Is Man City becoming a bogey team for us? How’s that we beat the biggies (they’re not one yet) but still get beaten by Man City in succession. For a team that doesn’t get beaten that often, our recent record against Man City’s recent record is disturbing.

The sad thing is they have beaten us with the same tactic every single time. Its actually embarrassing. This being a match at the City of Manchester stadium, we shouldn’t have probably allowed them any opportunities for counterattack. They knew that we’d attack in numbers. And we knew that their goals would come from counterattacks. The one guy in Citeh who can apply a great finish is Tevez and he’s the one player I need to worry about in their team. Yet, we allow him negotiate our strong defence and beat the keeper.

I’d agree with JoseHoliday. This is a match that we should have produced a tactical masterclass, like the Chelsea under TSO. We were trying the same thing over and over again and at no moment we were able to really surprise them.

By half-time, I was clear about one thing – Ramires was the weak link. He is new to this league and he is learning the hard way. He’s been a bit iffy in the last few games that he played. In fact, I’m yet to see a good game from him. I’m sure that he’ll improve but why would we play him against such a good counterattacking team?

Ramires has not been confident on the ball. It’s not just this match and this goal. He plays in such a crucial position that he can’t afford to be unsure. Probably Mancini saw him to be the weak link and gateway for their opportunities. That said, Man City hassled us very well. They never allowed our players any time on the ball. Only players like Essien, Mikel and Anelka could get some time on the ball. But I’m very positive about Ramires that he will come good. I was one who got hyper-excited when I learnt that Ramires is signing for Chelsea. I’m sure he’ll improve.

Okay, over to a better result. I didn’t get to see the match. I don’t when will see a champions league match again. The kick off of these night matches is at about 3 am in the morning which makes it impossible for me to watch them. Anyways I do catch up on reactions, goals and interviews.

Chelsea continues to perform strongly in Europe. I don’t think anyone’s even asking if we can progress to the next round. We are marching on like champions. On the champions league this season, Chelsea seems to be quiet and modest but also very focussed and determined.

I have a feeling that Carlo would value the champions league success more than a premier league success this season. That’s because he’s not like Arsene Wenger or Rafa Benitez who have not won a league title for donkeys years. Carlo just won the league so he can afford to turn to champions league. Personally, I’d rate premier league over champions league any day. But hey, gimme both, I won’t mind!

Im still here guys. I’ve not abandoned the blog. It’s just that I’ve not been able to spend time on/for the blog ever since I landed in Singapore. I’ve been watching the matches though. I haven’t yet found that perfect pub to watch football but that hasn’t stopped me from watching Chelsea play. 

Today’s match is of great significance. Any premier league match is important and more so if it’s against a top 8 team. But this match is a bit different. Chelsea has been flying so high that the you see experts saying that Chelsea will run away with the title. Mancini says Chelsea will win the title easily. 

Our thus far superiority in this season is also helped by the fixtures draw. Not playing any of the top teams very early in the league has helped us not only to amass points and goals but also match fitness and confidence. Today’s match will be our first test of this season. If we win today, we tell the league ‘we are leading the table for real’. If Chelsea wins today, suddenly our rivals will feel that the points difference is bigger than it actually is. A win today will cut the odds by s great deal. 

We should win not just because there are 3 morale boosting points at stake. We should win because the pain of the defeat against Man City at Stamford Bridge still stays in our minds. It was such a key match from a league table point of view and also because the world was bothered about what John Terry does in the bedroom. That was one match we should not have lost. And we lost heavily. In a match where Man City was invisible in the first half, we humiliated at home. 

The time for pay back is here. We might be missing Lampard, Kalou and Benayoun but so what? We have Anelka! Really, we have some red hot youngsters who are waiting to make the best of these opportunities. Wouldn’t it be great if Sturridge stabs one back at Man City?

I think we will win 3-0. What arrogance? What do you mean?

Never have I started anything on a bad note, not even during my summit of hatred towards Deco! But today I will have to because we have one selfish player: sturridge! He is very i-centered and useless that I would eternally hate to see him in a Chelsea shirt! These are some of the costly blunders, a pure essence of ego:

• taking free kicks (while Alex and Kalou were made to watch; had I been Alex I would have kicked that shrunken arse so hard that he won’t dare to waste free kicks next time);
• losing possessions without pressure;
• wayward passes and making faces to team mates and the referee;
• dribbling alone;
• slipping during crucial moments;
• taking shots which seem like deflected-shots!

I think that he was so bloated with ego because Carlo started him and Drogba had this to say: “Daniel is just 21 but when you look at him playing you could feel that he is 25 or 26.” I am laughing my lungs out now, but more than my lungs my head is about to burst having to recollect the moments that I have lived through on Wednesday night!

The next worst thing is turnbull, I am sure he has now turned almost to a bull! He is clueless, I think he is headless. I was reminded of T.S. Elliot’s “Hollow Men”, turned-bull is a stuffed man, his “headpiece filled with straw”. He can manage to build a wall and then disappear behind it so that some casual shots are made to seem world-class!

