Month: August 2015

In the aftermath of a 3-0 loss away to Manchester City Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea have brought in a defensive reinforcement in the form of Baba Rahman.

The 21 year old Ghanaian international has signed for the Premier League’s defending champions from FC Augsburg in a deal rumoured to be worth around £21.7 million.

The Londoners have been linked with a move for a left back after allowing Filipe Luis to head back to Atletico Madrid earlier this summer and with Mourinho hoping for some competition for Cesar Azpilicueta.

On the official Chelsea website Rahman is described as “a pacy and attacking full-back who can also operate as a midfielder or winger”, and the player himself is quoted as saying, “I am very happy to sign for Chelsea, one of the biggest clubs in the world, and I can’t wait to train with my new team-mates and very much looking forward to working with them and Mr. Mourinho. I am also looking forward to having the opportunity to meet the fans as soon as possible”.

Rahman made 31 appearances for Augsburg last season, making more successful tackles than any other player in the Bundesliga last season. He also attempted more crosses than any other player from the left back position. He helped Augsburg qualify for the Europa League and will be a welcome addition to a Chelsea defence that is starting to look a little old and ragged.

Southampton have signed Chelsea midfielder Oriol Romeu on a 3 year contract for £5 million.

Romeu only made 34 appearances for the Blues after signing from Barcelona in 2011, spending the last two season on loan at Stuttgart and then Valencia.

The Southampton executive director of football, Les Reed, said that Romeu was exactly the sort of player that fitted the Saints’ profile in that he is “young, hungry and developed at a top academy”, and that he had “been on the radar” of the club for some time.

Reed continued, “Like Ryan Bertrand, we believe we have recruited another Chelsea player with an excellent pedigree but also with lots of potential to develop”.

The player himself said, “After spending two years on loan, I needed something permanent and a club with a future – and I think I chose the right one”.

Romeu becomes Southampton’s 7th signing of the summer, following the likes of Juanmi, Cedric Soares, Jordy Clasie and Steven Caulker to St. Mary’s.

Everton manager Roberto Martinez has dented Chelsea’s hopes of signing their defender John Stones, saying, “The player is not for sale and that is the end of it”.

Martinez has been critical of Chelsea’s attempts to sign the youngster, even going so far as to claim their approaches have been “illegal”. That hasn’t stopped the London club, though, with a 3rd bid expected in the coming days after their 2nd attempt, a bid of £26 million, failed to impress Bill Kenwright.

Stones made 23 appearances for Everton last season and signed a new 5 year contract in August, meaning Everton are in a position of strength when it comes to negotiating his sale. Martinez said, “Our situation has been very clear from the beginning. We are not a selling club who will lose our best performers”.

The fact that Everton announced the purchase of Mason Holgate from Barnsley – the same club they signed Stones from – on Thursday has got nothing to do with Stones’ situation, according to Martinez. The Spaniard said, “He [Holgate] will be a phenomenal young prospect coming into that golden generation we feel we have at the club and he will be a good one for the future”.

Jose Mourinho has come under fire from several quarters for his treatment of Chelsea’s club doctor Eva Carneiro after it emerged that she will no longer sit on Chelsea’s bench during games.

The Daily Telegraph revealed earlier in the week that Carneiro will continue to treat Chelsea’s first team players at Cobham training ground, but will no longer attend the club’s matches or training sessions

This has all come about since Carneiro ran on to the pitch to treat Eden Hazard during Chelsea’s game against Swansea on the opening day of the season at Stamford Bridge. Premier League rules say that a player who receives treatment must leave the pitch and Chelsea were already down to 10 men after their goalkeeper, Thibaut Courtois, was sent off for a tackle on Bafetimbi Gomis after 53 minutes of the match.

Mourinho called his medical staff “impulsive” and “naïve” for running on to the pitch to treat Hazard, despite the fact that referee Michael Oliver had called for them twice before Carneiro ran on to deal with the situation. Mourinho said, “Whether you are a kit man, doctor or secretary on the bench you have to understand the game”. FIFA’s own instruction on the matter states, “Referees must follow the instructions below when dealing with injured players: As soon as the referee has authorised the doctors to enter the field of play, the player must leave the field of play, either on a stretcher or on foot. If a player does not comply, he shall be cautioned for unsporting behaviour”. That means that it is, in fact, Mourinho who does not understand the game.

The treatment of Carneiro by the Chelsea manager has led to criticism of his behaviour from numerous sources, including The Premier League Doctor’s Group who said, “[We] consider… that removing Dr Eva Carneiro from the Chelsea team bench for their next match is unjust in the extreme. In the publicised incident in last Saturday’s game against Swansea, the Chelsea medical staff were clearly summoned on to the field of play by the match referee to attend to a player. A refusal to run onto the pitch would have breached the duty of care required of the medical team to their patient”.

