Month: September 2015

The Football Association have today declared that Diego Costa is to be charged with violent conduct after Chelsea’s match against Arsenal.

The Brazilian born Spanish striker was involved in a number of clashes against the Gunners during the defending Premier League champion’s game over the weekend, including a coming together with Laurent Koscielny that the FA have decided is worthy of a review.

Whilst wrestling the Arsenal defender for the ball in the penalty area Costa appeared to drag his hand across his opponent’s face before slamming his elbow into his cheek then chest bumping the Arsenal man to the floor. The incident was missed by the match officials but caught on camera, meaning that the FA can deal with it as a separate incident.

The Football Associations press release regarding the matter said, “Off the ball incidents which are not seen at the time by the match officials are referred to a panel of three former elite referees. Each referee panel member will review the video footage independently of one another to determine whether they consider it a sending-off offence. For retrospective action to be taken, and an FA charge to follow, the decision by the panel must be unanimous”.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was incensed by Costa’s behavior during the game and said that the FA needed to do something about it, claiming that it was the least they could do. He said, “I would like them, especially Mike Dean, to look at the whole action that happened during the game and see if he stands for his decision. But you have a fourth official, you have a linesman, the referee and they talk all the game. They know Diego Costa. He is not a newcomer. He was here for a year now. It is surprising. I tell you something, if I am a referee and I referee Diego Costa, I do not send somebody off quickly if he responds because you know he has been well provoked”.

Arsenal’s Gabriel was sent off for swinging a boot out at Costa and will also face an improper conduct charge, though the Gunners intend to appeal against the three match ban he will receive for his straight red card in the game.

The FA’s decision to charge Costa comes on the same day that Chelsea’s young defender Kurt Zouma apologised after branding his own team mate a ‘cheat’. Speaking to Bein Sport after the game he said, “Everyone knows Diego and this guy likes to cheat a lot and put the opponents out of his game, and that happened in the game”.

He has apologised for the incident, saying, “Sorry for any confusion. English is not my first language. I did not mean to accuse anyone of cheating. [Costa is] a player who puts pressure on his opponents and who I have huge respect for”.

Costa has until 6pm on Tuesday 22nd to respond to the charge.

Jose Mourinho has been forced to deny there are any problems between him and his playing staff after he failed to start John Terry in the defending Premier League champion’s home match against their London rivals Arsenal at the weekend.

Chelsea were 17th in the league going into the match at Stamford Bridge having only managed one victory in their first five league games. A 4-0 win over Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Champion’s League during the week gave them some confidence before the match against Arsenal, but rumours surfaced that John Terry and Diego Costa had had a falling out in training.

Responding to the rumours of a bust up Mourinho said, “’Diego Costa fought with John Terry and before they start the fight they brought a translator for them to understand each other, because Diego cannot speak English and John cannot speak Spanish’. You [the media] always go in this direction, which is funny. The other direction you don’t go is the direction which is real”.

When fit John Terry has been a mainstay of Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea teams since the Portuguese manager arrived at Stamford Bridge in 2004. Yet questions were asked of the pair’s relationship when Terry was substituted at half time in the Blues’ 3-0 defeat away to Manchester City earlier in the season. Terry was also an unused substitute during Chelsea’s midweek Champion’s League match, though many expected him to return to the starting line up against the Gunners.

Instead the self proclaimed Special One opted to go for a centre back pairing of Gary Cahill and Kurt Zouma – a decision he will have felt was justified when Zouma made an excellent tackle on Theo Walcott when the speedy winger was close to breaking through the Chelsea defence late in the first half. Regarding his decision Mourinho said, “Terry is player of my total confidence. If he is on the bench or I take him off doesn’t change anything”.

Mourinho was scathing of the press’ attempts to find a story where none exists, saying, “Normally when bad results happen the first thing that comes into your laptops, iPads and pens is to find a dramatic story: ‘Somebody punch somebody in the dressing room’, ‘The manager doesn’t want to speak with this guy’. Problems between me and my players I can promise you – zero”.

The 2-0 win over Arsenal means that Chelsea have now got seven points on the board and have climbed to 15th in the table, yet they sit eight points shy of league leaders Manchester City despite the fact that Manuel Pellegrini’s men also lost at the weekend.

