I Have watched just about every game Chelsea have played during the Roman Abramovich years. On the surface of it seems a very harsh and somewhat predictable decision by Abramovich. Carlo can be very proud of his 2 years at Chelsea. Roman Abramovich made one huge bungle during his years and that was replacing Jose Mourinho with Avram Grant. Chelsea had their man but Roman got greedy and it all ended in tears, for Chelsea fans anyway. Chelsea were a machine under Mourinho, They were extremely hard to beat, defensively rock solid, had great team spirit. It was always going to be near impossible to meet the standards Mourinho set at Chelsea and that has set the scene for the revolving door. Carlo's standards which would have been more than acceptable at many other clubs, are simply not at Chelsea because Mourinho set the bar so high. Once Abramovich sacked Mourinho, he could find an excuse to sack anyone.
THis Chelsea team has been fraying at the edges all over the place since Mourinho left. The team that won the double were not a patch on the Chelsea team from 2004-2006 in my opinion. They don't have the same physical power, they don't have the same ability to be incredibly difficult to break down, they don't have the same ability to come from behind time and time again. They scored more goals and were more attractive at times. However they were easier to beat, and got beaten more often, bottom line. The only few months where they looked rock solid in the last 4-5 years in my opinion was under Guss Hiddink. They had a real drive and steel that has been hot and cold under Carlo in his 2 years. Even the year we won the double we lost plenty of games in the PL. Under Hiddink we lost 1 game and were extremely unlucky to lose to all conquering Barcelona.
Carlo is a very good manager and a very dignified guy. I believe you only replace Carlo if you have someone better, and I have some faith the club already have their man. The only 4 realistic better options would be Mourinho, Hiddink, Guardiola or Villas-Boas (a risk but so was a young Mourinho at the time). IN my opinion any of these 4 would be an improvement and capable of re energising a jaded side. However if you are going to replace Carlo, with a Van Basten or Zola, or Mark Hughes, or Frank Rjikarrd then it is madness and just changing for changing sake.
He did lead us to the double which was a great achievement. However it was basically an FA Cup against lower division clubs all the way through. Fans from opposition all come in and say you ran 2nd its not a bad season. However this was a very poor season from Chelsea. NO players improved or developed from the previous seasons. 71 points is a pathetic total with the squad we possess. It's our poorest total in about 8 years by a fair way. Alot lot of the performances were extremely turgid and lacking in creativity. It's no secret Carlo couldn't quite find the keys to re energising an ageing AC Milan team and I see signs of that at Chelsea. Tactics appeared stale, substitutions uninspired. 71 points is along long way from the 95 Jose Mourinho accumulated in 2005. 71 points is a good 10 points behind any league total of ours in the past 7 or 8 years. I'm sorry but its incredibly mediocre.
Carlo had 2 big games in the Champions League at Chelsea. IN 09/10 we were comprehensively outplayed and lost both legs to Inter. In 10/11 we were comprehensively outplayed and lost both legs to United. That is 4 defeats in his only 4 big games in the Champions League with Chelsea. The last 3 games of the season told a tale for me. AT Chelsea player power has always been big, rightly or wrongly. And they didn't play for Carlo in those last 3 games. They were meek in the title decided, and not interested against Newcastle or Everton.
Like I said Carlo is a very good manager, and well respected at Chelsea. If he stayed I wouldn't complain. However I think the club has got their man in Guss Hiddink, and you will find more then 50% of hard core Chelsea fans feel the same way about replacing Carlo. Remember Guss was not shown the door by Chelsea. He left because he had a contract with Russia. Chelsea were desperate to keep him, however Abramovich relented because he would have been hated in his native Russia if he stole Guss. Now, Abramovich, in my opinion is going to get his man full time.
One issue I haven't really touched on is the players themselves. THis will be a very interesting summer. The likes of Lampard may be starting to show the first signs of decline. Anelka, Drogba, Malouda and co are not getting any younger. We need more creativity in midfield, we need more pace, we need wingers and we need to decdie what the F*** to do with Fernando Torres!!!
