Chelsea Looks Like Manchester United Redux

Watching Chelsea hammer/pummel/run circles around Bordeaux in the first half of the Champions League opener for both sides, I couldn't shake the feeling that I'd seen this before.

The free-flowing themed football, the extended sets of one-touch passing, the dominant midfield defense, the penetrating dribbles from deep in midfield, the 2-0 halftime lead that would've been five with the presence of a clinical finisher, and the unrelenting search for more goals yet.

Luiz Felipe Scolari has turned Chelsea into what Roman Abramovich always dreamed: Manchester United.

Chelsea have always had the capability to dominate games from beginning to end, but schematically Jose Mourinho was much more conservative. This led to Chelsea's current group of players being slighted by fans and pundits, when really it was the system that made them look like solid, efficient grinders instead of creative, entertaining geniuses.

The additions of Deco and Jose Bosingwa certainly have helped; Deco's passing and movement lend themselves to imaginative football, and Bosingwa's crossing against Bordeaux put long-time Chelsea first-choice target Dani Alves to shame.

But it has been Frank Lampard, Joe Cole, and Michael Ballack who have taken to the tactical nous of Scolari more quickly than Blues fans should have expected.

Should this hold up and teams continue to fail to adjust to Chelsea's new tempo, expect the Blues to emulate not just Manchester United's tempo, but also their achievements by bringing home a Premier League and Champions League double in 2009.

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