Why Chelsea should not have sacked Di Matteo

The sacking of Roberto Di Matteo was one of the most shocking football dismissals of recent memory. A Chelsea legend, twice FA Cup winner as a player, won the club's first Champions League trophy against all the odds, just months after being appointed manager. 

To the amazement of many his reign has been terminated just six months after he was given the prestigious job on a permanent basis. Many Chelsea fans will be dismayed by the lack of faith shown in him by owner Roman Abramovich and the club's board, although this is nothing new to them as he was their eighth boss since the Russian billionaire took over in 2003. 

What is most surprising is that Abramovich has always fired previous managers on the basis that they did not do well enough in the Champions League, although Di Matteo delivered the trophy at the first time of asking. He also managed this impressive feat with a squad out of form and struggling in the Premier League, as well as facing a 3-1 deficit in the last 16 of Europe's elite competition against Napoli. 

Not only did they win the second leg against Napoli 4-1 after extra-time to go through, but he did oversee an up-turn in their league form and took them to Wembley, and ultimately, FA Cup victory.

It is the Champions League final in Munich that he will be most remembered for as the Blues overcame the home side on penalties thanks to a late Didier Drogba header and a Petr Cech penalty save in extra-time. 

Their road to Munich was not a cruise by any stretch of the imagination; beating Benfica before memorably seeing off Barcelona 3-2 on aggregate. 

Despite finishing sixth in the league last season, their league form did marginally improve as they had suffered a horrific start under former boss Andre Villas-Boas. 

Chelsea managers under Roman Abramovich

Year	Manager	Matches	Winning %
2000-2004	Claudio Ranieri	199	53.76
2004-2007	Jose Mourinho	131	70.81
2007-2008	Avram Grant	54	66.67
2008-2009	Luiz Felipe Scolari	36	55.56
2009	Guus Hiddink	21	71.43
2009-2011	Carlo Ancelotti	109	61.47
2011-2012	Andre Villas-Boas	40	47.50
2012	Roberto Di Matteo	42	57.14

While the table above shows that the Italian only had a better record than three of his predecessors, he took over in totally different circumstances than any of the others. Chelsea were at their lowest point since Abramovich pumped his money into the club when Di Matteo took over, and from that he produced their all-time high.

Abramovich should not take all the blame for these sackings. After all, without his money the West Londoners would still be delighted with a top five finish each season instead of sacking managers for not cruising to league titles.

The Chelsea board have a big impact on the decisions that the Russian owner makes and without their advice, he would probably not have got through so many managers in the last eight years. There are so many supporters at the club that are crying out for the stability that has brought success to the likes of Manchester United, Arsenal, and more recently, Manchester City. 

Having said that, all football fans are fickle and athe majority of Chelsea supporters would welcome Pep Guardiola or Jose Mourinho with open arms. However the job, at least on a short-term basis, looks destined to go to Rafael Bentitez, a man who did anything but endear himself to Chelsea supporters during his time at Liverpool.

His record has been good at every club he has managed, although he has been out of a job for over two years now and replacing Di Matteo with Benitez is not a very forward-thinking decision. It is anything but promoting stability, especially considering the age of the two men (Di Matteo 42, Benitez 52).

While Guardiola did excellently at Barcelona, he has never been at a club like Chelsea before and the players may not take to his style of play. Mourinho would clearly be a great fit but that is more Chelsea fans dreaming than an actual possibility, for now at least. 

Roman Abramovich will be sitting in his pent-house suite right now feeling good about himself and expecting an immediate climb to the summit of the Premier League, but he might find that not forthcoming. 

Chelsea have looked good this season and could still qualify for the last 16 of the Champions League. They have a massive game on Sunday at home to Manchester City and they would have had a much better chance of inflicting the champions' first defeat of the campaign if they had not made such drastic changes.

England Beat Italy In Euro 2012 Re-Match

Two of Europe's biggest footballing nations met in the Swiss capital of Berne in a re-match of their Euro 2012 quarter-final. On that occasion in Kiev Italy out-passed and out-classed England but only just ended up winning in a penalty shoot-out. This was always going to be a low-key affair but it was pleasantly entertaining as both sides, although under-strength, looked to attack as much as possible. Roy Hodgson's men produced an encouraging display in their first match since that agonising defeat as they won 2-1 courtesy of goals from Phil Jagielka and Jermain Defoe.

The Three Lions fielded a youthful side that included 19-year-old Birmingham City goal-keeper Jack Butland and Team GB representatives Ryan Bertrand (substitute) and Tom Cleverley. New £12 million Manchester City signing Jack Rodwell failed to get off the bench after his new team-mate Adam Johnson started the match. In what was always going to be an experimental game manager Roy Hodgson took the chance to tinker as he named ten players that did not travel to Ukraine two months ago in the squad. 

