The Blues flattered by 3-0 scoreline as they come out victors of group E

With Andre Villas-Boas in great danger of being Abramovich's next managerial victim, it was of great importance for his Chelsea side to secure qualification to the knockout stages of the Champions League. Villas-Boas had come under much criticism after Chelsea's mediocre season and has come under scrutiny for being too inexperienced and out of his depth at such a big club. The Blues came into Wednesday's match needing a win or a goal scoring draw in order to qualify however they had only managed a one all draw with the Spanish side back in September. There was a great atmosphere in West London as the 42,000 seater stadium was packed out. I was hopeful of the result as our defense seemed to be improving and David Luis had made less mistakes in the three nil win over Newcastle a few days previously. I was also pleased to see Ivanovic starting at right back as i believe he is highly underrated and is always solid for Chelsea regardless of the position he is played in. The pre-match tension had built up as everybody knew the first goal was vital. Three minutes in Drogba showed that despite not having the same pace he did five seasons ago, he is still a world class finisher as he calmly finessed his shot unfazed by the defenders around him. I was pleased to see that after the goal Chelsea pursued a second and did not try and sit back and defend a one goal lead. Romeru  ,Chelsea's newly signed youngster from Barcelona looked to be struggling with his first touch and short passing being poor as he took on the role of anchorman in the midfield. However Valencia's defence was being continually split open with Sturridge and Drogba both having chances to double the lead. Luis, Terry and Ivanovic were looking solid and the only Valencia threat was the combination of pacy winger Jordi Alba and Spain front man Roberto Soldado as Cole was having problems handling them. The second goal came after Drogba, who was outstanding all evening, teared into the Valencia third trying to find Ramires who amazingly managed to out muscle Valencia defender Victor Ruiiz as he hesitated and failed to clear leaving the Brazilian with an easy finish. Straight after Chelsea doubled there lead they completely changed their mentality as the whole team rarely strayed out of their own half. It was clear Villas Boas wanted to protect this lead as the defense and midfield sat deep. Few Chelsea chances were created and Mata and Sturridge looked lost. Romeru and Mereiles began to come into the game and tackled well however had no options as the front three seemed reluctant to make runs. The Blues looked very content to just sit back, much to the frustration of the fans. The possession stat at half time was 34% to Chelsea and 66% to Valencia showing that Chelsea were happy to let Valencia keep possession. The Second half was much the same with Chelsea allowing Valencia to keep the ball with Mereiles and Romeru effectively providing as a wall in front of the defense. The combination of Drogba and Ramieres was by far Chelsea's biggest threat as Rameires kept up the pressure with bursts into the Valencia box. The fans were unhappy with what had so far been a textbook showing for Chelsea and were enraged when John Obi Mikel was bought on for the exhausted Ramieres. As we gave a standing ovation for the Brazilian a man to rows in front shouted "if your bringing him on (John Obi) you might as well bring Ferreira on for Drogba and all" obviously with profanities every other word. This showed me the pressure Boas is under from not only the media but also the Chelsea faithful. Cech went to make a couple of good save from long range efforts as the defence did well to stop any clear shooting chances.. Mata, against his former club, began to come into the game more, linking with Drogba and Mereiles. It wasn't until the 76th minute that Chelsea got a third as Drogba topped off a great performance with a delightful finish after Mata put him through one on one with the keeper. The match ended 3-0 and Chelsea gained their first consecutive wins for two months and guaranteed qualification winning the group. David Luiz looked pleased after managing to put in a solid performance at the back showing that he beginning to adjust to this level of football. Cech also put in a great performance between the sticks seeing off all threats posed by the Valencia attack. However the stand out player was the 33 year old Ivorian who continued to show why he should be in the team ahead of the £50 million man.

Despite what was in the end a comfortable win, the fans still didn't seemed satisfied as there was a melancholy atmosphere during "Blue Is The Colour." Boas will have to start getting his side to grind out results in the Premier League as although it may not please the fans at first in the long run it puts Chelsea in with a shot the fiercely contested title. He has come out saying that he will continue to play his way of football and that will not be compromised however Tuesday night's match showed that by playing a different way, his team looked more comfortable defensively as well as more threatening offensively. This way of playing is certainly reminiscent of Mouhriniho who was a master a grinding out results and making his team always look comfortable in victory. Perhaps Villas Boas is adopting this style or maybe this was just a fluke, we will certainly see in the weeks to come.

Sorry about the late post, I have been busy with exams.

