Hats off Jose

Whether he irritates you or not, is there a more driven man in the game?

On his last visit to Chelsea his hallmark was tough tackling, functional football. Yes of course that led to some thumping scorelines but first and foremost his team was hard.

And he would protect his position at every opportunity going as far as calling Arsenal 'cry babies' and Barcelona 'actors'.

Wind the clock on to today and his instruction from Abramovich to provide flair through Fabregas and Hazard meant he had a problem.

In fact Fabregas was one of those 'cry babies'.

He needed to protect his players and encourage free flowing football. So will we see his championing of tika taka?

Maybe not that far but it definitely serves his interests. So expect many more impassioned pleas to get rid of the dirty, hard English game.

Fabregas and Hazard with AAA backstages passes, free to roam about - would spell trouble all round!