10 player purge?

[dkw]

http://www.football365.com/story/0,1703 ... 13,00.html

the gist of it is drogba, lamps, malouda, beletti, ben haim, sidwell, pizarro, sheva, carlo leaving with maka retiring. then £100 million being spent rebuilding the squad. in my mind, that £100 mill will only get us 3 or 4 first choice players. will we now return to the compact squad jose first wanted? and who will these 3 or 4 players be? at least one striker, one winger and a right back.

[Qaz]

Dkw, you might as well have quoted The Sun. Nothing wrong with posting the article, but I wouldn't be placing alot of faith in it.

[dkw]

i realise that where it comes from is a bit dodgy to say the least, but in all honesty most of it wouldnt surprise me. other than the carlo and maka bit.

[ethicalstrategy]

I appreciate that it's probably not true, but it would be a disaster if it were.

The last thing we need is to get rid of a load of players.

We just need someone to manage them.

[dkw]

i for one wouldnt mind shrinking the squad. when jose first arrived he said he only wanted a first team squad of 23 (or something like that). next season hopefully wont see the injury list we had, or the ACN taking players for a month. so the likes of sidwell, ben haim, pizarro etc wont get a look in. we dont need them, they need to play.

[blizeH]

Drogba, if he still wants to leave, so be it.

Lamps, we'd be crazy to let him go if he wants to stay.

Malouda, hasn't performed well at all, wouldn't be a big loss imo

Beletti, fantastic going forward and would make perfect backup to Paulo, keep if possible.

Ben haim, as above, great backup for our main three centre backs

Sidwell, again, he's behind Mikel, Makalele and Essien, so as backup he's fine

Pizarro, shows potential, but like Malouda he hasn't performed that well for us I think

Sheva, it's for the best, I guess. ;'(

Carlo, as I said in another thread, one of my favourite all time players, but I think it's time he moved on for his self, even though I would be gutted.

Makalele, one more season please Maka!

[ethicalstrategy]

i for one wouldnt mind shrinking the squad. when jose first arrived he said he only wanted a first team squad of 23 (or something like that). next season hopefully wont see the injury list we had, or the ACN taking players for a month. so the likes of sidwell, ben haim, pizarro etc wont get a look in. we dont need them, they need to play.

Is it any bigger than that now? Maybe one or two but that's all. Part of the problem we had last year was lack of cover in crucial areas, particularly centre back. We have seen the benefit of having quality in the squad this season. Even with the ACN players away and JT and Frank injured we could field:

Cech

Belletti

Cole/Bridge

Alex

Carvalho

Maka

Ballack

Sidwell

SWP

Cole

Anelka/Sheva/Pizarro

We certainly didn't have the same depth last year.

[dkw]

i agree with you ethical, we did have problems with cover. but unfortunately with a fully fit large squad, unless the manager is strong and sticks to his best team as much as possible, the dreaded rotation begins. and players never settle into a rhythm. im not sure what the size of our squad is currently, but i would think its a lot bigger than 23.

[coco]

Whos going to be selecting our £100M new signings ? Thats the real question.

[ethicalstrategy]

i agree with you ethical, we did have problems with cover. but unfortunately with a fully fit large squad, unless the manager is strong and sticks to his best team as much as possible, the dreaded rotation begins. and players never settle into a rhythm. im not sure what the size of our squad is currently, but i would think its a lot bigger than 23.

Squad listed below. I took the list from the official website so it ought to be complete (although Scott Sinclair seems to be missing completely as he isn't listed even as being on loan ) It includes 4 (!) goalkeepers and excludes players currently on loan. It comes to 27.

