Chelsea’s smart signings point to a very difficult title defense for Manchester United
Where Manchester United splashed the cash and chased Owen Hargreaves for over an year, Chelsea moved in quietly and picked up Steve Sidwell on a free.
And when Manchester United completed the anticipated signing of Nani and coupled that with the surprise signing of Anderson, Chelsea responded with another surprise, this time with Claudio Pizarro.
Here at Soccerlens (and over at Red Rants) we’ve discussed the impact of Nani and Anderson at Manchester United at length – and the general consensus is that these two are long-term buys, and in that sense fantastic acquisitions for the club.
In contrast, Chelsea are buying to plug small gaps in an already awesome machine. Pizarro gives them options on the bench as well as cover during the ANC. I think Ben Sahar will play more next season (if he’s not sent out on loan) and he’s looked good in the one game I saw him play in. Up front, they are covered, something that wasn’t the case this season.
In midfield, Sidwell helps cover for Mikel and Essien when they leave for the ANC, and gives Mourinho a replacement for Makelele in the squad (in terms of numbers if not in terms of quality). It’s important to have that sort of cover, although some might argue that Sidwell is just a squad player and could go the same route as Scott Parker.
Chelsea are also said to bring Alex to Stamford Bridge, giving them strength at the back. I don’t think KB should be shot – he hasn’t been given a long enough run in the side – but Alex will surely be ahead of him. That leaves the right-back position, but given Chelsea’s movements so far I think they’ll go for a smart, cheap signing once again.
Where does that leave Manchester United (the club that finished its transfer business on 31st May)? Effectively, Manchester United have quality players coming back from loans and they’ve bought quality as well, but it will take all of them time to settle in and play together and it’s that harmony and seamless change that Ferguson will have to mastermind – it’s not going to be easy transitioning Scholes and Giggs out of the squad (with Neville it’s easier and Ole is already a distant backup).
Both Chelsea and Manchester United have brought in quality to their benches – United with Nani and Anderson and Chelsea with Pizarro – and it will be very interesting to see how the title race pans out next season.
Apologies to Liverpool and Arsenal fans, but without any serious signings, you can’t expect me to include you in title discussions, do you? With current squads, both Liverpool and Arsenal won’t win the Premiership next season. And no, Newcastle and Tottenham won’t either.
Topics: Chelsea, English Premier League, Features, Football Transfers, Manchester United
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i really doubt sidwell and pizzaro will make a serious impact on the premiership (with chelsea). anyone remember maniche? sidwells blown his chance of getting into the england squad now. and your right ahmed, as things stand, arsenal and liverpool have no chance of winning the league next season. although arsenal will do better when their key players return: henry and van persie. liverpool on the other hand have the money, but cant seem 2 attact any big name players. lets hope chelsea give us a bit more of a challenge next season!! come on united!
June 2nd, 2007 @ 15:39Personally i think Pizzaro will be a good signing for Chelsea (which worries me as i am a gooner) and the fact they got him free was extremley good business. Those who follow football more closley know of the talent Pizzaro has. You could argue its down to him playng in Germany that his reputation is not as big as it should be.
Chelsea splashed out 30million for Shevchenko, and we all know how that turned out. According to some papers hes is already back in Italy signing a for Milan again. But Pizzaro does’nt have the tag of a 30million fee and reputation as the Worlds best striker hanging over him.
To be honest i think the majority of Chelsea fans are wondering who the hell he is. The answer to that is the man who will do what Shevchenko should have done.
As for Sidwell, i agree with Sam on this. Its a bad move for him to make. Unless chelsea offload Lampard, Essien, Ballack, Obi Mikel and Makelele, i doubt he will see much, if any first team action this season. But now he plays for a top four side, he will get a England call up just on merit…
June 2nd, 2007 @ 15:53Ive lived the last 20 years here in Germany,in my mind this Pizzarro Dude is just your average Joe,have heard of late he
June 2nd, 2007 @ 16:24bemoans his wage packet and lest we forget the Bundesliga aint
what you would call top notch football,playing far fewer games
at top level,stick him next to boularouz on the bench,but here were not talking Berbatov Quality!!
