the case of Man City that there is little UEFA can do about it.

EPL’s huge audience helps in lucrative TV  deals. The Premier League recently signed a new TV deal of  £3.5billion for a period of 3 years. This deal ensures that the clubs now earn £15million more than what they earned from the previous TV deal of £1.4billion.

4) Infrastructure and Youth Team development

UEFA won’t count the money spent by clubs on infrastructure like training grounds and Youth team development as expenditure. This helps in reducing a significant amount of €19million from Chelsea’s €70million loss last season. As infrastructure, Manchester City’s cost of building Etihad Campus is not counted as expenditure in the FFP calculation, but the income generated from the campus is.

Clubs can build sporting facilities, hotels and expand their stadium for generating extra revenue. One can look at the Turkish Club, Trabzonspor, to understand the scope of balancing books through infrastructure development. Trabzonspor will build a hydroelectric plant in a bid to raise revenues.The plant is expected to cost an estimated $50 million, with annual revenues expected to be $10 million a year. The cost of building the hydroelectric plant will not be considered under FFP but the income will.

5) Ticket Prices

All the top clubs in EPL except Manchester United and Arsenal  sell tickets to their fans at a subsidised cost. Manchester City last year had a loss of £137 million, Chelsea £60million and Liverpool £18 million due to reduced ticket prices. Man United and Arsenal made a profit of £21 million and £32 million respectively through ticket sales. If the subsidies are removed by the clubs, then a lot of profit can be made. This source of revenue is completely in the hands of the club. Higher ticket prices will mean lesser losses and better profits.

Somewhere on the net an interesting question was asked. “What if Man City decide to build a special executive box and charge £50million for the ticket and the owner buys the ticket?” A very simple question, but very difficult to answer!

]]> http://www.sportskeeda.com/2012/09/01/5-ways-how-top-epl-clubs-will-easily-comply-with-uefa-financial-fair-play-regulations/feed/ 2 295410 http://www.sportskeeda.com/2012/08/28/satire-andre-villas-boas-letter-to-the-tottenham-chairman/ http://www.sportskeeda.com/2012/08/28/satire-andre-villas-boas-letter-to-the-tottenham-chairman/#comments Tue, 28 Aug 2012 11:42:21 +0000 carefree blue http://www.sportskeeda.com/?p=655639 The 2012-13 Premier League season has ended. Andre Villas Boas’s first season with the Spurs has been really disappointing as the club has finished 15th in the league. AVB now sends a letter to Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy asking Levy to be patient for the sake of a better future.

Tottenham manager Andre Villas Boas

Dear Daniel,

I’m writing this letter because I expect you to be really unhappy after our disappointing  season. Even though we achieved none of the targets set at the start of the season, I assure you that we are on the right track. My ‘project’ is long term and I made that very clear during my hiring. Things were bound to get worse before they got any better. The style and tactics which I used at Porto are perfect. These tactics can be used in any league in the world if we allow the ‘project’ to continue. We also have to develop unity between the players and the staff. One year is not enough for that. We will have to face a few more disappointing seasons for the unity to develop.

This season, the players in the team found it very difficult to play the way I wanted them to play, but we couldn’t afford to make any changes in the tactics which I used very successfully at Porto. We had some bad luck too. I put Michael Dawson on the transfer list because the staff thought that William Gallas, Steven Caulker and Jan Vertonghen had no chance of getting injured, but they did. It wasn’t my fault that the staff got it all wrong. The sale of Luka Modric didn’t help my plans. I wanted him to stay, but management allowed him to go to Real Madrid. If Modric had stayed, we could have easily won the FA cup and qualified for the Champions League.

However, all that is now in the past. I’ve already made plans for the future. Here are a few of my ideas for the new season-

1)The staff which made me believe that three Central defenders are enough for the whole season will be immediately replaced. Unfortunately it means that the players will need some more time to adjust to the new system.

