Battered canada goose coat 1000 bulbs garland Chelsea ask: Que?
Consistently inconsistent. It’s Chelsea’s infuriating fickleness that really got to Claudio Ranieri in the wake of his first experience of the ups and downs of life at the Bridge. Ticking off his players in the dressing room in Zurich, he got straight to the point: ‘I don’t like a team who plays really well on Sunday and really can you buy canada goose jacket online badly on Thursday.’ Subdued, humbled, and dumped out of Europe by the previously unheralded but now infamous might of St Gallen, his players returned to their hotel, ate quietly and slunk off to their rooms with a lot on their minds. ‘A few people didn’t black canada goose parka sleep much,’ admitted goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini, ‘and the next morning everyone had a bad face.’
Later, back at Heathrow there was no luxury coach to whisk these multimillion-pound underachievers back to their cars at the training ground. Just a cramped minibus more suitable for schoolboys, and they leapt out and straight on to the pitch to try to kick the errors out of their game. It was no less than they deserved, canada goose coat 1000 explained Cudicini. ‘It’s difficult to accept because it was the first round against an average team. They deserved it, they hurt us a lot on the counter attack. Now we are here to cry.’
Ranieri cannot afford to tolerate self-pity. One week and two bizarre results into his reign, it’s difficult to fathom quite where Chelsea are headed. On the day he was appointed, a season-ticket holder in the Matthew Harding stand, pondered the future and reckoned that in a year’s time his club will have turned into either AC Milan or Norwich.
Emotions at Stamford Bridge lurch between wild ambition and bitter fear of failure. Ranieri’s Chelsea have been kicked in the stomach by Leicester, then they picked themselves up in fine style against Manchester United, only to be slapped around the chops by the Swiss. A dose of equilibrium at the Bridge would go down very well indeed. Every newly installed manager needs some breathing space, not the suffocating expectation of overnight miracles. Feel the irony: Chelsea, Johnny-come-latelys to English football’s upper echelons, are more impatient than today’s opponents Liverpool, whose trophy-laden heritage casts a shadow over every linked website barren season.
The Anfield board’s unstinting faith in Gérard Houllier is, the best canada goose jacket reddit Frenchman feels, close to bearing fruit. It has taken him two seasons and more than £50 million-worth of signings to assemble a squad he believes is capable of unlocking a door marked Champions League. Who would have thought, when the European Cup was black friday 2013 canada goose sale given its glitzy makeover a decade ago, that Liverpool, England’s standard bearers in continental competition, would be outcasts for all this time.
Patchy early season form suggests they are still off the pace, but Houllier, welcoming a series of key players back from injury, is convinced the current Liverpool incarnation is on the verge of clicking. The return of Sami Hyypia means Markus Babbel can move over to right back to provide what promises to be a fine counterbalance to newcomer Christian Ziege on the left side of defence. Further forward, now that Robbie Fowler has completed 90 minutes for the first time in over a year, we might at last see what sparks can fly when he links up with Michael Owen.
Ranieri could have had a gentler home debut than a collision against another team buy canada goose jacket london with big ideas and pretensions to prove. He has to lift players with shattered confidence who haven’t won since the opening day of the season. Cudicini admits morale is low: ‘Amongst the players we are asking “What’s happening?” A few things are wrong – if it was just one it would be easier to come out of this situation. The only thing we can do is work really hard, think about Chelsea and try to do our best. All the team has to give everything on the pitch today because if we don’t start to win games in the Premiership canada goose coat – victoria it’s going to be difficult. We have to win some games in a row to find a rhythm and some confidence. Sooner or later we have to come out of this.’
A two-week international break is well- timed for Chelsea, giving Ranieri some time to drum in his ideas and get to grips with his enigmatic club. The language barrier is not helpful. Life appears to be a little buy canada goose jacket online canada confusing down on the fields of Harlington. Consider the simple matter of a training drill for goalkeepers: Last week Eddie Niedzwiecki, who coached the number ones under Gianluca Vialli, asked Ranieri’s man if he wanted to take the session. The response – ‘ Que? ‘ – was pure Mañuel from Fawlty Towers . After Ray Wilkins stepped in as interpreter, Niedzwiecki carried on while the new man stood behind the goal and observed. Not a terribly settling scenario for all concerned.
‘He wants the team to play with his methods and I think he’s a very authentic canada goose outlet online good coach, but it’s difficult for him to explain his ideas well,’ says Cudicini. ‘Maybe in a month or two he is going to be better. At the moment it’s tough, but Ray, and the Italian players like Zola, Robbie Di Matteo and I translate for him. It will help when he speaks the language.’
The fundamental message, that Chelsea have to buck up their ideas fast, requires no translation.