“I’ve created a monster!” – Dr Frankenstein (Frankenstein, 1932).
One of the most controversial, but certainly entertaining Chelsea tweeters has written a guest article for CFC360. Without further ado, here is @DannyDoes‘ article :
I don’t think José Mourinho intended it to end up this way but inadvertently he created a monster when responding to a question about whether Andriy Shevchenko was untouchable after his poor form.
Mourinho stated that Sheva wasn’t and instead went on to name Cech, Carvalho, Terry, Cole, Essien, Lampard, Makelele and Drogba as his ‘untouchables’ as they were to be known from then on.
Seven years later and 5 of the 8 ‘untouchables’ remain at the club. Whilst on the one hand it suggests Mourinho picked them wisely, what was to be a strong Chelsea core for a decade. On the other hand it created an unwanted and debilitating culture at the club.
The logic would dictate if you train hard enough and if you are good enough – you will play. Chelsea have managed to defy that logic over the last 5 years or so. Reputation precedes contribution on the pitch, price tag precedes potential. This is a monster that hasn’t stood still.
Anyone who tried to change this culture of ‘untouchables’ from Scolari to Benitez has met the wrath of the dressing room and the stands. And whilst Scolari was rather foolish trying to oust Drogba, you could see the logic behind AVB and Benitez’s attempts to shake things up.
Yet Mourinho arrives at a crucial time, at a time where Chelsea’s future successes depend firmly on what direction the manager chooses to take. Does he stick or does he twist? Does he stick with the trusted players of his previous regime or does he put faith into a new group of players and drop the ‘untouchables’? Mourinho has seen first hand what happened at Madrid when he tried to oust underperforming captain and legend Iker Casillas.
If the past couple of years have shown us anything is that Chelsea increasingly can no longer rely on the ‘untouchables’ to deliver week in and week out. We have been cut adrift in the last two league title races. A new legacy is needed.
With Chelsea sometimes the choice is out of your hands. The better players don’t always play. The managers are often burdened playing out of form players based on their price tag (Torres) in order to try to justify such vast expenditure, whilst hungry young players (Sturridge, Lukaku) suffer as a result.
Even now, you really have to question the club’s outlay of £18 million on Andre Schürrle when the money could be spent elsewhere. And what does Andre Schürrle’s arrival mean for likes of Kevin De Bruyne, Lucas Piazon, Gaël Kakuta, Victor Moses and Marko Marin? Was this signing really necessary, considering the abundance of talent already at the club? What chance do Piazon or Kakuta have of getting even on the bench ahead of an £18 million player, regardless of effort and talent?
Of course Mourinho’s rhetoric has changed somewhat since 2006. He now promises that everyone will be given equal opportunity, there are no favourites and he wants to work with the youngsters. It remains to be seen whether the creator can slay the monster.
As per usual, leave your comments in the section below and if you have any questions/comments you’d like to discuss, contact @DannyDoes on Twitter and go from there. Please keep any and all abuse to a minimum level.
Very good article. Agree with everything.
I think Mourinho’s comments on Sheva were just out of defense for such a big signing. We’ve seen many managers back up players (who weren’t performing) who they dumped the money for
I think Kakuta can be a better asset to Chelsea than Schurrle. Hell, same could be said for Moses and Marin. Moses was monumental for Wigan when he played there… they really missed him on the right side, this season. Marin was pretty good at Werder Bremen as well. Think spending 18m quid on an average player is a mistake. Hope I’m wrong though.
Selling Sturridge was stupid. Made some profit on him and got Demba Ba for cheaper than we sold Danny, but their performances put head-to-head show who got the better deal – Liverpool. If we kept Sturridge, we wouldn’t have to sign Schurrle.
Don’t think dropping Casillas at Real had a negative impact.
Are you serious? Dropping Casillas made most of the dressing room mad (for lack of a better word).. Ramos was outraged and so were other Spanish players. Lopez was great in goal, but it definitely created a rift in the dressing room which meant that Mou would leave
I think Mourinho should ease out Lampard, Terry and Cole. Can’t rely on them forever and they’re wittering. Whether that means buying van Ginkel, Howedes and De Sciglio or using our youth, I don’t care. Just can’t play them forever.
Lampard, Terry and Cole definitely have another 2 yrs in them. Think Mou should use all 3 of them very often this upcoming season. They all have a year left at Chelsea (under their contracts) so let’s play them a lot and then resign them next summer.
Hmmm.. I don’t think so Douglas. Lampard, Terry and Cole are wilting and don’t have a lot left in them. Fatigue and more prone to injury is a huge concern, plus we have better players at all 3 positions.
Andre is a waste of money
I dont agree to it one bit.. We can easily talk abt managers getting sacked but keep forgetting that these players were the core which gave us so much success. The managers did not give them enuf respect.. simple.. I dont support the players attitude, but man management is important.. And Mourinho will prove this season how to handle the legends in the right manner. . And saying Scurrle is a waste is wrong on our part.. he hasnt even played a gamefor us.. so lets not judge him alright. . And Sturridge.. ah what a talent and what arrogance.. never learnt how to play for a team.. and kept cribbing all the time.. I feel he is good riddance.
