Andre Villas-Boas’ project may have been cut short prematurely, but the spirit of the Portuguese’s plans has remained. The summer transfer window has seen the departure of three veterans and the injection of young, talented midfielders.

Just a year ago, Chelsea were seen as an aging club severely lacking in creativity in the center of the pitch. With the additions of Juan Mata, Eden Hazard, Marko Marin, Kevin De Brunye (who has now been loaned to Werder Bremen) and Oscar in the last 12 months, the Blues have done a complete 360 in that regard.

In addition to the players mentioned above, Chelsea have Frank Lampard, Michael Essien, John Obi Mikel, Ramires, Oriol Romeu, Josh McEachran and Raul Meireles on their books, making for a crowded midfield. So how will manager Roberto Di Matteo keep everyone in the dressing room happy?

Luckily for Di Matteo, both Mata and Hazard, arguably the squad’s two most talented players, can play anywhere across the band of three attacking midfielders in the Italian’s preferred 4-2-3-1 formation. But those two playmakers offer very little defensively, with each averaging just .7 tackles per game, according to WhoScored.com. To make up for that lack of defensive help, Di Matteo will likely field Ramires, and his 2.8 tackles per game, in the right midfield position, a role he thrived in last season.

Marin offers a more direct approach than both Mata and Hazard — averaging just 12.2 passes per take-on compared to 48.5 and 22.6 for Mata and Hazard, respectively — and may be better served as a super sub when the squad needs an injection of pace and directness.

That leaves Oscar as the odd man out, but with Chelsea playing for a whopping seven trophies in the upcoming season, the young Brazilian playmaker will have plenty of opportunities to play, whether it’s in the middle of the attacking midfield trio or in a holding role alongside a more defensive player. Oscar has been compared to Luka Modric, and may bring on a natural change of shape, depending on where he is deployed. If fielded in the number 10 position behind the striker, Oscar’s tendency to drop deep will change Chelsea’s shape to something not unlike the Spanish national team’s, with the Brazilian playing in Xavi’s role. If he is deployed in a holding role, Chelsea may look more like a 4-1-4-1 when in possession. Either way, he will offer Di Matteo a plan B, if needed.

In the two holding roles, Di Matteo will like likely stick with the duo that combined so brilliantly down the stretch of Chelsea’s Champions League run: Lampard and Mikel, with Miereles and Essien spelling those two when needed. That leaves Romeu, who performed admirably under AVB but was largely left out of the side under Di Matteo. The young Spaniard’s appearance may be reduced to domestic cup ties. It may behoove Chelsea to loan out McEachran once again, after the teenager struggled to get playing time on loan to Swansea last season and did not the breakout Daniel Sturridge enjoyed with Bolton the season before.

If Chelsea are done adding players to their squad, they will be equipped for the long season that lies ahead, especially in the center of the park. The depth of the squad should help the team avoid fatigue later in a season in which they will compete in five competitions in addition to the Community Shield against Manchester City and the UEFA Super Cup against Atletico Madrid — not to mention the African Cup of Nations will see the team lose both Mikel and Essien for up to a month. While a gift, the depth can prove to be a curse; with so many quality players, Di Matteo will have a hard time pleasing them all.

If we know anything about Andre Villas-Boas, it’s this: He wants Chelsea to play at a quick pace. It’s the reason he was tabbed by Roman Abramovich to lead Chelsea’s transformation away from the pragmatism of Jose Mourinho, whose impact is still felt around Stamford Bridge.

If we know anything about Frank Lampard it’s this: He doesn’t play at a quick pace. He likes to spend time on the ball and pick out the right pass—usually to the center of the pitch—before bombing into the box. Is there anything wrong with Lampard’s style of play? Of course not, but in an AVB side, that style of play just doesn’t fit.

Take Chelsea’s 1-1 draw with Wigan for instance. Some might say that the flat, impotent performance by Chelsea was due to the inevitable let-down after the win against City, but there was more to it than that.

Oriol Romeu played his worst game, by far, and was pulled after halftime. Juan Mata was ineffective and had little impact on the game. So what changed from Chelsea’s run of wins? Lampard got the start over Ramires, moving Raul Meireles over to the right. Chelsea clearly missed Ramires’ energy in the middle, as did Romeu, and Lampard’s introduction completely changed the dynamic of the team.

Take a look at Lampard’s chalkboard (via the Guardian) in the Wigan draw compared to Meireles’ against Wolves.

The two thing things that jump out are the number of pass Lampard plays and the direction of those passes. As you can see Lampard spends a lot of time on the ball, meaning Juan Mata is spending less time on the ball and less time creating, something Lampard, for all his virtues, does not do much of. Meanwhile, Meireles spends little time on the ball, attempting only 34 passes, a majority of which were direct, lateral passes to Mata on the left.

There was a time when Lampard was the epicenter of the Chelsea team, but that time has passed. When Chelsea play through Mata, they are simply a better side. Unfortunately, when Lampard is in the side, it’s hard for Chelsea to do that—the left side of the pitch just isn’t big enough for the both of them. Simply put: Mata’s best games—and not coincidently, Chelsea’s best results—have come with Lampard on the bench.

If AVB is going to implement his system, the system Abramovich wants to see, he needs to get rid of the “slow”—not in terms of running speed, rather ball-circulating speed—players that Torres complained about in the infamous interview with El Pais. Along with Nicolas Anelka and Florent Malouda, Lampard certainly falls under that category.

