Three’s Company: Trio of Chelsea boys in managers’ Premier League team of the decade

rofl poor gunners :D talking shit cus of their lame player performances in this decade and yeah this is Chelsea-Udt team of the decade ENVY?

lampard wins our best player and the epl title 3 times each. hes awarded epl player of the decade and loses out to scholes and gerrard? what a joke. i take this with a grain of salt. also, the 2006 team was miles better than the 2008 mancs..

He was awarded, Prem. league player of the decade and he's not up there><#!?!>#?>#$?>
'tis a shame that Frank 'The Lionheart' Lampard isn't an automatic pick for the team.

Since it's the managers' team, it would be who they would choose over statistical performance. Interesting to see Shearer over the likes of Rooney and Henry.

Drogba had two good years in the Premier League. Henry had seven in a row. 

Thierry Henry, Premier League games and goals:
1999–00: 31 - 17
2000–01: 35 - 17
2001–02: 33 - 24
2002–03: 37 - 24
2003–04: 37 - 30
2004–05: 32 - 25
2005–06: 32 - 27
2006–07: 17 - 10

Drogba, Premier League games and goals: 
2004–05: 26 - 10
2005–06: 29 - 12
2006–07: 36 - 20
2007–08: 19 - 8
2008–09: 24 - 5
2009–10: 32 - 29
2010–11: 31 - 11

Sure, it's all about goals.  So a one-dimensional striker like Berbatov is better than Drogba, who is a game changer.  Owen too.  But what's happening to Owen and Berbs?  They're eating bench at united and are going to be shipped off as soon as SAF can.  Why?  
And why is Henry, who is Drogba's age, in a fringe league while Drogba is, year after year, in the Champion's league?

Whoawhoawhoa, fringe league?

Henry is playing in New York for fun. There, he has good food, great clubs, hot bitches, infinite cases of Red Bull, on and on. It's not that MLS is a fringe league, it's that Henry has essentially accomplished all a man in football can accomplish.

Seriously, Premier League (invincible), La Liga, Ligue 1, Champions League, World Cup, European Championship, Confederations Cup, FA Cup, French Cup, Copa del Rey, on and on...

Don't get me wrong, I love Drogs as much as anyone else, but it's because that Henry and Drogba are the same age that it's so shocking.

So yeah. It's not that MLS is a crappy league that is disrespectful to Henry, it's that Henry chose to play in New York that makes MLS better. If you can't figure that out, I'd be worried about you doing other things that require basic logic. 

Hands down, Henry was one of the scariest strikers in his prime. Maybe it's because that was so long ago that we forget. Or maybe that Drogba has never quite reached his prime, and that his under-achievement belies his potential. Hmph... who knows? 

You said it right there.  People come (you thought I'd say go) to MLS for money or semi-retirement, the way Brazilians go back home, but not for the competition.

Peak is an interesting issue.  Some players peak early and go down fast, some peak early and stay good for a long time, some peak really late... 

Henry has won a lot of stuff... I forgot how much he has won sometimes.

But Drogba is a kind of unsung hero.  It's weird to say, but people associate medals with quality, it's human psychology.  It works for Giggs, who has both, but isn't really accurate when discussing, say Kaladze vs Bale, if Bale stays at Spurs.

Drogba deserves to have won more, but unfortunately, he plays in a team that fired the best manager in the world, hires flops like there's no tomorrow, cancels negotiations on individual players because of team performances, has no stability, consistency, long-term plan (what is the long-term plan in Chelsea?  "Win stuff" is not a plan) a club without a real assistant coach.

Watching Chelsea on and off the pitch is like watching the nWo from the WCW days.  We are the worst club in the world in terms of respect to our own.  It's fun to watch, but sad that these are real people with real lives.

I was reading about how Drogba came to Chelsea and there was nobody to help him adjust to life in England.  He was living in a hotel.  He wanted a school for his kids but no one knew anything at the club.  He asked the staff at CFC for help in finding a house, they gave him the number of an agent who wanted to sell him a house for 18m.  

The club is so badly run.  The fact that Drogba can perform that well given the circumstances is nothing short of amazing.  Managers fired in the tunnel, Gene Hackman managing the club, Ashley Cole's shootings (lol), newspapers conspire to destroy Terry's life, suspicious transfers with shady agents and what I now call Barcapoli.  Most people can't do simple office tasks with a flickering light.  Drogba has to perform with all this in the background and people booing and throwing coins at him.

Name me one club that has so much drama as we have.  Any.  Rooney and Giggs cheat, that's it.  Anderson was speeding once.  That's all.  Arsenal, Fab wants to go home, Bendtner doesn't like playing wide, dreams of Barca.  Nasri won't shake hands with Gallas called SN sat in Henry's seat once.  By accident.  Years ago.  Weak stuff. Liverpool had one or two years of drama and all that's gone with KD.  It's finished.  Their drama is over.  Ours goes on and on.  

