Hi Chelsitos! This is Vijayakrishna here. Most people call me VJ and write my name as vjkrishna. If you wonder if someone’s hacked this blog – no. I’m the man behind this blog. I’m the one who you call BC. Why did I think of disclosing my name today? I don’t know. I just thought I’d do it today. Anyway, keep calling me BC otherwise I won’t know if you’re talking to me :-)

As of today, September 1, 2009, BlueChampions completes three years of Chelsea blogging and steps into the fourth year. BlueChampions has been very much a part of my life. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed running this blog and keeping company with you lot. We’ve not met even once but we have certainly formed a community here. Very often we do find ourselves in places where there’s no football fan to debate about use of technology for refereeing or there is no premier league fan to argue why foreign ownership is not bad or there is no Chelsea fan to passionately discuss who should be at the tip of our attacking diamond. I bet you got a place where you can do this arguing, debating, discussing and always come back every day for more.

Today is the day of the flashbacks and nostalgia. I want to take you through this little journey of this blog which started in the drawing room of some guy in India and now . . er . . continues to be run out of that very drawing room. I’ll also heavily use the post of the last anniversary as it still is very valid.

I’d be lying if I tell you that I didn’t expect this blog to grow so much. When I started the blog, I definitely wanted this to be big. I certainly had a vision. I wanted this blog to grow. I wanted this blog to be talked about. I thought today could be a day when I can talk about how this blog was born and how it was raised.

Officially, Sep 1 is the birthday of this blog. On 11-Aug-2006, I created the original version of this blog. I didn’t know much about website hosting so I went for one of these free blogging softwares. When I registered for the blog with blogspot.com, I had to choose a title for the blog. The first title that came to my mind was bluechampions. I wasn’t sure if that would be available but to my surprise, it was. So it was bluechampions.blogspot.com. I didn’t quite like how the comments area appeared in blogspot. So I moved over to wordpress. It was quite strange considering that it took months for me to see a comment on the blog. From 13-Aug-2006, it was bluechampions.wordpress.com. These sites (bluechampions on blogspot and wordpress) still exist. Check them out.

From the day one, I started writing football/Chelsea articles. Almost everyday, I was writing one article. There were no comments at all and in fact, no one else was reading the blog as only I and my mate had known that such a blog existed. This went for a couple of weeks. I wanted to host the blog on my own domain. I bought the domain bluechampions.com on 1-Sep-2006 and published my first post in the blog. My first post in all these versions of bluechampions has been the same:

I speak Chelsea!

Okay, this is a Chelsea fan blog! The posts would mostly be the views, opinions and factual statements of a Chelsea fan. Whether you agree or disagree, you’re free to post your comments.

Though it looks like a stupid first post, my idea and philosophy around the blog has been very much the same. I have always said that I write my views and opinions, which means I don’t do research, I just write what I’d have tell you. It’s just views and opinions, as simple as that. And I did use the term ‘Chelsea fan’ twice in a post that had two lines. That kind of underlines that there would be some bias and you’d be smart to expect some bias, in fact. I guess that’s exactly what I wanted to convey from that post.

The first comment on this blog, very very coincidentally, was from a gentleman called Jose, who said:

Yo. Tevez has gone to west ham. Next season he’ll join us.

That’s all he said. That was the time I was hoping that we sign Tevez. This gentleman, the first commenter didn’t not visit again to comment. His first comment was the first for this blog and the last for him.

As soon as I started the blog, I began working on the traffic. Back then, I used to post comments and responses in every football blog or forum around just so that this blog link can appear there. I knew that ChelseaBlog was the only Chelsea related blog worthy of note then. I started posting comments in the Chelsea blog with the bluechampions link underneath my comment. To my surprise, I was banned in Chelseablog for promoting my site. Fair play, I didn’t really know the rules of the game then. I did try to establish some contact with the admin there to let me publish my comments but all those attempts failed. I didn’t try to post comments in that blog since then. I guess I’d still be a banned user there!

