Spiga

Pre Season - Guangzhou Pharmaceuticals vs Chelsea

Chelsea's pre-season friendlies start today with their first match against Guangzhou Pharmaceuticals in China. Its likey that Bosingwa and Deco will make their Chelsea debut today. But the squad that Scolari is going to pick for this match is very unpredictable. It will be intersting to see if Scolari goes with a full strength squad, or if he will play youngsters like Di Santo and Ivanovic. Pizzaro is left out of the squad that has travelled to Asia while Drogba is unavailable due to injury.

The Peruvian is left behind from the squad playing pre-season frendlies citing injury problems but that might not be the case. Paris St Germain, who have already signed Claude Makelele from Stamford Bridge, are said to be interested in Pizzaro. This might be the wise thing for Chelsea and Pizzaro, who has failed to settle at Stamford Bridge. Meanwhile Florent Malouda, who has gone on tour, is rumoured to be wanted on a loan deal by Roma. Roma, need to replace Mancini after selling the Brazilian to Internazionale and is understood to have offered only €13m.

The Robinho tansfer saga continues as reports suggest that Chelsea are still in hunt for the Brazilian winger. If Chelsea are indeed to sell Malouda and Wright-Phillips (to Portsmouth?), then Robinho will be an excellent replacement. Chances are that Robinho will be Blues' last signing this summer, but certainly not the last transfer deal. Ben-Haim is linked with a move to Manchester City while Belletti is linked with a move to Benfica. With Bosingwa and Ferreira in the squad as right-backs, I don't see any reason why Belletti won't be sold. After Cech, Essien And Bridge signing new contracts, Carvalho seems to be the next in queue as the club seems to be doing everything to settle the uncertainities.

Daily Express reports that Lampard, after weeks of confusion, has finally been offered the deal he wants at about £150,000 a week and is all set to commit himself to Stamford Bridge for the rest of his career. £150,000 a week !! I don't know if that's a wise decision, assuming the rumour is true. But rather than Frank staying for a year and then leaving to Milan for free, something ought to be done. Either he should be sold now or this absolutely outrageous deal should be accepted, settling the matter once and for all. But Lampard bcoming the highest paid British footballer doesn't look fair.

“How can they accelerate beyond what they’ve done? I don’t see outstanding progress in a team that is in their 30s", says Sir Alex about Chelsea's chances next season. So the verbal duel begins. Obviously the United manager is too worried about the threat we provide and has come up with statements like this weeks before the league will begin officially. One must also take into account that the average age of United players is 27, and that of Chelsea is 28. So I don't see much difference there. Moreover Fergie shouldn't be saying this because taking Ronaldo out of the equation, his greatest weapons are people like Giggs, Scholes and Van Der Saar, who will probably be in old age homes in a few years. So the best reply would be to ignore the old wily red nose!

TV Timings: 1300 Chelsea TV(BST), 23/07/08. Guangzhou Pharmaceuticals vs Chelsea

10 comments:

  PSYCHO

23 July 2008 at 14:40

dude u need to get ur facts straight.

"The average age of United's recognised first-team squad is 25.43 compared with Chelsea's 27.32. In addition, Chelsea possess nine players aged 30 or over, including Deco, who joined from Barcelona last month, while United have only five players in that category."

source : http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/article4380513.ece


glory glory reds

  Anonymous

23 July 2008 at 14:51

@Psycho(apt name)
The average age of the Chelsea team sent out by Chelsea in the Champions League final in Moscow in May was only marginally higher than that of the United side fielded by Ferguson - 28.45 compared to 27.45( from the article you suggested)

Plus the youngsters in United are people like Nani and Fletcher, who are called established first team players!! Its better to have 'old' Deco's, Ballack's and Essien's than to have 'young' Nani's and Fletcher's.

And maybe old fegie forgot about the signings of Ivanovic and Di Santo. Obviously Fergie isn't growing any younger and it shows...he's losing it

  PSYCHO

23 July 2008 at 16:44

yeah he's losing it. but guess who's losing titles? NOT him. Chelsae out their ass whipped. N it's time again

Red Devils Rule.

"Blues" is an apt name. Cuz that's all they'll be.

  Anonymous

23 July 2008 at 17:32

Obviously someone who has a title now will only lose it. So it has to be Fergie than the Blues. Maybe the old buddy should be more concerned about Ronaldo-transfer-circus than bother about opponents having experience, if at all that's some disadvantage as he suggests. According to the old man, experience of Chelsea players are maximum and won't increase any further (entirely new concept), while United players will get better with time (Fletcher will turn into Pele, gice him 5 years time..eh?). Then maybe that should be the case with managers also.

  Vinayak

23 July 2008 at 17:50

nice post
keep it up

  Nithin

23 July 2008 at 22:43

Guys, let's not get carried away by numbers here. Quality matters more than age in some cases and, like Aravind said, a 30 yr old Deco is never going to be a liability.

Chelsea don't have to worry about their current squad at least for the coming season. As for the future, they have the money and, more importantly, they have a manager like Scolari who is more than capable of building a strong team.

Btw, is it just me or does everyone else (Man Utd fans excluded) notice that British papers are usually strongly biased in favour of ManU? I mean, even Fergie has admitted that Scolari won't have much of a problem with the current squad, but the guy who wrote that Times Online article keeps on about how ManU have Anderson, Nani, Crissy, Rooney etc.

PS. If youth matters that much, then maybe I should start celebrating for Liverpool. Other than Carra, most of our players are rather young. *grin*

  Anonymous

24 July 2008 at 00:51

@Vinayak:
Thanks dude. Keep reading!

  Anonymous

24 July 2008 at 00:55

@Nithin:
Totally agree with you. Some of the British papers tend to glorify United.

Only Carra the has old legs in Liverpool? What about Gerrard and Hypia then?

  Nithin

24 July 2008 at 01:25

I was talking about the first team regulars. With Carra and Skrtel around, and now Agger returning from injury, Hyypia isn't going to see too much of first team action. And at 28, Gerrard can't really be called "old legs".

  Anonymous

26 July 2008 at 06:28

Hi Aravind, So how is Chelsea's right-back position looking right now? Bosingwa injured, Belletti I'm sure will leave to Benfica...

Do you think Chelsea's a popular enough club to go all the way to Asia for their pre-season this year? I rather they come to the US.