BlueChampions - The backyard of Chelsea FC!

The date is 24th of April 2010. Chelsea have just won the premier league title in front of their home fans by beating Stoke City 4-0. Elsewhere, Manchester City have dismantled Arsenal at the Emigrants Stadium with a 3-1 scoreline. The Sky reporter asks the Arsenal manager, whose team is 15 points behind league winners Chelsea: “Arsene, where does this leave you now?”. Arsene responds, “Well, we need to keep the faith. We showed good spirit and mentality. We dominated the possession and we were only lacking a bit of sharpness. But we keep improving which is good. Chelsea can still drop points between now and the end of the season. So you never know”. Sky reporter finally responds, “Wake up, you stupid c***”.

For me, there’s nothing better in football than seeing Chelsea thump Arsenal. That’s right on top. That’s the summit. Any manager who does that for Chelsea and any player who guides us to do that gets my respect. People wonder why I hate Arsenal so much. I must say I find it strange when I see people who don’t despise them. They are pretenders. They are show ponies. Yet they (manager, players & fans) think that they are the Gods of football and the others are just rugby tacklers with no skill. And they sometimes very openly belittle the other teams. See what Wenger said about Aston Villa last month and every team that he couldn’t beat.

I was impressed with Ancelotti’s team selection. In fact, he had picked the very same eleven that I wanted him to pick. No place for Deco or Joe Cole in the first team. Ballack was important to break down their attacks while someone like Mikel is always pure gold against Arsenal. I was hoping that we play 4-3-3 but we played our diamond. Arshavin again played in the striker role, even after saying ‘if Arsenal want to be champions, how can they select me as the striker’. Meanwhile the once-natural striker Theo ‘Treadmill’ Walcott was in the wing. Anyway, I no longer fear Arshavin. Of late, he’s been shite. He’s lost his heart. He’s upset and feels hopeless. All this shows in his football. I was hoping that Clichy starts as I knew that’s where we’ll get our goals.

Chelsea going 2-0 up by half time was not a surprising thing for those who have been following premier league. As soon as we went ahead, I thought we’ll smash them with another couple of goals. But we didn’t. Instead we chose to let them have the ball. The key is ‘we chose’ to let them have the ball. We let them have the ball so we can exploit their fatal defensive weakness which would surely surface a few times in a span of 90 minutes. And especially after going up 2-0 against a city rival, why would play in any other way? Arsene Wenger said in his post match interview that they (Arsenal) were the better team on the pitch. That’s being either a complete idiot or a cunning politician. The fact is, Chelsea never had to get beyond their first gear while Arsenal where throwing everything at us. Chelsea didn’t have to try too hard to beat Arsenal.

The smile on John Terry’s face is back. His header to assist Drogba for the first goal was brilliant. And Drogba’s movement to get into that position was also class. And what can I say about the second goal. Arshavin lost the ball and was simply watching Lampard run with it. Frank ran for about 40 yards completely uninterrupted or unchecked. When Lampard gave it to Drogba on the right wing, I was expecting Drogba to cross it in. Such was Drogba’s confidence, against Arsenal defence in particular, he feinted and dummied his way in and blasted one to the near post to send me crazy. Did you notice that as the ball was travelling in, Almunia had closed his eyes! It’s a shame that Drogba couldn’t get his hattrick. He was a bit unfortunate with the free kick hitting the bar while Almunia had written it off with no effort. Look, if it’s not already, it is official now – Arsenal are Drogba’s bitch.

Ashley Cole was so close to scoring a goal against his ex-club. Lampard and Anelka also missed some opportunities. I thought Anelka was not sharp enough for the occasion and must have been subbed much earlier. As we always do with Arsenal, we bossed the midfield. We dictated the pace of the game and what happened on the pitch. I was particularly impressed with Lampard’s effort. Always fighting for the ball and always putting pressure on the opposition. Arsenal also had a few chances but our defence was mostly perfect and if they let anything in, Petr Cech was there like a rock. The left-handed save that he made to prevent a Bendtner shot was top class anticipation. Ivanovic did leave his zone unattended a few times but Arsenal could not really exploit that space.

The performance by John Obi Mikel today is something the no-longer-young, over-rated, over-paid chicks at Arsenal should take note of. Mikel joined us with a reputation. He had his teenager moments of his career but he has worked hard. He wasn’t thrown at the premier league and champions league just to prove a point. He was instead made to work hard for his spot in the team. His only ticket to the first team was consistent performance. In a team that had Makelele and has players like Essien, Lampard and Ballack, he knew that he had to be really really good to make it. I must I was so so pleased with his performance today. This is exactly how you ‘develop’ a player.

