Now you’ll tell me there was football this weekend. International football means nothing to me unless it is in proper stages of tournaments or there is something really really exciting happening there. For all this indifference towards international football and breaks, this time around I’ve welcomed this break. The reason is, Man Utd seem to be heading for a freefall if not in one already. Having lost in two successive games for the first time in many seasons, they must be itching to play again to get back to winning ways. Now they’re put on hold. All their rush of blood must take a break. That helps is in the bigger scheme of things.

Of course Chelsea lost as well. That was the most shitty thing to happen when Man Utd lost, but it did happen. Someone needs to put Man Utd on pressure. If it’s Liverpool, I’m fine with that. If Liverpool’s pressure on Man Utd helps us, we can slowly sneak back in. And then if it’s between Liverpool and us, no problems. Rafa’s decisions will put more pressure on Liverpool than Chelsea would ever be able to. Then the title is ours. I know we are not in the race and we need a miracle to even join the race, let alone win it. But what harm in just letting your imaginations run wild?

So let’s catch up on some footie news in the last week. Hiddink is not going to stay with Chelsea. He has said this a million times now. Still, everyday I get to see news like ‘Hiddink hints Chelsea stay’ or ‘Guus: I’m going’ or ‘Guus: I won’t stay here even if I’m dead’ and all that. I think he’s made it pretty clear. He has a contract with Russia. Not just a contract, he thinks he has a responsibility to take Russia through for the world cup. In fact, this week and next week, he is managing Russia and not Chelsea. He has a contract with Chelsea only until end of May. He has said that he would not consider Chelsea unless Russia gets eliminated. I don’t want Russia to get knocked off just for Hiddink to join chelsea. Russia are a good team now and they deserve a place in the world cup.

Hiddink also talked about the possibility of him being a consultant for Chelsea beyond May. I’m never a fan of roles like football director or such consultants who end up overlapping with the manager bruising each other’s egos. Hiddink does not look like a manipulative guy and he looks and sounds like a big man. A man who’s not cheap or silly or cunning. So his being a consultant might even work. Whatever the outcome is, I don’t want Chelsea to start their manager hunt yet. We’ve got time for that. I read somewhere that Peter Kenyon is tight-lipped about Ancelotti becoming Chelsea manager. Those kind of news are just scary. Ancelotti? No, please no.

In other news, Rafael van der Vaart wants to leave Real Madrid for Chelsea. I love van der Vaart. He is a fantastic player and I’d love to see him as a Chelsea player. He says that he’d like to join Chelsea and also claims that Chelsea have shown their interest. That’s where I think Hiddink’s value comes in. Just like Scoalri was wooing Brazilian players, Guus can bring in those magnificent Dutch. If any of these Dutch players end up joining Chelsea, you can be rest assured that Guus is here to stay, as manager or whatever. The only problem I have with a probable van der Vaart deal is the whole deal itself. It’s very well documented that Real Madrid are double crossing bastards when it comes to the transfer market. Not sure if they would start behaving like a football club when talks about van der Vaart start.

Elsewhere, in the wordy duel between Fergie and Rafa about who spent more, the best comment came from neither. David Moyes was asking why is that they are fighting that the other team spent more while they don’t open this topic at all when they visit places like Goodison park. Top interception that one. Money does get you success. There are enough examples for teams with less money winning things and big spending teams getting stuffed out. That was a lame comment by Rafa. We know that he and his team have got Fergie and Man Utd’s number. Rafa is on a high after a few very good results and signing a long term deal. Rafa said this money thing only to fuel the fire because he was winning the battles but still that was really a lame comment.

Next up, Newcastle away on Saturday. On that very day, Man City can win at Emigrants, Fulham at home can hold Liverpool. The next day, Aston Villa can dump Man Utd in deep shite. All this can happen. What should also happen is Chelsea beating Newcastle. Hoping for all this.

Bosingwa. Ballack. Alex. 1-0 to Spurs. It was a poor performance but Spurs were poor too. In fact this game was a poor advertisement for football. Very soon, it was clear that the one makes more mistakes or the one who makes the worst mistake would be the loser. That had to be Chelsea. Spurs’ idea was quite clear. They were banking on the counterattacks. They had pace. They know that our back four (minus Cole) is not that pacy. All the game, they were depending on counterattacks. That’s not a bad idea especially if it gets you three points against a top four team.

From Chelsea’s side, I thought we had too many culprits. Bosingwa was a mess today. He was poor in attack and horrible in defence. He still thinks he is Lionel Messi. When he goes out of position dribbling the ball more often than not, he loses the ball and he lacks the pace/sharpness to then react and get back. He was the culprit for that goal. I wonder what was he thinking then? Actually, his mistakes could have been more expensive. I’m losing my patience with Bosingwa. Mancienne is not too far away. I won’t be surprised if Guus plays Mancienne in the next match.

