Sir Alex Ferguson wondered how much improvement we’d see from this current group of Chelsea players, considering the majority of the team had already hit the peak of their careers.
His comments were exaggerated in the press, leading to criticism from Ron Harris and John Terry, before Ferguson put a ban on interviews with the papers.
A few months in to the season, just how right was Ferguson in his analysis of Chelsea? Worryingly so, claims this Chelsea fan.
We’ve all heard the spiel by now – Luiz Felipe Scolari won’t be given any money for players in January – but whether or not Roman sticks to that if the current squad continues with its current form remains to be seen.
The suggestion at the minute seems to be that if Scolari insists on bringing in new recruits, he’ll have to fund it by selling off some of what he’s already got. Did Scolari know all this before he agreed to manage Chelsea, or is this penny-pinching as much of a surprise to him as it is to some of us?
I mean, let’s be honest, Chelsea spent a shed load of money putting together a side capable of winning back-to-back titles. Of course, it takes more than money to do that but would we have done it without having the financial muscle to compete on a level with the top clubs? I think the fact that we clearly didn’t have the resources to take the number one spot pre-Roman answers that one.
However, some elements of our Championship winning side have gone and there are others who are getting close to their sell-by dates and as good a squad as we have, Sir Alex Ferguson’s point at the start of the campaign about it being hard to see how far we could go with what we’d got, is starting to make a lot of sense as the season wears on.
Chelsea have already gone a couple of seasons as runners up to United in the League, finishing totally pot-less last season, and under the new non-spending regime, brought in only Jose Bosingwa and Deco in the summer. So whilst Bosingwa was a necessity rather than a luxury purchase, despite a blistering debut month from Deco, it’s starting to look like he might well not last the distance. And already this season, if our last few games are anything to go by, what we’re looking at is a jaded looking side with a lack of fight, energy or ideas.
Scolari seems unfazed with the lack of funds to address this problem though, stating “In January, if I have something to buy one player or another, OK. If I don’t have, it’s not a problem for me because I have a good squad, I like this squad. Maybe some clubs want one of my players and the time is for change. I give you this and you give me that.” Which is all very resourceful of the Chelsea boss, but isn’t this drastic cost-cutting going to leave us even further behind United, not just in May but in the long-term as well? Because for all John Terry’s straw-clutching earlier this year, suggesting United had reached their peak last season and we’d be the one’s raising the bar this time around, even the briefest look at some of their young talent so far shows that theory to be way off the mark.
So is Roman really happy to spend yet another season finishing behind United, or worse? Because like it or not, unless Chelsea seriously look at bringing some new, younger personnel in, of a high enough calibre, we could be in big trouble.
Like what you read? Vote for this blog here.
A joy and a pleasure to read this after watching the RentBoyz jet out of the gate to the general pleasure of the “I told you so” ABU journalists who only report on what they see in front of their faces RATHER THAN bringing any sense of the season-long struggle ahead. Now that the RentBoyz are struggling to maintain their form, having lost their “fortress’ impregnability” and seemingly devoid of any kind of PlanB, it looks like SAF’s earlier prognostications are being finally heard – at least by those who are willing both to listen and to think. I’m sure that the worm will turn a few more times but the reality is that Chel$ki have an old squad who may be experienced but are unlikely to get much better, either individually (excepting Jon Obi-Mikel) or collectively. When Sir Alex stated this obvious reflection on his opponent’s squad he was treated with derision. Who’s laughing now ?
I love it. Rent boys decline could not happen to a better club
Cunts!
CHELSEA ARE THE NEW AC MILAN OF English premier league.
They couldnt buy history… not it seems they cant buy new players either lol.. Rentboy lob ons.
Ferguson Is ALWAYS Right. It Has Been Proved Time And Time Again
He sounds like he’s over-reacting to me.
Well u said it for me Manc. Never ever believe that Fergie is wrong. Its a shame the press cant see that
they have won nothing without jose, shows why fergie respected him
Thats a massive overreaction. They’ve been scoring for fun.
Jonny they haven’t scored for fun in matches now… you still watching the replays mate?
as for TheChelseaBlog post – great writing and interesting insight from inside the blues. keep the great posts coming. … oh, and i voted!
Sure, they have scored more goals against lesser teams than during Mourinho’s tenure – but they also have been horrible against teams that are actually better than Blackburn. They were by no means impressing against Arsenal, us or Bordeaux and actually looked overmatched against Liverpool and Roma.
Right now, I’m pretty happy Mourinho isn’t the manager.
Fuck the cunts, bastard Terry and his ass kisser teamates went for the money and got fuck all last year cos red team passion and pride overcomes selfish grasping wankers like the rentboy wankers……puff puff pant pant…. god i almost lost it there lol
Okay Scotty I admit it…I suffer from Blog tourettes….
Fucking Rentboy Bastards…..
And Gooner Gayboy Cunts
Well, they do seem to (finally) be tightening their belts. It’s a fair argument to make and it’s got a lot of merits (Terry, Lampard, Drogba, Anelka etc). Can’t say I’m particularly sad to see them have to watch their spending. Though perhaps, it’s a bit premature to panic the way he’s doing now.
Its going to be interesting now as the Rentboys will have Shitty City competing to try and buy the Prem League,FA Cup etc by trying to outbid each other for any half decent player who becomes available. the scumbag agents will be camped out with one bollock in the smoke and the other in Manc land….. Ambraovich has learnt that splsahing the cash dony always work in the long run as sometimes you get caught out by paying over the odds for shite……
Don’t write off the rentboys, lads.
It’s not a question of “writing off” the RentBoyz but, rather, seeing these things in some sort of perspective. They did amazingly well AFTER JoseTheMoaner left (or was pushed or just cashed his cheque) but, in reality, the last two-plus years have witnessed a slow decline from the really strong performances of their two EPL-title winning years.
It may have looked like Scolari did some learning from their experience of the last four years when they shot out of the gate but, really, their forward line without Drogba and Cole is weak. I know that Anelka has scored a dozen goals but few of them have been goal-scorer’s goals and most have been tap-ins which have resulted from very strong midfield play rather than very good forward play. Kalou is not very good and Malouda seems to be regressing on a game-by-game basis.
I suppose that an argument could be made – and probably should be made – that a full-strength group of RentBoyz would be a formidable opponent but let’s have a reality check here: no team is ever full-strength. One of the main ingredients of a championship team is squad depth because injuries are predictable for the group (if always accidental for the individual). And, let’s not forget that this has been a team of bullies which has gloried in their superiority but seems less resilient or inventive when their opponents have pushed back.
Still, even taking into account the early bumps along the road, I have seen nothing that would make me alter my foolhardy, pre-season prediction that the RentBoyz will probably get between 80-85 points but UTD will probably get 85-90 points. The other two – the pretenders – will probably get between 75-80 points.
So, the writing on my wall suggests a Manchester United Treble.
Essien’s quality….take a player out of our team of his importance and we would be in trouble too….someone like Rio, not even Evans could deputise as faultlessly as Ferdinand for 4 months….good to see Deco’s having problems though, was sick of hearing about his genius at the start of the season and it looks like teams have adjusted to apply the pressure a bit…United have competed with Chelsea financially in recent years, you can only really have a squad of 15 world-class players and so thankfully it looks like Chelsea are beginning to understand the limits of money and importance of coaching and team cohesion….back to the drawing board for Roman and Peter ‘Paedo look-a-like’ Kenyon