dodojojo

Guardian already has a blog post about AVB and power player at Chelsea. http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2011/jun/20/andre-villas-boas-chelsea

I would say that if AVB is hired then this is the most appropriate time to start moving on the older players.

Awful hair, can't sign him. Shoulda kept Carlo, now that was good hair. Hmmmm....if this happens, never ever pay any attention to the tweeters, "sources" again...Chelsea really do march to to its own drumbeat.

Barcelona wanted Villa for a long time so I don't think they would be as quick to get rid as they did with Ibra. I think they'll do it if the stars align but won't do it hastily or for cheap. Villa is Spain's greatest striker and still very, very good but I think with turning 30 this year, his prime years are rapidly coming to a close. Barca may be happy to let go if they can get good money for him. And since he's not one of the Masia boys, the club can be ruthless. And honestly, if they bring in Sanchez, Fabergas and a top striker, they'll likely even be better, which is scary.

Actually I don't think Torres would love it. He and Villa are friends but playing with Villa in the Spain kinda crimps Torres' game. Of course Spain plays the game that is best for the team overall and not for Torres so he has to grin and bear it. Or he can be easily replaced.

Why am I not surprised? Some of these fans are probably the same ones who pounced on young Dani Pacheco for congratulating a friend and mentor for scoring a goal. Yossi, good find! Would love to read the rest of the interview. Torres actually goes out of his way to say nice things about Liverpool. I wish he would do an interview where he tells Liverpool to fuck off. Since he's going to get slated no matter what, we may as get an interesting interview.

Hmmm...I'd be skeptical about whether Torres actually spoke to the Sun. Just a coincidence that the Kalou's supposed quotes came out yesterday. And the quotes were construed to be about Torres. Wouldn't surprised me if the Sun thought it clever to follow up that story with quotes from Torres. Could be the Sun cobbled some quotes from another article (or two), mash them in here and generally spun the story they wanted. Torres could have spoken to the Sun but then I look at the following body of evidence and I would be suspicious. Torres is on vacation and keeping a very low profile--he doesn't even make the pap and tabloid rounds, why would he speak to the Sun? He's also not ever done an interview with the Sun because of Liverpool's ban on the paper. Hard to believe Torres would go to them first when he hasn't done an exclusive interview with a English paper in a very long time. When he does English media, it's at the club press conferences or Chelsea TV. I can't remember the last time he did an interview with an English paper, tab or not.

No one pouted, everyone was happy and nothing hurt.

If you're old school like Branch Rickey was...better to trade a player one year too early rather than one year too late.

It was 20M plus Luis Garcia and I think the deal eventually topped out around 26M. Maybe AM realized how cheaply Torres went and don't want to be duped again? And not that I agree, but many consider Aguero to have had a better AM career than Torres did. The statistics certainly back it up. Finally, Torres went in 2007. The transfer market has changed a bit since then...Ronaldo, Kaka, Torres, etc.

I'll be on this bandwagon until the wheels fall off. Chelsea needs to start shedding old skin and to renew -- in body, mind and soul. It's why, as scary as it may seem, the club has to let go of a handful of the old guard and bring in vital new blood. And I'm not talking about Hilario or Boswinga. But from Gourlay's recent comments, the club doesn't seem inclined to do this. No worries, let's put it off another year.

Same was said about Torres when he was at Atletico Madrid. And there are some mighty good players upfront in the ARG NT. Hard to sit Messi or Tevez down. I'm not saying Aguero is the right player for Chelsea and his price may indeed be inflated but I wouldn't dismiss his talent. And he's not like Tevez. Like Torres when he was at AM, Kun is known as a serious and mature professional. In general I support player movement, as a Torres fan, it would be hypocritical of me to not otherwise. But if I were a AM fan, I'd be pretty upset if Aguero left to join another team that's not even in European play. It's almost as bad as going to Real Madrid.

Of course it is. Some dressing rooms are better than others, but at the end of the day, it's a workplace and there's always going to be some degree of workplace drama. Man U and Ferguson just keeps it a workable level and ultimately he's in charge. I'm not sure the same can be said about Chelsea.

