Ranieri : The pressure is on Chelsea
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TINKERMAN ... Claudio Ranieri
CLAUDIO RANIERI claims it would be a disaster if Chelsea lost to his Juventus side. The two sides were drawn together in the last 16 of the Champions League, reuniting the Italian with his former club. And having been sacked after steering the Blues to the semi-finals in 2004, Ranieri knows the expectations of owner Roman Abramovich.
He said: “I can’t say that I’m happy. “But it’s a beautiful tie, a fascinating one and we will have to be in top form. “Chelsea is a team that is constructed to win the Champions League and for Abramovich not to win it, it would be a disaster.
“For our part, we will try to stop Chelsea from reaching the top of the world which is where Abramovich has programmed them to arrive to. “They are one of the favourites to win the tournament and last year they only lost the trophy on penalties. “It’s a difficult but a stimulating tie for us but I don’t think they will be happy to be facing us.”
Despite his departure, the man they dubbed The Tinkerman has nothing but fond memories of his time at Stamford Bridge. He added: “You cannot forget four years at a club. I don’t think Chelsea forget either.”
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if chelsea lost against juve
scolari lost his job thats it
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on one hand i would love to see English team kicking Italian's ass, but on the other i hope The Tinkerman get his revenge on RA...
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if chelsea was still under mourinho, i can safely say chelsea will beat juve..
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I hope Juve kick Chelski's arse...to prove to that arrogant Roman that his money can't buy everything.
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Originally posted by sg_forum:
I hope Juve kick Chelski's arse...to prove to that arrogant Roman that his money can't buy everything.
no leh.. chelsea nv spent so much this time liao
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Originally posted by stellazio:
if chelsea was still under mourinho, i can safely say chelsea will beat juve..
Don't be too sure... Remember what I once said to you after our discussion on Grant? I said he was a decent manager who eventually took Chelsea to the CL final and even the EPL title to the last day... But you disagreed and wanted a "Big name" manager...Remember I said be careful what you wished for... You were one of those who wanted Grant out and a "big" name manager appointed... a Scolari or Guus Hiddink were your choices... I guess in a way your wish was Grant-ed...
Lastly, even Mourinho with the vast amount of money he enjoyed during Roman's time and a number of opportunities he had, couldn't take Chelsea to a CL final... What guarantee can anyone give that Chelsea will safely beat Juve?
Grant took only 8 months to do something Jose couldn't achieved in 3 yrs... That could also explain why Mourinho don't like him cos he made Jose look real poor... Moreover, Grant was also part of the Portsmouth side that started to do well. Of course Harry took most of the credit being the manager...
I don't believe in having big name. Look at Barce, they overlooked Mourinho and went with a totally new guy from within... And was he a big name in management circle?
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Grant was a person who didnt had control of the players.. It was like everyone disrespected him and there was no harmony involved.. You could see players coming out saying they were unhappy and stuff, yes i wanted a big name and i thought scolari was the one, at least it seemed so from the early stages but its only half a season gone, he did change the way Chelsea plays football.
Grant when you looked at Chelsea playing under him, the players was like on auto pilot mode, you rarely even see him shouting directions to players or so, Barcelona is having a good run under Guardiola, but then again he was also a former fan favourite at Barca being a former player, and he's doing very well, but if there was a string of bad results going his way suddenly, will people be questioning his managerial position?
I was quite confident that a Jose side can beat Juve because they're disciplined and hard to beat and besides this Juventus team isnt one of the past where they were stronger and Rianieri is not a manager i rate very highly either.
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Originally posted by stellazio:
Grant was a person who didnt had control of the players.. It was like everyone disrespected him and there was no harmony involved.. You could see players coming out saying they were unhappy and stuff, yes i wanted a big name and i thought scolari was the one, at least it seemed so from the early stages but its only half a season gone, he did change the way Chelsea plays football.
Grant when you looked at Chelsea playing under him, the players was like on auto pilot mode, you rarely even see him shouting directions to players or so, Barcelona is having a good run under Guardiola, but then again he was also a former fan favourite at Barca being a former player, and he's doing very well, but if there was a string of bad results going his way suddenly, will people be questioning his managerial position?
I was quite confident that a Jose side can beat Juve because they're disciplined and hard to beat and besides this Juventus team isnt one of the past where they were stronger and Rianieri is not a manager i rate very highly either.
I am not sure about not having control of the players but last season for those 7+ months that he was in charged, the Chelsea players seemed to look more determined to me then they current do...
I don't buy one minute that a team can be or stay in "auto-pilot for that long a period... There are so many examples, Look at Blackburn, they ended last season on 7 place after Hughes left them, they started to go down... Now that Big Sam took over they started winning again... Then there is Portsmouth... We all know they were doing very well and even winning the FA Cup. But since Harry left and Tony Adams took over, they are no longer as good as they were...
So this auto-pilot thing really don't sell... I am just amazed that Chelsea fans, I am not referring to you but those who love Mourinho blamed Grant for his sacking and whatever good he did for the club they refuse to give him credit for it... This auto-cruise thing I am afraid is just one more people will come up with to take-away the incredible job Grant did last season.
On Barce's new manager... You are correct on one thing and that is he was a former player. But never a top level manager, in fact never manage another club side before... This is his first real manager job you can imagine... Talk about big name... He is like maybe Dennis Wise, no... maybe Chelsea's present reserved manager at best....
And Barcelona is having a good run under him currently not out of coincidence... There is certainly no auto-pilot there... He started his job when last season ended... The decisions he has to make like, persuading players who might wanted to leave (Eto) to stay back and deciding to keep others like Henry and Yaya too... At the same time getting rid of those that was no longer good for the squad (Deco & Ronny) ironically Scolari came to buy him...
On Juve and Ranieri, Ranieri is doing a great job now... 9 win out of their last 10 is a great run. They had lots of injuries early in the season and even now Buffon is still not back yet... Whatever it is, when they meet I feel there is no clear or easy winner. Either one could make it, just who gets more lucky.
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Pressure? What Pressure?