Chelsea fan hits back at Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United
Contributing author Soupdragon2 takes a suicidal swipe at Chelsea-haters.
Is Carrick worth two-thirds of Shevchenko (18.7 million and 29 million respectively)? Is it such an exorbitant sum for the best centre forward in recent history (Henry was going to Barcelona for the same fee before he had a change of heart, and is the same age)?
Would you rather get Senna for seven million, or Ballack, a proven world class midfielder for free? (Granted the wages are different, but that reflects the quality of the players) If Ferguson is talking about Chelsea relying on ‘pensioners’, the press should call into question his decisions. Roy Keane, Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes have all been crucial members of his team, and are all older than Ballack and Shevchenko.
What is a better deal? Chelsea selling Eidur Gudjohnsen (age 28) for eight and a half million or Man Utd selling Ruud Van Nistelrooy at the same age as Henry and Shevchenko for around ten million?
- Chelsea have spent 50m and sold just under 22m worth of players this season.
- Liverpool have spent 14m, and sold 5 million pounds worth of players.
- Manchester United have spent 21m million and sold just over 11m, after Glazer was allowed to take over the club and use it entirely as a financial pressure release (Ferguson apparently wants two more high profile signings before the window closes).
- Arsenal have spent 397m on a new stadium and Rosicky, but I am not sure of the sum they received for the sale of the land at Highbury (I assume it would only slightly recoup the loss).
The figures are pending the sale of Ashley Cole from Arsenal and the sale of Robert Huth from Chelsea.
According to the public and the press, it is a terrible threat to football to pay massive sums for assets that could guarantee a good financial balance for a football club in the long run. Spending money on players makes for entertaining football.
Agreeing to sell your valuable players (Ashley Cole, Henry and Reyes) and relying on young players is bad for the supporters and is damaging to the clubs standard of football and reputation.
I wonder which club is really looking to provide entertainment for the fans?
Is it more damaging for the English game that Chelsea are selling players at cut rates to other clubs and making and spending money at a similar ratio to other top clubs. Chelsea are bringing the best players and new sponsorship interest to our league. Man Utd and Arsenal have attempted (and in Man Utd’s case succeeded) to sell the two most prolific strikers in our league for financial gain.
Chelsea have bought young players from smaller sides such as Leeds etc, and the space devoted to the alleged tapping up stories coming from Chelsea’s bitter ex-chairman has been huge, one day had 3 pages of coverage in one tabloid paper. Arsenal allegedly taking advantage of legal loopholes with their player’s pay packages and an unusual financial relationship with a feeder club gets 2 small paragraphs 3 pages in on the same day, the next day, more Bates hate is printed on the back and inside back page.
Barcelona’s disgust at Wenger taking another young player prior to the signing of professional contracts gets 3 paragraphs and is touted as “shrewd businessâ€? rather than saying he is a “Shysterâ€? like they quoted Bates about Chelsea.
Matt Lawton in the mail stated that a Liverpool at 50 percent beat a full Chelsea team, in direct opposition to Mourinho’s statement that Chelsea are only at 50 percent and Liverpool are ahead in their preparations for the season (The 50 percent was referring to their fitness levels, but of course as it suits the journalist’s argument, he talks about the number of first team players on the pitch without considering that Liverpool introduced all of their key players with 20 minutes to go against a tired Chelsea).
Chelsea started without 3 crucial players who were expected to start the season in the first 11, and lost another when Ballack limped off (Joe Cole, Petr Cech and Makalele).
Of course the mix ups between the John Terry and the left backs for the 2 Liverpool goals means that the press call Terry’s leadership skills into doubt the day after their favourite Steven Gerrard is ‘pipped’ at the post for the England captaincy, co-incidence? “There’s nowhere to hideâ€? they claim.
2 comments critiquing the England setup (Gerrard was played out of position and was ‘disgusted’, and he “was angryâ€? that Walcott went) in the World Cup from Steven Gerrard are analysed fairly and no-more is said the next day, it is just his opinion after all.
Frank Lampard makes 1 critique, in which he stated that he AND Rio Ferdinand were doing something to combat the lack of training and words from a fellow professional are widely publicised that Lampard is a “cowardâ€? for complaining and not taking the blame. Reading’s centre forward. Will anyone be calling Gerrard a coward, and if they are will the papers and websites run it as a story?
Gerrard has worse statistics since Lampard has come to the fore at Chelsea in the last 2-3 years in the premiership and in international competition. The stats did not matter then, and people were of the opinion that Lampard and Gerrard were of an equal standard. The first time Gerrard slightly out-performs Lampard (Gerrard scored 2 goals and Lampard didn’t get any) and suddenly the numbers are what counts and Gerrard should be the England captain because he’s such a hero. That would makes Gerrard the one who should be granted protection from substitution while Lampard would be likely to be dropped if there was a midfield re-shuffle, oh and what of John Terry, arguably the strongest and most influential club captain in the world?
This is not meant to be an unbiased article as such, the facts are in there, and my opinions on the facts may leave you with varying feelings about your previous Chelsea-related perceptions.
Perception relies on positive or negative focus. If the papers (aka. “The people’s voiceâ€?) focus on how much worse off the Premiership is for Chelsea’s wealth, it becomes worse off in everyone’s opinion.
Feel free to express your opinions.
*Pulls on flak jacket*
Hilarious article. Keep smoking those drugs my friend, you seem happy enough.
I’d go through this point by point, but my god, take off the blue glasses!
Just as an aside, Arsenal didn’t try to sell Henry, so I have no idea as to why you would suggest that. The issue was whether he wanted to stay or not…there are many other holes in the facts throughout this article, but I have neither the time nor the inclination to address them now.
What an absolute pile of rubbish you write.
Henry is younger than Shevchenko and had less time on his contract – Barcelona were looking at paying 15 million euros, not 50 million euros.
Playing youngsters is damaging for the game?
You could only dream of watching the decent football Arsenal’s youngsters conjured up last season.
Remember -
1 Not so long ago Chelsea really sucked.
2 When Abramovich walks away – WHICH HE WILL – your boys will be screwed.
3 Please stop writing – your style is appalling and your thought process incoherent.
Before this one gets out of hand
, I’d like readers to notice something:
The author says, towards the end:
This is not meant to be an unbiased article as such, the facts are in there, and my opinions on the facts may leave you with varying feelings about your previous Chelsea-related perceptions.
Perception relies on positive or negative focus. If the papers (aka. “The people’s voice�) focus on how much worse off the Premiership is for Chelsea’s wealth, it becomes worse off in everyone’s opinion.
Now my take on this is that:
1) You can twist facts to support your own beliefs – almost all fans do it.
2) The media, to a large extent, influences how people think. Chelsea’s meteoric rise has fuelled resentment in other clubs because a) they don’t have that sort of money and b) their clubs are not winning the Premiership.
Result? Asshat tabloids and broadsheets play on those emotions by printing anti-Chelsea rhetoric. Write what sells, and by god it does. Not only that, it fuels the hatred even more, and instead of other clubs saying – ok, here’s a new challenge, we have to improve ourselves – everyone is bitching about Chelsea’s money and how they are ruining football.
The article is biased – the author says so himself. But the point he’s making is spot on.
I showed this stuff to a couple of my mates who support Chelsea and even they had to laugh, shaking their heads. Nice work, knobhead!
Prat. The most rediculous article I have read in some time – and I have read some bad ones! If you cannot discuss football objectively then why bother? Man Utd built the most succesful Premiership side of all time around youngsters but doing so kills the game!? Buying young promising players (SWP) just to prevent your rivals signing them and then not playing them will ruin the game – not to mention the lads career and above all else flies in the face of sportsmanship – something of which Abramovich has no concept.. Running a club at £150M loss per annum will ruin the game. Arsenal and Man U have “attempted to sell” Henry and Van Nistelroy. Arsenal did everything in their power to keep Henry and ultimetly succeeded. Van Nistelroy wanted out becuase he couldn’t play second fiddle and becuase he is the most hated player in the Premiership. I can’t be bothered to go through your article point by point but its pathetic, ill informed and suprisingly bitter for a fan who’s club has won back to back chamionships. What’s up? Craving that thing that money can’t buy? That Man U, Arsenal, Liverpool have in abundance from across the world? Want a little respect do you love? Well not even £12B will buy you that Chav boy.
I’ve no issue with articles written by fans of a club that have a certain level of favourtism with them but at least try to make some reasonable points! Arsenal did not try to sell Henry, in fact it was quite the opposite and to even claim otherwise is frankly a bit embarassing. And here’s a hint for all you Chelsea fans outthere – don’t even try to justify your club’s spending with, it just wont work. Fact is you have spent your way to success and the sooner you lot accept that the sooner you can enjoy it for what it is – a short term gain that could cost the club quite severely in the long run.
As a non-England fan i can tell you that with the exception of perhaps Ashely Cole and Lord forbid Rio the entire England team played pretty crap at the world cup. Steve G was poor but Lampard was far worse but that is no surprise as anyone could see that his form had been poor for the last few months of the season as well.
Where do you start with all those factual errors. For example you claim United have only sold £11 million worth of players yet £12 million alone arrived from Chelsea only a couple months ago for the sale of Obi Mikel. You maths are equally flawed regarding our £14 million signing (Carrick) whom you quote at £18.6 million – this figure may eventually be true but if you agree with it then presumably you are stating that United will be winning most of the competitions we enter (the higher figure does have conditions, if your quoted figure is correct then that must mean we will win the Premeirship this season etc). As for the “alleged” tapping up incidents, why call them “alleged” when Chelsea themselves have been found guilty by the FA.
Regarding Chelsea’s injury woes that doesn’t really stand up does it … http://www.physioroom.com/news/english_premier_league/epl_injury_table.php – all short term and there are plenty of clubs with more to deal with. When you average 6 or more players injured week in week out with many of them first team players, and when you club is run as a business rather than being artificially (and unsportingly ?) propped up by money leached from the Russian populace (with respective record annual losses of £140 million to the clubs balance sheet) perhaps then you may have more of a point.
Mate you need more than that flak jacket
Your comments are full of rubbish.
Ha ha Abramovich spent millions on superstar players and still cant beat a buget team like Liverpool. Excuses, excuses, Players not fully fit just came back from world cup. Every top teams also have players in the world cup. Dont all professional players, particularly your “superstars” are physically fit at all times. The league is only one week away and still not fit then your team is still on holidays!!!!! MONEY CANT BUY SUCCESS!
thats a facts…u think that henry will cost less than shevchenko??c’mon la herdee, if barca want to pay just 15 billion euros…the hell arsenal will accept..
dude wat r u smoking..chelsea plays the most boring football..
Let’s not forget Ballack’s wages, which are likely to add up to 20+ million by the time he’s finished rolling around premership pitches.
Chelsea are nothing short of a bizarre joke. It was actually pretty good just before the start of the Rouble era that they were putting together a decent side and a bit of form, but frankly now not one person in football likes them.
Apart from the incredibly crappy football they manage to churn out with a list of superstars, it pretty well says it all when their new-found “fans” can’t even be arsed to go and see them play in the season opener.
Arsenal probably had more fans in Croatia!
And as for your laughable comments: “Agreeing to sell your valuable players (Ashley Cole, Henry and Reyes) and relying on young players is bad for the supporters and is damaging to the clubs standard of football and reputation.”
Agreeing to sell unsettled players at a profit when you have more than adequate replacements is a measure of the talent in our ranks. However, at no point did we ‘agree’ to sell Henry – which is why he’s still with us, in case it slipped your notice.
As for the standard of football and reputation – give it up son, you haven’t had either since 1957!
LOL
Quite amusing. You obviously didn’t think too hard regarding your comment that chelsea is doing the premiership a favour because they are selling players at cut rates.
firstly buying a player at inflated prices and selling him for less is not cut rate, just bad business.
secondly stating that chelsea are spending and making money at the same ratio as other top clubs? get real. how much did they lose last year? how much have they forked out in 4 years on players? and then comparing what chelsea are spending on players to a fantastic stadium for arsenal? get real!
regarding the cole situation, chelsea made their bed and should sleep in it. Paying man-u 12mil for a player who have never kicked a ball for them, and then refusing to pay the asking price for one of the best left backs in europe. i hope arsenal sticks to their guns.
da hanif -
15 BILLION Euros – Arsenal will accept.
15 million would have been an offer they would have to accept if;
1 Henry insisted on the move.
2 Bearing in mind he had just ONE YEAR left on his deal.
Prices are determined by contract length.
The difference in spending lies not in the amount of money but in the fact than Man U, Arsenal and Liverpool spend their own hard earned money whereas Chelsea just ask their dad for more. If you haven’t earned it you’re not worth it whichever spin you try to put on it.
This kind of article just adds to the feeling that all Chelsea fans are johnny-come-latelys who know nothing about football. Mis-informed opinion is the tell-tale sign of the armchair supporter. Interesting that Chelsea’s fan base is rumoured to have quadrupled in the last two years, that’s a lot of new-to-football commentators. It’s about time that more of the media stood up and pointed to the Tsars new clothes.
BILLY SMARTS CIRCUS……Welcomes a new Clown SOUPDRAGON2
Nobody likes your team, nobody respects the fact that you bought the title and nobody, except your own fans will give you any credit for what you win! It’s futile to even try to justify anything as everybody whose not a hammer and sickle can see your club for exactly what it is!
Lay off the pipe, crack kills!
I think the factual inconsistencies have been taken apart by most comments before mine.
But there is one point I’d like to make regarding a statement you felt so strongly about that you chose to put it in bold:
“Agreeing to sell your valuable players (Ashley Cole, Henry and Reyes) and relying on young players is bad for the supporters and is damaging to the clubs standard of football and reputation.”
