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KEIR RADNEDGE / Sports Features Communications
LONDON, Feb 06: Sir Alex Ferguson was recently designated by The Times newspaper as the most influential man in all of British sport, even of Lord Sebastian Coe who is leading the London 2012 Olympic Games project.
The reason is not only Ferguson’s massive track record of success over the past two decades in first Scotland and then England, Europe and the world. Another factor is the judgment which he brings to his work – and which has been born out by a two-word comment he made about Chelsea before the start of the season: “Too old.”
Michael Ballack, Juliano Belletti, Deco, Nicolas Anelka, Didier Drogba, Frank Lampard, Paulo Ferreira and Ricardo Carvalho will all have passed the 30 barrier and beyond by the end of the season – and the young reserves do not appear to parade the quality to be found among the substitutes at Old Trafford.
Luiz Felipe Scolari has proved a class above Avram Grant as manager but while Scolari works on both his English and his knowledge of English football so Chelsea have been losing ground in the Premier title race.
United (53 points from 23 games) go to West Ham on Sunday while Saturday sees ,Liverpool (51 from 24) go to Portsmouth, Chelsea (48 from 24) host Hull and Aston Villa (also 48 from 24) visit Blackburn.
Chelsea’s slippage is hardly Scolari’s fault though he was probably over-ambitious in wanting to confront all four competitions with the same initial level of intensity.
Change of strategy
The problem for Chelsea is that, after Roman Abramovich bought the club in 2003, the immediate focus was on buying instant success. Then, the attempt to create a “United-style” youth academy was apparently blighted by complications over personalities, politics and structures. And youth development takes time.
Scolari has had little opportunity to influence the components of his squad. Deco was signed at his urging as has been Ricardo Quaresma from Internazionale – whom Scolari had wanted last summer. Quaresma arrived on loan just before Monday’s transfer deadline with a view to a permanent deal at the season’s end.
The Chelsea squad Scolari found was not only ageing it also lacked creative versatility. Jose Mourinho’s safety-first systems had led to the departures of true wingers such as Arjen Robben and Shaun Wright-Phillips while Joe Cole has been unfortunate with injuries and Florent Malouda has proved a miscast acquisition.
Chelsea do boast some outstanding players around which the future can be buil such as Michael Essien and Mikel John Obi.
But tired teams also often prove short of luck – and this is also proving true in Chelsea’s case. They conceded both goals to Liverpool on Sunday after being reduced to 10 men by the unfortunate expulsion of Lampard.
Referee Mike Riley, after watching TV reruns, decided he had been mistaken. Lampard will not now be suspended . . . but the damage of those closing minutes he missed against Liverpool cannot be repaired.
LONDON, Feb 06: Sir Alex Ferguson was recently designated by The Times newspaper as the most influential man in all of British sport, even of Lord Sebastian Coe who is leading the London 2012 Olympic Games project.
The reason is not only Ferguson’s massive track record of success over the past two decades in first Scotland and then England, Europe and the world. Another factor is the judgment which he brings to his work – and which has been born out by a two-word comment he made about Chelsea before the start of the season: “Too old.”
Michael Ballack, Juliano Belletti, Deco, Nicolas Anelka, Didier Drogba, Frank Lampard, Paulo Ferreira and Ricardo Carvalho will all have passed the 30 barrier and beyond by the end of the season – and the young reserves do not appear to parade the quality to be found among the substitutes at Old Trafford.
Luiz Felipe Scolari has proved a class above Avram Grant as manager but while Scolari works on both his English and his knowledge of English football so Chelsea have been losing ground in the Premier title race.
United (53 points from 23 games) go to West Ham on Sunday while Saturday sees ,Liverpool (51 from 24) go to Portsmouth, Chelsea (48 from 24) host Hull and Aston Villa (also 48 from 24) visit Blackburn.
Chelsea’s slippage is hardly Scolari’s fault though he was probably over-ambitious in wanting to confront all four competitions with the same initial level of intensity.
Change of strategy
The problem for Chelsea is that, after Roman Abramovich bought the club in 2003, the immediate focus was on buying instant success. Then, the attempt to create a “United-style” youth academy was apparently blighted by complications over personalities, politics and structures. And youth development takes time.
Scolari has had little opportunity to influence the components of his squad. Deco was signed at his urging as has been Ricardo Quaresma from Internazionale – whom Scolari had wanted last summer. Quaresma arrived on loan just before Monday’s transfer deadline with a view to a permanent deal at the season’s end.
The Chelsea squad Scolari found was not only ageing it also lacked creative versatility. Jose Mourinho’s safety-first systems had led to the departures of true wingers such as Arjen Robben and Shaun Wright-Phillips while Joe Cole has been unfortunate with injuries and Florent Malouda has proved a miscast acquisition.
Chelsea do boast some outstanding players around which the future can be buil such as Michael Essien and Mikel John Obi.
But tired teams also often prove short of luck – and this is also proving true in Chelsea’s case. They conceded both goals to Liverpool on Sunday after being reduced to 10 men by the unfortunate expulsion of Lampard.
Referee Mike Riley, after watching TV reruns, decided he had been mistaken. Lampard will not now be suspended . . . but the damage of those closing minutes he missed against Liverpool cannot be repaired.
Paul Marin -19 is one thing, 20 is a whole other matter. It gets even worse if they win the UCL. *groan*. 
05/18/2011.MU fans naah cough, but all a unuh a vomit?-Lazie 1/11/2015
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