Jose Mourinho and Chelsea: Still so very, very special…
Jose Mourinho and I have a lot in common, you know. Suave, handsome, desired and detested by millions in equal measure. Well, that isn’t strictly true. And when I say a lot in common, I mean two things. Which are ultimately one and the same, when you think about it.
I love to see Chelsea win and I fucking hate to see them lose.
No matter how irrelevant the game, how inconsequential the loss, the sting is always the same. It all stems from having that goofy bastard Richard Taylor beat me in the 100 metres when I was 12. I’m a bad loser. I’m as English as they come, sure – the human equivalent of a cup of tea on the village green, but just don’t ask me to conform to the stereotype and be gracious or magnanimous in defeat, because I’m bloody useless at it. When Chelsea lose, if we had a cat at home I’d probably kick it. And I quite like cats.
Suffice it to say, despite the brave face and any number of tired football clichés I could muster for the general public, my mood on Wednesday morning was something akin to that of a homicidal maniac who had misplaced his favourite carving knife and gaffer tape. And I’m off the cigarettes at the moment too which didn’t help.
After the last two nights of European football, Rafa Benitez and Jose Mourinho are currently up the same creek and fighting over the paddle. Both have been used to waking up in the honeymoon suite wrapped in silk sheets, taking fan mail and flowers from their legions of followers before leaving for the training ground to a round of applause from their adoring staff. Life, until just recently, was pretty sweet.
But they are now both out on the streets, ducking brickbats and catcalls from those that once bowed before them in awe. Your strikers couldn’t score in a brothel, our best players have got splinters in their arses, the midfield has no grit, no flair, none of the players you’ve bought are any good and frankly you couldn’t mastermind a comeback if Sinatra and Elvis rose from the dead simultaneously and asked you to book Carnegie Hall for them.
If Gary Glitter posted on this blog at the moment he’d probably get a better reception than Jose Mourinho.
Surely, we have the best manager and players that money can buy, don’t we? Limitless budget should the man in charge decide that he needs reinforcements? So why haven’t we won the Champions League yet?
Well, it’s Jose, isn’t it? Arrogant git. Jose Mourinho and his busted halo. The formerly Special One is no more, his reputation tarnished and questions being asked of his methods. Why Jose? Where did it all go wrong?
The hype that followed the self-appointed Special One when he pitched up in England with a precociously impressive CV and an ego larger than Roman’s yacht has arguably led to him becoming a victim of his own success. This is a man who has an obsessive approach to preparation, with a network of scouts reporting to him on forthcoming opponents, detailing every hairline crack in their defence, their striker’s weakness when pushed on to his left foot and the percentage meat content of the Balti pies sold in the South Stand. This man produces individual DVDs of opposition players, complete with dossiers on them for each of his men, detailing how to turn a lethal, pacey £20 million winger into a snivelling little bitch who loses control of his bowels every time he hears the name of his marker. He knows when it will rain, when kids are about to run out in front of his car – you know, like in the advert. He’s a genius.
Then how in the name of all that is holy did he let us lose to Barcelona?!
Well, here’s the kicker. And believe me I’m spitting feathers as I type this, given my very non-English attitude to the business of defeat.
We were beaten by the better team. Probably one of the best we’ll see in the next decade or so, if the truth be told. And that’s it. No more to say. Out thought, out played and out of the competition. Goodnight Vienna (that might have been an easier tie, I suppose. John Spencer would have sorted them out on his own…).
Questions will of course be asked, it is only natural; did Jose get the tactics right, should Drogba and Crespo have played together, should Wright-Phillips have been given the chance to run free like a diminutive Derby winner in the vast open Catalan fields? Maybe he got them right, maybe he didn’t. More ifs, buts and maybes; none of which will change anything. The nature of football fans, fickle creatures that we are, is such that fingers will be pointed in defeat; the bigger the defeat, the bigger the reaction. Barcelona have beaten us! Get out there and spunk £50 million on Adriano, he’s miles better than Drogba! (This is the Adriano who had his commitment questioned by that bastion of hard work and selfless toil, Juan Sebastian Veron, when he hit a rough patch earlier this season, right?) I want Eto’o! Ronaldinho! Puskas! Maradona! Stanley Matthews! Robert Fleck! Get me the best, we’re Chelsea, we’re loaded and we demand it, damn it!
Hold on. Calm down. We’re building a team here, a dynasty. Setbacks will occur and we have to deal with them. Seeing clips of superhuman goalscorers with Roman-worrying price tags on Sky Sports doesn’t necessarily mean they will fit in at Chelsea. We can all rave about strikers and how good they look from 60 seconds of carefully edited highlights – Kezman looked like a one-man net-bulging riot on that basis – but ultimately it is down to Jose, Frank Arnesen and the team to find the right men. Which, we hope, they will. But it won’t happen overnight.
As for the big eared cup itself, to repeat myself slightly from a comment I made yesterday, it takes time to learn the crazy combination of luck, guile and curious refereeing that is European football. Manchester United got whipped rotten by Barcelona and Galatasary and suffered any number of timid exits before they finally cracked it. Arsenal have just made it further than Chelsea for the first time in heaven knows how many attempts. Winning the European Cup as a manager is an incredible feat. Winning it twice is the stuff of legends – Paisley, Clough, Hitzfeld and Sacchi. Jose Mourinho has been a manager for less time than Joe Cole has been a professional footballer and he’s got one in the bag already.
Players will undoubtedly come and go this summer, and probably the next, and the next after that. Speculation will be rife at the World Cup, with the planet’s hacks fuelled on a month of (hopefully) breathtaking football and warm Liebfraumilch. The moment that Abramovich so much as breaks wind within 800 yards of Ronaldinho, the tabloids will have us offering Drogba, Huth, Eidur, £500 million, a quick knee-trembler with Roman’s missus and a packet of pickled onion Monster Munch in return for the toothy little genius. Some of it might be true, most of it will probably be complete bollocks.
So, new players or no new players, let’s just take a step back from our keyboards and think about it all for a moment or two.
We’ll never conquer Europe with Drogba up front!
Like France would never have conquered Brazil and the rest of the world in 1998 with Stephane Guivarch playing up front?
Huth on when you need a goal? Ridiculous!
Nearly as ridiculous as journeyman goalkeeper Jimmy Glass trying to volley the ball like Mark Hughes when Carlisle needed an injury-time goal and a miracle to save them from oblivion?
This is one funny bastard of a game. Anything can and probably will happen. And if you’re lucky, you won’t be standing in a queue for the bogs in the MHU listening to a drunk bloke moaning about Drogba when it does. If we all live until we’re a hundred years older than the clichés which surround the beautiful game, we won’t have seen nearly enough of this utterly ridiculous, brilliant thing we call football to half fill a pimple on Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink’s arse.
