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August 16th, 2007 by boruff

Wawancara Bersama Tan Sri Mokhtar Al-Bukhary 

Petikan dari Utusan Malaysia


"Orang Melayu boleh berjaya asal tekun berusaha serta sabar diuji masa — Atasi sikap malu dan malas"


MUKADIMAH

JARUM jam sudah
menjangkau tengah malam ketika dua wartawan Mingguan Malaysia rancak
menemu bual Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary, tokoh korporat Melayu yang
latar hidupnya tidak begitu banyak diketahui
.

Isu yang dibincangkan hanya
satu - tentang sikap sesetengah korporat Melayu berjaya yang keberatan
turun ke bawah membantu anak bangsa. Isu itu dibangkitkan pada
Perhimpunan Agung UMNO baru-baru ini.

“Saya pun naik semangat
bercakap tentang hal orang Melayu ini walaupun tadi ada rasa mengantuk
sedikit,” katanya kepada wartawan NOOR AZAM SHAIRI dan SITI MARIAM MD.
ZAIN di sebuah hotel terkemuka di Kuala Lumpur, tengah malam Rabu lalu.

Syed Mokhtar adalah salah
seorang daripada orang Melayu berjaya yang diketahui umum banyak
menyumbang kepada pengembangan anak bangsa. Beliau menubuhkan Yayasan
Al-Bukhary yang antara projek utamanya ialah memberi peluang pendidikan
kepada anak-anak pintar yang kurang berkemampuan.

“Saya dulu tidak ada peluang. Setelah ada rezeki ini kenapa saya tidak
boleh tolong orang miskin yang boleh pergi jauh,” katanya yang
bersekolah setakat tingkatan lima.

Dalam wawancara ini, Syed
Mokhtar juga ditanya tentang tanggapan umum terhadapnya yang dilihat
sebagai seorang ahli perniagaan yang kerjanya mengambil alih
kepentingan demi kepentingan pelbagai syarikat.

“Ada sebab kenapa saya
bekerja seperti tidak ada esok,” katanya. Agenda sosial dan
kerja-kerja kemasyarakatan itulah antara sebabnya. Syed Mokhtar
mengakui bahawa semua itu bukan untuk dirinya sendiri sebaliknya beliau
mahu meninggalkan warisan untuk anak bangsa yang kekal berpanjangan.

Wawancara ini adalah antara sedikit yang pernah diberikan oleh tokoh
korporat yang selalu cuba mengelak daripada tumpuan media. Ditanya
kenapa beliau bersedia ditemu bual pada kali ini, Syed Mokhtar
menjawab: “Saya mahu membela diri.”

“Saya perlu tampil untuk membetulkan pandangan-pandangan serong tentang diri saya.”

MINGGUAN: Bagaimanakah Tan Sri melihat hubung kait diri Tan Sri dengan Dasar Ekonomi Baru (DEB)?

SYED MOKHTAR:
Saya menikmati jasa dasar itu semasa memulakan perniagaan dulu,
daripada pinjaman Mara sehinggalah kepada bangunan kedai UDA. Saya
produk DEB tetapi semua ini melalui proses selama 34 tahun.

MINGGUAN: Dalam tempoh lebih 34 tahun ini, apakah rahsia kejayaan Tan Sri?

SYED MOKHTAR:
Tidak ada apa-apa rahsia. Saya ini hamba Allah biasa, budak dangau
macam saudara semua juga. Tuhan jadikan manusia ini sama saja, cuma
proses kematangan saya yang membezakannya. Saya percaya sesiapa pun
boleh menjadi apa saja asalkan mereka berusaha dengan tekun. Tetapi
tentulah ia memakan masa.

Saya sendiri melalui pahit
maung dan merasai segala-galanya untuk sampai ke tahap ini. Tidak ada
jalan yang singkat. Saya belajar tentang perniagaan ini dari kecil
lagi, dan saya juga biasa kena tipu.

Saya memang sudah buat keputusan dari awal bahawa saya mahu buat sendiri. Saya tidak gadai lesen dan permit yang saya ada.

MINGGUAN: Ini tentang know how atau know who?

SYED MOKHTAR:
Semasa mula berniaga dulu saya tidak ada kenal sesiapa. Tetapi selepas
saya mengembangkan perniagaan ini memang faktor know who itu penting
juga. Bangsa lain tidak mengapa tetapi orang Melayu dalam berniaga kena
berdamping dengan orang politik sedikit-sedikit.

Dasar DEB itu tidak sia-sia.
Saya boleh mempertahankan manfaatnya. Ini bukan masalah dasar tetapi
masalah manusia yang tidak mahu melalui kesusahan; banyak yang mahu
senang dengan mendampingi orang politik.

Saya juga mengenali
kekuatan dan kelemahan saya. Apa yang saya tidak mampu buat saya akan
minta orang lain tengok-tengokkan. Saya melalui jalan susah tetapi
itulah jalan yang kekal.

Tidak banyak peniaga Melayu yang buat macam Tan Sri - dapat
empat permit lori walaupun cuma mampu pakai dua, yang baki itu tidak
dijual.?

SYED MOKHTAR:
Alhamdulillah, Tuhan tidak gerakkan hati saya buat kerja-kerja itu.
Saya yakin, insya-Allah dua buah lori lagi saya boleh beli kalau saya
rajin berusaha. Saya percaya kalau perniagaan saya maju dan tidak cukup
lori, saya tentu kena minta lagi. Jadi walaupun hanya mampu beli dua
buah lori, dua lagi permit itu saya simpan untuk masa depan.

MINGGUAN: Maksudnya kena sabar menunggu?

SYED MOKHTAR: Memang kena
banyak sabar dan kuat berusaha. Semasa mula-mula berniaga dulu saya pun
biasa kena tindas, bukan saja dengan bangsa lain tetapi dengan orang
Melayu yang dipergunakan.

Saya terpaksa bersaing dengan orang Cina yang sudah jauh lebih maju dan
boleh juga mendapatkan lesen daripada orang Melayu yang sanggup
menggadainya.

MINGGUAN: Semasa mula berniaga Tan Sri bekerjasama dengan orang Cina. Kenapa?

SYED MOKHTAR:
Kita perlu menggunakan kepakaran mereka kerana mereka jauh lebih maju
dan mahir daripada kita. Apa yang kita kurang faham, kita berkongsi
dengan mereka dengan tujuan untuk belajar daripada mereka. Apabila
sudah faham barulah kita boleh menjaga kepentingan kita.

