Scarcity of club news means anything that’s said on anyone becomes news. In that manner, The Sun carries a report on what Jose said about Shevchenko and Ballack. Despite the fact that the news is on The Sun, I still take it for discussion. Other than that, some essential clarification, that I thought I should make.

The Sun reports that Jose said this:

Shevchenko and Ballack have to give more because their status is not superior to that of the others. Each is a champion. They have quality, status and fame. They’re rich and have already won a lot of trophies. All that is an undeniable fact. But it’s one thing their being the centre surrounded by 20 nobodies, and it’s something else these two players arriving at a club where the others are already champions, famous and rich.

We were prepared to receive players such as Shevchenko or Ballack because they are of the same dimension as those already playing at Chelsea. Lampard, Terry, Drogba are equal to these two. But you can’t build anything if you have to have someone special at its centre. When you have a group, everyone has to be equal to achieve the end we all want.

If this is true, surely Jose is still not happy with their contributions. As any players joining a new squad, it is up to them to make themselves suit their manager’s ideologies and playing style than the reverse. If I read between the lines, I could see that Jose feels that Sheva and Ballack do not have the ‘fire in their bellies’ when they’re playing for Chelsea, which they did have earlier playing for Milan and Bayern respectively.

As a big of Shevchenko, I still feel that he can make it big here. All that he needs is a stretch of about 15-20 matches, without getting dropped or going out injured. As regards Ballack, I already thought he had improved and was playing well when he got injured in April. If I’ve to choose one among Lampard and Ballack, I’d choose Lampard any day, for the goals and the defensive protection I get. To make them play together would mean ditching two of Malouda, SWP, Joe Cole, Mikel and Makelele. Ballack has not shown enough promise to really warrant this.

{democracy:70}

In other news, Sir Alex was attacked by a hooligan yesterday, but he was not severely hurt. In all probabilities, it could be another one of the mindless scouser attacks. Ex-Chelsea legend Ian Porterfield passed away yesterday. Obviously, I don’t anything about him and so here is a tribute article from Chelsea FC. England vs Russia tonight. Here is hoping Joe Cole scores.

Now to the clarification part. I’ve told you that I admire Jose Mourinho the same way I admire John Terry, Frank Lampard, Michael Essien, Andriy Shevchenko and many others. In fact I’d proudly say that I’m a big fan of Jose Mourinho. In my eyes, these are the guys who have earned enough credit by their performance that my tolerance level and margin of error for them is very high. Jose lost the last season but I’m ready to forgive and forget in the hope that they would come good and we have to time to allow them to re-coup. Jose won two titles and lost one season (but still won two other trophies) and it’s not bad. ask any professional football manager, it’s not bad and they would in fact, crave for this. So, even if Jose does not win this year’s PL or CL, I’d feel bad but I won’t sack Jose.

In the English league, a hattrick of titles is something too much to ask for and we were only 7 points away from this incredible feat. Money or no money, there are always four title contenders every season. In a decade, if one team wins 3 titles, that should be good enough and if they win 5 titles, exceptional and if it’s 7, it’s complete domination (and also an uncompetitive league). The Roman/Jose combination started in 2004 and now we have two titles, that’s fantastic. I’d support Jose as long as he is a Chelsea coach and if moves elsewhere, I hope we don’t face his team in the champions league.

And about the style of football Jose plays, You’ll never convince me on that one. When I play pro-evo or football manager, the principles I apply are exactly what Jose does in Chelsea. So, in a way, I could immediately relate to this philosophy as mine is the same. Finally, if Roman sacks Jose and brings in someone else, I’d support the new guy as much as I suported Jose. The simple reason is that he is our coach. I can have my opinion but I’m never going to disrespect the new guy or the decision taken by the owner and the board.

They wish good things for Chelsea more than you and me. Roman spent hundreds of millions on players and youth training centre, he is elated when we win and upset when we lose, unlike the ‘i’ll buy anything that’s cheap’ kind of owners. If he decides to keep Jose, he’d be correct as he is a bigger stakeholder when it comes to Chelsea’s success than you and me. Now, don’t get sentimental and give me that “clubs-dont-exist-without-fans” speech.

By the way, this blog is neither sponsored by Chelsea FC nor affiliated to Chelsea FC website. This is just a blog started by some guy in India, who likes football and chelsea, as simple as that. So, I don’t need to maintain any official line or anything. Whatever I write here is what I feel and not what I’m told to write.

[tags]Chelsea, Jose Mourinho, Roman Abramvich, Alex Ferguson, Ian Porterfield, Andriy Shevchenko, Michael Ballack, Manchester United, Liverpool[/tags]