All posts by h79snht.top

** Crewe look a different team. By common consensus amongst supporters that their toughest opposition so far this season has come in form of Burton at the Pirelli, where a more equipped Brewers team out-muscled and out-played a lacklustre Crewe who mustered an anaemic goal-threat under Dario Gradi back in September. With Steve Davis in charge, Crewe stood up to another impressive Burton performance with their own brand of high pressing and quick passing movement. This was enough to get in their faces and win the game after nervy opening minutes at the mercy of Burton’s direct play. A trait that was not applicable to a Dario Gradi team.

** There are still defensive imperfections but this could be excused by a makeshift back four caused by suspensions to the first choice centre-half pairing of David Artell and Adam Dugdale. James Tunnicliffe, on loan from Wycombe, looked assured and dealt well overall with Calvin Zola’s aerial threat. Harry Davis, the utility man back in the centre, was immense, enough to suggest he should never deviate from his natural position ever again. However, wing-backs Matt Tootle and Carl Martin were often drawn out by Burton’s Jaques Maghoma and Andres Gurrieri, creating two golden chances for Zola from wide positions.

** On another day we would have lost. Calvin Zola has obviously not improved his shooting since leaving Gresty Road, putting a sliding volley wide in the first half whilst in the second, composing himself in a packed box to shoot wide with the goal at his mercy. The Congolese man went on to take the harder chance towards the end to narrow the lead, harking back to his Crewe days which was littered with frustrating forward play in front of goal.

** A cross from Justin Richards that deflected off a defender narrowly wide of the post was another close call in a nervy second half display. Recent home performances, Hereford and Plymouth are two that resonate the clearest, have followed a trend of establishing a lead and then sitting back to hit on the counter-attack. A one-sided 15 minute spell against Dagenham and Redbridge was survived before the advantage was pressed home via the fortune of that freak own goal. It was through only bad finishing and lucky defending, we were not punished for such naivety, which now seems to be a staple of the Crewe game-plan.

** Crewe’s centre-midfield was excellent with Luke Murphy, having an upsurge in form since his pre-Christmas run, superb again alongside Ashley Westwood who has slowly returned to his best form of two seasons ago. Against a Burton midfield that possessed the numerical advantage with a strong triumvirate of John McGrath, Adam Bolder and Jimmy Phillips, they both passed neatly and worked hard to provide support to both defence and attack that provided the nucleus for the win.

** Nick Powell is more than a “luxury” player. With Westwood and Murphy providing the base, it allowed teenage sensation Nick Powell to buzz his own trickery around the attacking areas, supplemented with some lighting direct running. He linked the front four with a unique brand of flicks and tricks that often appeared casual, but that’s where the fanciful ended. He tracked back, pressed hard and worked hard for the team in another marvellous contribution to the team’s work ethic. He’s having a maturity built into him that far belies his seventeen years.

** Yet, he’s not being allowed to fully expose his talents against some strong rough-house tactics that saw him withdrawn with a knock before the end. Referee Phil Gibbs was erroneous not to book Callum Driver for his flooring of Powell in the right-back position late-on. Quite-rightly Powell is experiencing a tough education, but without any punishment handed by lenient officialdom, there is no incentive for it to be cut-out.

** Some players were a little rusty with Shaun Miller, back after an elongated absence caused by suspension and injury, on the periphery for large amounts of the game. Byron Moore also picked up a knock, not making it past the first-half which for him was an impressive display of attacking in the wide areas.

** Strength in youth is still the order of the day at Gresty Road, eight of the starting eleven were from the academy set-up whilst Oliver Turton and Max Clayton came on to produce admirable efforts to help us over the finish line. Clayton’s strength in holding the ball up was an obvious factor in teeing up Luke Murphy for the third, whilst Turton was full of running and discipline on the wings in place of Moore.

** Danny Shelley is not a starter. Having broken into the first team before Westwood, Murphy and co. the wide-man has seemingly regressed and although he took the opener with superb technique, his overall contribution, other than tee-up Driver’s Burton goal for 2-1, was weak at best. His volleyed goal and the pass to set-up Westwood for his long-range screamer suggests he is an impact player without the brain our durability to survive the early side of 90 minutes.

