Why Belgium-Turkey Is All About Chelsea
On Friday, June 3rd, Belgium play Turkey in Brussels. There’s a lot at stake in this game.
Oh sure, Turkey’s Euro qualification depends upon it. But that’s not we care about. Much more important to us is that Chelsea’s future may also be riding on the outcome of the match.
Two key people will be in the stadium that day, people seen as vital to Chelsea’s growth and aspirations.
The first we all know about. He’s Guus Hiddink, Turkey’s manager. Hiddink is proud of never having broken a contract. If Turkey wins, they might yet qualify for the Euro 2012 finals. In 2010 Hiddink signed a 2-year contract with Turkey. So as long as Turkey are alive in the Euro, Guus will be by the Bosphorus.
But what if Turkey lose to Belgium? Ah, that’s the scenario that has the rumor mill churning away full time. The chattering classes claim that if les Belges derail Turkey, Guus will be ditched. And guess who’s supposedly waiting in the tunnel to offer him his next job? His #1 fan, Roman Abramovich. Despite Guus’ failures with the Russian and (presumably) Turkish national teams, Roman’s crush on him is undying. Love is forever, right?
So the identity of Chelsea’s future manager (or sporting director) depends on the outcome of next Friday’s match.
The other key figure at the Roi Baudouin Stadium is Belgium striker Romelu Lukaku. The 18 year-old has been courted by Chelsea for going on two years, now. He’s big, he’s strong and he reminds people of Didier Drogba. He also scores a bit: this season he has 20 goals in 49 matches in all competitions for his club, Anderlecht. Plus 2 goals in 9 matches for his country.
And that’s where the rumors are flying again. It’s said that after the Turkey match Lukaku will be sold to Chelsea. The price tag will be in the area of £20 million. Now, bear in mind that the source for this rumor is the Daily Mail, a newspaper more interested in headlines than facts.
Nevertheless, if you’re a Chelsea supporter with time on his hands next Friday, you could do worse than watch the Belgium-Turkey match. It could be a sneak peek at Chelsea’s future.
Will you use BC shout for this match? I hope I get home in time.
Hiddink is good for Chelsea, Lukaku is not. Lukaku is an up front opportunist striker. Both Drogba and Torres already do that. Chelsea need a striker that is tricky and attacks from deep in the midfield and along the wings. This is what Neymar is all about.
I want chelsea to upload 4 players to buy nemar &lukaku tiote mata & aguero
gary,
guy that Sanchez or Kun bro
How can you tell Jose Mourinho isn’t managing Chelsea anymore?
The Blues won the Fair Play title this season. :)
That’s normally good for a sport in the Europa League. Since Chelsea don’t need that, the spot goes to the second most polite club, which is Fulham.
BlueChampion,
Another good post! I don’t like Guus Hiddink, but he has knowledge on the way a football club should be administered. I think that it would be a waste if he became the manager, I think that he probably would be moe suited to the Sporting Director’s position. But we do need someone who can win both the FA League and Uefa Champions League. We need a man that turn the fortunes of how the club is run. Cheers!
Hey guys..
Whats done is done… Carlo’s out… almost every player who is a tad famous.. let it be for his footballing skills or his outrageoues haircut.. is being linked to Chelsea…. and to top it all.. there is speculation not just for players but for the manager too….
Here are some of the speculations which I think should happen
1. Sergio “Kun” aguero – Although there is a 45 mil clause in his contract… he very much seems to be like the player we need in the front… i reckon he is more in the mould of players like Suarez… than drogba etc… he is menacing for the defenders not due to his strength …. but due to his agility, pace and dribbling… we so badly need that to have faster counterattacks and attacking build-ups
2. Neymar – This guy has been kind of a woman in a shopping mart which has sale written all over it.. and cannot decide what to buy.. he was totally for chelsea a year back… the deal fell thru… and suddenly in the winter he is singing praises of Juve and milan…now he is back to show loyalties towards Chelsea this summer… .. if you ask me… he is all about … “Show me the monaaaaaaaaaey”…( Rod tidwell from Jerry Maguire)…. :).. so although he is good player… i am really concerned whether he would be worth the money that could be potentially showered upon him… i mean dont get me wrong…. he is a fantastic talent…. but us imagine… we shell out 50 mill quid over him… he injures himself at brittania or reebok and is out for 4-5 months… i dont want that..
