The New Kid on the Block

Being the new ‘Kid on the block’ good ol’ footy cliché thought I would introduce myself and talk a little bit about some of our new boys we have at Chelsea.

Let’s start with me:
I have been supporting Chelsea now since I was 5 where I was taken to my first football match after falling in love with the game after watching the ’98 World Cup and saw a young man called Michael Owen score a wonderful against Argentina. From then on I have been living and breathing football. That game was Chelsea vs Spurs Saturday 19th December 1998 at Stamford Bridge we won 2-0 that day and I’ve loved Chelsea ever since then. I used to be writer on another website for a couple of years where I wrote about our players, the team as a whole, ways to improve the team, transfer targets and Spanish League players. This site though was closed down and after a bit of wandering and seeing if I can get into article writing for another website I have found myself here at ChelseaFC360.

My Favourite Moments of being a CFC Supporter
I have a few of these moments that are close to my heart:

Of course I have the first Chelsea game I went to all those years ago is the closest as I will never forget that thrill of walking up to the stadium, the buzz that everyone was giving off and when I walked out and saw the pitch I stood there and had to take it all in for a minute I was in awe of the place.

Another moment is Winning the league after 50 years, had the opportunity to go to that final game but couldn’t for personal reasons so I sat with my friends huddled around the TV to watch the game, 30th April 2005, I enjoyed that day so much and can’t thank the Blues for not only winning the Premiership but also making the end of that month for me one of I can be happy about.

The last one of my favourite moments has to be 19th May 2012, Their City, Their Stadium, Our trophy. We finally have it after all the pain from 2008, the utter rubbish of Barcelona even though those games where thrilling and heart pounding, losing to the special one and those thrilling games against Liverpool. That day I was unfortunately working and got back from work at 7 I had to be at the pub for kick off that gave 45 minutes to shower, change and get to the pub which was a 30 minute walk away. Showered and changed in 20 mins I then had to run down to the pub. When I was there this is all I remember in this order: Line-ups, Kick off, Half Time, Müller’s goal, Torres coming on, The Corner, The Delivery, The Header, The Goal with the everyone going mental, Extra time, Cech saving the penalty, Full time, Penalty shootout, Cech diving the correct way for each spot kick, Cech’s fingertips pushing Schweinsteiger’s shot against the post , Drogba strolling to the spot, placing the ball, the run up which felt like it took ages, the kick, Neuer diving the wrong way and the ball hitting the back of the net. The rest is pretty much a blur with the next day having to look on YouTube to see if I dreamt the whole thing or it really happened and history had been written.

These moments I hold closest to my heart due to their impact on me personally and the history that has been written with them.

Looking at some of our new Kids on the Block
We can say this as most of the players we’ve signed this summer are only early 20s but I have to admit playing with real maturity and professionalism of someone who has been playing for 8-9years in the Premier League.

Eden Hazard
The Belgian Ronaldo as he is being called and who can blame them? Blistering pace, quality ball control with silky skills and an eye for goal and not just the simple goals. He came to us for a reported £32million many questioned his motives of moving to Chelsea as many thought it was for the money but these where mainly jealous fans of teams not being able to acquire his signature. There was an article posted in a Belgian newspaper about a week after he joined Chelsea, with an unamed source telling the paper that Hazard had consulted with many Belgian players in the Prem about where he should move. The main two that caught my eye was our own Romelu Lukaku who supposedly gave a shining and glittering report about the Premier League and Chelsea, and the other being Vicent Kompany who to my surprise and possible everyone’s told Hazard not to join Manchester City but to either join United or Chelsea. When I read this article I didn’t know whether to believe it or not as why would the club captain slate his own team and try to turn away a player with humongous potential? I dismissed these comments about Kompany as they couldn’t be true I mean why would they. I will talk more about Hazard in my next blog which is about the Belgian Contingent in the club.

