The smiles are back!

Chelsea strolled their way to the next round of the FA Cup. That is to say that we knew that we didnt have to sprint to get a good result against Nottingham Forest. The dream of the Forest players and fans ended too meekly for their liking. Credit to us - we did a great job in defence and midfield. Still, you cannot really read too much into this result. There was no real contest there. The below grpahic will expose this truth very crudely.

Three players stood out today - Essien, Lampard and Mikel. These three were everywhere on the pitch. We anyway knew about Essien and Lampard. Their workrates are very high and they have set new standards in their contribution in every match. To see Obi Mikel coming so good is very heartening. I do feel that Mikel reads the game so well and he does very quickly too. He knows where his colleagues and I can even say he has a 360 degree vision. My stance on Mikel seems to be vindicated. Based on his current form, he should get a start everytime. When Terry is back and Essien moves to midfield, Jose will have a tough task of accomodating the in-form and ever-improving Mikel.

Sheva did a good job this match too. With some luck he could have got a goal or two. I mean he did get a goal but still I’m not sure if it counts as Sheva’s goal or as an own goal. Major websites call this a Shevchenko goal, good for him. Drogba had to continue his dream season with his second free kick goal of the season. Mikel was well rewarded with a goal for all his efforts.

SWP was okay, but at least no one can say anymore that he was not given enough opportunities. Geremi was wayward with his row Z shoots and pointless crosses. Diarra played with some purpose and looks to gain many more starts. I have to say this. Ballack’s absence was not at all felt. That shows his level of performance lately. I was expecting us to run riot with some half a dozen goals but Forest defended well and in good numbers. In the second half, the whole of Forest was behind the ball and trying to do some essential damage control, which they did well.

The more important news of the day was that Jose Mourinho talked to the Press about his relationship with Roman and his own future at the club:

I don’t have to be confident I am staying. I have a contract until 2010, which is important. I am manager today, I am the manager until the end of the season and I believe I will be the manager until the end of 2010. If I believe what I read in the press there are 11 candidates for my job but I don’t get influenced by that.

I just want to do my work well - the best I can. The players feel that I am exactly the same - with the same desires and motivation. We are together to chase our targets and we are alive in all of them. The only thing I can tell you 100% for sure is that everyone at this club wants to win. That is the most important thing and when I read that we are not pushing in the same direction that is completely untrue.

Roman and I speak. We speak as always but with a difference. The difference is that Roman is not in London for quite a long time but I have no complaints about that because he is the owner of this club and he does not have to give any explanation about his professional and personal life. He pays me and chief executive Peter Kenyon quite a lot to run this club so he does not have to be around. When he is back he is always welcome in our dressing room. When he is not around it is because he has other things to do or he prefers to do other things.

I have John Terry, I have Peter Cech, I don’t need more players. I am not going to sign anybody in January.

Looks like Terry would make his comeback only against Charlton in the first week of February only. Anyway, I’m looking forward to the Premiership match against Blackburn. That’s when you can really judge whether we have really imroved over the dreadful late December drop in form that continued for another few weeks. I have a feeling that happier times are ahead with our key players returning to strengthen us at the most crucial period of the season (champions league around the corner).

With Jose also making clear that he looks forward to see out his contract in Chelsea, which is bad news for the Press, let’s all concentrate on football alone and let’s start winning again, with style.