The Future Is Blue I-R

July 27, 2010

Following part one of my alphabetical preview of the 2010-11 season, here we go with part two! I Ivanovic. He impressed me so much last season. Gets tackled: gets on with it. Gets fouled: gets on with it. Gets battered, and where most other players would have gone off he just shakes his head… and gets on with it. Ivanovic is as hard as nails and never retaliates. Awesome! Look…

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The Future Is Blue A-H

July 26, 2010

So here we go with the first part of my alphabetical run down of the coming season, to explain just why the future is blue. A Arsenal. A team of nearly men from the North (no, not Liverpool, not that far north. North of Kings Cross I mean). Stands for Also-rans too, which is appropriate in both cases. Half-way through last season, they were hailed as THE team, pretty football…

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Reserves: Crawley vs Chelsea – A Picture Special

July 25, 2010

A selection of pictures from Saturday’s reserve friendly, which finished Crawley Town 3-0 Chelsea. The scene of today’s game, Broadfield Stadium     The team go through their warm-up     A full substitute’s bench     Lining up pre-match     Kaby     Ready to kick off     Gokhan Tore     Josh McEachran     Kaby battles away for possession     Pablo Mills fouls Josh…

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Reserves: Crawley 3-0 Chelsea

July 24, 2010

For some, it was a second outing in less than twenty-four hours. For others, it was a return to action after a summer break. For everyone, however, it was the start of another reserve campaign at Chelsea. In hot, dry conditions at the smart Broadfield Stadium, Steve Holland’s young charges impressed in spells but fell to a 3-0 defeat to Conference Premier hopefuls Crawley Town. The hosts have spent big…

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Sturridge Scores In Dutch Defeat

July 23, 2010

A flying visit to Amsterdam was second on Chelsea’s pre-season agenda, with the itinerary surrounding Friday’s match with Ajax demanding a twelve-hour round trip. The mood in the camp on the flight home may be a rather damp one after Carlo Ancelotti’s boys (and they were boys) fell to a 3-1 defeat against their Champions League opponents. An own goal from Jeffrey Bruma put the hosts ahead in the sixth…

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Alex Out As Blues Go Dutch

July 22, 2010

Brazilian defender Alex has been ruled out for up to a month after a thigh injury suffered in training this week. He joins Petr Cech on the sidelines with both likely to miss the rest of the pre-season campaign. Hilario is expected to step up in his absence in the match against Ajax on Friday, with Turnbull getting the second half, but other than the loss of Alex, the squad…

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Blues Under-19s Have It All To Play For

July 22, 2010

The second round of group fixtures in the European Under-19 Championships saw Gael Kakuta’s France all but progress to the Semi Finals. It also left everything up in the air for the four remaining Chelsea players ahead of Saturday’s deciding pool matches. For the hosts, things couldn’t be much better right now. A 4-1 mauling of Holland on Sunday was followed up yesterday by a five-star showing against Austria, as…

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The Joe Cole Conundrum

July 19, 2010

Definitions of Enigma found on the Web: Riddle: a difficult problem. Mystery: something that baffles understanding and cannot be explained. There is no better single word in the English language that defines Joe Cole. Thrust into the limelight at West Ham back in 1998, Joe Cole exploded into the scene aged just 17. Hailed as the next Gazza, and coveted by Alex Ferguson, Cole was touted as the hottest prospect…

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Kakuta Shines as Euro Under-19s Get Underway

July 19, 2010

Pre-season got underway for Chelsea on Saturday with almost every available player featuring for either Carlo Ancelotti’s first team or Dermot Drummy’s Under-18s. Five of those who were registered as absent are in Northern France as the UEFA European Under-19 Championships got underway for 2010 on Sunday, with each of the quintet in action. Matej Delač kicked things off for Croatia against one of the tournament favourites in Spain. The…

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Essien Goal Seals Seasons First Win

July 18, 2010

Michael Essien made his first appearance in a Chelsea shirt for over six months and scored what turned out to be the winner, in the seasons first pre-season match, against Crystal Palace. The afternoon didn’t get off to the best of starts for Essien who accidentally injured a child with an off target shot during the warm up. Putting the incident aside, Essien, one of only four recognised first team…

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