What Mourinho Must Do Next Season

A new season, another new manager, but what might be expected Jose returning to the English Premier League?

A prolific goalscorer is something that Chelsea have tried and failed with in the past. With the exception of Didier Drogba, Roman Abramovich and Jose Mourinho never quite got it right when finding that one man to lead the line.

Mourinho’s first signing in 2003 was Mateja Kezman – a hit in the Eredivisie with PSV, but a huge failure when asked to lead the line in the Premier League with only seven goals in forty appearances.

Andriy Shevchenko was allegedly forced upon Mourinho by Abramovich; although still talented, the all-time leading goalscorer for the Ukraine was past his best and the £30 million splurged on the then 29 year-old was the catalyst for the split between owner and manager. Nine goals in three seasons for Shevchenko speaks for itself. £50 million has always been an albatross around the neck of Fernando Torres; although the Spaniard notched a reasonable twenty-two goals last season, only eight were scored in the Premier League.

With Mourinho this week stating that Torres has been so-so in his spell at Stamford Bridge, El Nino probably isn’t the man that Jose wants. That man could already be at the club.....

One thing Chelsea have done well amongst all of the chaos of recent years is recognise young talent. Romelu Lukaku, Kevin De Bruyne, Thibaut Courtois were all been brought to West London at sometimes eye-watering cost (Lukaku cost £20 million as an 18 year-old), but all have been bought with a vision for the future. The Belgian trio were loaned out to gain first-team experience last season – but does Mourinho continue their development elsewhere or bring them back to rejuvenate an aging squad?

Most obviously, Lukaku could be Mourinho’s signal of intention; as the man who introduced Didier Drogba to the Premier League, it could be time to give the 20 year-old a starting berth after an impressive seventeen goal spell at West Brom.

Courtois was a revelation in his loan spell at Atletico Madrid last season – as anybody who saw him deny Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey final will attest to. Will Mourinho be brave enough to replace Petr Cech – a man he brought to the club from Rennes in 2003?

Part of Mourinho’s success at Chelsea last time around was the proximity to his players, most notably the English trio of John Terry, Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole. Post-Mourinho, this faction of senior players led an unhealthy rebellion that led to the dismissals of Andre Villas-Boas and Roberto di Matteo, whilst interim boss Rafa Benitez did himself no favours by leaving out fans’ and media favourite Lampard and by benching club captain Terry for most of his tenure.

Although that relationship will return naturally, it is in the best interests of the Old Guard to embrace Mourinho to squeeze more from their careers and for Mourinho to establish power in the dressing room once again. Live football in 2013 at Stamford Bridge is guaranteed to be unmissable.

The squad at Chelsea is somewhat on the bulky side; competing for the three attacking midfield slots alone are Juan Mata, Eden Hazard, Oscar, Marko Marin, Kevin De Bruyne, Victor Moses and new boy Andre Schurrle. Mourinho is somebody who likes to work with a tight squad of around twenty-three players, so expect some heads to roll.

This is New Manager 101: it signals intent to the dressing room, the fans, rivals and the board room that the new man is here for the long haul. No doubt Mourinho will make that signing – but where will it come from? Monaco are the nouveau-riche that Chelsea once were in 2003, hoovering up the talents of Joao Moutinho, James Rodriguez and Falcao already; any potential signing for Chelsea is also one for Monaco.

This new signing is unlikely to come from Spain, with Mourinho antagonising either his own dressing room or rival managers in his ultimately frustrating spell at Madrid.

The smart money points to Edinson Cavani of Napoli, who has batted his eyelashes at all of the European heavyweights so far this summer. Truly one of the most complete forwards in the world today and with a £53 million release clause, Cavani is the perfect marquee signing for the Happy One.

Should Romelu Lukaku Stay At Chelsea Next Season?

Chelsea striker Romelu Lukaku had an excellent season-long loan spell at West Bromwich Albion, scoring 17 goals in 35 Premier League appearances. However, question marks over his future still remained. Would the young Belgian be loaned out again or would the new manager want him to stay at the club? During the course of last season, Lukaku revealed that he would be looking to go out on loan again next season. However, he recently revealed that he had spoken to Jose Mourinho and was looking forward to playing for Chelsea and hopefully giving the team better odds on betting sites like Unibet for winning the Premier League again..

Speaking to the media after Belgium beat Serbia 2-1, he said, “I always said my ambition was to play for Chelsea, and now I will go back to Stamford Bridge and try and play even more games than I did at West Brom. If I can score a few early on, it can turn into a really good season for me.

