Goodness me! When was the last time we scored an early goal? Good away win with a clean sheet against a tricky opponent. Drogba scored a timely and brilliant goal just to show what kind of professional he is, on the pitch. Sad thing is I could not watch this match fully. I was on and off and on . . . and off and on.

To score a goal within 10 minutes is one of the wonderful things that can happen in football. The players no longer under pressure, fans can sit back and relax, coach can try something different, and even if you concede you’re not losing! The goal had to come from Drogba. After all the off-pitch dramatics, the last thing Drogba wanted was a mediocre performance from him and the world saying “he wants to leave and that’s why he is playing crap”.

Looking back at that goal, that was a smart and quick throughpass from the ever-reliable Lampard. The way Drogba took the goal was brilliant. He was one-on-one with the keep from a tight angle from the left. With the goalkeeper approaching him and expecting a rightfooted shot at the near post, Drogba had the confidence and skill to slot a leftfooter at the farpost. Didier Drogba at his best. That’s why I like him. On the pitch, he never gives anything less than 100% – irrespective of what feelings he has off the pitch.

[video]http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/7fCxlTWCBJwmcmZFn[/video]

And then the other goal. That was a good plan whoever thought of it – Avram or Ten Cate or Steve Clarke or Terry or Lampard. So we add Alex to our long list of free kick takers and set piece scorers. The header he scored against Arsenal in the last season’s champions league is still fresh in my mind. This goal by Alex should certainly be a goal that he would cherish. While has made Avrum realise that he is a better bet than Ben Haim in defence, now here is his other dimension.

With my partial viewing, I gathered that everyone played well with special mention to Paulo doing a fine job at the left back. We played well as a team. Well, I just read some of you saying that we were playing short passes. I thought that’s not new. We’ve always played short passes but not quick ones. Even in this match, we did not play quickly but solidly.

Avram said this about the match and Didier Drogba:

We played good and we won. I’m happy with win and happy are playing better from game to game. We started well, scored and could have scored more. Alex has a terrific shot and it was a fantastic goal and the first goal was a good combination too. I have seen Didier in the last month in training, in my room, on the pitch and I haven’t had one problem. If he has done something off the pitch and he regrets it, it’s good. He is not a negative person. If he was negative on the pitch or in the dressing room or when he spoke to me, that is another story. But it’s not like this. Players need to speak on the pitch, and he did that very well.

Table-wise, things are improving. We’ve crept upto the 7th now. All that we need is our rivals (not Everton, Man City etc) to drop points. If we keep winning and if our rivals lose a couple of matches, we’ll be right there with a shout. We need our big players at least for this season to make any claim or challenge. See, the ball Drogba got from Lampard today, I don’t see Sheva or Kalou or Pizarro making much out of that, based on their form or abilities now.

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Liverpool should be happy to get one own goal by the opponent, two penalties, two red card for the opponent – all in the same away derby match. Everton could not have done any more favours for Rafa. Arsenal keeps winning and Man Utd are back among the goals.

One great thing amidst all nonsense from the Press and ourselves, we’re recovering and doing well on the pitch. If we beat Schalke mid-week and mighty Man City at weekend, we have a fortnight of manageable matches that would give us more time to consolidate. Let’s what we feel same time next week.

Oh, before I sign off, I leave you with this wonderful picture – talk about playing out of position, covering your colleague and killer instinct! Younger Neville continues to surprise us!

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[tags]Chelsea, Middlesbrough, Didier Drogba, Avram Grant, Frank Lampard, Alex, Phil Neville, Man Utd, Arsenal, Goal, Goal video, Match highlights video[/tags]