We didn’t see it coming, did we? It was a rude shock considering that the predictions were 3-1 and 3-0 in favour of Chelsea and what we saw was the just the opposite. Ancelotti had to lose his first Chelsea match at some point of time. It had to happen yesterday. Sadly for us, on the day we lost, all our rivals notched their regulation wins yesterday.

Let’s give the credit where it’s due. Wigan absolutely deserved the win and also the margin to some extent. When I saw the match, Wigan looked more determined and stronger. They played good football. They induced errors from Chelsea. It was not just Chelsea playing, it was more of Wigan playing their match of the season. But teams like Chelsea get their moment of brilliance and quality and bail themselves out. That part did not happen yesterday.

The first goal we conceded was a shame. No way someone’s going to put in a header like that in the Chelsea penalty box. There was no challenge on Bramble. No one was really jumping and shoving to make it difficult for them. We very poorly underestimated them in that corner and we were properly punished. John Terry needs to pul up his sleeves. He is the captain. He is the organiser of the defence. He should take responsibility for such a poor show by the Chelsea defence. This is not a knee-jerk reaction. We have been conceding some very cheap goals through poor defending this season, right from the pre-season. Terry himself has been guilty of some lapse of concentration himself. Remember that goal Stoke City scored against us? Despite all this, since we always manage to outscore the opponent, it was never a big concern. But now, it has proved costly.

The red card did have a huge impact on the match. To play an away match with 10 players for 40 minutes is quite difficult. And if that missing man is Petr Cech, you’re going to be concerned. There are some discussions over the red card and the penalty. I think it was a penalty surely but to give a straight red was a bit tough on he keeper. Anyway, I have zero faith on Phil Dowd as a referee. He looks like a bloody egoist who loves to make controversial decisions so he can read his name in the newspapers the next day.

When Cech was sent off, Chelsea had to make a substitution. Malouda was taken off and Hilario replaced him. I was bit unhappy that Malouda was taken off. I’m very sure it had to be Anelka. When you’re playing with 10 men, each of these players will have to put in an extra shift, run and work harder and Anelka is not the man I would have on the pitch, if I need to play with 10 players. Malouda must have stayed on, undoubtedly.

Many of our players had a bad game, notably, Frank Lampard. It’s not very often he has a game like that. It’s for that reason, I won’t slate him. If Lampard is shite, it’s upto the manager to replace him. Lampard is talismanic. He can have his moment anytime irrespective of his form or the stage of the match. In all this, let’s not forget that Didier Drogba has scored his 100th goal for Chelsea. Great milestone for this Chelsea legend. It’s sad that it had to come in a losing match. It’s a great milestone nevertheless. Hope he goes to touch the 150 goal mark early next season.

Ancelotti has been working on this Chelsea team. He’s getting to know the players. I heard that until the Spurs match Carlo didn’t know about the relationship between Lampard and Harry Redknapp. He’s learning the language too. His ‘this is football’ phrase is dangerously reminiscent of an ex-manager. He needs to improve his vocabulary so that he doesn’t sound like losing is okay. Of course he didn’t mean it but his poor vocabulary may not help his cause.

This team under Carlo has been going through the cycles. They have now had a winning streak. They have won a match in the stoppage time. They have come back to win matches. They have completely dominated teams. The one thing they could not do is to show their resilience after losing a match. Now they’ve got that too. I’ve always had this theory – If you’re losing to rivals, it’s gotta be a close affair. That’s how you can retain your confidence and keep your momentum. If you’re losing to smaller teams, lose big. Lose by some margin. That way, the complacency gets destroyed completely.

Let’s cheer the boys, after all, it’s not very often that they lose or concede three goals. And even those teams that lose and concede goals on a regular basis get cheered by their fans. Next week, Liverpool visit Stamford Bridge. The timing of this defeat might just be helpful. Look at John Terry applauding the visiting fans, you can see how disappointed he is. Now the blues are a pack of wounded animals. Liverpool, coming from a comfortable one-sided win, must face the wrath of Chelsea, who were humbled by a bottom half team. It’s going to be a great match next week. If Chelsea beat Liverpool, all will be forgotten. Bring back, Joe Cole, the Liverpool-slayer! It’s bounce-back time!

