Chelsea News Story

08 January 2009 02:22 BST

Chelsea - end-of-season report

Good, bad or just the same old, same old? What the fans made of the 2007/08 season.

A season that began in a shockingly-bad way (Jose Mourinho leaving a month into the season having made some very suspect transfer dealings in the summer) ended in an even worse fashion as the club endured its first season without silverware for four years.

It could have been so very different, give or take a few matches, with the Blues reaching the final of the Carling Cup, the quarter-finals of the FA Cup, the Champions League final, and missing out on the Premier League title by just two points.

But the history books, rewritten in Chelsea blue following three years of unparalleled success under Mourinho, will not reflect how close Avram Grant and his team came to glory.

And history is what Roman Abramovich craves above all else.

Grade: B

High Point

Although it ended in crushing, debilitating disappointment (see below), Chelsea's run to the Champions League final was exhilarating - no more so than in the second leg of their semi-final against Liverpool.

Overcoming Rafa Benitez's Reds had proved a bridge too far for Jose Mourinho on two separate occasions, and with the Liverpool squad considerably stronger than in 2005 and 2007 surely Avram Grant could not succeed where the Special One had failed?

The Israeli proved his doubters wrong of course, thanks to a virtuoso performance from his star striker Didier Drogba, whose two goals helped to sink Liverpool 3-2 on the night, giving the Blues a thrilling 4-3 aggregate win after extra time.

That Drogba forced Benitez to eat his words – the Spaniard's pre-match mind games backfiring horribly – was not the main memory of a breathless evening of football at Stamford Bridge is down to the heroics of Frank Lampard.

Lampard, unfairly maligned by ignorant England fans, had lost his mother to illness several days before the match, arguably one of the biggest of his career.

When the midfielder wrestled the ball off Michael Ballack, Chelsea's designated penalty taker, in extra time after Drogba had been felled by Sami Hyypia, Blues fans feared the worst outcome.

But Lampard proved beyond doubt his bravery and utter professionalism by slotting the penalty past spot-kick specialist Pepe Reina before gesturing to the heavens as he dedicated the goal to his late mother.

If only his courageous act had led to more than a loser's medal in Moscow...

Low Point

Chelsea are one penalty away from winning the Champions League after reaching their first-ever final.

Captain John Terry, who has spent his entire career at Stamford Bridge and is Chelsea through and through, steps up to take the kick that could define his career and earn him a place in the club's pantheon.

He slips, misses, and Manchester United win the trophy for the third time.

The manager

Grant was no one's top choice to replace Mourinho when the Portuguese unexpectedly left the club in September, and a flat 2-0 loss to United in his first game in charge gave fans precious little hope.

But the Israeli steadily turned things around, notwithstanding disappointing home draws against lowly opposition that ultimately cost Chelsea the title.

While Grant went one further than Mourinho ever did by taking Chelsea to the Champions League final, his greatest achievement was during the winter months when the Blues' season was in danger of collapse.

A host of injuries to key players and the African Cup of Nations had left Chelsea, the wealthiest club in the Premier League, with a threadbare squad but Grant kept the pressure up on the league's leaders by grinding out results a la Mourinho.

The attractive, attacking football that he promised and Abramovich craved never really materialised, while embarrassing losses to Tottenham in the Carling Cup final and Barnsley in the FA Cup raised doubts over Grant's ability to manage a top-level club.

Ultimately, while Grant worked nothing short of a miracle in getting Chelsea in a position to challenge for an historic quadruple, he presided over the club's first trophy-less season for three years, with Abramovich deeming second place in the league and Europe as not good enough.

Grant claims had he been given the whole season and last summer to buy new players he would have won both the title and the Champions League.

But most Chelsea fans know in their hearts that if Mourinho had been in charge of their team at the crucial parts of the season they could be celebrating one of the club's best-ever years, making Grant the very nearly man of west London.

Fan's Player of the Year

No single player stood out above all the rest for Chelsea as for most of their Premier League opponents, with injuries and African Cup of Nations call-ups forcing Grant to effectively deploy two different teams during the course of the season.

This can either be seen as evidence of Chelsea's excellent team ethic or their lack of flamboyant stars.

The most consistent performer over the entire course of the season however was undoubtedly unsung hero Michael Essien.

The fact the Ghanaian, a midfielder by trade, was Chelsea's preferred right-back says more about his own football abilities than it does about either Paulo Ferreira or Juliano Belletti.

He may not have the timing of Claude Makelele, the passing of Jon Obi Mikel, the goals of Frank Lampard or the influence of Michael Ballack but Essien is Chelsea's best overall midfielder and a key part of the club's plans for the future.

Needs for Next Season

A new manager, a new attack and a new system.

A host of names, from the ridiculous (Sven-Goran Eriksson) to the sublime (Mark Hughes) are being linked with the vacancy, which is fast resembling a poisoned chalice.

Roberto Mancini appears the most likely to be given the chance to reshape the Chelsea squad, which four years after Mourinho took charge is in desperate need of an overhaul.

Peter Kenyon has insisted the club will only tweak their playing staff but a mass exodus appears likely, with Steve Sidwell, Tal Ben Haim, Florent Malouda, Belletti and Shaun Wright-Phillips all set for the exit door.

In addition, the model of a 4-3-3 formation driven by a central striker and two wingers has now failed, with United's more flexible variant bringing goals upon goals and trophies to boot to the Old Trafford outfit.

It is feasible that the entire Chelsea strike-force could leave the club in the summer, with Andriy Shevchenko and Claudio Pizarro certainties for the transfer list and Anelka in danger of having his Stamford Bridge career cut short for refusing to take a penalty in Moscow.

It is also most definitely the time for Drogba to leave.

The Ivorian has been the club's star striker since 2004 but concerns over his attitude and the way in which the team has to play to his strengths necessitates a new direction for the club and a new challenge for the player.

Whoever does get the chance to fill the Chelsea managerial hot-seat can be assured of a hefty transfer warchest, with the club set to acknowledge the folly of buying players such as Sidwell and Ben Haim last summer.

The attackers that do arrive – and Chelsea have been linked with a lot - have to be of a similar quality to the club's midfield and defence, on which their success of the last four years has been based.

Equally important to maintaining this period of success is keeping hold of the club's best players, including Lampard, Ricardo Carvalho and Petr Cech.

If the new manager can balance the summer's inevitable new arrivals with the stalwarts who remain, the club will again be best placed to challenge United's dominance of domestic and European football, although any Mourinho-esque debut Premier League titles are already looking like a quirk of history.

Matthew Champion