Quote:
|
Originally Posted by furball
Chelsea closing on Malouda. As was said elsewhere, "luckily Malouda is not particularly young or creative so Mourinho won't have to do as much stifling of his talent like he has done with Cole, Robben, and SWP."
|
SWP might be an example of this (although I'd contest that, at Man City he could play a lot worse and look a lot better*), but Robben and Cole? Robben's main problem is that he's been injured all the time, and Cole has improved dramatically under Mourinho.
*At City, SWP didn't have to defend, and he didn't have to produce consistently because he wasn't playing in big games, and after all - he was young. PUt him in an environment where he needs to defend, needs to consistently beat the first man and to do this in every game - then he falls apart. If Downing had moved to Chelsea, you'd be looking at much the same performance level at Chelsea as SWP.
However, this would not be an example of Mourinho spoiling a bright young english talent - Downing's been mediocre at Boro, goes invisible in most games and pops up with champagne passes once a month to get on the highlights reel on Match of the Day.