Loading ...Jul 01 2008
Robinho Pursuit Disturbing for Chelsea
How much better is Robinho than Joe Cole? Chelsea may be about to find out. Robinho’s agent has confirmed that he is talking with Chelsea about his client. Whether Chelsea, should they decide to get Robinho, will pay what Real Madrid asks be secondary to deciding they want the young Brazilian winger. I question whether they really should want him.
Let’s stipulate that Robinho is an overall better player than Cole - controversial, but it makes this conversation easier. I agree with the stipulation, but that’s beside the point. Even if Robinho is an overall better player than Cole, there is an element that Cole brings to Chelsea that Robinho does not have and is desperately needed within the squad.
Chelsea, at times last season, lacked intensity, willing to open a match by playing with their opponents rather than playing above them. The only person on their team that brought the effort needed to break them out of this funk was Joe Cole. This is one reason why many thought he was their most valuable player last year. Cole may not be the most efficient player in the world and he has his limitations, but his willingness and desire snapped Chelsea out of many game-opening funks last season. Those times he wasn’t able to break their malaize, the club would have to wait for a great individual effort or be snapped out of their daze by an unexpectedly close match.
I thought Chelsea was the most talented team in the Premiership last season, and even if they lose Frank Lampard and Ricardo Carvalho, they will be right there with Arsenal and Manchester United again this season. Talent is not their problem. Their problem is getting the Didier Drogbas, Michael Ballacks, Ashley Coles, Michael Essiens and John Terrys to make the sum of their play equal to the value of the compnent parts. Joe Cole was one of the players that helped get the Blues closer to this value. If Luiz Feliipe Scolari ignores this and brings in another player he favors, a player who might merely slip into the list of talent, he risks contributing to the problem.
Chelsea is not a club that needs to be rebuild from the ground up, but if Scolari is insistent on bringing in guys he prefers, it shows a disturbing lack of flexibility, as well as general stubbornness.
Links
Robinho agent claims Chelsea negotiations
Chelsea ‘interested in Robinho,’ claims agent
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