Archive for April, 2007

this is a good article guys. pls read on…

Friday, April 27th, 2007

Comment: Mind Game Master Mourinho In A League Of His Own
               
Chelsea
manager Jose Mourinho seems to be locked into confrontational mode as
the season moves towards its climax. As a coach the Portuguese is
highly successful. Indeed, in his own estimation, he is one of the
best, if not the best, in the business. His record at Stamford Bridge,
and Porto before that, is exceptional. Yet he is clearly not content,
or able, to let his team’s results and achievements speak for
themselves.

18727_news

Not only does he feel driven to remind us how good he and his team are
at every opportunity; he also feels compelled to launch scathing verbal
volleys at his opponents or perceived anti-Chelsea conspirators almost
every time he opens his mouth.

Of course, we need to put this behaviour into some kind of context.
The man is required to speak to the media and respond to their
questions incessantly, and everything he says gets widely reported. In
journalistic parlance, Mourinho is good copy. Answering questions that
are put to him, albeit in a forthright and provocative way, is not
necessarily the same as having a specific agenda and proactively using
the media to get it across, although in Mourinho’s case the two
converge and overlap conveniently.

On the face of it, his remarks and general demeanour can give the
impression of someone who is at best a drama queen, at worst paranoid.
He may be both those things, and much in between; but he is also an
intelligent man, and while some non-Chelsea fans may find his apparent
attempts to wind up the opposition puerile, arrogant,
counter-productive or just plain daft, we can safely assume that
Mourinho himself has shrewdly calculated the impact that his comments
will have.

The essence of his profession are tactics and man-management, and in
press conferences he displays the same attributes: he is playing
tactical "mind games" that complement what he sends his players out to
do on the pitch. And he manages the assembled press corps, feeding them
sound-bites, controversy and headlines that help create a particular
climate before and after matches.

This season though, Mourinho’s conduct has been particularly
interesting. For the first time since he came to England he has not had
it all his own way on the pitch. Chelsea remain a formidable and highly
resilient team, as their current 22-match unbeaten run (including 18
victories) confirms. But they have been more than matched every step of
the way by a resurgent Manchester United, while in the Champions League
the spectre of a Benitez-inspired tactical coup remains, despite
Chelsea’s 1-0 lead from the first-leg of their semi-final.

For all their excellent results thus far, Chelsea are not yet
certain of adding to the Carling Cup this season. They believe they can
do it, but have to recognise that they may not. Mourinho’s response to
this has been to snipe at Manchester United, the establishment that he
claims favours the Red Devils (from fixture scheduling to referees’
decisions on penalties), Rafa Benitez, Liverpool, Cristiano Ronaldo…
the list steadily grows.

Mourinho likes to wrap himself in the armour of "honesty" - in his
typically self-serving way he suggested last weekend that if he was not
allowed to speak "the truth" about penalty decisions it would mean the
"end of democracy." And when Ronaldo suggested that his compatriot
Mourinho "does not know how to admit his own failures" after the
Chelsea boss’s provocative comments about the way penalties are awarded
- or refused - in the Premiership, Mourinho’s response was:  "If
Ronaldo says it is a lie penalties were not given against United, then
he is lying. He needs to see he cannot fight with facts. If he is a
liar, he will never reach the level he wants to reach."

So, Honest Jose is the guardian of the facts, the upholder of the
truth, even if it means being inflammatory. At least that is the image
he likes to convey.

It has been said that he adopts this persona, and delivers his often
outrageous remarks (such as claiming he would have been sacked by
Chelsea if he had failed, like Benitez, to deliver the League title in
the last three years) in order to protect his players. In other words,
Mourinho provides all the distraction so that his team can concentrate
on preparing for and winning matches. And of course, creating a bunker
mentality whereby it’s "us against the world" is a tried and tested
strategy for successful sports teams.

No doubt there is much substance to these arguments. But there is
just a suspicion also that Mourinho is currently running a little
scared. His great fear would be to come up short. Or to put it bluntly,
to fail. He is not accustomed to that. Failure does not register on the
radar of Mourinho’s vanity. But Manchester United and/or Liverpool
could yet thwart his ambitions of world football domination at club
level.

The thing that has been most irritating to many of a non-Chelsea
persuasion this season has been Mourinho’s apparent attempt to gain the
sympathy vote by portraying Chelsea as victims.

Mourinho has railed against the inequities of a punishing programme
- yet all successful teams have to play matches thick and fast, because
going far in all competitions unavoidably creates a hectic schedule.

