Monday 9 February 2009

Manic Monday for Tony and Luiz

Little did I realise that with barely 5 minutes left on the Clock at Fratton Park, Liverpool would not only turn a game around, but by the time I had started sifting through my email the following Monday morning, would I discover that both Tony Adams and Luiz Felipe Scolari were both picking up their P45's.

I joined the Portsmouth v Liverpool game just as pompey had taken the lead for the second time after a in swinging cross, turned shot, (full disclosure, I am Liverpool supporter!!) got the slightest touch by Hreidarsson to leave the Liverpool zonal defence preoccupied with white space, while Reina was left an innocent bystander.

While Reina lay flat on his back, head in hands, I expected Portsmouth to go on and get the win which would have left Liverpool's chances of Premiership glory highly unlikely, even amongst the most optimistic of Liverpool supporter, and would have given Portsmouth the valuable 3 points they so desperately needed to climb out of relegation.

However, with Liverpool's big guns now on, and with considerable possession throughout the half, Torres setup Kuyt for the equalizer before getting on yet another good cross to head home with precision in injury time.

After the equalizer, Adams smashed his boot in to one of the seats in the dugout, one only knows what damage the groundsmen has to fix in the changing room.

So, after little over 20 something games in charge, Adams has been shown the door at a critical point in the season. I have to say that I feel sorry for the former Arsenal captain. Yet again we see a young manager barely given any time to build a team. Adams inherited a squad which was recovering from loosing a hugely influential figure in Harry Redknapp. The lack of investment since Diarra's £20m move, further amplifying the difficult task dumped at Adams' desk.

Luiz Philipe Scolari's dismissal on the other hand, is equally ridiculous, but for very different reasons. A similar amount of games in charge as Adams, Chelsea are still in the Champions league and are still placed well in the prem, albeit below Villa, which I had not expected at the start of the season when they were playing free flowing football straight out of Rio. The 0-0 draw at home was a far cry from that football, but even with the booing at full time at the bridge, I didn't anticipate Ambramovich would be so quick to drop the sword. Some will say that Scolari was better suited to International Football, and struggled to adjust to the hands on, everyday management of club football, but the man won the world cup! And, came very close with Portugal in the Euro and the World Cup. He has the pedigree.

Ambramovich's management interaction has left the Club managerless at the most of inappropriate times. Jose Mourinho left unexpectedly and at a premature start to the season. Ambramovich, a long with so many other club owners need to take a look at the 3 longest serving managers in the Premiership currently; Ferguson, Rafa and Wenger and see how stability has paid off, with a trophy cabinet to prove it. It is the owners job to appoint the right manager, therefore even though it is the manager who loses his job, they need to be accountable for the miss fortunes of the club. Knee jerk reactions in terms of appointments or dismissal is no way to run a club, and I hope, for there own sake both Portsmouth and Chelsea bide their time, instead of making part time appointments.

The weekend results could have yielded very different outcomes, but the fickle owners of football clubs have left both Tony and Luiz wishing it was Sunday.

2 comments:

  1. It will be interesting to see if Chelsea & in particular Portsmouth follow the unwritten rule of improved results directly after appointing a new manager ... Portsmouth need to or they will be going down

    ReplyDelete
  2. Depends on whether either of them can appoint Redknapp!

    ReplyDelete

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