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Mourinho - Premiership’s Most Wasteful Manager

Although it’s getting close to beating a dead horse, the focus on Chelsea’s squad troubles continue. This time a reader submission for From The Terraces as CaughtOffside reader Craig tries to figure out exactly what Roman Abramovich has gotten for his rather hefty expenditure.

The recent exposure of Chelsea’s threadbare squad has led most to believe that Jose Mourinho will need to delve into the transfer market in January. However, past experience has shown that this will not guarantee success for his club, with many of his previous signings not living up to their price tags. The most important players in his back-to-back league successes were all at the club before his arrival - Cech, Terry, Makelele and Lampard. Although a few of the Portugese manager’s signings have been relatively successful, most have not impressed and certainly not justified their price tag - either failing to fit into Mourinho’s rigid system or simply lacking the requisite ability to play in the Premiership.

It may actually be a testament to his ability as a manager that he has so completely dominated Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United the last two seasons despite so many key transfer busts - but let’s take it one by one:

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What Was So Wrong With Wayne Bridge?

John Terry’s operation has apparently gone well, and the Chelsea captain should be back in weeks as opposed to months, but it will still be far too long for the Premiership champions who have discovered that life without their captain involves a lot of poor defending.

They’re short on centre backs at Stamford Bridge right now (when you’re actually missing the presence of Khalid Boulahrouz, there’s a problem) and it really told against Reading. Ricardo Carvalho’s pairing with makeshift central defender Paulo Ferreira looked leakier than your incontinent auntie (Ed: Disgusting.), especially when Leroy Lita and his oddly shaved eyebrow stooped to head home unchallenged.

If only Chelsea hadn’t offloaded Robert Huth to Middlesbrough and annoyed William Gallas enough to have to ship him to Arsenal in part exchange for Ashley Cole this summer then maybe things wouldn’t be quite so shaky.

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Transfer Window: What Would You Do If You Were Boss?

It’s only a few days until the latest false dawn that is the Premiership Transfer Window begins, and the scent of unsubstantiated rumors and outrageous transfer speculation is already thick in the air.

To many clubs, managers and supporters it’s a clean slate from which they can turn their season around or keep it going strong, a final throw of the dice to get it right. This window is especially interesting given all the drama of the season so far, Martin O’Neill and Alan Curbishley get their hands on some real money for the first time in their managerial careers, Chelsea get to address apparent squad depth problems, Manchester United can try to sign someone who isn’t super old, and we’re guessing Harry Redknapp is going to pick up a couple more dodgy deals for Portsmouth, while Reading, Sheffield United and Watford will hopefully spring a surprise or two.

But if there’s anyone who knows what their club needs more than the manager, it’s the supporters. So here’s four things we want to hear from you:

1) Who do you support?
2) Where does your squad still need strengthening?
3) Who do you think the club should sign?
4) Who do you want to get rid of?

After the window shuts, we’ll check back here and see if anyone’s club agreed with them.

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Read more Soccer rumors on the Football/Soccer section.

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Ferguson Taking No Chances

It’s often said that success is 90% genius and 10% perspiration… or something like that.

Anyway, whatever success requires, being prepared for all possible outcomes has to be in there somewhere and Sir Alex Ferguson has left no stone unturned in his attempt to kick Chelsea in the bollocks and bring the Premiership title back to Manchester United,

“The goal difference helps us, there is no doubt about that,” he said

“I have always believed in those terms, ten or twelve goals makes a point.

“If it remains that way, it is something we have to fall back on. Hopefully we won’t have to, but it is there anyway.”

It sounds like it makes perfect sense, but in the last 117 years only Arsenal have won the top flight title on goal when they pipped Liverpool to the 1989 First Division title with both clubs on 76 points. Goal difference can generally make a rather significant impact from third place downwards, so if United find that theirs has helped their season come May then they might have plenty of other things to worry about anyway.

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Read more Soccer rumors on the Football/Soccer section.

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 Caughtoffside.com - Sports blog offering Sports news & Sports articles

What Drove Pardew To Charlton?