But what we do have is hopes and dreams. And I have a dream, my friends. I have a dream that one day, we will all be in a beautiful European capital sipping cold beers on a warm spring day. We’ll make our way to some vast, cavernous enormodome and we’ll watch Chelsea play in a European Cup Final. And we’ll win it. It won’t be some dramatic comeback or a penalty shootout, it’ll be a game in which we demolish one of European football’s old guard, a fully paid up member of the G14 ‘elite’. People will talk about that Chelsea side and the game itself long after we’ve all become dust and bones. And it will have been worth the wait, believe me.
Well, like I said, it was a dream. Whether that dream will come true or not, I have no idea. Whether Jose Mourinho will be in charge, I have no idea. But given his track record, the mentality of the team he has built (or is starting to build?), and the sheer chutzpah of the man, would you bet against him? You wouldn’t get a penny of my money against the Special One. And yes, he is still very, very special. The way I screamed and bawled like a 5 year old on April 30, 2005 bears testament to that.
But back on earth, we have Spurs on Saturday which for some of us quaint old-fashioned folk is a far bigger deal than some overhyped, TV and media driven nouvelle-21st century rivalry with a team of megastars from another league hundreds of miles away. It is almost 6,000 days since Spurs last beat Chelsea in the league. Now that is a record that is worth preserving and given the choice between the two, you can stick Barcelona and the Champions League where the sun doesn’t venture as far as I’m concerned. And I can’t begin to imagine the meltdown and cyber-based wrist slashing that will take place should we do the unthinkable and succumb to Martin Jol’s men. I might even join in, actually…
Saturday won’t be about the heady heights of nights in the Nou Camp, it’ll be about three points, getting one over on a proper rival and more importantly, Peter Osgood. I never saw him play, never met him and now, sadly, I never will. But I’d hazard a vague guess that he’d care far more about stuffing Tottenham than anything else right now, Barcelona or no Barcelona.
And Ed, welcome to the Chelseablog. Great article, some of which I agree with, some of which I don’t but I look forward to many debates, discussions and so forth with you in the future. Which is what makes it all so bloody marvelous, don’t you think?
- Posted at 04:00 PM · Permalink · Print · 4333 views · Last indexed by Google on the 8th May 2008
- Tags: Champions League, Jonathan Dyer, Jose Mourinho, Manager
Quite right Jonathan, great piece from yourself - I think you’re just about there actually which is a shame as I was looking forward to some healthy disagreements! Oh well there’s always next time.
I am a chelsea fan so none of that american post 9/11 bullshit of you either agree or you’re the enemy.
a few points on Mourinho and before I make them, I do believe he is a worldclass coach:
_ in 2 seasons, and althought he hasnt hesitated in splashing the cash, he has failed to really improve the team with his signings. Our best players: Terry, Lamps, Cech, Gallas, Cole, Robben, Makelele…even Crespo is probably our best striker.
_ sure he won the premiership but we finished 2nd the year before with a team in transition having bought a dozen of players. When you splash over £100 million on the 2nd team in the premiership…and futhermore, Arsenal knew how to play a couple of seasons ago.
_ my main problem with Mourinho is what he’s doing to my club. We’re the most hated club in the country. Some say it’s the price to pay for success but it’s untrue. ManU were hated but respected and to see all the press hoping for a Barca win is just crazy.
I am so sick of Mourinho, he’s killing the club. I was gutted on saturdy, sick to the stomach when he once again failed to shake hands at the end of the game. A game we won! and a game against relegation strugglers, not our rivals….
add to that the constant lying, how can you say Messi is an actor when Drogba plays in your team…not to mention the lies on Frisk…
it’s just too much and it’s only getting worse.
we have all the money in the world, we could have the most exiting team in the world, and at the least a team people respect…
I am sure your bank manager can explain what’s fueling this PROPAGANDA.
You’re right Henry - thousands they pay me for doing this shameless Mourinho PR job. Well, Blogmaster keeps telling me that the cheque is in the post, anyway…
The UK postal service is not as reliable as it once was, Jonathan… I swear the cheque’s in the post. I absolutely have not spent Jose’s CFCB PR budget on beer!
Absoulte drivel. Sycophantic poppycock!
Mourinhio is a football manager - nothing more - nothing less.
He is a despicable human being. Arrogant and ungracious.
He should get the sack for ruining the clubs soul. Guus Hiddick is the man to take us forward.
A progressive, attacking, dignified and experienced coach.
JM does NOT BRING THE BEST OUT OF THE PLAYERS. HE SUPPRESSES THEIR TALENT.
Robben looked sheer class 18 months ago- he is now a shell of a player. Told to track back- he has become a shadow of himself and faces a 4 game ban.
The treatment of swp is a MASSIVE MASSIVE own goal. iT WILL STOP US SIGNING OTHER YOUNG PLAYERS - because of it.
It really amazes me that- real chelsea fans support this little smarmy runt! He should not act the way he does- whilst WEARING OUR COLORS!
hIDDICK WOULD BRING RESPECT BACK TO THE CLUB, SUSTAIN THE SUCCESS AND IMPART SOME DUTCH FLAIR.
enough is enough- we want our chelsea back.
Another well written piece. Jonathan, when I first read your comments on Scousers and Honours I thought I was dealing with some self-important, impossibly biased prick. But the more I read your articles I think you have a lot pretty much sorted, and I was wrong. You seem to me to have the right mix of a love and passion for your club, and optimisim for the future blended with a dose of realism/pragmatism. Keep up the good work.
I do however also agree with those fans that are expressing the view that Mourinho is seriously damaging the reputation of the club and Chelsea brand around the uk and europe, whilst at the same time building his formidable jugernaut of a team.
Rupert mate, I think you’ve been in too many scrums old bean. Seems to have damaged the grey matter old boy.
Henry, you are a top comic, no please stop… you’re killing me!
JD, bang on as usual.
For all the naysayers, I think you have to put into context where we were before JM and where we are now. I’ll wager that none of you (Henry, Rupert, Marty et al) have been fans as long as me (35 years and counting), which means you have no idea what it was like to watch us play Blackpool in the old Division 2 in front of 5000 fans in the crumbling old Stamford Bridge, when The Shed was exactly that… a shed. And still cheer them on through the sun and rain. For years we have been nothing much more than an intermittently successful team, mostly mediocre, sometimes abysmal, occasionally great. All of this replaced with unerring consistency, trophies, and league titles. It’s like being married to Vera Duckworth and coming home one day to find Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, Cameron Diaz and Thandie Newton and their best mates in your house and willing to do anything you like!
Hmmmm… maybe that’s just my fantasy… did I just type that out loud?
