Bosingwa Crocked As Chelsea Cruise
Chelsea got the Scolari era off to a flyer with a convincing 4-0 win in China although the victory may have come at a cost as new signing Bosingwa suffers a muscle injury early on.
Guangzhou Pharmaceutical 0 Chelsea 4
Scolari used his entire squad over the course of the game but stared with a strong first eleven. Adopting a narrow 4-4-2 formation, the new Blues boss played with a midfield of Mikel, Essien, Deco and Lampard. Deco was placed out on the right, with Essien playing left of Mikel and Lampard in the centre.
Kalou partnered Anelka up front while Bosingwa made his debut at right-back. He and Ashley Cole were given licence to bomb forward to support Chelsea’s narrow midfield. Joe Cole and Shevchenko sat the game out with minor injuries.
It was Kalou who got the scoring started, converting a Lampard pass on 20 minutes. Chelsea shifted to a 4-3-3 in the second half as Scolari rang the changes. Lampard lobbed a delightful second goal on 50 minutes before 19-year-old Argentine striker Franco Di Santo fired a third. Wright-Phillips notched a fourth from a Bridge cross with just minutes remaining.
Bosingwa sustained a muscle injury after just 19 minutes though and was duly replaced by Ferreira. There’s no official news from Chelsea on the extent of the injury just yet but this will be a concern to Scolari and many fantasy managers with Bosignwa highly fancied going into the new season. We’re expecting more news on the knock in the next 24 hours.
Chelsea take on Chengdu Blades in their next encounter in China.
Chelsea vs Guangzhou Pharmaceutical:
First-half: Cech; Bosingwa (Ferreira 19), Carvalho, Terry, A Cole; Mikel; Essien, Deco; Lampard; Kalou, Anelka.
Second-half: Cudicini, Ferreira, Alex, Carvalho, Bridge; Lampard, Mikel, Deco (Ivanovic 62); Kalou (Wright-Phillips 57), Di Santo, Malouda.
Thanks for the heads up regarding Bosingwa. Looks like another reshuffle could be happening to my team!
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beeb are saying it was just a light knock and they pulled him off as a precaution (I’ve just re-read that after typing it and it didn’t sound quite as intended)
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Reply by Mark on July 24, 2008 7:26 am:
Yeah - all reports this morning say it’s a slight thigh muscle strain. I guess we’ll have to wait and see what comes out of Chelsea.
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What’s the story with Kalou? Bit of an unsung hero last season, played up front with good effect but now rated as a midfielder in the FPL? Any Chelsea nuts out there know if he’ll keep playing up front, can’t see him getting many starts in midfield as Chelsea have great strength there…
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Reply by Alexi on July 24, 2008 7:42 am:
interesting point there Christian..never noticed him as a midfielder now! Problem with him is i think he’ll play 70-80% of the games and he doesnt seem to be on the bonus points radar? i think there is better value at 7.5mil other than all that he does look tempting especially when the fixtures are good and hes on form..
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Reply by Al (Make me a sandwich) on July 24, 2008 8:09 am:
I have absolutely no idea why Kalou is classified in Midfield. As a Chelsea fan I’ve never seen him play midfield. Sure he plays out wide sometimes but so does Anelka and he’s not a RM. I’m pretty sure Drogba will stay and we could still sign a big name up front like Eto so his chances will be limited. He’s a good player but in my opinion not good enough to warrant starting many games. Perhaps when we’ve played a few more friendlies we’ll see what Big Phil has planned.
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Reply by Akers on July 24, 2008 9:35 am:
Having Kalou would be a terrible pick at the mo. Chelsea would have to sell Drogba and Lampard and get a couple of injuries for him to play.
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No Ballack?? Take it he’s still resting after the euros?
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