It was one of those things that rival Premiership supporters joked about, Charlton fans hoped for, but pretty much everyone thought wouldn’t happen. But ex-West Ham idol Alan Pardew has indeed taken over from Les “I’m Awful” Reed at Charlton.

Despite the fact that they’ve just hired a man who was sacked for guiding his club towards relegation, with more talented players, Charlton fans seem quite happy with Pards. Although that may be more due to the euphoria of seeing the back of Les “This Is Harder Than It Looked” Reed. Denied a win in the dying minutes against Fulham thanks to a dubious free kick, Pardew is off to an encouraging start. No disrespect to Charlton, but while Pards seems to just want to be somewhere where he’s appreciated, moving from one club heading towards relegation to another club even closer to the drop seems like madness for a manager whose reputation was still relatively intact.

But then, if Pardew doesn’t save Charlton people will say there was nothing that could be done. But if he does pull a Harry Redknapp, he’ll have cemented his place in footballing legend.

Still seems a tad crazy, so is there something else at play? Something we’re not se…what’s that? Oh, alright then.

Is Chelsea’s Squad Really Not Good Enough?

Premiership funnyman Jose Mourinho said it, and it’s almost terrifying to consider that he wasn’t joking, especially as it’s kinda his doing to begin with,

‘Everyone thinks we have the perfect squad, but we don’t,’ Mourinho said after watching a side lacking John Terry and Petr Cech make hard work of winning at Wigan. ‘We only have three central defenders and when John Terry is injured we only have two. We no longer have the best goalkeeper in the world, either. We have no Joe Cole, we have suspensions, red cards and bad decisions against us. If we get any more injuries we are in big trouble and we already have Khalid Boulahrouz suspended.’

‘Manchester United are top of the table with no injuries, no suspensions and no referees like the one we had at Tottenham. Everything is going fantastically for them. It is the opposite to last season, when everything was fantastic for us and they had all the problems - Paul Scholes’ eye injury, Ryan Giggs being out for a while. This season we are having the problems.’

So while the initial reaction is to laugh and point at any notion that Chelsea are allowed to complain about their squad, we’ll humour Mourinho and take a look at the defending Premiership champions’ squad needs:

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Van Nistlerooy Added To Ferguson’s List

At this point, Alex Ferguson’s history of rows at Manchester United is pretty well documented. Paul Ince, David Beckham, Jaap Stam, Roy Keane - no matter how good you are if you cross Sir Alex you’ll find yourself shipped out. Ruud Van Nistlerooy joined the gang last season after months of rumours of a riff, and the Dutchman has confirmed the lot,

“It started at the Carling Cup final, after an hour we were 4-0 ahead,” van Nistelrooy told the News of the World.

“I could not wait to get on as a substitute, to play half an hour and maybe score a goal and then go and lift the cup.

“It’s a big trophy after all, but first Kieran Richardson was put on.

“After that Nemanja Vidic and Patrice Evra, and Evra had only been at the club a few weeks.

“I exploded and started swearing at Ferguson. That was the killing moment.

“It was both our faults but we never made up after that. The relationship fell apart.”

“I do consider it kind of tragic,” van Nistelrooy added.

“After all, Ferguson was the man who was there for me during my serious knee injury at PSV Eindhoven and even came to my sick bed.”

“The way it all went down in the end does say something about the football world.

“But to me that does not permit you to treat people that way.”

Despite the fact that Ferguson is the constant in all these spectacular fallings out, it’s a little hard to argue that it’s not working for him. The Scot seems to dislike those without a Neville brothers or Paul Scholes-like committment to football and nothing else, so if we’re honest it seems like a matter of when, not if, Cristiano Ronaldo or Wayne Rooney stray just a little too far from the pack.

Ferguson, Curbishley, or Allardyce?

Martin O’Neill was lavishing praise on Sir Alex Ferguson today, possibly as a pre-game excuse for Villa’s inevitable 3-0 beating at the hands of Manchester United but more likely because he’s understandably wowed by arguably the Premiership’s Greatest Manager.

