Tuesday, May 22, 2012

About Chelsea


 At last after 8 years Roman Abramovic has the championship trophy that he wanted so badly. This Champions League title ratifies his investment and gives Chelsea a tangible reason to claim a spot among the “big clubs” of Europe. Just like the Europa League, the winner of this Champions League was the club that not many would have guessed back in December. An impeccable defensive order and a sublime Drogba carried them throughout the tournament allowing them to defeat every team that, on paper at least, was better than Chelsea.

Is there merit in what they did? Absolutely. I won’t be the one to say that they don’t deserve the title. This team walked on the tight rope at all phases of this championship and yet they never gave up. They capitalized in the very few chances they created. There is merit in that. However, I can never support anti-football: the art of not wanting to go for the victory. Inter did it two years ago, Greece did it in the Eurocup 2004 and now Chelsea has done it too. They all have won without attempting to win but rather focusing in not losing.

Chelsea display in the final was horrible in my opinion. It feels more like Bayern lost rather than Chelsea won.  Compare their display to Barcelona last year or compare them to the Real Madrid team that won the 9th Champions League 10 years ago. It almost a sin to play like Chelsea did. In fact, the real sin is that Chelsea, until the 1-0, did not want to play. Two defensive lines of 4 and 5 players respectively at the grandest stage in European football is something I don’t expect from a team that wants to be crowned “the best”.

Listen to what Mata, Torres, Di Matteo, and other players were saying at the end of the game about how Bayern played better and you can see even they know luck was a huge element in their title win. Again, I think that “never give up” attitude is fantastic but to renounce any effort to go an win the game is not a good thing for a club that wants to enter into that “best clubs of Europe” category.

That football philosophy is valid sure but 8/10 times you will be eliminated by a team that wants to play for the win. If you want proof of this just look where Chelsea ended in the Premier League: in a Europa League place where their game belongs. I’m not saying that defensive football is a bad thing or that it isn’t valid. But being a defensive team doesn’t mean that you have to forget about attacking.

I doubt any good midfielder or striker who’s looking to play in another club would dream about playing for Chelsea, at least Di Matteo’s Chelsea. How could they? No striker wants to spend the whole game alone waiting for a long pass, a bad defense, and luck to score a goal. No midfielder wants to be constantly playing in a center-back role just to get the ball and have nobody to make a pass. Even as a fan, I would rather pay to see Arsenal or Tottenham play before paying to see Chelsea.

The funny thing is that Chelsea deserved this title long ago but won it when they least played for it. However, I will give credit where credit is due. Both, Drogba and Cech, were out of this world. That header from Didier was one of the best headers I’ve seen. They alone won this cup for Chelsea.  The years will pass and this final will be remembered for the wrong reasons. It will be the final that Bayern Munich couldn’t win, or lost to Chelsea.  



Saturday, May 19, 2012

Atletico de Madrid: the bitter side of glory

The Europa League is always a fun tournament but this year it took a different spin with the presence of Manchester United, Shalke04, Manchester City, Valencia, and Ajax. Add to that a fantastic Athletic de Bilbao and you could see why at times it felt more interesting than the Champions League. But none of those teams won the cup. Instead, Atletico de Madrid reclaimed the cup they won 2 years ago with a stellar Falcao and an unbeatable Courtois.

This cup has a lot of merits for Atletico de Madrid both inside and outside the pitch. From a technical point of view, this team is completely different from that of Quique Sanchez Flores in 2010. There are only two survivors from that team: Perea and Dominguez. To me that’s remarkable. It’s hard to build a winning team and to do it in less than two years is even more amazing. Add to that the fact that Simeone didn’t even start the season as the coach and the story becomes even more amusing. Atletico won the final being loyal to their beliefs and playing very smart defensive game without being cowards on the pitch.

But leaving all the euphoria and all the celebrations for the title aside you can see that not everything is happiness for the club. Yes the won the cup, but they missed finishing 4th in La Liga, which means they are not in the Champions League next season. So what’s the big deal? Just entering the champions league gives clubs the approximately the same prize money as winning the Europa League. That’s right, Atletico de Madrid could have lost the Europa League final but made it to the Champions League instead and they would have gotten a better money prize. But it’s not only about the money prize; clubs get funding from television contracts and basically the better the team is positioned for the next season the bigger piece of the pie you get.

From a fan point of view that doesn’t matter because a title is a title and you want your club to be a champion. But now Atletico is going to be forced to sell key players to avoid red numbers in their balance sheets for the year. This means goodbye Diego because even though he’s on a loan, it cost the team 5 millions to keep him. This also means goodbye Falcao and possibly Adrian as well because funds are needed.

