The Big Drog

Sorry guys for bumping up this thread and feel free to delete this comment , but BlueLion , this is the article I was trying to send.

Mate Ive tried that but no success either , I posted it on the " Matthew Harding Stand " part of the section. The title is " Chelsea's Youth " or something along those lines , its still on the main page. Check it out and tell me what you think.

Delighted Ashley is fit. Cech will be a miss but hopefully we dominate the ball enough so that they dont get too many opportunities to exploit that weakness. Personally I think that with Gerrard pushing up , chances are we will see Lucas on Lampard and thats where I think the base of us winning the game comes from. The main man must be Drogba. Carragher looks completely out of sorts thsi season and has struggled to contain Drogba in the past , Im expecting Drog to enter a top class performance. It would be nice of Joe Cole starts but I cant see that happening. Prediction : Chelsea 3 - 1 Liverpool

lmao when you watch the vid again , John and Bill have the sort of look of men trying to bring Dunphy in from the edge of self destruction , absolutely classic tv.

Other great memories include every time Liverpool play poorly , the panel rip them to shreds and spouth off claims of Rafa's negative football and how they lack guile and quality in their side , is it any wonder a lot of Liverpool fans dont like football on RTE ?

lol thats a good rant too , or the Dunphy vs Venables rant which went like 15 minutes must go down in football pundidtry ( is there such a word ? ) folklore. I think Bill does his role so well , he plays the role of the mainstream media who both create and believe the very hype that they create , while the panel smash through his hype. Its like watching some kind of train wreck , and Bill gets a few good lines in too.

lol , I think my favourite RTE panel night was AC Milan vs Man Utd second leg champions league semi final when Ancelotti's Milan destroyed Man Utd at the San Siro. At the time everybody was hailing Ronaldo as the best player in the world , Kaka completely outshone him and after the match Dunphy started shouting down the camera " Ronaldo is hype , Kaka is reality ! " , after saying the Kaka is reality thing like 3 times he finally concluded " Kaka is reality... WRITE IT DOWN BILL ! "

I think Ray rocks ! My brother calls him mr.honesty lol. Like most though my fav pundit on the RTE Panel is Dunphy.

lol last season he predicted Chelsea would win it all , Id say he should go for the same prediction this season , better chance now than then. By the way the panels analysis of the ever avergae Carrick tonight was fun. Cant se it happening , RTE are stuck with Liverpool and Man Utd games cos they have a bigger fanbase in Ireland , even if it does mean that RTE are showing games of a lesser quality.

lol totally agree , I like Ray Houghton though , not a big fan of Souness though.

lol I absolutely love the RTE panel , nice jibe from Dunphy at TV3's footy panel.

Anyone from Ireland whio has just seen RTE's analysis of the Man Utd game could apply it to the Chelsea game too. Group stage match , we know we will get through , even if we lost tonight it wouldnt be the end of the world because we would still have 4 matches to put it right , unlike the premier league ( or in later stages of the champions league ) where a loss can be critical , it simply isnt in the group stages and as a result you get that kind of performance and that kind of match. Id be willing to bet my left thumb that we will play far and away better than that against Liverpool and with a whole lot more drive. Anyway that being said , good result , good to see Joe Cole get a few minutes and Deco to get back on the pitch. Bit disappointed we didnt see Zhirkov. Roll on Liverpool.

Indeed mate that is an underlying theme in the piece. The timing of the article and the mere fact that Im writing such an article also contributes to that theme. Though there is also a positive message in there , that being that some of the players that the academy has produced are ( or will be ) good enough to crack the Chelsea starting eleven. I also support the idea of bringing in talented youngsters such as Daniel Sturridge.

Just two names who Id say probably have a better chance of breaking into the first team. Stoch and Jack Cork.