3. Manuel Pelligrini / Rafa Benitez – Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo Waaaaaaaaaaayyyyy..
I dont want us to get relegated…..
4. Romelu Lukaku – After seeing so much of his vdos and if i compare him to Drogba’s marsielle vdos… there is a great similarity between the 2….but there it ends.. they are two different individuals from different backgrounds… would he able to develop himself in such a way that he could downsize defenders in a way drogba does… would he able to take that occasional initiative and coming back to support the back four… would he able to steal those runs while being covered by en EPL defender… may be/ may be not…
5. Gregory wan der wiel
We are in dire need of a “lethal” right back… .. who also has his defensive capabilities in the right place… now we have bosingwa, who can attack.. although his crosses into the box are a far cry from the quality tht we expect.. and ivanovic defends well.. but even an above average left winger gets the better of him in a crunch match.. either he gets behind him for the overhead cross… or gets tackled and gifts iva with a yellow card….so this is a prime area of concern and van der wiel would be a great addition…
Lets hope we rope in Hiddink… although i would have preffered Carlo to have stayed.. hiddink would definitely be the next thing… villas-boas seems to be a good bet… but a 15 mil exit clause is actually too much…we could easily buy a good CM or a decent fwd for tht money…
And most importantly… If a cash splurge does happen.. i really think it would be RA’s last attempt at landing the UCL with Chelsea….So lets hope for the best for our dear club.. :)
If redknapp becomes our manager I seriously have to question the sanity of our owner and board..
I think Belgium is a dark horse to go deep in the next World Cup. They have a seriously good young squad….Kompany,Vermalen, Hazard, De Bruyne, Felani, Lukaku.
How about we just buy all those guys and call it a day. Hiddink might want to manage them if they end up whipping Turkey next week!
I can’t see it happening. Doesn’t seem like a good fit. Just idle gossip to help the chattering classes sell newspapers.
Interesting that Chelsea aren’t linked to Sergio Aguero. I know he has a scary price tag but the young man is a scoring machine. 27 goals in 41 total appearances this season.
Nice to see that Blatter is also being called before FIFA’s ethics committee. Can’t see anything coming from it, though. A bunch of corrupt insiders pretending to police themselves.
I think its good that Chelseafc has won the Fifa fair play award. The men are heading in the right direction. I wonder who should take the credit for instilling the ethic of sportsmanship in our team. Cheers!
We keep saying Jose’s history, we’ve moved on and all that but we can’t really stop mentioning his name (for whatever reason), can we?
Btw, good post.
Mostly to tease you, because you can’t resist defending all things Jose, including his choice in socks. :)
You can’t stop mentioning the names of Legends. That is why when you think of Manchester United the name Bobby Charlton, Denis Law, George Best, Sir Matt Busby, Ryan Giggs, David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Edwin van der Sar, Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo, Rio Ferdinand and Sir Alex Ferguson come to mind.
United are busy making legends, they always have been, the great thing about them is that they keep moving on.
They are not stuck up clingers like us we are still on drogba, lamps, mourinho etc for 6-7 years now.
Cant even remember how many legends manu have thrown off since I started watching, its the same with all big clubs.
People come and go, the club remains.
wxwax,
You’re bang on, especially about the socks! The Special Socks!
New Gate 17 film ! “The Enemy Within” Feat Hitler as Ron Gourlay
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szgPIT_Rkb4
awesome vid :D
Twenty-five things you didn’t know about this season. Find out some fascinating facts about the 2010/11 Premier League season…
96 – Ashley Young was the most fouled player in the division, 96 times.
4 – Blackburn would have finished fourth if only first halves counted in 2010-11.
570 – Stoke took 570 long throws in 2010-11, the next highest was Bolton with 288.
67 – Darren Bent was caught offside 67 times, 20 more than any other top-flight player.
76.4% – Joe Hart had the best saves-to-shots ratio of any regular goalkeeper in 2010-11.
3420 – Liverpool defender Martin Skrtel and Everton full-back Leighton Baines were the only two outfield players to play every single minute of the 2010/11 Premier League season
8 – Between January 1st – May 22nd 2011, Robin van Persie scored in nine consecutive Premier League matches away from home; a new record.
