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JoseHoliday was right. It’s hard to find interesting Chelsea news nowadays. With Jose Mourinho, we were always the happening club. Whether we win or lose, we were always in the news. Sometimes for good reasons but mostly for selling more copies. It’s all quiet now.

Papers are all about Arsenal’s upsurge, Man United young guns, Rafa’s rotations and Tottenham too has a fair share of the print area. Chelsea is not a hot cake anymore. While some people are happy about it, I’m not so happy. I liked being in the hot seat, fighting against odds, proving ‘experts’ wrong, defending ourselves against allegations and such stuff. Anyway, despite Chelsea dropping places in the print area, just like in the league table, I would keep fishing out the Chelsea news from various sources. I wouldn’t commit on the amount of truth in these news stories nevertheless these are Chelsea news.

Avram Grant has asked why the African Nations Cup is held right in the middle of the European league season. Martin Samuel of TimesOnline says why this is arrogance of highest order. I’m with him.

I don’t understand why the tournament is played in the middle of the European leagues and not in the summer.

May be he should remember that it is African Cup he is talking about and not the European Cup. And this has been the tradition. African Cups are held after the African league season gets over. To ask this question with two months to go for the cup, is not a smart idea. Rather he should look at how we can manage the absence of our key Africans during the Cup.

I don’t think Avram will have too much of a problem that Martin Samuel does not agree with him. What matters to him is how the Chelsea management and fans evaluate him. Peter Kenyon has already given his verdict:

Avram, you have to say, has exceeded people’s expectations. He has had seven straight wins, with some big games in there. You have to give credit where it is due, and credit is due to the team and to Avram Grant. Five or six weeks ago, people were writing us off. But as of Saturday night, we are in third place in the table, three points behind leaders Arsenal.

Three points behind Arsenal while they have two games on hand . . c’mon Pete!

I badly want someone from Chelsea management to define the word ‘people’. Avram was saying yesterday that ‘people like’ if we go for another goal after taking a lead in the 70th minute or something to that effect. Now, Kenyon says Avram has exceeded the expecations of ‘people’. If things happen at Chelsea FC for the so-called ‘people’, Jose Mourinho should have stayed. If I’ve to ask one question to Peter Kenyon, that would be ‘what’s Chelsea FC’s expectation for this season – for every competition’.

Roman and Kenyon are very keen to bring Avram closer to the fans and this has resulted in Avram Grant featuring in the Chelsea FC fans forum answering the questions from the supporters. Some questions are very interesting and very direct, my favourites being ‘Can you explain to us how the team of yourself, Steve Clarke and Henk ten Cate split their responsibilities’ and ‘what would be a successful season for you’. The replies from Avram are so boringly diplomatic and does not actually make a good read. If you still want to read it, here is that interview.

After chasing Ronaldinho offering enough money to start a bank, Grant seems to have conceded that Ronnie will not leave Barca after all. Now Grant is closing in on a deal with Lulinha, 17-year old Corinthian attacking midfielder and forward. Any promising football player in his teens will have to be called the ‘new Maradona’, ‘new Pele’, ‘new Shaun Wright Phillips’ (of course I didn’t mean this) etc. Following this convention, Lulinha is the ‘new Ronaldinho’. Is that because he looks like or plays like him, I don’t know. He says:

Any footballer dreams of playing in one of the big teams and I’m no different. My favourite position is as an offensive midfield player. But I can also play forward. I like to attack and to score goals. Ronaldinho is my idol. People say that with my style of play I look like a Ronaldinho and that gives me great pride.

At 17 years, running at a price of about 8 million euros, he must be something special. If signed, he would become Avram’s first signing for Chelsea. Or should I say Roman’s first signing with Avram as the manager!

News round up will not be complete without a Didier Drogba story. Drogba apologises for missing the scoring chances in the Everton game.

It was nice for me to score but not nice for me to miss the chances I had. The first one in the first half was difficult because of the bounce, but I had a big chance to score. I was so sorry for my team. We can’t be happy with the point – but we didn’t lose. We still have a chance to win the next game, so it’s OK. I am very disappointed and I think we created a lot of chances; I think enough to win the game. They [Everton] had one chance and scored. I think they deserved a draw because they defended very well. We created enough chances to win the game. Sometimes you need only one chance to win and every chance you create, you score. This was the opposite – and that’s football.

That’s Drogba in a paragraph. Wonder what would happen if Sheva is to apologise for his fumbles and SWP for his bad crosses!

We’ve dropped back to No.4 in the table and we proceed for a international break where England’s fate would be determined. I have mixed feelings here. It would be sad to see a European championship without England but I would want the Chelsea players of the England squad to concentrate on Chelsea and nothing else. If England fails to make it, that would not be nice but at least our boys can devote all their time on Chelsea. More like the Carling Cup situation I guess!