That “reputation” was what prompted the France U-21 Captain Diaby to reject Chelsea’s offer, and made Walcott choose Arseanl over Chelsea. And you speak of “standard of football”?
I don’t even need to name the team that has been regarding by nearly everyone to play the most entertaining football in England.
And as for the supporters, Chelsea are the club having problems selling tickets, not Arsenal, United and Liverpool. I suggest you get Kenyon to poach a few more execs to help nab more 12 year old gloryhunters.
You sound like a 4 year old complaining about how the other kids don’t like you because you’ve got the most toys. Diddums.
It’s growing up time for you and for Chelsea.
The rest of the football World does hate Chelsea.
Fans in England hate Chelsea because there’s no competition any more, and because Chelsea are attempting to bully smaller clubs (you mentioned Leeds) and in many cases are actually succeeding and also to destabilise bigger clubs (The meeting between Cole and Chelsea, anyone?)
Football fans in Germany hate Chelsea, because of Chelsea’s behaviour over Ballack.
Football fans in italy hate Chelsea, because of Chelsea’s behaviour over Shevchenko, their repeated attempts to destabilise Milan.
Chelsea are ruining competition, that essential part of football. Without competition, we’ll all stop watching. And that’s bad news for the premier league, for Serie A, for the Primera Liga, for Sky, for Man Utd, Liverpool, Bayern, Barcelona, Read Madrid. And also for Chelsea.
The only good thing I can see about Chelsea flashing so much cash is the few clubs who are prepared to take the p1ss out of them. Chelsea approach Arsenal for Ashley Cole and are told the price is £26m. Ridiculous, say all Chelsea fans….and they’re right. So Chelsea go and ask Lyon about Abidal, and they’re told the price is 30m euros (£22m). Well done Arsenal. Well done Lyon.
Not sure about the facts u use but the pro liverpool bias in the mail is certainly true. Jeff Winter is a die hard fan, despite growing up in London. On the day of the announcement they printed the back page with the words BRAWLER GAMBLER ENGLAND CAPTAIN?? despite him being the only sensible choice. Gerrard carries liverpool. He could not do the same for England
You clown. I started to read thinking you would be hitting back at some of the accusations we have made against the new enemies of football. Instead, all I get is a bleating diatribe attempting to show how hard things are for Chelsea because everyone is against them.
Yawn.
dear K..
at least henry give credit to chelsea…say no more…
I can understand the way you feel about all the comments that are made against your club. and i admit, like Arsenal, all other clubs are finding their way on the edge of the law. Still, the main thing I hate about your club, is that it’s all so fake! Even the smallest amateur club somewhere in Latvia could buy the same players and be champions with the same cash Abramovich has spend since he took over the club. It’s not for nothing that your club is called PRF… think a while about that and then read your article again…
Its funny how you use Arsenal’s stadium costs in your maths to justify the amount of money they spend. Perhaps its because your little research showed you just how over the top Chelsea really do spend on players and you panicked!
As far as the negative publisity goes towards Chelsea it is completely justified. Chelsea have done everything in their power to bend the rules and at times have even broke them out in the open wth a smile and a wave from the hidious Uncle Festor that runs the (club?). The know that all they will get is a fine that means nothing to them so why should they worry?
Chelsea can have Cole. They deserve one another! Reyes has never settled and is even getting worse so he will not be missed! Henry will NEVER leave the club he loves with all his heart.
Now to touch on Mourinho’s stupid comments after the Charity Shield against Liverpool. He said Chelsea were behind Liverpool as far as fitness goes. I tend to agree even though Chelsea played a relative first team with some noticeble absentees from the Liverpool setup. He then went on to call the Shield a friendly and even though a trophy was involved it meant nothing. Lets go back a whole year earlier when a much fitter full strength Chelsea beat a young second string Arsenal 2-1 in the same competition. Mourinho’s comments then made no mention of the weakened team they had played. No mention of the relative unready and unfit Arsenal team and only spoke about the joy and importance of winning another (Major?) trophy!
Chelsea are everything that is wrong with football. The manager and Directors treat their own players with disdane and have no regard for their feelings. This is why so many current and past players want tp leave. I remember Drogba saying he wants out. Mourinho responded with something to the affect of. He will not be allowed to leave because he has a contract. Either he will be happy and play, or he will be unhappy and not play. he needs to decide because either way he will be a Chelsea player. They dont care how their players feel and they dont care how their fans feel. But then the Chelsea fans dont care either because they are as plastice as their team.
You must be very stupid to try and compare Shevchenko with Henry. Shevchenko is not in Henry league. Let me make one point clear if Henry had left he would have being the most expensive player in the world (over £47 million that was paid for Zidane, £50 million). This were the bids that came from both Barcelona and Real Madrid.
Don’t even try to be stupid by comparing our finances with Chelsea’s because it is dumb. Since Arsene came, Arsenal have never made a loss. Going to a new stadium was so that we could be a strong club in transfer market but more importantly so that more fans would enjoy the beautiful game not even Chelsea can buy with billions. As you know Arsene hardly spend money so it is not necessary the transfer market.
Chelsea have spent some stupid amount of money like £30.6 million pounds for Shevchenko, don’t try to justify it. Cesc, Eboue, and Sanderos were given a chance and look at how well they have done. I am looking forward to the new season, I just hope you are not scared because if you are then Jose is on his way out because if he don’t win a tropy he is out out and out. Arsene is immune even if we finish 10th. Go get a life and enjoy the money while it last.
the only part that makes any sense in that article is… oh well I guess there isn’t one. as far as I’m concerned Chelsea’s fans should be more proud of their team as a whole back when they had players like Zola for example. you were playing football back then. both on and off the field. now your team is a joke in my eyes. not that it matters to you but it looks like I’m not the only one of that opinion.
I pray you have the problems Arsenal had last season with injuries then you would know that the injuries or players unavailable are nothing.
How many goals did Lumpard score at the world cup? How many shots? The guy is lucky to be in the England squad IMHO. He should have been dropped over Beckham. By far and away the WORST player for England over the summer. Face it, Fat Fwank was exposed for the player he really is, average at best…
Typical attempt at self-justification. Football has lived quite happily without Chelsea and will be certainly be happier after Chelsea has gone.
Chelsea seems to be hell bent on ruining football, as Sepp Blatter, Beckenbauer Ferguson and countless other leading figures have stressed. Don’t try to justify your behaviour in the context of what United, Liverpool and Arsenal are doing; you have no long-term place amongst the elite. Chelsea is behaving like a prize winner at the Oscars. Pretty soon your own garish, oafish, crass behaviour will bring about your demise.
Enjoy your short stay while it lasts. Your opinions count for nothing.
wot a MUPPET! Chelsea bought the title and thats the end of it.
Ha ha, nice one SoupDragon2. Hilarious to see how easy it is to wind up the bitter and the biased!
Poor li’l Arsenal and Liverpool not getting their league titles recently, ah diddums. You can take your respect and fuck it in the ear. Champions!
seriously, l got to about the sixth line before l realised what a prat you were making of yourself, arf!
Ahmed Bilal, your as plastic as this site. I have been reading your posts for a while now and ive watched you go from an avid United supporter to a maybe the grass is greener in west london. I am utterley dissapointed in the fact that you try to justify this switch of allegance with denial through failed attempts at fancy writing. More and more pro Chelsea articles are popping up here and I will bet soo enough the red above will be replaced with blue. You even go so far as to try and justify your views by posting as alter ego’s supporting your views! I would not be surprised if it were discovered that the article above were in fact written by you.
Just come out the closet princess! If you want to support Chelsea then do so! Stop the BS posting once and for all because that article is a failed attempt at reason when the last two years clearly show what a sadistic and unprofesional club Chelsea has become.
I dont know to if i need to cry or laugh with this article. Its like a 3 year old trying to cry everything about the world to his mother within a couple of minutes. I think you’ve been taking too much vodka drowning your sorrows after getting your butts kicked by Liverpool again, which spends a fraction of your beloved chelski’s budget. Dont worry though, get used to it, as its going to happen more often this season with the likes of other clubs winning more against your cry baby manager:)
HAHAHAHAHA HA HO HA
Although you have tried to put together a rational, logical argument, you have failed.
Yes, of course Chelsea are trying to bring ‘ahem, Entertainment’ to the premiership. Hence the chants of ‘boring boring chelsea’ last season. You’ve spent ridiculous amounts of money on average players, Kalou, the ‘free’ Ballack and the ludicrously expensive Shevchenko (just an attempt to buy the champions league – it won’t work). But well done, with the purchase of these players, you’ve ensured, due to wage commitments that your precious club won’t be self-financing until 2010, by which time you still won’t have won the champions league, Roman will get bored and piss off, taking his red army blood money with him. It’s about time you startet appreciating real football, you nugget. P.S. The money paid for Shevchenko & Kalou was almost enough to buy Aston Villa, you still don’t think there’s something wrong with this cash cow?
Shiggsy – Aston Villa deal – 64 mil. Sheva plus Kalou, max 35 mil. Your maths is way off.
Normski – Maybe the reason you’re seeing more ‘pro-Chelsea’ articles on this site is because we have a Chelsea fan as a contributing author? You idiot…
hehe
Whoever observed the Mikel discrepancy deserves a pat on the back. Apologies for the mistake there.
It’s interesting that the Arsenal fans are concentrating on the fact that Arsenal weren’t trying to sell Henry. They were willing to sell at a price because they thought the player wanted to leave. There is no point denying a player a transfer if he wants to go when you can make a good sum.
The comment about the youngsters should have read like this, “It is damaging for the club’s current status to be playing inexperienced youngsters”. I thought that looked a bit off before I posted the article.
A few of you have commented on Chelsea’s behaviour in this instance, and Chelsea’s behaviour in that, quite frankly you’re not writing a school report.
I was merely cherry-picking facts to point out some discrepancies in the press treatment of Chelsea. I said it was biased, and I get 30 posts complaining about how biased it is.
Good response though. lol
Ahmed, how dare you print pro-Chelsea articles! These people only want one side of the story!
Peter – spot on.
Soupdragon2 – I was about to mail you and ask you to get your ass here and deal with the 30+ comments
Now that you are here – for the record, you’ve got several facts wrong. However, you made an excellent point about perspectives, although I doubt that anyone really understood it
Excuses, excuses, to spend billions of dolllars and not even get close to a CL trophy is pathetic. Its a failure!
Some of the points are questionable, I didn’t say this was an unbiased argument, but how often are Chelsea represented in the press in a positive light? Bloody rarely. I’m quite certain, due to the opinions you all hold that you will happily read an anti-Chelsea article and accept every word of it without considering the parallels with your own clubs. So why don’t you afford an article highlighting some of the positive points about Chelsea the same credit?
Ballack came on a Bosman, and gained a largely inflated wage.
Sol Campbell went to Arsenal on a Bosman, and gained a largely inflated wage.
Does that mean getting players of their quality for free isn’t a good deal?
Sure you can all nitpick (It seems like the Mikel fee and the fact that Henry wasn’t leaving are the only discrepancies you’ve all noticed) but when it comes to dealing with your Chelsea-phobia, you’re all in denial.
Just out of question, if you’re all so concerned about objectivity, then why is there only one post out of 40 that even took the time to consider that a few of my points are valid?
Did any of you read this post thinking… “I am going to take an open-minded view of this.”
Judging by your replies, you’ve started reading and decided to pick out one little part you don’t agree with to discredit the whole theory.
I don’t mind, it’s my article and my opinions and I am glad people feel strongly enough to respond with so much passion. It doesn’t mean that I am ever going to accept the unfair negativity surrounding the club I care about.
normski – I think you maybe right about the alter-ego, it would explain everything.
I’m always concerned when a Chelsea ‘fan’ can’t spell ‘Makalele’ correctly: it’s ‘Makelele’!
I suppose it’s easy to follow all manner of Premiership clubs when you’re sat out in Pakistan, unaware of it’s like to SUPPORT a club… Probably never even been to Old Trafford.
Don’t worry mate, Chelsea is managed like in the old Soviet manner, dictature. They are talking about Cole and Reyes unhappiness. Reyes wants out at Arsenal because he’s got problem with life style in England. Ashley wants out because Chelsea unsettled him with their millions.
In opposition to that, you have Drogba, Gallas and Robben(?) who are desperated to leave; but Morinhio wants to keep them like in a concentration camp. The players have offers from various clubs. But you don’t want to release them. That’s too bad for clubs and players relationship.
Drogba was last season the most hated player among Chelsea fans. He scores goal, he doesn’t even get applauded; instead, he received words like ‘Drog’, call it what you want, but really bad for a player to play with any kind of happiness. Gallas is arguably Chelsea best defender. He wants reward for his hard work on football pich, but no one out there is prepared to listen to him. He had enough, then he wants out. You want to keep him at any cost. John Terry, an average player to me who is costing nearly three time more than Gallas(£40,000 time 3=£120,000, Terry).
I could see last sundy why Drogba wasn’t much involved in the game as he usually does. There I think you, Chelsea supporters, tou’ve got problems.
George – yup, never been to Old Trafford mate, but I’d happily put 6 months worth of wages to finance a trip to see United play next year.
What’s your point mate? that only those people who are able to go watch United play are true fans? In that case, I have nothing polite or publishible to say to you, so fk off.
SD2 – fair points.
Sounds to me like alot of you just read the title and made your mind’s up.
Only 2 of my points have recieved direct criticism, what about the rest?
You all feel strongly about the cherry picking of stats, and the biased opinions in my article. Imagine having a CREDIBLE journalist detailing the same tripe every day about your club in a national newspaper.
I know some of it hits close to home and offends you, hence the aggressive reaction.