2)I have found a perfect replacement for Luka Modric in Raul Meireles. Meireles forced me to keep Frank Lampard on the bench during my time as Chelsea manager. His vision, passing range and ball winning ability makes him much better than Lampard or Modric. He will be a great addition to the team.

3)For a high defense line, I need players who are fast and don’t give away the ball easily. That is why I have decided to play Rafael Van Der Vaart as a defender for the new season. The high defense line is indispensable, hence talented players like Van Der Vaart have to make some sacrifices.

With these new ideas implemented, Tottenham will become the team to beat next season. I want you to believe in the same because  I am the first manager who led Chelsea to a Champions League and FA cup double last season. I got both medals through the mail. This successful Chelsea team is the result of my hard work. Sadly, I was sacked before I could enjoy the success. It will be heartbreaking for me if you make the same mistake. It is my sincere request that you allow the ‘project’ to continue for the sake of a successful future.

Regards,
Andre Villas Boas

LONDON – DECEMBER 06: The Chelsea team line up prior to the UEFA Champions League Group G match between Chelsea and Liverpool at Stamford Bridge on December 6, 2005 in London, England. (Photo by Jamie McDonald/Getty Images)

The football played by Chelsea in 2004 was very direct. They relied on a powerful striker upfront and a midfield consisting of players with good technique and high work rate. The team’s defense was well organised and was one of the best in the league. Mourinho believed that every player in the team should track back and help the defense. Set- pieces were a major strength of the team. Chelsea also formed a reputation of having the most physically strong players in their team. The formation favoured by the team under Mourinho was 4-3-3. Since then, playing in a different formation has not been productive for the club.

The departure of Mourinho did not make any difference to Chelsea’s style of play. Managers like Scolari, Andre Villas-Boas tried very hard to change the style, but they failed to make any impact. The managers after Mourinho who tasted success were successful because  they stuck on to the style of play Chelsea learnt in 2004. In 2009, Guus Hiddink stuck with the 4-3-3 formation, leading Chelsea to FA Cup victory. After Hiddink, it was Carlo Ancelotti who started off with the Diamond formation but reverted to 4-3-3 after a string of bad results. This change ensured that Chelsea won the Premier League and FA Cup double.

Players like John Terry, Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba were crucial to the team under Mourinho. Even the following managers depended heavily on them. Roberto Di Matteo led Chelsea to a surprising Champions League and FA Cup double last year. Like Hiddink and Ancelotti, Matteo relied on the ‘Old Guard’ for results. It was Mourinho’s team, players, formation, tactics and influence which made Chelsea the best in Europe.

With the departure of Drogba and arrival of new players like Eden Hazard, Marko Marin, Moses and Oscar, Chelsea finally look like leaving Mourinho’s shadow. The fresh arrivals along with last year’s purchase, Juan Mata, look like becoming the symbols of Chelsea’s new style. Hazard and Marin have added an attacking flair to the team. The movement and link up play between Hazard and Mata has been really delightful to watch. The trickery and skillful ball control of Hazard and Marin reminds the Chelsea fans of the magical days of Gianfranco Zola. Hazard, in particular, has terrorized the opposition’s defense in the past few games. Oscar’s brilliant ability to read the game allows Chelsea to move smoothly and swiftly from defense to attack.Its really good to see a new style of play being so easily embraced by the Chelsea team.

However, one must think of the ‘Old Guard’ at a time when change is taking place. Under Ancelotti, the Diamond formation restricted the free movement of Frank Lampard which resulted in Lampard being unable to take his trademark  powering runs into the box. To bring out the best in Frank, the team reverted to 4-3-3. Under Di Matteo, Chelsea is playing with 4-2-3-1 formation which involves Lampard playing as a holding midfielder. Frank is no longer the creative force of the team. This responsibility has been given to younger and more skillful players. Leaving of Drogba has ensured that the responsibility of scoring is now on younger players like Sturridge and Moses. The team is undergoing a change.

