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The Blue Champion!

We are the Carling Cup champions again. Very well deserved win for Chelsea. Fair play to Arsenal. They played well too, but they under-estimated Chelsea’s defensive power and depth. What differentiates between Champions and other teams is how they perform on crucial moments – in attack and in defence. That’s where Chelsea excelled today. Whenever it mattered, Chelsea clearly showed that they are the boss. That’s why we’re the Champions!

You know what, like always, before the match I pre-played this match on Winning Eleven 9 on XBOX. After a couple of unsatisfactory 1-0 wins for Chelsea, I crushed them 6-1 with Drogba, Shev and Robben getting three, two and one respectively. So my WE9 predictor also pointed towards a Chelsea win today!

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Jose went ahead with a conservative team, not only in terms of selection but also with more defensive minded players. May be, he had made up his mind to win the match in the second half. In the first half Arsenal had the better off opportunities. We looked a little rusty and it appeared to me that we did not play with enough hunger. Some attempts in defence did not look like the best possible efforts. Walcott had a great touch & turn and very good composure to score to his first Arsenal goal. In one way, the Arsenal goal was good for us because I knew that this would fire up the guys and we can get back right into the game.

Chelsea did well to mount most of the attacks on the right to trouble Traore, who was the weak link in the Arsenal defence. Ballack made his only positive contribution of the match with his very timely and correctly weighted lob to Drogba who was onside, I repeat onside, as he was in line with Senderos. Drogba with his first touch controlled the ball and was looking for options before he slammed the ball past Almunia. There are goals, which if scored by your team, you’d call it onside and if scored by other, you’d call it offside. Still this one was onside, adjusting for the slant in the TV camera angle. Anyway, if there is one team that cannot moan about offside goals, it is Arsenil. So many of their scurried late goals are offsides that they cant me moaning about this. For clarity, Drogba’s equaliser was onside.

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If there was a disgraceful moment for Chelsea, that was when some stupid fans were throwing stuff at Fabregas whenever he went to take a corner. That was something very silly to do, given the importance of the match and the spirit in which it was being played. I wish these miscreants are identified in video footages and punished severely. While we pride that EPL is the safest league to play football, such kind of soft-hooliganism should also be condoned and controlled.

In the second half, it was a completely different story. We had re-couped in the halftime and we played with lot more purpose in the second half. In the second half of the game, you could see what Chelsea defence is made of – resilience, resoluteness, robustness. Lampard blasted a typical screamer (it had me screaming at least!) that hit the bar and I knew that we are getting home. Meanwhile the introduction of Robben on the right wing meant that Hoyte cannot make his runs as he wished. Robben danced his way past the Arsenil players in his own inimitable style and was always a live wire. It looked that it was only a matter of time before Robben scores or creates a winner.
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Then came the umpteenth dreadful moment of this season for Chelsea. Diaby challenged recklessy with his foot for the ball that Terry was about head to goal. For some reasons I did not understand that wasnt even a foul. That reminded me of Ibrahim Sonko’s challenge on Cudicini on that evil day, which also went unpunished. Do you still remember the so-called foul by Terry on Garcia just outside the box in the Community Shield match, whose freekick led to the goal? If that was dangerous play, this one is a murder attempt. Thank Goodness, Terry is reported to have been discharged from the hospital and he in fact, celebrated the win along with the team mates. Is he a superhuman or something?

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Robben did not disappoint us. He swerved and swinged on the left wing and delivered the perfect cross to Drogba, whose blasted header sealed it all. Have you seen the goals scored in those handball games. This header went in with such force and precision. Senderos had Drogba marked but his sad story with Drogba had to continue. What a strike that was! It all happened in a flash.

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No way Chelsea is going to slip the cup with 5 more minutes of regulation time to go. Chelsea grew in confidence and looked more and more solid. Sheva had a golden opportunity to make it 3-1 and make them surrender right there but hit the post. Our ill-luck with shots hitting the bar continued in this match too.

During these circumstances, Arsenil’s desparation and inability provoked themselves to create some very ugly scenes that you wouldnt want to see in a game of football. They knew that they lost the game after their dream run in the Cup and they couldnt take it and lost the cool. The referee was spot on and he handled the incident rather well. Toure was sent off for his childish response to an ordinary foul. Unfortunately, Mikel got sent off for reacting to it.

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In his peacemaking process, Adebayor pushed and punched and earned himself a well-deserved red card. They way he refused to go out of the pitch deserves some more punishment. In my opinion, Fabregas must have been sent off for inciting continued fights and didnt seem too interested in calming his colleagues. Fabregas is becoming more and more dislikeable for the neutrals. This whole brawl incident did not have a bearing on the result of this match and it was virtually over for the Emigrants and they knew it and thats the very reason why this all started.

Jose Mourinho was clear in his message:

It was a pity that happened. I do understand it’s emotional and I understand how the players are feeling. Arsenal were losing the final so I think their emotions took over. It was a great game between two teams with two different styles but history will show we have taken the cup home.

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Even Arsene Whinger admitted that they were on the wrong side:

It suddenly exploded. It was strange as it didn’t reflect the quality of the game. Suddenly we lost it and they lost it as well and it became a brawl. I’m not sure the referee picked the right ones out but he made a decision. I don’t think you should ever lose your calm. You should always keep under control. Kolo is usually very calm but he was pulled down and the ball was kicked away. I felt the referee was not the cause of the incident, of course it was the players, but he was a bit slow to give it. Overall we can only look at ourselves and next time not lose our nerves.

In the end, I cant help but think that even if the Emigrants had Henry, Gilberto, Rosicky etc, the result would not have changed. May be, it would have made things more comfortable for Chelsea. Same old predictable football from the Arsenil seniors would have been easier to deal with. Arsene Whinger’s Arsenil is yet to beat Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea for the last 3 years in all competitions. He does have a psychological hold on Whinger.

Some special praises need to be given. Petr Cech – Truly the 50 million pound man as claimed by Jose. He was simply outstanding today. He gives so much confidence to the defence and he nullified so many Arsenil corners and crosses with his anticipation and movement. Diarra – Is it a mistake that we didnt play him all along the season and have we brought him in the first team so late? He’s got it all – the pace, the skill, the accuracy and the determination. I dont see Jose dropping him in the near future. He was in defence what Robben was in attack – livewire. Carvalho – He marked Baptista to precision. So many crucial tackles and strategic fouls that kept Big Bap loitering around.

Drogba – Needless to say, he was the man of the match. Despite this not being one of his better performances, his winner, which was his 28th goal of the season, proved what he is worth. Robben – He should play and many a times along with Drogba, he is certainly the difference between a win and a draw. Anyway, all the players played well and deserved this trophy absolutely. And finally to Jose, for his tactics and his substitutions and making the players and fans believe that we would surely despite whether we are 1 goal down or 2.

Jose was more happy about the result than the performance:

They have a great coach, great players, but football is about winning and the cup goes to us. I think we showed character, I don’t think we played a great game. It was difficult, Arsenal played a very good game in my opinion. They showed the reason why they arrived at this game. They beat Liverpool, Everton and Tottenham with this team and they have a great football team, but I think in the second half it was a bit different as we dominated the game, hit the post and at the end of the day I think we deserved the victory.

I’m quite relieved, to be honest, that we have won the Carling Cup. Now I’m even more convinced that we are going to win all against all odds. This result also shows the world that we are still in the hunt for all trophies. Despite the injuries, the internal troubles, no new transfers, we have become the Carling Cup champions. A strong message from the Chelsea team to all that we are coming at them and we’ll get them.

One down. Three to go!