Author: Crazy

We contest one of our three ‘extra’ competitions at Villa Park on Saturday, and Roberto Di Matteo admits he would love to end the afternoon with more silverware for his collection.

The Italian led us to both the Champions League and FA Cup at the end of last season, the latter leading to our participation in tomorrow’s Community Shield against Manchester City, which precedes matches in the European Super Cup and Club World Cup to come.

Asked about the prospect of fixture congestion, Di Matteo turned the question on its head to suggest we are lucky to be involved in such prestigious occasions.

‘It’s opportunities,’ said the Italian. ‘It’s very hard to be involved in these competitions, so when you look at them it is great to be involved and you want to try to win them because they don’t come around very easily or very often. We will deal with the fixture list.

‘We are going to try and win the trophies where we are involved. It’s a team sport, and it takes a collective effort to be able to achieve that. You have to be able to work with everybody and everybody has to try and give their best, even if they are out of the team for a little while.

‘Our biggest aim or ambition is to be able to be challenging at the right end of the season for the trophies that are still available. We are in new competition which is an opportunity but also to do better in the Premier League.’

Seven competitions suggest Di Matteo will need to make full use of his squad across the campaign, meaning he will need to combine established figures with the new, young talent signed this summer.

‘There won’t be radical changes, certainly with the influence of new players it will be different because they have different characteristics and ability but it will take a bit of time, and I know we need to win games as well,’ he said.

‘I don’t think you have to expect overnight a completely different Chelsea. The majority of the team is still here and with those players the club has been very successful.

‘We have a lot of experienced players and the new players coming in are bringing fresh energy. We are looking to them for the future, to be the next spine or platform for the success. We have to be patient but I believe good players can play together. We will find the right way.’

After Di Matteo confirmed Romelu Lukaku’s likely loan yesterday, he added that Josh McEachran could also benefit from first team football away from Stamford Bridge.

‘We are looking at some options,’ he said. ‘We always have a lot of players in midfield so we are looking at options for Josh to see what the best solution is for him and us. I like him very much but there is a lot of competition, and we have all internationals as well, so sometimes it is difficult for a young player. He is still a very young guy, even though he has been with the first team squad for a couple of years.’

Romelu Lukaku has today (Friday) joined West Bromwich Albion on a season-long loan.

The Belgian youngster, 19, heads to The Hawthorns to work under former Chelsea man Steve Clarke, who was appointed in his first managerial role at West Brom over the summer.

Lukaku joined Chelsea last August, and made 12 appearances, his first league start coming on the final day of the season with our 2-1 win against Blackburn Rovers.

In pre-season Romelu struck his first Chelsea goals against Seattle Sounders, and will now be looking to make his mark in the Barclays Premier League.

Speaking to Chelsea TV about the move, the striker said: ‘I’m very excited. After last season, where I was able to adjust and prepare for this season, I can’t wait to start at West Brom.

‘It’s very important because, like Chelsea, West Brom play in the Premier League, but it will also be a good learning school for me where I need to work hard with the players around me.

I’ve heard a lot of positives about Steve Clarke here and it will be important for me to listen and learn from him. He plays good football.’

Roberto Di Matteo has only Marko Marin unavailable to face Manchester City in the Community Shield at Villa Park on Sunday.

The German international sat out last weekend’s friendly defeat at Brighton and is still not ready for action, but we can expect Chelsea returns for Juan Mata and Daniel Sturridge, while Oriol Romeu and Ryan Bertrand are also in contention, and Eden Hazard is expected to make his debut.

‘Everybody apart from Marko Marin is fit and available and I will select the final team tomorrow after the last training,’ said Di Matteo.

‘It’s certainly going to be a strong team, keeping in mind the stage where the players are, they are at different stages, but it will be a strong team.

‘There is always competition for places and I try to keep it as open as possible for people fighting for places. We’ve only had some of the players back this week from the Olympics and it will take a bit of time to find the right players in the right positions. We have a couple of new players but a lot of them have been here before and know each other.’

As Premier League champions, City are probably favourites for the game, and Di Matteo expects a tough challenge from Roberto Mancini’s men, believing they will be among the frontrunners once again in 2012/13.

‘Everybody will be chasing them. They have a good squad, a good team and when you are at the top it is hard to stay at the top,’ said the Italian. ‘There will be plenty of clubs trying to catch them up this season.

‘There was a big gap last season and that’s one of our challenges this season, to try and bridge it. Twenty-five points was a lot, and we have a tough season ahead trying to compete.

‘There are a lot of very good teams this season, it seems the Premier League is getting more balanced every year. They have a good squad and will be difficult to catch but that’s the job of all the other teams.

‘Traditionally this match doesn’t give a big clue to what kind of season you will have, but it will be competitive and both teams will want to win. But whoever wins doesn’t necessarily go on to win the Premier League or anything else [but] it’s always better to win. It’s a good feeling and the players know a win against Man City would be great and give us the right step into the Premier League.’

With Oscar yet to join up with the squad, Di Matteo believes we will have a formidable group once it begins to gel.

