Hey Chelsitos! Wish you all a very happy and prosperous new year. May you all be blessed with peace, harmony, tranquility and joy. Take care of your families. Do well at work place. Pay your taxes. Be nice to your neighbours. Drink less. Smoke less. Be good, responsible citizens. Do all those good things that you wanted but didn’t do last year. Don’t repeat all those mistakes and sins you committed last year. Most importantly, please realise that there are some things in life that are more important than football. Okay, now that I got my new year speech out of my way, let’s talk about football ahead of the new year 2009.

Today being the new year day, I’ve decided that I’m going to talk about positives only. Do I want to talk about the year 2008? May be yes. Year 2008 was one of the most remarkable years for Chelsea, just pipping the year 2007 in terms of sheer drama and excitement. We had a rollercoaster ride to our first champions league final ever. That was a memorable night at Moscow. Though it was a very painful one, a champions league final is something to be proud about. And then, the premier league. Chelsea stormed into the title race with a late blitzkreig forcing Man Utd to wait until the last hour of the premier league to be crowned champions.

Though we had lost both these titles so closely, there was one thing about Chelsea that stood out – the spirit. As it stands now, we are in second place in the premier league. We’re drawn against Juventus in champions league. We are in the hunt. Our ride so far might have been a bit bumpy but no one would rules us out from winning the premier league or champsions league. Chelsea proved in 2008, why they are very dangerous and why Sir Alex always considers Chelsea to be their main threat irrespective what happens at Stamford Bridge.

There may or may not be a signing in this January. But we have made a very important signing in the summer which should see us through. No, I’m not talking about Deco (didn’t I say I’ll talk about positives only?). It is Scolari I refer to. Incidentally, I was today checking the comments posted in this blog on the day Scolari was appointed. We had/have so much faith and trust on this man. Whether he gets his winter budget or not, I’m fairly convinced that he has a fantastic squad full of top professionals and full internationals. With Essien returning and Drogba getting back to his fitness and form, we’ll be once again a fearful force in England and in Europe. Against FuIham, I think we have seen a glimpse of the old Chelsea. I hope that we’re back.

Press is having a field day with the rumours about Roman considering to sell Chelsea. Even worse, that he has a decision to make between his yacht and Chelsea FC. My take is this. As far as I have tracked the global financial crisis, I don’t think Roman would have lost as much as is being quoted by the press. Everyone was hit, he was also hit. When oil prices fell, some journalists spread rumours that Roman lost his billions without knowing that Roman had long liquidated his positions in oil related business. Journalists love to exaggerate. For each and every billionaire, there has been an erosion of wealth in the last quarter of 2008. Roman is no exception. But even if you go by the unsubstantiated press reports, his remaining wealth is about 2300 millions. Not bad eh?

As far as Roman’s concerned, Chelsea FC is a project. He has invested the money, he has spent his valuable time, he has waited so long and he should start seeing the financial benefits from 2010. Given the current economic scenario, football clubs are a better investment option than the ‘here today, gone tomorrow’ hedge funds. The notion that Roman has to choose between the yacht and Chelsea FC is absolutely ridiculous. Chelsea FC is a revenue generating business proposition. His yacht is a symbol of luxury. And it’s not that he has only one yacht okay? He owns several yachts in addition to his airplanes and private jets. To think of selling Chelsea FC at this point of time is downright imprudent. I’d advise you to ignore these rumours and get on with the game.

The transfer window opens. The black suits at Chelsea FC have already said that there won’t be any new signings. I assume that Scolari can sell players and buy from the proceeds. I have a feeling that there would be some Chelsea activity this January without any net cash outflow. Signing or no signing, we’ll be back. We have too much quality and too many match winners not to bring back the fear factor in our opponents. For now, in Scolari I trust. May this year be a trophy-filled one.

Future’s bright! Future’s blue!

The gap is widening or shortening, depending on who you think we’re competing with. Liverpool are three points clear. They deserve that lead. Man Utd are only 7 points below us with three games in hand. If they win their games in hand, we’ll be probably third. We can stop them though because one of their three matches in hand is against Chelsea. If Villa beat Hull on Tuesday night, they’ll be four points short of Chelsea. Now that we’ve put the result in perspective, I can go ahead and talk about the match.

Scolari started with Drogba as his lone striker. 4-3-3 instead of his regular 4-1-4-1. Anelka was in the bench. I still don’t know why Anelka and Drogba cannot start together in a 4-4-2. I don’t think that was meant to be a rest because the next top flight match is only on Jan 11th. This must have been a tactical move. Soon, this had to change as Anelka and Carvalho came in for injured Malouda and Alex respectively.

Fulham were very good today. I won’t say they deserved a point but they took their chances while we messed ours. So, Fulham scored two goals against Chelsea in a match, both from set pieces, both from the same American. To concede from set pieces is bad and when it happens so late in a match for an equaliser, it’s worse. Plus, that was their only corner of the match. Certainly we could have defended better for both the goals. For the equaliser, Drogba was at fault. I’m not sure if he was supposed to mark Dempsey but they rose together while the American showed more determination to head the ball. We had four defenders plus Mikel but it had to be Drogba who was marking Dempsey. I’m sure that was not the plan.

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The headlines are all about Chelsea’s interest in signing a new striker, based on a Ray Wilkins interview. This one is a bit strange. I have three points. First is, Kenyon has indicated that we won’t sign new players in January. What is this now? Second is, we have a Drogba and an Anelka. For Scolari’s love of single striker formations, we have one too many. Does this mean Scolari is planning to move to a two striker formation? Third is, didn’t Scolari want a dribbling playmaker? Let’s look at what Wilkins said. Click Here To Read The Full Article

If you read any headline like ‘Chelsea back to winning ways at Stamford Bridge’, don’t believe them yet. Scolari made some crucial corrections in the team selection and formation for today’s game. He started with both Drogba and Anelka. He dropped Deco. He also dropped his thoroughly worn out and found out 4-1-4-1. The moment I saw these changes ahead of the kick off, I was sure that we’ll get the three points somehow. Common sense just prevailed.

Drogba scored early and settled our nerves. We have really missed these early goals. A goalless first half would have made got me really worried. Then, Lampard scored a fantastic goal. He’s been due a goal and this one is a special one. Amidst all the congestion and chaos in the box, look how much time and space Lamps gets to control the ball and to chip it over the goalie. Superb goal.

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Our home form sucks. That’s not just our opinion but that seems to be the official line as well. Even the boss and the players have admitted on our home woes. The last time we won a home league match was on Nov 1, 2008.

Over the last few weeks, right here in this blog, we have spoken at lengths on what’s going wrong, what needs to be done and how do we secure a home win. After we secure a home win, we need to start winning more often at home, and then probably make an unbeaten run at home, and probably in some seasons, we need to break our own home league record of 86 matches. So, that’s how far it is. For now, we’ve got West Brom who might come here with a ‘single-point’ programme.

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