Re: [情報] Where did it all go wrong, Jose?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=D&xml=/sport/2006/
Mourinho must stay calm for brewing storm
By Alan Smith (Filed: 03/04/2006)
Another away game, another disappointment. Cause for concern in London SW6?
Well, it will be getting that way if Chelsea don't rouse themselves quickly
to see off the first real blip of their Premiership campaign; a blip,
incidentally, that isn't so much to do with results (they have still lost
only three games in the league) as the manner of performance in recent weeks.
On Saturday, for instance, the champions were made to look fairly pedestrian
by a previously bruised and battered Birmingham side who had forgotten how to
defend properly over the last few games.
But what do you know, the league leaders turn up and morale is miraculously
restored. At a blustery St Andrew's, the visitors rarely found their rhythm
and rarely played much football in a disjointed display that summed up their
present mood.
Chelsea's away form in general has been less than convincing, with only two
goals to show from their last four tests on the road. And both of those strikes
came at West Bromwich Albion in a clash best remembered for Didier Drogba's
shameful play-acting, Arjen Robben's reckless tackle and Jose Mourinho's
ability to wind up his opposite number, the apoplectic Bryan Robson, by
sending out his side a good three minutes late for the second half.
Whether that was all down to gamesmanship, we can only surmise. What is
certain, though, is that Mourinho, having witnessed an extremely lacklustre
45 minutes during which his charges failed to carve out a decent chance,
proceeded to launch into his players at half-time with such sustained ferocity
that the referee's bell signalling the end of the interval was almost drowned
out by the noise.
Manchester United fans will be interested to hear that during this tirade
their club's name was mentioned more than once. Mourinho was pretty sure that
three points at the Hawthorns would go a long way to seeing off United's
challenge.
That's what made him so incensed. If they could only rally themselves, his
side could put the championship race to bed. So he thought anyway. Although
Chelsea did go on to win that spiteful contest, it has not been enough to
shake off their rivals.
To prove the point, the gap at the top of the Premiership has now been
whittled down to a meagre seven points from an unassailable-looking 18 in the
middle of March. That's some difference. As the bell for the final lap gets
ready to ring, Chelsea can feel United's hot breath a few yards behind.
"Squeaky bum time," Sir Alex Ferguson once famously called it. If his lot can
overcome Arsenal at Old Trafford on Sunday (not a foregone conclusion by any
means), the wily Scot knows that the Premiership run-in could get very
interesting indeed.
In response, Mourinho will now have to show another facet to his character by
supplementing those wide-ranging coaching skills of his, traits that have
brought him so much success, with a touch of sang-froid.
Instead of the raging anger that seems to have overcome him in recent weeks,
the Portuguese must, above all, calm himself down in the next few days before
getting both his squad and his staff to re-focus determinedly on the job in
hand.
After all, their mission is straightforward. If Chelsea win their remaining
three games at home, including the crucial one against United on the 29th of
this month, the Premiership trophy will remain in the Stamford Bridge
boardroom.
If that happens, the accusations and recriminations, the stories of unrest
behind the scenes, of dressing-room disquiet at the gaffer's increasing
volatility, will all be quickly forgotten when the open-top bus starts snaking
down the Fulham Road.
I have experienced it myself. During some stages of Arsenal's title-winning
campaigns, morale dropped through the floor as below-par displays led to one
'crisis' meeting after another. You felt anything but a champion as the
accusing finger was pointed. Looking back afterwards, though, with a medal
hanging round your neck, those moments seemed so insignificant alongside the
big prize.
One newspaper's back page on Saturday led with a pointed question. "Where did
it all go wrong, Jose?"
The answer, in reality, is that it hasn't. Not yet anyway. Yes, there have been
low points, moments to forget, but Chelsea so far have proved themselves to be
the most consistent side in the Premiership.
Steady nerves now will bring their reward.
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