By dixon9
November 16 2010

With yesterday evening’s news that John Terry will be out for months – not a week or two as first thought – Chelsea fans groaned in dismay at the news that Alex will also be absent for 6-8 weeks.  With Lampard still recovering and Essien suspended the main defensive and midfield spine of Chelsea has been well and truly severed.

Terry and Alex have been an excellent pairing so far this season and are our first choice centre-backs.  We’ve already seen what happens when Essien and Lampard are both absent from midfield against Liverpool and Sunderland.  Between these two losses was our 1-0 win over Fulham with Essien present – but like a plum he gets himself suspended for 3 matches.  The Chelsea engine room will now be missing its main stokers.

Drogba has been suffering from Malaria and his illness has dragged on and affected his performances longer than anticipated.  We can only hope that he is truly over this illness, but with passes from midfield and defence being fewer in number, both Anelka and the Ivorian will have to be razor sharp with the scarcer opportunities they may well end up receiving. 

We surely cannot persist with Ferreira at centre-half?  Ancelotti will have to give the nod to Bruma who must be champing at the bit to get on the pitch?  It is imperative that we find some central defensive stability and give Bruma some first team experience.  Let us not forget he is now a full Dutch international and I find it perplexing how he doesn´t get preference over Ferriera playing out of position.

In midfield we have Ramieres of course.  He will be an excellent player for us in the future but his sporadic form is an indication that he is still finding his feet.  If we are to boost our midfield then Ancelotti must give Josh the nod to start and a confidence boost in the form of guaranteed 2 league match start with the Zilina game sandwiched in-between. 

Look away if you don’t want to get even more worried about the erosion of our league position, but here are the forthcoming matches with the probable absences and returns of the key players mentioned above: 

November

Lampard, Terry, Alex and Benayoun ALL missing for these next 3 matches whilst Essien misses the two league matches but can play against Zilina:

20 Sat         15:00  PREM A Birmingham City

23 Tue         19:45  CPLG  H MSK Zilina                                                       

28 Sun         13:30  PREM A  Newcastle United

December

Lampard, Terry, Alex and Benayoun ALL missing for these next 3 matches:

Essien Returns

4 Sat          15:00  PREM  H  Everton                                      

8 Wed        19:45  CPLG   A  Marseille

12 Sun       16:00  PREM  A  Tottenham Hotspur

Terry, Alex and Benayoun still missing for these following matches:

(Lampard MAY return but will not be immediately match fit and hopefully Essien is still playing)

19 Sun       16:00  PREM  H  Manchester United

27 Mon      20:00  PREM  A  Arsenal                                                

29 Wed     19:45  PREM  H  Bolton Wanderers

There will never be a better time to play us and the odds on us dropping important league points will be shorter then ever – Man Utd, Arsenal, Man City and Spurs must be licking their lips in anticipation.  Tommy Docherty once said “If they’re good enough then they’re old enough” and Ancelotti has been promising to use our youngsters more.  We as fans have been crying out to see some of our kids on the pitch – now is the time to actually DO it and let the chips fall where they will.  And let’s be honest, do we have any other choice?

If our title rivals fail to take advantage now, then they never will.

Dropping Like Flies – Injury Crisis Threatens Chelsea

Discussion started by 50 Years Over 100 Years , 16/11/2010 19:29

50 Years Over 100 Years
16/11/2010 19:29

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dixon9
16/11/2010 23:10

...and Ivanovic is 1 booking away from a 1 match ban.



"It is born out of hypocrisy and fundamental insecurity. There have been two kids on the block for the past 12 years. Suddenly, there is a third and that one is threatening to be more successful than the others and they don’t like it." P Kenyon.

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