The real fans don’t deserve to get it in the neck.
am not too surprised about people ‘hating’ morinho’s chelsea, we all know who rules england in the past ten years.man.u and ofcourse arsenal.suddenly this man from russia emerged and chelsea became a force.i really understand these fans pains but de way they are going about it is simply ‘jealousy’.chelsea is setting a starndard and the only thing they can do is hardwork. they should work veryhard to reclaim there lost crown rather than gossyping. for ferguson’s comment, its just a shame but i think he is already surrendering in the ‘fight’. we all know who is the first to reach the 30m pound mark in england,Rio Ferd. and red cardprone Rooney. so be the JUDGE.
Be back later to respond to some more of your comments.
I find it incedible that every time the soupdragon posts it follows just after a post from ahmed. Perhaps you are one in the same? Am I right Peter?
Before I write my repsonse to this article, I will admit that I have been an Arsenal fan for 22 years and will be for a very long time.
Chelsea are an anomaly in world football. The huge financial muscle that the club has is unprecedented, if not unknown (remember Blackburn’s title). This year’s tranfers by Chelsea represented the best business that the club has done in the Abramovich era, with a deficit of around only £20 million. However, do not forget that in the last two years, Chelsea have recorded deficits of well over £100 million a year. When you think that Leeds went under heavily with debts of £80 million, you come to realise that Chelsea is relying completely on Abramovich’s billions, which are by no means a guaranteed future income. I respect Peter Kenyon for trying to buid a business model for Chelsea to become self sustaining, but given that a)they are unable to sell all their seats, b) even if they could they are unable to expand their stadium to match Arsenal and Manchester United and c)they are spending way above what they are likely to be able to afford even if they did start turning out a profit, it would seem that any business model would have to set a realistic target of over 10 years. It is true that Chelsea are seldom painted in a positive light in the papers, and continued allegations of tapping up make the situation worse. It is unfair to accuse Arsenal or wrong doings regarding their feeder club Beveren, when they were found innocent. Chelsea have been found guilty of tapping up Ashley Cole – a factor in his current state of indecision.
It is a plausible, if somewhat simplistic, arguement to say that they have bought the title, but while they have adopted the Real Madrid superstars principle, they have still failed to win the Champions League or emanate their success over the past 10 years.
This year I feel that Chelsea will probably win the title again. Arsenal do look strong with some amazing talents and play well as a team, and will grow, but in my opinion their is a worrying lack of depth. I do believe, unbiasedly, that Arsenal will finish 2nd purely on how the team plays as a team. Arsenal have not changed their transfer policy since Chelsea arrived in such force. For years we couldn’t match united in the transfer market. Arsene Wenger proved very shrewd in finding players, keeping them if they succeeded (Henry 3.5m, Viera 4.7m or letting them go (Nicolas Anelka – bought 3m sold 25m to Real, Overmars + Petit – bought 10m sold 27m Barcelona). In his ten years in charge, AW has a positive balance sheet, important when you consider that we operated from a very mediocre sized stadium. It is unfair to factor in the cost of the new Emirates Stadium into the affair, as the spending of that has been secured in loans outside the transfer market. With Chelsea coming along, AW has had to persevere harder to find young talent. He knows he can’t match the finances of Chelsea – he was once famously quoted as saying ‘When I like a player, I tell the club to check with Chelsea, and if they don’t want him, I’ll buy him’ – and there was a period when every player AW was interested in, so were Chelsea. This in itself is bad for the game – Clubs artificially inflate the price of their player if Chelsea are interested, knowing full well that they will pay, but his prices other clubs out of the market. I praise AWs commitment to youth, and while it does prove incredibly frustrating, it is beginning to pay dividends. Henry never wanted to leave, he wanted AW to prove he matched his ambition, and the CL final did that. As for selling Reyes and Cole, it would be such a shame to see that talent leave, but at the end of the day, if they want to go and it makes good financial sense, why not.
Manchester United have been crippled by the Glazers and are a shadow of themselves and I believe that Micheal Carrick was yet another panic buy by Utd in the mould of Saha. As a team they seem to have lost both direction and purpose and for the first time in 20 years, Fergerson seems all at sea without the preverbial paddle.
Liverpool look strong, not because of the players they have, although some are undoubtably talented, but because they have a cohesion that Chelsea have always lacked. Although Mourinho was rightly saying his team was unfit, there was a distinct lack of teamwork. Liverpool are thriving under Benitez after so many years of mediocracy. Good on them.
I think chelsea should congratulate themselves on their achievements, but should step down from their pedestal until they truely are a great club. Until they have a treble, or even appeared in the Champions League final they have a long way to go – and at present it appears that their achievements are being driven by money. They are still not as good as Barcelona, Milan, or possibly Real Madrid, and unfortunately for them, a team will get them there not money
lol – that’s probably because I’m moderating all the comments so I tend to reply to what I feel needs to be replied to / commented on.
Idiots…
scubawyclef – your belief that Arsenal will be second is out of your bias for the club, but hey, at least you’re not as optimisitic as me (I think United will win this year…).
At the end of the day you’re trumpeting Arsene Wenger’s transfer policy and putting down Ferguson’s, while ignoring the impact SAF has had on the club for the last 2 decades. Recent buys have not been as good, but they have come after a period of long-term success – Carrick is overpriced but when you consider that a player like Carrick (Riquelme, Pirlo, Ballack) would have come for much, much more (Ballack was being paid more by Chelsea, while Pirlo and Riquelme would easily have been 20+), we might have a very good player suited to the Premiership, albeit for 5-10 mil higher than we should have paid.
You’re pandering to the same storyline as the media is – United is in crisis. A club in crisis does not finish 2nd. If that’s a crisis then please give me more of it.
I took a little more time with article:
1st. Carrik is not worth 18.7 million. He is not even worth the 14 million that United paid for him, however, Spurs did not want to sell and the boy had a decent contract binding him to the club.
2nd. It is debatable whether Shevchenko could have been cheaper because it is understood that the offer was 30 million+ from the get go. A rediculous amount of money for a once super star who has one decent season left and will never be as good as he once was. Henry would not have been sold for that price, as far as I can remember the price was under 20 mil. The perfect example of how overpriced the Ukraine was is the 10 mil Madrid paid for Van Nistlerooy.
3rd. Chelsea selling Gudjohnson was a mistake. You just got rid of the one player that opposition fans had a bit of respect for. Chelsea are now filled to the rims with m oney hungry kindergarden kids. + he was a bloody good player. Barcelona got him on the cheap!
Your reasoning behind the four clubs spending is completely flawed on the figures and I feel that in order for it to resemble a sense of correctness you should include the wages for the duration of those contracts, kick backs agreed between clubs on goals and performance, remove the stadium costs of Arsenal because as you stated you have no idea what the sale of Highbury would bring in. Also you would have to factor in the Sponsorships generated by the stadium, season tickets, boxes and gate reciepts per game and match that against the biggest player contract signed by Chelsea which I believe is 4 or 5 years. Impossible task, so remove it. Then you will unfortunately see that the figures related to Chelsea are very embarresing to the way the club does business.
Your dig at Arsenal for investing in youth is a pathetic attempt to justify Chelsea’s own disregard for nurturing talent unless they are already proven or wanted by an opponent in the Prem. SWP is the perfect example of this who should have been representing England at the World Cup but because of Chelsea’s policy he wasnt even considered. How do you think his reaction was when Theo Walcot was picked? The first goal he scored for Chelsea in pre-season showed exactly how disalusioned he had become at Chelsea. His celebration was over the top and his charge to the bench was not to his team mates and manager to thank him as the media stated but rather an act of sheer defiance. You would have though he had scored the winner in a CL final. My heart bleeds for the kid.
If anything, Arsenal have reached in the last two years, with an investment into youth, a 1/4 final Carling Cup and a semi final. Won the FA Cup. Finished 2nd and then 4th in the league and reached a Champions League Final beating out two of Europes most ilustrious teams. Entertaining? You decide? United winning the league three times in a row with kids! Entertaining? You decide.
You call Chelsea selling players like Duff to Newcastle for 5mil a good thing. I call it sensible because he isnt worth more than that. Its the fact that Chelsea have paid so much for these players that once again highlight the policy of the club and the fact that its owner did not earn any of his money because he shows no humility to his riches. He squanders it and doesnt care.
One more point that you keep raising that is not true. Arsenal did not attempt to sell Henry for financial gane. They have made him the highest paid player in the history of the club. He signed a new contract and will finish his career at the club he loves.
Chelsea have been found guilty of tapping up Ashley Cole. When the whole thing popped up Mourinho laughed it off as tabloid BS. As a matter of a fact he said and i can quote “I have never met the boy. I was in Milan at the time” LIAR! The media latched on to Bates allegations because he knew they would and the greedy bastard wanted money from Chelsea more than he wanted penalties. I see the story has somewhat now dissapeared? Did Chelsea pay?
What about the tapping up of the Spurs Director? The tapping up of Robben? Arsenal have taken only one player from Beveren to date. Eboue. They were cleared of all alegations which was simply a smoke screen to bring Dein into question days before the realections for the FA representitive. He lost by the way, so it worked! If Spain want to stop clubs from grabbing their youngsters then they need to change their rules on contracts. Dont try to judge Wenger on this because Marida was a player that Chelsea also tried to grab but the kid chose Arsenal.
I have already commented on the Charity Shield and I have no comments on the World Cup apart from the fact that England suck and they dont deserve any praise for the pathetic attempt at football. Gerrard and Lampard should not be playing in the same team.
The point I want to make is that there’s no apparent passion for one club on this site – in fact there’s little passion at all. (And football is all about passion!) You give it all the ‘objective, intelligent, fact-based analysis’ bollocks, but there’s no PASSION! There are a number of very good club blogs that are ‘objective and intelligent’, the only difference is they come across as FANS of their clubs. You claim to be a Man Utd fan yet wrote an article about considering switching your ‘allegiance’ to Chelsea (http://soccerlens.com/why-i-seriously-considered-being-a-chelsea-fan/1749397.html) because they’re currently the best club in England; that’s little short of blasphemy amongst club supporters in England (and elsewhere obviously).
It’s little wonder that visitors to this site are starting to believe you’re writing all the articles – especially the articles about Chelsea AND Man Utd – under different pseudonyms.
Apparently ‘Soupdragon2′ also wrote this article – http://soccerlens.com/can-jose-keep-chelseas-superstars-happy/1227457.html – and called Jose Mourinho ‘insufferable’. 1) A Chelsea fan shouldn’t be calling his own manager, a bloody good manager, ‘insufferable’. And 2) It has all the elements of your own writing.
Show some passion for your club man!
What’s the Chelsea and United support like in Pakistan? I’m genuinely interested.
FAO Hardee string
It was 50million euros you muppett. Find out the facts before your criticise people
Yes Normski, we’re all the same guy. Cos god forbid that three different people should think that you’re a moron…
Scubawyclef, all good points and well argued but I contest that ‘Chelsea should step down from their pedestal until they truely are a great club’. We’ve not put ourselves on any pedestal – that’s been the media, who compare our achievements to Real Madrid and Barcelona in a way that is rarely done with anybody else. It’s everybody else who says ‘you’re not as good as Real Madrid, yah boo’. Does anybody say, ‘yeah Man U may have won eight title, but that’s irrelevent cos they only won the European Cup once’? Or that Arsenal’s doubles are meaningless because they choke in European finals (admittedly, this is better than choking in semi-finals)?
But what Arsenal, Liverpool and Man Utd fans, in their position of smug superiority, simply cannot comprehend is the background that Chelsea have come from. We’ve watched players so bad you wouldn’t believe (you think Gus Caesar was bad – he’d have been our captain!), seen numerous relegations and almost gone bankrupt – and, in a perverse way, we’re proud of that, it’s our history, to us one that’s just as glorious and lovable and honourable as your trophies and trinkets. If we wanted all that crap, we’d have supported your clubs in the first place – simple as that. So we don’t see Real Madrid or even Manchester United as something to aspire to, we’re perfectly happy being us, but, you know, actually winning stuff for a change. And if that pisses off the snobbish elite who have lorded it over the rest of the football for generations, well ha ha ha, let’s cock a snook a-plenty.
(Oh, and to say Chelse have always lacked cohesion under Mourinho is, in my opinion, flatly wrong.)
I’ve tremendous respect for Arsenal as an institution and what Arsene Wenger has done at Arsenal but you have to admit he was helped massively by inheriting the best defence in the league from George Graham. Without that, I wonder how successful he would have been? That’s a moot point, but it does interest me.
Oh hell, I’m posting right after Peter, does that mean he’s my alter-ego?
George – Passion does not equal to myopic ranting, and if you think it does, then you are better off at places like ArseBlog which is overtly and decidely biased.
I setup Soccerlens because I was tired of hearing biased drivel, AND bullshit rumours even from the broadsheets. Journalism has sold out to market forces and at the end of the day, if you can’t trust your news sources you really don’t know what’s going on.
So yes, there is a focus on “intelligent analysis”, but if you have read any single one of Rocky Dixon’s posts (or read my United articles), you’ll know that we would die before switching club allegiances. The Chelsea article you refer to was a testament to the success they have acheived and it’s allure – if you actually bothered to read the discussion in the comments you’ll know what I meant with that article.
At the end of the day, if you don’t like what I have to say mate, get out of here. But don’t accuse me of lacking passion for my club or for the sport. It’s one thing to disagree with what I’m saying, it’s quite another to tell me I don’t love United.
About United and Chelsea support in Pakistan – Almost all Chelsea fans have become Chelsea fans after Mourinho came and they started winning. As far as United fans are concerned – I figure that most of them started watching football around the time United were winning, so that’s how it caught on.
How you judge me (and Pakistani fans) is your business – one thing I know though: fans everywhere are passionate about their clubs and are decidedly unreasonable when it comes to logic. Fair enough. I’m pretty unreasonable myself – you’ll never hear me say that England or Manchester United can’t win the title. However, if they play bad or make mistakes, I will blast them for it.