** Work has been done on set-pieces to the extent Crewe actually look a threat. Two corners were whipped into dangerous areas in the first half, one having to be forked off the line early-on whilst a free-kick was cleverly knocked down by Davis to provide Miller with his chance.

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** Steve Davis is the man for Crewe. Only four points from a possible 18 have been dropped at home since his November take-over and Crewe are on a run of five wins from seven to leave them within four points of the play-offs. Burton are an impressive unit forged under Peschisolido, but we stood up and ground-out a win. Doubts will surround our consistency, but the base and the solidity that was often array under Gradi is now there in abundance. Gresty Road is now a fortress and with nine home games still to play, there is hope it may provide the platform for a credible assault on the top seven.

By Crewe blogger Adam Gray

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I once watched an Alex Ferguson press conference on Sky Sports News. He commented on the danger of Wigan being cast away at the bottom of the table. He said that once a team was cast away at the bottom of the table, it was hard to recover, because being cast away historically meant relegation. The next day, for reasons that escaped me at the time, I went to live on a desert island for six months, wearing only a loincloth and surviving on a diet of coconut milk and papaya leaves. Only when I returned did I realise what had happened. Damn you Ferguson.

Look at why Roberto Mancini has become addicted to eating fruit pastilles on the City bench. Here’s a spoof extract from what Ferguson’s programme notes may look like ahead of the Old Trafford derby:

‘The match will be an intriguing contest between two title-chasing sides and Roberto will be keen to get one over our team, especially due to his love of fruit pastilles. Both teams will be looking to attack. Fruit pastilles. I’m pleased that Jonny Evans has had a good week in training, and we’ll be looking for him to put in a performance today. Eat more fruit pastilles Mancini. Eat them until your teeth drop out. Ha ha ha ha!!!! PASTILLES.’

One of the biggest myths of the past decade has been the effects of Alex Ferguson’s legendary mind games, games that leave opposition managers broken men, nervous wrecks, that leaves players as pale shadows of their former shells. A little dig here, a pithy response there, and entire league campaigns fall to pieces. And the press are to blame for this, loving to “big-up” his every utterance into some sort of meticulously chiselled campaign to give his team the edge. It’s just a shame (for them) that the facts don’t seem to back up this viewpoint.

There are two shining examples of rival managers somewhat losing the plot during a title-chasing campaign against United. First of course was Kevin Keegan, who would have loved it, loved it, if Newcastle could have won the Premiership. A mental breakdown caused by Ferguson and his team? Not really – their form had been faltering for months, their defence faltering even more. They lost the league without any help from across the Pennines. As Garry Cook might have said, they bottled it, whilst United did what they always do and continued to notch up the points. Watching your team squander a 12-point lead in their quest for a first ever title is I imagine quite stressful, and eventually it got too much for Keegan, for whom managing England was also too mentally draining. Keegan’s rant came after a Newcastle victory, but it came at a time when Manchester United had already overturned the previous deficit and built a three-point lead in the title race. For Newcastle, the damage had already been done.

Then of course there was the Rafa Benitez press conference, where he regaled us all with a certain number of facts. Again, was this Rafa feeling the pressure, him cracking up after a war of words with Ferguson? Well maybe he was feeling the pressure, most would, but it certainly didn’t affect the team. Liverpool’s form was better after Rafa’s rant, and they managed to even stagger to a 4-1 win at Old Trafford – not bad for a side that had been destroyed by Ferguson’s mind games.

It’s a similar story for Manchester City this season. If United go on to win the league, which now seems the more likely outcome, it will be due to a couple of factors that have nothing whatsoever to do with anything Alex Ferguson might have said – namely United’s possible record points total, and City’s struggles away from home since last year. A sly comment in a press conference hasn’t made City’s strikers freeze in front of goal in Swansea or Stoke or West Brom. A well-timed barb didn’t cause City to get a player sent off at Stamford Bridge or fail to mark a Swansea player a couple of weeks ago. The myth of his mind games can be filed with the other myth doing the rounds in the press at the moment, namely that City have squandered a 7-point lead in the title race (a lead they have never had except when having played a game extra).

It also ignores the fact that despite Ferguson coming out on top much of the time, be it a title chase, or a cup competition, he doesn’t always, and no doubt when Mourinho beat him to the title or Guardiola’s Barcelona showed their class at Wembley, he had plenty to say about football as well. Do mind-games not count when he loses? Or maybe they don’t translate well into Spanish.