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho is to be investigated over the language he used during the Eva Carneiro affair, the Football Association have announced.

A member of the public apparently emailed the FA regarding the incident which occurred during Chelsea’s 2-2 draw at home to Swansea on the opening day of the season.

Having already lost Thibaut Courtois to a red card for a foul on Bafetimbi Gomis earlier in the match, Mourinho was incensed to see both the Chelsea club doctor Eva Carneiro and the physio Jon Fearn run on to the pitch when Eden Hazard appeared to be lying on the floor with an injury.

The Premier League’s rules are such that if a player is given treatment then he must leave the field of play, meaning that Chelsea were temporarily reduced to nine men with just minutes of the game remaining and the score line finely balanced. Mourinho, clearly angry on the sideline, can be seen to shout, “Hey! Hey! Get off the pitch now! F**king hell!” He then went on to shout “filho da puta” at the doctor, a Portuguese phrase that means ‘son of a bitch’.

The Football Associations own regulations state that ‘offensive, insulting or abusive language and/or gestures’ used by players or managers can be penalised, with more aggravating language, such as sexist words, can lead to a five match ban in the event that the perpetrator is found guilty by the FA.

After the match the defending Premier League champion’s manager called his medical team’s actions “impulsive and naïve” and went on to say, “Whether you are a kit man, doctor or secretary on the bench you have to understand the game. 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”. His use of the phrase ‘secretary on the bench’ led some to believe he was making a thinly veiled sexist remark at Carneiro’s expense, though it is unlikely that that will form part of the FA’s investigation.

Carneiro is yet to return to her role as doctor at Chelsea and has been in discussions with her lawyers since the event took place. Her role was downgraded by Mourinho, with the decision taken that she would not sit on the bench or attend training sessions, though she would still work with first team players at Cobham, Chelsea’s training ground. The Times reported last week that she is now close to returning to first team duties at the club, though it remains unclear what format those duties will take.

Jose Mourinho chose to wade in on the debate over Deigo Costa’s behaviour during Chelsea’s match with Arsenal by claiming there was no controversy and that the Brazilian born Spanish international should have named as Man Of The Match.

Chelsea ran out 2-0 winners over their North London rivals in a match that was filled with moments of controversy, most of which had Costa at the centre of them.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was incensed that Costa managed to stay on the pitch until Mourinho substituted him off to a standing ovation after 82 minutes. Wenger said, “He can do what he wants and he stays on. Everyone else that responds to him has to be sent off. It’s unacceptable. But he always gets away with it. He will do the same again next week, and the week after, and he always gets away with it”.

The flash point in the match came just before the half time whistle when Costa and Laurent Koscielny clashed in the Arsenal penalty area. Costa appeared to grab at Koscielny’s face, elbow him in the nose and swing his arm at him before chest barging the defender to the floor. The referee, Mike Dean, then booked the Spaniard and Gabriel Paulista who had got involved in the confrontation.

It looked as though the match would then peter out into the interval until Costa provoked Gabriel, walking behind him and whispering to him, causing the defender to lash out slightly with his foot. Costa predictably made a meal of it and appealed to the referee who, despite not seeing the incident himself, showed Gabriel a straight red.

Mourinho was typically defiant about the incident after the match saying, “He played like he has to play and that is why you have full stadiums and you sell football to television around the world for millions and millions. Because the game has to be played like that, OK? Man of the match, for me”.

The Portuguese manager may well have been glad to see one of his players show a bit of fight after the defending Premier League champion’s had managed just one win in the five league games they played prior to this match. Wenger, however, was less than impressed by Costa’s tactics and believes the Football Association should do something about it as it is ‘the least they can do’. He said, “To have two sendings-off for us and Diego Costa still on the pitch, it is a shame. In every game there is aggravation from him. If you look at the pictures and what he does to Koscielny, he pushes him down and hits him in the face. He is always provoking and he also uses the naivety of Mike Dean in this game, as well as my players. Gabriel deserves it but I don’t understand how Costa was not sent off”.

