2010/2011 UEFA Champions League

[therockbox]

Ages this year -

Cech 29

A Cole 31

Terry 31

Alex 29

Ivanovic 27

Essien 29

Torres 27

Lampard 33

Anelka 32

Drogba 33

Malouda 32

Zhirkov 28

Benayoun 31

Hilário 36

Without major investment, Chelsea are going nowhere but down. Thought in January that £50m on Torres was a desperate throw of the dice by Abramovich, and whilst Luiz will turn out to be a very good player for them you can't/won't rebuild by spending upwards of £25m on every player you buy. Will be interesting to see what happens in the summer, Ancelotti I think is as good as gone now, and you could make a case for nearly all of those players above to be in need of replacement within a season or two, and that's without the need to bulk up on quality squad players this summer as well. It's a massive financial commitment for an owner who only seems to really want to win the Champions League.

[Starvinho]

Daniel Sturridge is the long-term solution to Chelsea's future success

[MJB]

You could say the same (ages wise) about Man Utd's back four and keeper though.

Edwin Van Der Sar - 40

Rio Ferdinand - 32

Nemanja Vidic - 29

Patrice Evra - 30

John O'Shea - 30

[Kaney]

Man United are rubbish.

[therockbox]

You could say the same (ages wise) about Man Utd's back four and keeper though.

Edwin Van Der Sar - 40

Rio Ferdinand - 32

Nemanja Vidic - 29

Patrice Evra - 30

John O'Shea - 30

They've got Smalling and Rafael though, who are both proven - to a certain extent - at the current level, and even Fabio and Evans as well. Where are Chelsea's equivalents? Not promising youth players, but players who have got a fair amount of appearances under their belts already and not looked totally lost when asked to step in.

[stokeriño]

So we're now quoting 27 year old centre-backs and 29 year old goalkeepers amongst the list of those "in need of replacement within a season or two"? Really?

[Plubby]

I'll be asleep when the game is on, so if I may borrow a line:

The impossible is possible tonight! Come on Spurs!

[Baddar]

It's actually pretty much impossible.

[Starvinho]

In terms of possibility it would be like say Arsenal winning 4-0 at half-time against someone like Newcastle and then them coming back to square it up in the second half, it's just never gonna happen

Almost anything is possible in football, it just has to be one of those nights.

[stokeriño]

When Inter Milan won 2-1 (?) in their first leg against Chelsea last season, I said "Mourinho is going to come to London with a lead to defend. No way are we overturning it."

So, Mourinho with a 4-0 lead to defend? Ahahaha.

[Blue Rosler]

I only want Tottenham to win, just to see the Spurs fans ego get inflated even more, before Barcelona promptly come and demolish them.

And so they become the next Liverpool and sign Paul Konchesky.

[Lineker]

We've already had Paul Konchesky thankyouverymuch.

[Hobo]

So we're now quoting 27 year old centre-backs and 29 year old goalkeepers amongst the list of those "in need of replacement within a season or two"? Really?

Well, maybe not Cech, seeing as he is a goalkeeper and could play into his forties, but Lampard, Drogba, Anelka and maybe Malouda are the ones worth flagging. In two years they'll right in the middle of their thirties. The thing I'd worry about when it comes to Chelsea is that they change managers more often than the squad really changes. Which is working, for now, but they're going to have to go through another spending spree to replace main players sooner rather than later.

[stokeriño]

The problem that's been pointed out about Chelsea's squad in the recent past has been the lack of players in their mid-20s between those around 30+ and the youngsters, so there was no one to tide over the squad's transition.

Work has been made towards this recently with signings like Ramires, Luiz, Torres (who you listed amongst the 'old' list as he's just turned 27, but there's no real concern that he'll be past it before his 5 year contract runs out). Existing players like Mikel and Kalou also fall into this bracket, as well as quite a few 28 year olds (Alex, Bosingwa, Essien, etc.) who are perhaps in the 'next wave' of players to be considered the 'old guard', but not immediate concerns.

Beyond this, there are several younger players who have not been quite ready yet to get proper first team duties but could easily do so in the next year or two. That's not to say that they can replace all the outgoing older players piece-for-piece, but nonetheless there are some that will be of considerable use to the squad. Sturridge is the obvious one, while slightly younger players such as Van Aanholt, Bruma and (even younger) McEachran should also be included. Bruma is the main question mark of those 3 since it is ridiculously difficult to break into Chelsea's centre-back line-up these days.

Others I haven't mentioned include Mancienne (who everyone should just admit is a permanent Wolves player at this stage), Kakuta (who's been dubious and has unfortunately been largely unused at Fulham) and Borini (who seems doomed to suffer a similar fate to Di Santo). Add to that this Lucas Piazon kid who just cost us £8m+, so we can only presume/hope he ought to be a player of some note.

Players will be bought in the summer, of course. Hilario might as well have not been a Chelsea player for the last few years anyway, so he'll be let go and another unimpressive 3rd choice keeper will be brought in (or we'll probably bring Delac back from his Vitesse loan, if we can). Beside that formality, there'll probably be 2 or 3 new faces and maybe 1 or 2 departures. As with all things, it's a steady process, and one the board seems confident it can afford even with UEFA's new rules and such. So it's not like everything's peachy, but to write Chelsea off as doomed/on a downward spiral is short-sighted.

[Blue Rosler]

You'd be in the semi-finals if you'd played Benayoun.

[stokeriño]

Some Chelsea fans are saying the same...

Although part of it is ye olde "player who happens to have been injured during our bad spell = THE SOLUTION TO ALL OUR PROBLEMS" syndrome.

[Blue Rosler]

But in this case, Benayoun is actually amazing. >_>

[stokeriño]

Better than Joe Cole, certainly.

[Hobo]

Better than Joe Cole, certainly.

Damn right. Yossi is lovely.

[DavidMarrio]

Better than Joe Cole, certainly.

We got mugged off in letting Yossi go and then getting Joe Cole, a good bit of business from Chelsea I must admit.