Candle In The Win

Heir Today Gone Tomorrow

England 1 Germany 2

Lampard scored, Robinson let them down. I think I want to kill him now.

Pander fires home Germany’s stunning second - which turned out to be the winner

On another front

Robben Completes Madrid switch

Chelsea’s Arjen Robben will sign a five-year deal with Real Madrid today to bring the curtain down on one of football’s worst-kept transfer secrets.

Chelsea and Madrid finally agreed a fee for the Holland winger - thought to be £20million plus - after a summer of intense speculation about his future.

Robben has agreed personal terms and only has to pass a medical to ensure his dream move goes ahead.

The 23-year-old was targeted by Madrid president Ramon Calderon during his election campaign last summer when he promised to sign the player.

The speculation heightened when Chelsea’s attempts to persuade Robben to sign a new long-term deal collapsed during the summer break.

Madrid winced at the prospect of meeting Chelsea’s £30million asking price for the winger but pre-season setbacks suffered by Spanish champions increased the pressure on Calderon to conclude the deal.

A Point Shared : Liverpool 1 Chelsea 1

Chelsea deserves it? Nope. Was it a penalty? Nope, I don’t think so. Whatever it is, I’m happy that we got a point from what seems to be a very difficult game. Liverpool were so up to this game.

Fernando Torres opened the scoring in the 16th minute but then Liverpool had to settle for a draw after Frank Lampard equalized from the penalty spot in the 62nd minute. t was a controversial decision by referee Styles to penalise Steve Finnan for a challenge on Malouda.

It looked as if Malouda had jumped between Finnan and Carragher before tumbling and Carragher was booked for arguing before Lampard drove the spot-kick home.

9 yellow cards was issued by Styles during the match ; 5 for Chelsea and 4 for Liverpool.

Next Match : Chelsea V Portsmouth , 25th August , Stamford Bridge

Crunch Weekend : Chelsea Face Tough Task

Liverpool versus Chelsea will always provides us with lotsa dramas. On their last visit to Anfield, the boys in blue were gunned down 2-0. This one will be the first big head-to-head of the big four of the 2007/2008 season.

Chelsea will go into this match having 6 points from the the opening two matches, while Liverpool will be playing their second league game after being involve in European Champions Cup qualifier against Toulouse in midweek.

Heard that Gerrard is forced to play despite having an ankle knock. Wow, like if without Gerrard Liverpool will not win this game. That’s a very risky thing to do. They might lose Gerrard for quite some time later. Whatever it is, Chelsea will definitely want to avenge what happen last January! Go! Go! The blues!

American Revolution

MLS have been under the spotlight of late. Will it mean the revolution of American soccer? Or just an overhyped circus just because David Beckham, the captain of England and one of the most recognisable face on and off the pitch had signed with L.A Galaxy? What I see is the future of American soccer. With growing expectations to how the MLS would perform, I think it somehow motivates lotsa people in the league, especially those who have been with MLS for quite a long time to perform week in week out.

Beckham wore the captain’s armband at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California, on Wednesday night as he made a dramatic first start for his new team, scoring the opening goal and laying on the second for Donovan in a 2-0 SuperLiga semi-final victory over DC United.

Just six days removed from their league clash on Thursday night in Washington, a 1-0 United victory, the two clubs were this time squaring off with $1 million on the line and a place in the SuperLiga final against Mexico’s Pachuca.

He has attracted a humongeous amounts of spectators from all around the state. Definitely this guy is something. Well, let’s hope that a new chapter of football or soccer they call it is to be written in colors! 

Reading 1 Chelsea 2

Chelsea came back from a goal down to win the match at Madejski Stadium 2-1 with goals from Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba.

I didn’t watch the game last night but I was happy that when I open up soccernet today, Reading 2 Chelsea 1 : Blues Fight Back! Full report here.

I was hoping that Pizarro would start the game since Drogba was not fully fit but I think it’s worth the gamble when Mourinho decided to put the mighty Ivorian in front of the pacey Peruvian at Reading.

On Mourinho’s decision to go back to the original 4-3-3 formation that proved to be a success at Stamford Bridge which brought them 2 back to back titles, I think it’s pretty much a very good choice. We changed a bit last season to accomodate the likes of Ballack and Sheva but I guess this season, it’s not important anymore. The best tactics and suitable players in the tactics wins the game. As simple as that.

Kudos to Chelsea and keep the blues flag flying high!

Next Match : Liverpool v Chelsea , 19th August, Anfield

Injury Boost For Mourinho

A tough trip to The Madejski Stadium today. The last time Chelsea went there, Cech and Cudicini was KOed. With a few players still far away from being fit, an uphill task waiting to be completed. I must say that it is not a very good time to play an away game to Reading at this particular moment.

Pizarro should be in the starting line up after a very good debut

For today’s trip to Reading, the gaffer still has somewhat limited options, but with the likes of Claude Makelele, Andrei Shevchenko and John Terry all having stepped-up their respective rehabilitations, he could be ready to pick out his first eleven.

