Azonto Epistle 17: The Great Expectation, Chelsea, Jose & Rivals

The Preseason preparation has reached it’s crescendo. Chelsea, led by The Special One have strolled through the First part of the preseason schedule successfully in the Far East with great display of talent in front of a vociferous fans. The highlights of the preseason include a good team spirit and friendliness among the players and the manager, a good showing from young Bertrand Traore, Lukaku & the talented Kevin Debruyne. Jose Mourinho has been consistent with his promise to improve his young team and not be extravagant in the transfer market. His decision to bring back our players who were on loan, in the shape of Lukaku, Kevin Debruyne & the surprise inclusion of Tomas Kalas has proven very popular among the teaming fans who are keen to see our young players given a chance. Marko Van Ginkel has shown glimpses of his quality and Andre Schurrle doesn’t need to prove himself much since we know of what he is capable of when playing with the right mentality and good health. The important thing about the preparation so far is that, we haven’t been plagued by injuries and although Frank Lampard and Andre Schurrle have missed a part of training matches, it is expected they will be back soon just like KDB.
So far, so good with a 100% win record including an 8-0 demolition and a strong performance in the USA to overcome a stronger Intermilan side. The expectation is high and Jose is aware of the demands. The mentality he is creating among the players is strong. After the Intermilan win, the manager had this to say;
‘What would it mean to win this tournament? To be fair, not a lot,’ said Mourinho.
‘It’s four wins from four in pre-season, but we have zero points. The match we have to win is the match against Hull City. But even in friendlies it’s better to win than lose and finally we’ve played against a good team because our opponents in Asia were not so strong.’
That sounds more of a manager who knows his target and not ready to bring pressure on his team with good performances before the start of the season. So, whiles on one hand, lowering the expectation from outside, he is also psyching his boys up for the start of the season and preventing any form of complacency.
Jose, is a master of the game, and right from the day he took over as Chelsea manager, the odds were slashed on him to win the league. The media, whether genuinely or whatever reason have  always made Chelsea a hot favorite to win the league. The euphoria that surrounded his appointment among the Chelsea fraternity always pointed to the fact that, a great expectation awaits his second coming. of course Jose is aware and he made it clear in his interview that he puts pressure on himself first before anybody and truly can handle the expectation.
Our Transfer Activity
During the last days of the former interim manager Rafa Benitez, he made it clear that Chelsea is going to spend £100M under Jose which has been sanctioned by Abramovic in the transfer market. So far, those who believed that assertion have been hugely disappointed by “The Happy One” Jose, who has almost spent zero in the transfer market so far. With the signing of Andre Schurrle which was discussed long before he took over (although he gave his acceptance), we are yet to see the real marquee signing made by Jose which will amount to the said staggering £100M transfer “war chest” talked about. Marko Van Ginkel although has proven he can contribute to the team now, was more of a future acquisition which the club has been embarking on. The early part of the window saw a host of big names linked to us such as Falcao, De Rossi and Edinson Cavani. For a moment, many Chelsea fans believed Cavani was a done deal for Chelsea only to be disappointed once again by a rich French club just like Falcao. I’m happy that manager has come out to clearly state his “only” target to be Wayne Rooney, at least, this will calm the tension and all the heart breaks or disappointment some fans experience when transfer windows get shut with unfulfilled hopes. It will also do away with clubs and agents who use Chelsea to market their players. And importantly, for once, we are not part of the teams desperately in the market trying very hard to sign a player. It is also good that we are not part of the “madness” going on in the market, at least, for now.
Our Title Rivals and How They are Faring
Once it’s a competition with other clubs, it’s. imperative that whiles focussing on what we are doing correctly (or wrongly), we take a quick look at how our rivals are doing or faring.
Manchester United: They share similarity with us in the sense that we have all acquired fresh manager although ours is not new to some of our boys. However Moyes is also not new to Wayne Rooney is believed to be “angry and confused” by his managers recent comments. So it hasn’t been rosy for Moyes and Manchester, apart from some poor results from the beginning of their tour, they seem to be struggling in the market to attract their transfer targets. That has been displayed by the recent way United have been handling transfer issues, which is making open bids   to show to their fans that they are in business. In reality, they know they are deceiving nobody since their much publicized Fabregas is only seen to be an exercise in futility and it will end in tears if they actually believe it will happen. How they handled Chelsea’s Wayne Rooney bid was also not the best and it seem to have brought pressure on themselves which Chelsea and Jose Mourinho will be happy if it drags on till September 2nd.
Manchester City: They are the most active club in the transfer market among our title rivals. After splashing cash on Fernandinho and later Jesus Navas, Alvaro Negredo and Stefan Jovetic, the Citizens don’t seem to be stopping soon. They have acquired a new but experience manager in Manuel Pellegrini who seem to be going about his activity quietly although by virtue of the over £100M money he has thrown in the market to improve an already good Manchester City side, he won’t go quietly and soon the jury will settle on him to justify his huge expenditure. And I tell you, very soon, he will be answering the question of trying to buy his way to the top.
Arsenal: it is the only top four club with holding on to their manager. That’s the most important thing about them that makes them “dangerous” however you may see it. It  is believed that Arsene Wenger can spend £70M in the market although he has spent zero right now. However it may soon change after adding £1 to £40,000,000 to bid for the beautiful Luis Suarez who is anxious to have a “bite” of champions League football. If you are John W. Henry of Liverpool, you could be asking “what are those guys at Emirates smoking?” after receiving that cheeky bid. However, Wenger is showing he is ready for business and its all good for their fans who have waited 8 years for a trophy.
Spurs: aha, this is where the crazy part of the window begins. I’m not referring to their good signings they have been making in Paulinho and Chadli but you know what I mean. It staggers belief that after a single season( although not even full season) of good performance admittedly, Gareth Bale has managed to become the most expensive player in the world. What happened to reason? what happened to sanity? And what at all has happened to the good appreciation of things by man? Yes, Real Madrid have got all the money in the world to spend in Spain although Spain itself is in a financial crisis in Eurozone, lets assume there is nothing called Financial Fair Play nonsense to bring sanity in club expenditure, it still does not situate well in human understanding for Madrid to “dope” spurs with that amount of money. And whiles we are right to accuse Madrid, of shelling out that amount of money on a player who realistically doesn’t cost half the amount (£105M), when he is fairly evaluated, it also amounts to financial doping on the part of the receiving club in the era of FFP. If the FFP doesn’t seem to make rules to deal with issues like this, clubs will hide behind player transfers to get away with the regulations. They may not have connived to do but clearly if such case goes unchecked there could be more dubious deals which will follow. In the future, it won’t surprise me to see clubs who are outside Europe buying players way out of their real price to cover up issues.
The season is about to start in few days time and the great expectation begins, not only with Chelsea or Jose but all our title rivals.
KTBFFH!
Seth Aborah Adusei