Sampai sekarang saya masih berkongsi dengan orang Cina tetapi saya juga terlibat secara aktif dalam perniagaan itu.

MINGGUAN: Bagaimanakah lahirnya Yayasan Al-Bukhary ini?

SYED MOKHTAR:
Apabila saya dapat rezeki sedikit ditambah pula dengan didikan ibu bapa
saya, saya mula menolong orang. Itulah juga punca saya mewujudkan
yayasan di Alor Star itu. Insya-Allah, harapan saya setelah mati nanti
yayasan itu tetap kekal dan terus memberi bakti.

Selain Muzium Kesenian Islam
di Kuala Lumpur saya juga buka pusat tuisyen. Sebenarnya saya hendak
buat sudah lama tetapi tiada siapa yang sanggup hendak tengok-tengokkan
sehinggalah saya dapat tahu Datuk Seri Shukor Abdullah (bekas Ketua
Pengarah Pendidikan) bersara. Saya cari dia dan dia sanggup untuk
melaksanakan hasrat ini. Ini daripada hati saya, siapa pun tidak suruh.

Projek ketiga yayasan ialah
Kompleks Al-Bukhary di Alor Star. Itu asalnya tanah datuk saya dan
masjid itu asalnya dia yang bina. Saya sebenarnya sedih melihat sistem
sekolah pondok di Kedah. Saya ada cita-cita mahu memodenkan sekolah
pondok. Kita kena maju.

Dalam hal ini, apabila saya
masuk ke dalam masyarakat saya tidak lihat orang itu UMNO atau Pas.
Kalau orang itu memerlukan bantuan, kalau boleh ditolong, saya tolong.
Dalam hal-hal kemasyarakatan tidak ada UMNO dan Pas.

MINGGUAN: Maksudnya?

SYED MOKHTAR:
Orang Melayu semuanya sama. Pendirian politik itu terpulanglah kepada
diri masing-masing. Dalam kompleks masyarakat itu kita semua sama.
Dalam soal kemajuan ummah kita mesti bersatu.

MINGGUAN: Prof.
Diraja Ungku Aziz dalam satu wawancara sebelum ini menyebut bahawa
orang Melayu tidak berfikir seperti satu ummah. Orang Melayu
individualistik. Tan Sri nampaknya bukan dari golongan itu?

SYED MOKHTAR:
Saya fikir soal parti adalah hak masing-masing. Apabila hidup
bermasyarakat, kita tidak sepatutnya mengasingkan ini orang UMNO, ini
orang Pas. Saya memberi bantuan hanya atas dasar sebagai orang Islam.
Soal ideologi atau perjuangan mana yang betul, hanya Allah yang akan
menentukannya.

Dalam menjayakan agenda
Melayu, orang Melayu sendiri kena tolong orang Melayu. Tidak guna kita
buat seminar sana sini tetapi tidak mahu menolong bangsa sendiri untuk
jadi maju. Kita kena berusaha, baru orang Melayu boleh jadi kuat.

Apabila kuat, kita
tidak lagi ditindas. Jangan kita bercakap tentang agenda Melayu dalam
Perhimpunan Agung UMNO tetapi selepas itu kita senyap. Sepatutnya semua
orang kena buat kerja, bukannya bercakap saja. 

MINGGUAN: Apa pandangan Tan Sri kepada korporat Melayu yang tidak mahu tolong Melayu?

SYED MOKHTAR:
Mereka mungkin tidak nampak ini sebagai kewajipan kerana mereka tidak
melalui kesusahan. Saya pun suka kepada kemewahan. Saya pun suka pergi
tengok dunia, ke Tokyo, New York dan London. Saya pun suka pakai baju
elok. Tetapi kita ini hendak mewah setakat mana, hendak pakai baju
banyak mana, hendak tidur dalam berapa rumah satu malam, hendak makan
pun sampai larat mana? Dalam hidup ini kita sebenarnya tidak ada
status; ada masa di atas, ada masa di bawah. Kita tidak boleh
mengagung-agungkan diri kita sangat. Masalahnya sekarang ada yang sudah
ke atas tetapi tidak mahu turun ke bawah.

MINGGUAN: Kenapa ini berlaku?

SYED MOKHTAR:
Mungkin kerana kurang didikan dan nilai sehingga hidup jadi
terbawa-bawa. Tidak mengapa kalau mereka boleh hisap curut RM500.
Tetapi tidak semestinya bermakna mereka tidak boleh turun ke bawah
membantu orang. Ketika Allah memberikan kemewahan, kita kena turun ke
bawah, tengok mana-mana yang boleh dibantu. Allah beri rezeki melalui
kita untuk kita tolong orang lain. Rezeki itu bila-bila masa Dia boleh
ambil balik. Mereka bersikap begini boleh jadi kerana bayangan duit itu
lebih kuat daripada yang lain. Ini berbeza dengan orang Cina yang ada
pelbagai persatuan. Kita tidak ada; kalau ada pun berpecah. Orang
Melayu kita tidak mahu bekerjasama kerana perasaan dengki menguasai
diri. Sudahlah tidak mahu berusaha, apabila orang lain usaha, mereka
marah.

MINGGUAN: Inikah pegangan Tan Sri dari dulu lagi; rezeki yang ada itu sebenarnya untuk orang lain?

SYED MOKHTAR:
Saya fikir memang dari segi hukum pun begitu. Kita kena keluar zakat
dan fitrah. Tetapi zakat fitrah banyak mana sangat. Islam agama yang
adil; ia minta sedikit saja. Oleh itu kalau ada duit yang lebih ia
seharusnya dibelanjakan dengan baik.

MINGGUAN: Tan Sri melihat menolong orang lain itu satu tanggungjawab?

SYED MOKHTAR:
Apabila kita memberi kerja kepada orang lain, ia juga satu amalan
kerana kerja mendatangkan rezeki kepada mereka. Sekarang kumpulan saya
ada 36,000 pekerja. Ini satu tanggungjawab kepada saya, bagaimana
hendak menjadikan mereka ini maju, dapat bonus dan sebagainya.

MINGGUAN: Kalau Tan Sri tidak buat semua ini apa Tan Sri rasa?

SYED MOKHTAR:
Saya akan rasa sedih kerana tidak banyak orang Melayu yang tolong
Melayu. Saya tidak kisah; saya boleh tidak buat apa-apa dan balik ke
Alor Star. Tetapi saya akan rasa hidup ini sia-sia. Orang Kedah kata,
kalau mati nanti mata tidak tutup rapat kerana tanggungjawab depan mata
kita tidak buat.