23.3% – Mark Hughes’ Fulham side conceded the lowest proportion of their goals from set-pieces in the top-flight this term.
34 – West Bromwich Albion set a new Premier League record of 34 consecutive matches without keeping a clean sheet, between 29th August 2010 & 8th May 2011.
71 – Everton picked up their 71st red card in the Premier League with Seamus Coleman’s dismissal versus Chelsea on the final day, equaling Blackburn Rovers’ all-time record.
20 – Matthew Jarvis took part in more Premier League defeats than any other player this season.
18 – Liverpool scored in 18 successive matches between 1 January – May 9 2011; the longest such run in the Premier League this season.
55 – No side have scored as many goals as Blackpool (55) did this campaign in a Premier League season and still been relegated.
11 – 2010/11 was the 11th consecutive season in which the golden boot was won by a foreign player, with the last Englishman to win it being Kevin Phillips in 1999/00.
41 – Edwin Van der Sar became the oldest player to win a Premier League title at the age of 40 years and 205 days (on Sunday May 22nd 2011)
32 – Maxi Rodriquez’s goal versus Fulham on 9 May 2011 was the fastest recorded in the Premier League this season at 32 seconds.
123 – Kevin Davies committed 123 fouls in the Premier League this season; the most by a player since Opta began their analysis on the league back in 1996.
2.80 – There were 2.80 goals per game on average this season; the highest ratio in Premier League history
573 – Ryan Giggs broke the record for the most Premier League appearances, overtaking David James (572) this season.
7 – Seven players played in the Premier League this season who were born after the competition started in August 1992.
8 – Manchester City scored the most deflected goals this season (eight).
Cheers!
Why not give us the entire list? http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/may/23/premier-league-season-in-numbers
Twenty-five things you didn’t know about this season. Find out some fascinating facts about the 2010/11 Premier League season…
96 – Ashley Young was the most fouled player in the division, 96 times. 4 – Blackburn would have finished fourth if only first halves counted in 2010-11. 570 – Stoke took 570 long throws in 2010/11, the next highest was Bolton with 288. 67 – Darren Bent was caught offside 67 times, 20 more than any other top-flight player. 76.4% – Joe Hart had the best saves-to-shots ratio of any regular goalkeeper in 2010/11. 3420 – Liverpool defender Martin Skrtel and Everton full-back Leighton Baines were the only two outfield players to play every single minute of the 2010/11 Premier League season. 8 – Between January 1st – May 22nd 2011, Robin van Persie scored in nine consecutive Premier League matches away from home; a new record. 23.3% – Mark Hughes’ Fulham side conceded the lowest proportion of their goals from set-pieces in the top-flight this term. 34 – West Bromwich Albion set a new Premier League record of 34 consecutive matches without keeping a clean sheet, between 29th August 2010 & 8th May 2011. 71 – Everton picked up their 71st red card in the Premier League with Seamus Coleman’s dismissal versus Chelsea on the final day, equaling Blackburn Rovers’ all-time record. 20 – Matthew Jarvis took part in more Premier League defeats than any other player this season. 18 – Liverpool scored in 18 successive matches between 1 January – May 9 2011; the longest such run in the Premier League this season. 55 – No side have scored as many goals as Blackpool (55) did this campaign in a Premier League season and still been relegated. 11 – 2010/11 was the 11th consecutive season in which the golden boot was won by a foreign player, with the last Englishman to win it being Kevin Phillips in 1999/00. 41 – Edwin Van der Sar became the oldest player to win a Premier League title at the age of 40 years and 205 days (on Sunday May 22nd 2011) 32 – Maxi Rodriquez’s goal versus Fulham on 9 May 2011 was the fastest recorded in the Premier League this season at 32 seconds. 123 – Kevin Davies committed 123 fouls in the Premier League this season; the most by a player since Opta began their analysis on the league back in 1996.
2.80 – There were 2.80 goals per game on average this season; the highest ratio in Premier League history
573 – Ryan Giggs broke the record for the most Premier League appearances, overtaking David James (572) this season. 7 – Seven players played in the Premier League this season who were born after the competition started in August 1992. 8 – Manchester City scored the most deflected goals this season (eight).
Michael,
pretty interesting and unique list of facts michael.. was a good read… thnx for sharing.. :)
CL final shows again why Jose was right.
