as SAF has been saying for years , Chelsea are seriously ageing in all the wrong places, with adequate (rather than quality) replacements in some areas who need to get accustomed to the team
Terry, Lampard and Drogba (and arguably Cech) are on their last legs, with Torres unable to score more than a couple every few months. Sturridge may well turn out brilliant in the long run, but his inexperience also shines through (cant be helped, rather than anything he should be blamed for), a few seasons ago his form now would have probably helped them to a third title in a row - but now....
New ways of playing (tactics etc), ageing lengs, squad players that are in the 1st XI (Luiz, Bosingwa etc etc) , unlike Silva Mata isnt imo a game changer on his own (brilliant individual goals on occasion not withstanding), very decent player to have - maybe this is getting aclimbatized to Chelsea/AVB also - but there is too much dross around him at the same time
Essien certainly was a brillaint player, but its showing how long he was out for and whether he will ever get back to his best wont be known until next season at the earliest (plus he isnt exactly a youngster any more either)
What, Essien was completely crap for a good year before his injury, he was truly awful at that point, being useless now has nothing to do with the injury.
As for lampard, Terry and Drogba being on their last legs, and talking about age, more hyperbolic rubbish. Lets see, Drogba has been FAR better than a MUCH YOUNGER Torres all season, Terry has been their best CB by a country mile, sure, made a bunch of mistakes, but nothing like the number Luiz has and Cahill hasn't looked good this season at all.
Lampard has been probably their single best and most effective player, by what measure....... other than people randomly assigning a player to the retirement pile when deemed old at some random age, are you deciding they are on their last legs?
Who has been Utd's best player in the past 2 months, Scholes, who has been one of their best players, with a load of a assists this year, Giggs, who has been epic in Spurs goal, a 40 year old keeper.
Some people have randomly just thrown out any idea of certain players being any good any more due to age, and almost every one of these assumptions has made those people look rather daft this year.
Giggs has 3 goals 11 assists this year, Lampard has 9 goals 4 assists, a manager that drops him and is clearly hoping Lampard will fail so he can get rid of him. Thats joint top scorer at the club, and Terry, is Chelsea's 4th highest scorer on top of that.
Seriously by what measure can anyone say Lampard is on his last legs, the fact that he's played a part in 38 games already this season? has 14 goals and 5 assists in all the competitions he's played in, or is this based purely on his age and nothing to do with his performances?
I don't remember SAF saying Chelsea was ageing in all the wrong places, that would be odd for a guy who just brought a 36/37year old out of retirement because his young players sucked balls, and has a 38year old playing well, and had no problems keeping VDS playing till the keeper himself wanted to retire, you can be certain that had VDS wanted to play another year, Fergie would have kept him.
Chelsea's problem isn't age, its horrific transfer market activity, and now a crap manager. Ramires was woeful last night, he is a rubbish player, Torres was a waste of 50million, Malouda shouldn't be at any prem league team, Mikel is limited, Meireles is being asked to play a role he's no good at, Luiz is a joke of a player, Kalou, etc, etc. They just have a poor squad, and like Arsenal has their best players have left over the past 4-5 years, they've replaced the vast majority of them with far inferior players.
Who would they give the extra spot to anyway, Portugal? Scotland? 
