{"id":7808,"date":"2023-05-01T17:40:14","date_gmt":"2023-05-01T16:40:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=7808"},"modified":"2023-05-03T11:15:50","modified_gmt":"2023-05-03T10:15:50","slug":"chelsea-look-no-better-frankly-its-a-buggers-muddle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=7808","title":{"rendered":"Chelsea Look No Better, Frankly \u2026 It\u2019s A Bugger\u2019s Muddle"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\u201cA bugger\u2019s muddle is a colloquial military term for a disorderly group – either assembled without formation or in a formation that does not meet the standards of the commentator\u201d – and the only way Dorset farmer Tim Gelfs could describe the current egg producers market, but it reminded me of a couple of London football teams and, well, here we are \u2026..<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 30th September last year I wrote my second Tottenham preview in four and a half months and decided to look back to see how things had changed. Earlier, in May last year, we were hoping for a final flourish to the season to take us into fourth place, at Tottenham\u2019s expense, and back to the Champions League. The optimists among us – Lee Dixon on TV and me included – were looking at the league table and convincing ourselves that Chelsea\u2019s third place, and not Tottenham\u2019s fourth, should be our target. 
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That\u2019s right, Chelsea were in third place less than a year ago but things didn\u2019t quite work out the way we hoped, as we all know only too well.
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I now find myself writing my second Chelsea preview within a year, and it\u2019s been a year of amazing transformation. We sat, until yesterday, on top of the league, a quite remarkable and, in all honesty, unexpected improvement, with Chelsea in 12th place and 36 points behind us and with Tottenham in 5th place, 21 points behind and in utter disarray. 
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The Opposition<\/strong>
I titled that first preview \u201cCh-Ch-Changes at Ch-Ch-Chelsea\u201d as they were trying to sort out the mess created by the effective removal of Roman Abramovich from the club. The title alluded to the Bowie song and I reproduced a few lines of it in the piece – 
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\u201cCh-ch-ch-ch changes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turn and face the strange<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ch-ch changes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s gonna have to be a different man\u2026\u2026\u201d
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Well, there has indeed been a new man – in fact, there have been quite a few new men. Abramovich was replaced by eventual new owner, American billionaire Todd Boehly, whose modus operandi appears to be to inflate the transfer market to a level where no-one else can compete. Well, we don\u2019t appear to be able to compete, but one wonders if during his due diligence, Boehly picked up on the fact that he would be taking on the nation states of Abu Dhabi and, even more impossibly, Saudi Arabia. He may yet be having to add Qatar to his list of adversaries if they are successful in their bid to buy Manchester United.
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Thomas Tuchel, Boehly\u2019s first manager, soon departed after disagreements about playing personnel. Boehly likes to get involved in playing matters and wanted Cristiano Ronaldo as his first statement signing. Tuchel was having none of it, however, so Boehly flashed his fully stuffed wallet in the direction of Pierre-Emerich Aubameyang, who had ceased performing for the Arsenal and was looking for someone who would be prepared to pay him even more for his lack of effort. Aubameyang\u2019s and Tuchel\u2019s fortunes plummeted simultaneously and \u201chinaus!\u201d went the German. 
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One thing that Boehly had noticed was that down in Brighton, manager Graham Potter and his coaches had developed the knack of turning unknowns into very good Premier League players, so he went and recruited the lot. Six of them altogether, manager, coaches, scouts – the whole blooming shebang. Unfortunately, what happened was that they turned very good Premier League players into unknowns, because Boehly had bought so many of them that Potter couldn\u2019t fit most of them into his team and they gradually disappeared out of sight on the bench, or worse. 
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Chelsea fans moaned that Potter didn\u2019t know his best team, or best formation – little wonder as he probably hadn\u2019t met half of them, so many had arrived in Boehly\u2019s \u00a3600 million spree since the summer. As an illustration, there are 13 players vying for 3 forward positions. Potter seemed unable to reverse the downward trend in results and after less than seven months was the next to depart through the revolving door that is Stamford Bridge. In their desperation to find an excuse for the continuing malaise, Chelsea even sacked the groundsman (true story), just in case the grass on their pitch was too long, too short, too wet, too dry or just too damned suited to the way everybody else was playing.
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And then the real magic happened. Erstwhile player and one time manager Frank Lampard dropped in to watch an evening game at the bus stop in Fulham and was spotted in his box by celebrity fan, James Cordon, actor, comedian, chat show host and, reportedly, friend of Todd Boehly. Cordon, realising that Boehly was short in the management department to the tune of one, recommended his unemployed, spectating hero for the job and, hey presto, the genie of the Lamps was appointed. Oh yes he was ! And thus far no-one has come forward to deny the veracity of this tale.
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The search is already on for Lampard\u2019s successor after something less than a calendar month, in which time he hasn\u2019t managed to improve them at all. So far, they have played five and lost five and even die hard Chelsea fans have been bemused at the reappointment of a man who has failed to make any kind of positive impact on any of the clubs, including Chelsea once already, he has managed to date. That bus stop in Fulham is one where no self respecting football manager should ever alight. At least not without an onward ticket. 
