Brad Smith

It Wasn’t Alright On The Night

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Fans of both Chelsea and Tottenham were lamenting a midday kick-off for their clash in the Premier League this weekend, especially as it coincided with the midweek World Cup qualifiers, where England travelled to Poland on Tuesday night, where both Ashley Cole, and Jermaine Defoe were named as starters.

So, three and a half days apart, not a catastrophe, although as the squad will have to travel back from Poland, it isn’t exactly an ideal scenario. So, imagine the faces of both Di Matteo and Villas-Boas as the scenes unravelled on Tuesday night. The ‘pitch’ resembling my back garden after a typical English winter (or summer nowadays) and the game was called off, until 4pm today

Is Cole Nearing The End Of Chelsea Career?

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Ashley Cole has capped off a quiet couple of weeks for him personally by according to the Daily Mail, rejecting an offer of a new contract at Chelsea.

Cole’s contract runs out next summer and the left-back is reportedly seeking a two year deal. However, Roman Abramovich has put his weight behind a new policy looking to rid Stamford Bridge of its Chelsea pensioners, with Didier Drogba departing in similar circumstances this summer.

Cech and Courtois. The Old and the New

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When Belgian goalkeeper Thibault Courtois was signed from Genk back in July 2011, not a whole lot was known about him. £5 million was splashed out on the 19-year-old, and that being an extremely young age for a ‘keeper, he was seen as a (distant) long-term successor to Petr Cech.

However, with the youngster having not one, but two seasons out on loan at La Liga Club Atletico Madrid – who are not even a step down considering the Super Cup – how long can he expect to be behind Cech in the race for the No1 spot at the Bridge?

Falcao, How About Now?

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Top of the league. 15 goals in 7 games, and 6 goals in 2 Champions League ties.

You wouldn’t think that a striker would be top of the agenda for Chelsea fans, but when one in the shape of Falcao comes along, you’d be rude to simply ignore him.

A mere £48m is the price quoted. But as Chelsea well know, you’d still get pocket change back from Torres’ fee for that.

Ok, Fernando has been tested and passes the exam of the Premier League, but if you have had the jo of watching Falcao play, you could hardly argue he would be a risky signing.

Should Twitter Use Be Regulated By The Club?

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Chelsea left back, England regular, but never one to hit the headlines for the wrong reasons, Graeme Le Saux was ever the consummate professional during his playing career.

That’s in stark contrast to the current occupant of the Chelsea number three shirt, with Ashley Cole all over the news again for his recent rant on Twitter berating the F.A. Le Saux believes footballers should be more responsible with what they write on social media sites, and realise the consequences their words could potentially have.

Rotation Is The Key For Title Challenge

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Should Lampard be starting, or should he be on the bench? That is a question that has been thrown around numerous times in the past few weeks, and there is only one true answer for it. Rotation.

Mikel and Ramires seem the long-term and more energetic option in the middle, but whilst Ramires is nearly the complete article, I believe Mikel has a way to go, especially after making some costly mistakes over the past year or two at the Bridge.

From The Opposition Corner…… Norwich

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Only Southampton have conceded more than todays visitors Norwich so far, and Chelsea’s great start to the season should continue here today, if all goes to plan. However, Norwich finished well last season, and will only be written off by the foolish.

To get an insight into Norwich City, we spoke to two of their biggest supporters, Blaine Lovett and Paul Lancaster, who are on Twitter as @blainel47 and @bomberboy467 respectively.

Marathon Season Was No Mata..

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Juan Mata could be forgiven for wanting a rest. 53 games for Chelsea last season, ended with a Euro 2012 campaign with Spain, before jetting back to England, only to compete in the Olympic Games for Spain’s football team as well.

He was our player of the season last year, with 23 assists, and 12 goals, completing a fantastic debut season since his £24m move from Valencia.

What did we learn from the Arsenal victory?

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A great victory last weekend in the Premier League, against a team that were just beginning to show some title form, and on their own patch.

Juan Mata and Fernando Torres had not been at their best in recent weeks, but they turned on the style here, as the Spanish sizzlers burnt Arsenal to a crisp. Mata had been given a two-week break, which revitalized him, which we will discuss more tomorrow. As for Torres, many people were quick to claim he was “back to normal” following a few games without getting on the scoresheet, although a tidy finish early on set the Chelsea ball rolling.