The media have memories that rival fish for short-termedness. A little over six months ago, in October or whenever it was, they took great pleasure in relaying the events of Stamford Bridge. With barely unrestrained glee, they reported that Chelsea had sacked the most successful coach they ever had in Jose Mourinho and replaced him with the owner's friend, Avram Grant, a man whose claim to fame was moderate success with Isreal's national team. It was him who led Isreal to going unbeaten in the 2006 world cup qualifying group which is not bad given that the likes of France were in the group. A man who, they reported with comical incredulity, didn't even have the requisite UEFA qualifications.
Six months on and they are once again incredulous, and rubbing their collective chins sadly at the dismissal of a man who they depict as dignified etc etc. A man they criticised in the aftermath of the Carling Cup final for not having the tactical know-how to outwit his counterpart and for not having any guts to make the changes that might offend the big egos in his team. They criticised him for not being witty like Jose, for world hunger, for...well you get the picture. All of a sudden, a slick PR exercise, his father (not him, mind you) survived the holocaust dontchaknow. Grant suddenly became the sympathetic character who despite great tragedy in his life had managed to become a man on the brink of greatness whereas before he was a bumbling fool likened to Baron Silas Greenback from the DangerMouse cartoons. I do a great Baron Silas by the way..."Excellent, Stiletto". I love that character, with his little caterpillar, Nero. Sigh, they don't make cartoons like they used to.
I don't know how I feel about this dismissal, I don't think its exactly fair, but I can see the reasons. On the one hand, Grant is not the person who will bring the attractive football that Abramovich claims. On the other, it is possible he might have if he could have brought his own players in. Remember that the players for Chelsea this season were all Mourinho's players (ok maybe not Shevchenko). It was Mourinho's decision to not buy any flair players and to slowly strip the flair of players like Joe Cole or curbed their attacking instincts like Ca$hley. It was foolish for Abramovich to expect players who'd played one way for 4 years almost, to suddenly change their style.
Speaking of Mourinho, he showed what classy individual he is with his 'Philosophy of a loser' comments. My favourite part of the whole quote was his whole '2 titles a season' comment. That's right people, the Carling Cup and Community Shield are now valid titles on par with the league and champions league. I even look down on Chelsea's FA Cup win as literally the only hard sides they played in that Cup run were Blackburn and Manchester United in the semis and final respectively. And it is arguable that Chelsea were only really ahead in the league despite all their spending because no one really managed to step up and challenge them and once Manchester United woke up from their slumber; once Cristiano Ronaldo got an end product the results were present for all to see. Way to go, Jose- the luckiest manager alive.
As for Chelsea, the usual suspects are being bandied about. Hiddink because he is friends with Abramovich even though his agent reportedly has removed links. Mark Hughes is another name being mentioned. I think this would be a good choice. He's a former Chelsea favourite, and his teams while a bit thuggish, play ok football. He's also shown that he can find real gems for a good price. 6 million for McCarthy and Santa Cruz in 2 seasons, plus other players like Ryan Nelsen mean that he has a good eye of a player. Funds of course won't be a problem at Chelsea although the Abramovich camp has recently been pretty open about reminding all and sundry that the money he's spending is actually an interest free loan. It also remains to be seen what Hughes would do when faced with the biggest egos in the world. That said, he managed to keep the likes of Bellamy in line both at Blackburn and Wales so who knows. Roberto Mancini rounds up the favourites (at least according to Football365).
Alternatively, they might wait until after the Euros when some more big name coaches should be seeking employment. The big question is why anyone would want to go to Chelsea when a season that ended with them coming so close to silverware results in a sacking for the manager. A manager who was a few inches from almost delivering the trophy his Special predecessor never could with a team that wasn't really his.
Then you have the recent rumour, 50 million pounds for Fernando Torres. This for me might be the main thing that would keep managers from taking the job. What if he doesn't fit into the new managers game plan? A continental manager who is used to working under a Sporting/Football Director might be the way to go for Chelsea but even then I think the manager has some say in who he wants as far as the team goes. Frank Arnesen and the new manager would still have to meet to decide the kind of players that would fit into that manager's tactics. The Torres rumours just show that the coach is expendable and that Abramovich is going to be in charge. I don't know if the top managers are ready to work in a situation like that. Even the well known chairmen like Moratti, Berlusconi, Perez and Aulas give their managers a certain level of independence. And people like Moratti and Berlusconi have been in the game for years anyway so their opinion at least has some merit, if only a fraction- Abramovich only just came to football in 2003.
I pity true Chelsea fans, not the plastic fans who were Arsenal fans until December 2004, and manchester united fans for the previous five years but the ones who had to deal with the likes of Jokanovic, Lambourde. The fans who remember that their dodgy right back was Frank Sinclair, but that's ok he didn't cost 13.2 million. They thought they had a sensible new owner who let splashed the cash and let the club be run properly, who left the managing to the manager. They probably shook their heads at the goings on at Hearts, with their own Russian (Lithuanian) chairman, Vladimir Romanov.