He has whined repeatedly about penalties - but overall, these
decisions tend to favour all of the big four during the course of a
season. And Mourinho made a bit of a fool of himself in midweek by
hanging his post-match comments on the peg of not being awarded a
penalty for Arbeloa’s handball when the alleged offence clearly
occurred outside the area. Of course, by keeping the issue of penalties
in the headlines, and railing about perceived injustices to his side,
Mourinho might help sway a future decision in Chelsea’s favour. On the
question of injustices, however, let’s not forget that when Chelsea and
Liverpool met in the Champions League Group stage in 2005, the Reds
were denied a penalty at Anfield when William Gallas got away with a
clear handball to block a Jamie Carragher header. And during the return
game at the Bridge, Michael Essien went unpunished by the ref for a
horrendous tackle on Dietmar Hamann. So it’s not all one-way traffic.

Throughout the season Mourinho has also sought to highlight
Chelsea’s supposedly crippling injury problems, which have hardly been
much worse than those suffered by just about every club as a matter of
routine.

Chelsea deserve huge credit for their outstanding consistency over
three seasons, for their ability to deliver trophies, for some
remarkable, battling performances and for the shrewd tactical mind and
improvisational acumen of their coach.

But they do not warrant our sympathy. If a club with Chelsea’s
resources and track record of acquiring top class players at huge
expense suddenly finds itself short of cover, it only has itself to
blame for not planning more thoroughly.

The key issues are all set to be decided one way or another over the
next month, and we can be fairly certain that Jose will provide plenty
more melodramatics to go with the dramas on the pitch. 

However, there is no doubt that following football would be a lot
less entertaining without Mourinho. As Kevin Nolan - the captain of
Bolton, who face Chelsea on Saturday - put it in his weekly column for
the BBC Sport website:  "Sometimes people might think he has gone too
far or that he is losing it - but I don’t believe that for a second.
Mourinho is a superb manager who knows how to work the media and is
compulsive viewing."

Most of us would echo that, however grudgingly.

Graham Lister

What do you think of Jose Mourinho’s mind games?

Your Comments

   

   
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  •     Fred Up Of All This Chelsea Crap, Manchester, UK
        27/04/2007 23.50
    What a total load of dribble. What planet are you people on? Can
    someone tell these people (Chelsea) that they are in the entertainment
    business. Man Utd, Arsenal and even Liverpool play fantastic football.
    Real class players who do what they are paid to do. (Remember that Sky
    Sports and Ticket sales ultimately pay players wages).
    If you are telling me that it has come to this that we find a managers
    public conduct to be more entertaining than his ‘champions’ then I fear
    for football. If Chelsea make the final without Man Utd then come on
    Milan because Chelsea are about has good for the reputation of Football
    as Steve Davis was for snooker (No offense Steve).
    And another thing, watching the Chelsea/Liverpool first leg felt like
    having my teeth pulled out. Did you hear the generous applause for yet
    another probing 30 yard pass from Midfield by Lampard to his own 18
    Yard line? Drogba? another joke. If he can’t wrestle his marker to the
    ground or buy free kicks he’s crap too. Please Fergie and Wenger, drive
    this BLUE crap from the top, they don’t deserve to be mentioned in the
    same breath as your legendary Championship winners.
  •     BO, England
        27/04/2007 20.39
    This guy is a great character i would say, one that will be remembered
    forever in the world of football whether you like him or hate him. I
    would really like to see him go to either Serie A or Spanish league to
    really prove his skill. People doubt him by saying that Chelsea gives
    him loads of cash which is true but to manage a whole bunch of so
    called world stars with their big ego and win titles is not an easy
    task. People are gonna keep hating him that’s for sure but that’s the
    interesting thing bout this man. If he stops pissing off other ppl and
    try to make everybody loves him than he’s not going to be the mourinho
    some of us come to know and love. cheers…
  •     Niche, Ile-Ife, Nigeria
        27/04/2007 19.43
    Jose is a very brave man, one of the very best coaches in the world
    today. He is not alone in opining that most refs are reluctant to award
    penalties against Man. U. at old Trafford; yes, penalties can sometimes
    be wrongly awarded or witheld but of all teams the record of Man. U.
    comparing penalties for/against at old trafford is obviously not that
    of inevitable human error, rather fear of fergie among the refs is the
    deciding factor and I admire Jose’ boldness in declaring the obvious!
  •     Faruk, Bosnia-Herzegovina
        27/04/2007 18.55
    I absolutely agree with Kevin Nolan. Mourinho is well aware what he
    says to the media. As the author of the article wrote, "Mourinho
    provides all the distraction so that his team can concentrate on
    preparing for and winning matches. And of course, creating a bunker
    mentality whereby it’s "us against the world" is a tried and tested
    strategy for successful sports teams." He is just concentrated on his
    job and doesn’t care if somebody will say that he is moaning and things
    like that. He will endure it all during the season so that he could
    show us his team’s trophies at the end of the season. People who think
    that he is a cry baby or something like that are very naive. Mourinho
    knows exactly what he is doing and why he is doing it.
  •     Foley, Manchester
        27/04/2007 15.44
    Good manager, good team (entertaining though… not so sure about
    that..!), but he’s not in the same league as Fergie with the mind
    games! Winding up the refs isn’t the brightest move - they all remember
    what happened with Anders Frisk because of what Jose said after he sent
    Drogba off versus Barca.
    United are a young team and deserve credit for the way they have played
    this season - not just getting results, but playing adventurous,
    attacking football too. Just look at the goal difference in the
    Premiership.
    Credit where it’s due - show some class Jose.
  •     rafik, lebanon
        27/04/2007 15.24
        hey you all of you : WHT DO YOU KNW ABT TACTICS AND MANGAGING ???? HE ( JOSE ) IS DA MASTER .
       
