EPL Talk » Luiz Felipe Scolari

Who Will Cash-Strapped Chelsea Sell This Summer?

tyduffy — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 01:55:20 +0000

Chelsea announced a £65.7m loss for last year, a staggering sum, particularly as it marks an improvement over the loose-pursed past. Though the tangible sum is less, the impact will be felt more, after Roman Abramovich as billionaire Roman Abramovich potentially lost the bulk of his fortune.

Abramovich’s woes have already affected Chelsea. The Russian owner gutted the scouting department, and considered forcing players to pay for their own lunches. His own contribution, the £23.1 million paid to Jose Mourinho and Avram Grant not to manage the club, undoubtedly escaped censure.

The summer will see changes, especially if Chelsea do not qualify for the Champions League. The primary target will be the substantial wage bill, £148.5m – Manchester United’s is just over £100m. The payroll accounts for over 70% of Chelsea’s turnover.

Chariman Peter Kenyon admitted there would be sales in the summer.

“Any squad structuring in the summer will be funded prominently by sales,” Kenyon told the Telegraph. “We have set ourselves ambitious targets, to require zero cash funding from the owner at the beginning of the financial year 2009-10.

The question then is not whether Chelsea sell, but who they will sell. The first group, whatever the transfer fees, will be the malcontents.

Didier Drogba comes immediately to mind. Making nearly £100,000 per week, he has scored three goals in 18 appearances this season. He’s not the 2006-07 dynamo, nor is he even the occasionally effective player from last year. His performance alone warrants an exit. Add his abrasive personality and he’s a net negative waiting to be excised.

Florent Malouda is another candidate for dismissal. He’s been the mystery man, so awesome before he came and so terrible since he arrived. Only the illustrious Shevchenko saves Malouda from being the biggest transfer disaster of the past few seasons. He can’t make the squad regularly and does not deserve to do so. Chelsea should sell him before everyone sees him as irredeemable.

Goalkeeper Petr Cech could be on his way out as well. He’s been off the pace this season. He really has not been right since his horrifying head injury. Cech was one of the players who reportedly submarined Scolari. He has played poorly. He is expensive. You can get a goalkeeper for cheaper.

If Chelsea are looking for straight ego excision, they may try to offload Anelka, Deco and Michael Ballack as well.

Chelsea may want rid of these players, but they won’t get very much money for them. If they are looking for instant book-balancing, or a substantial restructuring kitty, a marketable asset, one they’d like to keep, may be required.

Barring sentiment, John Terry should be the prominent candidate here. He’s not leaving England, so his market value is limited, but Manchester City seem to want him and £40m figures are floating through the rumor mill. Purely as a player, he’s replaceable. If Chelsea can get even £20m for him while removing his salary from the books, they should do so. Peter Kenyon says Chelsea won’t sell Terry. Who knows if Peter Kenyon will be there?

Michael Essien may fit here as well. Chelsea won’t want to sell Essien. Assuming he recovers from his injury, he’s their best midfielder. He’s versatile. He can hold with the backline or move forward and make plays. He would feature in any team in the world’s starting XI. At just 26 years old, every big side in Europe could use him. If Chelsea want substantial restructuring money, that may be their only option.

Chelsea have a hodgepodge squad, constructed with conflicting visions. What they really need is a long-term manager who can work with a reasonable budget to refashion a coherent squad, possibly David Moyes. Does a liquidity-crazed Roman Abramovich have the patience?

Cahill Does It Again, FA Cup Draw Thoughts, And Other Premier League News

Johnathan Starling — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 05:07:18 +0000

Is there anything Tim Cahill can’t do?

Tim Cahill’s week defines the word jet lag. From Liverpool to Japan for a World Cup Qualifier. His performance for Australia wasn’t exactly great, then again neither was Australia’s. Cahill had to be thankful Everton’s FA Cup tie against Aston Villa was on Sunday, I don’t think he would have played had the game been Saturday.

