Bad news for the Milan Lalkovic fans out there (and thanks to his amusing, often surreal Twitter account, there are lots). The Slovakian forward, currently on loan with ADO den Haag, has suffered a hamstring injury that will see him miss the next four weeks of the Eredivisie season:

He first picked up the problem two days ago and tried to work through it, but (obviously) couldn't. Of course, this is really annoying to me on a personal level, because I'm going to the Hague for most of March and was hoping to see Lalkovic in person. Now I won't. Argh. Anyway, get well soon, Milan.

Rumours of fractured relationship between Andre Villas-Boas and his players may be overstated; but there was no denying that as Frank Lampard warmed up on the touchline against Birmingham there was a certain disconnection. They may have been sharing a touchline; and they may share similarities in age, but it was obvious when manager instructed player before his introduction, they didn't see eye to eye.

Neither in thirty seconds of dialogue nor in twenty seconds of silence did the English midfielder look at his manager's face, and as Juan Mata was withdrawn boos rang out around Stamford Bridge. They were not for Lampard however, but rather for Villas-Boas for his hooking of the side’s influential playmaker, right when Chelsea desired a winner.

Continue reading this post »

Another week in the books, and another loan roundup for you all. In a bit odd an odd twist it was an exceptional week for the Chelsea attackers out on loan while the defenders didn't have much to write home about. The keepers, well they were somewhere in the middle.

• Josh McEachran - We have nothing to write about for Josh as Swansea are already eliminated from the FA Cup. Hopefully the extra training time has allowed McEachran to develop more of a repoire with his temporary club.
• Gael Kakuta - We already showed you the highlights from the weekend (here), and that's two solid showings in a row from Gael. Dijon were beaten in a cup tie by PSG midweek, a game in which Kakuta did not get off the bench for. Dijon seemed happy to play for a 0-0 draw in that one, something not especially well suited to Kakuta's strengths. Had it not been for a howler by the keeper they'd have likely succeeded. On the weekend Kakuta was exceptional, having arguably his second MotM performance in as many starts. While he still seems to look for the killer ball at every opportunity, his understanding with his teammates is getting noticeably better. Dijon is quickly becoming must see TV.
• Kevin De Bruyne - Not to be outdone by Kakuta, De Bruyne put in a stunning display of his own. He was easily the best player on the pitch as Genk defeated Mons by a 2-1 scoreline, scoring one and assisting the other. After he called out his teammates for their poor play lately in the media it's good to see De Bruyne stepping up to the plate and having a game that shows exactly why Chelsea were after him.

Continue reading this post »

One of the more interesting elements of the fallout from Chelsea's hammering at Goodison Park was the flack that Andre Villas-Boas got for fielding a centre back pairing of David Luiz and Branislav Ivanovic rather than the David Luiz and Gary Cahill partnership that looked impressive against Manchester United (despite shipping three goals). Mostly, this was a protest against Jose Bosingwa starting at right back, which is fair enough considering how awful he was against Everton.

The media* decided to tap into the welspring of hatred and create a fun story of it. Cahill was said to be stunned by his treatment since his arrival at Chelsea. He had been unfairly exiled to the bench despite the absence of John Terry. Andre Villas-Boas was favouring Portuguese players because he's an evil foreigner, and we all know they're not to be trusted, ever. Cahill was not said to be ill.

*I'm finding myself increasingly referring to the football media as though they're one single horrible entity, like the Empire or the Nazis. This is probably unfair. I don't really care.

Continue reading this post »

"Give me the ball, and the ball will be in the back of the net."

That is a line I hear, in Italian-accented English, almost every single day, thanks to SiruisXM's efforts in promoting The Football Show that is co-hosted by the legendary Giorgio Chinaglia. Giorgio was the epitome of a deadly striker, scoring 242 goals in 256 matches for the Cosmos. He had one job, to score goals, and he did it unfailingly. "I am a finisher," he told a newspaper back in 1978, "That means when I finish with the ball, it is in the back of the net." He is also loud, opinionated, boisterous, confident.

He is the Anti-Torres.

He is the Anti '3 league goals for Chelsea' Torres. The Anti 'let's blame the service from midfield' Torres. Much ado has been made about that last one, with fans (and even Torres himself) blaming passing speed, quality, and direction for his struggles. No doubt some will say that he receives the ball in "bad positions" or that he's surrounded by no less than 2 whole teams, all looking to tackle him so that they can point & laugh at his latest howler, scuffed shot, or timid dink. (You should read the take on this issue at Carefree Chronicles; I'll wait.)

Or perhaps it's just case of terrible finishing. A case of a striker who literally could not hit the broad side of a barn, even if he were standing right next to it. A case of a striker who continues to disappoint with every new opportunity and every new shot taken.

Hit the jump to see just how bad it has gotten.

Continue reading this post »

There's some stuff going around about Chelsea players defending/not defending Andre Villas-Boas at the moment, and it's mostly pretty boring. Buried in one of those stories, however, which mostly consists of Didier Drogba giving his public support to the manager, is some news about where the striker will end up next season. It might not be China after all*!

*It strikes me that I've never mentioned the Drogba to Shanghai Shenhua at the end of the season rumours before. Now I have, so you're all caught up.

We are still talking about [a contract extension]. Everybody knows I love the club, everyone knows I want to stay so we are discussing it and let's see what comes out of the discussions. I'm optimistic it can happen but at the same time if it doesn't happen that's life. But you will never change the respect and the love we created together. My heart is blue.

-Didier Drogba. Source: ESPN Soccernet.

Continue reading this post »

Another weekend in the books and most of our youngsters on loan saw some time on the pitch. We'll get to see some of the Cobham youth in action Wednesday as the youth cup resumes this week. As for the weekend though...

• Josh McEachran - Josh got himself 64 minutes of action on the pitch as he started the contest as part of a double pivot. I'm not going to go into too much detail here since Graham already went into ridiculous amounts of it earlier.
• Thibaut Courtois - After keeping 5 consecutive clean sheets leading into this one, I'm sure most of you were expecting to hear more impressive things about the giant Belgian. Courtois didn't have much to do this weekend, barely being tested as he kept his sixth consecutive clean sheet en route to a 0-0 draw. Unfortunately the Atletico offense seems to be watching too many Fernando Torres highlights, as they failed to take advantage of a marvelous opportunity to move into the 4th spot with a win. Still, since the break Atletico have gone from the middle of the table to 1 point out of 4th...Champions League football could be beckoning next season.
• Gael Kakuta -- Kakuta had himself a very nice weekend. He got his second start for Dijon (his first in a league game) and responded in the same fashion as he did with his first...with a goal. Beyond the goal though, Kakuta had himself a generally fantastic game. WhoScored had him as their man of the match based on his goal, shot off the bar, and 76 percent passing. All in all it was a pretty nice day in France for the youngster, and hopefully this will go further towards earning him a regular starting place in the Dijon lineup.

Continue reading this post »

It's been a pretty miserable weekend of football for most associated with Chelsea. First, the Blues were destroyed by Everton at Goodison Park, a performance so bad that there was absolute no excusing it away with luck or refereeing. Second, the Ivory Coast lost the Africa Cup of Nations final to Zambia on a penalty shootout, which meant that Salomon Kalou and Didier Drogba return from Gabon and Equatorial Guinea empty-handed and presumably pretty annoyed.

But there was some good going on as well, and few will have been happier than Josh McEachran, who made his first start for Swansea and his second overall in the Premier League. I had half an eye on the match while watching Chelsea-Everton, but I wanted to go through it again and take notes on his performance. You can find them in more or less raw form after the jump...

Continue reading this post »