Posts Tagged ‘Jose Mourinho’

Portsmouth opt for experience by appointing Grant as manager

• Grant’s first game will be against Manchester United
• Chief executive says he was the ‘logical choice’

Portsmouth have confirmed that Avram Grant will be the club’s new manager, as predicted in the Guardian today. The former Chelsea manager has been granted a work permit and his first match in charge will be the club’s home game against Manchester United on Saturday.

“Avram is a very experienced and respected manager who has managed at the highest level. The board believes he is the man to help steer the club out of the relegation zone,” said Portsmouth’s chief executive, Peter Storrie.

“He knows the club, the players and the set-up at Fratton Park, so it was the logical move to make him the next manager, once the board had decided to relieve Paul Hart of the role. He will take charge of training on Friday alongside first-team coaches Paul Groves and Ian Woan.”

Grant will still, technically, be the Portsmouth director of football for Saturday’s game. However, the club will then apply to the Football Association to change his permit status to manager. Grant spent the 2006-07 season as Portsmouth’s technical director before he joined Chelsea as director of football.

Following José Mourinho’s departure from Stamford Bridge, he guided Chelsea to the 2008 Champions League final but was sacked after the defeat by Manchester United. He rejoined Portsmouth in October.

Barcelona 2-0 Inter

No Leo Messi, no Zlatan Ibrahimovic, no problem. As the final whistle went tonight, the nerves that had gripped Barcelona before this game seemed barely plausible. They appeared to be staring a Champions League exit in the face; the holders were on the verge of not even progressing out of the group. Instead, they top it having produced a display of control and quality that left José Mourinho’s side looking utterly impotent. For all their domestic dominance, European excellence continues to elude Inter.

Barcelona lead Group F on eight points with a trip to Dynamo Kiev to come after a 2-0 victory secured with first half goals from Gerard Piqué and Pedro Rodríguez. Inter are second on six points and must at least draw with Rubin Kazan and hope that Kiev do not beat Barcelona on the final match day. Even if they progress, this display did not stir optimism.

The sides had been handed some good news before kick off when it was confirmed that Rubin Kazan and Dynamo Kiev had drawn 0-0. Neither Inter nor Barcelona would go out mathematically but the axe still hovered over their shoulders. And if there was good news from the east – the news closer to home was not so positive for the Catalans. Barcelona had to negotiate their passage without Messi and record signing Ibrahimovic. On the other side, the greatest of threats – Samuel Eto’o up front and Mourinho in the dugout.

Ibrahimovic and Messi were left out of Barcelona’s starting XI, held in reserve in case the situation demanded risking their injuries later on. It didn’t. Before the match, Pep Guardiola had pleaded with people to allow him to believe that Barcelona could win without the pair and his faith was not misplaced.

Xavi Hernández’s corner was headed on by Thierry Henry at the near post and Piqué wriggled free of Thiago Motta’s grappling hands to leap and volley home. The game was only 10 minutes old. Strikingly, it already felt like a deserved lead and the second didn’t take long to arrive.

It came on 26 minutes and it was the perfect demonstration of what makes the midfielder Xavi different, and of Barcelona’s mastery of movement and space. Xavi received the ball in a central position on the edge of Inter’s penalty area. With everyone expecting a shot or a nudged pass towards Henry, he instead sent it into space on the right-hand side. Dani Alves, sprinting forward, reached it. The whole stadium could see Henry racing towards the near post into the middle of the six-yard box but Alves could see Pedro all alone beyond him. His cross went over the Frenchman to Pedro who, without letting the ball bounce, side-footed in.

The closest Inter came was courtesy of a mistake from the goalkeeper, Victor Valdés, whose touch on Eric Abidal’s back-pass was precariously heavy. Dejan Stankovic’s shot was weak.

It was tempting to conclude that this was the only way Inter were going to get any opportunities. Barcelona’s dominance had been insulting – almost as insulting, in fact, as Sergio Busquet’s flick over Samuel Eto’o’s head.