The spot light was on John Terry today too. This was his first match at home since the Vanessa story broke out and the first game since he was removed from England captaincy. How did he do? Bloody great! He was at his as always. Last season he had a patch were Carvalho and Alex were above him on merit. This season he is well and truly back. For me, one of the greatest sights in football is John Terry launching himself horizontally like a rocket, to make a clearance. I saw that today too.

No one can say this man is going through a personally traumatic period. A round of applause to the home crowd that supported him all through the match and nice of him to recognise that by giving his shirt. We expect Terry to be able to play as well as he has, irrespective of what’s going on with him. That’s because of what he is. We are a team of top professionals. We’ve seen Chelsea players play on top of their game like they had no personal lives, even through the tough times.

Okay, trivia question time. At the end of the match which manager said this: “I am completely happy with the performance and the spirit”. I’m sure you’ll get the wrong answer. The answer is Arsene Wenger. After the match, very predictably, Wenger said they dominated the game and all that nonsense. All I can say is he is lying. He is lying to himself and also to the Arsenal fans. Who would in their right mind say that Arsenal dominated Chelsea today? Here is Carlo Ancelotti’s ‘fantastic’ response to the comments from short-sighted Arsene Wenger.

Maybe Arsenal had more possession than us but this is not football, football is attack and defence as well as keeping possession when you need to, and results also. We deserved to win because you when you are two goals up it is important to do counter-attack and we did fantastic counter attack. It was an unbelievable second goal – fantastic movement, fantastic passing and fantastic shooting by Didier. This is football. We did fantastic defensive work because when it is 2-0 and you go to score more it is normal to have to defend. We did fantastic work together for 90 minutes and it was a very good performance. Sometimes you have to show attacking play and sometimes you have to defend.

Half a dozen ‘fantastics’ in one paragraph is a bit too much. Someone should help him with magnificent, superb, amazing, stupendous, scintillating, mind-blowing, astounding, astonishing etc. Hope he gets to use these for the rest of the season. If I were Carlo I’d have said that ‘We didn’t even have to get off our first gear. It turned out to be an easy match’. Let’s remember that Arsenal were gearing up for a reaction since they were thumped by Man Utd last week while we had to play an away game mid-week. Wenger is the worst loser in football. He loses so often but hasn’t learned how to be honest and graceful at defeat. Ignore his comments and let’s hail Carlo. He gets a 10/10 in my books for team selection, tactics, substitution and his fantastic response to Wenger.

So, we’re back on top. Only today, only now, I realise that there are only 13 games to go. I mean, we’re getting so close to the finish line, aren’t we? Out of this 13 matches, we have Everton (A), Man City (H), Aston Villa (H), Man Utd (A), Tottenham (A) and Liverpool (A). That’s six toughies plus the relegation battlers’ last round of fights. We just need to keep winning – 13 wins would do. Good news is, Man Utd have a similar run-in. With the kind of form we’re in, we’re certainly allowed to turn our hopes into expectations. For now, enjoy the win!

By the way, did you send that text message out: “yo alex, we’d been ‘battered’, just as you wanted . . .”

This could not have come at a better time. Yes I know we just dropped points against Hull, I also know Wenger’s side might muster some motivation after their ManUre mauling(although this I find highly improbable), I also know they are getting Bendtner back (again I dont know how to react at this, maybe he’ll stop another one of Fabregas’s goals).

To counter all of those Arsenal positives(ahem) we have a certain Ivorian who haunts Wenger and His School Academy the most. Oh yes Didier Drogba is back and he is back with a bang. Even though he didnt do much in the last match except for the bang, Iam sure Arsenal is definitely the team he wants to be playing against to get back his form. He hates Arsenal, He hates them more than I do, and thats saying quite a lot.

We almost have out full squad to chose from – Essien,Belleti and Bosingwa. I havent missed Bosingwa one bit as long as Ivanovic has been there. Belleti played pretty well in the hole and with Essien gone he would have been my first choice. Hey but wait Mikel is back! Upfront I want to see Drognelka again. No I dont believe that Sturridge should be starting in Anelka’s place. Atleast not against Arsenal. A 65th minute substitution would be sweet. I like BC have been harping this thing all season long that the thing that seperates us from the other teams the most is our bench strength.