  •     STARCYKROW, LONDON-UK
        27/04/2007 14.23
    NO ONE SHOULD BE TELLING THE PUBLIC THAT MAN U ARE ALWAYS FAVOURED AT
    OLD TRAFFORD. THE BBC SPORTS PANEL EVEN ADMITTED THAT. IT IS NOT AN
    ISSUE TO BE DISCUSSED B’COS THAT IS THE CASE. SORRY TO SAY THAT OTHER
    COACHES ARE SO COWARD OR THE FEAR OF FERGUSON MUTES THEM. MOURINHO IS
    THE ONLY BRAVE ONE TO SPEAK THE TRUTH. THIS UNDERLIES THE FACT THAT
    WHEN U SPEAK THE TRUTH ALWAYS, U R DESPISED. WHAT A BRAVE CHARACTER
    MOUR IS. I DIDN’T LIKE HIM IN THE BEGINNING BUT I FOUND SUCH A BRAVE
    AND INTELLIGENT MAN IN HIM. IF ANYONE WATCHED SHEFFIELD UNITED VRS MAN
    U AND MIDDLEBROUGH VRS MAN U, U WILL ONLY BE A FOOL NOT TO SEE A
    PENALTY AGAINST MAN U. LET’SFACE THE TRUTH…..
  •     Marquez, Spain
        27/04/2007 14.01
    I think he is like Eminem in a way. Geniuses, but some people just hate
    them to the max. They’re also both comedians whose words are not meant
    to be taken seriously.
   
  •     bobi, kd, nigeria
        27/04/2007 13.45
    Graham, you have wrriten a fine piece there but i must let you know
    that by captivating me with this story you have also profited from the
    "Goodness of the SpecialOne." You see all you guys in the "Press" go on
    rapping about Jose, howbeit negatively, playing down the positives, but
    the truth can never be denied. I don’t see you guys yapping about how
    good a foreign manager performed in his first 3 seasons in a foreign
    league or how the tactics he uses -psychological or otherwise -is so
    overwelhming the EPL establishment, which had become so boring pre
    Jose, Please Please give honour to whom it is due and speak of him in a
    better light. VIVA JOSE!! VIVA CHELSEA!!!!
  •     SH, Leeds
        27/04/2007 13.44
    Why do people keep saying that its because of the money? …yes i agree
    that it helps no doubts but look at what happened to real madrid with
    all their galacticos and what was going on at inter (im an inter fan)
    all these years, they were buying any player they want, but yet with no
    success…mourinho bought the right players and made them into a
    team…at the start of the season shevchenko and ballack needed to
    adapt and now they did and so the team is doing well, if they did it
    faster chelsea would be on top of man u for sure…mourinho is amazing
    and yes i agree, he does make football much more interesting!!! and he
    is protecting his players very well, when chelsea dont do well you only
    here people talking about mourinho’s comments but not about how the
    players didnt do well… thank you
  •     Gary Springell, High Wycombe UK
        27/04/2007 13.43
    Well put Adnan, it seems that almost every non blues supporter by
    deffault, launches scathing attacks on what clearly is a wonderfully
    entertaining team and colourfull manager…The thing is there is good
    quality football going on at the moment from the last four contenders
    ,therefore I cannot see why people should be bitter about Jose…It
    seems that there is a tad to much jeolousy going arround which is not
    condusive to bringing out the real caracters and "players" in the sport
    …Leave him alone, what a boring game it would be without such flair !
  •     azwan, malaysia
        27/04/2007 13.14
        ‘ the man who sold his pride with HIS useless word’…thats mourinho, THE SPECIAL BIG MOUTH ONE
       