I started making a lot of friends and visitors, mostly of other clubs. The traffic did grow, a bit slowly though. All through this period if there is one thing I did relentlessly, was to keep publishing posts, irrespective of how many people read it or commented on it. Also, I did one more thing – switching between themes and templates. I guess from then till now, I must have used more than a dozen templates for this blog.

I then had a tie-up with Soccerlens for some time but I couldn’t really keep it up. There were many offers from many football aggregation sites but I didn’t go for any. Ole Ole did come in talk to me on getting this blog hosted on Ole Ole. I did have some live chat with them but then I did not want this to be oleole.bluechampions.com, I just wanted this to remain bluechampions.com, with all the ownership and freedom of what I wanted to do with this blog. That’s one reason why you don’t see any advertisements on this blog. I’m getting at least one advert proposition per week but I just don’t want to spoil the look and feel of the blog or to make it difficult for you to load or read. Plus, I get loads of emails to the BlueChampions mailbox – advert proposals, link exchanges, tie-ups, feedbacks, post requests and many such other things. Gosh, I need an agent, a manager and a personal secretary right away.

Meanwhile, I kept trying out additions and improvements. Back then we had opinion polls but it took time for me to introduce polls with multiple choices. Then came the gravatars – the online face for each contributor. There was this forum or message board that I started and I guess that was a failure or I failed to keep it going. I still think a forum for BlueChampions would be just right – more on that later. Then we had this BC Shout which is still a hit, I must say. I don’t see any other football blog that has a live chat feature. There are a lot of things I want to do but I’m not really a technology person, you see. All that I do with this blog is purely based on the knowledge I gained from the internet and hours of trials and errors. Well, I need a web designer too then.

The biggest milestone was the contact from Chelsea FC. I’ve boasted about that a lot already. It doesn’t matter what and why they contacted me for. My take away from this is that BlueChampions has got the attention of someone at Chelsea FC. That thrills me more than anything else. We’re still working out what we can do for each other. Meanwhile, I’m also looking at various things that would take this blog to a ‘new level’. It’s just that some of these things are expensive in terms of cost and time. I’ll take care of the cost. If you can lend me time, that’ll be great.

I have now written around 730 articles and you have written around 28,400 comments. The blog is really flourishing. But as I said, I want to do more. What I have in mind is to build a large Chelsea community on the web that consists of various facets of which the blog is one. While I continue to write on the blog, I want the BlueChampions brand to be more comprehensive. My vision is that BlueChampions should have a blog, a chatroom, a message board, a facebook style profile pages for all users, an online merchasndise store, a goodies download corner and much more.

As you might have noticed, this is too much work for someone who’s a married man and a father that also  happens to have a day job. This is why I’d come to you. To use corporate language, I will go public. I will have to go public because I need reliable volunteers. I’d need some Chelsea fans who can afford the time and still willing to spend that for free. All I can promise is to share what I get out of this – fun and satisfaction.

And finally, I must say I owe it to you guys! I blogging because you guys are reading. I do read all the comments and I do read all your compliments and appreciations. I may not be able to comment because much of my internet time slot goes just for publishing posts. Thank you very much guys. I know that you talk about the blog to your friends, you’ve got your friends and acquaintances to visit this blog, some of you are very loyal visitors and a big thanks to all the ones that comment and keep the blog lively.

Before I sign off, let me tell you that we now have a full-fledged message board called BlueChampions Huddle. This BC Huddle will have to evolve with time. I’ve set up the whole message board. All that you guys now need to do is to keep it going. Go there, create threads, create polls and discuss and participate. More detailed information on BC Huddle sometime later. Cheers!

Chelsea started this season as the title favourites, much like last season. With four matches and four fantastic wins, the odds on Chelsea are getting shorter. Yesterday, Liverpool got out of the jail thanks only to the red card to Bolton. Man Utd don’t look convincing at all in their scraping through at Old Trafford. You just have to connect the key words – Old Trafford – Referee – Penalty – Luck – Win. We know this Arsenal team has not learnt the art of winning but certainly they wrote a new chapter in the art of losing. They way they lost the battle after Man Utd’s (or Arsenal’s?) second goal was pathetic. With Spurs scoring a injury time winner and Ashley Cole getting on the scoresheet, it was never going to be Arsenal’s day!

