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Jose Mourinho … It’s time for you to come home to West London. Chelsea F.C. needs you.

If reports are to be believed, the Special One is on the brink at the Bernabeu. After today’s humiliating 3-2 loss to lowly Malaga, Real Madrid now stand 16 points behind league leaders Barcelona. At this point in the season, Los Blancos have already dropped more points than they did during the whole of last season’s campaign. And as a result, the Champions League showdown with Manchester United in February will all but decide Mourinho’s future with Madrid.


The ex-Chelsea boss has insisted he will not quit at any point this season even though he has all but conceded the title to Barcelona. At the same time, multiple reports have surfaced that even prior to the beginning of this season Mourinho was keen on returning to the Premier League. It is no secret that he and his family love living in London; so much so that in early February of 2012 he was caught house hunting in West London with his wife and two children. His daughter has also recently enrolled in courses at the Camberwell College of Arts in London which sits a mere six miles from Chelsea’s football ground.




It is also no secret that the Chelsea faithful have yet to warm to interim-manager Rafa Benitez (and will probably never warm to him as the signs below show), and have yet to forgive Roman Abramovich for his haste dismissal of Roberto Di Matteo (as evidenced by the 16th minute chants for Di Matteo every home game).




This is the perfect storm that I have been “patiently” waiting for since Mourinho’s shock departure from Chelsea in September of 2007. Since ’07, Chelsea have sacked 6 mangers and if you include Rafa Benitez (who has the interim tag and is not likely to get a renewal at the end of the year), an argument can be made that Roman has been searching for that “Special One” long-term manager ever since. Mourinho has been the “one who got away”, like the perfect girl for you but you where too stupid to realize it.

This is a key moment in Chelsea F.C. footballing history and Roman has an opportunity to inject a level of management stability to a club that hasn’t seen such stability since Jose Mourinho. During his three-year tenure with the Blues, Mourinho won two Premier League titles, two League Cups, and an FA Cup. There are talks that Roman craves Pep Guardiola, who in my opinion is not worth the £15 million price tag because I have doubts about his abilities to coach players not named Messi and Iniesta.

Chelsea are currently third place after 17 games and 11 points off pace. They have also been knocked out of Champions League. We need a proven manager (not named Rafa Benitez or Pep Guardiola) who has been there before. We need a manager who knows how to handle player egos. We need a manager who values defense first and protects results. That manager is Jose Mourinho.  
The time is now to bring Chelsea’s most successful manager back to the Bridge. Roman, give me and the Chelsea faithful what we want. Bring back the Special One! I promise you will not regret it!

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Dear Soccer, It’s Time to Use Replay Technology to Help Referees and Linesmen Correctly Identify Offside Goals. Sincerely, Irate Chelsea Fan

This past weekend in the Barclay’s Premier League there were a number of controversial results directly tied to offsides decisions. And in each of these situations, replays showed that the offsides decisions made by the linesmen in-game were incorrect:



Manchester United defeated nine-men Chelsea 3-2 on a 75th minute strike from Javier Hernandez who was in an offsides position before scoring. This was after the Blues were incorrectly reduced to nine-men by the sending off of Fernando Torres for suspicions of diving. Replays clearly showed that Hernandez was offsides and Fernando Torres didn’t dive. 

Liverpool were held 2-2 in their derby match against Everton after Luis Suarez’s game winning goal in stoppage time was disallowed by the linesman who incorrectly ruled the play offsides. Replays clearly showed that Suarez was onsides.







Arsenal crept past QPR 1-0 after Mikel Arteta scored the game’s only goal in the 84th minute from an offsides position. Replays clearly showed that Arteta was offsides.



The cliché around soccer and sport in general is that refereeing is “an impossible job” and because referees and linemen are prone to simple human errors, they deserve some level of sympathy when they do in fact make the wrong decision. Often times it is said that this is just part of the game and we as fans have to learn to live with it when things don’t go our way … Or do we?

For a league as grand as the Barclay’s Premiership, games deserve to be decided by moment of brilliance and deft skill, not simple human errors! I simply don’t buy the argument that offsides decisions and goals scored from offsides positions are just part of the game, especially given the day of age we currently live in. For each of us, technology is a part of everyday life and I see no reason why it can’t play a more influential role in soccer.  

