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Chelsea and their coach, José Mourinho, praised to the sky here last week, are having a bit of a crisis. Mourinho is angry that his bosses won’t let him spend money during the transfer window, but among other things, the team desperately needs a top class defender. Captain John Terry is out of action with a back injury, and other injuries mean that right back Paulo Ferreira has been a provisional and not entirely satisfactory replacement to accompany compatriot Ricardo Carvalho in the centre of the defence. Mourinho has his eye on Micah Richards of Manchester City and/or Bolton's Tal Ben Haim, but the owner of the club, Roman Abramovich, has suddenly become a little tight-fisted.
The crisis behind the scenes at Stamford Bridge (despite the team being in second place and still theoretically in the title race behind Manchester United) is such that there have been rumours that Mourinho could be on his way out of the club, although his contract only expires in 2010. If The Blues’ fans were in charge, however, he would stay; the reception they gave him at Saturday’s home game against Wigan was tremendous. And the players have also given their support, Dutch winger Arjen Robben saying “As a group we can only say that we love having him here at Chelsea.”
Man of the match Robben was in great form against Wigan, scoring the second goal and crossing for the third in a 4-0 win. After Chelsea's surprising draw against modest Wycombe Wanderers in the League Cup, it’s a result that will take a little of the pressure off. Meanwhile, this was Wigan's second consecutive league defeat, the northern team conceding seven goals and scoring a grand total of none at all. The Latics are dangerously close to the relegation zone now, and under a different kind of pressure to Chelsea's.
Elsewhere, arguably the best moment of a rather dull afternoon at Goodison Park came before kick off in the match between Everton and Reading, with a familiar figure striding out onto the pitch to warm applause: Rocky Balboa … aka Hollywood actor Sylvester Stallone, in England to promote his film ‘Rocky 6’. He was wearing an Everton scarf, and was later seen wildly celebrating Andy Johnson’s equaliser in a 1-1 draw. So now we know: Sylvester Stallone is a Toffee. [Everton’s nickname]
North of the border in Scotland, the big story of the weekend was the triumphant return to Rangers of coach Walter Smith. Smith, at Ibrox for the second time, replaced Frenchman Paul le Guen, sacked at the beginning of January. The team could not have given him a better welcome: a 5-0 victory over Dundee United. The ‘Gers are still 17 points behind old rivals Celtic, but they’ve pulled away a little from Aberdeen and Hearts.
by Phil Town
Chelsea is crazy if they let the 'Special One' leave. He is the reason they won all the trophies and they can win 4 trophies this year. Here in Portugal we don't call him the 'Special One' - we KNOW he is the 'Special One'!
Posted by: Pedro | January 16, 2007 at 12:20 PM