Ferreira, Paulo

Paulo Ferreira

Written by Loz and last updated August 2009

Paulo Ferreira (full name Paulo Renato Rebocho Ferreira), quite probably the only player in the Chelsea squad to have been caught with his hand on Mrs Mourinho's buttocks. That, as far as I am concerned at least, can be the only reason why he ended up not being an automatic choice in Jose's first team before his untimely departure as Chelsea manager

Paulo was born on January 18th, 1979 in Cascais, one of the wealthiest municipalities in Portugal and, due to its grandeur, home too many of the exiled royal families of Europe during World War II.

[[fimg]=left]http://www.theshedend.com/fansite/images/Current_Squad/Paulo_Ferreira/vitoria2.gif[/[fimg]] His career began playing in the Portuguese 2nd division for his local team GD Estoril Praia (nicknamed Canarinhos (Little Canaries)) and moved onto to Vitoria Setubal in the summer of 2000. There is little information to be found on his time at either GD Estoril Praia or Vitoria Setubal so I apologise for the gap in the profile.

What I do know is that during his time at Setubal (incidentally Carvalho also played for them but I believe that was in the season prior to Paulo being there) Paulo broke into the Portuguese U21 team and won 27 caps for them. Worth noting that up until this stage in his career Paulo played on the right side of midfield.

[[fimg]=right]http://www.theshedend.com/fansite/images/Current_Squad/Paulo_Ferreira/paulo%20atporto.gif[/[fimg]] Ferreira impressed at Vitoria Setubal and some thrupenny ha'penny manager called Jose Mourinho had spotted his potential from his lofty position as Porto manager.

Paulo was to have a pretty phenomenal two seasons at Porto, two seasons that propelled him from being a promising right midfielder to being one of the most sought after right backs in Europe. In his debut season Porto won the domestic double and added the UEFA Cup to the trophy cabinet when they beat Celtic in Seville in a final better remembered for Porto's (and, in particular, Deco's) ability to fall over in a light gust than for the quality of their football.

Unbelievably Porto went on to better that in the following season by retaining their domestic title and, against all odds, winning the Champions League with a comprehensive 3-0 win over Monaco at the Veltins Arena in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. (yes Monaco... Monaco! Monaco - every time you say that Claudio Ranieri reaches for the whisky bottle). They did come close to a very impressive treble that season but were defeated in the final of the Portuguese Cup by Benfica, who had future Chelsea team mate Tiago playing for them at the time.

[[fimg]=left]http://www.theshedend.com/fansite/images/Current_Squad/Paulo_Ferreira/paulo%20euro%202004.gif[/[fimg]] As we all know Mourinho left Porto that summer to join Chelsea and one of the first things he did was secure the transfer of his trusted right back. As Chelsea fans we tuned into Euro 2004 eager to see our new right back in action. Fair to say that the less said about that the better! Paulo had a shocker against Greece in Portugal’s opening game and, apart from an appearance off the bench when the lost in the final, that was the end of his tournament!! Not exactly encouraging when you think we had forked out £13.2m on him!!

[[fimg]=left]http://www.theshedend.com/fansite/images/Current_Squad/Paulo_Ferreira/paulo%20naddidier%20celebrate%20the%202005%20league%20cup%20final%20win%20against%20liverpool2.gif[/[fimg]] However we were to worry unnecessarily. In his debut season he firmly established himself as our first choice right back and played a major role in not only bringing the title back to the Bridge for the first time since 1955 and securing the League Cup but also setting a new Premiership record of only conceding 15 goals all season. His season was to end prematurely in March 2005 due to an ankle injury (yet another broken metatarsal), which would rule him out for the rest of the season. and although Glen Johnson, Geremi and even Huth filled in at right back in his absence I think it is fair to say none of them reached the standards that Paulo had set.

[[fimg]=right]http://www.theshedend.com/fansite/images/Current_Squad/Paulo_Ferreira/paulo%20cl%20game%20dec%205th%202006%20vs%20levski%20sofia.jpg[/[fimg]] The 2005-2006 season saw him carry on as our first choice right back with Glen Johnson very much marginalised. However, as the season went on, he was to suffer the same fate as his fellow full backs on the left hand side - that being 'How do you solve a problem like William Gallas'. In order to accommodate Ricardo Carvalho at centre half and due to the fact that Gallas was just too good to leave out Mourinho took advantage of Gallas's versatility and frequently played him at either left or right back (when the obvious solution was to bench Carvalho, play Gallas alongside John Terry and leave the full backs alone). Despite this Paulo still played a major role in our retention of the title.

The 2006-2007 season carried on in much the same vein as the 2005-2006 one with Paulo, despite the departure of Gallas, seemingly drifting in and out of favour with Mourinho. In addition to Paulo a variety of players were played at right back including a centre half (Boulahrouz), two defensive midfielders (Essien and Diarra) and Geremi who, although accustomed to the role, had shown himself in the past to be a competent wing back but a dubious full back. Meanwhile Jose was to turn to Paulo in times of emergency to play at centre half and even left back - it is fair to say there were mixed messages about Jose's confidence in Paulo's ability.

