What a start. What. A. Start. This is gonna be some ride guys! In some ways, this is the kind of start we should have. At hindsight, we’re better off with such matches early in the season and we’re better off winning these type of matches rather than easy ones upfront. I have  not forgotten how high-flying we were early last season – winning matches, dominating games and scoring goals and all that – until our tactics and weaknesses were found out. Given that Ancelotti is trying out something new, we don’t really need to get early success. Let us struggle, work hard and find out the other side of this system as early as possible, when we have the players in the squad. Basically, let’s not get ourselves in a corner when Drogba, Essien and Kalou are going to be away for the African Cup of Nations.

From that point of view, I’m very happy with this game. The big plus is we played magnificently, at least I thought so. We were very comfortable on the ball, we dictated the pace of the game, we dominated them all over the pitch. We had about 70% possession with a ridiculous 33 shots. We had several intelligent and decisive attacking moves and also created numerous chances. The most glaring thing was our inability to finish off the game with the million chances we created. Drogba could be a lot of things but he is not the best finisher in terms of conversion rate. Anelka, unless given on a plate, does not convert enough chances.

With the new system, I do see that Chelsea can control the game as well as create a lot of goal scoring opportunties. I do understand why the club is after Sergio Aguerro. I haven’t see too much of him. We have a Drogba so we don’t need a similar striker. We don’t need another Anelka because that’s not what we want. We need someone with the strength and skill of Drogba and the finishing prowess of Anelka. I’m not sure if Aguerro is the answer. Someone like Samuel Eto would have fitted right in.

I’m always seen as someone who picks on Anelka. See, my stance has always been clear. When he started playing for Chelsea, he was poor. He missed the penalty that lost us the champions league. And then he improved. Started finishing better. Under Hiddink, he worked harder, for himself and the team. At one point, I even had an Anelka wallpaper in my laptop. All that when he was trying and working hard. Now, he just seems to have gone back to his inglorious Chelsea past. He is the weakest link in our attacks. I’m very sure and confident about this. Personally, I’m not even open for arguments. He is the weakest link in our attacks. So much so, that I’d start Drogba with a Kalou or Sturridge in the next match, instead of giving one more chance for Anelka to also-run.

Lot has been said about Mikel’s performance of late under Ancelotti. Mikel has been brilliant for us but this new formation is a bit new experience for him. Our players are very matured to adapt to changes and play different formations. The ones that lack experience are the ones who are going to find it difficult to get accustomed to the new set up. That’s why I think Mikel is finding difficult. He is a great young talent but he is a bit inexperienced too. I’d be lot more patient with him. While I’d be patient with him, I would not start him in the next match. I’d rather have Essien in the holding midfield and start Ballack. Mikel can then impress Ancelotti in the training ground and get back in.

Coming back this match, we were seconds away from a morale killing start to the league campaign. There was a time when no team could score at Stamford Bridge. It used to be such a prize for the opponents to score a goal at the Bridge. It’s no longer the case, which is a bit sad. Why is that we need to concede a goal to pick things up? Is this becoming a habit? And the goal that we conceded was very shabby. Mikel should take the bulk of the blame for making a poor headed which instead of clearing almost assisted them and for posing like a statue in the middle of the box. Mikel certainly lacks two things in his game – reflexes and acceleration. He needs time to think and it works when he has the ball because he knows how to keep it. When he is off the ball, he does not have the reflex to quickly anticipate and react.

With this new formation, it is a bigger responsibility for the holding midfielder because the attacking midfielder and the side midfielders are play up and would not always get to the defending box. Earlier, Mikel was always helped by Essien and Lampard. In the current set up, Essien and Lampard are supposed to be more attack-minded which means more responsibility for Mikel. It’s a question of whether Mikel has what it takes to take this role. If he finds it difficult, I’m not surprised and I won’t blame him. We can afford to keep him in the bench until he’s ready while we have Essien as the holding midfielder and use Deco and Ballack in the midfield.

