The Quest for the Holy Grail taken to a new level

Apart from the joy of football, every club in the world has one thing in common – to be successful.

To have their name in bright lights, carved into the history books for the rest of the world to see. People will do almost anything to achieve success, whether it is by buying the best players or hiring the best managers. What do people want after taking their first bite out of the success cake? They want even more success.

However, what follows is greed, jealousy and lust. But there are some people who relish and crave all of that. Namely Mr. Roman Abramovich.

Abramovich took over Chelsea Football Club 8 years ago and has been the sole reason as to why The Blues have been so successful. The Russian businessman has continuously plunged money by the lorry load into the club, and they have gone on to win 8 major trophies since his tenure started.

However, all 8 of the major trophies have come in England. 3 league titles, 2 FA Cups and 2 League Cups to be precise. Despite spending approximately £600 million on Chelsea since his arrival, they have yet to win a competition in Europe. Their sole aim to win the Champions League hasn’t been accomplished yet.

It’s the one box that remains un-ticked.

Mr Abramovich has tried everything. He brought in Jose Mourinho and Carlo Ancelotti, who have both won the Champions League with previous clubs. But both managers ultimately failed in bringing the Champions League to Chelsea. In between these two was, Luiz Felipe Scolari – a World Cup winning coach. Scolari was appointed, and sacked after 6 months. With the exception of Mourinho, who left by mutual consent, the other two were sacked for not winning anything, or not being in a quick fix position to challenge for anything. The price of failure is ridiculously costly.

Roman Abramovich is well known for being quick to pull the trigger to sack his managers. However, he’s also quick to pull the cheque book out to sign players, strikers in particular. Here are a few to reel off: Anelka £15 million. Drogba £24 million. Shevchenko £30 million. Torres £50 million. On these four alone, that’s £119 million pounds. £119 million pounds on four human beings!

Yet, that still didn’t get him what he wanted.

Notably, the fact Chelsea lost the 2008 Champions League final. It simply couldn’t have been made up. The final was being held in Moscow, a place Abramovich calls home and it was the trophy he has craved ever since he bought Chelsea. Furthermore, Abramovich had his ‘yes man’ manager in Avram Grant. Chelsea were also against their arch rivals, Manchester United. It was supposed to be Chelsea’s day, yet no one sent Cristiano Ronaldo or Edwin Van der Sar the script.

Chelsea haven’t been back to a Champions League final since.

The failure in the Champions League or in other campaigns have not stopped Abramovich from splashing the cash. Torres was bought for £50 million in January, but has only mustered a meagre one goal in 14 league games. This has led Abramovich to completely reform the Chelsea staff, both coaching and playing. Tottenham’s Luka Modric has been pinpointed as the man to get Torres to score again. Romelu Lukaku and Neymar have also been linked, and guess what positions these two play? Striker! Of these two, Lukaku seems a more viable acquisition, and the club are in talks with him.

News has broken out that Andre Villas-Boas has been appointed, at the cost of about €15 million (£13.2 million) and the expectation levels will be even higher for him following another seemingly huge shopping trip. What adds to the pressure is whether or not he can match or better what the last bloke who went from Porto to Chelsea. You know; that guy who wears a scarf and a beautiful coat – goes by the name of Jose?

Carlo Ancelotti’s dismissal sends a clear message. The message reads - win the lot or be sacked.

The quest for the Holy Grail has been taken to a whole new level.

This piece was written by Christian Brown, you can follow him on his Twitter - @Chris78901, Chris also writes for Football Speak too. All of Chris' work is on his blog, 1-chris78901.

Things you may like to read

The Eternal Struggle - http://tiny.cc/1hl0v

Why Chelsea must drop Fernando Torres if they are to have any chance of success this season - http://tiny.cc/a3o11

An odd Champions League statistic - http://tiny.cc/dquw9

Why Chelsea must drop Fernando Torres if they are to have any chance of success this season

Here’s a fact for you, Fernando Torres is out of form. Since his £50 million pound to Chelsea, Torres has been distinctly average. His performances have been lethargic and uninspiring. Not what you would expect from a £50 million pound striker.

But, Carlo Ancelotti has kept a reasonable amount of faith in Chelsea’s record signing. Fair enough really. A Torres in form and in confidence can have the ability to be lethal. But 9 games into his Chelsea career he has still yet to score for Chelsea or even assist the team.

