There is friction at chelsea

[Dorset]

Curious that Sheva should walk that close to Jose's left foot - you'd have thought that he must tread on his right one.

 

[Liam]

I can't say i blame Jose. And if it's true that Shevchenko is'nt willing to fight, then so be it.

You could be right Elliot. But it doesn't look that way to me. Sheva's not performing alright, but from his demeanor it seems to bother him a lot that he isn't. He doesn't look sullen to me, just worried and confused. As I've said many times it looks as if his sharpness has deserted him, his pacev over the first few yards.

I feel he's being scapegoated by Mourinho in his childish attempts to punish Abramovich.

Even if we're both wrong this kind of display for public consumption is totally unnecessary but typical Mourinho.

 

[Nibs]

He's not all bad. At least he shook Rafa's hand this time.

Must admit though, as the saying goes, that picture is worth 1,000 words

 

[Elliott]

I can't say i blame Jose. And if it's true that Shevchenko is'nt willing to fight, then so be it.

You could be right Elliot. But it doesn't look that way to me. Sheva's not performing alright, but from his demeanor it seems to bother him a lot that he isn't. He doesn't look sullen to me, just worried and confused. As I've said many times it looks as if his sharpness has deserted him, his pacev over the first few yards.

I feel he's being scapegoated by Mourinho in his childish attempts to punish Abramovich.

Even if we're both wrong this kind of display for public consumption is totally unnecessary but typical Mourinho.

Liam,

Dont get me wrong. This is very tasteless from Jose, but he would'nt have it any other way would he? That's the pure nature of the beast.

In my opinion, he should just try to make the best of a bad situation and put an arm round him? But maybe he's already gone down that road? Who knows.

Ive heard that Shevchenko isn't happy with his form (as Mourinho has told us), and that he want's to improve, but to me he just look's dis-interested. Where's the fight and passion that Drogba has showed us time and time again?

Shevchenko should be a greedy, selfish, goal-scoring warrior! Instead we see a scared, limp-wristed excuse for a striker. (And this is in no way a pop at him.) It's just sad to watch, and frightening to think that this is the same player who has destroyed team's for so many years, and now he look's so very lost.

To me, he has'nt lost sharpness. Or pace, (not that he need's pace to score 20+ in a season) but just CONFIDENCE. Thats it. Along with an understanding of the English game. I.e - You can't dawdle on the ball for 20 mins without expecting to get a kick up in the air, and then look at the ref, pleading for the whistle to blow for something which is never going to come!

Which means that we find ourselves back to Jose....

 

[Pauly]

I don't know what you're on about- i see a great attitude from sheva on the pitch and in the media. He's a professional and has said all the right things and is obviously training hard. I guess it is discouraging for him that he can't play in his natural way, but even then he accepted it and started coming for the ball and asking for it in the midfield. I don't know what will happen with him, i see it as being a big problem for JM as I can't see the following happening:

1) Sheva playing a small role and staying happy.

2) JM changing everything we've seen from him here and beyond and playing an mainly creative attacking midfielder

3) Roman being happy to sell Sheva

Those three combined mean an inevitable road to disaster for me.

I don't understand this "don't change the team for sheva" theme- you can play a 442 and simply have more options with sheva and drogba up front. If only they would play my FM formation Loz and G4, we would win it all...

pauly

Shevchenko focused on Chelsea

http://home.skysports.com/list.aspx?hlid=4...back+at+critics

"If he decides I am not capable, I just have to work harder,"

The guy is quality.

 

[ethicalstrategy]

I don't know what you're on about- i see a great attitude from sheva on the pitch and in the media. He's a professional and has said all the right things and is obviously training hard. pauly

I agree that he always looks like he is trying, but the story is that he isn't putting the effort in in training. Whether that's true or not I don't know.

and yes, it will all end in tears

 

[Pauly]

It just doesn't fit with his career or personality. I'd compare him to Duff and Owen. They're not party boys they're footballers and they're been training for it since they were children. He's not a quitter- he recognises it is not going well and works to change it. no complaints, no bullsh*t.

 

[Liam]

It just doesn't fit with his career or personality. I'd compare him to Duff and Owen. They're not party boys they're footballers and they're been training for it since they were children. He's not a quitter- he recognises it is not going well and works to change it. no complaints, no bullsh*t.

You've seen a lot of him Pauly over the years. How does he look to you in general at the moment compared to what you've seen? I mean in terms of his movement, sharpness and general demeanor on the pitch.

 

[coombsie]

It's very hard to say what Roman wants in return for his HUGE investment. We can all guess. I reckon CL success would be well up there on the list of priorities. But even he must realise that no club has a devine right to win everything, regardless of how much money is laid out.But if I were in Roman's shoes, I would want to see better football. I could understand him thinking "Hang on, this squad has cost me millions, but the football is not that great".

I was hoping that once Mourinho had got us winning things and we had the first trophies in the cabinet, the focus would then switch to us playing better football - even if that meant losing out on some silverware. And he did hint as much himself. Alas, this season we have gone backwards - although bad luck & injuries has played a large part in that.

