A great match for the neutral. A disappointing result for a Chelsea fan. When was the last time a team scored 4 goals against Chelsea, leave alone at Stamford Bridge? This result and the couple of straight red cards should put us out of the title race.

There are too many negatives from this match but let me start with positives. The first positive is that our home league record still hangs on. Then comes the brace from Shevchenko and also the assist. He was having a great match. Shevchenko assisting Alex for a goal was kind of strange as even the vice versa would have been rare. The way Alex scored with the instincts of a striker was nice to watch. That second goal from him was a cracker. But I will not ignore the fact that he had loads of undisturbed time for him to blast it. He did not manufacture that time with his skill or anything, he was simply allowed that time by Villa. Still a very good performance from him. Superb timely contribution by Ballack. We need more such matches from Ballack. We came back from 2 goals down and showed that we are not going down in adverse situations. And then . . nothing else.

Then on to negatives. I need a lot of space to write now. I’ve listed them down in no specific order.

Negative #1: Lampard goes off injured. I don’t know about the status of his injury. If he’s gonna be out for weeks or something, that could be really bad. While some of you would see this as a blessing in disguise because this injury could allow your man Ballack to play more.

Negative #2: It appeared that we could not have defended even to save our lives. Poor marking and defending all around. That goal by Laursen was a massive insult to the Chelsea defence. The collective intelligence of the team was missing. Especially in defence, there was no real chemistry among the players. It was like an XBOX LIVE football game, where the 11 players on the pitch are controlled by various unknown people from different parts of the world.

Negative #3: We conceded 4 bloody goals! That’s with Petr Cech, Ferreira, Alex, Carvalho and Ashley Cole. Add to this the presence of Michael Essien. This is the best possible defensive set up that could play for Chelsea now. I’m considering Terry’s form when I say this is the best defence possible for us. it would not have felt so bad if it was a 0-0 draw. Here is a trivia for you. When was the last time we conceded 4 goals. No team could manage this against Chelsea of late, not Man Utd, not Liverpool, not Arsenal, not Valencia, not Barcelona (we scored 4 against them though!).

Negative #4: What’s happened to Petr Cech suddenly? Was he not fit enough for the match? Was his return hurried after reports until yesterday that he could miss the festive season football? He should have done better for Villa’s first goal and his Robinsonesque let off for the second goal had me wondering what’s going on? Cech should start saving penalties or start by guessing the correct side at least.

Negative #5: Two red cards – both to defenders. Carvalho has apologised for his tackle on Agbonlahor. This is where the coach or captain should make a difference. Carvalho should have known in the back of his mind that Terry is out and if he is going to get suspended for three matches at this period, it can be disastrous. Ashley Cole’s red card has been appealed by Chelsea FC. It’s unlikely to see the suspension cancelled. Now we need to play with Alex, Ferreira, Bridge and Belletti with no quality defenders on the bench. We can’t take any more injuries or suspension to any defender now.

Negative #6: We freaking let them off the hook – TWICE! When we led 3-2, we were playing a 10-man Aston Villa. If we can’t defend this lead for 25 minutes at Stamford Bridge against a 10-man Aston Villa, I don’t know what to say. This is downright unintelligent football. We did the same mistake against Leicester in the Carling cup but our superior quality bailed us out. We made the same mistake of not closing down and lost two vital points in stoppage time against Everton. Frustrating thing is these are all at home.

Negative #7: Ineffective substitutions – SWP and Mikel coming in at 82nd and 84th minute respectively when we were 3-3 with possibly 10 maximum minutes to go. When we led 3-2 at the 65th minute, had we brought on Mikel, we would have killed off the match against 10-man Villa. This was a high scoring game because we succumbed to Aston Villa’s plans. We were playing the way they wanted us to play. We should have dictated the pace of the game and grinded the match then on.

