Chelsea FC 08/09 Thread

[cigar omar]

Claude Makelele will end his five-year spell at Chelsea by completing a move to Paris St Germain.

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PSG have announced the French midfielder will join them after reaching agreement on terms of the deal with the player and Chelsea.

Makelele was a £16.8million signing by Chelsea from Real Madrid in 2003. The 35-year-old won two league titles during his spell at Stamford Bridge, and helped the club reach last season's Champions League final.

Makelele retired from international football after France's disappointing showing at Euro 2008.

A brief statement on the PSG website read: 'Charles Villeneuve, president of Paris St Germain, Paul Le Guen, coach of the first team, and Alain Roche, head scout, will have a press conference today.

'On this occasion they will present to the journalists the French international midfielder Claude Makelele, who will join Paris St Germain's first team for the 2008/09 season.'

Makelele was brought to Chelsea from Real Madrid by former manager Claudio Ranieri, shortly after Roman Abramovich took over as the club's new owner.

The former Nantes, Marseille and Celta Vigo player added defensive strength to Chelsea's midfield and linked up well with Frank Lampard in the centre.

He departs at a time Chelsea have an abundance of midfield options, with Deco, Lampard, Michael Essien, Michael Ballack, Joe Cole, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Mikel Jon Obi set to compete for selection next season.

A statement on Chelsea's website read: 'Everyone at Chelsea would like to take this opportunity to thank Claude for the five years of service he has given to the club.

'He has been a key part of our trophy success during that time and we wish him well for the future.

'He will always be welcomed back to Stamford Bridge in the future either as a player or as a friend of the club.'

Very sad to see the genius leave but hes leaving a legend at the club and all the fans appreciate what hes done for us. Chelseas greatest ever signing he offered 5 years of solid service. For me he embodied Chelsea he was our main player. I hope Essien is ready to step up to the plate. If any player in the world can replace Makelele it has to be him. Real has never been the same since his departure so has Chelsea since his arrival. I know he will do great for PSG. 

Makelele, greatest ever signing? I think the real Chelsea fans may argue for the likes of Zola. Makelele was a great player, the past season or so though he has started to wane. He also is a cheap little sod, trying to injure players. He has gone down in my estimation big time since seeing him play the past year or so.

Blasphemy Genfranco will always be a legend at Chelsea along with many others. But since Makelele joined us we have won 6 trophies it was Chelsea greatest era. To me Makelele was our key, the defense is very strong but with Maka in front of them was an extra shield was also a great passer going forward. Always played his rold did his best for the team and kept it professional. Very humble lad always played with the smile on his face.  He was so good at what he did they named it the Makelele role, now since his departure I have heard people accuse him of being a rough, dirty even arrogant thats disgusting. The funny thing is these are the same people who praise Roy Kene.  :nopity:

I just hope his departure does not effect Chelsea the way Vieiras departure effected Arsenal.

[zizou871]

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I just hope his departure does not effect Chelsea the way Vieiras departure effected Arsenal.
[/quote]

Don't jinx us! :bang:

Yeah I'm not sure Essien is going to be the best to fill his shoes.  He's too offensive for that role.  He'll be wanting to make more runs up and he has the right to do so given his talents, but then we'll get caught occasionally, because he won't be back there where makelele always was

[cigar omar]

Luiz Felipe Scolari believes Chelsea can win the quadruple in his first season as manager at Stamford Bridge.

The Brazilian, 59, said his squad is strong enough to challenge for the Premier League, the FA Cup, Carling Cup and Champions League.

"We have four competitions this season and I'll try to win all four," he said.

"It will be very difficult but we have the team for it, we have the players for it. Chelsea have also given me everything I have wanted."

Chelsea failed to win a trophy last season after losing in the Carling Cup and Champions League finals and finishing second to Manchester United in the Premier League.

The former Portugal coach, who succeeded Avram Grant as Chelsea boss this summer, added: "I try and give confidence to my players. They sometimes make mistakes but I tell them that this is normal as long as they train hard. If they do their best the rest is my problem."

   
606: DEBATE
The biggest thing Chelsea had to spend on was a manager. Securing this manager means silverware this year at the expense of Man U

A-don789
Chelsea have been prolific at the start of their pre-season tour of Asia, beating Guangzhou Pharmaceutical 4-0 last week, while on Saturday they secured an emphatic 7-0 win over Chengdu Blades.

And Scolari said the tour had helped him decide on the majority of the starting XI for Chelsea's first game of the Premier League season against Portsmouth on 17 August.

"I know who my key players are," confirmed Scolari ahead of Tuesday's match against a Malaysian League Select XI - the third and final game of the Far East leg of Chelsea's tour.

