Chelsea's Latest Antics

[4tothefloor]

The morning's papers are going to feature stories that Chelsea are no longer interested in Steven Gerrard, saying Mourinho believes 'He would not be value for money'. This will be appearing in 'The Mail'. Coincidently :rolleyes:, another rag, The S*n is running the story that Mourinho now wants to sign Alonso for £16m instead. What a load of crap. Classic Chelsea at this stage, they're using the media again to try and upset the opposition and unsettle players before a big game. Loads of pictures of Gudjonnson taunting Alonso after he got booked as well. Diving ******* :mad:

Alonso for £16m.......yeah right, £16m wouldn't buy his big left toe. I hope Gerrard scores a hat-trick on Tuesday and breaks both of Gudjonsons legs for good measure

[Plastic Paddy]

It seems to be working though, doesn't it? You seem rattled ;) and well you should be for when Chelsea beat you next week and Everton clinch that fourth Champions League qualification spot, there'll be nothing to show for your travails.

Ah well, there's always next season. Without Gerrard and Alonso... :eek: ;)

:D PP

[Macy]

That's life in the fast lane, 00's style. You'd forget how long it is since Liverpool were challenging for the major honours....

[razor]

I wouldn't worry too much about Mourinho, 90+% of what comes out of his mouth is bullsh*t. He is trying out his Alexology now but he should know it has no effect on Rafa. I mean come on The Mail & The S*n, there won't be too many on Merseyside reading the later anyway.
I mean the crap he came out with after the match about 99.9% of Liverpool fans thinking they are through, come off it And that they will definitely score next week, well he thought they'd definitely score last Wednesday as well and guess what ?
Jose Boy give it a rest, and there was us thinking Dunphy was bad. :D

[Plastic Paddy]

There's a good article by James Lawton in today's London Independent which deconstructs Wednesday's game and the contrast in managerial approaches. It sums things up quite neatly from what I can see.

:) PP

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http://sport.independent.co.uk/football/comment/story.jsp?story=634024

Mirror, mirror on the Stamford Bridge wall: Is 'the Special One' still on the ball?

His Lordship, the "Special One", has passed such tests before but maybe the title Jose Mourinho bestowed on himself is in need of its annual check-up.

Not for any central flaw, nor any possible dismissal of all that he has achieved; but being unique and brilliant and a little more rewarding each time you look into the mirror is something that has to be worked on day by day.

This carries us to the truth that Wednesday night's Champions' League semi-final at Stamford Bridge was not only about Liverpool glory and the tactical nous of their coach Rafael Benitez. It also had something to do with the fact that Mourinho and his team were a long way from masterful.

The killing judgement on his and his team's performance is simply not deflected by his quite reasonable claim that at least a shade of odds will still favour Chelsea when they go to an inflamed Anfield on Tuesday night. Whatever he says, Mourinho cannot obscure the fact that it would be infinitely better to have the cushion of at least one goal when he attempts to plot his way through the trial by emotion and compelling tradition that awaits him on Merseyside. Given this unnegotiable reality, the verdict on Chelsea in the final phase of the first leg cannot be anything other than damning.

Consider the facts: Liverpool, held together chiefly by the astonishing will and resilience of Jamie Carragher, were happy to stay on the ropes and wait for the chance to apply all available pressure at home. For Mourinho, the master strategist, the obligation was clear. He had to conspire with his players, the most willing in football, one final, biting assault. But what did he do? He finished with a long-ball assault, throwing in not just the striker he started with, Didier Drogba, but two more, the reassigned Eidur Gudjohnsen and the substitute Mateja Kezman. It is the kind of thing you expect to see on a bad day at Stockport, not in the home of the putative powerhouse of the European game.

Compounding Mourinho's distress - despite his laconic, philosophical performance in front of the television cameras later - was the fact that in its final re-organisation his team failed to produce a single threat to Jerzy Dudek. While Benitez prowled the technical area, reacting to almost every ball that was played, Mourinho, the activator, the self-proclaimed master of motivation, was strangely passive. Instead of strategy he came up with one of the great clichés of football, the last resort of long balls and crowded penalty areas. For Carragher's central defensive partner, Sami Hyypia, who had looked rattled several times in the early going, when Chelsea had a proper shape, it was a gift that came down from the heavens. He headed away a spate of long and optimistic balls. It is what he can do in his sleep. If Mourinho's life is, as he asserts, a movie, this was surely the point when the reel snapped.

