What Is Chelsea’s Best Starting XI For The 2010-11 Season?

Ollie Irish

10th, August 2010

39 Comments

By Ollie Irish

Someone tells Carlo Ancelotti he left the iron on

The disclaimer: I know modern Premier League teams have big squads which they rotate, and I know there’s quite a difference between the team you pick for a home match and an away match. Just so we’re clear on that.

Okay, with that in mind, and remembering that this is just a harmless bit of fun, I want you to pick Chelsea’s best starting XI for the coming season – in the Premier League, mind.

I’ll go first.

The formation: With the squad they have, 4-3-3 is probably the ideal formation, as shown last season. So that’s what I’ve gone with.

The line-up:

Petr Cech

Branislav Ivanovic – Ricardo Carvalho – Alex – Ashley Cole

Ramires – Michael Essien (c) – Frank Lampard

Nicolas Anelka – Didier Drogba – Florent Malouda

The keeper is solid, the back four – minus John Terry, who is Chelsea’s third-best CB – is very solid, the midfield is full of running, and there is guile, power and pace up front. I’ve given the captain’s armband to Essien, simply because he’s awesome and he can lead by example. Overall, this XI looks formidable.

I’ve shown you mine. Now you show me yours…

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39 Comments

  1. Calum says:

    Cech
    Ivanovic Terry Carvalho Cole
    Essien Mikel
    Ramires Lampard Malouda
    Drogba

  2. ope says:

    chelsea is still the best in england

  3. Anonymous says:

    instead of a.cole, i would have put zhirkov. because a.cole have been playing horribly in defending, but good in attacking. Zhirkov to me, is good in both attacking and defending. Just an opinion.

  4. Grant says:

    You are a joke. Terry is Chelsea’s best CB and as good as any other in the league. And Essien captain?! If you want to be cool and drop JT, because you are part of the retarded media campaign against him, then fine. But Lampard is vice captain and a superb leader. Get a clue.

  5. Tinez says:

    Cech

    Ivanovic Carvalho Alex Cole
    Essien
    Ramires Lampard Sturridge
    Anelka
    Drogba

  6. Jimmys says:

    I THINK THAT IS WRONG XI JOHN(TERRY) IS THE BEST IN THE WORLD … HE HAD A BAD LAST SEASON BUT IT’T ALL OVER NOW !!! I THINK THAT DANIEL STURRIDGE SHOULD BE IN THE FIRST XI !!! 4-4-2 DIAMOND I THINK IS THE BEST PLAN !!! CCECH SRNA IVANOVIC TERRY ASHLEY MIKEL ESSIEN RAMIRES LAMPARD STURRIDGE DROGBA !!! ANELKA AND MALOUDA HAD A GREAT LAST SEASON BUT I THINK THEY MADE THE GAME SLOW !!! BTW IT’S MY OPINION !!!

  7. chelseaoz says:

    Cech

    Ivanovic – Alex – Terry – Cole

    Ramires – Essien (c) – Lampard

    Sturridge – Drogba – Malouda

  8. Jamie says:

    Cech GK
    Bossingwa RB JT(c) CB Ivanovic CB Ashley Cole LB

    Essien Rcm Ramires/Obi Cm Lcm Lampard

    Ozil/Aguero/Anelka RW Malouda LW

    Drogba Str

    I feel after the season he had last year, Ivanovice has worked his way up to be Chelsea’s no.1 partner for JT(who has to play). Alex and Carvalho are not far behind but I would move Ivanovic in to make way for a returning Boswinga as we need his strength going forward. We look weak currently at RW. If we miss out on Ozil and Aguero, it looks like Anelka will take up the RW role again.
    As much as I love the guy, Solly is not good enough to be anywhere near the Chelsea starting XI.

  9. Chris says:

    GK: Cech
    RB: Ivanovic
    LB: Cole
    CB: JT
    CB: Alex
    DM: Ramires (or Mikel)
    CM: Essien
    CM: Lampard
    RW: Benayoun (or Anelka)
    LW: Kalou (or Sturridge)
    CF: Drogba

  10. JB says:

    Cech

    Bossingwa – Ivanovic – Alex – Cole

    Ramires – Essien – Lampard(c)

    Anelka – Drogba – Malouda

    I’m a big Terry fan, but even through my blue tinted specs his decline is pretty obvious.

