Crucial decider at the Riverside today. About 10 points behind and it’s only October. Now every match is a decider. I feel sorry for Avram Grant. May be, he is really a decent coach, but he’s got a real tough job to do. From another perspective, I don’t have to feel sorry for him as he is in his honeymoon period in a dreamland, as far as his ‘illustrious’ career goes. He must be really happy that he is in charge of a team like Chelsea. That must have been lifetime ambition or something, to coach a team of this magnitude.

So Drogba wants to leave, or he always wanted to leave or he never wanted to come here. I won’t despise him. I love Drogba. As I’ve always said Drogba is the true symbol of Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea – the power, the arrogance, the strength, the determination, the directness and the eternally unsung and undermined skills and creativity. I never thought he would continue for long, after his ‘mentor and spiritual father’ was forced to leave Chelsea.

Some of us hated him when he said about his leaving. But I don’t see a problem with what he said. After all, he has the balls to be honest and say what he wanted to say. What about those players who feel the same way and kiss the badge when they score? There are many many players who play for reasons other than the honour of the club’s colours. Most of Arsenal players have said that they would be there until Arsene Wenger is there. Players join clubs to get champions league experience. How much of an honour is it for the club? Let’s get over this. Players are not saints. They join clubs and stay with clubs for various reasons and as they see these reasons disappear or become redundant, they look for a future elsewhere.

Drogba also followed up with a more political statement of the official website:

On reflection, I regret making the comments I made in a recent interview public at this time. I am a Chelsea player and will be 100 per cent committed and supportive to my manager, my team-mates and the club. I will not be discussing my future any further until I meet privately with the club at the end of the season.

Drogba has confirmed that he is here for the whole season while Chelsea FC expects him to see out his contract. So, the common minimum denominator seems to be the end of this season, if not any longer. You can’t really believe these words as much as you would like to. The thoery around the timing of Jose’s sacking is that Roman had decided already to sack Jose. He didn’t do it in pre-season fearing a mass exodus in the transfer window. There’s also a theory that Chelsea FC did not want to see unrenewed season tickets and that’s why Jose’s sacking for done few weeks into the new season. So, it was a combination of football and finances. If there’s any truth here, Avram Grant must have known months back that he would be in charge of Chelsea in September. Here I am talking again about Jose’s exit. May be I’ll never quit talking about this episode.

Meanwhile Avram has responded to Drogba’s comments.

I know that it is not the first time he has said it. But I have not seen him yet. I need to do that first. It is internal business. I cannot tell you anything. I have read many things that were not true about problems in the dressing room. I am very happy with the atmosphere and the attitude of the players.

Again here is where I see the insecure Avram always trying to suggest that (i) things are fine or/and (ii) things were never fine even before he came. I’m sure he would have met him today and discussed with him on this and he’s not going to tell us anything. Avram has an option of taking offence of Drogba’s comments and not playing him but he cannot afford to drop points so he would rather compromise on anything but points.

Coming back to this match, Drogba and Mikel are available after their red card bans. Wayne Bridge is serving his second match of the red card in a reserve match. Terry is out for three weeks and Ashley Cole out for a month. That makes a case for Ben Haim’s inclusion. It could be Carvalho, Alex, Belletti and Ben Haim, at the back. I’d put Lampard at left midfield, Mikel in the centre and Essien on the right. The front three would be the Ivorian rebel supported by Malouda and Joe Cole. Avram should be ably supported by Ten Cate making his Chelsea debut. You can chat about this match in the chatroom as well.

Let’s put this match in perspective. It’s terribly scary to realise where we could be, if we don’t win this match. Villa and Newcastle are just a point behind with a match in hand. If we fail to win today, we would be right there somewhere in the midtable, closely chased by our new rivals such as Reading and Birmingham City. Hoping for nicer things – Drogba to play and score. 1-0 for Chelsea.

[tags]Chelsea, Middlesbrough, Boro, Avram Grant, Jose Mourinho, Roman Abramovich, Premier League, Didier Drogba, Drogba, Terry, Ashley Cole[/tags]