The latest “war of words” was started by a Patrick Vieira comment, and doesn’t seem to have anything to do with Roberto Mancini. Vieira’s barb (it wasn’t even that to be fair) seems to have worked, garnering an angry response from Ferguson (not that I could care less about the whole affair), and yet many in the press, especially his little lapdog Bob Cass at the Daily Mail, have reported this as Ferguson once more triumphing in the mind games, or as one Mirror journalist put it, “putting Mancini in his place”. Strange that, because as Rory Smith at the Times rather pertinently pointed out, if the roles had been reversed and Mancini had responded to a David Gill comment, the papers would be once more trumpeting it as a victory for Ferguson, goading City into a response. But as I said earlier, I really couldn’t care less.

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And I doubt managers or players do either. No manager worth his salt would be distracted by anything another manager says. Few players would care in the slightest, especially foreign players who are unlikely to have even heard what he has said. The pressure comes on the pitch, not off it. The top players, the players conditioned to excel at the top, will perform when needed, others will falter.

Which is a shame really, as Ferguson says he has plenty more ammunition, which doesn’t bode well for City. Let’s just hope they can shake off the psychological damage in order to put up some sort of title challenge next season. Now, where are those wine gums?

[divider]

After months… no, years worth of pain, financial turmoil, relegation’s and general depression surrounding Home Park the rot has finally, amazingly, perfectly and blissfully been stopped.

After back to back relegation’s amid a lengthy administration, Plymouth Argyle found themselves starting this season in League Two and before ten games had even been played, we had been written off by most and looked doomed to non-league football for the first time in our history.

We took one point from our first nine games this season. One solitary point from a possible 27. We were also still in administration and liquidation was a  very real possibility.

Fast forward to the 21st April 2012 at approximately 4:53PM and the biggest roar heard at Home Park in years went up as the final whistle was blown. A point taken from a 1-1 draw with Oxford United combined with results elsewhere, meant that the Pilgrims, once relegation certainties, secured their football league status with two games to go. Players and fans united as one, as the squad that had kept us up did a lap of honour around the pitch. It was at this exact moment that you could literally feel the years of pain peeling away from the ground. All the fighting we did to save the club, all they money was donated, all the staff and players that went months without pay would agree; it was worth it for that moment.

The survival party got off to the perfect start for the Greens really. In only the second minute Luke Young won a free kick about five yards outside the Oxford penalty area. Robbie Williams, who has been unlucky with his free kicks lately, stepped up and finally got the rub of the green. His strike was on target anyway, but a cruel deflection off of the Oxford wall sent the ball spiralling towards goal leaving U’s keeper Wayne Brown totally wrong footed.

The Pilgrims dominated proceedings for most of the first half, with the visitors having ‘keeper Brown to thank for keeping in the game with a couple of fine saves. His resistance eventually paid of, as just past the half hour mark Asa Hall unleashed a thunderbolt from 35 yards to level the tie. It was a strike of the highest quality and truthfully the only time Oxford threatened the Argyle goal.

The second half was a rather strange affair. With neither side looking likely to grab a second, attention turned to scores elsewhere; a draw would see us a safe if both Macclesfield and Hereford failed to win, and with 25 minutes to go the news that Macclesfield and fallen behind at Bradford was greeted with great cheers. Still, a Hereford winner would see our football league status still unsecure heading into the final games of the season.

As the clock wore down the game fizzled out a bit. Oxford, for all their attacking prowess, could not find another way past the Argyle defence who seemed happy to sit back and soak up the pressure. With every minute that passed, the noise levels increased as the game at Edgar Street remained goalless.

At Home Park the final whistle blew, greeted with a roar the shook the rooftops. Just seconds later the results of Macclesfield and Hereford came over the tannoy, we were safe. The players walked a lap of honour to raptuous applause, and the looks on their faces echoed those in the stands – elated.

So we head into the final two games of the season with our football league status firmly intact. We are a normal football club again, and in pre season this year we can look forward to the things that most clubs take for granted. Last year we did not release season tickets until a few weeks before the season kicked off, and the shirts that players wore on the first day of the season were only hand printed the day before the game.

That terrible situation that we were in is now all in the past now, and we can look forward to the future.

