Wily José!

I was rather surprised by the Chelsea line-up last week against Wigan and the Charity Community Shield match earlier against Arsenal. Gallas, who was second choice behind Carvalho the entire last season suddenly replaced Carvalho in the lineup and now Carvalho is ranting about Mourinho keeping him on the bench.

It was then I realized Mourinho's intentions. Towards the end of last season Gallas was threatening to leave Chelsea if they did not play him in his preferred central defending position. Clubs like Barcelona and Liverpool were waiting to capture the defender and Mourinho did not want to lose him. Of course, Mourinho prefers only quality players on the bench too.

José Mourinho is a shrewd manager. By keeping Gallas in the starting eleven, he has put an end to all talk about Gallas leaving for another club at least for the moment. With not even two weeks left for the summer transfer window to close, Mourinho will successfully fend off suitors for Gallas and I bet once that happens, Gallas will get back to warming his ass on the bench.

But this time around, with so many top players in his squad he will find it hard to please everyone. Especially with the World Cup coming next year, the players would want to play almost every game and being on the bench for a long period would definitely harm their international career. Perhaps, it's time players like Joe Cole, Gallas, Huth, and Johnson moved on to a different club.