What can I say about Ballack? I love this guy so much! He’s been poor, not days or weeks, months I’d say. He is no longer a 90-minute player. He is way too lazy for Chelsea. Occupying a crucial midfield role, the way he loses possession like he loves doing them, is attrocious. Ballack was so very disappointing that I was hoping that he gets subbed. It’s not that he is an untouchable or something. Obi Mikel in place of Ballack today would have made a world of difference. Is Alex looking for a summer exit or something? He is a good second choice for Carvalho but there are times when he drives you mad. Today he had too many such moments. Few minutes into the match, I was sure that Alex was gonna commit a shocker. Petr Cech had to make at least 4 or 5 saves in the first half to keep Chelsea in the game. It was Alex and Bosingwa than Spurs who kept Cech busy all the match.

Drogba was not sharp but he tried his bit. Anelka was invisible except for that fantastic shot. Our midfield as such was very weak. Sad to say this because I’m talking about a galaxy of Lampard, Essien, Ballack and Belletti. Ballack repeatedly put the rest of the midfield in trouble. We could not attack freely because few of the players were having a really bad day. I was waiting for Quaresma to arrive and he turned out to be such a failure today. Even Lampard and Essien were very mundane because of the support they got. Belletti and Ballack not doing well meant half of the midfield. Alex and Bosingwa underperforming was half of the defence. And there was Drogba and Anelka.

That’s Hiddink’s first defeat as Chelsea manager. Hiddink is a very intelligent man. I’m sure he’d have seen what went wrong today. I don’t expect him to slate individual players but I’m sure he would do the needful. We had about 60% possession in white hart lane and we had more than a dozen shots. 1-1 would have been the proper result for this match. We should have scored. I thought the approach was good but it had to be better. Spurs were sitting back in the second half but we took too much time to put full pressure on them. Here’s Hiddink:

We talked about it at half time, that they [Spurs] would come from the start, and we emphasised on this. But it was very sloppy defending for the goal, and then the team woke up and we took over. But we told them to get through the tough period in the first 10 minutes before half-time, and then we could get through the game. But we didn’t and that is very disappointing. Sometimes when you are gifted player there are circumstances where you cannot always look for the beautiful solution in the dangerous part of the park. So we have to clear these balls every now and then. The way we lost 10 minutes after half time, as professionals with so many international games, you must know when there is heat in the kitchen and extinguish the fire. This was a huge opportunity, knowing that Man United is 2-0 down and you have a great chance to really chase them. We lost a great opportunity. These are the typical days at the top of the league, the key moments and if Man United are losing, those are the moments to strike and we didn’t.

And yes, I loved the way Man Utd bounced back from their Liverpool defeat. It’s so annoying to see that we couldn’t take advantage of it. Even a draw would have helped us a wee bit. This could be Rafa’s dream day. I hope Villa beat Liverpool tomorrow. I have a feeling that Man Utd and Liverpool could still lose games. I’m still confident because I feel that Hiddink is good and he knows what he is doing. He is a very reliable manager. Liverpool will lose tomorrow. Villa will beat Man Utd next week. Go Villa Go!

We’ve drawn Liverpool again! Make no mistake. We’re gonna thump them. I’m sure Rafa would be worried. For once, in a million years, they are in the title race in the month of March and they’ve got a very tough draw in the champions league quarters against Chelsea. And I just loooove the fact that the second leg would be played at Stamford Bridge. Take that, you suckers!

Man Utd and Arsenal have got easir draws, no matter what the old men say. I wanted Barcelona to draw Arsenal so they can rip them to pieces. I have high hopes on Villareal now. Bayern and Barcelona would be a fantastic match too.

Let’s talk about the weekend match. Tottenham Hotspurs at Three Point Lane. They just defeated Aston Villa at Villa Park. That’s no indication of their form. They’re fully capable of getting annihilated this weekend. They are like Joe Cole. When they play well, they’re a fantastic team. When they don’t they frustrate their fans to no end. Sadly, they’re playing well very rarely these days. The match at Villa park was dominated by Villa. Spurs got their chances and they converted them. It was Villa who were calling the shots. With a little bit of luck, they could have sealed the match in the first half.

I feel that this Tottenham team lacks characted. Against them, you take a lead and the game is yours. I don’t see them coming back with vengeance. Of course I remember the dramatic draw at the Emigrants stadium earlier this season. That was possible because it was against their fiercest rival Arsenal and also because it was Arsenal they were playing against. I must talk about that little brat Fibreglass. For whatever reason, he has been one of my most hated footballers and he’s given me another reason with that spitting incident. And then he comes out saying that he has never spat before in his career. That’s a load of fabregas. We have all seen the video clipping of Mr.Gas spitting on Michael Ballack. I hate you Fabregas. You’ll be fined and stoned.

