Sunday 29th July

Unbeaten pre-season run comes to an end at Ibrox

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Chelsea lost their unbeaten record in pre-season yesterday afternoon when they went down 2-0 to Rangers at Ibrox. Nacho Novo struck from 20 yards on 86 minutes, and Filip Sebo made sure of the win just a minute later when his shot from a similar range deflected off Ricardo Carvalho and looped over substitute goalkeeper Henrique Hilario's head and into the far corner of the net.

Shaun Wright-Phillips was Chelsea's stand out player. He came on at half time in place of Joe Cole and was a constant threat down the right flank. On current form I would pick him ahead of Cole who has struggled so far this pre-season. Steve Sidwell also shone in a four-man midfield, while Florent Malouda showed flashes of quality

Thursday 26th July

Featured links for 26th July: Feyenoord highlights, 50 best transfers

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A few links that you might enjoy:

• Feyenoord 1 - 1 Chelsea: Sky Sports News highlights - Chelsea remain unbeaten in pre-season after a feisty 1-1 draw in Rotterdam. Feyenoord scored first on the stroke of half time through Kevin Hofland - Glen Johnson and Petr Cech were at fault as the Dutchman was left unattended in the penalty area to head home a free-kick. Frank Lampard equalised after taking advantage of a poor back pass late in the second half. Carlo Cudicini made a double save from a Roy Makaay penalty, Claudio Pizarro made his Chelsea debut, and Shaun Wright-Phillips was the pick of the players - all in all another good pre-season workout.
• 50 best transfers - Not quite so many Chelsea players make this list as made the Times newspaper's

Wednesday 25th July

Will Shevchenko flourish in a front three?

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Is Jose Mourinho's plan to give Andriy Shevchenko a wider role up front next season likely to benefit Chelsea and Shevchenko himself? If Mourinho is hoping to see Shevchenko rediscover the goal scoring form that made him one of the world's most feared strikers prior to his move to Stamford Bridge, deploying him in a three-pronged attack alongside Didier Drogba and Claudio Pizarro might not be such a good idea.

Last season Mourinho mostly preferred the 4-4-2 diamond midfield formation. This usually resulted in Shevchenko being asked to support what was effectively a wingless midfield. More often than not he was required to switch out wide to provide the width that was so evidently missing. The beneficiary of this was Didier Drogba, who became the first Chelsea forward since Kerry Dixon in 1984/85 to reach 30 goals in a season.

Tuesday 24th July

Letter from America: Tour augurs well for season ahead

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I had originally been scheduled to work last week in Southern California so I could attend both games knowing the airfare and hotel was being paid for. Of course, that fell through so that I was obliged to watch both games on TV (the Stanford game was televised on a Spanish only channel I don't receive). I say both games, but the the second of the two was a David Beckham fest, the TV shot constantly cutting back to him seated on the touchline, taking off his shoe, putting it back on, smiling, not smiling, standing up, sitting down, etc., the few remaining shots being filled with views of Posh and friends (I suppose they were friends), and assorted other celebrities, some of whom had actually heard of soccer, sorry football, though none other than The Governator had actually seen a game before. I feel sorry for LA Galaxy, because they at times caused substantial difficulties for the Blues, but this was virtually ignored by the commentators who seemed to consider that it was detractin

Monday 23rd July

Featured links for 23rd July: LA Galaxy highlights, 50 worst transfers

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A few links I've come across recently that you might enjoy:

• Highlights video of Chelsea's win over LA Galaxy - See John Terry's excellent left foot strike, and Steve Sidwell's "welcome to the game" tackle on David Beckham. Nice one, Steve. Terry scored two great goals during the pre-season tour of California: see his other game-winner, a header against Club América in this highlights video.
• US soccer’s white knight rides in - David Beckham is being presented as football's saviour in America but the Financial Times wonders whether the sport really needs rescuing. I remain unconvinced that Beckham will make any difference to Major League Soccer's mass appeal.

Sunday 22nd July

A Galaxy far, far away...

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Chelsea's pre-season in America resumes early tomorrow morning with a game against David Beckham's new club LA Galaxy at the Home Depot Center in Carson City, California. Kick-off is 2am UK time.

Defeats of Mexican side Club América and South Korean champions Suwon Bluewings in the last seven days have left Jose Mourinho pleased at how the players are progressing. The only negative to come out of the two games is John Terry's toe injury, although he isn't expected to be out for any length of time and could even start against LA Galaxy.

Another player said to be carrying a minor injury is Arjen Robben, who has been the subject of much speculation these past few days. Real Madrid, Spanish media, and the BBC, of all in

Saturday 14th July

Coming to Am

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Chelsea kick-off their pre-season against Mexican side Club América at Stanford Stadium, San José early tomorrow morning, 2am UK time.

América is a Primera Divisià³n club based in Mexico City and one of the most popular, hated and traditional football clubs in Mexico, according to Wikipedia.