I have had a good conversation with Jose Mourinho, and I know it's up to me to show I'm worth a place. It is the World Cup next year, and I need to be playing. But if I don't get in the Chelsea team often enough, then I won't deserve to be in the national squad. I am not afraid of that. I am determined to succeed with Chelsea next season.

I want to prove myself. People will compare me with Didier Drogba, and he was always my hero. But I am my own man, and I want to be known for what I do.”

Ideally, the Chelsea management should be looking to keep Lukaku at the club next season and let him compete for a place in the starting XI. However, the current striker situation is slightly complicated.

Chelsea’s 2 main strikers, Fernando Torres and Demba Ba, have reiterated their desire to stay at Chelsea next season. However, if Chelsea do manage to sign a new striker and then retain Lukaku, they will be left with 4 first-team strikers. 4 strikers competing for one position in the team, that is.

Chelsea can no doubt play certain games with 2 strikers starting upfront, but it will be very hard to constantly rotate 4 strikers. The other option is to offload one of the current strikers. Both Ba and Torres have been linked to other clubs but nothing appears concrete at the moment. If Lukaku is to be given a fair crack at the first team next season, one of either Ba or Torres has to be sold. Selling Torres would seem sensible, but his massive wages will prove to be a stumbling block during negotiations. Selling them both would be ideal, but somehow seems unlikely. If both Torres and Ba are somehow offloaded, one can expect the arrival of two new strikers at Chelsea in the summer.

Should Chelsea fail to offload either Torres or Ba, Mourinho should look to give Lukaku more chances ahead of the two given that he is currently better than both of them. In that case, lack of first-team chances might force one of them (maybe even both of them) out of the club. One thing’s for sure; Mourinho should look to give the young Belgian a decent chance to prove himself and establish himself as a Chelsea regular given how well he fared last season.

Shayne Dias

Hazard Vows To Improve Himself Next Season Under The Special One

Chelsea’s Belgian sensation Eden Hazard has vowed to up his game under the tutelage of Jose Mourinho next season. The 22-year old, who ended his first season at Chelsea with impressive stats of 13 goals and 26 assists in all competitions, wants to improve his overall play as well as his goal-scoring ability, setting his sights on scoring 50+ goals a season like Messi and Ronaldo.

Speaking to the media ahead of Belgium’s game with Serbia, he said, “Every year, I am improving and getting better and better, but I want to be even more effective. My dream is 50 or even 60 goals like Messi and Ronaldo. They have shown it is possible, so maybe I can do the same.

I had a lot of assists last season and a few goals, but the problem is that I tend to choose the beautiful option too often and dribble with the ball, when a different way might cause more damage.

Sometimes I lack the killer instinct, but I mean to change that. I need to shoot more, rather than look to do something that looks nice, and that is what I will be trying to do next season.”

When quizzed about Mourinho, Hazard said, “He's a mystical coach, who is always being talked about. It will be a pleasure to have a coach like him, especially as everybody says it will be a very good thing for me.

Of course, on the first day, I will be a little intimidated. After all, he's Mourinho. But after that, he will just be my coach. After all, he's a human being with two arms and two legs.”

His targets seem lofty and ambitious, but they’re certainly achievable.

His style of play is very similar to both Messi and Ronaldo. He’s extremely fast, skillful and his touch and control are amazing. His ability to turn men often leaves defenders on their heels and he has the ability to pick out some lovely passes. The one area where he lacks is goals; Messi and Ronaldo score on a fairly regular basis. Hazard has the ability to score some amazing goals (his goals against Steaua Bucharest, Manchester United and Stoke City proved that); however, he doesn’t seem to do it often enough.

Another thing Hazard needs to watch out for is his tendency to disappear at times. Hazard was one of Chelsea’s best players last season but he had a bit of a dry run in between the season towards the end of Di Matteo’s reign that carried on into the beginning of Benitez’s reign. He couldn’t influence the game directly or otherwise, and his defensive work-rate came into question. Under Benitez, he started tracking back more often and eventually regained his form.

That being said, Hazard is certainly going to be one to watch next season especially if you have a look at the odds on him becoming the player of the year next season on latest promotions and free bets of trusted betting sites. He has already shown that he can win matches on his own by setting up his team-mates and chipping in with a few goals himself. If he manages to improve his goal-tally next season he will undoubtedly be one of the most (if not the most) dangerous player in the Premier League.

Written by Shayne Dias

A Look At Chelsea's Top 5 Striker In Roman Abramovic

It's been 10 years since Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich brought Chelsea from Ken Bates in 2003. During that time the Stamford Bridge faithful have seen many different strikers were the Blue shirt. From Hasselbaink to Torres, here I rank Chelsea's top 5 strikers during the Abramovich era.

