Chelsea: Is Graham Potter right for the job?

 

As at the time of writing this post, Chelsea are in talks to get Brighton and Hove Albion manager Graham Potter into the club after sacking Thomas Tuchel.

First of all, let's see why Graham Potter has caught the eye of the hierarchy at Chelsea. He has gotten Brighton to the top 4, even though the season is still young. He has stayed in the Premier league for a couple of years and can claim to have some experience.  His brand of football is also eye catching,  with fast paced passing football which promises(and usually delivers) a lot of excitement and goals. He has also been known to shop for hidden gems in the lower leagues across Europe and make them superstars. Cucurella and Bisouma are good case studies.

However, I do have some doubts about how good he will be for Chelsea. The pressure in Chelsea is far higher than what is obtained at Brighton. If he gets appointed, Graham Potter will suddenly have to face European nights at Milan and in Austria. Even though he has a little experience in Europe due to his time in Sweden( he was the coach that led Osterunds to defeat Arsenal in the Europa League a few seasons back), it will be quite a different experience in Chelsea. He will not just be expected to win games, he will be expected to challenge for titles.  While defeats against Manchester City or Arsenal can be waved off as a Brighton coach, it will be well scrutinized if he manages the Blues. He may have gotten Brighton to their highest even finish in the Premier league (9th last year) but even last season there were periods when they struggled and lost consecutive matches. If that repeats itself in any form in Chelsea, he will likely get the sack.

As a bigger club, Chelsea will be expected to get marquee signings season after season. Will super stars with the egos bigger than a skyscraper be able to follow a man whose biggest achievement may be the Chelsea gig? How will he manage the big egos in the club will be another aspect that would be interesting. Will he be able to command the respect of the players in the team already? 

 Also, it's very likely that he won't be able to make those cut-throat signings that he managed to get at Brighton, as clubs will automatically raise the transfer fee if it's Chelsea that comes calling. This will increase  the pressure on the man. That pressure will increase if his signings fail to have the expected impact or become a flop. Even at Brighton, he has signed a few players that have flopped.

The most important aspect, however is to improve the current form of the team. If Graham Potter can do that, I believe the rest will be sorted out in time.

Check it out! Mourinho chants added in FIFA 16

The latest iteration of the massively popular football simulation, which is released in September, features popular crowd songs, with the Blues duo serenaded by supporters

 What football fan doesn’t love a good chant in the stands?! Well, if you’re a supporter who loves a good sing-song it would appear that Fifa 16 is the game for you.

Such is the realism of the current iterations of football games, it would seem churlish to suggest that chants are the only reason to buy the latest version of the game – which is released on September 22 – but EA Sports have taken steps to ensure that the most realistic chants are included.

And that will be music to the ears of Chelsea fans, with their chant for Diego Costa – simply ‘Diego, Diego, Diego’ – included, along with a ditty for manager Jose Mourinho.

In a video clip from the demo version of the game - which is out now - Costa is seen to score against Manchester City, with supporters hailing their striker as he celebrates, and another shows them serenading the manager.

Watch the videos - shared by Luke Freemantle - below!

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-jZmhHKRP0&feature=player_embedded

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTx6AV71YVw&feature=player_embedded

Culled from Goal.com

Latest Soccer Transfers

 The transfer season has not officially kicked off but some major transfers has taken place..........

The Biggest transfers here for you:

 From the Premiership:
Petr Cech has moved from Chelsea to Arsenal for 14 million euros, while Liverpool has engaged in a host of free transfers, the biggest one being the capture of James Milner from Manchester City. Danny Ings is another person to move to Liverpool free of charge. The Reds have however brought Robert Firmino from Hoffenheim  for 41 million euros while Nathaniel Clyne joins from Southampton for 17.6 million euros . Chelsea has not made any major signing, while Memphis Depay remains the biggest signing for Manchester United.

From the La Liga:
Jackson Martinez has followed the footsteps of Colombian compatriot Falcao in moving from Porto to Atletico Madrid for 35 million euros, while Barcelona has signed Alexis Vidal from Sevilla for 20 million euros despite not having him around until January. Gael Kakuta has finally made a permanent move from Chelsea as Sevilla has snapped him up for 4.5 million euros. The biggest spenders in the La Liga and in Europe, Real Madrid, has not yet made any signing

From the Serie A:
AC Milan,  the recent 'citadel' for worn-out and under performing soccer players has started their summer recruitment already, bringing a couple of players including Rodrigo Ely from Avellino on a free transfer and the Simone Verdi from Torino for 450,000 euros. Yes, 450,000 euros! Unbeatable at this period! Their city rivals Inter Milan seemed to have made stronger moves in the transfer market, bringing Geoffrey Kondogbia from Monaco for 40 million euros and Jeison Murillo from Granada for 8 million euros. Four times champions Juventus have made major signings, starting with Sami Khedira from Real Madrid for free and Mario Mandzukic for 19 million euros. They have also made the move of Roberto Pereyra permanent, signing him for 14 million euros. Their competitors last season in Roma have also made some moves in the market, with Radja Nainggolan the biggest move, joining from Cagliari for 14 million euros. Napoli have signed Pepe Reina for free from Bayern, while Jorginho joined from Verona for 4.5 million euros.

