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…
The Joe Cole Conundrum
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…
Kakuta Shines as Euro Under-19s Get Underway
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…
Essien Goal Seals Seasons First Win
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…
Under-18s: Chelsea 1-2 Plymouth
The World Cup is all well and good, but normal service has resumed. Domestic football is back, not only at first team level, but in the Under-18 team. Whilst Carlo Ancelotti’s boys were stretching their legs at Crystal Palace, Dermot Drummy’s youth team opened their pre-season with a closely-fought defeat at the hands of a talented Plymouth Argyle outfit. Drummy chose to operate with a squad of 22 players, who…
Blues Visit Palace
Chelsea’s first pre-season game of the 2010-11 season comes this weekend by way of a trip to Crystal Palace. Bucking the trend of previous seasons in keeping the tours to the UK and Europe, Chelsea’s campaign will see the lads play away matches against Ajax, Eintracht Frankfurt, and Hamburg, before meeting Manchester United in the Community Shield. But to Selhurst Park we head first, a short trip to the deep…
Out of Sight, Out of Mind?
Going on loan has become almost a rite of passage for the developing footballer. He makes his way through the youth team ranks, impresses in his late teens, and then looks to bridge the gap to the first team by taking in a temporary spell at a professional team, pitting his wits against fully grown adults. A cursory glance at the England World Cup squad reveals that eleven of them…
So Who Are We Going To Sign?
It’s been a funny week already, and it’s still only Wednesday. With the World Cup thankfully over, silly season is now fully upon us. A quick look at Newsnow for the past 24 hours see us linked with no less than ten players; Torres, Aguero, Kaka, Alves, Coentrao, Suarez, Pazzini, Balotelli, Annan, and Lukaku. There are more… The scattergun approach in selecting our potential transfer targets currently seen in the…
Leave Ashley Alone
Nasty, evil, vindictive, horrible and hated. Funnily enough I’m not talking about Ashley Cole, but the red top rags that seems intent on driving him out of this country. The worst offender by far is The Sun, who today today stoop to a new low, digging up old school reports on Ashley, in order to ‘show’ what a nasty man he is. Not only is this publication a breach of…
Introducing Tomáš Kalas
A few weeks ago, Chelsea’s latest signing Tomáš Kalas gave an interview to deník.cz in his native country. The 17 year-old defender, capable of playing at centre-back or full-back, impressed during the summer’s European Under-17 Championships and sealed a move to Chelsea in June, with most media outlets breaking the story on Wednesday. As a means of introducing him to his new fans, here’s the interview transcribed. You must be…