After a long time, we’re gonna have a top playing eleven, and to be honest a top subs bench as well. After the successful return of Joe Cole and Zhirkov in the mid-week league cup fixture against QPR, the strongest squad in England has just got stronger. If Sturridge and Deco make their returns, then we’re done. Transfer ban, my foot.

Apologies for completely ignoring the mid-week match. I did follow the match and did participate in the discussions in BC Huddle, but it’s just that I couldn’t get a blog in. Most of us were disappointed with the scoreline of 1-0 while we expected a mauling of the rangers. From a Chelsea point of view, we had rested key players, we had some of our players returning from injuries and also gave opportunities to young players like Borini who got a full debut. All things considered, a win is a good result, more so in a derby.

For the weekend match against Wigan, we’ve got Joe Cole and Zhirkov on the bench while we might play our best eleven on form. Drogba is also back after that little injury scare in the previous match. Ancelotti does not need to trouble himself too much. As a good manager, he has put a system in place and the system seems to be working rather well. All that he is now doing is just to turn and tweak here and there while maintaining the overall momentum that we’ve got.

This being an away match we might return to our away formation of 4-3-2-1 christmas tree. I’d be very pleased if I can see Joe Cole early in the second half in place of Anelka. If we want to bring in a striker in the second half, let that be Borini and not Kalou. I’m not against playing Kalou. In fact, credit to Kalou for scoring the key goals in key matches but we should see more of his alternatives too.

It’s Michael Ballack’s birthday today! We know Michael Ballack is not young, to be accurate he’s going on 34. The way I see it, his age has not really taken a toll on his game. He has his own laidback emperor-style game which he continues to have. What also remains in him is his passion and fight on the pitch. He’s the kind of player I’d love to have in my team. Hope he scores a 35-yard screamer today. Imagine the celebration of the Chelsea players if he scores! That would be a treat!

Unlike the previous weekend, this one is not that special because all our rivals have some very winnable matches. Man Utd playing Stoke, Liverpool playing Hull City, Arsenal playing Fulham and Tottenham playing Burnley. If any of these biggies drop points this weekend, it would be a big bonus for us. Man City is playing West Ham on Monday. That could be a tight affair but if Man City are getting Robinho back, it will their match to lose.

I’m tired of Chelsea matches not being telecast live. Today, ESPN would show crap matches like Stoke vs Man Utd  and Liverpool vs Hull City but Wigan vs Chelsea would only be a recorded telecast later. At least for this injustice, Stoke and Hull City must win today. As far as Chelsea is concerned, that’s another three-goal three-pointer!

Same old Chelsea! Turning up late and then turning up the heat. The first 15 minutes, I thought we were playing in White Hart Lane. Chelsea were a bit sluggish and allowed Spurs to have the ball and run with it. That was the period Spurs must have scored if they had to have any hopes of a point from this match.  Once we woke up and turned up, Spurs never matched Chelsea in any part of the pitch.

The only blemish on a fantastic derby result for Chelsea was Drogba’s injury. Still no news about how serious it is. He’s so important for Chelsea that I can’t imagine us winning 6 in a row like this without Drogba. I hope it was only a scratch on his knee and he’s ready to play a match of 90 minutes even tomorrow.

We played our best possible eleven. There was no Joe Cole or Zhirkov on the bench. But there was a Borini though. Like you, I was pleased and excited to see Borini on the pitch. Borini had scored a brace for the reserves earlier this month. Being an 18-year old and having a name like Fabio Borini, he did thrill me as he stepped in. I was certainly thrilled to see him. Like Franco di Santo, he came in around the 85th minute. He had a couple of touches on the ball which is never enough to judge a player. At least he did not pass it to Defoe like Carlton Cole did. By the way, is Borini the only Italian company that Carletto can have. I almost forgot, what happened to Sturridge?

Typically, we were a bit forgiving at the beginning. Spurs were attacking our goal repeatedly and even had some close shots and saves. And then, at around the 20th minute, Chelsea started to settle down and by the half hour mark, we played with such authority that I thought we were never going to lose points today. I was fearing that Bosingwa’s right back area would be cracked open but luckily it was not to be so. Instead, Bosingwa had a superb match with an outrageous long shot hitting the bar.

