Carlo's Boys

10 May 2010



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Chelsea Wraps up Premiership Title

It would appear that the English can only decide one thing at a time. Since they needed to determine who was the best soccer team in the country this week-end, they could not decide on a government (the Scots and Welsh seem to have made their choice, but Labour is out anyway). Chelsea held a one point lead over Manchester United going into Sunday's final games, and a Chelsea win would wrap up the title. Poor Wigan turned up at Stamford Bridge to go down in an 8-0 goalfest as Chelsea claimed the championship.

For a time, this was the season no side seemed interested in winning. Chelsea, Man U and Arsenal all gave away points this season to weaker sides. In one sense, this is good for the league and the game itself because it shows that the Premiership is not so much the top four followed by a different division. Instead, the middle of the table has improved. Fulham, Sunderland and Blackburn aren't an easy 3-points anymore. Indeed, Wigan beat Chelsea 3-1 back in September and was a much different team than the impostors who showed up yesterday.

However, when it came to playing among the big boys, Chelsea had the best of it. Chelsea beat both Manchester United and Arsenal twice. Liverpool, a side that proved it needs major restructuring, also went down twice. Only Tottenham, whose season was better than most expected it to be, beat the Blues.

The team is clearly manager Carlo Ancelloti's now. The attritional game of Jose Mourinho is gone. This year Chelsea scored 103 goals, beating the 10-year-old Premiership record of Manchester United's 1999-2000 campaign of 97. The last time an English side was this productive was the 1962-63 season of Tottenham Hotspur. Under Mr. Mourinho, Chelsea won the title twice, score 72 goals each season for an average of 1.89 goals per game. Mr. Ancelloti's Chelsea averaged 2.71 goals per game. It's a different kind of soccer under the Italian.

Nor is this the end for Chelsea this month. They still have the FA Cup Final against relegated and bankrupt Portsmouth. That game should be much like the match against Wigan. A couple of early goals from Frank Lampard or Didier Drogba or Nicholas Anelka will give the Blues the chance to play aggressively and without a care for errors on offense.

Mr. Ancelloti wants Chelsea to play like that all the time. "Barcelona in blue" is the way he puts it. That is feasible, but he needs to have a chat with owner Roman Abramovich about new talent. This Chelsea side is getting long in the tooth, and a transition over a season or two will be easier than letting things to fall apart and rebuild from scratch. Sir Alex Ferguson has vowed to win the title back at Manchester United, and one ignores him at one's peril. Yesterday belonged to Mr. Ancelloti, but will tomorrow? It's up to him.

© Copyright 2010 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Ubuntu Linux.

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