Chelsea UCL watch: VAR fails Morata, City’s mentality, Simeone’s “bollocks”
By George Perry
3. Chelsea need Diego Simeone’s, er, bollocks
Diego Simeone was always destined to coach at Atletico Madrid. His first six coaching jobs – five in Argentina, one in Italy – were necessary steps en route to his coming home. Having just signed an extension through 2022, Simeone will have 10 years in the same post if he sees out the duration of the contract. If he wins a European trophy and a league title or two in that time, he could just go the Sir Alex Ferguson route.
Atletico Madrid was always in his future. But perhaps Chelsea could have delayed that destiny in 2011 when they were searching for a coach and Simeone was ready for his next job.
When asked about his rather pubic celebration of Atletico’s first goal, Simeone said “I did it in a Lazio-Bologna game. I wanted to say to our fans we have bollocks.” This echoes Jose Mourinho’s explanation for a Chelsea turnaround in 2014: “big balls.”
And just on Tuesday, when musing about what Chelsea currently lack, my colleague Travis said:
I get that people are sick of the constant changing of managers. I am too.
— Travis (@Travtical) February 19, 2019
But it's impossible to accept that the recent weeks or months have been up to standard.
Mourinho was once asked "how did Chelsea win that game?" and he wrote "big balls". #CFC needs their balls back.
Diego Simeone’s approach to fitness, motivation, man-management, in-game management, tactics and organization harken to the glory years of Chelsea. He would have been the ideal manager to transition a squad built under Jose Mourinho and Carlo Ancelotti into the next phase of the club’s evolution. He gets the best out of players, including older players, cast-offs and striker. Simeone understands the importance of homegrown and youth players to the club, as well as how to make the necessary adjustments in-game and day-to-day to win while still hewing to the core project.
Instead, Chelsea hired Andre Villas-Boas, which set in motion a whole series of calamities that left Chelsea, well, here.
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Diego Simeone could have coached at Chelsea for 4-5 years before taking his rightful place at Atletico Madrid. Imagine, one coach for 4-5 years instead of, well, choose any 4-5 year period and count the coaches yourself. Perhaps Simeone would have stayed a few extra years so he could hand off the reins to Frank Lampard or John Terry. He could welcome them to their destiny at Stamford Bridge while he went to Spain to meet his.
Oh, fun fact in case this musing isn’t gloomy enough: Back in 2011, when Chelsea could have been hiring Simeone, they missed another piece of business involving Atletico Madrid. That was when Chelsea were thinking about buying Sergio Aguero. They did not pursue him too hard, and he went to Manchester City.
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We’ll probably be reminded again on Sunday how that worked out for all involved.