Barca are so good. Man U is a heck of a team and Barca beat them easily. It’ll take a huge effort for anybody to dethrone them next year.
BlueGenes,
No it didn’t. Barcelona didn’t cheat or get helped in any way. Evra had a handball and so did Villa and they both weren’t given. Valencia should have been sent off for consistent fouling with no intent for ball. Very fair match in my opinion given the fact Barcelona also outplayed Manchester United (the best EPL team) with ease at 67% possession to boot.
Pretty much as I expected. Barcelona dominated. Manchester United pressed hard at the outset but could only keep it up for 10 minutes. At least Real Madrid managed to do it for an entire half (in their first leg match.) Manchester United just aren’t good enough and neither is the Premier League. I think Real Madrid would have won too. Spain’s top two clubs are richer in money and players than anyone in England (and therefore, the world.)
It’s going to take a team with a powerful midfield to beat Barcelona. Or a Messi injury. Otherwise, you need Mourinho’s tactics: cover like crazy, super organized on defense, and take your chances when you get them. Don’t chase, that’s tiring. Just play your space and stay organized.
People say that’s negative football. To me, it’s the same as Barca are doing when they play keepaway. There’s nothing inherently interesting about 100 short passes whose only intent is to keep the ball away from your opponent. The moment of interest is when the pass is a penetrating one that creates an opportunity. To me, that’s the same as a Mourinho long-ball. Rare, but exciting when it happens.
Anyway, until the time wasting right at the end, I’m glad Barcelona were able to keep their shameful tactics out of the match. It was a good, clean match and the ref had an excellent game.
Thank you. I appreciate it. Maybe someone can give us some funy (interesting) facts about the way our club performed this season. Also Congrats, to Barcelona they are deserved Champions of the world this season 2010/11.
Loving the fact that, once again, Barcelona proved to be too good for this Manchester United side. Even back in 2009, with Tevez and Ronaldo in their side, I expected them to be annihilated by a superb Barcelona side. BC was right when he said that Manchester United happened to be just champions within a mediocre bunch this season in the EPL. Not a single team dominated and, even though this shows the competitiveness of the league, that is why none of them can be compared to Barca thus far.
Well done, Barca. Just watch out for a resurgent Chelsea next season coming after your title ;)
KTBFFH !!
We need an exodus of some of our golden oldies and replace them with our youth & reserve team players mixed with one or two exciting new signings if we are to compete with the very best next season. These decisions, however, need to be made AFTER we appoint a new manager since they should be HIS signings and not the clubs’. That’s one of the big mistakes we’ve been making over and over again; we did not let a single manager post-Jose work with his own squad but instead gave him Mourinho’s men with a couple of Abramovich’s fancies.
That’s one reason why Guardiola’s Barca have been so rampant. Agreed that they do happen to have some of the most talented men to grace the footballing world in a long time (and some of the most disgraceful cheats as well, but that’s for another time) but they’re partly there because Guardiola wanted them there. He got rid of Deco, Ronaldinho and eventually Eto’o once he realised they were not fit for his team for X, Y, Z reasons. Getting Ibrahimovic might not have been the shrewdest of decisions, but I never said the manager is perfect. The Barcelona board gave him (a rookie, at that) the authority to choose his own team and build from were Rijkaard had left.
It’s not the players themselves but who the manager wants for HIS team. Shevchenko may well have been a hit if he HAD been in Mourinho’s plans but unfortunately he wasn’t. As a result, he just lay there knowing mentally he was never in the gaffers’ plans which may have caused a chronic dip in form. Whoever takes the hotseat at the Bridge must then make some difficult decisions about some key players in our squad; “Will they be part of the identity of HIS team or someone else’s borrowed one ?” If the new man in-charge can get those key questions answered right for some of our players, we may see a change in fortune next season.
KTBFFH !!
@ Tremayne Craigg:
I was talking about the tactics against Barca. Barca didn´t need to cheat today, because when you play their own game, this team is invincible. If they play ying, you need to play perfect yang. Only then you can hope to win.
BC, wouldn’t you say the Barca of 2006 was entirely dependent on the magic of Ronaldinho whilst the Barca of 2011 is more-or-less dependent on a number of players ?
KTBFFH !!
