lefty goldblatt wrote:
Firstly, well done to Chelsea, on a great performance and result, last night.
Secondly, I'm a little worried why a bloke who was a failure at WBA, could get a team to beat a side that looked good in previous rounds, when Chelsea's previous manager couldn't beat a paper boys XI with the same players, recently. I'm mystified!
I'd dispute whether Di Matteo was a failure for West Brom. He got them promoted to the Premier League, suffered for a period in the PL, and quickly got fired. I think the PL is such a massive step up from the Championship that any manager will struggle in the top division. Norwich and Swansea have performed magnificently this season, but next season there is a very good chance that both their bubbles will have burst and they'll be relegation candidates. That doesn't mean that their managers will be failures.
I've said this before, but the Chelsea squad can be champions or they can be c****. I think if a manager comes in and rubs them up the wrong way then they simply won't give everything, and the performances disappear. Remove that manager, allow the players to work towards a united goal and they can quickly play like champions again. It happened with Scolari/Hiddink and it seems to be happening again.
I know that Abramovich has taken a lot of stick over getting rid of AVB, but the last three games have shown that the decision was the right one - just like the decision to axe Scolari.
I don't think there's a chance that we will get close to winning the CL. We're a mile off Real and Barca. But that could work to our advantage as I think anything we get this season is a bonus. We were virtually out after the away leg at Napoli so we should be able to play without too much pressure.
