There’s no excuse to be bored

THE SUGARMAN SAYS

There’s no excuse to be bored. Sad, yes. Angry, yes. Depressed, yes. Crazy, yes. But there’s no excuse for boredom, ever.

September 25^th, seven games gone, and the premiere league is all but over according to sections of the media. Accusations of ‘Boredom’, negativity, the berating of the 4-5-1 system, Arsene Wenger calling for ‘bonus points for goals’, and other such nonsense, are littering our newspapers with alarming regularity. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised and really I "oughta know by now", but "I Cannot believe its true".

If you read the criticism, you’d be forgiven for thinking Jose Mourinho was stood in SW6 dealing crack to school children, rather than effectively managing his football team. Since when has it been a crime to be good at your job? Since when has having a solid defensive unit been wrong?

At what point was it exactly that having a midfield that features Duff, Robben, Lampard, Wright-Phillips and Cole became the footballing equivalent of watching paint dry?

Its up to ‘The Sugarman’ to tell "Both sides of the story" . Yes Jose goes on like he’s the "Son of Man" or ‘special one’ or whatever, but who wouldn’t in his position?

Chelsea have scored more goals at home than any side in the premiere league. (Only Charlton have more goals on the road). The blues have more goals in total, more shots at goal, and a midfield as exciting as any in football. In short, when people jump on the ‘footballs getting boring’ bandwagon, the last place the finger of blame should be pointed is Stamford Bridge. "All my life" I’ve waited for the duopoly to be broken and I for one am not complaining about how they go about it.

Yes the Blues system may not be ‘expansive’ (to use the latest media buzzword), it’s certainly not as exciting as the Newcastle of old ("Do you remember?" those 4-3’s?), or some of the Real Madrid teams of recent years, but it IS amazingly effective, decent enough to watch, and its raised the bar tactically in a country which must get its head around systems like this if we’re EVER to win the world cup again. The rubbish I’m reading, well, its "Driving me crazy".

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The task now of Fergie, Wenger, Benitez et al is NOT to cry ‘foul’ and show their "True colours" and chastise the Blues. It’s certainly not a good idea to try a poor imitation of the system, which Ferguson seems so hell bent on copying. Nor is it any good to attempt GCSE psychology in an effort to sway Chelsea into letting their guard down. Its simply time for Chelsea’s rivals to step up to the plate.

This season’s title looks like its going to be won with a record point’s total. Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool and anyone else with title aspirations are going to have to win and keep winning, "Everyday". When teams HAVE to win, they push forward, pressurise until the final minute, attack away from home rather than settle for a draw, take more risks, dive, kick out, lose the plot. When teams are attacking football is at its most beautiful. It’ll be "another day in paradise" for football fans everywhere.

Chelsea’s early pace hasn’t killed this year’s premiere league title race; it’s simply lit the blue touch paper. Wigan should have beaten them on the opening day, with a brand of good old fashioned up and at them football, plenty of long balls "In the air tonight".

The Sugarman predicts others will think ‘feck it’ and follow Wigan’s lead and batter Chelsea in much the same way. Sure some will be picked off and suffer heavy defeats, but others (particularly those facing Chelsea directly after a champions league game) will inevitably triumph. It’s up to Arsenal, Man U, Liverpool et al to forget about what’s going on in SW6, forget moaning about other people’s style of football and make sure THEY are in a position to capitalise when the slip ups inevitably occur.

Chelsea are crying out "come with me", although catching them may look "Against all odds", is it possible, "That’s just the way it is", it’s the way footballs always been? Why the back stabbing by Chelsea’s peers? They’re all managers. "Doesn’t anybody stay together anymore?"

Although, not a fan of Chelsea as such, I do have the utmost respect for Jose Mouriniho. This week he managed to drop into conversation that he’s a big Phil Collins fan, which raised eye brows and according to some, detracted from his ‘uber-cool’ image.

Again, I feel this criticism, like that mentioned earlier, is unduly harsh. Jose’s admission of having a soft spot for the former Genesis drummer only added to the affection I have for him, in fact, in a purely platonic way, you might say the respect I have for him as a football manager, well, it’s erm……………………… "A groovy kind of love