With Andrés Iniesta, nominally Barcelona’s third striker, accompanying Xavi and Seydou Keita in the middle, Barcelona were completely in control. By the break, Xavi, Keita, Busquets and Iniesta had played 153 passes; Inter’s midfield four had barely made 50.

Eto’o appealed for a penalty early in the second half under challenge from Alves – a moment later the fullback was at the other end delivering an inch-perfect cross for Xavi. Júlio César stretched to push it away. He did the same again from an Alves free kick as Barcelona looked for more. And, but for their frailty when Inter launched rare swift breaks, one of which led to Eto’o’s shot sailing harmlessly wide, Guardiola’s side continued to look extraordinarily comfortable as they cruised to the end. Inter’s impotence spilled over in a dreadful challenge on Iniesta from Christian Chivu who led with his elbow.

There was just time for Barcelona’s fans, remembering slurs from the past when the then Chelsea manager accused Messi of acting, to launch a chant of: “Mourinho, go to the theatre! Mourinho, go to the theatre!”

Mourinho was at least gracious in defeat. “Barcelona are a squad of players who play genuinely well,” he said. “The second half changed a little. “We got to half-time and Barcelona were playing brilliantly but we did not lose control. Some teams would lose three or four because there’s such psychological pressure when you are in that position.

“Barcelona play a high intensity game; they press high and very quickly. And when they have the ball they use it with high-speed passing. That is a really speciality. It is easy to say that they are a better team than we are.”

But he refused to concede that his side could not regroup and win the Champions League. “We can still win the tournament,” he said twice for emphasis. “We can still win the tournament. Real think they are favourites, Chelsea think they are favourites, Barca think they are favourites. Being beaten by them in the group does not mean that we cannot go on and beat them in the later stages, in the quarter-finals or semi-finals.”

Terry welcomes the return of Chelsea’s fear factor

• Porto, Arsenal, Manchester City and Blackburn all loom
• ‘It’s a challenge title-winning teams rise to’ says John Terry

John Terry says Chelsea can illustrate their intent to win trophies at home and abroad over the next 12 days, as they embark on a sequence of four important away matches and the captain believes that their hopes have been bolstered by the return of the fear factor which once accompanied the team under José Mourinho.

Chelsea have responded positively to the appointment in the summer of Carlo Ancelotti as manager and they arrived in Portugal for tomorrow night’s Champions League Group D tie against Porto with qualification to the knockout phase already assured. In domestic competition, meanwhile, they are five points clear at the top of the Premier League and they are into the quarter-finals of the Carling Cup.

“I really do think we are close to getting there,” Terry said. “When you listen to the other players, in other words when we are away with England, speaking about how well we are playing, they are fearing us again. They are confident that we are playing well and have a real chance of going on to do great things this year. I think we did have that when we were winning the Premier League [under Mourinho in 2005 & 2006]. It’s key we get that back.”

Although Porto have also qualified for the last 16, Terry and Ancelotti stressed the importance of what will be an exacting test here and, moreover, how they were determined to advance as the group winners. Chelsea will enter the Estádio do Dragão with 10 points to Porto’s nine.

The ex-Porto players Ricardo Carvalho and Deco will return as Ancelotti looks to freshen up his team, as will Branislav Ivanovic and Michael Ballack while there will be a start at left-back for Yuri Zhirkov. Ancelotti said that Michael Essien had a slight knee problem and would not start against Porto, although he would be fit for the Premier League trip to Arsenal on Sunday, which precedes the Carling Cup fixture at Blackburn Rovers and the Premier League game at Manchester City. Didier Drogba, who has recovered from badly damaged ribs, hopes to appear as a substitute to prove his fitness for Arsenal.

“It’s four away games in a row and that’s the challenge major title-winning teams rise to,” Terry said. “We know what it takes to win major titles and it is winning runs, periods when you keep on top, striding from result to result. If we beat Porto, we win the group with a game to go. Not many teams win in Porto but we can do it.

“Then it’s Arsenal and Manchester City in the league. Arsenal will be doing the maths; they are eight points behind with a game in hand. We’ve had some good results there since Wayne Bridge’s winner in the Champions League in 2004 and another one could cement our position at the top of the table.