Sturridge? Good riddance? Please… You’re crazy mate. Look at his numbers at Liverpool. He’s been an invaluable asset to Brendan Rodgers. We were stupid to sell him to Liverpool and for that cheap. Should have kept him.
I m not saying that he is doing bad at Liverpool. But he wasnt consistent.. wasnt a team player.. work Ethic lacking.. I I think he is a gr8 talent.. but wrong attitude.. Look at Hazard how he drops back as soon as he loses the ball.. same with Torres and others.. but Sturridge??!! NO.. How many times have u seen him shoot at goal and notpassing the ball to the most open player.. too many times for my liking.. he takes 10 sshots on goal and hits the target once.. when he could simply pass the ball to a player who has much better chances of scoring..
Sturridge needed a coach to slap some sense into him. Mourinho could have done it, maybe Rafa. Sturridge could easily be our RW this season. Better than Moses, Schurrle, etc. He wasn’t as selfish on the right as he was on the left. His selfishness is aggravating though, I agree.
Dannydoes is a clueless pathetic attention seeker
I know him pretty well via Twitter. Occasionally a douche-bag with his political comments concerning Slavs, but just because he has a different opinion than you and mostly everyone else doesn’t mean he’s clueless.
love this !
almost agree with everything 😀
Above Åℓℓ ,W̶̲̥̅̊ê hope mourinho brings gud luck
I think on the contrary. Schurrle was AVB and Chelsea long term target, not Mourinho. I’m just afraid that spending 18m for Schurrle would end up like buying Lukaku, Courtois, De Bruyne or even Marin = good player but wasteful and unused – not needed by the manager due to the current squad. Yet they still have long time to prove their worth at Chelsea in the future.
We have a beaucoup of midfielders and wingers. No point in signing him and his numbers/statistics aren’t too good. Rather us spend 5m more and possibly get Di Maria who is miles ahead of Andre. Hopefully, Lukaku/KdB/Courtois get a chance in the next 2 seasons. (Looks like this season for Lukaku/KdB). We need to sell most of our players, cut any losses and rebuild with the youth, imo.
Constantly signing players and not selling other players in that position is going to hurt us. We’ll have to offload about 5-7 players in the midfield alone. Most of them will be youngsters too.. Shame.
I love the “some times the best players don’t play at Chelsea”. Agree 100% mate. Some players never got their chance to shine at CFC while others got too many chances (hope you understand what I’m saying)
RDM reported to be sacked because of dressing room being uneven and poor results. He didn’t play Torres v Juve and we got annihilated. AVB didn’t always plays Torres either and his results were up and down (mostly down). Benitez tried to stabilize the club as best as possible.
I hope Roman backs off for once and doesn’t interfere with the system too much. As long as Jose starts using youth and doesn’t buy many big price tag players, I think the “untouchables” and everything that goes with them (positive and negative) will make Chelsea a better club.
Shevchenko wasn’t utilized correctly. The team didn’t play the way that suits him, he wasn’t accustomed to the playing style and simply failed because of that.
It’s very tough for Mourinho now. If he follows his word and doesn’t give anybody privileges, we’re going the right way, but if he just says that and never puts it into plan.. Wrong way and the results could be catastrophic.
Think Mourinho should use players like McEachran and KdB to ease out Lampard. Maybe buying a young CB or utilizing Aké, Pappoe, etc to ease out JT. PvA and Bertrand can replace Cole with ease. Bertrand wasn’t too bad when Cole was out.
Bertrand can’t replace Cole. Cole is still better than him by miles. We need a decent backup for Cole. Bertrand is not good enough
Will be interesting to see as to what happens with Essen. Him and Jose are like a father/son. Mou played him at Real quite often as well.
Good read, however, I tend to disagree with what you said regarding Real and Casillas. Diego Lopez played better imo, but I do acknowledge the fact that it created a dressing room rift.
If Mourinho wants to turn things around and continue the stabilization process started by Rafa, I think we need the “untouchables” gone completely. Cech is the only one worthy of keeping this season and every other “untouchable” can be replaced by youth and next season, Courtois will be starting regardless.
Mourinho was a massive failure at Real. I’m happy he’s back, but it’s going to be worse than last time around for sure. The monster he created is going to kill him (not literally speaking)
I think Moses will be better option & plyr than Schurrle this season. Up the Blues from Nairobi!!!
We won’t move on if we always stop to question every decision made. We jst hav to learn from it and improve.
All you need to know is Mourinho won’t buy someone if he thnk he won’t be useful.
We’ve been in transition for to long so it the time to try Kakuta and Marin is Over.
We need players who’ll give us what we want.
Schurrle is a less skillful but unselfish version of Sturridge.
Yes we made a mistake with Sturridge jst as West Ham made with Lampard and today we have in Lampard a club Legend….We’re happy but West Ham’s not….
Hazard – Mata -De Bruyne with
Schurrle – Marin – Moses as back ups will take us places.
I didn’t mention Oscar coz I believe Mourinho is willing to make him a deep lying playmaker..
*jst my opinion* 🙂