Recently, Atletico Madrid’s coach, Abel Resino, came out and said that Atletico’s goal for this season is a third or fourth place finish in order to qualify for Champions League (Atletico finished fourth last season). Resino has thrown in the towel before the season has even begun, unofficially handing the La Liga title to either Barcelona or their city rival, Real Madrid. Now how exactly does this concession sit with followers of La Liga, especially with Atletico supporters? This past season Bernd Schuster was fired as head coach of Real Madrid when he admitted that his side could only hope to stay in the game with Barcelona in an upcoming Clasico. A situation that is very comparable to Resino’s. Perhaps, Resino’s statement can be seen as even worse considering that he has come out and said that he has little to no hope of preventing city rival Real Madrid from winning another La Liga title.

Now is it obvious that Barca and Madrid are the front runners to win La Liga? Undoubtedly. However, it could be argued that it was obvious that going into the aforementioned Clasico against Barca, Madrid could only hope to stay in the game based on the two team’s form going into the game. As Schuster learned, it is usually best to not state the obvious. Perhaps, Resino has yet to learn that lesson. How happy can Atletico’s supporters be that Resino has no intention of beating Madrid out for the La Liga title? I’m going to guess that they’re not very happy about that. Atletico finished fourth in the league last season and made it into the Round of 16 of the Champions League. Atletico supporters probably see some room for improvement, possibly aiming to win a Derbi Madrileno, building on their one loss and one tie from last season. Atletico may not be able to win La Liga but it might give their supporters some satisfaction knowing their city rivals won’t win it on their account either. Atletico Madrid also has to be considered one of the few teams outside of Barcelona and Madrid that could win a trophy, the others being Villareal, Sevilla, and Valencia.

Is all hope lost of any competition for La Liga outside of Barca and Madrid? Not exactly. As I mentioned, a Valencia with David Villa is still a contender. A Marco Senna inspired Villareal is always a threat. Sevilla, even without Luis Fabiano, (if he does go to AC Milan) is always a strong team as well. Sure, Barca and Madrid are favorites, but we have to hope that there will be some fight from the aforementioned teams. For Spanish football’s sake.

Players sometimes will even put up with a loss in their wages, transfer fee, even competition to make known their desire to play in Spain. Kaka was eventually sold to Real Madrid at a lesser price than Manchester City offered. Cristiano Ronaldo has enjoyed two seasons as arguably the world’s greatest player, making two consecutive Champions League Finals appearances, but has opted to join a team that has lacked Champions League success recently. Andrea Pirlo has come out and said that he would rather play for Atletico Madrid, a team that hasn’t won a major trophy in recent years with possible exception to the Intertoto Cup in ’07, than Chelsea (the same Chelsea team that has won 7 trophies in the last 5 seasons and nearly won the Champions League a year ago).

When someone thinks of the best players that were established stars at the time they signed in La Liga a few names come to mind: Zidane, Figo, Ronaldo, Messi. Just those few are arguably some of the greatest players the game has produced in recent history. On the other hand, when someone thinks of the best players to ever have played in the Premier League, what names come to mind (I am talking specifically in the modern era late 90s to present)? Zola? Cantona? Fernando Torres? Top class player to be sure, but far from legendary (at least outside of their respective club’s supporters groups).

As history proves, for some reason the world’s top players, more often than not, prefer the luxuries of Spain over the recent success of English clubs, which at least has more than two teams consistently challenging for the league title. Why this is, we may never know. Maybe it’s the women. Maybe it’s the weather. Maybe England is the United States equivalent in Europe; many outside of England lack respect for the country (you know Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini do).

With Real Madrid’s recent spending extravaganza, most of the talk coming from bloggers and other football analysts has been centered around whether or not Real Madrid’s transfers will in fact turn into results on the pitch. The general consensus from various websites is that it will be a flop. This is largely due to the fact that the last Galctico era (which saw the like of Beckham, Ronaldo, and Michael Owen brought in) was considered a flop due to their inability to gain the dominance of Europe that teams like Manchester United, Chelsea, and Barcelona have enjoyed the last few seasons. (I mention Chelsea because even though they have failed to win the Champions League, they have made it to the Semi Finals for 4 of the last 5 seasons which is an exceptional feat) However, no one can deny the difference with Galactico 2.0’s acquisitions which includes the last two FIFA World Players of the Year in Kaka and Ronaldo. Also, the fact that they picked up the experienced Raul Albiol and prolific Benzema doesn’t hurt either.

Before Madrid’s spending began, if there were to have been a poll as to whose football players’ names would be the most recognizable to people who do not follow football, I would guess that David Beckham and Pele would top list. Although both players are exceptional in their own way, this wouldn’t have sat well with those in the modern football world. I mean if those people, who may have an interest in the game, were to know how truly great football is, then shouldn’t they know the names of the world’s top players?

Well, now with Madrid’s record breaking transfers of Kaka followed by Ronaldo, those people are now familiar with arguably the world’s two best players. With news of these transfers getting time on ESPN Sportscenter, which tries its best to keep from airing soccer headlines, people all over the United States now knew how important soccer was to some people if one team was willing to pay a quarter of a billion dollars on two players alone. For better or worse, people took notice of soccer. Couple these stories and recent stories of the United States upset over Spain, Landon Donovan’s comments about Beckham and Onyewu’s transfer to AC Milan, and soccer has been getting more coverage than ever this past summer.

People are beginning to take notice. Late night talk show hosts, like Stephen Colbert, have been bringing up the stories to their audiences. When Colbert announced the Americans’ upset over Spain, the studio erupted with cheering and applause from the audience. Now, I’m going to take a wild hunch and say that that was the first time a few of those in the audience that night ever cheered for a soccer team that much before. Alexi Lalas is something of a household name after his analysis of the Confederation’s Cup and work with ESPN’s Sportscenter. And people all over the country now know Real Madrid as the team that spent a boatload of cash for two soccer players.

I’m one of those people who believe any publicity is good publicity especially in the case of a sport that is now beginning to pick up in a country that needs it most.