Deco received the player of the month award for August and rightly so after his brilliant performance in a game against Portsmouth and that special free kick against Wigan.
There were some doubters who said that the play-maker is not as good as he was 3 or 4 years ago, but the Portuguese midfielder proved them wrong. He is a great asset to Chelsea and will certainly provide a lot more special moments this season.
The ex-Barcelona player joins a club already full of world class midfielders including Ballack, Lampard, Essien and Mikel with Ballack and Lampard certainly standing out from that list.
Lampard has already scored 5 goals in all competitions this season and looks like he will break the 20 goal mark with ease. Ballack has not been as lucky with injury being his main problem so far this season and has hardly played a full 90 minute game, but last season his was undoubtedly Chelsea's best player and Phil Scolari will certainly be hoping the German captain gets fit soon.
However things do not seem to add up. If Scolari keeps his 4-5-1 formation with Joe Cole and Malouda on the wings and Mikel just in front of the back four, than there is space for just two central midfielders. This means that one of the magnificent trio has to sit on the bench.
Is Scolari going to have a headache over who to pick? Probably not. Lets be honest, no matter who he chooses from Ballack, Lampard and Deco, they are just as good as each other, although they do have different styles of play.
Deco is the creator who makes attractive short passes. He can make an opening for a striker with just one pass. Ballack on the other hand is brilliant for long passes while Lampard just loves to get into the box and get a few goals himself.
It is up to the Chelsea manager to decide what style of play is more suitable against the opposition and from that make his choice on the two central midfielders. If however Scolari is going to make his choice depending on the current form, than Lampard and Deco should no doubt start. They worked to perfection together against Portsmouth at Stamford Bridge and they were the key reason why Chelsea manager to put four goals past David James.
Lets also not forget that Ballack is turning 32 tomorrow and his legs are therefore not as young as they were 4 years ago, so he could be the casualty and left on the bench while Lampard and Deco do the business on the pitch.
Either way, Scolari must feel blessed to have such a great midfield variety and a lot of top Premiership managers would want the same and with injuries and suspensions no doubt to come, Phil always knows that hi has a world class back up to step onto the pitch.
Who needs Kaka when Chelsea has already got enough depth and experience to win trophies.
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