Source: SKY_Sports
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Oliver Holt of the Daily Mirror believes a poor squad development policy at Chelsea has left them with a weak squad in which the only real stars are the popular English trio of captain John Terry, Frank Lampard and the currently injured Joe Cole.[LNB] Holt told The Sunday Supplement that unlike their title rivals Chelsea have failed to build a strong squad and have squandered their finances on big money players in the twilight of their careers. [LNB]"The idea of building a squad like clubs such as Everton, Aston villa and most obviously Manchester United and Liverpool have done, doesn't exist at Chelsea," said Holt. [LNB]"There is an explosion of new players and then they are gone. There is no sense of progress at the club. That's why there is so much affection for Terry, Lampard and Cole, because they are rare constants in this change.[LNB]"Compare what Sir Alex Ferguson has built at Untied with what Jose Mourinho left at Chelsea - look at the bench at Cheslea, it is worse than the Liverpool bench. The squad is thin now because their buying policy has been poor. [LNB]Ageing players"They've got a top layer of very highly paid ageing players and they have got a core of John Terry, Frank Lampard and Joe Cole who are the real stars and the players that the fans love, above that everything else is up for grabs."[LNB]Chelsea are currently third in the Premier League, safely through to the quarter-finals of the Champions League and semi-finals of the FA Cup but they have struggled to keep pace with Manchester United and former Blues boss Luiz Felipe Scolari was sacked following a series of poor displays after the Brazilian failed to get the best from the club's expensively assembled squad. [LNB]Holt believes the likes of Michael Ballack and Deco have been evidence of Chelsea's poor transfer policy, but still believes the London club have an outside chance of recapturing the Premier League, thanks to the skills of temporary boss Guus Hiddink. "Some of their more recent buys haven't been value for money - Ballack hasn't been value for money and Deco was one of those players clearly bought on the down slope of his career - Barcelona wouldn't have let him go if he wasn't. [LNB]Hiddink hope"I still think, perversely, that Chelsea are the better bet to catch United than Liverpool in the Premier League, partly because of this infuriating inconsistency about Liverpool. I think now Hiddink is in charge, if they can keep that core of players motivated, then Chelsea have an outside chance."[LNB]However, Holt is unsure the Dutchman, who is also boss of the Russian national team, will remain at the club after the end of the season. [LNB]"I don't know enough about the intricacies of the situation with the Russian national job, which is presumably complicated for (Chelsea owner) Roman Abramovich. I imagine he would have to have a replacement lined up but that situation is potentially very tricky for Abramovich. There will, though, be a lot of pressure from all sides for Hiddink to stay if they win something." [LNB]