Isn’t Chelsea just trying to fill the void left by 5 players come January? I think the signings of Sidwell and Pizarro will add nothing to Chelsea’s squad, and they’ll struggle big time in the almost 2 months without Geremi, Kalou and especially Essien, Mikel and Drogba. The last 3 are among their 6 most important players, and the players brought in are no where near of the same quality.
Plus I think the quality of Nani and Anderson might be underestimated. I’m pretty sure that both – especially Anderson – are already capable of making match-winning moves. They may not play that many games (about 20 perhaps) the first season, but they’ll definitly show their quality once in the same team as Ronaldo, Scholes, Carrick, Rooney, Giggs…I have no worries about them not making an impact. Add to that the grind of Hargreaves plus keeping a full squad during the ANC.
I’d say that right now Man United are even further ahead than last season…but of course a lot can change.
June 2nd, 2007 @ 16:43The Fact is that chelsea have made one decent signing(Sidwell) and one important signing(Pizarro).
Sidwell would play an important part in chelsea line up and would play the role of spreading the ball down the wings, so it is important for chelsea to have good wing attack if they want to bring sidwell in use, ofcourse he will get his chance during ANC when Essien and Mikel will be absent, it is stupidity to doubt anyones ability until you watch him play. and surely he has made his England place on merit as Dave 28 said, as we all know that all(English) Chelsea Players are part of England Line up and most of them share part in First team action like Joe Cole, Frank Lampard, John Terry, Ashley Cole. and few will make places on bench, like Bridge and Sidwell.
As far as pizzaro is concerned there is no doubt that he is a great player and woul play an instrumental part while running at Full Backs(because i think he will be asked to come down the wings), howerer one Face is that the previous 2 signings from germany(Ballack, Boulharouz) are a flop so it will be intresting to see this one in action.
June 2nd, 2007 @ 16:57This Sidwell signing reminds me a lot of when they signed Scott Parker a few seasons ago, he won’t get to play ahead of Lampard, Essien, Makelele, or probably even Mikel or Diarra, he might stay for one year, but then im prepared to bet theyll sell him on to someone like Newcastle.
June 2nd, 2007 @ 17:05I am a United fan, but I dont think you can underestimate Arsenal. They are exactly in the same situation United were last year. United were written off, especially with Nistelrooy leaving. But United fought back and won the league. Ruud left, we signed a keeper and a midfielder. Arsenal has already signed a keeper and they might buy a quality midfielder/winger (probably Ribery?).
Chelsea won the FA cup in 96, united won the premiership, lost to the eventual winners (Dortmund) in CL and Arsenal did the double the following year.. Deja Vu
Although I whole heartedly pray that United win it next year, I just dont want everyone to write off Arsenal so cheaply.
June 2nd, 2007 @ 18:52Chelsea are not shy when it comes to snapping up allsorts of players simply because they are available.
June 2nd, 2007 @ 20:23Hence the Sidwell and Pizarro deals, neither player particularly talented.
Ill reserve jusdgement on Chelsea’s tranfer business until the window closes. Im sure there will be a few star names in there too.
Arsenal are only a few sigings away from being back to there best. A lot will depend on what happens with Henry and Barca.
United have acted quickly this time to land Anderson and Nani, both of whom were atracting the attentions of Europe’s elite. Add Hargreaves to that and you have to say that United have definitely added quality to last season experience. Im undecided right now as to whether United actually need a new striker or not.
Liverpool, despite the apparent abundance of cash available have been slow to impose themselves on the tranfer market yet. Strong specualtion about both Eto’o and Torres being bound for Anfield. Will cost a pretty tidy sum and is not without risk.
I can’t see a change in the top two next season. Yet.
I agree in part with sharath on the fact that Arsenal cannot be underestimated,however they don’t have the experience in the side that United had this season and if the kids can find their form then they may start to bridge the gap. If Anderson and Nani play well this season with 2 of Chelsea’s biggest players going to the ANC then Utd should win the EPL because Pizarro is nowhere near as good as Drogba and Sidwell definately doesn’t match up to Essien or Mikel for that matter and those two players carried Chelsea this year.