“City are serious top-four contenders and, like Porto, are very strong at home. We have a great record there and these are the games when we can really make the difference. Victory, too, at Blackburn and we’re in the semi-finals. On the two occasions we’ve won the Carling Cup recently, we gone on to win the Premier League in 2005 and the FA Cup in 2007. It’s the appetiser.”

Barca hit by swine flu outbreak ahead of Inter clash

• Lionel Messi unlikely to start due to groin injury
• Mourinho wants to beat Barça with ‘all my soul’

It was the last thing Barcelona wanted to see. Two players have gone down with swine flu, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Lionel Messi are struggling with injuries, tiredness creeps up on an already slim squad and now Internazionale have arrived – with Samuel Eto’o and José Mourinho at the head and Barcelona’s fate in their hands. Few know the damage Eto’o can do better than Barcelona; few experience such fear and loathing towards Mourinho as the Catalans.

Of Ibrahimovic and Messi’s chances of playing the Barcelona coach, Pep Guardiola, said: “We won’t know until tomorrow. We are doing all we can for them to be available. The medics haven’t told me one way or the other.”

“Whoever plays, we are all in it together and I don’t know why we can’t win without them. But you always notice it when you are without your best. We have two games left and we need four points. Every team has a chance but it is in our own hands.”

It was a reconciliatory Mourinho that appeared tonight, saying he feels “only gratitude” towards the club but Barcelona fans do not forget the part he has played in the theatre that has surrounded Champions League clashes at Camp Nou before. As for Eto’o he said he would not celebrate a goal against his former club. The welcome for Eto’o, who won two Champions League titles with Barcelona, twice scoring in the final, will be warm; the reception awaiting Mourinho will be hot.

“He [Eto'o] will get the reception he deserves, and he deserves a good one,” Guardiola said of his former No9. “The fans understand the player was not responsible for his exit, his coach was.”

There will be nerves, too. A solitary point from two games against Rubin Kazan leaves Barcelona in a position in which they must win. Defeat here tomorrow and a victory for Kazan against Dynamo Kiev would see their defence of the European Cup ended before it has even begun. Barcelona lie third on five points; Rubin and Inter have six and five respectively. “We cannot afford to lose,” Ibrahimovic said.

Nor can Inter. “Only Guardiola and I respected this group. Everyone thought Inter and Barcelona would be first and second and that it would be a stroll in eastern Europe”, Mourinho said. “But the other two teams aren’t here on holiday and, who knows, they may send one of us to the Europa League and the other one home.”

Barcelona’s task is made harder by the absence of Eric Abidal and Yaya Touré, who have swine flu. Ibrahimovic is expected to play but is not fully fit, having suffered a hamstring pull. Messi has a tear in his groin that would normally see him left out but such is Barcelona’s need that he is expected to start on the bench. Mourinho, though, said his presence would make no difference.

“If Messi plays, then I will play [Cristian] Chivu; if Pedro plays, then I will play Chivu; if Iniesta plays, then I will play Chivu. My defence does not change. My only doubt is if [Wesley] Sneijder will be fit or not,” the Inter coach said.

“Barcelona are the best team in Europe and in the Champions League and the odds on them winning it have not changed”, Mourinho added. “I prefer to play a game that is going to be very difficult than a game that is going to be too easy for us. A Chelsea versus Liverpool for me is better than a Chelsea versus Birmingham – games worry me more when there is a question about getting the players motivated.”

“I come back to Barcelona with only gratitude for all the experience that they game me in my formation as a coach. But I have played six games against them with Chelsea and Inter and they have been emotional games. I have a debt to Barça but I want to beat them with all my soul every time I play them.”

Chelsea reinvigorated by Carlo’s way

Just when Chelsea’s power appeared to be waning, Carlo Ancelotti has restored the invincible aura of old.

Chelsea must appear to Manchester United as a Terminator rolling out from under a blazing oil tanker, shoving an eye back in and remounting its Harley Davidson with shotgun primed. The old aura of power and indestructibility is returning.

The Premier League leaders were ordered by their new chief executive last week to “shoot for the stars”. But Roman Abramovich had to pay the stars first. Huge new contracts have been awarded to the team’s glitterati to fuel the resurgence United face in London today.