Despite the fatigue Cahill obviously had, he willed Everton into the Quarterfinals with a 3-1 thrashing of Aston Villa. It wasn’t his best day, but it was a day we are all too use to from Cahill. He set up the first goal with a header that Stiliyan Petrov should have been sent off for, only for Jack Rodwell to finish. You could almost not blame Cahill for the yellow he received in the first half, knowing there is a UEFA Cup game midweek, he could use the rest against Newcastle United. However with Steve Bennett’s allegations last week, one could wonder if he intended to get booked on purpose.

Everton’s third goal was a typical Cahill goal, right place at the right time. You would think teams would know to find him at the far post. But the way he ghosts onto said far post, he’s easily forgotten. His finishing though isn’t.

Manchester United finished off Derby County by halftime, enough said.

So that leads us into the quarterfinal draw. With a fourth round replay to be had, and a fifth round tie still to be played along with four replays, fourteen teams are still alive for those four spots at Wembley. Not one tie is set in stone either, which adds to the uncertainty of this draw. I can only go with draws I hope for. I think Chris Coleman’s Coventry City hosting Chelsea would make an interesting tie. What would Roberto Martinez’s Swansea City do at home against Manchester United? Could Burnley’s wait for the fifth round pay off with a home tie against Sheffield United, or could we see Hull City back at the Emirates? Does Everton really mind which Premier League side they get?

And now the rest of the news.
In something I said last week, Luiz Felipe Scolri has come out and hinted that John Terry did not have full support in the dressing room at Chelsea. Color me shocked.

In further Scolari post Chelsea backstabbing, Nicolas Anelka has attacked Scolari for not trying to forge the ‘dream’ partnership between Anelka and Drogba up front. That goes to show Scolari didn’t have a plan b, but I also wonder if had Scolari partnered the two up front if it would have worked out…I don’t think it would have because the two had already tuned Scolari out.

And in one last bit of Scolari news, could Manchester City be his next employer? I guess they really are that desparate for Kaka.

I wonder how much Jose Mourinho is enjoying what is going on at Chelsea?

Avram Grant is eying up the Portsmouth job. It just seems the only way he’ll get it is if Portsmouth can’t come to terms in order to get Sven.

Speaking of Portsmouth, executive chairman Peter Storrie has been rearrested with regards to the bung scandal. I guess that would leave massive tax issues.

Add Gary Neville to the list of those who have signed another year contract at Old Trafford.

And finally, Dean Ashton admits his season is over.

Premier League Clubs Can’t Afford to Be Patient With Managers

tyduffy — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 01:18:40 +0000

The firings of Tony Adams by Portsmouth and Big Phil Scolari by Chelsea brought the total number of clubs that have changed managers this season to seven, and the number of managerial changes to eight. That turnover rate seems quite high and quickly cycling managers seldom leads to success.

It would seem that managers deserve a longer chance to get it right, but in the current financial climate, teams can’t afford it.

In Pompey’s case, sacking Adams was simple. His managing made them relegation candidates. They won just two of his sixteen league games in charge, and haven’t won since Nov. 30. They are just one point from relegation, with 24 points in 24 matches.

Adams did a decent job in the transfer window, given his budget. He could not help the Diarra and Defoe sales, but brought in serviceable players, such as Gekas, Hayden Mullins, Pele, Pennant and Belhadj. His club also played decently, barring their chronic defensive brainfarts.

Theoretically, they have one of the clichéd “too good to go down” squads. But, given the club’s perilous finances, Portsmouth could not entrust their fate to Adams’ experienced hands.

Scolari’s departure was similar. Chelsea have played abysmally the past few months, winning just four of 12 matches, never beating a team above 14^th in the table. Once the title favorites, Chelsea look poised to battle with Arsenal for the fourth Champions League place.

Part of this was Scolari’s fault. Teams discovered the focal point of Scolari’s tactics overlapping fullbacks. Pinning Cole and Bosingwa back, exposed Chelsea’s mismatched midfield and poor forward creativity. Routinely running up three to five goals initially, they last scored more than two on Nov. 15. Scolari never adjusted his tactics, nor did he display the acumen to do so.