LONDON, ENGLAND – MAY 05: (L-R) Didier Drogba, John Terry, Frank Lampard of Chelsea lift the FA Cup trophy during the FA Cup with Budweiser Final match between Liverpool and Chelsea at Wembley Stadium on May 5, 2012 in London, England. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)

To actually come out of Mourinho’s shadow, the ‘Old Guard’ has to be slowly phased out. Villas Boas tried it too early and without any replacement for the likes of Drogba and Lampard. However, now is the perfect time. The ‘Old Guard’ has won everything they could. The replacements are ready and their hunger for success is infinite. It is time to allow the ‘New Chelsea’ to be born, which will be free from the influence of Jose Mourinho. It is time for the young players to take over the responsibility of the club from the ‘Old Guard’.

It is time for Chelsea to move into future with a new style and identity.

In 2000, Mohammed Kaif led the team to World Cup success along with Yuvraj Singh, who won the player of the tournament. In 2008 Virat Kohli led the U-19 team to success. Kaif, Yuvraj and Kohli played major roles in the past in bringing home the Cup. Since then, Yuvraj and Kohli in particular found great success with the senior Indian Cricket Team. Even this year’s tournament has players who can be instrumental in India’s WC success.

Who are the key players?

1. Ravikant Singh

TOWNSVILLE, AUSTRALIA – AUGUST 23: Ravikant Singh (c) and Smit Patel of India celebrates the dismissal of Connor Neynens of New Zealand during the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup 2012 Semi Finals.

The 18 year old from Bengal is the top wicket taker for India in this year’s tournament. Bowling right-arm medium, Ravikant  led India to important victories against Papua New Guinea, Pakistan and New Zealand. Against Papua New Guinea he took 5 wickets and conceded only 21 runs. His performance against Pakistan was equally impressive. His 3-wicket haul resulted in Pakistan’s batting order collapse for a modest total of 135. In the semi-finals against New Zealand, his 2 wicket haul was really important in defeating the Kiwis. With 11 wickets and a good economy rate of 3.83 in the tournament, Ravikant can easily lead India’s bowling attack against the Aussies.

2.Baba Aparajith

TOWNSVILLE, AUSTRALIA – AUGUST 23: Baba Aparajith of India with the Man of the Match award during the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup 2012 Semi Finals.

 The talented allrounder from Chennai has really impressed everyone with his performances in this year’s  U-19 CWC. Aprajith’s contribution to the team has been both with the bat and the ball. The innings of 51 vs Pakistan and 44 vs New Zealand were very crucial in India’s victories. His economical spin bowling is a great asset for the team. He recorded a good performance with the ball which helped India in slowing down the Kiwis who were marching to victory in the semi-finals. Aprajith will enter the finals with two successive Man Of The Match awards to his name. He will be hoping to produce a match-winning performance in the finals to make it three in a row.

3. Harmeet Singh

TOWNSVILLE, AUSTRALIA – AUGUST 23: Harmeet Singh (c) of India celebrates the wicket of Will Young of New Zealand during the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup 2012 Semi Finals

Harmeet Singh is the player you want if you’re defending a small total. His left arm spin really slows down the opposition. In the current tournament, Harmeet has picked up 6 wickets along at a brilliant economy rate of 2.83. His performances against New Zealand and Pakistan were exemplary. The team captain Unmukt Chand has already said that Harmeet is really important for the team against the Aussies. With a great tounament so far, Harmeet Singh will be really hoping to stop the in-form Australian batsmen and lead the team to victory.

4. Unmukt Chand

TOWNSVILLE, AUSTRALIA – AUGUST 23: Unmukt Chand of India motions to his players during the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup 2012 Semi Finals

The U-19 Indian team captain has not had a good tournament so far. Apart from the innings of 78 against Zimbabwe, none of the performances have been upto his usual standards. A lot was expected from Unmukt in this tournament. However, the expectations have not come true. This run of average performances will certainly spur him on to contribute for the team in the finals. Like our senior team captain, Mahender Singh Dhoni, we can expect our U-19 captain to come up with a brilliant performance in the finals to lift the U-19 CWC for India.