Orang lain ambil kekayaan
kita, ambil hak kita dan pergunakan kita, kita masih tidak buat
apa-apa. Tetapi semua ini sebenarnya bukan mampu saya buat seorang.

Saya ada emotional attachment
kepada agama, negara, bangsa dan ummah. Saya bukan individualistik.
Diri saya tidak mustahak. Pangkat dan gelaran ini kepada saya tidak
mustahak.

Kalau saya dulu tidak dapat
peluang belajar tinggi, kenapa pula saya hendak sekat peluang orang
lain? Lagipun saya datang daripada golongan itu. Kalau ada rezeki lebih
sedikit takkan saya sanggup lupakan mereka.

MINGGUAN: Tan Sri mengharapkan lebih ramai lagi orang Melayu yang berjaya seperti Tan Sri?

SYED MOKHTAR:
Saya kadang-kadang sedih apabila media tonjolkan saya begini. Saya malu
kerana orang Cina kaya beratus-ratus kali ganda daripada saya.

Tetapi saya tahu orang Melayu
kalau hendak berjaya kena kerja kuat, tidak kira siang malam. Kita ada
kekuatan yang Tuhan beri melebihi daripada bangsa lain. Tetapi untuk
maju kita perlu berusaha.

Saya asal daripada tidak ada apa-apa. Apa yang saya tidak tahu saya
belajar, minta tolong daripada orang. Saya tidak malu. Saya bukannya
mencuri. Saya usaha sendiri. Sikap pemalas dan pemalu ini yang orang
Melayu kena atasi. Kita kena berani kerana benar. Apabila kita dapat
keuntungan dan rezeki lebih, bolehlah kita menolong orang.

MINGGUAN: Apakah yang selalu Tan Sri fikirkan?

SYED MOKHTAR:
Saya selalu fikir bagaimana hendak mengekalkan kumpulan ini untuk masa
depan; bagaimana hendak menjalankan semua projek di bawah yayasan.

Sebahagian daripada keuntungan kumpulan ini saya khaskan kepada kos
operasi Yayasan Al-Bukhary yang akan menempatkan 3,000 pelajar dari
negara-negara Islam - 70 peratus pelajar antarabangsa, 20 peratus
pelajar kita dan 10 peratus bukan Islam. Kita memberikan fokus kepada
soal pendidikan anak bangsa. Kelas tuisyen itu boleh dikatakan 100
peratus untuk anak Melayu. Universiti itu pula adalah untuk
pelajar-pelajar yang cerdik tetapi tidak ada kemampuan.

Kita akan ambil mereka dan beri bantuan seratus peratus. Kita mahu
mereka menjadi profesional yang apabila tamat pengajian boleh pulang ke
negara masing-masing dan membantu masyarakat mereka pula. 

MINGGUAN: Salah satu
masalah ekonomi orang Melayu ialah pengangguran di kalangan siswazah.
Dalam hal ini misalnya apakah yang boleh Tan Sri lakukan?

SYED MOKHTAR:
Saya telah meminta kumpulan kami mengkaji masalah ini dan mengambil
sekumpulan mereka bekerja dan memberikan latihan. Insya-Allah kami akan
sentiasa mencari perniagaan baru, mungkin daripada swasta atau
kerajaan. Kalau daripada kerajaan orang mungkin akan menjadikannya
sebagai isu lagi. Tetapi kalau kita terus mencari peluang dan
perniagaan lain kita akan terus dapat membantu orang lain untuk
mengembangkan diri masing-masing. Saya bukan buat semua ini untuk diri
saya sendiri semata-mata.

MINGGUAN: Laporan-laporan tentang Tan Sri selama ini, itu maksudnya bukanlah untuk mengembangkan kekayaan peribadi?

SYED MOKHTAR:
Diri saya tidak mustahak. Kalau saya hendak ambil alih mana-mana
syarikat pun saya mesti ada kemampuan untuk menguruskannya. Orang tidak
tahu bahawa apabila saya mengambil sesetengah syarikat itu ia
sebenarnya dapat menyelamatkan berpuluh-puluh ribu keluarga pekerjanya
yang sebahagian besarnya ialah orang Melayu. Tetapi apabila saya
mengambil alih syarikat-syarikat itu orang bertanya apakah tidak ada
orang lain selain daripada Syed Mokhtar?

MINGGUAN: Orang tidak bercakap tentang hal-hal di belakang itu.

SYED MOKHTAR:
Perkara yang elok lambat orang tahu. Saya ini ada dibenci orang. Orang
kata saya tamak, ambil semua peluang yang ada dan hendak jadi kaya
seorang. Kaya apa? Kaya itu bukanlah pada diri saya. Kaya itu adalah
kepada kumpulan perniagaan ini, kepada bangsa dan kepada orang ramai.
Saya hanya memegangnya untuk sementara saja. Saya tidak ada keinginan
untuk menyimpan kekayaan ini untuk anak dan isteri. Duit ini tidak akan
kekal. Saya percaya hanya perkara baik yang kita lakukan akan kekal.
Bukan duit yang akan melindungi saya nanti tetapi apa yang saya lakukan
sekarang. Tetapi banyak orang percaya bahawa dia mesti ada RM10 juta
atau RM20 juta dalam tangan baru hidup boleh selamat. Ini yang
menyebabkan mereka hanyut daripada menolong orang lain. Mereka lebih
takutkan diri sendiri. Mereka lupa bahawa kekayaan tidak boleh membantu
selama-lamanya.

MINGGUAN: Apakah yang orang tidak tahu tentang syarikat-syarikat yang Tan Sri miliki itu?

SYED MOKHTAR:
Sesetengah daripada syarikat itu bermasalah; saya membeli untuk
menyelamatkannya daripada jatuh ke tangan bangsa lain atau orang Melayu
sendiri yang boleh membawa lebih kerosakan. Saya tidak menggadaikan hak
dan kepentingan orang kita. Tetapi kerja saya bukan beli syarikat. Saya
ada perniagaan sendiri - syarikat lori dan beras. Alhamdulillah, Tuhan
memberikan saya kekuatan untuk ke depan apabila ada peluang. Walaupun
sesetengah syarikat itu bermasalah tetapi saya melihatnya sebagai satu
peluang juga - bagaimana hendak mengubahnya. Tetapi saya tidak pernah
ambil daripada mulut orang Melayu lain; sudah hendak sampai ke
kerongkong saya ambil, saya tidak buat begitu. Apa yang saya dapat ini
adalah daripada usaha saya sendiri. Ada juga yang saya usaha tetapi
tidak dapat dan orang tidak tahu. Apa yang saya dapat itu pula yang
menjadi masalah kononnya Syed Mokhtar sapu
semua. Orang kita terlupa bahawa bangsa lain memegang pelbagai
kepentingan dalam ekonomi negara ini. Siapa pula yang memberikan
pelbagai kemudahan untuk membolehkan mereka memegang kepentingan itu?
Siapa pun tidak kata apa. Inilah masalah orang Melayu. Di kampung orang
Melayu berpecah kerana politik Pas dan UMNO; di bandar, berpecah kerana
ini. Saya tidak pergi cari mana syarikat hendak saya beli. Saya percaya
kalau rezeki itu Allah beri kepada saya ia bukan untuk saya tetapi
untuk orang ramai juga. Orang tidak tahu banyak syarikat yang saya ada
ini gagal dan tidak maju kepada saya tetapi orang tidak tahu.

