Chelsea vs Sunderland | 16-Jan-2010 @ 15:00 UK

Some football finally, for Chelsea. Last week’s rescheduling of our match against Hull was probably a blessing in disguise. In that weekend, our rivals dropped points while for once, we have a goddamn ‘game-on-hand’.

Also, we did not have to play a Dronelka-less attack. Boys didn’t go partying as soon as the Hull match was postponed.

They in fact played a 11-vs.-11 match among themselves so that they can keep the rhythm. And now, Anelka is back. So is ‘this week’s darling of the tabloids’ Joe Cole.

Joe Cole is in his final six months of contract. Whenever a club leaves such things so late, it does indicate something. Joe Cole is on a 80k contract. Rumour has it that he wants a 50 percent hike.

To be honest, I’d not pay him a hike. He is not a six-figure footballer. Take a list of all those footballers who are on a six-figure pay packet: John Terry, Frank Lampard, Michael Ballack, Michael Essien, Steven Gerrard, Wayne Rooney, Fernando Torres, Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, etc. That’s quite an elite club.

Joe Cole is not there yet. I don’t want him to believe that he’s there. Okay, let’s put one thing to rest. I love Joe Cole as a Chelsea player. He’s so embedded in my pleasant Chelsea memories. I’d love to keep him and I’d hate to see him play for any other premier league team. 

But still, he is not a six-figure material. What would make him one? He must play about 45 matches in a season of which 30-35 must be starts. He must be more consistent with his performances. He must come up with more man-of-the-match showings.

For a player in his last six months of the contract, there does not seem to be too much interest out there in the market for Joe Cole. Apart from the drama that the press wants to create, there is not even one manager or club that has said that they would fancy signing Joe Cole.

If he has to join elsewhere, certainly he would look for a 100k plus weekly salary which is not affordable for most clubs. And for the clubs that could afford this sum, they would expect more in terms of return from the player.

Sadly, Joe Cole is too injury prone for a 28-year old player expecting a six-figue weekly salary. What sets the matter straight is the fact that Joe Cole loves to be a Chelsea player.

I’m always of the opinion that we should never let go the players that love to be with Chelsea. And the reverse is true as well. The way I see it, we should keep Joe Cole, but certainly not by paying him on par with Terry, Lampard and Essien.

Elsewhere Liverpool is going from worst to . . even worse than worst. They seem to have a problem with their owners and manager and players and injuries and transfers and finances. That’s how bad it is.

If you have your rivals pitying you, you must be in a real bad mess. Rafa is confident that they can get a top four finish. Honestly, a top four finish has always been their objective under Rafa and that’s all they have managed in the premier league under him.

It’s sad if a No. 4 finish this season brings smiles to the Liverpool faces. If they do drop out, we might pick up some players from Anfield.

Amidst all this commotion, Maxi has joined them. Maxi is a player that I respect a lot. I’m sure he will have a positive effect for them. If Liverpool miss out on champions league next season and need the cash, we can look at players like Maxi and Torres.

While this is happening at Anfield, Man Utd. is not flying high. They too have their financial problems. And the other Red team, Arsenal, has re-signed 35-year old Sol Campbell from Notts County; that’s three lows in one sentence.

Wenger has re-signed (which he had said that he’d never do) a 35-year old (against his so-called policy that protects his younger players) from Notts County (while even Stoke, Portsmouth, etc., didn’t want him).

Meanwhile, Man City continues to register wins under Mancini. Is this the era of the Blue teams flourish while the Red teams struggle? I hope so.

Coming back to the match, we have most of our eligible players fit and available for selection tomorrow. I guess we would play the two-striker formation with Anelka and Sturridge. That reminds me of the 3.5m pounds that we need to pay Man City for Sturridge.

I think this kid is worth all that money. In the midfield, we would have Lampard, Ballack and Zhirkov/Malouda for the midfield while Joe Cole can play in the hole. For Sunderland, Kenwyne Jones might just be available and could join the annoying and dangerous Darren Bent.

See, we are in January and Darren Bent is in the running for the golden boot. You gotta take him seriously. He gets his foot/head magically in the right place and the right time which means even a momentary lapse of concentration could be punished severely.

The other advantage of this long break is that we almost start this league afresh. We had certain forgettable and scary defensive displays which I don’t want to remind you.

Oops, sorry I just have. Never mind, this is the first Premier League game for us this year. We’re gonna romp home. 2-0 for Chelsea.