Luiz Felipe Scolari will be formally announced as Chelsea’s new manager on 1st July – will this mean sweeping changes, including a new captain? [Read the rest of this entry »]
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Posts Tagged ‘ballack’
Or was the loss just because the Portuguese have a very dodgy keeper? [Read the rest of this entry »]
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While the likes of Ricardo Carvalho and Paolo Ferreira were always going to praise the appointment of Big Phil Scolari as the new Chelsea manager, it’s naturally more interesting to hear the thoughts of the non-Portuguese players in the camp. Germany’s Michael Ballack has stepped forward [Read the rest of this entry »]
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We all know that money is no object to Chelsea, especially when Roman Abramovich continues to financially support the club with his small change. Where the Blues are involved, other clubs know that they can often add a zero to player’s price tags and be fairly optimistic that their suitors will stump up the readies – just ask Porto.
The Daily Mail report that Chelsea FC are ready to spend big bucks to bring the talented Franck Ribery to Stamford Bridge. The Frenchman has had a strong season for Bayern Munich, helping them to win the Bundesliga with some ease. Now he’s wanted by the Blues to help them regain the Premier League title.
Roman Abramovich has been told he will have to pay a British record transfer fee to prise Franck Ribery from Bayern Munich. Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon has already made contact with Bayern about the midfielder’s proposed move to Stamford Bridge but a decision will not be made until the end of Euro 2008.
Ribery has emerged as one of Chelsea’s top three transfer targets this summer – AC Milan midfielder Kaka and Liverpool striker Fernando Torres are the others – but Chelsea will have to pay in excess of £31million to sign the France midfielder.
Nothing like aiming your sights high eh Kenyon? Chelsea have already done business with Bayern to bring Michael Ballack to the Bridge, although it’s not clear whether Ribery actually wants to leave in the same way that the former wanted to experience English football. Surely there’s no doubt that this would be a great addition to the Chelsea squad, perhaps bringing the Blues career of Florent Malouda to a halt?
Tagged Under: abramovich, ballack, Chelsea FC, France, franck ribery, Kaka, Liverpool FC, milan, Munich, porto, torres
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You can always rely on Jose Mourinho to open his big mouth at the drop of a hat. He failed to steer Chelsea to a Champions League final during his three seasons at the club, something that clearly still rankles with the Portuguese fool. Why else would he jump on the anti-Avram Grant bandwagon as soon as his replacement has been cruelly axed by Abramovich, Buck and Kenyon. Reuters report that the self-styled ‘Special One’ had described Chelsea’s season as poor, despite the fact it was considerably better than his last one at Stamford Bridge.
“In my philosophy it was a very bad one because in football ‘almost’ means defeat and Chelsea almost won the Carling (League) Cup, almost won the Champions League and almost won the Premier League. Almost is nothing.
“After two titles per season for the last three years there were zero titles this season, which in my philosophy means a really bad season. Maybe in the philosophy of a loser this was a great season, which I respect,” he said in the interview published on Sunday.”
It would have been interesting to see if Jose Mourinho would fare any better against a Ronaldo-inspired Manchester United. It’s also clear that we only saw the best of Michael Ballack in a Chelsea shirt under Grant, and that everyone else performed well for the manager, with the exception of Drogba and Anelka. The bookmakers have cut their odds on JM returning to the Bridge but surely that’s a bridge too far?!
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A penalty shoot-out is the sort of thing that separates the men from the boys. As a player, do you put your name forward as someone who can beat the keeper from twelve yards, or do you instead hide behind Frank Lampard and hope nobody notices you?
It appears that there were a few shirkers on Wednesday evening in the Chelsea camp. Setanta report that John Terry was not in the original list of penalty takers for the Blues and, while Drogba’s red card saw the captain shunted up the pecking order, there may have been one or two players that should have been stepping up to the plate first.
“John was not in the first five but when it comes to take them, somebody might say ‘I don’t feel well, I prefer somebody else take it’,” said Ten Cate.
“John was not in the first five to take a kick but things change during a game.
“Some people feel sick and the sending off of Drogba made us change it.
“It’s unbelievable this should happen to him though. We practiced Penalties so much all last week and he was very confident. We were all confident.”
Ballack, Belletti, Lampard and Ashley Cole were the first four spot-kick takers, before Terry smashed his shot against the post. One might have expected Saloman Kalou to have been involved before his captain, while Michael Essien is renowned for having a powerful shot. Aside from the Ghanaian, there was only Carvalho and Cech who didn’t step up to the plate, with Drogba having had his marching orders in extra-time.
Tagged Under: ballack, carvalho, cech, Chelsea FC, drogba, lampard, Manchester United, penalties, terry
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Avram Grant, John Terry and Michael Ballack are all confident that Wigan are going to try their level best against Manchester United on Sunday. Or at least they have stated this in public. Why shouldn’t Manchester United be asking the same of Bolton Wanderers, who now travel to Chelsea knowing that they will be playing in the Premier League next season?
