An occasional series of open discussions with opposition fans. They can say what they like about Chelsea and I promise not to be rude back to them. Number 4: The Blues v The Blues Meet Bill, aka Jasper and a hundred other names. He won’t tell me how old he is and won’t say when he became a City fan. But he just couldn’t stop when it came to other…
Under-18s: Chelsea 1-3 Southampton
One of Chelsea’s youngest Under-18 line-ups of the season went down 3-1 on Saturday morning to a Southampton team who got their business done early. A pair of talented England Under-17 internationals did the damage as the Saints were three goals to the good inside eight minutes. First, a free kick from the right was beautifully delivered by Luke Shaw and headed home at the far post before Shaw himself…
FA Youth Cup: Chelsea 3-3 West Ham United (AET, Chelsea win 5-4 on Penalties)
For the second round in a row Chelsea kept their FA Youth Cup hopes alive courtesy of a penalty shootout after a dramatic 120 minutes against West Ham United. Lewis Baker’s opening goal highlighted a sterling first half performance by the Blues but they were pegged back shortly before the break. Islam Feruz restored the lead but Blair Turgott drew the Hammers level again before Elliott Lee’s stoppage time strike…
Travels with The Chels – Inter Milan
Apologies for the hiatus in our perambulations across Europe, whilst we’ve been diverted by weightier matters closer to home. But with the Champions League winter break almost behind us, and a trip to Napoli heaving into view, it’s time to re-visit la bella Italia. With The Special One having joined Internationale following his departure from the Bridge, it was inevitable that we’d meet him in the Champions League, and when…
Reserves Win Nine-Goal Thriller
Chelsea’s reserve team took part in a wild encounter this afternoon against a Gillingham team comprising fringe first-team players and reserves, and ended up on the right side of a nine-goal spectacular scoreline. Early goals by Jacob Mellis and George Saville had the Blues comfortably ahead at the break, but Callum Davies replied for the visitors at the start of what was to prove an unbelieable second half. Schoolboy substitute…
The Loan Report: February 6-12
Gael Kakuta scored his second goal in as many starts for Dijon to mark the highlight of what was generally another productive week for Chelsea youngsters on the loan front. Not everyone played, but those that did generally did from the start, and made some sort of impact. Kakuta was the only one to get his name on the scoresheet, and in doing so the young Frenchman sent a message…
Brondby Teen To Join Chelsea
Andreas Christensen, a 16 year-old Danish defender currently playing for Brondby, will join Chelsea on a four-year deal at the end of the season, according to reports in Denmark this morning. Christensen has previously been linked with a move to the Blues, but also received interest from a host of other top European clubs, with Arsenal, Aston Villa and Liverpool all said to have been keen on the centre-back. However,…
The Loan Report: January 31 – February 5
After two or three weeks of transfer window activity and impactful performances, things quietened down this week on the loan front with a handful of names taking more of a backseat role after hitting the headlines throughout January. There are, however, two new names to cover from now on. Excitement over Kevin De Bruyne’s €9m arrival may have been tempered by the fact he is unlikely to be seen in…
Blue Reckoning
If ever there has been a decisive moment under AVB’s reign then this surely is it. We sit a massive 12 points behind the Manchester clubs and 7 points behind Tottenham. There are rumours that Mourinho is seeking a return to the Chelsea managerial post. Fernando Torres is being written off after a 1000 minutes without a goal. John Terry is once again being treated incredibly poorly by the FA…
Can They Kick It? Will We Ever Find Out?
op·por·tu·ni·ty Noun: A set of circumstances that makes it possible to do something. When discussing youth and reserve team football and player development, everything comes back to this single word. Opportunity. It might arise through merit, or it may be through fate, but without it, a player cannot prove himself worthy. Opportunity is, at times unfortunately, at the behest of circumstance. Rarely in the upper echelons of the game is…