  11. Meji says:

    Terry will always play.

  12. Meji says:

    Not saying that he should. Nice formation though.

  13. Ollie says:

    @ Grant – I have defended John Terry in the past, more than once, but on the form of the past few months, there’s no way he gets in the starting team. Not for me.

    To those of you who suggested bringing Ivanovic into the middle and starting Bosingwa, I very nearly went for that option. It’s a good option for Ancelotti.

  14. SAMUEL says:

    ********************PETR CECH**********
    IVANOVIC******TERRY*****CARVALHO**********A.COLE

    *******************MIKEL***********
    *****ESSIEN ********************LAMPARD

    *********BENAYOUN******DROGBA***************MALOUDA

  15. Kenny vusi phiri says:

    Czech

    Ferreira..ivanovic..terry..cole

    ramires..essien..lampard

    benayoun….malouda

    drogba

    Formation 4-3-2-1

  16. The 100% Greek says:

    John Terry will make it in the starting line-up again,but i never realized the hype around him. (maybe its because there are no great English defenders anymore) To me the best eleven is Ollie Irish choice but with a few personal touches, i would play them in 4-4-2 with Malouda as left winger and Sturridge up front with Didier. You all seem confident about their backline but i can see their defence crack this year

  17. Stephane Gerard says:

    Your XI is excellent.
    But with Carvalho going to Madrid (from Cole to Kolarov to Maicon to Vidic to… Carvalho? Really?) seems like you have to put JT back in the starting 11.

    >I’ve given the captain’s armband to Essien,

    Actually, you HAVE to give it to him because WHO else will you give it to? Definitely not one of the front guys (two of which have mental problems), and on defense I dont think Alex and Ivanovic would be captains so it leaves you Lampard and Essien to choose from.

  18. Daniel Gyll says:

    ————– CECH ————–

    —Bosingwa – Ivanovic – terry(C) – A.cole—

    ———– J. Obi-Mikel ———

    –N. Anelka F.Malouda—

    —— M. Essien ———— F.Lampard —–

    —————– D.Drogba ————

  19. Alex says:

    Should probably take Carvalho out !

  20. magaji says:

    pls iam a die-hard chelsea supporter if chelsea lost I find it difficult to sleep, why iam saying this is becouse of what is going on presently, we lost almost all our pre-season games,when chelsea even suppose to bounce back aganst man united the still could’not perform up to expectations, pls what is the way farward?

  21. Aero says:

    Given that the play 4-1-3-2

    ——-Cech——-

    —-Bosingwa—-Invanovic—–Terry—-Zhirkov—-

    ———————Ramires———————-

    —–Benayoun—–Lampard——Malouda————

    ————–Drogba——–Anelka—————-

    4-3-3

    —-Cech—-

    —-Bosingwa—-Ivanovic—-Terry—-Zhirkov—-

    ———Benayoun—-Lampard—-Malouda———

    ———Drogba—–Anelka—–Sturridge——–

    4-4-2

    ——Bosingwa—–Ivanovic—–Terry—–Zhirkov—–

    —–Benayoun—–Ramires—–Lampard—–Malouda—–

    ——————Drogba——–Anelka—————-

  22. Aero says:

    forgot cech in the 4-4-2…ashley doesnt seem so happy at chelsea…maybe he wants to go to madrid…dont know whats the fuss about madrid anyway…maybe 10-20 years ago would be the ideal time…today, the major clubs are barca…united and chelsea….anyways…zhirkov is great going forward and also defensively…and i hope bosingwa returs soon enough to go back to the RB position…if so…chelsea are unstoppable!!

  23. Ping Yang says:

    Ollie, what is your beef with Terry? Seriously, I do not understand why you dont show him a little respect. I mean really. Have you been watching Chelsea matches because he his a great player. And believe me Michael Essien is a god BUT if you see him on the pitch he is not that vocal. For Ghana he is perfect but for Chelsea, I dont really see it. I know you hate Terry, I have no fucking clue why, but Lampard is a good enough vice captain.