The big push is on at Stamford Bridge. Abramovich’s inner circle of long-servers can glimpse the end of their Chelsea days and a core of diehards have been financially doped to restore the club’s hegemony, which ended with the second of José Mourinho’s Premier League title wins in 2006. Peter Kenyon’s promise to “turn the world blue” seemed all the more laughable as the English landscape went back to red.

In the past 12 months big new deals and contract extensions have been dished out to Frank Lampard, John Terry, Didier Drogba, Ashley Cole, Florent Malouda, Alex and even Salomon Kalou. Joe Cole, 28 today, is next on Abramovich’s list of men-who-must-be-encouraged. The Russian owner tired of being fleeced in the international transfer market. To end a three-year run with only a couple of FA Cups to show for his £150m annual wage bill, the oligarch turned back to the strength within.

“With the new contracts the club wants to maintain this squad and think of the future. To have a very good atmosphere – this was important,” Ancelotti says. “Joe Cole wants to stay here and we want to keep him. There will not be a problem with his future.”

The fruit of forking out these fidelity premiums has been 14 wins in 17 matches in all competitions, a smooth Champions League progression, leadership of the domestic title race and 17 goals with none conceded in four outings before the 2-2 midweek draw at Atlético Madrid. As with all things in the English game, there is a risk of over-statement. The victims in the recent 4-0, 5-0, 4-0 and 4-0 thrashings were Bolton (twice), a disintegrating Atlético and Blackburn. Errant defending at set plays were at the root of two Premier League away defeats, at Wigan and Aston Villa.

But the sense of renewal is palpable. Chelsea’s players, remember, can see that Liverpool are diminished, Arsenal raw and United currently below their symphonic best. Drogba, who signed for an extra two years in August, is unstoppable, with 12 goals in 13 matches. Ancelotti’s midfield diamond has unleashed the defence-trashing power of Drogba and Nicolas Anelka and rendered the side more expressive. These are feats that were beyond Luiz Felipe Scolari, Abramovich’s original choice to wipe away the greyness of the Avram Grant era.

On Friday came another victory: the suspension of the club’s transfer ban, courtesy of the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which allows Chelsea to stockpile new talent in January in case the Fifa penalty is eventually enforced. Ancelotti, though, says reinforcements are “not necessary”, despite the impending loss of four players for six to eight games in January for the Africa Cup of Nations. Here, Abramovich is reaping the harvest of hiring a manager who is accustomed to coaching the players he already has. In Serie A, incoming coaches seldom start with the obligatory English declaration about transfer war chests.

“I think he [Ancelotti] has done a really good job quickly and he is helped because he has had experienced players round him,” says Sir Alex Ferguson. “They can understand a change of tactics better than younger players. If you look at Ballack and Deco, they come from places where tactics are more of an issue. Anelka and Drogba have played abroad so it’s not surprising they have adapted.

“It’s the same as how he operated in Milan, with the difference being that at Milan he had Kaká. That made a hell of a difference to what he was able to do at Milan and the point I would make is that Chelsea are still looking for someone in a forward role to balance their team better. They have tried Lampard there, they have tried Deco there, they have even tried Malouda there and now they have brought in Joe Cole. But they have the experience to cope.”

Recently, Ancelotti defined his tactical thinking: “I prefer to play with two strikers and one midfielder behind the strikers. These [Chelsea] players can play in this system, with a diamond in midfield.” Liberation was Scolari’s aim, too, but the players rejected the culture shock of being bounced into a Brazilian/Portuguese style, with a lone striker, and insufficient attention to defensive drills.

At Chelsea’s Cobham training ground on Friday, a faintly tense Ancelotti waved away the theory that his side are now more entertaining than United. “Exciting play arrives because you can use players with quality. We can use those players but so can Manchester United. I don’t think we are playing the more exciting football.”