We have world class reserve players for every position. Look at this Zhirkov-Ashley Cole(LB), Ivanovic-Bosingwa-Belleti(RB), Terry-Carvalho-Alex-Ivanovic(CB),Essien-Mikel-Belleti(CDM),Ballack-Lampard-Deco-Malouda-Joe Cole(R/L/CM),Drogba-Anelka-Sturridge(CF)..This too is after ignoring wonderful youngsters like Kakuta, Borini, Matic. So Basically what I mean to say is that Carlo will never like Wenger have to say that “Ze Inzuries to ze playerz cozt uz ze match..”. Even if they would I think Carlo is mature enough not to cry like Whinger..

Ok now moving on to the Gooners. Like BC even I think that the only man who we need to fear in the Arsenal line-up is Arshavin. That guy (despite having Wenger as his manager) is class. But of late even he hasnt been at his best. And with him not there I dont really fear anyone else. Fabregas? Well he’s normally been just Gas in previous encounters. Essien wonderfully shut him out of the game last time. We dont have Essien but then lets not forget Bendtner has come back for a reason. Vermaelen(ignore sp) they’re hot goalscorer would I guess be more worried about not turning Ashley’s crosses into his own net. Gallas? Ok lets keep this blog post clean.

And while Wenger has sold his poor man’s Drogba he seems to have found a poor man’s Essien in Song. He’s not worrying me much either.Actually nothing is. How can I be worried? The only proper forward Arsenal had was Van Persie and he’s injured. Eduardo has never been the same. Walcott is struggling. They depend on Arshavin for their goals and he’s not even a natural forward. Arsenal are by no means contenders for any silverware this season. Iam supremely confident that this match belongs to us. Wenger will after this match realise that he’ll be out of contention for any glory this season as well. Now please dont say he’s going to win the Champions League. And I dont think Arsenal will self destruct this season. WE will demolish them.

My Prediction 3-1 to Chelsea.

P.s- Iam not to be scathed if Arsenal fail to score that single goal as well.

Ok guys so that was my first post here. Quite obviously iam no BC. I dont think I’ll ever be able to put up an analysis like he does. But I have done what I could and yes even I do think I got it easy by having Arsenal in my first post.

**KTBFFH**

You must have heard that peace has returned to England as John Terry is removed from England captaincy because we just found out that he’s not Jesus Christ and he’s been impersonating all along. Rio is the new captain (stop laughing) and Stevie-Me is the vice (captain). There are also rumours that these decisions have had a positive impact on global warming and to some extent plug the hole in the ozone layer.

Did I expect Fabio to come to this decision? Honestly, no. I thought he would retain John Terry as the captain for various reasons – (a) he is the best man for the job and anyone else is a compromise (b) he has worked in Italy where he would have such things and more (c) he is not media’s bitch. Sadly, Fabio has disappointed me. Anyway, I’d like to think that this was not his independent decision, despite that’s how this is being projected. In a country where footballers are expected to be role models who have to be held in very high esteem and have to be shining beacon of moral values, Fabio must have been under intense pressure to give in. I’d have kissed him if he’d said ‘fuck media, John’s the man’.

Well Fabio Capello has made two decisions – Removing John Terry the sinner from captaincy and elevating the team status of two saints to wipe away the stains of John Terry. Though I’m more concerned about the first one, the latter one has to be consistent with the overall theme of these two decisions. Let’s first look at John Terry’s removal first.

There are opinions that John Terry must have resigned himself. No way. As long as he thinks and believes that he is the best man for the job and he can continue to do the good job that he has done so far, he doesn’t even have to think about resigning from captaincy. Plus, for a player like John Terry, if he is on the pitch, he naturally becomes the captain. Armband or no armband, you’ll see him playing the captain.

In the last blog, I’ve said my bit about why this issue must not have an impact on being a football captain. There’s an attempt to make the role of the England captain sound like the role of prime minister or something. By removing John Terry on account of this issue, Capello has set an expectation around what his captains should do in their spare time. While we assume that it is the extra-marital affair that caused this removal, Capello’s communication around the removal of Terry does not clearly explain the decision.

Why has Terry been removed? Is it because he had an extra-marital affair? Is it because he had an extra-marital affair with an ex-girlfriend of an England team mate? If it’s because he had an extra-marital affair, it’s not even a punishable offence under law (I don’t mean to be advocating that though!). Why are we so concerned about who these players are sleeping with? If someone should have a problem with that, it must be Toni Terry. And whether Toni Terry has a problem with that and how she responds purely their internal matter. That’s between a husband and his wife. If every husband had to lose his job because he cheated on his wife, half the men would be rendered jobless. I, by no means, accept Terry’s extra marital affairs. I truly do not condone his behaviour. But I only say, as a society we need to be less hypocritical. So what’s next? Are we going to strip someone of his captaincy because he is a bad father or a bad son-in-law?