Chelsea are not a one man team. The team does not depend on Fernando Torres. Chelsea still have some fantastic attackers at the club. The likes of Nicholas Anelka and Didier Drogba are still quality centre forwards.

If Chelsea want to maximise their small chances of success this season and they must drop Fernando Torres. It’s vividly clear. Torres is out of form and confidence. His famous clinical finishing has been poor and has lacked conviction. In Torres’ first 5 Premier League games for Chelsea, he has had 10 shots and 1 single shot on target. An unsettling fact for the Chelsea faithful.

But for Chelsea, Torres has been a by passer of their games. His movement on and off the ball has been rather poor and lacklustre. His brilliant first touch and dribbling skills which made him glow at Anfield, are nowhere to be seen at Stamford Bridge.

As much as Chelsea want to see Torres performing and scoring. They need to put the club’s results over the form of a player. Since Torres joined on the 31^st of January, here’s the number of starts given by Ancelotti to Torres, Drogba and Anelka.

Player	No. starts since Torres has joined	No. of goals since Torres has joined
Nicholas Anelka	7	3
Didier Drogba	5	1
Salomon Kalou	3	1
Fernando Torres	8	0
Total		5 Goals

Its rather surprising Ancelotti has chosen Drogba the least amount of times, seeing as he is Chelsea’s top Premier League goal scorer this season and is a lethal striker. But one thing is evident. Torres has been given over three months to find a suitable level of performance for Chelsea along with some goals. But he has failed to do any of these things.

As much as Torres’ own personal performances have been poor, the Chelsea players are finding it hard to provide for him. Torres is a player who likes to receive the ball quickly to feet and have the chance to utilise his pace. However, Chelsea like to play the ball in a calculated and composed manner. This means that at times Chelsea can pass the ball quite slowly. This has had an effect on Torres’ performances. But the simple fact is Torres needs to adapt to Chelsea’s style.

However, Chelsea need to find a suitable role for Torres. This needs to be a role of which Torres can perform to the best of his ability and the other Chelsea players can understand the role of Torres in the team. However, this can take months. And as Chelsea are in the business the end of the season, they don’t have the time to experiment. As it could cost them crucial results and points.

One may say that the Chelsea’s defeat against Man United in the Champions League is a prime example. The red men from Manchester are now in pole position to progress to the last four of the Champions League. Chelsea may have been more confident and more assertive in that game, had they played Anelka ahead of Torres. The reason for this, is because most of Chelsea’s success last season stemmed from the brilliance and the balance of Dider Drogba and Nicholas Anelka upfront. Furthermore, playing those two particular strikers gives the Chelsea players and the fans a bit more confidence and assurance. As the two strikers are tried and tested and have proved they can combine effectively and perform for Chelsea.

Last season Anelka scored 15 goals, while Dider Drogba scored a brilliant 37 goals. Now of course, Chelsea’s form has been indifferent this season and they haven’t been as strong as they were last season. But this season Anelka has scored 16 goals and Drogba has scored 10 goals. While Torres has scored 9 goals, but they were all for Liverpool. This proves that if Chelsea are going to score, its more likely going to be from Anelka or Drogba.

The Chelsea fans are aware that when Drogba and Anelka combine and are both on form, they can be a lethal partnership. And can make Chelsea demolish teams. But it seems Torres would be far more effective for Chelsea if he played in a lone striker role. When Fernando Torres lines up alongside Anelka or Drogba he seems to lack a cohesive link with his fellow strikers. It’s as if there working in separate roles and aren’t looking to combine. The Guardian reported that Torres and Drogba have played 169 minutes together, but have only exchanged 5 passes together. This clearly emphasises the alarming lack of functionality between Torres and the other strikers.

Had Torres been scoring at least once every two games, no one would question the functionality of Torres and the other strikers. But Torres’ form clearly demonstrates he hasn’t adapted to Chelsea’s style. And his poor form is hindering Chelsea.

Chelsea are craving for glory, after an embarrassing season for the team in Blue. They have been knocked out of two domestic competitions at home and have lost a crucial home game in the Champions League, and that result could see their European aspirations end for yet another season.

