nille

Tony Cascarino

If ever a game showed why a great manager can make all the difference, it was Inter Milan beating Chelsea this week. If the two men in the dug-outs at Stamford Bridge in the Champions League on Tuesday had been in charge of the other’s team, the result would have been reversed.

Jose Mourinho tactically outwitted Carlo Ancelotti with a strategy that was brilliantly simple. He negated Frank Lampard by having him tracked to deny him space, made sure Chelsea’s full backs couldn’t bomb on, and Didier Drogba lost his individual battle with Lucio. And Ancelotti, the Chelsea manager, had no answer.

He was a forlorn figure on the touchline, in contrast to Mourinho. The Italian was entitled to expect more from his players – man for man, Chelsea have a better team than Inter. But he showed no ability to turn the game around – something Mourinho possesses. Ancelotti sent out his best available XI, it didn’t work, and he wasn’t able to change anything. His substitutions didn’t work. Michael Ballack, Nicolas Anelka, John Obi Mikel, Drogba, Yuri Zhirkov, Lampard – none performed effectively.

Inter won most of the 50-50 battles. It amazed me that the Chelsea players weren’t desperate to avoid being defeated by their former boss. I thought their attitude would be “whatever we do, we musn’t lose to Jose,” but instead they were subdued, as if they were still missing him. Inter were excellent, but it was still surprising how easily Chelsea were dismantled as an attacking threat.

It leads me on to the second reason why a top manager can be so influential: not just tactics, but squad-building. Had Mourinho stayed at Chelsea beyond 2007-08, he would surely have given the squad an overhaul.

Chelsea have done things the wrong way round since Mourinho left: changing the manager but keeping the players. Things have ticked over, but Mourinho would not have shied away from making big decisions to shake things up and remove any prospect of the side going stale.

Specifically, that means he would have moved on a couple of big names - not least to bring in money to buy younger replacements. Now, Chelsea have an ageing squad that has lost its edge. They may be top of the Barclays Premier League, but they’re still underachieving. With the advantages Ancelotti has enjoyed – Manchester United losing Carlos Tevez and Cristiano Ronaldo, Arsenal suffering from injuries, Liverpool declining – there is really no excuse for Chelsea not to win the league with ease.

I said two years ago that it was time to move Didier Drogba on and I stand by that. I don’t care that he’s having a prolific season and is one of the best strikers in the world. His ego ultimately costs Chelsea in big moments, as we’ve seen in Europe in the past three seasons, and everything becomes all about him, not the team. You can’t trust him under real pressure.

Chelsea should have sold him a year or two ago, and they should part with him this summer while he still has plenty of value. They can replace him with a hungry younger talent. There’s nothing wrong with cashing in on your best players even if they are in or near their prime. United and Arsenal do it, so why don’t Chelsea? It’s sensible – you move on a couple of big earners every season and reinvest the money in fresh blood to keep everyone on their toes and build for the future. The AC Milan model of a squad all growing old together is not the way to do it.

Just off the top of my head, Samuel Eto’o, Zinedine Zidane, Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira, Kaka, Maradona, Ronaldinho, Andriy Shevchenko, David Beckham, Jaap Stam. All stars, all sold by their clubs when they still had plenty to offer. In the long run, losing a top player is not as painful as it might seem at the time.

What Mourinho would have done a while back, Ancelotti must do this summer, even if Chelsea do win the league. Drogba, Ballack, Joe Cole, even Lampard? If the right offer comes in, let them go. Everyone has his price. Chelsea need to become younger and more dynamic. Having stood still for a couple of years, they will very soon start to go backwards unless brave decisions about the line-up are made.

(S01E08) This episode could just as well have been called 'Marathon Robot' or perhaps 'The Manchurian Robot Candidate.' Given the psychological torture Robot Zoe had to go through from her father, it's no wonder that eventually the Cylons will rise up and try to destroy the human race. When you stop to think about it, humanity isn't really giving the first set of sentient artificial intelligences a break. One of them is being hunted and the other is being tortured. It's definitely a case of parenting to the extreme.

Continue reading 'Caprica' - 'Ghosts in the Machine' Recap

 

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Dr. Ed Tronick, director of UMass Boston's new Infant-Parent Mental Health Program http://ccde.umb.edu/certificates/infant-parent-mental-health/ and Distinguished Professor of Psychology, discusses the cognitive abilities of infants to read and react to their social surroundings. Using the "Still

• Knicks 92 Philadelphia 88: It’s too little, too late, but the Knicks are playing better recently. And Friday they won a game they seemed likely to lose because David Lee and Wilson Chandler didn’t play. But, Gallinari had 25 points and Toney Douglas had 22 to lead them to victory.
• Islanders 4 Anaheim 2 (After 2): Goals by Okposo and Tavares have put the Islanders up heading into the third.

McLaren brought out some of the local talent to test drive the MP4 … Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button, I’m going to go ahead and say these two lads probably know what they are talking about.

BURNING THE GROUND EXCLUSIVE


1987



1987 Front Cover

Remastered Re-post
This viny has been re-ripped and remastered using my newer recotding equipment. This version should sound much better than the previous post. Enjoy!

"Mony Mony" was a 1968 single released by Tommy James & The Shondells that again became a huge hit for Billy Idol in 1987. Idol first released his version as a single in 1981, his first as a solo artist after leaving Generation X it appeared on his "Don'T Stop" EP. In 1987 Idol re-released the song as a "Live" version for his "Vital Idol" album. It brought the song to a new generation who had never heard the original. When Idol released his version, it became popular for kids to shout "hey, hey, what, get laid, get f--ked" during the instrumental break in the chorus. Anyone who went to a prom when this was popular can verify this. The song went on to became Billy Idol's biggest hit going to #1 in the U.S. and #7 U.K knocking off another Tommy James cover - Tiffany's version of "I Think We're Alone Now," which was a hit for James in 1967.

RELEASE/PRODUCTION INFORMATION
Label: Chrysalis
Catalog#: 4V9 43159
Format: Vinyl, 12"
Country: US
Released: 1987
Genre: Rock
Style: Pop Rock
Credits: Mixed By - Tom Lord-Alge

Music video by Kerli performing Tea Party. (C) 2010 Buena Vista Records

An explaination of the process Nancy Pelosi and Democrats are using to take away your healthcare.

The yankee strikes.

Bieber fever has swamped the GMTV studios this morning - catch up with the teen sensation as he answers questions from fans and talks tours and movies

If we fail to act on health reform, everything stays the same, right? Wrong. If we turn back now, the health care system we currently have quickly starts to unravel. http://My.BarackObama.com/CostOfInaction

"Dreckitude!" Next time on Top Model...DISASTER!

PPR Ford GT World's Fastest Production Car in the Standing Mile at the Top Gun Run Event driven and own by Johnny Bohmer of Performance Power Racing in West Palm Beach, Florida www.performancepoweronline.com

First video on youtube! Music is BYOB - System of A Down DISCLAIMER: Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted b

RunDevilRun

Are you guys listening to yourselfs? This is a link about dangerous animals and you guys have to make this about religion? Why cant we just live our lives the way we want to and stop arguing about each others beliefs. Trust me, there are more important things in this beautiful world of ours than our pathetic arguments. reply. Posted By Anonymous - Fri, Mar 19 2010 at 12:31 PM EST ...