“I think Sir Alex is the greatest manager of the modern day,” said O’Neill. “I worked with arguably the best manager ever, certainly the most charismatic, in Brian Clough.

“He’s been absolutely fantastic. His enthusiasm, his determination, all those things that keep it going week after week, month after month, year after year, with players changing and new teams coming up.

“He’s had some very difficult moments, life wasn’t that easy early on and there was a stage where his days were numbered at Old Trafford.

“He had the ability to fight all of that and come back to prove what a fantastic manager he is. The rest of us aspire to what he has achieved - and most of us wouldn’t get within 6,000 years of him.”

If your sole measure for a great manager is winning, then it’s hard to argue against Ferguson’s two trophy-laden decades (sorry, Wenger). But if you’re being a little more fuzzy with your definition of success then it seems unfair not to rope in those who have achieved so much at “smaller” clubs with a lot less money and resources.

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What Else Should Mourinho Apologise For?

Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho surprised the Premiership by actually apologising to Andy Johnson after accusing the Everton striker of diving. Although it may have been a PR excercise forced upon him, he still went ahead with it and kudos to him.

But now the floodgates have opened, and Alex Ferguson rather cheekily suggested that Mourinho apologise for saying that Chelsea would be ahead of Manchester United by Christmas Day.

‘Perhaps it shows that we shouldn’t believe Jose Mourinho. He said Chelsea would be top at Christmas and they are not.

‘He has to apologise after lying about an Everton player this week. Perhaps he should be apologising again.’

Everyone knows that Mourinho does it all for the benefit of his team rather than actually being a prat, even Sir Alex, but in the spirit of the holidays and with Jose Mourinho in such a giving mood, anyone remember anything else the Premiership’s favourite instigator may want to seek forgiveness for?

25 million Plus One Free Galactico

While the Glazers have manager to fly under the radar for the most part, there’s still some bubbling discontent with Manchester United’s new American owners. But the first real material for those looking for a reason to pick a fight with anyone named Glazer has come with the revelations in The Times about their plans for the club’s transfer strategy, which includes:

- Transfer budget of 25 million annually for bits and pieces.
- Another 25 million set aside for a ’superstar’ whose talent is on par with the likes of Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo, and John O’Shea. A ‘Galactico’, if you will, that will raise United’s commercial profile as well and help pay off some debt.
- Ticket prices are going up, up, up!

The lads over at Red Cafe are all throwing their arms up over the financial side of things, arguing share price and other rather uninteresting things. It’s that 25-50 million transfer budget that we’re thinking about. Not bad at all and while its still not anywhere near the kind of cash Mourinho throws around wildly each season, it should be plenty to allow Ferguson to flesh out his squad enough to challenge on all fronts. This, of course, assumes that he’s fired the entire scouting team that brought him Eric Djemba-Djemba, Kleberson, Massimo Taibi, and Juan Sebastian Veron. Otherwise that 25 million isn’t going to go very far at all.

The Debate: Should West Ham Persist With Tevezcherano?

Last week it was Rafa’s post-takeover future, before that it was diving. This week The Debate is whether West Ham should persist with trying to bed in Tevezcherano.

Despite the fact that Carlos Tevez started to hit his stride the last few matches of Alan Pardew’s tenure, Alan Curbishley decided to have him keep Javier Mascherano company on the sidelines in the win over Manchester United. Returning to the more tried and tested players who did so well for West Ham last season seems to have paid immediate rewards, and doesn’t look like changing anytime soon, but is this the right direction for the longer term?

Although they’ve had their problems in the Premiership, Tevezcherano remain one of the most talented duos in world football. Tevez started to look good in the last few matches of Alan Pardew’s reign and if his pal can make a similar transition then Curbs would have two players who bring an entirely different level of quality, and flair, to his team. On the other hand, if the duo are buggering off in January or the summer as many believe, is there even a point in trying to get them settled - especially as West Ham are no longer in a position to give anyone time to do so? With plenty of money available to replace them in January, it may be time to cut their losses and accept that this rocky start for the Argentinians probably won’t turn out quite as well as Ricky Villa and Ossie Ardilles’ did for Tottenham.