The argument that Terry has lost the trust of his team mates is very weak. Among the players, they know they are not ideal role models and they don’t want to be. Because, deep down they are all normal human beings with the same set of vices that anyone would have. I believe the respect on a fellow-player or a captain comes purely from the performances on the pitch and not from whether he smokes weed or bangs whores in spare time. There are numerous examples in this very sport for truly remarkable players with tainted private lives. Imagine Diego Maradona being stripped of his captaincy in 1985 because of his cocaine addiction.

So, to conclude my view on John Terry’ removal from captaincy – (a) I’m upset, disappointed and gutted (b) I don’t accept JT’s behaviour (c) I think we should be less hypocritical (d) I believe this incident will have no impact on Terry’a ability to lead his teams (e) John Terry must have remained captain unless there is a football reason to remove him.

I have an important question for Mr.Capello and the FA. How long is this sentence or this disqualification? How long should Terry carry this baggage of sin? At what stage or at what milestone John Terry can become a captain of the England team again? What should he do? Or is he permanently disqualified from being an England captain because he had an extra marital affair? The fact that he had this affair is not going to change. So how will he become a captain again? If the trust and respect that he is supposed to have lost because of non-football reasons is to be earned back, should be doing community service or something?

So now, let’s come over to the second part of the decision. Rio Ferdinand (now stop laughing again) is the new captain. Stevie-Me is the vice (captain). Fabio has put his faith on two people who have never ever slept with anyone other than their wives/girlfriends. Do you think Fabio must have asked Ferdinand and Gerrard this question – “Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, that you have never slept with anyone other than your wife/girlfriend since she became so?” Let’s get an undertaking from them so that we can save a lot of embarrassment when Rio is caught shagging in a brothel while he had to be taking a drug test and when Stevie-Me is caught punching teenage girls because they refused to change the music in a pub.

So how did Ferdinand fare for Man Utd last week? Oops . . sorry, he didn’t play because he was banned for four matches for violent conduct. What an irony! So the man who missed a drug test (which is a far serious offence from a football point of view than an extra marital affair) is a good example and an inspirational leader? The man who was caught on CCTV punching around in a pub is a better role model?

Rio Ferdinand, on current form, should be struggling to start for England. And he is now captain? Lucky him. Just when his blunder ratio is increasing, he becomes captain and thanks to that, he retains his place in the team. And Stevie-Me is probably having his worst season of his career. Liverpool are an embarrassment this season, the season of the world cup. They are not even in the knockout stages of champions league and unlikely to make the next season’s champions league. If this is how much a player like Gerrard can inspire a Liverpool team, there is no merit in his selection as the vice captain. Look at his body language. He’s lost it man. He knows he’ll never touch that premier league trophy in his lifetime. And that ‘hopelessness’ is just all over him.

Now Rio will be under extra pressure because every time he makes a wrong move, every match that he draws or loses, every time he sees a voluptuous chick, someone will raise this question – is he the right man for the job? Did Capello make a mistake? Media does not take sides. It is not convenient for them to take sides. So if Rio is caught for drunken driving sometime next month, expect a media wave against Rio too. The question how bad is ‘bad’ will be back.

There is some real hope for England in the World Cup 2010. This time the hope is not a media-hype but a hope built on the performances in the qualification stages. A hope built on the credentials of a world class manager and a set of top class players starting to work as a team and deliver on the pitch. In this backdrop, Fabio has made a big decision that could have a real impact on England from the knockout stages. When England trails by two goals at half time in the world cup semi final, Capello would know that he’d die to have a John Terry leading the team than anyone else. That’s the time he would realise that he must have dumped the media and let Captain John do what he does best.

Let’s be aware that there are a lot of people who support the retention of JT as the captain of England. Also, there are a few brave journalists who have raised their voices against the hypocrisy of the blood-baying public and the press that loves character assassination. The Italian media is laughing at the English hypocrisy (what is John Terry – a footballer or a priest?). My support towards John Terry is not only because he is a Chelsea man but also because I truly believe that he is being victimised and the treatment of the whole matter is insane, hypocritical and disgusting. That’s what I thought when this happened to Tiger Woods. And that’s what I’d say even if it happens to a Sachin Tendulkar or a Roger Federer.

I hope John Terry would be able to come through his personal issue which has now become a professional issue as well. If there is a man that you can trust to make a turnaround, it’s gotta be John Terry. May he get all the strength to deal with this situation. One way for him to show his middle finger to his detractors, is by winning the premier league trophy and the champions league trophy for Chelsea. And yes, he’s gonna do it. C’mon John, we know you can do it!