Posted July 3, 201410 yr “It’s a far cry from small boys in the park, jumpers for goalposts. Isn’t it? Mmmmm. Marvellous.†Ron Manager - The Fast Show. Admittedly, not your normal run-of-the-mill Media analytical quote, but this Paul Whitehouse character sums up my most recent World Cup experience perfectly. Suits me, sir, you might say - much like it does the vast majority of pundits and assorted hacks currently enjoying the junket that’s going on in Brazil at the moment. I’ve lost count of the number of times the phrase ‘best ever’ has been used to describe the event, as we learn that there is after all, even in football-speak, another way of expressing exceptionality other than using the word ‘quality’ every five minutes. Still, I shouldn’t complain, because the uniqueness of this World Cup’s offerings is being scrutinized by the messengers and they are at least trying to make sense of it all. So, why does it feel that much more exciting this time around? For me, speed is the essence and fitness the petrol in the tank of every top performance on show. For Gerard Houlier, now with Fifa’s Technical Studies Group preparing a report on proceedings, it is a belief that ’the audacity of hope has made Brazil special’- a combination of attacking verve and a sense of abandon fuelling the action at every turn. However, ex-Gunner Alan Smith begs to differ on the attacking verve front, equating this with a coach’s ability to smoke-and-mirror his way through a game, by tinkering with formations, when all the while it is the star players within them that make the systems work. This is the sort of pragmatism that Jose would be proud of and it leads me on to the main point I want to make here, a point that’s long since been foremost in our minds, ever since the inevitable happened and England went out at the group stage - what can Chelsea learn from this World Cup that we the fans, and more importantly Jose, didn’t know before. In short, how can any knowledge gained help next term? Well, I’d like to use three categories of, for want of a better word, newness in my own analysis - formations, players and philosophies - the first of which can be dispensed with rather quickly, in my opinion. Having witnessed Alf Ramsey’s ’Wingless Wonders’ firsthand, I can confirm that functional it certainly was, free-flowing and speedy it most definitely wasn’t. Moreover, evolution of what was essentially an old-fashioned 3-5-2 formation into its modern day equivalent, as used by Louis van Gaal against Mexico to release Robben down the centre, is pure figment of the imagination. Likewise, in the blink of an eye or the prejudice of a reporter, one man’s 4-2-3-1 system is another man’s 4-5-1 and an outrageous bit of bus-parking. Warming to this theme and fast-show-forwarding again to next season‘s press conferences, oh how I would love to see Jose come out in full Mark Williams ‘Jesse‘ mode to deliver lines like “This week I will be mostly playing 4-2-3-1, and mostly wearing Dolce and Gabbana.†just to emphasise the sheer soppiness of the Media’s obsession with our play compared to Liverpool’s adventurousness last season and United’s (anticipated) van Gaal-driven, jet-propelled counter-attacks. And in any event, Jose has already catered for the spinal tap he’s likely to get from the press by snapping up Cesc Fabregas, to hold with Matic, and identifying Diego Costa as the spearhead most suited to Premiership life, if not at the tip of those dying tiki-taka embers, otherwise known as the Spanish national team. Having already mentioned two new players acquired, has the World Cup thrown up any others that might attract our attention? Personally, I think the Chelsea jury should remain out until further new evidence is obtained on this one. Indeed, it may only be one that we are interested in, hopes of a home grown breakthrough dashed in the opening weeks, when Ross Barkley missed the bus both literally, as journeyman, and metaphorically, as a seldom-seen substitute. He alone, amongst England’s motley crew, might have forced his way into Jose’s thought processes, whereas now Lukaku has another stage upon which to trip his [far from] light fantastic finishing. Whether he will ultimately convince the boss of his genuine second striker status is anyone’s guess, our cupboard in this respect being somewhat bare, but it may well be heavily influenced by our emptiness elsewhere…. And this brings me on to my final piece of newness analysis, namely philosophies in football. This World Cup is patently no different to any other when it comes to promoting the beautiful game, but, as soon as the eyes of the world are off this competition, club culture is stereotypically quick to kick-in again. For instance, Liverpool’s belief in Luis Suarez may be shaken, after the biter bit for a third time, but it wasn’t stirred enough for them to consider anything other than an immediate sale, which is exactly what the Uruguayan wanted all along. Barcelona’s philosophy can go hang too, apparently, whilst they bring in a striker who shows not the slightest inclination of wanting to change his own chewy creed. Then there is Real Madrid’s philosophy of buying the best, come Hell or UEFA Financial Fair Play high watermark, their latest target being James Rodriguez, a player who is so well equipped to play the support role to Diego Costa twinges of Chelse conscience twang at the mere mention of his name. Quite simply, further compromise of our own [oft-stated] philosophy of eventually bringing a stream young players through to first team status and abiding by FFP rules is but a Rodriguez bid away. Just think, if he were to take his team through to the World Cup semi-finals and beyond, what a temptation it would be. After all, the host nation would be out, a new world order would wake up and smell Columbian coffee, and we all know what that means, philosophically speaking. Ron Manager once put it far better than I ever could… “Oh, those Brazilians, you know? Circa 1970? Broke the mould. Theory out the window. Free expression of football. Uncategorisable. Is that a word? It is now! You know? Far cry from small boys in the park, jumpers for goalposts. Rush goalie. Two at the back, three in the middle, four up front, one's gone home for his tea. Beans on toast? Possibly, don't quote me on that. Marvellous.†.
