A master of the mind game, Jose Mourinho had started his game before the season gets underway.
First he took a swipe at Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester United and Liverpool for spending more money than his Chelsea and buying their way to the title.
He might have selective memory but to put records on the table, over the period between 2004 and 2014, no manager in the world has spend more money than the Portuguese during his spells with Chelsea, Inter Milan and Real Madrid. His total spending, nearly €1bn, €22m more than his closest rival Carlo Ancelotti who succeeded him at Real
Second, after the Community Shield defeat at his nemesis Arsene Wenger's Arsenal, he said, "My opinion is the team that defends very well, that leaves their philosophy in the dressing room, changes their attitude, plays all the second half with nine players in front of the box, doesn’t concede and scores one goal, from that perspective they deserve to win.
"This is football. This is very good tactical organisation. Congratulations to them."
While Mourinho might seem to be praising Arsenal, it does not mask the fact he is critising Wenger for deploying the park-the-bus tactics, something which Mourinho has perfected and used frequently during big games en-route to the league title last season.
But is Arsenal really that bad?
Based on WhoScored.com statistic, the Blues' manager is far from being true.
Total Shots
Arsenal - 11
Chelsea - 14
Shots on Target
Arsenal - 5
Chelsea - 2
Pass Success
Arsenal - 75%
Chelsea - 80%
Aerial Success
Arsenal - 39%
Chelsea - 61%
Dribbles
Arsenal - 5
Chelsea - 11
Tackles
Arsenal - 11
Chelsea - 18
Possession
Arsenal - 43%
Chelsea - 57%
Knowing Mourinho, he will usually try to unnerve opponents whom he thinks is a threat to his Chelsea team. For him to pay such "tribute" to Arsenal, one can be sure that he sees Arsenal as a genuine contender.
Showing posts with label Arsene Wenger. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Arsene Wenger. Show all posts
Wednesday, 5 August 2015
Tuesday, 28 July 2015
Who should Arsenal go for? Benzema or Llorente?
Having watched the Barclays Asia Trophy and the Emirates Cup, I have to say Arsenal is looking very good.
The defence seems much calmer with Petr Cech in goal and the movement of the midfielders look very promising, especially the inter-play between Mesut Ozil and Aaron Ramsey.
The only area that needs improvement is in the attacker department. While Oliver Giroud and Theo Walcott had scored in both the tournaments, they too missed quite a few good chances, too many in fact.
The Gunners might be able to overcome this against weaker oppositions where they will create tons of chances but against defensive strong outfits like Chelsea, where chances are at a premium, they have to find the back of the net whenever they have a sniff of the goal.
And it seems like Arsenal is keen to address the issue and have been linked with a few strikers, among them, Karim Benzema and Fernando Llorente.
Benzema is believed to be the number one choice after been linked with Arsenal for a few seasons. Even thou Benitez had stated that Benzema is not for sale, it had not stop rumours of the Frenchman being unsettled at the Bernabeau.
It is believed that the Gunners are prepared to up their initial bid of £31 million to £35 million for the Real Madrid striker and if the deal fails to materialise, Wenger will turn his attention to Fernando Llorente.
Over the weekend, Arsenal were reported to offer Serie A champions, Juventus, £8 million for the 30-year-old.
Llorente had proved invaluable to Juventus' domestic and international success the last two seasons. Despite his age, it is hard to believe that the Old Lady will let him go for that sum of money.
But how does the Benzema and Llorente measured up to Giroud and Walcott?
Fernando Llorente - Played 25(6) / Goals 7 / Assist 1 / WhoScored.com ratings 6.70
Karim Benzema - Played 29 / Goals 15 / Assist 10 / WhoScored.com ratings 7.56
Olivier Giroud - Played 21(6) / Goals 14 / Assist 3 / WhoScored.com ratings 7.23
Theo Walcott - Played 4(10) / Goals 5 / Assist - / WhoScored.com ratings 6.61
Based on statistics, Benzema is an upgrade while Llorente isn't going to improve the squad much.
And to finally end their 10 years wait for the Premier League title, Arsenal have to go for only the best.
The defence seems much calmer with Petr Cech in goal and the movement of the midfielders look very promising, especially the inter-play between Mesut Ozil and Aaron Ramsey.
The only area that needs improvement is in the attacker department. While Oliver Giroud and Theo Walcott had scored in both the tournaments, they too missed quite a few good chances, too many in fact.
The Gunners might be able to overcome this against weaker oppositions where they will create tons of chances but against defensive strong outfits like Chelsea, where chances are at a premium, they have to find the back of the net whenever they have a sniff of the goal.
And it seems like Arsenal is keen to address the issue and have been linked with a few strikers, among them, Karim Benzema and Fernando Llorente.
Benzema is believed to be the number one choice after been linked with Arsenal for a few seasons. Even thou Benitez had stated that Benzema is not for sale, it had not stop rumours of the Frenchman being unsettled at the Bernabeau.
It is believed that the Gunners are prepared to up their initial bid of £31 million to £35 million for the Real Madrid striker and if the deal fails to materialise, Wenger will turn his attention to Fernando Llorente.
Over the weekend, Arsenal were reported to offer Serie A champions, Juventus, £8 million for the 30-year-old.
