Oriol Romeu heads out on loan

New 3 year deal and out on loan

Well, that was short. I thought he signed a 3 year contract just so that he can hang around the first team and provide depth in central midfield. Apparently not. He is off – to Bundesliga nonetheless. And he will plying his trade in Stuttgart for the entire next season. Where does this leave the central midfield? We have the following players in that position now:

1. Matic

2. Mikel

3. Marco Van Ginkel

4. Ramires (maybe)

5. Fabregas (maybe)

My money would be on the first 3 taking rounds in front of the defense. Ramires and especially Fabregas may get involved in that position at some point. Should be sufficient I would think. 

And with regards to Romeu, I think this is clearly his last chance to show what he can do. Else, that loan move may very well be a permanent one. 

Frank Lampard is going to Manchester City. SO WHAT?

Frank Lampard in ANY other shirt looks weird. Like there is something wrong with the picture.

Yes it has been confirmed. 

Clearly, this is a big deal, right? Perhaps even an abomination? Maybe this is the end of Frank Lampard’s association with Chelsea. What more could he have possibly done to sever the ties with Chelsea? Right? RIGHT????

Please, just give me a break. And more importantly, give yourself a break. I don’t even know where to begin to show all these nice folks that this doesn’t mean anything. Let’s start at the facts, shall we? Here is what we know:

1. Frank Lampard was not offered a new contract with Chelsea and instead he signed a contract with New York City FC, a brand new MLS team that is going to kickstart their campaign only next season in March. 

2. Lampard needs a place to train and stay fit while he is waiting for the next MLS season to start. That is about 8 months away. 

3. NYCFC is owned by Manchester City. Man City also own Melbourne Heart in Australia. 

4. David Villa, Frank’s teammate at NYCFC chooses to go to  Melbourne Heart to train and stay fit.

5. Frank Lampard instead chooses to go to Man City for a 6 month loan to stay fit. 

Those are the facts. Now here is a context:

Frank was, and for all practical purposes, is still a Chelsea man. He has led Chelsea to heights never before seen at the club. He has played a pivotal role in every single trophy that Chelsea has won since the Abromovich era. In addition to that, Frank Lampard is a professional of the highest levels. If there is ever a role model for a professional, Frank will always be on the top. Always. Frank is also extremely competitive. He wants to push himself to his very best every single season. He wants to play at the highest levels of the sport till as long as his body will take it. 

And now, Chelsea are no longer giving him that opportunity. Not because he is not welcome (far from it), but because he is just way past his prime and it is time for a new group of youngsters to take charge. But Frank being Frank, he wants to play at the highest levels. And Melbourne Heart does not fulfill that level – nowhere close. Man City, on the other hand…well yes it definitely does. Frank Lampard has the opportunity to  play Premier League, FA Cup and more importantly Champions League football at the age of 36. Not many get that chance. And for a man as professional, demanding and competitive as Frank Lampard, it is an offer too good to say no to. 

This in no way means he has no concern for the Chelsea fans. If anything, everybody in Manchester know that Frank is and will always be a Chelsea fan. Now think about THAT. In the dressing room and in the stadium – the players and the crowd KNOW that this man is a Chelsea man through and through. How is that supposed to make THEM feel? 

Of course, this is not at all to imply that Frank will be giving anything less than his absolute best. But there is nothing that he will say to the Man City fans that will make them think that he is somehow now a Man City fan. If anything, from what I hear, he has specifically requested not to be played against Chelsea. So just because there is one quote from Frank stating that he could never see himself in any of the other top teams, it doesn’t suddenly mean that he is now no longer a Chelsea fan. 

So Chelsea fans, please relax. There is nothing here. Like Walter Sobchak said, “Nothing’s fucked Dude!”

West Ham United fans never forgave him (For what, I still do not fathom). Let us not stoop to that level, shall we? 

Chelsea New Season Arrivals: Thibaut Courtois

Thibaut Courtois (Goalkeeper): The heir apparent, the best young goalkeeper in the world, the rightful successor to Petr Cech, etc. etc. About friggin’ time he plays for Chelsea. Having (almost) won everything he could have with Atletico Madrid, and having been the basis for the phenomenon called ‘Thibauting’, the highly rated shot stopper is now finally back with Chelsea. He is young – like 22 years old young, proven winner, and he has his entire career in front of him.

What I don’t like about this is that we now have 2 first choice goal keepers and one sufficiently capable 2nd choice goalkeeper. I do not like the idea that either Cech or Courtois have to fight for a place against the other. Cech stil has 2 years left on his contract. Courtois should and will probably sign a brand new longer contract soon. And Mark Schwarzer is a pretty damn good backup goalkeeper who is actually happy to be the backup goalkeeper. I cannot see Courtois or Cech being even remotely happy not being the first choice keeper. Honestly, I would be totally OK if Cech were to leave. He still has about 3-5 years left at the top level (at least). But what more could you want than going out when you are at your peak? (Cue Drogba and Munich). Everybody will wish Cech the best if he chooses to (or asked to) leave Chelsea. But I digress.

