Who Will Coach Chelsea Next Season?

After much speculation, Rafa Benitez has announced that he will not be coaching Chelsea beyond May. The former Liverpool and Internazionale manager said that it was a big mistake giving him the interim manager title when he initially took over from Roberto di Matteo last year.

With Roman's dream person, Pep Guardiola preferring lederhosens and beer steins of Bavaria to the curries and hand-pumped warm ales of West London, who the heck is going to coach at Stamford Bridge, next month let alone next season?

We're pretty much clutching at straws at this point but here are some options for Roman to consider.



Jurgen Klopp, Borussia Dortmund
On paper, Klopp would be the next best thing to Pep Guardiola - under Klopp, Dortmund have played some bright and attractive football and have managed to get the best out of some young emerging stars like Mario Goetze, Marco Reus and now United star, Shinji Kagawa, as well as Polish striker, Robert Lewandowski. However, Klopp did it with plenty of support from the top and in a very good and stable environment. It would be a huge risk for him to go to the volatile and seemingly spiteful environment at Chelsea - and of course there are those unrealistic expectations from the owner to be successful before the word go.

Attractive prospect but for Klopp's sake, it is highly risky and this could not end well. Stay in Northern Germany please, Jurgen. 

Manuel Pellegrini, Malaga
The former Real Madrid manager has had success in recent times with Malaga thanks to a huge cash injection from teir rich Qatari owners. However, Malaga's dream run has hit the skids with UEFA banning the club from European competition due to their failure to pay players and staff on time - even if they finish in 4th, they will miss out on European competition altogether next season. With Malaga continuing to sell players, Pellegrini might feel that this is his time to go. Having experienced the high-pressured high-stakes environment at Real Madrid, Pellegrini could be well equipped to take on the beast that is Chelsea. However, his selection will divide fans - he is not exactly the most inspiring choice for manager and doesn't appear to be any different from potential predecessors, Carlo Ancelotti, Luiz Felipe Scolari, Guus Hiddink and even Avram Grant.

Safe and boring choice, but Chelsea do need a manager don't they?

Antonio Conte, Juventus

Conte has brought the Old Lady of Turin back into the glory days even if the road back hasn't been that smooth thanks to match-fixing allegations from the past. Conte's served his punishment for that now and is set to lead Juventus to its second scudetto in 2 years. One wonders if Roman has had a good look at Conte having seen his Juve side systematically demolish his European champions earlier in the season. Again, an unproven prospect outside of Italy and Juve's football under him hasn't been the tikka-takka football Roman wants.

The former Juventus captain is likely to be in Turin for a while yet. 

Jose Mourinho, Real Madrid
If rumours are to be believed, Ancelotti is on his way to Real Madrid and Jose Mourinho could be on his way out after a difficult season as reigning champions at the Bernabeu. An impressive 3-1 win in the Copa del Rey at Barcelona may have relieved a bit of pressure on Mourinho to keep his job - if there is any. However, it looks as though Mourinho's time in the capital could be drawing to a close and with word that Mourinho might have patched up his relationship with Roman Abramovich after this acromonious exit in 2007, this would be a very popular move to appease players and supporters. After all, some would say that Mourinho left far  too early just as Chelsea were about to enter a new dominant era.

If we believed every rumour out there, then this would be one appointment that you could bet the mortgage on. 

Last Man Standing - Chelsea v Bayern Munich for European Cup Final!

So it will be the Final everyone wasn't quite expecting - Chelsea and Bayern Munich pretty much upset everyone's tips and expectations to make the Final at the expense of Real Madrid and Barcelona, who were apparently odds-on favourites to meet in an El Classico of a final.

And in the most unlikely twist of them all, both stars, top-scorers in La Liga and shoe-ins for the European Golden Boot, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo missed critical kicks from the penalty spot just over 24 hours of each other. It was reminiscent of Dan Carter missing a kick at goal right in front of the posts. Oh well, one of Messi and Ronaldo will have that Golden Boot to console themselves with.

Meanwhile, Manuel Neuer might have become the new Ollie Kahn at Bayern Munich after his heroics from the spot. In fact, Alonso's penalty really shouldn't have counted as he placed the ball off the mark - so Real Madrid did not score a single legitimate penalty kick in the shootout.

The interesting thing now is that both Chelsea and Bayern are sporting wounds from their brutal and heroic slayings of the Spanish giants. Chelsea will be without Ivanovic, Terry, Meireles and Ramirez for the Final while Bayern will be without Alaba, Badstuber and Gustavo.

