Posts Tagged ‘Chelsea v Ajax’

Youth and Pre-Season -Its About Performances Not Results

Nemanja Matic in action in the 3-1 defeat to Ajax

Yesterday a very young Chelsea side was beaten 3-1 by Ajax in a pre-season friendly, dominated by inexperienced youth players including  15 year old Nathaniel Chalobah, Chelsea were always likely to suffer against an experienced Ajax side.

Disapointingly there have been some people saying that today’s result shows that the younger players at Chelsea will not make the step up to the first team. However this is a premature conclusion and not a true reflection of how youth and pre-season works.

These two forms of football are similar that results are unimportant, pre-season games are about the development of fitness and sharpness, whereas youth football it is about individual performances and developing talent.

Obviously for some players the detractors will be right, not every young player on display will make it at the top of the game, and of those that do, they may not be ready for first team football. Games such as today are a key step in the development of our academy and the development of the players it nutures.

The experience of playing for the ‘first team’ and being in the limelight is vital experience that will help these players whatever happens throughout their career, so far Josh McEachran and others have shown touches of class and I hope that they will taken confidence in their elevated roles.

The main worry today however was the performance of Ross Turnbull who did little to suggest he is in a position to challenge Henrique Hilario as the number 2, to the injured Petr Cech.

Overall I would not read too much into this defeat, this is only the second game of pre-season and half the squad have not even returned following the World Cup. Chelsea have two more games to fine tune their performances before the Charity Shield and the start of the season.

Never fear, I am sure we will see the arrival of the first team cavalry as Chelsea venture onwards to Germany.

Going Dutch: Ajax v Chelsea The Preview

Friday July 23 will mark an epic day of football for me as the two teams I support will face off in a friendly game in Amsterdam.  I will be at the stadium amongst the Dutch fans,  although I will be cheering for the mighty blues.

Chelsea are expected to continue resting the players who were on World cup duty, it is likely that they will line with a starting XI similar to the that which faced Crystal Palace. However the most notable absentee is Petr  Cech who has injured the same calf that he injured against Inter Milan in the Champions League last season.

I expect the young players like Daniel Sturridge  and Scott Sinclair to shine, this is their moment to show their true quality, as Carlo Ancelotti will depend on them and a couple of experienced players like Michael Essien, John Obi Mikel and Alex.

Ajax, who are the Dutch equivalent of Barcelona, having bred the likes of Johan Cruijf, Dennis Bergkamp, and most recently Wesley Sneijder. They are a very strong side with Suleijmani expected to lead the attack with both Luis Suarez and Marko Pantelic expected to be rested after playing in the World cup.

Oleguer, Champions League winner with Barcelona, will be holding the line in defense as Assiati and Jan Vertonghen will be in the center of the field .

Two other notable absentees are Dutch shot stopper Maarten Steklenburg and the young and versatile Gergory van der Wiel.  Ajax will also depend on the youngsters and the fans will be looking for a tough game because most probably these young players are the future of Dutch football.

Ajax who finished second last season with 1 point behind the side of our former young Star Miroslav Stoch  Fc Twente with a wonderful 106 goals in 34 matches. Ajax will look to start their championship hunt campaign with a win over the English Champions

Rudi’s Prediction: a tough 2-0 win for the blues