Ah! I had tweeted today that Barca of 2006 was more creative than the Barca of 2011. And that the reason was because Barca 2006 was built around Ronaldinho (incredibly creative player) and Barca 2011 is built around Messi (whose strength is in executiona and precision than creativity).
That said, Barca 2006 did have Deco, Edmilson, van Bommel and Eto. While this is not as star studded as Xavi, Iniest, Villa etc, the Barca teams have always had this thing called BALANCE! They played very well as a team, with or without Ronaldinho. Even in the absence of Ronaldinho, they were more enterprising and exciting to watch than Barca 2011.
Plus, I thought it’s the opposite. The Barca of now is more dependent on one player than Barca had ever been in the last decade or so. But then, that’s my view.
BlueChampion,
In my opinion it’s the complete opposite. The difference between Rijkaard and Guardiola is the channels they use. Rijkaard did exactly what Wenger does now. He uses 1 channel to link the play. Ronaldinho back then, Fabregas now. When that channel has lost its feed, the television breaks down. Nowadays, they are multiple channels to use so that when one stop’s working, you switch to another one. Messi is just as creative as Ronaldinho was. He topped the assist table with 18 assists this year didn’t he?
To compare Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, you can only compare the statistics because they are both 2 very different players. On statistics, Messi wins. I say that Messi without his service(Argentina) is garbage plenty of times but that is because of the role that he switches to. He becomes the playmaker, not the goalscorer and because of his extreme composure in front of goal, when he doesn’t score people say he has lost form or what not. Cristiano Ronaldo still relies on service in Portugal, but they just don’t play around him and hence he doesn’t perform like he would at Manchester United or Real Madrid.
Different Topic
In this Chelsea team, Ancelotti and many of you foolishly assumed Lampard would take a playmaker’s role like Gerrard or Scholes. Lampard is not and never will be one. He is a goalscorer hence whey 40% of our goals come from him. Gerrard, Benayoun, Kuyt and Alonso constantly unlocked Torres because they are playmakers. Yossi is played deeper on the pitch than usual and wasn’t given the role to unlock him like many of us wanted him to. Give me Fabregas and Torres would be banging them in as long as Fabregas and Torres become the focal points of the team.
a deal what might pass us by …. SMH
and we say we are hunting for playmaker or 2 …..
http://www.goal.com/en/news/725/bundesliga/2011/05/28/2507243/schalke-interested-in-real-madrids-sergio-canales-report
The press today is hailing Messi as a messiah. I thought he was very good yesterday, but he wasn’t head and shoulders better than the rest. Barca won because of a great team effort rather than just one guy utterly dominating.
In 2009-2010 Frank Lampard was first in the Premier League in assists, with 17. To reiterate, that’s more assists than anyone else two seasons ago.
I don’t know how one defines the term playmaker, but assisting on goals scored is surely part of the job description.
Huh.
I think Eto’o would fit on any team in the world. What he achieved under Mourinho was just amazing. Truly, a complete player.
Barcelona gambled and lost when they swapped him for Ibra. A failure of judgment by management. It cost them a bucket of money, too. Not just the wad of cash involved in the Ibra disaster, but also another £34.2 million to buy David Villa.
But that’s the sort of thing you can do when one club gets 25% of the TV money in Spain. Sure, Barca are an academy club. They’re also a very rich club that spends more money than most teams can afford to.
Tremayne Craigg,
‘Creativity’ doesn’t mean ‘creating chances’. I was surprised how many people got it wrong on twitter. Creativity is not about creating chances. Please.
Exactly my feeling!
wxwax,
When I said Eto’o didn’t fit into his squad, I was referring to the fact that Eto’o wanted to leave and was not 100% fit mentally to be part of Guardiola’s team at the end of the ’09 campaign. It had nothing to do with his ability, the fact that the man gelled right into Mourinho’s Inter from the beginning of the ’09-’10 season speaks volumes of his ability (the only current African striker I would even think of describing as “better than Drogba on his day”). Hypothetically speaking, if Eto’o were to re-join Barcelona this summer, he would easily keep Villa out of the current XI based on form.
The departures of Ronaldinho and Deco were for different reasons altogether. Guardiola realised that their abilities were slowly fading and that to tap the true potential of Xavi and Iniesta, he had to get rid of other “playmakers” in the squad.