  •     Milan Ivanovitch, White City, UK
        27/04/2007 13.12
    Jose is excellent. He is planning ahead for when Chelsea meets Man U, I
    believe several important games are coming up? Ronaldo is the most
    important Man U player, if he has brain fade during one or more of
    these games then Jose is the winner. Brilliant, brave, and completely
    appropriate.
  •     rev. fr. ani, onitsha
        27/04/2007 12.41
        exhilarating!
       
  •     smudge, in the middle of nowhere
        27/04/2007 12.27
    big mouth loser.. never admit the mistakes he did.. always blame
    others.. what a loser.. mind game? maybe on the field.. i think that he
    just concern about his reputation and all the achievements he had..
  •     yusuf,machas, Kano, Nigeria
        27/04/2007 12.22
        jose is a great coach, who can attimes use d media 2 get what he wnts. hope u get d logic?
       
   
  •     Raj, Frankfurt, Germany
        27/04/2007 12.22
    Mourinho is a disgrace…. Special One ???? What Special One ??? Three
    Years he’s been with Chelsea ; with the kind of squad he has had he
    should’ve atleast reached a final of the UCL if not having won it….
    Yet all he managed was the Semis…. Winning the league ???? Again ;
    it’s da money ; why even a Serie B manager would win the EPL with that
    squad…. Mourinho sucks to the core ; a self-praising egoistic
    narcissitic idiot….
  •     Anand, India
        27/04/2007 12.21
    Every genius has its flaws and perhaps drawing unnecessary media
    attention is his. He knows he is the best manager in the world.
  •     Eric, Gabon.
        27/04/2007 12.20
    I’m always in interested and out to say something when it comes to
    Chelsea/Jose matters. There is something the world should understand A
    WISE MAN IS BLESSED and wiseness comes from God.Money is not
    everything,Jose is a very wise man and Roman Abramovich is a wise man
    by picking Jose in 2004 as Chelsea’s coach.To summarize my speech JOSE
    don’t mind them conitnue your good work and talk as you have been doing
    we are in democracy never allow any body to over shadow you and your
    club chelsea.Long life, regular success and regards to ROMAN who
    understands matters by not to sack JOSE. One more thing ROMAN as far as
    JOSE is there in chelsea, chelsea is blessed.
  •     Armani, Kumasi, Ghana
        27/04/2007 12.01
    I think the problem people have with Mourhino is that they find it too
    difficult to put him in any well fitting class. the man seems to
    confuse them and like the Ghanaian proverbial spider he is too
    difficult to be pinned down. If he is honest it perceived as a
    psychological tactics. All I know is that in every respect this man is
    really a "special one" and I want to believe-No matter how hard I try
    not to-and he is setting and unprecedented record of a quadruple this
    season. Cry or laugh, he is just unbeatable.
  •     Adnan, Adelaide Australia
        27/04/2007 11.55
    "Mourinho provides all the distraction so that his team can concentrate
    on preparing for and winning matches. And of course, creating a bunker
    mentality whereby it’s "us against the world" is a tried and tested
    strategy for successful sports teams." the Special one is just doing
    his job and its working back to back titles with record breaking
    resultshave a look at the stastics of the past seasons and in this
    seaosn wants the hole lot. for us ametures we should just keep quit

   

   

   

Posted in Current Affairs | No Comments »

Champions League Semi-Finals 1st Leg

Friday, April 27th, 2007
26 Apr - taken from www.bluehampions.com (thanx BC!)

Chelsea 1-0 Liverpool: Now You Can Say The ‘F’ Word! (21)

Joe_Liv_Finish.jpg

A thoroughly clinical performance by Chelsea. The scoreline doesn’t
do justice to the way Chelsea dominated the game. It was one of those
days when almost everyone had a fantastic game. Going by the way the
game was played, for a moment you might thought that it is Liverpool
who are in all competitions. This match was a quite a treat to watch.
It wasn’t a goal fest but you could see the tactical battle where
Liverpool was worn down by our superior midfield which was missing
Essien The Engine and Boom Boom Ballack.