The situation is the same we had last weekend

Mourinho told Sky Sports News.

I have to make a decision about (Michael) Essien, maybe yes, maybe no.

After that the picture is the same. Paulo (Ferreira) is back so that is one more option, and for the weekend a lot of people will be back.

Makelele is training normal, Sheva is training normal and John Terry will start training normal tomorrow (Wednesday).

Let’s just hope that we will let the winning runs continues. I would not be able to watch tonight’s game. So, GO GO BLUES!

£20m And Alves Will Go To Stamford Bridge

Chelsea have been told they will need to offer £20million for Sevilla’s Daniel Alves if they are to stand any chance of landing the Brazil fullback.

They have made an informal approach for the player and indicated they would be prepared to pay around £14m, but Sevilla want more than £18m.

Teammates?

I think that he is one if not the best right back in the world at the moment. I don’t mind Chelsea splashing out a hefty amount to bring him from Sevilla to Stamford Bridge. Ship Paulo Farreira out and just pay maybe around £11m for him. He’s worth it.

Updates : Daniel Alves will be pulled out of Sevilla’s squad to face AEK Athens in tomorrow’s Champions League qualifier as Chelsea try to sign the £20m-rated Brazil right back in time for Sunday’s trip to Liverpool.

Of Carlos Tevez And Gianfranco Zola

One of the players that I missed the most would be Gianfranco Zola. What can I say? A genius, with bags full of tricks and magic on his feet. I think if he is still around and young, he will probably fit in well to the way Chelsea played on the opening day of The Premier League. Chelsea won the match in a thrilling 3-2 scoreline with a cavalier display.

While Chelsea have been playing good football and we are enjoying it, I think Chelsea need a player of Zola’s calibre to perform week in week out like that. Of course we have Robben, Kalou and Joe Cole who could probably do as good as Zola but consistency is something that these young players are not so up to the standard that Zola have.

One particular player that I really hope could’ve been bought by Chelsea in the close season was Carlos Tevez. They guy is gifted with superb control of the ball, creativity in attack and the kind of agility that we need to create lotsa chances. He has been linked for a move to Chelsea when he was still playing back in his native country with Boca Juniors but I was surprised that the interest somehow fades along the way and then out of the blue, now he’s a Man United player. I must say that Tevez is a very good catch.

I see that both Zola and Tevez have the same quality. They’re both quick, good with both feet, fast and they also look alike in a way. I’d love to see Tevez wearing the sacred 25 jersey one day. I think it will fit in his size very well.

I do think that they look alike … (Picture : credit to spring fairy)

Chelsea Snatch The Blues : Chelsea 3 Birmingham City 2

Not the very best possible start but the Blues’ would be very much happy with the three points from last night’s match against Birmingham City. Jose Mourinho’s side went into yesterday’s opener at Stamford Bridge with a lengthy injury list, but the new look Chelsea side was able to pull out a win out of it.

John Terry, Michael Ballack, Wayne Bridge, Claude Makelele, Paulo Farreira and Shevcenko are amongst those who were out for the opener. Losing so many players before a ball has even been kicked would have cripple morale boost at most clubs but I guess it is very much different here at the Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea won the game 3-2 with goals from The English Premier League debutants Claudio Pizarro, Florent Malouda and the never say die versatile midfielder, Michael Essien. Goals for Birmingham were scored by former Chelsea striker Mikael Forssell and new signing Olivier Kapo.

The new season however led to Mourinho being in an unusual position of being dwarfed by Manchester United and Liverpool’s spending in the transfer market. The London club’s 13 million pounds purchase of The French League player of the year, Florent Malouda was in fact their only cash deal this close-season, while their rivals splashed out more than 40 millions pounds each and even Fulham and Portsmouth spent more than Chelsea did.

Chelsea so far had capture quite a number of free signings with Tal Ben-Haim (Bolton), Claudio Pizarro (Bayern Munich), Steven Sidwell (Reading) and the finally completed move of Chelsea’s only second Brazilian player in history, Alex (PSV).

On another note, I was actually quite entertained by yesterday’s game. Chelsea was playing a total different football from the last 3 seasons so to speak. The game is much faster, full of subliminal skills especially from the likes of Malouda, Kalou and Wright-Phillips. Chelsea played a full forced attacking style for 90 minutes. My man of the match goes to Shaun Wright-Phillips. His defence splitting pass and inch perfect crosses had been given city’s back four a major headache.

The only major concerned that I have is the defending. Eventhough beautiful football was being played, the defence somehow need a little bit of adjustments especially on defending free kicks and counter attack. Too much of concentration on attacking could prove very much costly for the game. Ben-Haim had a good game against Manchester United and I must say he did quite well against Birmingham City too. I was particularly happy with Glen Johnson’s participation in the game. He has lived up to his 6 million pounds price tag and the loan spell last season did very much to improve him as a versatile right back.

Next Match : Reading vs Chelsea , 15th August, Madejski Stadium