Then it is Ferreira who was more focused on the arm band and trying to mimic Terry than to play his football. His forward surges and his defending were really futile and disgusting, forget his passes, I would even call it one! I would have happily made Alex or Nico the captain!

Surprisingly, my whine wouldn’t be complete without featuring Carlo. He first got it wrong with his first 11; I would rather put a decent first 11 and then score as many goals before bringing on the kids. I don’t know if he instructed but Zhirkov was playing more centrally and overcrowding our midfield, he was not providing any width on the left. Then his substitutions were awry. Kakuta was by far better than sutrridge or was Terry at all injured because along with Terry’s leadership we also lost Ferreira’s football! His decision to bring substitutions on at half time had cost us a man for good 20-25 minutes of the game.

Or may we blindly guess that Carlo doesn’t give much importance to Carling Cup. I hope this is the case because otherwise this is one of the worst managerial moments of him. We don’t deserve to hard-swallow 4 goals at home! Drogba’s word on “quadruple” has been wiped off! Anyway, in Carlo I trust and wouldn’t mind if he can at least bring us the EPL and CL trophies, although I would love the homely FA Cup too! Thank God that this loss isn’t as painful as the one which Avarm Grant threw gave us at Wembley in 2008 Carling Cup final.

But I would like to give due respects to Newcastle for bringing in their A+ which was made to appear like AAA+++ by the likes of sturridge and turned-bull! They should have gone 5/6 up easily had Ameobi and Loverkrants not tried to emulate sturridge! I have seen how cheap and disgusting ferguson is, when we were starting to play our game and gaining on confidence he play-acted to be injured and successfully disturbed our flow. I would nominate this chick-faced arsehole for the Oscar award!

Anyway, it is good chance for the youngsters to make a mark and except for those few costly mistakes Aanholt and Bruma did a decent job. Aanholt’s goal is a good one! Kakuta deserved to play 90 minutes but Carlo saw something which I didn’t. but in this curate’s egg situation, I have a big REASON to smile and the reason is Josh McEachran! I love this guy and am really wordless to describe the greatness of a footballer this modest guy is; he is a priceless gem! I would love to see him feature in each and every game now on, from bench or otherwise.

Then one more thing which I can smile about is Monsieur Nico. So calm, so cool and very lovely! He almost single-handedly tried to take us through! His goals were a class apart and his celebration so uplifting. If he is a manure or loserfoll player, his coolest penalty would have flooded the media globally! But he is a Chelsea player whom the media love to hate with a passion!

But let us look at the brighter side and be happy that we played quite well with 10 men and almost won the match. Maybe the adversity spurred us on.

Let us all hope and pray that Kalou and Benny would pull through soon.

Chelsea is just doing great. Essien did it, Everton did it, Scott Parker did it, Birmingham did it, Blackburn did it, West Brom did it, but sadly Pepe Reina and Martin Atkinson did it too. But does it really matter? I don’t have time to waste on Loserfool but talking about Manure, my answer is Yes and No!

Yes because the referees would continue to support Manure and would even take control of time (Owen’s equalizer in Manchester derby in the 100th minute last season and Jagielka’s doom before time last Saturday). Decisions, big and small usually go favouring Manure and there is a fund for referees and for those who score own goals. Remember 12 own goals for them last season!

No because as long as we win our games the clean way, there is not a single thing that would budge my tiniest hair! No because we manage to keep high-flying Malouda on the bench and still win comfortably, that also on an away match, on a hot derby!

About our match, we played really well to take the lead early on and good enough to keep it. We played as a team and we won as a team. Despite the fact that we have a midweek trip to Slovakia, I would have still put Malouda in the first 11 and then rested him at around the hour mark by bringing Kalou in, but the manager decided the other way around and we still got what we wanted.

Anyway all the three substitutions were spot on. The only thing which I am worried about is if Benayoun is still kept happy sitting on the bench till the final whistle because we all know for sure that he can and have a lot to deliver. Do not forget that he had been highly under-rated at Liverpool because of Benetiz’s indifference towards him. I hope we get to utilise the real Benny! But it is still good that we got to see flashes of Kakuta even if it was at the cost of Benny!

Let us all congratulate Ramires for a proper 90 minutes of football and yes we have a very good reason to be excited when he is in the team. I think he even learnt English fast enough to give Noble quite a mouthful!

One positive approach from us was the utilisation of our full backs, forget about Ashley, even Ferreira had a decent contribution and luxury on the right flank. Those who still think that Ferreira isn’t good enough must really re-think! May we thank Avarm Grant for fielding a narrow midfield against us!

Even Mikel came inches close to scoring his first ever EPL goal for us, how nice it would have been had that 91 degree been a perfect 90 degree shot! I would really love to see how Mikel would celebrate his goal!

West Ham is a neighbour but in football neighbours are often the greatest enemies but neighbours do bring in familiar and lovely faces too. We used to go there to make our heroes Zola and Clarke sad. On Saturday, we went there and the likes of Scott Parker, Carlton Cole, Ben Haim and Grant wished they were still a Blue!