Atletico will be doing the right thing, which is spending no more than their income so they can pay their debt even at the expense of the team. It’s a short term sacrifice for a better future but it’s hard to sell this to fans who, understandably, want to raise cups instead of finishing 4th in La Liga.

So congratulation Atletico for this well deserved cup, a sugar coat for a mission half accomplished. 

Saturday, May 5, 2012

Mourinho: you just don't get it

First things first, congratulations to Real Madrid for a well-deserved title. I love league titles because there is very little chance to have a controversial champions. You have to prove that you are the best for 38 fixtures. Referees’ mistakes are usually compensated over the course of the season as well as shots to the posts and other irregularities.

Real Madrid is the champion because they did not fail as much as their competitors. Sure, I don’t think the gap between Barcelona and Madrid is as big as the table suggests; but the bottom line is that Madrid dominated the tournament and won at every single important stadium.

Now, with that said there is something that Mourinho said today that bothers me big time. During the celebration of the title he mentioned “Some geniuses think there is only one way to win, they think they know football by just doing a Google search”. He also mentioned that his team played spectacularly all season. I won’t say that his team wasn’t impressive. In fact, Real Madrid has probably the best defense-offence transition in the world. Their counter attacks are that good. But to say that his team played spectacularly is a bit of a stretch.

Let’s not forget that this season Real Madrid lost the supercup against Barcelona even though they had a week more of training. They were also eliminated from the King’s cup by Barcelona again and lost at home to the same team after having a 1-0 lead in the first minute.

In Europe, they dominated the champions league until they faced the first big team. Against Bayern, they were completely outplayed and even though the penalties are a lottery they did justice to what was seen on the pitch. Real Madrid let a 2-0  lead score at home escape by playing a stingy football against a team that knows how to move the ball around the pitch and generate chances.

The problem is not that Mourinho’s style is wrong or bad. In fact, he’s a living proof that it works. What I just don’t understand is why he underutilizes his squad the way he does.  He has the players that know how to take care of the ball. Against Bayern I wasn’t expecting a 60-40% possession but I was expecting more control especially after the 2 goals in the first 15 minutes. They gave away the midfield and payed for it.

Mourinho won a well deserve title, but he already proved last season that he can beat 99% of La Liga’s teams. Real Madrid supporters want to see the beginning of an era not just a title per year. The Santiago Bernabeu stadium is not Stanford Bridge or San Siro where you just win. This stadium demands domination, control, and good games. If this wasn’t the case, then why whenever the ultras chant his name there are sectors of the stadium that still boo him? Mourinho demands crowd support but it is hard to be into the game cheering when your team refuses to play! This isn’t a second division team, this is Real Madrid.  

The Santiago Bernabeu stadium knows Mourinho has the tools to have an iconic team like they had not so long ago with Del Bosque. That old man who won 2 champions league and 2 league titles and was fired…




Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Welcome Tito

Just seconds after the announcement that Pep Guardiola would not be coaching the team next season, Andoni Zubizarreta announced, to everyone’s surprise, the new coach for the F.C Barcelona: Tito Vilanova. Is it me or is this move just pure genius? A cloudy and doubtful future seems now much more clear.
Tito’s announcement came to me as a surprise as he had been struggling with his health this season. In fact, I thought one of the reasons Guardiola would be leaving the team was the possibility of Tito not being able to be his second coach for the future. So here comes the first good news: in order to take charge of the team it means that Tito is 100% recovered.

From a technical and tactical point of view, Tito Vilanova is the only man that can guarantee the continuity of the club’s philosophy. I’m not saying that other coaches are not capable of continuing Pep’s work; however, what better man that the guy who has been there for years already. Tito coached Messi, Fabregas and Pique when they were kids. He is also known for being a strategist who studies his rivals meticulously. Tito Vilanonva is the ideal man to help the team make the transition in the post Guardiola era.

The fact that Tito Vilanova was appointed as the new coach is no coincidence. This means the general manager, Andoni Zubizarreta, had already considered future candidates for a long time The way he explained his reasoning for this decision leaves no doubt in my mind that he studied the possibilities long before Guardiola stated he was not going to continue. This caused a very positive effect, as the talk is no longer about Guardiola leaving but about Tito’s role next season.

Will this work? Nobody thought it would when Guardiola was appointed four years ago and we all know how that story ends. I think it’s a perfectly logical solution. Tito has to make sure he puts his own spin into the team and introduce some new alternatives without deviating from the values and philosophies of the team. There, I think, lies the true challenge. I hope fans understand that he is not Guardiola and he shouldn’t try to be. He’s Tito and he’s been given something many coaches would die for: trust.

Let the Tito era begins.