Orang tidak tahu
bagaimana saya rugi lebih RM2 bilion dalam pelaburan semasa kegawatan
1997 semata-mata kerana hendak melindungi 30 peratus kepentingan orang
Melayu. 

MINGGUAN: Setiap kali mendapat rezeki daripada Tuhan, apakah yang Tan Sri rasakan?

SYED MOKHTAR: Saya ini kata orang Kedah,
lebai kodok, bukan lebai pondok. Tetapi saya tahu hal-hal asas. Kalau
mahu kita minta terus daripada Tuhan. Tuhan beri manusia akal dan
fikiran. Kalau hendak pakai baju dan seluar biarlah padan dengan badan.
Orang kata saya tidak ada duit tetapi banyak hutang. Orang berniaga
mana yang tidak berhutang. Tetapi kita mesti tahu bagaimana hendak
meminjam dan membayarnya semula. Ada cara kita boleh buat.

Kalau beratus-ratus orang Cina dalam bandar boleh buat kenapa saya
orang Melayu tidak boleh? Tetapi kerana saya Melayu orang menjadikannya
sebagai satu isu. Inilah masalahnya. Tidak ada salahnya berhutang kalau
berniaga. Tetapi sebelum berhutang RM100 juta kita mesti sudah fikir
bagaimana hendak membayarnya balik. Mesti ada tanggungjawab. Soal
tanggungjawab ini yang banyak orang tidak sanggup pikul. Banyak orang
mahu senang tetapi tidak ramai yang mahu bertanggungjawab.

Kesenangan yang saya perolehi ini datang dengan tanggungjawab. Kalau
hendak dibandingkan dengan bangsa lain, perniagaan saya tidak ada apa.
Tetapi walaupun sedikit tetapi yang sedikit itu ada berkatnya. Saya
suka kalau nikmat sedikit yang saya dapat itu orang lain boleh
berkongsi sama. Emak saya mengajar: Kalau dapat lebih, beri lebih;
kalau kurang, beri kurang.

MINGGUAN: Tan Sri ada
sikap yang begitu sensitif kepada keperluan anak bangsa dan saudara
seagama. Soalnya kenapakah tidak banyak korporat Melayu yang ada sikap
sebegini?

SYED MOKHTAR:
Mungkin kerana masalah didikan atau kerana mereka naik dengan begitu
mudah. Atau mungkin juga kerana pergaulan mereka. Saya kadang-kadang
kecewa dan sedih melihat anak orang alim yang sesetengahnya lupa diri
setelah mendapat kekayaan. Saya pun sama seperti orang lain suka hendak
ke luar negara tetapi kita tidak boleh lupa kubur kita dan asal-usul
kita. Di kampung kita mungkin ada jiran-jiran yang perlukan bantuan.
Saya sangat berterima kasih kepada emak saya yang ambil setengah
daripada duit pertama saya dulu. Kalau tidak mungkin saya sudah ke
Haatyai dan jadi nakal. Saya manusia yang banyak juga melakukan
kesilapan. Tetapi saya insaf, beristighfar dan jalan lagi. Sejak awal
saya ada kesedaran mahu mengekalkan hak kita sebagai orang Melayu. Saya
kata kepada diri sendiri kalau kerana itu saya terpaksa bersusah
sedikit pun tidak mengapa.

MINGGUAN: Adakah Tan Sri rasa keseorangan melakukan semua ini?

SYED MOKHTAR:
Saya fikir banyak orang yang buat begini juga tetapi dengan cara mereka
sendiri. Insya-Allah kita berdoa mereka akan buat lebih lagi pada masa
akan datang. Saya buat apa yang tergerak dalam hati dan apa yang boleh
dicapai oleh tangan. Saya juga insaf bahawa diri saya tidak kekal; saya
hanya seorang hamba Allah yang kalau ditakdirkan hidup sehingga 70
tahun umur saya hanya tinggal 17 tahun saja lagi. Oleh itu saya suka
melakukan perkara yang kekal dan berterusan seperti yayasan ini. Kalau
bangsa lain boleh ada macam-macam yayasan kenapa tidak kita? Apa yang
penting ialah komitmen. Pendekatan saya selari; sambil mencari rezeki
saya juga menyumban semula kepada masyarakat. Saya sendiri tumpang
seronok melihat orang lain mendapat kesenangan daripada sedikit apa
yang saya ada ini.

MINGGUAN: Tan Sri seronok melihat orang lain dapat berkembang hasil daripada rezeki yang Tan Sri nikmati?

SYED MOKHTAR:
Ya. Kekayaan ini Tuhan beri kepada saya untuk saya menolong orang lain
pula. Saya percaya kepada keberkatan rezeki. Hari ini kita tolong
orang, esok lusa orang akan tolong kita pula dengan cara yang lain.

MINGGUAN: Harapan Tan Sri kepada orang Melayu lain yang juga sudah berjaya?

SYED MOKHTAR:
Insya-Allah, kebanyakan orang Islam ini baik-baik, ada niat yang baik.
Bukan mereka tidak mahu menolong tetapi mungkin masanya belum sampai
atau Tuhan belum menggerakkan hati mereka lagi. Mungkin juga mereka ada
masalah maklum saja selepas tahun 1997 masih belum banyak yang pulih
semula.

Saya sendiri sambil berhutang
sambil berniaga dan buat sumbangan amal jariah. Saya berdoa apabila
nanti saya pejam mata masa itu juga hutang pun habis, perniagaan dan
amal jariah pun sama-sama berjalan elok.

Saya tidak mahu tunggu hutang
habis baru hendak buat semua ini. Saya takut kalau hutang habis saya
pun mati dan apa pun tidak sempat buat.

