|
United won’t be overhauled by England’s most hateful team
By Ciaran Cronin
Well that makes things a little clearer. Supposedly decisive fixtures
that are built-up to be more important than life itself usually have a
knack of muddying the very waters they’re supposed to purify but
Sunday’s results at Old Trafford and Stamford Bridge have made the
Premier League title race a good degree more straight-forward.
Manchester United now enjoy a five-point lead in the title race meaning
that even though Chelsea and Arsenal are not that far behind, the title
is Alex Ferguson’s side to lose. Lose to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge
at the end of April and United, as long as they don’t mess up between
now and then, are still highly likely to win the League. Stranger things
have happened in this game but only a fool or die-hard Chelsea fan would
back against them right now.
To be fair, United were wonderfully efficient on Sunday, beating Liverpool
without ever having to move out of third gear. The fluidity of their attacking
formation is a joy to behold and God help anybody who has to pin down
exactly what they’re up to.
Giggs might move right, Rooney left and Ronaldo down the middle but
the next time you look everything might change again. No wonder the Liverpool
central defensive pair looked completely at sea every time somebody played
a ball into the penalty area. They just hadn’t a clue who they should
be picking up.
More on Javier Mascherano’s sending off later but what of Chelsea’s
comeback victory over Arsenal? As much as your columnist, a Tottenham
fan, may dislike Arsene Wenger’s side as a matter of habit it’s
not that easy to dislike them when their playing against Chelsea —
easily the most arrogant and ignorant football team in the Premier League.
I wandered down to Chelsea’s training ground on Friday for an Avram
Grant press conference and left with the overwhelming feeling that the
Israeli has no control whatsoever over what his team are up to.
When Jose Mourinho was in charge Chelsea might well have been obstinate
and damn rude on the pitch but at least you could put it down to the fact
that they were, as a group, a mirror image of their highly-determined
coach. But with Jose long gone it’s impossible to see Grant’s
influence anywhere within this Chelsea team meaning that the petulance
of the players is now all their very own.
So when Grant spoke on Friday of wanting his players to “take
responsibility” for their actions, something he assured us that
he tells his charges on a regular basis, it’s impossible not to
feel that he has no real influence over them. On Sunday, Chelsea were
steady and durable, if little else, and yet Didier Drogba’s second-half
double means that they now have a real chance of winning their third Premier
League title in four years. And yet it doesn’t make any sense.
Grant is an utterly lifeless figure, far removed from Ferguson’s
brooding, Wenger’s apparent footballing intelligence and Benitez’s
constant tinkering.
He appears, from a distance, to have no effect on how this Chelsea team
go about their business. Think about it. How does his Chelsea differ from
Jose Mourinho’s? Both play a 4-3-3 (or 4-5-1 if you look most of
the time) formation.
Both are irritating and persistent in the way they play the game and
both seek to gain every possible advantage from the referee on the pitch.
Mascherano got caught stupidly moaning to Phil Bennett — the most
overrated referee in the western world — but because of the coaching
of Jose in the past no Chelsea player is likely to be caught in isolation
giving out to a referee. Instead, as we saw at White Hart Lane last week,
Chelsea players moan in packs. It keeps them out of trouble but it has
nothing got to do with their manager — a calm and introverted sole
if ever there was one.
They may be just the five points behind United at this moment in time
but Chelsea haven’t a hope in hell of winning the title. They are,
at the moment, playing from the memory of the Mourinho days and that’s
not enough to see them through to the end of the season. It will eventually
stop them from winning the title because memory can only last so long.
When the Grant effect finally kicks in they are likely to be as disjointed
and confused as the rest of us.
But at least a set of fixtures that usually leaves us more muddled than
ever has this week given us a fairly definitive conclusion. Manchester
United will not be caught in the League’s final seven games. Not
unless Mourinho comes back to London in the next couple of weeks to give
his former side a refresher course. |
