The difference between this Chelsea team and the rest is purpose, decisions, trust and patience
Last season they said Jose parked the bus but he kept insisting that he wanted Champions league football at all cost, regardless of how Chelsea played. He played beautiful football but after losing another game at the first third of last season, he ditched the previous plan for a more objective one: Champions league football.
Look at Manchester United this season in no man’s land, without those super elite games midweeks.
Liverpool too need to react and ‘find a-way, or any-way’ to arrest their current slide, or they might be watching the Bernabeu only on TV next season.
Arsenal? Oh well…..
Mourinho walked the path and led the way to the jungle of the Premiership. Arriving at the mountain, he left Roman, all his gladiators and supervisors at the base of the mountain, then climbed up to see what was ahead: he came down and after consulting with his generals, he placed a report on Mr Abramovich’s hands: purpose, decisions, trust and patience.
I remember telling everyone at the beginning of last season that if only Chelsea got Rooney, Chelsea would be almost out of sight but people argued: why is Jose insisting on Rooney? Why does he not just dive in the market and spend Roman’s money on any player? Why is he complaining of strikers when he has Lukaku?
I’ll come to that in a minute, but let me talk of last season and this season…….
Last season at about this point, everybody was dropping points.
This season everybody is still dropping points except Chelsea.
Last season, Manchester City had Aguero and Chelsea only wanted Rooney
This season Chelsea have Diego Costa
Last season Manchester City had the ball, loved playing the ball and had no pressure in the Premiership. Last season nobody except Eden wanted the ball in the blues corner when Chelsea were under pressure (At a club like Chelsea you would always be under pressure)
This season Chelsea have Cesc and suddenly everyone wants the ball and love playing the ball
Last season Fernandinho braced the premiership
Since January Chelsea brought back Ne-MAN-ja Matic.
Last season Chelsea had too many goods on the shelf and needed a ‘boot sale’
This season they have only bought and displayed the goods needed
According to Jose last season they were eggs: Oscar, Willian, Hazard, Schurlle, but this season the eggs have finally hatched
Now don’t get me wrong, the season is far from over, but Chelsea FC have enjoyed a massive transformation during the year and all those who said he parked the bus have now been silenced forever.
In business, the rule is you ‘MANAGE’ the business of today and ‘WORK ON’ the business of tomorrow and Jose did just that:
He came back to Chelsea to play attractive football and no pressure or time was going to stop him.
He didn’t just want to spend, but he wanted to spend wisely. He was going to manage what he dad UNTIL he got what he wanted. He looked at the goods on the shelf and knew he couldn’t do anything with them, so he identified those that had to go today, to ‘create’ the brand for tomorrow: Mata, Lukaku, Luiz, Demba, Torres, Ashley Cole, Van Ginkel and De-Bruyne for Matic and Rooney.
To ease congestion in traffic, Moses, Romeu and others had to go out on loan.
If Abramovich and the media wanted attractive football, Jose had a big problem to solve in midfield.
He had to change the Chelsea ‘box to box’ midfield style which had produced goals for almost a decade, and swap it for a ‘modern tiki-taka’ approach. He needed a world class midfielder to replace the legend but he wasn’t going to spend ‘anyhow’. He went searching until he found Cesc……
But how do you draw curtains on the career of an icon without incurring the wrath of the fans and media? Answer: By bringing back another legend; Lampard out, Drogba in.
In goal, Thibaut Courtois had also hatched into a beautiful bird at Atletico Madrid, flying from one post to the other. His time had come to man the posts, even though Cech still has a few years left in him.
Then in attack, he insisted if he didn’t get Rooney then he would not buy anybody (He got Etoo on a free from Russia) as he wanted a world class player who is not an egg but fully hatched, fully grown and ready to breed.
Jose needed one who would terrorise defenders and be able to destroy a defence with half a chance, or create a chance when he had none. He found Diego Costa and also got Loic Remy as a bonus.
Is this Chelsea team now set? No way. They still need a few more world class players that would be the finishing touches to a well-crafted and purpose built edifice: a team that would challenge and excel in Europe and still dominate in the Premiership.
He wanted Lukaku as his second striker, developing and learning, as he knew Lukaku was not ready to take on the pressure and lead Chelsea into a full blown war on many fronts, but Lukaku declined the offer.
Jose demanded to have Rooney because he knew that Rooney understood the premiership, and on any day in Europe could go to war and win with the best defences on the planet.
If he would buy, he preferred quality as opposed to quantity…. Look at Liverpool now.
And don’t forget at ‘half term’ when the window opens in January, he would look to strengthen again and perhaps clear out the shelf once more.
What was Jose’s Purpose, decisions, trust and patience dossier to Roman Abramovich?
Purpose: to produce attractive gladiators who will be a spectacle to behold
Decisions: To change the direction of the clubs and players and change personnel
Trust: To trust the direction and decisions of a great manager with phenomenal success in the last decade.
Patience: Like a farmer, plant seeds, cultivate, prune and wait for the fruits.
The fruits are finally emerging in the summer of Mourinho II, after a subdued autumn of Avram Grant, an ardous winter of Villas-Boaz and uncertain Matteo, and the long spring of Benitez.
This season is pregnant with many possibilities for Chelsea.
How Jose and his army nurture the pregnancy will determine what is born at season’s end: nothing? One? two? Or who says they can’t even deliver triplets?
As I write this, Chelsea play Schalke tonight in Gelsenkirchen and anything could still happen to this Chelsea team.
They would be remembered for sure: either as one of the greatest teams to grace the premiership or as one of the greatest under-achievers to grace it. Time will tell.