"I have had 15 days with them and I know who is important for us to play more games than other players."

He stated: "You need to build a team around a few players in essential positions for important games and I now know who they are.

"I have in my mind one idea for the team to play against Portsmouth but until then I want to see how the players train.

"I have a minimum of 75% of the team in my mind but I need to know the other 25%."

   
It's down to myself to drive this team forward again and push to get to where we were last season and further

Chelsea captain John Terry

After Tuesday's friendly, Chelsea will head to the Luzhniki Stadium, the venue of last season's Champions League final defeat by Manchester United, for a match against Lokomotiv Moscow.

Blues captain John Terry, who missed what would have been the winning kick in the penalty shoot-out defeat at the hands of United, conceded that returning to the Russian capital would be "weird" but said he was ready to concentrate on the forthcoming season.

The defender said: "We have made some great signings. With players like Deco and Jose Bosingwa coming to the club, there's no point me thinking, 'Oh, I could have won the Champions League that year' when I'm 35 or 40. I still have some great years ahead of me.

"With the manager we have, I have still got a great possibility of winning it.

"It's down to myself to drive this team forward again and push to get to where we were last season and further.

"We showed great strength of character with all the disappointments we had last season, with the changes in manager. We showed what a great team we are.

"Now we have a manager who can lead the team as well."

Scolari has got his sites set on the quadruple. Very interesting no doubt our current squad is capable but lets not get ahead of ourselves. Mourinhos boots will not be easy to fill.

 

[cigar omar]

Chelsea 5-0 AC Milan

Kalac was dreadful as usual.   

Anelka seems to be on fire 5 goals in 2 games.  :thumbsup:

[manutd.]

What? Friendly?

Rosters please.

[Chunkchenko]

What? Friendly?

Rosters please.

i cant seriously understand why Chelsea fans are so excited about a friend.

heres Milans line up

                           Kalac

Bonera       Simic        Maldini       Favalli

Zambrotta   Flamini      Gattuso   Jankulovski

                   Pirlo          Ambrosini

subs: Abbiati, Kaladze, Digoa, Seedorf, Paloschi and Antonini.

First off Pirlo and Ambrosini played upfront when there both DM's. Most of the team didnt play much last year and Flamini has only had 1 or 2 games with Milan with a Bench full of youth players besides Seedorf, Kaladze and Abbiati.

[Adi]

Essien can't replace Makalele? Hahah, that's the worst joke ever. Essien has been better than Makelele for the last 3 years. Essien is a great defensive mid. He goes forward when it's necessary. You don't often see Chelsea concede because of him, but you do see him create goals because of his attacks. The guy played as a left and center back last season.... I'm pretty sure he has the discipline to play defensive mid.

Anyways, I think it's going to be damn close between Man U and Chelsea this year. It's hard to pick a winner. Ronaldo's fitness and Man U's play in his absence will decide the season.

I think Chelsea will win 3 trophies this season.

[zizou871]

He goes forward more often than Makelele, which will leave the defense without that extra man they are used to having.  He has an amazing long range shot which I hope he will utilize more now that he is more central.  As far as his defensive skills, I know he's good, but not as good as Makelele.  Not the Makelele last season (who I thought was still good) but the Makelele a couple of years ago when Chelsea first got him.  Yeah he played right back and I remember him getting burned in the CL final by Ronaldo a lot.  Granted, it was Cronaldo who isn't really easy for anyone to mark, and he may have performed a little better as the game progressed (this may have been  because Ronaldo got quiet as he usually does in big games, and I've tried to forget that game).  I think he'll handle the average opposition in the Premier League, but when it comes to the CL and the big teams in England who have better players, he won't look as good as a def mid.  He may become a great one but I think it will take some time. 

Maybe I'm just talking out of my ass. :booty: <thats my face right now. 

and I don't feel like editing that post or going back and reading it again to check if its a reasonable thought.  Just posting some stuff as I do statistics.

[^_^]

I'm going to like Chelsea a hell of a lot more if they sign Robinho. I just love Robinho :banana:

[cigar omar]

Makelele is a great reader of plays he will read a play before it even takes place and stop it imminently I have never seen anyone do it the way maka did it. As for Essien he is a machine and is the best box to box midfielder in the world no questions asked. But its going to take experience for him to reach Makelele status. 

[nedved]

chelsea to do well this season for me, scholari will bring the best out of the players, he has the right attitude and hopefully he;ll kick the crappy english attitude right out of their fcking arses.

[cigar omar]

Chelsea 4-0 Portsmouth Goals

http://www.videoplayer.hu/videos/play/222233