This is about Courtois. Key items: 22 years old, proven winner, first choice, long term prospect, Thibauting

Chelsea New Season Arrival: Oriold Romeu

Oriol Romeu (Central Midfielder): All of us are familiar with the young chap who was bought from Barcelona where Barcelona had a first refusal option or something like that. And then he went on to shine under Andres Villas Boas (yeah, remember THAT chap too?) and Ancelotti. Following that, he just disappeared. Then he went on loan to Valencia which did not do him much good. And now he is back from Valencia and training with the first team squad. And then Jose Mourinho decides he is good enough to play central midfield for Chelsea – either as first choice or backup (my money on backup). But long story short, Oriol Romeu is still only 22 years old, plays in a position Chelsea are in a lot of need, and he can impress Jose Mourinho. What more do you want? As a result, the club gave him a new 3 year contract. Three years – not five. Why? Because the club knows he may or may not fulfill his potential. If he does fulfill it, then he can go ahead and sign an extension. If he flops, then we can bid him goodbye in a couple of years. In any case, he offers something at least to the central midfield position. Hopefully he will prove Mourinho right. Key items: Familiar face, central midfield, 22 years old, 3 year contract, has to prove himself.

Chelsea New Arrival: Kurt Zouma

Kurt Zouma (Central Defender): This signing took place over the January transfer window but this will be Zouma’s first season with the Blues. He is built like three walruses stapled together and is extremely young. Like 19 years old young – which means there is a 4th walrus waiting to be stapled with the other 3 in the near future. Clearly Jose Mourinho wants to make him a long term central defender for the Blues. So he gets to learn from the best in the business for the duration of one year and then he will have to show the world what it will be like for opposition strikers to be facing 3 (or 4) walruses stapled together running towards them. He is the only backup to Cahill and Terry (if you do not count Ivanovic). So he is sure to get a significant amount of game time this season. Key items: 19 years old, long term prospect, central defender, 3 walruses stapled together, 4th walrus on its way. 

Chelsea Summer Transfer Acquisition #4: Didier Drogba

Didier Drogba (Striker, legend): The man is back. At 36, he is way way past his prime and he knows it. But just his sheer presence in the dressing room and his natural affinity to demolish everything even remotely associated with Arsenal are sufficient reasons to get excited about this man coming back to the club. In all seriousness, the man is still capable of delivering killer blows – but this time as more of a substitute than the main guy. That is still good enough for me. He has nothing left to prove to anybody in the world. But I would still love to see him put Arsene Wenger and his Arsenal side to the sword at every possible opportunity. Just for a few laughs at least. 

Chelsea Summer Transfer Acquisition #3: Filipe Luis

Filipe Luis (Left Back): Our new No.3! Ashley ‘the legend’ Cole has left the building. In comes what I would call not the ideal signing – but the next best thing. This man is a proven winner playing already at his peak – perhaps on the latter stages of his peak. But this appears to be more of a stopgap solution rather than a long term solution. However, if you look at it this way, then this is a very long stop gap arrangement. Perhaps in 2-3 years time, he will be on his way out and Chelsea would have found a suitable long term solution for left back. Till then, we have an extremely capable left back from one of the top teams in Europe still having a good few years in his tank and one who is very excited about playing for Chelsea. What more do we want? Key items: 2-3 years peak performance ahead, proven winner, definite first choice.

Chelsea Summer Transfer Acquisition #2: Cesc Fabregas

Cesc Fabregas (Midfielder): This was an unexpected one. But I still like it. In the past 2 seasons, even with the acquisition of Oscar, Willian and Hazard, the one thing the Blues have just not seen on the pitch is the ‘through ball’. This is partly attributed to the phenomenal lack of footballing presence from our strikers in the past two seasons. But on many many occasions, we have just not had our midfielders slip in that through ball bisecting the opposition defense and straight to the feet of the striker making his run. Nor have our midfielders tried to put an over the top ball directly to the striker. And THIS is what Fabregas can do and it is also what I am looking forward to a lot. Secondly, from what I see in pre-season, he is being made to play that deeper role in Central midfield alongside Matic. While Matic has made that position his own, Fabregas brings a different set of skill for that position. He will need to work on some tackling and defensive aspects of course. But just having someone like him build an attack from the back is something that we should cherish. Add to this, his awesome free kick taking ability and the fact that he is still only 27, and we have a very shrewd signing here. Key item: 3-5 years of peak performance ahead, free kick taking, through ball, over the top ball, central midfield playing position. 

