Robben back as big guns prepare to
battle
Friday, Sep 15, 2006
As the Premiership gears up for its biggest weekend of the season
so far, José Mourinho welcomes back Arjen Robben into his squad for
the visit of Liverpool.
On what is being dubbed Grand Slam Sunday by broadcasters showing
the games live, Chelseas match is followed by Man United versus
Arsenal as the teams the Chelsea manager expects to finish in the
top four go head-to-head.
I think it is nice, he said looking forward after Fridays
training. I would prefer one game on the Saturday and another game
on the Sunday so I could enjoy it by seeing the other game, he
smiled, but it is always enjoyable for people who love the game,
these big matches between the big teams.
Chelsea and Liverpool played on Tuesday in the Champions League,
Man United and Arsenal played Wednesday so the resting time is
exactly the same for the teams that play each other.
If Chelsea and Man United are both victorious at the weekend then
we would be sitting on 12 points, Man U on 15 with Liverpool stuck
on 4 points and Arsenal 2.
And if the opposite happens? Arsenal beat Man United and Liverpool
beat us? questioned Mourinho. I think we cannot go with the ifs.
It is just the beginning of the season.
Points are important, especially for the teams that are coming
from behind. If they lose again they will start to be in a
difficult position, but all four are good teams, all are better
this season than last - more players, better players, better
solutions I dont believe after Sunday a loser says it is over
for me.
Joe Cole, who scored in three of the last four Premiership meetings
between Chelsea and Liverpool will be kept out of Sundays home
game by his knee injury.
He attempted a comeback in the closing stages of Tuesdays game
versus Werder Bremen, playing the last ten minutes. That was after
injuring knee ligaments in Chelseas first pre-season game in
America.
However the player now needs further recovery time before playing
again.
But Mourinho has announced that Arjen Robben will be involved in
Sundays match. He is back in the squad for the first time in
three-and-a-half weeks having recovered from a calf problem.
Mourinho said: I like to play with people wide. I think Robben
played a very good game against Man City and after that we were
waiting for more but the next game against Middlesbrough, he was
injured in the warm-up.
After that, I was four consecutive matches without him. I like to
play with people wide so I need him back. Again we dont have both
Robben and Cole at the same time. But we have one of them.
Mourinho believes being denied both his most-selected wide players
for any game this season is one of the factors that has prevented
the side hitting top gear yet.
It means we havent had the chance to use different styles of play
during a game, he explains.
The first problem is to keep our level of performance during 90
minutes, because we played much better against Charlton and Werder
Bremen in the first-half than the second-half.
The second point is about automatic movements like playing with
a blindfold.
You need to know what your fellow players are doing. You need to
know when you make a cross and Shevchenko makes his movement, that
he goes to this space or he wants the ball in that spot. It is the
kind of routines we need.
Any day, any game, Shevchenko will go there and score two or three
goals and is again in a scoring period, Mourinho believes. But we
need to work collectively, like we trained today.
Today we trained like we never did this season before. It was one
of the few days we have had to work tactically and on co-ordination
in the team. We had a very good session today and next week we will
have again two or three days like that because we play Sunday and
then Saturday.
This is the kind of week we need, especially the new players to
feel better inside of the team.
Mourinho gave progress reports on two of those new players Khalid
Boulahrouz, right-back for the last three games, and his new
left-back, Ashley Cole.
I know that Boulahrouzs best position is central defence but we
have in Ricardo and JT, two great players for that position, doing
very well for us.
I feel safe by having Boulahrouz in the squad because he gives me
protection in case of problems with these two players, but at the
same time, defensively he is very, very safe.
I normally say in relation to this type of player, he is a player
of no mistakes. When I say no mistakes, of course sometimes the
mistakes will come but overall he is a player that plays very safe
in the game. He gives us a lot of security.
In terms of the group, Ashley Cole is feeling very good. This is
an easy place to adapt to. In terms of football, it is not so easy.
He played for Arsenal in a certain system and a certain philosophy
for a long, long time and I can imagine it is hard to come here and
with a click of his fingers, be at his top level. But he is
improving and again the work we are doing today has been
important.
We have to wait but while we are doing this work, if we can do it
without losing points, that is perfect. If you dont lose points
now and your best time is still to arrive, you can be very
positive.