Thanks for reading

Joe

United disappointment Crystal clear in embarrassing midweek loss!

As someone usually very critical of the Carling cup, previously questioning its position in the already jam packed football calendar, I was overwhelmed by the shocking results and performances shown by the eight teams involved. Lets start with the most enthralling game of the four and one of the biggest upsets of recent Carling cup history, Manchester United against Crystal Palace. I grew up in Crystal Palace and went to many games of theirs during their Premier League days when Andy Johnson and Tommy Smith were the stars of their humble squad. Despite not directly supporting them, ( i'm a Chelsea fan if you were wondering) I have always followed their progress and I will always have a special fondness for them. It was unsurprising when United were drawn against the lowest ranked side left in the competition and it was hard to see Palace getting any sort of result against the current Premier League champions and a team a division above them who finished 39 places higher in the football league last season. Nevertheless there was a glimmer of hope for Palace who were on the up sitting in a comfortable 12th position in the championship with players like young Ivorian Wilfred Zaha coming in to some great form. However to the the whole stadiums dismay, Palace opened the scoring through Darran Ambrose who struck a 40 yard belter; reminiscent of Cristiano Ronaldo's strike for Manchester United against Porto in 2009. It was a truly stunning strike from an underrated player who has produced some moments of magic for crystal palace in seasons gone by. However the travelling fans' glory was short lived and normality was restored when United won a penalty. There was bound to be a game changing desicion to go Manchester United's way as there is whenever they are loosing at Old Traffod. Macheda coolly stepped up and slotted home for the equalizer. Zaha was Palace's main threat throughout the second half however, after a poor start, United began to settle into a passing rhythm and create a number of good goal scoring opportunities. Despite this place managed to hold out until extra time however were looking fatigued. To the travailing fans delight, completely against the run of play, Palace snatched a goal through a superb Glen Murray header. Evans' continual poor defending finally caught up with him as he completely lost Murray leaving him with a free header. The late goal cued a United onslaught on the Palace goalkeeper and a late equalizer looked likely. However Palace held out to win a place in the last four for the first time in ten years. After the result against Newcastle last weekend it now seems like United's ongoing luck is finally come to its long awaited end and could spell danger for Ferguson's men.

In other shocking news Owen Hargreaves managed 79 minutes of football for Manchester City in there 1-0 win over Arsenal on Tuesday. Arsenal were unfortunate to lose with 7 attempts on target to City's 2 however Wenger's side look's much improved especially considering the dire situation they were in just a month ago. Sergio Aguero got the winner as City carry on their amazing run, which I can't see being stopped looking at the strength and depth of their squad. Chelsea on the other hand are looking quite the opposite loosing again against a mediocre Liverpool side. With their defense being torn apart week after week, Chelsea need to pull together and start getting the results. I'm not going to go into too much detail as I am going to Stamford Bridge on Tuesday to see them play Valencia in a crucial Champions League tie against Spanish giants Valencia. I will write a in-depth post on Wednesday the 7th about the game and Chelsea's prospects for the rest of the season and I will try not to be too pessimistic however i'm not too hopeful about Chelsea's future with Villas-Boas in charge.

I hope you have enjoyed today's post and please leave a comment telling me about your views on this weeks fixtures

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Joe Bloggs

What is Wayne doing?

After another disappointing display on their travels, England are going to be without Wayne Rooney for the group stage of Euro 2012. The events of Friday evening are sure to bring back memories of Rooney's previous rebellious escapades and this evident violent display is certainly reminiscent of his dismissal in Euro 2004 after a stamp on Portuguese centre-half Ricardo Carvalho. After Rooney showed the travelling England fans he still is yet to fully mature as a world class footballer, England went on to put in a mediocre performance against a team 39th ranked  in the FIFA world rankings (a full 32 places behind England) as the match ended with two goals a piece. Although England qualified comfortably six points ahead of second, this match certainly sent Capello and the players a wake up call and underlined the amount of work needed to be done before next summer. It certainly raised the question that if England continue to play below par and can only manage lackluster draws against average European sides, what is going to happen when we draw Holland, Spain or Germany in the quarter finals of next summers tournament? It also poses the question can we even get that far with out are supposed Talisman of a front man and arguably are only striker, in what is a young English side, that is capable of scoring goals on a regular basis.

