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All Ready To Go - Chelsea 2014 Preseason Roundup


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On Tuesday, the Blues finished their preseason with a comfortable victory against Real Sociedad in what was the first friendly at Stamford Bridge in 8 years. Here’s a roundup of Chelsea’s European preseason tour this summer:


European Tour

To begin with, the club chose this season to take the road less traveled by and restrict the preseason to a European tour only. While most top teams traveled to the US and east Asia, Jose and Chelsea decided to have all their friendlies this summer close to home, and with good reason in my opinion.

17 Chelsea players traveled to Brasil this summer to take part in the World Cup. This meant extra care should be taken of how the players are prepared for the new season since the recovery times would be much less than they usually are. This was even of more importance if you consider the fact that Chelsea players had more playing time and ran more than the players of any other EPL team.

So, while the advertising department at the club might not be too happy about the club's lack of presence in the American and Asian 'markets' this summer, I am confident it is a decision that Jose Mourinho will be thankful for come May.


Results

The plan was to first play a couple of matches in England before going on a mini-European tour with games of increasing difficulty and intensity while more and more players were returning from vacation after the WC with 10 matches being played in total. The results came as follows:

Chelsea FC 5-0 Wycombe Wanderers
Chelsea FC 3-2 AFC Wimbledon
Chelsea FC 1-1 RZ Pellets
Chelsea FC 3-1 Vitesse Arnhem
Chelsea FC 0-3 Werder Bremen
Chelsea FC 2-0 Fenerbahce*
Chelsea FC 0-1 Besiktas*
Chelsea FC 2-1 Ferencvaros
Chelsea FC 2-0 Real Sociedad

*45 minute mini-matches as part of a charity event to raise funds for the families of the Turkish mining disaster victims.


Summary

In summary the team got seven wins and a draw from ten matches in all. But like any preseason, the results are the least important aspect. Even more this summer given the fact that most of the first team players missed a considerable part of this preseason. Jose only had 7 first team players available for the matches against Wycombe and Wimbledon. On the bright side, this meant that the Portuguese can get a much closer look at some of the hottest prospects of our youth academy such as Jerimie Boga, Patrick Bamford, Izzy Brown, Lewis Baker...etc. And the youngsters certainly didn't disappoint with excellent performances and some great goals and assists.

But at the end of the day, preseason is all about match fitness. And there were certainly enough minutes to go around for everybody. Another huge plus of the preseason is for the players to build some chemistry between them, especially the new arrivals such as Cesc Fabregas and Diego Costa who already look like they have playing with the team for years.

So, in conclusion, while some of the late arrivals like Schurrle and the Brazilians might not be 100% fit yet, the team as whole is certainly ready for the trip to Burnely on Moonday night.

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