And for your reading – http://soccerlens.com/everyone-wants-to-kick-manchester-united/2002392.html
btw, if anyone’s interested in what Mourinho says, here you go:
http://www.chelseafc.com/article.asp?hlid=409511&m=8&y=2006&nav=news&sub=latest+news
Ahmed, don’t print that link – there’s nothing for anybody to get their knickers in a twist about!
IF CHELSEA ARE “really looking to provide entertainment for the fans” THEN HOW COME ONLY HALF OF THEIR ALLOCATED 25000 TICKETS WERE BOUGHT FOR THE COMMUNITY SHIELD LAST WEEKEND? AND LIVERPOOL EXCEEDED THEIR ALLOCATION? ANY SELF RESPECTING FOOTBALL FAN WOULD HAVE WANTED TO HAVE SEEN A GAME AGAINST THEIR MOST HATED ADVERSARIES. WHAT DOES THAT SAY ABOUT THE FANS, LET ALONE THE CLUB? HOW MANY FANS FILLED THE KINGS ROAD WHEN CHELSEA WON THEIR FIRST PREMIERSHIP IN 50 YEARS? 200 000. HOW MANY LIVERPOOL FANS FILLED THE CITY WHEN THEY WON THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE THE SAME YEAR? 750 000. ONCE AGAIN, WHAT DOES THAT TELL YOU?? CHELSEA WANT SO DESPERATELY TO BUY THE HISTORY THAT LIVERPOOL HAVE, BUT THEY NEVER WILL AND THEIR FAIRWEATHER FANS KNOW IT. CHELSEA CHARGE MORE THAN ANY OTHER TEAM IN THE PREMIERSHIP FOR TICKETS AND GIVE THE LEAST ENTERTAINMENT. £49 FOR A DISABLED TICKET?? OUTRAGEOUS.
FINALLY, FOR ALL MORONO’S TALK OF LIVERPOOL PLAYING BORING DEFENSIVE FOOTBALL, THEY HAD THE SAME AMOUNT OF SHOTS ON TARGET AS CHELSEA AND EXCEEDED IN ALL OTHER AREAS, CORNERS ETC. THEY PLAYED FLOWING, FAST PACED FOOTBALL ON THE FLOOR, WHICH WAS COUNTERED BY CHELSEAS DESPERATE LONG BALL TACTICS. ITS WAS ALL THERE FOR ALL TO SEE.
GET READY FOR THE RED REVELUTION TO STEP UP ANOTHER GEAR AND USHER IN LIVERPOOLS LONG AWAITED PERIOD OF DOMINANCE.
Read this for a kind word on Chelsea’s support at the Community Shield :
http://www.koptalk.com/detail_subtitle_listing.php?link_id=4000&subid=2&sticky=0
I wonder which club is really looking to provide entertainment for the fans?
Hmmmmm, you now say this with your 1 dimensional tactical approach the last 2 seasons…. The same tactical approach which the supposed lesser side (Liverpool) have worked out how to play against. Benitez has got Mouronho running devoid of ideas. The last 2 times you have played us he has had to change tactics, and some idiotic ideas have come from Jose’s teamsheet. What was with the 4 man square with Essien in attack and Ferriera in midfield all about in the FA Cup last season???? And what was the Robben, Sheva and Drogba combo up front all about?
You now have to realise that Mourinho is losing touch. He doesnt have a plan B and is about as tactically astute as Sven… The only things your success for the last 2 seasons were based were a solid defence and your wing play. The Manager has sold Duff who in my opinion was a great player for you. Admittedly Joe Cole is class, Ill give you that. Robben seems to have lost his wow factor last season. Wright Phillips just should never have gone to stamford bridge in the first place.
If Mourinho thinks that playing 4 central midfielders is going to bring him silverware he is wrong. The lack of balance to your side was apparent in the last 2 meetings against the mighty pool and that is why you lost.
With regards to Gerrard. It is widely known that this guy is the best thing since sliced bread. Can Lampard run back the length of the pitch for a last ditch tackle. Can Lampard score the kind of sublime goal in the last minute of a cup final. Can Lampard actually score any goals in the massive games, when it REALLY matters….. The same could be said of Terry….
Its all well and good producing a good performance week in and out in the Prem. But to be honest international football isnt anything like premiership football. The style of international football is more typical of champions league or cup football. And we all know who the main man is when you need something special in that type of game.
Oh and by the way, what is Lampards record since the start of 2006? He really has been on fire hasnt he???
Lampard will be shown up time and again this season in Europe as will Terry. Gerrard on the other hand will go from strength to strength, and WILL be England captain before you know it……
Okay, I’m not Ahmed. I’m a Chelsea boy, and he’s a Man Utd fan.
Thank you for your reply subawyclef, you seem to have actually considered what I have said. It is refreshing to read a well thought out argument.
Normski, you are just fuelling my perception of bias, and validating my article. You aren’t arguing with the facts, you are just trying to undermine my theory by questioning my opinions.
1. From a business perspective, 29 million for the best striker in the world is far better than 18 million for a player who is unproven in European competition. I wasn’t arguing whether either play was worth the money, i was making a comparison.
2. The quality players at Chelsea demand high wages. As i said in the article. Young inexperienced players dont command high wages. I’ve looked at the money situation and Arsenal are in a state because they’ve taken out too many loans. Ashburton Grove has forced Arsenal to take 390 million worth in loans, facilitated by an “anonymous” investor. I’d call that an extreme business plan.
3. Shauny Wright ran to the bench to celebrate the kit-man’s birthday, they had a sign saying thank you for taking them out. You idiot.
4. Arsenal were good in the Champion’s league. Man Utd were unbelievable in their respective primes. I actually wanted Arsenal to win the champions league final last year, was gutted when the lost. Of course you can win with youngsters, i mean being forced to use inexperienced youngsters doesn’t always provide the most attractive football. If anyone can do it, Wenger can. I would rather watch my team full of the worlds best players this year than Arsenal’s kids. That’s just my preference.
5. Ask a Newcastle fan if they think 5 million for Duff is a good deal. LOL
6. I didn’t mean they wanted to sell him for financial ‘gane’ mr. literate. I re-examined that in two of my replys saying that they were almost put in a position where they were going to HAVE to sell Henry. For the right price, they would have HAD to have done it because Henry looked like he wanted to go, and then changed his mind at last minute. (Quotes on the net, go search)
7. Chelsea got in trouble for Cole. They have not been in trouble for any of the other tapping up allegations.
You can’t say Chelsea are so terrible for the tapping up of Arnesen and Robben if you then say that because “Wenger hasn’t been charged” he’s done nothing wrong.
You’re just a little annoying hypocrite. Next time stick to calling me a fucking twat like all the other biased children who decided to deride my the article.
ps. I have directly apologised for the 2 factual discrepancies in my article Ahmed, yet you have said a few times that alot of the facts are off base. The facts are from the internet mate (official club sites etc.)! My opinions however I strongly encourage you to dispute. This is, after all, a football blog
.
Why does everyone think we’re the same person lol?!
Dear George.
The term insufferable means “difficult to endure”. I don’t find him to be insufferable, the man is a genius. The general public consensus is that he is annoying , and therefore I felt it would strengthen the objectivity of my article by referring to him as insufferable. If everyone else thinks he’s annoying, I will not pretend that my opinion is overriding (regardless of the my opinion that Mourinho hating is all part of this unhealthy anti-Chelsea philosophy that is damaging the game).
You ask for objectivity? You’ve got it.
I have been a Chelsea fan since I was born, and have had season tickets since I was eight years old. I don’t feel the need to lie to prove how much of a “real” fan I am. The people who do that are new fans, aka. The majority.
DONT BE PROUD OF YOUR BIAS, IT IS THE CALLING CARD OF SOMEONE DESPERATE TO PROVE THAT THEY AREN’T A FOOTBALL DUNCE (again, the majority).
Ahmet & Soupdragon:
In your opinions, what do you think of Liverpool’s chances of landing the premiership title this season?
I myself support Watford so am very pleased we will be playing prem football this year. Due to the fact that I do not support any of the top four clubs, I feel it is only right that there is at least one unbiased opinion in this blog. Here I go…..
Man U: There is no doubt that Man U have been the best team since the premiership begun. They have a manager with an immense track record and have been consistent for the last 15 years. More importantly, they have also done well in Europe and won the treble which includes the CHAMPIONS LEAGUE! I agree that some of their decision in the transfer market have been questionable but overall a great team!
Arsenal: I love watching Arsenal play football. Even when they won the league it did not make me envious, it made me appreciate exactly why they call it ‘the beautiful game’. In addition, they managed to reach the CHAMPIONS LEAGUE final last season with a depleted squad. Credit where credit is due! They keep acquiring great young players. It is truly unbelievable how Mr Wenger keeps finding young superstars.
Liverpool: Without question, they have a spirit and a passion unrivalled by any other team in the world. Every Liverpool player wears their heart on their sleeve. They have one of the top 3 managers in the world who managed to win the CHAMPIONS LEAGUE in his first season at Anfield with a team of misfits. (Biscan, Smicer, Baros, Traore, Cisse, Kewell etc….) I truly believe that Liverpool will be the next dominant force in the premiership under Benitez. He is a man who commands respect and does all his talking on the pitch as opposed to his pram.
Chelsea: There is no doubt that winning back to back premiership titles is a great achievement. There is no doubt that Romans millions are a significant contributing factor. There is no doubt that the manager is like a child as all you two have spoken about is other peoples responses to your posts being unfair and not open minded, what about Mourinho?? For the first time on Sunday he admitted they lost to the better team on the day. It has taken two years for his balls to drop giving him the courage to be honest. The money has gone to your heads. The only players at Chelski that I exclude from this are Terry, Makalele & SWP. They are the only 3 humble players left now that Gudjohnsen has left. Finally, you have never won or even gotten to the final of the CHAMPIONS LEAGUE. This is eating away at all Chelski fans. Roman will keep splashing the millions on the best players in the world but you will never win the most lucrative and prestigious competition, namely the CHAMPIONS LEAGUE.
Finally, just to say, I was truly upset to see Barca win it last year as it would have been great for English football if the best comp was won by an English team in two consecutive years. I urge all Chelski fans to buy the DVD of Liverpool’s champions league triumph last year and imagine what it feels like. Yes it was a goal and yes they deserved it and yes they will win the league title this season.
Happy blogging!
Firstly, i am surprised that so many people have responded to this article, it certainly has touched a nerve with a both genuine and “plastic” supporters. It seems that Chelsea fans would like the respect they have “deserved” for their recent success, but how has this success been acheived?
The most obvious factor in Chelsea’s rise to the top is the massive financial backing of Abramovich. Any club in their mind would not refuse such investment but it is the way in which the players are selected for transfer that is most dissapointing. Yes Chelsea have looked to strengthen in certain areas this season, which they have done, but they also look to prevent clubs from improving, there seems to be a “if that player will improve our closest rivals team we must attempt to sign them ” mentality at Chelsea, SWP being a prime example and more recently Mikel from United.
We are also seeing more cases of “tapping” up in the papers, some are purely fabricated by papers to sell more copies, others are not ie Ashley Cole gate, this will always be part of the game and i’m sure it has been for a long time, however until suitable means of punishment can be handed out to the guilty parties where will it end? in most cases a fine may be a deterent but when a club has largely unlimited funds this cant be considered a punishment, a season long transfer ban may however might influence the serial offender to think twice about unsettling players with illegal approaches.
just a few other points:-
If Henry rather than shevchenko had moved to Chelsea would he be considered the greatest modern day centre forward by Chelsea fans instead? granted Shevchenko is up there amongst the best, however before you answer consider the fact that Henry has consistently proven himself as the best forward in the Premiership consistently for a number of years and the premiership probably being the most difficult league to adapt to, lets just see how Shevchenko performs over the coming seasons before we label him the greatest.
Not so long ago i remember Chelsea attempting to lure Gerrard to Chelsea for two consecutive seasons and trying to move heaven and earth to do so, pretty much the same appoint as above really, would you still be so critical towards Gerrard and his ability to command respect in the tabloids? Honestly, i would much prefer Terry as England Captain to Gerrard only because of positional reasons, the game becomes easier to read from the back due to lack of pressure from opposition and therefore can allow a defensive player time to organise a team during the game with greater affect than an all-action midfielder who rarely has time to consider which player is doing what, Gerrard makes a great Liverpool Captain and has proved his Leadership skills as has Terry for Chelsea, give the player the respect he deserves, everybody else in the country manages it.
Your point about Sundays game, no excuses, you have what most consider a squad that could field two premirship teams, three missing players hardly consists of a major injury problem for a team of such depth. Ballack limping off, who did you have on the pitch to play his position – Lampard, who did you have on the bench to bring on and re-shuffle the pack – SWP, John Obi Mikel, Wayne Bridge and Solomon Kalou! with 6 substitutes to play, 2 of which experienced in the premiership should this have been such a problem for the special one? I see no mileage in your “fitness” excuse, most liverpool players have now been playing for nearly a year solid with the early Champions Leage matches last season, the premiership, the FA cup run, the World Cup and the game against Maccabi Haifa last week, and did so by being 1 of two teams to use the least amount of players last season, i consider that some achievement by any teams standards!
What was the point you were trying to make about money used to transfer players in and money made from transfer’s out? was it was that Chelsea were the club witht the biggest financial loss from these transactions? Most obvious is that of Liverpool, a loss of 9 Million pounds so far, is that before we consider the £8 million from sale of cisse in january making a total loss of £1 million pounds in comparrison to Chelsea’s £28 million so far? Arsenal are attempting to improve the place where their many fans watch them and to generate cash because people are willing to watch them play regardless of their current form and recent amount/lack of success, this is what opposition fans respect, Man Untd have done the same with their groung because they have a loyal fanbase, Liverpool are attempting to do the same as they have the support to, Chelsea have all the fmoney but a lack of true fans to support such growth at the moment although that big pot of gold is certainly starting to bring in the glory hunters!