MINGGUAN: Kepada
orang Melayu yang sanggup hisap curut RM500 tetapi susah hendak tolong
orang lain, apakah yang hendak Tan Sri katakan kepada mereka?

SYED MOKHTAR:
Kalau mereka hendak hisap curut, pakai kereta Porsche atau duduk rumah
besar, tak apa. Cuma ingat-ingatlah juga tanggungjawab untuk membantu
anak bangsa. Kita tidak boleh marah kepada mereka. Kita ingat-ingatkan
saja. Kebanyakan mereka itu orang yang bagus-bagus; mungkin
terbawa-bawa saja. Kepada saya ini masalah kecil saja. Masalah yang
lebih besar ialah diri kita sendiri. Orang Melayu kena yakin dan
berusaha untuk terus memajukan diri.

MINGGUAN: Harapan Tan Sri kepada orang Melayu keseluruhannya?

SYED MOKHTAR:
Peluang kita semua sama; saya tidak dapat lebih dan tidak dapat kurang.
Cuma satu saja saya minta daripada orang Melayu: Beri masa sedikit
kepada apa yang hendak diusahakan. Kalaupun tidak sanggup tunggu 34
tahun seperti saya berilah sedikit masa untuk faham selok-belok
perniagaan, insya-Allah boleh maju. Mereka juga kena fokus, majukan
diri dan selalu meningkatkan kemahiran. Kalau sudah maju dan hendak
mempelbagaikan perniagaan, masa itu tidak mengapa. Kita juga jangan
cepat berputus asa. Putus asa boleh tetapi kena cepat-cepat kuatkan
semula semangat untuk bangkit balik. Kita juga jangan jadikan agama
hanya satu tempat untuk kita bergantung apabila kita susah.
Tanggungjawab ibadah adalah tugas seharian.

MINGGUAN: Bolehkah orang Melayu maju?

SYED MOKHTAR:
Tidak ada sebab kenapa orang Melayu tidak boleh maju. Ini saya berani
perang dengan sesiapa pun kalau ada yang mengatakan orang Melayu tidak
boleh maju. Cuma nasihat saya kalau hendak jadi apa pun, jadilah yang
terbaik dalam bidang masing-masing sehingga kukuh bertapak.

Orang Melayu boleh maju. Kalau saudara jadi wartawan saudara kena tanam
semangat suatu hari mahu ambil alih akhbar itu. Tidak ada sebab kenapa
ia tidak boleh berlaku.

MINGGUAN: Cara hidup Tan Sri bagaimana?

SYED MOKHTAR:
Saya tidak ada lifestyle yang kena masuk kelab sana dan sini. Tetapi
tidak semestinya saya tidak boleh turun ke kelab. Orang Melayu kalau
hendak ke depan mesti ada cara hidup yang fleksibel, boleh naik dan
turun. Jangan amalkan cara hidup yang tidak boleh ada fleksibiliti.
Lifestyle ini sebenarnya satu penyakit. Saya biasa pakai Mercedes
tetapi sekarang saya pakai Proton Perdana untuk sokong kereta nasional.
Kereta itu pun cukup untuk bawa saya ke mana-mana.  Saya juga tidak
bermain golf kerana kepada saya ia memakan banyak masa. Tetapi tidak
semestinya orang yang main golf itu tidak bagus atau orang yang tidak
main itu lebih bagus. Saya pun tidak ada minat untuk beli kapal layar
atau kapal terbang. Saya fikir kalau saya beli sesuatu benda yang
mahal, biarlah orang ramai boleh pakai. Saya suka kalau orang ramai
mendapat nikmatnya.

Tetapi pada masa akan datang tidak tahu lagi. Kalau panjang umur saya
berniaga ke negara-negara lain dan ketika itu saya memerlukan, mungkin
saya akan beli juga kapal terbang. Setakat ini Proton Perdana sudah
memadai.

MINGGUAN: Tetapi orang Melayu umumnya apabila berniaga perkara pertama yang dilakukan ialah beli kereta mewah.

SYED MOKHTAR:
Kita tidak usahlah selalu mengulang-ulang perkara yang boleh memberikan
kesan psikologi yang negatif kepada orang Melayu. Kita kena kurangkan
bercakap tentang kereta besar dan rumah besar. Jangan kita memberikan
gambaran bahawa ini sebenarnya yang perlu mereka buat. Sesiapa pun
memang mahu semua itu tetapi bukan itu matlamatnya.

Kita kena tekankan hal-hal
yang positif tentang orang Melayu. Orang Melayu boleh jadi yang terbaik
dalam apa juga bidang kerjaya mereka. Itu yang perlu kita lakukan.

MINGGUAN: Di kalangan
orang Melayu masih ada pemikiran bahawa kerajaan perlu menolong mereka.
Bagaimanakah Tan Sri melihat realitinya?

SYED MOKHTAR:
Saya ingat kena tengok tahap-tahapnya. Kerajaan kena tolong orang
Melayu. Orang Melayu mesti naik berperingkat-peringkat. Bantuan
kerajaan sentiasa ada. Sistemnya sudah ada. Kalau orang Melayu masuk ke
dalam sistem itu, mereka sudah boleh jalan ke depan.

Tetapi seperti saya katakan tadi mereka perlu melalui proses ujian
masa. Mereka yang perlukan bantuan ini ialah mereka yang hendak cepat
dan tidak faham apa. Orang Melayu sebenarnya tidak perlu meminta
kerajaan membantu kerana dasar itu memang sudah ada. Orang Melayu
sebenarnya yang kena membantu diri sendiri, kena bekerja keras dan
fokus.

Saya mendapat nikmat daripada
DEB sejak awal pelaksanaannya lagi. Ketika itu lebih susah kalau hendak
dibandingkan dengan peluang-peluang yang ada sekarang.

MINGGUAN: Adakah Tan Sri puas hati dengan apa yang sudah dilakukan ini?

SYED MOKHTAR:
Saya biasa saja. Hidup saya tidak berubah, dari dulu beginilah. Saya
terima apa saja nikmat yang diberikan oleh Allah. Tidak ada air
segelas, ada setengah gelas pun saya bersyukur.

MINGGUAN: Apakah yang Tan Sri rasa apabila melihat orang yang menerima bantuan daripada yayasan ini?

SYED MOKHTAR:
Kalau kerana sedikit bantuan itu mereka lulus peperiksaan dan hidup
mereka menjadi lebih baik, saya sudah gembira. Saya tidak boleh buat
banyak. Alhamdulillah, lebih baik buat sedikit daripada tidak buat
langsung.