The PLDG statement continued, “It is a huge concern that Dr Carneiro has been subjected to unprecedented media scrutiny and a change in her professional role, merely because she adhered to her code of professional conduct and did her job properly. Dr. Carneiro has universal and total support from her medical colleagues at the Premier League Doctors Group. It is also of great concern that at a time when the both the Premier League and the Premier League Doctors group are intensifying efforts to safeguard player welfare, the precedent set by this incident demonstrates that the medical care of players appears to be secondary to the result of the game”.

Meanwhile Liverpool’s former Head of Medicine, Dr. Peter Brukner, told BBC Radio 5 live that Mourinho’s criticism of Carneiro was “100%” and that he should publicly apologise. Brukner is now the Australian Cricket Team’s doctor and said, “It’s got nothing to do with the manager. You don’t have doctors telling a manager to play someone up front or play 4-3-3. The doctor was 100% correct and the manager, in my opinion, was 100% wrong. He should apologise and the club should ensure that the doctor and physio are not demoted as a result of this.
“She has been publicly humiliated in front of the biggest audience there is and she had not done the wrong thing”.

Ralph Rodgers, the Chelsea first team doctor under Carlo Ancelotti, has said that Carneiro was wrong to put a post on social media about the incident, though, and that it represented a “slap in the face” of Jose Mourinho and something that would make things “difficult” for him to trust her again. Carneiro made a somewhat innocuous post on Facebook when she said, “I would like to thank the general public for their overwhelming support. Really very much appreciated”.

<Rodgers, however, felt that the statement was not ethical, saying, “You are support staff. You’re not one of the stars. There’s almost a slap in the face to the manager. Why would she go to social media? It’s something we, as a profession, ethically should not be doing”.

Mourinho is expected to be questioned about the matter in his press conference ahead of Chelsea’s visit to The Etihad Stadium on Sunday, meaning that the matter isn’t likely to die away any time soon.

Chelsea have decided to lodge an appeal with the FA against the red card shown to goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois in the match against Swansea this weekend.

Chelsea were leading 2-1 seven minutes into the second half when Jonjo Shelvey’s through ball sent Bafetimbi Gomis clear of the Chelsea defence. Courtois came running off his line and fouled the striker on the edge of the Blues’ penalty area, with Michael Oliver adjudging it to be inside the box and deciding that the stopper had denied the forward a goal scoring opportunity.

Jose Mourinho refused to discuss the decision to send off his Belgian ‘keeper after the match but his counterpart Gary Monk, the Swans manager, said, “It is a goal scoring opportunity. The letter of the law is that it is a red card and we got what we deserved today”.

Mourinho’s fury at the refereeing performance of Michael Oliver has led to the club’s decision to appeal the red card, with the FA expected to hear their logic today. If their appeal fails, as most assume, then Courtois will be given a one game ban and will miss Chelsea’s trip to last season’s runners up Manchester City on Sunday.

Chelsea only made two significant signings this summer, with Radamel Falcao coming in as cover for Diego Costa and Asmir Begovic arriving as a back up goalkeeper for Thibaut Courtois. The Bosnian, who was bought from Stoke for a fee believed to be in the region of £8 million, didn’t expect to get his chance to shine so soon after his arrival. Mourinho has faith in him, though, saying that their former stopper, Petr Cech, isn’t missed by the club. He said, “We don’t miss Petr. We’ve got a good keeper, the problem with Petr is not that we miss him because we have two excellent ‘keepers. The problem with Petr is that an opponent is better than before. Thibaut and Asmir are two fantastic keepers. My club did very well by getting a goalkeeper on time and not on the August 31st“.

Mourinho signed a new 4 year deal at Stamford Bridge last week and wants to stay with the club precisely because he has such control over their dealings. The new contract will keep the 52 year old at the club until 2019, unless he falls out with Chelsea’s owner Roman Abramovich before the contract runs its course as he did last time around.

That Mourinho has chosen to throw his newly rewarded managerial weight behind a decision to appeal a red card that looked to be a solid decision is an odd one, especially given it’s so early in the season. It also suggests to Manchester City that he hasn’t got complete faith in Begovic, despite his words. We’ll find out later today what the FA have decided.

Former Newcastle and Blackburn striker Alan Shearer has said that Everton defender John Stones should move to Chelsea for the good of his career, according to the BBC.

The defending Premier League champions have been chasing the 21 year old somewhat publicly since the transfer window opened, with two offers having already been submitted to Everton for their consideration. The Merseysiders haven’t budged, though, and Roberto Martinez, the Everton manager, is insistent that his defender is not for sale.

Martinez even went so far as to accuse Chelsea and their players of “illegally” tapping up Stones with the manner of their courtship. It has led plenty of pundits to weigh in on the situation, with Shearer saying on Match Of The Day, “He would be playing under the best manager in the Premier League, and he’d be watching and learning from the best centre-half there has been in the Premier League in John Terry”.

Everton aren’t in a hurry to sell Stones, not least of all because they’d then have to go back into the transfer market in order to pick up a replacement. Stones made 23 Premier League appearances for the Toffees last season and still has 4 years left on his contract.