Chelsea have put themselves amongst the big boys by use of excessive amounts of money and underhand tactics in the transfer market and now the constant moaning about lack of respect is laughable, if you want respect go back to trying to improve by hard work, hard work earns respect! Liverpool, Arsenal and Man Und have a loyal fanbase that has spanned the the lenghth of the history of football in this country, if i were to judge Chelsea fans by your standards i would only conclude that the fanbase has not even been round since the Turn of this Century, thankfully i know there are proper Chelsea football fans out there who do know a bit about football.
Finally, any club who has a manager who calls themselves the special one is never going to be liked!
I look forward to you putting me straight on my biased reply!
To Gareth and Mark,
Seeing as you both provide such an unbiased opinion, let me respond in a similar manner.
1. Chelsea aren’t the most expensive club, Arsenal are. Check out the new figures. Mind blowing. Oh and, 49 pounds for a disabled ticket is a lie.
2.The reason I and the rest of the blue army didn’t bother travelling to the community shield is because we have suffered through the most boring games ever against liverpool in recent seasons, I for one could not be bothered to watch you park your team bus in front of our goal and wait to hit us on the break a couple of times. You and Everton have played the most conservative, boring and ugly football I have seen for the last 3 years at stamford bridge, (and that is including Portsmouth the season before last, which is saying something)
3.I went to both home legs in the champions league encounters and every home match in the league. In the league you were desperate for points and actually tried to get out of your own half more than twice, getting ripped to shreds in the process. (Hence the recurring chant… “YOU ARE SHIT, YOU ARE SHIT”). In the Champions League you sat back and prayed for a breakthrough, stifling any kind of attacking play, and making the most exciting competition in world football the most boring matches I have ever bothered to travel to watch. I also travelled to Old Trafford (nice neutral ground) for the FA cup semi final, where you got a prime free-kick for a ridiculous foot-up and your players went in late on every tackle for 90 minutes. Good goal by Garcia, but it was an ugly boring game. Hence why i, and thousands of other fans couldn’t bring myself to watch your pathetic team again. If it had been Arsenal or Man Utd, the ground would have been full, because unlike the scousers, they play football.
4. Lampard scored against Portugal to send the game into extra time at a crucial moment (Euro 04) Lamps has scored more goals than Gerrard and has been in the England setup for less time. Gerrard has never scored a game changing crucial goal for England. LOL. Oh yeah, and lamps doesn’t have to run back to make last ditch tackles at Chelsea because WE have good defenders.
You’ll come fifth this season. ENJOY.
Ibsta, agree on most points. I think Tottenham have a good chance of breaking into the top 4, in fairness they probably should have last season. Stomach flu on the last day… lol.
Good point about Benitez winning the Champ’s league with that crop of players though, the man deserves credit.
The comment about Mourinho is questionable, tell me that Benitez hasn’t stoked the same fire? Rafael has taken liberties recently. His fued with Mourinho has become one sided because he knows the public hate Chelsea and he will be worshipped for speaking out against the club that is ‘damaging football’. He just can’t resist poking fun at Chelsea’s money. He’s really starting to sound like a typical mid-seventies working class misfit who hates everyone richer than himself.
I see there are growing numbers calling for lampard to be dropped!
I notice Shevchenko has become a true blue, kissing the badge after being there only 5 minutes, why should AC Milan fans be annoyed, their club only made him what he is and idolised him for 7 years!
I agree soupdragon2, liverpool are truly boring, Champions League final was truly boring, one of the worst ever, the FA cup, what a disgrace, i suppose the only cup finals you watch are those involving Chelsea,by the way, how are Essien and Ballack’s injuries?
It’s not about respect. It’s about unnecessary disrespect magicspacemonkey (nice name by the way
)
I wouldn’t care if the press sat idle, reporting the latest Chelsea news with the same protective approach they afford to Liverpool.
Here’s my challenge for you. Pick up a copy of the Mail and a copy of the express tomorrow. Now, imagine what each of the main football page’s article would be like if they were written by eloquent but biased reprasentatives of Liverpool.. and then eloquent but biased reprasentatives of Chelsea.
Tell me which one is closer to the actual slant they give each article about Chelsea and Liverpool and then ask yourself whether Chelsea are being afforded the common courtesy EVERY top flight football team has a right to.
A nice example for you…
Liverpool’s “fantastic” fans were throwing shit at Man Utd fans on the carefully protected terraces, chanting in mirth at an England international horrifically breaking his leg and dislocating his ankle, and smashing up and trying to turn over his ambulance. That didn’t make the back page.
The next day, instead of reporting on the Liverpool fans behaviour, he wrote an article detailing how Chelsea fans sent emails to one of the writers because he was constantly slating Chelsea(the only thing he wrote about for 2 weeks was Mourinho’s arrogance and how Chelsea weren’t going to win the league). He took a page long article about how we shouldn’t be so angry and that we are all whinging children, mentioning that the “naughty” Liverpool fans were in the minority and therefore should be disgarded as an unfortunate occurance.
The bile in the articles is apparent, reporting on our misgivings in every area of the game, and letting the exact same (and worse) behaviour by other clubs slide by.
As i mentioned (and the press couldn’t avoid this) Arsenal are in MASSIVE debt to a private investor and various banks for loans to support their financial investment in Ashburton Grove. Do you hate them?
I for one, don’t give a flying fuck. Join the sane club you money obsessed lunatics.
Football is about 11 vs 11. If another club bought better players than Chelsea, they would never recieve the same kind of bad press Chelsea get. (Real Madrid were afforded a complimentary nickname. This nickname was used in a negative light when they fell apart. Of course, Chelsea don’t recieve the benefit of the doubt, and are now saddled with the tag already for buying one proven superstar and getting another one on a free)
soup dragon… have you stopped to consider this…
The main reason lampard has scored more goals than gerrard for england is because that sweedish managerial cretin sven kept choosing to play gerrard (possibly the worlds finest attacking midfielder) in a more defensive role… oh yes, they said they would cover each other, if one goes forward, the other drops back… well the problem with that is (especially the last world cup),lampard only ever wants to score… gerrard knew he had to be the one to cover because he KNOWS lampard just wouldn’t… lampard hasnt got the same defensive (or attacking)talent as gerrard. Lampard got found out at the WC…
regarding your comments on the champions league victory, and the FA cup victory, i have to agree that they weren’t the prettiest games of football i have seen played… both teams were very difficult to score against, but you must agree that the chariry shield game was a different story alltogether no? we attacked you from start to finish, and beat you quite convincingly playing good fastflowing attractive football. rafa is finally getting towards having HIS squad, now i think we can expect a much more attractive brand of football from liverpool… i hope the same can be said for chelsea
Ballack, IMHO, is over-rated. Sheva is perfectly suited to the Premiership though….
haha. Very funny!
-Soupdragon, crocodile tears, mate. The vast majority of the press who don’t have a preference for a particular team just write what sells. In Moanie’s first season, there were enough journos about praising him as a breath of fresh air and feeding his special ego. Because he was for many of them, who were tired of writing about Fergie and Wenger beating each other about the head. Fans around England now hate Chelsea, so who wants to read stories in praise of Chelsea, when they are the Goliath and still can’t play entertaining football? What’s there to praise anyway? E.g. Ballack, the rich getting richer? Not very compelling. Instead of “Jens in quit shock,” why not, “Jens to play one or two more years, because Wenger’s looking to buy a world-class replacement?” Because who’s going to click on that link?
-You DON’T have the facts. Difference between Wenger and Fergie raiding Barca and Moanie raiding Leeds is the former was legal, the latter not, if proved true.
-”Agreeing to sell your valuable players (Ashley Cole, Henry and Reyes) and relying on young players is bad for the supporters and is damaging to the clubs standard of football and reputation.” Now that’s just one big verbal mess. And disingenuous at best. You know full well Arsenal never wanted to sell those three. Relying on young players is the utopian ideal. It is far more interesting to watch a player grow before your eyes than to see a player decline. Still play more entertaining football than you do. Don’t see how it is damaging our reputation when several young players have joined us due to Cesc’s example, and at least one chose not to join yours due to SWP’s example.
There’s no disputing you spent the most money, but yet still can’t manage to play entertaining football. How can you claim to be entertaining when you play with two defensive midfielders and fullbacks who rarely cross the halfway line? Unless you consider sound defending and counterattack entertaining? There’s a reason I don’t watch Italian football.
Mate, there’s also the issue of Moanie, Roman, and Kenyon appearing that they think they are bigger than the rules and the rest of the league. Don’t need to go over the multitude of arrogant comments from Moanie, or his inability to ever admit that a team could actually beat his by playing better and not having the benefit of the officials or the authorities. Your PR machine is put behind the 8-ball in having the two most despicable characters in the game as your club’s front men. Contrast this to Benitez’ largely gracious way of conducting himself, and you don’t have to look far in finding why so many hate your club. I don’t think quite so many would have a problem with your success if Rainieri had been the one leading.
Soupy. Firstly, I wouldn’t call you a twat or an idiot because I simply do not know you and if you were stupid for giving an opinion then so would every person be on the face of this planet.
However. You accuse me of being biased, not offering an opinion and simply critisising yours. I came to this site based on curiousity at your article as did every other person that has submitted a comment. If you cant handle critisim then dont post or rather ban every non Chelsea fan so that people can support your views. As my and many many other responses have shown your take on matters are very wrong. Your maths was wrong and your views. You cant admit after the article was posted to a couple of errors in typing and then still argue the points. You are making yourself look a little silly and somewhat immature. I dont believe you are.
I am an Arsenal fan that would die rather than see my club go the way of Chelsea but we are not saints. I have had to deal with the scandals of Adams and Graham. The embarresment of the “Old Trafford Battles” all the way back to the old Division 1. But we rose above all of that and Chelsea can do the same. The problem is you as a fan has to admit that your management are damaging the reputation of your club and you will not stand for it. There comes a time when fans need to take a stand and say enough is enough! Will Chelsea do that? No! Because winning is all you care about. And the fact that you so easily defend your club for those scandals proves that Chelsea fans like yourself feel no shame for what your club are doing. HATS OFF to Aston Villa and Newcastle fans for being shining examples on what it means to take a stand when you dont like something your club are doing. The same can be said to the United supporters that did everything in their power against the Americans!
1, Henry is a year younger than Shev and Arsenal did not attempt to sell him
2, selective statistics can be made to say anything. The cost of the current chelsea squad is almost £230m, the closest figure to that is Man U’s £150m with Arsenal and Liverpool £75m
3, selling cole and reyes, both players who obviously want to leave, is good for team spirit and does not damage the Arsenal’s standard of football or reputation which are both better than Chelsea’s, as shown by the differing attitude’s to Cole and Gallas and the continuing flouting of rules by Chelsea
4, alleged tapping up and allegedly taking advantage of legal loopholes are as similar as stealing a car and buying it. You could call Chelsea’s capture of Ballack as taking advantage of legal loopholes, as Bayern wanted to keep him
5, Chelsea started the CS with their best available XI, unlike Liverpool. To introduce their better players against a ‘tired’ chelsea is a fatuous statement. A Liverpool fan would say chelsea started a full XI against a ‘weaker’ liverpool
6, In the gerrard v lampard debate, statistics can be made to say anything. The fact is that Gerrard is a better player and any team in the world would, if given the chance, sign gerrard ahead of lampard.
I’ve tried to keep your blinkered failings as brief as possible
Any club could find themselves in Chelsea’s position with a rich invester looking to spend, spend, spend, its how the the club chooses to do business in that situation which reflects on how other opposition fans view that club, at the moment people prefer to have a dislike for Chelsea because of their attitude to others, Chelsea football club are providing all the ammunition themselves to be shot at. I dont view your article as an insight into how the real Chelsea fan thinks, just an insight into your character and your lack of understanding of how the game really works, please take your blue tinted glasses off when writing your next article!
Further point, you stated its a game of 11 v 11, glad you realise this, your article seems to suggest you think its 11 v the rest of the world and why the referrence to crowd violence? We all know every club has an idiot element that are at games not for the football, this elementshould not be labelled football fans as their main concern is the off-pitch activity, but then i dont suppose you ever hear Chelsea fans singing about the Munich, Hillsborough or Bradford disasters! try to keep the debate about the football, most fans are only interested in what happens on the pitch, keep your referrences to football violence restricted to your “headhunter” and “combat 18″ meetings, people in glass houses shouldnt throw stones!
I am a season ticket holder in Matthew Harding lower, and I have never heard any chants about Hillsborough, Munich or Bradford disasters.
magicspacemonkey, gary, “football fan” and ton.
I have said my bit, you can carry on questioning the validity of my opinions. Some of you present interesting arguments.
Talking about 3 games in 3 years when Liverpool have played well (one a pre-season match) doesn’t convert me into a believer. I decided not to goto Cardiff because Liverpool are boring, and grind out results against Chelsea. They might look half decent against another team, but I have wasted too much money on travelling to watch your terrible team. The reason 130,000,000 jobless liverpudlians turned up is because Chelsea are the best team in England by far, and Liverpool want to see their team beat us. I watched Chelsea get beaten by a US Allstars team in pre-season about 2 weeks ago, because Chelsea were visibly knackered. Means nothing to me.
I wouldn’t expect a new fan like yourself to enjoy the quality of football Chelsea play.
