Hi Tom, we are delighted to have you here on Read Chelsea, could you give our readers an insight into what you do and how you have come about your position in journalism?
Hi. Well, I’m the London sports correspondent for the AFP (Agence France-Presse) news agency, mainly covering English football. I studied English at university, then did a post-graduate degree in broadcast journalism in Cardiff, and after doing a bit of freelance work in London, I moved to Paris in 2008 and got a job with AFP. I spent four years in Paris, mainly reporting on French football, before moving back to London in October 2012.
What advice would you give to any aspiring journalists who are looking for a path into the business?
Write as often as possible, be it for a local newspaper, a student publication, or a blog. Don’t be afraid to ask people for opportunities. And read as widely as possible – the sports pages (which goes without saying), but also fiction, non-fiction, poetry, magazines, anything. The only way to become a great writer is to be a great reader. Also, and this should also go without saying, but learn the basic rules of grammar.
Let’s talk football. Chelsea were given one of the toughest draw’s possible after being handed PSG for a second consecutive season. What did you make of the draw and how do you see the two legs panning out?
If I had to put money on it, I’d go for Chelsea. They edged PSG last season despite the fact PSG were flying and Chelsea were still finding their feet after Mourinho’s return. Chelsea don’t look quite as infallible as they did in the early months of the season, but I expect Mourinho will set them up perfectly to face PSG, who beat Barcelona in the group phase but have struggled for form in the league.
The game on the 17th will see a repeat of last season’s quarter-final in which Chelsea dramatically knocked out the French giants, what differences can Chelsea fans expect to see this time around from PSG?
In terms of personnel and tactics, the team that lines up against Chelsea will be very similar to the one they played last season. David Luiz has replaced Alex at centre-back and the right-back Christophe Jallet is no longer at the club, but otherwise it’s pretty much the same XI, playing in the same 4-3-3 formation. Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who missed the second leg through injury last season, is fit, but he’s not been in great form of late.
The tie will also mark the return of the world’s most expensive defender, David Luiz. The Brazilian was a fan favourite at Stamford Bridge. How has he settled to life in Paris?
He’s settled reasonably well, I think, and plays regularly alongside Thiago Silva. The two of them had a pretty slow start to the season, which was attributed to the after-effects of Brazil’s humiliation at the World Cup, but have both improved in recent weeks, with Laurent Blanc occasionally selecting an all-Brazilian back four with Marquinhos and Maxwell as full-backs.
What did you make of the £50M price tag? Was it great business from Chelsea? Or has Luiz justified the enormous price tag?
I think £50 million was a great bit of business by Chelsea. Luiz is a great character, has fantastic composure on the ball and takes a mean free-kick, but I’m not sure he’s considered one of the world’s true elite centre-backs by seasoned observers. He might have been named in FIFA’s Team of the Year for 2014, but that was more to do with his fame than his form.
Despite their seemingly endless amount of riches, PSG sit third in Ligue 1. What have you made of their season so far?
They’ve had a peculiar season – occasional flashes of brilliance (beating Barcelona 3-2, thrashing Saint-Etienne 5-0), but for the most part they’ve been extremely sluggish. Blanc settled on a formula that worked shortly after arriving in 2013 and things clicked into place very quickly, but that momentum has long since faded and PSG very rarely look like the terrifying prospect they were 12 months ago. Several players are having very poor seasons, particularly Thiago Motta and Edinson Cavani, both of whom are expected to leave at the end of the season. Ibrahimovic was dogged by a heel injury for the first three months of the season and is still some way short of his best. The only players who’ve really come on are Marco Verratti and Lucas Moura. It’s a testament to their strength in depth and collective bloody-mindedness that they’re still in the title race at all.
Chelsea, along with many other top Premier League clubs, are continuously linked with the top players around Europe. The likes of Cavani, Lavezzi and Lacazette have all been names mentioned in various transfer windows, is there anyone from Ligue 1 we could expect to see make a name for themselves in the English game?
The stand-out player in Ligue 1 this season has been Alexandre Lacazette, the goal-scoring figurehead of a young Lyon team who have surprised everyone by surging to the top of the table. He’s Ligue 1’s top scorer with 21 goals and is likely to attract a lot of interest in the summer, although he’s said he wants to be the first Lyon player to score at their new stadium, which they’re due to move into in the middle of next season. He’s been ably supported by Nabil Fekir, a squat, bustling and wonderfully inventive support striker, who’s scored eight goals and supplied six assists. Another exciting player is Rennes’ Paul-George Ntep, a lightning-fast winger who made a name for himself last season by getting on his hands and knees to head the ball over the line in a game against Reims.
Watch a video clip of Ntep on YouTube here.
Chelsea came so close to another Champions League final last season, do you think Jose’s men can reach another final this year?
With Mourinho, anything is possible in the Champions League. Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Barcelona all look strong, but they’ve all had wobbles this season and I don’t think any of them look infallible. If Chelsea can keep Costa and Fabregas fit and firing, they’ll be hard to stop.
Finally, Chelsea signed Juan Cuadrado on deadline day. What type of impact do you see the Colombian having?
It’s a bit of a curious signing, because it’s not like Chelsea were crying out for a new wide player – Willian’s having a great season, Eden Hazard is undroppable, and I always felt that Andre Schurrle gave a pretty good account of himself whenever he was called upon. But Cuadrado does possess a little bit of magic – the ability to beat a player and provided a match-changing assist or goal, so he’s a very useful option to have. I saw him playing for Colombia against Uruguay at the World Cup and he was one of the most exciting players I saw at the whole tournament – the sort of player who immediately catches your eye. He’s got experience of playing as a wing-back as well, which Mourinho will doubtless appreciate.
On behalf of everyone at Read Chelsea, we would like to thank Tom again for taking time out to answer our questions. You can find more of Tom William’s work over at AFP here. You can also find him on twitter: @tomwfootball.