On a slightly positive note at least we qualified and avoided a repeat of the shame of 2007 in which we witnessed a horrid turn of events as England fell at the last hurdle and failed to make it to the tournament which thousands of England fans had already made arrangements to be at. Capello's side will surely be hoping to progress further than their disappointing early exit in the round of sixteen in South Africa over a year ago. One word of warning to England fans is don't get your hopes up. England haven't progressed further than the quarter finals of a major tournament since EURO 96 when England lost to Germany in a penalty shoot out in the semi-finals. Since then we have had various naive managers confident of a world cup win. For example Glen Hoddle who quoted "I honestly thought we would win it" after England got knocked out of the world cup in the round of sixteen to Argentina in 1998. Not forgetting are old friend Sven Goran-Erikson who was quoted "i think we will win it" before the 2002 world cup finals in Korea/Japan. Sven became a joke to most England fans as soon as they were comfortably beaten by Brazil in the quarter finals however went as coach until 2006 when he made way for the equally useless Steve McClaren.

There will certainly be alot of hope amongst fans and players next year at the finals however i cant help thinking that when we come up against a top twenty side we will struggle and once again take an early exit. I may seem pessimistic towards England's world cup chances as we do have a good, young squad of players who play very well week in week out for their club, however i cant believe that Capeelo will be able to perform a miracle and get this squad of players to beat the likes of Spain and Holland, the powerhouses of International Football. The one bit of advice i will leave you with is come next summer be sure to support England, but please be realistic.

Thanks for reading. I will now be posting regularly again so you will be hearing more from me over the next few weeks.
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Thanks

Joe

What a start for United

After a shaky performance away at Benfica on Wednesday night many thought Chelsea stood a chance against an unbeaten Manchester United side. With Ferdinand and Vidic still sidelined United were once again forced to field a young defence with Evans and Evra leading the line. Chelsea however were looking strong with great starts for new signings Mata and Meireles and were coming off the back of a strong midweek Champions League performance. Despite being a big game between arguably the two main title contenders Villas Boas stated that the match "was not key" in a jovial press conference. It was a cracking game between two sides at the top of their game and despite Chelsea having 19 attempts on De Gea's goal - which is no mean feat at Old Trafford - the blues only came away with the single goal. It was by far Chelsea's best performance at Old Trafford in seasons gone by however United despite only having 6 attempts on target finished there chances very clinically. In this post i will be focusing on United's early sucsess this season rather than Chelsea's demise.

It is clear that once again Sir Alex was smart in his summer signings as Young, De Gea and Phil Jones are all already looking like they have been playing at Old Trafford for years. By making his signings early in the window it allowed Sir Alex to mould his squad throughout pre-season and prepare for the start of the season.   Youth has been key to Manchester United's great start with Tom Cleverly and Danny Welbeck both fitting straight back into the side after loan spells last season. With the addition of the youth Sir Alex has gained over the summer, United's squad certainly has strength in depth with plenty of attacking and defensive options at his disposal as well as a revitalised. But more than anything there has been one player who has been outstanding for United over the past eight months and almost the talisman of their recent success. Luis Nani is the man who has played a large part in their great star this season despite originally finding it hard to settle in when he joined. In his first 100 games he is equal on goals with Ronaldo after his first 100 United games yet has more than double Ronaldo's assists. He was a huge player for united last season scoring 10 goals and will be equally important this season as they face tough opposition for the title from the other side of Manchester. His efforts have certainly not gone unrecognised with Sir Alex saying "these are his best years".

So with united in easy mode at the top of the table, the question is can anyone challenge them for the title?

Leave your thoughts in the comments and please follow my blog for more posts

Joe 

England... are we any good?

Due to me being exhausted and with little going on in the Premier League I have decided to briefly touch on the goings of the past few days regarding England's Euro 2012 qualifying campaign. After a convincing away win over Bulgaria and with Wales narrowly beating Montenegro England were sitting very comfortably at the top of Group G. The atmosphere in Bulgaria was nothing special as the National side were very unlikely to qualify. This meant that days before the game there were still 25,000 tickets still available which led to a desperate attempt to sell them at local stores and petrol stations.It was a comfortable win but beating a terrible Bulgaria side is nothing  for Capello to boast about. The Press once again began bigging up our chances in a major tournament... why do they do it, we should all just expect them to fail before a ball is even kicked; at least then we can't be disappointed. I mean Bulgaria were truly terrible which hid the fact that we didn't actually play that well and the goals came thanks to poor defending an good play between Downing and Rooney.  In addition England's home record at Wembley has been shocking with our last win being last year over Montenegro so there wasn't as much confidence as usual going into the match against the young Welsh outfit. Wales played surprisingly well following on from their win on Friday and it looked like after nearly a year of adjustments it looks like Gary Speed has finally got them playing the kind of football he wants them too. Despite Rob Earnshaw (who is clearly past his best) the Welsh looked young, energised and well led by 20 year old captain Aaron Ramsey. On the other England looked lazy and were slacking. Capello had bought Lampard and Milner in as the only 2 changes from Friday but the team couldn't manage to string more than five passes together... typical England! Wales deserved a point and would have got one if it wasn't for Robert Earnshaw having no idea how to put the ball in the net from 6 yards. Former England captain recently came out disgracing the England players saying that they no longer feel privileged playing for their National team. It now seems that International football has taken a major back-seat from the League and the Premier League and many are starting to wonder weather their will be any International football football in ten or fifteen years time. that do the England players still feel privileged playing for England. Could this be because the all the money is in club football? Personally I think so. In my opinion England cannot be judged until we play a team in the top 10 of the FIFA world rankings; I think when that time comes the nation will once again be sorely disappointed.