Shearer’s fellow pundit, Danny Murphy, doesn’t think Stones has had his head turned judging by his performance against Watford at Goodison Park over the weekend. He said, “Overall he was calm, elegant, like he always is, and there was nothing in his performance which said he didn’t want to be there. I’m a big fan of his. He’s a clever footballer. He doesn’t just boot it out of play. He’s a thinker and a good athlete. He can play in that Chelsea team. He wouldn’t go to make up the numbers. For me, he would get in ahead of Gary Cahill”.

Liverpool’s former vice-captain and central defensive stalwart Jamie Carragher disagreed with his England team-mate Shearer, however, suggesting that Stones would be better off remaining at Goodison. Speaking on Sky Sports Monday Night Football Carragher hit back at those who suggested Stones would be better off at Stamford Bridge. He said, “For John Stones, some of the nonsense that has been spoken this weekend and before about where is best for him. Where he is best is where he is now. I can speak as a centre back. It is very difficult as a young centre back to play for a team that is right at the pinnacle of the league”.

Carragher was joined in the Monday Night Football studio by Everton manager Roberto Martinez and said to the Spaniard, “The next two or three years, the best place for him is alongside you at Goodison Park, getting up to 50 games a season, getting experience under his belt. And no disrespect to Everton, but maybe in 2-3 years he will be physically ready to move on. He’s not ready now. The best place for him now is to keep playing [at Everton], as he did [this] weekend”.

What confuses the issue slightly for Everton is the fact that they still owe Chelsea the majority of the money they agreed with the London club for the sale of Romelu Lukaku, meaning they could essentially wipe off their debt by selling a player they picked up for just £3 million from Barnsley.

Wherever the best place for Stones is, Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has confessed that he wants to buy the defender saying, “We made a bid because we like the player”. Thanks to Roman Abramovich’s billions Chelsea are able to bring in whoever they want more often than not, so it would be no surprise to see him swap the Blue of Merseyside for the Blue of London before too long.

Jose Mourinho could not hide his displeasure with the Chelsea medical staff after Chelsea started the defence of their title with a 2-2 draw at home with Swansea City.

Chelsea took the lead after 23 minutes through an Oscar free kick after César Azpilicueta was brought down on the edge of the area. Swansea struck back just 6 minutes later, though, when Andre Ayew slotted home after Bafétimbi Gomis’ header was saved by Thibaut Courtois.

Cheslea struck again almost immediately when Willian’s shot struck Federico Fernandez’s leg and looped over a stranded Łukasz Fabiański, and when the Blues went in 2-1 to the good at half-time a home victory seemed inevitable.

Swansea had other ideas, however, and when Jonjo Shelvey sent a lovely chipped through-ball over the Chelsea defence for Gomis to run on to the game changed in a heartbeat. Gomis always looked more likely to reach the ball first than Courtois and when he touched it away from the Belgian stopper a penalty and a red card became inevitable. Gomis duly scored from the spot kick past replacement goalkeeper Asmir Begovic and Chelsea had 35 minutes to hang on to the draw.

Mourinho was incensed by the penalty decision and the red card for his first choice goalkeeper, but his wrath was chiefly reserved for his own medical team. The moment that so engaged the Chelsea manager’s ire came about in the closing stages of the match when Eden Hazard was tripped by Gylfi Sigurdsson with 6 minutes to go.

With Courtois already off the pitch, the medical staff ran on to deal with Hazard’s problem, despite the Belgian playmaker not appearing to be particularly badly injured. Premier League rules state that if a player receives treatment then he must leave the field of play. This caused Mourinho to say, “I was unhappy with my medical staff. They were impulsive and naïve”.

The Chelsea manager then went on to say something that some consider to have mysoginistic undertones when he stated, “Whether you are a kit man, doctor or secretary on the bench you have to understand the game”. The potentially sexist comment comes on the back of the Portuguese manager suggesting Rafael Benitez’s wife should be “watching her husband’s diet” rather than commenting on Mourinho’s managerial history.

Mourinho went on, “You have to know you have one player less and to assist a player you must be sure he has a serious problem. I was sure Eden did not have a serious problem. He had a knock. He was tired”. As it turned out the decision to remove Hazard from the pitch didn’t make any difference to the end result, though Mourinho might feel that the Blues had more chance of snatching a winner with his winger on the pitch.

Mourinho wouldn’t be drawn on the referee’s performance but did say, “If you have 10 men and are winning you can defend well and try to find a strategy, but to play with 10 men and try to win the game is more difficult. I would say we were the best team with 11 players and with 10 we fought hard, some fighting at the limit of their condition”.

A home draw isn’t the perfect start to the season for Chelsea, especially with Liverpool and Manchester United both picking up 3 points, however Arsenal’s defeat at The Emirates against West Ham will please the self-professed Special One. Doubtless he’ll be keenly watching the Manchester City game and hoping that West Bromwich Albion can do his club a favour. Chelsea are usually strong starters in the league and will be desperate to shake off the milieu with which they ended their pre-season and have started the campaign itself.