Also watch out for:  Smit Patel, Kamal Passi.

As hysterical cricket fans, we can never forget the sublime technique of Rahul Dravid, the wristy flicks of VVS Laxman, the powerful straight drives of Sachin Tendulkar and the unstoppable cover drives of Sourav Ganguly. These moments make us feel lucky to be there and be able to watch these legends in action. However, with the retirement of the Old Guard, and Sachin’s test cricket days in its last legs, the future holds a daunting task of filling the shoes of these cricketing greats.

The very thought that these players getting replaced may seem crazy and impossible, but it can be done. Every player can be replaced. So which players will constitute the new Indian test team ‘middle order’?

1. Virat Kohli

India’s ODI specialist Virat Kohli has already achieved a lot at a very young age. 13 centuries in ODIs with an average of  52.20 has  shown us what he is capable of. For Kohli it is time to prove himself in test cricket as well.  The tour against West Indies in 2011 exposed his weakness to short balls. Also, swearing at fans at the Sydney Cricket Ground who were insulting him, raises questions about his temperament. His average of  32.73 in Tests don’t do justice to his talents. There are a lot of changes which Kohli has to make to his approach to Test cricket before he can start playing match-winning knocks. Kohli is a fighter which will surely motivate him to improve himself in Test matches and be the future of the team’s middle-order.

2. Cheteshwar Pujara

After seeing Pujara play, one cannot stop comparing him with Rahul Dravid. With his excellent technique and his ability to play long innings’, Pujara is the Golden Boy of our middle-order. One can always rewind back to his match-winning knock of 76 against the Aussies in 2010.Coming in to bat in place of Dravid, in a pressure situation, he showed just the right amount of aggression in an innings which crushed the Aussie hopes. Since then, Pujara has been a bit unlucky with injuries. However, we can expect a lot from a guy who is both technically and mentally perfect to be the next Rahul Dravid.

3.  Ajinkya Rahane

Ajinkya Rahane’s first class cricket exploits are well known. He has a brilliant average of  63.94. Not having earned a test cap yet, little can be said about how Rahane will perform under the grueling workout of Test cricket. If first class cricket and ‘A’ team stats are seen, Rahane’s talent is unquestionable. His ability to bat anywhere in  the top 6 makes him a great asset. We’ve seen some flashes of brilliance by him at ODIs and IPL. With a sound technique and versatile stroke making, Rahane can  become a important member in our test team. We can only hope that his first class success continues at the international level.

4. Manoj Tiwary

Tiwary is another player who has performed consistently well at first class level. It was due to bad luck that he got injured when selected for the national team. Tiwary is an excellent fielder and a very aggressive batsman. Some say that his aggression is more suited for the shorter versions of the game. However, his aggression hasn’t stop him from compiling a brilliant average of 60.72 in first class cricket. The match winning innings of 104(not out) against West Indies in 2011 was the highlight of his career. The innings was brilliantly paced and filled with maturity. After observing this innings, we can be sure of Manoj Tiwary’s ability to play a long innings when required, if he makes it to the Test team.

5. Rohit Sharma

Sharma is definitely the most talented and technically gifted player among all the above players. Rohit Sharma has only himself to blame for his failures. One moment, he will play a brilliant innings highlighted with exquisite shots, and the next moment he’ll be struggling to score even 10-20 runs. Rohit Sharma is a mystery to everyone. As a player, he has the ability to be the best in the world. His heart and his mind has to be in the right place for that. If Rohit has to be the future of the Indian team, a lot of effort has to come from his side. We cannot write off Sharma. The day he gets his goals set, he can lead our batting attack with great success.

“DROGBAAAAAAAAAAA”

This shout from Martin Tyler will forever be in the minds of every Chelsea fan, because the next thing we saw was the ball in the net. Due to his heroics in the Champions League final and consistent scoring over the years, Didier Drogba is respected as one of the greatest strikers in history of football by fans and rivals alike. If asked about his impressive stats and abilities, every fan who watched him play can recite it to you for hours without any break. As football fans, we can say that Drogba has won our hearts.