Youth and Chelsea are not often associated. Abramovich arrived, bringing with him bags of cash and since then not a single youth player has broken into the Chelsea starting eleven. The last player from the youth set up to become a regular fixture in the Chelsea line up is current club and England captain, John Terry. As Roman embarked on his quest of world football domination , spending hundreds of millions in his wake, the clubs academy faded into the backround of everybody’s minds. So the big question is, why has no player broken through in recent times? Frank Arnesen foolishly predicted a few years ago that by this season his Chelsea youth team would provide a first team player each year. That goal was clearly too lofty. Breaking into the Chelsea side is no easy goal. From the England captain, to arguably the best holding midfielder in the world, to perhaps the greatest player ever to play at Chelsea, to last years top scorer in the league, it’s a team of top calibre, world class superstars. Dislodging any of those household names is a daunting task for any player. However it is something that must be accomplished. The youth set up at Chelsea has never been more important. Since football's local overlords, FIFA, have banned Chelsea from two transfer windows, effectively cutting off the supply of players to Chelsea, academy prospects emerging in the first team has never been more vital. The clubs “The Pensioners“ nickname originates from its London roots, however it serves a double purpose as the first team squad consists of players who are, or already have, advanced over the 30 years of ago mark. Not being able to supply fresh players into the club means that the average age of the side will just continue to rise and there is little Chelsea can do until the ban lifts or Peter Kenyon’s appeal proves successful. By that time Chelsea may have to depend on one, two or perhaps even three of their academy stars to become world class stars. Who can do it? Who at Chelsea can dislodge the established names? Here is a list of Chelsea youth players who I think have the best chance of succeeding on top. Michael Mancienne: The England U-21 star was sent on loan to Wolves this season by new Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti. A highly capable centre back who also doubles as a right back, Chelsea clearly see this young man as a star of the future, as was proven when the club offered him a long term contract. Daniel Sturridge: Bought from the new rich kids on the block, Man City, Sturridge wanted away after failing to land a £50,000 a week deal. Chelsea were only too happy to sign the 19 year old Englishman. Entering impressive performances during Chelsea’s pre season tour of America, Sturridge has yet to start a game this season. Having scored a hattrick in the reserves, there was a good chance of him getting his chance in the league cup tie with QPR but injury prevented that. Possessing incredible speed and a good eye for goal, learning under Drogba and Anelka should really go a long way to helping him for the day he becomes the man to lead the Chelsea attack. Fabio Borini: Being named on the bench for Chelsea in games against Porto and Spurs, given a short run out against Spurs and then being handed his full senior début against QPR, Borini at the moment looks to be the highest ranked player at Chelsea from the youth academy. Having been talked up by Ancelotti, saying its good to start introducing a youth player into the side, the Italian's chances of making it at Chelsea look quite good. Only 18 years old and with an eye for goal, the young man looks a potential hit for the club. Gael Kakuta: A name that has almost become the modern football equivalent of Watergate, you could be forgiven for forgetting that Kakuta is actually a footballer and not a code word. Hailed as the star of the Chelsea academy, the young French man has been set back by his four month ban. His profile in the public now raised in a huge way, when he does play for the first team more than a few eyes will be watching closely. Nemanja Matic: signed for Chelsea for somewhere around the region of £ 1.5 million, Matic has already been called up to the senior Serbian side. A holding midfielder who is compared to former Ancelotti favourite, Andrea Pirlo, Matic appeared on the bench for Chelsea in their clash with QPR but didn’t make it onto the pitch. Still though there are high hopes for the young Serbian, as he develops into a player equipped to deal with the English premier league, he could well prove a good asset to the Chelsea side. Franco Di Santo: The forgotten man at Chelsea perhaps? Di Santo is currently out on loan at Blackburn but is out of action due to injury. The Argentinian is still only 20 but has been in and around the Chelsea first team squad for a while now. A big, strong player with surprising speed, he does appear to be in the same mould of striker as Didier Drogba. An encouraging sign for him for Ancelotti sent him out on loan to a premier league club. There are others like Sam Hutchinson, Scott Sinclair etc. But those players mentioned are the ones who I think have the best chance. All of this being said, there is quite a high probability that even if the Chelsea first team entirely consisted of academy players, the Arsenal or Manchester United youth set ups would still probably get more credit. Teams are tagged and Chelsea have been tagged as The Pensioners and that nickname is not only used because of its traditional base. If Prince Blatter gets his way and Chelsea’s 2 transfer window ban sticks , its hugely important that Chelsea introduce a few academy players into the first team. For this task there could be no better man than Carlo Ancelotti, the man who brought Kaka and Pato to the world stage might well end up doing the same for a couple of our young players and if he does that then maybe Sepp Blatter might receive some sarcastic applause.

I just tried sending it by mail to your msn account , if you didnt get it there either I can just post it up on the Matthew Harding Stand section of the forum.

That sounds like quite a good idea mate. Im trying to become a regular article writer for the site.

Id love to see Zhirkov and Joe Cole start this game so that they can get some more match fitness under their belts. After the disappointing loss to Wigan hopefully we bounce back in impressive fashion.

Guys ( Jim and Blue Lion ) I've sent both of you guys an example of my work through mail , when you get the chance hit me with some feedback.

Mate this is the FA and we are Chelsea , Sadam Hussein had a better chance of winning an appeal than us.

Message sent to Jim !

Also this means that next weekend we get to see angry Drogba against the Liverpool defence , cant wait.

I dont think our passing in the other games has been as bad as is being made out. Against Sunderland in particular I thought the passing and moving from the side was nothing short of world class. Granted at times it has failed us a bit but I expect that to improve as the players play more in the system and as better technical players return to give us more options ( Joe Cole , Yur Zhirkov , Michael Ballack , Deco )

Doesnt get much worse than this. The only silver lining is that there is a mid week game against Apeol ( poor spelling ) , a game we must surely win and a chance for our players to regain some confidence and hopefully get Joe Cole and Yuri Zhirkov some match practise because clearly we could do with one , or maybe even both of them against Liverpool.

Where is everyone watching this , all my streams are down.