Preseason At The Bridge: A Time Of Change And Reform.

Being a life-long Chelsea fan, preseason is usually an interesting time for the club. In the pre-Abramovich era, much was promised from big money signings and a weight of expectancy from those connected with the club.

"This will be our year", was the cry from supporters and pundits alike with the introduction of players such as Zenden, Petit, Stanic, Sutton, and Casiraghi with un-erring amounts of money spent at the time.

But now the money clearly isn’t the issue with the Russian's bank role, yet a similarity from those years has emerged with the need to strengthen the squad in vital areas and offload the players who need to go in order for Chelsea to move to the next level again.

This summer could see a massive overhaul of the squad with Mr. Scolari wanting to add his touch to the already large squad and it is clear certain players’ future may be elsewhere.

Who you say? Well in my opinion the clear out will start at the back with Belletti, Ben-Haim, and Boulahrouz all who have showed glimpses of what they can offer but not nearly regularly enough for the Blues to sustain challenges on all fronts.

Moving forward in the team the likes of Sidwell, Maluouda, Wright-Phillips, and Pizzaro need to be replaced with quality performers who can be relied on to produce match winning performances consistently and I’m afraid with the above mentioned this hasn’t been the case.

Maybe Mr. Scolari will get the best from them and give them a chance to shine, but, if so, they are living on borrowed time.

Our reluctance in the past to sign young, up and coming flair players has been a worry. With Manchester Utd signing the likes of Ronaldo, Nani, Anderson, and Vidic, Arsenal with Fabregas, Toure, Bendtner, and Adebayor, and Liverpool with Torres, we seem to miss out on those types.

The exceptions for Chelsea were Arjen Robben, whose now moved on, Petr Cech, and John Mikel Obi who is learning all the time and hopefully with age will be our new Makelele and the gloriously inconsistent Salomon Kalou.

Our main signings in recent years have been older experienced players but maybe a new type of player is required at Chelsea, one with more creativity. The loss of players such as Duff, Gudjohnsen, and Robben underline what the problem has been over the past two years with lack of flair and too many similar players in the squad.

The likes of Marcelo, Lulinha, Guardado, Quaresma, Dos Santos, Modric, and Arshavin should be targets for me. These players have creativity and excitement that only Joe Cole at the moment can bring to our side.

Add this creativity with our solid foundations of Cech, Terry, Carvalho, Lampard, Ballack, Essien, and Drogba and you now have a recipe for success.

No doubt Mr. Scolari will use his many worldwide contacts to lure the players of his choice to the Stamford Bridge. But with the futures of Carvalho, Lampard, and Drogba cloudy then he will have to work quickly in order for a new Chelsea to take shape.

Back in the Vialli and Ranieri days where high profile names were brought in and success was considered a given but the moulding of a stable team and the right players to achieve success in league formats, not just in cup competitions maybe wasn’t addressed back then.

Now it’s a new exciting era for Chelsea and one the world will be watching because with the right moves, additions, and habits in pre season could shape the future of the club for years to come.