Drogba suffered because of his loyalty.  He could've easily done a Zlatan-type tour and collect trophies all over.  He could've followed Mou and added Italian medals and a CL medal to his collection.  Instead, he stayed in the circus and I hope he stays for 2 more years at least.

Not at all. It's merely one factor, but in this case I would argue it's very indicative. Drogba is a force whether he's scoring goals or not; I don't think anyone would argue with that. But if the point of this was to look for the best striker over a decade, I think that Henry fits that bill better than Drogba. The team of the decade listed above has plenty of creativity, and doesn't need a striker that only produced a significant number of goals in two seasons.  

And Henry is no Berbatov, or Inzaghi. He was far more than just a pure scorer. He was creative, and a phenomenal team player.

Don't get me wrong. I think Drogba has been at times one of the most dominant players ever in the Premier League. I just don't think he has done it regularly enough to warrant inclusion in the team of the decade. 

Well, that brings up another issue.  Is this simply a list of the best players in each position or is there an element of "team" involved in it?

An example of the latter is this team:

x
xxxx
Lampard, Gerrard, Ronaldinho, Kaka
Messi, Cristiano

This is surely a list of the voter's best players in the 4 positions (gk, def, mid, att) and is not a team.  It doesn't take a UEFA coaching license to know that this team has no width in midfield, no DM and has 4 players of different styles that play in the same position. 

Looking at this:
van der SarG. Neville-Vidic-EBJT-ColeC. Ronaldo-Scholes-Gerrard-GiggsShearer-Drogba
It looks like CR7 and Giggs were added as wingers to add width to the team and Scholes to add a defensive element to the midfield.

So maybe managers thought of how Drogba would play with their other selections and not "Who's been the most consistent over the decade?" 

There's another thing that we don't know - the prozone and prozone type stats.  For example, Malouda, Chelsea's second fave villain/flop-of-the-season, whom almost everyone wants out, is the Chelsea player whose touch has created most goal-scoring chances this season.  This is pure stats.  We haven't seen the numbers, because we don't get stats that go beyond goals, passes, assists and so on, but I've heard an interview about the guy who calculated that.  

Malouda is first, yet his season is considered a terrible failure.  

This could apply to Drogba as well, who had to play with flop after flop.  Mutu, Crespo (by his own standards), Torres and Shevchenko.  

Managers surely would take that into consideration - that Drogba played so well despite the circus that is Chelsea FC.  

It's a good point. Henry may have had better striking/attacking partners over the seven years, including Bergkamp, Pires, Ljungberg, Wiltord and Kanu. 

I'm not convinced that was in their minds, though, when choosing. It sounds like, from the article, that set positions were voted on, and while Gerrard has played out wide, no one would vote for him as the best right sided midfielder given the options. Don't forget that Ronaldo played on the wing for much of his time at ManU; I doubt he was picked there just to add width. 

On a side note, I constantly find it odd that Gary Neville is the best England and the Premier League has produced at right back.

Thanks, really. Shame you're not a Premier League manager.

If they give Avram Grant a vote, they might as well give me one. 

Hands up if you think Drogba was better than Henry in the last decade. 

Hands up if what you, or any of us, think matters. You see that little thing up there before Premier League team of the decade? It says managers. They voted, that's what we're recognizing here. 

Oh whatever, just for shits and giggles: Henry may have been a better pure goal-scoring striker than Drogba in his prime - perhaps by a distance - but he was never a better overall player. Drogba brings infinitely more to the field in terms of his overall presence and impact. Maybe that's what managers, potentially including your precious Arsene, based their votes on. But, according to you, apparently only stats matter. That would explain Scholes' inclusion then.

If what we think doesn't matter, what the fuck was the point of the post? God forbid we have a discussion about great players. That's all we (Offside) bloggers are here for, sparky. Might want to take that chip off your shoulder.

Discussion? Point me toward it. You posted stats and went on your merry way. FUCK. 

FUCK. It's a good term for emphasis.

Sorry. I love Lampard. Why wasn't Lampard in the team? He scores so many penalties.

More quality commentary. Keep it coming.

hahahahaha.  

Beckham should not have been ahead of Lampard yes because he was more consistent.Henry should be on that list.I'm a chelsea fans but cant be biased..Henry is better than DD but DD will still make the bench ahead of Rooney anyway...So Van der sar is better than Schmeichel?I wont swap my CECH for him anyway.....The List is full of crap.....Rooney,Beckham,Vidic doesn't worth the List...Bergkamp,Lampard,Adams....

I stand corrected ... Shearer retired in '06.  Still , he was at his best in the 90's.

How Shearer and Beck's get in that team I don't understand.  Neither spent 5 years playing, and  it wasn't their best years either.

They might as well call it the Chelsea-United team of the decade.

No Lampard on that team?? :o :o

I knew there was something I was forgetting. Interesting to be sure. He received 10 percent of the vote.