[The Year Was1955]

Figure whenever there is a new icons update from one of our players we can just post it here.

We is lucky enough to have 2 today.

Kitamirike-

My Italian job
Pre-season was a fantastic experience for me, because I was involved with the first-team squad throughout. I trained with the lads all of the time and was also on the subs bench for all their friendlies, so I couldn't have hoped for a more positive start.

The highlight – apart from playing in the second half at Oxford – has to be going to Italy for the Birra Moretti tournament. All of a sudden I found myself mixing in the big league.

Can you imagine how I felt sitting on the bench seeing the likes of Davids, Thuram and Vieri playing in front of me – knowing that any minute I could be joining them on the pitch! It was amazing. Sadly I didn't get a chance to show those players who I was, but it was brilliant just to be there.

As a result of my successful pre-season I feel a lot more optimistic about my chances this year. I think that if I maintain a good level of form and improvement that I may be given first-team opportunities by the manager.

At the moment I'm mainly being used at right-back and I'm getting better at playing in that position with every game. Some of the other first-team players have even told me that they've noticed how well I've done in pre-season too, so hopefully before long I'll be a first-team regular just like them.


And Mario too-

Sick to miss Charlton
I'd been ill last week, which is why I was on the bench for Saturday's match at Charlton. I had a bit of sickness last Wednesday and as a result, I'd lost some power and energy and wasn't really fit enough to start the game at The Valley.

It was a shame to miss out on the match because it turned out to be very exciting. I think the lads showed great character to come back from two goals down to win it and judging by the reaction of our fans – I'm sure they really enjoyed it too. There was also no better way for us to finally end Charlton's position as our bogey team!

When I was sitting on the bench watching us go two goals down I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I kept thinking to myself, why can't we beat this team? Why do they always play so well against us?

I kept thinking about this because on paper we have a much stronger team than Charlton and I couldn't understand the reasons for our problems in dealing with them. Needless to say, I'm now very happy to have finished the bogey, as is the coach I think!

I'm not yet sure if Claudio Ranieri is going to consider me for the Manchester United match on Friday but I certainly hope so. We'll see how I go in training this week and take it from there but I need to physically ready to play against United. I can't afford to go into that match feeling less than 100 per cent.

I want to regain my place in the team as quickly as possible but I've got the rest of the week to prove my fitness.

[The Year Was1955]

Looking to avenge our Cup Final defeat

Our draw against Southampton this week was really well earned because they played superbly on the night. They worked really, really hard and you have to give them a lot of credit for that. The longer the game went on, Southampton got more and more confidence and that was dangerous so we ended the match pleased with a point. I'm tired now but I'm sure I'll feel good in time for the Arsenal match on Sunday.

The last time we faced Arsenal was of course at the FA Cup Final in May and we all know what happened that day. They played very well and scored two great goals to lift the cup, leaving us to feel sad and disappointed.

We'll be doing our best to get our own back this Sunday by taking all three points at Stamford Bridge. Arsenal, the current champions, are of course a very good team and we know it won't be very easy to beat them. We proved last week against Manchester United that we are up there with the best sides, but we have to show it again if we stand any chance of beating the Gunners.

Both teams have excellent quality players – so why are Arsenal champions? I'd say that the main reason is that they have a level of consistency higher than everybody else right now. Week in, week out, they seem to pull off victories even when at times they look like they might get beaten. Arsenal are playing in a different gear to all the other teams right now and it's not easy for the everyone else to match their level.

It's difficult to know what their secret is but in their own heads they never believe that they can lose. Arsenal know how to win and they seem to know how to get it and because they've won trophies they have that little bit of extra confidence now which makes them even more dangerous.

Here at Chelsea we have that confidence too and we also have a big desire to win matches but Arsenal did it better than anyone else last season. It's our job now to learn from the past and make this Chelsea's year.

It's a big London derby for the fans and it's a big match in the championship for the club – so plenty will be at stake this Sunday.

[The Year Was1955]

Some interesting stuff from Mario, especially about our Youth system, anyone wondering why Ranieri got such a long contract well this is probably your answer...


The kids are alright

As a lot of our players were away on international duty last week it's been fairly quiet at our Harlington training ground but those of us that were here, worked really hard in their absence. The coach wanted us to train physically hard so that we used up the same levels of energy as those players who are playing matches for their countries.

