Is Chelsea's era of domination good for the Premiership?

Yes - Kenny Sansom; Former England and Arsenal full-back

Everyone will always mention the money but there are many reasons why Chelsea's success has been good for the Premiership.

Anyone involved in football will tell you that you can't buy success. True, Chelsea can spend millions on one player and if he gets injured they can buy another one. But last season when they won the Premiership they did so because they were the best team. I read an interview recently with Arjen Robben in which he said Chelsea are not an arrogant team, just confident. That's good for football - it's like when Arsenal won the league without losing a match and because of their confidence they played some awesome football.

Chelsea's success has meant the rest of the Premiership has had to improve. It says to the other sides: "You are going to have to be cleverer than us to beat us." Wigan should have done just that on the first day of the season, so if they can match Chelsea that proves that money is not the be-all and end-all.

When I was a player and we used to go to Liverpool and see the "This is Anfield" sign we used to go out on to the pitch and think that if we could lose 1-0 we would be happy. We were up against some great players there and it is the same at Chelsea - just because they cost a lot of money doesn't mean they are not a great team.

The managers have to get shrewder with their tactics, the scouts have to be better. If Chelsea can afford to spend £30m on a player and you can only afford £5m then you have to search out a player for that money and try to turn him into a £30m player. Teams like Liverpool, Tottenham and Bolton have come out and done that and are proving that with the right tactics and by buying well you can still be a force in the Premiership.

I think what Chelsea have done, as well as putting a lot of money into the team, is to have picked the right man as manager. Jose Mourinho is the main reason Chelsea are the team they are.

John Terry summed up for me why Chelsea are such a good side and why England fans should be happy about them doing well. Last season at Norwich Chelsea were 4-0 up and then City scored a goal; Terry went around all his team-mates and gave them a real rollicking. Terry isn't the only England player who seems to have benefited from Mourinho: when you look at Joe Cole you realise that he has been good at bringing on English players.

Mourinho seems to be able to make his players want to keep improving and they are. The whole club has recognised that they have got something special going. We had it at Crystal Palace under Terry Venables when we had seven young players from the FA Youth Cup final come through and there was the feeling that we had something similar.

Chelsea are not going to win the league every year from now on, Mourinho is going to find it harder and harder because the other teams are going to have to continue to get better and that can only be a good thing for the league.

Sure, the money has got a lot to do with them doing well but they are not the first side to have a bit of money. I think everyone's going on about it without looking at what Chelsea have achieved - and obviously I'm saying that as an Arsenal fan.

2 EPL titles on the trot, domination? You're hardly Liverpool of the 70s/80s.

Nor the United of this modern era.

I totally agree that money doesnt guarantee success but i dont think that Chelsea being the best team in the league is good for it. THe likes of bolton are doing better (commendable certainly given their financial backing) are doing better cause ugly football is the in thing in the premiership and chelsea have alot to answer for. Last season you could argue that it was because they brought a freshness to the league. This season they havent added anything else. At least when man u or arsenal or even liverpool in the 80's were dominant, they were worth watching. Chelseas brand of football has no redeeming feature about it. Call it sour grapes but united used to get flack from everybody cause of their "plastic fans", well Id rather get flack for that then because my team is dire to watch.

As if Man Utd was magic to watch for all that time. The winning made it interesting more than how the games were played. There are more similarities to Chelsea of today and Man Utd of 5 or so years ago than there are differences I say.

United were magic to watch and still are, to say we play hoof-ball is just bitter.

I'm a Chelsea fan but I think a strong competition is the best thing for the Premier League. Three or four teams fight fot the title in the match number 35 is a very interesting and beautiful thing.

I rates Premier over La Liga (not like all my friends) because a lot of reasons, not only football quality(atmosphere in stadiums, racism in Spain, referees...). A strong competition would make the Premier the best league in the world I think (if it isn't already).

And sorry for my poor english guys :)

As of Liverpools and Uniteds dominance i think chelsea will have there period of it.
Expect the liverpool,Uniteds and Arsenals played some fun-loving Attacking football, although there where a couple of incidents last season when chelsea did play some beautiful(Manly to the genius of Robben) they have stopped and know are playing an economic style of football, they won't bother trying to score and second or third goal and just shutting down against teams.

Yes! Its up to the rest to get to their level now.

Of course, we're raising the bar, before it was ridicilous, manure dominated then came Arsenal competing and now we've set it even higher.

High competition = greater quality.