However, there is a life of Drogba to which we never paid much attention to. A life beyond the glory of professional football . It’s a life of a  philanthropist, a life of the most powerful man of Ivory Coast. It is not the influence of power but the power of influence.

Behind those headline grabbing goals, Drogba quietly dedicated himself to helping the world’s sick and needy. He quietly kept raising money for donation to Red Cross and orphanages in his native country. He started his own foundation with a goal of helping the needy. Praise kept coming in from fellow players like Essien and Gervinho. His influence in Ivory Coast was now second to none. Then he finally came into the media glare for stopping a 5 year civil war in his country. By 2010 Drogba made it to Time list of world’s 100 most influential people.

But why did Drogba do all this?

He had the chance to play for France when he was young. He had the money to enjoy his life and forget about the the bad state of affairs in his country. The reason behind all this charity is that Drogba never forgot his humble background. He remembered that these riches were not a part of his life when he was young.

“The money came after my education, after I became a man.”- Drogba

Its not the money which made Drogba feel rich. It was the experience of thousands of people in Ivory Coast going crazy in his presence which did.

All the money which DD earned from endorsements from sponsors went into his Foundation- The Didier Drogba Foundation. The Foundation holds Charity balls which is supported by likes of David Beckham and Kobe Bryant. The Charity balls have managed to raise £1 million so far.

Drogba said that he felt more nervous about these charity events than going on the football field. He had to call people and convince them to support his cause. Drogba even donated all the profits from DVD sales of “ The Incredible Destiny of Didier Drogba ”and the autobiography book to the foundation.

In 2009 a wall collapsed in the National Stadium, during a World Cup qualifier, which killed 19 people. While visiting the injured, DD met a boy who was suffering from later stages of  leukaemia. The boy was brought to Europe for treatment, but he still lost his life.

Earlier, the brother of Drogba’s best friends, Stephane died of leukaemia because it was not possible to get a visa for the 15 year old boy. These instances along with the cost of £125,000 for the boys’ treatment, made DD realize that a hospital needed to be built in his country. Till date £3 million has been invested by Drogba alone for this ambitious project in the city of Abidjan.

“Didier is doing an amazing job. The way he is affected by the sick children, you can tell that he really cares and that he really wants to help. He loves his country and his country loves him !“- John Terry

Drogba is undoubtedly a hero in his country. One liter bottles of bock, a locally brewed beer, is known as Drogbas. Young Ivorian men dress like him and the musicians write songs about him. The life in Ivory Coast stops when Drogba is playing a game.

After proposing to play a World Cup Qualifier match in Bouaké, the capital of the rebellion, Drogba brought 5 years of civil war to a halt as the country united to support their national football team. When the team qualified for the World Cup, everyone forgot about their problems as the rebels and the government united, filling the streets with happily dancing people.

“Many Ivorians need it, he has always been an example for us.”- Gervinho on Drogba help to infrastructure development

Today, Drogba is symbol of hope and peace in Ivory coast. This is more than what any footballer even dreams of. Drogba joined a reconciliation commission in 2011, designed to heal wounds after the violent post-election crisis in Abidjan. Along with that Drogba is United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Goodwill Ambassador. We can only hope to see another selfless footballer like Drogba, who in spite of his riches which he says he loves to enjoy, went ahead with ambitious projects of making his home country a better place.  Drogba is indeed The Charity King!

Considered as Paul Scholes’ long term replacement, Cleverly had started off well last season. However, injuries hampered his progress. Sir Alex used words like best player and outstanding to describe the highly rated English midfielder. With the return of Scholes, Cleverly’s chances of getting games are less, but we can still look forward to great performances by him if he manages to remain injury free.