Saya gembira dapat membantu.
Kalau saya boleh beli seekor lembu untuk sebuah kampung yang sudah lama
tidak makan daging, saya rasa gembira. Saya rasa seronok dapat bawa
anak-anak dari luar datang ke Kuala Lumpur, tengok lampu-lampu yang
cantik.

Saya tahu bagaimana
perasaannya. Saya mahu orang lain merasai apa yang saya pernah rasa.
Saya kata kepada diri saya, apa yang saya dapat saya mesti beri orang
lain merasainya sama. Jangan kita beri kurang daripada itu, lebih tidak
mengapa. Itu yang membuat hati saya seronok.

MINGGUAN: Tan Sri tentu rasa boleh menyumbang lebih lagi daripada ini?

SYED MOKHTAR:
Memang itulah yang selalu saya rasa. Saya kata kepada kawan-kawan apa
yang kita buat ini baru warm-up saja; kita belum berjalan lagi. Saya
rasa kita terlalu banyak ketinggalan.

Insya-Allah, kalau orang Melayu lain boleh bersama-sama membantu
tentulah lebih baik. Ayah saya kata, guni beras kalau seorang pikul
memang berat tetapi kalau ramai-ramai kita pakat pikul ringan jadinya.

MINGGUAN: Kenapa beri wawancara sekarang?

SYED MOKHTAR:
Saya rasa saya perlu tampil untuk membetulkan pandangan-pandangan yang
serong tentang diri saya itu. Saya kena membela diri. Setidak-tidaknya
saya jelas dengan apa yang hendak saya lakukan. Terpulang bagaimana
umum hendak menerimanya.

Kepada saya, apa yang benar
itu akan kekal. Saya segan kerana kerja saya yang sedikit ini orang
besar-besarkan. Niat saya baik tetapi orang fikir sebaliknya. Saya
bukan orang jahat. Saya asal orang miskin.

Saya pun sebenarnya bukan
hendak menonjol-nonjolkan diri. Saya hormat kepada pemimpin. Saya akan
sama-sama membantu. Pemimpin datang dan pergi tetapi saya hormat
kedudukan itu. Perjuangan yang mereka tentukan itu akan terus saya
bantu.

BACA :

Bank Muamalat milik Tan Sri Mokhtar

Tan Sri Mokhtar Al-Bukhary Derma RM127 juta 

Bina Universiti di Johor bernilai RM 700 juta

KOMEN SAYA :

Alhamdulillah, saya gembira dengan
jutawan Muslim yang mempunyai kualiti dan pemikiran begini. Memang amat
baik dan banyak yang bertepatan dengan kehendak Islam.

Zaharuddin Abd Rahman

www.zaharuddin.net

10 Ogos 2007

Perempuan & Duit…

August 4th, 2007 by boruff

There is a saying somewhere i heard (maybe from my friends who claim to be wise) that; "normally guys only have 2 common problems, one is women and the second is money".
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what’s sad & ironic is, it is true. but worse if u have both problems in less than a week!
one can imagined how awful any of us felt if it had happened…SERIOUSA PROBLEMAS.
but hey, not a big deal if you’re someone who treat it as a valuable experience & learn to go through it with patience (easier said than done, i know :) ).
just take it as something u have to go through to be mature & smart (in your future undertakings la…).
anyway, GOOD LUCK for guys out there who will face or currently in the ‘perempuan & duit’ problem. as for me, glad to say i survived…but it was one heck of a ride :)

nuff of my blabs, cheers mates….

Al-Fatihah utk Tok Wan…Not A Fallen Hero but An Elevated Hero

July 23rd, 2007 by boruff

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It was on the eve of 19th July 2007 that I’ve got the news of my Tok Wan(Raden Hj. Ismail) has been called to Rahmatullah. "Innalillah…",I said. It was shocking and nobody expect something like this can happened. But siapalah kita ini, hanyalah hamba-Nya yang suatu hari nanti akan kembali kepada-Nya.
When I asked my dad, he said my Arwah Tok Wan had a heart attack at the airport. He was from Brunei and was a few moments to fly back to Malaysia. He was 71 years old. His jenazah arrived at KLIA at about 0100 AM, 20 July 2007 and got to his home at Sarang Buaya, Muar, Johor  at about 0330 AM. Many people came & it was crowded.

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I had not seen my Arwah Tok Wan for a while and to see him for the last time in this way was very alarming. When I heard the Tok Imam reciting the talqin and said "WAHAI (polan bin polan) , SESUNGGUH-NYA MATI ITU BENAR…" it really hit me.
At that time what I feel was a very deep sense of INSAF where anything that I have or want in this world is not important anymore. As if I can just throw all the worldly pleasures away. For that moment I realized that for sure…one day we will die & the question is "Are you prepared yet? ".

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Now, I would like to say that i knew my Arwah Tok Wan since I was a little child and I confessed that I did not know the man himself well. I did not have a lot of conversations with him nor see him often. But my dad has. And I tend to ask my dad & he will tell me about my Arwah Tok Wan whenever he can. But apart of that, my Arwah Tok Wan did play a huge part in my life without me knowing him well. Funny isn’t it? But it’s true. It was his ilmu or teachings that helped me a lot. To my Arwah Tok Wan, I would like to say thank you. Semoga Arwah Tok Wan dicucuri rahmat-Nya & di tempatkan di kalangan orang-orang yang salih di sisi-Nya. Amin.

A good friend of mine who also came with me to this event said that my Arwah Tok Wan was ‘A Fallen Hero’…
But to me he was not fallen, instead he will always be in our hearts and his teachings will always be in our thoughts…I say to my friend, to me he was ‘An Elevated Hero’.

New Blog From Me

July 23rd, 2007 by boruff

Hi guys,
From now on i will change my current blog of Chelsea-Mad-Supporter into a blog that tells what i think, my views on on-going current affairs, politics, love, my philosophy & idealism in life and anything that i know of. You have the utmost welcome to read & give comments in my blog. To me your comments are the most important thing to me. So read on, enjoy & give a comment (anything!). Thanks you from me Mr. Boruff, your blogger.

We won the FA Cup !!!

May 20th, 2007 by boruff

19 May

FA Cup Finals: Chelsea 1-0 Man Utd: Last Laugh And All That! (11)

After all, this has ended up as a good season! Two trophies,
runner-up in the league and semifinalists in the champions league.
Quite a few milestones in this season - unbeaten in home league matches
for three seasons, won all English trophies in a span of three seasons,
sixth trophy in three seasons, first English team to win in Estadio
Mestalla, first FA cup win in new Wembley stadium . . . you can add
more.

