When you look at great English players, there are many that stand out, but only few carry their heart on their sleeve and emphasise what being English is about, after all for players like David Beckham, Bobby Moore, Bryan Robson, Stuart Pearce and John Terry its all about pride and love for your country.
We are lucky to have the greatest league in the world that is graced by some of the most gifted players from all corners of the globe, but take a closer look at the top teams and you will see that a possible upset is on the cards.
Manchester United last season claimed that they deserved to win the league, that they were the best team by a mile, however what about Arsenal or Liverpool or for that matter Chelsea.
A team who at one point was 11 points behind Manchester United, a team who suffered appalling injuries to more than one key player yet Chelsea were still able to push Manchester United to the wire.
Sure lets not take anything away from Man Utd, they are a great team and I am under no illusions that most Chelsea fans would love to have Ronaldo or Ferdinand in a blue shirt but let's get one thing straight. The gap between the big four is not as big as you may think.
This season is all about pride, all about English steel and honour. Players like John Terry, Frank Lampard, Michael Essien, Didier Drogba who all performed over expectation yet still ended up a loser.
Ferguson may have written off Chelsea's chances this season but then again he did the same last season, maybe if we were not so unlucky with injuries it may have been a different story. This season will be a new start for Chelsea, a new era for the Stamford Bridge Brigade, and with Jose Mourinio gone, Avram Grant gone its time to welcome Luiz Phillipe Scolari, look forward to a fantastic season and most of all Chelsea reclaiming what should have been theirs.
After all we have players that have English steel and determination, sometimes that is more important than flair but as a life long Chelsea Fan, its time for the boys in blue to learn from the heartache of losing the league and handing Man Utd the Champions League and come out fighting.
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2 months ago
I've no doubt Chelsea will come out fighting next season, Terry will want to put Moscow right.
Ferguson does have a point to a degree, Chelsea dont have enough talented young players in our squad (Kalou, Mikel) compared to United (Anderson, Rooney, Nani, Ronaldo etc.), but age wasn't exactly a hinderance last season was it?
2 months ago
Also a little gem from an interview Ferguson gave to the Daily Mail:
Q: Do you know Scolari?
A: "No, although we played against him when we won the World Championship. I don't think he speaks English, does he?"
Clearly he didn't watch Scolari's press conference!
2 months ago
there is no doubt that chelsea deserved much more than what they achieved last season. not because of the football that they played since i have never been a fan of it. but it is true that they are the most determined and resilient team that i have seen for a long long time. they will never take defeat without a fight. no matter what team they put out, they are all determined to fight, which really is admirable. i am an arsenal fan and i would love to see that sort of commitment at my club. mourinho's atmosphere is obviously still running in the team with players like terry, essien and lampard, chelsea can never be written off. they will not be able to change the way they play, i actually think chelsea has a lot of 'germany' about them in terms of their efficiency and determination.
2 months ago
Chelsea if they gel will be great, their midfield has to chances of being one of the best over the past number of years their engine room will be stocked...
2 months ago
Our football isn't great at the best of times. It's all about grinding out those results at the end of the day. Sometimes you can't have it all as a football team. Playing fancy, exciting football like Arsenal is great, but what have they won in the last 4 or 5 years? Not a lot! Roman A. can't have everything. There are some things money just can't buy.
United were lucky to come away with the double last season that's for sure. And had we won the CL last season, Fergie wouldn't be on his high horse like he is now. We have a strong experienced midfield, theirs is younger as is their attacking line up. But our defence is strong, quick and young all in all. So it all balances itself out on paper at least.
It'll be a close campaign this next one like the last one was. None of the top 4 have had many changes to report thus far, with Chelsea seeing maybe the most significant in their Manager, and Arsenal have lost a few key ones in personnel.
Should be good what ever happens!
2 months ago
Ferguson stated that Chelsea posess alot of ageing players and they might not have the legs to reach the finishing line. A quick look at United and Chelsea's squads and one stat stands out - they both posess a squad with the average age of 28. I suggest SAF should actually think about what he says before making himself look like a fool...
