Chelsea FC 2011/12 - Blue Pride

I'm going to start a Chelsea FC manager story:

Formation:
I will be using 4-4-2 formation with 2 attacking midfielders and two strikers - one a deep lying forward, one a poacher



During Pre-Season:

Salomon Kalou and Ramires signed new 5 year deals

Lucas Piazon moved to Reserve Squad - Nathan Ake and Nathaniel Chalobah will be moved there when they reach their 17th birthdays

Kalou was injured during a friendly match vs Vitesse - a suspected hip injury he's been sent to a specialist and will be out for around 2 months

Matej Delac (Croatia) and Nathaniel Chalobah & Josh McEachran (England) - received call ups to the U20 World Cup

TRANSFERS:

IN:

Nacho - Loaned in from Real Madrid as backup and to help out in the Reserves
Willian from Shaktar Donetsk for £16.25 Million
Kylian Hazard from Lille for 400k - Eden Hazard's younger Brother aged 16 who looks quite promising


OUT:
Jhon Pirez left the club as his youth contract expired
Jacob Mellis was released and joined Burnley
Jose Bosingwa to Sevilla for £2.7 Million
Ross Turnbull joined Man. City for £1 Million
Marko Mitrovic joined Peterborough Utd for 100k
Paulo Ferreira joined Benfica for 500k
Jamal Blackman was loaned to Yeovil
Florent Malouda joined Zenit for £8.5 Million
Aziz Deen-Conteh joined Gillingham on loan
Lucas Piazon joined Walsall on loan
John Obi-Mikel joined PSG for £5.5 Million

Marcel Desailly was also hired as a scout and will be covering France for me

I'm happy to hear any feedback or help or even constructive criticism!

PRE-SEASON RESULTS:
1-1 vs Vitesse - Kalou scored got injured and Drogba missed a last minute penalty
3-1 vs Selangor (Malaysia) - Torres, Bertrand and James Ashton
3-0 vs Wycombe - Torres, Sturridge and Alex Davey
1-0 vs Muangthong (Thailand) - ROBBIE FOWLER CURRENTLY PLAYS THERE!!! - Meireles scored the only goal of the game
3-0 vs Rangers - Ramires and Drogba scored two

Overall, a good Pre-Season just a shame about the Kalou injury though

Looking forward to reading through this story, im currently reading another guys Chelsea story (sorry forgot the name) and hes doing well and hopefully your's will be a success also.

Barclays Premier League:

Swansea City, Liberty Stadium (A)

Starting Line-Up:
Cech, Hutchinson, Luiz, Terry, Bertrand, Ramires, Lampard, Willian, Mata, Drogba, Torres

Subs Used: Cahill, Lukaku and Romeu

I had to play Hutchinson and Bertrand as Cole and Ivanovic were risking inury! although their peformances were very strong and they both showed their true potential in that match

Newly Promoted Swansea put up a strong fight as they took the lead through a lapse in our defence as on-loan midfielder Gylfi Siggurdsson turned and slotted the ball into the bottom corner

Cahill on for Luiz who lacked in the match at half time

50 seconds from the restart Willian's low drive deflected off Gary Cahill to bring us level

and as soon as i brought on Lukaku for Drogba the pace of the match changed and we took the lead through Fernando Torres who picked up on a loose ball from other substitute Oriol Romeu

But we were left stunned as Juan Mata misqued a pass and sent Nathan Dyer on a surging run past our defence and he drove the ball past Cech from the edge of the area


Overall: half the team (more experienced) players were poor out there where as the young were superb from start to finish

Man of the Match: Angel Rangel of Swansea City

Final Score: Swansea 2-2 Chelsea

McEachran and Chalobah helped England to reach the final of the U20 World cup only to be defeated at the hands of France - Josh McEachran also won the GOLDEN BALL Award!

Matej Delac also returned as Croatia were knocked out in the group stages.

Barclays Premier League:

Bolton Wanderers, Stamford Bridge (H)

Starting Line Up:
Cech, Ivanovic, Luiz, Terry, Cole, Meireles, Lampard, Willian, Mata, Lukaku, Torres

Subs Used: Romeu, Bertrand, Ramires

We dominated as Meireles gave us the lead with a rocket shot from the edge of the area halfway through the first half

Ramires replaced Meireles at half time as he needed a rest

Torres then ran through the defence early in the 2nd half to add to the lead

Bertrand then replaced an injured Cole

Torres then wrapped it up with a real poachers effort ot give us a comfortable lead

Ramires then replaced Lampard

Bolton struggled as we won the match

Final Score: Chelsea 3-0 Bolton

Man Of The Match: Fernando Torres

Unfortuntely after the match i received news that Cole would miss the next 4 weeks with a pulled hamstring!

