" Photo note: All photos publised are randomly googled, is used for illustration purpose only. "
The 'wise' men at Stamford Bridge.
Ever since Russian tycoon - Roman Abramovich's takeover of Chelsea, the London football club has been attracting headlines on and off field. And, the appointment of Jose Mourinho just added more fuel to that.
Ever since Mourinho appointment at Chelsea's hot seat, the Portugese never failed to amuse us with his daring, yet silly, pointless comments. I find it rather silly with all his quoted comments. After winning the league title in English Premier League for the pass two seasons, many have expectations for Roman's money troop to stroll over the English land, and set a standard for the chasing pack to follow. Instead, the squad with most expensive acquisitions (totaled up) were struggling all along.
Despite Mourinho's denial of struggling of form, Chelsea was clearly playing below par. £30 million striker, Andriy Shevchenko, struggled to adapt to English life up to date. German skipper Michael Ballack, whom many regard him as one of the best midfielder in the world, has yet to live up to his reputation.
While there is little doubt on Mourinho's genius in football, he won UEFA Cup, UEFA Champions League with Porto, a double English Premier League champion in his tenure in Chelsea, I don't regard him as a true champion. He lacks sportsmanship, and really whines a lot. Too often we see his amusing comments each time after his team's defeat. The most common excuse he turns to is to the official. His bold comments soon got him into hot water. In Chelsea's 'lucky' victory over Everton on 17 December 2007, Mourinho lashed out an accuse on Andrew Johnson, claiming the English striker is a diver. His counterpart in Everton - David Moyes had seen enough, and decided to lodge an official complain to the FA.
Mourinho waving an imaginary yellow card to Andrew Johnson.
As the result, Mourinho was slapped with fine, and to everyone's surprise, he also extended his apology on his defamation of Andrew Johnson through press media.
Speaking of being lucky, I thought Chelsea had been truly lucky since Mourinho's regime. In the past two seasons, they had countless scrappy display and was lucky to pull out victorious with a 1 - 0 win. You may say a goal victory may be as good as a goal avalanche defeat of the opposing team, yet, I haven't really seen Chelsea's true dominance as a champion. They lack consistency.
With their recent slump, Mourinho's thoughts differ from others, as usual. He's always a philosopher of his own. His excuse for the recent slump was due to short of personnel in the squad, with his captain John Terry sidelined with injury. But, didn't Abramovich's millions were invested to players recruitment? Didn't they spent about £100million over the summer on players only? Aren't they suppose to have at least two 'world class' players in each position? Where are they now?
Chelsea were crowded with stars, and they were lured by the big bucks. Of course, with their personal ego, and hunger to play for their respective countries, they couldn't possibly be benched or under-appreciated in anyway. All footballers want is just to be able to play regularly.
William Gallas, one of Chelsea's more consistent player left for Arsenal, while Ashley Cole travelled opposite direction. Gallas was reported to be overlooked compared to other 'stars' in the squad. Robert Huth, a German defender, was sold to Middlesborough. Shaun Wright-Phillips was frequently linked to a move away from Stamford Bridge for a season or two already. Had it not been for Joe Cole's injury, I think Shaun wouldn't have seen much playing time this season either. (Note to Mourinho: Didn't Manchester United had injury problems with Scholes, Rooney and Van Nisterooy last season? Saha struggled with fitness, while Rooney was still shaky after his foot injury from his last season's match against Chelsea?)
When you have squads with big stars, it is always difficult to manage.
Mourinho also claimed that Man Utd had blown the chances to widen the gap between themselves and their rival despite Chelsea's recent slump of form. Mourinho, something must have gone wrong with your head.
During the Holiday period, Manchester United collected 10 points (3 wins 1 draw) while scoring 11 goals in the span. Where as for Chelsea, they only managed a lowly 6 points (1 win 3 draws) and scoring 7 goals). Wake up Mourinho!
Russian tycoon injecting Russian rich to English league, he's also one of the youngest rich men in Forbe's list.
For the past three seasons, Sir Alex Ferguson spent an average sum of about £100million pound on recruitment, considered little as Chelsea has taken over the "world's largest spending" title from Man Utd and Real Madrid. Chelsea's single season spending alone belittle other clubs' expenditure, including Manchester United's. Even so, in long run, I guess we can see who's dividend paid off better. Arsene Wenger, of Arsenal, maintains his policy of buying young talents and groom them in the star, and they are doing pretty well, considering their young, and raw talents.
Right now, speculations are surrounding Jose "The Special One" Mourinho's future in Stamford Bridge. Dutch legend Guus Hinddik is linked with a move to the London club, however, nothing is confirmed. It is no longer a surprise to see headlines which read Jose exit is almost certain.
Enough said, there are crucial match of the season on show tonight.
Liverpool will play host to Chelsea at Anfield tonight (Malaysian time: 20 January 2007, 2045 hour), while Emirate Stadium will host Arsenal's home match against red hot Cristiano Ronaldo and league leaders Manchester United tomorrow night (Malaysian time: 21 January 2007, 2355 hour).
Football fans, don't miss out on the matches! Glory glory! (Yeah, I'm a Manchester United fan!)
" Side Note: Manchester United has launched a fresh £20 million bid for Bayern Munich's Owen Hargreaves. "
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