Two different managers...One Team

Now, we have seen Chelsea for the first month of the season and I'm not going to crown them championship already or anything but they look darn good. And I am just going to assume what Jose Mourinho would say if they were to win the Premier League and/or the Champions League, it will probably go something like this: "Well, he (Scolari) has accomplished all this with my players." This statement is flawed in many ways but I'm not going to really discuss that. I'm going to try and discuss how two different managers formed this Chelsea team into a dangerous team for anyone playing them.

Now we know how Jose Mourinho manages his teams. He finds ways to counter and score and also how to bog down to get his results. His style was not always the greatest, he will be the first to admit this, but they got the job done. Meanwhile you have Scolari coming in and he wants the ball moving very fast. You will not see his Chelsea squad booming balls into Drogba for him to just hold it up. He wants his guys for the most part to keep the ball on the ground and be able to express themselves and not stay in one spot like a machine or something like that.

Now how does this come together? Think of this team playing the lower teams in the Premiership or even the weaker opponents of the Champions League on the road because believe or not you need to beat them to win championships because they are the competition that you are suppose to win. These teams will try to intimidate teams like the Chelseas, Man Utds, Arsenals of the world. They don't plan on playing attractive soccer, they just want to put ten men behind the ball and counter attack. Scolari is going to want to play attractive soccer, keep the ball and find ways to score, but what if that is not necessarily working at the moment? What if their scare tactics are working for the first 45 minutes of the game? Now you can bring out the same players that Mourinho had and they can find a way to score goals as dirty and as cheap as anyone, then once you can get that first one no matter how it is, the flood gates will open and that's the different between this team who were bullied by a Stoke City for a half and then turned up the heat on them, and an immature who wants to walk the ball in the net ALWAYS and ends up losing to a Hull City side (by the way I do like the Arsenal even though I'm criticizing them). The strong team knows how to just get the result and look at the next game. Mourinho and now Scolari have helped to form this side in being a favorite to win everything they enter because they know how to win by any means possible.

Is It Time?

The Tinkerman's hour may be up. 4 goals in the last 5 games is hardly a stat that makes Juventus fans quiver with excitement. With such such a high-powered attack, boasting the likes of (now injured) David Trezeguet, Amauri, Alex Del Piero, Vincenzo Iaquinta, Mauro Camoranesi and Pavel Nedved, why aren't the goals flowing?

In my opinion, the problem lies in Claudio Ranieri's overwhelmingly cautious mindset. Too often he goes into matches hoping not to lose, rather than attempting to win. It happened multiple times last year, when Juve lost the title by not being able to beat the smaller teams. Too many times the players he dispatched seem intent on defending with their lives, rather than capitalizing on weaker opponents and attacking with aplomb. Interestingly enough, Ranieri seems to grow in confidence when his Bianconeri side face opponents of a larger magnitude, rarely ever losing to "big" clubs. More often than not, Juve has prevailed in the higher profile matches over the past year or so, leading me to believe that Ranieri does have it in his power to play with an aggressive mindset.

Many of Ranieri's critics (myself included) state that his tactics are too cautious overall, and he should be scrapped in favor of a more adventurous manager. While the midfield tandem of Christian Poulsen and Momo Sissoko offer plenty of steel and defensive cover, a more creative centre-midfielder would provide much of the spark the side needs. While much of the blame can be placed on Ranieri, it's been a long-standing point of contention with Juventus supporters over lack of discretion in the transfer market.

However, although Ranieri does seem to have a no-lose mindset, it has to be said that with the exception of Amauri, most of the attacking players have not been pulling their weight on the goalscoring front. With chances galore, someone besides the big Brazilian-Italian has to step up before Ranieri is sacrificed on their behalf.

Welcome

Welcome to On The Touchline. I created this blog in order to bring together a group of people who are passionate about football, soccer, footie, whatever you want to call it. All of us are highly opinionated about the game, and I wanted to create an open forum for all of us to speak our minds about whatever footballing matters we feel merits a discussion or monologue.

I hope whoever reads it enjoys, but if not, we really don't care.

-- Aaron