2 months ago
solomon you are an idiot. the age is average, but look at next seasons starters and see the avg age. nani and anderson will replace scholes and giggs. now how many players will be over other than neville? utd are gonna woop chelsea' asses again. who gives a shit about injuries. remember rooney injury?? ronaldo suspended?? tevez having to play right away w/out pre-season? neville out the whole season?? saha not playing?? and you didnt hand over the c.l u idiot. you missed a pk, that don't mean you handed it to us. man utd midfield rocks chelsea.
e. van der sae
wes ferdinand vidic evra
ronaldo hargreaves carrick nani
rooney tevez
avg age 26
from 2 months ago
typical united fan, always fails to look at the facts.
Fact - we outplayed you throughout the entire game, hit the post and the crossbar and should have won, we handed it to you by letting it get to penalties in the first place.
Fact - Ronaldo was your most consistent player, but how can you justify comparing players like saha and neville against the likes of John Terry, Peter Cech?? point is if we had not have lost two of our most influential players last season then you would not have won the league.
anyway time will tell, we have by far the most experienced and influential team, players who have been there and experienced the big moments, who have you got, yes giggs & scholes but will ronaldo be there????
when its the end of the season and you have won the league then you can gloat, till then i would suggest you hold fire
from 2 months ago
Lool. Calling me an idiot just points out who the real idiot is homie.
2 months ago
typical chelsea fan, never has a clue what he is talking about.
Fact - entire game means both first half and second half plus the additional extra time. Agreed, you dominated us the second half, but we dominated you totally in the first half and the extra time (average age: food for thought). If you are talking about hitting crossbar and posts, we can talk about 2 tevez sitters, one giggs miss and another 2 misses from carrick (and ofcourse, the typical chelsea style goal from lampard).
Fact - Both saha and Neville are important players for us (fortunately our squal deapth diminishes depedence on them, unlike chelsea). Fully fit saha (watch 2006 and 2007) has tore EPL apart everytime he has started (there is a reason SAF preferred saha over RVN), and Neville is our captain for a reason. Agreed terry and chelsea are more important to chelsea than saha and neville is for united, but thats your problem, and you need to sort it out.
one last thing: Feck ronaldo, United will be better off without him. Yes he was our leading scorer in the last season, but thats because we have such a good midfield, and he was played as a forward (sacrificing rooney). I want to see Rooney back into his support striker role, playing in the hole scoring and assisting like he used to. United developed Ronaldo from a one trick pony to the wonderkid he is now. Nani has more talent in his left nut, than ronaldo in his both legs (not to speak about anderson).
2 months ago
Deane you've got players who've been there and experienced the big moments.What like winning the champions league? As for saha and neville so you don't think the teams only out and out striker and the teams captain are influential players? not forgetting rooney missed a third of the season.And a quick message for chelsea fans please go and look at the stats for the champions league final it might give you a true reflection of what happened.I doubt many chelsea fans have watched the game more than once.Well it gets shown on mutv nearly everyday and trust me you were lucky to get to extra time.
from 2 months ago
I was there mate. And if I'm being honest I haven't watched that game all the way through again, too painful.
I think we deserved to win but thats just my opinion. No doubt you disagree but there you go.
2 months ago
experience. dude like even rooney has experience than some of your older players. rooney has been there, the c.l epl and all that. so dont talk about expereicne. did you forget ferdiandn??? evra???? wes brown???? hargreaves???? edwin van der sar????? vidic????. no one cares who dominated what. i could say the score should have been 3-0 at halftime but i didnt cuz we won and i dont give a rats ass. chelsea and their fans were tooo busy sucking jose mourinho's dick and didnt realized that the season was under way.
2 months ago
see this is what i find rather amusing is that yes fair enough you won the league and the champions league. big deal, that was last season.
lets concerntrate on what happens this season, if you think you will walk the league? think again, see i like the rivalry between Man U and Chelsea, its healthy and good fun but when people like JJ start taking things over the top then it gets a bit worrying
Yes I love chelsea and I am a hardcore fan but let stick to reality here, football is about community, about fun rivalry and about enjoying the game, hell I am not adverse to watching other teams and If it was Man U in the final against a french, spanish or italian team then Utd all the way but i dont write these pieces so that idiots can use it to fire abuse at people.
you have a worthwhile comment then all good, i love banter and a good debate but if you wanna talk about sucking dick, then I am sure there are some appropriate pages to visit elsewhere onthe net.