I just did dispute that Chelsea haven’t spent the most money, 250 million was quoted up there… Arsenal’s 390 million is a larger sum. Someone asked me to remember sponsorship deals? The idea of sponsorship is they pay you to advertise on your shirts. Ps. Every team has sponsors, ours is more lucrative because we are a GOOD club. We bought out our old shirt deal because it was less lucrative than the new offer over a long period.
Gary:
Shevchenko = 29 Sep 1976
Henry = 17 Aug 1977
They’d be in the same year at school and are currently the same age, 29.
The rest of your points are ridiculous. Sorry.
Spacemonkey, the reason you HAVE a negative opinion on our business strategy is because the press communicate it to you in a negative light. I happen to have a negative view of Arsenal selling Highbury, selling their best players, refusing to then buy new established players and taking out INSANE loans while riding the cash of a “hidden” investor. Will this be the focus of every fan’s opinion on Arsenal? No. Of course not, money isn’t an important factor doesn’t matter when your not Chelsea.
The “selective statistics” that you say don’t matter when comparing Gerrard and Lampard show that Lampard scores more. Hence why Gerrard was demoted to defensive midfield in the England setup. Lampard has been above Gerrard in the top scorer rankings every season, and on the international front…
Lampard:
International Caps 45
International Goals 11
Gerrard:
International Caps 47
International Goals 9
Normski, thanks for being a bit more courteous. I agree with the sentiment to some degree, but Man Utd were a cash cow waiting to be milked, Chelsea needed someone to buy the club because we were facing financial ruin. Villa are by no means facing financial ruin, they have just got a moronic chairman, and HAD a terrible manager. As far as i’ve heard, barely any Villa fans are complaining. Much in the same way as Pompey.
Winning isn’t all i care about, I care about the great players on my team recieving the true respect THEY deserve for winning all the time. Forget the histrionics, how would you feel if you won the league by beating every team out there, then people said its just because of money? So disrespectful and purposefully demotivating…
Oh any by the way, if you think a story about Ballack getting an inflated wage package is more interesting than your goalkeeper announcing his retirement, then you good sir have something wrong with your head.
Only a chelsea fan would gloss over burning 500 million on players and wages with investing 390 million in a revenue-generating bricks and mortar.
thats like comparing 100 grand blown on an extravagent birthday party to the buy-to-let property investment.
Arsenal have reasonably high wage bill as well, they overpay the youngsters. Wages are extraordinary in the premiership, and at the biggest clubs in Europe (Barcelona and Real Madrid) the same kinds of funds are put aside for wages because they have the most reputable players.
I don’t know where on earth you got the 270 million wage bill from LOL. Over what time period that has been projected, 30 years?
Buying players who win competitions burning money. You make huge amounts of cash by winning competitions and that’s what Chelsea will continue to do.
I don’t see winning a load of competitions and qualifying for the latter stages of the Champions League every year as an example of a failed business plan.
Have you forgot that winning competitions and being the best team in football also makes you the most profitable, talked about entity in the game? Sponsors, full house every week at stamford bridge, the best players in the world attracted to the club.
So what’s Arsenal’s business plan? Keep playing the kiddies and hope the fans don’t stop coming because their team can’t win anything or seriously compete.
Wenger’s promises of future success are the only thing keeping you fools going.
See how much money you’re generating when ‘The Library mk 2′ is only filled to 2/3rds capacity every week due to a lack of investment in an underacheiving squad.
You’ll pay off that 390 million in no time. lol.
Big Bad Benny is a baby girl with no thumbs.
Soupdragon2,
No matter how much of a diehard chelsea fan you are, there is no possible way you can say lampard is a better player than gerrard!!
Lampard is a good player, fair enough, but gerrard will go down as one of the all-time greats, i guarantee it. gerrard can play almost anywhere on the pitch and still be effective, which is why, over the years for england, he has played so many positions. Try putting lampard right back, left mid, right mid, defensive mid and he would look rubbish. Gerrard can play all these positions……this is why he has scored less than lampard!
Oh, and you said gerrard has never scored an important goal for england!!! Try against germany in munich, 2001..you know the 5-1 game…remember…1-1 on the stroke of half time gerrard scores a 25 yarder to give us a crucial half time lead…tell me that wasn’t important!!
And for the excuses that it was a 50% chelsea playing..come on! ok cech, cole and makelele were missing…
cole was replaced by £100,000 a week Ballack (who clearly did not fancy the battle with sissoko!!)
makelele by £24.4m Essien…who actually is a fantastic player, but made to look average because he does a lot of work to make lampard look good!
so, the only real difference from ur strongest side was the goalkeeper.
PS when have you ever seen lampard pick up the game by the scruff of the neck and drive his team forward, like gerrard does with liverpool when he needs to!!!
oh yeah gerrard has scored in carling cup, uefa cup, champions league, fa cup finals….big game player!!!(when played in correct position!!)
OK Soup I will give you one praise. You are clearly a true fan and you are very knowledgeable about your club. However your knowledge of the game stops at your own club. I will admit that I do not know as much as you do about Chelsea but at least I know whats needed.
I dont care about Chelsea’s transfer dealings like Ballack except when its a deliberate ploy to undermine my club. Why should I care about Lehmans retirement announcement. The guys 36. He probably wont even play much in his final year and I will be there wishing him the best when he goes.
Now for a quick sum up.
Arsenal will recieve 100 million pounds in Sponsorship and naming rights to the new stadium over the next five/ten years. During that time their annual income which averages 30 million a year in profits will now be closer 80 million per year. (assuming as you mentioned we sell out each week) That’s not counting Television revenue and if we perhaps win some trophies along the way.
Now for the beauty of this business plan. Highbury gets turned into executive apartment buildings and then sold to the public. Guess what. They havent even started yet and almost 50% of them have been sold. So once the construction has been paid for from the revenue Arsenal will make a nice little profit of close to 200 million pounds. Yes 200 million POUNDS.
So I agree with you. We will pay it off in no time. lol.
I wouldnt use the term “business strategy” in the same sentence as Chelsea, there is no Business plan, Chelsea football club is currently a Billionaire’s toy and as we all know toys do not have an indefinite life span, Chelsea are currently a fad for the latest line of glory hunters.
As for your Lampard v Gerrard argument, the question should read which out of the two players is the could be considered the better footballer?
so we have Lampard who is deployed as an attacking midfielder so of course should be up there in the scoring stats(we wont count the 2006 world cup attempts on goal to goals scored ratio, it might blur the picture), the question is does he have an all round good game? does he make as good all round player as Gerrard? no he doesnt, he plays in 1 position, take him out of that position and he becomes a liability, granted he is one of the better attacking players in the prem but he has been round long enough to develope his game in that position.
Onto Gerrard, same question, Does Gerrard have an all round game? Does he make as good an all round player as Lampard? As we all know, Gerrard can operate almost anywhere on the pitch and not just fill in at different positions, we have seen him deployed as a defensive midfielder, attacking midfielder, right sided midfielder, centre forward and even right back and perform as if he were a seasoned pro in all these positions, the fact that Lampard is given greater freedom to roam forward looking for opportunities to shoot doesnt really make the stats look great in Franks favour and given that most of franks goals come via deflectoins doesnt exactly suggest he has the keenest eye for goal.
To put it bluntly, Lampard can only do one job on the pitch which he does well, Gerrard can fill a variety of rolls on the pitch and attack with the same amount off effectiveness as Lampard when given the opportunity and of course there are a few mor years to come from Gerrard.
In regards to how much Chelsea have spent on players over the last few seasons, they really should have a bit more silverwear to show for all the world class players they have brought in.
“Talking about 3 games in 3 years when Liverpool have played well (one a pre-season match) doesn’t convert me into a believer.”
and quite rightly so, but as a football fan i am happy to admit that Liverpool have improved each of the years that benitez has been in charge… and after seeing the way liverpool beat chelsea on sunday i think the improvement is going to continue in leaps and bounds. The new signings benitez has made have given them a lot more width and a lot more attacking options. that was abundantly clear last in sunday’s game. so Liverpool continue to improove.
Honestly, have chelsea improved under jose? with all the riches available to him not as much as they should have imo.
I would agree that chelsea have dominated the prem for the last two years, but i believe they aren’t getting any better… and other teams are catching up… especially Liverpool. Until Benitez’ arrival Liverpool have endured barren years, i dont mean trophyless, i mean the style of football was predictable and the squad developed by houllier was really quite average. But even the most biased and blinkered fan can see that this is changing.
The pre season friendly (jose’s words) played last sunday endorses that view. Okay, so you were tired. But surely it must bother you a little that you got turned over with such ease by a team you expect to beat? Saying ‘we lost coz we were tired’ just isn’t a good enough excuse. Why? because You have the most expensive squad in the country, you have more strength in depth than any other team in the world could dream about, your reserve team would be full of internationals, you have just bought two of the best attacking players in the world to add to your already embarrasingly strong squad, you knew what day this game would be played on so you have had the same amount of time to prepare, you started with Sheva, Ballack, Robben and Terry who are ALL world class players… So being tired is just no excuse. Last year you won the shield, back in those days it was ‘another major trophy’ according to Jose…
Like I said, I dont think Chelsea have improved. I think they were better in 2004/5. I hope i am wrong but I think Chelsea probably will (and should!) win the title this season too, but this time it will be a proper race…
Lampard’s 16 goals in the 2005-2006 season is a record for a midfielder in the English Premier League.
That happened by accident did it?
OH BUT WAIT, GERRARD IS STILL BETTER BECAUSE… erm, he tries harder and succeeds less?
Oooh sounds like i touched a nerve! did you actually read my point? Gerrard and Lampard can not be compared, Lampard is a specialist in 1 position Gerrard a specialist in a few more but also has other strings to his bow, if you want to compare Lampard to someone similair why not Ronaldinho? so trying 24 times and not succeding at all is a good stat? If you think the measure of a player is based on just how many goals he scores rather than his all round contribution to a game then you truly dont know much about football.
If you ask ‘who scored more prem goals last season?’ then the answer is lampard. Having said that, Gerrard scored 23 times last season which isn’t that bad really is it?
If you ask who is the better midfielder the answer is gerrard. at the WC lampard was quoted as saying ‘the biggest part of my game is getting in the box and scoring goals’.. well, newsflash franky!! the biggest part of a STRIKERS game is getting in the box and scoring goals. The biggest part of a midfielders game SHOULD BE providing cover for defence and linking defence to the midfield, and also linking the midfield to the attack and producing a goal threat too. NOT just hanging around at the edge of the opponents area and hoofing the ball into row z every time you get it. i know chelsea fans that agree that Gerrard is better than Lampard in every department, tackling, passing, shooting and movement and reading the game.
But to be honest we could argue about who is better all day and all night, you are welcome to your opinions,
They are just wrong.
Interesting arguments
I think the whole lampard vs gerrard is a subject for a whole new article. Soupdragon2, what do you think?
Norm, I wasn’t aware of the developments. Sounds profitable. Cheers for the input.
Arsenal do have the third largest wages in the prem, and maybe I am being a bit of a doomsday merchant with their business plan. I guess its clear to see that I am trying to create a parrallel with the general extremism displayed with regard to Chelsea’s financial plan.
Do the doubters really think a ruthless Russian billionaire ex-oil merchant would be so frivolous with his money if there weren’t projected benefits in the long run?
D’oh. Maybe some of it stems from other clubs feeling inadequate because Chelsea FC was the most sensible and marketable club available (who were facing financial ruin and were bound to appreciate monetary investment)when Abramovich decided to buy into the sport.
I’d agree that my knowledge of other clubs isn’t outstanding, but i’d also encourage readers to understand that the information you’ve been fed about Chelsea is often cherry picked as well.
You probably don’t know much about Chelsea and Abramovich’s links to charities. You probably also don’t know much about the Chelsea brand’s success, domestically and in the Asian and American market. Neither did I until i scoured the internet for the information and decided that to a degree, Chelsea are being short changed by the press and are being portrayed in an unstable light.
If your only serious argument for Gerrard being a better player is based on the fact that he can play loads of different positions (I agree he is very versatile) then you and the crowd of scousers shouldn’t be so upset that he isn’t ursurping Lampard as the main attacking midfeilder.
I agree that Gerrard does the defensive part of the game better than Lampard. When you’ve got the most prolific midfield scorer in the domestic league and one of the top performers in other competitions over the last 3 years in attacking midfield, why NECESSITATE his replacement with an equally but differently talented player who can play another role and be as you said “as if he’s played there for his whole career”. Could it be because you just want to get rid of Lampard because he’s a blue boy? Think about it.
Any sane person would put the player who comes 2nd in the european AND world player of the year last year in the position they are most effective in. He is also the more frequent scorer in all competitions (goals win games)
dont think there is much mileage in the topic as the roles each player plays at club level differ, contrary to beleif they are quite different from each other in areas on the pitch they play and responsibilities during a game.
Lampard’s game is more of an attack focused game through the middle of the park arriving to support the front men/man, where Gerrard has a responsibility to cover greater areas of the pitch providing defensive cover, linking play between defense, midfield and forwards plus supporting as much as possible the striker/s with forward runs, plus he regurlarly offers support on wings.
We may see Gerrard Deployed differently this season with the addition of new players on each wing and a new forward plus the emergence of sissoko gives the Liverpool Midfield a very mobile energetic option which was lacking in previous seasons, maybe then comparisons can be drawn when both play an identical role.
Ahmed, I think Lampard vs Gerrard will rage on forever.
I must say, once Lamps’ form went downhill midway through last season (still managed to be the top midfield goalscorer EVER in the premiership) I would have opted for Gerrard as he hit a rich vein of form.
They are so close in quality and talent, and I agree that the unseen qualities Gerrard possesses can put him on a level above most top level players. Lampard is a bloody fantastic player, who recently has been underrated in an attempt to undermine Chelsea. I fully expect him to regain his form and regain his standing as one of the best players in the world this season.