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Will be posting every weekend from now on as i have more time.

Deadline Day Aftermath - Round up of the big transfers in the BPL

Wenger left it late but in the end came away with Chelsea deadwood and an uncapped injury prone 28 year old as his replacements for Nasri and Fabregas... Arteta finally agreed personal terms with the London club in the dying minutes of the window despite some sources reporting the deal had stalled. Joey Barton's tweet of " Nasri and fabregas replaced with Benayoun and Arteta?? I wouldn't of done that on FM2010, that's all am saying"  voiced most football fans opinion on Wenger's last-minute business.I can see why Everton fans are frustrated as only two weeks ago in an interview with the BBC Arteta said "I am happy at the club" "I am going to give everything for Everton this season". He has also been very inconsistent for Everton and has had frequent injury problems. Criticisms aside Arteta is a good player in my opinion and has produced moments of greatness for Everton as well as scoring goals. I believe he will help to compensate for Arsenals big losses however i believe Arsenal will still struggle. As for Benayoun I don't believe he is a great player and has done very little in recent times, nevertheless he has key Premier League experience which is important as not alot of Arsenal team do

Chelsea, to my great surprise, made an exiting addition to the squad as they signed Raul Meireles from Liverpool just before the window slammed shut. The most likely reason for this signing is because Chelsea's £40m yes £40 MILLION pound bid for Luka Modric. I personally think that is ridiculous money for a player that has been out of touch since the start of last season. The fee was reportedly in the region of £12m which is a pretty good deal. It is certainly going to be interesting to see where Meireles fits into the Chelsea side.

Stoke managed to grab some last minute deals by obtaining the signatures of record signing Peter Crouch ( £10m but could rise to £12m), Wilson Palacios (£6m) and Cameron Jerome (£4m). They are sure to be key squad players when they start their European adventure in the Europa League.

Blackburn managed to sign Yakubu and Scott Dann Whilst keeping hold of big Chris Samba. But by far the best move from boss Steve Kean was the releasing of the awful foul moth and general idiot El Hadji Diouf.

Bolton added strength to their side with the loan signing of young up and coming stars Gael Kakuta (from Chelsea) and Dedrick Boyata (from Manchester City). They also bought in young French striker from Liverpool...Not too sure about that one Owen.

QPR Signed English pair Shaun Wright Phillips and Anton Ferdinand which are improvements on their average Championship level squad.

Apart from the loss of Meireles, Liverpool had a pretty good day as they signed out of favour former Manchester City and Wales captain Craig Bellamy. They also got rid of some deadwood with the sale of Christian Poulson to Ligue 1 side Evian Thonon and the loan of Joe Cole to Lille.

With 485 Million pounds spent in the Premier League this window it has certainly been a busy summer for the 20 English sides. Please comment and let me know your opinions on all the deadline day transfers (especially you Arsenal fans).

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Joe

Shaky starts in East London

With Arsenal and Tottenham off to poor starts in the League, will they try to spend before deadline day? Despite being unbeaten this season, new Chelsea manager Villas Boas still has his eye on a few players he wants to snap up before Wednesday.