As Essien and Ballack weren’t there I was little reluctant to about
4-3-3 as I thought we’d be defensive. How wrong I was! Jose opted for
4-3-3 with Joe Cole and Sheva on the wings. I remember that 4-4-2
against Liverpool in the FA Cup semifinal last year brought about our
downfall. May be boss wanted to really punish them with pacy
counterattacks instead of through middle slow set up goals. Jose chose
Ferreira over Diarra and also he preferred to risk Carvalho by playing
him for 90 minutes.

In the first half, we were all over the scousers. We kept pushing
and pressurising them and the goal was coming any minute. With just 10
minutes into the first half, it must have been clear even for Rafa
Benitez, that we’re gonna score. With whatever possession Liverpool
had, they weren’t able to create anything. Our midfield of Lampard,
Maka and Mikel were simply too hot to handle for Gerrard and co.
Carvalho’s last minute inclusion was such a massive relief and he
completely justified his inclusion and showed what difference he can
make. Just when I was getting impatient, Ricardo stormed unchallenged
through the midfield and made a 24-carat throughball to find Drogba.
And then, it was for everyone to see what Didier is all about - power,
perseverance and precision. Drogba made a fool of Agger and dribbled
the ball under his nose and that little footwork lost his marker. He
positioned himself so well to unleash a precisely timed pass for Joey
to make a great left-footed finish.

Drogba and Joe Cole were always posing problems for the Reds
defence. Especially Drogba, with his cunning anticipation embarrassed
the Liverpool midfield quite a few times. Ashley Cole linked up with
Drogba as he has always done and that was one thing for which Liverpool
simply did not have any answers. He must be disappointed that he
couldn’t score but I have a strong feeling that the precious away goal
will come from his boot. Drogba’s role changed slightly in the second
half as he took on more defensive duties. His marking of Peter Crouch
was fun to watch while being very effective. Joe Cole has been missing
football and you can see that when he plays. I’m sure he’s gonna score
more this season. I’m sorry for Sheva again. After some promising
performances, he once appears to lack pace and needs more time for his
decision making. He had just one good moment when he tricked away two
defenders on the right wing to dash to the box.

Joe Cole gives his very matured assessment of the tie:

We’ll see the importance of the goal next week - it’s
only half-time. Liverpool played well in the second half and there was
a bit of fatigue creeping in - it’s one of those games where we had to
dig in. It was a good battling performance from everyone and although
we’re happy to win the game we’re not going to get over-excited with a
1-0 win. I’ve seen teams with bigger margins than us get overturned in
the second leg so it’s a case of keeping our feet on the floor - next
week will be the decider. It’s the first time we’ve scored against them
in Europe and maybe it’ll open the floodgates.

Lampard had a very good game. He should have had a couple of goals
himself and killed the tie but for Reina’s (I hate him too) reflex
saves. I had mentioned in the earlier blog, that Lampard is a big match
player and we cannot afford to rest him for this match. They way he
lifted his game at the right time, at the right stage confirms this
statement. Though I myself had chosed Maka to play, when I saw his name
on the teamsheet, I was little worried if he would be the weak link.
Maka did exactly what was expected of him. I’m not sure if he ever
stepped in the final third. I’m tired of appreciating Mikel. I’ve
heaped enough praises on his performance and potential. Like Essien, he
also can play the whole match without losing the ball even once.
Whenever Mikel gets ball, you can kinda bet with confidence that he
just won’t let you down. Not many are better than him when it comes to
the positional discipline and ball retention skills and tackling. How
many of you thought Alonso must have been carded for his nasty foul on
Mikel?

Surprise of the match is Paulo Ferreira’s performance. Certainly,
lot of fans are losing their confidence in Paulo and many of us even
want him to shipped off. He has not been in great form and Diarra’s
arrival at the right back has further dented his chances. This was a
big occasion and thankfully he did bloody well. Apart from a couple of
instances, he had Zenden in his pocket. While Terry was okay and once
again Carvalho outshone Terry. Hell, I didn’t even realise Bellamy was
playing until he was subbed! Ashley Cole ensured that Gerrard does not
get any space on the right wing to make any crosses. As I expected
Gerrard was ineffective except one opportunistic 25-yarder which was
the closest Liverpool came to scoring. Though Cech did not have much to
do, he dealt with all those desparate pot shots very well.

