Chelsea are diligently working out their last few preparations for the Premier League opener against Manchester United. With four days remaining and things pleasantly quiet, here are four things worth talking about today.
Seriously, is anyone really that torn up about Chelsea not being able to buy players this summer? Sure it would be nice to bolster the squad in a few areas, but they don’t need that much and no one on the market would really be worth the money, drama and risk that comes with this time of year. While other clubs drown in transfer silliness, enjoy a few tidier notes for your Wednesday.
1. Gary Cahill lands in the right place
Gary Cahill will resume his usual volume of London derbies, amongst 30 or so other appearances, after signing with Crystal Palace on Monday. He had been linked with Arsenal, with the possibility picking up momentum after Laurent Koscielny declared an end to his time in red and white. Arsenal are much more defensively deficient than Crystal Palace, so Cahill could have certainly found significant playing time there while also staying in European competition. But after so many years with Chelsea and seeing what happened with Petr Cech, perhaps Cahill thinks he has a better chance of winning a trophy with Crystal Palace than the north Londoners.
Banter aside, Cahill had a strong reason for joining Palace: manager Roy Hodgson. The two know each other from Hodgson’s time managing England’s national team.
Hodgson is one of the Premier League’s best man-managers and teacher of young players. He sees in Cahill not a stop-gap centreback, but a leader, exemplar and mentor for Palace’s youth and less experienced defenders. Cahill will not be the captain, but he’ll act like one just the same, and Hodgson rightly prizes that in him.
From Cahill’s perspective, Hodgson is not job security but a return to professional respect. After being frozen out last season, Cahill not only wants to play but wants to play in a set up where there are no smoke and mirrors around the manager’s methods or mentality. He knows and trusts Hodgson from experience, and this supports Hodgson’s reputation.
If Cahill is subpar, Hodgson will tell him. If Cahill is deficient, Hodgson will tell him to sit down and work his way back in. But there is no risk of Cahill being left behind with no explanation, or paltry justification about number of passes per game. Sad that this is the standard now, but as we’ve said before, last year around Chelsea will require some time to undo both for the individuals and the group.
2. Should we be worried about Tottenham?
No, of course not, what sort of silly question is that? Well, as of this writing Paulo Dybala only needs to agree to personal terms to complete his move to Tottenham. Meanwhile, Spurs are leading the rumour mill for Phillippe Coutinho’s return to the Premier League.
After not buying any players for all of last season, Tottenham are certainly making up ground. Perhaps Daniel Levy simply thinks if he buys enough players Mauricio Pochettino won’t leave for Real Madrid at the first possible opportunity.
But even if the Coutinho rumours are just that, Tottenham are showing equal amounts of intelligence and ambition by bringing both Tanguy Ndombele and Paulo Dybala into their midfield.
We can take some comfort in knowing that, by signing with Tottenham, they will become progressively more Spursy as the years go on and that the collective level of Spursiness will keep Chelsea safe, but Tottenham don’t need to finish above Chelsea to do damage. Players like Dybala and Ndombele, not to mention Coutinho, could nick a few points off the Blues each season. With the margins among the top four not getting any roomier, Chelsea fans should be a bit concerned about Tottenham’s new additions. But only just.
3. Chelsea FC Women’s games to be streamed worldwide
We’re not saying anyone at the FA or Chelsea FC are regular readers here, but you have to admit, it is interesting how we are so often right and how every once in a while coaches, clubs and institutions take our advice. Or, maybe like all those proverbial stopped clocks, they just get it right twice a day (unlike us, who do it all day long, year round).
The FA announced their new streaming platform yesterday, part of which will be streaming all FA Women’s Super League games for free worldwide.
This is excellent news and the best thing the FA could do to grow the women’s game. They don’t need more articles about inspiration and empowerment in The Telegraph, nor do they need faux outrage about who celebrated what goals how much. The women’s game will be in a better place when a worldwide audience of fans – Chelsea fans, in particular – can read predicted XI’s, match analyses, transfer rumours and the occasional hot take, just as they can about the men’s game.
The FA Player platform goes live on FA WSL’s opening day: September 2. Watch this space.
4. Frank Lampard, trend-setter
Derby County caught the entire football world off guard by going from zero to announcing Wayne Rooney as player-manager, effective in January, to start the week. Apparently the Rams were so satisfied by having a recent player as their manager they decided to crunch the time scale even more and go the player-manager route to bring Rooney back to England.
As players are extending their career into their mid- to late-30’s, the transitional role makes more sense than in the two decades since actual player-managers were still possible. Many players work on their coaching badges in their final years of playing, and this is a chance to put it into practice as early as possible, speeding their shift into full-time coaching once they retire.
Some clubs will see the player-manager role as a way of carving out some space around Financial Fair Play: pay him to be a manager so it doesn’t count against the amount the club pays its players. Perhaps the cash-strapped Derby County are doing just that.
Whatever the original motives are, it will be interesting to see which other clubs go this route, and how long until the players involved are not just club or country legends but less celebrated players eager to shift into the next stage of their career.