The burning question now, with Milan looking less than awesome in the other semi-final despite holding a 2-0 advantage over PSV Eindhoven from the first leg at San Siro, is whether Mourinho can effect satisfactory repairs by next Tuesday night. There is one certainty. He will be helped immensely if Arjen Robben and Damien Duff are fit enough to start. For here we come to another question mark against the current standing of Mourinho's genius. It is that without these players - on Wednesday Robben was able to play only one half, the second, by which time Liverpool had already walked through the most critical storm and were set in their defiance - Chelsea are only half the team.

Joe Cole has emerged with much fanfare since the injury to Robben, but when it mattered most he was revealed as a slight substitute. Once, after leaving Hyypia so cold he must have been in danger of rigor mortis, Cole had the chance to move the ball swiftly to a point of maximum danger. Instead, he looked for the chance to display more trickery and Hyypia gratefully leapt back from the dead. Gudjohnsen held his head in dismay.

The hard conclusion is that between them Robben and Duff are more than a highly desirable presence. They are Chelsea's missing links when they cannot play, wide men of tremendous skill and penetration who compensate for a lack of true creativity in the midfield. They are Chelsea's attacking game.

Of course, Drogba has pace and skill (but a sadly failing scoring instinct) and Frank Lampard's aggressive spirit and, normally, fine scoring touch, are powerful assets. But they do not produce the pure penetration of Duff and Robben that utterly transformed the team earlier in the season when they forced out the relatively leaden Alexei Smertin and Geremi.

For Liverpool the loss of Xabi Alonso in the second leg because of a caution is huge. He didn't have one of his great passing performances on Wednesday - he seemed to be feeling the effects of his long lay-off - but he gave coherence, solidity and a wonderful awareness in front of the backline.

His yellow card was excessive punishment when measured against some of the unscrupulous work going on around him, and if Lampard, say, had been the victim we can easily imagine the reaction of Mourinho. It was to Benitez's great credit that he did not rail against the performance of the French referee Alain Sars, who apart from the Alonso incident gave most that was going to the home team. From Benitez, though, no sly questions about where Sars had his half-time cup of tea.

That, though, was quite typical of the Spaniard's style. He does his work, and he answers to himself.

So far he has not felt obliged to announce his own coronation as a "Special One", and no doubt he will resist the temptation if he should continue to beat the odds at Anfield.

For Mourinho perhaps the biggest challenge is for a moment or two of reflection. It should include recognition that there are heavy obligations placed on the "Special One". He must see that one of the most pressing of them is to do better than he did on Wednesday night.

[eirebhoy]

Chelsea: Gerrard, you're just not worth it (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/sport/football.html?in_article_id=346710&in_page_id=1779&in_a_source=&ct=5)
EXCLUSIVE by IAN McGARRY, Daily Mail 07:33am 29th April 2005

Chelsea have dramatically dropped their interest in Steven Gerrard after manager Jose Mourinho decided the Liverpool midfielder would not be value for money.

Sportsmail can reveal that Mourinho told Chelsea at a top-level meeting on Tuesday that he had "other priorities" and felt that the £30million fee which had been virtually agreed with Liverpool for Gerrard was too much.

Mourinho commissioned a statistical report on Gerrard's performances over the past three seasons, including appearances, goals, assists, pass completion and possession won.

It was decided that the fee plus wages of around £5.5m a season would be better spent elsewhere.

Chelsea have instead turned their attention to 21-year-old Argentina international Javier Mascherano, who they believe they can secure from River Plate for around £8m.

Mourinho is finalising his spending plans and, having come within 24 hours of securing the Liverpool captain last season, the same deal has now been withdrawn.

That will surprise the domestic football world, where it was thought to be only a matter of time before Gerrard pulled on a blue shirt. A leading Premiership manager recently told reporters that it was "a done deal", while Liverpool chief executive Rick Parry admitted the club would be powerless to prevent the England midfielder walking away from Anfield.