We have broken the duopoly of Manure and Airline, we have players admired across the world. And the reason… Mourinho. Yes, Roman supplied the cash, and Clownio bought some good players, but to mould them into a winning unit, to make them beleive in their ability, to make them ruthless and efficient, and occasionally make them thrilling to watch as we have occasionally this season takes a Special One.
Don’t keep falling back on what Clownio did - nice chap, but he did nothing more than keep us in reasonable shape under the autocratic and frankly embarassing stewardship of Captain Birds Eye Bates. Clownio couldn’t get Lampard to his current staus, he had no idea what to do with Makelele, he persisted with Jokanovic for God’s sake - the worst player to wear the shirt since Doug Rougvie, he distrusted the legend Zola, marginalising him during his last season, he did NOTHING for Joey Cole except make him look a dipshit by bringing Veron on against Monaco… Joey must have been thinking
“Just how shit does everyone have to be before Clownio gives me a game?” It must have broken his bloody heart to see that…
… Mourinho gave JT the captaincy after dual experiment with Le Saux and Desailly, Mourinho re-instated Makelele’s self belief, Mourinho transformed Eidur from Carthorse sub-Crouch striker to Mark Hughes version 2 (new and improved) forward midfielder, Mourinho convinced Billy he can play anywhere across the back 4, he bought in Ferreira, the best right back in Europe last year, he bought Essien, a rock in midfield, he bought back the superb Crespo and made him welcome at the club after Ranieri had isloated him.
He won Manager of the Year in his first year with us
He won Coach of the year in the BBC Sports personality awards
He won us the Carling Cup, our first trophy for 5 years
He won us the Premiership and broke the red duopoly
He stole the thunder of Ferguson and Wenger from under their noses
He got us our first win over Arsenal in the league, and then we did the double over them
He broke just about every Premiership record in his first year
He re-invented the club and made us news, any Chelsea news is big news
Love him or hate him, the man is good, very good, and proven to be good. Without him we may not be where we are today. Ask any Liverpoo, Airline or Manure fan, hated and winners, or loved and losers.
What do you think they’ll answer?
Cheers ck - I’d like to add that I’m fully aware that I can be a self-important impossibly biased prick at times, but as long as people keep pointing it out I think I’ll be fine… ;-)
Jose is a one-off, a very unique individual and by God, is he an opinionated bugger. I can’t imagine how much he would enrage me were he managing another top Premiership side. But all the while he does the business down at the Bridge, then he’s just fine by me. When he stops doing so, he’ll move on and we’ll welcome his replacement with open arms in the hope that they will carry on the good work. The king is dead, long live the king being the best way to sum it up.
And as for damaging the reputation of the club, well, he’s getting plenty of help from the media in that respect. But as for getting us a bad name, some of us on here remember good old Uncle Ken. Now there was a man who knew how to piss people off!
And thanks Rupert for your kind words. Robben and Duff have to track back and do their bit, it’s called teamwork. Has it not occurred to you that we’ve been a bit hit and miss on the full back front this season, what with injuries, lack of form and so forth? And then maybe ask yourself why we’re asking the wide men to be more defensive? Just a thought, of course.
Real Madrid have a team full of flair players, most of whom wouldn’t know how to track back and tackle if you threatened them with a gun and told them to. And look at the situation they’re in at the moment. Beaten by Arsenal - imagine the shame of it…!
Guus Hiddink is a great coach though, no argument from me there. He’s just not needed at Chelsea right now.
rupert i have to agree with you, as much as admire mourinho for wht he has previously done with both porto and now chelsea, he is draggin the name of the club through the dirt. the sort of behaviour we have seen lately is a disgrace. if only mourinho could conduct himself with the dignity of the LEGEND that is claudio ranieri. abramovich made no secret of the fact he wanted that twat eriksson to replace the loveable italian yet claudio still managed the club with a smile on his face. he is one of the true gentlemen. whereas mourinho is becoming even more arrogant and self important but as a life long fan of the club i feel i have to back him all the way no matter what he says.
As for the matter about how the team should play-i dont think it would hurt to play a bit more expansively. there is no reason why cole cant play in the centre with duff, robben or SWP on the wings. allow these players to express thereselves more. having them tracking back is taking away what there game is all about, flair and skill. while there is no lack of skill on show i feel chelseas football is truly awful and frankly just a bore to watch. nobody wants to see there team grind out 1-0 results against a team they should but five goals past. are defence is good enough that i feel makelele is unnecessary and could easily be replaced by someone with a bit more excitement in their game because with lampard and essien in midfield where not exactly pushovers.
finally to all those people saying we need a 20 goal a season striker i just want to say look no further than hernan crespo. the man will score goals in any team and would add something to our attack if he played every game. his runs and finishing are world class and he puts drogba to shame, who in my opinion is just a more expensive version of emile heskey and offers very little to the team except brute strength
Great read, great site, Thanks.
Grocerjack your words are prescient. JM would tell you that you can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs. What’s been happening at Chelsea has been as irresistible as a force of nature. In two years we’ve shaken up the football world and the football establishment. That’s where the resentment comes from and JM’s conduct, in whatever way it manifests itself (sometimes I giggle at it sometimes I sigh) is the fuel for the fire that was bound to happen. I believe we will win the CL under JM.
He will move on one day and Chelsea will still move ahead (and I agree Guss Hiddink would do well at the Bridge) and how will we judge JM? Not on his conduct but on his achievements which to date have been considerable and unfinished.
I think Mourinho has done well at Chelsea for the most part. His antics on the sideline are worth the price of admission alone at times. The spat with Robson was definitely entertaining. But in a footballing sense something is off this season. Last year they were able to score more freely. The 2nd leg at Barcelona was a joke. We were nonexistent as an attacking force. It seemed as though Lampard might still be struggling with his injury. I would have like to have seen if Essien would have made any difference. I think now with Makelele getting older and Essien not really scoring the club has made a big mistake letting Scott Parker go. His performances for Newcastel have been stellar and I am amazed that Sven won’t give him a chance.
I think Crespo has been a good buy but he still seems to be longing for Italy. If we lose him we must buy another forward for sure. We need to bring Bridge back as well, I think he can fill the left back spot better than Del Horno.
Lets not be rash though, the nucleus of the squad has been together and they are all hitting their peak ages. We have had a fairly difficult draw in the knockout stages the last 2 seasons and it takes some luck to make it to the final. We have the squad, we just need a player to two to freshen up the squad. An FA Cup Trophy would certainly make for another successful season.
I do agree with groserjack! Rupert what Chelsea do you want back??? The one which wins once in decade FA cup? No I am serious what Chelsea do you want back??!!
You guys read too much newspapers, but this is the half of the problem. The second half is that you believe to newspapers grow up mate.