Chelsea wanted to win this for various reasons: (i) only trophy yet
to be won by Jose (ii) a sweet revenge (iii) for pride (iv) to end on a
positive note (v) just to win. Man Utd had their eyes on the league
double. For them to achieve a league double during these periods of
Chelsea domination, would have been some achievement. Most of us were
expecting a cracking final. Certainly it was, but not until the end of
the first half.

Not very surprisingly, both teams started out very quietly, playing
not-so-enterprising football. It was evident that neither team wanted
to concede an early goal at any cost. In a match between the two best
English teams, the first shot on target came on 31 minutes (from
Lampard). This explains better. Though it was quiet for long periods of
time, Chelsea was easily the better team in the first half showing more
hunger and passion. The highlight of the first half was how Paulo
contained Ronaldo. The player of the season, who has been a constant
goal threat all season, was almost anonymous. Credit to Paulo for
showing what he’s really worth. With the way Diarra was going, I never
thought Paulo would snatch it back from him.

Man Utd, expectedly, upped the tempo in the second half. Rooney
played a great game for Man Utd. But for some brilliant tackles by
Essien and super saves by Cech, he would have surely scored and would
have thoroughly deserved his goal. While Essien was making those
crunching tackles, his midfielder instincts did show up occasionally
and also made some errors that you would not expect from Ricardo. At
the end of the second half, honours were even, with Chelsea being
slightly better on statistics. It was anybody’s match. Even if Man Utd
had won in 90 minutes, I could not have complained.

I did not want this game to go to penalties. Not that the bad
memories of the recent sudden death made me think so. I just did not
want this great game to be decided by spot flukes. While Chelsea
appeared to be tiring fast, it was still clear that they badly wanted
to win this trophy, may be more than Man Utd. This game was dominated
by the Chelsea midfield of Lampard, Mikel and Maka. They all played
superbly and you could see what a well-rested Lampard could offer.
Mikel once again played a very pivotal role in the midfield and makes
me wonder once again why his name was not considered for the ‘young
player of the year’.

Two other players who impressed me in this match were Robben and
Cech. Though Robben played only for about 60 mins, he was tormenting
the first choice Man Utd defence. You can say that he is in form when
he runs past world class defenders like he is doing his skills in the
training ground. On several occasions, the Man Utd defence were
embarrassed very badly by his flip-flaps. It was a shame that he
couldnt play a part in the winning goal. Petr Cech. We’ve said enough
and more. When Jose used to call him as the best goalkeeper in the
world, I always thought, ‘oh yes, one of the best’. Having come back
from a near-fatal head injury, his recent performances have truly made
him the ‘50-million-pound-man’. I cannot think of any other goalkeeper
who is better than Petr at this moment.

In the second half of the extra time, came this interesting moment
where Giggs found a new way of scoring a goal. I have utmost respect
for Giggs, who I think is a fantastic professional and a true Man Utd
legend, but for him to claim an illegal goal was not quite like him.
Rooney made swift cross that was meant for Alan Smith or Giggs. With
Smith failing to connect the ball, Giggs made a meal of that finish and
Cech collected the ball as cool as he can be, about 2 feet from the
goal line. Unable to stop the momentum, Giggs crashed onto Cech who
saved and stalled, pushing Cech inside the goal with the ball about
half a foot inside the line. I’m not sure if any of the officials saw
it. I was expecting for a freekick to be given to Cech for Giggs
sliding on Cech to push him behind the line. Once the keeper has
legally grabbed the tight to his chest, anything you do is not going to
help you.

Cristiano Ronaldo was a spectator for most of the match. He had
switch from left to right to keep away from Paulo who had him in his
pocket. He got no favours from Wayne too. He could hardly ever step
into the box, but for the set pieces. At a big stage, when it mattered,
at his best form and fitness, we have tamed Ronaldo and he was no
better than what Ljunberg was, in his last few matches (I’m not sure if
that was an insult!). The way Chelsea controlled the midfield was a joy
to watch. Even in defence, barring a few mistakes, we never panicked,
even when Rooney was one-on-one with Cech. Overall, we were better
organised and prepared for this game than Man Utd.

With 4 minutes to go and the possibility of yet another spot kick
session looming large, came the moment we were all waiting for. While
everyone was expecting this match to go to the penalties, Mikel sensed
an opportunity and passed the ball to Drogba. The next 3 seconds were
pure magic. Drogba flicked the ball to Lampard and Lamps sent back a
perfectly weighted lob to Drogba in the middle of the box. Van der Sar
realised the danger and advanced to Drogba, which did not change Top
Drog’s plans. He coolly finished with a volley to send the blues crazy.
The goal celebrations were extravangant and I just loved them. Man Utd
knew that to score against Chelsea in the last four minutes in this
stage is almost impossible.

Drogba has had a great season. I’m not even sure if he would have
another season like this in future. Out of his 33 goals this season,
more than 25 goals must really match winning or crucial ones. This was
a perfect finish for Drogba’s magnificent season. If you look back this
season, you might conclude that this was his most important goal for
its value and the stage.

This post-match comments from Drogba sums up the ‘New Drogba’:

This doesn’t make up for the League and Champions League
- and we want our title back. But I love finals, you only reach them to
win, and this was a very difficult game against a fantastic team. I was
looking for this first goal against Manchester United for two years and
it happened today. Now we just want to celebrate.

John Terry too talks about coming back stronger for the premiership
and champions league next season. Not coincidence, just team mentality.

We have signed off the season on a high note and that
makes me very proud. We kept going right until the end and this is what
this team is all about. We’re disappointed about the League and the
Champions League but we will come back even stronger next year.

Of all the player interviews, this one from Lampard would most interest the Chelsea fans:

These are my people and I want to stay. This is my club and I hope I can sort it out soon because I want to stay forever.

Well, we’d like you to stay here forever too. It’ll all be sorted
out. I hope before the start of the next season, Frank signs another
4-year deal or something.

Jose
did not fail to signal the crowd on the sixth trophy. After a couple of
seasons, he might need someone else’s help if he continues this legend.
Roman, Kenyon were all seen very happy. I hope Roman is satisfied with
what we have achieved this season.
He gave it all to the players:

We have won every trophy in English football in three
years. It is something the players deserve so much because of the
difficult season they have had. It is a moment for everybody to enjoy.
I think we deserve to go into the holiday period with this cup and a
medal. The team played very well, they understood exactly the plan. The
players deserved to win this final trophy of the season and the victory
is for them and for the supporters. We know the game plan and how to
beat them and I think the boys deserved this great moment.