One thing Arsenal and Tottenham have in common is that both clubs have had unrest throughout the pre-season with Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri finally leaving Arsenal and Luka Modric refusing to play as he desperately tries to get a move to Chelsea. This alone could explain their poor starts to the season however neither teams have made many additions to strengthen their squad... until now

After the red half of Manchester's 8-2 thrashing of Arsenal and the blue half cruising to a big 5-1 win over Tottenham, both Harry Redknapp and Arsene Wenger are both desperately trying to bring in a couple of new players before the transfer window closes until January. Firstly it looks like Wenger has at last realised he is in need of a centre half as he has agreed a fee with Werder Bremen over Big Per Mertersacker who is currently undergoing a medical in North London. After being given a big reality check from Manchester United, it looks like Wenger has finally pulled his finger out . The former Werder Bremen captain stands at 6ft 6inches tall and is experienced on club and international level. In my opinion he is a perfect player for Arsenal due to his physical presence and experience which is lacking in such a young arsenal side. Arsenal so far this season have shown their lack of depth in the defensive area with Vermarlen being constantly hit with injury troubles and Djourou and Koscielny not yet showing that they have the quality to play for a top four premier league side. Wenger bought in Squillaci last summer from Spanish side Sevilla however has certainly not covered him self in glory with many mistakes in crucial matches last season. With the signing of Mertersaker it looks unlikely that the London club are still interested in signing young Gary Cahil from Bolton.

However with the pressure on Wenger to spend it has been confirmed that Arsenal have completed the signing of South Korean striker Chu Young Park from French side Monnaco for a fee of around 4 million pounds. Wenger described Park as "true quality" and believes he will be a "valuable addition to the squad" At the age of only 26 Park has already made 53 appearances for south Korea scoring 17 goals so is an experienced player. Despite recent events I still think Wenger is the right man for the job and is doing the right thing buy investing in quality experienced players. The lack of experience has shown in the past weeks with Gervinho, Frimpong and Jenkinson all receiving red cards in Premier League matches. This could be due to the lack of role models in the Arsenal dressing room. Arsenal are also close to signing experienced Brazillian left back Andre Santos from Turkish side Fenerbahce. The 28 year old has won 22 caps for Brazil so has a wealth of experience. The fee is said to be worth around 6.2 million pounds.

So far this season Tottenham have not gained a point from either of their first two games (albeit against arguably the two major title contenders) and have not shown the determination that they have in previous seasons gone buy. They certainly haven't lost any first team players with Wilson Palacios being the only player to leave White Heart Lane. They also managed to sign out of favour striker Emmanual Adebayor on a loan deal until the end of the season and experienced English midfielder Scott Parker for an undisclosed fee . So what is the problem Harry? Why such a bad start? If I were to ask Harry Redknapp he would most likely say "Luka Modric!" Over the past month Redknapp has been struggling to cope with the constant rumours about the Croatian play maker leaving and at one point said that Tottenham are better without him. After the 5 - 1 defeat at the hands of Manchester City, Rednkapp said (in an interview with the BBC) how frustrated he was with all the goings on during pre-season and described it as the "worst pre-season he has ever been part of at any club". It is now thought Chelsea have made a new bid for the Croatian after a 22 million pound bid was rejected as Tottenham Chairman, Daniel Levy, remains adamant Modric will not leave.

So far Chelsea's two new signings have looked promising with Spanish international Juan Mata scoring on his début and Romelu Lukaku looking lively but new manager Villas Boas still wants to his ageing squad. Porto's Alvaro Pereira is top of his list which is most likely due to the fact he has managed him before therefore noes the qualities that he could bring to the West London club. I believe Pereira is a quality and versatile left sided player and could be an ideal replacement for the ageing Florent Malouda and the dreadful Salomon Kalou. Another Target for Villas Boas is Liverpool's Portuguese centre midfielder Raul Meireles. He would be a brilliant player for Chelsea as he would bring some much needed creativity from the centre of midfield. I also believe that along with Mata he could revitalise Chelsea's ageing midfield. Unfortunately for the blues they have had a bid rejected worth 8 million plus Yossi Benayoun so still a deal worth 8 million. No i do believe Benayoun has some qualities but I think its a bit cheeky that Chelsea are trying to give Liverpool back a player who they gave to Chelsea only a couple of seasons ago and has only played one hour of football all season. Personally I believe Meireles is worth around the sum of fifteen million pounds but I highly doubt a deal will go through before the transfer window closes.

Please leave a comment giving your view on the transfers I have talked about as I really want to hear your views.

I will be posting weekly and will talk about a different football realated topic each week so please follow me.

Joe

If you enjoyed the my first post and want more Premier League stories weekly you can follow me by signing in on the right of the page.  Alternatively you can subscribe via email (see bottom of page.)

Also I will be doing a big round up of deadline day transfers tomorrow so be sure to check that out and please leave your views.

Many Thanks