June 2nd, 2007 @ 20:42i am not really sure the sight of claudio pizzarro is going to strike fear into the hearts of defenders, anyways good bit of buisness by the blues….but i think chelsea should not get rid of sheva and in my opinion still need another striker..lets look at the stats…they have 4 strikers now
1) Drogba
2) Kalou
3) Schevchenko
4) Pizzarro
if they get rid of scheva they’ll digging their own grave..they’ll be having only 1 striker available in pizzarro for a whole 2 months ANC (Drogba and Kalou who has decided to play for Ivory Coast instead of Holland) now that isnt something any team wants when its challenging for the league…although i’m a united fan but i sure as hell dont want mourinho to start saying at the end of next season that they didnt win the league they didnt have their best players available..
p.s ahmed with their current squad i think United’s biggest threat to the league are arsenal because they are a maturing side and with a couple of signinigs they’ll for me over haul chelsea
June 2nd, 2007 @ 20:48To answer Dave 28, we do know who he is funnily enough, we’re not all jcls mate. I’d also like to point out that we spent big last season and were all over the papers with Ballack and Sheva, and with Utd it was quite the opposite. Look who won the title. Sidwell and Pizzaro are strength in depth signings, something which we needed last season and will need in the coming one. They’re not going to set the world alight but as Dave 28 said with Pizzaro, they have no obligation to.
June 2nd, 2007 @ 20:52I think Pizzarro will do good at chelsea but i cant see him making any impact until drogba and kalou go to anc,only then will he get his chance,as for Schevchenko why get rid of him !!!!! ok hes been s… this season but look at drogba in his first 2 seasons he could’nt hit a barn door and now look at him,im certain schevo will get back to his best a player whos done so much for club(acmilan)and country level just dosent turn into a peter crouch overnight ! as for sidwell i still have my doubts i think his chances will only come around when players go to anc but then again i would still play him before that german guy we signed ! think his name is bollock !
June 2nd, 2007 @ 22:57Pizzaro isn’t a surprise, German media had him linked with Chelsea months ago. It has been known for quite some time that he wishes to leave Bayern
June 3rd, 2007 @ 00:21Chelsea really need Alex desperately in my opinion. otherwise I cant see them competing for the EPL.
The fact that Man U bought the players so early gives them 2 months to make enough of the cultural changes to fit in, ie language, and they have all of pre-season to start meshing as a team.
That said I hate both teams and I hope both come away with nothing next season – well one of em has to get the charity shield, but who cares abouth that trophy
June 3rd, 2007 @ 02:26ROONEY
ANDERSON
RONALDO NANI(gigg
HANGREAVES SCHOLES
EVRA VIDA RIO GARRY
VARDESER
June 2nd, 2007 @ 22:35Make no mistake Chelsea still have an awesome squad and on comparison probably better than ManUtd. Yes, Nani and Anderson change the equation but to what extent we really do not know.
Mourinho knows this and all he is doing is getting backup for the players he won’t have during the ANC and plugging the gaps in his squad. For the later I expect to see a big name signing in defense for Chelsea this summer. With that they would be ready for the next season.
June 3rd, 2007 @ 03:21It appears that many football fans who are currently at the helm of not even a single football club at their neighbourhood giving free advice about how bad Chelsea’s signings are, and have the audacity to consider themselves as a top notch advisor in cultural affairs predicting that ” 2 month time will suffice for cultural changesâ€. Their assumptions are based on that Nani & Anderson are Friday, and SAF is a bloody Robinson Crusoe! Stating one’s opinion in a democratic environment is every one’s right, however, giving opinionated comments based on biased views and no expertise is slanderous.
June 3rd, 2007 @ 03:41You know Harry, I think you are taking this much too seriously and are being a tad politicaly uncorrect with your analogies (Friday and Robinson Crusoe). Besides, patcook doesn’t seem to have said one bad word against the signings Chelski have made but has made a very valid point that clubs making these early signings will have a fairly good chance of getting them settled in and over the initial culture shock. They can get a full preseason in with their new clubs and we all have heard how important the coaches think that is.