I’m not saying that Guardiola is my type of manager. I’m just saying he realised what he has at Barcelona and decided to use it to its fullest. But he only has a Plan A (a very successful Plan A, but it’s the only idea in his head). That’s probably why he got tactically overpowered by Mourinho and Hiddink (Fergie couldn’t do it because, despite the fact that I rate him as a great manager, he is not a tactical whiz, just a man-manager).
KTBFFH !!
chelsea needs a great passer!!!!
Pastore comes to mind…. illicic… Sahin.. Gotze… gees so many… will chelsea buy any?
denverblue,
This may sound strange at first, but why don’t we go for Joey Barton? He has been one of the beat midfielder of the season. He can provide pin point accuracy crosses and long balls into the box. Not to mention his energy and defensive duties. The guy is awesome. An we can sign him for free, so if we are not buying Pastore and Ilic and Hamsik, I would really be happy with Joey.
BlueChampion,
I wasn’t fully referring to just creation of chances but that is the only stat I can use. If it comes down to vision and flair, Messi’s is about the same. Just because you score goals doesn’t mean you are not creative because you have to be creative to score goals don’t you?
Messi is as creative as Ronaldinho? NO. He doesn’t even come close.
Understood re: Eto’o.
I think the rreason Fergie fares worse than Hiddink and Mourinho is that Fergie is committed to an attacking philosophy. Neither Mourinho nor Hiddink have any compunctions about playing a defensive style and waiting for their opportunities.
By electing to play Barca at their game, Fergie is doomed to lose. Barca really are very good at what they do, of course, and Messi makes a huge difference.
Perhaps a better word might be “flair”?
wxwax,
Fergie cares for only one thing – winning. His philosophy is all about winning. If you look at how his Man Utd team beat Barca in the semifinals in 08-09 and these two finals against Barca, you’d know what I mean. Fergie has never attempted to beat Barca in their own game. He knows neither does he have the players for that nor does he want to take that risk.
Fergie has always had tried only two things against Barca (a) a bright start hoping for a quick goal and (b) if that doesn’t work, hoping for counterattacks. He is in no way different than any of the other top managers that have tried to beat Barcelona.
‘Defensive minded’ managers like Jose and Hiddink have rattled an in-form Barcelona like no other manager has ever done in the last decade. Tactics is all about when to attack and when to defend. All attack is as stupid as all defence. You can shoot me for this. Fergie was never known for his tactical astuteness. Man Utd fans themselves will agree. But then, that’s only one part of the whole success formula.
No, totally different. Flair is something both players have in abundance. I was referring only to ‘creativity’.
BlueChampion,
Agreed on the topic of Fergie’s tactical prowess. Sir Red Nose is very good at getting the best out of his players or as I like to call it “man management”. For example, know how to get the footballing aggressiveness out of an out-of-form Wayne Rooney or know who the best player in his starting XI is to man-mark the oppositions best player (Eg, Park Ji-Sung trying to mark Messi).
However, get the finer details of tactics in and I think Fergie gets a little lost. I think that’s where men like Hiddink and Mourinho triumphed. Mourinho knew three men marking Messi at all times from the side, front and back (important since loss of possession would be chance for a quick-counter) would yield the best possible result. Hiddink did the same more-or-less (Watch the highlights of the Camp Nou game and see Malouda’s positioning in relation to that of Bosingwa and JT).
What makes Mourinho even more special is that beyond tactics, he’s also a whiz at the man management game Fergie himself is so good at like baffling the opposition with an aggressive pre-game press conference or getting the best out of his strikers/defenders/etc/. I think that’s why he was a genuine threat to Fergie as an opposition in the EPL.
KTBFFH !!
It seems that if you join our club, that entiltes you to a job for life. I think the environment is to relaxed at our club and we need more competition for places in the starting xi as I feel that a lack of competition leads to complaceny and that leads “lazy or mediocre” performances. But, you’re right there are many world-class stars in the world. With the right football players we could run rings around other teams.
The funny thing about Florent Malouda “backing” Hiddink as the “ideal manager to steady the ship at the Bridge” is that his position is itself unclear for next season. Surely if there are to be “massive changes” for next season in terms of squad overhaul, then Malouda’s name should be at the top of that list given his age and mighty dip in form this season ?