well good morning.... Trigger happy Chelsea at it again. We'll after seeing the line-up and how we played last night, I can't say I'm surprised. Took some balls not playing Torres and the result on the field showed a scared manager looking for a draw.
I can't say I'm surprised. When I saw yesterday's line up and that he was trying a false nine, that to me smelled of desperation. That was a desperate act and I said to myself this better work otherwise it's a total disaster not only for the club, but for him. I like Robbie and loved him as a player, but I think he's out of his depth. It has to be Guardioloa. Benitez, Redknapp, that's a step back.
quick question what if it is Pep and he is a complete disaster what then? What has all of this sacking of Managers done?
I am just shocked. We lose our manager from one game to another, and now we might get Benitez (who would be a HUGE downgrade, imo) or Pep (who, although I don't believe is a bad manager, I wouldn't like to see him here, considering our history with Barca). This was completely unexpected. The only way I could feel somewhat better about this is if we could some way get Jose back right away. Still, I feel bad about RDM. He won us everything he could in the least time possible, and he won't be forgotten easily.
I keep seeing Pepsi's, (er... that's Mister Guatemala to you, Naughtius ), face pop up when I search for potential managers for us. I STILL can't see how he means an improvement for us. More to the point, after the way we've treated the last few fellas, would YOU want to be our manager. I mean, sure, you'd get a shit-load of dosh, have a lot of great players to work with and I'd imagine, if you're not married or have a current girlfriend, women would be chasing you down the street with a hook, but..... er... yeah, didn't really think that through before starting, did I OK! I've now gone officially batty. Maybe I should apply for the job
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/blog/_/name/espnfcunited/id/1789?cc=5901 rarely do I praise soccernet but from what I read through so far this morning this is one of the more well rounded pieces
In the end he will be sacked or leave but I hope it's several years not several months. If it is him, he be well smart to get an English assistant who knows the English game and has played at Chelsea...ahm, I'll go ahead and say Ray Wilkins but I know it won't be him. Steve Clarke would be great, but he's taken for now.
I absolutly hate this! RDM did have a string of bad results and it is mostly on the players backs with the way they have been playing, but RDM should and could have made changes to the side earlier i.e. Torres. Top 3 Managers out there that could replace him at this moment: 1. Hiddink 2. Redknapp 3. Guardiola Top 3 managers with Jobs 1. Mourinho 2. Capello 3. Steve Clarke I have a nightmare that we will see some type of player manager combonation with John Terry at the helm...lol.
The first line of that piece... So that's that, then. Roberto Di Matteo bites the dust at Chelsea. Hmm... of course, you never see me and Gabriele Marcotti together at the same time, do you... Just saying
I just can't believe this Unless you've got this club on top, every month, every season, you will not last. That's not a good message to send. Who would want to manage at a club with that philosophy? I don't want to see Pep anywhere near the Bridge. Why would you hire a manager that could never beat Chelsea? Why would you want a manager that is unproven in countries outside of Spain? That style of play won't last week in, week out in the Premier League. Oh right, he's the high profile, appealing choice
It's really not that much of a surprise. Let's be clear - RDM was never Abramovich's first choice, but he had no option after RDM won the CL. He had to get the job after that, but he knew he'd be on a short leash. And........here we are. In a way, I think the powers that be are happy with the way this has worked out, because it gives them a genuine reason for letting a coach go who was not their first choice anyway. That being said, this was always going to happen. We rebuilt our squad completely this year, including 4 new primary attacking midfielders and a brand new system. As some of us have been saying for months (including me), we were not genuine title contenders this year. Couldn't be - way too many new faces, too many new players to integrate, too many competitions and too little certainty in leading the line. Beyond that, we only have 4 CMs (one of them 34, 2 of them who can't play together because they're both slow), Torres simply hasn't worked out and Sturridge still hasn't figured out this whole "teammate" thing. Plus, completely changing out defensive tactics has not done any wonders for Luiz, especially - suddenly tenlling him to play in lots of space has been a disaster. In short, rather than changing incrementally we completely and totally change everything on the spot. However, much of that is down to RDM, too. He wasn't forced to adopt the 4-2-3-1, he could have gone more conservative. He also should have been rotating the squad far more. We look tired, because we keep running the same players into the ground, players which have already been run into the ground - Mata by Spain, Oscar by Brazil. Marin hasn't even seen the pitch ffs! Torres has started every game at striker. It took injuries to give Bertrand starts at LB and months to give one to Azipilicueta. Finally - changing formations for the first time in crucial games is suicidal - what was RDM thinking? This smacks of Steve McClaren's decision to go with a 3-5-2 against Croatia back in Euro qualification that ended so disastrously - none of these players are used to that system, so the defending actually gets worse despite the extra defender - they don't know whom to track or pick up. Do I think this is the right decision? I'm not sure, really. It all depends on who replaces him. If Rafa, then god help us all. If someone we haven't thought about, let's wait and see. If Pep - then this is Roman's plan all along, so let's see how it goes. But let's also be honest - this is the second RDM managerial role where he had initial success and then suddenly hit the wall (remember West Brom?). And both of those sides were run into the ground and started to have defensive failings. Is this entirely RDM's fault? No, of course not. But the team wasn't looking too promising lately, and if a qualified successor is put into place, it may prove to be a boon. Again, I don't think we were ever winning anything this year, so firing DiMatteo now is not the end of the world. Also, it should be clear - we need a lot more depth and a manager who'll used that depth. Look for some more purchases this summer, and perhaps a return of McEachran and Chalobah (who's actually perfectly suited to play in a pivot). Next year is the one where we'll actually challenge for things; this year was a trial run for a new system with new players. RDM was always going to struggle at that, so to some extent this sacking is "unfair". But then, he also didn't help himself, and given that he was always a reluctant appointment, he needed to. Yeah, the one that calls Ramires a "recycled wide player" because he played there 5 times last year. It's amazing how little most of the soccernet writers understand actual football.
Errr, not quite. RDM has run our creative players into the ground and the change in formation was suicidal. That was a complete panic move.
This is a huge disrespect to RDM. He wins the Champions League and the FA Cup. We have a great start to the season and then we hit a rut for three weeks and he's gone. Abramovich never wanted him, why did it take so long to make a CL-winning man the permanent manager? I am hurried with time and I could write a lot more, but I have to go.
Pep won't be coming. He rejected Chelsea this morning as he does not agree with Abramovichs track record with managers and he wants a club where he could have a serious commitment and take the time he needs to build the team. http://www.goal.com/en-ca/news/85/england/2012/11/21/3544796/guardiola-would-reject-chelsea-approach