Abramovich has proven himself to be just as bad as Romanov if not worse than the Lithuanian. At least Romanov talks to the press, and attempts to defend his actions or explain his rationale behind them even if it makes no sense to anybody (his Monkey rant for example).
Abramovich's one saving grace is that the amount of money (on a far greater scale than Romanov) he's ploughed into the club means that despite his best efforts Chelsea will remain successful on the pitch.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Friday, May 23, 2008
I feel dirty aka. Champions League Final review
I'll confess. When Van Der Sar saved Nicolas Anelka's rather poor penalty attempt, I leapt up from my seat and joined my dad and sister true-United fans the both of them in celebrating. It was past midnight when the encounter came to an end, it was close to two in the morning, and almost three when Giggs and Ferdinand lifted the European Cup. Even though it was late, and the Swiss quiet hour laws come into effect about nine, we ignored it as we whooped.
Have I turned to the dark side? No. I don't particularly like Man U, I just hate Chelsea more. Actually, when I think about it, the only reason I dislike Man U is because they are our rivals for success. If they were to underacheive, i.e. scrapping for a UEFA cup place, I could see myself even supporting them more often.
At least the play the game the way it should be played. When you lose to Man Utd, at least you know it wasn't because they lumped balls to Kevin Davies for 90 minutes and it eventually deflected off his vast backside and into the net.
Rooting for Man Utd in this final was easy. The opponents were Chelsea. The idea of Ca$hley Cole getting his mitts on the trophy before any Arsenal player did, or Chelsea being the first London club to take it back to England filled me with bile. Man Utd had to win.
They should have won in 90 minutes. They ripped Chelsea apart in the first half, with Essien looking like a midfielder playing at right-back. However, Man Utd had a frailty about them from playing Carrick and Scholes against a powerful Chelsea midfield. Scholes (and Giggs) for that matter have declined to the point that it's like watching Tyson's last few fights. Compounding the matter was Carrick, who I don't rate at all. In my opinion, if he didn't cost so much money, United would have cut their losses a long time ago. What he brings to the table, I fail to see. He seems incapable of passing more than 5 yards, he's not quick, he doesn't seem influential enough to run a game, he seems reluctant to tackle.
Hargreaves was on the right, but didn't have the same joy he did against Roma in the quarter finals as Ca$hley just edged that battle. Hargreaves was probably the best midfield player for United on the night though.
Chelsea's goal was typical. It's amazing how much that team often picks up victories based on a moment of madness or a loss of concentration. In truth though when it went in they should have been 3-1 down assuming Van Der Sar didn't save Ballack's point blank header, and the Tevez/Carrick and the other Tevez chance, went in.
Random Thoughts.
1. People have said it was a good final, but from about the 60th minute, you could tell both sides were playing for extra time/penalties. the persistence of Ferguson with Scholes and Carrick or the failure to bring on Anderson to at least inject some vim into the midfield could have been punished if not for Drogba being hassled to frustration by Vidic. He barely had a clear chance at goal all night. It wasn't as thrilling as Liverpool-Milan from '05 but it was a tense, technical and exciting match.
2. ITV's coverage was crap. The promo was cliched and not funny. Bob Hoskins' Russian accent he used to play Kruschev in Enemy at the Gates was a dozen times better than this. Game of Games my ass. Then we had Clive Tyldsley who only referred to Barcelona about 70 times that night. David Pleat was co-commentator and called Lampard Redknapp. I know they are related but it's an easy mistake for anyone to make...as long as they aren't being paid for it. Sadly, this is what I will have to look forward to in FA Cup games next season.
3. If Wayne Rooney wasn't English, he would have been written off a long time ago. Robbie Keane for instance is by far a better similar player and gets half the plaudits. That said, Keane was a hyped youngster, then had a rough patch around when he was Rooney's age, and has developed into a really classy player despite the rubbish celebration. Rooney will perhaps benefit a lot from England's failure to qualify for Euro 2008 by using the summer to get recharge his batteries and regain some form. United's attack was nowhere good enough on Wednesday and now it seems like they are the ones who need the so-called Plan B, we were told Arsenal needed a while back.
4. Two English teams in the final; does this make the Premiership the best league in Europe? My answer: No. To say the Prem is the strongest league in Europe is like saying that the Scottish League is stronger than the Dutch Legaue or the Turkish league because the Old Firm do relatively better in Europe than the likes of PSV, Galatasaray or Gaziantepspor.