He was at his best when he conveyed that his most talked about dog has been sent back to Portugal:

The dog is fine in Portugal - that big threat is away - you don’t have to worry about crime anymore.

Man! You have to give it to him!

this is a good article guys. pls read on…

April 27th, 2007 by boruff

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.

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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

   

   

   

Champions League Semi-Finals 1st Leg

April 27th, 2007 by boruff
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

Closing the title Gap with swagger

April 19th, 2007 by boruff
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.

Who should be rested?

View Results

Champions League 2nd leg match

April 10th, 2007 by boruff
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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Team Arsenal - from arrogance to absolute disgrace!

February 28th, 2007 by boruff

Posted on February 28th, 2007 by blue champion.
Arsenal_Brawl.jpg

The Defender in Attack!

Why is Arsenal lacking in class? They lose so much but still they have not learnt to lose with grace. Basically, it all stems from their stinking superiority complex and their blind belief that they are the only football team in England and winning is their right.

After every loss, Arsene Whinger should try saying ‘we played like shit and we deserved to lose‘. Instead, he always says ‘we played beautiful football and the opponents played defensive and 10 men behind ball‘. This inflates the already inflated heads of the Emigrants. So when Chelsea took the lead which everyone knew was the winner, the Arsenal captain could not simply digest the fact that their fairytale is over.

What happens here is that Mikel pulls the Toure’s shirt and referee call it a foul and stops play. How many times have you seen this on a football pitch? Million times? Toure was annoyed because they were looking for an equaliser but he cannot expect the world to stand still while they walk the ball into the net. Toure charges towards to Mikel and definitely he did not appear to advise Mikel with his words.

We already know that Toure is still not in the final stage of Darwin’s theory of evolution. He further confirmed this by saying:

Chelsea were winning and were starting to waste time, and I was not happy with that, which is why I went to Mikel and had some words with him.

Wasting time? My foot! Surely, Toure needs some more footballing lessons. This ‘wasting time’ line seems to be their favourite line in all their post match conferences. Chelsea kept attacking till the end and in fact, if the bar did not play for Arsenil, Chelsea must have been 3-1 and Toure would have come looking for Sheva, ‘to have some words with him‘. As a captain of the young team, he should have done atleast a 100 times better.

Kolo_Toure.jpg

Kolo Toure displaying his defensive methods!

Arsene Whinger apologised but as always qualifies his apology with not-so-relevant point:

I feel we should not have reacted at all. Overall, we are sorry for what happened. When you do not behave like you want to then you have to apologise. We want to focus on playing football well. We want to deal well with the frustrations and want to be exemplary. But we also want to remind people that we have been top of the Fair Play table twice in the last few years. Also, this year, we are the team who have committed the least fouls in the league and been the most fouled against. What happened was a one-off for us in the last three years and we are sorry for that

Fine. Very good statistic. When you dont have a good figure in the points coumn, you can project all other columns. But who’s talking about Arsenil’s fouling or being fouled. We are talking about a team’s attrocious behaviour in a dead ball situation (remember Gilberto’s kick on Savage recently?). Whinger should be happy that they are the most fouled team as they have scored quite a few free kicks which otherwise they would have screwed up trying to walk into the net. The fact that Arsene did not mention is that Arsenil players have been red carded in the last three cup finals they have played - any inferences?

For all the talent he has for his age, Fabregas is becoming the most annoying creature for me. He seems to match Henry when it comes to uber-ego big headedness. His remarks to Mark Hughes last week was unacceptable and typically as arrogant as Arsenal. He has achieved nothing (of course, he is in Arsenil, but the statement still goes) in the world of football when compared to Mark Hughes to insult him like this. I would like to ask Fibreglass - is that Barcelona football?

In this match, there were two Fabregas moments. One was when he was pushed, he came down with his hands on his chin while there was no contact at all on his chin. That trick didnt work. Then later on, in the Toure’s wrestlemania, Fabregas made all attempts to ensure that things dont calm down and also assaulted Lampard. Fabregas should have received a red card for instigating and fuelling this fight. May be he badly frustrated as he must have been dreaming of his first silverware in England.

Now who’s the better bitch? Fabregas or Eboue? Well, they are setting standards of their own in different styles. Eboue’s antics are intolerable even for the Arsenil fan boys. He was so concerned about the situation that he came in and punched Wayne Bridge down. He must have honestly thought that this might improve the situation but ends up being charged by FA for violent conduct. See this video where he hits Bridge and realises that it is not good enough and applies more pressure - truly a quality of a good defender!

Almunia has different perspective to the whole issue:

That’s normal in big players. They want to win all the games and all the competitions. We had the cup in our hands but in the last moment we lost and I think that made us frustrated

Well Mr.Almunia, may be that’s normal in your Emigrants training ground but certainly not in the world outside. Guys, if you get a chance you can do the normal thing to Almunia and by the way make him feel that he is a big player too. Funnier comment is that he says the cup was in their hands at 1-1? Looks like even he’s taken Diaby’s boot in his head!

What can you say about Adebawhore?

My reaction after the card did not mean I wanted to hit the referee - I just wanted to know why he gave me the red card.

When you’re given a red card, you dont take 3 minutes to leave the field and all those three minutes you dont keep the referees life in danger. Simple.

In all this beautiful football by Arsenil, Mikel, unfotunately ended up getting the red card and misses three matches. Adebawhore and Toure miss three and four matches respectively. Lampard and Fibreglass got yellow cards. Both clubs have been charged for the involvement of players in this mess. And both managers might be charged too, for coming into the pitch, though it was with good intentions.

I realised that I did not post the cup celebrations of the champions. Here it is:

Finally, to all those under the hallucination of Arsene Whinger’s YNWA (You Never Win Anthing) policy, Jose Mourinho has some kind words:

Arsenal have great boys. But I wouldn’t be sad if a club gives me three, four, five years and tells me, ‘You don’t need to win. You can lose Premiership after Premiership, and you have three, four, five seasons to build. I wouldn’t be sad. Since I arrived, they have won nothing. Since we are at Chelsea, they lost Premierships, they lost the Charity Shield to us, they lost the Carling Cup to us. I don’t think they are winning a lot. Absolutely brilliant young boys, manager top, team with a great future. But they didn’t win.

This is exactly I was talking about here. Whinger has zero pressure to perform. Knock-out punch from Jose!