I cannot wait for next season. I cannot wait to look at the table and not worry about relegation. I cannot wait to see us compete properly in the FA Cup, the League Cup and even the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy – there were plenty of times when it looked like we would not be gracing those competitions next season. I would welcome a season of mid table mediocrity with open arms. It has been one hell of a roller coaster ride, but we have made it.

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We’re Plymouth Argyle, we’re back from the dead.

For even more Argyle discussion, you can follow me on twitter.

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Chelsea and QPR players will not go through the usual pre-match ritual of shaking hands before their Premier League game on Sunday, due to legal proceedings.

John Terry is due to stand in court for reportedly racially abusing Anton Ferdinand in the reverse fixture between the sides at Loftus Road, which ended in a 1-0 win for the hosts.

With a disdain between the players and clubs still apparent, the Premier League have backed the continued ritual of the handshake, but waived it in this case.

“The Premier League position on the pre-match handshake convention remains consistent,” a statement published on Sky Sports reads.

“In all normal circumstances it must be observed.

“However, after discussions with both Chelsea and Queens Park Rangers about the potential and specific legal context in relation to John Terry and Anton Ferdinand the decision has been taken to suspend the handshake convention for Sunday’s match.”

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By Gareth McKnight

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A neutral football fan will look at the final standings of the 2011/12 Npower League Two table and see that Plymouth Argyle finished in 21st place with 46 points.

This, to a neutral, will probably seem like an underachievement for the club as they only escaped relegation by two points.

But to The Pilgrims and their fans, it represents one of, if not the biggest achievement in the clubs 125 year history.

We started this season by no means sure we would finish it. Successive relegations had seen us plummet from the Championship to League Two, and we had been in administration for over half a year by the time the season started; none of us knew what to expect from this campaign.

1207 of us travelled to Shrewsbury to watch a very young Argyle squad that had only three faces in it from the last campaign kick off the season.  An unfamiliar and almost makeshift Argyle team battled away in the Shropshire sun before the home side took the lead midway through the second half, which was the way it stayed until the 90th minute when captain Carl Fletcher slammed home into the top corner in front of the travelling Green Army.

It was to be the only high, and point, of the first nine league games, a period in which we were also dumped out of the Carling Cup and Johnstones Paint Trophy at the first hurdle. Our players also threatened a strike due to the fact they had not been paid for ten months. Thankfully the administrators paid up a small amount and the strike did not go ahead.

After a 2-0 defeat at Southend, a 10th defeat on the trot, Peter Ridsdale replaced manager Peter Reid with captain Carl Fletcher. In Fletcher’s first game in charge against Macclesfield we won 2-0, it was the first victory of the season and things started to look up as we drew against Accrington and beat Dagenham in the coming month. I won’t even go into the result at Oxford United on a Tuesday night though.

On the 29th of November 2011 we travelled to Cheltenham for what would have been a normal game, except it wasn’t. It was our first match under the ownership of the new chairman James Brent. After ten months of uncertainty, administration and the real chance the club would fold, we were saved. The first of two battles was won; avoid liquidation.

Anybody that thought we would suddenly shoot up the table though, was wrong. One point from the first nine games was catastrophic and we were faced with a monumental task to secure our football league status.

It was to get worse before it got better. A humiliating defeat at the hands of our Devon rivals Torquay United proceeded Argyle being knocked out of the FA Cup by non-league Stourbridge. Despite being saved from liquidation we were now the laughing stock of the country, and it hurt, it really hurt.

Funnily enough though, things really did start improving straight after the Stourbridge game. Just four days later we thrashed a hapless Northampton 4-1 at Home Park to set us off on a five game unbeaten run that included a 3-2 win over Bristol Rovers on boxing day when we had been 2-0 down at half time.

2012 started with back to back defeats as Torquay completed the double over us and we lost at Crewe. We then beat Burton and snatched a late, late equalizer against Crawley to move us out of the relegation zone for the first time since the 13th of August.

We dropped straight back in a week later as we lost 1-0 at Port Vale thanks to what was a truly dreadful performance at a freezing cold Vale Park. And then came a result that shocked everybody. With 5 minutes to go in a home match against Southend we were trailing 2-0 and seemingly heading to defeat.

The game ended 2-2. I have no idea how we did it, but we scored twice in the last five minutes to demonstrate the great team spirit Carl Fletcher had installed in his players.