9. Victor Moses

Chelsea tried very hard to buy the in form Nigerian winger, but their bid of  £4m was rejected by Wigan. 3 more bids for the player were also rejected. Moses played 37 games for his club in the previous season, scoring 6 goals and assisting 6. The powerfully built winger can push his way past defenders very easily. With his speed he can easily outrun most of the full-backs. Wigan owner Dave Whelan tried very hard to ensure the player does not leave the club. It’s time for Moses to justify the decision.

8. Marko Marin

He was once called the German Messi for his dribbling, agility and creativity. Had a very good attacking partnership with Mesut Ozil. After Ozil left for Real Madrid, Marin lost his form. The German who can play both as a winger and an attacking midfielder, was very delighted about his move to Chelsea. He hopes he can remind the people of a player he once was. For £7m he can be considered as a bargain for Chelsea.

7.  Jack Wilshere

The future of the England midfield, Wilshere was ruled out for whole of the previous season. With his return date rumored to be in October, Wilshere will start another season as a hot prospect for Arsenal. It will be a long time after which he will kick a football, but we can definitively expect him to show his pre-injury form.

6. Alex oxlade-chamberlain

Another Arsenal player to watch out for this season. He showed some wonderful performances previous season. Known for his speed and powerful style of playing, The Ox can turn out to be the most important player for his team.

5. Fernando Torres

Euro 2012 Golden Boot winner has still not shown his Liverpool era form for Chelsea. With the departure of Didier Drogba and purchase of some brilliant midfielders, the stage is set for Torres. He will be keen to lead Chelsea’s attack and win the league. His hunger for goals has not reduced. Assisting a brilliant 18 times last season, Torres can have faith in his abilities and score many more goals for his club.

4. Olivier Giroud

Top scorer of the French league, Olivier Giroud is definitely the buy of the season for Arsenal. Scoring a brilliant 21 times in 36 games, Giroud was valued around  €50-€60 m by his club owner. However Arsenal purchased him for a fee of  £9.6m. With the future of Van Persie uncertain, Olivier Giroud will certainly lead his team’s attack.

3. Andy Carroll

Since his transfer from Newcastle for £35m, the English forward never justified his price tag. However, towards the end of the previous season, Carroll had an impressive run of good form. It resulted in his selection for the Euro 2012 England team. Very powerful in the air, Carroll is the classic english forward. Under a new manager who’s reluctant to keep him, Andy Carroll’s future at Liverpool is uncertain. If he stays though, he’ll have a lot to prove.

2. Eden Hazard

After considering many clubs, Hazrad decided to join the European champions. The French League Player Of The Year, is one of the hottest prospects in Europe. A lot is expected from the Belgian who is considered as a defender’s nightmare. With his pace and dribbling ability, he can change the game very easily. He will look to become Chelsea’s chief providers to justify his expensive price tag.

1. Shinji Kagawa

Kagawa is a player who can easily turn out to be the best in EPL this season. For a long time, Manchester United were looking for a creative midfielder. They seem to have found their answer in the Japanese midfielder who left the Bundesliga winners Borussia Dortmund to join United. There were a lot of praises for him from Sir Alex after the pre-season games. With his vision and creative ability, Kagawa will hope to lead his side to League victory.

Special mention: Nick Powell, Lukas Podolski, Oscar, Fabio Borini, Gylfi Singurosson. 

The Premier League is getting closer, and the team is busy with their pre-season training. The players are trying to show what they can offer the team this season. We have to now start thinking about the tactics RDM will use this season. After looking at the Squad list, one thought keeps coming to my mind – what about strikers? For now we have Torres, Lukaku and Sturridge. Lukaku is still too inexperienced to fill the shoes of Didier Drogba, while Sturridge has not played in the central striking role for the past season. If Torres gets injured, Chelsea finds itself in serious trouble! Maybe we can turn to our heavily talented midfield for the solution. We can go the Spain way by playing 4-6-0.