[[fimg]=left]http://www.theshedend.com/fansite/images/Current_Squad/Paulo_Ferreira/paulo%20may%202007%20cup%20final%20winning%20header%20against%20ronaldo2.jpg[/[fimg]] Manchester United deservedly wrestled the title back in 2006-2007 however we were to finish the season on a high by winning the FA Cup after extra time in the first final to be held at the new Wembley - Paulo played the entire game and showed, once again, his qualities as he kept Ronaldo quieter than a Gooner at a home match.

For me Paulo comes from the same right back mould that created Albert 'Chappie' Ferrer. Consistent, reliable, defensively sound, bit of a nose bleed in the opponents half and always destined to never win a man of the match award! In terms of ability Ferrer is the finest right back I have ever seen pull on a Chelsea shirt, Ferreira, for me, is second. (Remember I said that I have ever seen, not in the history of the club) Many him tipped for a move away from the Bridge, and many thought that would be a good move for the club. Personally I thought it would be a terrible decision.

The start of the 2007/08 season was a case of 'as you were' for Paulo. It would appear his good run at the end of the 2006/07 season culminating in his fine performance in the FA Cup final was quickly forgotten as he started the season out of favour again. He didn't feature in the opening league game against Birmingham and was sacrificed at half time against Reading as Mourinho successfully turned round a 1-0 half time deficit. In the following game at Anfield Jose favoured Essien at right back, a decision that I must admit baffled me as I would have thought Essien would have been best employed in the centre of the park in direct competition with Gerrard.

[[fimg]=right]http://www.theshedend.com/fansite/images/Current_Squad/Paulo_Ferreira/paulo%20injured%20against%20leicester%20in%20cc%20cup%204th%20roun%2031%20oct%2007.gif[/[fimg]] Abruptly the picture changed. Jose was out and Avram Grant was in. Some thought Paulo would one the 'mass exodus' of players to follow Jose, after all Jose has been his manager for a long long time and Paulo owed him a lot. On the other hand Jose appeared to have lost confidence in him and so, for me, Jose's departure may actually spell a new opportunity for Paulo.

Grant appeared more ready to rotate between Ferreira and new right back Belletti, preferring Belletti's attacking abilities in some games and Paulo's superior defensive abilities in others. It is notable that when the pressure was really on in the Champions League away at Valencia it was Paulo who got the nod.

Paulo was injured by a Matt Fryatt tackle during Chelsea's Carling Cup 4th round 4-3 win over Leicester City on October 31st and wasn't fit for first team duties again until early December when he made his comeback in the 0-0 Champions League game against Valencia at Stamford Bridge. Despite this lack of match sharpness Avram Grant chose Ferreira over Belletti for the crunch Premiership match against Arsenal five days later (a match we lost 1-0) suggesting that Ferreira is the right back of choice when there is defending to be done, and Belletti the chosen one when there is a greater need for the full backs to get forward and support the attack.

The festive period started encouragingly for Paulo as he was selected for the league games away at Blackburn and at home to Villa however after that it became more apparent that Belletti was our first choice right back.

[[fimg]=left]http://www.theshedend.com/fansite/images/Current_Squad/Paulo_Ferreira_2/paulo%20maka%20pat%20lampard%20funeral.gif[/[fimg]] Paulo was selected for the FA Cup games but his league and league cup appearances, other than playing the full 90 minutes against Reading and actually playing very well, were restricted to bit parts in the final minutes of matches. Against Huddersfield in the fifth round of the FA Cup it was slack marking by Paulo that led to Chelsea conceding a shock equaliser. Two days later, defying the expectations of many Paulo celebrated that mistake by signing a new five year contract.

Paulo was omitted from Chelsea's Carling Cup final 16 and judging by the performance of the team on the day he may be secretly pleased about that. If he had played I would wager he would have done a lot better than Belletti did that day.

A point possibly proven by his performances in the next two matches against West Ham and Olympiakos where, although I'll grant you we were under very little pressure, he did what defenders should do first and foremost - defend!! Having said that he did play against Barnsley in the FA Cup, a Chelsea display as desperate as a fifth year schoolboy with a copy of Razzle but both arms in plaster.

[[fimg]=right]http://www.theshedend.com/fansite/images/Current_Squad/Paulo_Ferreira_2/paulo%20euro%202008.gif[/[fimg]] The right back slot was rotated between Paulo, Belletti and Essien for the remainder of the season with Essien often getting the nod in big matches as Grant looked to accommodate Ballack, Lampard, Makalele and Essien in the same side. As the season drew to an end and Ferreira prepared to travel to Austria and Switzerland for Euro 2008 Chelsea announced the signing of Portuguese right back Bosingwa meaning that Paulo, would face even more competition for a first team berth. Interestingly though Paulo played at left back for Portugal during Euro 2008 whilst Bosingwa played right back however this is more to do with the Portugal's lack of quality options at left back.

Despite the recruitment of Bosingwa being as detrimental to Paulo's Chelsea career as a typical Steven Gerrard tackle he said of his Portuguese team mate; "He is a fast player, which I know from Porto because I played with him there. He was very young when I was there and now he is proving he's a good player. He has improved a lot over the last few years, so I think he is a player who will help us a lot." As always Paulo showed himself to be a consummate professional.

Ferreira started the 2008/09 season as second choice right back behind Bosingwa in Scolari's pecking order. He stayed that way and we forgot what he looked like! He did make a few brief appearances off the bench (7 appearance in total all season) but really was making up the numbers. From time to time BJD and I would remind the world he existed by claiming he was the best right back since sliced bread - nobody listened.