Chelsea - fan's review of the 2008/09 Premier League season
Chelsea - fan's review of the 2008/09 Premier League season
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Tuesday, 02, Jun 2009 03:29
Good, bad or just the same old, same old? What the fans made of the 2008/09 season.
For the first time in five years, Chelsea have finished outside the top two in the Premier League.
Such was the lack of expectations and belief in the team in the death throes of the Luiz Felipe Scolari era however, a third-place finish almost (almost) feels like a winner's medal.
The Scolari project began unravelling when Liverpool ended the club's 86-match unbeaten home record in October. Scolari's Chelsea would go on to lose to Arsenal at home and record two truly wretched defeats at Old Trafford and Anfield.
Jose Mourinho, in Manchester to watch the 3-0 defeat, said he did not recognise his old team; such was the insipid nature of their loss.
When it looked like the Blues' status as a top four club was under threat when Aston Villa were touted for Champions League qualification, Roman Abramovich moved to arrest the decline in what can now be seen as a masterstroke.
For despite the massive compensation payouts to the sacked Scolari and his backroom staff and the subsequent disruption, incoming to Stamford Bridge was Guus Hiddink - the man Abramovich had wanted all along but had been unable to convince to break his contract with the Russian national team.
Hiddink, whose salary at the Russian FA is reportedly part-funded by Abramovich, agreed to become Chelsea's temporary first-team coach as a personal favour, juggling both jobs until the end of the season whereupon he would depart into the sunset.
And a glorious sunset it would turn out, too, as the much-loved Hiddink left with Champions League qualification assured; the club's first silverware in the bag for two years; and confidence fully restored in Chelsea's status as one of Europe's biggest clubs.
Two days after Hiddink left the country with an FA Cup winner's medal, Chelsea appointed Carlo Ancelotti as his successor.
Grade: B
High Point
Watching Hiddink cavort at Wembley with cigar and FA Cup in hand was the perfect send-off for the Dutch master, but April's 3-1 defeat of Liverpool at Anfield and a thrilling 4-4 home draw in the return leg were the standout moments of the season.
Ghosts of Champions League losses to Liverpool past were laid further to rest with the quarter-final victory over Rafael Benitez's team, which looked like it was going to end in tears after the Reds raced into a 2-0 lead at Stamford Bridge before the goals started flying in as the aggregate score started looking more like a rugby match.
Low Point
Sometimes you have to accept that the footballing gods are just against you, but following Chelsea's heart-wrenchingly painful 1-1 draw with Barcelona at Stamford Bridge in said semi, many Chelsea players found it a difficult mantra to accept.
On another night Norwegian ref Tom Henning Ovrebo could have awarded five penalties for the home side. He didn't; and Chelsea went out on away goals, and the prospect of lengthy bans and massive fines still hang over Didier Drogba, Jose Bosingwa and the club itself.
The managers
One season, three managers; but it all started so well with Scolari in the summer, as sides struggled to cope with playmaker Deco or the attacking forays of the Blues' full-backs. Once Deco got injured and teams learned to cut off the supply from the flanks, Chelsea stagnated and looked like a club in freefall. The Brazilian is yet to find employ at another club following his sacking in February.
Hiddink, Scolari's replacement until the end of the season, rejuvenated Chelsea's season, restored Drogba to the first team and even managed to play him up front with Nicolas Anelka and the previously much-maligned Florent Malouda.
Nothing short of a tactical genius, Hiddink pulled an underperforming squad out of the doldrums and turned them into genuine challengers at home and in Europe, with Chelsea player of the year Frank Lampard and players' player of the year Ashley Cole leading the charge on the pitch. Held in incredibly high regard by the players, fans, staff and entire hierarchy at Chelsea, he will always be a welcome figure at Stamford Bridge.
Fan's Player of the Year
- Florent Malouda -
Malouda recently claimed that his poor form for Chelsea since signing from Lyon in 2007 was down to problematic wisdom teeth.
Whatever the tooth of the matter, since they were removed in January the Frenchman has been a winger reborn and arguably the most-improved player in England's top-flight, earning himself a place in the first XI next season.
Needs for Next Season
Stability must be the watchword at the Bridge after a tumultuous two-year period that has seen five separate managers at the helm of the club. The appointment of Ancelotti has all the ingredients for success: His own pedigree, the full support and financial backing of the owner and a three-year contract in which to win the Champions League.
But he also inherits an ageing squad that is only one or two seasons away from an overhaul. The Italian is a known admirer of experience and will be loath to do away with any of Chelsea's established stars, but if transfer rumours are anything to go by he will have the funds available to bring in some genuine world-beaters as the club attempts to challenge Manchester United's dominance of the Premier League.
Some of European football's best players (David Villa, David Silva, Sergio Aguero, Franck Ribery, Andrea Pirlo, Xabi Alonso and Carlos Tevez) have been mentioned in connection with a move to Chelsea. Four-time Champions League winner Carlo Ancelotti (twice as a player, twice as a manager) is not given to playing fantasy football, but his unfamiliarity with the Premier League means Chelsea will enter next season as something of an unknown quantity for the second year running, with or without an influx of foreign talent.
Matthew Champion