Jose got his strategy spot on. If I say we outplayed them in the
first half it will be a gross understatement. It looked like this was
exactly Jose’s script - push them hard until you get a goal, defend
well and hit them on the counterattack. In the second half, Liverpool
had more of the ball but never really looked like scoring. I loved the
way our defence went back to draw them to create spaces behind them to
lead a counterattack. This also created doubts in the minds of the
Liverpool players. As much as they wanted to come forward and attack,
they did not want give another counterattacking chance to Chelsea. We
did all this with no yellow cards and with less than half the number of
fouls committed by Liverpool.

Jose believes that we will score in Anfield:

We normally score a goal and if we score a goal we have
got a big chance of reaching the final. I think Liverpool think they
can overturn the result but we are winning 1-0 and have a good
defensive team. I thought our performance was top class. We had so many
chances and we finally scored with chance number six. The second half
was different from the first. Liverpool attacked more and had a chance
with a great shot from Steven Gerrard.

So where does this leave this tie? I’d say Rafa will be really
worried that they didn’t get an away goal. He knows that Chelsea plays
very well away and would surely score with Essien and Ballack back in
the squad. If Chelsea scores the away goal, Liverpool will have to
score three! Not many would fancy this against a rock-solid Chelsea. If
Sir Alex can be happy with a 3-2 win at home, Jose must be rejoicing.
Before the start of this match, the ‘F’ word that was doing rounds was
‘Fatigue’ and now it has become ‘Favourites’. I know the job is only
half one, but Chelsea are surely the favourites to go through.

Should Drogba stop trying to be a perfectionist with his dribbles and tricks?

View Results

Posted in Sports | No Comments »

Closing the title Gap with swagger

Thursday, April 19th, 2007
19 Apr 07 - Taken from bluechampions.com

West Ham 1-4 Chelsea: Sloppy, but who cares? (13)


I’m gonna sound rude. The first one hour is the worst Chelsea has played, since we lost at Anfield. Allright, it is a superb scoreline for an away match, but until 60 minutes, we were second best to a team which is fighting for Premiership survival. Things did turn upside down after we scored a very scrappy third goal, but still this is not a performance I would be proud of. With this kind of performance, we could have beaten only a team as low in confidence as West Ham.

If you want to know which were all the players who played like crap in the first half, here it is - Cech, Diarra, Terry, Carvalho, Bridge, Mikel, Lampard, Kalou & Drogba. You’re right, only two names are missing - Essien, because he played superbly and SWP, because he scored twice goddamnit! It was a terrible display of football from Chelsea in the first half

where you could’ve seen all possible fundamental errors that can be made on the pitch. Cech making errors was a real sign of how bad things were. Our 3-month long clean sheet streak in the league came to an end and I can’t complain. They thoroughly deserved their goal and we thoroughly deserved to concede too. After all, it was Carlitos who scored. I was quite happy with a 2-1 scoreline at the end of the half.

West Ham played with a lot of passion and determination in the first half. In that process, they played a very physical game, made several tackles, lot of them mistimed and collected 5 yellow cards. Why Collins did not get booked for kicking Drogba on his face is something I dont understand. Tevez was always a menace but what helped us was that he was not too selfish. Many times, instead of going for the goal himself, he was spreading it out, only for the hammers to make a mess of it. Still, they had 6 shots on goal to our 1 in the first half. Even if they had scored twice in the first half, I would not have called it against the run of play.

Once again, Jose persisted with Lampard and Drogba and also brought in SWP, Kalou, Diarra and Bridge. Lampard was not at his best and that was most evidently clear on the pitch. Poor passes, bad touches, pointless set pieces - he was shockingly bad. His only positive contribution in this match was his assist to Drogba. Has anyone realised that for the last few matches, Lampard has not been trying long range shots. I’m not sure if it is a fatigue thing or tactical change. If Lampard, in particular, was rested, not only it would have helped him but also we could have played better tonight. When your crucial midfielder is tired and makes a meal of everything, it surely has a huge impact on the game. If Jose wants Lampard and Drogba to play against West Ham, then I dont think they’ll ever be rested for any match until the end of the season.