Chelsea were simply superb. Like Steve Bruce said, they really scare you with their quality. Yesterday, Chelsea must have score about 8 goals, if we had taken our chances well enough. I predicted a 4-0 win and I wasn’t too far away from the correct score. Burnley came here with a reputation. They had beaten Man Utd and Everton and collected 6 unlikely points. So they are forgiven if they had any hope of nicking a point or three here at Stamford Bridge. But what they saw was Chelsea at their sublime best. While we were creating opportunities through flowing attacking moves, Burnley didn’t even get to play the ball. For all this, Chelsea did not even get to the second gear. Now, that’s what scaring people.

All the three goals were lovely. First one was simply undefendable (indefensible?). I pitied Burnley. They did their best in the first half. Their keeper was throwing himself at everything and we were guilty of throwing everything at him. We needed something special and it did arrive. Essien’s long distance through pass was just world class. I’ve seen replays to understand how to saw and expected Drogba to make a run. It was a piece of genius. And Drogba saw the pass, credit to him. Great run and a perfect cross. I thought it could have been finished better but a goal nevertheless. Anelka arrived there at the right time to get another goal.

If Chelsea go to the half time break with a goal ahead, the match is pretty much over. But we had this little business of improving the number in the goal difference column. The second half was going to be goals. I had just texted my mate that Ballack is very impressive and he scores a goal. The short build-up to the goal was smart and cheeky. Anelka made a cunning little pass with a deceptive backlift of his right foot, while Lampard making the most unlikely run to pick that up as he would normally be expected to wait outside the D. Once the opponent gets the ball into the area like that, you don’t leave any German unmarked. Nowadays, Ballack is playing in a more attacking role and he seems to be loving it. Any bets on him reaching double figures?

Third goal summed up the match. We dominated them so much and put them on the back foot while we were playing as we pleased. When Ashley Cole ran to pick Lampard’s little chip I thought he was going to cross it in but man, wasn’t that some shot? I’m struggling to find who’s the man of the match! Could it be Essien or Drogba or Ashley Cole or the man of two-assists and the darling of the fantasy league managers – Frank Lampard? I’d give it to Essien because was a few decimals above the rest.

This was a match it’s hard to look for negatives. Everything went as per our script. Last season, we were so indecisive and castrated at home and this season, at home, we are as ruthless as champions should be. If there is one thing I still want to be bring out, that would be this – I was truly hoping to see Sturridge in action. I was a bit disappointed that Kalou came in when we were 3-0 ahead. Anyway, I now have faith in Ancelotti. He certainly knows what he’s doing. I particularly like the way he selection of playing eleven, bench players and the in-match substitutions.

Is Carletto experimenting on the right back position? In the last match, he even gave an opportunity to Hutchinson and we saw Belletti playing right back yesterday. Good signs. I almost forgot, with just 10 minutes to show anything, Hutchinson impressed me. He’s a big lad, looks like a monster when seen near Carvalho. I like the way he moved on the pitch the other day. If Hutchinson gets to play first team games for Chelsea, Sturridge would certainly play too.

In other news, Shevchenko has parted ways. He’s gone back to Dinamo Kiev. He was and is one of my favourite players. He is a legend. It’s very unfortunate that his stint with Chelsea did not just click. With this movement, Chelsea’s transfer business of this summer comes to an end, unless we see a surprise by Tuesday. I think this time the transfer is ending on the Tuesday, 2nd September because Monday is a bank holiday. From a Chelsea point of view, I don’t think there’ll be any surprises, I really don’t.