A 4-0 win over Accrington was sandwiched between draws against Barnet, Dagenham and Macclesfield as we become increasingly tough to beat. An Onismor Bhasera goal less than 20 seconds into our game at AFC Wimbledon helped hand us victory in between losses to Gillingham and at Rotherham as the season started to draw to a close.

We shocked eventual league runners up Shrewsbury at Home Park as we won 1-0 before drawing with Bristol Rovers and Northampton. We defeated Bradford by the same score line in a key game at the bottom before travelling to Edgar Street to play Hereford. Had we been relegated we would probably look at the Hereford game and think about what could have been. We dominated the first half and took the lead through an own goal before Nick Chadwick spurned an easy chance and Simon Walton missed a penalty. The game ended 1-1 when really we should have been out of sight by half time.

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A 1-0 win over Aldershot in dreadful weather conditions put us on the cusp of safety before we were all disappointed as we conceded 5 minutes from time at the league champions Swindon to deny us a point. The next game, a 1-1 draw with Oxford, secured our football league status and completed the great escape. The second of two battles was won; avoid relegation out of the football league.

So despite all that has happened it has been a season to remember for Argyle fans. We looked dead and buried from the start, but thanks to a great group of players and managerial staff we have survived. Our chairman has indicated he aims to get us promoted next season, weather that is a realistic ambition or not it is too early to tell but anything is better than what we have been through. The most important thing is we will be playing league football next season, and not competing in the dreaded Blue Square Premier – the graveyard of football league clubs.

For more talk on Argyle, you can follow me on Twitter

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Fresh from promotion to the Premier League, Southampton are now reported to be preparing a £3.5million bid for England goalkeeping starlet Jack Butland from Birmingham City, reports the Daily Mail.

Butland, 19, is currently with the England squad at the European championships having been called up following John Ruddy’s broken finger.

The ‘keeper is a hot prospect for England, despite yet making a senior appearance for parent club Birmingham City, having impressed on a season long loan spell at League Two side Cheltenham Town.

However, the Saints are reportedly facing some stiff competition from both Spurs and Manchester City, in their hopes to secure Butland’s signature prior to the start of the new season.

35-year old Kelvin Davies has been the undisputed first choice at St. Marys for the last few seasons, making 270 appearances since joining from Sunderland in 2006. By capturing Jack Butland, Saints boss Nigel Adkins will be hoping there will healthy competition for the Number 1 shirt.

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Whilst Butland concentrates on the European championships starting in Poland and Ukraine tomorrow, Adkins will no doubt be watching in the unlikely event the 19 year old is called upon.

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Few players can boast the experience or goal scoring record that Robbie Keane has managed in the Premier League. Having represented six different clubs in England’s top division over a thirteen year spell, his move to LA Galaxy in the MLS may have proven to be a waste of the Irishman’s talent.

A player with his proven quality at the age of still only 31 is surely still more than capable of doing a job in England. Whereas the MLS has proven to be a retiring haven for those past the pace of the Premier League, such as Thierry Henry, David Beckham and Juan Pablo Angel; Keane’s emergence in The US doesn’t prove to be indicative of where he is at career wise.

Having spent two months back in England earlier this year in the form of a loan move at Aston Villa, three goals in six appearances proved a respectable return for a player whose career at Tottenham rather petered out after his spectacular rise to prominence in North London. After his spell at Villa Park, the 31 year old announced his willingness to return there this summer should the opportunity arise.

There in underlines why Keane’s presence stateside simply doesn’t do him justice. He clearly has the hunger as well as the capabilities to become a top goal scorer in England once again. Whilst his fall from grace since falling out of favour at White Hart Lane was quite spectacular, one move back to England could see him performing admirably at the top level once again.

Take a club just promoted for example, to stabilise themselves in the Premier League many look to experienced players who have proven themselves in the top division in the past; and traditionally it has faired them well. A move to a newly promoted team would do Robbie Keane more justice should he rekindle his rich goal scoring vein he enjoyed throughout his 13 years in the Premier League – an ambition he is more than able to fulfil.

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Some may highlight Keane’s poor form after his big money move to Liverpool, or later on his failure to keep West Ham in the Premier League in a disappointing loan move, but the fact remains he has proven enough himself enough to at least be a transfer punt worth taking for any team inEngland, even in the top flight.

