On the one hand, it was highly amusing watching Manchester City take Chelsea to pieces on Sunday - with the added spice of the John Terry substitution. But yet again the ravings of their manager fill the headlines for me. Will nobody act?
His season so far...
Firstly, it is worth noting that Chelsea did not win a single pre-season game, and have one point from two matches this season. This makes me happy.
Secondly, the Eva Carneiro incident and fallout. If you don't know who she is, she's Chelsea's Club Scapegoat - sorry, Doctor - who a couple of weeks ago felt the unjustifiable wrath of a man who I suspect may slowly be losing his sanity.
Then there was the thrashing at Eastlands, followed by his preposterous pronouncement that the 3-0 defeat was a 'fake' result; utter nonsense and nobody in their right mind could possibly take that seriously.
And finally, harking back to his recent assertion that opposition clubs are trying to 'buy' their way to the title, there are two quite obvious points to make.
1. That this is precisely what New Chelsea FC (founded 2003) have been doing for the vast majority of the past dozen years, and
2. Chelsea are suddenly going out and spending vast sums of money themselves; a reported (and extortionate) £20m+ on Baba Rahman, a similar figure on Pedro, and likely a further £30m+ (overpriced again IMHO) on John Stones in the next couple of weeks.
For most managers, this is enough antics for an entire season. Yet it's only mid-August!
All evidence of his rank hypocrisy and brazen disregard for the facts. Yet where is the backlash from the press/media? Their counterparts in Italy and Spain didn't stand for it, yet it would appear that in England the vast majority of the press/media hordes are rabid sycophants when it comes to my good mate Jose.
Why, I simply cannot imagine. Because he is always good for a quote or a story? Get over it, guys, and give him what he deserves, which is little or no respect whatsoever. Question him. Let him walk out of press conferences if he wants to. Don't tiptoe around him. He doesn't deserve your respect. He talks utter drivel, yet people hang onto his every word.
Excellent coach and motivator Jose Mourinho may be, but that's all the respect I'll give him.
Just to cheer us all up, here's an image of him looking relaxed after Sunday's match:
Now onto more important matters - Arsenal getting back on track last Sunday.
Interesting team selection. No surprise to see Bellerin come back in at right back; he's first choice there now, I reckon. I also wasn't surprised to see Giroud start up front in a tricky looking away match. And with Alexis back it was no surprise that The Ox found himself back on the bench, his mistake for the second goal last week still fresh in everyone's minds.
The key move, for me, was the one I discussed last week. Cazorla slotting back where he is now most effective; in central midfield alongside Le Coq. The fallout of that is that Ramsey gets shunted out to the right, which he claims not to like, but provided that Bellerin is providing the width - plus Alexis stretching the play on the other side - Ramsey's natural tendency to drift inside, and work his way into the box, is actually pretty useful - especially with Ozil's magic feet pulling the strings. All in all, this formation worked well enough last year, and there was no reason to change it. So I for one am glad that the manager went back to it. The question now is could there be matches where he plays Ramsey alongside Cazorla in central midfield, and opts for more pace on the right. Against weaker sides and at home, quite possibly.
Other talking points are the whole Coquelin red card tightrope thing, Kos turning his back on a shot for a second week, and Giroud's early contender for Goal of the Season.
On the first, I would suggest that none of those fouls - apart from the one straight after his booking when he threw an opponent to the floor - were worthy of a card. But it was right to take him off because one more foul would have been enough on whatever totting up process the referee was using.
On the second: Koscielny had a good, solid game. Excellent positioning, good pace, solid marking and tackling. But he HAS to put his body on the line - dare I say it, like John Terry does - and already this year he has turned his back on a shot twice and it has resulted in two goals. Deal with it, Stevie Bould.
Finally, lovely finish from Giroud. That sort of thing is precisely why Wenger may not go and buy someone for £30m+. It's borderline. Look, we'd all like to see fresh blood, but find someone better than Giroud who his club are willing to sell. I defy you to do so.
On to Liverpool at home on Monday night. A proper test, one would think. Except that I really wasn't impressed by their struggles to overcome plucky Bournemouth last Monday. I reckon we'll have too much for them, provided we can shrug off our recent inability to score at home. Just show the team a video of last season's 4-1 thrashing in the same fixture, Arsene. That should inspire them.
COYG!
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