The first goal was a beauty. Look where Ashley Cole was. Like the Sky Sports guys noted, Bosingwa and Ashley Cole were playing like wingers. Ashley Cole was lurking in the area and also had smelled the goal at the right time. His movement inside the box and that diving header was undefenderlike (how about that for a word)! The second goal was all Frank Lampard. Some goal mouth madness let the ball loose to the byline and Lampard was ever so aware of where he is, where the ball is and where he needs to pass. He did a perfect flick to Ballack who finished it well. Third goal was Didier Drogba’s. He waits for those kind of balls and when he sees gets one like that, he’s going do what he does best.

In the first half, Spurs should have been awarded a penalty for Carvalho’s tackle on Keane. It was a clear penalty because there was good enough contact for a penalty to be given. But Keane fell on the ground because he tripped himself down. Anyway, a penalty on Ballack was not given too. And what about that handball? Lampard’s freekick was blocked by a Spurs defender in the wall. If that’s not intentional handball, what is?

I felt sorry for Carlo Cudicini. Before the kick off, Chelsea had presented Cudicini an award for his service at the club. Now, that’s how you treat an ex-player – with love and respect. I’m sorry for him as he had to at the receiving end while we notched our 11th straight league win – a club record.

Despite playing too many matches in short intervals, Chelsea were supremely fit. It looked like Spurs were the ones who had to play mid-week. As a defence lover, I must say, watching Chelsea defend and to control the midfield is so much fun. We defended superbly, we worked for each other and there was tremendous teamwork there. Unfortunately, teamwork is more visible only in attacking moves. In reality, the teamwork that we display in midfield and in defence is as good as that of Barcelona’s teamwork in attack. But we don’t get as much credit for playing so well as a team in midfield and defence.

Oh yes, the Manchester derby was fantastic from a neutral point of view. It was a poor football match full of errors and blunders but it certainly was exciting. The game was never going to end until Manure scored. Because that’s exactly what the referee was waiting for. Why on earth was there a stoppage time of 7 minutes when nothing of note happened? At worst, the final whistle must have come off after 4:30 while the Owen goal was scored at around 5:30. Absolutely pathetic!

So we’re on top of the table – no problem of goal difference or no game-in-hand nonsense. We’re on top of the table by winning all six matches and having a superior goal difference of 12. A goal difference of 12 in just 6 matches is very impressive. And, we have passed first big test of the season. Next week, we travel to Wigan and put Liverpool where they belong the next week. Before all that, we have another derby coming up when we play QPR on Wednesday in League Cup. We must see Joe Cole, Zhirkov, Sturridge and little more of Fabio Borini.

On the gaming side, both demos of both FIFA 10 and PES 2010 have been released. I’ve downloaded and played both. You can see my first impressions on these games in BC Huddle under the category ‘footie gaming’. It’s going to be a great four weeks from a football point of view. I just can’t for the final release of these games. Can’t I just move the slider from September to October tonight?

Chelsea face their first serious opposition of the premier league this season. Though we have won five in five, let’s also remind ourselves that most of those would be fighting to save relegation next May. I’ve been saying that we are lucky with our fixures list this time. Just when got a new manager and a new system, we’re blessed with some not-so-tough fixtures in the first couple of months. Now we will have to show that form against Tottenham too.

Spurs started this season well but last weekend they got a dose of reality when sun bears beat them at White Hart Lane. That match kind of showed that while Spurs are playing well, they still have some way to go before they can compete for the top four. It’s not the fact that they were beaten, it’s just the manner in which they were dismantled and despatched.

We’re only a month into the new season and Chelsea players have already played about 8 matches, including the internationals. We had a difficult match last weekend and a tiring mid-week match against Porto and now here we are, meeting the dangerous Tottenham on Sunday. But the most key player for us, Didier Drogba did not play the mid-week match due to suspension so he must be fresh and ready for this duel. The other positives could be that Joe Cole and Zhirkov might be available for selection.

I think we’d continue to play the 4-4-2 narrow diamond. I have a feeling that Deco would start and he could be playing in the hole. I’m almost worried that I’m not seeing enough of Sturridge. I’m tempted to say that he can play on Sunday. So far we have played teams that pack the defence and play narrow. So the last few matches may not have helped Sturridge get some decent playing minutes. But Tottenham play an open game and use a lot of width. At least as a new striker you won’t be frustrated when you play against good teams. So, a good enough theory to get a glimpse of Sturridge on the pitch?