The champions league group league draw has been made. We have a challenging group while Man Utd and Arsenal have got a bye, or I am overestimating these English teams. Liverpool’s group could be tricky. Chelsea play good old Porto, Atletico Madrid and Apoel from Cyprus. In a 6-match group, we won’t have Drogba for three matches and Bosingwa for two. Considering that, ours is a challenging group indeed. Such is fate that Barca are drawn with Inter and Madrid are drawn with Milan. By the way, did you guys see the total annihilation in the Milan derby? I just loved it to bits.

We’re going into an international break and when we’re back, we’ll be playing Stoke City on the weekend of 12th September, while Man City host Arsenal and Spurs host Man Utd. It’s nice to see us progress in multiples of three while our rivals keep are forced to drop points. Two weeks then. So what do we do till then? Some fantasy league updates, some talk about the most awaited football games – PES 2010 and FIFA10 and anything else that I’m not able to think of now. Catch you then. Cheers!

Not bad! I’m now ranked #70 in the list! That’s a jump of about 70 places in one gameweek despite the 16 penalty points that were docked for excess transfers. All this because of a whopping 70 points that I earned in the third gameweek. And I think, slowly I’ve started to understand how to play this game.

My key players are Drogba, Lampard and Rooney. I thought of getting Torres but I didn’t. it turned out to be a good move. Torres looks completely out of sorts on the pitch. If Liverpool continue this trend, I don’t see him to be the star point-grabber in fantasy league. Coming back to my key players, I have Drogba because I believe that he would win the golden boot this season. I have Lampard because he would be top scoring midfielder and also topping the assists charts. Rooney is there because he is now in a better role to score more goals. And this season, we all know that Fergie expects Rooney to score a million times. A good bet, from a fantasy league point of view, given that I don’t think Berbatov would outscore Rooney and there are no other big scorers in Man Utd.

I got no one from Liverpool or Arsenal. I ignored Liverpool because they’re bad. I ignored Arsenal because I hate them. If there is someone I’d pick from Arsenal it would obviously be Arshavin because he is so unlike the Arsenal players. In my 15-member team, I’ve got 2 players each from Chelsea, Man City, Tottenham, Aston Villa, Stoke City and Man Utd, one each from Hull City, Fulham and Bolton.

I’ve made one transfer this weekend. I’ve brought in Assou-Ekotto for Pantsil. One tip is not to have players from teams which play the toughest opposition this weekend. I chose Pantsil from Fulham only for Chelsea to beat them 2-0 and inflict some damage onto my fantasy league team points. So, for this weekend, don’t have anyone from Burnley as Chelsea would maul them!

A word on the league leader. Samuel Seah continues to top the league. He’s got 205 points! Really surprising how he continues to stay on top. Whoever you are, wherever you are, Samuel Seah, come and take your compliments. Cheers!

Three in three then. We got our much expected cleansheet finally. I did predict a 2-0 but the only thing that was a surprise to me was Anelka’s goal. Chelsea were at ease and class in what was a traditionally tricky away match. Carletto played his away formation 4-3-2-1 as he did against Sunderland. I think I’d conclude that it worked well. Especially if you look at the first goal, it was a direct product of the 4-3-2-1.

Now Chelsea has three wins in three matches and surprisingly Spurs also have the same record. For the last few seasons, they always had a good team and purely by squad strength they were worthy of a challenge for the fourth place. Only this time, it appears that they are confident of their abilities and they seem to have that piece of luck that eluded them. Man City and Arsenal can also notch their third win but they will go on with this annoying ‘one-game-in-hand’ situation. I simply hate this ‘one-game-in-hand’ thingy.

Carletto keeps impressing me. He tries new things. He is not afraid to make changes when needed. He rotates the players with ease. He talks rather well. He knows what he’s doing/talking. His decision to rest Essien and pick Mikel was quite adventurous and it looked like it certainly inspired Mikel. He had said why he thinks 4-3-2-1 would work against teams that are content to be in their own half. I thought he would start Deco but he did not. While Drogba was the lone striker, Lampard and Anelka were playing behind Drogba. I was surprised at Lampard’s role as only the last week Ancelotti said that Lampard would move to the left midfield.