Yet Chelsea are outscoring their northern foe and can move five points clear in the table if they extend their record of not losing to United at Stamford Bridge in nine games stretching back to 2002. The muscularity and relentlessness of the Chelsea midfield has been one of United’s toughest obstacles and has encouraged Ferguson to set-up more cautiously against Lampard, Ballack and Essien for fear of being swamped. Ancelotti insists that Arsenal will play a hand in this title race, but already the debate is about whether United can maintain their narrow superiority over Arsène Wenger’s neighbours.

The return of Joe Cole, to the tip of ‘Carletto’s’ diamond, revives the cliche of an influential player returning with the glow of a new acquisition. “I trust in his quality. He’s a very good runner and he’s dynamic,” Ancelotti says. “His return is very important for the club. The same is true of Paulo Ferreira. For that reason I say we don’t need other players.”

Yet the age profile of United’s opponents this afternoon encourages urgency in a team of Champions League nearly men. For three consecutive seasons, Chelsea have chased home Ferguson’s men in domestic combat, finishing second, second and third. Lampard is 31, Michael Ballack 33, Anelka 30, Drogba 31, Deco 32, Carvalho 31. Joe Cole, Ashley Cole, Florent Malouda and Terry are all in the golden 28-29 range. Essien, at 26, is the pup.

At Milan, Ancelotti presided over a gerontocracy, so he can hardly be expected to agree that time is running out for the team Mourinho mostly built. He says: “Terry is a young player, Lampard is a young player, so is Ashley Cole. When a player is 30-years-old he is in the centre of his career. Ten years ago he was an old player. Not now. With the new physical training and other things 30-years-old is the best moment of your career.”

But this ignores the reality that United and Arsenal are more adept at self-renewal. The youth programmes of those institutions shame Chelsea’s poor record of feeding homegrown players into the first XI. Their transfer ban stemmed from the over-zealous pursuit of Gaël Kakuta, a gifted youngster from France who was the club’s Scholar of the Year last season and has earned glowing reviews. As the Terry-Lampard generation continue to feast on Abramovich’s largesse, there has been panic further down the age line, as the owner’s entourage grapple with the latest loss (£65.7m) and seek the mythical break-even moment in a business that has paid £23.1m in compensation to sacked coaches, and returns 70% of its turnover to the players.

There was further evidence of this corporate unease when Kenyon’s successor, Ron Gourlay, announced that naming rights to Stamford Bride were up for grabs. “Our sponsorship architecture” was Gourlay’s novel phrase to describe this part of the business plan. “Maybe you won’t see as much brashness going forward [now that Kenyon has gone],” Gourlay said, and then proceeded to pick out two Champions League titles in five years as a realistic target. “That may sound aggressive, but I think we can do it.”

These Orwellian pronouncements never sound good from people with attaché cases, and there remains a risk that this brand of thinking will infect the playing side. Joe Cole seemed to have caught the bug in midweek when saying: “Chelsea are building a genuine claim to be as big as the Manchester Uniteds, the Real Madrids, the Milans, but you have to win trophies.”

The revival started not with Ancelotti but Guus Hiddink, who, in his five months, understood the team’s core strengths and saw that not too much was wrong with his best 20 players. According to Ferguson, Ancelotti will not feel Mourinho’s shadow, as Grant and Scolari did. “I don’t think Carlo is worried about that at all; he has his own CV. It is impressive, he has won two European Cups and the Scudetto and how many European medals has he got? His European pedigree is unquestionable.”

To most eyes today’s collision is a battle of the two best teams in the land, and therefore a synopsis of the fight to win this year’s Premier League. Mourinho’s Chelsea “raised the bar” between 2004 and 2006, Ferguson said at the time, and now United’s pre-eminence is again under assault from a team stabilised by Hiddink and Ancelotti and spurred on by lavish contract extensions.

The task was never to buy a new winning machine but to recalibrate the one that lost perhaps 10% of its effectiveness when Grant and Scolari were playing with the levers. If Chelsea are a team that runs itself, as many believe, the leaders appear remotivated to leave behind the agonies of the Champions League final penalty shoot-out defeat to United in Moscow and the injustice of last season’s semi-final loss to Barcelona, in which they almost tamed one of the best club sides ever assembled.

They always had the power, now they just need the glory back.