What were you expecting? A thumping win in the last game of this season at Stamford Bridge against Newcastle who are playing for nothing but pride? Same here. In the end, in a game where we were to make a point, we just did that, got a point.

We made six changes to the side that lost to Man Utd last weekend. Finally, Essien didn’t start. Good omen. Josh McE started. Even better. Yossi was there. Alex in place of David Luiz. Torres for Drogba. This in fact looked like a very attacking line-up. If only we had bothered to play ball!

We probably got exactly what we deserved. For a game that was not supposed to mean much to either sides, this was a well fought contest. That said, I must also say this was a well fought but terribly boring game of football. Our defenders scored our goals and we conceded through a deflection and a poor set piece defending in the last minute.

Some say that this game summed up our season. I disagree. If a game summed up our season, it would be like this:

We take 3-0 lead in 15 minutes. That’s when we stop attacking. We see Lamps is limping but we don’t want to sub him. We concede in the 35th min and 45th min. 3-2 at HT. Right after the half time, Drogba is injured and walking. We continue to play him as he says he’s fine. He continues to walk. Essien keeps passing to the opponents like he’s switched sides. We don’t sub him because he’s Essien. We concede again in the 55th min and the score’s 3-3. We still don’t attack. Then we go down 3-4 in the 65th minute. With most of our players limping or walking, we still don’t attack. We bring on Torres. The rest of the team treat Torres like he’s still with Liverpool. We concede again. There you go. A match that we led 3-0 is now down to 3-5. Fans start booing, start walking off the stadium much to the disdain of the ‘real fans’.

Opponents are totally in control. We’re just going through the motions. Just 5 mins more. The game totally looks lost. Suddenly, we realise this is Stamford Bridge and we can turn it around. We find some energy but it’s already stoppage time. Drogba scores a screamer to put us 4-5. Game on! Get in there! Last 90 seconds of stoppage time. Right at the last minutes, we get a dodgy penalty and we convert it. We convert it. 5-5 now. In the last one minute, we give away possession only for the opponent to finish a sweet passing move to score the winner in the last few seconds of the match. We lose 5-6 at home. We hail the team’s fighting spirit for coming back from 3-5 down to make a match of it.

Now, if this happened, you can say the game summed up our season.

I don’t know if there’s much point in going into the details of the match. I’ll touch upon some big headlines. We played in our new home kit for 2011/12. I don’t like this kit. I don’t know how am I going to stand this kit for all season. Hopefully, I’ll get some good memories next season so I remember this kit for good reasons. I have to say this. Whoever got the idea of painting so much white on the shoulder should be go to jail.

Finally. Finally. Finally. Josh McE made his first premier league start for Chelsea. Finally. He played the defensive midfielder role today. He was a bit shaky when he started but then he grew well into the match. One of our better performers of the day. Deserved to play all 90 minutes. Don’t know how and why Lampard had to play for 90 minutes in such a match. Josh also got very good appreciation from various football pundits and media for his performance today. Hope he gets to start more matches, in a more attacking role.

Our attacking play in this match was something we had gotten used to. Same slow build-up which results in attacking players clogging the box and waiting for the ball to arrive. It wasn’t a surprise that both our goals were from set pieces. Not much was created otherwise. The match itself was pretty boring. Not sure if that was to do with the fact that the league’s been won by Man Utd already.

Now, with this result we should have run the risk of losing our second place. But then, as I write this, Arsenal are 0-2 to Villa at the Emigrants. As always this season, our opponents are making us look more decent than we actually are. My biggest fear is that we don’t become like Arsenal. Feeble and fragile – mentally and physically. Pure confidence team. Plays brilliant football when things go well and responds poorly to adversity. Lacking fight with poor resilience. Revered and respected manager. Lots of stability. Less success. In simple terms, premier league’s also-rans and bridesmaids. Someone please wake me up from this nightmare!

The question today was, is this Carletto’s last match at Stamford Bridge? Before the match, Carlo said this:

I don’t want to think about it being my last home game. I am focused to put the best team out, to win, to say thanks to our fans. They gave us fantastic support and it’s not been an easy season for them. It doesn’t matter if it’s the last or not. We have to wait and see what happens at the end of the season. I don’t know what is going to happen about my future, but I’m not nervous. I’m quiet. I’m calm. I hope to stay – I’ve said a lot of times – but if something’s changed, I will find another solution without problem. I think that I have a very good relationship with the players, but I don’t think it would be a problem for next season if I’m not here. I hope, obviously, to stay here, but there may be another coach and they’ll have the same relationship.

You draw your conclusions.

Just one more game to this season. Truly, I wish this season had ended already. Honestly, I feel mentally very tired myself. Let’s end the season soon. Let’s make those decisions on manager and players – this way or that way – let’s make those decisions, so we can move forward. Too many rumours, too many uncertainties, lack of understanding – you can’t miss the sense of grimness around Stamford Bridge today. We didn’t come out with our chin up on the last day at the Bridge. In fact, as much as I saw, there was no farewell to the Stamford Bridge crowd from the players or manager. I truly hope they did when the cameras weren’t watching them. [Update: Yes, they did a lap of honour. Thank you guys!]

Let’s go to Goodison. Let’s not be defeated. Let’s go back to the drawing board straight from the pitch. That’s all there’s to be done.