Paul Ince, the Blackburn Rovers manager, faces Chelsea today expecting the Premiership title hopefuls to provide his team with a strong, physical challenge.
In a week in which Arsene Wenger publicly criticized Stoke City for their physical approach in the recent victory over Arsenal, the issue of underdog teams trying to out-muscle the Premiership elite has been to the fore. But Ince, a former midfielder well known for relishing the physical side of the game in his own playing days, believes that Chelsea are now capable of mixing both styles of play.
“Chelsea can do both sides of the game now. They can play and they can also handle the physical side of the game,” the former England international said. “You look at the likes of John Terry, Carvalho, John Obi-Mikel and you can see that they are a big side. Last season, they had a lot of 1-0 wins, so that shows they are a team well capable of defending a lead. They defend, they can tackle and they are strong players.”
But since Luiz Scolari came in, he has taken them to another level and they are now playing Manchester United-style football,” he said. “So that makes them twice as hard to beat because they are top notch at both aspects. They have world-class players, so when you come up against them, you have to rely on your work ethic and getting in people’s faces to get results against the big boys. But when the big boys are capable of exactly the same thing, but with world-class players, they are going to out-play you and you can’t do anything about it. That’s a fact.”
Ince, a former favorite with Manchester United and Liverpool, believes those two clubs are genuine title contenders, along with the team he faces at Ewood Park today. And the Blackburn manager finds it difficult to separate the three early-season pace setters.
“Are Chelsea better than United? I don’t think so and you shouldn’t forget Liverpool in there either,” Ince said. “They’ve changed as a team and the players seem to be enjoying what they are doing. With the likes of Deco in there, Chelsea are now playing football the way it should be played. We just need to hope they have an off day if we are to get the win. But if Hull and Stoke can beat Arsenal, then there is no reason why we can’t beat Chelsea.”
Scolari, however, has been shocked at the physical style of Premiership soccer, despite making an instant and impressive impact on the English game.
“Yes, I have been surprised at how physical it is,” Scolari said. “You never look at a club in English football and think their players are small. They all have big bodies. Sometimes, there is more physical contact in games but, hopefully, we’re not bad at that.”
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