That said, the Hull City goal was certainly against the run of play. And it’s so sad that it had to be Stephen *unt. The bridge crowd did nice job of reminding him of his thuggish attack on Cech and his lack of courtesy in dealing with that issue. The Chelsea goal was always coming and when Hull City scored and I was double sure that we were going to dump them. When we had that free kick opportunity so close to the goal, I was truly hoping that Didier takes it. I have seen him score free kicks from close range. Even in PES 2009, I use Drogs to take those close range free kicks. His shot becomes unstoppable because of the shot power if he gets the angle right. And that’s what he got damn right yesterday. I thought I was super-excited until I saw Roman celebrate the goal.

Didier Drogba

Second half was just Chelsea trying everything possible to get that winner. We were a bit unlucky and mostly were guilty of not being clinical with our finishing. Which is why we had to wait till the death for the winner. I was not quite convinced with substitute decisions. Carlo got Ballack for Mikel at half time which I thought was just right. Deco coming in for Malouda made our attack lighter and slower. If I were going to make this compromise Deco must bring in something that Malouda did not. If the expectation was to bring in some flair and creativity to break the Hull defence, I’m not sure if Deco did that. Anyway, he did provide the assist where the idea was certainly Drogba’s while Deco executed the pass. The subbing of Anelka was way too late. I thought Anelka could have been taken off at half time or at least before the 60th minute.

Kalou was brought on for just 15 minutes including the stoppage time. The impact that Kalou made in those 15 minutes was much more than what Anelka did in 75 minutes. Haven’t I said this line a dozen times before? Unfortunately, all I have to do is just repeat. I’ll be pleased to see Kalou start the match with Drogba. We all know that Drogba and Kalou partner the attack for Ivory Coast and they in fact, play well together. Plus, most of the times, Kalou has always got to play only out of position. Let’s play Kalou as a striker along with Drogba. It’s worth the punt.

Not sure if Drogba meant to score and I think he was only trying to cross. I think so because he chipped it with his left foot. If he was trying to score, it would have put it away with his right foot. Anyway, Cheslea were truly deserved winners. Credit to Drogba for trying until the last moment. He believed that we could win. Three cheers to the spirit of Didier Drogba and Chelsea FC.

Something tells me that this 4-4-2 narrow diamond would work for us. I also have a feeling that this formation allows us to play more attacking football. I believe we will stick with this and will also master it. While we are in the process of mastering it, there could be some glitches here and there. As long as Ancelotti is quick enough to react to the match situations, we should be fine. We haven’t got the opportunity to see what Carlo’s so called ‘Plan B’ is. All that he had to do was to just do subs. We haven’t really changed formations as we were chasing the win. I’d even say, we didn’t have to.

The 4-4-2 narrow diamond was creating chances for us till the last minute. Because Hull City were defending deep and narrow, this formation of ours actually helped. On the other hand, if we were playing 4-3-3, we’d have seen more inefficient passes and less support for Drogba and Lampard upfront. Overall, I’m still positive on Ancelotti. When things didn’t go well, I liked the way he was getting angry. In comparison, Scolari was getting upset and worried and his body language showed that. Whereas Ancelotti was more angry and furious than upset and worried. I like those kind of football managers.

Good start for the season. We are winning. Drogba is scoring. Lampard is doing well. We are settling down with our formation. We have a series of winnable matches in the next few weeks. We should be able to continue winning while getting accustomed to the new formation. Don’t worry much about today’s result. Remember the opening day match against newly-promoted Wigan in the 05-06 season? We won with an injury time goal from Crespo and absolutely did not deserve to win that game. Mourinho even admitted that to Jewel when he shook his hands with him. And you know who were the champions that season!

Meanwhile, we are supposedly still very active in the transfer market. Aug 18th will be a key date for a lot of transfers because that’s when some of the clubs and key players could possibly make their first champions league appearance this season. Expect some transfers to get done before the players get cup-tied or get some strong hints as players don’t get named in their squads.

Finally, the first round of fantasy league and IKTS results will be out by this evening. I’m not really topping the table as of today but that’s fine. Interestingly, there was a winner in all the matches yesterday, there were no draws! I was really surprised that some people could really predict the results so well in IKTS. Anyway, a separate post on the fantasy league to come later. Cheers till then!