Oh come on! If you're going to insult him, do it right, it's La Nina.

This is what angers me about this dumb little article. It's short but there's so much wrong with it. Even if what Kalou said is true, that's stuff you need to keep in-house. Go to Torres about it and not imply it in newspaper quotes. Hiddink may well do a better job than Ancelotti keeping the players in line but I think there are some players who have been around for awhile, outlasted multiple managers and feel they are not accountable. Abramovich has to make the chain of command clear but that's a whole other can of worms isn't it.

Kalou: "It is better to build a team gradually than to bring in players who will pout and sulk...because we have enough of them already." That's the actual quote. The Sun wanted to save some ink. I can't believe any Chelsea player can lecture, with a straight face, about pouting and sulking players. Physician heal thyself. If it's a problem, then the club should deal with it. Why haven't they?

True, but he was clearly hostile to celebrating the goal. There's a difference between not celebrating a goal and carrying a chip on your shoulder. He could have quietly accepted his teammates' congratulations but I remember him stalking off and generally looking angry rather than solemn.

Weird, I guess it's how you interpret his quotes (keeping in mind it's the Sun). It sounds like he's referring to the players who signed in January and since Luiz wasn't benched until the final two games -- he's signalling out Torres. To me, the overall article isn't about all players bucking up and behaving accordingly, it's more Kalou saying the squad was good enough before and having a sulky one like Torres come in, upset the eco-system in which he and certain entrenched Chelsea players were very comfortable in. Like most people who are confronted with change, Kalou wishes for things like they used to be. I'm just not sure Chelsea FC can afford to wish for things like they used to be. If so, then you may as well be Liverpool. Whatever the case, Kalou needs to look in a mirror. Did not Ancelotti have to say that the team's welfare was more important than Kalou's feelings? Why did he have to say that, hmmmm....

Wonderful. In the real world, I'd be pleasantly surprised if Chelsea signs one of the three (San/Pas/Mata). And the other real world matter would be who is going to bench Drogba, Lampard and Malouda...and keep them happy and productive for the club?

No one has Messi except for Barca. Chelsea though has invested lots of money in Luiz and Torres. And there are candidates out there to sign and they are better than Lampard and Drogba at this stage of their careers (please don't pounce on me about their overall careers, I'm comparing today's Modric to today's Lampard for example). There's always a risk of failure but I can't see how holding onto aging superstars is a better policy.

Funny, I was going to use Ronaldinho and Barca as an example in my earlier post but deleted it. It's a good example clearly :champions: Not only was Ronnie 2x WPOTY, he was younger than Lampard and Drogba are this summer. Chelsea tried to squeeze one or two major trophies out of the old core players this season and it didn't work. Why do they think it'll work next season? And please don't use the injuries and fatigue reasons. Lampard and Drogba will be one year older but somehow less inclined to injuries and fatigue? Sure, it could turn they stay injury free and have career seasons but let's talk about reasonable odds here.

We are in agreement?

And why can't Chelsea sell Malouda and Lampard and buy Mata, Modric and one or two more useful but younger and cheaper squad players? But no, let's keep Malouda and Lampard, who are older and on much, much higher wages and also keep them around so that switching the system or evolving the character and spine of the team will be much harder? I'm not advocating a mass sell/buy summer (though I wouldn't be adverse to be honest) but to keep it realistic, I accept that there won't be a massive shift in players. What is disappointing to hear from Gourlay is that essentially the squad will remain the same and will be augmented by 3 at the most signings. What I would like to see is a more ruthless surgical cull of one or two KEY players and then replace with 3-5 new players overall. This won't dramatically alter the team as far as numbers but it will be a huge signal that Chelsea will be moving forward.

Exactly my point. When will Chelsea address the issue of changing the spine and character of this team? Let's put it off until 2012-13 right? Then it'll be 2013-14 and so on.

Lame. Even Real Madrid got it and they're a circus of long renown. Are they going into next season with Raul and Guti in the starting lineup? In the squad?