It was a time to work on our fitness because we can't work on tactics when half of the team is not here. Doing a lot of running isn't the most enjoyable part of training but it's something that has to be done if we want to remain in top shape.

A lot of the players training with us were Chelsea's up-and-coming youngsters who are a really good bunch of players. Since I came here three years ago I've noticed that the coach has brought the kids in to train with the first team more and more and especially so this season. I think this can only be a good thing for the players themselves and also for the club.

The experiences that our youngsters are getting will definitely improve their play and Chelsea could benefit from that by eventually bringing them into the team. If we can bring through high-quality youngsters then it will save the club having to buy players.

When I first came to Chelsea I noticed that the club's youth players were finding it hard to compete with the first-team players in training but that has all changed now. Over the last two years I've noticed a big improvement in the standard of our youngsters and now, more and more of them are making good claims to be involved with the first-team squad.

The change has been very clear and everyone that works in the youth set-up can be proud of the progress which has been made. I come from the famous Ajax Academy and can pay Chelsea no bigger compliment than to say that they are catching up fast with my former club's youth set-up. If we can come close to finding the amount of players that came through the system in Amsterdam, then that will be great news for the club.

If youngsters are good enough they will make it into the squad and I'm glad that we have a number of kids that are capable of doing it. It's good for the senior players too because you need pressure from other players to keep you at the top of your form.

[The Year Was1955]

Blackburn are better than 10th


We played out two goalless draws with Blackburn last season which was great from a defensive point of view, but we'll be looking for goals when we visit them this Wednesday. It's a game we'll be looking to win because if we draw too many games we'll fall behind our rivals. We could really do with taking all three points to get ourselves back up towards the top of the table.

Blackburn Rovers, though, are a very good team and have some excellent footballers in their side. They finished 10th in the league last season but in my opinion that was too low. I see them as a team capable of finishing much higher than that and I'm sure they will do that this year because they seem like they're improving all of the time.

They have a lot of talent all over the pitch so I expect it to be a very competitive game. In defence we will have to play well to keep a clean sheet like we did last year, because they have great forwards who I respect, like Andy Cole, Dwight Yorke and Damien Duff. I see Blackburn as a really attacking team who will be really busy on the night – that's what I expect anyway.

But as long as we concentrate at the back and keep it tight, I'm very confident that we can score goals at the other end to get the win that we want. We too, are an attacking team and they'll be thinking about that.

[The Year Was1955]

And you know the thing is we don't even here about the 16 and 15 year olds that Ranieri is responsible for signing.

I think there was an article in the sun a while back saying Chelsea had signed 3 Italian 16 year olds who were all part of Lazio's championship winning youth team.

The true benefits of Ranieri's reign may not be seen for some time.

[BridgeMonkee]

Good to hear that Claudio is investing in the yoof. Although, I gueess when we sign this young Italians in the future we'll have to worry about there "Dalla Bona Syndrome", i.e, Little gits who cry Homesick, only to stitch the club up in reality.

Over all I like the idea of scouting and signing youngsters from across Europe raher than just the UK. I think its a rather visionary approach and WILL improve the quality of the young UK players.

Roomer - Marco Delvecchio - Chelsea are interested in signing the Roma striker-playactor-diver, according to Footballtransfers.info. He is the Italian doing that twirling-hands-at-his-sides-with-mock-surprise-on-his-face goal celebration. Scary stuff.

[The Year Was1955]

Melchiot says
Gaffer spurred us on to win
http://www.icons.com/melchiot/diary.html

And the big one..

Bogarde says
I have cleared the air with Ranieri
http://www.icons.com/WB/diary.html

Personally I am happy, utterly pointless letting him rot, it is hardly his fault Hutch was stupid enough to pay him a shet load. Reading into things it does seem like Bogarde had a bust up with Ranieri but that looks to be over now, and to be honest Bogarde has never said a bad things about Chelsea or bad things about Ranieri, about time the poor bastard got another chance.

However how much rust will there be after such a long delay, and there could be little patients with the fans, he'll have to come in and play well from that moment onwards.

[Clan]

The bust up i believe came after we got knocked out of the worthless cup year before last at Anfield and he played right back.

Had an 'orrible game and was berated for his inept performance and one thing led to another and so on and so forth....

Anyway's he never set foot on the field of play again for the first team.