Chelsea of today, is the Chelsea I want! Chelsea that wins, Chelsea that does not affraid to be against flaw, my friend!!!! I do not care about respect from liverpool fans and I proud by what JM does!!! I do not want your Chelsea mate.
So what if Chelsea are most hated football club in the land, and I LOVE it! No one would choose to hate Sunderland, would they? That’s why Chelsea are so special! What I see in Jose Mourinho is PASSION; and his un-diplomatic behaviour is just driven by his passion for Chelsea. And I LOVE it too! I’m so glad that we’ve got the Special One and not that Dirty One who bonked the FA secretary.
This Gus Hiddink fella. This is the PSV 0-4 to Lyon Gus Hiddink you’re talking about? Oh…
In the “for what it’s worth” department:.
Last summer, I spoke to the head soccer coach of a major U.S. university.
This chap had taken coaching courses in Holland, England, Italy, etc.
He also had the chance to observe the coaching styles and methods of a wide range of top international managers (including Alex Ferguson) first- hand during the ‘94 WC and other international friendlies. He was the host at their training facilities.
To cut to the chase, he said that Jose Mourinho was “hands down” the best he’d ever been around.
Listen Chelsea isn’t even my team but I can tell from the supporters on this site, the brave ones who dare to question Jose’s tactics, are crying out for a winning team with flair - and with the players you have, it is easily attainable. I agree with one of your previous contributors about the mistake of loaning out Bridge and the utter foolishness of selling Scottie Parker. Johnny Giles was on Dublin radio earlier today stating that he thinks Morinho won’t let the players express themselves, especially the ones who can - Duff and Crespo & SWP come to mind. I actually disagree with a previous writer that Robben is not allowed to express himself. His doubling back is pathetic. In fact he hangs on to the ball too long. Sometimes I admit he scores wonderful goals from selfishness but you have other players who are schackled by the JM system. With the money in your club now and the wealth of talent already at your disposal there is no reason why your team couldn’t play the beautful game and win trophies at the same time. In fact, I believe it’s why you were turfed out of the Champions League. Barcelona’ tough midfield (I think far too little credit was given to Marquez - the backbone of team Mexico) and they basically bullied the your midfield around. Makele was forced to doing 2 or 3 men’s work in there. I don’t think Lampard was match fit, either. And there were the expressive Catalans led by Ronaldinho and Deco. Nobody tells them to take 2 steps forward and one back. I tell you - you guys are selling yourself short - it’s not flair that is going to defeat you. It’s beautiful to watch when mixed with the mental strength and toughness of Lampard and Terry and Makalele. As I said I am not even a Chelsea fan but the feeble exit in the Champs was painful to watch for a football fan. Sure it’s hard to stop a steam engine like Ronaldinho but Christ Barca wa camped in your half for most of the game - something had to give. By the way, as far as the National team in concerned, has anybody noticed that Ronaldinho loves running at Englishmen. Didn’t he take a big run at Ferdinand in the last World Cup before dinking it over to Rivaldo for the kill. Rooney will have to do the same for you guys to have a chance to take the big one in June.
grocerjack’s mini-article here has inspired me. I mean, there’s really nothing more to say that that and the initial article by Jonathan. I did question Mourinho’s approach this season and I still want to see Chelsea play in a somewhat different way this season, but that’s where my questioning of his authority ends. He’s a magnificent coach. All this bullshit talk is fake, he does that for our own good.
Can’t you understand that being hated by everyone is what drives and will drive us forward? He’s doing it for the club. In reality he’s the calmest and kindest man EPL has ever seen. He’s an amazing coach, a Special One, and let’s forgive him the Barcelona clash.
After all, victory, once we get it, will be much sweeter!
VOTE FOR CHELSEA’S PLAYER OF THE YEAR NOW!
I voted for Lamps, although I feel John should get it.
Hey guys there’s a plus side to our demise and defeat to Barcelona. The glory hunter supporters which appear to be Henry and Rupert on this site, will be rummaging frantically through their wardrobes looking for their Arsenal or Man Utd shirts which were kept just in case of situations like this.
Fantastic news all round I think!!!!
Rupert you are a joke!
What kind of team would you rather have?
One that wins no matter what - or that which loses because of want…
Honestly people who do not give JM his full respect are some of our own fans (if they really our fans) like Rupert…
The Media has given full press to JM - at Barca you should have just seen the press room… After our knock out the fire has somewhat died… Removing a big club at this time is not good for publicity…I can hear the press scratching their heads for what story to tell next…
Hell…No story sells without Chelsea…Without JM…None whatsoever…
As much as they loath us they need us…POOR CREATURES
JM is still special as you can see self imposed you may say but the man deserves it and by a mile…
I have been with Chelsea since 1988 when i got to know the club and to say we have had better times now where has this twart been…RUBBISH
JM is craved over the world todate…True he comes off like an arrogant guy but hey this is marketing..should we brand ourselves in the shadow of champions of yester years?
Arse Wenger said once that he did not see any club beating Airline Fc, the press branded them invicibles… Interesting how the press has a selective choice of who is arrogant…
So to Rupert and all the loonies out there thinking that JM is not good enough…then I wonder whether you have got any more grey matter still available in your brain.
It really infuriates to watch UEFA give a team on the same footing advantage and then the fans seek blood with out analysing facts before them…
THINK BEFORE YOU UTTER
I was not saying JM should be sacked because that’s idiocy. I simply wish he broadens his mind just a little, tries new stuff out, gives chances to some players. We have 15 points, and I don’t see us not winning the EPL even if we field the youth team. So where can he find a better opportunity for experimenting than now? Let’s go and stun Spurs with 2 upfront. Or 3 at the back. Change something and see how it works, it can’t hurt.
All I was saying is that Chelsea are not reaching their full potential, that’s all. Sure, we don’t need to since other clubs have kindly burried themselves, but we will need next season. We’re a club that wins on class and discipline, and analyzing opponents’ flaws. What I want is one simple thing we’ve shown only occasionally: flair. You may go on saying that Arsenal have flair yet they lose, and it’s true, we’re at the top. Back since when football ain’t a show? Money or no money, sponsors or no sponsors, it still is. And what I want Chelsea to be is entertaining every match, not just occasionally.
lets face it chelsea will never be the best loved club. i much prefer being the most hated and winning silverware than being the most loved but winning nothing.
Clive,Jose Musumba- I am a Chelsea fan myself and I am fadding-up with all these Arsenal, Man U and ‘loonies’ jibes.
It’s just occured to me that the only decent opposition we’ve had this season was Barca. I think if we’re to win ECL a ’summer shopping’ spree will not work.