Negative #8: This match being branded and marketed as entertaining football. Yes, for non-Chelsea supporters. For me, it was more painful than entertaining. To call this the match of the season, is typically football marketing by BBC, Sky etc. More goals need not always mean more excitement. It could also be a poor advertisement for quality football because of awful defending on either sides. Sometime later, there could be a 12-10 result and BBC could have that replace this as the best match of the season. Load of bull . . .

Of course when you’re watching 90 minutes of this match, you get many exciting moments, spills and thrills plus one single point at home. But is that all we want? We will then be in the league of Newcastle, Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers, West Ham etc – mid table premier league – plenty of excitement but no desired end product. There are these concepts of process and result. The process exists to achieve the result. If we don’t achieve the result, the process does not carry too much weight.

Negative #9: To outplay Chelsea is not that difficult nowadays. Many teams have done it this season – home and away. Gone are the days when teams lost hopes once we take a lead. Now any team that comes to Stamford Bridge comes with lots of courage and expectation. The matches in which we have outplayed the opposition in attack, defence and midfield are very few.

Negative #10: We are not in the title race for now. We are now about 8 points away from the league leaders with African Cup of Nations yet to begin. Unless both Man Utd and Arsenal collapse like a pack of cards, I don’t see us really catching them up. Ferguson and Wenger are way too experienced to now allow Chelsea climb up to nick the title from them. May be we will do a Liverpool by going on a winning run when it does not matter.

Negative #11: I feel that our home league record could go any day. I only wish that it does not happen against one of my blacklisted teams. All teams would have taken note of this match and the fact that Chelsea shipped 4 goals at fortress Stamford Bridge.

Martin O Neill almost conveys that if it was a 11 vs 11 match, they would have won at Stamford Bridge today:

We were absolutely teriffic and deserved it and even now I don’t know if I’m delighted to get a point in the last minute of the game or whether I’m disappointed that we haven’t won. We conceded ground in the second half because we were down to 10 men. We knew Chelsea would be relentless, they chased the game, but we came roaring back and deserved it.

And Avram Grant is disappointed with the points dropped:

It was an exciting game but I am disappointed because on the one hand, we came back from 2-0 down to lead 3-2 but on the other hand, we dropped two points because we were leading 3-2, dominating the game, and the other team didn’t have chance to score.

When we were not scoring, we put it on Drogba not being there, Kalou not up to the mark, Joe Cole back to his ‘play boy’ days, Lampard losing his form, Ballack out for a long time, SWP not being in Chelsea standards etc. When we concede 4 goals at home, what can we say? The defence and the goalkeeper are all first choice internationals. All of them have won two league title, and three of them have been European champions. There’s enough quality and experience there for us to not look for replacements.

For the situation we are in, Avram Grant should stand up and face the music. I will not blame it on the players. I’m not going to be deceived by this propaganda. There’s nothing wrong with the components and composition of the team, at least when it comes to defence. We might need replacements for long term injuries or ACN or probable exits but certainly not because players lack quality. One thing is about going for better players and the other is saying we cannot achieve with this set of players. I’m fine with the former but do not agree with the later. I don’t expect to have 26 world class players in the squad. We are of course, facing some serious injury problems just like the last season, but today’s match was a real mess with all the right people in. Efficiency is in getting the maximum from the minimum and Jose was a master at it. Avram is apparently caught between the benchmark that Jose has set and the change of playing style that Roman expects.

I’m not expecting wonders from this team. I don’t want them to beat Man Utd 4-0 at the Old Trafford. I just want us to win the matches that we should. I want us wrap the matches up with some kind of authority. I want us to do the sensible things and not the incredible things. That’s why a 0-0 draw is far better than a 4-4 draw after leading the game twice because that does not make any football intelligence. Man City are breathing down the neck and some more dropped points will make Chelsea rub shoulders with Everton, Portsmouth and Villa. I’m curious how Chelsea’s league title chase would go from here and where would we be by the end of the season. I’m very curious.