• Previewing Chelsea’s 2023-24 FA Youth Cup Challenge
  • Previewing The 2023-24 Chelsea Academy Season
  • The Chelsea Academy Class of 2023
  • The Loan Report: 2022-23 Season Review
  • Reflections On The 2022-23 Chelsea Academy Season

The Harding Perspective: Man United

This series of articles will hopefully look to address the tactical nuances that will face the Blues before every game. What better way to start then to address our biggest rivals for the title: MANCHESTER UNITED (H) 19/12/10. The biggest tactical dilemma that Carlo will face is simply how to counteract United’s expected shape. United will surely line up very similar to the formation below, with Nani and Park possibly…

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Under-18s Battle Onwards Despite Injuries

Forgive the rather obtuse title to this article, for I was unable to come up with something more succinct. If one takes a cursory glance at the Group A standings in the Premier Academy League, Chelsea’s name will be found towards the bottom of the table. Certainly, this is unfamiliar territory for a Blues academy who had challenged at the other end in recent years. However, theirs has thus far…

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Where Are They Now? Sam Dalla Bona

Samuele Dalla Bona signed while captain of the Italian under-18 side. He was Chelsea’s Young Player of the Year in 1998-99 after netting 16 goals for the reserves but had to wait for Dennis Wise and Gus Poyet to leave before getting an extended run in the first team in 2001. Things turned sour the next season when he turned down the chance of a new contract because he wanted…

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Chelsea Pitch Owners – Grounds for Concern?

The Facts: On Friday I attended the AGM of Chelsea Pitch Owners, which was held in the Vialli Suite at Stamford Bridge. Despite the company having over 14,000 shareholders, only 380 chose to return their proxy ballot papers, and only 20 shareholders attended. This inevitably meant that any dissent in the room would be overturned by the proxy vote, being in the hands of the Chair. The meeting was chaired…

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Signs Of Improvement Despite Draw

We went into the match hoping for a good performance and three points. We got the former, but sadly not the latter. A Pavlyuchenko opener for Spurs deflated Chelsea early on, yet a Didier Drogba goal courtesy of a rubbish save by Gomes sealed a point at least, yet a penalty in injury time that wasn’t converted by Didier meant we had to settle for the one, rather than all…

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The Loan Report: December 7-12

After a weather-affected first week of December, the loan report returns this week after a near-full calendar of fixtures was fulfilled. Unfortunately, Michael Mancienne was an enforced absentee from a rare and much-needed win for Wolves on Sunday after picking up a knee injury against Blackburn last weekend. The extent of the issue is not yet known, but it was enough to keep him out of contention this time around….

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Vote Your MOTM: Tottenham

An absorbing match at White Hart lane saw Chelsea come away with a point, yet had it not been for a late Didier Drogba penalty miss, we could have won the match. The goal came courtesy of Drogba, and poor keeping by Gomes, and Chelsea on the whole looked better than in recent weeks. You voted the man of the match for Tottenham as John Terry. Thanks for voting. VOTING…

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Will The Real Chelsea FC Please Stand Up?

This afternoon Chelsea face Spurs at White Hart Lane, in what begins a run of matches that could shape the destiny of our domestic campaign. After Spurs, our two following matches are against Manchester United at Stamford Bridge then Arsenal at the Cameldome. If November felt bad, December could end a lot worse. Tottenham have been in good form recently and have surprised almost everyone with the Champions League performances…

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Under-18s: Chelsea 5-1 Norwich City

Home comforts have rarely been in evidence at Cobham during the 2010-11 academy season, but in the final league match of the year, Chelsea gave a warming performance to those braving the December weather. A five-star performance crowned by a Billy Clifford hat-trick saw Dermot Drummy’s boys defeat Norwich 5-1 and pick up just a second home win of the campaign. With the fixture falling in between two proposed (and…

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Age – It’s Just A Number

On Wednesday night, Carlo Ancelotti opted to field a near full-strength side in a meaningless Champions League tie against Marseille. Josh McEachran was the sole ‘youngster’ to be afforded a start, with the likes of Patrick van Aanholt and Gael Kakuta left kicking their heels on the substitutes bench, undoubtedly frustrated. It rankled with Chelsea fans, who felt the occasion to be another opportunity to give the next generation some…

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