I would respect Tottenham as an opponent because they have pacy, talented players and they can play great high tempo football and punish us if we are a bit late. But we are on a high, aren’t we? Successive wins in premier league. Progression in champions league. Guus Hiddink has turned into a real magician. Essien returns from injury. Drogba returns from the dumps. Cech is slowly getting back to his best. Chelsea have started to show more command and control on the games.

Actually, I’m mad enough to say that we will win all the remaining matches in premier league. When you put confidence and momentum together, anything could happen. I think Guus would play the same playing eleven that played against Man City except for Deco who seems to be out for the season. Quaresma may come in to replace Deco. Other than this, I don’t think Guus would change the team.

I see a 0-2 in Chelsea’s favour. Drogba and Anelka.

P.S: My internet problem seems to have been resolved after more than a week. Thanks for the patience.

We were all over them. The result was not a true reflection of the performance. Hiddink has been talking about controlling the game. In this match, I could see that Chelsea were in complete control. I think yesterday we played like the Chelsea of title winning seasons. While we could have scored 3 or 4 goals, Man City did not get even one decent shot on target. We never allowed Man City to pose us a threat. we defended at the back and controlled the midfield in such a way that Man City had simply no hopes at all.

We are winning home and away in premier league. We have eliminated Juventus in champions league. We are genuine favourites for the FA Cup. Hiddink has worked his magic. It would be foolish not to give him credit for this transformation. If Hiddink had taken charge at the beginning of the season and managed this winning run, I would not have gone ga ga over him. Because, that would have meant that he was just keeping us as good as we were. When Hiddink took over we were in shambles, mentally and also table-wise. He has turned us around.

When the team does not create chances, the manager is answerable. He needs to rethink the strategy or tactics or team selection or whatever. The manager needs to act. If the team is creating chances but are not able to score more than one goal, the players will certainly have to see why they couldn’t. This was a match that we must have won very very comfortably. Few of the misses must have been simply finished better. Drogba and Ballack being the main culprits.

That’s not to say Drogba and Ballack played poorly or something. They were very good. In fact, all of them played a fantastic match. Did you notice that Anelka’s work rate has improved by many times now? Do you see him constantly on the move trying to win balls, moving to space and all that stuff? Drogba seems to score a 7/10 or 8/10 every single match. With a solid defence at the back and sharp attack in the front, Lampard’s presence is much more effective than before.

It was Essien’s day. His goal was superb. He created that goal, of course with some help from Lampard. Essien’s performance yesterday was not just about that goal. I loved the way he played. Kind of reminded me what Essien is all about. Essien’s presence allowed Lampard to go further up. Also, all the attacks involved Essien. He was the focal point, he was the distribution system. It’s difficult not to talk about his workrate when we talk about Essien. That’s a given when it comes to Essien. But what was more interesting was the way he was playing the attacking midfielder’s role while he was not. I have been saying that we may not need a defensive midfielder in every single match. Given the strength of our defence and our keeper, we should use holding midfielders only in very very key matches. What we need is an intelligent and capable midfielder who can play either roles and switch quickly from one to other if required. Essien did just that. Essien’s come back also means less chances for Mikel. Or it is time to start using Mikel as a central midfielder or an attacking midfielder.

Overall, I was very happy with our performance yesterday. We bossed the game. We dominated Man City to a point where it was almost embarrassing for them. 30 million pound Robinho was as good as the 3 pound sticker of himself. If at all there was one thing that could have been better, that was finishing. But I do see that Hiddink has been continuously improving the team. He stopped us conceding. He got us better at set pieces. He got us winning. He got us controlling the games. He got us dominating the games. Now he has to get us finish more chances. It’s only a matter of time before we notch up those 3-0 and 4-0.

Liverpool’s thrashing of Man Utd was the best thing to happen in the weekend. They simply murdered the defending champions. This was Liverpool’s best result at Old Trafford in about 75 years. What a result to get in a big away game! Reminds me of our own 4-1 win at Anfield a couple of seasons back. I’m still not sure if this Man Utd defeat opens up the title race. They are still 4 points up with a game on hand. I’m very keen to see how they respond. If Man Utd drop points next match, I will start believing that the race is open. We are doing what we can best do. Keep winning matches; something might just happen!

My internet now is like Scolari of December and January. Unreliable and frustratingly poor. Completely falling below expectations. I don’t know from when and where the Guus Hiddink of my internet connections will come!

Once again, I’m posting something from my mobile so that you get some dedicated space to talk about this match. My prediction is 3-1.

Help yourselves!