In fact, the Premiership is becoming a bit like the Scottish League but on a far grander scale of course. For the Old Firm's yearly dominance we have the Big Four. The top 4 may be super-strong, but there's still a lot of dross. No league that boasts a team as unimaginably awful as Derby County can claim to be the best league in Europe. I don't think any league right now can claim to be the strongest. A few years ago though, the Spanish League undoubtably had that claim. Looking back, I felt that nearly every single team in the Primera Liga could do relatively well in Europe. They were all that strong.
The premiership lacks this right now even if Bolton somehow managed to oust Atletico Madrid this year. Or does it. Right now, the top 12 teams could probably make a splash in whichever European competition they entered. Maybe not West Ham though, and Newcastle probably need a couple more signings. Aston Villa's squad is also probably a bit thin too but for the most part the league is on its way especially with the increase in TV money.
5. I'm not one to defend Didier Drogba, but the scapegoating of him is unreal. So John Terry took a penalty because Drogba was sent off? I call Bullshit! Unfaithful Greedy Bastard aka. Ca$hley took one, so I assume he might have given way to Drogba anyway. The fact is Terry's ego meant he was always going to take the last one. Captain Bionic Man, English Bulldog, steps forward to win the European Cup for chelsea. Can you imagine the jingoistic bullshit that would have erupted from the pens (and loins, I wager) of the English media? Terry saw his name in lights, saw an MBE (or higher) from the Queen...saw a BBC Sports Personality of the Year nomination. England captain for sure.
By the way, there is a school of thought that says he didn't slip, but rather was already celebrating scoring the penalty and expecting his troops to run down the field to victory pile on him...hmmm!
Another school of thought calls John Terry an honest pro. I have seen this in a couple of publications- Grant Wahl for instance. Again, I call bullshit! No honest pro earns 135,000 pounds a week. Or acts like Terry does with regards to haranguing referees or his handballs and his general behaviour. To call JT (please pass the vomit bag) an honest pro is an insult to true honest pros like Brian McBride. John Terry tries to be like a true honest pro, because the English media love a player like that. So he sticks his head in rough situations and tries to play on one leg, while the other is mangled all the while yelling so everyone looks over that it's just a scratch, but I'm not fooled; he's still a cheat and he's still a bad role model. So don't give me any bullshit about him being an honest pro.
As for Didier. His Chelsea sojourn will probably end with him walking off in the rain into the tunnel, never to return. It sounds almost like the defeat of a monster in a children's fantasy movie. It turns out that despite earning way too much money for the last 4 years, Didier doesn't like it at Chelsea. He's had to clear the air a few times this season over related comments. So he'll probably go to Italy or Spain now.
I do feel dirty for celebrating a Man Utd victory, but better them than Chelsea- at least they faced some decent teams, unlike Chelsea who played and struggled against Olimpiacos, Fenerbache and if not for Jon-Arne Riise, would have again fallen at the semi-final stages again.
I feel dirty, and those feelings will probably last long after the feelings of euphoria, joy and drunkeness pass from the Man Utd fans worldwide. Congrats.
Have I turned to the dark side? No. I don't particularly like Man U, I just hate Chelsea more. Actually, when I think about it, the only reason I dislike Man U is because they are our rivals for success. If they were to underacheive, i.e. scrapping for a UEFA cup place, I could see myself even supporting them more often.
At least the play the game the way it should be played. When you lose to Man Utd, at least you know it wasn't because they lumped balls to Kevin Davies for 90 minutes and it eventually deflected off his vast backside and into the net.
Rooting for Man Utd in this final was easy. The opponents were Chelsea. The idea of Ca$hley Cole getting his mitts on the trophy before any Arsenal player did, or Chelsea being the first London club to take it back to England filled me with bile. Man Utd had to win.
They should have won in 90 minutes. They ripped Chelsea apart in the first half, with Essien looking like a midfielder playing at right-back. However, Man Utd had a frailty about them from playing Carrick and Scholes against a powerful Chelsea midfield. Scholes (and Giggs) for that matter have declined to the point that it's like watching Tyson's last few fights. Compounding the matter was Carrick, who I don't rate at all. In my opinion, if he didn't cost so much money, United would have cut their losses a long time ago. What he brings to the table, I fail to see. He seems incapable of passing more than 5 yards, he's not quick, he doesn't seem influential enough to run a game, he seems reluctant to tackle.
Hargreaves was on the right, but didn't have the same joy he did against Roma in the quarter finals as Ca$hley just edged that battle. Hargreaves was probably the best midfield player for United on the night though.
Chelsea's goal was typical. It's amazing how much that team often picks up victories based on a moment of madness or a loss of concentration. In truth though when it went in they should have been 3-1 down assuming Van Der Sar didn't save Ballack's point blank header, and the Tevez/Carrick and the other Tevez chance, went in.
Random Thoughts.