My two penneth is that basically JM's arrogance in continually stating that he wanted and would manage with a squad of no more than 24, to include 3 keepers is now his undoing.

He also wanted 2 players for every position, (that would make 4 central defenders then !!)

As a direct result, We have one of the smallest squads in the Prem and now with injuries it is totally insufficient. This was JM's decision, nobody elses.

We let 2 players in Gallas and Huth go and bought in one, Boulahrouz who is now long term injured. We let Duff go cheaply and replaced with expensive replacement, Mikkel. We let Gudjohnsen go and replaced with another expensive player in Kalou, who frankly would struggle to lace Guddy's boots. We brought in Cole when we had a very decent left back already at further huge cost and did not deal with the problem area of right back, even though JM had told the press this was an area that needed strengthening. I have left out Ballack and Sheva as I do feel that they were probably the "owners" buys.

All things considered some truly awful decisions. If one of my Managers had continually f**ked up like that, I would be considering his future. Even if he WAS very good at the job and succesful in the past, you cannot live in the past (Scousers) and these obvious mistakes were clear errors of judgement.

I think JM will go, as there is little chance of him apologising for these errors.

An interesting perspective.

Did Mourinho let Gallas and Huth go? I don't think so.

Duff and Guddy both wanted to leave so I take your point here. But realistically neither were going to get much game time unless we were crippled with injuries ( yes, I know that has happened ). So maybe he thought it was better to have two young hungry players who wouldn't mind playing second fiddle whilst they matured and could provide occassional backup rather than two players who were unhappy at not getting any game time. That's a difficult call to make but doesn't fall into the glaringly obvious category for me.

The big problems have arisen because of a large number of injuries to key players and because the two big name signings have not contributed. Earlier in the season we managed to carry them but with the defensive problems we haven't been able to maintain that.

I'm glad I'm not one of your managers - if you think Jose has "continually F*** up" then you must be quite hard to please! That's not to say he hasn't made mistakes, but I do think that the success he has brought over the pst two seasons does earn him the right to a little more leeway - especially as the whole picture as to who is responsible for what is so unclear now.

I ask you who have been the two most successful teams in the premiership era? and what do they have in common? Right - a manager who has been there for a long time. Both teams have had there ups and downs in that period but neither board has seen fit to talk about sacking them because they had a sticky patch.

Maybe Jose will go because relations have irretreivably broken down with the owner, but if that is based on his ability to deliver results on the football pitch then the owner is barking mad.

Ethical, thanks for your response.

You are quite right, in my business I am quite hard to please. Mainly because I allow my Managers to manage, unless they cock it up !!

I am not anti JM at all !!! I am all for him resolving his differences and staying at least until the end of his contract in 2010. I simply don't believe this will happen.

I still believe that JM and JM alone was responsible for the 24 man squad which now has to be at the root of our injury crisis. I fully understand what you say about the success he has brought winning him some leeway, but to me this still comes under the Scouse heading of "living in the past".

On the subject of Sir Red Nose and Arsene "I did not see it" Whinger, good point well made except for one thing. Both these Clubs enjoyed gentle but intelligent control from their (then) owners, at least until effing Kenyon arrived in MU's case. Now we have him, and you will have noted the total disaster that he leaves behind in most areas of his job. I do not believe that the Chelsea board or its ultimate owner will have the patience to wait this one out. They won't sack him because of a sticky patch, but they will sack him for coming accross as "bigger than the Club itself" and believing that it is his ability alone and not RA's millions that has put Chelsea where they are today.

Would like to respond in more detail, but have a match to go to !!!!

 

[Pauly]

It just doesn't fit with his career or personality. I'd compare him to Duff and Owen. They're not party boys they're footballers and they're been training for it since they were children. He's not a quitter- he recognises it is not going well and works to change it. no complaints, no bullsh*t.

You've seen a lot of him Pauly over the years. How does he look to you in general at the moment compared to what you've seen? I mean in terms of his movement, sharpness and general demeanor on the pitch.

To me he looks discouraged- the running and chasing is the part of his game that has surfaced because he's become discouraged. He has tried to adapt, tried to come and get the ball from the midfield and really get into games and be the star with the ball that his character demands, but i just think he has grown disillusioned with it because it's not his game and it was not working in terms of him scoring goals. I think he looks without a lot of hope and that is why you see him digging in his heels and running. personal opinion of course!

 

[Elliott]

Well i dont think you could ask anymore from Sheva last night.

Yes, it's very easy to be synical and say 'Well, it's only Wycombe', but all the attributes that he needs to start scoring goals in the Premiership came out.

He looked hungry again. Showed desire to score, always wanted the ball, and took his goals like you would expect him to! He even showed some neat touches and flicks as he grew in confidence.

I was also pleased to see that he used his strength well, and against lower league opposition, the contest was always going to be slightly more physical, so it was good to see that he knew what to expect.

If he keeps playing with that heart and attitude, then we may very well start to see the real Sheva.

 

[Elliott]

Whoops. My Bad.