Someone else who has recently joined a new employer is having a worse time than me. I mean, I've dropped the odd clanger (not all doors need swipe cards, some will just open like normal, douchebag) and I am feeling a bit swamped with the amount of new information to take on board...but generally it is going OK.
Fernando Torres, bless him, can't really say the same.
Chelsea's £50m January signing is still looking for his first goal, 11 games on, and this morning suffered the frustration of drawing yet another blank. Add in the disappointment of the defeat to United spelling the end of Chelsea's realistic trophy hunt for this year, coupled with the humiliation of being substituted at half time for the far more effective Didier Drogba; and this was pretty much rock bottom for the artist formerly so feared and revered as Liverpool's Number Nine. Now, I don't know much about the internal workings of Chelsea Football Club, but if it is anything like my workplace, Carlo Ancelotti is going to be facing a couple of difficult weekly catch-up meetings in the next few days.
Firstly with his star striker, the performance of whom so much of Chelsea's near future has been staked.
Firstly with his star striker, the performance of whom so much of Chelsea's near future has been staked.
£50m is a lot of money without doubt, but if Torres can recapture the form of 2007/8/9 then that transfer fee will be quickly forgotten. A continuation of this current form and, frankly, £15m would be hard to justify. The man with the slug-like eyebrows simply has to find the key to getting results from Torres, or as they say in his native Italian, his-a goose is-a cooked-a.
Indeed, the second meeting, with his boss, may be simply confirming that fact regardless. Even if Torres had found his feet straight away, you always felt that delivering success in Europe was the only objective that Ancelotti's employer really cared about. Sir Alex Ferguson won't have had many people disagreeing with his verdict that Chelsea are 'obsessed' with claiming the only trophy that eludes them. Carlo's record in Europe with AC Milan was presumably a key factor in his appointment in the first place, and this second season of falling short at the quarter final stage could be too much for Roman Abramovich to tolerate.
I don't expect Ancelotti to be in charge for the first game of the 2011/12 campaign in August, but I do expect Torres to be leading the line in the blue number 9. They have to persist with him, and he has to get better. It is quite possible that with one goal will come many more - plenty of strikers take a while to settle in new clubs before coming good - but Torres seems to carry such a burden of expectation and frustration on his shoulders that is holding him back from anything near the level of which he is capable.
Meanwhile, the team that progressed at Chelsea's expense are now in with a very serious shout of reaching the final. Schalke were impressive in their demolition of Inter at the San Siro (by the way, Stankovic, my sweet lord. What. A. Goal.) but on the big semi final stage they will not have enough to get past a United side that have been here and done this many times before. Depending on the outcome of the huge derby clash at the weekend, they could also be lining up in the FA Cup final as well.
Meanwhile, the team that progressed at Chelsea's expense are now in with a very serious shout of reaching the final. Schalke were impressive in their demolition of Inter at the San Siro (by the way, Stankovic, my sweet lord. What. A. Goal.) but on the big semi final stage they will not have enough to get past a United side that have been here and done this many times before. Depending on the outcome of the huge derby clash at the weekend, they could also be lining up in the FA Cup final as well.
A treble is not going to happen - either Real Madrid or, as seems most likely, Barcelona, will beat them in the big one...but to reach the final hurdle and claim a League and Cup double with this squad must surely go down as one of Ferguson's greatest achievements. There is just a certainty about United, they are the only team in the Premier League possessing of such a cast-iron confidence and self belief, borne out of years of success and domination. Like them or not, it is impossible not to admire this almost tangible will to win. How far it ultimately will take them remains to be seen, but would you bet against them?
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