1

Petr Cech

Goalkeeper  

2

Branislav Ivanovic

Defender  

3

Ashley Cole

Defender  

4

Claude Makelele

Midfielder  

5

Michael Essien

Midfielder  

6

Ricardo Carvalho

Defender  

7

Andriy Shevchenko

Striker  

8

Frank Lampard

Midfielder  

9

Steve Sidwell

Midfielder  

10

Joe Cole

Midfielder  

11

Didier Drogba

Striker  

12

John Mikel Obi

Midfielder  

13

Michael Ballack

Midfielder  

14

Claudio Pizarro

Striker  

15

Florent Malouda

Midfielder  

18

Wayne Bridge

Defender  

20

Paulo Ferreira

Defender  

21

Salomon Kalou

Striker  

22

Tal Ben-Haim

Defender  

23

Carlo Cudicini

Goalkeeper  

24

Shaun Wright-Phillips

Midfielder  

26

John Terry

Defender  

30

Rhys Taylor

Goalkeeper  

33

Alex

Defender  

35

Juliano Belletti

Defender  

39

Nicolas Anelka

Striker  

40

Henrique Hilario

Goalkeeper  

[Valerie]

Completely off topic I know, but how come we hand out such ridiculously high squad numbers, i.e. 33, 35, etc., when lower numbers are still available? Don't tell me we've withdrawn 16 and 17 to celebrate the glory of Robben and Petit.

[ethicalstrategy]

I was amazed we got as far as 15 before we had a gap!

[dkw]

i was surprised by that. thought we had more. so if we go on there being 28 (sinclair included), we need to lose 5 to get to what jose thought was the ideal squad size. so thats sidwell, ben haim, pizarro, beletti and malouda in my opinion. leaves us with plenty of cover for every position other than left wing.

[Peeking Duck?]

Whos going to be selecting our £100M new signings ? Thats the real question.

Along with what player in their right mind would want to join after witnessing an entire team of internationals leave en masse? I guess I shouldn't be worried though as the forum regulars have assured me it's all just tabloid bollocks.

[Guest Brian M]

I would love to see Carlo between the sticks of another team week in week out. Be great to see the highlights of each PL round with Carlo making world class saves! He deserves so much better than sitting on our bench.

[TomP]

Didn't ready any further after seing the world "Chelski" in the title.

I would imagine the article is just a combination of all the rumours doing the rounds at the moment.

Drogs and Lamps off - nothing new there. Drogs has made it pretty clear, and the longer Lamps delays on his contract, the more you think that he might be joining him. Wouldn't be surprised to see a late change of heart from either or both of them though.

Malouda/Belletti/Ben Haim/Sidwell/Pizarro/Sheva leaving? - this is basically based on the fact that none of them are in form and none of them are first team regulars. I'm sure come the summer some of these players will go and others will stay. You have to have some "squad players" in any team - 30 world class players in a squad doesn't work. Of these guys, I think it would be short sighted to sell either Malouda or Belletti. Malouda needs a bit longer to adjust (like Drogba, Carvalho, Essien, Ballack etc etc did) and Belletti has only been bad for the last few weeks - was great before that.

Carlo? He's been leaving every summer since Cech arrived. I'm pretty sure he just signed a new contract didn't he? He's obviously pretty happy as backup (amazingly - for someone of his quality).

Maka? - pretty sure he's been quoted as saying that he wants to retire from INTERNATIONAL football after the Euro championships this summer. From what I have read over the past 6 months or so, he is basically in a semi-coaching role with Chelsea, so even if he retires, I would imagine he would stay on as a coach.

[ethicalstrategy]

I would love to see Carlo between the sticks of another team week in week out. Be great to see the highlights of each PL round with Carlo making world class saves! He deserves so much better than sitting on our bench.

It's his choice. He could have and still could go to another club. I've never really understood why he has stayed.

[geezer]

I would love to see Carlo between the sticks of another team week in week out. Be great to see the highlights of each PL round with Carlo making world class saves! He deserves so much better than sitting on our bench.

It's his choice. He could have and still could go to another club. I've never really understood why he has stayed.

Valerie keeps him sweet!

[dkw]

Valerie keeps him sweet!

is it part of his contract?

[Valerie]

Valerie keeps him sweet!

is it part of his contract?

I do what I can for Chelsea FC!

And it's strictly voluntary (for both parties), Carlo and I don't need contracts :-)