Bayern 0 – Mourinho 2

Jose Mourinho won his second European cup at the weekend with a victory against Bayern Munich at the Bernabau stadium.

Just over 80,000 people were there to witness Inter carry out a smash and grab on the German Champions, who must wonder just what else they need to do to to get their hands back on the trophy.
Bayern dominated possession, had more shots, piled on pressure but just could not break through to punish Inter and perhaps that is why Inter so deserved this win.

Milito secured his place in the history books by grabbing the 2 goals that must have felt like hot irons being pushed into the hearts of the Bayern players.

Those of you wondering if Argentina will have enough strength and will to cause a shock at this years world cup will have had your spirits lifted by the Argentinian Milito. Maradonna has an abundance of attacking footballers available to him and could resort to a 4-3-3 for some games which could see Milito, Tevez and Messi running at defences together.

Mourinho brought off Milito in injury time so the classy forward could receive a standing ovation from the Inter faithful. Don’t be surprised to see Mourinho making an offer for the Argentines services next season.

This match though was as much about Mourinho as it was about football. Tactically he is at times flawless, nobody can deny how well Inter have defended through this competition, even down to 10 men against the fancied Barcelona, Inter held on to win through to this crowning moment.
The Bernabau could well be the home ground of Mourinho next season, and he certainly made himself at home here on Saturday. Real Madrid hope to take him as their head coach before the World Cup and then hand him a blank cheque to help Real finally wrestle the Spanish title away from Barca next year.

Frank Lampard – Money wins again

I have always been a big Frank Lampard fan. Even in his West Ham days there was something about him that made me realise he was destined to be a superstar player.

At Chelsea he has fulfilled that status and I have often defended him whne others around me have slated him for one reason or another. I’d love to have him in any team I support.

This summer though I’ve been telling myself and you through this blog that the best thing to do now is move on to Inter Milan and give it a crack. I think he would have been a success. But Frank Lampard decided to see it out at Chelsea and thought he was worth a 5 year deal of around £150,000 per week.
At 30 I thought he was nuts to demand such a contract. I certainly can’t see him being a top premier league midfielder in 5 years and his cureent game surely only has another 2 years in it before he start feeling the aches and pains more frequent than not.

Some people have turned to me and said well if he keeps himself fit and healthy he can go on for another 5 years. Unfortunately footballers don’t quite work like that. you see their heads still think and feel the same, they start lunging for tackles and running at angles to catch players the same as they always have, however the legs that have covered thousands of miles by the time they are in their 30′s start slowing up and even if it’s one stride they lose per run it’s enough to ensure the timing is off enough to cost them a yellow or even a red card when they throw the tackle in.

Players are finely tuned athleetes these days and I’m worried Mr Lampard won’t have the legs to last 5 years no matter how fit he feels today.

So I guess I should be congratulating him on forcing Chelsea into this move. It is most definately though a case of a player being bigger than a club. This sort of thing would never happen at Manchester United under the mighty Mr Ferguson, but then again Sir Alex would never offer a 30 year old a 5 year contract.

One thing that did miff me though about Frank was him saying he stayed because of the tribute the other players made to his late mother. No you never Frank, you stayed because they finally agreed to your unhealthy demands!

Lampard – staying at Chelsea?

With Inter Milan making an official approach for Frank Lampard, Scholari has today come forward and said Lampard wants to stay at Chelsea.

Does he? Well some people have hinted he doesn’t have the guts to move to Italy. That, to me, is a ridiculous statement. He does have the guts, of course he does, he moved from West Ham to Chelsea for goodness sake!

I think though Chelsea have been slow getting Frank to the table regarding a new deal, and for that I’ll blame Peter Kenyon. Kenyon likes to try and prove that there is no player bigger than the club wherever he works but feels he himself is bigger than everything! 
Franks performances for Chelsea have earned him the right to look around for the best deal. And that has to be the best deal for Frank Lampard on and off the pitch.

Frank has the ability to command a place in any club, I am certain of that. However I think the speed, passion and physical game that lives in  the premier league will eventually make his mind up for him.

In my opinion he will stay but let’s not forget the special one has been capale of luring his ex players several times before.

Mourinho takes over at Inter Milan – As predicted

Well, as I announced last week, Mourinho took over the Inter Milan coaching role yesterday.
Inter, dissapointed at their champions league performances in recent years thought Mourinho was the man to take them on to that next step and rumours are circulating that he’s got about £100 million to spend. My sources also tell me that Inter hurried along the sacking of Mancini and the public announcement of Mourinho being the new boss at the request of Mourinho who was keen to be unveiled before Euro 2008 kicks off in 4 days time. No doubt he’ll be building a bit of a shopping list during the tournament.

Also as I mentioned last week he is apparantly looking at his old favourites Didier Drgba and Frank Lampard and sounding them out about moves to Milan.
Another source has told me that Mourinho will off load Viera, as he does not rate the French man which may see the former Arsenal defender return to the Premier League and with Man City looking like they intend to make heavyweight changes over the summer, they may be candidates.

 

 

Mancini Sacked! 3 consecutive league titles not enough.

After my recent grumble about Chelsea sacking Avram Grant, I’ve just heard Inter Milan have fired Roberto Mancini and frankly I’m almost lost for words.

Roberto Mancini has led Inter to an amazing 3 succesive Series A titles and although he announced back in March that he was intending to quit the club this summer, that was quickly swept under the carpet and he’d since announced he wanted to stay on and win the Champions league with Inter.

The board seem to have got itchy feet though and have taken the decision to sack the former Italian Striker before he walks out on them. Again a board trying to save face rather than try to understand the football side of things.

Who will replace him, well surely Mourinho is favourite as he has already been linked with the club and apparantly has already been testing the water around a few of his former players at Chelsea. I strongly believe Drogba will be an Inter player before the new season starts, rumours surrounding Lampard going to in the same direction don’t fit in with my own sources of information though as I think Frank will stay if the contract he wants is offered. However with that said, Frank has had a hard time of it in the last year with rumours circulating regarding his relationship and of course the recent passing away of his mother has left him emotionally drained. Maybe if he is ever to make a break now is the time.

So I guess that just leaves Mr Mancini career to sort out, who is conveniently kicked out just at the time Chelsea are looking to make someone the highest earning manager in the world!!