Enjoying a much coveted career already, his move to America leaves him somewhat fallen by the wayside, when at 31 years old he is still competent enough to produce talent worthy of one of Europe’s top stages. Whether he be a transfer punt or a well thought out summer signing, Robbie Keane does not need to let his career peter out in the MLS just yet.

Coventry City have finally spent a little bit of money in the transfer market with the signing of young Preston midfielder Adam Barton.

A 21 year old, 6ft 2in central midfielder who has shown a lot of promise making over 50 appearances for Preston as well as representing Northern Ireland at full international level and more recently the Republic of Ireland at under-21 level.

Rumoured to have cost in the region of £50,000-£100,000 and with speculation less than a year ago over a big money move to Liverpool and it seems like we not only have a potentially great player but a real bargain as well.

This though sounds too good to be true, there has to be a catch right and of course there is and it could potentially be a big one. This catch is Barton’s injury record, he is only young but in his short career so far he has already been extremely unlucky with injuries.

He was first taken on as a youngster by his hometown club Blackburn but before he could have any kind of impact there he was told he was free to leave because of a serious back problem. He was however given a second chance by Preston and was this time able to make an impact, which resulted in him being widely recognised as a talented young player with a lot of promise for the future.

This was however until February when in a match against Walsall he suffered what was then thought to be a career threatening injury. It was later confirmed that he had fractured his leg as well as suffering a dislocated ankle after getting his studs stuck in the ground after what could only be described as an innocuous challenge.

His resulting operation though was described as a complete success and after four months out he returned to training for pre season with Preston. He was then however made available to other clubs which led to Coventry’s interest in him and Thorn moved quickly to snap the youngster up.

Looking at the facts and this transfer is a strange one. Barton seems to be rated very highly in the footballing world so first of all it seems strange that Preston would allow him to leave for such a small amount. Obviously the injuries, especially the fractured leg have played a huge part in that but if he is back in full training and improving his fitness again then I can’t see why they would allow him to leave at all.

This does concern me and makes me wonder if they know something about his injury problems that we don’t and whether he is a bigger risk than Thorn knows. I hope this isn’t the case but with Coventry’s luck it most likely will be.

Another scenario is that the deal to bring him to Coventry could include a huge sell on fee which SISU surprisingly seem to like including in deals. New signing Fleck and ex goalkeeper Kieran Westwood are just two examples of this.

The final scenario and the one I am hoping it is, is that the owners and coaching staff at Preston are being naive and don’t realise his true potential. Can we as Coventry fans hope that there are other owners out there that are as stupid as ours when it comes to anything to do with football? Maybe I am hoping too much with this but this is definitely a signing to get at least somewhat excited about.

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He is in my opinion already a better player than Deegan who is the latest player to leave the club. I never really rated Deegan since his arrival from Bohemians and with his own injury problems in his time at Coventry allowing him to move on in order to take a gamble on Barton seems to be a great bit of business for the club.

Personally I won’t be too disappointed even if it does go horribly wrong with Barton as I think calculated risks have to be taken in football in order to be successful. Whilst Barton is clearly a gamble, he has every chance to become a star and let’s hope he does it at Coventry City.

PUSB!!

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Aston Villa boss Paul Lambert has stated that his side are not interested in signing Michael Owen.

The former England striker was released by Manchester United this summer, and a number of Premier League sides are thought to be weighing up offers for the veteran attacker.

The Midlands club have relied on Darren Bent for goals, and were exposed in attack last term when the experienced hitman was out of action for long periods with injury.

Villa are eager to bolster their squad after a below-par season in 2011-12, but the Scottish manager will not make a move for Owen, despite rumours to the contrary.

“No, that won’t happen,” Sky Sports have Lambert as saying.

“There was no enquiry from us, I don’t know where that one came from.

“That’s a non-starter. He’s a top player, no doubt, a really top player, but that’s for another team,” he confirmed.

Villa have already signed Karim El Ahmadi this summer, and are thought to be closing in on another Eredivisie star, Feyenoord defender Ron Vlaar.

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By Gareth McKnight

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Chelsea head into the new campaign with as many questions as they do answers, despite a summer of heavy investment in the squad. The main stumbling block to the club competing for the title this season, though, may be the lack of depth that they have up front, with a huge emphasis placed on Fernando Torres being a success this term, which is a huge gamble.

