[...] there are certain hateable aspects in every human being, starting from myself. I don’t hate Avram Grant the person. I hate certain specific qualities that he has displayed. You know, it’s like I [...]

[...] last month I had written about how Avram Grant can impress me. He has now managed 10 Chelsea games and this is a nice time to review his performance and prepare [...]

[...] TrueBlueFusion – I’ve chosen to respond to you through this post (others can click this link to read TBF’s comment#35 before reading this article). My intention is not to convince you [...]

[...] (more…) [...]

6-0 FOR CHELSEA,
THAT’S ALL I SAY!

10Q GRANT

If chelsea wants to play attackin football then we’ve need a complete overhaul….Current set of players are world class who suit jose’s tactical games…but as someone said before they lack pace and creativity…
I think the following players should leave ( Although i love them a lot except for sheva :d)
OUT:-
Shevcheko (Get ya ss off frm the pride of london)
Lampard (He means business, n one o d best in his position..but no creativity or pace)
Claude Makelele ( But he’s still the best in that role )
Sidwell (that guy cudn make any sorta impression in me so far)
Pizzaro
Florent Malouda

IN:-
David Villa
Huntelaar
Daniel Alves
Iniesta
De Rossi
Quaresma
.
.
.
and instead of the speculated ronaldinho deal i wud’ve gone for messi, whatever be the cost…coz he’s worth it.!!!

Guus Hiddink has ended speculation linking him with a move to Chelsea by extending his contract as Russia coach until the summer of 2010.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/c/chelsea/7037043.stm

[...] TrueBlueFusion – I’ve chosen to respond to you through this post (others can click this link to read TBF’s comment). My intention is not to convince you but just to convey what I feel [...]

TBF@35,

You know why Arse hardly won anything of note over the last several seasons, because all they did was entertain while their rivals focused on winning first and entertaining second.

You wonder why Barca despite all their flair never was able to beat us unless we are one man down, it is because when it gets to the crunch and the stakes are highest, what wins the day is the spirit of the team and the efficiency of the combattants rather than their capacity to entertain.

Did you watch the recent Copa final that pitched Brazil against Argentina? Brazil abandoned their crave for entertainment and focused on winning first- Argentina with the super abundance of talent came onto the field believing their superior skills will win the day- after 90 min, they were totally torn to shreds by an efficient Brazil- 3-0 was the final verdict.

I have said and will repeat it a million times- Competitive football is about winning first. Exhibition football is about entertaining first. Both the EPL and CL as far i know are competitive leagues rather than exhibition leagues.

Do you think people who are wagering mega bucks on the fortune of teams care a hoot about all those fancy skills?

Who said our fan base would go sky high only because of skills? Let me tell you- at least in most of Africa, I can emphatically state that over the last three seasons, we have won many more followers than the underachieving Arsenal. The reason- Success. Not Entertainment but Success.

If it were just an issue of skills, then the EPL would not rate at all- because real skills are in places like Spain, France, Italy and the home of skills- South America. But it is more than skills. It is about getting the results and making fans happy through that.

Champs league final 99 between Man U and Bayern epitomized this so well. One team played all the best football on the night- that was Bayern. The other played crap all night but got the result- that was Manure.

Guess what? Few remember today how great Bayern were on the night and if they remember at all it is no big deal cos the team that won attained Legendary status that night. Man Utd that year reached dizzy heights cos of treble even tho they were absolute rubbish that epochal night.

I said it before, I will not mind fanciful football once i can be guaranteed that winning is the number one motivation, not entertaining fans. My greatest entertainment is Victory. Ask any Arsenal fans and they will be honest enough to say that Entertainment without trophies is of no much consolation.

We have won only two EPL. Jose’s obsession was to make us focus on winning so many so that all over the world our brand becomes known for trophies first. Then we can indulge in the luxury of doing 180 degree movements with the balls, back heeling and all those eye pleasing tricks, knowing that if they don’t even earn us trophies (like they way they have not helped Arsenal over the last three years), we have the cvonsolation that we had already established a great pedigree.