This week, rather than the usual point-counterpoint format we want to open it up to you.

Should West Ham persist with Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano? Or just forget about them and move on? Either let us know your thoughts in the comments or send an article along to editor[at]caughtoffside[dot]com.

Tom Huddlestone, Premiership’s Best Young Player

Mr. C takes a break from angering the Martin Jol fan club to sing the praises of Tottenham’s enormous 20 year-old midfielder Tom Huddlestone.

The Hudd
The guy is phenomenal and I don’t think it is unreasonable to say he’s probably the best young talent Tottenham has seen since Paul Gascoigne or Glenn Hoddle. By season’s end I fully expect him to be amongst the favourites for the Premiership’s best young player. Don’t get me wrong, Lennon is exciting, but for me the Hudd is the real deal. A lot of journalists have written this weekend that Huddlestone has replaced the void left by Carrick last year; but in reality we have a player with the potential to be far better in most areas of the game.

In Huddlestone we have a player who has the ability to beat the first man on set pieces, is fantastic in the air and unlike Carrick is not scared to take advantage of the long range shooting opportunities a holding midfielder often receives. His vision and range of passing are already among the best in the Premiership and like Hoddle his touch is wonderful for a big man. Knock a pass at any speed or height to him and he’ll drop it to his feet instantly.

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Six Transfers That Should Be Investigated

Lord Stevens latest bung report has revealed 17 transfers that he believes require further investigation for corrupt or improper conduct.

But here are 6 deals that should be investigated on grounds of common sense. Not to imply any wrongdoing in these transfers, just that they weren’t a good idea.

Sergei Rebrov was a Premiership flop, but at least when Tottenham signed Shevchenko’s little buddy for about 11 million it seemed to make sense. These, however, will go down in Premiership lore as a big “oops!”.

There are far too many to list, so if you have any idiotic transfers of your own to nominate, let us know.

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Martin Jol Is Good, But Won’t Make Spurs Great Again

CaughtOffside readers can be a judgemental bunch, but Mr. C feels there’s a little air to clear over the merits of Martin Jol.

Having been on the end of a raucous volley in my previous two articles I felt the need to explain the reasons why I have such reservations about Martin Jol. Why many of you see me as a person who has little respect for our great club and is some goon on a wind up, let me enlighten you.

I find it amusing when people reply to the article and I hear things like “He is the best coach in 20yrs”, “You don’t know what your talking about”, “Call yourself a supporter”, “I would spit on you if I ever saw you”, such replies are cheap and at least come out with constructive counter arguments; this is what a football debate is all about, Isn’t it?

Nobody wants Martin Jol to succeed more than I do, but I BELIEVE he hasn’t got the tools to make us a great club again; If he does make us a force in the Premiership and Europe then I will be big enough to hold my hands up and admit it but based on the evidence so far I stand by my argument.

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Damn You Mourinho!

We thought we had you cornered, your mind games and carefully planned media outbursts had finally worn thin with Premiership media and supporters (including yours). Your ‘diving‘ accusations against Andy Johnson and Everton, left yourself and Chelsea with egg on your face. A man of such pride and arrogance would never apologise despite glaring evidence against him, so we’d be able to use this to dismiss Jose’s credibility anytime he opened his mouth in the future.

Right?

‘First I would like to say I have the utmost respect for Everton Football Club, David Moyes and their players. That’s why I love to play them, and especially at Goodison Park where the atmosphere is magnificent.

‘Secondly, after the match I was clear and said Andy Johnson is a great player and I never used aggressive words, like some managers did against my players in previous seasons, or like some others recently said about him and Ronaldo. I never used the word `cheat’.

‘After seeing it again on the video, (referee) Mr Halsey did wonderful work and both decisions for penalties were correct. Did Andy Johnson try to avoid a collision with my goalkeeper? It seems now the answer to that is yes so Everton, his manager and he deserve my apologies.’

Damn you, Jose Mourinho!

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