Lampard was England’s best player at Euro 2004. He had a shockingly shit tournament at the World Cup and so did Gerrard. Neither lived up to their promise, and I blame the management.
What I really want is the two playing attacking midfeild and reaming in goals from 50 yards like they do for their clubs. I do not want Lampard to take Gerrards place, or visa versa, unlike the bitter Liverpool fans who hate having to admit that Lamps has earned his position as the main attacking midfielder in England’s team.
I also agree that they do play slightly different roles and bring different qualities to a team. If they do end up competing for the same position, which seems to be what the press and the public (and even Gerrard) are pushing for, i’d have to say Lampard as he is more mature in his position. Gerrard *can* go missing occasionally in big matches (league cup final where he scored own goal against blues a couple seasons back, he was very very quiet). You never get a quiet Lampard, even when he’s playing badly, he comes deeper to get things functioning in the build up. That is one reason I’d rather have Lampard, he has a more consistant and well maintained quality, where Gerrard shows flashes of brilliance… That is of course down to opinion, depending on the other players in the team, you might want the explosive as opposed to the consistant. (They both posess both these qualities, neither LACK either of them, but they are the best in both of those categorys.)
I concede, Chelsea are the greatest ever, Lampard is like a mixture of Pele and God and Jose is God. Now i feel so cleansed for my previous sins of being a proper fan, going to ge get myself a blue shirt with Lampard on the back tomorrow, Joking!!!! think i’ll Jsut carry on being bitter about being a fan of the most successful British club around and having possibly the greatesrt midfielder around as captian, i’m so jealous Liverpool have all those cups and our money is clean!
So you so bitter coz Gerrard turned you down, get over it!
Yes Because Gerrard has a habit of going missing in Big games, (anyone remember Champions League, Olypiakos, AC Milan just to mention a few Games, oh and the FA cup, plus the 5-1 mauling of Germany just to mention a few!
Yes its very difficult at being consistent at scoring goals when there is greater responsibility to be everywhere else on the pitch, and as we all know the people that score the goals more often than not hug the headlines and in reply to your offering i would much prefer the hard working dynamism that is Gerrard rather than the one option going forward that is Lampard, i did however notice during the world cup 2006(i’ll use the most recent figures i have) a consistency in shooting and not scoring in Lampards game, without deflections he’s going to continue his current rich vein of form.
One other thing, without Makelele, i dont think you would see Lampard Camped on the oppositions 18 yard box so much, Makelele is the man that makes your midfield work, Lampard is the beneficiary of someone elses hard work.
Soupdragon,
Thanks for bothering to reply to my message! Your reply is commendable for your ability to argue your case with rubbish and no factual backing.
Ok so Arsenal are the most expensive ticket in the country, to be expected for 2 reasons…. firstly they are in the capital, therefore ticket prices will be higher to stay in line with national wage averages. Secondly, you only pay top dollar for the best entertainment! If that were the case Arsenal should be twice the price than stamford bridge. (how exciting it will be to see FAT FRANK LUMPLARD to shoot from 25 yards AGAIN….. yawn zzzzzzz)
Your point about boring games against Liverpool, firstly what was Sunday all about? Didnt LFC play you off the park with Sissoko and Zenden in Central midfield??? 5 million worth of Central Midfield played better than around 60 million Chelski midfield (MAN that is a travesty!!!!). You certainly get what you pay for!. And to be fair to you my friend you can only dream of playing to the quality we played in Istanbul and at Cardiff last May. So dont give me the boring tag stuff matey… I think it speaks more volumes that your Fans stayed away because they really dont care about real football and are all infact plastic glory hunters. The fact you reckon we played boring ugly football and still managed to only be 9 points behind you is commendable, I wonder what we will manage when we really start accelarting through the gears?
The fact that you chanted “You are shit, You are shit!” only confirms the point that your supporters are about as clever and witty in there ability to create terrace classics as Mourinho’s stupid haircut…..
You also point out that we play stifling defensive football, this coming from the team with the least goals scored against them and usually play with 2 defensive midfielders also! Define to me defensive and stifling in a tactical sense???? The fact you played Essien in an attacking midfield role with Ferriera in Midfield against us just ooozes attacking options????
Lampard is Rubbish, just admit it…. the guy can only shoot with one foot and hoof it as hard as he can from 20 yards. The only reason he scored so many is cos half were penalties and most of the time he sits eating lardy cake around the D of the opposition box…. No wonder he got found out in the World Cup.
I’ll leave Steven Gerrard to show you his real class under Mclaren tonight for England vs Greece……..
Good night you Chelsea scrotes…..
whilst i agree that both lamps and gerrard are both great footballers, i dont believe that lampard has ever ‘grabbed a game by the scruff of it’s neck’ and almost single handedly steered his team to victory. Maybe he is capable of doing it?? We just wont ever know because Lampard has never had to do it. In the chelsea team of the last few years he has had the luxury of being surrounded by a team with extremely high quality players in every position, therefore allowing him to concentrate on the thing he likes doing best , shooting the ball towards the goal, and letting other players take care of the more mundane stuff. Gerrard on the other hand has had to do it time and time again, and i think most would agree there aren’t many players who could do that. As far as ‘going missing’ from games, whilst i agree that gerrard cant have that kind of impact in EVERY game he plays, I think it says it all really when you have to go back as far as 2 seasons ago to angle that critisism at him. I am not that blinkered to believe that gerrard never has a bad game, just like i hope you are not that blinkered to actually believe that you never get a quiet Lampard. Where was Lampard against Barcelona? You choose which fixture.
I agree that Lampards form must return, it couldn’t have been a fluke to play that well for a season and a half. He is a very talented player but I believe he has been allowed to shine because he plays in an amazingly strong team. He is good at scoring goals of that there can be no denying, but i believe most managers would pick gerrard over lampard if it is a ‘one or the other’ situation. That will never happen though, i believe Mclaren should carry on trying to fit them both in the team until one of them has a severe drop in form… wouldnt you agree?
Although the article above is obviously a biased persepective of a CFC fan – the withering crap that has followed it is quite incredible. Let me address the main issue’s that you gooner, ManUre and ScouseScum have re-iterated again and again:
1) Do Chelsea fans want repsect?
Although the article above is obviously a biased persepective of a CFC fan – the withering crap that has followed it is quite incredible. Let me address the main issue’s that you gooner, ManUre and ScouseScum have re-iterated again and again:
1) Do Chelsea fans want repsect?
To an extent yes. What football fan does not want their team recognised as a great team – all you criticers have doen is state the same – the big 3 (LFC, AFC + MUFC) have had great periods of EPL domination and deseverdly so. CFC has only just begun it’s journey into the elite class of teams, in fact this is our 3rd season. What is amazing is that no-one recognizes the fact this is a good thing, that their is now more competition in the game instead of the usual boring “will it be the Arse or Manure at the top of the pile this season”. We now have 4 excellent teams vying for top spot and this season will be real close. If CFc win it for a 3rd time round, we will not get the credit we deserve and if we lose, then everyone will say how money can’t buy you success and how crap we are. We can’t win either way.
When LFC were dominating, everyone hated them. When ManUre were top, they were the most hated. We are current champions and so we are the target. as they say – “the higher the monkey climbs up the tree, the more you see of it’s arss”.
2) Money has bought the title
Correct. Could not agree more. Without our massive spending and huge losses, we would not have been able to match the big 3. However, the manUre was buying shite defenders like Rio for 30million before Roman ever came to the bridge. CFC has just spent the same as ManUre, Real and Milan excepet in a very small amount of time. Yes – we are the noveau rich and you landed gentery are running scared. CFC is only just begun building our team – Ballack and Sheva have come in for quick success so Jose wins the Champ league and therefore keeps his job. Look at the youth we have been buying, we are building one of the strongest youth systems in all of EUROPE!! As long as when Roman leaves (and he will) we are not in debt, then we will have caught-up to the big 3 and remain there making the league far more interesting and competitive.
3) Is CFC the cog in the “axis of evil”
To an extent – yes. I have supported CFc for many years and have been through the good and the bad. When Bates & Zola were around, we did have a good time in the league, never really posed any threat to the top but were seen in a good light. Even after Roman arrived, but under Claudio, we were the darlings of english football. It’s is Maureen-O’s fault that we are now singled out and have managed to unite english all fans with a common foe. Fine – we have acted in ways that I am ashamed off, it broke my heart that SWP lost his spot in the England squad and I am amazed he hasn’t left us because of that, etc. But Jose time will come and then we’ll get a more Pr friendly manager, fail to retain the title to either AFC or LFC and suddenly our predominatley more English team (then the French AFc and Spainish LFc) will not be such a bad contentender.
To summarise, this crap about galactico’s is unfair. Under jose we bought no stars before Sheva and Ballack (Tiago, Ferrari, Carvalho, Cech, Maniche, Jarisok – Robben was bought by claudio). Jose wants to be the Star, not his players. Roman wanted CL success and fancies sheva, so that was an easy way to earn brownie points from the boss.
Accept the fact that regardless of what you think of Jose – CFC as a club is here to stay and Roman will elave a legacy here in this country – just like his namesakes have doen already. (Thats the real Romans’s for you idiots out there).
Have a nice day.
of course you want respect… FACT – jose has been quoted bemoaning the fact that people dont have enough (any) respect for chelsea. Jose, Kenyon and Roman want nothing more than to be seen as a member of the footballing elite, with the liverpools, the man utds, the real madrids, the barcelonas, the inter milans, but you are not getting the respect you so crave because you just haven’t been doing it for long enough. You just cant gate crash this particular party no matter how much you spend on the ticket. Apart from the last two years chelsea have been also rans. You dont get to join the elite by winning the domestic title two years in a row. It takes years of dominance, which i am certain you will not achieve. Maureen and Kenyon are making you lot look a laughing stock. Graceless arrogant spoilt little rich kids… no one likes you – and YOU DO CARE…
just read the second part of your post…. good points made… nice to see a chelsea fan being honestly reflective, and said with a bit of humility too… agree with pretty much everything you said…
Soup Dragon, i was hoping for a response,
Whilst i agree that both lamps and gerrard are both great footballers, i dont believe that lampard has ever ‘grabbed a game by the scruff of it’s neck’ and almost single handedly steered his team to victory. Maybe he is capable of doing it?? We just wont ever know because Lampard has never HAD to do it. In the chelsea team of the last few years he has had the luxury of being surrounded by a team with extremely high quality players in every position, therefore allowing him to concentrate on the thing he likes doing best , shooting the ball towards the goal, and letting other players take care of the more mundane stuff. Gerrard on the other hand has had to do it time and time again, and i think most would agree there aren’t many players who could do that. As far as ‘going missing’ from games, whilst i agree that gerrard cant have that kind of impact in EVERY game he plays, I think it says it all really when you have to go back as far as 2 seasons ago to angle that critisism at him. I am not that blinkered to believe that gerrard never has a bad game, just like i hope you are not that blinkered to actually believe that you never get a quiet Lampard. Where was Lampard against Barcelona? You choose which fixture.
I agree that Lampards form must return, it couldn’t have been a fluke to play that well for a season and a half. He is a very talented player but I believe he has been allowed to shine because he plays in an amazingly strong team. He is good at scoring goals, of that there can be no denying, but i believe most managers would pick gerrard over lampard if it is a ‘one or the other’ situation. That will never happen though, i believe Mclaren should carry on trying to fit them both in the team until one of them has a severe drop in form… wouldnt you agree?
ps. Nice to see frank getting on the score sheet again eh? hopefully yet another deflected goal will start to build his confidence. If only we could play greece every time eh?
oh, you again.
Lampard scored two goals to win us the premiership in a tough game at bolton, Lampard scored a goal late in the Portugal game to take it to the next stage. Lampard is the highest scoring midfielder of all time in the premiership.
To twatty, who comments that I wish Chelsea could produce a performance like Istanbul and the F.A. cup final.
1. Barcelona 4-2 at home, 3 goals in 20 minutes. Dominated the other best club team in the world. I’d like to see Barca against Liverpool this season
2. Chelsea 4 West Ham 1 – We went a goal down, got a player sent off, and turned the game around with 4 goals to piss on the team that (for 70 minutes) were the better team against you in the F.A cup final.
Pretty much the same circumstances, and in both cases extreme circumstances which parrallel your team’s “passion”.
Nice dive by Gerrard for the penalty in the final by the way. YAKKIDY YAK.
(most goals scored in one season by a midfielder)
I didnt actually read your whole post, sorry for the hostility lol.
I think it proved today that the attacking mid position is Lampards to keep, and as you think in a trade off you’d have Gerrard instead, why have Sven and Maclaren both used him exclusively in the role that Gerrard wants?
I know all the armchair fans think Gerrard’s better than Lampard, but it seems to me that Maclaren, Venables, Mourinho and Sven(not that i take much heed from his tactics) all choose Frank to be at the top of their diamond. You can’t argue with the numbers.
Gerrard seems to have taken knock of confidence since losing his chance to become the captain, thought there were a few too many misplaced passes tonight.
Crouchy had a fucking blinder though! Very impressed.
Oh, and Hargreaves… Very tidy
The others replies haven’t warranted a response.
Soupdragon2 – in my view, neither Eriksson nor McClaren have the balls to drop Lampard.
Mourinho chooses Lampard because he has him. Ballack’s role is as a creator, so he’s different.
It’s a game of ifs and buts. If Gerrard were played in Lampard’s position consistently you would see a much better England. But…not going to happen as Lampard isn’t being dropped.
I like Lampard and respect him for his footballing skills, but drop him, play Gerrard in his place and let Lennon / Richardson loose on the right…that will give us pace, width and well…be a whole lot better.
Armchair critics abound.
I hear Crouch was his usual self, doing the headless chicken impressions before putting in two goals at second attempts.
Hargreaves – man of the match.
