Birdy
Senior Member
Depends on the cup yes, if a top team wins a League Cup let's say, that can be considered a success if in the process of building and moving to better and greater successes. But if a League Cup is a terminal success of a team, then no it's not an important achievement for a top club.
Champions League, for instance, is always an important achievement because the prestige that goes with it and on some occasions, like Barca recently, it can become an obsession.
But still, the league only certifies that a team has reached the required level, because of the format of a cup competition where luck plays an important role and where defensive-minded sides usually fare better.
Now, 'instant success' would be for Mourinho to win last years CL (more difficult), or even FA cup (more easy).
If you recall how instantly a change of coach could improve a certain team let's say back in 2004 (Mou becoming Chelsea's coach, and Chelsea instantly overtook Arsenal, United in England and instantly became CL contenders). You would rarely see that now.
On the contrary, you see Pep taking charge of City and taking more than 1 year to sort things out before he can win the league, or Klopp taking more than 2 seasons to raise Liverpool's level and be a genuine contender for CL and for the league, or Poch taking 3 seasons to do so with Spurs.
Patching up things a little bit and just managing is not enough anymore to win a title, let alone having a team being consistent contenders for biggest trophies.
Seeing Lamps' case from that pov, you can see how wrong Chelsea's decision to sack him is football-wise.
I agree we don't know what's going on behind close doors, and if there are locker-room issues, but what comes out in the press from Chelsea's hierarchy is 'disappointment' because the team is below where they wanted to be in the league, and 'disappointment' because the new signings are not all firing in all cylinders.
If true, the only thing it shows is how bad judgment their board exerts football-wise.
The progress has been significant on the pitch, and they were also on track to be top-3 this season as well:
I don't know what kind of consultants are close to Abramovic and Marina, but - for instance - you can't just look at the standings and the results, without looking at the performances. xG ranking most of the times balances out by the end of the season. Results would have been coming in soon.
Similarly about the new signings, you have to give them time to find coherence and coordination with one another, before being disappointed.
I don't know if on the top of all that, they demanded a trophy, even a minor, but if they did, that would show more of how they cannot judge properly.
My point is, I don't think Abramovic has changed at all from the times when he was sacking Mourinho, to hire Grant, to sack him, to hire Scolari, to sack him, and bring in Hidding, all within 1.5 year, and with the delusioned idea that someone would have the magic patch to win instantly...