Now to be fair, the International Football Association Board (I.F.A.B.) is taking steps to come into the modern era through the implementation of goal-line technology to the game of soccer. This past July, the I.F.A.B. recommended to FIFA to allow the implementation of two technology systems that will help referees determine if the ball fully crossed the goal-line. At a cost of approximately $200,000 per stadium, once implemented the Hawk-Eye and Goal Ref systems will help referees determine whether or not the entire ball crossed the goal-line (see below):

Although this landmark decision will help with disputed goals which have marred the sport at its highest levels for years (see England v. Germany in the 2010 World Cup here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HV4nc_sjW9Y), I believe that soccer can go on step further in its use of technology to help the game.

In a manner similar to the NFL, soccer should have a replay official who reviews all goals scored. His job above all is to spot goals scored from offsides positions, which will help to alleviate the pressure that linesmen currently feel to get it right.

In the time it takes to restart the game after a goal is scored, this replay official could in theory radio in to the referee and linemen that the goal scored was from an offsides position. In a matter of merely seconds, goals scored from offsides positions that change the dynamic of a game would be correctly nullified and big decisions that change the landscape of a season like the ones made this past weekend would be reduced.

In closing, the argument that these things even themselves out over the course of a season is at best bull-s*** and at worst horse-s***. Chelsea are currently atop the table but now only lead by one point. QPR is at the bottom of the table after being robbed of a potential one point that could be the difference between them staying up or going down. And as for Everton, that one point they stole from Liverpool currently keeps them in 5thplace ahead of Arsenal for a Europa League spot.

These decisions this past weekend, which I believe would have been avoided with the implementation of replay technology, will have dramatic implications for the remainder of the season. Without the further implementation replay of technology, referee and linesmen will continue to be at risk and undermine the integrity of the beautiful game we all currently enjoy … Okay that last line was a bit melodramatic I admit but you catch my drift!











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The “Post-Didier Drogba” era has begun at Chelsea F.C.

Last year this time, my expectations for Chelsea F.C. were “unrealistically” through the roof. Hailed as the second coming of the “Special One”, Andres Villas-Boas was hired from FC Porto to revolutionize the Premier League and help the Blues win the Champions League. His 4-3-3 attacking formation and tactics were supposed to turn Chelsea F.C. into the “English version” of F.C. Barcelona … an attacking force to be reckoned with.

By March, AVB was on his way out and the Blues were on their way out of the top four. 























Sure, Chelsea ended last season as the FA Cup holder and European Champions (which by the way, they clearly stole from Bayern Munich and by the way I’m clearly okay with that and still grateful I witnessed it).

But their sixth place finish in the Barclay’s Premier League was far from okay for a team that has an owner who has spent over £1 billion since his arrival at the club in 2003. This summer, the spending or should I say “investing” habits continued. Roman Abramovich “invested” over £70 million (roughly $94 million) to revamp his squad. 

Out went old players like Salomon Kalou, Jose Bosingwa, and the big Ivorian, Didier Drogba (FYI… this shirtless picture is for a certain someone … you know who you are).

In came creative and attacking players like Oscar, Eden Hazard, and Marko Marin. 

The hope is this new refreshed squad can produce a more attractive version of football that really has never been played at Chelsea F.C but do so while winning.

This morning, the Blues opened the 2012-13 campaign with a dare-I-say-it unimpressive 2-0 victory over Wigan Athletic. And to be honest, the “Revitalization” that Abramovich craves is going to take a lot of time (time that unfortunately Roman Abramovich won’t give and the fans-myself included – are not accustomed to giving).

But for what it’s worth I liked what I saw today. For the first time really ever, the Blues played the ball through the middle of the pitch. Gone is their reliance upon the long ball into the box. In, is a new reliance upon building from the back. 




With their new 4-2-3-1 formation, Chelsea allowed Eden Hazard to be the playmaker that he was at Lille OSC, and he is really as good as advertised. He was responsible for Chelsea’s two goals today (an assist and a penalty drawn) and looks to be the center attacking midfielder that Chelsea has so desperately lacked over the years.






Also impressive, was Chelsea’s second summer signing, Oscar. In limited second half play, Oscar put a significant stamp on the game in the final third and proved that he really shouldn’t be left on the bench going forward.

There are clearly still a lot of concerns in the back (John Terry, John Terry, John Terry) and up top with Fernando Torres (didn’t look like he wanted to be there today). But all in all, the summer signings look to have Chelsea F.C. heading in the right direction.

Contrary to last season, my expectations are tempered and for once I am seriously looking forward to simply enjoying the Blue’s this season. I fully expect them to be competitive this year and anything less than a top four, really three finish is unacceptable. 

And who knows… maybe in this “rebuilding year,” they can pull of the improbable back to back European Cup double just like the 1979 and 1980 Nottingham Forest teams…….. 













But almost certainly not.