Sunday, May 9, 2010
Chelsea Winner EPL,are they deserve for it?
HE walked into the Press conference wearing a Chelsea shirt and with a blue and white scarf round his neck.
He looked round him and said: "I need some easy questions, please, my level of wine is quite high."
Someone then placed a glass of red in front of him.
He took a sip, grimaced and said: "That is very s*** wine. Sorry! I mean that is very cheap wine."
No doubt, someone managed to pour a decent claret for him sometime last night.
WINNING SMILE ... Carlo clutches the Prem trophy
Meanwhile, up and down the Kings Road they were already toasting his name.
As we were only saying the other day: Jose who?
Now it's Ancelotti, the man from Parma, who is Chelsea's big cheese. Il Gran Parmigiano.
Victory over Portsmouth in next week's FA Cup final and it will be the Full Monty for Carlo in his first season. And what a way to win the title.
As the third Chelsea goal went in, they passed Manchester United's Premier League record of 97 goals to launch 40,000 fans into an old-fashioned knees-up to the sound of "And now you're going to beleeeeve us, we're going to win the league."
As the fifth hit the back of the net, it was 100 - some 28 more than Mourinho's side had managed in both their title seasons.
At this point, Didier Drogba was being mobbed by Frank Lampard, Nicolas Anelka and Ashley Cole while Ancelotti and Ray Wilkins were doing a jig on the touchline that might have even embarrassed Alex Ferguson.
Up in the stand, Roman Abramovich was punching the air. And still they hadn't had enough.
In the end, they settled for eight in a season where they had already scored three six times, four three times, five twice and seven three times.
What's wrong with six, though, boys? Something to work on there next season. As the seventh went in, Wigan sent on Moses. But Chelsea had been in the Promised Land for some time already.
As the cheers of "Boring, Boring" Chelsea turned into "Carlo, Carlo, give us a wave", Ray Wilkins tapped his boss on the shoulder.
As the penny dropped, Ancelotti waved before striking a boxer's pose.
And what a knockout season for the Parma pugilist. He was brought in to win the Champions League, the one jewel missing in Abramovic's crown.
When former boss Mourinho ended that dream at the last-16 stage, the Russian billionaire went into a sulk, descending on the training ground with a couple of henchmen and delivering a coating.
Now his club are just seven days away from their first Double.
Victory over Pompey and Ancelotti will be up there with Bill Nicholson, Bertie Mee, Kenny Dalglish, Ferguson (three times) and Arsene Wenger (twice).
As for Fergie, his United side gave it their best shot with four goals of their own against Stoke at Old Trafford - but it still wasn't enough to stop the title returning south. Had they managed just one more victory - winning 1-0 at Burnley in their second game of the season rather than losing 1-0, perhaps - the championship would have been United's for a record 19th time and Liverpool WOULD have been knocked off their perch.
And few would have argued against it being the greatest triumph of Ferguson's career with no Cristiano Ronaldo, no Owen Hargreaves, almost no Rio Ferdinand and with Wayne Rooney practically having to operate on his own up front.
Instead, though, the Blue flag flies high over English football once more.
And rightly so.
No, it hasn't been the greatest season with Chelsea's tally of six defeats the most by a championship-winning side since United in 2000-2001.
But when it mattered, especially in the aftermath of their Champions League exit, they showed the resilience of champions.
Eight wins in nine and an astonishing 36 goals.
But the true sign of champions came in their six games against United, Arsenal and Liverpool - six wins, 18 points, 12 goals for and just one against.
The previous season they had won just one of the corresponding fixtures.
That is the difference Ancelotti has made. Along with the ability to defuse the scandals that have surrounded both John Terry and Ashley Cole.
If he doesn't get excited on the touchline, he's not going to overreact to headlines within the confines of a training camp.
But his greatest achievement has probably been in making the Blues more user-friendly.
Even with Mourinho long gone, Abramovich was aware Chelsea were hardly the most popular club in the world.
The message was passed on down the line that he wanted to see a smile on people's faces.
His manager has certainly achieved that.
No, he may not have an Armani overcoat like Mourinho. Or a scarf with a special knot like Roberto Mancini. Or Don Fabio's specs.
But he still has the most important style of all. A winning one.
Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment