Danners9
12 Sep 2003, 08:06 AM
Reuters
Sorry Spurs braced for another thrashing by Chelsea
Fri 12 September, 2003 06:03 BST
By Bill Barclay
LONDON, Sept 12 (Reuters) - Chelsea should cap a week in which they sealed their most audacious transfer coup so far by dishing out a customary beating to London rivals Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday.
The international break did nothing to quell Chelsea's big-spending habit and, in the long-term, the cheeky capture of Manchester United chief executive Peter Kenyon may prove their most significant signing of all.
Spurs will play in white on Saturday but their fans, like the rest of soccer, are already green with envy at the amount of cash swilling around Stamford Bridge.
A record of no wins in the last 26 league encounters between the two teams will deepen the pessimism of Tottenham fans before what could be a chastening afternoon in south-west London.
Spurs' last league victory over Chelsea was a 2-1 success in the old division one at Stamford Bridge in February 1990, although one straw to clutch at is their 5-1 League Cup semi-final win in January 2002.
Despite their vastly differing fortunes, both Spurs manager Glenn Hoddle -- who was Chelsea coach for three years in less affluent times during the 1990s -- and his Chelsea counterpart Claudio Ranieri are under immense pressure.
Hoddle's two-and-a-half-year reign at White Hart Lane has been characterised by mediocrity but the 3-0 home defeat by Fulham in their last game was one of their worst results, and one they have had plenty of time to mull over.
Defender Dean Richards will have the job of quelling Chelsea's impressive strikers, likely to include new signings Hernan Crespo of Argentina and Adrian Mutu of Romania.
"They've got the backing and they've got some amazing players," Richards said.
"We don't know too much about Mutu and Crespo. You know what to expect from (Jimmy Floyd) Hasselbaink and (Eidur) Gudjohnsen, their strengths, what they are good at but we haven't faced these players before and we don't know exactly what to expect."
Hoddle hopes to have Uruguayan Gustavo Poyet, another ex-Chelsea man, fit for the game.
Kenyon's arrival at Stamford Bridge, once he has finished tending his garden under the severance terms of his United contract, means Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich has snared one of the best connected negotiators in soccer.
Ranieri already knows he cannot afford to fail and with a bottomless pit of money and Kenyon's contacts, the next Chelsea coach is likely to be one of the world's best.
Two wins and a draw from their opening three premier league games represents a good start for the amiable Italian whose Champions League campaign gets underway against Sparta Prague in the Czech Republic next Tuesday. "Now the hard work starts and it gets more complicated," Ranieri said. "We have the pieces of a puzzle which we now have to put together into a side of champions -- otherwise it will all have been in vain and a waste." Ranieri should have French defender Marcel Desailly fit, despite an ankle knock.
French ball-winner Claude Makelele, sent off playing for his country on Wednesday, should make his debut in midfield, though Ranieri may have a tough time deciding who to leave out.
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Sorry Spurs braced for another thrashing by Chelsea
Fri 12 September, 2003 06:03 BST
By Bill Barclay
LONDON, Sept 12 (Reuters) - Chelsea should cap a week in which they sealed their most audacious transfer coup so far by dishing out a customary beating to London rivals Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday.
The international break did nothing to quell Chelsea's big-spending habit and, in the long-term, the cheeky capture of Manchester United chief executive Peter Kenyon may prove their most significant signing of all.
Spurs will play in white on Saturday but their fans, like the rest of soccer, are already green with envy at the amount of cash swilling around Stamford Bridge.
A record of no wins in the last 26 league encounters between the two teams will deepen the pessimism of Tottenham fans before what could be a chastening afternoon in south-west London.
Spurs' last league victory over Chelsea was a 2-1 success in the old division one at Stamford Bridge in February 1990, although one straw to clutch at is their 5-1 League Cup semi-final win in January 2002.
Despite their vastly differing fortunes, both Spurs manager Glenn Hoddle -- who was Chelsea coach for three years in less affluent times during the 1990s -- and his Chelsea counterpart Claudio Ranieri are under immense pressure.
Hoddle's two-and-a-half-year reign at White Hart Lane has been characterised by mediocrity but the 3-0 home defeat by Fulham in their last game was one of their worst results, and one they have had plenty of time to mull over.
Defender Dean Richards will have the job of quelling Chelsea's impressive strikers, likely to include new signings Hernan Crespo of Argentina and Adrian Mutu of Romania.
"They've got the backing and they've got some amazing players," Richards said.
"We don't know too much about Mutu and Crespo. You know what to expect from (Jimmy Floyd) Hasselbaink and (Eidur) Gudjohnsen, their strengths, what they are good at but we haven't faced these players before and we don't know exactly what to expect."
Hoddle hopes to have Uruguayan Gustavo Poyet, another ex-Chelsea man, fit for the game.
Kenyon's arrival at Stamford Bridge, once he has finished tending his garden under the severance terms of his United contract, means Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich has snared one of the best connected negotiators in soccer.
Ranieri already knows he cannot afford to fail and with a bottomless pit of money and Kenyon's contacts, the next Chelsea coach is likely to be one of the world's best.
Two wins and a draw from their opening three premier league games represents a good start for the amiable Italian whose Champions League campaign gets underway against Sparta Prague in the Czech Republic next Tuesday. "Now the hard work starts and it gets more complicated," Ranieri said. "We have the pieces of a puzzle which we now have to put together into a side of champions -- otherwise it will all have been in vain and a waste." Ranieri should have French defender Marcel Desailly fit, despite an ankle knock.
French ball-winner Claude Makelele, sent off playing for his country on Wednesday, should make his debut in midfield, though Ranieri may have a tough time deciding who to leave out.
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