However, not everything revolved around Scolari. He inherited a hodgepodge, lopsided outfit. He never got the funding to overhaul the club, as it required.

Maybe Scolari could right Chelsea eventually, but missing the Champions League would be too costly to offer for experimentation.

A club that has shown the manager patience is Middlesbrough. Southgate took over after his retirement in 2006. He guided Boro to a 12^th place finish in his first season and a 13^th in his second. The club has been marred by inconsistency. Southgate’s only skill seems to be outfoxing Arsene Wenger.

This season, Middlesbrough are relegation favorites. They have 22 points from 25 matches, winning just five. They haven’t won in the league since Nov. 9. They have mustered just three goals since Nov. 22. Their January acquisition of Marlon King won’t be the tipping point. There’s no reason to argue they will stay in the league.

Steve Gibson likes Gareth Southgate, and has patience with him. But, that patience could cost him heavily, if the club drops to the Championship next season.

Perhaps, clubs lose faith in managers too early. But, in the perilous financial world of topflight football, it’s hard to blame them.

Why Abramovich May Really Have Sacked Scolari

The Gaffer — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 22:14:15 +0000

I can sum up in two words why Roman Abramovich may have sacked Luiz Felipe Scolari: Aston Villa.

Seeing Aston Villa in third place, two points ahead of Chelsea, must have been eating Abramovich up. Here’s this Russian oil tycoon who has spent hundreds of millions of pounds to try to build the world’s biggest football team, and he’s being made to look like a fool by Martin O’Neill’s team who not only are further ahead but are playing a brand of football that’s more appealing to the eye and more exciting than Chelski.

If you were a businessman like Roman Abramovich and you saw one of your “lesser” competition beating you in the business world, what would you do? Would you try to buy that company out or hire a headhunter to steal away their talent? While Chelsea won’t be able to buy Aston Villa, of course, I wouldn’t be surprised if Abramovich had Peter Kenyon and his staff put some feelers out to see if O’Neill would be interested in becoming the next Chelsea manager.

O’Neill is in a different league as a manager and isn’t used to working with some of the biggest superstars in world football. Plus, he’s very much from the Brian Clough school of management where you can take a team of underachievers and you make sound purchases to fill in the weak spots, and then work on your man management skills to get the most out of your other players.

But, if O’Neill can work his magic at Aston Villa (as he did previously at Celtic and Leicester City), why not give him an opportunity with Chelsea? The challenge for the Blues and a reason why they would avoid the Northern Irishman is that Chelsea is running out of time. They can’t afford to bring in O’Neill and give him time to meld a team together and get them purring by the summertime. Chelsea needs a world-class manager who can hit the ground running.

My prediction: Roberto Mancini. But if O’Neill gets the job, remember where you heard it first.

One more thought: It’s nice to see a Big Four side squirm. Aston Villa are mounting a true challenge to the Big Four monopoly and in doing so, they’re helping heads roll. If Villa weren’t as good this season as they are now, Chelsea would be in third place and within distance of making a run for the title. Right now, they’re floundering. Was it the correct decision to get rid of Scolari? In my opinion, yes. But only if you have a replacement who’s available to step in as quickly as possible to get the ship back in order. If not, it’s poor timing and poor planning by Chelsea FC.

Chelsea Sack Scolari

The Gaffer — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 16:57:14 +0000

Luiz Felipe Scolari has been sacked by Chelsea.

The last straw for Chelsea FC was the club’s uninspiring 0-0 draw at home against Hull City. The draw pushed Chelsea further behind in the league title race after Liverpool and Manchester United both recorded wins. The club are now seven points behind league leaders Manchester United.

Scolari joined Chelsea seven months ago as replacement for Avram Grant.

Ray Wilkins will take temporary charge of the side for this Saturday’s FA Cup game against Watford.

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