Here's an article about it. I think it is funny how Chelsea makes excuses about being out of shape. What the heck? They are payed to be in shape. They should always be good, especially since "Chelsea has spent big since Roman Abramovich took over four seasons ago, shelling out about $750 million to build a roster of international stars," and they are aiming to be champs in the Premiere League this year.

 

America doesn't totally suck at soccer, people just need to admit it. Sure, we suck at it, but not always, and not that bad.

Hooray for Americans!

Hurray to Chelsea losing, no matter to whom!

Wait a sec, are all the MLS All-Stars actually Americans? I thought a few international players were in the MLS.

Yay! Chelsea are sucking at the moment.

Wasn't this just a friendly match? Friendly matches means nothing. Not that I mind seeing Chelsea losing.

So uh..What's so special about Chelsea anyway? I don't follow soccer.

Chav$ki are scum. I'm glad they lost. Even though it's just a crappy friendly.

About 4 years ago Chelsea was an upper-mid table London club that were on the brink of bankruptcy. A Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich bought over the club and spent a lot (like a LOT LOT) of cash on signing new players (and paying their high salaries), upgrading their training ground and academy etc.

 

So Chelsea's won the Premiership (league) twice in a row (going for third this season) and generally been the team to beat. Fans of other teams are obviously unhappy, especially the ones that used to be the best teams around, ie Manchester United and Arsenal.

 

Chelsea has built success by taking spending on signing some of the best players in the world to new extremes and supporters of other teams resent that. The biggest clubs have been signing good players to maintain success and their position over other teams for many years, but not to Chelsea's extreme so people think that this time it's different from back then.

 

On the field, Chelsea has built a reputation of consistancy. Even when they're not at their best they can grind out results and that's what seperates them from their competitors. They may not win pretty but they win almost all the time.

 

An issue people have is that with all the good players Chelsea should be palying better football than they usually do. Another thing is players that would easily make the first team of any other club are spending a lot of time on the substitute's bench.

 

Lately Chelsea has been viewed as a kind of young talent predator, signing good young players from around the world from their original clubs. Lately Leeds has reported Chelsea for illegally (according to Leeds) tempting some of their youngsters to London.

 

In summary, Chelsea's ruffled many feathers on their way up. The people that complain the most are the ex-winners that have found it very difficult to keep up with Chelsea so far.

For some numerical perspective: Chelsea on average spends 3-4 times its rivals (Liverpool/Arsenal/Manchester United) on players, both in terms of buying them and paying them wages. They are famous for buying too many players for too much money, never playing half of them then releasing them, all for no consequences thanks to Abramovich.

 

Anyway, yeah. It wouldn't be so bad if Chelsea were actually fun to watch, but they're not. I'm an Arsenal fan and I'd rather watch Tottenham (our perennial rivals), at least I wouldn't fall asleep.

Chelsea has been successful for one reason alone: Mourinho.

 

Every other team that has been built exclusively on ludicrous amounts of money and big name signings has tanked. Goods examples of this are Chelsea before Mourinho, Real Madrid, Inter Milan in the past 10 to 15 years or Paris Saint Germain.

 

These teams are always one big nightmare to manage, and Mourinho is the only thing holding it together.

Yeah. Not many people talk about the team spirit and desire to win that Mourinho's got Chelsea playing with.

What's the fuss about them losing a pre-season friendly? Nobody gives a squat about results in that kinda match; what you're looking for is overall performance, the ability to gain match fitness, and the chance to see a number of players in action (usually there are also tons of substitut