4-6-0 formation is an offshoot of the 4-2-3-1 formation. Chelsea, this pre-season, has played with the 4-2-3-1 formation with Lukaku upfront. In both the games played, Lukaku was replaced by Piazon as a false 9. 4-6-0 system was very successfully used by Spain in Euro 2012. This system is not new to EPL; Manchester United played with this system in 2007 with the front trio of Rooney, Tevez and Ronaldo. Ronaldo scored 42 goals that season. This formation can be used in both defensive and attacking mindsets. A famous example of defensive use is Craig Levein’s Scotland vs Czech Republic. Even Barcelona played 4-6-0 after David Villa got injured. It can be argued that Messi and Ronaldo scored a lot of goals, and hence be called strikers. However, these players are not out and out strikers; they are more comfortable on the ball, and sometimes fall back to help with the possession.

In a 4-6-0 formation it is very important to have a very mobile front 3. These players have to sacrifice positional play to pull a defender with them out of position. A six man midfield can also stretch the opposition defense, and create gaps between lines. We need players who can play in both the wings and in the center too. With the likes of Mata, Hazard, KDB, Marin,Piazon and probably Oscar, it is definitely an option to consider. With our already experienced midfield of Lampard, Essien,Meireles and Mikel to provide defensive cover, we can give a free role to these players upfront. In the pre-season, Marin has shown us that he is very comfortable on the ball, and an excellent dribbler. The link up play between The German Messi and Hazard was also worth noticing. Piazon, in the previous season, showed his goal scoring ability in the youth and reserve team matches. Mata has already shown us his worth by being The Player Of The Season, and any gaps in defense can be easily exploited by him.  Even Hazard can play on the wing and in the centre. The quick feet of Hazard can really cause trouble if any player is caught out of position.

With the  Hazard-Piazon- Marin-Mata combination, which can easily execute a fluid and mobile play upfront, and with Lampard/Meireles, Mikel/Essien as holding players, 4-6-0 would certainly be a viable option in absence of Torres. The front 3 can also be asked to drop deeper if there is a need for defensive cover. It now needs to be seen if RDM will buy another striker, or continue to use a midfielder as a False 9 the way he has done in the previous two friendlies.

MUNICH, GERMANY – MAY 19: Club owner Roman Abramovich (R) lifts the trophy in celebration while Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne (C) applauds after their victory in the UEFA Champions League Final between FC Bayern Muenchen and Chelsea at the Fussball Arena München.

It was the final game of the 2002-03 season at Stamford Bridge, and Jesper Gronjaer scored a goal which changed football forever. The multi-million-dollar goal was the winning goal for Chelsea against Liverpool which ensured 4th place finish for the Blues and Champions League qualification for the next season.

A few weeks later, Roman Abramovich stepped off his private jet, and into Stamford Bridge, to take over the financially struggling Chelsea FC. It was supposed to be a normal takeover; no one thought the Russian oligarch would invest so heavily in the club. At the blink of an eye, Chelsea’s debt was forgotten about. New players were bought; Hernan Crespo for  £16.8m, Damien Duff for £17m, Claude Makelele for £16.6m, Adrian Mutu for £15.8m, Wayne Bridge for £7m, Joe Cole for £6.6m, to lead the new Chelsea, and marked the start of  the ’Blue Revolution’. Under Claudio Ranieri, Chelsea finished second to Arsenal’s Invincibles, and got knocked out of the Champions League in the semi-finals by Monaco.

Soon came the ‘special one’ who came with the motto of attack wins games, but defense wins titles. Under Jose Mourinho, the spending spree continued. Porto defenders Ricardo Carvalho at £19.85m and Paulo Ferreira at £13.2m joined Didier Drogba at 
£24m from Marseille, and Petr Cech who cost £7m. Under Mourinho, Chelsea became the team to beat, winning back-to-back league championships (2004–05 and 2005–06), FA Cup (2007) and two League Cups (2005 and 2007). The Blues established their reputation as the best defensive side under the leadership of John Terry.