First of all to compare this chelsea team to uniteds team of 99-01 is laughable. Brand of football and quality is in a differant league, chelsea cant win games playing football. We won the CL with the most exciting games, a group of Barca, and Bayern, and inter juve and bayern to the victory. In the league we won on the last day, so many exciting last 10 minute goals. In the fa cup everybody remembers giggs legend goal and that game against arsenal. Chelsea have nothing worth remembering. Oh ye barca last season, only game worth mentioning. Chelsea arent a patch on that united team, football or quality wise. THe premier league is awful this season. 12 point gap, but I cant believe that united are 2nd. We are nowhere near the team we used to be but we still beat you. Chelsea have raised the bar up to the level that united and arsenal were at in 2004, but both united and clearly arsenal have gone backwards since then.

Winning trophies is commendable. But winning trophies playing great football will always be remembered. Chelseas brand of football will never be remembered. People remember 99 cause of the last minute win against the germans, the giggs goal against arsenal in the fa cup. People remember arsenals unbeaten season as much for the brand of football they play as anything else. People will remember last season somewhat because it broke the mould of united and arsenals domination. People will forget this season cause not only have chelsea walked it but they have added nothing fresh at all footballwise or anything good. Love or hate united they were never this boring!!

Its never good for a league to have any team dominating it, no matter who it is. Its nice for the fans of the team dominating alright. United were worth watching for many reasons. There was always likely to be upsets and you cant compare a 4-4-2 formation with 2 attacking wingers, an attacking and defencive midfielder and 2 strikers to chelsea's all out defence formation. Mourhino has already lambased cole for being too advengtourous and praised drogba for his defensive qualities. I dont know how you managed to come to that opinion about united 00 and chelsea. I could at least watch and respect arsenal when they were at their best under wenger, I cant watch any chelsea game cause its really bad and not entertaining. I suppose sometimes believing a lie is easier then dealing with the truth. But believe me, chelsea play puke football 98% of the time.

There is nothing boring about wining the premiereship. when would all these jealous mancs and arse shut up

There is nothing boring about wining the premiereship. when would all these jealous mancs and arse shut up

What I find funny is that theres nothing a chelsea fan can say to disproove the people whom think their team are muck to watch.

United used to get terrible grief for our "plastic fans" when we were top so get used to the abuse. The best teams in the league always get abuse and Im sure most chelsea fans were on the bandwagon of ABU's so dont start moaning when you are getting it back. I have said it b4, at least when united were dominating the EPL I could at least watch and enjoy their football, chelseas brand of football will be forgotten as soon as somebody else comes along. United have won the league is April before and it is boring. U get used to winning the league every season and take it for granted, believe me, i know. When united were at their peak they would always go at teams for another goal whether they were drawing 0-0 or 5-0 up. Chelsea just get a goal up and protect what they have! Ugly ugly stuff. Chelsea fans will never be able to slag boring boring arsenal team of the early 90's!!

Anybody else noticed that this thread has been visited by 0 Chelsea fans?

Liverpool vs ManU... Fight fight fight!

As a few of the Mancs and Scousers have pointed out, two titles on the bounce isn’t really an ‘era of domination’. I think we have to match Liverpool in the 80’s and Man U and to lesser extent, Arsenal’s achievements of the 90’s and 00’s before we start talking about that.

I can’t help but laugh at the boring tag though, just look at the facts and figures –

+11 goal difference better than second placed Man Utd
52 goals scored in 26 games, 2 goals a game, which is the same as Man Utd, +20 better than Liverpool, +17 better than Tottenham and +13 better than the supreme entertainers of the Premier League, Arsenal.

If you have a look at our run in, those figures will only improve.

I won’t bore you all with the defensive stats, but as you would expect they make for impressive reading. :thumbsup:

Nor the United of this modern era.
1999 isn't all that modern...
:rolleyes:

1999 isn't all that modern...
:rolleyes:

Shut up you bitter old bag, 8 barclays premiership titles.

When you match that then you can open your dirty mouth.

+11 goal difference better than second placed Man Utd
52 goals scored in 26 games, 2 goals a game, which is the same as Man Utd, +20 better than Liverpool, +17 better than Tottenham and +13 better than the supreme entertainers of the Premier League, Arsenal.

You can't measure how stylish and entertaining a team is purely by goals scored.

Juventus are an excellent example, they've scored plenty, doesn't make them entertaining.

People don’t pay good money to go and see nil nil draws, or to see their team pass the opposition to death and lose one nil on a counter attack. They want to see goals and they want to see victories and I’ve certainly had my money’s worth on both counts down at Stamford Bridge this year.

It's perhaps a similar story to that of united as people were growing tired of them winning always.That's of course any non-Utd fans,now the anger is more directed towards Chelsea because they're bankrolled by a rich Billionaire who seriously has gotten up everyone's goats. :tongue:

Man Utd was very popular in my previous country but when I started following Prem more closely(around 2001), I was left with the impression that they play fairly boring football so if there was a magic, there wasnt anymore. Anyway, Chelsea is not yet truly dominant but its on its way!