‘I watched him in the Olympics, before the Olympics, and he will certainly add a lot of quality to our team. He is still a young man and will be able to learn a lot from the players we have here, and the mentality of the players here,’ said the manager.

‘There are plenty of trophies to win this season and we have a very driven team and players who are never satisfied with what they have done in the past.’

Di Matteo also suggested he is still interested in adding to the squad, with a striker a possible priority, particularly given the likelihood of Romelu Lukaku departing on loan.

‘At this stage of his career the most important thing is to play. It might be a bit more difficult here with us so it’s the best choice to let him go out on loan,’ admitted the coach.

‘We are a little bit light in a couple of positions and we’ve got one or two young players who are interesting but we will see what is going to go on and see what happens when the market closes.’

Another player who has been linked with a move away is Daniel Sturridge, who was today called into the England squad. The player, Di Matteo says, remains firmly in his plans.

‘He is part of the squad, of the team, and still has a lot to give. He still has a lot to learn as well but we are hopeful he can develop even more and become a great player for us.

‘He did very well to recover from his illness in a short period of time. He is a very exciting player and it’s great for him to be involved in the England squad.

‘He has the ability to play in more than one position. He made it quite public he likes to play as a number nine but there is competition, which is good, and we will see as the season starts who is going to play.’

Ryan Bertrand has earned his first call-up to the senior England squad for the friendly against Italy in Berne next week.

The young left-back, who represented Team GB at the London Olympics and has also captained the national side at Under 21 level, is one of four Chelsea players named in the squad by manager Roy Hodgson.

Bertrand impressed after being given a run in the side by Roberto Di Matteo towards the end of last season, culminating with a starting place in the side for the Champions League Final against Bayern Munich.

Daniel Sturridge, who made his senior international debut last November during a friendly against Sweden and was named on the standby list for Euro 2012, earns a recall after impressing during the Olympic campaign, scoring two goals, including the winner against Uruguay.

Frank Lampard and Gary Cahill, meanwhile, are both included in what is a relatively inexperienced squad after missing out on Euro 2012 having suffered injuries in the build-up to the tournament.

Back for the new season, our regular pre-match briefing is split in two. Here is the first part as we prepare for another shot at silverware…

As the Gershwins put it, long ago, the song of Munich is ended but the melody lingers on. With that in mind, we now embark on supporting a Chelsea that, first among its London peers, have been crowned the kings of Europe.

Draw strength that, when disappointment or heartbreak visit in the future, they can’t take that away from us. Pre-Munich, and in other circumstances, a poor set of pre-season results might have caused more consternation.

At 1.30 on Sunday at Villa Park we contest the first of seven trophies over the 2012/13 campaign. Three we would have entered anyway; the rest – the Champions League, Uefa Super Cup, Fifa Club World Cup, and this weekend’s showpiece – we qualified for purely by winning the Champions League or FA Cup.

 

Three of the last five Community Shields have been won on penalties.

The last time Chelsea earned a place in this showpiece as a result of winning the cup, not the league, was in 2009, when champions Manchester United were beaten 4-1 in a penalty shoot-out after a 2-2 draw. The Blues went on to win the double under Carlo Ancelotti that season.

The result of Chelsea’s four other recent appearances in this showcase match have proved similarly portentous in the ensuing league contest.

Defeat by United in 2007 and 2010, and Liverpool in 2006, was followed by Sir Alex Ferguson’s men winning the title. When Chelsea beat Arsenal in 2005, however, José Mourinho went on to steer the Blues to back-to-back success in the Premier League.

Of course, that could well be coincidence rather than the suggestion of any impact the Shield result has over the rest of the football calendar.

In most years the FA Cup alone would have been a beautiful climax to the season, even though we have won it in four of the last six seasons. Last May, as in 2010, the Double season, our FA Cup final victory over Liverpool (not to mention beating Spurs 5-1 to get there) has been almost upstaged by the massive achievement of becoming Europe’s finest.

Whatever the benefits yielded from cup wins, there is no doubt the club will be looking for a vast improvement on last season’s sixth place finish.

Some exciting new faces have arrived as great servants moved on. Skilful Belgian Eden Hazard arrives from Lille with ringing endorsement of former Blue Joe Cole, and the title ‘Europe’s hottest property’. His preseason performances have already whetted the appetite.

Winger Marko Marin has shown flashes of the trickery that made him one of Germany’s highest-rated youngsters.

We also have a new number 11 to hail following Didier Drogba’s heroic adieu. The new man in the shirt, Oscar, has started auspiciously this week, becoming Chelsea’s first Olympic finalist since Vivian John ‘Jack’ Woodward in 1912. (Great Britain skipper Woodward defeated his future Pensioners teammate Nils Middelboe’s Denmark side 4-2 in the Stockholm final.)

Should the versatile young Brazilian prove even half the inspiration the acclaimed centre-forward was at Stamford Bridge, fans are in for a treat.

The last 10 FA Community Shields

 

If the scores are level after 90 minutes, the winner will be decided on penalties. No extra time will be played.

Don’t forget to click the tab at the top for more. There will be more from the Briefing tomorrow when we look at the Technical Brief and Stats Corner.