SWP’s first goal:

What about SWP? His volatile form for Chelsea continues. Tonight it was the brighter side. Both the goals scored by him were pure gold. First one was a very clever move and a great finish and the second one was his brilliant presence of mind and accuracy. SWP does not get too many shots on goal, but whenever he does get, he has a very impressive conversion ratio. It is a shame that he does not produce such performances more often. I would still not put him on the starting eleven yet if Joe Cole and Sheva are available.

Like everyone, SWP pays tribute to the Chelsea determination:

It is only normal the more games you play the better you get and it is starting to come through as I wanted. We knew what we had to do. We are behind United and we have to win every game to put them under pressure. It was another bridge to cross and the determination is unbelievable.

If there was one player who was faultless all 90 minutes, it was Michael Essien. This is what he can provide if he is played in the midfield. Despite all the nonsense going around him, I dont remember him making even one single mistake. Mikel was very poor when compared to his excellent showings of the last couple of months.

Once we scored the third goal, West Ham hung their heads and the rest of the match was purely of academic interest. The last half hour we controlled and dominated the play and we were very much helped by a dejected West Ham that had surrendered to defeat. Didier Drogba had enough time to score his 31st goal of the season, which was as good as the other 30 goals. Tonight’s Drogba goal actually symbolises his attitude.

Once again, under pressure, we have cut down the gap. Smiles were back on the faces - especially it was nice to see Jose and Roman looking so relieved and happy. After many months, we have scored four in a match. Now we have one more important away match against Newcastle this weekend. If we come out with three points from that match, I expect us to win all the other matches.

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Champions League 2nd leg match

Tuesday, April 10th, 2007
11 Apr 2007, Estadio Mestalla : taken from BC’s bluechampions.com

Valencia 1-2 Chelsea: The Incredibles!

Fantastic! Fabulous! Brilliant! I’m running out of adjectives! What a win!! Hats off to Jose and every single Chelsea player and the die-hard Chelsea fans who complement this wonderful team. This should come as a shocker for a lot of jerks who hate Chelsea and thought we’ll get eliminated at Spain. If we need to break a record to win the tie, so be it! The first English team to win at the Mestalla. It’s fair to say, we tamed the lion in its den. Man Utd bettering a tennis score against Roma at home is an achievement too. But I would put this Chelsea win right on top.

The Special One rightly said:

I am so proud of my players. Every Chelsea fan must be proud of them and why not?

Jose Mourinho took the risk of starting with Michael Essien, which put away any chances of SWP or Maka playing. We played 4-4-2 with a rare flat midfield. The first half was quite an ordinary one for Chelsea. Though we had a huge percentage of possession, we did not create too many genuine chances. It looked as if the plan is to score form the set pieces where Valencia looked vulnerable. We tried to sneak in a corner at every possible chance. Whereas Valencia created two or three clear cut chances of which they scored one. That Morientes goal was real horror defending. I was reminded of those days of Terry-less, Carvalho-less central defence with Hilario in goal. When a striker like Morientes is given so much space and time inside the box, that’s gonna result in a goal. In Premiership games, I can understand if we attack the ball instead of the players during set piece defending. While you’re playing a team of Valencia’s quality and proficiency in winning headers, it would have been wiser to go for the players instead of the ball.

It was nice to see Ballack having a good game. Won a lot of balls and was very very unlucky not to score a goal. It was a great header by Ballack to send the ball to the bottom corner. Only a miraculous save from Canizares prevented Ballack from scoring. Mikel was a little wobbly in the first half, may be over-awed by the Mestalla but he improved steadily and was very sharp and effective in the second half. The way he made a fool of Villa in a smart peiece of defending said it all. He is a real class act Mikel. If he progresses in this way, he could be one of the top 3 performers of Chelsea next season.

Lampard again, did not score or did not assist but played very well. He delivered some good corner kicks some of which could have resulted in goals some other day. I was particularly impressed with this tackles tonight. The one man who stood out all through the game was Michael Essien. Making a somewhat hasty return from his injury, he showed absolutely no signs of fatigue. I wonder how much ground he covers every match and how many miles he runs on the pitch! He played as if he was never out, just like Joe Cole. It’s a shame that Essien would miss the next match due to suspension.

Except that horror moment that gave the lead to Valencia, our defence did a great job. Ashley Cole must thanking all stars that he joined the Champions leaving the Champions league spot battlers who have no cups to play for but still lose at home in a league match. The Ashley Cole-Drogba longball combination would have produced another goal but for a brilliant save by Canizares. The whole defence put in a very solid performance that Cech must have been feeling bored all alone at the back. While this was the story of our defence, Valencia defence resorted to their rowdy practices. Ayala once again lucky in this leg too for not having sent off, after his one more elbow. The number of fouls committed by them will clarify their strategy for this game.