Nah man. Crouchy was competent in buildup, and smart in the area.
Harg broke everything down (probably would have had a couple yellow cards in a proper match, but never mind)
Lamps owned, he moved things from side to side and drew the midfielders high up the pitch to make room for the other attacking players to bomb forward.
As i said, you can’t drop the most prolific attacking midfeilder in the prem for the second most prolific.
That’s why you never saw Owen dropped for Defoe… Similar players, one keeps proving his worth, the other is widely lauded, younger and expected to over-take him, but never seems capable of really proving himself to be a better player.
I meant to say a MUCH better player.
You don’t need balls to drop a player that everyone wants replaced, you need balls to keep him in when the public are so swayed by his domestic allegiances that they will do anything to prevent the players from the hell club from acheiving anything.
If Lampard loses his position he is out of the England team. The press want it.
The press rally together to make sure Gerrard gets the captaincy, 1. Because it undermines Terry and 2. It Realistically would have endangered Lampard’s future with England, and would have granted all the armchair Chelsea haters their wish, for the scally from a poor background and knock Chelsea down a few pegs.
I’ll keep saying it, goals win games. Lampard scores more goals at club level, and still has scored more goals in less appearances at international level than Gerrard.
That really is the defining factor in a sensible person’s eyes. If people want to say “forget statistics, Gerrard has more heart and does more defensively” then your team will get less goals and be more defensive. Gerrard likes the team to be dependant on him. Sadly, England have too many quality players to depend on him.
again, i meant Gerrard has never conclusively proven himself to be a better player with the weight of the stats supporting lampards role.
“To twatty, who comments that I wish Chelsea could produce a performance like Istanbul and the F.A. cup final. 1. Barcelona 4-2 at home, 3 goals in 20 minutes”
Is that a fair comparison? I mean, Chelsea won those games. Liverpool drew in Istanbul.
…
Liverpool were absolutely abysmal in the first half against A.C Milan.
Chelsea were dominating Barca in the Camp Nou before Drogs got sent off and all hell broke loose. We were the better team in the first leg and lost because of a highly abnormal decision, which turned the game on it’s head.
Anders Frisk lied for months about the meeting that illegally took place in his office preceding the Drogba sending off. Then once all the Chelsea fans had been slated, Mourinho written off as a whiner and a liar in hundreds of articles, he admitted that there had been a meeting and the papers gave it one paragraph. Go figure.
Terrible circumstances, and then we come out and score 3 goals in 19 minutes. That is fucking heart.
(So was the comeback by Liverpool, crazy game
)
“Oh any by the way, if you think a story about Ballack getting an inflated wage package is more interesting than your goalkeeper announcing his retirement, then you good sir have something wrong with your head.”
Neither are very compelling, which you would understand if you could read properly. I’ll spell it out carefully for you, as there were two separate points:
Point One – It is not interesting to read about “the rich getting richer” – Chelsea adding expensive, established/declining players to their already full squad.
Point Two – As an Arsenal fan, I’m used to seeing a lot of negative headlines, only to find that the article has very little to do with what was implied or that the article itself has been manipulated to truncate quotes or reanimate long-lost ones to suit the writer’s purpose. It is not as inviting for the masses to read an article with a more descriptive, accurate (and positive) headline as it is to read one with negative implications. It’s human nature.
In truth, those were the most minor points in my posts. Every big club feels persecuted. We gooners often felt unduly done by in comparison to ManU, but the Mancs will tell you that they are the press’s number one target. Care to respond about your club’s behavior perhaps having played a part?
True Blue!!!!!
Congrats on making the most sensible comment I have ever heard from a Chelsea fan. “Mourinho wants to be the star.” So true! Personally I have never jumped on the whole buying the title wagon because every club spends money, some just more than others. The only problem I have is the ease at which Chelsea spends it. Surely the Chelsea fans would have to agree that the inflated market is because of the money that they are spending on players. They have made it impossible for teams to compete for players. Especially English players which is why Arsenal look abroad. Come on 10mil for Curtis Davies? Anyway it means nothing now with the season a couple of days away.
I watched the England game last night and I would like to make a couple of views as to the players on show hear.
Gerrard was the best player on the pitch. He looked very comfortable out wide and showed his class at being able to play anywhere on the pitch. Now before anyone says Lampard was prefered to him for the CM role I would like to point out that the only reason it was Gerrard moved was because Lampard only knows how to play one kind of game. Lampard also had a pretty decent game although he seriously needs to get over himself and realise there are times to shoot and times to pass. He missed a couple of sitters and if he had produced a pass at times when he shot…then who knows.
It is because of Lampard that England ONLY won 4-0. Not a critism just an observation. Ashley Cole had a great game. I hate him now but I will be sad non the less to see him go.
I watched the game as well, just to pick up on some of the points raised so far
1. Lampard scored last night and did well to get there, however these are the runs he is expexted to make and the positions he should be busting a gut to get into more frequently, that goal did take a massive deflection though.
2. How did Lampard manage to miss from five yards after having time to control the ball in the box after being left unmarked.
3 England were found wanting from corners last night, 3 opportunities were created by Greece, one of which was cleared off the line, with the same player guilty of losing (standing like a statue) the player he was ment to be marking, that Greek player getting on the end of each corner but really should have done better.
4. We saw crouch filling in at midfield at times to cover Lampards forward runs, Lamprd NEGATING crouches purpose in the team to provide an aerial threat in the box, he should be joining the attack, not sacrificing another forward players attacking attributes for his own thirst to get on the scoresheet.
5. Gerrard along with Hargreaves made the midfield tick last night, gerrard popped up in a number of positions providing width on the right, providing defensive cover for when neville got forward, looked for the ball in midfield to start attacks, linked well with the forwards and managed to create a few very good opportunities which really should have been put away, oh yes he even appeared on the left hand side providing a couple of quality crosses and contributing yo one of Crouches goals from that side of the pitch. Thought he linked extremely well with Hargreaves who both seem to have developed an understanding of each others game already, Downing was also a plus point at night, looked a liitle naive at times, but on a whole looks made for that right hand side.
There seems to be a common misconception that stats will paint a true picture in a dicsusion of this type, relying on stats alone (Handpicked stats) will tell us that Lampard is a better player than Gerrard, it wont tell the real impact a player has on a game and how he contributes to the all round performance of that team. Sure Lampard scored a goal last night but against better opposition he could have been at fault for conceeding 3, these are the facts stats dont provide, football as we all know is not black and white so please try and see past the blue coloured glasses, its not because Lampard is a “Blueboy” its just that most people know what Lampards game is about apart from the few who seem to think that just scoring goals makes you the best midfielder around.
I would stop using the stats to compare Gerrard and Lampard, as already explained, they are two different types of player with different roles at club and International level. The fact that Gerrard is not that far behind Lampard in the goal chart considering he has a less attacking role doesnt really suggest that Lampard is outperforming Gerrard, it merely suggests that with Gerrard’s contribution elsewhere on the pitch along with his attacking threat he is of greater value to both vlub and country, but stats are stats and they can be twisted.
Agree about Crouch, he’s proving a very good international option up front, linked well with Defoe and midfield, made himself available moved well and looked to supply ammunition for his team mates, maybe he’s getting the hang of this scorinf lark!
soup dragon… last nights game…
“Lamps owned, he moved things from side to side and drew the midfielders high up the pitch to make room for the other attacking players to bomb forward.”
Come on mate, take the rose tinted spectacles off! Lampard had a tidy game. Nothing outstanding, just competant. He missed at least one sitter. His distribution was good for the most part, but he didnt really create that much. He certainly wasn’t playing like the player you have been describing in this blog. Lampard was nothing more than adequate.
“Gerrard seems to have taken knock of confidence since losing his chance to become the captain, thought there were a few too many misplaced passes tonight.”
Gerrard on the other hand was without doubt our most creative/threatening player. If he had stayed on for the whole 90 mins there is no doubt he would have been man of the match, but owen hargreaves desreves that honour this time round.
I was happy with the formation, and the players used for each position. i would prefer gerrard in the middle and lennon on the right but, Gerrard operates extremely well on the right, especially when given license to roam. That allows us to play Frank in the middle. As long as Frank can keep linking well with the opposition defenders to score bizarre deflected goals then he should start to rediscover his form.
Roll on south africa…
My point is this, if England were to have a second player in the Gerrard mould, a player who is creative can score goals and can operate in more than one position on the pitch who is also defensively sound, that player along with Gerrard would be filling the central midfield role, possibly Kevin Nolan possibly even Joey Barton in a couple of years, where does that leave Lampard? on the bench. Whilst England continue to use Lampard in every game(including Friendlies), the option of finding greater depth to add to the squad is not being exploited, both players above are both now experienced enough and have the talent to progress? Sure it looks good on the surface when Lampard scores and England win 4 – 0, but Lampards defensive Frailties were exposed last nigth by a lesser team who could have done better with the three oportunities handed them.
You state Lampards play was adequate, last night was one of his better games for England but because of the scoreline people fail to identify problem areas, England could have better squad options in midfield if those in charge take this opportunity handed them (honeymoon period i think its called) to find the missing midfield link that will improve the cohesion of the midfield, Gerrard and Hargreaves look to have that cohesion Dowwning looks suited to the left and slots in well, Lampard does well enough going forward but lacks in other areas which better teams have and will continue to exploit. Lets not get carried away, we played a poor Greece side and won, this should be expected, its not something that will have opposition thinking England are any better than they were during the world cup and yes if you do watch last nights game again look out for the points made earlier you might notice them if you take your glasses off.
fantastic discussion. you guys have been going at it for days now….
magicspacemonkey, football fan, normski, TrueBlue – please read this page and contact me
the rest are welcome as well.
People saying “Lampard missed at least one sitter” and “Lampard missed a sitter”. Hitting the target isn’t missing, Crouchy nicked it off his toe on the rebound.
Gerrard had about 7 misplaced “champagne” balls in the first half, getting disposessed twice and playing one good ball into the area.
Lampard put the free-kick into the area for the first goal, made a run from the edge of his own box for the second goal (got tugged back as he accellerated past the defender which put him of balance, should have been a penalty). He was right in the zone for the 3rd goal when the ball dropped into the area, took it down and managed to get enough power on it to force a parry for Crouch to slide in and get it (good awareness by Crouchy). Lampard didn’t get disposessed once, and made 3 misplaced passes in the whole game.
If you tell me it’s because he’s out of position. Why were you saying he can play like a pro anywhere, and why did Aaron Lennon come on in the same position and put in 2 balls equal to Gerrard’s input in the whole game in about 10 minutes. Gerrard was shit last night, he gave away possession frequently. Looks like his old England form is back. For Liverpool he’s a fucking colossus, for England he’s still not doing it for me.
If you think it’s academic that he will be in the starting line up, think again.
All of you forgot that John Terry scored the first goal, and had a flawless performance. For those who doubted his appointment as captain, I think you have been proven wrong.
Soup dragon…
“All of you forgot that John Terry scored the first goal, and had a flawless performance. For those who doubted his appointment as captain, I think you have been proven wrong.”
er… correct me if i am wrong but, this is NOT a Chelsea v Liverpool discussion is it?
I agree, john terry was again excellent. he is one of the best CB’s in the world. He will make an excellent captain for England, as would Gerrard, but I think that terry is the right choice. He is a chest thumper, He is so much more overtly jingoistic about england, and the general public love to see that. It helps the gutter press make funny little headlines that harp on about ‘2 world wars and one world cup’, but i digress, i agree with you that Terry is an excellent choice for the captaincy. That is not to say that gerrard would have been a bad choice.
“If you tell me it’s because he’s out of position. Why were you saying he can play like a pro anywhere, and why did Aaron Lennon come on in the same position and put in 2 balls equal to Gerrard’s input in the whole game in about 10 minutes.”
it is a FACT that Gerrard did not just stick to the RW. He was obviously given the freedom to roam, which is why he could be found breaking up opposion attacks in defensive areas as well as supplying ‘champagne’ passes in other areas of the pitch, including the left hand side. wasn’t it gerrards work on the LEFT that created on of the goals?
“Gerrard was shit last night”
Deary deary me… I am now convinced that you have decided to slate Gerrard even if it makes you look like you haven’t got the first idea about football. I know from your previous posts that you must know a little bit about the game, so why spoil it all by coming out with nonsense like that??
Of course, you are entitled to your opinion, but it seems that…. YOU ARE IN A MINORITY.
Below are the opinions of a couple of football journalists. It doesn’t mean that they are Gospel, they are just opinion, but how come they all see Gerrard as having the better game than Lampard??
FRANK LAMPARD: Started move that led to his goal with a decisive tackle and a surging 60-yard run before converting via a deflection. Much-needed improved display. 7/10
STEVEN GERRARD: Supposedly on the right, he seemed to be everywhere in his imperious display. Revelling in his new-found role, McClaren may finally get the best out of him. 8/10
STEVEN GERRARD
STAR MAN. Much was made of Gerrard’s position on the right. But the change in formation has immediately set both Gerrard and Lampard free. The Liverpool talisman was constantly on the ball. 9
FRANK LAMPARD
THE Chelsea ace was stung by the criticism he received in the World Cup. If he’d performed like this, it would never have come. A performance full of energy plus a goal, albeit a fortunate deflected one. 7
look, if you admit that gerrard had a better game than Lampard last night, dont worry, it doesn’t make you any less of a chelsea supporter…
comments on this post are now closed. thanks for the delightful discussion everyone, but i think you guys have said all that there is to be said.
are you still a fan chelshit were history buyers……we make history and not buy it………………………lol chelsea is back where they belong..shit club full of fans who jumped into the van and left the wagon ….but no matter what u do u cannot have loyal fans as THE GREATEST CLUB IN THE WORLD HAS.glory united