1. People have said it was a good final, but from about the 60th minute, you could tell both sides were playing for extra time/penalties. the persistence of Ferguson with Scholes and Carrick or the failure to bring on Anderson to at least inject some vim into the midfield could have been punished if not for Drogba being hassled to frustration by Vidic. He barely had a clear chance at goal all night. It wasn't as thrilling as Liverpool-Milan from '05 but it was a tense, technical and exciting match.
2. ITV's coverage was crap. The promo was cliched and not funny. Bob Hoskins' Russian accent he used to play Kruschev in Enemy at the Gates was a dozen times better than this. Game of Games my ass. Then we had Clive Tyldsley who only referred to Barcelona about 70 times that night. David Pleat was co-commentator and called Lampard Redknapp. I know they are related but it's an easy mistake for anyone to make...as long as they aren't being paid for it. Sadly, this is what I will have to look forward to in FA Cup games next season.
3. If Wayne Rooney wasn't English, he would have been written off a long time ago. Robbie Keane for instance is by far a better similar player and gets half the plaudits. That said, Keane was a hyped youngster, then had a rough patch around when he was Rooney's age, and has developed into a really classy player despite the rubbish celebration. Rooney will perhaps benefit a lot from England's failure to qualify for Euro 2008 by using the summer to get recharge his batteries and regain some form. United's attack was nowhere good enough on Wednesday and now it seems like they are the ones who need the so-called Plan B, we were told Arsenal needed a while back.
4. Two English teams in the final; does this make the Premiership the best league in Europe? My answer: No. To say the Prem is the strongest league in Europe is like saying that the Scottish League is stronger than the Dutch Legaue or the Turkish league because the Old Firm do relatively better in Europe than the likes of PSV, Galatasaray or Gaziantepspor.
In fact, the Premiership is becoming a bit like the Scottish League but on a far grander scale of course. For the Old Firm's yearly dominance we have the Big Four. The top 4 may be super-strong, but there's still a lot of dross. No league that boasts a team as unimaginably awful as Derby County can claim to be the best league in Europe. I don't think any league right now can claim to be the strongest. A few years ago though, the Spanish League undoubtably had that claim. Looking back, I felt that nearly every single team in the Primera Liga could do relatively well in Europe. They were all that strong.
The premiership lacks this right now even if Bolton somehow managed to oust Atletico Madrid this year. Or does it. Right now, the top 12 teams could probably make a splash in whichever European competition they entered. Maybe not West Ham though, and Newcastle probably need a couple more signings. Aston Villa's squad is also probably a bit thin too but for the most part the league is on its way especially with the increase in TV money.
5. I'm not one to defend Didier Drogba, but the scapegoating of him is unreal. So John Terry took a penalty because Drogba was sent off? I call Bullshit! Unfaithful Greedy Bastard aka. Ca$hley took one, so I assume he might have given way to Drogba anyway. The fact is Terry's ego meant he was always going to take the last one. Captain Bionic Man, English Bulldog, steps forward to win the European Cup for chelsea. Can you imagine the jingoistic bullshit that would have erupted from the pens (and loins, I wager) of the English media? Terry saw his name in lights, saw an MBE (or higher) from the Queen...saw a BBC Sports Personality of the Year nomination. England captain for sure.
By the way, there is a school of thought that says he didn't slip, but rather was already celebrating scoring the penalty and expecting his troops to run down the field to victory pile on him...hmmm!
Another school of thought calls John Terry an honest pro. I have seen this in a couple of publications- Grant Wahl for instance. Again, I call bullshit! No honest pro earns 135,000 pounds a week. Or acts like Terry does with regards to haranguing referees or his handballs and his general behaviour. To call JT (please pass the vomit bag) an honest pro is an insult to true honest pros like Brian McBride. John Terry tries to be like a true honest pro, because the English media love a player like that. So he sticks his head in rough situations and tries to play on one leg, while the other is mangled all the while yelling so everyone looks over that it's just a scratch, but I'm not fooled; he's still a cheat and he's still a bad role model. So don't give me any bullshit about him being an honest pro.
As for Didier. His Chelsea sojourn will probably end with him walking off in the rain into the tunnel, never to return. It sounds almost like the defeat of a monster in a children's fantasy movie. It turns out that despite earning way too much money for the last 4 years, Didier doesn't like it at Chelsea. He's had to clear the air a few times this season over related comments. So he'll probably go to Italy or Spain now.
I do feel dirty for celebrating a Man Utd victory, but better them than Chelsea- at least they faced some decent teams, unlike Chelsea who played and struggled against Olimpiacos, Fenerbache and if not for Jon-Arne Riise, would have again fallen at the semi-final stages again.
I feel dirty, and those feelings will probably last long after the feelings of euphoria, joy and drunkeness pass from the Man Utd fans worldwide. Congrats.
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