Nevertheless, the Daily Telegraph report that Wigan boss Steve Bruce has cited two million reasons for his team to beat the Red Devils on Sunday. It’s hardly convincing as an argument, especially when put up against the motivation for their opponents to land the three points.
Bruce, who helped United to win three Premier League titles during his nine years with the club, said: “We’ve got to be professional and we will be. The difference between finishing two places in the Premier League these days is almost £1.5 million.”
Wigan were floundering in the lower reaches of the top flight when Bruce took over and he’d certainly have bitten your hand off if you’d offered him Premier League safety at the end of the season. Therefore, while there may be a couple of million to play for, it’s only the same as what the Latics manager might expect to receive for keeping the Lancashire club afloat. We should also remind you of Sir Alex Ferguson’s tendency to phone his former player earlier in the season.
Chelsea will be hoping that Wigan deliver a similar performance to that which beat Villa 2-0 last Saturday, although the six matches between the two teams have yielded the same result every time and it’s extremely difficult to see any other outcome on Sunday.
Tagged Under: ballack, Bolton FC, Chelsea FC, ferguson, Manchester United, sir alex ferguson, steve bruce, terry, villa, Wigan FC
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It’s possible that Sky may have missed a trick by not showing Portsmouth v Fulham on Sunday, especially as the Cottagers’ chances of survival (along with Birmingham and Reading’s) rest in their own hands. However, the Sky Sports website reveals that they’ll be televising the matches from the JJB Stadium, Stamford Bridge and St Andrews instead – which game will you be watching?
Sunday’s title showdown is in danger of being a complete anti-climax, especially if Manchester United tear into Wigan from the off as they did against West Ham last Saturday. The ITV website reports that Michael Ballack expects the Latics to put up a decent fight, although it was only a fortnight ago that Steve Bruce was reporting a smooth operator that goes by the name of Sir Alex Ferguson had been calling him up.
“The pressure is on and I hope Wigan are proud enough to give everything in the last game and we have to beat Bolton.
“United have everything in their hands, but we are relaxed now. We did our job. We will give everything to beat Bolton at home and we will see what they do.”
Goodness me, the German captain is really getting into this fighting talk malarkey. One minute he was out of favour with Mourinho, now he’s leading the calls for United’s opposition to give it their best shot! Let’s also hope that the Wanderers play with pride at the Bridge after essentially guaranteeing their Premier League safety against Sunderland.
The match being televised at St Andrews could also be pretty dull, although the Sky cameras are likely to have some gratuitous shots of football fans in tears, with Birmingham extremely likely to be relegated after their 2-0 defeat at Fulham. Watch out for small children sobbing their hearts out – and a few grown men too!
Tagged Under: ballack, Birmingham FC, Blackburn FC, Bolton FC, Chelsea FC, ferguson, Fulham FC, mourinho, Portsmouth FC, Reading FC, s, sky, Sunderland FC, Wigan FC
No, COS is not making fun of Deputy Drogba, nor are we laughing at Nicolas Anelka, we’re laughing with the latter who has revealed a rather humorous side to his personality. The Daily Mail lift the lid on Chelsea’s French striker (original interview with Four Four Two magazine) who has been lazily tagged ‘Le Sulk’ throughout most of his footballing career, despite his protestations that he’s always keen to smile, laugh and tell jokes. Try this one for size.
He went on to tell a joke: “A kangaroo goes into a bar and asks how much they charge for a Coke. The barman tells him £10.
“£10 for a Coke?” says the kangaroo. “That’s a bit steep But go on, I’ll have one. So the barman serves him a straw and stands back, watching the kangaroo sip his drink. After a couple of minutes the barman goes up to the kangaroo.
“Sorry to interrupt but I’m just a bit curious,” he says. “You see we don’t get many kangaroos in here.”
The kangaroo looks up over his glass and says: “At 10 quid a Coke, I’m not surprised!”
When you’ve finished sewing your sides back together over that one, Anelka continues to stress that he’s fun with a capital F and that he’s enjoying life back in England after a difficult time in Madrid a few years ago.
Anelka said: “If something’s funny I’ll laugh. People have often complained that I don’t smile on the field. I always say, I smile when there’s something to smile about, when there’s a goal or something that makes you smile.
“But I don’t go around smiling for nothing. I’m much more happy-go-lucky than people think though. It’s just that people don’t know me very well. Lots of people make me laugh.”
We can only wonder who he means? Perhaps it’s Ballack and the way he likes to give opposition players (such as Cristiano Ronaldo) a nice German bearhug in the penalty area, or perhaps he means Ashley Cole and his stories of throwing up in strange women’s bedrooms.
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Goodness me, what a catalogue of incidents to report both during and after the big match on Saturday. There was the usual ‘controversial’ refereeing decisions made, including the award of a penalty to Chelsea for an apparent ‘ball-to-hand’, the non-award of a penalty at the other end of the pitch after Michael Ballack got up close and personal with Cristiano Ronaldo and then a spot of handbags between Obi and Ferdinand at the close of the game.