Chelsea Summer Transfer Acquisitions #1: Diego Costa

Diego Costa (Striker): This was the summer’s worst kept secret. Actually it may not have been a secret at all and everyone knew it was just going to happen. Spain’s abysmal World Cup campaign ending fairly early worked out just fine for Chelsea as they were able to finish his signing that much earlier. Faired pretty poor at the WC but I don’t really care much about that. (Hazard had a pretty poor WC too. But what does that mean, eh?) But the most important aspect about Costa’s signing is that he will only turn 26 this October. That would be fair to say that he has another 4-5 years of top level football in front of him. This would be the striker’s peak period. Needless to say, he is going to be the No.1 choice up front – possibly for all those 5 years – ahead of Fernando ‘non-scoring striker’ Torres and Didier Drogba. Key item: 3-5 years of peak performance right ahead.

What makes a Winning Football Team? Part III: Manchester Utd

Previously, parts I and II 

I had discussed the idea of Chelsea’s best years lying ahead as the fruits of their rebuilding effort begin to take shape. In the same vein, in this post, I will be discussing the situations of one club that is at the other end of the cycle: the one where it’s all downhill.

1. Manchester United: Being a Chelsea fan, it is a no-brainer that I have thoroughly enjoyed watching the complete destruction of Man Utd last season. But in this post, I will keep those sentiments aside and look to outline something that should have been so damn obvious to everyone.

Man United had their peak period as a team between 2006 and 2011. During that time, they won 4 Premier League titles, 2 League Cups, 1 Uefa Champions League, 1 FIFA Club World Cup, and were runners up in UCL one other time. That is an extremely illustrious list of titles no matter who you support. There is no doubt, as such, that Man Utd had their best period is recent history between ‘06 and ‘11. As mentioned in the previous posts, such a successful period is only possible if most of the players in the team are playing at their peak and there are about 3-5 world class players in the team as well. The starting XI for United’s team during that period went something like this:

Van der Saar, Rio Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Wes Brown, Carrick, Scholes, Anderson, Rooney, Tevez, and Ronaldo.

Now that is SOME lineup – especially when all of them are playing at their peaks and you have about 6-7 world class players in the team in different positions. No wonder this team won so many trophies in that period.

But that was back then. United even managed to win two more league titles in the following 3 years. These titles came about not because United was still that powerhouse with world class players playing in their prime. It was simply because of Sir Alex Ferguson’s brilliance, coupled with some terrible form displayed by some of their main rivals that they continued winning titles. Granted they did get hold of RVP during that time. But for context, this was the list of players who played in their positions during SAF’s last 3 years:

Goalkeeper: De Gea, Lindergaard

Defenders: Vidic, Ferdinand, Evra, Raphael, Smalling, Evans, Phil Jones

Midfielders: Carrick, Paul Scholes, Valencia, Anderson, Cleverley, Nani, Young, Kagawa

Forwards: Van Persie, Rooney, Welbeck, Hernandez

The main thing to observe here is the number of players who are common to the starting lineup in 2012/13 and 2007/08. I count 6.

Clearly, Manchester United tried to sign some new younger players – Valencia, Smalling, Phil Jones, Cleverley, Hernandez, Kagawa and maybe even RVP (who was 28 at that time). But apart from RVP, none of them turned out to be world class. This was partly because some of them were good but not great players (Valencia, Kagawa, Hernandez) and some were just too damn young to make the necessary impact in the big games as they still needed a lot of experience (Smalling, Cleverley, Jones). As a result, SAF and to an extent, even Moyes, reverted to playing with the old guard who were way past their prime (Vidic, Ferdinand, Evra, Carrick).

The end result was that United’s central midfield and defense consisted either of ageing players way past their prime or with extremely young players with little to no experience playing in the big games. Add to this the likelihood that the younger players were just not good enough to start with, and you have the perfect recipe for disaster at the back. Little surprise then that United capitulated at the back on numerous occasions this past season.

So ultimately, even during the 2013/2014 campaign under Moyes, United were practically playing the same team they played during 2007/08 with a few inferior additions who are unlikely to reach the same peak as their predecessors – based on what they have displayed so far. So it was never all Moyes’ fault. Yes he did get his team selection wrong on many occasions. But he could only do so much with a team having world class attacking talent and an ageing and/or below par central midfield and defense.

No wonder all the rumours about Van Gaal’s summer transfer targets are in the areas of defense and central mid-field. I am really curious to see what kind of talents United can attract now – considering they do not have European football to offer. Chelsea was almost in that same boat in 2012 before they won the Champions League thus ensuring UCL football for the next season. Then they went on to buy Hazard and Oscar. But United don’t have anything to offer apart from their ‘history’ and rich tradition (*cough!* Liverpool *cough!*). Will they land Paul Pogba (SAF’s $80m mistake), or Alexis Sanchez or Luke Shaw?

We will have to wait and see.