At half time, Jose swapped Diarra for Joe Cole which also meant that Essien would move to the right back and if need be change to 3-4-3. This really paid off as Chelsea grew stronger in the second half with every passing minute. As I was always suspecting, Valencia made a meal of a set piece. Essien’s very well curved cross somehow brought the ball to the Sheva’s feet, who took the goal very neatly with just micro seconds available for him to react. While Chelsea was pushing another goal for Valencia never showed interest in playing football. The first English team to win at the Mestalla. May be they had the penalty shootout in their mind. Having equalised and playing in such tempo and vigour Chelsea were always going to get the winner, sooner or later. Well it’s later in here.

As always, Chelsea did not appear to have been ruffled too much about the approaching full time whistle. In their relentless pursuit for the winning goal, they never get pressurised by the time left. With all Valencia players getting tired and heavy, hoping for the full time whistle, Joe Cole and Essien, the two returners set up a thundering winner. When Joe Cole got the ball right in front of the goal, in his striking zone, he opted to pass it to Sheva, who made a smart pass into the box. In comes Essien running in like a raging bull which won’t convince you that it was in the 90th minute! When Essien stormed inside penalty box, with Sheva, Ballack, Drogba, Lampard, Carvalho and Terry waiting for a cross, not many would have thought Essien would blast that towards the near post. Probably that’s what caught everyone including Canizares by surprise. After this goal, there were three minutes of stoppage time. Valencia had by that time surrendered and they were down and out. And it was so strange that we were still pushing them and attacking for a possible third!

Jose is particularly happy about his matchwinner:

Essien is a special player. He is an athlete. He can run forever. He could play a game every day. He is a superb athlete. When we lost him one month ago it was a big, big loss. But he was ready to come for this crucial game. I know he is suspended for the next game but this one was the crucial one. The next one is not crucial.

Couple of interesting things happened here. If you had read my post on Valencia earlier, I had mentioned that Valencia has this tendency to concede goals in the 45 - 60 mins period. Chelsea’s equalisers in both the legs came in this period. And then comes our habit scoring goals in the last 10 minutes. Put both these together and you get a historic away win!

Jose on the match:

It was a great performance, especially in the second half. A great performance against a good team. We had a difficult start and were losing 1-0 and out of the competition. But the second half was amazing. We dominated the second half but I did not have to give a hot half-time talk. I was just telling my players to be strong and to have a strong mentality. I told them to resist the pressure. We made a tactical change by putting Essien at right-back. He is offensive and powerful in that position and Joe Cole and Shevchenko helped us to create more two-on-one situations. We deserved to win the game over 90 minutes. (Santiago) Canizares made two unbelievable saves - especially the one against Michael Ballack’s header. I thought the team was very strong. I had the changes ready if it went to extra-time. But when I saw the ball in the net in the last minute with Valencia needing to score two, it was great. It happened to me when I was at Porto - we scored in Old Trafford in the last moment. Like all goals, there was great emotion.

Jose Mourinho did a few crucial things which were instrumental in this win:
1. He selected Essien to play
2. He did not play SWP/Maka (1 min does not count)
3. He opted for a flat midfield as we had to attack them relentlessly
4. Brought in Joe Cole for Diarra as early as half time
5. Had his team looking for set peices
6. Boldly switched to 4-3-3 and 3-4-3 intermittently

More than all these he said this GEM before the start of this match

The Mestalla will be a pressure environment, but fans don’t score goals

Having drawn the home game and conceding an away goal, going to the haunted away stadium where no English team had won before, facing the most fearsome and vocal home crowds, coming back from a goal behind, and equalising only in the second half and scoring the winning goal in the 90th minute of the game - absolutely incredible. The odds were completely against Chelsea making it through. But we went there and dominated them throughout the match, had twice the possession, twice the shots and twice their will, grit and passion to win this match.

The Chelsea fairytale of this season continues. Most probably, Liverpool will be our semi final opponents again. We certainly have a score to settle with them. Just like the way we avenged our defeat to Barcelona, we need to teach some lessons to the scousers. We were beaten by them in the 04-05 Champions League semifinals, we lost in the FA Cup semi finals last season and we lost three crucial points in our match at Anfield in January. Ah, there are too many reasons for a revenge!

So, who took us through?
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