Llorente had proved invaluable to Juventus' domestic and international success the last two seasons. Despite his age, it is hard to believe that the Old Lady will let him go for that sum of money.
But how does the Benzema and Llorente measured up to Giroud and Walcott?
Fernando Llorente - Played 25(6) / Goals 7 / Assist 1 / WhoScored.com ratings 6.70
Karim Benzema - Played 29 / Goals 15 / Assist 10 / WhoScored.com ratings 7.56
Olivier Giroud - Played 21(6) / Goals 14 / Assist 3 / WhoScored.com ratings 7.23
Theo Walcott - Played 4(10) / Goals 5 / Assist - / WhoScored.com ratings 6.61
Based on statistics, Benzema is an upgrade while Llorente isn't going to improve the squad much.
And to finally end their 10 years wait for the Premier League title, Arsenal have to go for only the best.
Monday, 11 May 2015
Carver, best manager in the Premier League. NOT!
"I still feel I am the best coach in the Premier League." declared John Carver.
I am not sure what Carver has been eating but whatever it is, it sure seems to have some effects on his brain.
With a win ratio of 11.8% and 0.56 points per game, his boast seems far off.
Not to mention the likes of Jose Mourinho or Arsene Wenger, his record pale in comparison to even his predecessor Alan Pradew, whom the Geordies cannot wait to get rid of.
If Newcastle is to get relegated, I expect him to be sack. And if it does happens, maybe Bayern Munich will be knocking on his door, offering the post vacant by Pep Guardiola.
I am not sure what Carver has been eating but whatever it is, it sure seems to have some effects on his brain.
With a win ratio of 11.8% and 0.56 points per game, his boast seems far off.
Not to mention the likes of Jose Mourinho or Arsene Wenger, his record pale in comparison to even his predecessor Alan Pradew, whom the Geordies cannot wait to get rid of.
If Newcastle is to get relegated, I expect him to be sack. And if it does happens, maybe Bayern Munich will be knocking on his door, offering the post vacant by Pep Guardiola.
Wednesday, 29 April 2015
Wembley, here we come. Arsenal FC
After a nine years wait, Arsenal finally broke their run without a trophy when they won the English FA Cup in 2014. Many have predicted that this could be the start of a golden era but that was put in place after quite a disastrous start to their new season.
Out of the Champions League, Capital One Cup and out of the league title chase (thou they could still mathematically win it), FA Cup is their last hope of a silverware, if one exclude the “top 4 trophy” that manager Wenger so craved.
Like last year, they had a tough semi-final against supposingly lower quality opposition. But unlike last year, they settled the issue in extra-time without having to go through the lottery of a penalty shootout. They took the lead in the 40th minute only for Reading to equalise within nine minutes of the second half. Try as they might, Arsenal could not find a winning goal. It took a mistake by Reading’s goalkeeper, letting Sanchez shot slipped through his legs, to eventually settle the issue.
Aston Villa now stand in the way of Wenger of equaling the most FA Cup won by a manager. Many clubs would love to be in this situation of winning the oldest cup trophy, but for Arsenal fans, I suspect they would rather trade it for either the League title or the Champions League.
Without doubt, Arsenal will be favourites to retain the trophy, but this is Arsenal that we are talking about. A club that has the tendency to either screw things up at the big stage or make things difficult for themselves. Not to forget, the “strange” tactics of Wenger. In the semi final, he replaced both full backs, Debuchy and Gibbs coming in for Bellerin and Monreal. Both are able replacements, in fact, the first choices but they have not seen much actions lately. Also, he decided to start with Welbeck instead of the in-form Giroud. Puzzling indeed.
In any case, I am looking forward to a great final at the Wembley Stadium. While I am quietly confident, something tells me that the result might not be as what I have hoped for.
Out of the Champions League, Capital One Cup and out of the league title chase (thou they could still mathematically win it), FA Cup is their last hope of a silverware, if one exclude the “top 4 trophy” that manager Wenger so craved.
Like last year, they had a tough semi-final against supposingly lower quality opposition. But unlike last year, they settled the issue in extra-time without having to go through the lottery of a penalty shootout. They took the lead in the 40th minute only for Reading to equalise within nine minutes of the second half. Try as they might, Arsenal could not find a winning goal. It took a mistake by Reading’s goalkeeper, letting Sanchez shot slipped through his legs, to eventually settle the issue.
Aston Villa now stand in the way of Wenger of equaling the most FA Cup won by a manager. Many clubs would love to be in this situation of winning the oldest cup trophy, but for Arsenal fans, I suspect they would rather trade it for either the League title or the Champions League.
Without doubt, Arsenal will be favourites to retain the trophy, but this is Arsenal that we are talking about. A club that has the tendency to either screw things up at the big stage or make things difficult for themselves. Not to forget, the “strange” tactics of Wenger. In the semi final, he replaced both full backs, Debuchy and Gibbs coming in for Bellerin and Monreal. Both are able replacements, in fact, the first choices but they have not seen much actions lately. Also, he decided to start with Welbeck instead of the in-form Giroud. Puzzling indeed.
In any case, I am looking forward to a great final at the Wembley Stadium. While I am quietly confident, something tells me that the result might not be as what I have hoped for.
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