It’s been a repeat of last season so far, but – Chelsea getting Arsenal’s results, Arsenal getting Man Utd’s results, Man Utd getting Chelsea’s results. Though I didn’t get to see the match, I understand that we played attacking football, good link-up play, 18 shots to 5 of Rovers and ended up with just a point.

There is so much hype about disallowing of Kalou’s legitimate goal. Jose was quite cheeky in his remarks on the linesman.

We scored a great goal. Only the linesman can tell why it is not a goal, only him, nobody else. The fourth official has no responsibilities in the game with these kind of decisions. This is a sport where technology cannot help. It was so obvious that I think you should try to ask the linesman why, because I cannot understand. If the linesman wants to explain, then maybe it would be a good thing. I told the linesman I would be waiting for his phone call to apologise.

It can very frustrating when such calls go against us, but we were a little lucky against Liverpool, so nothing much to complain. We have enough fire power to score more than one goal apart despite such mishaps.

In a game, where he could have completely moaned about Blackburn and the way played men behind ball, he didn’t. In fact, he praised their players and attitude. Arsene Wenger would have cried foul that the opposition did not allow them to walk through the net:

To be fair Brad Friedel made two fantastic saves at least. We did what we could, not one striker on the bench, but played well enough with a great spirit and great attitude. Goals will arrive, but today we scored a goal that gives three points but we finish only with one point. They (Blackburn) started the game very well, but I think Chelsea pushed them back. If the bus was there it was not because they want, it was because Chelsea press and press and press. They defended because Chelsea pushed them, I respect their performance. I have not one single negative thing to say about Blackburn.

Shevchenko started and played all 90 minutes. By his standards, he should have scored. I wish he gets more and more such starts and lengthy playing time. Drogba/Sheva combination would have been great. Hope Drogba returns soon before we fall into a 9-point gap or something.

At least, Liverpool drew at Portsmouth. Thank God for that. This is how it looks now.

pl-150907.PNG

Chelsea has the worst goal difference in the top 10 of the table. Most goals conceded by a team in the top 10 – Chelsea. Not a nice thing to know. Well, it certainly appears that we’ve started playing differently. You asked for it and you’ve got it. Such massive change of strategy and tactic will not start paying you off even in football simulation games, leave alone the real life football.

In their series of top 50′s, TimesOnline has now come up with the list of top 50 managers of all time. While absolute bias has resulted in Jose Mourinho being rated as low as #16, you could also find his so-called alternatives way below Jose. Also, Jose has been in the coaching business for less than a decade and he surely has to spend more time to feature way above in the ‘all-time’ list. Still, the ranking and the description for Jose Mourinho is way too undermining of his achievements and Chelseablog has run an article on this. Finally, TimesOnline can also come up with a list of Top 50 worst articles published in TimesOnline, you know what all could be there!

Arsenal’s low finish in the past few seasons has really made teams have a go at them. Earlier when teams were content to get a draw, Arsenal found it difficult to break the defence. And now, teams have started to attack Arsenal and that has worked to the benefit of Arsenal, I guess. Whereas Chelsea and Man Utd are still the teams that other teams (Liverpool/Arsenal included) are highly satisfied to come out with a point. It will be more interesting to see how the mid-table but strong teams deal with Arsenal and Liverpool.

As of now, it’s no drama at all. I always believe that Liverpool and Arsenal would not be consistent and they would drop points along the way. 18 points have to be played for among the top 4 teams and in most seasons, they can tilt things in anyone’s favour. It’s going to be fun this season, more fun if we keep winning!

[tags]Chelsea, Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Premier League, Shevchenko, Kalou, Jose Mourinho, Match Analysis[/tags]