Championns League Draw:

I have been draw alongside: FC Basel(Switzerland), Zenit St. Petersburg(Russia) - a chance to see Malouda at his new club and FC Kobenhavn (Denmark)

FC Basel and Zenit away games may be slightly difficult although FC Kobenhavn despite being Danish champions should be easy to overcome home and away as they post no real threat!

Carling Cup 3rd Round Draw:We will be travelling to Molenyeux to face Wolverhampton Wanderers in the near future

Barclays Premier League:

Wigan Athletic, Stamford Bridge (H)

Starting Line-Up:
Hilario, Hutchinson, Cahill, Terry, Bertrand, Ramires, Romeu, Willian, Mata, Lukaku, Drogba

Subs Used: Nacho, Meireles, Torres

I gave some youngsters a chance in this game and i guess it payed off as they showed fast, action packed, free flowing, beautiful counter attacking football.

We took the lead in the stoppage time before the interval as Willian wonderfully wowed the crowd with a sensational strike from the edge of the area - his 1st goal for the club aswell

at half time Nacho replaced Terry and Meireles replaced Romeu as both needed rests

But the Latics pegged back when Rodallega latched onto a long ball from Moses.

on the 70th minute i upped the tempo by replacing Drogs with Torres who proved his worth by skillfully rounding the defence and after slight hesitations he struck a beauty from a tight angle.

The youngsters then held out to record a good solid yet calm victory over the Latics who are struggling as they lie bottom of the table after 3 respective defeats.

Final Score: Chelsea 2-2 Wigan Athletic
Man of The Match: Willian

looking good so far, the results you have are pretty good your defence looks a bit leaky though i think you should consider getting a better sub right back for ivanovic

alright i will look into it - my KEY ambition is to involve as much youth as possible so if you could give any suggestions that would be helpful as i struggled during pre-season to find someone of that calibre.
Thanks

UPDATE:

Signed Basel's 18 year old M/AM (C) Granit Xhaka for ££1.5 million!

Essien and Kalou now British Citizens

looking good so far . pretty positive results

i beleive cheslea is a work in progress. ill definitlyl be keep an eye on this story

Barclays Premier League:


West Bromwich Albion, The Hawthornes (A)

Starting Line-Up:

Cech, Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Bertrand, Romeu, Ramires, Sturridge, Mata, Torres, Drogba

Subs Used: Willian, Lampard, Lukaku

Drogba latched onto Torres through ball on the 10th minute

Mata off at Half time as he picked up a slight knock and on came Willian

Willian set up Torres who poked in his cross on 49th minute

Willian scored himself charging down the left wing before a one two with Ramires resulted in him stroking the ball into the bottom corner of the net

on comes Lampard and Lukaku for Romeu and Drogba

Lukaku then within an instance bagged his first ever goal in English football after heading in Torres' cross

Two minutes later Somen Tchoyi headed in Long's cross to grab a consalation goal that did nothing to damage our lead

A good performance looked strong and ready for the European challenges that are just round the corner

Final Score: West Brom 1-4 Chelsea
Man Of The Match: Fernando Torres

Uefa Champions League:

FC Basel, St. Jakobspark (A)

Starting Line Up:

Cech, Nacho, Luiz, Terry, Cole, Meireles, Ramires, Willian, Mata, Torres, Drogba

Subs Used: Bertrand, Hutchinson, Sturridge

Got off to a bad start as Xherdan Shaquiri worked his magic on the far right and dragged the ball past Cole before lodging in a deep but low heighted cross for target man Jacques Zoua to head home getting to the ball above John Terry

Bertrand replaced a weakened Cole at the mid point

Great reply from the team talk as Drogba headed in a Mata cross just 5 minutes from the re-start

Nacho shamefully went off injured after a solid display from the young defender who was replaced by another youth - Sam Hutchinson

Time was ticking away and i brought on Lukaku for Torres and he made an instant impact by raging the Basel defence

But it took until the 89th minute when Meireles' corner was met by the head of Drogba who had put in a strong display all night

After this game i will now be careful as to how i approach these teams away

in future i guess i underestimated them as the first half had Xherdan Shaqiriwritten all over it. But it was good to see some of the youths - Lukaku, Nacho, Hutchinson, Bertrand and Romeu all make their Champions League debuts

Man Of The Match: Didier Drogba - a solid performance from him in which i expect to see more of the same!
Final Score: FC Basel 1-2 Chelsea

Injury Update:

Sam Hutchinson suffered a twisted ankle during the away tie in Switzerland and will miss the next two weeks.