From the Bundesliga:
Bayern Munich made their biggest move so far in the transfer market by bringing Douglas Costa from Shakhtar Donetsk for 30 million euros. Borussia Dortmund have made a couple of signings too, with Gonzalo Castro joining from Leverkusen for 11 million euros. Borussia Monchengladbach have made the move of  Thorgan Hazard from Chelsea permanent, bringing him for 8 million euros. Leverkusen have signed Kyriakos Papadopoulos from Schalke 04 for 6.5 million euros while Matija Nastasic has joined Schalke 04 from Manchester City on a permanent deal for 9.5 million euros.Max Kruse has moved from Borussia Monchengladbach to Wolfsburg for 12 million euros.

Champions League is coming back

Soon on your Television screens, the biggest soccer game will be live on air; The Champions League!

To remind you of the fixtures ( FROM UEFA.COM)

Paris		20.45		Chelsea
Referee: TBD – Stadium: Parc des Princes, Paris (FRA)
Shakhtar Donetsk		20.45		Bayern
Referee: TBD – Stadium: Arena Lviv, Lviv (UKR)

18 February 2015

Basel		20.45		Porto
Referee: TBD – Stadium: St. Jakob-Park, Basel (SUI)
Schalke		20.45		Real Madrid
Referee: TBD – Stadium: Stadion Gelsenkirchen, Gelsenkirchen (GER)

24 February 2015

Man. City		20.45		Barcelona
Referee: TBD – Stadium: City of Manchester Stadium, Manchester (ENG)
Juventus		20.45		Dortmund
Referee: TBD – Stadium: Juventus Stadium, Turin (ITA)

25 February 2015

Arsenal

20.45

Monaco

Referee: TBD – Stadium: Arsenal Stadium, London (ENG)

Leverkusen

20.45

Atlético

I’m still desperate for success, says Aiyegbeni

The new Royals’ signing has promised to bang in goals aplenty for the Championship side if given the right service


Reading FC striker Yakubu Aiyegbeni has pledged to score goals for the English Championship side.
The prolific who made a shock move to English football from his Qatari based outfit trained for the first time with his teammates on Wednesday, and has expressed his confidence to deliver the goods in opposition boxes.
"When I get the ball I know I’m going to score, for sure. I have confidence in myself. I hope they [teammates] feed me and then I can score, Aiyegbeni told Reading Chronicles.
"As a striker you want to score goals. If you don’t score goals then you’re not doing your job. For me, I always believe I’ll score, no matter what league.
"It’s great to see people recognising the goals I’ve scored. People back home were excited for this move as well, so I don’t want to let anyone down.
“I’m still desperate for success. I’m not finished.”

The new Royals hitman has found the net on his last three debuts in England - and he is hoping to be involved at Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday so that he can continue that streak.
“It would be nice to make it four. For me, I just want to give everything and hopefully I can score and we can win. It’s a quicker journey home when you pick up all three points,” he continued.
“I’ve been training hard in Qatar for the past two weeks so I’m fit. The Championship is more physical and I’m ready to go.

“I hope to be involved on Saturday but we’ll see what the manager decides.
The deal for Yakubu is only a short-term one until the end of the season. But the talisman is already looking long-term and is confident that Reading are a club on the up.
“The club has ambition. They want to be in the Premier League next year.
“I don’t think it is possible this season but hopefully we finish in a good position and then we can fight to be in the Premier League next season.

“If I do well here then I’d love to stay but you never know in football. I’m just loving it at the moment, I’m happy to be here and hopefully I can help the team,” he concluded.

Culled from Goal.Com

Official: Estoril sign Dele Alampasu

Congrats Alampasu! Estoril, a club in Portugal's top flight league,  has signed former Nigeria's U-17 goalie, Dele Alampasu for an undisclosed fee according to Goal Nigeria.

Alampasu, who was tipped to join a couple of teams in Spain and Belgium after impressing at the last U-17 Championship was training with the current U-20 side for the African Youth Championship in Senegal, but was excused in order to sort his future.

This is hoping that he quickly becomes a success at EStoril, and who knows, he may exceed Vincent Enyeama in club football.

Violence in African soccer.

Equatorial Guinea were knocked out of the AFCON on Thursday and the fans did what was common with bitter Nigerian soccer fans or better put any bitter, unintelligent soccer fan in the world, they started to vent their anger on the players who 'dared' to defeat them.

The home fans, who saw their team thoroughly and probably deserving beaten, threw bottles at the Ghanian players and their fans, inviting the interference of the security personnel. The whole situation ate up thirty minutes of the game as police had to use tear gas and an helicopter to stop the maddening scenes. Consequently, play resumed, but with Guinea been soundly beaten.

It has been condemned by the Ghana FA and i suspect the LOC of AFCON will condemn it as well, part of what I like to call 'positive noises', but the question I will like to ask is, when will African soccer fans learn to be gallant losers?

We know how it feels to lose badly when expectations are high, but seriously we have to grow beyond this 'violent' way of demonstrating our anger. Its not only Equatorial Guinea mind you, am sure most African soccer fans will do the same in their shoes. We see these incidences in our local leagues; especially those from West and Central Africa. There are also incidences in Europe, so its not entirely an African thing, but the intensity and 'regularity' it occurs in Africa is astounding.

The fact is that we can't continue like this, and while stadium bans and competition bans are useful in these situations, it seems like the best thing is to enlighten the fans about what they are doing. Its wrong, no matter what happens on the pitch, to constitute such nuisance in the stadium. They must learn that.

An advice to African soccer fans; If you know that defeat pains you easily, then don't come to the pitch expecting anything specific, just come to enjoy the game. That's the best way to enjoy African soccer.