Winning it we’d need decent oppositon in the Premier League itself, which is probably why Liverpool won it last year. They owe it so much to our improvements, as a result of which they had to up their standards. Besides
ManureHuthCalvalho, }. Now most of these players accept Carlton Cole are world class players. What do we need them for. We can not destroy the Premiership by keeping the best there’s in our keep-houses.Think about it, our wing backs have had no threat at all this season, what if say SWP was at Liverpool (SWP after Frank is my favourite player at Chelsea) and Duff at
ManureManU, don’t you think having had five games between Liverpool and ManU this season, the experiences of coping up with the trickery of SWP and Duff and Ronaldo(Cristiano) would have prepared us in handling Messi and Ronaldinho, the very two people that dumped us out of ECL. What do we lose, we don’t need these players, at JM doesn’t need them, I mean he doesn’t need them on the pitch.Even underrated players like Geremi could be valuable experience to us if he was at Middlesborough rather than playing for our reserves. When he was at Middlesborough this guy was giving them ‘1-0′ wins with his super free-kicks and his defending is superb. For the 60 minutes he played in the first leg he kept Ronaldinho out of the tie, simply by sticking to him, giving him no space to breath.
In case you still don’t get my point(either because of your loyalism or ignorance), what I am saying is we’ll never win the ECL as long as we’ve no meaningful opposition in the EPL. And we’re responsible for killing the opposition, as long as we have all these SWP’s on the sidelines I ‘ll think we’re damaging not only the league but ourselves. Remember everybody wanted Essien but they could not join the auction.
Simple put, lets cut down on these big players, sell them to the big teams, then we win the league in a very competitive atmosphere, only then can we think about the ECL.
My Opinion.
My 3rd para. above got jinxed.
Besides us, Liverpool last year had strong competition from ManU and Arsenal. This made them stronger in ECL. The players who are luxury to us: {SWP, Duff, Manich, Eidur, Calton Cole, Geremi, Carlo Cudicini, Calvalho}. These players could as well be in other big teams in the EPL, giving us valuable experience for the ECL.
Holy f*ck, I actually agree with Henry on this one. Indeed, we have no opposition in the EPL and that’s why you perceive Chelsea as a strong team. But as soon as we had one good opposition, we fucked up. You can go on saying the red card destroyed us, but everyone accepts they were the better team. Our players simply have nothing forcing them to improve. They are used to grinding out those 1:0 wins after half-time.
After Barca, they got a wake-call. As I said, I wish we lose to Spurs big time. It’s for our own good. If we lose to Spurs, the players will totally understand how “sh*t” (incomparison to what they can be) they are.
A few points. Firstly, Mourinho’s ‘gracelessness’.
A) Don’t take what he says at face value. Listen to John Terry if you want to get an idea of what the manager really thinks. Jose says what he says to the press because he has to – he is in the business of defending his players and there is nothing to be gained from undermining them in public. This leads to:
B) No winning manager is magnanimous in defeat. What does Wenger do after we beat Arsenal? Bleat about our style of play. What does Benitez do? Complain about Robben? Did Rijkaard congratulate us for beating them in such a thrilling style last season? Of course not – and why should he? We should just be grateful he didn’t leave some frothy phlegm floating in Carvalho’s perm in the tunnel afterwards! I recall beating an excellent Man Utd side in 1993. Ferguson complained that we’d only won because United’s international players were tired and we didn’t have that problem cos we had no internationals? Graceless? Certainly. But true. So who are those marvellous, gracious coaches we hear so much about? Pearce, Jol, sometimes Allardyce? Managers under little pressure and with no silverware in this country. Every manager moans after defeat – just watch MOTD! – the difference being that it’s only news when Mourinho does it.
As for our style of play, we certainly haven’t clicked this season. I think there are a number of reasons for this - injuries, unhappy players, lack of meaningful opposition - and I think Mourinho is well aware of them. Last season we played excellent, technical, powerful, focused football – Robben and Duff were terrific – as good as anything I’ve seen since Gullit. Even this year, Joe Cole has been the most consistently exciting attacking player in the Premiership after the extraordinary Henry. I think next season will be all about Cole and SWP. We will fly.
But Mourinho has to temper attacking football with pragmatism – he has no choice. The man has to win games and trophies. And although he is under more pressure than anybody else in the English game, this is true of every manager. If Barca do not win the Champions League this season – and I think they won’t, even with their players! – do you not think that questions will be asked of Rijkaard? Forget how exciting his team was in the group stages if they crash out in the quarters. Why can’t you be more cautious they’ll ask? That’s football. Mourinho had the balance right last season, this season it’s not been there. But look at the man’s history. He knows what he is doing. It will return.
Is this thread for real? Or am I hallucinating? Obviously the mushrooms on my Pizza a la Funghi last night were not of the button variety.
It will be good for us to lose to Spurs? We should loan out our players to all and sundry? We have no meaningful opposition in the Premier League? As soon as we play a decent team, like Barcelona, we cannot step up to their level because we’re used to playing dross?
Dearie me. No wonder other fans think we’re arrogant. I’m at a loss to know where to start, I think I’ll leave you ‘Chelsea fans’ to cheer on Spurs tomorrow, for the greater good obviously.
Peter, Don’t you think without decent opposition in the EPL, ECL is a little bit out of reach?
I think it’s best to ignore them, Blingo. Clueless idiots bordering on deranged - just looking to stir things up. Not worth the time of day.
Blingo, I think there’s some truth in the idea that there are no teams close to our level in the Premiership, that we don’t have to play at our best to win and that this costs us when we play in the Champions League. I’ve said elsewhere that a major reason United won the Treble in 99 is because they were chased to the wire by two strong domestic teams, and that meant they couldn’t let up for a second, leading ultimately to that final two minutes in Barcelona. Increasingly, I think European success will demand strong domestic opposition and that’s the reason Barca won’t win the CL this season.
I could be completely wrong of course. It has been known.
Henry, it won’t be impossible to win the Champions League, but it will be much more difficult. However, I would not advocate lending our second stringers to Man U and Liverpool to help them out - i think they’ll do quite all right without our support, thanks very much. If liverpool sign a striker and man u a midfielder, next year could be very exciting. I don;t think it’ll be like this year’s cakewalk, anyway.
Good stuff, Henry. Just one thing I always like to pick up on - the idea of fans as fickle. Well, as some of the above posts show, there are fickle fans around, but for the most part, football supporters are the LEAST fickle elements of a football club, sticking with it through thin and thinner (as many of us did through the late 70s and early 80s - the worst times to be a blue). It made me laugh when I saw Ronaldinho saying this week that his happiness could not be bought, which was interpreted as meaning he wouldn’t go to Chelsea. I’d forgotten he’d decided to play for Rochdale for tuppence ha’penny every three years and not Barcelona, one of the richest clubs in the world.
