With the arrival of Andre Villas-Boas, from now on to be referred to as AVB, which I felt certain implied a longer-term plan as opposed to Gus Hiddink, I thought some radical changes were in store for the playing staff this summer.
I would have bet the house on the likes of Drogba, Anelka, Malouda, Kalou, and Bosingwa, possibly even Ferreira, leaving, to be replaced by younger players. This would allow the squad to be refreshed, as well as personalized to AVB's liking.
While there is still a significant amount of time left in the transfer window, I don't things could have turned out more different. AVB has come in and made some significant changes to the backroom staff, which I suppose is to be expected, but as far as the playing staff are concerned, he has decided to give everyone a fair chance to impress him before he makes any required additions/changes.
One area likely requiring a refresh even before the unfortunate Essien injury is central midfield. Jose Mourinho's Chelsea was always about a physical toughness and strength in the middle of the park, even if our midfield maneuvered with the flexibility of ocean liners. Lampard and Essien are not going to dance through three opposing players or send cute passes through or over people in tight spaces. Our passing from midfield is slow and labored. This hampers the style of strikers like Anelka and Torres, who prefer to run onto a through pass than to receive the ball with their backs to goal, a la Drogba.
The well-publicized courting of Luka Modric would seem to confirm this; however, Spurs have remained steadfast in their determination to keep him at the club against his wishes, and quite simply put, Chelsea may have no choice but to pursue other alternatives. Javier Pastore looks a possibility, but all truth be told, I have a feeling the Palermo president is so desperate to sell him that we may be used to drum up interest, so I couldn't say with any confidence we were really interested.
Another area I felt we needed strengthening was the wide attacking role, particularly on the right, although I also felt a viable alternative to Malouda would help to keep him on his toes. More than most, he seems to blow hot and cold, and can often times even seem to be disinterested. At the time AVB was announced as our new manager and Chelsea were being linked to all and sundry at Porto, the one player I most wanted us to be interested in to address this need was Hulk. Forget the likes of Falcao and Moutinho, good players in their own right, Hulk would most directly address the need for a bit of creativity in our attacking play. In all seriousness though, 89 million quid is crazy money for any player.
Talking about Chelsea's transfer plans this summer, I always felt the biggest factor in how things would go was the Drogba factor. I think he is likely one of the most important and big players at Chelsea, outside of JT and Lamps, not only from the dressing room perspective, but also to how we play. With him in the side, Chelsea have played very compact, choosing to lob the ball up to him and then see what develops. He is still a good player, but basing the whole attack on him alone cannot be good in the long run. When he is on form, great for us, but when his head is not in it, we struggle. And when we have to bring on the likes of Anelka and particularly Torres, the total change in play required to accommodate their different styles makes it difficult for them, as quite frankly things don't turn out the way they need to.
As things stand, and again there is still a lot of time for Chelsea to dip into the transfer market, Benayoun is going to be an important player for Chelsea because he brings something different to our midfield, and could be the important link to Torres. I do believe we need to get Torres firing on all cylinders if we want to be successful in the new season. While I would like to see Lamps have another 20 goal season, I don't see it happening, and I also expect that Drogba may not score 30-40 goals. This means that other players are going to have to step up, and that leaves Malouda, Anelka and Torres. While I am happy Malouda had his most productive season with us goals-wise, I do think he needs to concentrate a little more on the assists. In the overall picture, I think that would help us most. Anelka's goals dried up completely in the second half of the season and Torres never got started, but I do feel these are the players who could get a significant number of goals that we require, but only if they get the service.
So there you have it: I believe our defense is settled, although many argue the need for a new right back. I felt Ivanovic was one of our players of the season last season and believe our defense should first and foremost defend. I'd rather we brought attacking players in who are more effective at attacking so our defenders, particularly our RB and LB don't have to be expected to pick up the slack. Ash is always going to be bombing up that left flank anyway, so I think we need 3 of the back 4 to sit tight and cover. As such, I don't subscribe to the idea we need a new right back, except to replace Bosingwa and Ferreira if they leave. The van der Weil rumors have all but dried up now that we have AVB rather than Hiddink at the helm.
AVB says we will make a final decision on player transfers after the Asian tour (over the next 2 weeks). Chelsea begin with a midweek match against the Malaysian national side, followed by a match in Bangkok against the Thai league all stars on the weekend (which I will be attending), and then culminating in 2 matches in Hong Kong over the following week. I will be interested to see what we do after that, and we will likely have some idea from the performances of our players in those 4 matches.
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