Because we don't have one. I fail every year at maintaining this because I'm just not as diligent as the Spuds and for some reason people like to make new threads every time something happens in Chelsea. But worth a shot.
Mourinho has returned and we looked pretty good in our first preseason win against Singha All-Stars in Asia. Lukaku slotting home a soft penalty, but we played with high intensity and dominated from start to finish with a mix/mash side and 11 changes at half time. De Bruyne, Wallace (new young RB), Essien and Lukaku particularly impressed.
Eden Hazard cannot be tackled (at least by the All-Stars) and seems to be playing a much more direct style than before. That is to say he seems to be running at defences much more and taking shots, rather than trying to play like Mata and play people in. I'm excited if this is how Jose wants to utilise him because Hazard running with the ball is a sight to behold and I feel he didn't do it enough last season.
As mentioned, the stand out performance was Kevin De Bruyne. I can't quite believe we picked this lad up for so little and with no competition. He's going to be something special. He has qualities which remind me of both Lampard and Mata, as he seems to have Mata's ability to pick insane passes with pin-point accuracy combined with strong shooting technique and work rate. His highlights here for anyone interested:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dh4U7yXvoJ0&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]
New signing van Ginkle looked assured on the ball and has great passing technique. He doesn't seem the sort to stand out, but he distributes much more efficiently than Mikel, has a good tackle on him and reads the game very well. Essien dominated the midfield single-handedly while he was on, just like his old days and I hope that was a sign of a revival. Perhaps he wont be making those driving runs as often any more, but he could add some much needed steel back into our midfield. I feel much, much more confident about our central midfield problems after this early showing. It already looks like a complete transformation with a lot more depth than we had before (as we had to use Luiz as a makeshift quite often).
Our second pre-season game is on Sunday against a Malaysia 11.
Mourinho has returned and we looked pretty good in our first preseason win against Singha All-Stars in Asia. Lukaku slotting home a soft penalty, but we played with high intensity and dominated from start to finish with a mix/mash side and 11 changes at half time. De Bruyne, Wallace (new young RB), Essien and Lukaku particularly impressed.
Eden Hazard cannot be tackled (at least by the All-Stars) and seems to be playing a much more direct style than before. That is to say he seems to be running at defences much more and taking shots, rather than trying to play like Mata and play people in. I'm excited if this is how Jose wants to utilise him because Hazard running with the ball is a sight to behold and I feel he didn't do it enough last season.
As mentioned, the stand out performance was Kevin De Bruyne. I can't quite believe we picked this lad up for so little and with no competition. He's going to be something special. He has qualities which remind me of both Lampard and Mata, as he seems to have Mata's ability to pick insane passes with pin-point accuracy combined with strong shooting technique and work rate. His highlights here for anyone interested:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dh4U7yXvoJ0&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]
New signing van Ginkle looked assured on the ball and has great passing technique. He doesn't seem the sort to stand out, but he distributes much more efficiently than Mikel, has a good tackle on him and reads the game very well. Essien dominated the midfield single-handedly while he was on, just like his old days and I hope that was a sign of a revival. Perhaps he wont be making those driving runs as often any more, but he could add some much needed steel back into our midfield. I feel much, much more confident about our central midfield problems after this early showing. It already looks like a complete transformation with a lot more depth than we had before (as we had to use Luiz as a makeshift quite often).
Our second pre-season game is on Sunday against a Malaysia 11.