Why Sunderland's gamble could pay off

Photograph from Wikipedia Commons

The circus that is the Premier League continues to take twists and turns as more and more managers take part in the merry-go-round that is the industry.

The latest jester to join in the royal mess is Italian nut-job Paolo Di Canio. After initially refusing to reveal his political views he has now said that he is not a fascist. Former member of the Labour Party David Miliband left the Sunderland FC board after expressing his disagreement with the decision to appoint the man who once did a Nazi salute while playing for Lazio. 

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.

Liverpool fight back against Chelsea to secure 1-1 draw

Chelsea and Liverpool fought out a competitive 1-1 at Stamford Bridge after Luis Suarez netted his 11th of the season to equalise John Terry's opener. 

The back post header from a Jamie Carragher flick-on made Suarez just the fifth Reds player to score in four consecutive Premier League away games and the first since Steven Gerrard in 2009.

He was largely kept at bay in a quiet first half performance but burst into life after the break and showed why  his manager Brendan Rodgers has likened him to Lionel Messi recently. His link-up play and the threat that he posed were Chelsea's main problems as they failed to hold onto a lead for the second successive week.

Rodgers introduced Suso in the 60th minute, replacing Nuri Sahin, as the away team switched from a 5-3-2 formation to a 5-1-3-1 set-up. Joe Allen sat deep with Raheem Sterling, Gerrard and Suso supporting star-man Suarez.

For much of the campaign Liverpool have enjoyed plenty of possession but offered little threat apart from through Suarez. It was much of the same in the first half as Rodgers' men kept the ball for long periods but never looked like creating anything of note.

On the other hand Chelsea created a number of chances and it was returning skipper John Terry who escaped the attentions of Daniel Agger to power in a header. It was his 50th goal for the London club, 29 of which have in the Premier League, 20 of which have been headers. The former England captain had to be substituted just 16 minutes later after an accidental collision with Suarez. 

Oscar missed a glorious opportunity to give Chelsea the lead early on and Juan Mata fired over on the stroke of half-time with just goalkeeper Brad Jones to beat. Early in the second half Jones was called into action as he reacted well to stop a Fernando Torres header. 

Suso's introduction sparked Liverpool into life and after the equaliser had they the better chances to win the game. Jose Enrique, who had an excellent game at left wing-back, put Suarez through on goal only for Petr Cech to deny the striker. 

It was the Spanish defender who had the last chance in the final minute of injury-time, but his low shot was turned away by Cech. 

Rodgers credited the way his team came back in the second half: "I thought in the first half we were too tentative. Second half our attitude in the game was much better and we are better when we play fast football.

"Coming here is a very difficult place. I thought it was a great point for us. You have to give credit to the players, they were fantastic.

"Whatever system you have, it doesn't matter, it is about the application and the quality of the players."

Chelsea will be disappointed that they didn't see the game out and now sit three points behind league leaders Manchester United, while Liverpool will be delighted with a draw that extends their unbeaten league run to six matches.

Statistics from Infostrada Sports: http://infostradalive.com/

The Community Shield Gives Little Away About Oncoming Season

In the aftermath of the Olympic Games heads turned to Birmingham where the traditional starter for the footballing season was taking place. Football fans from across the country were hoping to be given some clues and insights into what might happen over the coming months in the Premier League. There were high hopes for the new campaign after Manchester City won the title in May with a dramatic come-back against QPR in stoppage-time, finishing ahead of neighbours Manchester United on goal-difference. 

Chelsea, their opponents today, ended up well off the pace last season in sixth position. However they did have an up-turn in fortunes towards the end of the campaign as new manager Roberto Di Matteo transformed the side and led them to their first ever Champions League victory thanks to a penalty shoot-out win over Bayern Munich. The Blues also defeated Liverpool 2-1 at Wembley in the FA Cup final to complete a cup double. 

Since then both sides have made changes, especially Chelsea. The West-London outfit have seen top goalscorer over the last ten years Didier Drogba leave for China shortly after scoring in both cup finals. The mantle of main striker has finally been passed onto Spanish forward Fernando Torres; over 18 months since his British record-breaking £50 million move from Liverpool. In that time he has flattered to deceive and has scored just seven goals in 46 league games compared to the 65 in 102 that he bagged at Anfield. He found some sort of form with Spain at Euro 2012 as he scored twice against the Republic of Ireland and then netted again in the final 4-0 drubbing of Italy. 