I thought that playing in the hole does not look like Lampard’s ideal position. He must be better as one of the three midfielders than playing in the hole with another player. If Lampard is playing in that role let him be the only player in the hole, like in a 4-3-1-2. Plus, I thought Anelka was not suited for the ‘playing behind the striker’ role. He does not have the quick feet or quick mind to play like a No.10. A Deco or a Joe Cole or even a Salomon Kalou would be more suited while Anelka should be all about finishing the chances.

All said, the first goal was a beauty. Playing behind the striker, Lampard under pressure, played it to Anelka. he Frenchman smartly let the ball loose in space which was picked up by on-side Drogba and finished with power and style. This move in a way vindicated the formation and the choice of players in the roles. But I still feel neither Lampard nor Anelka is best suited for the two player combination behind the striker.

Drogba has said this a dozen times. He can play with Anelka and their combination will work really well. He’s at it again:

There’s no doubt that Nicolas and I can work together. We are intelligent people, so we know how to play together. We just needed some time and it’s taking effect now. This is the perfect start to the season, especially as we still have a lot of improve on. It’s good to start with three wins and we’ll try to improve more. I didn’t think I’d be flagged for offside, because I waited until the last moment. I knew where he [Anelka] was going to put the ball so I made the right run at the right time.

The second goal was even better. Drogba just returned the favour to Anelka with a well weighted pass. In a flash, you could see the best of Anelka. He moved in with some incredible speed and rounded the keeper before he finished it. That’s what he does best. If the opportunity of the second goal had come to Drogba, I don’t think he would have attempted to round off the keeper. He would have either blasted it or chipped it. The way Anelka moved and scored was his trademark.

Big plus is the fact we did not concede before we had to score, or we didn’t concede at all. I don’t think we were truly threatened by this team that beat Man Utd 2-0 during the title chase towards the end of last season. We were very solid at the back. Mikel and Ballack alternating and complementing each other. Even during the set piece situations our defence was very assured and confident and did not put you and me under pressure.

Good bunch of wins and a very good start to the season. I don’t want us to win big at this stage of the season. I don’t want us to peak too soon. While we are winning now, let’s do it the hard way rather than walloping teams and then have our weaknesses exposed by bigger teams. Next up, we have Burnley and Stoke City. All other things being equal, we should make it 5 in 5 by which time Man Utd would have played Arsenal at Old Trafford, Manchester City would have played Arsenal at City of Manchester stadium and Tottenham would have played Man Utd at White Hart Lane. Again, during this period, we would be playing Burnley and Stoke City.

So there is a big chance of Chelsea notching up the lead by mid-September. More good news as Joe Cole is training with the reserves and would be fit enough to start the match against Stoke city. He could very well be our marquee signing as we don’t seem to be even rumoured with any players. Forget transfers, just look at how we are doing on the pitch, just realise that Joe Cole and Zhirkov would join the party soon. Lots of reasons (fantasy premier league aside) to be cheerful. Cheers!

Chelsea are on a roll. This could be a funny claim as we’ve played only two matches so far. But the larger fact is, Chelsea are yet to be beaten under Carlo – in friendlies with top teams, in FA community shield and in the premier league.

Man Utd have made a typically bad start but only this time there is a belief that it’s a reflection of their squad strength and depth. Plus, Rio Ferdinand would be out for a month. Liverpool played as if they don’t want to give themselves a chance of making it ‘their season’. Complete lack of desire and indifference from their matchwinners very pleasanty surprised me. Arsenal got a big away win at Goodison park and that’s big enough reason to think they go back to their fourth place form. Everytime they get a good win, they compensate that with some poor football and put themselves where they belong.

Now Chelsea, has won two in two. Chelsea thoroughly deserved to win both matches. The new system seems to be working well. The system also seems to use our resources to the bext possible extent. The big players are on form and are delivering the goods. We’ve got a last minute winner and a couple of comeback wins. Perfect recipe for a season start as these type of results get you three points and also gets the team together and improves the team morale.

