Chelsea Review

Edgar Davids Joined : 06 Jun 2007 Posts : 3552

Guardian Unlimited writers' prediction: 1st Odds: 6-4

In the space of four unseasonably fuggy days in late April, pretty much everyone dismissed Chelsea's 2006-07 season as a failure. A guileless European Cup defeat at Liverpool ended their quadruple ambitions, a draw against Bolton their slim hopes of a third straight Premiership title. They had spent big money - again - but where was the silverware they really craved, the ones that really mattered?

But with the new season approaching, it's worth remembering that despite a truly horrendous injury list (Joe Cole played just 13 Premiership games, Petr Cech 20, Ashley Cole and Arjen Robben 21 and John Terry 27) and the internecine cattiness and chaos that enveloped Stamford Bridge last season, Chelsea still won two trophies, finished second in the Premiership and reached the last four of the Champions League.

Since then, Jose Mourinho has plugged the weak points on the wing and in central defence by signing Florent Malouda and Tal Ben Haim, made peace with Roman Abramovich and ditched a diamond formation that rarely sparkled. With the spine of the side - Cech, Terry, Michael Essien and Didier Drogba - back together after slipping a couple of discs last season, it's likely that Chelsea will again take all the beating. Their odds of 6-4 to win the title certainly look overgenerous; last season they were just 4-9.

It won't be plain sailing, of course, and not only because the African Nations Cup will deprive them of Essien, Drogba, John Obi Mikel and Salomon Kalou for at least month. Manchester United will certainly be a threat, and so perhaps will Liverpool. Mourinho, too, has questions to answer, decisions to make.

Tactically, he seems unsure whether to return to the stifling 4-2-3-1 formation that brought him back-to-back Premiership titles in 2005 and 2006, or revert to a regulation 4-4-2. If he goes with the former, is Mikel good enough to replace the fading Claude Makelele in the holding role? If it's the latter, can Mourinho find a way to make 4-4-2 work? Certainly Chelsea looked strangely disjointed when they played it against Rangers last weekend.

Most questions centre around Mourinho himself. Will he be able to keep the egos swirling around the Bridge in check? It's one thing when your reserves are Glen Johnson and Tiago, quite another when they are Michael Ballack and Andriy Shevchenko.

Equally pertinently, will he be able to keep his own ego from going walkabout? He claims to have mellowed, but few believe him. He has always been part Machiavelli, part blunderbuss - scheming and shooting off at anyone who crosses or contradicts him. The Avram Grant situation is a ticking time bomb. Publicly, Mourinho he has been lukewarm about his director of football, privately he's been Siberian chilly.

Whatever happens this season, don't expect Mourinho to give Abramovich the flamboyant football he craves. The Russian might dream of a team that's admired the way Liverpool in the 80s and Manchester United in the 90s were, but Mourinho's Chelsea will always be more comparable to Don Revie's Leeds - brilliantly organised and proud to push the laws of the game to the absolute limits; respected, but rarely loved.

Not that Mourinho will care, of course. He's interested in winning trophies, not aesthetics, and he does it better than any manager in the business. As usual, Chelsea remain the team to beat.

In: Florent Malouda (£13.5m), Steve Sidwell (free), Tal Ben Haim (free), Claudio Pizarro (free).

Out: Khalid Boulahrouz (loan), Geremi (free), Yves Makabu-Ma Kalambay (free), Nuno Morais (free), Ben Sahar (loan).