On the back of that many have tipped him to re-discover his old form and take the Premier League by storm, assisted by new arrival Eden Hazard. Today the 28-year-old started as he means to go on with the opening goal, taken expertly with a delicate left-footed dink over City goalkeeper Costel Pantilimon. El Nino looked in good form for the majority of the game as he ran the channels well. He sent out a firm message to football fans around the world that he is back and ready to be Chelsea's main man, just like he was for Liverpool. 

With the European champions seemingly in control the match was turned upside down when Branislav Ivanovic was sent off for a lunge on Aleksander Kolarov. Referee Kevin Friend lost plenty of admirers in the Chelsea camp when he produced the red card but after extensive replays it was clear why. Referees no longer tolerate studs-up tackles and the Serb's challenge was exactly that. What happened in the 30 minutes after that was predictable as the English champions took control.

Shortly after half-time Ivorian midfielder Yaya Toure showed his attacking prowess with an excellent finish from the edge of the area. Goalkeeper Petr Cech will be disappointed with his efforts though as he failed to even get a touch on the ball as it flew inside his near post. It did not take long for the 11 men to take the lead for the first time and it was much-maligned striker Carlos Tevez who gave it to them. Like Torres, Tevez has been out of the Premier League picture for a while because of a row with manager Roberto Mancini. However, like his Spanish counter-part, he sent out a message today that he means business this year. 

Samir Nasri sealed the win with a cool volley as the three-time Premier League champions ran out of steam. Youngster Ryan Bertrand pulled one back late on courtesy of a Pantilimon error but Chelsea's late rally proved in vain. A good win for City will not quash doubts over their hopes of successfully defending their title as Ivanovic's dismissal played a vital part in their victory. Chelsea on the other hand showed signs of strength in the first half with good link-up play and strong team-work. Eden Hazard looked a danger going forward and with Marko Marin to come back from injury they will have plenty of fire-power with which to threaten teams. 

City have not made many significant signings although today did sign young midfielder Jack Rodwell from Everton. It is unlikely that he will make an immediate impact and it looks as though they will have a similar starting eleven to last season. There has been a lot of speculation surrounding Eastlands over Liverpool centre-back Daniel Agger who would greatly strengthen their back-line, especially after a typically unconvincing display by Serb Stefan Savic.

After watching the first game of the new season it is clear that City will be the team to beat, but everyone already knew that. What is also obvious is that Chelsea will be mounting a much bigger title challenge than last time around. There are plenty of positives for both managers to take into next week-ends opening Premiership fixtures from this feisty clash at Villa Park.

Is Fernando Torres Spain's Key Man Once More?

When 'El Nino' ended Spain's 2010 World Cup campaign without a goal he was well below top scorer David Villa in the pecking order and was shot of confidence. What followed was just as bad for Torres as he  left Liverpool that January for Chelsea in a £50m move in search for trophies. Nothing much good happened for him however, as he scored just once in his first 18 appearances. At Liverpool and Atletico Madrid before he had always been the focal point of his side's attack and as a result struggled to fit into Chelsea's preferred 4-3-3 formation. 

As the 2011-12 season progressed it started to seem as though there was no way back for Torres as he went on a 24-game goal drought and was dropped from the Spain squad for the first time since 2005. Chelsea were also performing badly as a team and there seemed no hope of winning the trophies that he joined the club for. When manager Andre Villas-Boas was sacked with Chelsea 3-1 down in their Last 16 Champions League tie with Napoli there looked to be no way back. 

However Torres has been gradually improving game in, game out and new Chelsea boss Roberto Di Matteo must receive credit for helping rejuvenate him. Two goals against Leicester City in an FA Cup tie ended his goalless run and his late game-sealing goal against Barcelona vastly improved his self-belief. A first Chelsea hat-trick against Queens Park Rangers showed that he was starting to hit top form again. After the high of winning the FA Cup and Champions League double with Chelsea Torres was named in Vincent Del Bosque's 23-man squad for the 2012 European Championships. 

Today Spain's number nine showed what he is made of with an excellent man-of-the-match display against the Republic of Ireland. His runs behind the Irish defence were like the player of old and added to his two clinical finishes this was arguably his best performance since 2010. With David Villa injured and Del Bosque opting to leave Cesc Fabregas on the bench this was the 28-year-old's time to shine; and he took the opportunity with both hands. 

Torres will now be expected to start Spain's final group game against Croatia on Monday and if he continues where he left off this evening he will be hard to stop. The Irish team he faced are no mugs and on a 14-match unbeaten run going into these finals but he made their defence look like a non-league outfit. If Torres carries on playing like this for the rest of the tournament then it will be an even harder task than it already was for anyone to stop Spain lifting a third consecutive major title.