As I had said earlier, Chelsea have a fairly easy first couple of months this season. Some slip ups from our rivals and some no-nonsense performance from us would see us top the table by Christmas by 6 points. This is a wild guess but the point I’m trying to make is, for once the fixtures list seems to help us get a good lead and momentum.

Fulham was one of the ‘easy fixtures’ I was referring to. See, I’m not being arrogant here. Fulham is no match to Chelsea otherwise they would also be playing champions league. I know they had a fantastic last season finishing 7th and all. They also beat hapless Pompey in their first match. Still, I have a feeling that Chelsea will win, with our first cleansheet of the season.

Now Fulham have got Damien Duff. I must say I love this guy. I always liked Duff and I was sad to see him go. Even if Duff signs for Chelsea today, he can be a good squad player but that’s what he exactly did not want. He wanted to play in the first team which Chelsea could not promise. I’m sure we all have great memories of Damien Duff. I think I can talk for all of us, while recollecting the best Duff moment in Chelsea – that goal against Barcelona at Stamford Bridge. Man, it was a killer goal! I wonder where Duff will play for them. I don’t recollect Fulham playing with a formation that had a winger.

Chelsea will line up in a 4-4-2 narrow diamond formation. That’s a given. I kinda like this formation now. We have played narrow 4-4-2 diamond many times before. This was also known as the 4-1-2-1-2 formation. This was the formation that Jose Mourinho used when Shevchenko and Ballack came in to the side. There were also other occasions where we used 4-1-2-1-2. The big difference is, we have all committed and training intensely for 4-1-2-1-2. It is not being used as a  stop gap formation or a makeshit formation. The fact that we have identified and recognised this formation as our flagship formation does make it more effective, due to the training efforts around it, familiarity on the pitch and especially Ancelotti’s expertise on this formation.

Last match, Chelsea also played the much dreaded (by the Milan fans) 4-3-2-1 christmas tree formation. It’s fair to say that it was pretty effective. Carlo has identified this as the formation for the away matches. In home matches, you need an extra man upfront to finish chances and in away matches, you need that extra man to create the chances through the packed defences. It makes theoretical sense and if the Sunderland match was any indication, it worked on the pitch too.

Ancelotti explains this from another angle:

When we play with two players behind one striker we can press the opponents better when we are without the ball because these two players, Deco and Kalou, can work on the central midfielders [of the opposition]. The diamond is a little bit different because our offensive midfielder has to play against the two central players and when we defend it is more difficult to close the space and to press. The first way I think is better away from home. When there is not space it is difficult to play, not only for Lampard but, for example, for Kaka at Milan last season it was very difficult to play there without space. It is a very important position in midfield but it is more difficult to play. It is easier to play in front of the defence because you have the space to play.

I’d start with the same team that started against Sunderland. That is, Cech, Terry, Ivanovic, Bosingwa, Ashley Cole, Essien, Ballack, Lampard, Deco, Kalou and Drogba. That’s because I think we’re going to play 4-3-2-1. If we are playing 4-1-2-1-2, I’d even pick Sturridge over Kalou to partner Drogba.

I’m hoping that Deco recovers his form this season. In a narrow diamond midfield, it makes perfect sense to have Deco in the attacking tip as this role plays right behind the strikers just like Gerrard would play behind Torres. It is a bit more forward than a regular attacking midfielder. Deco has the skills and creativity to be a good No.10 player while Lampard is more of a box to box midfielder. For this reason, I’d love to see Deco play behind the strikers while Ballack and Lampard play in the midfield.

League leaders Tottenham (every dog . . .) are playing at 1330. So, if results go our way, we could be leading the table by Sunday night. First ‘decent’ opposition for Ancelotti as he prepares to beat one of the best premier league managers of last season. Prediction: Fulham 0-2 Chelsea. Lampard (for sure) and Drogba/Malouda. And do follow our fantasy premier league journey. For all I care, this could very well be the gameweek where I leapfrog 137 places and become number 1 in the table (if each of my players scores a hattrick, that is). Cheers!