A Mourinho moan

Although I am a pretty sad to be writing about our unusually early exit from the FA Cup competition, I am by no means surprised.

Even before kick-off at the Etihad, yesterday afternoon, I had pretty much resigned to the fact that Manchester City would once again be responsible for ending Chelsea’s Cup hopes.  This wasn’t me taking my standard pessimistic stance, I actually had some valid reasons for my negativity.   Firstly, I assumed Manchester City would be out for blood after being humiliated at the Etihad by Jose Mourinho’s  ‘little horse’ some twelve days prior to the fifth round tie (this was confirmed by Vincent Kompany in a post-match interview who said: “we wanted revenge”).  Secondly, Chelsea’s starting line-up set off alarm bells in my head.  Contrary to the commentators who hailed it as a strong team, all I could see was that Jose had chosen the same old knackered 10 men to start as in the previous three matches – he obviously hadn't read my last post where I had criticised him for not rotating the team and resting players (or maybe he read it and chose to ignore it!!). The fact that this was a Cup tie made Jose’s choices even more unfathomable – it is customary in Cup ties for manager’s to rotate their team and start the second goal keeper.

Accordingly, Manuel Pellegrini had made four changes from the side which drew 0-0 with Norwich and six changes from the side which lost to Chelsea on the 3^rd of February.  Predictably, the 6 foot 8 inch tall Romanian, Costel Pantilimon, who had lost out to Joe Hart as first choice keeper, was in goal for City.  City had also benefited from a longer rest period between matches as their mid week fixture with Sunderland had been postponed due to bad weather.  Why on earth had Jose not started Mark Schwarzer in goal?  The ex-Fulham and Australian keeper has never given me cause to doubt him or his performance – I have never felt even close to the levels of anxiety I experienced when seeing Ross Turnball in goal – I feel like by leaving him on the bench, Mourinho was giving Schwarzer a vote of 'no confidence' – as he was to Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole, Oscar, Andre Schurrle, Fernando Torres and Demba Ba (well maybe not Ba!!).  Not starting Ashley Cole and Frank, in particular, irks me (assuming they are match fit as indicated by their presence on the bench).  Leaving them out of the team is definitely going to reduce their chances of being selected by Roy Hodgson for the World Cup in Brazil this Summer – it is most likely the last opportunity for these ‘thirty something’ year olds to take part in such a tournament.  Also in the absence of John Terry at the helm, I would always choose to start with the experience and leadership qualities of Frank Lampard – statistics back up this argument – the team always performs better when JT and or Frank are in the line-up.  I will take a few minutes out from Jose Bashing to applaud ‘Captain Fantastic’ (again! - see post form October 10^th 2013!!):  JT has been an inspiration in the team this season; his authority, character and solid and reassuring presence in the defence has been sorely missed the last few games – for me  David Luiz is an inadequate replacement.  Don’t get me wrong, I am a big fan of the flamboyant Brazilian with big hair when he plays in midfield, but I find him far too cavalier to be a reliable centre half.

Just one last moan about Mourinho – I found his recent comments about Arsene Wenger being a ‘specialist in failure’ far too personal and more importantly unprofessional. I appreciate that it is a tactic of the Portugese manager to play mind games in order to undermine his rival teams and managers, and I, like most of the British media,  look forward to hearing his 'war of words',  but I prefer it when he is more subtle in his derision.  I am not a fan of Arsene Wenger and accept that eight years with no silverware is not exactly an example of success but I don't think building a new stadium with limited funds while retaining Champion's League football year after year, is a sign of failure. I would rather Jose conducted himself with more dignity and professionalism. I think he went a step too far this time and his comments may back fire on him. I truly hope this is the last post which is dedicated to moaning (about Mourinho).

So before I finish my moaning post, I may as well make the most of it! Not only did Chelsea lose to Manchester City but they did so in the worst possible fashion – by being feeble and lack lustre and in the words of the ‘special one’:  “they were poor”.  I can unhappily say each and everyone of the eleven men on the pitch played a big part in the 'poorness' of the team's 'poor' performance.  Maybe I am letting the players off the hook too easily by blaming their second rate display on mismanagement and exhaustion.... I'll never know the answer to that.

Well I guess no one can accuse me of having blind faith in my team and it's manager!

The new owner of Fulham FC, Shahid Khan, is desperate to break Roman Abramovich's record of how many managers/coaches he can hire and fire in the shortest time possible.  I am sad to see Ray Wilkins lose his position as assistant head coach after only some 10 weeks but I did wonder how Khan could possibly find room (and justification) for Felix Magath, Renee Meulensteen, Alan Curbishley and Ray Wilkins!! I have always thought Wilkins was an important member of Chelsea's coaching staff and his dismissal back in 2010 started a downward spiral for the club.  I guess on the plus side I will benefit from his pearls of wisdom on his return to Sky Sports commentary.

I feel this has been a very negative post so I think I should end on a lighter note.  A quote borrowed from a fellow football fan's blog:

"Who said Arsenal didn't make a purchase in the transfer window? They bought Howard Webb!!"