Chelsea's woes

So Di Matteo has been sacked as Chelsea boss and has been replaced by Rafa Benitez on an interim basis for the rest of the season so hands up who was shocked by this? Seriously who is shocked by this. Amazing that after a few bad results Chelsea got rid off him. A guy who after taken over from Andre Villa Boas guided Chelsea to an F.A. Cup and most importantly a Champions League a trophy Roman Abramovich has craved since he took over the club nearly ten years ago and also now appointed a man who more than likely is going to do the same thing Di Matteo did when he first took over and make Chelsea a functional side rather than a side that is easy on the eye and trying to play like Barcelona.

If Roman wanted Pep Guardiola and everyone new that Guardiola was not going to shift his position on moving back into work until next season at the earliest then why get rid of Di Matteo? Sure he was on a poor run of results but Chelsea did not turn into a bad side overnight, they still had a slim chance of making into the knockout stages of the Champions league and third in the league. Chelsea's owner once again has showed short sightedness which will eventually damage the club in the long run I feel. A question is well I ask is if he keeps going through managers and paying them compensation £90 million and counting will that count in the Uefa fair play rules?

Its fascinating to see how Benitez does for the rest of the term with this side and if he is allowed to spend some money in January. One theory doing the rounds is that he was the man that got the best out of Torres and he can work the magic with him again at Chelsea. I think Torres is a lost cause who needs a change of scenery to save his career at this stage but I wish Rafa good luck either way on his new project. He has nothing to lose and wont be damaged by whatever reign he is allowed to have at the London blues. As for Pep? My prediction is he will end up at City and will leave egg in Chelsea's face.

I fear for the future for Chelsea but it will be interesting to watch whether they succeed or implode. It will be interesting to watch that is for sure.

Bits and Pieces.

Well all 36 views and a few comments as well on the first blog. Thanks for that. This will be a short blog this week due to er... time constraints so here we go.

• Zlatan Ibrahimovic's red card against St. Etienne was one of those moments where you think what was he thinking? Was he watching Jason McCateers against Macedonia all those years ago? He was probably trying to go for the ball but so badly timed it was comical. One thing for sure about Zlatan he is never boring. If you have not seen the Kung-Fu kick in question here it is. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flJuG0PdJxo. At least PSG care capable of losing a game in France and hopefully to all Ligue 1 fans out there it will be also competitive with Marseille and Lyon both making good starts to the league.
• Manage to catch the Juventus-Inter Milan match at the weekend and a very inspired performance from Inter in the Derby d'Italia to finally end Juventus run of 49 league games unbeaten. How significant this result will be in the long run who knows but with leaders like Javier Zanetti, Walter Samuel, Esteban Cambiasso and Diego Milito in your side playing as inspired like they did on Saturday night then Inter have a fighting chance on all fronts this season.
• I predict a German winner of the Champions League this season. I have unfortunately not watched much of the Bundesliga this season but with the impact the three leading sides in Germany are making in this seasons Champions League the Bundesliga seems to be the place to be. With the way German football is run( nearly all the top clubs are run by the fans, excellent football stadia and relatively cheap matchday tickets) The Germans have showed the way on how to run big football teams without alienating their fans and also producing good football to boot. It is refreshing to see that billonares are not treating these teams like their playground and not sacking managers on the whim or trying to dictate who should start in the team week in, week out. The knockout stages of the Champions League will be interesting for sure one it reaches that point and could be the best in history. (Sorry for the hyperbole!)
• One last point. I am am fan of the Guardian podcast which goes out every Monday and Thursday and a fan of their Spanish correspondent Sid Lowe so when Sid sent out an SAS to save historical Spanish Club Real Oviedo buy buying shares in it then I thought why the hell not! A bit of football romanticism that you can now say you own a little part of the football club. More details are on the website created to non-Spanish speaking people. It is a worthy and Ill be buying my two shares tomorrow. http://www.realoviedo.es/weboficial/index.asp?Pagina=vernoticia&IdNoticia=7956  http://www.realoviedo.es/yosoyelrealoviedo/index.html

Right that is for another blog. Hope you enjoyed it. Talk soon.

Keith