  24. Snicker says:

    Cech

    Bosingwa – Alex – Terry (c)- Cole

    Essien
    Ramires – Lampard

    Benayoun – Malouda

    Drogba

  25. Snicker says:

    (above) Diamond Formation

  26. Snicker says:

    mate, essien is probably the best player chelsea have in terms of awareness. u need to at least have him on the pitch.

  27. Anonymous says:

    Hey chelsea coach knew what he’s doing just let kept our hand cross and see wat he’s going 2 do in dis season but he shouldn’t have bench obi mikel

  28. Anonymous says:

    ——-Cech——-

    —-Bosingwa—-Invanovic—–Terry—-Zhirkov—-

    ———————Ramires———————-

    —–Benayoun—–Lampard——Malouda————

    ————–Drogba——–Anelka—————-

  29. Anonymous says:

    4-1-2-1-2 Cech(GK)
    Ivanovic(RB)Alex(CB)Terry(c)Cole(LB)
    Benayoun(RWM)Lampard(CAM)Essien(CDM)Malouda(LWM)
    Anelka(LS)Dogba(RS)

  30. david says:

    cech
    ivanovic harris terry cole
    essien
    hudson lampard
    anelka drogba malouda

  31. bob marely says:

    —————————cech————————————
    –bosingwa———terry———-alex——————-cole————————————–rimeres————————————anelka——————–essien————————-malouda——————————-lampard—————————————————————-drogba————————————

  32. mr. t says:

    gk. cech
    rb. bosingwa
    cb. terry(c)
    cb. alex
    lb. cole
    cdm. rimeres
    rm. anelka
    cm. essien
    lm. malouda
    cam. lampard
    st. drogba(immense)

  33. jack says:

    cech
    boswingwa alex terry a.cole
    essien mikel
    ramires lampard malouda
    drogba

  34. jack says:

    cech
    ivanovic alex terry a.cole
    mikel
    ramires essien
    lampard
    sturridge drogba

  35. jack says:

    or
    cech
    ivanovic alex terry a.cole
    mikel
    essien (buy) snjider
    (buy) robben drogba malouda

  36. John says:

    CECH (as opposed to Clowns 2 & 3 why didn’t we buy RELIABLE cover?)

    IVANOVIC ALEX TERRY COLE

    RAMIRES ESSIEN LAMPARD MALOUDA

    KALOU DROGBA

    KEY SUBS BOSWINGA ANELKA MIKEL KAKUTA

  37. Joetheguy says:

    Well i’ll gotta say that my favorite formation is 4-1-2-1-2, and i think that this will do:

    ~GK: Cech
    ~DEF: Bosingwa(RB) Ivanovic(CB) Terry(CB) Zhirkov/Cole(LB)
    ~MID 1: Essien (CDM)(C)
    ~MID 2: Lampard (CM) Ramires/Mikel (CM)
    ~MID 3: Kalou/Malouda (CAM)
    ~ST: Drogba(ST) Anelka/Sturridge(ST)

    RESERVE: Alex, Benayoun, Ferreira, Kakuta, Borini (Or Van Aanholt)

  38. kyle says:

    GK-CECH
    RB-BOSINGWA CB-IVANOVIC CB-TERRY LB-COLE
    CDM-MIKEL
    RW-MALOUDA RCM-LAMPARD LCM-RAMIRES LW-ESSIEN
    ST-DROGBA
    SUBS 1-FERREIRA 2-ZHIRKOV 3-KALOU 4-STURRIDGE 5-ANELKA

  39. alex says:

    GK-Cech
    RB-Bosingwa CB-Luiz CB-Terry LB-Cole
    RCM-Essien LCM-Ramires
    CAM-Lampard
    RS-Kalou ST-Drogba LS-Malouda
    Subs: Torres, Anelka, Mikel, Zhirkov, Alex, Ivanovic, Hilario

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