On Sunday, there’s also this much awaited Manchester derby. Tevez has gone on record that he’s only waiting for this match to show to Red side of Manchester why the blue side is now a title contender. I’d love to see if he does an Adebayor. But as far as I know, the Man Utd fans always loved Tevez and he also knows and acknowledges that. So he wouldn’t piss off the Manure fans but he would certainly look at good old Fergie. I want a very very entertaining 4-4 like draw.

I think we will beat Tottenham 2-1 or 3-1. Unfortunately, I don’t think we will keep a clean sheet against Spurs. I can even tell you where that goal would come from. Expect our right back to be rogered and beaten. I’m almost sure that it would be our right back that makes a costly miss. Also, I can’t see why Drogba cannot score. Lampard would also score because he knows that he’s in my fantasy league team and he wants me to win it. Be it a Super Sunday then!

P.S: I’m just toying with idea of redirecting the comment section to BC Huddle! Just like this website – hit the comments link there and see how it works.

A winning start to the trip to Bernabeu. It appears that’s all we can take from this match. As you know I didn’t get to watch this match. The ones who got to see the match are saying that I didn’t miss much. Our players were tired. It was raining hard in London. Last thing we wanted was an injury in those conditions. All we wanted was a win. And that win came with no addition to the injury table. I’d take this any day, especially on match day one  in champions league group stage.

That said, there was a lot of talk and press about how much we missed Drogba and how much we would miss him in January. Someone like Drogba would always be missed. Some days back I wrote about how unique Lampard is and why there are few or no exact replacements for Lampard. In a way, it applied to Drogba too. Anelka is a different type of player. I certainly do not expect things from Anelka that I’d expect from Drogba. Because Drogba is unique and special, we are always going to miss him when he’s not around. That’s does not necessarily have to reflect on Anelka’s ability to spearhead our attack.

When it comes to Anelka, it is always about the efforts or the lack it. The less efforts he puts in, the more we’re going to miss Drogba because he is such a monster on the pitch. But if Anelka is not going to do the job in Drogba’s absence, we don’t need an Anelka. But is the golden boot winner of 2008/09. Let’s believe he can do the job. Anyway, at Chelsea, we don’t let the striker take all the burden of goalscoring. The striker being at the end of an attacking move is almost a coincidence for our style of play. Be it attack or defence, everyone has responsibilities of attack as well as defence over and above their roles.

Let’s not overplay the challenge during the ANC. When Drogba, Essien and Kalou are away, we would be playing Hull, Sunderland, Burnley and Birmingham. Those are the fixtures in Jan 2011. I don’t know when the Africans would return to London. If they don’t return by mid February, we might have to play the goners at the Bridge without them. Now, don’t you think these are winnable matches without the Africans? I certainly think they are. I’m very sure that Anelka would score against these oppositions and he might even relish the opportunity. So, let’s relax. ANC won’t be such a big problem as it’s made out to be.

The big news is Peter Kenyon steps down from the role of the Chief Executive of Chelsea FC. Please note that he is not leaving Chelsea as he continues in his role of non-executive director of Chelsea FC. There are various theories around why this has happened and on the timing. Bruce Buck’s views on Kenyon’s exit clarify very well:

Peter has done a fantastic job for Chelsea in the last five-and-a-half years and has been absolutely central to the success on and off the field we have had during that time. Without his football knowledge and business acumen Chelsea would not be where we are today. Everyone at Chelsea thanks him for that contribution and although he will not be with us on a permanent basis he will have an important role to play as a non-executive director and in the various roles he holds in European football bodies. When Peter first joined us we knew we were recruiting a top executive from business generally, not just football. With that always came a certain inevitability he would eventually want to seek a new challenge and I am sure that is what he will do. Whatever his next permanent job we wish him the best of luck in the future. He will always be welcome back at Chelsea.

Some key things are: (a) Bruce is very generous with his compliements for Peter (b) Bruce suggests that it was Kenyon who wanted to seek a new challenge (c) Bruce says that he will always be welcome back at Chelsea. Therefore, let’s not entertain any nonsense on behind-the-scene stories. You know how much the press bays for the blue blood. Oh yes, I can now link you to the news that the rumours around Roman’s respiratory problems during his trip to Mt.Kilimanjaro are completely false. And Guus was never a part of that trip. I wonder who invented that!

Okay now, the Inter vs Barca match would kick off in a while. So, I’ll sign off now. Oops, I didn’t get to talk about BC Huddle. That’s all right. I catch up on that later. Cheers!