Shut Up Mourinho And Face Facts …
It is commonly agreed that a Premiership success for United this year would register as the sweetest of all Sir Alex’s many triumphs.
Roman Abramovich’s endless injection of cash has given Chelsea an unanswerable claim to the Premiership trophy since the serial loser Claudio Ranieri was replaced by Jose Mourinho. Ferguson, Wenger and Benitez would never admit so much but the underlying assumption of English football since Mourinho arrived has been that Chelsea would remain the team to beat, so long as their ability to purchase the best players and maintain a large squad was matched by the tactical acumen of a genuine heavy hitter.
A United title this year would represent a major challenge to that understanding and give hope to United, Arsenal and Liverpool for the seasons ahead.
Of course, Chelsea are not so willing to recognise any fundamental shift in the newly established football order and have set about dismantling the impact of United’s progress even before Sir Alex’s achievement has been confirmed by silverware.
United have succeeded this term not because of their own virtues but because of Chelsea’s failings. Mourinho has whined again and again about ‘lucky’ United benefiting from dubious refereeing decisions. He has been quick to point out how cruelly fate destroyed his chance of a hatrick of titles, by removing from his first team the world’s best goalkeeper and one of Europe’s better centre halves.
“In December and January, I almost played centre-back,” Mourinho said. “Those months reflect the points we lost. We had two matches, we conceded four goals and we lost points against Fulham and Reading. We go to Liverpool and within five minutes the game was over - no Ricardo [Carvalho], no John Terry, nobody.
“We have never played with our best team, never - all this season, we’ve never played with our best team. But when we play with a team similar to our best team, we show what we can do. I think the season is a brilliant season by these boys. We just need to win more trophies.”
Understanding an adversary’s triumph only as a function of one’s own failings is as familiar in football as the magic sponge. Indeed, in recent times, Sir Alex has not been averse to employing twisted logic to rationalise United’s own failure. His refusal to acknowledge the quality of Arsenal during their ‘Invincible’ year and his veiled criticism of Arsene Wenger’s team for drawing too many games during the season in which the Gunners remained undefeated, is a high point of this type of one-eyed thinking and sour grapes all the same.
Chelsea’s moaning is equally ungracious. Mourinho’s complaints may have been greeted with an Amen chorus on the Kings Road but beyond the small confines of Blue heaven, there are few who would give the Chelsea boss a hearing.
Ambramovich’s cash has distorted English football to the extent that it has become almost arithmetic in its predictability. One top manager plus the best players equals trophies, has been a formula to dull the senses, removing with terrific speed much of the joy, drama and tension that used to be present in this most competitive of professional sports.
Yet, have Chelsea now stumbled across a genuine grievance by which they might elicit the sympathy craved since Christmas?
Fixture congestion is sure to become the new weapon of choice to challenge United’s legitimacy, should the title go to Old Trafford.
Chelsea play Arsenal, United and Everton in the last nine days of the season. The Blues could face an even worse programme if Tottenham succeed in moving their April 7 league match against Chelsea. The north London club is due to play a Uefa quarter final against Sevilla just two days before.
As the Guardian reported: “With Chelsea due to travel to Spain themselves to face Valencia in the Champions League the following Tuesday, manager Jose Mourinho seems sure to resist the switch, a move which could see the Chelsea versus Spurs game shifted to the last week of the season as well.”
The fixture pile-up was a golden opportunity for another Mourinho rehearsal of ‘the world against poor Chelsea.’
“Everything in this league went against us from the beginning - injuries, decisions and fixtures,” he said. “We played a Carling Cup final and had to play one game in hand afterwards and now we have the United game, which we want to play now, later on.
“We also have to play West Ham away and Newcastle away in the same week because of the congestion in the fixtures.”
The fixture chaos is an unfortunate but fundamental product of England’s insane league structure, which all to often punishes success. However, there can be no doubt that if United are crowned champions, it will be due to Sir Alex’s outstanding leadership, the rejuvenation of Scholes, the defensive prowess of Ferdinand and Vidic and the genius of Cristiano Ronaldo. Having sold their greatest striker and against the backdrop of a crippling debt burden, United have outscored their rivals and could finish the season with the meanest defence too.
These are the credentials of champions. Chelsea may have their excuses in order and ready to serve but Mourinho, in possibly his last season at Chelsea, should shut up and recognise that teams that win titles deserve nothing but praise. AU
Guardian : Chelsea’s possible fixture pile-up
Sat, March 31 - Watford (a) - Premiership
Wed, April 4 - Valencia (h) - Champions League
*Sat, April 7 - Tottenham (h) - Premiership
Tue, April 10 - Valencia (a) - Champions League
Sun, April 15 - Blackburn (neutral venue) - FA Cup
Wed, April 18 - West Ham (a) - Premiership
Sat, April 21 - Newcastle (a) - Premiership
**Tue/Wed, April 24/25 - Liverpool or PSV Eindhoven - Champions League
Sat, April 28 - Bolton (h) - Premiership
**Tue/Wed, May 1/2 - Liverpool or PSV Eindhoven - Champs League
Sat, May 5 - Arsenal (a) - Premiership
***Tue, May 8 - Manchester United (h) - Premiership
***Thu, May 10 - Tottenham (h) - Premiership
Sun, May 13 - Everton (h) - Premiership
**Sat, May 19 - FA Cup final (Wembley)
**Wed, May 23 - Champions League final (Athens)
*Subject to postponement
**Subject to winning matches in previous round
***Not yet arranged
COMMENTS
Nick Cendrowicz : Sorry, but I have to gag when I read a ManUre fan whinge about an apparent distortion in football created by Roman’s cash. I could take that from Watford or Wigan, but from your lot? Er…For the record, until Chelsea bought Sheva, the 3 most expensive players in the Premiership were Veron, Ferdinand and Rooney.
I don’t remember you lot looking at your shoes and admitting that you thought it was really unfair.Last month, Deloitte and Touche concluded that ManUre are the World’s richest club. Chelsea came ‘only’ 5th in that survey. So don’t complain to ANYONE about ‘unfair’. Or is it not fair that someone else, other than the world’s richest club, has a little bit of cash?
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