June 3rd, 2007 @ 05:14People your a missing the point with the Sidwell signing, as Ahmed states Obi Mikel and Essien will be off to the African Nations Cup for a large part of the season. And with Essien all but replacing Makelele in the side then there is a definate need to for another player to plug up that void. Agreed Sidwell long term has made the wrong desicion and even at Man U (before the Nani and Anderson singings)he would have had a chance and being a 1st teamer. Thats my thoughts cheers
June 3rd, 2007 @ 07:05I am a man utd fan…Just cant believe that people are simply writing off liverpool….Agreed that for the past two seasons,its been more of talk and less of action coming outta anfield,but with the yanks and their cash plus a couple of good and astute signings,i cant see no reason why they shouldnt be challenging for top honours…next season’s gonna be very close as many of us think….
June 3rd, 2007 @ 10:41Pizarro and Sidwell were bought as cover for the African stars set to head out for Nations cup duty. While Alex was bought to give cover to Carvalho and Terry. In short Chelsea are plugging holes in their squad. And have no doubt Scheva and Ballack will be better next year. So Chelsea will be much tougher and are likely to return to the all conquering 4-3-3 system. With the return to fitness of Cole and Robben who will share wing duty with SWP, Kalou and Shechenko.
June 3rd, 2007 @ 11:14Not impressed at all with Chelsea’s signings. It is, however, a clear indicator that the intention is the limit expenses – they will still have by far the world’s biggest wage bill.
June 3rd, 2007 @ 13:15Sorry seb, i was not trying to imply that at all. What i meant is that there will be many Chelsea supporters who will not have as great a knowledge of Pizzaro as they would of Sheva, as Sheva is a big name in World football.
Pizzaro is a quality player but doesn’t have the same high profile as the Ukranian hitman.
Sorry for the confusion.
June 3rd, 2007 @ 18:11Keith, i have heard that Sheva is in italy looking to go back to AC Milan..
June 3rd, 2007 @ 19:37Can anyone tell me how much truth is in this..
@Sharath
June 3rd, 2007 @ 21:12United won d fa cup in 1996
well what people should know is not how big the name of sheva is compared to pizarro but the fact that they still have the strongest team of the world.
June 4th, 2007 @ 00:57manu already signed nani, anderson, and hargreaves… oledi use up 50million… i thik the three guys will be good enough to bring manu defend their title next year!!! sidwell and pizzaro only cost 0 to chelsea.. quality not good as manu signing…
June 4th, 2007 @ 11:04Abdullah ,I honestly don’t know. My gut feeling is I very much doubt Scheva will move. He had started showing signs of his true self towards the end of the season. He and Ballack will be different players after a proper pre-season that had no streneuos off season tournaments.
They will be like new signings next season and with the return to fitness of Robben and Cole, I expect a return to 4-3-3. Which will suit Ballack and Scheva greatly.
June 4th, 2007 @ 11:08Even with these holes filled in i still think Manu will come out d stronger side but chelsea will really giv em a run 4 their money an as Keith Karia II rightly said Sheva will cum out strong next seasonas he did show sum o his true colours towards d end o d season also Robben an Cole will b back makin life very hard 4 d other teams.I think next season, like d 06-07 season will b a 2 horse race between Manu an Chelsea.
June 4th, 2007 @ 12:36Can’t wait 4 it 2 begin though it’s still quite far away!!!
Yours truely Villa
As much as its bad for the game, Im not fussed if Arsenal get taken over..Taking over Premierships is so hot right now, as loing as the Arsenal can win even the Carling n FA Cup wil be greta we eed some serious signings ARsenal its time to grow some balls and spend wenger spend
June 20th, 2007 @ 16:10I know that this new season will be very tough for man.united and others bcs Chelsea is going to take back what belongs to them as the Champions of the premiership…Now that Pizzaro will be supporting in their striking force it will not going to be easy for any defence to stop him combining with drogba…..I love the blues and i wish them all the best. Chikerem
July 8th, 2007 @ 23:28