“We won’t lose, we will win” – Those were the words used by Carlo Ancelotti ahead of this match. Let me say that we were never close to even drawing, let alone winning. This was one of the saddest matches I’ve seen Chelsea play. The occasion is big, reaction is due – all we could do was to lost to a team that’s been in the drop zone forever. With half the season over, we have now lost 6 games already. That’s as many as we lost in the whole of last season.

The most intriguing thing about this whole thing is that there are absolutely no excuses for this form. Yes, we had injuries but we’ve always coped with injuries, all teams have to. I won’t call any of our defeats or draws as unlucky. We were thoroughly held or beaten in all these matches. I’ve heard quite a bit about our squad being thin and not so deep. While I agree to that point, I don’t see that to be one of the reasons. All I’d tell you is to look at the starting line-ups of Chelsea and the opponent teams for every single match starting November and then tell me that the teams that started weren’t good enough to beat those opponents.

Something needs to happen. This defeat tonight is the final straw as I see it. I don’t see us coming back into the league anymore. If Man Utd win their game on hand, we’ll be 12 points behind them. The ESPN commentator was screaming at the final whistle ‘what has happened to them’. It’s indeed a great mystery. No one knows the answer. We’ve surprised everyone, including our rivals. We are defending champions, playing in relegation form but trending towards mid-table.

It’s today’s match and not the Aston Villa match that sums up our slump in the past 8 weeks. Conceding a sloppy lead and chase the game in a disjointed fashion with practically no gameplan. This is exactly what’s been happening for 8 weeks now. I don’t remember seeing Chelsea play with such poor teamwork and understanding. And the final ball is all like you have five Kalous on the left side and five SWPs on the right side. Chelsea’s ability to play in the air is a massive strength. I see how much we’ve lost it. I don’t even remember when was the last time I saw a decent cross coming into the box. It’s not that we make bad crosses, it’s just that we make horribly horrendous crosses that are so ridiculous. Now that’s an understatement.

Scolari’s lack of plan B was pretty famous. His team started the season well and early November, his team started losing points and games. Opponents had figured out how to stifle Chelsea and we did not have this thing called ‘Plan-B’. We had learnt one way to play the game and if we couldn’t do it that way, we’d look to the heavens. Early February, Scolari was sacked and the club’s rationale for the decision was below:

Luiz Felipe Scolari has been dismissed as manager of Chelsea Football Club today (Monday) with immediate effect. The Chelsea board would like to place on record our gratitude for his time as manager. Felipe has brought many positives to the club since he joined and we all feel a sense of sadness that our relationship has ended so soon. Unfortunately the results and performances of the team appeared to be deteriorating at a key time in the season. In order to maintain a challenge for the trophies we are still competing for we felt the only option was to make the change now.

You can say it than ever that the results and performances of the team appears to be deteriorating at a key time in the season. The one difference is, Scolari had no history with Chelsea while Ancelotti has. He has just won the double for us. He should not get the same treatment as Scolari got. But we might need admit that issue could be the same. Lack of plan B and an acute inability to get the best out of one’s players.

You can say that the lack of depth in the squad has an impact on the plan as we may not have players to adapt into new formations and tactics. The most worrying thing is, our execution of plan A itself has not been very impressive. We seem to lack that killer instinct that was very very Chelsea. Since Roman (at least), irrespective of the league standing, Chelsea are always a very difficult team to beat. That’s because these men in blue give their best and that’s fundamental to their approach to the game. Now, sadly, that has changed.

This is not your typical premier league season where you see a two-horse race. You find all teams dropping points at unlikely places and very few points separate many teams. This is a season where even if Chelsea had played below their potential, they could have retained the title. What’s happened is that we’ve fallen way below the minimum requirements for a champion incumbent in the premier league.

I don’t want to be in Ancelotti’s shoes now. He talks about how details determined the result and the impact of not finishing those two one-on-ones. Typically, in matches such as these, even if we don’t win, Chelsea should have about 30 shots with a dozen saves from the keeper. We created so less and hence we’re talking about those two chances.

This week I saw the players, they were focused, they worked hard, they stay together and I do not see some problems within the squad. We have a good spirit but this is not enough. We have to stay more in focus on the little details. They decided this match. Two times we were one against one against the goalkeeper but we were not able to. Some ideas were good when we tried to attack but we conceded a goal after a few minutes and it was not the right way to start the game. We wanted to start the game differently but after that the game was very difficult.

On premier league title, he says this.

It is not just one reason, there are a lot of reasons. Now we have to prepare well for our next game and maintain confidence because it is very easy to lose confidence. It is not good our season so far but we can fight for a lot of things and nothing is lost at the moment. It is difficult to come back in the Premier League but we have the FA Cup and we have the Champions League. I have a good relationship with players and the club. The most important thing is to move on.

I don’t know what those ‘lot of reasons’ are. At least, I don’t know the Ancelotti version. Well, we’ve got to a stage we’re saying ‘we can fight for a lot of things’ and also about the domestic cups! Couple of weeks back we said this is worst Chelsea run in a decade. In the last two weeks we’ve drawn one and lost one more. Carlo Ancelotti admitted that he’s lucky to be on the job. I don’t think Roman will sack Carlo. I think no matter where we end up in the table, Carlo would continue to be our manager. Only that I’d be glad if someone from the club recognise the issues in clear terms and talk about the ‘lot of reasons’ and assure of the way forward.

What about us? The supporters and the fans? Well, we need to realise, for now, we’re not in the title race. If we get back into it by a miracle, we can rejoice. For now though, we’re out of it and the sooner we realise it the better. You can set your expectations right. Champions league is more challenging this season; it’s probably more competitive than the premier league. So my expectations for this season is FA Cup. I’ve come to terms with our chances of winning the premier league and champions league.

We’ll continue to watch, follow and support Chelsea FC. I’m very hopeful – not about our titles and trophies this season – but about rebuilding our team and squad. It’s for that reason I think Carlo will be allowed to continue. So I still have that hope. It’s good to have something to hope for. I’ll be hoping for a new Chelsea and I expect to see this new Chelsea by July 2011. I’d have only one wish for this season: we should somehow finish in the top three. Where do you think we will finish?

Where will we finish?

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A week back, Carlo had said:

When you go to a restaurant, you have to pay the bill when finish your meal. It’s the same here. We have to pay the bill at the end of the season. At the end the club can judge me. The best food would be the Champions League. I’ve tasted it sometimes and it’s good.

Now that’s a hidden promise! See, there’s always something to hope for!