Mourinho, however, does not want his striker to curb his more provocative style and responded to Wenger’s suggestion that he breaks the rules of the game by saying, “Which rules? Your rules?… My view is this – and this why I’m proud of my club – I played against Arsenal maybe 12, 15, 18 times and only once he didn’t moan. And that day we lost. We lost the Community Shield, it was not good for us but we behaved in a fantastic way – no excuses, not crying, not moaning. I have to cope with my defeats; tonight he has to cope with his defeat”.

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho appears to be struggling to maintain his calm in the fact of Chelsea’s poor form so far this season and has told a BBC reporter his question was ‘stupid’ in his press conference before the defending Premier League champion’s Champion’s League match against Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Mourinho has never managed more than three seasons at any club in his career as a top flight boss. He can be excused for leaving Porto after two seasons when Roman Abramovich’s Chelsea came calling and he left the Blues when he disagreed with the Russian oligarch over the use of Andrey Schevchenko and the appointment of Avram Grant as manager.

He led Inter Milan to the Serie A title in his first year there and then continued into a second season despite making non-too subtle overtures to Manchester United about taking over from Alex Ferguson. Inter successfully defended their Serie A title and also won the Champion’s League, leading Real Madrid to take the plunge and offer him the position of manager at the club. Again, Mourinho could be excused for swapping Inter Milan for one of the biggest clubs in the world.

He lasted three seasons at Real Madrid before leaving, despite signing a new contract in between years two and three, to return to Chelsea. An average win ratio of 76.30% dropped to 63.20% in his third year at Chelsea the first time around and it went from 76.30% in year one of Real Madrid to 86.20% in year two before dropping to 68.40% in year three. So far in his third season of his second spell at Chelsea he’s won just one game in the first five fixtures, leading many to believe that he suffers from a third season syndrome.

When asked by the BBC’s Ben Smith if he felt he still has the qualities of a great manager and whether his struggles in his third seasons were problematic the Portuguese manager replied, “Look, my third season – in Porto, I didn’t have a third season. My third season in Inter, I didn’t have a third season. My third season at Chelsea the first time, I won the FA Cup and the Carling Cup, and I played the Champions League semi-finals. My third season in Real Madrid, I won the Super Cup, I lost the cup [Copa del Rey] final, and I went to the Champions League semi-finals. These are my third seasons… So click Google, instead of making stupid questions, click Google and try to find… you spoke about the third season, and I am telling you that the question is stupid, because the third season is what I told you… I know the point, the point is that the question is stupid. I am sorry…”

Given Chelsea’s poor start to the season many will feel the question is far from stupid and that Mourinho will need to see a dramatic improvement in his side’s results if he is to persuade Roman Abramovich to have a bit more patience with him. It will alarm many Chelsea fans that Mourinho’s relationship with the press has seemingly taken a turn for the worse considering it was that that seemed to force him out of the Bernabau towards the end of his time at Real Madrid. Mourinho reportedly said to a journalist from Marca, Real Madrid’s mouthpiece, “In the world of soccer, my people and I are top and in the world of journalism you’re a sh*t”.

Hammersmith and Fulham council have declared that they are “generally happy” about Chelsea’s plans to redevelop Stamford Bridge.

Roman Abramovich has chosen to invest in the redevelopment of Chelsea’s home ground in order to bring the Bridge up to date with the capacity of the Premier League defending champion’s rivals.

Chelsea’s current stadium has been their home since 1905 and has a capacity of 42,000. That is significantly smaller than Manchester United’s 79, 000, Arsenal’s 60,000 and Manchester City’s 55,000. Liverpool are also currently revamping their stadium to take it from 42,500 to a 54,000 capacity stadium.

Abramovich had initially wanted to move away from Stamford Bridge and the Chelsea hierarchy described the likelihood of expanding their current home as “not feasible or viable” in 2012. The club had made an approach to build a new stadium on the grounds of the iconic Battersea Power Station, but that was rejected.

Chelsea are reportedly close to agreeing a deal with Wembley in order to allow them to play their home games at the stadium of the national team having previously been turned down when the made a similar approach to play at the home of England rugby, Twickenham.

Having submitted their preliminary documents to the Hammersmith and Fulham council and received their blessing as long as “certain conditions are met”, Chelsea are now expected to submit their full application. It is hoped that work can begin on the new stadium at the start of next season.