The chants of ‘boring boring Chelsea’ did nothing to stop Chelsea win the title in 2004-05 with a record-breaking 95 points, 29 victories, and 25 clean sheets! The reputation of  the club as a top level team was established, and around £250m was spent to achieve it. Since then Chelsea regularly spent big on players like Shevchenko, Deco, Torres, and most recently, Eden Hazard. The club kept getting more and more money from a range of new sponsors. A strong and a successful  youth system was set up. Now, there was no looking back.

‘The Blue Revolution’ was not accepted very kindly by rival fans. Fans of  top clubs like Manchester United, Liverpool, and Arsenal refused to accept Chelsea as one among them. Every time the Blues won a trophy, their history was jeered at. The Chelsea system was termed as unstable and temporary. For United and Liverpool fans, the rise of a club without a rich history or a stable system such as their own was totally unacceptable. For Arsenal, the rise of a club whose footballing success was based upon strong defense was too bitter to be true. Each of these top clubs found it uncomfortable to have an extra title contender. The term ‘oil money’ was often used to undermine Chelsea’s success. In the end, Chelsea kept finding success, and their fans kept increasing. After many years, the club is now accepted as a top club, but not without bitterness. Great European nights against Liverpool, United, Barcelona, and Bayern have ensured Chelsea’s name in history books along with the best of Europe. Now having the 4th largest fan base in the world with 134m fans, both the players and fans can be proud of what has been achieved in such a short period.

In 2012, we will see the profound impact of ‘The Blue Revolution’. The FIFA Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules are coming up to prevent any such rise of a club. Rich owners from the Gulf are buying clubs to lead them from bottom-mid table to the top. Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain, and Malaga CF are clubs which now dream to walk down Chelsea’s path. The top club fans will now be unhappy to see another competitor (including Chelsea fans!) but this is what makes football great. I do not wish the La Liga to be a two horse race, or the EPL to have only four serious contenders. Some fans be may feel unfair but this is happening, and more mid-table clubs will come up to challenge the traditional champions. Football is becoming unpredictable for its own good!

After the heavy spending in the current summer transfer window, I can see a mixed reaction from many Chelsea fans. They are delighted to see the likes of Eden Hazard and Marko Marin come to the club but at the same time they are worried about the future of our youth. Over the past few years Chelsea has been very successful in the FA youth cup, winning it 2 times in 3 years. As a result there is a huge list of talented players waiting to get a chance in the first team. The players who left the club after lack of opportunities, like Fabio Borini and Scott Sinclair, are really impressing with their performance. This leads to the question whether we should buy players or give our youth the opportunity to come into the first team.

Chelsea now has players like McEachran, Piazon, Kakuta, Chalobah ,George Saville among several young players who deserve an opportunity to play for the first team. However with the likes of Lampard, Mata, Malouda, Mikel, Essien, Meireles, Ramires along with new purchases like Hazard, Marin, de Bruyne, Lamisha Musonda, Tika Musonda and maybe even Oscar, the midfield looks really crowded now.

There have been suggestions that we should offload some old players. However, I believe that it is not the ideal solution. Money can buy everything, but experience is the most important thing for a title worthy team. We should look at this new situation in a positive light. Last year what Chelsea missed was the lack of depth in the squad. We found it really difficult to compete on all three fronts. With some players in our midfield having an indifferent form, we really wished for more and better midfielders. After these recent transfers, our wish has finally come true. With such quality and depth in the midfield we can now go and try for the only thing left to be achieved – The Treble . Now the squad can be rotated without any compromise in the quality of the starting 11. McEachran and co. can be given starts in the Carling cup and FA cup while Lampard, Essien, Malouda can lead our EPL and Champions league campaign. This way the youth will get an opportunity to develop and the senior players can contribute with their invaluable experience.

In a club like Chelsea where success is very important for Abramovich , we have to buy players to achieve the perfect mix of youth and experience. Its up to the RDM to rotate the players, so that both the youth and the seniors are used properly and achieve our dream of winning a treble!