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Abramovich - I HATE THE WAY WE PLAY


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I HATE THE WAY WE PLAYBy Rob ShepherdROMAN ABRAMOVICH walked into the Chelsea dressing room with a face like thunder.He had just seen his team go top of the Premier League with a 1-0 win over Portsmouth...but that was little consolation.Even when several players tried to cheer him up with the fact Chelsea were 18 places AHEAD of Manchester United, Abramovich did little to hide his displeasure.Because he had sat through another turgid game at Stamford Bridge, 90 minutes where Chelsea barely managed to scrape into top gear and played the kind of pedestrian and conservative football the Russian billionaire has grown to despise.He had made it clear to Jose Mourinho in a summer meeting designed to clear the air between the two that he would no longer tolerate the kind of pragmatic style which had become the hallmark of the Portuguese coach's team.Abramovich had received assurances both from Mourinho and intermediaries that Chelsea would play flowing, attractive football to match anything Manchester United with the likes of Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo could produce.The fact he had endured another game where the only highlight was Frank Lampard's goal merely cemented in Abramovich's mind Mourinho's betrayalâ and explains why the two men are on collision course once more.Abramovich was already aware Ronaldinho's agent brother, Roberto de Assis Moreira, was in London trying to broker a move for Adriano from Inter Milan to Manchester City.There had been contact between Moreira and Chelsea, alerting the club to the fact the Brazilian genius might be tempted away from Barcelona. But the likes of Peter Kenyon had dismissed those rumours as just a way of strengthening Ronaldinho's hand at the Nou Camp. But the thought of bringing one of the world's best footballers to the Bridge â even for £85million â was too much of a temptation for Abramovich.The former World Player of the Year was just the kind of entertainer Abramovich craved, a man who would bring the Chelsea fans to their feet and put a smile on the face of the owner.Yet instead of the transfer of the century, Abramovich's courting of Ronaldinho has sent the club tumbling to the brink of another damaging civil war.UpsetOne Chelsea source said: "There is something boiling up between Roman and Jose again. Roman is really fed up with the way the team are playing. He came into the dressing room after the Portsmouth game and you could see how upset he was."He was promised it would be different this season but it's still the same old style."That's why he wanted to find out if he could really get Ronaldinho because that would have sent out the message to Jose about the way he wanted Chelsea to play."But Jose didn't want Ronaldinho. He's not his kind of player and he wouldn't have fitted in with the Chelsea pattern. He's also upset Roman would go behind his back when Jose had done everything to keep the peace this summer."Mourinho's anger stems from the fact he has operated within tighter budget restrictions this summer â on Abramovich orders â only to find the owner willing to almost double the world transfer record on a whim.And he is outraged Abramovich would not think twice about foisting a player on him he did not want.At the start of his Chelsea reign, Mourinho was offered Ronaldinho by Abramovich, only to turn the chance down flat.He explained the Brazilian did not feature in his plans.Another source close to the Blues boss said: "Jose has always said Ronaldinho is a great player but that he's never really hurt Chelsea. In the games between Chelsea and Barcelona, he's had perhaps a 10-minute spell where he's been hard to handle but he wasn't consistently outstanding."Jose felt he'd have to completely reshape the team to even think of fitting Ronaldinho in â and that's not something he's prepared to do."He's done what the Chelsea board wanted him to do this summer by buying players within the budget but apparently that's not enough."TensionThere is also tension between owner and manager over the increasing influence of super-agent Pini Zahavi.Zahavi was the man who helped bring Abramovich to Chelsea originally and he played a huge role behind the scenes as the Russian's billions revolutionised the West London club.He fell out of favour two seasons ago and was replaced as Mourinho's agent-of-choice by Jorge Mendes. But Abramovich has turned more and more to Zahavi in recent months and that has also frustrated the Chelsea boss.
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Morinho is one of the best.Abramovich should pipe down. Though it is nice to see Chelsea self destructing, I wanna see this and other factors bring them down.

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