12 SATURDAY VISION, December 13, 2014

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Wrong tactics cost

Mour at Newcastle

apis Cisse
will not
be a very
STAR
popular
LETTER
figure at
the Stamford Bridge for some time to come.
After breaking the hearts
of Chelsea fans
by scoring that
screamer which
eventually won
the goal of the
season accolade
in the 2012-13
season, this
29-year old was
not yet done
tormenting
Chelsea. His brace this past weekend did
not only end Chelseas unbeaten run this
season but most painfully buried their
chances of dinning with the Gunners at the
same table of Invincibles at least for this
season.

BY MOSES EKUNU

Nemanja Matic excuse

A section of Chelsea fans think if Matic
was in this game, the result would have
been different. I find this extremely
ridiculous and baseless. Make no
mistake Matic has been Chelseas
most improved player this season
but he is certainly not their
best. In my opinion he
has not even excelled in
that holding midfield role
because, for the 14 games
he has played, Chelsea
have conceded 11 goals
compared to for example
Makelele who conceded
only 15 goals the entire
2004/05 season.
The blame for the
loss needs to be
squarely put on
Jose Mourinho
because he
clearly got his
tactics wrong.
Body language

Going into this game, Mourinho was clearly a

scared man all the way from the pre-match press
conference where he claimed that Newcastle
play the game of their life only when they are
playing against Chelsea and treat other games as
friendlies. He was not even answering journalists questions the same way he normally does
since he was at times only nodding and giving
the yes/no answers. This game had clearly got
onto his nerves and in case he thought he was
playing mind games, he was dead wrong. He
was only motivating and truly preparing the
Magpies for the game of their life and there he
got it!

Mourinhos attacking approach

Aware that he was going to play a game which
was like a final, not in a neutral venue but in the
opponents home, the obvious approach should
have been to go cautious. I would have expected
a defensive approach from Chelsea and the
world knows Mourinho is the best at that.
Instead he went all out on attack from the onset
of the game. This is the time I expected him to
bring in Petr Cech who is still clearly more stable
in between the goal posts and better experienced
to command the back four, unlike the young
Courtois who, from the start of the season, concedes an average of
a goal per game.
He may have

been unlucky on the day but his

approach too contributed to losing
the game.

Poor choice of substitutes

When Chelsea were a goal down
in the 67th minute, Mourinho
replaced a defender for a defender
(Azpilicueta for Filipe Luis). I dont
remember the last time I saw Chelsea do that when they are chasing
a game. Ramires was right there
on the bench praying for an opportunity to run down Newcastle
on the left wing especially now
since they were behind. Moreover,
shortly after, they got a one-man
advantage when Taylor was sent
off in the 80th minute. I have completely failed to understand what
was in Mourinhos mind when
making this substitution.
His claim on the ball boy and
the fans
At the end of the game, claims by
Mourinho of the ball boy delaying
with the ball and the fans keeping
it for a long time when it went out
of play was ridiculous. Even in
Serere these days they play football matches with at least two balls
so that in case one disappears in
the nearby bush, they have a second one at hand as the one in the
bush is being sought. How many
balls were in St. James for crying
out loud? The good thing for
Mourinho is that this wasnt the
worst time to lose a game because
they are still on top of the league
and still in all other competitions.
On a different note, I think bars
near the stadiums should begin
contributing some percentage of
their profit to the home football
clubs especially when home clubs
win because the barrels of beer
which were consumed in bars
around St. James Park following
that victory, were historical.

The writer can be reached

at mosesekunu@gmail.com

Mourinho reacts as he speaks during an earlier news conference. He could have got his tactics wrong at Newcastle

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QUOTE OF THE
WEEK

The former player of United?

Thats an English expression?
Hmm: maybe. He can say everything because he is an exlegend, but as an ex-legend,
or a legend, you have to know
what you are saying. You can
interpret: make an interpretation of that. Its not so difficult
to make an interpretation, when
I say he has to pay attention to
his words.
MAN UNITED MANAGER LOUIS VAN GAAL REACTING
TO GARY NEVILLE COMMENTS THAT UNITED HAD
GOT AWAY WITH MURDER AT SOUTHAMPTON

GOSSIP...
r Arsenal boss Arsene
Wenger treated the taunts
of Stoke City fans with
good humour after defeat
last Saturday. Stoke fans
love nothing more than
taunting Wenger, but they
were denied the chance
to mimic the Arsenal
managers gestures on
the touchline because
he stayed seated in the
dugout throughout the
match. That chant from the
home supporters was that
Wenger was too scared
to stand up, and the Gunners boss admitted, albeit
with tongue in cheek, that
there was a certain truth to
that. There is one single
reason, he said. They
love me so much. I didnt
want to give them an opportunity to show me their
love.
r Manchester United
boss Louis van Gaal is
preparing for a major clearout. The Daily Mail says
reserve goalkeeper Anders
Lindegaard could be the
first to go in January, with
Anderson also set to leave.
Nani has been in impres-

BY DAUDI OCHIENG

sive form on loan at Sporting Lisbon but United are

unlikely to recall the winger
and will look to sell to a
club ready to take on his
120,000 wages a week.
Javier Hernandez, Tom
Cleverley, Wilfried Zaha
and Nick Powell are also
on loan and unlikely to return. Darren Fletcher is out
of contract at the end of
the season, as Robin van
Persie, Ashley Young, Phil
Jones, Chris Smalling and
Rafael will have one year
left on their deals. It means
that up to 10 players could
leave Old Trafford.
r Sir Alex Ferguson is
concerned about the
transfer spending at Manchester United. The Mail
says while he genuinely
rates Louis van Gaal as a
coach, Ferguson is rather
bemused at the club suddenly changing its thrifty
approach in transfers. Ferguson has concerns over
whether the big spending
will destabilise the club.
United are expected to
splash out 200m in the
next two transfer windows.