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The Arsenal <\/strong>
It\u2019s easy to feel a little deflated at the moment after a run of three draws and a defeat. The media are not unreasonably convinced that our title chances have gone, given the relentless form of Manchester City and the admittedly comprehensive defeat we suffered at their hands last Wednesday. They also seem most unreasonably convinced that finishing second represents failure for Arsenal, having led the league for so much of it since last August.
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Whilst there may be a degree of disappointment, the season should not in any way be seen as a failure. I don\u2019t think there is a single Arsenal fan who wouldn\u2019t have jumped at the chance of a second place finish and a return to the Champions League. We have done fantastically well to keep pace with City for so long – and we can still return to the top spot with a win over Chelsea on Tuesday evening. It\u2019s to be hoped, to put it mildly, that City\u2019s continuing exploits in the Champions League will take a toll on some of their league performances and cost them just enough points to allow us the ultimate victory.
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Wednesday\u2019s defeat simply confirmed that we don\u2019t have the quality in our reserve ranks that they do. They have been able to rotate with no drop in quality, which is easy when you have \u00a350 million reserves and the wealth of Abu Dhabi behind you. It would appear that they haven\u2019t even been content to use all that backing legally, with the Premier League finding around 120 cases of financial irregularities against them. Whether they can ever get those cases free of the web City\u2019s lawyers are bound to weave, and into court remains to be seen. What is clear is that City\u2019s dominance now requires any challenger to amass a huge number of points – probably 90+ to 100 – to try to take \u201c their\u201d title off them. It\u2019s to be hoped they will be properly punished and regulated in future because the current situation is turning the best league in the world into a predictable one horse race.
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For Arsenal, there is still a significant drop in quality in some positions when we make changes to the first eleven. The glaring and costly one for us has been the loss of William Saliba, whose absence has affected every part of the team. Without him the back four has to play much deeper to compensate for the loss of his pace. This has spread the team out and badly affected our ability to press, win the ball back quickly and control games as we were doing . It has allowed opposition players to get between our lines and create more chances against us – our \u201cxG against\u201d for stats fans, which has gone from 2nd best in the league to 19th best in Saliba\u2019s absence, and led to us conceding 11 goals in our last 4 games.
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The Teams<\/strong>
I have no idea what sort of team Chelsea are likely to put out but it will not include Borja, Mount, Cucurella or Reece James. Havaertz and Koulibaly face late fitness tests.
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Several of our players have looked tired recently, however reluctant Mikel Arteta is to recognise such things, and maybe the pressure of a young team\u2019s first title challenge and a mid-season World Cup have taken their toll. It does appear that we need a \u201cfreshen up\u201d though and while I\u2019m sure many will disagree, I would be tempted to give the following team a try – 
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Ramsdale; <\/p>\n\n\n\n

White, Partey, Gabriel, Tierney; <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Odegaard, Jorginho, Zinchenko; <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nelson, Jesus, Trossard;
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Or, the midfield could be tweaked to Odegaard, Zinchenko, Xhaka.
That would leave Saka, Martinelli, Nketiah and Smith-Rowe as attacking subs, with Turner, Holding and Kiwior as our only real defensive options.
That would hopefully inject some new energy into the side, hopefully reduce the gaps between departments and the players may yet benefit from the relative freedom of being underdogs again.
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The Holic Pound<\/strong>
Overall Arsenal against Chelsea have W81, D59, L66.After the earlier Abramovich years our recent history against Chelsea has improved with our last three meetings being won 4-2, 4-0 and 1-0 at Stamford Bridge in November 2022. We are pretty hot favourites for this game – typically 4\/6 on for the win, 16\/5 against the draw, and Chelsea are 9\/2 against to win it. Gabriel Jesus is 11\/2 to be first goal scorer but the bookies have clearly not seen my team selection as Martinelli and Saka come next, with Trossard at 13\/2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Match Officials etc<\/strong>
Referee: Robert Jones. Fourth official: Graham Scott. VAR: Andre Marriner. Note to VAR – when judging a potential offside, show a freeze frame that includes the instant at which the ball leaves the passing player\u2019s foot, not some other contrived angle that gives no clue to the timing of the pass – you know, what is known in the trade as \u201cthe crucial bit\u201d! (See Man City\u2019s second goal on Wednesday for details)
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Kick-off is at The Emirates, Tuesday 2nd May at 20.00 UK.TV coverage is on Sky Sports.
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Enjoy the game and be proud. The club and the team have done a wonderful job this season. 
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And finally, good luck to the ladies team in front of a sold out Emirates on Monday evening. They take on Wolfsburg in the second leg of their Champions League semi-final after a creditable 2-2 draw in the first leg without 4 of their best players due to serious injuries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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