It seems as if Roberto Di Matteo walked into Roman Abramovich’s office shortly after being handed his two-year contract to stay on as a more permanent interim manager of sorts, with a shopping list of attacking midfielders and the Russian owners rubber stamped the signings of every single one of them.

One thing that the £65m spent so far does tell us, though, is that Abramovich is far from a fly-by-night billionaire and he’s in it for the long haul, despite the lazy criticisms to the contrary – the club’s success appears to reinvigorated him even if it’s all come a summer too late. Di Matteo has been keen to play down any radical shifts in style and formation, but the club do possess some exciting young talent and the fact that they beat the likes of Manchester City and Manchester United to Eden Hazard’s signature shows that they can still compete with the biggest clubs in the country for players.

The club’s purchases so far have all been geared around one thing – getting the best out of Fernando Torres. In 18 months at Stamford Bridge, the 28 year-old Spaniard has only ever flickered into life intermittently and a record of 13 goals in 68 games across all competitions is clearly not what Abramovich had in mind when he paid £50m for him in January 2011. The excuse that the side isn’t tailored to him and his style is no longer applicable now that Didier Drogba has left the club and it really is a make or break season.

Which is why it’s important that the club invest in another striker, given that Romelu Lukaku has moved on a season-long loan to West Brom, it leaves Daniel Sturridge as the only viable alternative within the rest of the squad. They appear to have many creative players but simply not enough to finish them off – what if Torres flops again this season? The club’s sixth-placed league finish last term, where they finished five points off the top four could conceivably happen again if he does, such is their reliance on him firing on all cylinders.

The club have been caught up in a long-term pursuit of FC Porto striker cum winger Hulk for some time now, but they’ve rather understandably refused to pay the Brazilian’s £78m release clause and are thought to be reluctant to pay the £38m that the Portuguese club are thought to be demanding as a bare minimum for his signature. You can see their perspective, just because they have money, it doesn’t mean they should pay through the nose for a player and with the Financial Fair Play rules on the horizon, they best ought not to.

Napoli striker Edinson Cavani is another player to have been strongly linked, although he hasn’t quite made the statements to try and force through the move in the same way that Hulk has. The fee for the Uruguayan is thought to be around £35m, while according to the Daily Mail, he is reportedly demanding he be made one of the top earners at the club on around £150,000 per week and you can see why the club are thought to be close to pulling the plug in the deal.

There are cheaper alternatives out there, though – the likes of Robert Lewandowski, Roberto Soldado and Mirko Vucinic would all surely not cost anywhere near as much, while Bayer Leverkusen’s Andre Schurrle has already been the subject of a rejected £16m offer from the club. Wigan’s Victor Moses looks all but set for an £8.5m move to the club, but is much more of a winger as opposed to an out-and-out striker.

Given the fact that Daniel Sturridge’s form tailed off terribly towards the end of last season and Torres’ previous struggles, another striker is a top priority, almost as much as a new right-back. The club scored 65 goals in the league last term, significantly less than Arsenal (74), Manchester United (89) and Manchester City (93), so it’s clear that in order to bridge the gap, the club’s inkling that more firepower is needed is certainly along the right lines.

When you look at Sir Alex Ferguson’s side, he already has Wayne Rooney, Javier Hernandez and Danny Welbeck, with Robin van Persie on the way to choose from. Manchester City have Sergio Aguero, Carlos Tevez, Mario Balotelli and Edin Dzeko, while Arsenal have Lukas Podolski, Olivier Giroud and the likes of Santi Cazorla, Theo Walcott and Gervinho all capable of chipping in. It’s clear that Chelsea just lack that depth their rivals have at the moment, which if they want to re-establish themselves as title contenders and break back into the top four this season, they’ll need to address.

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Chelsea failed to score in eight separate league games last season, again, more than United (3), City (5), Arsenal (5), Tottenham (5) and Newcastle (7), all of the five clubs that finished above them. While more depth may be needed in certain areas, clubs have shown in recent times that you can win the league with a flawed side just so long as it’s capable of out-scoring the opposition – with the likes of Eden Hazard, Oscar and Marko Marin requiring time to settle, another striker must be top of the shopping list if they are to delve back into the transfer market this summer.

You can follow me on Twitter @JamesMcManus1

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