If Carlo Ancelotti and Chelsea are serious about making this disaster of a season a success, they must drop Fernando Torres. Torres has a big future at Chelsea. But Chelsea must revert to the system which has reaped success for them in the past year. This system scores goals and gets them results.

The fact still stands for Fernando Torres. The £50 million pound man has played 9 games for Chelsea and hasn’t scored a single goal. Since Torres has joined, every striker for Chelsea has scored.

Doesn’t this tell you something?

Things you may like to read

A Closer look at Liverpool ahead of thier game against Man City - http://tiny.cc/dralr

This weekend's Premier League predictions - preds from Micheal Cox (Zonal Marking) and John Bradley (LFCTV) - http://tiny.cc/d9qm3

How will Chelsea line up now they have Fernando Torres - http://tiny.cc/bqjfi

Why Chelsea’s Inconsistent Premier League season will Stem a Good champions League Run

Last season, Chelsea won the title with reasonable comfort. The team hammered their opponents seeing Chelsea score 103 goals. A tidy goal rate one has to say. Chelsea at times were unplayable. But this season, its been a totally different story. Although the team started off where they left of last season with the hammering of both West Brom and Wigan by 6 – 0. Chelsea’s form has stuttered. The Champions went through 6 Premier League matches without winning a game. Chelsea were beaten by the likes of Sunderland at home (actually, they were hammered by Sunderland), and lost away to the likes of Wolves and Birmingham. This poor run by Chelsea allowed Arsenal, Man City and Man United to take extend their leads in the title race, leaving Chelsea far behind.

Chelsea now find themselves, 10 points behind Manchester United. So it’s fair to say, that Chelsea have a minimal chance of winning the title this season. I’m sure Chelsea will be kicking themselves, as they had a 5 point lead at the top at one stage this season. But this poor domestic season could spell success elsewhere.

The one cup Chelsea are craving to win is the European Cup. The players and fans have got so close to putting their hands on the Champions League trophy. In certain respects, the fans and players have been traumatised due to getting so close to winning it but failing on numerous occasions. The final of 2008, which Terry’s unfortunate slip in the shootout, and Anelka’s saved penalty in Moscow saw Chelsea lose the Champions League even though they were in touching distance of the Cup.

The Chelsea’s players and fans have also been traumatised by their Semi Final defeats too. The 2005 Champions League Semi Final’s when Chelsea narrowly lost out to Liverpool with the infamous controversial Luis Garcia goal. Two years later, Chelsea again lost to Liverpool but this time on penalties. However, the most traumatic Chelsea defeat was most probably the semi final against Barcelona in 2009. Chelsea were arguably harshly treated by the referee Tom Henning Øvrebø who turned down 4 feasible penalty calls. And Barcelona later scored the vital away goal in the 93^rd minute which ironically, was their first shot on target on the night.

Many of the players, such as John Terry, Didier Drogba, Michael Essien, Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole and Peter Cech have won every cup with Chelsea. Besides the European Cup. This season could possibly be some of these players last chance for European Glory as the average age of the Chelsea team is 31 years old. So the players may have a stronger hunger for the Champions League this season, also the fact the title is out their hands, it gives them more incentive to make their season a success in Europe.

In Carlo Ancelotti Chelsea have a manager with a proven European Cup record. In a five year period with Milan he reached three European Cup finals being triumphant in 2/3 Champions League finals. It’s been widely reported that a driving factor in Roman Abramovich appointing Ancelotti was his European Cup pedigree. This proven record will naturally give Chelsea players and fans belief in Ancelotti’s methods and strategies. The Italian’s calculated tactical strategies suits the European Cup. If Chelsea’s play is analysed it’s apparent that they play in a very measured and controlled manner. Which involves keeping the ball effectively and progressively creating attacks, this strategy is perfect for Europe. And has already gleamed results for him whilst at Milan.

Chelsea’s inconsistent Premier League form will ignite the squad and fans into focusing on the European Cup. If Chelsea are to look back on this season as a success, they must do well in Europe this season. The fans wouldn’t mind seeing their team finishing fourth if it means John Terry lifts the Champions League in May. The one collective craving Chelsea have is the European Cup. The Chelsea players because of their numerous close defeats in Europe need no extra motivation or reminder of the fans desire to see Chelsea lift the Champions League. When Chelsea play to their potential and are fully motivated, they are unplayable.