Chelsea Terrace Talk – Irish Examiner Article By Trizia
Mourinho can bemoan our 21 shots against Everton all he likes, but it didn’t take a psychic to know that we were going to struggle scoring goals this year given the quite frankly bizarre decisions made during the transfer window in regards to our front line.
Ba – not good enough – tried to get rid of him during the transfer window – failed. Torres – an adequate forward but has never fulfilled his billing & despite being given ample opportunity at Chelsea under a number of managers has failed to convince anyone that he could ever again score the number of goals necessary for a top side in the Premiership. Eto – not sure where he actually featured on our list of targets – I would guess very very much further down the list than Cavani, Falcao & even Rooney – yet here we are. I know it was his first game – but he looked behind the pace, weak & out of his depth. He will no doubt improve but will he improve to the level of Van Persie or Aguero? I very much doubt it. He’s 32 & never played in the Premiership & just spent two years in the wilderness – i.e. the Russian League – I am unconvinced.
But then we come to the most bizarre decision of all – given our weak front line, we allow Lukaku who had a storming loan season at WBA to go back out on loan. Now I am not saying he is the finished article & would have solved our obvious short-fall – but he would have given us another much needed option as well as some youth & power.
Apparently hearing that he wouldn’t be getting regular starts he wanted to go on loan – tough – I’m with Mick Jagger on this one – you don’t always get what you want. He’s our player, we pay his wages – he does what we say & before anyone talks about then having an unhappy player – look at Cortois who we have on loan in Spain – gave in to all his wants & what do we have now? A highly regarded player who doesn’t want to come back.
I know I was meant to be upbeat this season but a loss hurts – just as it did when I was a kid – then I was young & stupid & despite stacks of evidence to the contrary, I thought Chelsea were the greatest football team in the history of the universe & so when we lost I was left bereft & confused. Now as an adult, despite the understanding that comes with age, a loss just makes me angry & ruins my weekend. I’m working my way through it – it’s just who I am so bear with me.
As I’m in a trough of despondency can I once more bemoan the way football is going. While waiting outside Goodison Pk for a mate I saw supporters have their tickets confiscated for daring to sing while queuing to gain access to the ground – what’s that all about? Yet a group foreign Everton fans all resplendent in their matching scarves could make as much of a racket as they wanted with some plastic hand shaped “clappers” that they all had been given.
We also had to listen to a Brazilian drum marching band (it was Spanish Day at Goodison in honour of new manager Martinez so not quite sure where this nor the half time Brazilian samba dances fitted it) as well as Julio Inglesias on the tannoy system – (no – I’m not joking) yet four teenagers chanting “Chelsea, Chelsea” warranted their exclusion???
Anyway back to the actual football – Mikel & Hazard played well – yet Mikel still seems to split opinion amongst Chelsea fans. I’ve come to the conclusion that those that that do not appreciate him don’t really understand what he does & actually don’t really understand football generally. They are the type of fans that think every player should be a flair player – full of flicks & tricks & who gets forward at every opportunity to have a pop at goal. They don’t recognise the unsung work-horses – they probably thought Makelele was a waste of a midfield position. I try to avoid these people – luckily the majority of them rarely leave their armchairs to actually attend a game.
It’s the same people that have used this loss to stick the knife into Luiz again. You’d think he was the only defender that we had – he’s the only one that ever gets the blame certainly; the way I saw the goal (and I have not had the benefit of seeing this at a dozen or so different angles – just the once 0 at the game) is that Terry was as equally to blame as Luiz – he must have seen that Luiz was out of position but chose not to hold his own position. But I don’t “blame” either of them – we will conceded goals and there doesn’t need to be an inquest and a scape-goat for each one
So a Champions League match & a London derby this week – and hopefully the team will get a bit more into its stride -it needs to as an early gap is difficult to bridge. I’m sorry for all the despondency but a couple of wins & a bit of the Jose magic & the feel good factor will be back – until then – keep the faith.
Posted by Trizia
(You can see all the Terrace Talk articles here)
Hi Trizia,
Have to completely disagree with the comments on Luiz. I think he could turn out to be a great midfielder but i dont like the way he tries to defend from the front everytime! For the goal he took off like a 5 year old in the playground after the ball. JT and Brana were then stuck in two minds as to who to mark!
I think he is a different type of defender than that we are used to – and we need to get used to that – as do the other defenders – its a more European style – which I think is where football is moving.
There is a reason that Barca as so eager to sign him….
Thanks for hitting the nail on the head and burying it with Mikel & Luiz. You just echoed my perception of the people who have no understanding of the CDM position in football. Although, what I would like is for us to start Mikel along with someone more fluid than Ramires, probably MVG, KDB or even Oscar. I was hoping for that to happen before the season started and am quite surprised until now that it hasn’t.
Ohh.. And the Luiz critics like to come out of their holes every time we concede and blame it on him. Where were you when he stuffed RVP into his pocket at Old Trafford? Where were you when he nullified Mandzukic in the super cup? You luiz haters should stop listening to jamie redknapp.
Mourinho has many great managerial talents and one of them is his understanding that football involves real human relationships.
He knows Lukaku is currently in a straight fight with Christian Bendteke and probably Kevin Mirallas for the Belgian striking position in a World Cup selection year. I see it as act of honesty and decency to not mess Lukaku about if he thinks Eto’o or Torres have more of his favour.
If January comes and Lukaku’s WC spot is in further jeopardy because Eto’o or Torres or Ba are banging them, he won’t thank Mourinho for keeping him here. Especially if Bendteke and Mirallas are scoring left, right and centre.
The time to make a judgment will be at the end of the season. For now, the reasoning is self-evident whether it’s palatable or not.
And I’ll continue to say this until people hear and understand. We didn’t have a problem scoring goals last season, we had a problem conceding them. We scored more goals than City, whose striking options are the stuff of our dreams, but our goals against column was enough to make catching them and Utd seem like waiting for the tooth fairy by the New Year.
The most important thing Jose can do is to not be fooled that our striking department is the key issue.
Forget about Lukaku going on loan , why on earth did Chelsea sell Sturridge? An already proven scorer while on loan and now look at him.
Yes, keep the faith with Jose and our strikers to score goals, we can only hope. So was Eto CFC’s Plan B or C,after failing to get Rooney? To you Michael Emenalo, you should know better, ManU will never sell Rooney to Chelsea. Instead you went for more and more attacking midfielders and not strikers who get you the vital goals and win games.How about buying players and loaning them out eternally,and like Courtois a top keeper,he may not want to come back.Emenalo and your mob, you are destroying our beloved club.
It’s good and proper to let off steam about a defeat. Don’t forget that we scored almost 150 goals last season, so we have scorers throughout the team. Admittedly Ba and Torres are nothing to write home about. Eto’o has been prolific wherever he has gone, so he can and will net twenty this season. It is however galling that Lukaku, Moses, and Sturridge look set to flourish on Merseyside while we flap around for weeks, trying to find our ideal attacking combination.
Personally, I’m tired of moaning about this and that. This year I just want to watch good football by quality players, both of which Chelsea can provide. I think the team needs some time to gel. Jose knows what he’s doing, RA and us as fans need to learn patience. Watching Jose’s Real Madrid team play last year was beautiful. They were powerful, pacey, in sync and technical. It will happen at Chelsea too.
I see through Roberto Martinez, overrated and a Sir Alex lackey, his teams show up against Chelsea like a Cup Final and flake out v United. That fact that his team was relegated but he managed to sneak back into the PL is laughable. Then, they beat us. Ha, ha.