A Feast Of Football

Should Abramovich Have Sacked Scolari?

2009-02-11T11:51:00.002Z

Much talk over the past day or two has been the sacking of former Chelsea manager Big Phil Scolari but was he sacked too soon?

I'm not a Chelsea fan but I can't help but feel sorry for Scolari, unlike Mourinho and Grant, he wasn't given alot of money to spend and they weren't really his own players.
Ok, so he wasn't given a lot of money, big deal but his he only really bought Deco and possibly Bosingwa. Bosingwa was bought before Scolari joined Chelsea, many think it was his choice to buy him.
Scolari inherited the squad, they are good players but the reason that Mourinho was sacked was because Chelsea weren't playing great football and that is what Abramovich wanted. If Abramovich wants good football then he will need to buy some flair players, not all Chelsea players are flair players and they can't just change their style off football just like that.

Chelsea were also on a bad run of form but if all clubs sacked their managers when they were on a bad run then we would have managers sacked every week. Chelsea in my opinion, are out of the title race but they are still in the Champion's League and FA Cup.
Liverpool haven't been on the best of form recently, nor have Arsenal, Manchester United didn't start off with great form but you wouldn't see them being sacked because of that.
Manchester United and Arsenal have had their managers for many years and that is what I think Chelsea need.

Chelsea are becoming a club who sack their managers because things aren't going their way at that particular moment. Abramovich needs to appoint a manager who he believes can take the club where he wants them, then he needs to stick by that manager through thick and thin.
Lets face it, Chelsea's problems are what many managers would love to have, it isn't as if they are going to get relegated, they are playing on the world stage and they have some world class players.

Scolari wasn't in charge for that long and he needed more time and he needed to get through to the summer and have a proper change around.
It is thought that three players (the newspapers have named them- Drogba, Cech and Ballack) weren't happy. You will never please all of the players, Drogba wasn't playing because Anelka was in great form and the Premier League's top goal scorer, why would you keep the top goalscorer on the bench?

The players also need to take responsibility, Scolari could tell them what he wants but if they don't provide on the pitch then there is nothing he can do.

Scolari needed more time!

Robinho: "I'm Innocent"

2009-01-28T19:32:00.003Z

Manchester City and many football fans are rallying behind Robinho, who has been accused of raping a 18 year old woman last month.

I don't want to go too deep with it but I can see both side of the arguments, a family member has been raped twice and I have seen what it can do to someone but footballers such as Ronaldo, Evans and Van Persie have been accused of rape before and the charges were dropped.

Robinho has told Brazil coach Dunga that he is innocent and Manchester City are giving Robinho their full support.

A club statement said:
"Following press speculation, and statements from the player’s representative and West Yorkshire police, Manchester City Football Club make the following statement.
"The club have been liaising with and assisting both the player in question and the authorities in relation to the West Yorkshire police investigation. Both parties have been given the full support of the football club.
"No charges of any nature have been brought against the player and no further statement will be made whilst the investigation is continuing."

Mud sticks and I hope the truth comes out and I honestly hope that for the sake of Robinho, his wife, his child and football that he is innocent, my first reactions are that he is innocent but I don't know the full story.

Does Mouriho Really Have No Respect?

2009-01-26T13:11:00.003Z

AC Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti has started a war of words with Inter Milan boss Jose Mourinho.
Mourinho was sent off against Sampdoria after saying something to the referee and Ancelotti has said that the decision was right and that Mourinho showed no respect.

As you would expect the newspapers have jumped on this and are saying the Ancelotti says Mourinho has no respect.
I will start off by saying that I love Mourinho (not in that kind of way, he is old enough to be my dad) and when he was in England I always looked forward to his pre-match press conferences because he was hilarious.

I can agree that he got sent off and if he did say something towards the ref then he should be sent away but that doesn't mean he doesn't have any respect.
Football matches can get very heated, the players, fans and managers are passionate about their football club and may say something stupid during a match, doesn't mean you don't have any respect.

Have we got a Fergie v Benitez style argument but in Italy?

Chelsea Midfielder In A Whole Lot Of Trouble

2009-01-26T09:38:00.004Z

Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel has been arrested on suspicion of drink-driving just hours before Chelsea's FA Cup match against Ipswich.

Reports are saying that Mikel was arrested at around 5:30am outside Stamford Bridge.
Mikel didn't play for Chelsea against Ipswich and since then he has been charged.

It is believed that Mikel could receive either a year's driving ban or a jail sentence if found guilty.

A Chelsea spokesman has said: "We are aware [Mikel] was arrested and charged. We want to establish the facts before we comment."

My family have been affected by a drink driver and I cannot understand why anybody would do it, especially a footballer who can afford to pay for a taxi.

What was he doing out in the early hours of the morning, just before a match anyway?

It looks like Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard may be sent down now it looks like Chelsea's Mikel may be sent down as well.

Why Are Attackers Worth More Than Defenders?

2009-01-25T14:04:00.003Z

I can never understand why attacking footballers worth more in the transfer market than defender? I don't understand the prices anyway- 107 million GBP for Kaka?

I will give you an example- Vidic has been fantastic for Man United and has been one of the main reasons why United have now equalled Chelsea's record of 10 consecutive Premier League clean sheets but if you were going to sell United's players Wayne Rooney or Cristiano Ronaldo would cost you alot more to buy than Nemanja Vidic.

Defending is just as important as attacking in a football match, you can draw matches if you don't score but if you don't have a good defence then you will never draw or win a match.

There are some fantastic defenders throughout the world but it is the attacking footballers who get most of the appreciation. I just think that the value of defenders should be as high as attackers.

On this seasons performance alone Vidic should be a lot higher priced than either Ronaldo or Rooney.

Rafa Benitez and Liverpool

2009-01-25T12:45:00.007Z

Much has been made about Rafa Benitez's comments on Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson (you can read the comments here) if you are a reader of my other blog Man United Devils then you will no my thoughts on Rafa Benitez.

Can Liverpool really win the Premier League title?
The quick answer is yes, Liverpool can win the Premier League title but I don't think that they will. In my opinion, Liverpool have drawn too many matches and they do have some hard matches still to come, including an away match against Man United at Old Trafford.

Here is why I think they won't win it:
Liverpool will also have another distraction and that is the court case against their captain Steven Gerrard, I don't know what happened at that nightclub, simply because I wasn't there but that has to be a distraction. Gerrard has pleaded not guilty and that means that he can face five years in prison.

Rafa Benitez has started a war of words with Sir Alex and that really isn't a clever thing to do halfway through a season especially considering that Liverpool ended up drawing their game against Stoke and Man United beat Chelsea 3-0.

The owners- what is going on with the owners at Liverpool? First they fall out and now there is talk of one of them selling up and Benitez didn't have a clue about it. If Liverpool want stability at the club then the owners have to sort themselves out, they either stay and put money into the club or one of them sells up or both of them sell up and someone else comes in to sort out the mess.

Torres and Gerrard- I think that Liverpool rely too heavily on Torres and Gerrard and that isn't such as bad thing because they are both great players but sometimes when either Torres and Gerrard aren't fit, Liverpool don't look quite right and they end up drawing the match.

What are your opinions, will Liverpool win the league?

I'm Back

2009-01-24T14:18:00.001Z

After a year or so of not blogging on this blog and concentrating on my Man United Devil's blog, I have decided that I will return to posting on this blog, when I first started up this blog, I didn't really know what I was doing and the posts were rubbish, so I have deleted all of the posts and I am now going for a brand new start, I hope you enjoy this blog again.