From my point of view - I love Mourinho, even through his occasional outbursts of bad sportsmanship. But I don’t think it’s necessarily anti-Chelsea to suggest that maybe that last element of his personality can be a bit embarrassing and difficult to defend. I do take into account the comment that this is for public consumption, helping to defend his players and take the heat off them, but it does come across as a bit childish. Few of the neutrals who condemn that deny that he is a special coach and manager. As for the style of play - I wish some of the naysayers could remember the teams of the early 80, as I do: believe it or not they finished so low in division two because they played really bad football. And if I ever take a look at the videos of ‘better’ teams we had in the late 80s and early 90s, it’s safe to say that our football (and football in general) is so much better as to be almost unrecognisable. I suppose each generation is destined to forget, but believe me this really is a golden age. Enjoy it.
As much as I respect your articles, Blingo, I think you should have at least written a proper reply. No one here, at least myself, has anything against Chelsea. I have as much love and passion for The Blues as you all do. And that’s why I’m saying all this “idiotic” crap.
I don’t want to take my words back. We had no meaningful opposition this year. Liverpool were the closest and we played wonderfuly against them in both matches. That I not only accept but love. Those two games were the best this season. But leave them, and we had no real clashes. MU? We’ve lost. Yes, I think people have forgotten that. Arsenal? They are shit, which is obvious after looking at the EPL table. Who else?
Yes, of course, we have been winning. But damnit, you don’t expect anything less from a team of our immense quality and power. I don’t expect Mourinho not to win against mediocre teams. Yet he somehow manages to lose to Boro and get lots of boring incapable draws against Villa’s and Charlton’s.
You can continue living in a dream world of high hopes, and I accept that because we all are fans. But on the other hands, we can’t continue glorifying our game forever.
The 15 point gap is not because of Chelsea. It’s because of everyone else. Chelsea were the only good team in the first half of the season. No one else played nearly as good as they should have.
Barcelona, as I’ve said loooooooong before the game, were to be our first real test this season. And we have failed. Gracefully, because of our quality, but he have never, not one minute, had the upper hand. We were second. It hurts typing this but I accept it. Chelsea are the victims of their own success.
That’s why I hope we lose. It doesn’t matter, we are the champions. But it will have a much much needed impact on our players and our manager. I believe in them, always did, do and will. But I simply can’t ignore the way we have been playing lately. It’s not the way champions play. That’s why Arsenal were the “invincibles” and we are “boring boring Chelsea”. Arsenal played like champions. Yes, they’ve only lasted for a season, and we will for years, but you can’t hide the fact.
I love Chelsea, love JM and the players and would never swap with anyone. All I want to see is my club playing as they should be. F*ck the history, f*ck Clownio, don’t dwell on it forever. We’ve made such a huge leap forward, and I am so damn happy we did! But we have to move on. As many people have said, last season we were amazing. Absolutely amazing and people loved us. Now we aren’t.
Please, don’t call me names as you do. I’ve tried, as much as my language power allows me, to lay everything out nicely. I love Chelsea. I have the crest right above me now, a Chelsea mousepad and everything else not because it’s fancy, but because my heart says so. I love Chelsea and always will. And that is precisely (sp) the reason I say all this stuff.
Thanks.
You’re not the Tyrone Shoelaces who used to write for the Chelsea Independent back in the day are you?
My nadir as a Chelsea fan came in 92 when we got knocked out of the FA Cup quarter-finals in the last minute (having scored an equaliser minutes before) at second division Sunderland. It was at that point that I decided I had chosen to support a football club that would never come close to winning a single trophy. Arsenal, Liverpool, Man Utd, even Spurs fans can’t understand what that’s like. Since then, anything’s a bonus!
..or, better put, I wish we beat them 4:0. Yes, that’s what I wish. Don’t want no boring 1:0.
Spot on Mark, I just hope this site doesn’t end up like the 606 board, full of wind up merchants.
I do like that old saying… “opinions are like arseholes, everybody has one”
Come on you Blues lets do Rottenham, I like many others will be cheering for that come Saturday
Wonders will never cease. Henry makes coherent point shocker! And all without referring to the need to shoot Mourinho…
Henry, fair play to you. The point that we haven’t had enough real competition is a fair one, but I’m not sure about your suggested solution.
In simple terms, you can only beat what is put in front of you and that has always been the case. It is unfair to Wigan, Boro, Arsenal, United, Everton and any number of teams who have given us games to say that the only decent opposition that we’ve faced is Barca. They were the best, granted, but we’ve had to scrap elsewhere this season.
The race for the league title this year has been tougher which I think has contributed to us being less adventurous than you might have liked, but it still hasn’t been anywhere near as hard as I thought it would be (albeit that it isn’t over yet). Jose said he thought that we would win it on the last day which indicates what he believed it would be like - it looks like it will (hopefully) be over long before then.
Yes, of course other teams wanted Essien but couldn’t compete. But then again, we wanted Walcott and he wouldn’t come to us - the same will apply for other players too. We won’t be in for every world class player on the market, no matter what the media say. We might blow millions on a striker this summer who won’t get the 30 goals everyone expects of him and it might lead to someone else winning the title next season.
If we’re looking to challenge on all fronts, then we need a world class squad - having Geremi on the bench to stifle the likes of Ronaldinho is a better option than having Jody Morris there.
In terms of giving us a decent run for our money and how it would improve our chances elsewhere, it doesn’t matter how many world class players Liverpool or Man U have - yes, it might give us a couple of tougher games against them, but if they beat us and then fail to score against Charlton, give last minute own goals away to Birmingham, lose up at Boro (hey, it happens to the best of us…) then that is their problem, not ours.
Arsenal have manged to score 13 goals away from home this season; only 3 more than Sunderland. Isolated example - maybe if SWP had joined Arsenal instead of us, that might be different, but I doubt it would have led to them making much more of a challenge to our dominance.
And in all honesty it terms of Europe, I really don’t think that there is much that can prepare you for playing against quality like Ronaldinho, Messi, Eto’o and Deco when they are on form - they currently look like one of those once in a lifetime sides who on certain days will just be utterly unplayable. Much as it hurts, we have to take that on the chin sometimes.
And don’t forget, the Champions League is ultimately a knockout cup competition, irrespective of the league format at the start - there is a degree of luck involved which didn’t run for us this season. Had Real Madrid not hit the woodwork so often the other night, it would be business as usual up at Arsenal with them ignoring the draw and moaning about it. Had Gerrard ballooned over the bar against Olympiakos last season then we wouldn’t have heard “5 times” being yelped over and over again since last May. Had Scholes not had a goal disallowed against Jose’s Porto and so on - some days you get the results which make or break your season, even your career, and some days you don’t - it really doesn’t matter how good or bad you are.
We’re still learning as a team, as Mourinho is as a manager. The Champions League will come - we obviously differ as to how, and who might be in charge or who will be playing for us, but we just need to be patient and learn how to deal with the unique pressures and demands of that competition which will take time.