All in all, guys thanks for you comments, I look forward to proving you man utd fans wrong but lets look forward to a healthy season and may the best team (CHELSEA :) ) win
2 months ago
To say that Ferguson has written off Chelsea’s chances in your penultimate paragraph only makes you appear foolish. From what I’ve read he said nothing of the sort. Of course, his quotes *could* be interpreted that way, but only in so much as tabloids will stretch any quote to fit their headline if they want. In reality he just said due to the age of Chelsea’s players, the likes of Ballack, Lampard, Drogba, Deco, etc, he expects no sudden huge development in the standard of their play. They have reached their peak and Lampard is very unlikely to jump from 20 goals to 40 goals in one season. These players are as good as they will get and what Ferguson says is that he expects them to be as good again next season. Not better, not worse, just at the same pretty damn good level they’ve been at for four years!
Personally, my opinion is that Chelsea’s narrowest of narrow defeats last season will give them the hunger and motivation to win at least the Premiership this season. It will be hard for United to retain that hunger and desire having won it two years in a row and Chelsea will want it more than ever and I wouldn’t be surprised if this sees them doing their own double.
2 months ago
Arsenal are gonna win it anyway. Far younger than either team. We won the double the year after United last won the Champions league. We always do this, have a massive lead, mess that up. Season after we break records and everyone thinks we are gr8.
Reckon Liverpool stand more chance of winning it than Chelsea anyway. I could be wrong, and I have not checked, but it is my belief that Scolari hasn't won a trophy since the World cup in 2002. So as you can tell I'm shaking in my boots here. He was your 3rd choice after the Milan and Russia bosses told ya where you could stick your job. Even Scolari admitted when he joined it was only for money.
Also United fans, if Eduardo hadn't broke his leg, and Gallas hadn't acted like a child we would have won last year anyway so please dont count us off just yet.......or actually do, makes it all the more sweet when we win. You did however win...and very comprehensive it was too. totally dominant.......oh wait 2 points and a shootout victory......even Spurs did them in Extra time.
from 2 months ago
The year after United last won the Champions League they retained the Premiership with an 18point winning margin. Admittedly, an Arsenal double is much, much more likely than that happening again though.
If they can find the right partner for Cesc in the middle then I don’t see why they will do any worse than last season and will undoubtedly challenge stronger and for longer on all fronts.
2 months ago
Yeh hold my hand up there. I for some unknown reason thought u lot won it in 2001. but u didn't.
Don's see Arsenal doing that. but maybe, can only hope.
2 months ago
Well whatever happens there is no doubt going to be a four horse race again but it will all depend on who has the hunger
Liverpool - good team but not consistent enough, but with torres firing on all cylinders and the addition of a few good signings could be a surprise
Arsenal - bit surprised that they have lost so many of their players, not the same team since henry left and yes I admit that the sickning injury to Eduardo prob had a devastating effect to the team but as for cry baby gallas, sorry but there are more inportant players than him, but again wenger has the habit of pulling a diamond out of nothing so could be a surprise.
Personally I am looking forward to this season, could be some interesting events, some very good teams this season
2 months ago
i dont remember what game i was watching but chelsea were i think tied and the bridge erupted in chants for jose mourinho while grant was on a side line. and shamingly, chelsea scored and won that game. your owner is destroying the cllub with all that money. you cant change managers like that. man utd's success has come hugley because of the manager. it took like what 5-6 years for fergie to win a major trophy but he wasnt sacked. yes i know managers arent under pressure but how about wenger, what has he won in last 4 years??? has he been sacked??? what did roma want mourinho to do??? go beg for the c.l trophy? you guys past a chance to have a manager that could have lasted a decade and in that span, you had a good chance of winning the c.l but seriously, fans should get behind the teams back no matter who the manager is. and trust me, we are hungry for that epl trophy and its staying at old trafford. with or without ronaldo
from 2 months ago
I agree JJ but the problem is that when ferguson joined Man Utd, the money was not the major influence in the game so you had more time to "bed in" and all respect to SAF he has done a fantastic job, one of the best managers of all time, however now it seems that if you can deliver sucess within the first two years then your out.
Mourinio never should have been sacked and all fairness to grant he has an impossible job, and even if he had won the league and champions league I think he still would have been sacked.
Dont think its the chairman thats killing the game, its the money, football is now a commercial business which thrives on sucess
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