England started the first half brightly and big Liverpool striker Andy Carroll headed over from a corner early on. However it was the European runners-up who took the lead after a quarter of an hour through a powerful Daniele de Rossi header from an in-swinging Alessandro Diamanti set-piece. England responded well and continued to pass the ball crisply and equalised 12 minutes later when Everton centre-back Phil Jagielka smashed home. Both sides had more attempts before half-time to complete an exciting first 45, but the break came with the scores level.

Hodgson made two changes at the interval as he swapped the brute aggression and heading ability of Carroll with the speed and clinical finishing attributes of Jermain Defoe. The goal-keepers were also swapped as the original third-choice keeper for Euro 2012, John Ruddy, replaced the man who took his spot on the plane in June, Butland. Ruddy was forced into an early stop as he got down well to thwart Roma forward Mattia Destro. Italy boss Cesare Prandelli only used one of his changes at half-time and it was the man he brought on who almost regained the Azurri the advantage on 57 minutes. Atalanta left-back Federico Peluso broke into the area but could only hit his shot on the slide into the side-netting as Ruddy closed the angle.

With the Premier League starting on Saturday the England manager would have felt under pressure to keep his players in top condition. On the hour mark he brought on Manchester City duo Joleon Lescott and James Milner for Ashley Young and goal scorer Jagielka to try and make an impact. England appeared to have taken the lead in the 66th minute thanks to a thumping Gary Cahill volley but the strike was ruled out by Swiss referee Sascha Kever for an apparent push by Lescott. 

Italy came close to breaking the dead-lock came in the 78th minute as a miss-kick by Destro fell kindly for substitute Verratti whose drive was well tipped away by Ruddy. From the resulting corner Bertrand had to head off his own line with his first touch of the ball, but in doing so set up an England counter-attack led by James Milner. Milner found Defoe who turned his man on the left corner of the box before firing into the top corner with plenty of panache. In the closing stages it was England who looked the more likely to score on the counter-attack and a low James Milner cross almost found Defoe who would have had a simple tap-in had the ball reached him.

Photo courtesy of The Guardian

England and Italy Set For Scrappy Battle

On a great day for the English nation in 1966 Bobby Moore lifted the Jules Rimet trophy after a momentous 4-2 win over West Germany in extra-time. However since then England are yet to reach a major final in 46 years of pain and misery. England have had high hopes many times before; in 1970 England were favourites for the World Cup but lost a 2-0 advantage to West Germany in the quarter-final. The amount of tight defeats since then have been endless. From dropping out of the World Cup in 1982 unbeaten to the endless penalty shoot-out defeats of the last 22 years the Three Lions have continued to fail time and time again. 

This year it seems that the English public have finally given up and expectations have been unusually low this summer. With a new manager and an injury-prone squad no one thought Roy Hodgson's men had a prayer in this tournament. But since then England have shown great resolve and grit to progress through a tough group on top. Today they face a much harder task in a determined Italy team hoping to also prove their doubters wrong. Italy have many world class players and will provide a very close examination of England's apparently water-tight defence. Despite this England have had five different goal-scorers in the group stages and will definitely create some dangerous moments for the Rossoneri on the counter-attack. 

Italian manager Cesare Prandelli will be aware that the opposition will be hard to break down but will still hesitate to start with enigmatic striker Mario Balotelli. Despite undoubtedly being their main goal threat his temper poses a very different problem for the opposition. His countless discipline problems have caused a headache for his manager who is likely to leave him on the bench again tonight. Prandelli does have other attacking options in Antonio di Natale and Antonio Cassano who have both scored so far this tournament. Despite this the game will probably be won and lost in midfield where the Italians will probably have an extra man as England are likely to play a 4-4-2 system. Scott Parker and captain Steven Gerrard will have their work cut out as they try to stop the creative influence of players like Juventus veteran Andrea Pirlo. These two English bulldogs are sure to hassle and hurry him to a point of no return and Pirlo can struggle when constantly put under pressure.

England have goal threats of their own in the shape of Manchester United strike pairing Danny Welbeck and Wayne Rooney who scored 47 goals between them for their club last season. Add the likes of Ashley Young, James Milner and the attacking threats from Gerrard and right-back Glen Johnson and this shows a definite capability of scoring goals. There is also the threat on the bench of big Liverpool striker Andy Carroll and the Arsenal youngsters Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain who both have plenty of pace to burn.