Mascherano matches Mourinho's required profile

Mourinho, too, appeared to give substance to the move when he sought out Gerrard for a special embrace at the end of the Carling Cup Final, a match in which Gerrard's own-goal contributed to Chelsea's 3-2 victory.

Gerrard was also rumoured to have bought a house in Cobham, Surrey, near Chelsea's new training centre.

Unlike Gerrard, though, Mascherano matches Mourinho's required profile of a young, gifted and ambitious player ripe for being moulded in the coach's image. The goalscoring midfielder is considered the hottest property in Argentine football and would command a salary of only £2m a season.

Mourinho believes the bulk of spending must go on a goalscorer and refurbishing the defence. To that end, negotiations are already under way with Inter Milan aimed at signing Brazil striker Adriano for around £25m plus the permanent transfer of Juan Sebastian Veron, who is currently on loan at the Italian club. Chelsea would also be willing to make Hernan Crespo - on loan at AC Milan - part of the deal.

Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich flew to Italy yesterday, primarily to watch CSKA Moscow - sponsored by his company Sibneft - take on Parma in the UEFA Cup semi-final, though it is understood he has meetings in Milan today.

Mourinho has made no secret of his desire for a top class left back and will probably have to sign a centre half as William Gallas looks sure to request a move to Barcelona. Rio Ferdinand may yet move from Manchester United to Stamford Bridge to fill that gap while Arsenal's Ashley Cole is a less likely choice given the Premier League charges against Mourinho, the player and Chelsea for 'tapping up'.

'We need 11 gladiators'

Apart from Gerrard missing out on the lucrative move, Liverpool will lose out on the revenue they had earmarked to allow Rafa Benitez to re-shape the squad to mount a serious challenge for the title next season.

The news will also bring an extra edge to next Tuesday's Champions League semi-final return leg at Anfield.

Gerrard, who had a mouth abscess drained at a London hospital on Tuesday, said yesterday: "We need brave men on Tuesday. We need 11 gladiators, and the subs have got to be ready and the fans have to be ready. We know what role the fans can play and hopefully they can be that 12th man."

Both John Terry and Damien Duff are expected to be fit for Chelsea's trip to Bolton tomorrow when they can wrap up the Premiership.

Mateja Kezman, used as a late substitute against Liverpool, could be returning to Champions League semifinalists PSV. Guus Hiddink, the Dutch club's coach, has noted the striker's frustration on Chelsea's bench and said yesterday: "I don't know if it is wise to let Kezman play at PSV again, but it won't hurt to think about it."

[GavinZac]

i'm beginning to like this mourinho chap, if only for his wonderful ability to wind up liverpudlians :D

[4tothefloor]

I saw that some papers ran with a story that Chelsea are after Barcelona's Xavi, for £16m. I looked for the Alonso story but couldn't find it. It was a journalist friend of mine who told me of the stories last night so looks like he got his Xavi's and Xabi's mixed up :)

Chelsea no longer interested - now just wait for the Real Madrid speculation to start, Owen in swap deal etc :rolleyes: I think we should offer Nunez in exchange for Figo, based on age alone :D

[Dan K]

I don't think Gerrard is worth £30m+.

Especially seeing as Chelsea don't desperately need him.

[mypost]

According to Kezman, the atmosphere at Anfield will not be a problem for the Champions League semi-final, as apparantly he "didn't hear a lot of it" in the league game earlier this season.

Sorry mate, big mistake. Why?

1) Anfield will, physically and visually, be a very different place from the league game on CL night. Our fans will ensure that.

2) Since when was there a great atmosphere at games with 12.45pm ko's??? Even less so when the game was played at that time, on New Year's Day? Games should NEVER, EVER start at 12.45. It completely ruins the atmosphere. Night games always have a better atmosphere than when they're played at some ungodly hour, soon after breakfast!!

3) Chelsea may say, publicly that the wall of noise from our fans won't affect them at Anfield. However, ask Inter Milan, B. Moenchengladbach, St. Etienne, Auxerre, Barcelona, Roma, Olympiakos, and Juventus the same question, and they may not agree. Anfield is not OT, and Chelsea will find it very difficult to find a more intimidating venue to look for a result in Europe, than our home. So, memo to JC, and SG, don't score another own goal against the moneybags tonight, you've scored enough already against them this season.