You could say both teams will be missing quite a bit of their backline and midfield especially if Cahill's injury is a bit more serious than expected - we may see Paulo Ferreira or a midfielder like Michael Essien or John Obi Mikel play as a makeshift centre back.

So in what is set to be the Final with the Last Man Standing, what sort of teams will Chelsea and Bayern play in Munich?

Chelsea -
Cech(GK); Bosingwa, Cahill, Luiz, Cole; Mikel; Kalou, Lampard, Mata; Drogba

Bayern Munich -
Neuer (GK); Rafinha, Boateng, van Buyten, Lahm(c); Schweinsteiger, Kroos, Muller; Ribery, Robben; Gomez

By the way I actually really don't know who to cheer on in this game. 

Has Chelsea Shown Us How to Beat Barcelona - and Spain?

It wasn't pretty but it was effective - and contrary to those critics who said it was otherwise, it was football and Chelsea deserved to win the tie for playing to their strengths, playing to the conditions, and playing the right tactics.

For that, di Matteo deserves credit and the best reward of them all - a contract as permanent manager at Chelsea from Roman Abramovich.

The one masterstroke for me was sticking with playing a forward even when they were down to 10 men. Ok there was an element of luck when Messi blasted his penalty against the cross-bar early in the 2nd half after Drogba brought Messi down with a rash tackle but you have to credit di Matteo for sticking with the positive approach after that when he could have so easily taken off Drogba and got on a more defensive minded player.

Mind you he was also not helped by the fact that Bosingwa had to already come on for an injury Gary Cahill. However, Drogba did come off for Torres even with the tie delicately poised - and it paid off nicely as the forward was there to pounce on a ball that was in more space than a Japanese capsule hotel and with only Valdes to beat, score the goal that would confirm a highly unlikely Final place for Chelsea.
 

But that was just one aspect of a highly impressive defensive display by Chelsea and Roberto di Matteo who along with Mourinho and Real Madrid may have shown the world over the last week or so how to beat the previously unbeatable Barcelona - a compact midfield with quick, athletic players who can run up and down the pitch to cover the space and then hit Barca on the counter-attack quickly, exposing a key weakness that is the Barca defence.

Perhaps, they may have shown the world how to beat Spain - after all the European and world champions are comprised mostly of Barcelona players who have brought the Barcelona passing game to the national team. In fact, England's 1-0 friendly win over Spain may have been a sneak preview to what Chelsea and Real Madrid have done to Barcelona in their last 2 games.

So Germany and the Netherlands may have to ditch their fast passing games and play the anti-Spain to beat them. Really they may have to play like Real Madrid and Chelsea have to win EURO 2012. I note that Ireland and Italy are the sides you'd expect to play the dour, park-the-bus-in-front-of-the-goal game but they don't quite have the calibre of players capable of matching Spain's incredible midfield.

Mind you, I'd be sad when Spain lose as they have been a treat to watch in the last 5 years. But of course, it's good when a side steps up to beat the champions.

Roberto di Matteo For Permanent Chelsea Manager?

It is hardly a secret that Chelsea go through their managers like someone down with a bout of diarrhea and lots of toilet paper. Since Mourinho left, Chelsea have gone through 5 managers in 5 years. Bar Ancelotti, the club have been highly unstable and haven't been able to emulate the glory days under Mourinho.

However, under Roberto di Matteo, Chelsea are experiencing a bit of a rennaisance including a superb 1-0 win at home against Champions League favourites, Barcelona. That result must surely mean that di Matteo is odds on to get the job especially with many of the potential candidates like Guus Hiddink not available.

Not only that, di Matteo has managed to unite a highly fragmented dressing room, something his predecessor and former boss, Andres Villas-Boas apparently failed to do.

Di Matteo's arrival at Chelsea this year has had an effect on the club not dissimilar to that of Kenny Dalglish's at Liverpool last year. Both are of course past players and legends at their respective clubs and have a lot of respect amongst fans and players there.

Furthermore, di Matteo was considered one of football's up and coming managers when he took West Brom to the Premier League 2 seasons ago and they played some terrific football. He was surprisingly sacked as the Baggies teetered over the relegation zone but thankfully, he was sacked because a more qualified and experienced manager in Roy Hodgson was available.

However, now that di Matteo doesn't have the pressure of fighting relegation given the money at his disposal and the players that he has, maybe he could be the right man to take Chelsea to the holy grail that Roman Abramovich so desires - winning the Champions League.

If Chelsea had sense now, di Matteo would be announced as permanent manager of the club shortly even if they miss out on the Champions League Final. But then again this is Chelsea under Roman Abramovich we're talking about.