Tonight  is sure to be a tightly-fought contest between two similarly set up sides. Roy Hodgson spent much of his management career in Italy and usually sets up his teams to play in an Italian style. It could well happen that the two sides cancel each other out and extra-time and penalties is a very big possibility. However the game pans out this will be a massive occasion for both nations as they attempt to prove critics wrong. 

France Hoping to Beat Spain at Their Own Game

12 years ago France beat Spain in a thrilling Euro 2000 quarter-final with goals from Youri Djorkaeff and legendary figure Zinedine Zidane. Raul then blazed a last minute penalty over the bar for Spain as France marched on to take a classic Euro 2000 final against Italy 2-1 with a golden goal from David Trezeguet after Sylvain Wiltord had equalised in injury time. Zidane was named player of that tournament and was acclaimed as one the best players ever. He went on to guide France to another final, this time in the 2006 World Cup where they again met Italy but lost on penalties after Zidane scored and then was sent off. A lot has changed in French football since that day in Berlin. At both Euro 2008 and World Cup 2010 all they could manage was one point and bottom spot in their group.

After World Cup 2010 France embarked on a programme to try to restore themselves as one of Europe's footballing powerhouses in the wake of player unrest and revolt. Much-maligned manager Raymond Domenech was replaced by former defender Laurent Blanc and the French started to try to replicate the possession football of the 'golden generation' a few years before. Now much has changed since 2006 and on Zidane's 40th birthday the French will attempt to play as they did in 2006 when they beat Spain 3-1 in the last 16; a win courtesy of the style of play that Spain are now famous for. Spain the reigning European and World champions will have plenty to say about that as they endeavour to continue to become the first nation to win three major tournaments in a row.

Spain play with seven Barcelona players and may play without a recognised striker in the team; as they did in the opening match against Italy. Cesc Fabregas may play as the furthest man forward with the likes of Xavi, Iniesta, Silva and Xabi Alonso behind him. However Fernando Torres has shown signs of a return to form and he will be hoping to lead the attack in the absence of the injured David Villa. France have started to play very good passing football with Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema the focal point of their forward line. Newcastle United midfielder Yohan Cabaye has continued on from a good season in England with good performances in the centre so far this tournament while France look relatively settled at the back. France's win over Ukraine was their first win in a major finals since 2006 and were unbeaten in 23 matches before their defeat to Sweden.

Spain will rightly go into this match as favourites but have not hit top form yet in Poland and Ukraine and France will fancy their chances of setting up a semi-final with Portugal. This quarter-final should be another great game in the latest episode in France and Spain's long footballing series.

Italy Hoping for No Match-Fixing Today as They Look to Quieten Their Critics

Going into World Cup 2006 there was a cloud surrounding Italy amidst match-fixing allegations that ended with Juventus being stripped of two Serie A titles and being relegated. The scandal also saw AC Milan, Lazio, Fiorentina and Reggina deducted points. Many supporters and pundits alike thought that this would hamper their World Cup campaign and that they would struggle in Germany. However this did not come to pass as the Rossoneri won their fourth World Cup with a penalty shoot-out win over France.

This summer they entered Euro 2012 with similar accusations surrounding the squad with seven Italian suffering points deductions. Similarly to 2006 people have been quick to write of Italy's chances saying that the scandal will affect the players; while some say the Italian squad is too old and that they will not score enough goals. True, there are are a few older players in the 23 but they bring great experience to the side, especially players like Andrea Pirlo and Gianluigi Buffon who won the World Cup in 2006. The attack is not too shabby either with the enigmatic Manchester City striker Mario Balotelli their main goal threat with Antonio di Natale and Antonio Cassano perfectly capable of hitting the back of the net. 

If Spain and Croatia draw 2-2 that would automatically eliminate Italy who have suffered a similar fate before. Ironically, considering Italy's bad match-fixing reputation, back in 2004 Denmark and Sweden played out a 2-2 draw to ensure the Italians exited the competition. Goalkeeper Buffon quashed fears of that happening again suggesting that Spain would not stoop that low: "It would be a joke all across Europe and I don't think it will happen. I do not think that Spain, a world champion with players like Xavi or Iniesta, would sully their prestige with a pact. It's different to the Sweden-Denmark case, because Spain are better than Croatia, not at the same level."

Despite this the facts remain the same: If Croatia can upset Spain then they will finish as group winners and Italy will definitely drop out of the tournament if they fail to beat Ireland. The 1968 winners will be expected to comfortably get past the Irish green army after they were comfortably brushed aside in their opening two games. The Italian fans do not seem to be holding high hopes of winning the championship this time around, akin to the England fans' expectations. However a convincing win today will probably give them a place in the knock-out rounds and they will be quietly confident of proving the non-believers wrong.