Oscar Dos Santos
The Samba boy who shook the Champions league with 3 outstanding goals: 2 vs Juventus and the other coming against Nordsjaelland. With some people thinking he would have to take his time to adapt to the English game and he had to live up to the £22million price tag, but he has taken it by storm not as much as Hazard but still done well for someone of his age, people said about he wouldn’t be able to adapt to the physicality but if you watch the Brazilian league he was more than ready for the switch as the Brazilian league is no walk in the park, I mean look at the altercation between him and Nani he is not prepared to back down. Oscar seems to have that composed suave about him much like a young Lampard of old but with more flair and technical ability but not the vision or the long-range passing. He has though cemented himself into the team giving some eye-catching performances. With his Samba style, calm nature and technical ability I can see him being an integral part of our team for many years to come, being part of the attacking trio that has been iconic for us this season.

Marko Marin
The little German winger touted to being the German Messi who we bought for a reported £7million, which I think is a great buy considering his potential, has found life hard at the Bridge but I can only see that coming down to the injury he sustained at the end of pre-season so he dropped down the pecking order. In pre-season he was in fine form and formed a great partnership with Hazard and Lukaku (with Mata being involved in the Spanish Olympic team). He earned many plaudits in pre-season and you can see why his link up play with Hazard was something to watch setting up Lukaku with many chances, he was doing what the Chelsea Hierarchy where hoping for to be another option in the attacking 3, he reminded me a lot of Mata but more of a winger version who could get a cross in for the striker. I do believe he has a future at Chelsea, he just needs to rediscover that form he had before his injury.

Victor Moses
The Nigerian we bought from Wigan for a reported £13million which I thought was a bit much but I am hoping he proves me wrong as he does have the potential to be great but he is just the RAW product, He has been very reliable when he has been called upon and scored some vital goals for us, the Drogba-esque goal against Shaktar is one of them. He has an explosive pace with a strong physique making him not a push-over, he has technical ability and can operate on either wing and even upfront but I do believe he is destined to be a winger with pace, strength and technical ability. He does however need to improve on his crossing slightly as once or twice a cross has either been over hit or just not found its target but all players are like that but that is the one area he needs to improve before we talk about finished product. He did however catch my eye in the AFCON with some very impressive displays for Nigeria while chucking in a few assist’s he played very well for them operating on that right wing.

Cesar Azpilicueta or Dave
The Spainish right back from Marseille where no one can seem to fathom how to say his name so call him Dave. I know a Dave and he reminds me of Ned Flanders from The Simpsons. You pronouce his name Az-pi-li-cu-e-ta if you pronouce it slowly and continue to say it getting faster and faster you should be able to pick it up later after countless times of trying. He has slowly pushed himself into that right-back spot giving Ivanovic a good run for his money for it as well, but he is more suited to this role as Brana is more of a CB with his physique and play style. Azpilicueta has an abundance of pace, a great right foot for a cross and great vision to spot those crosses, his defensive capabilities are very solid but he can sometimes switch off but still rate this man highly. He is good friends with our little Spainish Magician who he consulted heavily before deciding to move to Chelsea. I believe that next season he will become our 1st choice right-back as we have a young Wallace coming in who is a fast attacking right-back. For me Azpilicueta has been a revitalising sight at RB as many where wondering who we were going to bring in as cover or starting, but he has done admirable well in his first season in English football.

Demba Ba
When we signed Ba it was to release the strain on Torres as he was our only recognised striker and for £7million he was a steal as the form he was in, he has stuttered with starting life at Chelsea but that could be just down trying to adapt to the style Chelsea play. Ba has a big, strong, bulky physique who does have a pair of good feet on him. He holds the ball up well, challenges in the air strongly and is not that slow either. I do believe he has been a good accquisition by Chelsea and do think if kept on next year he will score a lot more goals than he has so far this season.

With that this is the end to my first article. Please comment on ways to improve and any topics you would like me to talk about.
KTBFH!