5. Hernan Crespo (03-04 & 05-06) - £16 million. Just beats Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink for the fact he was at Chelsea for two years. He scored 25 goals for Chelsea and played a key role in the 2005-06 Premiership winning side, being Chelsea's 3rd top scorer in a season many football betting sites such as bwin betting never gave us a chance to do well.. Should have stayed longer, ridiculous that some people believe he was a flop. He wasn't as prolific as some may have imagined coming from great form at Italy with Parma, Lazio & Inter but scored some important goals for the blues.

4. Saloman Kalou (2006-2012) - £9 million. His goal tally isn't the greatest as he was deployed out wide a lot in a front free and was never given the chance to play as the main striker but was never the less a reliable player throughout the years. 60 goals & 40 assists is a fitting tally for a player who only started 147 times out of 254. A clinical finisher and great super sub. He won 4 FA Cups, Champions League, Premier League & the League Cup in his time at Chelsea.

3. Eidur Gudjohnsen (2000-06) £4 million. 3 years under RA saw him net 32 goals. Chelsea's 3rd top scorer in 2003-04 & and 2nd top scorer in 2004-05. He was a deadly finisher in front of goal. Under Mourinho he became a versatile player playing in a number of different positions for the team and not always striker. He played a key role in Chelsea's 2005 title winning team, helping them win their first title in 50 years.

2. Nicolas Anelka (2008-2012) £15 million. 59 goals in 4 years which included 25 goals in his first season a personal best for him and his 19 in the league that year saw him win the Premier League golden boot. It's a shame he left four months before Chelsea won the Champions League. Under Carlo Ancelotti in the double winning season, he built a strong partnership with Dider Drogba. A predator, always with an eye for goal, Anelka was a consistent scorer for Chelsea. 25, 15, 16 in his first 3 seasons is enough to put him at number 2.

1. Didier Drogba (2004-12) £24 million. Of course number 1 is Didier Drogba, the Ivorian enjoyed 8 successful seasons with Chelsea notching up 71 assists and scoring an unbelievable 157 goals making him Chelsea's 4th all-time highest scorer. Always a man for the big occasion. His illustrious Chelsea career included 9 cup final goals in 9 cup final appearances. The Premier League's top scorer in 2007 & 2010. He scored in four different FA Cup finals 2007, 2009, 2010 & 2012 a record. He struck 37 goals in 2010 and was unplayable on his day. Drogba is Chelsea's top Champions League scorer of all time. He has been the main striker for Chelsea under Abramovich and has led the line in Chelsea's new found success winning 3 Premier Leagues, 4 FA Cups, 2 League Cups, 2 Community Shields & 1 Champions Leaue. Drogba won the Champions League in his last match for Chelsea and was instrumental in Chelsea's run in scoring 6 goals in 8 games including the only goal in the Semi-Final V Barcelona at Stamford Bridge and by a late equalizer and the winning penalty against Bayern Munich in the final in the Alianz Arena. A fairy-tale ending to one of Chelsea's great ever players guiding them to their first Champions League.

Chelsea v City – Friendly Preview

Chelsea continue their endless season on Friday with a friendly against Manchester City at St Louis Cardinals’ iconic baseball park, Busch Stadium.

The event is expected to draw a large crowd as Americans who follow the Premier League betting news come out to watch these two clubs wind down from grueling seasons under the hot Missouri sun, although rain is expected to affect the pitch before kick off.

This is the first of two friendlies in the States for Chelsea that come off the back of 69 competitive games this term. Having reached two semi finals, three finals and played out a full Premier League campaign, the Blues are ready for a break and football betting fans can expect a slow performance on Friday.

Yet Rafael Benitez will still name a strong side. Frank Lampard is expected to play some part in the centre of midfield alongside Ramires, forming the usual partnership that worked so well this season. Fernando Torres is likely to get half a game up front on his own, while Demba Ba will share the burden against a tough-tackling City defence.

When the teams last met for the FA Cup semi in April, City punctured our defence making use of the flanks. Ashley Cole is set to return and Branislav Ivanovic is in fine fettle, while Gary Cahill may get some game time, so City should struggle to penetrate this defence quite so easily.

As for last season’s league champions, Friday’s clash is another good excuse to show the American public they mean business in world football and caretaker boss Brian Kidd will name a strong team in St Louis.

It looks like Benitez will use all his men over the two-friendly tour of the States and don’t be surprised if Juan Mata, Oscar and Eden Hazard rotate midfield duties rather than all starting together.

These friendlies aren’t really about the football but you should expect goals to come free and easy as two weary sides go head to head with pride at stake.