Considering where Chelsea were 3 months ago, and what RDM has managed to achieve with the same players since then, I think he deserves a lot of credit. He's worked with what he inherited. AVB couldn't do it - Chelsea were in a mess - slipping down the league, facing a dodgy FA cup replay away from home, and just beaten 3-1 in Napoli in the Champions League. Since then they've narrowly missed out on 4th place in the Premier League, only falling away in the final few games, they've won the FA Cup and now the Champions League after knocking out the mighty Barcelona, and Bayern in their own stadium. They were very negative tonight, but considering that half of their team was suspended, and they were playing a very, very good side on their own pitch, with 3/4 of the fans shouting the other team on, they did what they had to. In truth it wouldn't have bothered me who won tonight as I like Bayern, I like the football they play, and I like the players they have in their squad. That being said, they were far too wasteful, Chelsea were their usual clinical self, and when push came to shove, they held their nerve far better than Bayern did. 0-1 down with a few minutes to go, faced a penalty to go behind again, and went 0-1 in the penalty shootout. Presuming that RDM gets the job now, he'll be allowed to mould the squad, something he's not had the opportunity to do yet. If he can do this with AVB's squad, then it'll be interesting to see what he can do when he gets the players he wants in.
Bayern may of been the better team but if you can't put away your chances you don't deserve to win, RDM has done a great job with a limited ageing squad and warrants it on a full time basis.
The best you can say about the way Chelsea played last night was that they won. I'd just leave it at that. Not too long ago I think the English press would have teared up Chelsea for playing such a cowardly, destructive football, but whatever. Hopefully it's not the future of the sport.
I would imagine that Chelsea see little cause to change the way that they approached the games against Barcelona or Bayern. They were obviously confident of exploiting the weaker defenses of their opponents. Until the likes of Barcelona or Bayern learn to defend better then the likes of Chelsea, who are defensively strong, and don't need many chances to score themselves, will probably continue to pick them off.
I hate it when you get managers saying oh well they just sat back, Chelsea absorbed so much pressure against Barca/Bayern and scored goals with few chances show that these other teams need to learn how to defend better. I think if Chelsea had a full strength team they may of been a little more forward but Chelsea have never been an attacking side... Bayern also won the title in the same manner in 2001
Rummenigge's speech at the after-party was fair enough - didn't really bemoan Chelsea, or how they won it, but focused more on how Bayern should have won it, but only had themselves to blame for not doing so. But for English opposition in the champions League, Chelsea would likely have been more successful than they have been - twice knocked out by Liverpool in the SF and beaten finalists by Man Utd. Had they not played English teams at those stages I suspect that they'd have more than one Champions League win by now.
Well hardly a triumph for English football (Russian owner, Italian manager, three English players in the starting line up) but good for them anyway. I always love it when people maon about teams defending, or not letting the other team play, like the weaker team should just let the superior team win all the time. That's what I love about football, it's never predictable and a weaker team can win on the night. Hard to think of Chelsea as a weaker team mind you. Be interesting to see where they go from here because this possibly is a last hurrah for a while given the rebuilding work that RDM or someone's gonna have to do soon.
The biggest danger now is that this gives them the false impression that actually they could carry some of these players for a few more years yet. They can't, they need to rebuild, desperately. Drogba has been absolutely immense in the European campaign this season, but there can surely be no better way of signing off than the way he did last night. If it were me, that would be his last game. Kalou, Obi Mikel would on their way too, and possibly Essien. Cech, Terry, Lampard - I'd keep them for another year, but bring in players to replace them and use this next season to effect the transition.
Chelsea defended like trojans and no matter how ugly or lucky they may have been they have their name on the trophy and that's all that matters but I am still struggling to understand how Bayern managed to throw away three golden opportunities to win it 1. leading with a couple of minute left 2. missed penalty in ET 3. 3-1 up on penalty shoot-out they also missed a bundle of chances, very unlike a German time to be so wasteful and unprofessional, taking off Muller for Van Buyten straight after the goal was a mistake and I am still mystified as to how Gomez has such a good goalscoring record this season because whenver I watch him he misses chance after chance nonetheless congrats chelsea, a title is a title no matter how you win it
I understood the tactics against Barcelona, but playing the same way against Bayern is ridiculous. Bayern is no fucking Barcelona.
Bayern - 14 wins out of 16 at home Chelsea - 6 wins out of 19 away from home Chelsea were always going to play a defensive game, especially when they utilized it to great success over Barcelona.
Yes, a win is a win, but I think it's defeatist. It says: We're really not that good of a team. Who says Drogba couldn't have scored three goals if he had gotten more balls? It's a legitimate way to play if you're a serious underdog. When Shit-In-The-Woods FC plays Manchester United in the FA Cup, you'd expect them to play like that, but as Chelsea in the Champions League final I think it's embarrassing. Have some self-respect for fuck's sake. If I were Abramovich, I would be ecstatic about the victory, but I would not re-sign Di Matteo (whom I actually like) if that's the future he sees for the club.
It was a plan. It was well implemented and worked - that makes them the better team. Maybe not the most talented players, but a better team.
Indeed, and it worked well for them too - Manchester United 0, Leeds United 1 as I recall I agree with the above, though. Congratulations to Chelsea - I watched in a pub in West London (downside to moving to Wimbledon - Chelsea heartland) amongst about 500 Chelsea fans so had little choice but to get behind them! Enjoyed it though, and you just knew they were going to win. If not when Drogba scored, but definitely when Robben blew the penalty. Abramovich will surely not give di Matteo the job if that's the football he'd be getting. Four English starters by the way - Lampard, Cole, Bertrand and Cahill. Better than the Italian-free Inter side who won in 2010 if nothing else! Different tack here but this made me smile (sorry if these are your most hated enemies or something, Roger!): http://www.cardiffcity-mad.co.uk/news/tmnw/austrian_club_backs_a_blue_cardiff_744905/index.shtml
Who's to say that that would be the way that Chelsea would play next season under Di Matteo? Presumably, if he gets the job then he'll be allowed to instigate changes to the squad. What he's achieved so far, he's done with someone else's team. A team that's in desperate need of an overhaul. Players like Terry, Lampard and Drogba are all past their best and will need to be replaced in the next year or two. Plus they have players who aren't good anyway - Kalou, Obi Mikel..... Even with these limitations, Di Matteo has conceived a strategy that utilizes what strengths they do have, and turned them into a completely different team than the one that Villas Boas was managing earlier in the season. If this is what he can achieve with someone else's limited team, then he should be given the chance to prove what he can do with his own. It wouldn't surprise me if he gets a 12 month contract - in 12 months time Guus Hiddink is out of contract, Guardiola will be closer to returning to the game, and Mourinho may be tempted to end his reign in Spain.
Heh, they are one of our biggest rivals historically, but I agree with the message, and I'd much rather have them in my league than fucking Red Bull.
Four English starters? Is it that I can't count or that I'm just behind the curve when it comes to English players!! I do think irrespective of what RDM has achived, doing a great job in a pinch is one thing, but doing the job full time can be something else. Avram Grant was close to winning a Premier/Champions League double don't forget. If I were RDM I'd walk (not like he's gonna be short of offers) but he's Chelsea through and through so suspect he'll wait and see.
^ You probably just forgot who Ryan Bertrand was. Or, like me, can't get your brain to process Gary Cahill in the Champions League. The Champions League final. Winning the Champions League. Gary Cahill.