I love Jose.
And just for the record, I certainly don’t believe that we should lose to f*cking Spurs tomorrow whether any bugger believes it is for the good of the league, football as a whole or even the sodding ozone layer as it’ll be bloody awful for my health and mental state!
Those luury players you mention, Henry, could beat the team you wish to keep. Duff is actually better than Robben - though not under JM. Geremi should be starting for you. Gudjohnsen has never been given a lengthy run - and for sure would prosper from it. And Cudicini - well - he’s a top class keeper, pure and simple. You go back and check your stats. Big games that Duff was left out of, you lost. He was left out of the Stamford Bridge game against Barca (a late substitute, ok) and you lost - and though he had a dreadful first half at the Bernabeu - just as he started to get into the game with his crosses - doesn’t flippin JM take him off. Get rid of him. Man U will eat you with him on the left flank. He’d be the natural successor to Giggsy. Sure we’ll take your leftovers because you don’t, nor does Jose appreciate what you have there.
I am the one and the same TS who wrote for the Chelsea Independent. So very long ago…..
Losing to Spurs is Gleb’s project, mate.
Let me see if I haver this straight; We cannot beat Barca because we are used to playing dross and cannot step up when we have to play a decent team.
So tell me then who is it in La Liga that gives Barca these tough games that we are lacking? Is it Real, who Barca thrashed 3-0 in Madrid. Hmmmm don’t think so. Is it Valencia? No I don’t really think it’s them. So just who is it?
Correct me if I’m wrong but didn’t Barcelona win 15 La Liga games on the bounce and aren’t they 10 points clear? Aren’t Juve 10 points clear in Serie A, haven’t they only lost once all season? Apart from AC, and even then only occasionally, who gives Juve these hard games that are so essential?
Gleb; where have I called you “names” or” “idiotic”? I imply find it hard to believe that any Chelsea fan would write “I wish we lose to Spurs big time”. I don’t feel mine was an incendiary reaction at all. Go to Stamford Bridge tomorrow, stand with our fans, announce your preference for Spurs. Then you would get a reaction to complain about.
My project is not “lose to Spurs” literally. I want us to win the rest of the games, but not in they way we have been. Are you people really satisfied with all those dodgy wins against aweful teams? We haven’t had a decent first half in months! Only after the break we somehow manage to score 1, occasinally 2. Yes, it gives us 3 points, yes, we will win the league with those points, but can’t you look beyond that? Of course we all prefer this to what we had been like, but back then we COULDN’T and now we CAN play better than we do. We simply can.
I don’t want us to lose, not one match, but I see no other way of JM and the lads shaking up a little. Both matches against Barca have clearly shown we have fallen asleep in the EPL, winning automatically. When a top class performance was finally required, we couldn’t wake up.
we will make Barcelona die…for José Mourinho. Benfica rulezzzzzzzzzzz
blaise Finn–All I am against is that as Chelsea we have two teams, one that is best in the EPL and the other that is 2nd best. As stupid as my desperate suggestion is I wouldn’t
loansell them to one team. Sell Duff to ManU, Sell SWP to Arsenal, Sell Eidur to whoever (i.e the ones we don’t use often(less than 10 full games/season)), etc. That’s the only way we can get prepared for tactical European teams. Right now if you look at the other EPL teams none of their best players can match our best substitutes(reserves). And this takes competitiveness out of football in general.Blingo, I want the team to f*cking understand that they need to constantly improve. Can’t you see they don’t want to play well anymore? I mean, all those league games, all those 1:1’s, 2:1’s and 1:0’s. We f*ck all the first halves up, then Jose says that they can’t play like that, they go out, score one-two goals and shut the doors. Of course it gives us a win and naturally I don’t want anything more.
But in fact I do. Look at the quality we have! Why on earth can’t they play, for all their 80.000 a week, with passion every game? It’s natural they don’t give a damn anymore and I want that to change. If losing to Spurs will have a positive impact on the morale of the team and JM, I am ready to take it.
Of course I’d prefer a 4:0 trashing, who wouldn’t?! But that’s the f*cking problem: we can’t do that anymore! We score a goal on the 55th minute and after that play long balls hoping our wingers will score. If we can and will win 3:0, 4:0, or at least 1:0 but look like an attacking, hungry team, ‘ll be the happiest man on earth and eat my words that I want Chelsea to lose.
But that’s the reason I want them to have a shake up: because they aren’t winning anymore, they are getting 3 points. There’s a difference. Look at Arsenal: sh*t, sh*t, sh*t - then 4:0 at Fulham and then a somewhat lucky yet solid performance against Real. Or Liverpool this season. Amazing attacking football. Too bad they can’t score if their very lives depended on it but still!
I want Chelsea to play like that. I want them to play like champions. Right now they don’t. That’s all, Blingo! I’m sorry if I was harsh or stupid. All I want is to see my beloved team trash opponents like nothing. I haven’t seen it this season, bar Betis and Liverpool.
Everyone catch the “random” draw for the next round. For such a “random draw why is it always predictable. Juve and Vieira get Arsenal, and they set it up so Juve (Serie A leader) and Barca (La Liga leader) could play in the final. And we get Barcelona 2 years in a row. We need to win 1 soon so we have legitimate shot of getting into G14. Even then I’m sure they will not want to let us in though.
And I think letting players like Eidur and Duff and Geremi go is ridiculous. They are the backbone of Chelsea. Great team spirit which keeps the squad together. Eidur is very important in the locker room. Losing to Spurs is a joke, we should make it our goal to win every game from here out. Make a statement to everyone out there that next season there will be a reckoning. We are here to stay like it or not!
Gleb-Its
long ballslong bollocks.Blingo there’s 3 SerieA teams in the 1/4, and 2 LaLiga-I attribute that to the competitiveness of their project and the talent is spread across many teams. Think about it Riquelme, Torres, Joaquin etc, Veron, Kaka, Totti, . In Bundsliga every proper player is at Bayern. What’s the results, No Germans in 1/4s.
There are plenty of good players in the Premier League, that’s not an argument I can agree with.
As for the Germans; if Werder Bremen’s goalkeeper hadn’t decided to throw one into his own net in the last minute then they, not Juventus, would be in the quarter finals.
Villarreal got through by beating Rangers, who are not exactly Barcelona. Luck of the draw, as much as anything, explains why La Liga has more teams than England left in.
You cannot expect a domestic league to have many teams as good as those in the quarter finals of the CL. I’d say that England has as many strong teams as any League in Europe; Chelsea, Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, just for starters.
