Chelsea: Pre-season Opinion

With the new season starting next week and pre-season behind us, TheChelseaBlog had a chat with Chelseadaft to get a fellow bloggers opinion on events from the summer and the season ahead. Have a read:

Personally, I’m still waiting for this ‘marquee’ signing we were promised. What about you, are you happy with our activity in the transfer market this summer?

 I have to say that despite the amount of players that we have been linked with i am not too fussed about a marguee signing this season. Under Guus we proved we have the players to do a job for Chelsea and that was without the likes of Deco, Carvalho and the injured Joe Cole and Ferreira. With Sturridge added up front to the ranks and Sheva and Pizzaro back at the club we aren’t exactly struggling with numbers!.
 
Do you think there’s any players we should have got rid of over the summer? 

I am the same as any Chelsea fan. When a player comes out and has a pop at the club or states that they want to move on then go! Deco and Carvalho have both come out and said the same, but obviously their proposed move has stalled so they are in a position where they both need to work hard to win the fans over. I think Deco more than others. He has alot to do to win us over and hasn’t done his self any favours with what he has said this summer. 

Carvalho is one that was a mainstay in the side, Alex stepped in and Riccy didn’t have it all his own way. At the end of the day, if they both have the desire to play for the shirt then i am happy for them to stay. If they don’t and have one eye on  the exit door out of the Bridge then go sooner rather than later as far as i am concerned.
 
What about John Terry, I’ve made no secret of my opinion about the length of time he took to commit himself to the club after City’s offer. Do you think his leaving was ever a possibility? 

I have to say that I was always 99% certain that he would stay because he is Mr Chelsea and purely for football reasons he would stay. He has always stated his love for the club and this was never in question. Like anyone, when it came to the figures being banded about that were reported that was when there was an element of doubt, but it was only the money. Plus I guess at the time, like i reported on my blog many times, we needed to hear from him earlier to stop the circus that had gathered pace about him! 

But it all worked out in the end!

How do you feel about City being the ‘money men’ now? 

Fair play to them and they now have their chance. BUT, what people fail to remember or give Chelsea credit for, was that we already had the basis for our side built by Ranieri. Jose came in and added two/three key players in certain areas and we had success. I think its going to be very interesting to see in a couple of months the situation at City. I can’t see how all the forwards at the club will be happy with a squad rotation system. I can see the likes of Tevez and Bellamy kicking off before long.

If Hughes doesn’t bring some kind of success in the short term bearing in mind the amount of money he has spent then he is out the door!

 
Are you happy with Ancelotti as our latest manager? 

I have to be honest and say initially i wasn’t. When there were all these rumours flying about that he was coming to the Bridge I posted that the “Jury was out” as far as i was concerned about Ancelotti. He had not had alot of recent success with AC Milan in the last few seasons considering the players he had at the club. But, his first interview impressed me and the way the players talked about him I thought well, lets give him a chance.

 
Impressed with our pre-season? 

Very happy apart from the Reading game, where considering it was our first team we were awful. Maybe it was a good thing to give us a kick up the arse in time for this Sunday and the new season next week! I have to say in all the games in the US we looked fit, we looked sharp and our passing was superb!
 
Who do you think will stand out for us in the coming season? 

Didier Drogba will be the stand out for us this season after all the problems he faced at the beginning of last season under Scolari. He was playing catch up once he re-established himself under Guus Hiddink. He showed us what he can do when he is fired up and raring to give his all in a blue shirt.

It looks like Ancelotti wants to play the 4-diamond-2 formation so he will have Anelka/Sturridge as his foil alongside him this season and let’s not forget the last time we played someone up front alongside him (Sheva’s first season) Drogba hit 30+ goals. He has already hit a couple of good goals in pre-season so let’s hope it carries on well into the new season.

 
I know I wasn’t happy about Franco Di Santo going out on loan to Blackburn. What do you make of us sending players like him and Sinclair out on loan all the time? 

I have to say that I agree with the Di Santo and Sinclair loans. Ok Scott has been out on loan more often than not but the move to a Premier League side will give him even better grounding and experience which can only be a benefit to Chelsea.

The same can be said of Di Santo. I really rate him and think he should of had more minutes on the pitch already. But he is a natural goalscorer and he will score goals wherever he plays. Again the move to a Premier League side will bode well for him and for us!
 
How do you think we’ll do this season and what’s good enough come May? 

I am of the opinion that you need to win your bread and butter first and then take whatever else comes our way. I will be well pleased with the Premier League and because the sides around us have been weakened as they have lost players i really think we can do it and bring it back to the Bridge.

But, you can argue with the squad we have now, surely the Premier League plus one other at least would be fantastic. You know that Ancelotti has his eyes on the Champions League, so let’s hope if we are in with a shout of both come the end of the season that he maintains as much focus on the league as well as the Champions League!
 
If we miss out on the title again, who would you rather won it? 

I have to say this is toughy cause ideally i would say none of em. God forbid Liverpool win it as we will never hear the end of it. Man Utd will just be as they are now ( I hate the song they sung last season “Champions of England and of Europe” as it was only because we missed a pen that they won it, when everyone knows that CL should of been ours!) so it leaves the Arsenal.

You have to say deep down we all admire the way they play football and the youngsters he has coming through and we hope that one day we can produce the same quality. So it would be them i guess. At least it would stay in London !