Andre Villas-Boas Is A Nerd, Ramires Is Out And Other Chelsea News

Apparently I managed to miss this news yesterday, which makes me an awesome blogger. Ramires has been confirmed out for Chelsea vs. Queens Park Rangerson Sunday, which opens up a pretty big hole in the Blues midfield. Granted, it's one that can be patched by the inclusion of Raul Meireles, who was superb against Genk in midweek, but I think everyone would rather we be fully rested, and Meireles did play ninety minutes of football on Wednesday.

What might be worrying is a repeat of the Frank Lampard saga, when the midfielder was repeatedly 'close' to a comeback last year but ended up missing four months of the season, the tail end of his absence coinciding with an absolutely awful run of form that cost the Blues the title. Ramires' return has been tentatively scheduled for the Carling Cup match at Everton, but he'll apparently definitely be back for Arsenal. I've heard that one before...

Other things I did notice but didn't have time to talk about...

• Swansea want Josh McEachran on loan, which would probably be a good thing for him to get playing time. Everyone at the club seems to have huge regard for Josh, but he hasn't been particularly good for the reserves and he's played less than one full match at the senior level this year. A loan would do him well, so long as he isn't Kakuta'd.
• Speaking of Gael Kakuta, he's not playing at Bolton. At this point in his career it might be worth pointing out that three Premier League managers have decided he isn't good enough to play for their first team right now. This year is critical in figuring out whether he's going to make the transition from ace prospect to actual servicable player and... yeah it doesn't look great, does it?
• Andre Villas-Boas claims that he's a 'very negative person' which makes me like him even more. We have a football-manager playing pessimist in charge of our club. When he is gone I will cry. See? I'm a negative person too. Why did I even think about that?
  
  Anyway, I think it's pretty clear at this point that our manager is a gigantic nerd and we all love him for it.
• Also, I wanted to talk about the Thibaut Courtois-Petr Cech thing. Earlier in the week, Courtois mentioned that he was told Cech's Chelsea career might not continue into his late 30s like most top keepers and that he'd have a chance to supplant the number one at Stamford Bridge before too long. While I'm happy that one of our goalkeeping prospects has the ability and confidence to think about seriously mounting a challenge on the top spot in the next few years, I'm less pleased about him talking to the press about the specifics.
  
  Whether or not anyone can tell how long Cech's career will be is beyond the point, I think - Courtois was given a privileged opinion that doesn't reflect well on a teammate and has gone to the press with it. At best, that's naive, and the club's reaction confirms they're not that happy about it leaking.

I've probably missed other stuff too. Oh well.