Just by way of example; these are the clubs in Serie A outside the current top 5; Livorno, Chievo, Lazio, Sampdoria, Palermo, Ascoli, Siena, Reggina , Parma, Udinese, Cagliari, Messina, Empoli, Lecce & Treviso. Which phrase springs to mind reading that llitle lot - Tough Opposition or Cannon Fodder?
No, mate, you’re missing the point. I was not talking about the names. If you look just at the names, the EPL should be the most exciting league in Europe. I was talking about reality, and in reality all Chelsea’s opponents were shit. They have completely failed th start, all of them, and now they simply can’t catch us anymore. In reality Chelsea had no real opponents this season and this is precisely the reason for all the draws and Boro, and ultimately - Barca. Chelsea are not ready to play good football now, they have, unfortunately, somewhat “downgraded” their standard simply because a higher standard wasn’t required. The downgrade is more mental, of course, but that doesn’t change the fact. No one really gave us a hard time this season, and we did lose to MU. It’s like a boxer having to fight infants and then contenders. Of course he’ll lose simply because he’s lost all his brilliance fighting with infants. Chelsea are still an amazing side, they just need to wake up!
Spot on Blingo. What so many people can’t grasp is that the Champions League they are so obsessed with is a lottery. Liverpool’s win last season (not decrying it, they won it however much we refer to the circumstances) proved that beyond all doubt. Any reading into the strength of the leagues of the respective nations involved from the particpants in the knockout stages is largely irrelevant.
Henry, just seen that nice picture of yours (comment 40). I knew you loved the Special One really…
Finally a statement I can agree with. You are 100% correct. Your point and I have missed each other.
I think I will bow out now, while I’m ahead, behind, or level. Not quite sure.
I don’t think we need to have a massive overhaul of the squad because every other team in the league is not up to our standards. However, I think we do need to get rid of some of the fringe players. Geremi usually only gets in at right back these days so why do we need him, Johnson, and Ferreira, but I do like Geremi as a role player nonetheless. I think it will be tough to satisfy the likes of Robben, Duff, Cole and SWP when they are all playing well and i think SWP will come good very soon. I would like to see us drop a few and start filling those spots with young players coming up through the Chelsea ranks.
We also need to get Bridge back in order to put Gallas back in the center. His pace with Terry’s leadership and positioning is our best pairing. Carvalho needs to accept being third best. Not such a bad thing considering the company he is in. Terry and Gallas are two of the best in the world.
What about the Ballack rumors? Can he fit into the squad with Lampard? Obviously he is a superstar and a very talented player, but he is also 29. Parker would have been better value to keep.
I think everyone should just relax. This squad will have had 2 full seasons together after this season. I expect them to be fully motivated, especially if they win the FA Cup this season.
As much as the UCL is a lottery, in order for us to be a trully world-class side we need to beat the best. And the best is Barca. And, maybe, Milan.
Which brings us nicely back to where we started - given time, and a little bit of luck, we will. Fingers crossed for tomorrow…
To win the prem you must be hard in midfield - look at the arse - paddy v. To win in europe we need another team or at least more options up front, i.e someone quicker than what we’ve got.
Jose is a fantastic man manager but seems less special when it comes to buying.
Lets go totally continental and let the money men handle that - in with ballack and beckham and one of the bloody strikers we’ve been linked with for the past couple of years.
What JM is:
Passion
no compromise to the welfare of the club
sacrifice of individual to the grater cause, including himself (his exposure to media is very exhausting)
no politics
greatness
For some of the pussies that wrote here, you dot deserve to have a JM in your club and you also do not deserve to have a club like Chelsea.
Success comes with a lot of other things like envy and hate, if you pussies just want to take the cherries of the cake then you are not wordy of the club and neither the club need such supporters.
Such supporters that when the team wins, the victory belongs to all, when it loses it belongs to just the unlucky one. Grate supporters, no drought. By the way losing to Barca is no shame and can happen to the best club in tits best shape any time. Grow up… you pussies
Maybe I am wrong in the competitiveness of the leagues, But in my opinion Juventus is not 12 points ahead because of lack of competition, its because of inconsistence rather and they have learned to adapt to the competition. Both Milans and Roma and two teams that could easily get a result from Juve, but they are inconsistent.
If you look at LaLiga the competition is right in the mid-table. If you compare their mid table to ours, you realise we don’t have match winners like Torres, Riquelme, Joaquin, etc in midtable teams. I am not so much into Ligue 1, eredivisie, and the rest. Liverpool last season was subjected to fierce competition in the EPL, remember Arsenal had Vieira, Edu, ManU was hard to beat, Bolton and Everton were different challenges, add us to the fold and u see competition helped them so much. We even went on to win the EPL with 12 points and I am pretty sure you agree there was more competition and the more competition we had the better we became.
And Jonathan I don’t really love JM to be honest but at the same time I am resigned to the fact that he’s a stayer by popular demand, so I have to think alternatives.
Vogel some of us pussies are only asking for a ‘beautiful’ game on top of those wins, and we are well capable of playing as good as Barca. That clearly isn’t asking much, if you really love football in general.
Reading some of these comments i just cant help but laugh.
Henry without knowing you personally i do know your kind. you court controversy. The Alf Garnet of the Chelsea supporters.
The others well I’m hopping that they wrote there piece after coming home from the pub, after a lock in.
The reason why such a big squad is needed is not so much as to deny other teams the use of the players but to insure the through the long season and given the amount of games that are needed to be played in various competitions you need to allow for the injuries to players and more importantly for us, the banning of key players going into major games, just look at Essien,drogba in the CL and robben in the Prem, just u remember what robbens ban was partly for…..running up to our supporters and hurled himself studs up into the crowd celebrating like no other player has done .
NOW face the facts we’ve got the money now lets use it as Ive said before on here we need one or two top forwards and a left back(to cover bridge) and a right back (i do,nt think ferreria is up to the job.see past comments)
and Jose there’s no one in this world that’s perfect…..but dam your mighty close. True Chelsea fans idolise you and rightly so. we stick together through thick and thin.
Shocking some of the things guys have written here…Hope we lose? For the good of the team? Would it be good for us to be knocked to second for the good of the game? So we can play better the next season?
There are teams in the EPL that have more flair than us and yet technically we are not reachable…The trouble with most fans they go for flair and forget that it is tactics that win you games…
I loved watching Brazil play but never did my heart move to them. Arsenal plays a similar brand of football but tactically come on…
Guys JM is an icon to be talked about in times to come even more than they are doing now….
Yo, guys, sorry for the late message. I do hope someone reads it anyway.
A couple of days ago there was a very interesting piece in the news. The G14 demands that UEFA gives them the vice-president seat and shit like that. I guess it’ll get even worse then with the G14 actually controlling UEFA.
Johnathan is completely right of course, and after this weekends FA cup semi final exit, im afraid to say Liverpool are superior too, despite what Jose says.