Now we have travelled to Slovakia and Cole has been left behind which means that Zhirkov will feature and I am delighted with it, especially in the light of his claims that he want to play and the limitation or absence of which might mean that he will re-think and probably go back to Russia. But now Carlo had stressed that “….his future is here in Chelsea” and also promised that “….but he will have the possibility to play a lot of games this year because we are involved in a lot of competitions and I need all the players fit and ready to play”. But this has a big undercurrent with the word, “possibility” which means that Zhirkov really have to bring his A+ to get in the first 11, let us hope that he will.

Carlo had announced his first 11 and I am for it except that Sturridge might give me a tinge of uneasiness but I would still prefer him ahead of Kalou and I am sure Nico will play a good centre-forward role like he did when Drogba was away on ACN duty last season. And maybe Sturridge can drift inwards and do what Robben does best! I am contented with our back four and really excited to see our midfield coordination, I am happy that modest Benny finally starts his game. Alex had said that he is in the top of his form so it would be great to see Zhirkov, Terry, Alex and Ivanovic at the back while Mikel does best in protecting our back four. Even Terry had showered praises on him! And we have Ramires on the bench!

Anyway, it might still be a tight game but we will win after all we have a high flying Essien and Malouda and Kalou is a super-sub! I hope the absence of Drogba wouldn’t affect us adversely.

Anyway, let us congratulate Carlotti for winning the much deserved ‘Manager of the Month’ award and the ‘Player of the Month’ should have been rightly Malouda’s had things been kept free of manure stink in the FA!

Today I will go home for an early sleep to wake up at 00.30 a.m.

Hello folks! Long time no blog! I’m just settling down in Singapore so I haven’t found time to follow football news, leave alone blogging. When checked up the football news sites, I find nothing has changed – England wins against mighty Bulgaria and Switzerland so they are officially the favourites for Euro2012, after showing a wee bit of promise Walcott is out for 6 weeks and Chelsea are still comfortably on top of the league table. Nothing’s changed.

West Ham are at the rock bottom. May be this is a nice time to play them and open our London league with a superb win. West Ham have done a good job of extending Parker’s contract but have truly lost a key player in Diamanti. Odds are in favour of Avram becoming the next manager to be sacked and his post-match comments don’t seem to contradict this. When West Ham plays Chelsea, it can be a heated encounter but no matter hot they get, I’m sure this Chelsea team can batter them with ease. No disrespect or arrogance – pure extrapolation of the form of these teams.

Lampard has had his surgery which denied him the opportunity of playing a part in the history created by England against Bulgaria and Switzerland. He could play this weekend which is a surprise because I thought he’d taking more time for rehab. Terry could also be featuring tomorrow. Despite selling Carvalho, we seem to be pretty strong at the back with multiple options. Talking about options at the back, Jeffrey Bruma has extended his contract with the club until 2014. That’s a good sign for him as well as the club. Carlo has been very vocal about his desire to use youngsters this season in the first team. He’s even named a few which included Bruma as well.

Remember Jose Bosingwa? The Portuguese right back who was brought as we could not land Dani Alves? The man who spends more time attacking than defending? We could see him again on the football pitch! Tomorrow!! He is back in full training so don’t check if it’s a live match or a recorded one, if you happen to see him coming on as a sub. Meanwhile, Ashley Cole has officially got his divorce from lovely looking Cheryl. People wonder why would he do anything to strain the relationship with an angel like Cheryl. We get to know what’s made known. Why do I care about what happens in his private life. Carlo summed this up beautifully last week: “I’m not interested in their private lives when it’s not involving our job”. As long as it has not affected Chelsea, why would we care what he does off the pitch.

Even if it were to affect his form, we always had Zhirkov who was waiting for every opportunity. There’s a report that Zhirkov might consider his future in January, if he continues to be on the bench. He’s said this in a very gentle and classy way. He acknowledges that to get a chance ahead of Ashley Cole or Malouda is pretty difficult. For instance, look at Ashley Cole. Amidst all his private problems, he is still playing at a very high and consistent level. Zhirkov is a player I don’t want us to lose. I’m sure Carlo would rotate smartly to keep Zhirkov interested.

This could be an interesting week of football with Manure playing at Goodison park. A frustrating draw there could do very well for us. I know it’s not an easy away match but I expect Chelsea to win and win very well indeed. I’m out to Sentosa tomorrow but I really hope to be back in time for the match. That’s the beauty of being in the far east. You can afford to go around and do the family duty in the afternoon and the evening and still be in time to watch football. That’s just about perfect. My apartment has StarHub while it is SingTel that shows premier league football. I do have a place nearby that shows premier league football but I hope it is the Chelsea match that’s on.

Okay then, here’s my prediction: Chelsea to win 3-0 while Everton to draw 2-2 with Man Utd. Predictions for other teams: don’t bother, they never mattered anyway.