When a Team Flushes a Season...

A few days ago Jose Mourinho, the manager (which means the same thing for a football team in europe as it does in MLB here) of Chelsea FC resigned after a draw with Norwegian side Rosenborg at Stamford Bridge in England. I was absolutely shocked to read that news, and it's taken a little while to sink in. Then I started to think about it a little, and realized that this decision makes absoluetly no sense at this point in time.

Last summer there was tension b/w Mourinho and the team's owner Roman Abramovich after a season where Abramovich desired an unprecedented four trophies from the team, but Mourinho and his men could only provide two. Now, Man U had a fantastic season last year and was almost without a single significant injury. Chelsea on the other hand had to deal with several injuries including Petr Cech's depressed skull, John Terry's long absence at central defense, and other small nagging conditions throughout the season. It seems that under those conditions two trophies would be a triumph; apparently that isn't the case to the big, bad, Russian owner.

I would understand somewhat if Mourinho had parted ways with Chelsea after the end of the season. He had won two EPL titles, a few other cup trophies, but had stalled and had conflicts with the owner. But he still came back to start this season, with a supposedly renewed friendship with Abramovich, which is why this news comes as a shock.

Mourinho has left Chelsea to flounder through this year as a lost one. Without his direction, the team just isn't as good. Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba are out with injuries, and now with this managerial loss Chelsea really can't hope to succeed in a big way this season.

I'm horrifically disappointed in Mourinho for giving up so easily at this part of the season, but also upset with the management of the club, who have put so much unnecessary pressure on Jose to keep winning trophies year after year. This is the manager that won two EPL titles in a row for a team that had only ever won 1 title in its entire club history. Plus he took Chelsea from barely competing with the biggest clubs in England and put them in the same category as the best club teams in Europe. Unless Chelsea is able to hire someone like Jurgen Klinsmann away from his vacation life in Los Angeles, or hire away a big time manager from another European giant, there was no reason to part ways with Mourinho.

Therin lies the problem, though. It is currently a month into the season. There is no possible way that a Mourinho-caliber manager is going to be lured away at this point in the campaign to look after Chelsea. I just don't see it. Right now, this mutual resignation agreement is the worst thing to happen at Stamford Bridge in a long time. The Mourinho era has come to a close, and I don't see anything better than its far too brief window in the future for the club unless a major swoop occurs.

Chelsea @ Reading: The Return of Petr Cech

Being a soccer(called football from here on out) fan is hard in America, especially when you follow a team that has just become a world power. My best friend's Aunt and Uncle used to live in the Chelsea district of London, and he started supporting them when he was about 10. Through my friendship with him and love for football (we played together on our high school team), I became a rabid Chelsea FC supporter during the season right before Russian oil baron Roman Abramovich bought the team, and before Jose Mourinho was hired from Portugal side FC Porto as manager.



What ensued was Chelsea's meteoric rise to power in the EPL and on the European stage, competing for the first time in years with the big powers of the league and actually winning. Now, I get called a fair weather fan, or told that I'm simply jumping on the bandwagon of a team that now has a high profile, and that is certainly not the case. I'm proud of supporting Chelsea, but even more proud that I came to them when they weren't viewed in America as just another team like Manchester United.

My history of being a fan aside, last night was Chelsea @ Reading. It was Chelsea keeper Petr Cech's return to the stadium where last season he was hit so hard by a knee to the skull from Stephen Hunt that the bone actually got depressed and there was doubt over whether or not he would ever play again.


In perfect Chelsea stud form though, Cech shook off the skull fracture to come back a few months later and finish out the season.

In last night's game, however, he had one of the worst moments I've ever seen in his career, completely whiffing a punch out on a ball coming into the box and allowing Reading to take a 1-0 on what was essentially an open net touch-in for a substitute. Now, it's not that Petr Cech isn't a fantastic goalie, he is, but that was a terrible mishap, and he's lucky it didn't cost Chelsea the game.

Luckily, within a five minute span early in the second half, Lampard and Drogba scored successive goals to take a 2-1 lead, and Chelsea held on for the win. I'm glad to see Drogba get his first goal of the seaon, and I hope it's the first of even more than last year's campaign, lord known he'll need it to beat that world class diver in C. Ronaldo.

Just as a little side note, let's look at the goal scorers in the first two games for Chelsea: Pizarro, Malouda, Essien, Lampard, Drogba. Now, we've gotten some support from new signings, and the other new players are fitting in well, but Chelsea didn't spend nearly as much this past summer as they did before last year on Ballack and Sheva, but where the hell are they? Both have picked up injuries, so they are essentially the 2nd and 3rd most expensive bench warmers in the world, after David Beckham here in the U.S. I love my Blues, but those two players really need to get fit and get on the field. Ballack can play, and Sheva can feed the ball to Drogba better than anyone else in a Center Forward position with Drogba playing Striker. I just want to see the players come through on their transfer fees, that's all.

Next game is over the weekend at Liverpool. Barring a huge defensive meltdown at Anfield, I figure Lamps and Drogba will combine for something special, and we'll get at least a tie out of the fixture. Let's just see if Man U can get themselves out of their funk or not in their derby with City this weekend. Hopefully not.