HUBRIS AND NEMESIS? THERE will be those outside Gallowgate who take some sour delight in Chelsea’s defeat away to Newcastle United yesterday, which put them out of the FA Cup, ending whatever hopes they had of an extraordinary quadruple, suggesting that by Wednesday night, in Barcelona, they could even find the treble slipping out of reach.
Envy, of course, will play its rancorous part, as will relief, to know that not even the unbounded billions of Roman Abramovich can ensure success.
There is no doubt that luck plays a huge part in football at every level, or bad luck, which so often manifests itself in the shape of injuries. Chelsea have already been deprived of Arjen Robben, the dazzling Holland winger, whose absence has radically diminished the team. There seems, alas, the prospect that Damien Duff, the other splendid winger, may be forced out of the Barcelona game.
As we know, it took José Mourinho, for all his virtuosity, a little while to accept that wingers are essential to his team. After Tottenham Hotspur had forced a goalless draw at Stamford Bridge this season, he unfairly accused them of parking the team bus across the penalty box, as if visiting teams were morally obliged to give Chelsea space. Asked after Duff’s entry as substitute had given Chelsea width and menace, whether he woul d have started again with the team he first fielded, he predictably said no. Omniscience, however implicit, is part of the persona. Broadly speaking, like so many managers, for all his polyglot sophistication, he sees what he wants to.
At St James’ Park, his luck emphatically ran out. You could hardly blame him for initially resting such stars as Petr Cech, Duff and Frank Lampard with the Nou Camp in view. They were still there, after all, to be brought on. He was also without the suspended John Terry. Nor could he or any manager allow for the fact that having used all three substitutes, he would then lose Wayne Bridge, reducing his team to ten men. And even near the end to nine, when Carlo Cudicini got himself sent off.
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Abramovich is stupendously rich. Mourinho is unquestionably talented, but sometimes one recalls the words of Clement Attlee, the former Prime Minister, to the loquacious Professor Harold Laski. “A period of silence on your part would be appreciated,” Attlee said, Why, for instance should Mourinho enter the controversy begun when Arsenal, at home to Crystal Palace a week ago, had a 16-man squad, none of whom was English. Arsène Wenger logically replied that Chelsea themselves have only a single home-grown English player in the excellent Terry. Joe Cole, Glen Johnson, Frank Lampard and Scott Parker all cost large fees.
What happened at Newcastle confirms that football is a cruelly arbitrary game. Not even Abramovich and all his millions could change that, which is surely just as well.