The BBC report that the fun didn’t end there, with the likes of Patrice Evra and Gary Neville getting involved with the Chelsea groundstaff (!) after the match and Rio Ferdinand accidentally kicking a female steward. Not to mention Sir Alex Ferguson fuming at the referee in time-honoured fashion. When the stakes are high, you can seemingly guarantee ‘incidents’ in these games.
Patrice Evra, Gary Neville, Ji-Sung Park and Paul Scholes were warming down after a 2-1 loss when they were asked to move by ground staff, sparking a row. Both clubs say they will look at footage before deciding on any action.
“We will obviously be asking Chelsea to let us see their CCTV footage of the incident,” said an FA spokesman. “This will have nothing to do with the referee’s report. He would have been in his dressing room a long way from the incident.”
Ferdinand lashed out at a brick wall as he walked off the pitch but also made contact with a female steward. “Unfortunately, a lady was stood by and I accidentally brushed her with my foot. I apologised profusely and went back to make sure she was OK,” he said.
“I have arranged for a bouquet of flowers to be sent to her. Credit to her, she laughed it off and was very understanding. She said she wasn’t hurt.”
Chelsea were charged with failing to control their players after losing 2-0 at Old Trafford earlier this season, although it appears that United have been culpable of exactly the same thing this weekend. No team likes losing but these two teams find such a notion so unacceptable that it seemingly spills out into ugly scenes which bring the game into disrepute.
Tagged Under: ballack, Chelsea FC, ferdinand, ferguson, Manchester United, neville, patrice evra, Ronaldo
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A draw simply wouldn’t have been enough for the Blues and Michael Ballack’s controversial late penalty puts them level on points with Manchester United with just two matches remaining this season. However, it’s difficult to see the champions slipping up in either of their final two matches – West Ham at home is about as easy as they come and it’s hard to imagine Wigan will be particularly motivated against the Red Devils at the JJB unless they need points for survival.
In addition, Chelsea appear to be playing Newcastle at the wrong time next weekend. This is a Magpies team who have won their last three home matches without conceding a goal and will be desperate to prove themselves against one of the ‘Big Four’. Bolton visit the Bridge on the final day of the season, and will almost certainly require something from the match to try and ensure their Premier League safety.
Meanwhile, the BBC report that United are predictably far from happy with the referee’s decision to award Chelsea a late penalty in the lunchtime game. Carlos Queiroz bemoans the fact that Alan Wiley denied the visitors a penalty of their own.
Queiroz said: “How can the referee not see that Ballack has jumped on Ronaldo?
“It must be necessary for a player to bring a gun and shoot one of our men in the box for us to get a penalty.”
He added: “The referee was five metres away from both penalty incidents but he gives only one penalty.
“It is a hard to say what is going on with this game. I have to talk about some of the decisions in the last few weeks that have damaged this football club.”
Goodness me, we’ve heard this somewhere before haven’t we? Was it not Arsene Wenger who bemoaned the decisions that have gone against Arsenal in the last couple of months? Did the referee favour Chelsea or have Man United only got themselves to blame for this defeat?
Tagged Under: Arsenal FC, ballack, Bolton FC, Chelsea FC, Manchester United, Newcastle United FC, Ronaldo, wenger, Wigan FC
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Avram Grant doesn’t look like the type of manager capable of delivering rockets up player’s backsides during half-time, but that’s exactly what he did against Fulham on Tuesday, according to the Daily Telegraph. The Israeli was missing several key players for the match, including Drogba, Terry, Lampard and Cech, yet the Blues still managed to run things round against the Cottagers after some harsh words from their gaffer.
“I was not happy,” said Grant, admitting a surprising volatility. “If I can break a chair, I will.”
Grant’s invective, which Michael Ballack confirmed had been a “bit loud”, shook up Ballack and company and a tactical switch gave Chelsea greater direction.
Mourinho’s successor as Blues boss was widely predicted to merely act as a stop-gap until Roman Abramovich appointed another high-profile manager to take over. However, Grant has kept Chelsea in the Premier League title hunt and ensured a smooth qualification to the knock-out stages in the Champions League in a short space of time.
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Aston Villa looked like holding a two-goal lead at the interval against Chelsea on Boxing Day, before Zat Knight and Michael Ballack seemingly collided, resulting in a penalty for the Blues and a red card for the Villa defender. Speaking after the match, Martin O’Neill went so far as to suggest that the German dived in the penalty area:
Of the Ballack penalty, he said: “I think it was very dubious. I think the player dived. I didn’t even see any contact and I have seen it a couple of times.
“It was a big moment in the match. The big decisions went against us and I am disappointed.”
However, as also reported in the London Evening Standard, Ballack has hit back at these claims:
“For me there is no discussion about this. I had the ball and two guys, not just one, came and one pushed me. It was a clear penalty.”
Whoever is right or wrong, this was clearly a turning point in the match, with Shevchenko converting the awarded penalty and Villa being reduced to ten men. It is testament to the spirit of the visitors that they kept plugging away to get the point that they richly deserved.
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